It's lovely to have Angus and
Lise back with us. I thank the Lord that he's brought
them back safely to be with us. It's wonderful the fellowship,
isn't it? Now a song that we just sang, Precious Saviour,
we chose that because it talks of a precious thing, doesn't
it? Precious Saviour, a friend of sinners. What an amazing thing. Our precious Saviour is a friend
of sinners. Matchless Saviour. And we look
to him, don't we? We look to him for all our hope. We would find If you were with us last week
you'd recall that in our call to worship we
looked through Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1 is saturated
with all kinds of spiritual blessings for believers which they have
in the Lord Jesus Christ. One of those blessings is grace.
We have grace from God in the Lord Jesus Christ, Ephesians
tells us. We sing that song, don't we?
Amazing grace. Amazing grace. And of course,
we know it is truly amazing, isn't it? Have we not all asked
ourselves that important question? Why would God give grace to a
sinner like me? Why would he? And the answer
is simple, isn't it? We know the reason. The reason's
not in me. The reason's in him. It's in
our precious savior. It's in his son, in whom he is
well pleased. So we saw in Ephesians as well
that We are declared that he has made us accepted in him. Made us accepted in the beloved. Accepted in him to the praise
of his glorious grace. This improves grace, don't we?
The grace of God is a glorious thing to contemplate. He gives
grace. He gives grace to chosen sinners
according to the pleasure of his will, the good pleasure of
his will. We also saw in Ephesians how
we have redemption in Christ. Not a redemption to come. We
actually have that redemption now. He obtained eternal redemption
for us. These are the blessings that
come to us, the riches of His grace. And this grace is the
grace that reveals the will of God. We saw in Ephesians that
He makes known to His people the mystery of His will. The
mystery of His will. This book is a mystery to most
of this world. And under those being saved,
this gospel, this mystery is the power of God under salvation.
I trust you find these things precious. The gospel message
which we hear every week is a precious message and we dare not treat
it lightly. We dare not treat it with low
regard. Relatively speaking, we know,
don't we, that there are very few that enjoy what we enjoy
here. To an unbelieving world, the
Lord Jesus Christ is of no value whatsoever. But unto us who believe,
He is precious. He is precious. We have so many
things to be thankful for, so many precious things. So today,
just briefly, I want us to consider some things in scripture that
are described as precious things. Precious things, and that's the
title of my message. Five Precious Things. If you'd
like to turn with me to 1 Peter, thank you. Actually, we might
start in 2 Peter, 2 Peter. So in the New Testament, that
word precious is most commonly used by Peter, in 1 Peter and
2 Peter. And that word precious, of course,
is usually associated with things of high value, high value. But these things we're talking
about, these precious things, they are worth more than money
can buy. Money can't buy them, and you can't earn them. They
are precious beyond our imagination. And so here in 2 Peter chapter
1, here is the first precious thing I want us to think upon.
2 Peter 1 verse 1. So I am Peter,
a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ to them that have obtained
like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and
our Saviour Jesus Christ. Men have all kinds of faith in
all kinds of things, don't they? They have faith in systems. They
have faith in organizations. They have faith in religion.
They have faith in other people. They have faith in their knowledge.
But there is only one faith that saves, isn't there? And we need
saving faith. What do we know of this precious
thing called faith? We know that faith does not in
any way accomplish our salvation as some might think. If your
faith doesn't accomplish your salvation, Our salvation was
accomplished entirely by the work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And so faith looks to Christ for everything necessary for
our salvation. At the heart of our faith is
a person, isn't it? One who is fully deserving of
all our trust, fully deserving of all our confidence, all our
hope, because he's faithful. And so our faith rests in his
faithfulness, not our own. And faith sees the glory of God
in the gospel. It is how God is pleased to save
sinners. And we see God's law in the gospel,
but we see it fulfilled not by our doing, we see it fulfilled
by His doing. And by faith, by faith in Him,
we establish the law. Because we look by faith to Him
who performed that law on our behalf. And so how precious is
this faith? How precious? Where there is
no faith in Christ, where there is no faith, there is no life.
That's how precious it is. Where there is no faith, there
is no life. And whatever is not of faith is sin. And so we can
see that faith is precious, but it is essential. Because without
faith, it is impossible to please God. Our verse speaks of like
precious faith, like precious faith, that when brethren visit
us from other countries, as we're going to have next week, we see
that firsthand, don't we? We see this like, our like precious
faith. It's as if we've always worshipped
together and we rejoice in the fact that when some of us have
travelled overseas, to our brethren in far places. We hear that same
thing, our like precious faith. And this is our testimony here
in Nauru. This is why we meet here together every week. We
worship in this modest building and not some other place in town
because of our like precious faith. And we have this like
precious faith because we have the same faith, same faith as
our verse says, it is a faith that is through the righteousness
of God and our Savior Jesus Christ. This is the only true faith there
is in this world. Ephesians says, there is one
Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all who
is above all and through all and in you all. There is only
one, there's not many. So those who are taught of God
share this light, precious faith. So let's move on to our second
precious thing. Let's turn with me to 1 Peter. 1 Peter chapter 1. Peter says,
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which
according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a
lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
to an inheritance incorruptible. and undefiled, and that fadeth
not away, reserved in heaven for you. You are kept by the
power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed
in the last time, wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for
a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold
temptations. And here is that precious thing,
that the trial of your faith being much more precious than
of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might
be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of
Jesus Christ. Our faith is precious, but also
the trial of our faith. The trial of our faith is precious.
And we think of trials, the trials of our faith, and these trials
inevitably will come. How often do we think of them
as precious? We ought to thank God for the
privilege of them. We need to remember that these
trials are of the Lord, and being of the Lord, they are always
for our good. False faith will fail, won't it, when it's tried? False faith will fail. But when
true faith is tried, when that faith that comes from God is
tried, it will always be for the better and we will be for
the better for it. Gold, which is our faith, will
be proved just as gold is proved with fire and purifies the gold.
It removes all those other impurities from it when it is placed under
immense heat. The trials of our faith are by
design sent to purify our faith. And in the end, having persevered,
the Lord causes his people to persevere under these trials. We have confirmation, don't we?
We have confirmation that our faith is of him. Let's be thankful for the trials
and sins. And to consider this a little
more, turn with me to 1 Peter chapter 4. We're still there, sorry. 1 Peter
chapter 4, and I'm so glad that the Lord in his wisdom addresses
all our concerns so wonderfully. These trials are never welcomed,
are they? But they are precious. In verse 12 of 1 Peter chapter
4, he says, that when his glory shall be
revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. If ye be
reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye, for the Spirit
of glory and of God resteth upon you. On their part he is evil
spoken of, but on your part he is glorified. Paul continues
with this teaching in the following verses. Look down at verse 19. He says, Wherefore let them that
suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of
their souls to him in well-doing, as unto a faithful creator. When these trials are great,
what do we do? We just commit our souls to Him,
into His safe keeping. So the trials of our faith are
precious. They will always be for our good
and they serve to glorify our God. Now look with me back at
2 Peter chapter 1. 2 Peter, we'll stay in Peter
for these verses. beginning at verse 2. Peter says,
Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge
of God and of Jesus Christ our Lord, according as his divine
power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life
and godliness through the knowledge of him that hath called us to
glory and virtue. And here's our next precious
thing, verse four, whereby are given unto us exceeding great
and precious promises. that by these you might be partakers
of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is
in the world through lust." The promises here are described as
exceeding great and precious promises. They are precious,
aren't they, because they're God's promises. They are unquestionable. They are sure because God's made
them. And they speak of exceeding great
and precious things, don't they? What do they speak of? They speak
of pardon. It's pardon for sinners like
us, pardon for people that have broken every single law of God.
And they speak of peace. They speak of peace because we
have a prince, a prince of peace who goes before us. They speak
of his provision, his preservation. They speak of his provenance
and his perfection. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 1
that all the promises of God in him are yea and in him are
amen. So we need to remember that when
God promises something, that promise is already fulfilled.
No longer do men need to work out some sort of works righteousness
before God on the basis of works. And that was never possible anyway.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the mediator of a better covenant.
A better covenant, which is established upon better promises. It is God
promising his people. Promising his people. He does
the promising, doesn't he? He says, I will and you shall.
And if he wills it, you shall. It shall be done. These are the
promises that God made to Abraham, you might recall, at his sea.
Abraham and his seed. You notice that word seed is
not plural. It says to Abraham and his seed.
It's to one seed and you can read about it in Galatians chapter
3. The seed of Abraham is to one seed. That one seed is the
Lord Jesus Christ. It is to him and the promises
to him and to all who were placed in him before the foundation
of the world. Turn with me to 1 Peter chapter
1. Let's look at our fourth precious
thing. 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 18. He says, For as much as you know
that you were not redeemed with the corruptible things as silver
and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your
fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as a lamb without
blemish and without spot. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ
is described in our scriptures as precious blood. Every drop
of that precious blood accounted for the redemption of the souls
of men. Every drop of that blood accounted
for the salvation of those men. And not one drop of that precious
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ was shed in vain. And this is
why we take issue with those that preach that Christ died
for all men, that he shed his blood for all men. To say that
Christ shed his blood for people who ultimately are not saved
is to say that the father did not accept the offering of his
son on their behalf. It's to say that the blood of
Christ failed to secure their salvation. And it's to say that
God was unjust in punishing his son and then punishing them for
their sins as well. What's the truth? The truth is
the blood of Christ is precious because it's his blood. It's
the blood of the God man. It's the blood of God. As Peter
stated in Acts chapter 20, the blood of God is not common in
any sense. It is the blood of the covenant.
It is the blood that was shed for those who were placed in
that covenant. This is precious blood. Precious
blood. Blood that was foreordained from
the foundation of the world as an atonement for our sins. Paul
says in 1 Corinthians 15, you know it well, For I delivered
unto you, first of all, that which I also received, how that
Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. And the shedding
of his blood reveals the love of God, doesn't it? Reveals the
love of God. Greater love hath no man than
this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. This is
precious blood, and this precious blood accomplishes so many things,
so many things. It satisfies divine justice.
It removes our sin. It washes us whiter than snow. It secures our forgiveness. It
wins our pardon. It redeems us back to God. It
redeems us back to God. This blood is precious. Don't
ever think that it was shed in vain. Don't ever think that it
should be thought of as common. But with all these precious things,
these are things that flow from the most precious thing of all,
the most precious thing of all. Turn with me to 1 Peter chapter
2, 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 7. He says, unto you, therefore,
which believe, he is precious. But unto them which are disobedient,
the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made
the head of the corner. To the disobedient is the stone
that was rejected. But to us who believe, he is
precious. All the precious things we've
just considered flow from Him, don't they? They all flow from
Him. Our like precious faith, our
precious trials, His precious promises, His precious blood,
it will flow from Him, and literally flow from Him. And so the most
precious thing of all is not a thing, it's a person, it's
a person of our Savior. The most precious thing of all
is Him. He's that treasure, isn't He? He's that treasure, a man
found in the field that Matthew spoke of. Turn to Matthew chapter
13 for me in closing. Matthew chapter 13. Verse 44, the Lord speaks this
parable, a parable I believe which is not found in any of
the Synoptic Gospels. He says, again, the kingdom of
heaven is like unto treasure, hid in a field, the which, when
a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and
selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. There's a
treasure, isn't there? There's a treasure hidden in
the pages of this book. It was hid in some measure under
the old covenant, hidden in the types and the shadows, wasn't
it? It was hid from the Gentile world. It was certainly hid from
the unbelieving world. And it is hid from the elect
until that time of love, until God the Spirit works regeneration,
until he works that new birth in his people. That treasure,
this treasure is the Lord Jesus Christ, isn't it? And when he
reveals himself, when we find that treasure, we hide that treasure
in our hearts. We hide it away, don't we? And
we consider everything else to be of no value whatsoever. The
Lord said, where your treasure is, there will your heart be
also. He's that treasure. He's that
treasurer now. Precious saviour is likened to
a pearl of great price, reading on in our chapter. He says, again, the kingdom of
heaven is like unto a merchant man seeking goodly pearls, who,
when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all
that he had and bought it. The Apostle Paul said, I count
all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do
count them but done, that I may win Christ. Christ is all to
his people, isn't he? He is all unto them who believe
he is precious. If I have Christ, I have enough. Christ is all our hope. He is
all our joy. He is all our peace. He is all
our assurance. He is all our comfort. He is
all our reward. He is all in this life, and He
is all in death, and He will be all in eternity. In heaven,
He will be all, won't He? He will be all. He will be all
our beauty, all our glory, and all our reward. And having that
treasure, If we have that treasure, everything else dims in comparison. The Apostle Paul said, I count
all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do
count them but done, that I may win Christ. Is there anyone like
our Lord Jesus Christ? Is there anyone like our Saviour?
He's precious, isn't he? He's the lily of the valley.
He's the fairest of 10,000. He's the bright and morning star. We ought to be thanking God,
and we will thank God for eternity for our precious savior. May
he be precious to us all. Amen.