May it please almighty God to
bless us together this evening as we meditate in his word. Let us turn to the first epistle
of Peter, chapter two, and we'll read the first clause in verse
seven. The epistle of Peter, the first
epistle, chapter two, and the first clause in verse seven. Unto you, therefore, which believe
he is precious. It's a very simple statement.
It's not difficult to understand. And yet how vital it is that
we are on the right side of such a word like this. It is, of course, speaking about
none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one that the
Apostle is speaking about. And it is a great and wonderful
evidence that we are amongst a true believer if the Lord Jesus
Christ is precious to our soul? And it is really a very important
question. And it's a question that we do
need to weigh up before our God and to have the evidence that
Jesus is indeed precious to us and that we are amongst those
who are enumerated a believer, that we do believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ as our all-sufficient Saviour, no one else. can save our souls. No one else
can deliver us from the wrath to come. And therefore what a
blessing it is if we are favoured to know that we are a true child
of God indeed. As the Apostle says in the second
verse, as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word,
that ye may grow thereby. To look back in our lives and
see a time when we were not obeyed, when we were not born again.
When we did not possess the life of God in our souls, we did possess
a natural life, but we did not possess a spiritual life. And what a wonderful thing then,
if you and I can see in our spiritual life, the life of God in our
soul. And as a newborn babe desires
the sincere milk of the word, to be able to trace out that
we sought simple blessings, we sought the evidence that we were
a child of God, and how important and necessary that was. Well, all of us, of course, must
answer individually. I can't answer for you and you
can't answer for me. But it is a great blessing if
we have been those who have desired truly to grow spiritually, because
we have tasted, as the next verse tells us, the Lord is gracious. If so be. You've tasted that
the Lord is gracious, that means The Lord has been mindful of
us. The Lord hasn't cast us away. He hasn't forgotten us. But we've tasted of the Lord's
grace toward us. His love and mercy. What a great
blessing that is. How needful it is, how essential
it is. Because without it, without the
knowledge of the Saviour being precious, without the evidence
that we are a true believer, we shall never go to heaven when
we die and enter into that eternal habitation. And so may we have
that real concern, that real desire, that we may be a true
believer and that the Lord Jesus Christ is precious to our souls? It is a great question. It is
a vital question. And what a mercy it is, therefore,
when we have the evidence that it is well with our souls. You know, the Apostle who of
course was wonderfully blessed in his life. We look back and
we realise that it was Peter who denied his Lord and Master
on those three occasions, having just a few hours previously said
that he would never leave the Lord, in actual fact he would
die for him. And yet you see how quickly, how quickly the
devil can cause a change. And there was poor Peter, who
had been relying on his own ability, left to his own strength. And
what a failure. But how good it is to be able
to read that even in that time of utter failure, the Lord Jesus
turned and looked upon him. and the very blessed effect it
had. Peter wasn't brazen. He wasn't
pleased with himself. And we're told he went out and
wept bitterly. He was truly sorry for those
things that he'd said in denying his Lord and Master. But we see
then that through those things, through that experience, the
Lord enabled Peter to write such important truths as the epistles
contain. And especially as we come down
to this verse, unto you therefore which believe he is precious. And indeed if he is precious
to us, May the knowledge of the Saviour be to us an unctuous
light to all that's right and a bar to all that's wrong. We will desire then to serve
and honour this great and blessed Saviour. The Apostle commences
his chapter by saying, wherefore, and he tells us then, laying
aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies,
and all evil speakings. You see, if we are a true believer,
this should be our concern, to be amongst those who follow this
word, this advice that the apostle gives to us, that we each, in
our lives, may lay aside, and these are very subtle things
that the devil uses sometimes, malice, guile, hypocrisies, envies,
and evil speakings. What a blessing it is if the
Lord enables us to turn away from such things. and truly desire
to have a Christ-like spirit. We have the example, do we not,
of the Saviour. All that He went about. And we
see that with Him there was no malice. There was no guile. He was not a hypocrite. He did
not envy. And there was no evil speaking.
which came out from his mouth. What a testimony is given to
us in the Word of God. And may it be our true concern,
therefore, to follow his gracious example. I often think of those
words, he pleased not himself. The things which may have Perhaps
being desirous, may perhaps be desirous in our lives, and yet
to realise the Saviour, he pleased not himself. His great concern
was to please his Father in heaven. I know what a mercy that is.
If we are a true believer, then our concern is to please our
Father in heaven, whatever that may entail. And we can be sure
that often that will not be perhaps in accordance with the liking
of our flesh. No, the flesh dislikes the way,
but faith approves it well. What a blessing, isn't it, when
God gives us faith then to follow a despised and crucified man,
to be found doing his will in all our lives, every day, every
night, to hear his gracious words and be a follower of the Lamb. Well, says the apostle, here
then, he says, 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. I'm sure we don't want to be
confounded. I'm sure we don't want to come
to the gates of glory and be confounded and find that we don't
have the God-given certificate of entrance into glory. But the Saviour is not there
to receive us. but is there to cast us out. Will it be a mercy, won't it,
if you and I, therefore, are found in our life here serving
the Lord, doing His will, following His gracious and precious example,
and being led into all truth as it is in Jesus? And that truth will lead us to
the Saviour, to view what he has done, his great and glorious
work of substitution, his great and blessed work of redemption,
his great and wonderful act of shedding his most precious blood,
in order that we might receive the gift of eternal life. where we are here today and may
we be found travelling home to God in the way the fathers trod
and to truly believe they are happy now and by God's grace
we soon their happiness shall see because that is an eternal
happiness, a happiness which will never be destroyed No, it'll
be all peace and glory in heaven. Well then, says the apostle,
unto you therefore, which believe he is precious. And so really
the evidence that we are a true believer is that the Lord Jesus
Christ is precious to our souls. Precious far than earth and all
its comforts are. You see, the preciousness of
Christ sets us apart and sets us apart from the things of God,
things of the world. We are separated unto himself. and we can then enjoy fellowship
and communion with the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. Unto you,
may we be amongst those. Unto you, therefore, which believe
he is precious. And in order to establish that,
we need to really look back in our lives and trace out God's
work in believing. To know that we do believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ, that we do believe that he came into
this world to save sinners, indeed as the Apostle said, of as whom
I am chief. But it's a good thing when the
Holy Spirit convicts us of our sin and shows to us therefore
our need of a Saviour. Now this is not of the flesh. And this is not something which
you and I will just pass over as of no consequence. But it
would be a great blessing if the Holy Spirit has come, has
come to us, perhaps in our wild career. Perhaps going the ways
of the world, following unrighteous things. And then we find and
trace out. God has loved us. And therefore
he's come to us. And therefore he's turned our
feet. Turned our feet from following
the way of vanity. Turned our feet. to be a true
follower of our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. And what we
observe is, it's His work. It's not our work. It's His great
and glorious work. And if our feet had been turned,
turned towards the things of God, turned to walk in His ways,
turned away from the things of the world, turned away from the
things of time, which perish with the using. Well, surely
that is an evidence that God has commenced that great work
in our heart. And it surely is an encouragement
to believe that this is the work of God and that work of God shows
us ourselves and shows us himself. Naturally, we have no desire
after spiritual blessings. It is the work of the Spirit
to be found seeking after the Lord Jesus Christ that he might
be to us, as the Bride of Christ spoke, the cheapest among 10,000
and the altogether lovely. Left to ourselves, Christ will
never be the most important person in our life. He will never be
the cheapest among 10,000 and the altogether lovely, but if
the Blessed Spirit has worked in our heart, has directed us
and turned us away from ourself to serve the Lord and to seek
after him. Just pondering for a moment in
the life of the Bride of Christ, which is recorded in the Song
of Solomon, we have her life set before us. the testimony
of the Holy Spirit, which speaks to us. She is described in the
fifth chapter, and this is a description. She says, I sleep, but my heart
waketh. It is the voice of my beloved
that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove,
my undefiled, for my head is filled with dew and my locks
with the drops of the night.' And what was her reaction? You
would think she would be alert and ready to come and open the
door to her Saviour. But we find the lukewarmness,
the coldness, and she responds, I have put off my coat How shall
I put it on? I've washed my feet. How shall
I defile them? You see, she was comfortable
in that sleepy state and she wasn't prepared to open the door
to receive her Saviour. But then we're told, my beloved,
that's the Saviour, put in his hand by the hole of the door,
and then she was moved. My bowels were moved for him. I rose up to open to my beloved. My hands dropped with myrrh,
and my fingers with sweet-smelling myrrh. Upon the handles of the
lock I opened to my beloved, My beloved had withdrawn himself
and was gone. You see, sometimes we may have
a time when we think we will receive the Lord. My friends,
the Lord has a time when we are to receive him. We are not to
follow our own inclinations. Here she was, Satisfied really
with the comfort of her bed, which was more important to her
than opening to her beloved. And now she comes and she finds
when she does eventually open the door, he's gone. He's gone. Oh, how sad it is when that perhaps
happens in our lives. When we think, perhaps, that
we're open to the Lord and we'll put aside the things of time,
which we should have done before, we find the Lord has withdrawn
himself and is gone. Now, in her case, we read, My
soul failed when he spoke. I sought him, but I could not
find him. I called him, but he gave me
no answer. My friends, the Lord has his
time. And may you and I be willing
to truly receive him in his time, and not to put other things first,
so that we then find the Lord withdraws himself. Oh yes, how
sad, because then she called him. We might pray. We might think we're praying. And the silence. There's no answer. Oh, the Lord has withdrawn himself. I sought him, but I could not
find him. I called him, but he gave me no answer. Well, her
beloved, the Lord had withdrawn himself. He wasn't answering
her prayers. And so she, as it were, had realized
her sinful condition. And now she tells us, the watchman
went about the city, found me, and he smoked me. And of course,
that's reference to the preachers of the gospel who have gone about
and have preached the gospel, and instead of being words of
comfort, words of encouragement, they're words which smote her
and wounded her. Yes, she realised her condition. The keepers of the walls took
me, took away my veil from me. And then she talks and speaks
to the Church of God, I charge you O ye daughters of Jerusalem,
if ye find my Beloved, that ye tell him that I am sick of love,
she longed for it. And then the question, what is
thy Beloved more than another Beloved? O thou fairest among
women, what is thy Beloved more than another Beloved? that thou
dost so charge us. Well, the question really with
us tonight is, what does Christ mean to us? Peter tells us, unto
you therefore which believe he is precious? Well, it would seem
that Christ was precious to the bride of Christ, but because
of her attitude, because of her situation, the Lord had withdrawn
himself. And she couldn't command the
blessing. And my friends, you and I cannot
command the blessing. So we have to be very careful
that our life does not turn us from the things of God, but indeed
to the things of God. And so in answer to this question
asked by the Church of God, what is thy beloved more than another
beloved that thou so charge us? She's able to give a good account. What a blessing it is, my friends,
if you and I are able to give a good account of what Christ
means to us, of the preciousness of Christ to us. What a good
thing it is if we're able to, even perhaps when we don't feel
perhaps the preciousness and the blessing of the Saviour,
yet to be able to recount and be able to testify of what the
Lord Jesus Christ does mean to us. She gives this wonderful
description. My beloved is white and ruddy,
the chiefest among 10,000. not one of 10,000, but the chiefest
amongst 10,000. And then she describes what he
is to her. His head is as the most fine
gold. His locks are bushy and black
as a raven. His eyes are as eyes of doves,
where the rivers are water washed with milk and fitly set. His
cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers, his lips like
lilies, dropping sweet, smelly myrrh. His hands are as gold
rings, set with a beryl. His belly is bright ivory, overlayed
with sapphires. His legs are as pillars of marble,
set upon sockets of fine gold. His countenance is as Lebanon,
excellent as the cedars. And then finally, she comes down
and says, his mouth is most sweet. That means the words which come
from his mouth. are sweet to her soul. Yea, he
is altogether lovely. She couldn't see anything wrong
in her Saviour. This is my beloved, and this
is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem. Well, what a blessing
it is if tonight Christ is precious to us. And although perhaps We
can't feel his favour shining upon us at the present time. We may look at ourselves and
realise we haven't followed the Lord as closely as we should. Perhaps we've turned our back
upon him, but then faced with the question of the reality of
our religion, Whether we are a believer or not, we can then
trace out what the Lord means to us. And if you and I are able
to trace that out, it is a very clear and wonderful evidence
that we are a true believer. And to you, therefore, which
believe, he is precious. And you see, if he is precious,
if he's precious to us in days past, and now it seems that he's
withdrawn himself, may we be urgent in earnestly seeking for
him and confessing what he means to us. Yes, he is altogether
lovely. And his mouth is most sweet. Well, it would be a mercy if
we can trace out the words of the mouth of the Lord to us. And because we can, we can believe
that he is our friend. And my friends, a friend the
Savior is, a friend who sticketh closer than a brother. The Lord
is there. He may appear to be far off.
He may appear to have withdrawn himself. But may we realize the
Lord does not change. He is the same yesterday and
today and forever. And therefore, in our little
lives, may we have the evidence that he is precious to us. Now, something which is precious
means it's something which is valuable and generally something
which is rare. You and I walk by faith and not
by sight. And perhaps the visits of the
Lord are rare. That's perhaps why the Lord is
valuable. He is precious to us. We desire
the visits from the Saviour. We desire to hear His voice knowing
how sweet it is to us as we journey on through life with many things
which oppose. And remember, our great adversary
the devil goeth about seeking whom he may devour. My friends,
he doesn't change. He's on the lookout to try and
take us, to confound us. But what a mercy it is to realise
that we shall not be confounded. If the Lord has spoken to us,
even if we do feel perhaps the Lord's withdrawn himself from
us, And if, of course, in that situation we can look and analyse
our lives and realise why it is so, what a mercy then the Lord deals
graciously with his people. And it's because he's loved them
with an everlasting love. He doesn't cast them off. it
doesn't forget them it may seem that he's cast us off, it may
seem perhaps that he's forgotten us but surely it is to perhaps make
us consider as the Apostle said when he wrote to the Ephesians
consider him a time to ponder a time to consider what he's
done for our souls. The words that he's spoken, the
direction he's given, the encouragements that we've had, the evidence
of his love toward us. Well then, if you and I can trace
out these things in our life, surely it is so. Unto you, therefore,
which believe he is precious. What a blessing if that is so. And we do need confirmations
that God is precious to us. Indeed, as we read, Jesus is. the one thing needful. I without him perish must. We may perhaps think sometimes,
we are going to perish. The Lord has forgotten us. He has forsaken us. Well, my friends, perhaps he's
brought us into that condition, that condition that man was that
son that ran away from home and spent all his money in writer's
living, away from his father's house until the time when he
began to be in want. Began to be in want. And his
eyes and his thoughts were directed to his father's house. What a
good thing that is in our spiritual life, when our thoughts and our
desires are directed to our Father's house, to our gracious God, and
the desire then to return once more and to find then the Lord
is waiting for us, looking for us and receives us to himself and indeed brings
forth the best robe, prepares that spiritual feast for our
souls. Not that we deserved it. Well,
the prodigal son confessed his situation. He said, I no longer
deserve to be called thy son. He'd said that he would ask his
father to make him one of the servants. But he wasn't able
to say that. No, but the Lord did. His father
did receive him. What a blessing it is for us
today to have our father to receive
us and our father to graciously direct us to his Son and our
Saviour. And then surely, once again,
we appreciate the wonder that he is then, the Lord Jesus Christ
is precious. Not only have his visits perhaps
been rare, but they've been very valuable. because they set our
feet upon a rock and they've established our goings, they've
established us in the things of God and we've been able to
rejoice in what the Lord Jesus did in order to redeem our souls. He's delivered us perhaps from a stony heart He's
taken it away, all of grace. And he's given us a heart of
flesh. And we have to say, it is at
the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed. It is mercy toward
us. Unto you, therefore, which believe,
he is precious, he is then valuable, more precious far than life and
all its comforts are. Because here we see an eternal
value. The preciousness of Christ is
a blessing for us on this earth. And it's an eternal blessing
for our souls. Because by his grace one day
to be found with him in glory, forever and ever with a whole
household of faith, a whole church of God and be able truly to praise
him and enter in to that condition and that situation which the
Apostle Peter tells us about in the first chapter when he
says, the trial of your faith. being much more precious than
of gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire, might
be found under praise and honour and glory at the appearing of
Jesus Christ. Well, what a mercy it is that
the Lord does test us, does try our faith to see whether it is
God-given or whether it's of our own producing. where our
God-given faith will be tested. But it will come through. It
will be blessed indeed, and it will be like gold. It will not perish. It'll be
blessed indeed. It'll be the end of our faith,
which, as the apostle says, is even the salvation of our souls. This is surely the most valuable
thing, the salvation of our souls. And it depends upon the grace
of God, the faith of God, enabling us to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, to trust him, to cast all our care upon him and to
truly be thankful for his work, for his grace, for his mercy
upon us. And brings us indeed to what
the Apostle Peter said really at the beginning of this epistle,
when he said, blessed be the God and Father. The Lord shows
us we are a true believer. We will be able to come and say,
blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which
according to his abundant mercy. It's a wonderful statement, isn't
it? But think of it in our lives. God's abundant mercy hath begotten
us again unto a lively hope, not a dead hope, a living hope,
by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance
incorruptible and undefiled that fadeth not away, reserved in
heaven for you. Well, it's a great glory, isn't
it? as you and I are able to trace
out the work of God and the effect it has in the life of a true
believer. There are valleys, there are
mountains, but remember the Word of God tells us, they that endure
unto the end shall be saved. And we will endure through Him,
not in and of ourselves, through him and to experience the power
of God, the keeping power of God. who are kept by the power
of God, through faith, unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last
time. Yes, it will be revealed. And
so today, may we come, I hope we can come, thankful to believe
that we indeed are amongst those who believe and who, too, the
Saviour is precious Because he goes on, as we read, but ye are
a chosen generation, chosen of God, ere time began, a chosen
generation, an unworthy sinner, a vile sinner, a base sinner,
a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, and holy nation,
a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praises of him
who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, which
in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God,
a true believer. which had not obtained mercy,
but now have obtained mercy. Well, what a blessing it is to
be numbered amongst such people. And therefore, to be able to
say, by the grace of God, unto you therefore, which believe,
he is precious. And therefore, be able to come
alongside the apostles and say, yes, by the grace of God, the
Saviour is precious to me, for all that he's done in redeeming
my soul, and for the grace of God which came to me, which enabled
me to believe the great and glorious gospel, and to believe in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Unto you, therefore, which believe,
he is precious. Amen.