Good morning again. It's good
to be here. Our text will be in 1 Peter 2,
where brother John read. The name of the message is Christ
is precious. Christ is precious. Let's read
again verses 1 to 8. Wherefore, laying aside all malice,
and all guile, and hypocrisy, and envies, and all evil speakings,
as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may
grow thereby, if so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.
In whom coming as unto a lively stone, disallowed indeed of men,
but chosen of God and precious. Ye also, as lively stones, are
built up a spiritual house in holy priesthood to offer up spiritual
sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also
is contained in the Scriptures, behold, I lay in Zion a chief
cornerstone, elect, precious, He that believeth on Him shall
not be confounded. Unto you therefore which believe,
He is precious. But unto them which be disobedient,
the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made
the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense,
even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient whereunto
they were appointed. Unto you therefore which believe,
He is precious. Now when something's precious
to us, we cherish it, don't we? A mom and dad cherish their children. They're precious. We cherish
our mom and dad, don't we? We cherish our family. Even if
it's not reciprocated, we still cherish them, don't we? We as
believers cherish the people of God. You're precious to me. You who believe are trophies
of God's grace. So when something's precious
to us, we cherish it. And here in our scripture it
says, to the believer, the Lord Jesus Christ is precious, precious. And to you, therefore, which
believe, he is precious. Now, as I said, we can precious,
or family members can be precious to us, friends can be precious
to us, but Christ is truly, truly precious to the believer. He's
cherished among, above all others. Above all, now there was a time
when he wasn't like that to me and to you who believe. Now, have you ever thought, how did
I live without Christ? I've thought that many times.
How did I do that? Well, it was him keeping me,
but still, how did I face things? He's so precious to me. He's
vowed to never leave me nor forsake me. He saved my eternal soul
by the shedding of his own precious blood. He's taken all my sin
debt, all my sins, and he's paid for it all. And he's done that
for everyone who believes. Is he not precious to us? Is he not precious? My, what
a Savior. What a Redeemer. Turn, if you
would, over to Luke, chapter 7. There's a centurion in Luke,
chapter 7, who had a servant who was precious to him. The
same word that's used in, the same Greek word that's used in
1 Peter, chapter 2, verse 4, which speaks of Christ being
precious to God, is the same Greek word that's used by the
centurion. Not the same Greek word that's used in verse 7 where
we are, but still, same connotation. Look at this. Luke, chapter 7. Now this centurion, he had a
servant who was precious to him. Very, very dear to him. And think of this. Think of how
precious Christ is to God. Think of how precious Christ
is to we who believe. Look at Luke chapter 1, verses
7 to 10. Now when he had ended all his
sayings in the audience of the people, he entered into Capernaum.
And a certain centurion, servant, who was dear to him, So when
someone's precious to us, and that's the word right there that's
translated precious in 1 Timothy 2, verse 4, dear. So when someone's
precious to us, we cherish them because they're dear to us. They're
dear to us. Who was dear unto him was sick
and ready to die. And when he heard of Jesus, he
sent unto him the elders of the Jews, besieging him, that he
would come and heal his servant. he was besieging the Lord, that
he would just come and heal his servant, this one who was dear
to him, this one who was precious to him. And when they came to
Jesus, they saw him instantly, saying that he was worthy for
whom he should do this. For he loveth our nation, and
he hath built us a synagogue. Then Jesus went with them. And
when he was now not far from the house, the centurion sent
friends to him, saying unto him, Lord, trouble not thyself, for
I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof. This man
knows something of who Christ is. It's being revealed to him
who Christ is. He says, I'm not even worthy
to have you in my household. Wherefore neither thought I myself
worthy to come unto thee, but say in a word, and my servant
shall be healed. He had such faith that Christ
would just have to say a word. He's trusting Christ. All he
has to do is say a word, and my dear servant will be healed. Look at, and he recognizes, he
acknowledges the Lord's authority. He acknowledges, he acknowledges
that he has all power. Look at this. For I also am a
man sent under authority. Now a centurion, he was like
a sergeant among the legions. And he had men under him. And
I tell you what, them centurions, they were rough guys sometimes.
But they were leaders. And they were veterans. And the
reason they ranked up like that was because of valor in battle
or because of just how long they'd been in the legion itself. And so this is a man who has
leadership, has authority. He says, for I also am a man
sent under authority, having under me soldiers. And I say
unto one, go, and what? He goeth. So he says, go and
do that, and the soldier obeys. He doesn't say, well, I think
I might do that. No, no, no, no, no, no. You don't do that.
You don't do that. Oh, you just don't. I see Brother
Tom laughing, because he knows. You just don't. You don't do
that kind of stuff. You obey. You're like, yes, sir. Off you
go. And to another, come. And what?
And he cometh. And to my servant, do this, and he doeth. When Jesus
heard these things, he marveled at him and turned him about.
and said unto the people that followed him, I say unto you,
I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. This man believed. He believed that Christ had all
authority. He understood authority. He understood what it was to
have power. And he acknowledged that all
Christ had to do was say a word and his servant would be healed.
And the Lord's marveling. And they that were sent returning
to the house found the servant whole that had been sick. The
one who the centurion cherished, the one who was precious to him,
had been healed by the Lord, by his power. He had mercy upon
him. He had mercy upon him. And as
I said, the centurion acknowledged his unworthiness and he acknowledged
the authority that the Lord had. Hawker comments this. Though
a Gentile, the centurion had such great views of Christ as
none but the Lord could have given him. The only way he could
know that the Lord had all that authority and the only way that
he could know that he was unworthy to be in his presence is that
God had given him that knowledge. God had showed him, revealed
him who Christ was. He is Lord. He's Lord. And he is precious, precious
to God's people. Turn, if you would, to Colossians
chapter three. Colossians chapter three. And in knowing that this
was a Gentile, this centurion was a Gentile, look how this
verse here comes alive. And we are Gentiles. Look at
this, Colossians chapter three. And this is speaking of in Christ,
in Christ. And I love this. This is one
of my favorite verses. Now, there's a word there, Scythian.
I was gonna keep this for when we get to this verse in the Colossians
study. But the reason it says barbarian and Scythian The Scythians
were the barbarians of the barbarians. I don't even want to tell you
what they did. They were like the worst of the worst. Look what the Lord says. Look
what Colossians says here. Where there is neither Greek
nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor
free. So in the body of Christ, Christ
is all. The nationalities disappear,
beloved. They disappear, Colossians 3.11,
where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision,
barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all and in
all. So Christ becomes precious to
every believer, every believer, every single person who's in
the body of Christ. So to the believer, our text
proclaims that Christ is precious. He's precious. And every believer
can look back in his life and see a time when Christ was not
precious. But now, but now, oh, he's precious. He's precious. And he never was
precious to us until the Lord saves us. And then he's precious. He's
everything, isn't he? If you take Christ away, I have
nothing. He's everything to me. He's precious
to me. And God's people hold Christ
in the highest honor. The believer in Christ cherishes
the Lord above all else. All my acceptance before God,
all my acceptance before God, and I mean all of it, all my
acceptance before God is in Christ Jesus and him alone. Nowhere
else. Nothing I do. Nothing I say. Nothing! All my acceptance before God
is in Christ. Is it not so for you who believe?
Oh, what salvation we have in Christ! What comfort we have
in Christ! What security we have in Christ!
He is our all in all. And faith in Christ is going
to Christ. Trusting in Christ. Committing our soul to Christ.
Relying alone on Christ. And nothing else for salvation.
Just Him. Just Him. We just look and live. And He gives us the eyes to see
Him. And He makes us willing. And we run to Christ. And the
believer lives a life of trusting Christ. We live a life of trusting
Christ. We live a life of resting in
Christ. In Him alone. And He is our life. When we sin, we confess our sin
before Him. When we doubt, when we go through
trials, we seek His face. We seek His face. And the Holy
Spirit of God, as we read the scriptures, points us right to
Him. Right to Him. He will not speak
of himself. He points us right to Christ. And the scriptures bring us great
comfort, don't they? Great comfort. And as we see
other brethren who have struggled through this pilgrimage called
life, we who have went through similar trials or tribulations,
see that Christ is their strength. And we know that when we went
through those situations, Christ is our strength. He's the only
one. That's why I say, how did I live
without him? Oh my gosh. I cannot imagine a life without
him now. He becomes our shield and our
defender, the captain of our souls. captain of our salvation. And you know that he always cares
and he always watches over his people no matter what we go through. And we see this in scripture,
don't we? Time after time after time. And what does it do is
we read how God delivered David, how God delivered the Israelites,
what how God and how Christ paid for all our sins. What does it
do? It strengthens us and it comforts us. Oh, my. And we look and we just say,
glory be to God. Look at what Christ has done.
Look at what he's done. And what he becomes more and
more precious to us. It doesn't stop. He gets more,
just like our loved ones become more and more precious to us.
No matter what. No matter what. But to the believer,
Christ is precious. And you know, he will be for
eternity. He will be for eternity. He'll
always be precious to us. It's just we get to see him face
to face. I've been thinking about what that's like lately. last
few days, just thinking about that, beholding his face. I was
talking to young Jacob in Colorado about it, and we were discussing,
eye hath not seen, or, yeah, eye hath not seen, ear
hath not heard the things that God had prepared for those of
you. We, we, we, it can't even enter into our imagination what
heaven's like. What awaits us? Can't even, can't even enter
into our imagination. But the most precious thing about
heaven is Christ. The fact that we will see the
one who purchased us with his own blood. And we know that salvation does
not depend upon our works at all, or upon our merit. or upon
me preserving myself, because I can't keep myself." Spurgeon
said, if we could fall, we'd fall a thousand times a day. My salvation, and if you believe,
your salvation is holy and completely because of what Christ has done. Because of what He has done. And He keeps us. And knowing
this, knowing that the fact that my salvation is not dependent
upon me, and that even me being kept is not dependent upon me,
that Christ is the one who keeps me. Now, we don't go crazy, right? But he keeps us, doesn't he?
That he is the Alpha and he's the Omega of our salvation. Makes
us just cherish him. Makes us just cherish Christ.
He becomes more precious to us. So let's look at this verse keeping
this in mind. And may we draw our attention
to the fact that Christ is precious. Christ is cherished by believers.
Now and in glory. Now and in glory. The saints
in glory cherish him just as much as we cherish him. If not
more. Because now they see him face
to face. So let's look at our text again and pray that God,
the Holy Spirit, will illuminate the scripture for us and draw
our attention to Christ and give us give us grace and strength
as we go through this week. Now, unto you, therefore, which
believe. He is precious. He's not precious
to unbelievers, but to believers, he's precious. unto you therefore which believe,
he is precious. Now the Greek word for precious
is defined by Strong's as this, a value that is money paid or
concretely and collectively valuables by analogy, esteem, especially
of a highest degree. So he's held in the highest degree,
or the dignity itself, honor, precious, price. So to the believer,
Christ is valuable. more valuable than you could
dig all the money in the world. And to the believer, Christ is
much more valuable to them than all that. You could find the most expensive
gem, I was thinking about, they call them precious gems, don't
they? You could find the most expensive, precious gem, and
it doesn't come close. to how Christ is precious to
the believer. Oh, He's precious. Unto you,
therefore, which believe, He is precious. He is everything. He's everything to us. So let
us consider the fact of Jesus Christ being precious to the
believer. Jesus is precious to all believers. He is cherished
by them. We've set a high value upon Him,
haven't we? There's nothing that compares
to Him. He's all our salvation, and He's all our hope. What do
we have without Him? Nothing. But oh, what do we have
with Him? Everything. A believer in Christ counts it
an honor to serve our Lord and Master. We value Him above all
others. Let others think of Him as they
may. All who are taught of God think
highly of Him. We worship Him. We adore Him. And He is deserving of all our
praise. He's deserving of all of it. All of it. Believer in
Christ can never honor Him as they wish. But one day when we
are sinless and in glory, we will worship Him and adore Him
as we wish we could. Sinless. My, what a day that'll
be. And let us also consider this,
that every believer feels their need of Him. Therefore, He's
precious to us. No weary traveler ever felt his
need of rest as we who believe feel our need of rest in Christ. Therefore, he's precious to us. No hungry laborer ever felt his
need of food. We who believe hunger and thirst
after righteousness. And Christ is precious to us.
No drowning person ever felt his need of saving. Oh, we have been saved from all
our sins. Rescued. Rescued. And the believer
feels his need of Christ. His need of Christ. And therefore,
he's precious to us. God's people need to be saved.
And only Christ can save them. There's salvation in no other. And therefore, Christ is precious
to we who believe. We feel our need to be joyful. And only Christ can make us joyful.
As we read about what He's done, as we read about who He is, it
fills the believer's heart with joy. With joy. And He becomes more and more
precious to us. We need righteousness. We need a perfect righteousness
to stand in God's presence. Our own righteousness is like
filthy rags, unacceptable before God. But as I said earlier, all
my acceptance before God is in Christ, and I am clothed in the
righteousness of Christ. And if you're a believer, you
are too. And He, isn't He precious when
we think about that? Isn't He precious to us? Oh,
we need his blood to cleanse us from all sin and obtain our
pardon. And he did this. It is finished. And when we think of that, oh,
how precious Christ is to us. We need a spirit to to make us
fit for heaven and the Holy Spirit regenerates us. And we're made
fit for heaven in Christ and we rejoice. And he becomes even
more precious to us because we know outside of him, we have
no acceptance with God. But in him, oh, in him. We are accepted in the blood. And he becomes more and more
precious to us. We need him to intercede for
us, and he does. He does. We need the fullness
of his grace to supply all our needs from earth to heaven. And
every believer discovers the exact suitability of Christ to
them in all our needs. Because all spiritual blessings
are in Christ and Him alone. They're nowhere else. He is just what we need. In Him, the believer finds all
that we need. We are foolish. He is all our
wisdom. We are unrighteousness, He is
the Lord our righteousness. We are unholy, in Him the believers
made holy. We are weak, but His, He, Christ Jesus the
Lord is our strength. We are in bondage or we're in
bondage to sin. And in Christ we have redemption,
payment for all our sins, freedom from the penalty and condemnation
of our sins. And we are complete in Him. And it makes Him precious to
us. He's all our salvation. The believer
is led to see led by the Holy Spirit to see Christ, and to
see that in Christ everything is finished. He is precious to us. The believer
trusts Him with pardon. before a holy and righteous God.
The believer has peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Not peace in our own self, but we have peace with God through
Jesus Christ our Lord. We have everlasting life through
the Lord Jesus Christ. Everlasting. It's eternal. You
can't lose it. Oh, what peace that gives me.
And how that makes Him precious in my eyes. I remember Bruce Crabtree saying,
we can't mess it up. Because salvation's in Christ.
That'll make your heart sing. Everlasting life in and through
the Lord Jesus Christ and Him alone. And our hearts now, we
have been given a new heart. And they rest and repose in Him. And we commit our eternal souls
to Him and to Him alone. We hide in Christ, don't we?
He's the refuge of our soul. We trust in Him. He's our almighty
Savior. And He is the object of our faith
and the object of all who believe. And to all who believe, Christ
is precious. He's precious. Others do not
feel their need of Him, and they do not depend on Him for pardon
and peace, but God's people do. We have found in Him, and in
Him alone, salvation. Salvation is of the Lord. The Apostle gives certain reasons
why Christ is precious to the believer. Let us look at some
of these. Let us consider some reasons
why Christ is precious to we who believe. The reason why Christ
is precious to the believer is God has laid him for a foundation.
And we'll look at this more tonight. Look at verse six of our chapter.
Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, behold, I lay
in Zion, a chief cornerstone, elect precious. He that believeth
on him shall not be confounded. over in 1st Corinthians 311 scripture
declares this, for other foundation can no man lay than that which
that is laid which is Jesus Christ. Now I used to be involved in
the construction trade and I was mulling over this foundation
aspect. Our builder who we worked for he would go and there'd be
a chunk of land and in the one specific area we were there was
a whole bunch of different different builders who were purchasing
land in this area. So Carrick, who was the builder
we worked for, he would go and he'd pick out a parcel of land
and he'd purchase it and then he'd stick his sign on it. He'd
stick his sign on it. Now the other land around them
had not been purchased but there was a sign and it said Whittle
Construction and that was the guy we worked for and he purchased
that land, it's his. It's his. Not long after that,
the dozers would come, and the guys, and they'd till up that
land. They'd till that land up. John
knows what that's all about. They'd till it all up. And so
that land would not only now have a side out in front, now
it's different from the other land, because it doesn't have
all those grass and stuff growing. They've went there, and they've dozed
the land, and they've taken the rocks out and stuff. And then
next, the concrete guys would come. And these concrete guys
would come, and they'd be laying this foundation. And there was
that foundation. And then the laborers would come
and they'd start to frame that house up. The framers would come
and they'd frame that house up. Then the drywallers and then
eventually I'd come in there too with the guys and we're all
busy working and then it's all finished. It's all finished. But that foundation had to be
laid in order for that building to be built upon. And Christ is the one foundation
for all believers. The one sure foundation of the
church on which the whole building rests. That's Him. We rest on
Him, the foundation. And we're safe upon Him. And
the church is still being built up. Even now. God's still saving
His people, isn't He? What's the foundation? The same
foundation for us. Same foundation for the apostles.
Think of that. Same gospel I preach. Same gospel
that was preached all through the ages. Christ in him alone. That's the foundation. That's
the foundation. Sure foundation. And he's the
only foundation of a sinner's hope. He's the foundation of
every believer. Next, let's look at this. Christ
is chosen of God. Look at this. Wherefore also
it contained in the scripture, behold, I lay in Zion, the chief
cornerstone, elect, precious, and he that believeth on him
shall not be confounded. Christ was chosen to be our Savior. God's elect are chosen in Christ,
right? Christ was chosen to be the source
and supply and the author of eternal salvation unto all who
trust in him. He was chosen to be the storehouse
of blessings all in him, out of which all who believe in his
name shall be supplied. Turn, if you would, to Colossians
chapter one, Colossians chapter one. Do you know what pleased
the father that in that in Christ all the fullness should dwell? Colossians 1, 19 and 20. For
it pleased the Father that in Him, being Christ, should all
fullness dwell, and heaven made peace through the blood of His
cross, through the sacrifice of His blood, through Him shedding
His precious blood, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself,
by Him, I say, whether they be things on earth or things in
heaven. The only way we are redeemed is by the precious blood of Christ.
Let's go back to our text in 1 Peter 2, 6. that he is a cornerstone. He's the cornerstone to believers. Wherefore, also it is contained
in the scripture, behold, I lay in Zion, a chief cornerstone,
elect, precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be
confounded. Now we know Christ is our foundation, but here it
also speaks of him being our cornerstone. The Lord Jesus Christ is that
which unites all believers together. He's the one who unites us all
together, beloved. As one living temple. He keeps
us together. Inhabitation of God through the
Spirit. Look at verse 5, one verse above.
Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house and
holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God
by Jesus Christ. The union and strength and beauty
of God's church arises from Christ being the cornerstone. In Christ,
it is Christ and Him alone who unites all the parts together
and the whole of the church to God. He's the head, we're the
body. He's the foundation which the
house is built upon. It's Him, Him alone. It is He who unites us all. It's
Christ who preserves us. Now unto him that is able to
keep you from fall and to present you faultless. Imagine that sinners
presented faultless, faultless before the presence of his glory
with exceeding joy to the only wise God, our Savior be glory
and majesty, dominion and power both now and ever. Amen. Jude
24 and 25. Every believer is confident in
God and safe in Christ. Let whatever come upon this earth,
our hope, our trust, our rest is in Christ and Him alone. And
He is precious to us. Precious. Why? Because He's the foundation
of our hope. He's the cornerstone of all we
believe. He's the rock in who we rest
in. He's precious to the believer also because we are chosen in
Him. And we know we have no merit for that. My. And we are accepted by God in
Him. In Christ. And it's marvelous. It's wonderful. So Christ is
precious to the believer because He is the glorious one uniting
all of the church. He's the cornerstone of the church.
Christ is precious to the believer because He is the one who has
saved us from all our sins, and I mean all of them, by being
our substitute upon Calvary's cross, shedding His precious
blood. And He is precious to the believer
because we have in Him a full pardon. Full, absolute, complete. Pardon. And we are justified
before God in Him. And because of that, He's so
precious to us. He's so precious to us. And there's
many, many, many, many more reasons why. And think of this. There are some seasons in which
Christ is especially precious to us. There are some. Christ is especially precious
when the believer is first converted. Oh, Lord. When we realize that
He has taken us when we emerge, as one preacher said, when we
emerge from darkness to light because of what Christ the Holy
Spirit or Christ has done for us and what the Holy Spirit has
revealed to us. We emerge right from the from the darkness into
light. We're translated, Scripture says,
from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his dear
son. Oh, when we see Jesus as our as our all sufficient savior. When we flee to him in faith, We enjoy peace and liberty and
joy in the Holy Spirit. And He's so precious. He's so
precious. Christ is especially precious
to believers when the emptiness of this world is discovered.
The emptiness of this world is discovered. The soul, having
tried the world, has found it false and fickle. False and fickle. We find the things of the world,
when compared to Christ, an empty cistern. A cistern with holes
in it. It holds no water. A cloud without
water. Solomon said it's vanity and
vexation of the spirit. And the Christian has experienced
this. The world's pleasures end in pain. And its wealth ends in absolute
poverty spiritually. You can gain the whole world,
but if you lose your soul, you have nothing. But in Christ, the believer obtains
a deep and lasting peace which passes all understanding. A peace,
a peace where there was no peace at one time. A peace that no
matter what comes, we hold firm in Christ because
he's keeping us. He keeps us. And we have a peace
that passes all understanding. And think of this. A full pardon,
justification before God. And we know that the unsearchable
riches of Christ will never pass away. They're eternal. They're
eternal. That's why we say salvation's
of the Lord. That's why we say a believer can't lose their salvation,
because it's in Christ. It's in Him. Now, I like what
an old preacher said one time. He said, if someone can talk
you into salvation, someone can talk you out of it. That's true.
But God's people, we've been redeemed by the blood of the
Lamb. We've been regenerated by the Holy Spirit of God. Oh, and we've been given a peace
that passes all understanding. We know what we are. We know
who He is. And we rejoice. And Christ becomes
more and more precious to us. His presence is like a flowing
spring when we're going through trials and tribulations. It's
like a fire in the desert on a cold night. And like a happy home to an exhausted
traveler. That's how we feel about Christ. Oh, how precious Christ is to
us. We cherish him above all others. Above all others. Christ is especially precious
at the throne of grace. Hebrews 4.16 says this, Let us
therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may
obtain mercy and grace to help in time of need. What could we
do without Jesus? Nothing. What could we plead
without Christ? But we realize that we can come
boldly before the throne of grace, not based upon anything in us,
but based upon Christ and who He is. and what He's done for
us, and we understand our unworthiness, and we understand His infinite
worth before God. And we understand the glorious
sacrifice that He made on Calvary's cross for us, for us in our place. And believing that, we can boldly
come before the throne of grace in Christ. Knowing that the Father's
justice is appeased, that the Father's wrath is appeased in
Christ. And oh, how precious Christ is
to us when we can come to Him in prayer. Oh God, help me. I need your strength. How many
of us have cried that out? Lord, please. And He's with us. He'll never leave us nor forsake
us. How many times have we went before
him with loved ones? Oh Lord, please save them if
it's your will. Crying tears for our children
or crying tears for our loved ones. Oh, what comfort we find at the
throne of grace, beloved. And we receive grace to help
in time of need. And Christ is especially precious
when the enemy comes to harass us and when we reflect on the
sins of our past. Oh, but oh, what hope we find. They can bring us down, but oh,
the hope that the believer has in Christ, we can say, the blood
of Jesus Christ cleanses me from all sin. Christ hath paid for
all my sins. We dare not go to the throne
of grace without Christ. Oh no. Blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord imputeth not iniquity. That's a saved man. And you being dead in your sins,
in the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together
with him, having forgiven you all trespasses. That's why Christ
is so precious to us. Heaven forgiven you, all trespasses. That's what scripture declares
about the believer. Heaven forgiven you, all trespasses. Blotting
out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us. And oh,
what handwriting was against me. Oh my. But scripture declares blotting
out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us. which was
contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His
cross. And having spoiled princes and
principalities and powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing
over them. He's a triumphant King. He's
conquered. It's finished. And the believer
rests in that. And oh, how precious Christ is
to us. All our sins are forgiven in
our great substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ. And God is satisfied. He's he's satisfied. This is
the good news of the gospel. God is satisfied with the sacrifice
of Christ. And he alone has the victory.
Oh, He alone. And how many, how many, the Scripture
says, a number that no man can number rested and trusted in
Christ in Him alone. And through Him, through Him
the believer cries, O death, where is thy sting? O grave,
where is thy victory? How precious then is Christ to
the believer. Now the question which I put
forth to all of us here, all who will hear this message, is
Christ precious to you? Is Christ precious to you? Do you have this faith that makes
Christ so precious? If you do, then give God all
the glory. Give praise to His sovereign,
distinguishing grace of God for saving you. For not all are given saving
faith. And our prayer is that if you
can't say, Christ is precious to me. Oh, that God would make
it so. Oh, that God would make it so.
We place you in His hands. Oh, that God would make it so. If you believe, if Christ is
precious to you, if He is precious to you, give praise to the Father
who chose you in Christ in eternity. Give Him all the glory. Give
praise to the Holy Spirit. who drew you to Christ, who drew
you to Christ and regenerate you by His power. And if you have this, if Christ
is precious to you, give praise to the Lord Jesus Christ, the
one we looked at in Sunday school, the one who is Lord of all, the
one who left the glories of heaven and became a man. And the one who purchased you
with his own precious blood. The life of the flesh is in the
blood. He gave his life for us. Oh, what a savior and give thanks
to God. Give thanks to God. For Christ,
who is so precious, so precious to us. It is the eye which sees the
beauty of Christ and looks to Him. It is the mouth which tastes
the sweetness of Christ and proclaims it to our generation. It is the
new heart which clings and cleaves to Christ and Him alone. Christ
is the object of our faith. And to the believer, He's precious. As our text says, He's precious. And the faith of God's elect
is the operation of God. And our salvation is all wrapped
up in Christ and Him alone. And the believer looks outside
himself, and he looks to another. He looks to Christ. He looks
to Christ. And he keeps looking. And in
the glory, we'll look to Him. Or just keep looking. Turn, if
you would, to Titus chapter 3, and we'll close with this. We
look to Christ for all our righteousness. We look to Christ for all our
sanctification. We look to Christ for all our
wisdom. And we look to Christ because He is our redemption.
Look at Titus chapter 3. And we're closed with this. Titus chapter 3 verses 4 to 7.
Titus chapter 3 verses 4 to 7. A believer looks to Christ and
nothing else. and no one else. But after that the kindness and
love of God our Savior toward man appeared. Look at that. The
kindness and love of God appeared. It was manifested in Christ.
Not by works of righteousness. So that's not by anything you
do. There's no merit in our works
before God, which we have done, but according to His mercy, He
saved us. Notice that? If you're saved,
He saved you. We don't save ourselves. It's
impossible. He saved us. By the washing of
regeneration, being born again of the Holy Spirit, renewing
of the Holy Spirit, Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly.
How? Through Jesus Christ, our Savior, through Christ. See,
salvation is in Christ and through Christ and him alone. That being
that being justified by his grace. We should be made heirs or made
heirs. According to the hope of eternal
life. Gracious Heavenly Father, we
come before Thee. O Lord Jesus, to we who believe
You are precious, more precious than anything in this world,
more precious than any riches, more precious than any person.
You are everything to us as believers. There was a time, Lord, when
you weren't, but oh, now we love thee. And we love you only because
you first loved us and because you drew us and because you purchased
us upon Calvary's cross. And we marvel. We marvel at this
grace that's being bestowed upon us. Oh, Lord. May you bring comfort to your
people, comfort us through your precious word this week. May
we meditate upon what we've what we've looked at today. And may you give us grace and
strength in time of need. In Jesus' name, amen.