Pssst.
Tap, tap, tap.
Sorry to interrupt. I know you have a lot of important things on your mind, so I’ll only keep you for a minute.
Oh. And let me quickly say that I’m not here to sell you anything. But, as the envelope says, you may already be a winner!
So wouldn’t it be sad if a winner was living like… well, otherwise?
Wouldn’t it be tragic if this incredible wealth was there all along, but went unnoticed or unclaimed?
Let me show you how extraordinary the Grand Prize is.
The Longing of the Prophets
For hundreds of years, men with the special ability to receive messages from God and predict future events had known this was coming, and they wanted to know when. It was revealed to them that – precious as the prize was – they were not serving themselves or their generation, but you.
A new day was coming.
Your day.
But they were in the grandstands, looking on.
The Fascination of Angels
What I am describing to you is literally the curious wonder of the angels. Why? Because you have something they don’t – a sinful heart. Angels – those magnificent spiritual servants of the Lord – have no concept of being alienated by God or needing redemption.
They also have no concept of being found by grace.
Angels live in a world of faithful service and ready performance. We live in a broken world that can’t heal itself.
And yet… here in this broken world are keepers of The Prize.
Whole.
Redeemed.
And to the angels, a subject of great fascination.
But they are on the outside looking in.
Open Now to See if You Have Already Won
The prophets searched carefully and tried to learn about this salvation. They prophesied about the grace that was coming to you. The Spirit of Christ was in the prophets, telling in advance about the sufferings of Christ and about the glory that would follow those sufferings. The prophets tried to learn about what the Spirit was showing them, when those things would happen, and what the world would be like at that time. It was shown them that their service was not for themselves but for you, when they told about the truths you have now heard. Those who preached the Good News to you told you those things with the help of the Holy Spirit who was sent from heaven — things into which angels desire to look (1 Peter 1:10-12, NCV).
The Prize? A completely new understanding and experience of relationship with a holy God. And that understanding and experience is called…
Grace.
The very idea!
That bad people can be made good…
That lost people can be found…
That sinful people can be declared holy…
…all through no merit or action of their own!
I mean, NO merit. NO action of their own.
It’s still turning angels’ heads today – the glories of The Prize.
The Unfinished Business of God
But wait! There’s more!
In encouraging believers who are in the thick of persecution and pain, Peter offers an unusual encouragement: “Fix your hope completely on the grace that is to come” (1 Peter 1:13, NASB).
Pause here.
You mean, there is more grace that believers in Christ have yet to experience?
Yes.
Did you think you got the whole shebang when you first said “yes” to Jesus? Hmmm. Maybe that’s why believers get so mentally cluttered or morally bogged. So if you’re a follower of Christ, and have never heard this before, let me break it to you gently…
There is more to the grace of the Lord Jesus that you have yet to experience.
And why does Peter remind harassed believers of that? Because that is something we can build our hope on.
Our hope is not in a change in circumstances. Fact is, our circumstances may never change. Our hope is in the grace of the Lord Jesus we have yet to experience – but will when He returns.
So, this grace… this Prize…
The prophets searched for it…
The angels still marvel at it…
The Father initiated it…
The Son delivered it…
The Spirit proclaimed it…
Millions have believed and received it.
And yet, there is more to come.
What are you going to do about it?