1 Peter 1:10-12 - Considering Our Salvation - Christmas 2025

In this episode, we’re turning our attention to 1 Peter 1:10-12 to consider the incredible salvation God has provided through Christ. Even as we approach Christmas, we’re reminded that the heart of this season isn’t just a baby in a manger, but the Savior who came to redeem us from sin and judgment. We’ll look at how the prophets inquired into this grace, how God pursued us with it, and why even angels long to look into these things. Join me as we reflect deeply on what it means to truly possess this salvation and fix our eyes on Jesus, our only hope.

Transcript

4 - 1 Peter 1:10-12 - Considering Our Salvation - Christmas 2025

Intro

• Please take your Bibles and open with me to 1 Peter chapter 1 and find verse 10.
  • This morning we will continue working through this book as we consider today this salvation that has been provided for us.
• Being the Sunday before Christmas it may seem odd that we not explore another text…
  • I am certain that today many pastors will be looking at more traditional Christmas verses.
  • Whether it be Isiah 9 considering prophecy, or Luke 2 considering the birth account of Christ itself.  
• However, for us today the text that we are going to be exploring is in itself a Christmas text, though not your typical verses.  
  • For in it, we will see in just a moment, Peter writes and asks that we consider our salvation…
    • How God provided and pursued us, and is that not what Christmas is about?
      • That God sent forth a savior…
      • A redeemer to bear the weight of our sin and provide for us a great salvation.
    • That is the hope of Christmas, it goes far beyond a baby born and laid in a manger…
      • In its fullness it is a story about how that baby laid down His life for the redemption of man.  
  • Today we will be reminded of not just the hope found in Christ but we will also be challenged to consider our salvation.
• As we do I want to present to you a question for your consideration at the start of our time together…
  • Have I truly been saved?
    • I ask that you consider this honestly because there is not a more important question to consider today.
    • Now I also want to be clear, I am not asking…
      • If you have been baptized…
      • If you are a member of a church…
      • If you serve in some way…
      • If you have knowledge of the scripture…
      • Or if you have perfect attendance…
    • The reality is that all of those can be true and you can be totally and completely lost.
  • I do not tell you that or start out here in order to scare you, but rather out of a desire to be honest with you.
    • Because, again, there is not another more important question than…
  • Have I truly been saved?
• As you consider this today, let us read our verses and open in prayer.

1 Peter 1:10-12

• As we begin today let us keep in mind that Peter wrote to a church that was scattered and suffering.
  • They lived and existed as strangers in this world, they lived as exiles.
    • So you can imagine that Peter, being a good undershepherd, desired to offer them comfort and encouragement in the face of their struggles.  
  • Which is why we are only 12 verses in and Peter has already referenced…
    • Our living hope found in Christ…
    • As well as our eternity and the imperishable, undefiled, and unfading inheritance we have that is guarded by the power of God…
    • He has, in his opening to this letter, called believers to rejoice in the midst of suffering and trials and pointed us to what God is doing in the middle of those times.
  • Now, in the final part of this first section Peter turns his attention to this great salvation that has been given to us.
• Look again with me how these verses begin, he writes…
  • “Concerning this salation…” or in the King James Version, “Of this salvation…”
    • Peter begins to write about this common salvation between him and the elect that he is writing to and by extension today, even us…
    • It should be no surprise to us that he is concerned with the story of redemption…
      • He is interested in how God has worked throughout the ages to reveal in the last days His Son.
  • As I think about his concern or his interest for this salvation and how he writes I cannot help but consider our current day.
    • I wonder, what occupies your mind, what concerns you on a daily basis?
      • Consider the conversations that you have had this week…
        • With your spouse…
        • With your children…
        • With your coworkers, family, and friends…
      • Were you concerned with this salvation?
        • Did it come to your mind?
      • Is it something that has intrigued you this week? 
    • What I mean, to ask it in a simpler way…
      • Did Jesus occupy your thoughts and conversations?
      • Was He on your mind and on your heart?
  • You see Peter here writes as one who is concerned about this salvation…
    • This makes sense to us…
    • He was a fisherman when Jesus called him to Himself and redeemed him.
      • He went from being concerned, occupied with fishing to being concerned and occupied with Christ.
      • A change that had not only changed the direction of Peter’s life but it transformed his desires and his interests.
    • Here we find this unlearned fisherman writing about the mystery of salvation that he has concerned himself with.
  • We have far too many people today who hear of this salvation, who hear of the birth of the savior, who know the story of his life and his death…
    • They know it, but they are not concerned with it, they are not interested in it, they do not long to look into these things.
      • I am not saying that we all need to be Bible scholars but should we not concern ourselves with the mystery of how God has worked out the salvation of our souls?
      • Should that not come to our minds and spark our interests?
    • For me, a person who is unconcerned and uninterested in this salvation that they have claimed to receive is a concerning thing.
  • To say it more blunt…
    • Just because a person claims to be saved does not make them saved…
      • A person can attend services regularly and still be uninterested by the Gospel they claim to believe.
      • It makes me think of those who were near to Christ yet missed it…
        • The religious leaders who had a head full of knowledge and heart full of sin, they concerned themselves with maintaining the status quo…
        • Judas who walked with Jesus, ministered beside the other apostles, he concerned himself with the moneybag…
    • So as we begin to dig into this salvation and into what God has done through Christ, I would just ask you to consider along with our first question these as well…
  • Does this interest you?
  • Do you concern yourself with it?
    • Again, we are not all to be theologians but if we are in Him we should have a desire to grow in knowledge, wisdom, and obedience.
    • We should, at the very least, be interested in this salvation.  
• Today let us fixate on it, let us consider it together, and not only grow in the knowledge and wisdom of the Word but let us be sure we are found in Him.  
  • So let us step into our first point…

The Provision of Salvation

• As Peter concerns himself with this salvation that is offered us through Christ he turns his attention to how it came to be, look at again with me at verse 10 and 11.
  • Vs. 10-11
    • As he is writing about this salvation, again make note that he is writing to believers.
    • His wording here makes it abundantly clear as he writes about the “...grace that was to be yours…”.
  • So let us consider this grace that was to be ours today as we are reminded about the history of salvation and how God has provided a Savior in Christ.
• Starting with the need to be saved.
  • As we think about salvation and being saved we could easily pass over the fact that we needed to be saved in the first place.
  • Our salvation in Christ begins with the fact that we are in danger and need rescuing.
    • So initially when we hear the word “salvation” it should lead us to ask…
      • “What do we need to be saved from?”
  • Well, let us be reminded of that briefly…
    • The Bible opens with God creating…
      • He creates the heavens and the earth…
      • He creates the stars in the sky and lands upon the earth…
      • He creates creatures of the sea, the sky, and the land…
      • He then creates man, the pinnacle of His creation and after He does He looks at it all and testifies to Himself that “it is very good”.
    • However, very good did not last very long…
      • Adam and Eve existed for a time in perfection where they walked with God and obeyed what God had commanded.
      • Then Eve was deceived and Adam was disobedient and they broke the command of God.
      • Ushering this creation into a broken state where every part of it is affected by sin.
        • Sin, disobedience, rebellion, corruption, affected everyone and everything.
      • It is all we know, we are born into it, slaves to unrighteousness…
    • This is a tragic reality that we all know by experience…
      • Unfortunately, the brokenness of our world and the sin for which we find ourselves to be enslaved is nothing compared to the end result.
      • You see the Bible speaks of the judgment of God for His Creation…
        • One day we will stand before Him and if on that day we stand by our own merit we will be found guilty and we will be cast into what the Bible calls the lake of fire.  
          • Where Jesus said of it that the…
            • Mark 9:48b - “...worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.”
      • A tragic and terrifying result of the rebellion of man and the seriousness of sin.  
  • When we consider salvation and what we need to be saved from the reality is that we need to be saved from this.
    • We need to be saved from the judgment of God for which we would all be found guilty. 
    • However, the Bible does not just speak of this judgment…
      • Praise be to God that it also speaks of salvation and though man rebelled three chapters in…
      • God promised a savior mere verses later. 
  • It is not just in Genesis 3 though, we see…
• The Promise of Salvation throughout the Word.
  • I would ask you to consider this with me, as you think about the book that lay open in your lap.
    • There are two truths that run parallel in scripture, the first we have already talked about.
      • Man is a great sinner.
    • However, the second truth which we need to consider together now is that…
      • God is a Great Savior.
  • Though man rebelled God promised a redeemer and in the face of sin God promised a savior.
    • This promise is found reiterated throughout the Word again and again and again.
      • Peter references this as he makes mention of the prophets and the prophecies found in the Old Testament.
      • We have considered this before and have often said that…
        • The Old Testament is written to point forward to the Messiah…
        • The New Testament is written to reveal Jesus as the Messiah…
        • So whether in the Old Testament or the New it is all about Jesus.  
      • Jesus is the fulfillment of the promises written by the prophets of old.  
      • Now as I say that you may be wondering…
    • Just how many prophecies?
      • Is there just one or two?
      • I will tell you that it depends on who you ask and how they count the prophecies…
        • One source answered it this way:
          • “J. Barton Payne, has found as many as 574 verses in the Old Testament that somehow point to or describe or reference the coming Messiah… Conservatively, Jesus fulfilled at least 300 prophecies in His earthly ministry.”
        • It does not matter how you look at it, the fact is we could consider hundreds of promises made in the Old Testament that were fulfilled by Christ in the New.
      • The point though that cannot be missed as we consider this is that…
        • What God promised He has provided.
  • The story of scripture, the arc of scripture, is that God is working to provide a way of redemption.
    • He has promised to send a savior, and He fulfilled that promise…
      • It is what we are celebrating today, it is what this time of the year is about.
        • Christmas, for the believer, is not about presents, gathering with family, or food…
          • It is about us pausing from our normal routines and contemplating…
          • That God did not leave man to our own devices but has sent His Son.
        • That this Jesus took on flesh, and lived a perfect life, He then died a death that He did not deserve.  
      • Yet even in that we find God working to fulfill His promise to redeem a people for Himself.
    • In the death of the perfect Son of God we have a way to the Father that did not exist before.
  • Before we move on from this point let us consider it once more…
    • Though man sinned and God was completely justified in judging our sin…
    • He instead has promised a Savior, one to come and pay for the sin of Man…
    • He has looked upon our need, promised to send a savior, then He fulfilled that promise in Christ…
  • Yet even there He did not stop and Peter makes mention of it in verse 12.
• Please look with me again as we consider…

The Pursuit of Salvation

• Again, verse 12…
  • Vs. 12
• What I want you to fixate on is the reminder that Peter provides to them that God not only worked out this salvation by providing it but He also has pursued them in this salvation through the preaching of the Word.
  • We would do well to consider this reality in light of our own existence in the 21st century and an ocean away from where this letter was originally written.  
• Let us consider the pursuit of our God toward us today…
  • He has pursued us by providing understanding…
    • The only reason you and I can consider this together today is because He has provided us with a functioning mind to dwell upon these truths.
    • If He had not provided understanding for us we would have no need to consider anything any further so it must begin here. 
    • It does not stop here though… 
  • He has pursued us by taking this message of salvation and bringing it to us today.
    • I remind you that the Gospel was first proclaimed by Peter in Jerusalem nearly 2000 years ago.
      • We gather in a place that is over 6800 miles away from the original location.
    • Which means it has persevered through time and location and culture to be brought to us today.  
  • He has pursued us by Preserving His Word…
    • We open this book and consider what is written because He has protected it for us.
      • This should not surprise us though…
        • For if He was able to direct the nations to bring forth His Son to provide a great salvation.
        • Then why would we expect Him not to protect His Word?
    • The fact that He has preserved His Word is a reminder to us of His pursuit of us.
  • He has pursued us by providing preachers…
    • For nearly 2000 years God has called men to faithfully proclaim the hope found in Christ.
    • What a marvelous thing to consider that God is still calling men to stand behind a pulpit and proclaim His Word.
      • Yet even with all that pursuit there is but one more to consider and Peter mentions Him twice in our text today.
  • He has pursued us by His Spirit…
    • It was the Holy Spirit that led the prophets of old to write about the coming Messiah…
    • It was the Holy Spirit that led the preaching and teaching of the Word of God generation after generation…
    • It is the Holy Spirit today that…
      • Illuminates truth, convicts a person of sin, and draws them into this great salvation.
    • The fact is that if you are in Christ today then it is because the Spirit Himself drew you into this glorious relationship with Christ.  
  • The pursuit of God is truly an amazing thing to consider… 
• I imagine that if we had time to consider this longer we could find other ways in which God has pursued us…
  • At this time, however, let us turn our attention to our final point…

The Preeminence of Salvation

• This point is pulled from the final part of verse 12 where Peter just causally mentions something about our salvation…
  • He writes about our salvation and tells us that…
  • “...angels long to look.”
• Let us not read over that statement and then carry on with our existence, let us consider what Peter is telling us in the final part of our text…
  • Angels, heavenly beings, created by God to serve His purpose…
    • Who dwell in His presence…
    • Who behold Him in His Glory…
    • Who are found throughout the Word as messengers and servants of God…
      • These angels who were present among His prophets…
      • Announced the birth of His Son…
      • Shared the hope of the Resurrection…
      • Testified that Jesus is coming again…
  • Take note, believers, that though angels are mentioned throughout the scripture…
    • And are used by God in a mighty and profound way…
  • That when it comes to this salvation they long to look into something that we can consider.
    • I like how the King James Version expresses that final verse…
      • “...things which angels desire to look into.”
    • These marvelous beings desire to look into this salvation that has been offered us.
    • Is that not a marvelous thing, and does it not testify to the amazing reality of our salvation?
  • Church, we have something that heavenly Beings who dwell in the very presence of God long to consider in a way that they never can…
    • I think in part that is because we have something that they never will.
      • We have redemption, we have been brought from death to life, they only know of the Holiness of God we know of the Resurrection from the dead. 
    • Though they know of it, they will never experience it…
  • It truly is an amazing thing to consider so I urge you to not neglect considering this salvation.
• Which brings us full circle…
  • Consider for a moment where we started in this passage.
    • Again I ask about this past week…
      • Did Jesus occupy your thoughts and conversations?
      • Was He on your mind and on your heart?
    • Brothers and sisters, we have something in this salvation that angels would love to understand and experience.
  • Let us not miss what God has done in this salvation for us.

Closing

• As we close here today I want to ask you again to consider the question that we started with…
  • Have you been truly saved?
    • No one can answer this except you, but you cannot answer it if you fail to consider it.
    • So let us pause here and consider this salvation that has been provided for us…
      • Let us consider the pursuit of our God in this salvation…
      • Let us consider the preeminence of this salvation as we celebrate the coming of the Savior.
  • Have you been truly saved?
• Let us pray.