In his sermon 'God's Plan of Record,' Jason Dohm explores the idea that God's plan for salvation through Jesus Christ has been proclaimed for centuries, as evidenced by prophecies in the Old Testament. Dohm emphasizes that Peter's letter to early Christians aims to reinforce their faith, preparing them to joyfully endure persecution by understanding that their salvation is part of a divine plan. Through the analogy of an impressionist painting, Dohm illustrates how persecution can cause believers to lose sight of the bigger picture, focusing only on immediate suffering. The sermon highlights the personal nature of salvation, which is grounded in God's abundant mercy and grace, given freely and undeservedly. Dohm discusses the role of prophets who, guided by the Spirit of Christ, foretold the sufferings and glories of the Messiah. Their writings laid the groundwork for a faith that is deeply rooted in God's foreordained plan, providing a firm foundation against trials. Finally, the privilege of living in a time where the fulfillment of these prophecies can be witnessed is stressed, encouraging believers to stand firm in their faith and find perspective in the vastness of God's eternal plan.

The title of the sermon today is God's Plan of Record. If you've ever worked in a business, that's a very familiar term, plan of record. It just means what the business is intending to do. It's the direction that has been set. And it wraps up all the objectives of the business so that the people who are in the business know where you're headed.

It's the whole point of a plan of record. Well, God has a plan of record and Peter is bringing God's plan of record to bear to his audience, these people that he's expecting to read the letter that he's writing. And he's been talking about what Jesus has done, what Jesus has accomplished. But he wants to ground that, not in the present, but to go back and say, God has been saying this for a long time. God's been saying this for hundreds of years.

God's been saying this for thousands of years. And what you're seeing in Jesus, this salvation that you're seeing in the work of Jesus Christ was always the plan. Listen to Isaiah 46 verses 9 and 10, wonderful verses to commit to memory. Isaiah 46, 9 and 10. Isaiah says, remember the former things of old, for I am God and there is no other.

I am God and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times, things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure. This is the God that Peter wants his readers to know. The God that declares the end from the beginning, that says from ancient times things that haven't even happened yet and the God who will do all of his pleasure. Why is Peter doing this? Because the objective of Peter's letter is to make his readers ready to joyfully endure persecution.

That's what he's doing with this letter. He's making readers ready to accept persecution and not just endure it, but to embrace it as part of what God is doing in history and to joyfully endure and joyfully suffer this persecution. Have you ever seen a painting painted by an impressionist? An impressionist, it's a type of artwork. And when you're 10 feet away from an impressionistic painting, you see the whole thing.

It's just this beautiful scene. But if you get up just mere inches from it, you realize that actually all that you're seeing is very small, very thin brush strokes. So that when you're right up on it, you realize you're just staring at dots. Okay? You're really up close to a work of an impressionist, you're just staring at dots.

And up close, they lose all connection to each other. And you would say, what is this? That's what persecution does. You lose the 10-foot back view, where you can see the beauty of the whole thing and how it all relates to each other and now you're in persecution and the beauty of the whole is swept away and you're just staring at a dot. And the dot is the pain and suffering that God has brought you to.

So Peter is reconnecting sufferers with the beauty of the whole again. So that they are no longer staring at the dot, but they can see the inner relationship and the beauty of the whole piece of art. So now let's look at these. We only have three verses today. Let's look at these verse by verse beginning with verse 10.

Verse 10 is the salvation foretold by the prophets. So let's read it. Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully who prophesied of the grace that would come to you. Peter begins with this phrase, of this salvation. What salvation?

The salvation from verse 9, a phrase earlier, the salvation of your souls. So when you come to verse 10 and we see of this salvation and we track it back to verse 9, just one verse earlier, and see that it's the salvation of our souls, we realize that what Peter is talking about is something extremely personal, isn't it? It's the salvation of your souls. It's not a broad concept of somebody somewhere doing something good to somebody else. It is the God of the universe saving your soul.

It's extremely personal. Your soul. It's extremely personal. And Peter unfolded that so beautifully last week in speaking of us being caused to be born again, begotten again to a living hope. Born again to a living hope.

Why? Because of abundant mercy. Because he's a merciful God. And because of this, he ought to be blessed. His praise ought to be on our lips until the end of time.

This is what Peter has been building on. And he says here in verse 10 that this didn't spring out of nowhere. This is the whole point of verses 10, 11, and 12. This salvation that he's been speaking of did not spring out of nowhere. In other words, Jesus didn't just arrive on the scene and say, I'm here with the new religion.

No, a thousand times no. Jesus came and he was the fulfillment of what God had planned before the world ever came into being, before the foundation of the world. That Jesus would come at this time and this place to these people had already been determined beforehand. It was simply the working out of the plan of God in history. Who says it's always been the plan?

God has said it's always the plan, and He said it through His prophets hundreds and thousands of years before they came into being. Peter has already started talking about this in this letter. So he's actually just returning to a theme that he's already opened up in chapter 1. In verse 2 Peter says, he calls his readers, quote, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father.

In other words, their having been saved was a prearrangement done by God before the foundations of the earth. So Peter's already been talking about this, and now he just returns to a subject to repeat it and firmly establish it. Now why is this important? It's important because you might play around when the sun is shining and the birds are singing and have a detached acceptance of some religious propositions that seem to make sense to you. You get that?

When everything's good, okay, warm sunshine, birds chirping, The things that seem reasonable enough for a detached and arm length acceptance might be enough, or often enough. But when persecution comes, when pain comes, when hardship comes, an arm-length detached acceptance of religious propositions that made sense back here don't do it anymore. They're not sufficient to carry the day. And so Peter wants to make sure for his readers that This faith that is being talked about isn't the arm's length detached acceptance of some religious propositions that seem to make sense. He wants to root it in something that's so much more firm, so when the sun stops shining and the birds stop chirping that they have something that is not at an arm's length that can be embraced that will be sufficient to carry them through the day of trial.

Peter talks of this salvation, the salvation of their souls, and it's described here in verse 10. The grace that would come to you. This is the salvation that Peter's talking about. The grace that would come to you. This is the message of the prophets.

Grace is coming. This is what the prophets were saying. This is what God stirred them up to say and then write and then pass on generation to generation to generation. Grace is coming. God is going to lavish out something that was never earned, something that's not deserved, but he's going to lavish it through Christ.

Grace is coming. What Peter is saying here so clearly, so explicitly, he couldn't say it any more plainly is that salvation is grace. All grace. It's an undeserved gift. It's not earned.

It can't be earned. It would never be earned. It's given. It's lavished, even though you don't deserve it. So here's where we are in 1 Peter chapter 1.

In verse 3, Peter has talked about those born again according to his abundant, what? Mercy. So in verse 3, he's established mercy. What is mercy? It's withholding what you deserve.

You deserve something unspeakably horrible because of your sins. You deserve it. You've earned it. But God is withholding it from you and diverting it to Christ. This is what Peter is speaking of.

Abundant mercy. You deserve something unspeakably horrific, but God is holding it back and diverting it and putting it on Jesus Christ to those who believe. And now, now in verse 10, it's grace lavishing on you what you did not earn and do not deserve. So on the one hand, there's something unspeakably horrific, eternal destruction and torment in hell that is withheld from you and diverted to Christ. That's mercy.

And now in verse 10, it's grace, something unspeakably wonderful that you could never in a thousand lifetimes earn or deserve, and it's lavished on you. Mercy and grace, Verse 3 and verse 10. Paul teaches exactly the same thing in the same way. Listen to Romans 6, 23. Paul in Romans 6, 23 says, for the wages of sin is death that's what you deserve God pays you your wages you get death and he's not just talking about the death that everyone will experience he's talking about eternal separation spiritual death eternal death that is the wages of sin But the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God, the grace of God, is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. The mercy of God, withholding the wages that we have earned and the grace of God giving us what we never did earn, never could earn, and don't deserve. Now turn to Ephesians 2. Ephesians 2. It's only two verses and I debated whether we should come here but you have to lay your eyes on it.

I always, going to the verse always wins that debate. Ephesians 2. It's good to actually look at it yourself. And this is so important to the argument that Peter is making in this text and throughout his whole book, Ephesians 2. I'm just going to read verses 8 and 9, also verses absolutely that you should have committed to memory.

Paul writes, For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God." So grace is the gift of God and faith is the gift of God. Verse 9, not of works lest anyone should boast. This is the nature of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone. Now if you get this, if you understand that your salvation is completely unearned, is completely undeserved, and that it just flows out of the abundant mercy of God, then what does that make you? It makes you a person who says, bring on persecution.

Bring it on. Not fearful of persecution, not overly disquieted by persecution, but a person who is free and never deserved it, never earned it, but God has lavished his love upon that person. And they understand that they did not have a part in their salvation that it originated with God and it is the gift of God. Even their faith is a gift of God and not a work. So there's not a boasting bone in their body.

Boasting is eliminated. And they see persecution in perspective. In perspective of what? In perspective of having such a great salvation. In perspective of life being just a vapor.

And then they will go and be with the Lord forever and ever and ever and ever. For a million ages they'll be with the Lord. So persecution now is nothing because it's seen in perspective. But if you don't get this and you think you've got some hand in the saving of your soul, then it leads to pride and you're overly disquieted by persecution because then it's God, but I believed. How could this happen to me?

I believed. How could this happen to me? I'm doing things. So the person that understands that grace is the root of their salvation and nothing that they've done including their own belief. They see persecution in the big scheme of things and they're ready for it.

But if not, then you have pride that you've done this for yourself. And persecution comes and you say, but I was believing, but I was doing. And so it matters how we see this salvation that has come from God. That we know that it's rooted in an abundant mercy of God. And that this salvation is of the grace that the prophets always said would come to you.

It's undeserved. Now back to our text and to verse 11. Verse 11 picks up speaking of these prophets, 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. These prophets were searching for the time and circumstances of the Messiah's sufferings and glories. And we already saw that in verse 10.

Verse 10 said that the prophets inquired and searched carefully. And now in verse 11, Peter is returning to that and talking about exactly what they were searching for. But do you understand? They were intensely interested to know more than God had shown them. Which is why they had inquired and searched carefully.

Those things that the Spirit of Christ was stirring up in them. The Spirit of Christ was telling them things that were going to happen beforehand. He was stirring these prophets up. But he was only telling them some things. Not everything, some things.

And they wanted to know more. Knowing some things awakened this hunger in the soul of the prophets to know more. And they were appealing to God to tell them more about these things. Now I want to ask and answer four questions that come from verse 11 here. The first question is, what does the Spirit of Christ mean?

Peter references that it was the Spirit of Christ who was indicating these things to the prophets. Well, this exact phrase, Spirit of Christ, is used by Paul in Romans 8 verse 9. Listen to Paul in Romans 8 verse 9. Paul writes, but you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, capital S Spirit. You are in the Spirit if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.

Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, exact same term that Peter is using. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his, he is not God's. You don't have the Spirit of Christ. You're not in the capital S Spirit. You don't have the Spirit of God dwelling in you.

And so Paul in Romans 8 is using three terms interchangeably. Using them, he could have done them in any order. When you read it and look at it, Romans 8 and 9, you'll see he could do it in any order because he's using them all as if they're equivalent to the other and they are. The capital S, Spirit, and the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ. All the same thing.

The Spirit of Christ is the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of Christ is the Holy Spirit that was directing these prophets. So it's appropriate to say the Spirit or the Spirit of God or the Spirit of Christ, all one and the same, all used by Paul interchangeably in Romans 8 verse 9. Listen to what Jesus says in John 15 verse 26. In John 15, Jesus is speaking of the sending of the Holy Spirit.

Listen to what he says in John 15 verse 26. But when the helper comes, when the helper, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, when the helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of me." So in this verse, John 15, 26, Jesus says a couple of things. One is that Jesus will do the sending. He proceeds from the Father. But Jesus will send the Helper, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, and that the Holy Spirit will testify of Jesus.

That's why he's called the Spirit of Christ. Because Jesus sends this Spirit, the Holy Spirit, and this Spirit testifies of him. That's his job, is to glorify, exalt, lift up, testify to Jesus Christ. That's why he's called the Spirit of Christ. Because Jesus sends him and he testifies of Jesus.

Number two, question number two. What were these prophets told? Well it says right in the verse, they were told about the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. They were told about the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. Jesus Christ, Jesus the Messiah, is the great subject of the Old Testament.

Overwhelmingly, Jesus is the topic of the Old Testament. And every author of the Old Testament is a prophet by definition, right? A prophet is someone who receives the words of God in order to give them to the people of God. He's a conduit for God speaking to his people. And so by definition, all of the Old Testament writers, some of them were kings like David, but he's still a prophet by definition.

Because he's a conduit for God speaking to his people. Moses is the leader of the people of God but he's a prophet. Every author of the Old Testament is a prophet and Jesus Christ overwhelmingly is the subject of these prophets and of the Old Testament. Jesus is the subject of the law. Think of going through the Gospels and hitting these points of ceremonial law that Jesus is fulfilling.

All the ceremonial law just points to Christ and points to Christ and points to Christ and points to Christ and now Christ comes and he's the fulfillment of them. And same of these prophets. Like the ones that we think of as prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel and Daniel. Jesus is the great subject of their writings as well. Now what do we find in the Old Testament?

We find a mixture of sufferings and glories attached to this Messiah. Messiah means the anointed one. He's the Redeemer that God promised. So there's this figure that's the subject of the Old Testament prophecies and of the ceremonial law. And what you see of this character that we now know as Jesus Christ is sufferings and glories that follow.

Now, I went to look at the flagship instances of Jesus in the Old Testament, just that I could think of. But it's a pretty good representative sample because we just came out of the book of Matthew and we've seen a bunch of them. So they are fresh on our minds from having gone through Matthew. And I was just looking for sufferings and glories that follow. And this is exactly the pattern you see in almost all of them.

The first is in Genesis 3. When God is cursing the serpent, he talks about the seed of the woman, capital S seed, Jesus, the seed of the woman crushing the head of the serpent. And the serpent bruising the heel of this mighty seed of the woman, sufferings and glories. And I was thinking of Psalm 2. In Psalm 2, the kings of the earth rise up against the Lord and His anointed, His Messiah, his Christ.

And we see the sufferings in Psalm 2, but then what follows right on the heels of that? This anointed one will rule with an iron scepter. In fact, kings of the earth, you better kiss the sun lest he is anger be candled but a little, and you perish." I was thinking of Psalm 22. Psalm 22, Jesus is quoting in the crucifixion accounts. When we went and looked at Psalm 22, we saw all these different ways in which the specifics of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ were in Psalm 22.

How does Psalm 22 end? It ends with the exaltation of this Christ and his reigning. It ends with the glories, sufferings and glories. Isaiah 53, what do you see? Sufferings crushed, his stripes heal us, Sufferings followed by glories, following by exhortations.

So often you see a plain progression in these flagship texts. These very important texts about Jesus in the Old Testament are exactly in that order. Sufferings then glories. It's all there. Everything about this salvation that has been accomplished through the work of Jesus Christ, you don't even need the Gospels for.

Now, the greatest clarity is in the Gospels. I'm not pushing aside the gospels in that statement, or not meaning to at all. I'm just saying there's so much beautiful clarity, not to the extent of the gospels, but there's still a lot. It's all there in the Old Testament prophecies and in the ceremonial law. So much so that when we come to post-resurrection, Jesus is alive, Jesus is beginning to appear to disciples.

Then in Luke 24 on the road to Emmaus in verses 25 through 27, here's what we read, Luke 24, 25 through 27. Then Jesus said to them, O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken, ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glories. And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. After Jesus' resurrection, when he wants to speak with his disciples about the things that have been happening what does he do? He goes all the way back to Moses and the prophets and he said oh foolish ones so slow to believe all the things that were said by the prophets here and here and here and here and here and here and here.

And he starts with Moses and all the prophets, and he speaks to them saying, I'm here all throughout the Old Testament. Here's another very striking example of this. In Acts 28, the last chapter of Acts, Paul is a prisoner in Rome and he's appealing to the Jewish leaders in Rome. And he has secured an audience with the Jewish leaders in Rome. Listen to Acts 28 verse 23.

So when they had appointed him a day, many came to Paul at his lodging to whom he explained and solemnly testified of the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus from both the law of Moses and the prophets from morning till evening." So this just goes right back to the point. Jesus isn't showing up to say, I'm here with a new religion. In Acts 28, When the Jewish leaders in Rome come to Paul, what are Paul's appeals based on? He goes back to Moses and the prophets. And he speaks when?

Morning till evening. All day long. A history lesson of Jesus in the Old Testament, Jesus in the Old Testament, Jesus in the Old Testament, Jesus in Moses, Jesus in the prophets from morning until evening. You say that's probably hyperbole. Surely It didn't take that long.

Surely just to make a point, he's overstating things. Well, I went on the internet this morning to see how many prophecies Jesus fulfilled in his life. And it's funny. There are all these different numbers, because Some people say, no, that's not really one, that's two, that's too unclear. The lowest number I could find was 351.

That's the low number of the prophecies that Jesus fulfilled in his life, 351. And then the numbers scale from there into the low 400s. The point is Jesus is everywhere in the Old Testament. And So all of a sudden this becomes more than an arm's length detached acceptance of religious concepts that make sense. It becomes rooted and grounded in the plan of God that you can see playing out for thousands of years and then hundreds of years and then fulfillment in Jesus Christ.

And it becomes a rock that you can put your feet on that will sustain you through trial and persecution. Okay, third question. What more did they want to know? God told them some, told these prophets some, but not all. What more did they want to know?

They wanted to know the circumstances and timing of these things. And this is why the mixture of sufferings and glories in these Old Testament prophecies can be so disorienting because they're there, but there's no sense of time. In other words, if God had told you, if you had been the prophet and God had told you the same thing, and you didn't have the benefit of looking backward on the life of Jesus Christ, you too would be saying, is it the sufferings today and the glories tomorrow? Or is it the sufferings today and the glories 10 years out? Or is it the sufferings today and There are glories in these Old Testament prophecies that we still haven't seen fulfilled yet.

And there's no time scale. God gave them the what often, but not the when. And they were desiring to know the when. And they're saying, God, is it now? Are you telling me because you're getting ready to do this, am I going to see this in my lifetime?

These prophets are desiring to know the signs and the markers that will make it evident that these things are being fulfilled. So they'll know when they're happening. And Jesus kept appealing to this in the Gospels, didn't he? John the Baptist in Matthew chapter 3 talks about Jesus as the one whose winnowing fork is in his hand. He's coming to sift.

He's coming to judge. Well, that's actually the glories, isn't it? Jesus Christ as judge who will sift and separate wheat from chaff. And so this is what God was pressing on John the Baptist. And so when it's not unfolding that way and John the Baptist is in prison in Matthew chapter 11, he sends his disciples to ask what?

Are you the coming one or should we wait for another? I was expecting glories and all I'm seeing is sufferings. And how does Jesus answer him? Go tell John that the blind see and the deaf hear and the lame walk, and the dead are raised, and the gospel is preached to the poor. All things that fulfill prophecies of the Old Testament.

So they were wanting to know more. They were wanting to know the circumstances and timing of these things. Number four. How did they go about learning more? In other words, the text says that they're inquiring and searching carefully into these things.

How do you go about that? If God has told you some but not all, how do you go about learning more? Well, the text doesn't say. But the Bible does give insight into how prophets inquired and carefully searched into the things that God hadn't told them yet. Turn to Daniel 8.

So it's Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, I know I skipped lamentations, but it's a little one. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel. Daniel chapter 8. Daniel chapter 8 verse 1 begins just speaking of when this vision occurred. It's in the year of the reign of King Belshazzar, a vision appeared to me, to me Daniel.

And then he has this vision of a ram and then a he goat that challenges and overthrows the Ram. Now look in Daniel 8 verse 15. Then it happened when I, Daniel, had seen the vision and was seeking the meaning that suddenly there stood before me one having the appearance of a man and I heard a man's voice between the banks of the Uli who called and said, Gabriel make this man understand the vision. So the archangel Gabriel is commanded to help Daniel understand. But Daniel had seen the vision and verse 15 makes it so clear that he didn't know the meaning.

He's seeking the meaning after having seen the vision. So if we have it in our minds that prophets are given either a vision or directly what to say from the Lord and they understood all of it, that's not true. We get that for sure here in Daniel. He had seen the vision and he has to seek the meaning of it because he doesn't know what it means. Now look at the end of the chapter, the very last verse of the chapter, Daniel 8 verse 27.

It says, and I, Daniel, fainted and was sick for days. Afterward I arose and went about the king's business. I was astonished by the vision, but no one understood it." So he has this vision that's so astonishing that he actually thinks, and it makes him sick for a number of days. And no one understood the vision that was given to him. Now Look at the very beginning of chapter 9.

In the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, of the lineage of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans, in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood by the books of the number of the years specified by the word of the Lord through Jeremiah the prophet that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem. So Daniel, a prophet in captivity in Babylon, is reading Jeremiah. He's searching another prophet's work. And he understands from his study of the Scriptures that the captivity is going to last 70 years because of what Jeremiah said. Now you can go into the book of Jeremiah and see how he got that.

But I have found myself in the study this week thinking, I haven't been thinking properly about the prophets. I kind of think of a prophet as someone who sits around in a yoga position waiting for God to do something ultra-supernatural through Him. And they definitely have something supernatural happening. But here, In Daniel 9 verses 1 and 2, we have a prophet who is actually a student of the Word of God who is searching the prophecies of Jeremiah and understanding things. So it's not all just supernatural.

You have students of the Word of God who are understanding because they have searched out the Scriptures and what God has given through the other prophets. And so undoubtedly when Peter says that these prophets, when they weren't satisfied that they've been told everything that they wanted to know. I'm sure they were pleading with God, God tell me more. But I'm sure they were also searching the other prophets, whoever's writings they had at the time, to find out more, to learn more about Jesus because He's there 300 plus times in the Old Testament. He fulfilled all those things in His life.

They were searching the Scriptures as well as appealing directly to God to tell them more. Okay, verse 12. Verse 12. To them, we're back in 1 Peter 1, To them, to the prophets, it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which have now been reported to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Things which angels desire to look into.

God made it clear, He didn't tell them the exact day, but He did tell them not now, not during your lifetime. And He let them know that these things were not being ministered to themselves, but they were ministering to us. The New American Standard and the English Standard and the NIV renders it serving us. They were serving us. God was using them to was using them to minister to us, to serve us.

They received the prophecies. We received the reports from eyewitnesses. They received snippets looking forward. We see it all looking backward, receiving it from the hands of eyewitnesses. It's announced to us.

We get what is a matter of the historical record because it's come. It's been fulfilled in Jesus Christ. We see in verse 12 something that is very important, which is the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit moved the prophets, gave the prophets things to say to the people of God and the Holy Spirit isn't done. Did you get that in verse 12?

The Holy Spirit moved in the prophets and he moves in preachers in the preaching of the gospel. In Luke 24, it's the last chapter of the gospel of Luke, and Jesus tells his disciples, wait in Jerusalem, don't you dare go anywhere until the sending of the Holy Spirit to give you power to be witnesses. This is the thrust of why the sending of the Holy Spirit, to empower the people of God to be witnesses. And to this day, the preaching of a pure gospel is done at the impulse of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit moved in the prophets and He moves in preachers who preach the gospel, who announce the good news that Jesus Christ has made it possible for sinners to be set free from the penalty of their sin.

When that happens, it is the work of the Holy Spirit. Preaching is the work of the Holy Spirit moving in His people to send the Gospel to the ends of the earth. The Holy Spirit gave them hope, looking forward, And this gives us confidence. For them it was hope, looking forward, that God would be gracious. For us it is confidence to see in 351 ways, maybe more, that Jesus has come and done what God made as his plan of record from Genesis 3 verse 15.

I can't find anywhere earlier than Genesis 3 verse 15. But there it is. And then going forward you can just trace it. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. The grace is going to come.

The grace is going to come. And it has come in Jesus Christ. For them it was hope. For us it is confidence. Now consider John chapter 2.

In John chapter 2, Jesus cleanses the temple for the first time. There are two cleansings of the temple. One very early in Jesus' ministry in John chapter 2 and then one in the week after the triumphal entry. In John chapter 2 he's just cleansed the temple and the Jews want a sign so they know that he has authority to do such things. John chapter 2 verses 19 and 22 Jesus answered and said to them Destroy this temple and in three days.

I will raise it up Then the Jews said it has taken 46 years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three days?" But he was speaking of the temple of his body. Therefore when he had risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said to them, he said this to them, and they believed the scripture and the word which Jesus had said. Early in his ministry, John chapter 2, Jesus says something that is completely misunderstood by the disciples. Probably everyone who heard him say that, didn't really get it at the time. But after the resurrection, they remembered, Jesus said that.

This is the fulfillment of that. Now think of all the times in working slowly, carefully through the Gospel of Matthew where Jesus said, I'm going to die and be raised. I'm going to die and be raised. I'm going to die and be raised. I'm going to Jerusalem to be crucified and to be raised." And still up to the very last minute they didn't really understand what he was saying.

Was this a waste of his words? No. He was planting the seeds for what would grow and bloom greatly to their benefit after the resurrection. They could look back and see 10 times he told us exactly what was going to happen and it was fulfilled and they are strengthened in their faith by looking back to the accounts of John chapter 2. And after his resurrection they could say, he said that all the way back there.

And their faith flowers, it blooms, it grows. Peter is doing the same for his readers and for us in our text today. He is saying all these things were planted from Genesis 3, verse 15, and forward, and forward, and forward, and forward. All these things. And we can look back and say, Jesus fulfilled all that, and it strengthens our faith.

And we can know that this isn't an arm length detached acceptance of some religious principles that seem to make sense, but that it is grounded in truth so that when the day of persecution comes, we have something solid to stand upon that will carry us through persecution. Finally, recognize the privilege that Peter says we enjoy. Recognize the privilege that Peter says we enjoy. Matthew 13 verses 16 and 17, Jesus says to his disciples, but blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. For assuredly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see and did not see it and to hear what you hear and did not hear it.

Brothers and sisters, this applies to us every bit as much as it did to the disciples. The prophets longed to know more, you know more. They wanted to see it, they wanted to hear it, and now through eye witnesses we have a firm testimony that they would love to have had in their day When God was just peeling back the veil a little bit so they could get a little glimpse of the time of the Messiah, his sufferings, and then the glories that would follow. Here's what Matthew Poole says about this. It's fantastic.

Matthew Poole says, they did spread the table that you might feed at it. They had but a taste by faith and at a distance of those things you feast upon in their accomplishment. Matthew Poole is saying, the prophets set the table for you and they set out the feast. And by faith and at a distance They could just taste a little. And you are invited to come and feast at the table that they set.

Now that it has been accomplished, there's nothing left to do but enjoy the feast. Here's a stunning example of this. This should make you so thankful to be born in this day and age when you can go to Sam's Club and buy a Bible for $16 that has all about the life and times of Jesus Christ, all the sermons that he preached that were recorded by inspired writers. Listen to what Jesus says of John the Baptist in Matthew 11 verse 11. Matthew chapter 11 verse 11.

Jesus says this of John the Baptist. Assuredly I say to you, among those born of women, there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist. But he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he." So Jesus considering John the Baptist says, of all those born of women, there is not one person greater than John the Baptist. But, If you are the least in the kingdom of heaven you're greater than John the Baptist Matthew Henry explains what Jesus is really saying by saying this This is Matthew Henry John was the greatest of his order. He went to the utmost that the dispensation he was under would allow.

So Matthew Henry is talking about John the Baptist being under the old covenant. And Matthew Henry says that John the Baptist went as far as you could possibly go under the old covenant. Now he continues and says, but the least of the highest order is superior to the first of the lowest. A dwarf upon a mountain sees further than a giant in the valley." Did you get that? Isn't that a fantastic quote?

A dwarf upon a mountain sees further than a giant in the valley. In other words, John the Baptist is a giant under the old covenant. He looms larger than anyone, but he is consigned to the valley because it is the old covenant. But now the new covenant has come and it is sealed in the blood of Jesus Christ. So a dwarf standing upon this mountain of the new covenant can see so much further than John the Baptist could ever see.

Brothers and sisters, you and I ought to be deliriously happy dwarves. Seriously happy dwarves standing upon a new covenant that is sealed by the blood of Christ that allows even the least of us to see further than John the Baptist could ever see. So Peter has been heaping up blessings in Christ. It's according to his abundant mercy that he's begotten us again to a living hope. It's the grace that has come to us.

And he puts Jesus's fulfillment of all these prophecies and his setting us, dwarfs, on a mountaintop to see further than even the greatest in the old covenant could see. All these prophets were giants and they wanted to see over the mountain but they couldn't. And now the new covenant has been sealed. And Peter just keeps piling up the blessings in Christ. Why?

So that when the day of persecution comes, we're standing next to this mound of blessings in Christ and the persecutions just don't seem like that much anymore. And we get it that life is a vapor and that it's going to be over tomorrow and then eternity, millions of ages to be with Him who we've learned to love in this lifetime. This grace that is revealed in Christ is so stunning that the angels desire to look into it. The grace revealed in the life and work and resurrection of Jesus Christ is so stunning that the angels can't get enough of it. The word for looking into here is it means to stoop down and really get an intent look at it.

To bend down so you can get right up on the subject matter and look at it carefully. The angels exist to praise Him and to minister to those that salvation will come to. Hebrews 1 verse 14 describes angels as ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation. That's exactly what Peter is talking about. They are given by God to minister to those who will receive salvation, who will inherit salvation.

And so they rejoice when one sinner repents. One sinner repents and there's rejoicing among the angels. That's Luke 15 verse 10. They exist to worship God and God is glorified when a sinner repents. And so it makes the angels happy.

And they can't get enough of it. They want to get down right on top of the subject matter to see it because it glorifies God. That God would take sinners who were once in rebellion to Him and then bring them together and make a holy nation out of them. Makes the angels rejoice that one sinner would repent, makes the angels rejoice and do what they were made to do which is to glorify God with all their being. Now, turn to Hebrews 11.

We're closing with Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11, of course, is the great faith chapter where the writer of Hebrews just starts piling up people who had faith in God. In verse 13 we read this, Hebrews 11 verse 13. These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off or assured of them, embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

Then after verse 13 there's more listing of people, great saints of the Old Testament who had faith in God. And then we read this in verse 39. And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us. Therefore we also, I'm beginning in chapter 12 now, therefore we also, Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. The writer of Hebrews is laying down for us a pattern.

It's all those people who saw from afar off and they were assured of them. They were so sure that this would happen that they could endure anything. Read Hebrews 11 and see all the things that they endured. Even though they didn't partake, they saw it far off, they were assured of it, and it carried them through persecution. Then comes Jesus Christ, who for the joy that was set before him endured the shame of the cross.

What does the writer of Hebrews say? He says, therefore, Lay aside every weight in the sin which so easily entangles. What would Peter have us do? What would the writers of Hebrews have us do? What would Jesus have us do with all this data?

Lay aside, lay aside the weights and the sin which so easily entangles and run it like a marathon. Run like it's a long distance race knowing that you have everything that's needed to sustain you to the finish line. God has published a plan of record. He published it hundreds and thousands of years before Jesus Christ ever came and now Jesus Christ has come and we've received the report of it and it gives us confidence it will sustain us through whatever times of persecution. Let's pray.

Father I Thank you, I thank you for our brother Peter who is piling up the blessings in Jesus Christ. Oh, may we look to them, may we be sustained by this feast of a consideration of all that has been purchased for us through the work of Christ. God may this be the meditation of our heart. We ask it in Jesus' name, Amen.