This evening, I want to talk
to you about precious things. We're just going to go through
some scriptures that speak of precious things. You know, everything
about our Lord Jesus Christ is made precious to the believer. We discover in him just how precious
he is in everything that he does for us, how he cares for us deeply,
how he loves us, how he thinks upon us and provided all things
that we need before we ever even fell in the garden God the Father
provided everything for us in giving us into the hand of Christ
to do all for us. And so everything we need He
has laid up for our salvation for all our need. It's all provided
in Him. And so The first thing that we
look at, the first thing we consider in what is precious, what the
Lord has done that is precious for us, is He's given us this
Word. This Word is precious. This is
a precious Word. He's given us this Word because
this is the Word whereby God reveals Himself to us. He makes us to know that He is,
and who He is, to know who we are and what He has done in providing
for us. He does this through His Word
so that we are taught and instructed and led and guided and kept and
preserved He does everything for us, even our desire for Him,
our need of Him, and our seeking of Him is drawn out through the
giving of this Word, and the preaching of this Word, and the
opening up of this Word. Our Lord Himself in His high
priestly prayer, just think about that. We have in high priest
the Lord Jesus Christ and he prayed for us and he does pray
for us. He intercedes for his people,
his brethren. He intercedes and in his high
priestly prayer, he said, and it's recorded in John, excuse
me, John 17, 17, he prayed to the father, sanctify them through
thy truth. Thy word is truth. And God's word is recorded here
for us. He's given us his word. The word
is given, and by the grace and power of God, it sets apart the
people. It sets apart the people. It
calls out the people of God as a living word, as a testimony
to them. It opens the ear. It softens
the heart. It reaches us where we can't
even deal with our own heart. This word is living, it's true,
it's powerful, it divides asunder, even the spirit, the bones, the
marrow, it's a living word. And it carves us out from those
that don't hear. It carves those that are made
obedient to his word from those that are left in disobedience,
that are disobedient to the word, which is what we are by nature,
disobedient to that word. And so he calls us with this
word. He reveals his grace in us. He reveals his grace in us. So
God's word is precious. His word is precious. By the
preaching of the Word, by the reading of the Word, a sinner
is made to hear Him. To hear Him, who He is, what
He has done for us. This Word reveals God's will
and purpose for us. We don't know the mind of God.
We don't know what God's will and purpose is, except He reveals
it. And He reveals it to us because
because he desires for us to know him. And you think about
this. When you love someone, you want to know them. You watch
their movements, and you wonder, why do they do that? Why do they
do that that way? What makes you do that? What
makes you tick? It's because you love them. You
love them, and you want to know them. You want to understand
more things about them. He's put that love in our heart
and given us this word whereby we may know him. who loved us
and called us and provided all things for us. We need his word
because by nature, we're ignorant of God. We're ignorant of God. We don't know him. And by nature,
we're in darkness. We're shut up to the things of
God. When you think about it, we're by nature an unthankful
people. And oftentimes, we go to the
Lord in prayer. We remember how unthankful we
are when we're suddenly thankful. And we remember to thank him
for something. And how many times we've forgotten to thank him
for so many things. And oftentimes, we're already
asking for something else and haven't even thanked him for
all of his kindnesses to us in answering those prayers that
we've been laying before him for so long. And only upon reflection,
we remember, wait a minute, the Lord has done all these things
for me and I've forgotten them and haven't even mentioned them
to him until now. And so we're unthankful by nature.
We have vain imaginations of him. There's all kinds of thoughts
that people have about God and who he is. There's all kinds
of imaginations. I think it's been said, if you
have 10 people in a room and you ask them their opinion of
God, you'll get something like 13, 14 different opinions. There's
only 10 people in a room, because people have all kinds of ideas
about God. And they switch them and change them and absorb other
crazy ideas, because they don't know the word. And they don't
believe the word. But he gives us his word so that
we know him. By nature, we're fools and have
dark hearts, and we think ourselves wise, but this word teaches us,
corrects us, and puts our hearts and minds where they ought to
be, in the Lord, on Him, in truth, in truth. The scriptures reveal
the preciousness of the Word. There's a scripture in 1 Samuel
3 verse 1 that says, the Word of the Lord was precious in those
days there was no open vision." And what the Lord is saying to
us there is that it's so rare, and it's so rare to have understanding
of what this word is declaring. And we live in such a day where
there's many churches on many different corners. There's many
places to go. I've said this before, when I
moved to Missouri, I never been to a place that had so many preachers.
Everyone you talk to is a pastor and a preacher. I try not to
ever even mention that I am, because any time I've mentioned
it, the person I was talking to just so happened to also be
a preacher. They're all preachers. It's amazing. I've never seen
such a dense per capita of so many preachers. But the truth
is not preached. How rare it is for the truth
to be preached from the pulpits in the churches that are all,
not just here, but everywhere in America and around. world and so the truth that the
word is is precious and God has revealed the vision right that
says there is no open vision no one was opening the word no
one was explaining what this word is testifying of but he's
given us the vision by the grace of God he's given us the vision
the vision is the object the object the vision is Christ he's
shown us Christ all right we don't need an issue we got the
issue the issue is Christ It's Him. That's who we're to preach.
That's who we're to declare. That's who the people need. When
you hear Him, if you're His and He calls you, you love Him. That's
what you want to hear is Christ's voice. You don't want to hear
a man. You want to hear Christ. Christ.
And so that's the object. That's the vision. We want to
hear Him who's precious to the Father and made precious to us.
Christ. Christ. So the vision, the object
of God's Word and His people is the Lord Jesus Christ, and
he's called in scripture, the word of God. The scriptures reveal
to us that that voice which created the heaven and the earth, which
called forth the uncreated light, which made all these things,
that voice is the word of God, and that word of God is the Lord
Jesus Christ, who was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we didn't
even know him. We didn't see God standing right
there before us robed in flesh. But when he does reveal him,
and we are given by his spirit to open the word, which means
we're preaching Christ. When we exalt Him, that's what
draws the people. He said, right, not in emotion,
not in just feelings, not in warm fuzzies, but in truth, in
spirit, being broken out of this death that we are by nature,
we hear Him and are drawn to Him. He said, and I, if I be
lifted up, will draw all men unto me. And He spake it of His
death. and it also speaks to what we
are made witnesses of, Christ's death and Christ's resurrection,
declaring what he accomplished for us by his resurrection. And
so that brings us to another precious thing, the redemption
of his people, the redemption of Christ. The psalmist tells
us in Psalm 49.8 that the redemption of their soul is precious. And what that's saying there
is that it's the redemption that is precious. What it took to
redeem that soul of that sinner is precious. It's precious. That word precious means rare. It means weighty. heavy, it's
costly. We use that word to define certain
metals, such as gold and silver, precious metals, rare metals,
heavy metals. You pick up a pebble in your
yard and you pick up the same size object that's a precious
metal, it's heavier, it's weightier. Our redemption is a weighty thing. It is a costly redemption price. It's a precious, precious price
that it took to redeem us. What was it? What did it take
to redeem a sinner? Our works? Us doing certain things?
Us going over mountains and hills and dipping ourselves in rivers
and streams and lakes? No, it was the blood. The blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. His precious blood which was
spilled for us which purged us to put away our sins, to purge
us of our sins, to make us acceptable unto God, without spot, without
blemish, without wrinkle. When we came forth in Adam, we
had all those things. But when His blood purged us,
He purged them right out. He scrubbed them out with His
own blood, removing them, washing them clean from us. His blood
is precious, able. If you had something like that,
that you could apply to your laundry, that would take out
every stain, that would be a precious thing, wouldn't it? That would
be a precious thing. You'd hang on to that, and you'd
be careful with that, because it would be precious to get out
every stain. There are some things we just can't get out. The blood
of Christ is able to purge of every stain. His blood goes deeper
than a stain can go. and delivers us from all our
sin and ruin, so that we stand before Holy God spotless, spotless
in a beautiful garment that is full and complete, having no
holes, no tears, no open spots, it's covered. This ain't no hospital
gown open in the back, showing our nakedness, this is covering
us, covering us. We are clothed complete in the
righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. made it the scriptures
tell us that he made his soul an offering for sin the redemption
of their soul is precious well he made his soul he who is the
well-beloved son the precious son the one in whom all things
are given into his hand who rules heaven and earth all things are
subject to Him, He made His soul, His precious soul, an offering
for sin. For the sins of you and me, raggedy
muffin people as we are, Christ paid it all for His price. He
paid that precious, costly, heavy price for His people. Peter even
compares the precious blood of Christ in redemption to what
we, by nature, value. Precious metals, for example.
He said, for as much as ye know that ye were not redeemed with
corruptible things as silver and gold. Some people think that
everybody has a price and that they can somehow put that price
up. Well, we can't put this price up, but he put it up. He paid
the price for the redemption of his people's souls. We 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. And you think about that. If
you've ever raised an animal and it's a precious animal, you
prize that one. When it has no spots, no blemishes,
you love that one above all the others. And you take care of
that one because it's precious to you. It's a rare thing. Well,
that rare one, the Lord Jesus Christ, he sacrificed himself
for the salvation of his people. He counted the cost. and sacrificed
his precious blood to pay our debts as the near kinsman redeemer. He did for us, he gave us a picture
of it in Ruth and Boaz when Boaz paid for, he paid the price that
he might redeem Ruth and raise unto her, unto her husband that
died, a seed. a seed, Obed, right, and brought
forth a son to inherit that inheritance. And through that seed came the
Christ, came the promised Christ, a promised seed through her,
through Boaz and his kinsman-redeemer. And that's what the Lord does.
He purchased us. He's the kinsman-redeemer and blesses us and his seed is
brought forth in us to know him. to understand him, it's precious.
Isaiah said, in Isaiah 53, 11 and 12, that Christ shall see
of the travail of his soul, the work he was doing, the labor
he was doing, the sacrifice he was making, he would see of the
travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. Pleased with us,
pleased with me, a sinner, pleased with you, he's pleased with us,
he's satisfied with his purchase. He has no buyer's remorse. He's
satisfied with us. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall
divide the spoiled with the strong, because he hath poured out his
soul unto death, and he was numbered with the transgressors." Us that
are sinners, us who rebelled against God and offended him
and went past what we should have ever done into places we
should never have been. We transgressed God's law. And he was number with us, and
he bared the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors. And so when we think of these
things, we realize, I don't think we appreciate enough. I don't
think I appreciate enough what the Lord did for me. You know,
death in the grave, it can seem so far off, though it's near
us all the time. It's right there. But even though
we fail to recognize the precious price, Christ did it. He didn't fail to recognize it,
and he paid it to deliver us from death and to give us life
in himself. And so Christ's coming was because
the Father sent him. He sent his well-beloved son
for our welfare, for our benefit, for our welfare. He didn't have
to come. God is sovereign. God is content in himself. He
doesn't need us, and yet he thinks on us. were precious to him,
enough that he should consider us and think on us and come and
redeem us even when we were enemies in our own minds against him.
The psalmist says it this way in Psalm 139, 17, how precious
also are thy thoughts unto me. How precious are your thoughts
unto me, O God, how great is the sum of them. Just that thought,
to know that he thinks of you, And he remembers you. He thinks of you. Whenever you're
low and doubt and afraid, he thinks of you. He's thinking
of you. And he's provided for you. And he's made provision
for that time for you. He's provided all things for
you. The thing is that salvation isn't
based on these abstract ideas of religion. It's not about the
form and how we come. It's not about certain clothing. It's not about incense. It's
not about outward, external things. He doesn't require us to have
candles or go to stations or to do things this way. He's not
moved by the form that man invents and thinks, this is how I come
to God. He provided everything and he engages us in a personal
way. He visits us and talks to us
and draws near to us. Think about that precious thought
that moves God so that such a scripture is written where it says, for
God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting
life. For God sent not his son into
the world to condemn the world, but that through him the world
might be saved. Saved. That's a precious thought.
That's a precious thought that God had of his people in providing
his well-beloved son. That he should sacrifice him
for his people. So believe him, brethren. Believe the Lord, because he
does care. You are darling to him. Cast
your care upon him, for he careth for you. He careth for you. And so it's a precious thought
to know that our Lord takes thought of us and to know that he sought
us when we were going the other way, when we were doing our own
thing. You think of Jonah, he was going the exact opposite
way, trying to get out of there, and yet the Lord didn't get turned
off from that. He just went right after him
and just grabbed him did everything he needed to do to put him right
back where he wanted him to be. Because the Lord is that great,
that much greater than our sin and evil. He's that much greater
than we are. Therefore, this gives us another
thing. Our Lord has laid for us a precious foundation, a precious
foundation upon which all our hopes, all our confidences, all
our inheritance is stored. I don't mean to demean it, but
it's sort of, I don't want to bring it down, but just to give
you a picture, it's like putting your precious things in a bank
vault. This foundation, this precious foundation, it's a bank
vault where no thief can break in, no moth can destroy, no rust
can get at it, it can't wear out, break down, diminish, nothing. It is a sure foundation, a precious
foundation upon which The people of God are brought to lay all
their cares and confidences on Him, knowing that they're not
going anywhere in Him. They are safe and secure and
never going to depart or diminish. It's all laid up in Him. Isaiah
28.16 says, Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in
Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner
stone, a sure foundation. He that believeth shall not Make
haste, you know, and I was thinking about that that not make haste
and in the New Testament I think Peter words. It does not be be
confounded. But I was wondering like why
does it use that word haste? Why does he use that word haste
and and The the the understanding is that when the bridegroom cometh
and that call goes forth the bridegroom cometh go out to meet
him and You're not going to be scrambling around wondering,
where's that lantern? Is the wick trimmed? Do I have
any oil in that thing? Like, I didn't even think about
that. I just set it aside and forgot all about it. Well, the
reason why we're not going to be making haste is because all
that you need, your precious Lord and Savior has laid it up
for you. He's given it to you freely,
graciously, in and by His Spirit. He's given you all that you need. to stand before him, to go out
to him without fear, without sorrow, to go to him, to go to
your Lord when he returns. He's laid it up for you. He's
provided everything we need against that day. And our Lord said that
verse right in the midst of a people that were boasting of their confederacy
and their their covenant with death and
hell. They said, oh, we're fine. We're fine. We've got everything
we need. We've made a covenant with hell, and we're in agreement
with death. We're OK. We're going to be just
fine. And the Lord says, no, you're not. But I've provided
a precious foundation for my people. I'll provide for them
everything that they need for that day. And so he's a precious
cornerstone, a sure foundation. The wicked, they continue in
their folly. They despise, they come across
that stone every time where the gospels preach and they come
into it. That stone is right back there in the path. How did
this thing get back here again? I've put it aside here. I've
despised it and thrown it aside and it just keeps coming back
into my path and causing me to stumble. Well, he's there for
the brethren. to whom he is precious, elect
and precious. And the Lord has given him for
his people and not turned away from us, but is so precious to
us, so sure and so certain that he's given us all we need in
Christ. We couldn't be saved by anything
or anyone less. It had to be the Lord from heaven. Lord of heaven come to earth
in the flesh to declare to us the truth even though he was
despised hated mocked jeered and crucified for it yet he did
it willingly for his people because it was through that crucifixion
through that death that we are saved that we are provided for
that this covenant of grace is established for us. It's sure
and certain, and God testifies that we are justified who believe
in him because he raised him from the dead, so declaring We
are just. All who believe Him are justified. Justified from all things from
which you could not be justified by your works. Christ did it
all. He's a precious foundation upon
which the children of God lay up. Just rest all your hope,
all your confidence, all your righteousness. Just leave it
to Him. Leave it with Him. Say, Lord,
save me. Provide everything that you say
you provide. I'm trusting you because it's
not going to be by my works that save me, but yours. Your grace,
your mercy. And that leads us to the next
precious thing that we have in Christ, our faith, our faith. Faith is not a manufactured product
of this flesh. We don't produce it. We don't
manufacture it. The flesh is not the beginning
of faith. It doesn't come forth from something
we do. Scriptures tell us plainly that
Faith is the gift of God. God gives it to whom He will. God gives faith to His chosen
people. For by grace are ye saved through
faith, and that, that faith, not of yourselves, it is the
gift of God. Not of worthless, any man should
boast. Faith is the gift of God. Faith, we're told in Galatians
5, that it's one of the fruits of the Spirit. It's one of the
fruits of the Spirit. The Spirit in you, that Holy
Spirit, not this flesh, not this old man, the new man, by the
Spirit of God, bears fruits of righteousness. The fruit of righteousness,
which includes that fruit of faith, which is rooted in Christ. It comes forth from Him. We're
the trees of His planting. And so the Lord gives the Holy
Spirit, to his people as a down payment, testifying to them that
they are gods. He reveals Christ to them. He
takes the things that are opened in the vision of this word, which
is Christ, and he shows them unto you in your heart, in the
new man, in the creation of Christ, in the seed of Christ. He shows
them to you and makes you to understand them. Then opened
he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,
That's Christ. That's the gift of Christ. Those
are precious gifts. Those are precious fruits whereby
you are made, in spite of you, made to know these things. And
it pleases God. It delights God to make you to
know these things, that you might rejoice in Christ. And the child
of God, when we're put through fiery trials and difficult times
and hardships and afflictions, it's through those trials that
we learn just how precious faith is. Peter said it this way in
1 Peter 1 7, that the trial of your faith being much more precious
than of gold that perisheth, right, that faith is much more
precious than gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire,
your faith be tried with fire, might be found, found unto praise
and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. He's saying
there that trials reveal faith. I have a knife I bought many,
many years ago. It's like one of those cool knives.
It's long. It's supposed to be. It has a
nice handle and a full piece of metal in there, I think. I
don't even know. It's got little gadgets and neat things on it
that's supposed to help if you were in a survival situation.
If I was in a survival situation, I have no idea how that thing
would function, because I've never proved it. I've never put
it through a trial. I've never stuck it in a tree
and tried to stand on it and see if it breaks or falls apart.
I don't know if it would dole out in five swipes. I have no idea. I've never proved
it. Well, the trials that the Lord gives you prove the faith
which he's given to you. That's why He gives you trials,
to prove that faith, to show us now whether we know Him, love
Him, trust Him, or we don't, or if it's all just a big game.
But he proves it, and he's the one that reveals it. Because
if you have faith, if you continue in Christ, if you believe him,
and you continue in that trial, persevere in that trial, it's
because it's his faith that he gave. If it's our faith, if it's
of our flesh, we'll fall apart like a cheap knife under pressure. We'll just break apart and be
ruined. But if he gives the faith, and
he gives it to his people, that faith will continue. And you
may not think that you had faith. I mean, I can't imagine what
Peter must have felt like. But the Lord prayed, I've prayed
for thee, Peter. Before he was sifted, I've prayed
for thee, Peter, that thy faith fail not. Was Christ's prayer
not answered? No, his prayer was answered.
Peter was restored. Peter was recovered. His faith
did not fail. The Lord delivered him. Christ's
grace bore that fault. He bore that sin. He bore that,
and Peter's faith failed not. He continued in Christ, being
restored by his grace. He didn't come through looking
like a shining superstar, and we don't either, going through
our trials. It reveals our weakness, it reveals our infirmities, but
he keeps us, looking to Christ, believing Christ, following Christ,
because Lord, where else can we go? You alone have the words
of eternal life, and we're sure and certain that thou art the
Christ, the Son of the living God. That's the faith that He
gives us, and it's precious, brethren. It's precious. And
then, our Lord sustains us, He provides for us, He grows us
upon abundant, verdant, green pastures of Zion, and we're made
to understand more and more that God's promises to us in Christ
are precious promises indeed. When He gives a promise, He fulfills
it. He provides everything He promises
to do. For an example, in 2 Peter 1.4,
he said, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious
promises, that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature,
having escaped the corruption that is in the world through
lust. It's his promise. He that is
holy said, be ye holy for I am holy. That's his promise, that
he's worked that in you by Christ. By Christ, he's your righteousness.
And he's the one that strengthens us, and nourishes us, and turns
us from the lusts of this flesh. In this world, that would be
destroyed with the wicked. But he keeps us. And he recovers
us. And he delivers us and sustains
us. So when you read something like Ephesians 1.4, that in Christ,
before the foundation of the world, we're chosen in him, that
we should be holy and without blame before him in love, you
can be sure that the Lord, by his word, by his spirit, by his
grace, by his blood, by his power, by all that he's given to you
in Christ Jesus, is providing that holiness and righteousness
and keeping you and conforming you to Christ. that He might
present you perfect in Him in that day." Again, not by our
standards, by His standards. By His standards, testifying
of His grace and that He's able to keep us from going off, refusing
Him and rejecting Him and turning from Him and going off to the
world. No, He keeps us. He turns us. How often would
we have gone astray and been destroyed? How often? often,
many times, many times, always, if left to ourselves, but the
Lord is the one that kept us and provided for us. This is
the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life. Now, is
anything we do going to destroy that promise or come in between
it? No. God is able to overcome what
we do. Not that we go out and test it.
I'm not looking to test it, because the Lord will correct, and the
Lord will teach, in turn, but he gives his word. It's a sure,
certain, precious foundation that rests on these precious
promises of our Lord. And so everything we see here
all finds its fulfillment. It all goes back to the redemption,
the accomplished redemption of the Lord Jesus Christ. It all
goes back to his preciousness, his ability, his lordship, his
being our Savior and mediator, our Lord, our husband, our friend.
It all goes back to the Lord Jesus Christ. And Peter says
in 1 Peter 2, 7, unto you therefore which believe he is precious
he is precious and that's what he's doing he's in his word and
through his work and through the trials and the opening of
the vision and showing you these things by giving you his spirit
he's making Christ precious unto you and showing you these things
and demonstrating these things so I And I pray that we continue
to be made partakers of these precious things in him. So I
pray the Lord blesses your heart as you think on these precious
things. And every time you see that word,
just think how precious indeed it is to you.