Ledford's having a birthday this
week, and Harleen's having one too, I think, next week. Hannah's six. Hannah will observe
the Lord's table after this morning's worship service, and there won't
be any afternoon Bible study. Other than that, I can't think
of any announcement. Pray for the church family to the loss of Wayne.
Remember each other in your prayers and seek the Lord's help for
this time. We begin our worship service
with hymn number 294, Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us. Savior, like a shepherd lead
us, much we need thy tender care. In thy path, O Master, lead us,
for our use thy foes prepare. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus,
Thou has bought us, Thine we are. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus,
Thou has bought us, Thine we are. ? We are Thine, do Thou befriend
us ? Be the guardian of our way ? Keep Thy flock from sin, defend
us ? Speak us when we go astray ? Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus
hear us when we pray. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus,
hear, oh hear us when we pray. Thou has promised to Sinful though we be, Thou hast
mercy to relieve us, Grace to cleanse and power to free. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus, Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus,
early let us turn to Thee. Early let us do Thy favor. Let us do thy will. Blessed Lord and only Savior,
with thy love our prisons fill. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus,
thou hast loved us, love us still. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus,
Thou hast loved us, loved us still. After scripture and prayer we'll
sing hymn number 442. If you have your Bibles turn
with me to 1 Peter chapter 1. begin reading verse 18 and read
through verse 21. 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,
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 from the dead
and gave him glory, that your faith and hope might be in God. Let us pray. Our Father, we bless
you and thank you that our Lord is so clearly set forth in his
redemptive work in this grand and glorious book. We are thankful
for what we know, because you have revealed it to us through
the preaching of the gospel, giving us faith to receive and
understand and to know. We are thankful that our confidence
is not in ourselves, for there's nothing there worthy of confidence. But our confidence in Jesus Christ
who sits at thy right hand even now ever living to make intercession
for us who sits there because he earned
the right to be there having been obedient even to the death
of the cross wherefore you have highly exalted him and given
him a name above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow and every tongue confess that he is Lord to your glory
things in heaven, things in earth, things under the earth, and things
in the sea. So declare him to be Lord over all. We praise you for mercy and grace
through Jesus Christ that is new every day. New beginnings every day as we
awake in the dawn of the day knowing full well that thou art
keeping us and holding us We praise you for that. Help us,
Lord, as a congregation to remember each other in prayer, call out
each other's name to heaven. Help us to seek you in all things
and praise you. Help us this day as we go through
this day of worship, as we hear the gospel, we preach the gospel,
as we join together in communion around the Lord's table, rehearsing
and memorializing and remembering what made us what we are as children
of God, the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Help us, we pray,
to worship you now, in Christ's name, amen. Praise Him, praise Him, Jesus
our blessed Redeemer. Sing o'er His wonderful love
proclaim. Hail Him, hail Him, highest archangels
in glory. Strength and honor give to His
holy name. Like a shepherd, Jesus will guard
his children. In his arms he carries them all
day long. Praise him, praise him, tell
of his excellent greatness. Praise him, praise him, ever
in joyful song. Praise Him, praise Him, Jesus,
our blessed Redeemer. For our sins He suffered and
bled and died. He, our rock, our hope of eternal
salvation. Hail Him, hail Him. Jesus who bore our sorrows, love
unbounded, wonderful, deep, and strong. Praise Him, praise Him,
tell of His excellent greatness. Praise Him, praise Him, ever
in joyful song. Praise Him, praise Him. Jesus, our blessed Redeemer. Heavenly portals loud with hosiness
ring. Jesus, Savior, reigneth forever
and ever. Crown Him, crown Him, prophet
and priest and King. Over the world victorious, power
and glory unto the Lord belong. Praise Him, praise Him, tell
of His excellent greatness. Praise Him, praise Him, ever
in joyful song. Some good words in that hand.
Stan, would you and Steve receive the offering, please? Let us pray. Father, again we
approach in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, who is King
of kings and Lord of lords, prophet and priest and king. How excellent
is he in all his ways and doings. He is the unspeakable gift that
came down from heaven from the father of lights in whom there
is no variable, there's no shadow of turning, a good and perfect
gift to your children. And with him, you've freely given
him all things. As we return unto you what's
yours, let us do so with joy, praising him in our hearts. We
pray in Christ's name, amen. Okay. you. your attention back to First
Peter Chapter 1. Verse 18 starts off with the
word for as much as you know. The Bible says a great deal about
the children of God knowing things. In First John it says that they
have an unction from on high and they know all things. They
know all things. Another place it says they have
the mind of Christ. The promise of the new covenant,
Jeremiah 31, says that they will not say to one another, know
the Lord, because they'll all know him from the least to the
greatest. They will know the Lord. Brother Mike Butler and I were
talking about that passage on the phone the other day. We come to the conclusion that
what that means that everybody will know the Lord is because
previous to that he said he's written the law or his word in
their hearts. He's written his word in their
hearts. That's how they know the Lord.
You don't know the Lord by meeting him on the street or seeing him
in the sky or in some image on a McMuffin or whatever people
see him in. We don't know the Lord that way.
We know him in this word. he has magnified this word it
says above his name. Words. And one of the words that's
applied to the child of God is he knows. He knows something,
not guessing, not wishing, not trying to find out something.
He knows something. Scripture says we know. that
all things work together for good to them that love God, to
them that are called according to His purpose. We know that.
That is a great comfort in this world to know that. Paul said,
I know whom I believe and am persuaded and He is able to keep
that which I have committed unto Him against that day. Paul said
in Romans 7, I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth
no good thing. I know that. You know what a
precious thing it is to know that. To know what you are by nature.
Not everybody knows that. Only those who the Holy Spirit
is taught knows that. Before they knew that, they thought
sin was just something that everybody does. To the carnal mind, sin is a
misdemeanor. the spiritual mind sin is capital
crime worthy of death and you know that what a thing what a
thing that you know that the natural man receiveth not the
things of the spirit there foolishness to him neither can he know them
nor discern them but the spiritual man discerneth all things he
knows everything what you are out here this morning, this small
congregation in the middle of nowhere in Cherokee, North Carolina.
So once you know it all, that's what you are. Ephesians 1 said
He is abounded toward us in wisdom and understanding. Abounded! What does it mean for God to
abound toward us? You know things that nobody can
know apart from the work of Sovereign Almighty Grace and be thankful
and Peter says in this passage in response actually to what
he said prior to this for as much as you know you are not redeemed with corruptible
things as silver and gold, or from your vain conversation
received by tradition from your fathers, but you were redeemed
with the precious blood of the Lamb. In verses 13 through 17,
Peter gives some admonitions to the children of God. He says,
Wherefore gird up your loins of your mind. He says, Get ready,
I'm going to tell you some stuff. Get up your loins of your mind.
You didn't even know your mind had loins if it didn't say it
in the word. Be sober. Be sober and hope to the end
for the grace that is brought unto you at the revelation of
Jesus Christ as obedient children, not fashioning yourself according
to the former lust in your ignorance, but as he which hath called you
is holy so be ye holy in all manner of conversation
how do you do that? didn't say act holy you're to be holy as God is holy
how is he holy? the only way you can be holy
is to be essentially holy. You can't progress in it because
God doesn't progress in His holiness. You can't work it up because
God doesn't work it up. It says be, present tense, state
of being, be. Just as you said in Ephesians
chapter 1 and verse 12 that you would be for the glory of God. You would exist in this world
for His glory. God has called you to be holy.
How? You are holy because Jesus Christ
is your holiness. He is your sanctification. For
of God are you in Christ, who of God is made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, holiness, and redemption. Because it is written, Be ye
holy, for I am holy. If you call on the Father without
respect to persons, judge us every man according to his works.
Pass the time of your sojourn and heal with fear. That means
to worship, love, honor, and reverence God. Judge man every
man according to his works. if we look at ourselves and read
those passages, we're going to have some trouble. We're going
to have some worries. We're going to have some awful
stretches of the imagination. But know this, God has ordained your good works. You are His workmanship, His
poem, His poema. You are His workmanship created
in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained
that you should walk in them." Before He gives these admonitions
to these people, they're not just anybody that He's talking
to. He's talking to those whom God
has saved by His sovereign grace. He refers to them in verse 1
as strangers, scattered throughout Pontus,
Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. Many times I sat beside
the bedside of Wayne or next to his chair and we'd talk and
he'd say, you know, we're just strangers here. We're just pilgrims. We're just passing through. Ain't
nothing to lay hold of. Rolf Barnard used to say, don't
hold on to this world so tight that God has to break your fingers
and make you let it go. We're strangers. It's not our
home. It's not our home. Earth is not our mother. The
church is our mother. The New Jerusalem according to
Galatians chapter 4. And God is our Father. and this
earth belongs to man. He made it for man according
to Isaiah. He made it for man. He didn't make man for the earth.
He made the earth for man. You can see that in Genesis 1
in the natural creation. He created everything there was
that would support man before he made man. And he told man,
dominate this thing. Rule this thing. But there were strangers here
who were in the world but not of the world, the Lord said.
He says they're elect according to the foreknowledge of God the
Father. This is one of the instances when the foreknowledge means
ordained or predestinated. Elect. A Greek word, eclektos,
chosen out of. Elect. When did that happen? Before the foundation of the
world is when he chose his people. People who as of yet only existed
in his purpose elect according to the foreknowledge of God through
separation of the Spirit, separated unto God, sanctification, that's
one of the meanings of sanctification, to separate something for God's
use, unto the obedience and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus
Christ. That's not your obedience, that's His obedience and the
sprinkling of His blood. He said that we're blessed of
God to have a lively or a living hope
or expectation because of the resurrection of
Jesus Christ we have an inheritance. What does that mean? We must
be in the family. We must be a family member to
get an inheritance. That inheritance is incorruptible.
and undefiled does not fade away it's reserved in heaven for you
and you are kept by the power of God my soul I'm
thankful for that I can't keep myself and I can't keep you your trials are actually blessings
that shall shine forth as gold, and bring honor and glory at
the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ. Your trials and your
temptations are by appointment. Another thing that Wayne used
to tell me every time I was with him. Trials and temptations and
afflictions are by appointment. We've never seen Jesus Christ,
but we love Him. Never seen Him, that's what it
says, who having not seen, you love. in whom though you see
him not now you believe and you rejoice with joy unspeakable
and full of glory you believe God as a source of rejoicing
because God give you the faith to do so we've never seen Christ
we will one day and we'll know him know him because we'll see
him as he is and we'll be like him one day. We know that. We know that. And then Peter gives these admonitions
and then in verse 18 he says, and this is why and the reason
you will do these things. for as much as you know that you are not redeemed with
corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation. The admonitions of verses 13
through 17 are accomplished upon a singular motivation, namely, knowledge of what God has done
for you in Jesus Christ, motive. People don't talk about
motive much anymore. The things spoken of in our text
this morning establish these things and assures that the believer
will hold and guard these things as precious and accomplished
in a singular motivation of Jesus Christ. To the world motive means
little. The older I get, The longer I
live, it seems to me that motive is sacrificed on the sacred altar
of evidence. In religion, motive is rarely
considered. People do whatever it takes to reach the goal or
produce the evidence that religion is established as proof of faith. Religion seeks out many inventions
designed to hold out the carrot on a stick notion of blessings
being a result of admirable behavior. However, if a person does what
he does to gain anything in the economy of God, it is an overt
denial of the declaration that he has received all things in
Jesus Christ. Motive for the child of God can
have nothing to do with thought of gain. Faith never says what is in it
for me. What can be gained for him who
has all things anyway? If you've got everything, what
can you gain? The believer is motivated, and
that motivation is set forth in our text for as much as you
know. Motivation is born of knowledge.
The believer knows because he has been given faith to believe,
and what he knows, he knows for sure. When he looks at himself, he'll
be full of doubts. When he looks at his life, his religious activity
even, he'll be full of doubts. But when he looks at Christ,
he'll never doubt. And those who heard the hard sayings of
Christ in John chapter 6 and walked away, our Lord looked
at his disciples and said, will you go away also? Peter said,
to whom shall we go? Now ask the words of eternal
life. and we, and this is in the right
order, we believe and are sure that thou art the Son of the
Living God. And what the believer knows proves
to be the only possible motivation for one who never considers gain
in his obedience toward God. If one willingly, voluntarily,
gladly serves without consideration of gain, the words of this passage
can be the only reason to do so, for as much as you know you
were not redeemed with silver and gold in the tradition of
your fathers. In these words we find apple reason pressed
down, shaken together and running over. To know this is to know
joy and find motivation in the innermost beings and do what
we do and have a reason for it. A believer knows that he's been
redeemed. He's been redeemed. He does not consider this a process
or a contingency plan conditioned upon His obedience. He knows nothing of possibility
or probability or redemption waiting on His will or His decision.
The believer doesn't know those things. He knows He has been
redeemed. He has been redeemed. He knows
that nothing about Him has to do with His redemption. The price
paid for his redemption was not anything that was or could be
corrupted or could perish. Not corruptible things. Things
that perish. Your redemption had to do with
things eternal and forever and everlasting. No man could supply
the means or the price of redemption of the eternal soul. No man could. Psalm 49, verses 6-8 says this,
They that trust in their wealth and boast themselves in the multitude
of their riches, none of them can by any means redeem his brother,
nor give to God a ransom for him. For the redemption of their
soul is precious, and it seetheth forever. mention of silver and gold in
our text no man can supply the means we know and it says there
in Psalm 49 it says you're not redeemed by corruptible things
perishing things like silver and like gold now the mention
of silver and gold declares both a positive and a negative truth
first it is an allusion to an atonement coinage of the old
covenant and that's what actually brought me to first Peter the
message I had ready for Wednesday night on the atonement money
in Exodus chapter 30. It brought me to 1 Peter in my
thoughts. That's why I ended up here this
morning. The children of Israel could not be numbered among the
children of Israel unless atonement money was paid. Now this applied
basically to the men who were above 20 years of age. But it dealt with all Israel. Negatively, this declares that
the atonement money was not sufficient to actually redeem and was therefore
only a picture of true redemption that was to come. Redemption
is not by keeping the law. On the positive side, in order
for one to be counted among God's children, the price of redemption
must be paid. Must be paid. But once it's paid,
redemption is complete, and that one is numbered with the blessed.
The words traditions of your fathers could be a little misleading.
We usually think of tradition in concert with practices or
religious rites or ceremonies, but this phrase is actually one
word. It refers to one thing, what
you have received from your father. And what did
you receive from your father, your natural father? of carnal
nature. We all receive that from our
Daddy, Adam, which is manifest and vain conduct. It is simply
another way of saying that nothing about us has part of our redemption,
but the believer knows, however, that he has been redeemed. He
knows that he has been redeemed by the precious blood of the
Lamb, the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. This lamb was perfect. He was without sin, holy and
harmless, and his blood was precious, of great value, honorable and
dear. He was the perfect sacrifice.
The only suitable sacrifice could actually answer for the sin debt.
This blood was the price that God set for the redemption of
the soul. Blood and death are synonymous, and the high esteem
for this blood comes from God because it's God's own blood.
That's what he said in Acts 20, 28 when he said to the disciples,
take care of the church of God, which he purchased, bought, paid
for, and possessed with his own blood. With his own blood. Blood represents the Lord's death
by which the payment required for sin was met. He became a curse for us, it
says in Galatians 3, 13. We were cursed under the law
and he became a curse for us. It says, cursed is everyone that
hangs on a tree. That comes from Deuteronomy. When a person was found guilty
of a certain sin, blasphemy or such, he was stoned to death.
And then he was hung after he was dead. You say, wow, that's
a double whammy. There was a reason for that.
they stoned him and he laid there on the ground. They hung him
up so everybody would know the law has been satisfied. See it
hanging right there. Our Lord hung on a tree and we
can know from that that the law was satisfied. The law was satisfied. The believer moreover knows that
the redemption was not the result of something that occurred in
time. That is to say that the believer did something or failed
to do something that caused a favorable reaction from God. This redemption
was accomplished because the Redeemer was predestinated to
accomplish it. Read Acts 4 verse 28. Of a truth
against thy holy child, Jesus, Herod, Pontius, Pilate, and the
Jews, the Gentiles, were gathered together. They didn't gather,
they were gathered. herded like goats were gathered
together for to do whatsoever God's will had ordained to be
done. It says that for as much as you
know that you are not redeemed with corruptible things as silver
and gold from the vain conversation received by tradition of your
fathers, but with the precious blood of the Lamb without spot
or blemish who was verily foreordained before the foundation of the
world. before a man was ever walked, made from the dust, and
in him breathed the breath of life before he walked upon the
garden God had made for him. There was already a lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. Already he was verily foreordained. This redemption was accomplished
because the redeemer was predestinated to accomplish it. Before the
world began, this redemption was set in order, purposed, and
therefore merely waited to be performed in time. That's all
it waited on, and it was, on Calvary Street. The word but
says, but with precious blood, the lamb. The word but. signifies that with this purpose
redemption also comes the purpose revelation. In verse 21 it says,
Verily ordained for the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times to you. We
were told about it. This is the beauty of the gospel
of Jesus Christ. We preach what God has done.
We're not trying to get you to do something. We're not telling
you to do something you can do. We're telling you a report, some
news, something that's happened, something that's taken place,
and we're reporting it to you. Christ has redeemed his people
from the curse of the law being made a curse for them. That's
a past tense, having done it. He has perfected forever them
that are sanctified. That's past tense. It's news,
my friend. Something wondrous has happened.
Here I am to tell you about it. In these last days, he was manifest
to you. manifest to you who by him do
believe. What was manifest to the believer
Christ and him crucified was revealed through the preaching
of the gospel with the Holy Ghost come down from heaven. That's
what he says back in the first part of this chapter. It was
manifest. Was it made known? Made known. We know. He was made known. Therefore,
we know. We know. The believer knows that it is
by Christ that he believes. By Christ. It's a wondrous thing, this thing
called salvation. There are those who say, well,
you can know Christ without doctrine. That's not true. You can't know Christ without
doctrine, but you can't know doctrine without Christ. It's all sewed up, it seems,
in this one person, evidently. Evidently God loved his son and
has put everything in his hands according to John the Baptist.
The believer knows that his faith is a result of Christ's redemptive
work and that faith came to him by Christ being manifest for
him. Paul spoke of Christ when it
pleased God to reveal Christ in me. I didn't know about it until
I had it. until somebody told me I had
it. After I heard the word of truth, which was good news, the
good news of my salvation. God teaching men through the
preached gospel. He said, all they are taught
of God come to the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, this removes man
from having anything to do with the spiritual estate in which
he now resides. The believer believes in God, God who raised
Christ from the dead and gave him glory by Christ who was raised
from the dead. This matter of redemption, salvation,
revelation, manifestation, and faith is a sealed transaction,
enclosed top and bottom, left and right, beginning and end,
in God. And you can't get to it. I don't know what I am, and yet
I do. That which I would, I do not.
That which I would not, that's what I do. I live a strange existence. And
I talk about my life. I've lived 77 years. Talking
to Jim Bird yesterday, dude. He was talking about three years
from now. I said, y'all be 80 in about
two and a half years. Some of you are already 80. live a long time, life. Is this
my life? No. No. My life is here with God and Christ. What does
that mean? I better not be trying to figure
out what's spiritual and what ain't. What's good works and
what's not. Of course, you see, my life is...
I don't really know anything about my life yet, except that
it's in Christ, and that's only by faith. Do I know that? I can't
prove it. I can't produce evidence of it. Our life is hid with God in Christ,
when Christ, who is our life, shall appear. And we'll appear
with Him also, because He's our life. I don't know what that means,
but it sure sounds exciting, and I sure do like to think about
it. The believer knows this, and
knowing this motivates him to act out of thanksgiving and praise
toward God. I know this about the people
of God. They're thankful people because they've had everything
done for them. The believer has faith and hope,
but since he knows that he had nothing to do with his redemption,
that faith and hope rests in God alone. That's why Paul said
in 1 Corinthians 2, I'm feeble, I can't preach very well, I don't
use great swelling words of men's wisdom. So that your faith would
rest in God and not in me. That's where faith must rest. A believer cannot look to himself
because there's nothing there but vain conversation received
by the tradition of the fathers. The believer has faith born of
knowledge that he's been fully redeemed by Jesus Christ. That
old song, I'm redeemed by love divine, glory, glory, Christ
is mine. This is the ample motive to obey
the admonitions of God. It's the only motivation to do
so. why would you obey god for as much? as i know i'm not redeemed
with precious things or corrupting things like silver and gold or
the tradition of my fathers i'm redeemed by the precious blood
of jesus christ who's very fairly forenamed gave
me faith to believe he's the author and the finisher of it
and as we partake the lord's table this morning we're doing
so commemoration, we're saying, the taking of this bread and
this wine, we're saying, I know I've been rid of it by the precious blood of Jesus
Christ. The Lord's table is for those
who I preached about as one, those who know, those who are
elect according to the full knowledge of God, sanctified to the strength
and the blood of Jesus Christ, who are kept by the power of
God, who see Jesus, though they see him not, who wait for that
glorious salvation, who are holy in God, whose works are ordained
of God, who know. that they're redeemed by the
precious blood of the Lamb. If you're a believer this morning, welcome
to this table. For a moment, let us ponder and
think about the fact that Jesus Christ hath redeemed us by his
blood. Let us pray. Lord, be on us.
Father, help us to appreciate what you're about to do and give
us hearts of thanksgiving, knowing full well And everything we have,
we have because of your mercy and grace. We bless you, Father,
for the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Let us take these elements
for thanksgiving, we pray in Christ's name. Well, as much as you know, you're
redeemed not with corruptible things like silver and gold and
the addition of your father. But you know, you're redeemed
by the flesh and blood of the Lamb. Our Lord took the bread
that night of the Passover and handed it to the disciples to
break it and handed it to them and said, this is my body broken
for you. The orphanage, you can eat this
bread. On the same night he took the
cup, and after he had blessed it, he said, this cup is a new covenant.
You testify my blood. What covenant was that? This
is the one where it says you'll not have to tell each other,
no, the Lord, everybody's going to know him. Every one of God's
children's going to know him. Do you know? For as much as you
know. When you drink this cup, you
do so forth by death until I come again. We stood together and
sang a hymn. My Lord went out to be betrayed. Let's stand together. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness Well, if you ain't got the COVID,
you ain't sick. You ain't worried about being
sick. Give each other a hug and tell
each other you love each other. I'll tell you all right now,
I love the haircut. God bless you. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. th th