Sermon Tone Analysis

*1 Peter 1:10-12 (ESV) \\ **10 *Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, *11 *inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories.

*12 *It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.

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The privilege of being God’s elect!

Verse ten is a continuation from verses eight and nine: “*1 Peter 1:8-9 (ESV)  8 *Though you have not seen him, you love him.

Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, *9 *obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

·         Now concerning this salvation

·         This being born again!

·         This having a living hope!

·         This realization of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead that is deep down in your heart

·         Concerning this salvation

·         This inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading and kept in heaven for you

·         This salvation that places you under the guard of God’s power through faith

·         This salvation that you praise God about and are able to be glad about

·         This salvation not only started before the foundation of time but was kept in time until your reality caught up with God’s reality

·         That my brothers and sisters is a privilege

·         It’s a privilege to be saved!

·         And Peter not only connects the elect to infinity past but in these verses he connects the elect to the times which are known to us as the Old Testament

·         My first point is; Grace is prophesied for us and that’s a privilege

·         Peter in verses 10, 11, and 12, connects the elect, the church of Jesus Christ to the writings of the Old Testament

·         The prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours

·         The unmerited favor and blessings from God that was to be yours was prophesied by these prophets before the time of Christ and was realized after the birth of Christ

·         Listen to what God says

*Genesis 3:15 (ESV) \\ 15 *I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

*Isaiah 56:6-8 (ESV) \\ 6 *“And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and holds fast my covenant— *7 *these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”

*8 *The Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares, “I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered.”

\\ *Micah 4:1-3 (ESV) \\ 1 *It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and it shall be lifted up above the hills; and peoples shall flow to it, *2 *and many nations shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.”

For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

*3 *He shall judge between many peoples, and shall decide for strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore; \\ \\

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*Isaiah 9:6-7 (ESV) \\ 6 *For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

*7 *Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

\\ *Ezekiel 34:11 (ESV) \\ 11 *“For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out.

\\ *Ezekiel 34:23 (ESV) \\ 23 *And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd.

·         The prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours, O elect exiles of the dispersion in various places of Asia Minor.

·         I can say the same thing to you today; the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours, O elect saints of New Hope or elect saints of the 21st century.

·         Because there are times my brothers and sisters that we need encouragement sometimes it is good to just stop and consider your own salvation and realize it’s a privilege being God’s elect!

·         Someone may say and I agree that our suffering is nothing like the first century church, they could not only lose their material possessions, they could lose their physical lives for their belief and new life style in the Lord

·         Our suffering is not like that in this country but be reminded that there are brothers and sisters this very moment who are being persecuted for their faith

·         And even you at times can get discourage you may, later on, look back and say that it was nothing but in the present it has an discouraging effect on you

·         Peter wants his readers to know who they are and the privilege of their election, the benefits of being born again

·         The privilege of being the recipient of the grace that the Old Testament prophets could only prophesy about

·         Many, not all, going to their death without seeing these prophesies fulfilled

·         This is why the blessing on Simeon and Anna is such a wonderful blessing from God.

A grace blessing if you prefer.

·         They receiving a privilege unlike their brothers and sisters who passed on before them

·         Listen to how this blessing, recorded in Luke, is also for our encouragement and edification

·         Turn in your Bibles to Luke chapter 2 starting at verse 25

·         Say Amen when you have it.

*Luke 2:25-38 (ESV) \\ 25 *Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.

*26 *And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.

*27 *And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, *28 *he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, *29 *“Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; *30 *for my eyes have seen your salvation *31 *that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, *32 *a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.”

*33 *And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him.

*34 *And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed *35 *(and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”

*36 *And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher.

She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, *37 *and then as a widow until she was eighty-four.

She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day.

*38 *And coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.

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·         Now God elected these two to receive this special grace privilege

·         This Luke passage also illustrates another point that Peter is making to his readers and my second point

·         The Spirit of Christ is in us and that’s a privilege of being God’s elect

·         *10 *Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, *11 *inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories.

·         The behavior, attitude, and speaking of the prophets was under the  control of the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit.

·         In Peter’s second letter, we read

*2 Peter 1:19-21 (ESV) \\ 19 *And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, *20 *knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation.

*21 *For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

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·         This was not planned this way but again the Luke passage illustrates this point also

·         If you are still open to Luke notice

·         Verse 25 “…and the Holy Spirit was upon him.”

·         Verse 26 “And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.”

·         Verse 27 “and he came in the Spirit into the temple…”

·         Verse 34 & 35 the prophesy of grace and suffering; “for my eyes have seen your salvation *31 *that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, *32 *a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.”

*33 *And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him.

*34 *And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed *35 *(and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”

·         The spirit of Christ is in us and that’s a privilege of being God’s elect.

·         Allow me to say more on this point before I close.

·         This statement is only found in two places in Scripture 1 Peter 1:11 and Roman 8:9 

 

*Romans 8:9-11 (ESV) \\ 9 *You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you.

Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

*10 *But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

*11 *If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

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·         The Spirit of Christ was in the prophets of the Old Testament, and we have seen His activity in Simeon in the Gospel of Luke.

·         But this same Holy Spirit is also in you

·         We share that privilege with the Old Testament prophets

·         That is what Romans 8 is telling us.

·         I am encourage to know that the same Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in me and He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to my mortal body through His Spirit who dwells within me!

·         Peter wants his readers to know this and you need to know this today

·         I will not even try to compare our time with the first century time that Peter writes about in this letter.

·         But in this modern age there are things, fears and uncertainties that will discourage the modern day saint.

·         Two weeks ago we had tornado drills at our school and we practiced moving to a safer place in the building.

Amazingly it is usually in the lower level where the building is more firm and stable

·         We are actually where the foundation of the building is, the basement or some other lower level.

·         When a tornados comes it is a vicious storm but there is more safety at the foundation of the building then in other parts of the building

·         And in the midst of these storms people with basements or storm shelters are more privilege than those who don’t

·         Have you checked out your spiritual foundation lately?

·         Do you even have one?

·         Peter in this beginning part of his letter is writing about foundational issues; salvation, being born again, God’s elect, workings of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the saints

·         Once the foundation is sure then Peter can deal with behavior and actions

·         You see my brothers and sisters the storms of life are waging and they wage for all believer and non believer

·         But we who know the Lord, we have a strong foundation and it’s a privilege, a real privilege, being God’s elect

·         And if you don’t have your foundation yet you can start working on yours but first you must realize that God has done the work for you.