The Spirit of Christ (Part B)

The time you spend with Jesus forms you shakes you it makes you the person that you are in Christ. Try spending no time with him and you will prove that in the negative. You have been with Christ. What decoys of a Christian when you behave this way because you don't pray you don't going to the word you don't fellowship you don't commune with the Lord asked 242 is just a bunch of numbers you are not a reality be asked to be experienced. I hope that's not the case.

This is cross reference radio with our pastor and teacher Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville.

Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of first Peter, please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about cross reference radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching today.

Pastor Rick continues his message called the spirit of Christ will begin in Luke chapter 1 Luke's gospel chapter 1. There we read as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets who have been since the world began, that tells us we have this unbroken witness.

We have this line from Adam, the first human being, all the way to the present. No Johnny-come-lately's and this is an unbroken witness. No other religion on earth as it they all fall off after while you trace them back to Poppa said somebody told him my fathers have done this will where is the proof.

Where's the beef is missing so they just become insistent you may say I don't like you mocking them I'm a mom tell you how this is if it's humorous of the two then the new.

That is what it is.

So he says Peter those who prophesied of the grace that would come to you that were prophecy is an outstanding word mean something for told in advance, something that that's fantastic.

That's not normal that's outside of humanity. It is here now disgrace who prophesied of the grace that would come to you and it is here. This, again, not the law of Moses with the developed law of God grace of Christ was grace in the Old Testament is there to teach us. We don't really see the Bible's two books, the old and New Testament is really one and there's a progress as a development one end of the latter part seals.

The first part and defines it for as we get that this one book.

It is the book the Bible graces this undeserved kindness that God gives to us who here deserves a holy, pure God, who here thinks that they deserve kind treatment from him being a sinner, if if you feel that way you are out of step with reality with truth with revealed truth with just the laws of reason and so grace is kindness. Nonetheless, you don't deserve going to get it. You're going to get this kindness grace that saved eight souls in an arc from the floodwaters of God's judgment on the earth. Grace rescued Rahab from Jericho and the fate of that city.

As it thumbed its nose at the miracles of God see that harlot she got it she understood she saw God moving to the Jewish people's love and care for them. She wanted a piece of that. She got if she got it. What was wrong with the mayor of Jericho was wrong.

All the soldiers and the people everybody else refused it. She did not. Grace fell upon her and her household grace.

It brought Ruth that outside Moabite into the royal family of God and as a bonus on the life of Ruth, Naomi was blessed and refreshed and not in a spiritual sense, but in an emotional sense born again like she came back to life after that sour experience outside of Israel. God brought Ruth into her life. Grace and blessed a heap of people so the Old Testament prophets. They knew about grace. They also knew what stirred them. What led them what move them and who informed them they knew this one groping around… They got it they understood it was God and that strength, they wrote they preached. They lived and they acted in a rethink of a classic example. Not having to do directly with the salvation of Jesus Christ and his prophecies would you think of Elijah. If I'm a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you boom it did and then sort of Satan's they do it again if it was really because he doesn't second group comes out of the third one says okay look piece. Let's not do it that way it doesn't work well with the prophets understood who it was, working in their lives. God was moving and sharing this message that we enjoy in greater fullness.

Incidentally, whatever the details the facts surrounding the prophecies define naturalistic explanation. You just cannot take someone to Psalm 22 and say it was written after the crucifixion. You just can't take them to Isaiah 53 and say this was written after the Lord Jesus so fulfilled that these miraculous events. Those scriptures were in place already. The Jews understood they spoke of Messiah.

They just rethought everything after Messiah came and died and they rejected him. Then they applied to Israel and not the Messiah. That's what sinners do in the real good at doing. We are aware of these things. We know what to do with them. We stick close to the Lord. We look to order our lives in such a way that he can use us.

Peter gives the very best answer concerning these prophecies that we know them to be.

He speaks 30 years earlier about a Psalm of David. In acts chapter 230 years before he wrote this letter. He said this about David and his prophecies in the Psalms. He said David being a prophet, he for seeing this, spoke of the Christ, the New Testament apostles understood that the Old Testament prophets removed by God to give us this message that they were in the presence of spiritual things, not natural things that we are to that when you're going through whatever it is you're going through in life, sickness, or any whatever else persecution in their case, whatever it may be God set. I will never leave you. We didn't say you will never leave me.

Just make sure you don't reset. I will never leave or he's there now what I want from God even when there's no drama going on in my life and I'm just not feeling his presence.

I want him to make his presence known.

Too often, he says no because the just shall live by faith because is no weapon against faith formed that can defeated if you would just abide in me and he lets me live it out and I know it. I don't like it sometime sometime even pout, leave it at my age.

Hopefully you don't get to see that that happens in the shop of prayer on my knees praying for others when a God so-and-so is going to lose, why aren't you moving faster excellent. This is a teachable moment. I have some of the best arguments presented to him that he cannot refute he just ignores them. Any files in the pile of the righteous. Yeah baby.

My prayers are preserved in heaven because the count and I cannot measure I cannot measure what goes on in this life by what goes on in the spiritual realm. His ways are higher than my ways. His thoughts are higher than my thoughts and past my finding out when he says so he wants me to find out he'll tell me if not you won't tell me we live or we die by this Christians who been Christ centered versus self-centered going to the state believing this. We look at their life stories and we applaud them we say I won't be like that to try ever be faced with what they were faced with acts chapter 4 verse 13 when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, they realized they had been with Jesus. That's why Jean Peter is saying what he is saying in this section of Scripture. He was with Jesus and that's why he we now come to verse 11 is a searching what, or what manner of time. The spirit of Christ, who is in them was indicating when he testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow what what gives him the nerve to say this spirit of Christ was in them. The Old Testament prophets we was with him. That's what gives him the nerve Peter learn more from Christ and anybody could ever log in a book or record or write down only Peter all those men that were with Christ for three years. They were exposed to so much just watching the reactions of Jesus, they could remember how he looked at the window. As she put in our due minds. The look on his face before he said a word was instructive and informative and worked into their ministry that they could otherwise never have forming in them men, that they would become because of the time of Christ. Much of that is the same. To this day, the time you spend with Jesus forms you it shakes you it makes you the person that you are in Christ. Try spending no time with him and you will prove that in the negative view have been Christ what you call yourself a Christian when you behave this way because you don't pray you don't go under the word you don't fellowship you don't commune with the Lord, acts 242 is just bunch of numbers you are not a reality be asked to be experienced. I hope it's not the case you go through tough times, things put on pause as you work through in Christ gives you margin space to do that. Be encouraged. You will return back to your mission, your second mission, your first mission is one that is handed to you at the moment.

So here in verse 11 is a searching. What a what manner of time. This is not to do with the duration of time with the distinctiveness the ages. That is, they were searching to find out the age of salvation and Messiah when it would come they would look at each other scriptures. Daniel talks about reading what Jeremiah said. As you read Jeremiah you find out he was wrong or reading would Isaiah had written before him. These men search the Scriptures to better understand when God moved, and told him things he didn't tell them everything and as he mentions in verse 11, I met up's references as being in verse 10, five corrected it.

So there can't come after service that was verse 11. Past you said verse 10.

Some of you say I don't know what you're talking about. That's good. Verse the spirit of Christ was in them again. Peter you know this how how did you know the spirit of Christ was in Isaiah, you mean you mean the Holy Spirit. No, I mean the spirit of Jesus the Christ, my Lord, and you know this how to live with a man for three years and I can tell you there's more to the man than being a man is the son of God. So Peter reports that Jesus was active in the ancient prophets long before the birth in the manger. He existed function is self existent is eternal.

That means eternity past eternity forward without beginning without end for me to see Alf and the Omega, no one else has this distinction on them.

No one else is the sinless one, the eternal one, and this statement, the spirit of Christ was in the embarrassed silent witness to his deity that Jesus is God. Jesus is God the son, the preexistence of Christ is exclusive to him and no one else know human no one who has ever taken human form can come even close to being who he is and who he was when he walked in ancient Israel is divine without sin.

As I mentioned glorious above all, he is the holy one of Israel is the holy one of the church before his birth in Bethlehem again active in human affairs. Other apostles knew this and I wrote about Paul and let let me just said this when God revealed these things to his prophets. He left room for his apostles to develop what they started to finish it and from acts chapter 2 that to the end of Revelation chapter 3, you have the apostles giving us Revelation about the salvation that the prophets said was coming and then they lived in the apostles come along, they develop it for us and they they stand there with guardrails in their hand saying to the Christians stay between the rails and here they are. The precepts of Christ. Romans chapter 8 verse nine but you are not in the flesh but in the spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.

Now, if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, he is not his.

You have the spirit of Christ. You will belong to him or the same spirit of Christ, the Paul is talking about the same one Peter is talking about is why we know he is without beginning, without in Galatians 4 he says because you are sons gotta send forth the Spirit of his son into your hearts spirit of Jesus Christ.

So the Old Testament prophets. They had the spirit of Jesus Christ. This is critical to understand the spirit of Christ which is in them is here in our New Testament. It is in our Old Testament. It is in our Bible they prepare those Old Testament prophets for the coming of the Savior because it was him in them doing the preparation Jesus was preparing for Jesus through them. This explains this is a critical part. This explains why we love the Old Testament as Christians what Christian does not love the Old Testament we understand much of it belongs to the law of Moses were able to filter that out to the New Testament, and once that process is complete. We love it all. We go in the strength of it all. I can quote Paul as an authority with equal enthusiasm as I would quote Ezekiel or Jeremiah or any other child of God in the Old Testament. We stand up we applaud the words when Esther says if I die I die say this spirit of Jesus in her Ruth makes that speech your God will be my God, your people will be my people, what Christian does not stand up in their heart and say yeah yeah that's me to because the spirit of Christ was in the lives of those people bringing about these effects is with us now. They face hardship may face suffering just like you and I do Naomi had to be saying to herself what is going on.

Her husband died, her two sons died just left with two daughters-in-law one of them leaves are and Ruth.

What is little have to offer. Allegiance, Christ wants from you and me. Allegiance, loyalty to stick with them. No matter what. So when he says I will never leave you or forsake you. We answer back and I will never leave you nor forsake you.

We are married we are together we are joined what God has joined together, let no man tear apart, not even myself. That is the idea was indicating when he testified beforehand spirit informing the prophets indicating it is a grotesque thought again to say that God cannot speak to humanity through men. It is grotesque because it leaves leads to the doom of souls, human beings real people a lot of people on this planet that like to care more about people and animals in this we need to care for people and animals, and certainly not against any of that but not at the exclusion of the maker, not at the exclusion of God and his word is a big planet is a lot of people on it. There are many people that follow false religions that have never heard the gospel and the decent people as people go, God will do right when it comes to their day of judgment.

That's all you and I need to know he will do right. Paul talks about this in Romans. In the early chapters of Romans, God is not unmindful of these things, but we are responsible for the light, we have and we are to shine it when we can fight the good fight and is there many fights, but there's only one good one is only one worth investing the life in dimensions here now in verse 11.

The sufferings of Christ.

That's what they spoke about the Jews call it the sorrows of the Messiah.

That's his cross. As I mentioned Psalm 22 Isaiah 53 layout the cross. None of my bones are broken. David writes the things in Psalm 22 could have been written about none of no experience in David's life.

They fit perfectly into the crucifixion. Isaiah 53. I mean, he was wounded for our transgressions, Bruce Rao, since we say that about somebody could kids. I was bruised for your transgressions gems you can take him away, just a bruise for them.

I need someone to take him away. Behold the Lamb of God takes away the sin of the world John the Baptist, recognize it and he heralded he shouted it out.

They were given considerable considerable body of truth, but it lacked high definition but without what they had that been there would be no high definition. It was so structured by God that when these things were finally fulfilled the apostles. They got it and so many others did also.

But the Jews could not understand what it mentioned when he Peter says he meant immensity of the sufferings of Christ, he will mentioned that several times through his two letters because he was there to see, and he tells us that he was a witness of the suffering guy know they all ran from a distance Peter could see enough to cover that we get to the difference between his coming to redeem and his coming to reign is laid out in the prophecies, but they could not tie them together. The rabbis some of them even went so far as to say with us to Messiah's coming one will come and suffer for Israel and the other will come and reign be sovereign for Israel to the couldn't understand with the information that they had was one Messiah. We understand it is to Cummings, there is the first coming of Christ. When he came to redeem us. There will be the second coming of Christ when it comes to reign over the earth looks gospel Jesus, expecting the Jews to have known this, he expected his disciples to have figured this out just from the writings of the prophets, and so he says Luke 24 then he said to them all foolish ones. How many times Jesus said that about you. I do want to say every time he said about me.

This might counter is broken when it comes to that, but all foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken, but not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter his into his glory because the prophets wrote of this was referencing here and beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded to them all the Scriptures the things concerning himself side note, if Christ took the time to expound all the Scripture should not pastors do the same, or should they just leave out today. Chest Passover. If they're not going to go through the whole Bible verse by verse, then at least let the Bible go through them. Verse by verse.

There have been many great men of God who did not preach verse by verse. What they went through the Bible's verse, but the Bible verse by verse and they preached out of that that is what Christ is talking about, and beginning at Moses and all the prophets, as Genesis all the way to Malachi, he expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. It is all about Jesus. So we have a victorious Messiah. In Psalm two.

For example, in Isaiah 11, for example.

And as I've referenced already. The suffering Messiah in Psalms and Isaiah also. Currently we are between the two appearances.

The church age, which none of the prophets saw Christ on the apostles struggled to get it.

Paul was so blind to what he was killing Christians because he didn't get it. The ancient prophets they chose to believe what they saw what they knew to be true yet unclear they held to what they knew was true and that which was unclear did not knock them off. The truth is we see happen so often to people. We must choose to believe Christ unseen and that's why I went back and read that portion of the Peter where he says having not seen you love that his faith first Peter 18 whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory. Some of that should find your way into your singing in the assembly and the glorious were now the bottom of verse 11 of the glories that would follow the resurrection, ascension the birth of the church salvation means that we are in the Gentile. Isaiah 53 verse 11, he shall see the labor of the soul and be satisfied. In other words, the cross was worth it. We are so glad you tuned in today to study the book of first Peter on cross reference radio cross reference radio is the daily radio ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel in Mechanicsville, Virginia, and we are blessed to bring you God's word with each broadcast. If you'd like more information about this program or want to listen to additional teachings from Pastor Rick please visit our website cross reference radio.com. We also encourage you to subscribe to our podcast so you'll never have to miss a program. Just search for cross reference radio iTunes Google play music or your favorite podcast. We hope you tune in again next time to join us as we continue our study through the Scriptures like here on cross reference radio