Open your Bibles, if you would,
to 1 Peter, chapter 1. 1 Peter, chapter 1. The name of the message is redeemed
by Christ's blood. Redeemed by Christ's blood. 1
Peter, chapter 1, verses 13 to 21. 1 Peter, chapter 1, verses
13 to 21. Wherefore gird up the loins of
your mind, be sober and hope to the end for the grace that
is bought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ, as obedient
children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts
and your ignorance. But as he which hath called you is holy,
so be ye holy in all manner of conversation, because it is written,
Be ye holy, for I am holy. And if ye call on the Father,
who with without respect to persons, judged according to every man's
work, past the time of your sojourning here in fear. For as much as
you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver
and gold from your vain conversation received by traditions from your
fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb
without blemish and without spot, who verily was foreordained before
the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last
times for you. who by Him do believe in God
that raised Him up from the dead and gave Him glory that your
faith and hope might be in God. Now last week we considered verses
13 to 17 where we looked at how Peter gives an exhortation to
holy living and how we are not to fashion ourselves to be like
the world. Reasons for us to be like this,
what Peter gave us in the exhortation, is because God has chosen us
before the foundation of the world. And we have been sanctified
through the Holy Spirit of God unto obedience and sprinkling
of the blood of Jesus Christ. So we are therefore to gird up
our minds, the scripture declares, as obedient children, because
we are no longer children of disobedience, because Christ
is saved. were redeemed by His precious
blood, born again by His Holy Spirit. And we now love the things
that we once hated. We desire to worship and praise
our great God. We desire to be with God's people.
We love God's people, no matter what. No matter what. We love
the things we once hated. We desire to worship and praise
and give God all the glory. for the great things which He
has done for us. Therefore we pass the time of
our sojourning here in fear, and this is spoken of in verse
17, it's irreverent fear, which leaves the believer in awe that
God has chosen to have mercy upon me. Today I'd like us to consider
verses 18 to 21. For as much as ye know that ye were not redeemed
with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation
received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious
blood of Christ. As of a lamb without blemish
and without spot who verily was foreordained before the foundation
of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you. This is written to believers.
For you. Oh, that should warm our cold
hearts if our hearts are ever cold, eh? For you. Who by Him
do believe in God that raised Him up from the dead and gave
Him glory that your faith and hope might be in God. So our
topic today will be redeemed by the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And this message of redeemed
by the blood is a message that everyone needs to hear. Church
members, believers, unbelievers, those who claim to be resting
in Christ alone and those who make no claim at all. This is
the message that gospel preachers proclaim. That God's people are
redeemed by the blood of Christ and by nothing else. By nothing
else. He purchased his people with
his own precious blood. For as much as you know, look
at verses 18 and 19. For as much as you know that
you were not redeemed with corruptible things. Those are things that
you're not redeemed with. Corruptible things is silver and gold. You
can't buy your way into heaven. From your vain conversation received
by tradition from your fathers, you can't be redeemed by traditions.
People say, well, I belong to this church. This church has
been around for a long, long time. The Jews believed they
were saved just because they were Jews. No. No. But with the precious blood
of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. Now are there many things that
you and I do not know about our great God and King? There's many
things we don't know. Now we think we know a lot. We
don't know much. But we know what God's revealed
to us, don't we? And in that we rejoice. We rejoice. It's not wrong if someone asks
us something and we don't have the answer. There's nothing wrong
with that. I had a question I didn't have
an answer for right away last week, but I got you an answer.
It's okay for us to admit that we don't have all the answers.
And then we diligently search for those answers. Because if
we think we've arrived, we are in a heap of trouble, We should
ever be open to learning. We should have teachable spirits,
beloved. So it's not wrong for us to say,
I don't have the answer. Let me go study it out. Let me
find you the answer to that. And sometimes we find the answer,
and sometimes we don't. But it's OK. Because we are ever
learning from the scriptures, aren't we? The Holy Spirit's
ever revealing to us the truth. Through the preaching of his
word, through the study of his word, we're learning and growing
in the grace and knowledge and truth of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. Even the Apostle Paul thought
this way. Look at Philippians chapter 3. Again, if one thinks they've
arrived and they can't learn from the scriptures, then one's
in a very, very bad spot. Because look what the Apostle
Paul proclaims here. Philippians chapter 3, verses
12 to 14. Look at this. Not as though I
had already attained. Not as though I had already attained.
either were already perfect, but I follow after that I may
apprehend for that which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus."
Brethren, I count myself to have apprehended. He says, I've not
arrived. This is the Apostle Paul. I've
not arrived. But this one thing I do, forgetting
those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those
things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize
of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Putting things
behind us, beloved, and moving forward. Keeping our eyes focused
upon Christ. You can't change the past. I
can't change the past, can we? But we can move forward, can't
we? We can move forward, beloved. Look into Christ and Christ alone.
Go over if you would to actually first of all look at 1st Corinthians
13 12 Paul also wrote this and then put your finger in Deuteronomy
29 29 1st Corinthians chapter 13 verse
12 in Deuteronomy 29 29. We don't know everything but
we're learning that we were growing and we desire to grow and learn
and again in the knowledge and truth of our Savior the Lord
Jesus Christ God's people do. Look at this in first Corinthians
13, 12. And this is for all of us, too. But this is not this
is not just Paul. This is all of us. Look at this.
For now, we see through a glass darkly. We don't understand. But then face to face, now I
know in parts. We know in part, right, we know
some things, the Lord's taught us some things we know in part.
But then when we're in glory, shall I know even as also I am
knowing? Oh, when we see our great king
face to face, my goodness. And then go over to to Deuteronomy
29, 29. And I'm setting this up like this because there are
some things we know, but there's some things we do not know. Right.
But there are some things we know. Is believe. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 29,
29. Look at this and think about
this. Before you were saved, did you know anything about election?
I know Brother Matt, you grew up in this church. You heard
about election, you heard, but you didn't know until the Holy
Spirit revealed that to you. But before, those of us who were
not in any church where the gospel was preached, did we know about
election? Did we know about justification?
Did we know? I didn't have a clue. I don't have a clue, beloved. Look at this, Deuteronomy 29,
29. The secret things belong unto the Lord our God. The secret things belong unto
the Lord our God. Brother Henry said this. The
secret things belong unto God. There are a lot of secret things
about God, redemption, eternal life, heaven, hell, and future,
of which I don't know anything about. Brother Henry said that. And there's a gospel preacher
who's preached for 50 years. Brother Scott Richardson one
time said, after 30 or 40 years of preaching, he was talking
to Brother Donny Bell. And he said, well, one of these days,
I'm going to learn how to preach. My goodness. But there are some
things that we as believers know. We only know what God is pleased
to reveal to us. And we ought not to boast or
be high-minded about what we know either. Not at all. Because
we've received grace. We've received grace. And we
who have received grace should be the most gracious people in
this world. We should be. We should be. We who have God's mercy and grace
revealed to us should be merciful. I was talking to her dear sister
this week, and I love that. What she brought out, she brought
out the fact that since we're so, all our sins are forgiven,
we should be so quick to forgive. It's so true. My, just contemplate what the
Lord has done for us. We should be the quickest to
forgive, and may God give us grace to do so, to do so. Now, by faith, we receive the
word of God, As the scripture declares, without faith it is
impossible to please God, and we know that faith is a gift
of God, and repentance is a gift of God. We know that. The secret
things belong to God. Let us rejoice in the things
we do know, and admit that there are many things that we don't
know. That we don't know, and we ought not to speculate about
things. which the scripture have no answer for. Then face to face,
I shall know as I am and have been known. But right now, right
now, I know in part. I know in part right now, and
so do you who believe. We know in part, but one day
our faith will become sight, will become sight, beloved. Now,
there are some things which are very clear to the redeemed saint
of God. And the apostle Paul, Peter,
I mean, brings forth before us one of these things in our text
today. Look at verse 18. For as much as you know that
you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from
your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers,
you know, the redeemed of the Lord know this. This is something
we know. This is something we've been
taught, beloved. And we've been taught this by God. The Holy
Spirit has revealed this to us. We know. The redeemed of the
Lord know this, that we are not redeemed, that we're not saved,
that we're not justified by what? By corruptible things such as
silver and gold. We know that, don't we? We've
been taught that. We've been taught that. From
your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers,
we know that there's no salvation in a church, is there? Salvation's
in Christ, in Christ alone. I came out of a church, the Catholic
church, that believes that there's salvation within the church.
There's no salvation in the church. There's salvation in Christ,
in Christ alone. Nowhere else. Nowhere else. Only in Him. Only in Him. So we're not redeemed, we're
not saved or justified by corruptible things such as silver and gold.
But we know We know that we've been taught that and we've been
taught what we're saved by. Look at verse 19. But with the
precious blood of Christ is of a lamb without blemish and without
spot. Now, note, he brings before them
also your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers.
He brings forth that their vain conversation, Judaism, ceremonies,
rituals and legalism would not redeem their soul. Would not
redeem their soul. They're not saved partially by
Christ and then by partially by their works. But Charlie told me that a long
time ago, the church he went to, they said, well, you're saved
by Christ and by your works. That's a lie from the pit of
hell. Salvation is only in Christ and Christ alone, nowhere else,
nowhere else. Only in Christ. Only in Christ. Anyone who tries to be reconciled
to God by their deeds, either religious or other, will be eternally
lost. They'll be eternally lost. As
the condition of all men in their lost estates is that they are
guilty before God. And that was our condition, beloved.
We know that because we've been taught of God that that was our
condition before the Lord saved us before we were regenerated
and no amount of Your works are mine Right and no amount of the
religious person out there trying to gain salvation by their works
No, you could take the works of everyone in the world and
it won't redeem one soul But the work that Christ done has redeemed a number that no
man can number. And he did it once. For his people. Once. Oh, my salvation is Christ and
Christ alone. Romans chapter three, verse 28
says this. Therefore, we conclude that a
man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. That's
a verse to memorize. That's a verse to burn into your
heart, beloved. Therefore, we conclude that a
man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law over in
Galatians, turn, if you would, to Galatians, chapter two, Galatians,
chapter two. Paul pens this. And Peter, what Peter is professing
here. He's professing here that by the deeds of the law, no flesh
shall be justified in God's sight. That's what he's professing here.
As salvation's in Christ and Christ alone. Look at Galatians
chapter 2. Let's read verses 19 to 21. For I through the law am dead
to the law that I might live unto God. Galatians 2 20. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless,
I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth
in me. In the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me
and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace
of God. For if righteousness come by
the law, then Christ is dead in vain. Paul don't mix. Law with grace. It doesn't mix. Beloved, it's like oil and water.
It doesn't go together. Salvation's either 100% by grace
and grace alone, or it's not salvation at all. Anyone who says, well, I'm saved
partially by my works and partially by Christ's work is lost. We're redeemed by Christ's blood
and by Christ's blood alone No, no other way by Christ's work
on Calvary's cross. This is what Paul Paul's writing
about He says I don't frustrate the grace of God for if righteousness
came by the law then in Christ is dead Why would Christ die
if you could justify yourself by the law or if I could just
justify myself by law? There'd be no reason for Christ
to die with it But praise be to God The Lord Jesus Christ
died in the room in place of his people. Oh, I am crucified
with Christ. Nevertheless, I live yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in
the flesh. I live by the faith of the son of God who loved me
and gave himself for me. For me. I love that. It's wonderful. So Paul makes
a very serious statement in verse 21 for those who are trusting
in works to save them He says this to them and we could say
this to those works mongers people who are think they're saved by
their works for if righteousness come by the law then Christ is
dead Paul is proclaiming that we're not saved by the works
of the flesh or by the deeds of religion or the works of the
law but by Christ and Christ alone Look at verse 19 again in our
text. We are purchased, redeemed, pardoned by the precious blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the lamb without spot and without
blemish. But with the precious blood of
Christ is of a lamb without blemish and without spot. Now we see
in verse 18 the word redeemed. This is a word we often say and
often use. And Peter brings forth something
the believer knows. We know this, don't we? And something
the believer rests in. We are redeemed. We are redeemed. And then you tie that in with
verse 19, by the precious blood of Christ. We as believers know
this, don't we? And see, Peter's writing to believers.
He's writing to encourage them. What does he encourage them with?
The fact that you're redeemed by the precious blood of Christ.
Not everybody's redeemed by the blood of Christ. But if you're
a believer, you are. My. Can you imagine how that
would encourage these saints? And we know from studying this
book that these saints are suffering. through trials and tribulations.
Do you imagine how encouraging that would be to them? And think
of us in the circumstances that we're going through right now.
Every one of us is going through something, aren't we? How encouraging
is it for us to read this as believers and say, my, I'm redeemed
by the precious blood of Christ. And I walk around amongst people
who are not redeemed by that blood. Oh, my. May these precious doctrines
never become commonplace to us. One may ask us, what do you mean
by redeemed? Somebody may ask us that, what
do you mean by redeemed? Because we say it all the time
and we see it all the time and believers profess this all the
time, that we have redemption through his blood. We are redeemed
through the blood of Christ. The word redeemed means to be
ransomed, restored, or buy back. Ransomed. Ransomed, restored,
or buy back. Here's an illustration that'll
help us understand this. A missionary to Mexico tells
the story of a little Mexican boy. He and his dad made a kite.
It was a very good kite. It was a very good kite. They
put a long string on it and a tail on it and took it out and they
were flying it in one of the villages down in Mexico and the
string broke and the kite got away. The kite got away. And they never did find it. They
searched for it, and they never found it. And a few days later,
a little boy was in another village near his own, and he passed a
little shop. And there was one of those little
outdoor shops that they have on the corners of the street,
and there was his kite. There was his kite. And he went
inside and told the man in the shop that that was his kite. And the man said, no, son, that
is not yours. I found that kite, and I put
it there. And I'm going to sell it for three pesos. The little boy said, that's mine
now. The man says, it's not yours.
It doesn't have your name on it. There's no way that you can identify
it. If you want it, you have to buy
it. You have to redeem it. You have
to redeem it. because there's a price on it
now. It'll cost you three pesos. Well, he got three pesos, and
his dad bought the kite. And on the way out the door,
he was holding the kite in his arms, and he said, you're mine
twice, little kite. I made you, and now I bought
you. I made you, and now I bought
you. I redeem you. And this is what the Lord Jesus
says to his redeemed. He made us. He made us. And he purchased us by his strength
and power. And we live glorifying him. How did he redeem us? Beloved,
there was a price on us, wasn't there? There was a price on every
one of us. The law and justice of God had
a price on every one of our heads, had a claim upon every one of
us. Every one of us. And Christ came and paid it with
his own precious blood. He redeemed me. He restored me. He bought me back. He ransomed
me from the slave block of sin. Did he do so for you? Rejoice,
beloved. Rejoice. His blood is so precious
because it's the blood of God. And we are redeemed with his
precious blood. Priceless blood, beloved. Priceless
blood. Sometimes we hear about it so
much it can become commonplace. May it never be so for us. The blood that Christ shed is
God's blood. He's the God-man mediator. God
incarnate in the flesh. And that blood, according to
our text, is the very thing that has redeemed our eternal souls. His blood is precious. Paul said
to the church at Antioch and the elders, feed the church of
God which He purchased with His own blood. Precious blood. Precious blood. The blood of Christ is precious
because it is the blood of the God-man. Now there's been many,
many men who have lived upon this earth, but there's only
been one God-man. There's only been one God-man.
The Lord Jesus Christ. And Christ's blood is precious
because it was shed one time by one offering. He hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. And it is precious blood because
it is holy blood. And it's without spot and without
blemish. Because He is without spot and
without blemish. He is the Lamb of God, the perfect,
sinless sacrifice. And redemption for our sins only
comes through the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. We
are not redeemed by our works, or by the deeds of religion,
or by traditions of man. No, we are restored, we are redeemed,
we are bought back, we are purchased with the precious blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And we know that the Scriptures
declare the life of the flesh is in the blood, and He gave
His life for us. What a Savior! What a Redeemer! Precious is the blood of Jesus,
who can half His worth unfold, far beyond our understanding,
sweetly sung to hearts of gold. And here is something else I
know. As the Lord has revealed this to his people, that the
Lord Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God without spot or without
blemish, by whose blood I am redeemed. And he was verily foreordained
before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these
last times for you, for believers. Look at verse 20. Who verily
was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest
in these last times for you. Look at what this verse is saying,
beloved. The Scripture is proclaiming that Jesus Christ is not only
the Redeemer now, and not only the Redeemer in David's time,
and not only the Redeemer in Abraham's time, in Moses' time. He, Jesus Christ, has always
been the Redeemer from eternity. That's what the Scripture is
proclaiming, beloved. And we know that, don't we? He's
taught us that. We know that He alone is the
only Savior. There is salvation in no other.
The book of Acts proclaims this. Neither is there salvation in
any other. For there is none other name
under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. There
is salvation nowhere else but Christ. There is only one gospel. There is no new gospel. There
is only one gospel. One. One gospel. The Lord proclaimed that Moses
wrote of me, Abraham saw my day, and we know that by the teaching
of the Holy Spirit of God that Abel's blood sacrifice typified
Christ. He's a lamb slain, ordained,
sent to the Father before the foundation of this world. Before the foundations of this
world were ever laid, he's the lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. Let us marvel at this. Before there was a sinner,
there was a savior. And Christ is and was the savior,
the only savior before there was guilt. Christ was the gracious
substitute. And he has promised to the saints
of old and in the word, he was pictured in the Old Testament
sacrifices. We looked at that on Wednesday
night and the Day of Atonement. He came in the flesh. God manifest. in the flesh these last days
to save his people, sinners by birth, nature, and choice. First
Timothy declares this. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all expectation that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners of whom I am chief. So the believer is not
saved by works, but by the precious blood of Christ. Lastly, let
us look at one more thing. The believer knows they know
whom Christ died for. Look what the scriptures say
in verse 21, who by him do believe in God that raised him up from
the dead and gave him glory that your faith and hope might be
in God. We know for whom Christ died for. He didn't die for the
whole world, did he? No. Tie that in. Look at verses
21, 20 and 21, who verily was foreordained before the foundation
of this world, but was manifest in these last times for you,
who by him do believe in God that raised him up from the dead
and gave him glory, that your faith and hope might be in God.
There's no period at the end of verse 20, beloved. It's not
the end of the sentence. It continues who by him do believe
in God that raised him up from the dead and gave him glory.
That's your faith and hope might be in God. So here before us
is. Those who for whom he suffered
on the cross, those for whom he came to save from their sins,
his people in John, chapter 10, he says, I am the good shepherd
and know my sheep and no one of mine as a father knoweth me. Even so, no, I, the father, and
I lay down my life for the sheep. That's who he died for, his people.
Now, to the unbeliever, this is foolishness. But to the believer
in Christ, this is wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. He alone
is our salvation. He alone is our hope. And He
came to redeem His people from their sins. He came to obey the
law of God in our place. He came to die in our place as
our substitute before God's law and justice. He came to satisfy
God's justice and wrath in our place as our substitute. He suffered,
He died, He was buried, He rose again the third day for our justification
to show that God is absolutely satisfied with the sacrifice
of Christ. Fully satisfied. And we who are
His people are saved, redeemed by His precious blood, beloved.
And we rejoice in joy unspeakable, and we are left in awe and wonder
at the great Redeemer who did all this for us. And we know
that our salvation, redemption, forgiveness, pardon, and life
is through the precious, priceless, unspeakable blood of God, the
Lord Jesus Christ, the blood of the God, man, who was ordained
before the foundation of the world and was manifest in these
last times as our Redeemer from all eternity. That your faith and hope might
be in God, and the Lord Jesus Christ is God incarnate in the
flesh. Gracious Heavenly Father, we
thank you again for this wonderful time that we've had to study
your Word. Oh, we know, we've been taught, we who are redeemed
of the Lord, and this is some things that we know, a lot of
things we don't know, Lord, but This is one thing we do know,
that we are redeemed by thy precious, precious blood. Oh, Lord, it's
so precious. It cleansed, cleansed me from
all my sin. And for every believer of all
the elect of all the ages, when you shed your blood on Calvary's
cross, we are redeemed by thy precious blood. Glory be to thy
name and honor and praise in Jesus name. Amen.