It saddens me to say this, but some people today are embarrassed by the word salvation. Some are even ashamed of it. Others aren’t so much embarrassed by it as they are concerned that the non-Christian world will find it either unintelligible or outmoded and old-fashioned. In either case, they are afraid that a word like salvation might prove to be an impediment or obstacle to people who are on the journey to Jesus, so to speak. In other words, instead of seeing salvation as a wonderful summation of what God has done for sinners in Christ Jesus, they treat it as a hindrance and stumbling block in their efforts to communicate effectively with the non-Christian world.

In one sense, I understand their concerns. I know why they cringe at the word. They’ve probably seen, as I have, some overbearing and legalistic street preacher, dressed in black, a frown seemingly frozen on his face, carrying a ten-pound Bible embossed with gold letters, yelling at some unfortunate passerby, “Sinner, are you saved?” It makes my skin crawl too!

But let me tell you why I love the word salvation. I love it because it is biblical. Back in 1 Peter 1:5, the apostle said that we who know Jesus are “being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” Then in v. 9 Peter referred to the outcome or result of our faith and described it as the “salvation” of our souls. And it is “concerning this salvation” (v. 10a) that Peter now writes in vv. 10-12.

But I especially love this word because of what it means. I love it because I know more clearly and painfully and powerfully than almost anything else in this world that I am worthy of eternal condemnation. I know deep down in the depths of my bones that I have willfully and repeatedly and happily defied my Creator, scoffing at his goodness and doubting his greatness and taking for granted the air that I breathe and the water that I drink and the food that I eat.

All of that is simply to say that I know from what I need to be saved: I need to be saved from God! I know that sounds strange. After all, it is God who acts in and through Jesus Christ to save us. But he acts graciously and lovingly in Christ to save me from his own wrath and justice.

And I know to what I have been saved. Peter has already described it in vv. 3-5. I’ve been saved unto a living hope. I’ve been saved unto an inheritance that is will never die or suffer defilement or lose its luster and beauty. I’ve been saved unto a relationship with our great Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in which I will forever and ever experience the overwhelming, soul-satisfying, breathtaking, blinding beauty of who God is and the joy that it produces.

That’s why I love the word!

But I do understand why people balk at using it. It reminds them of a by-gone era, an ancient faith that they feel has little relevance for a postmodern world.

I suppose what makes our use of the word salvation so problematic is that the vast majority of people in America, and I’m talking about non-Christian people, already believe they are “saved” or, even if they don’t use the term, they are convinced that death is no threat; they will, like everyone else, enjoy some sort of blissful afterlife pursuing whatever pleasurable activities they longed for on earth but were unable to fully experience.

You do realize, don’t you, that virtually no one thinks of himself/herself as destined for eternal condemnation apart from Christ. Whenever anyone dies today, whether an athlete or Hollywood star or business executive or political figure, you hear others says things like: “Well, he’s gone to a better place,” or, “She’s looking down from heaven on me and I know she’s so proud of what I’ve accomplished,” or “He is finally reunited with his friends and family,” or some such thing.

Everyone talks like and I assume believes that everyone who dies is “saved” or in heaven. Have you ever noticed that when someone dies we write something about them or say something about their lives and then conclude by saying, “May they rest in peace.” But if they don’t know Jesus and the salvation that he alone brings, “peace” is the last thing they are experiencing. There is not peace, but turmoil and devastation and loneliness and judgment.

But I digress. Let me return to my point, indeed, to Peter’s point.

Today, I want to celebrate our salvation! In v. 9, Peter concluded his description of what it means to be a Christian by referring to what it is that we obtain by faith in Christ: “the salvation of our souls.” Of course, by “souls” here he doesn’t mean the spiritual or immaterial part of our being, as if salvation means we live in some ethereal and non-physical state of being forever. “Soul” here is wholistic, in that it encompasses the totality of our being: spirit, mind, heart, affections, and yes even our bodies. It refers to all that we are.

And it is “concerning this salvation” (v. 10a) to which Peter now directs our attention.

My approach is going to be a bit different today. I want to briefly say something about what Peter says concerning our salvation, the several reasons why we ought to be indescribably thankful for it and celebrate it. But then I want to focus on two aspects of our salvation that are cause or grounds for great rejoicing.

So let’s look first, and quickly, at what Peter says about our salvation.

First, the Holy Spirit predicted or prophesied it (vv. 10-11). We’ve already seen in v. 1 how God the Father chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world. Now we are told that the Holy Spirit whom Christ would send to us was himself speaking about your salvation to and through the prophets of old. If you know Jesus as your Savior today it isn’t simply because you came to faith in him in recent years. It is also because he was thinking about you and his death and resurrection and communicating this to the Old Testament prophets through the Spirit centuries ago!

Second, this salvation can be summed up in one word: grace! (v. 10). It consists, from beginning to end, in the display of God’s merciful favor to hell-deserving sinners. Have you ever wondered how non-Christians can sing so casually and carelessly the famous hymn “Amazing Grace”? It’s simple: grace is no longer amazing to them. It’s become routine, boring, mundane, understandable. Why? Because they don’t see themselves as lost and in need of a salvation that is made possible only because God took pity on us and in his great mercy provided his Son as a sacrifice for our sins.

Third, this salvation is made possible only by the sufferings and resurrection of Jesus. Person and work of Christ is foundational. God doesn’t wave wand and salvation occurs. It comes to us only at great expense and cost to him. Therefore, think about it often! Rejoice in it always!

Fourth, Peter magnifies the glory of our salvation by telling us that the prophets of old longed to understand it more fully and especially wanted to be a part of it when the Messiah, the Christ, appeared.

When David wrote of the suffering of the Messiah in Psalm 22:1, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” he longed to know precisely who and when and under what circumstances this would occur?

When Isaiah prophesied that a child would be born, a son would be given, one whose name would be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, he longed to know precisely when and under what circumstances such a person would appear.

And when Isaiah later prophesied of one who would be stricken and smitten by God and afflicted and crushed by our iniquity, he longed to have greater insight into who this would be and how and under what circumstances this would occur.

And that searching and longing and deep desire to see and know is a reflection or measure of the tremendous and priceless worth and value of the salvation that you now experience in Christ!

Fifth, when these prophets cried out to know more, do you know what God said to them? He said, according to v. 12, “You aren’t serving yourselves in making these prophetic predictions of the grace to come. You are serving those who will live in the time of the Savior and in the centuries after his coming.” And this realization on our part ought to elevate in our hearts the precious and praiseworthy character of the salvation that has come to us.

Sixth, this salvation, far from being some ancient and esoteric and irrelevant word that points to something embarrassing, is so grand and marvelous and mysterious and majestic that even the angels of heaven long to look into it and understand it (v. 12). The holy angels of heaven don’t know what it is like to experience salvation because they don’t know what it’s like to be lost. They love to watch God’s gracious work of salvation in our hearts and get excited and filled with joy when a sinner comes to repentance.

Seventh, if you want to know why this salvation is so precious and so deserving of celebration and gratitude and joy, remember that God sent the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, to make it known to us through the gospel. And that is precisely what is happening right now! By the power of the Holy Spirit I am proclaiming to you the good news of the salvation that has come in the person of Christ Jesus!

So what precisely is involved in this salvation? We’ve already answered that in some measure. In v. 1 we saw that it means being “elect” or “chosen” by God before the foundation of the world. In v. 2 we saw that it means being set apart unto God by the Spirit and called to live a life of obedience to Christ Jesus. In v. 3 we saw that it means experiencing a new birth, life from the dead, through the mercy of God. It means being the recipients of a hope that will never die or disappoint and an inheritance that will always satisfy and enthrall and captivate our hearts. And in v. 8 it means experiencing here and now a joy in Jesus that is inexpressible and full of glory.

If you are still wondering what could possibly be of such interest to angels and what makes your salvation something worth celebrating, let me draw your attention quickly to two glorious truths about this “grace” that the prophets could only see from afar.

(1) Adoption

“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! . . . Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:1-2).

John’s tone and terms virtually bristle with urgency and excitement. “Come quickly and see! Look! Listen! You can’t imagine what I have to tell you!” I like that. Here’s an elderly man nearing the end of life who still gets excited about the love of God. And he did so because he knew that God’s love has bestowed on us the greatest of all blessings: sonship. Here is the measure of God’s love. Here is the test of how deeply He treasures us.

If we are to properly understand the glorious truth that we are the adopted sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father, there are a couple of things we need to keep in mind.

First, the biblical doctrine of adoption and the love that accounts for it makes sense only when we remember that we are not naturally God’s children. It is true that God is the Father of all men and women insofar as He is the Creator. But many such “children” of God will spend an eternity in hell. One does not become a spiritual child of God by being born, but by being born-again.

It’s painful to read about the life that most orphans live, whether in a third world country or even here in America, especially those who have been cruelly abandoned by their biological parents. They are alone, cruelly discarded, often diseased and deformed, helpless and without hope.

It isn’t a pretty picture. It’s just as ugly when looked at spiritually. For we are all born spiritual orphans (repeat). Apart from Jesus Christ we too are abandoned, stricken with a fatal disease called sin. We have no family, no father, no future. Here is where God’s incalculable love makes its appearance.

“He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:10-13).

NOTE: Being “sons” of God has nothing to do with gender. Women can be “sons” of God even as men can be the “bride” of Christ! It refers to a place of spiritual privilege, a relationship of intimacy and affection, irrespective of physical gender.

There is no saving relationship to God as Father without a living faith in Jesus Christ. Being a child of God, therefore, is not a universal status upon which everyone enters by natural birth. It is rather a supernatural gift one receives by believing in Jesus. Adoption is wholly and utterly an act of God’s spontaneous and uncoerced love.

Packer reminds us that in the ancient world,

“adoption was a practice ordinarily confined to the childless well-to-do. Its subjects . . . were not normally infants, as today, but young adults who had shown themselves fit and able to carry on a family name in a worthy way. In this case, however, God adopts us out of free love, not because our character and record show us worthy to bear His name, but despite the fact that they show the very opposite. We are not fit for a place in God’s family; the idea of His loving and exalting us sinners as He loves and has exalted the Lord Jesus sounds ludicrous and wild -- yet that, and nothing less than that, is what our adoption means” (Knowing God, p. 195).

Second, the reality of our spiritual adoption is made even more explicit when we contrast it with physical adoption in human relationships.

Today most adoptions occur without the adoptive parents first seeing the child. But it didn’t use to be that way. When couples would visit an orphanage with a view to adopting, they invariably based their choice on physical beauty and intellectual skills. Rarely did one hear of a child with Downs syndrome being adopted. Rarely did the orphan with spina bifida go home with new parents.

Prospective parents wanted to know about a child’s natural father and mother. Was this child the product of rape? What is his ethnic origin? Did she come from “good stock”? What is her IQ?

But God’s choice of us is utterly and eternally different. He didn’t make us his children because we were prettier than others. Divine adoption isn’t concerned with physical health or financial wealth or potential or a person’s past history. God loves the unlovely and unappealing. God loves because God loves. That is why you are his child. Because he loves you. Once this truth is understood I think people will more readily open their hearts to infants and young children with special needs, whatever they may be.

Consider some of the contrasts that you see between earthly and spiritual adoption.

The apostle John goes to great lengths to insist that entrance into God’s family is on a different plane from entrance into one’s earthly family (see John 1:10-13). One does not become a child of God by the same process one becomes a child of a physical parent. In other words, spiritual life is not genetically transmitted (repeat).

My earthly father was a Christian. So, too, is my mother. But that isn’t why I am a Christian. Your father and mother may not be Christians. But that has no ultimate impact on whether or not you are.

The DNA of one’s parents has nothing to do with becoming a child of God. Your heritage, ancestry, family tree, no matter how glorious and impressive, have nothing to do with your entrance into heaven. The fact that you have descended from noble blood or are the product of peasants is irrelevant. I’m proud of the name “Storms.” But when I stand before God he says, “Who?”

I rejoice in the fact that I’ve been justified and forgiven and granted eternal life. But to know and experience God as my Father, Abba, Daddy, is greater still. When you are justified by faith in Christ, you stand before God as Judge and hear him declare: “Not guilty! Righteous through faith in Jesus!” Praise God!

But in adoption God the Judge steps down from behind his legal bench, removes his stately robes, stoops down and takes you into his arms of love and says softly: “My son, my daughter, my child!”

I relish the experience of every divine blessing. I thank God daily that I am a member of the body of Christ and a citizen of the kingdom. But nothing can quite compare with knowing that when I was homeless, helpless, and hopeless, God rescued me from the gutter of sin and made me his child. Nothing can compete with the thrill of being adopted as a full and coequal heir with Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:17).

See Gal. 4:6 and Rom. 8:15.

Abba - Jesus always spoke of God as "my Father", both as a formal designation and as personal address in prayer. The lone exception to this rule is his cry of dereliction from the cross: "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Mark 15:34). At that moment Jesus regarded his relationship to God as penal and judicial, not paternal.

In the OT, apart from texts in which God is compared with an earthly father, the word is used of him only 15x. Yet, in not one of those cases does anyone refer to God as "my Father" in personal, individual prayer. But that is precisely what Jesus did and what we are told to do.

Abba, the Aramaic term lying back of the Greek pater, was used in Judaism to express the intimacy, security and tenderness in a family relationship. It was the term tiny children used to address their fathers. In the Talmud we read that when a child is weaned it learns to say abba (daddy) and imma (mommy). There is no precedent in all the literature of Jewish prayer for God being addressed as Abba. According to Joachim Jeremias, "to the Jewish mind it would have been disrespectful and therefore inconceivable to address God with this familiar word. For Jesus to venture to take this step was something new and unheard of. He spoke to God like a child to its father, simply, inwardly, confidently. Jesus' use of abba in addressing God reveals the heart of his relationship with God."

The glorious news is that this is precisely the relationship with God that we have through Jesus. It is by means of the Spirit's ministry within that we cry out: "Abba, Father!"

And note well: we “cry” Abba. We do not merely draw the logical conclusion that he is our Father. We “cry” Abba! We do not merely affirm theologically that God is our Father. The work of the Spirit is designed to spark and stir and awaken and energize heartfelt affections for God as Father such that we cannot help but “cry, Abba!” We do not merely make a statement of fact that we are the spiritually adopted children of God. We “cry” out through the Spirit: Abba!

We don’t merely infer that we are God’s children. We enjoy it through the Spirit! We do not merely deduce that we are God’s children. We delight in it! “The work of the Holy Spirit in our lives is to change our slavish fears toward God into confident, happy, peaceful affection for God as our father” (Piper).

(2) Forgiveness

“Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. . . . I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,’ and you forgave the iniquity of my sin’” (Ps. 32:1-2,5).

Three different words for sin. Three different words for confession. But better still, three different words for forgiveness!

Blessed is the man whose transgressions are “forgiven” (v. 1.). The word literally means “to carry away.” David’s sin, my sin, your sin, is like an oppressive weight from which we long to be relieved. Forgiveness lifts the burden from our shoulders.

Blessed is he whose sin is “covered” (v. 1). It’s as if David says, “Oh, dear Father, what joy to know that if I will ‘uncover’ (v. 5) my sin and not hide it, you will!” David doesn’t mean to suggest that his sin is merely concealed from view but somehow still present to condemn and defeat him. The point is that God sees it no more. He has covered it from all view.

Blessed is that man or woman, young or old, whose sin the Lord does not “impute” or “count” against them (v. 2). No record is kept. God isn’t a spiritual scorekeeper to those who seek his pardoning favor!

I don’t know how all this affects you, but I agree with David when he says (shouts?), “Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven . . . Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity” (vv. 1,2).

David wrote these words of hope and life from within the context of the Old Testament sacrificial system. He could confidently speak of such grace and kindness because he personally knew of the Day of Atonement, of the blood sacrifice, of the scapegoat onto whose head his sins were symbolically placed and transferred (see Leviticus 16).

In our case, on this side of the cross that forever and finally fulfills these old covenant types and symbols, we can confidently rest in the freedom of forgiveness because God has “put forward [Christ Jesus] as a propitiation by his blood” (Romans 3:25).

God did not willy-nilly cast aside our sins as if they were of no consequence. Rather, he “laid on him [the Son, our Savior] the iniquity of us all” (Isa. 53:6b). God did not casually ignore the dictates of his holiness and righteous character. Rather, he “wounded” Jesus “for our transgressions” and “crushed” him “for our iniquities” (Isa. 53:5).

This, and this alone, is why we can sing and celebrate that God does not and never will “deal with us according to our sins” or “repay us according to our iniquities”. The measure of God’s “steadfast love” (v. 11) is the depth of the sacrifice he endured in

Have you ever fooled around with an “Etch-a-Sketch”? It’s that toy with what looks like a television screen and two knobs that enable you to sketch whatever fits your fancy. I never was much good at it. I’m not an artist by any stretch of the imagination. The “Etch-a-Sketch” was made for people like me. If you don’t like what you’ve “drawn” and especially don’t want to be embarrassed should anyone else see it, you simply tip the screen and your work of “art” vanishes!

It’s a crude and simple illustration, but that is a lot like what God does with your sin when he grants forgiveness. Through the course of our earthly existence we sketch an ugly scenario of sin and rebellion and ingratitude and jealousy and lust. There it is, vividly imprinted on the screen of our souls.

But when we confess our sin, as David did, God’s loving and gracious hand tips the toy and the slate is wiped clean! No matter how often we return to deface our lives with ugly pictures of hatred and anger and pride and envy, God is faithful to tip the screen. All it takes is confession. All it takes is the blood of Christ.

But don’t take my word for it. Listen to what God himself says: “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more” (Isaiah 43:25). When we confess our sin and plead the blood of the Lord Jesus, God promises never again to bring it up, either to Himself, to you, or to others. That’s forgiveness! That’s love!

God’s not finished yet. He’s got another illustration to make His point. Hezekiah put it this way:

“Surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish. In your love you kept me from the pit of destruction; you have put all my sins behind your back” (Isaiah 38:17).

God has taken your sin and placed it out of sight behind His back. All He sees now when he sees you is the blessed righteousness of His own dear Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Such is the love of forgiveness.

Still not good enough? Still not convinced? Still afraid that your sins will do you in? Then pay close attention to the word of the prophet Micah. He has something important to say about the kind of God we have.

“Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:18-19).

How much more graphic do you demand God be before you enter into the joy of His forgiving love? All vestige of condemning guilt is gone. Again, “just as God said He put our sins behind His back, so here He says He will hurl them into the depths of the sea. They will not ‘fall overboard’; God will hurl them into the depths. He wants them to be lost forever, because He has fully dealt with them in His Son, Jesus Christ” (Bridges, TG, 40).

Like you, I watched with amazement as the latest underwater technology scoured for remains of the Titanic, recovering from the bottom of the sea what everyone thought lost forever. No! No! It won’t happen with your sins! The submarine has not been made that can submerge that deep. The equipment has not been found, and never will be, that can retrieve the slightest vestige of your transgressions. God forbids it. Such is the quality of His forgiving love.