 1 Peter chapter 1 beginning at verse 10 reading to verse to verse 12 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 1 Peter 1 10 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 so Peter has already stated let me refresh your memory for a moment as I introduce our study he's already stated that we are kept by God's power through faith for salvation he had said that in verse 5 of this chapter so believers he was saying are under the watchful care of God who who is the one who secures our inheritance and so God's keeping power is what he's already spoken of God's keeping powers intended to bring us to the goal that he has for us and the goal that he has for us is our final salvation so when he speaks concerning this power the salvation that we'll be looking at in just a moment when he speaks of the keeping power of God he's speaking of the mighty miracle working power that God has it's it's a power that will strengthen us and it's the power he is speaking about that gives us the ability to withstand temptations now we need to remember that Satan uses three very basic ways and you might want to remember this and those of you who are new to your faith Satan uses three very basic ways to entice you and to trap you three very basic things and when you read your Bible in 1st John chapter 2 verse 16 those three three things are identified he uses the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the sinful pride of life those are the three basic things that Satan uses to entice us now when you see that and and you read the words the lust of the flesh well the lust of the flesh is the desire for things that satisfy our flesh our fleshly appetites there's so many scriptures but I'll give you Galatians 5 19 through 21 as an illustration when Paul was writing to the Galatians in chapter 5 he spoke of the works of the acts of the flesh and he said they are obvious in Galatians 5 19 through 21 and these acts or these works are sexual immorality impurity debauchery idolatry and witchcraft hatred discord jealousy fits of rage selfish ambition dissensions factions and envy drunkenness and orgies and the like and he went on to say I warn you as I did before that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God those are called the works of the flesh those are the acts of the flesh and so he uses the lust of the flesh and the lust of the flesh can be identified in part by the things I just read to you now that's the device that Satan had used when he enticed Eve to take of the forbidden fruit what he did is he had drawn her attention to the tree and she saw she saw that it was good for food so it was this desire of her flesh that was used by Satan to deceive her and that's a temptation that that Satan even used with Jesus when he told Jesus who had had not eaten for 40 days and that was a temptation when he said if you be God turn these stones into bread it was a temptation to the flesh use God's power to satisfy your own personal hungers well the lust of the eyes the lust of the eyes is rooted in a sinful desire to possess something that we see very often it is it is expressed to a covetousness that we can have we covet various things we can we can covet somebody's possessions we can covet somebody's status it's desiring things especially material things with the intent to satisfy our material longings and so again Eve saw that the tree was pleasing to the eyes he Satan used that tactic and he showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world his only requirement that he gave to him was that he was to worship worship Satan and Satan also used the pride of life to draw us and to defeat us it's anything that leads us to arrogance or boasting it's anything that results in our presumption it's a sinful pride this pride of life and again in the case of Eve she said if she put he said if she partook of that forbidden fruit you will be like God well Satan wanted to cause Jesus to jump from the pinnacle of the temple and he inferred that if you would display your power in such a way you'll gain the world because he has shown him all the kingdoms of the world and said these things have been forfeited basically to me and whomever I want I can give it to you and so I'm just telling you you can have it so what you need to do is to demonstrate yourself as as God jump jump from the pinnacle of the temple scripture says that he has given his angels charge concerning you and that they shall lift you up unless you dash your foot against the stone and so what he was saying is you can have all these things you can have a crown without a cross and the response obviously to that kind of temptation is the one that God would have us to have because in the three temptations of Christ there were three responses it is written it is written it is written so it's a word of God that God gives to us that overcomes these things and these are the same temptations that are presented to us so God's power is necessary to preserve us from the pollution that's in the world remember recently we looked in Jude the book of Jude and in verse 24 it reads he is able to keep us from stumbling and to present us faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy so the keeping power of God is received as well as applied by our faith to believe is our part the exertion of the almighty power is of God and so there's no persevering without the power and there's no power without faith so our final and completed salvation the apostle Peter is pointing out as yet to be realized and that occurs his final completed salvation occurs when we are with Jesus now he's speaking of this as we begin our study in verse 10 this salvation and so he goes of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully who prophesied notice of the grace that would come to you salvation through Messiah is prophesied by the Old Testament prophets is what he's saying prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit declaring what that prophet had received by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit they wrote over 300 specific prophecies revealing future events concerning the kingdom of God concerning salvation Jesus's birth his ministry is death as well as his resurrection so they prophesied in the Old Testament concerning Messiah who was yet to come and he makes it very clear and I want you to see this in verse verse 10 it says of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully they inquired they search diligently throughout the scripture so the prophets that he's referring to there's so many but just to remind you of a few these prophets that had searched diligently and wanted to know of the Lord and spoke of him would be like Job and David would be like Isaiah and Jeremiah Ezekiel Daniel Joel Malachi they were writers of the prophecies prophetic things that related to Messiah or spoke concerning things that would take place in the future and they were moved by the Holy Spirit and so they received from the Lord's inspiration by the Spirit and they passed on the words of God and they did that through their speech and they did that through writing so others would read the scripture and trusted that the scriptures were inspired by God in 2nd Peter 1 20 and 21 Peter makes that clear he says above all you must understand that no prophecy of scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation for a prophecy never had its origin in the will of man but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit so the prophet searched the word to find out the time of Messiah's appearance now he speaks concerning the fact noticed again in verse 10 that they inquired and they searched the word inquire means to seek out it means to investigate when it says they searched diligently it speaking that they were thorough in this investigation so they wanted to know when Messiah was going to arrive on the scene in Matthew 13 verse 17 Jesus said it like this he said truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which you see and have not seen them to hear those things which you hear and have not heard them so they desired they inquired they wanted to know but it was not revealed to them now they had a belief in the word of God in the fact that it is revealed in the fact that it is accurate let me share a couple things about the Bible the Bible was written over a period of 1500 years in times of war in days of peace by 40 different writers including kings and physicians tax collectors and farmers fishermen singers scholars and shepherds it was written in three languages Hebrew Aramaic and Greek and it was written on three continents Asia Africa and Europe it's a collection of 66 books 39 Old Testament 27 New Testament 66 books that make up the one book the Bible B Blas which is simply a Greek word for the book its main theme is the kingdom of God the entire Bible points to Jesus Christ because Jesus is its main subject and glory to God is what it is designed to produce and these prophets wrote these things concerning the one who was to come it's the only religious book that contains prophecy you can look at any book written that is called a book from God any not one of them has prophecy that's because God is the inspirer of our Bible Isaiah 46 10 God says declaring the end from the beginning from ancient times things not yet done saying my counsel shall stand I will accomplish all my purpose so these prophets made the study of God's word their highest priority they along to see Messiah and they knew scripture would direct them so their diligence and seeking the Lord should provoke us to know scripture that should provoke us to read read the word to listen to teach and go to studies to serve these are the things you learn as you await the Lord's return now notice in verse 10 it says they prophesied of the grace that would come to you now many had been under the law of Moses the law of Moses as we've seen demanded strict obedience in in the Old Testament Leviticus 18 verse 5 God said keep my statutes and my judgments for the man who does these things will live by them so under the law of Moses there was a strict obedience that was demanded of you keep them and you will live so there were promises of life but also there was promises of judgment Paul said in Romans 7 verse 10 I discovered that the very commandment that was meant to bring life actually brought death why is that because none of us can keep the law perfectly that's why we need the grace of God that's why we need someone who could that's why Jesus could say of himself which of you can convict me of sin and nobody could why because he completely and perfectly kept the law of God and that's why he's our Messiah well these prophets prophesied notice of the grace that would be revealed through Jesus so it's God's grace when applied to our lives that transforms us and it does so from the inside now some think even to this day that the society we live in needs to be reformed and indeed the society we live in in our day is getting more and more corrupt who would argue against that there are some who would but as we look at our society it is slowly corrupting even more and more I remember while my mom was still with us my mama was still alive and she was ill and she was getting to the point where she was going to go to heaven I remember my mom saying to me you know I'm ready Dave I just want to get out of this place it's such a foreign land that I'm living in it's so different than what it was when I grew up in all of that and and there are many people who've seen that even worse now if my mom were still alive right now she'd be shocked at what has happened in just a short time right and so there's a lot of people who want to see a reformation that something has to happen we need to remember that reform is not the answer for our culture redemption is what is needed and that occurs at the individual not societal level the church needs to get back to the real task to which we're called evangelizing the lost only when multitudes of individuals in our society turn to Christ will society itself experience any significant transformation I believe that with all of my heart you can't reform but you can change and transform and that comes through the gospel so the prophet saw that grace was better than anything under the law in Galatians 3 in verse 10 falls that all who rely on works of the law are under a curse it's written cursed is everyone who doesn't continue to do everything written in the book of the law in John 1 17 though we see that that the law was given by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ and so they were prophesying concerning the grace he said that would come to you verse 11 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 Jesus is the one and notice in verse 11 searching what or what manner of time the spirit of Christ was in them Jesus is the one who inspired them to write concerning Messiah in 2 Timothy 3 16 all scriptures given by inspiration of God it's profitable for doctrine reproof correction and instruction in righteousness in 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 21 prophecy never had its origin in the human will but prophets though humans spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit the spirit of Christ was provoking the writing of scripture so Jesus worked from within the Old Testament writers to record God's revelation and the spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus because he's the one scripture points to remember revelation 19 10 the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy while in verse 11 the spirit of Christ testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ so the prophets in the Old Testament revealed his incarnation they revealed his suffering and they revealed redemption and that came in a general way they were giving peace meal these prophecies but they didn't know when these things would occur and that was all given to them by the movement or inspiration of the Holy Spirit and so as it were writing these things verse 12 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 to whom it was real revealed that not to themselves but to us they were ministering they were moved to write about Christ but they didn't fully understand what they were revealing they were not even permitted to understand their own writings they didn't know the exact meaning of the writings but God is still blessing because they were looking forward to the future day when these things would be fulfilled and they'd have clarity in Hebrews 11 39 it says these these were all commended for their faith yet none of them received what had been promised and so their writings were ministering it says again in verse 12 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 again often the prophets did not understand the meaning of their own predictions when we went through the book of Ephesians in chapter 3 remember with me what Paul wrote in verses 4 and 6 he said in reading this then you'll be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God's holy apostles and prophets this mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel members together of one body shares together in the promise in Christ Jesus so they didn't receive as they're writing these Old Testament prophets didn't receive the fulfillment of the prophecies so what they did is they lived in hope you see verse 12 says they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you he's saying the apostles as well as as we today have had the privilege of preaching the gospel that was once hidden and the gospel on what you to notice is preached by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven so it's a Holy Spirit who inspired the prophets and it's a Holy Spirit who inspires all proclaimers of the gospel even to this day now as he speaking of the salvation verse 12 these things these are the things which angels desire to look into they desire to look that word look is a strong Greek word that speaks of an overpowering curiosity the angels have an overpowering curiosity concerning God's plan of redemption I'll say something very briefly if I can do such a thing fallen angels cannot be saved it was somebody who at one time attended our fellowship who contacted me via social media via Facebook and he wanted to argue with me telling me that he believed that Satan was going to ultimately be redeemed and and the fallen angels too and so we had a discussion about that that lasted for a little while because I said you really need to read the Bible because the enemy ends up in the lake of fire forever it tells us exactly what happens to him and I told him also I said listen I said the fallen angels remain fallen there's no redemption for angels angels don't understand salvation they desire to look into because they have an overpowering curiosity as to what redemption actually is why because once an angel falls he has fallen for eternity and he at one time though referred to as an angel he is part of the original creation the angels when they found their names were changed from the angels and messengers it was changed to the devils Diabolas they were adversaries they were contenders they they they're evil and they remain that way and so the angels desire to understand something they never can experience and so the angels who did not fall still don't really understand the amazing love that God could have for such pathetic creatures as us and they don't and and they desire to look into that to understand that they don't understand grace and salvation because in their order in their the created order of angels there is no redemption you fell you remain fallen you didn't fall you remain unfallen but there is something they will do ultimately they're gonna sing songs of praise for the salvation that God worked for man Revelation 5 tells us in verse 11 and 12 I looked and I heard the voice of many angels numbering thousands upon thousand ten thousand times ten thousand they encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders in a loud voice they were saying worthy is the lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise they're gonna have a glimpse into that as they see what God has done in salvation and the angels learn of the work of salvation by seeing how God has saved us and made the church Paul made that clear in his letter to the Ephesians in chapter 3 verse 10 when he said his intent was that now through the church the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realm and so they'll gain an understanding of the grace of God not in a personal sense but by seeing how God has ministered to those have been lost and yet I now found and with this in mind verse 13 therefore gird up the loins of your mind be sober rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ as obedient children not conforming yourselves to the former lust as in your ignorance but as he who has called you is holy you also be holy in all your conduct because it is written be holy for I am holy in light of the fact that salvation is so incredible Peter is saying angels desire to look in this prophets didn't even understand it but you've received the grace of God you've received the grace that has called you instead of just creatures you are now children of God himself and you ought to be rejoicing over the reality of that and in the face of how incredible salvation is cling tightly to the Lord Jesus Christ in light of the belief in works righteousness you need to understand that your works did not make you righteous you need to understand that there are false gospels and this is what he's going to be speaking more clearly about later on you need to understand that there are false gospels that begin to put salvation rest it rests on your efforts no no you need to rest completely rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ it's not by works of righteousness which we've done according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration by the renewing of the Holy Spirit rest fully on God's grace don't get caught up trying to make yourself good because you can't you may be able to I may be able to make myself appear to be better than some other lowly sinner I might be able to every one of us has a friend or two that we can point to and say well at least I'm not that bad we kind of collect them sometimes I'm not that bad I was that guy hold on to the grace of God I want you to see something here verse 13 rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you that is a place I don't have this in my notes I'm going to share something with you for a moment from my heart rest yourself completely on the hope hope we are saved by hope I see hopelessness overtaken a lot of believers I didn't prepare this I should do a whole study on what I'm trying to say right now in just a couple minutes but if there's anything that I saw happen as we have had the last recent years of last few recent events and times there has been a concerted effort I believe that there is a spiritual component there's no doubt about it to cause the church to have no more hope to live in fear and hopelessness all you need to do is take a moment to look around the world that we live in right now and I don't want to be a downer but that's true to see what's going on without me telling you a lot of things you already know the disrespect for authority know the use of fear with the disease the lockups that took place that took away Christians from fellowship and the fear that many Christians began to live under the anxiety and you can lose hope you could think that life is not worth living anymore and you can get to the point even as a believer where you just am tired you're just tired I just don't want to do this anymore I just can't do this anymore I'm tired I got an email yesterday a dear friend of mine committed suicide just yesterday couldn't sleep for a year so tired and finally he just decided no more no more I can't do this anymore I see that I see that there's always hope Jesus is our hope and he gives us hope and the enemy cannot defeat Jesus Christ Marie and I we have in the last couple weeks been dealing with so many different things the church is erupting not this church churches in general that we're familiar with and that we minister in there's so much there's so much sin that is being welcomed in and the more you imbibe in sin the more guilty you live in the less hope you have it's undermining we need to rest fully our hope in the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and if there's ever been a time when the church needs to awaken it's right now it's right now we have the answer in Christ be very careful because the enemy is whispering into the ears so many people there's no hope and that's just a lie from the devil Jesus is my hope and and and I live because he lives and and and though it may look bad right now it doesn't stay bad we used to say it was try to say it then I'll say it now I read the last page of the Bible we win in Christ I read that we win and we have we have to hold on and and we need to we need to gird up he says the loins of our mind we need to it's a picture of gathering up your robe it speaks of removing hindrances that create obstacles as you're running or as you're fighting this fight when he says gird up your loins it's a call to action he's saying you need to be prepared you need to be serious you need to endure whatever is necessary as you live in and proclaim the grace of God you need to be sober that speaks of being self-controlled you need to use sound judgment in every area of your life it could speak of physical cares of life like he says in Romans 13 13 we belong to the day we must live decent lives for all to see don't participate in the darkness of wild parties and drunkenness or in sexual promiscuity and immoral living or in quarreling and jealousy be self-controlled in the cares of this life also be understanding in your thought and in the way that your will is used be in a constant state in other words of awareness because the enemy is setting traps to take you that's why Ephesians 5 is so important where Paul in verses 15 and 16 says see then that you walk circumspectly not as fools but as wise redeeming the time the days are evil rest he says rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you in faith trust the Lord and rest in his grace the way to expectantly you'll see Jesus God's grace is actually a place that you rest in and and the arrest is a result of of understanding what Christ has done and it produces a life that people see and say you live a set-apart life you live a holy life in verse 14 he speaks in this way he says as obedient children not conforming yourselves to the former lust as in your ignorance not being what you used to be don't live like you used to be before you were saved don't let your flesh dominate by the power of God's holy spirit you can be obedient children why is that well we'll close with these words he who called you's holy and you also be holy in all your conduct because it is written be holy for I am holy as our father in heaven is holy so is his children what does it mean to be holy it speaks to being separated from that which is unholy or profane it speaks of being dedicated to God it speaks of conforming to God's command there's a writer that wrote something I thought was worthy of quoting his name is Edwin Lutzer and he said this he said within evangelicalism is a distressing drift towards accepting a Christianity that doesn't demand a life-changing walk with God many evangelicals today do not realize that the church has always been an island of righteousness in a sea of paganism but as a result they turned the world upside down we need to realize that in the walk that we have that is called holy it's a set apart life it impacts people holiness isn't an old fashioned concept of being proud of what you don't do holiness is the result of loving Jesus Christ and spending time with him holiness is a desire to please him a desire to please him that motivates us to reject sin in Hebrews 12 verse 14 he the writer says pursue peace with all people and holiness without which no one will see the Lord so this desire to please God is why you reject the norms of the society that accepts sin listen living together is still fornication same-sex marriage is still forbidden and not recognize this marriage men are still men and women are still women and he and she are the only pronouns that we need but we're living in a world that is changing our culture by forcing us to adapt to their twisted way of thinking so the scripture set us free and so it it costs there's a cost that's exacted people like me are called backwards hillbilly idiots and that's from my friends the world is even worse so our understanding what pleases God doesn't allow us to evolve it doesn't allow us to compromise in Romans 12 verse 2 don't be conformed to this world be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God do not be conformed but be transformed so we live in holiness of a reverential fear of the Lord and it purifies our life why because our God is holy our God is righteous and we glorify him best when our lives conformed to his Proverbs 16 verse 6 says mercy and truth by mercy and truth iniquity is purged by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil why is the church going in the way that it's going some of you perhaps saw this it was in social media and we're gonna go a couple minutes longer I can tell you that right now but I'll tell you this perhaps you saw this in social media there was a particular church they had a men's conference recently and they had a guy on a pole you know I saw I saw it was sent to me and he rips off his shirt and he climbs on a pole and all of that and the speaker who came up right after this guy had this guy apparently had introduced the men's conference with this act and it's supposed to be men be be men of our times or whatever and the speaker who came up after rebuked he rebuked at the people said what you have right now he says not a preparation to receive from the Lord he said what you've done and I'm paraphrasing what you've done as you have yielded to the spirit of this age and I have to tell you I was I wasn't quite sure exactly if I agreed that every point he was making the points he made I could see why he was saying it but he was right about that he was saying when you when you open up yourself open up a conference to tell men how to be men and encouragement to be men and you start with a guy in a pole don't you realize that you started out with carnality and you're not going to end up in the spirit and so what happens is the quote-unquote pastor who had who was holding that convention that conference rebuked this guy and told them to leave the stage didn't want to hear this isn't a time to play the world is going to hell men are being told that we're not necessary men are being told it's it's it's yell to us you don't matter you're not needed all you do is donate this firm that makes children but we really don't need you you don't know it need you we don't need anything to do and you hear that it's yelled at I've heard that so many times we don't mean men and a lot of unfortunately women who call themselves liberated are saying that and men are being beaten down by the spirit of this age but men we need you we meet we need you to stand up now in this day and show what a man really is we really need you the church it's a time it's time it's time the men need to realize who we are we are created in the image of God God is placed in a position of authority we need to exercise that authority we need to lead our homes we need to to be men that other men can see and use as a model we ought to be the kind of men that that God can point to and say that's my son we need to be like our father and and fellas you know I just want to speak as a man to other men you know this is the time to be ready for war this is the time and we need to stand up not meanly not evilly not brutally just be men just be strong and and dedicate yourself to God and when you do that you will lead your family when you do that you're gonna find resistance when you do that but guess what you hold fast because you're gonna be the man if you're married you're gonna be the man that your wife wanted to marry you're gonna be the man she wanted to leave the home she wanted you to be strong she wanted that and something happened but guess what the word of God tells me be holy for I am holy I'm gonna live a life that inspires that inspires my wife that inspires my children that inspires my church I want to live a life that God is pleased with and because he is holy the church is to be holy and I rest my hope fully on the return of Jesus Christ in anticipation of seeing him because he's coming at any time now the days are short we have little time to act and we need to we need to gird ourselves we need to take up the sword it's time for war we need to be ready and we need to be willing and we need to be used by God in these dark times people are looking to men to be men let's stand up and be that for the kingdom of God let us pursue the things of the Lord it's very important