Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church,
located at 905 Yadkin Street in Kingsport, Tennessee, would
like to invite you to listen to a message of sovereign grace
by their pastor, Gabe Stoniker. And now, Pastor Gabe Stoniker. I would like to bring a message
to you today from the book of 1 Peter, chapter 1. This is a
glorious message. This is a precious message, a
sweet and precious message. 1 Peter 1 verse 18, it says,
for as much as you know that you were not redeemed. Now we know some things. If we
are, as verse two says, elect, If God chose to save us, if God
has chosen to call us to Himself and give us a knowledge of His
Son, send His Spirit and teach us the things of Christ. If we
are elect, verse two goes on to say, according to the foreknowledge
of God the Father, Through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience
and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, grace unto you
and peace be multiplied. Verse three, blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His
abundant mercy hath begotten us again. If we have been begotten
again. Verse three says, unto a lively
hope. by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead. If God has done that for us,
then we know some things. We don't strongly suspect some
things. We know some things. We know
some things. We know that we lost everything
we had in our fall into sin. We know that. If God has opened
our eyes, we know that. If we see what we are, by nature,
see who He is. We know that we lost everything
we had in our fall into sin. We became completely ruined in
that great debt of sin. That debt swallowed us up, just
swallowed up in debt. But we also know that somebody
redeemed us. Somebody redeemed us. Somebody
paid a debt that He did not owe. And it was a debt that we could
not pay. We couldn't pay it. He didn't
owe it. But He paid it. I'll tell you
what else we know. If God has done this for us,
this is what else we know. Our debt was so great. That debt
that we fell into, it was so great, nothing on this earth
was valuable enough to pay it. Nothing on this earth had enough
value in it to pay that debt. Verse 18 says, for as much as
you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver
and gold. You were not redeemed with corruptible
things as silver and gold. It's not that silver and gold
were just not selected to be the payment. God just did not
use silver and gold to redeem His people. That's not the situation. It's not that He just decided
to use this payment as opposed to that payment. That's not the
situation. The situation is, There was not
enough silver and not enough gold in the earth to satisfy
the payment. It did not exist. Silver and
gold could not pay it. It could not pay the price. There was not enough value in
them. All of the silver, and all of the gold did not contain
enough value. They were worthless in the debt
that we had because of our sin. Completely worthless. We know that our debt was paid,
but this is what we don't know. This is what we cannot fathom
about our debt. We cannot fathom truly how great
it was. We know that he paid it. And
we know that he did not use corruptible things as silver and gold, but
what we do not know is how great the debt truly was. And that's
what I would like for us to try to enter into here for just a
moment. I hope we will see something
of how great our debt truly was and the fact that we can't fathom
how great it was. Such a great debt. The debt to
God that we were in was so great, nothing on this earth had enough
value in it to make the payment. Nothing. Now, not only was there
not enough silver and gold to physically pay it, what silver
and gold represent in the Scripture Everything in this word has a
spiritual meaning. Every story that is written,
everything God has written in His book represents something
spiritual. And what gold and silver represent
couldn't pay it either. The gold and the silver couldn't
pay it, and what they represent couldn't pay it. Look with me
if you would over at Exodus chapter 30. It says in Exodus 30, verse
one, and thou shalt make an altar." God told Moses to make an altar.
To burn incense upon of Shittim wood, shalt thou make it. A cubit
shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof,
four square shall it be. The same dimension, a square. And two cubits shall be the height
thereof, the horns thereof shall be of the same. and thou shalt
overlay it with pure gold." God said overlay the whole thing
with pure gold. The top thereof and the sides thereof round about,
and the horns thereof, and thou shalt make unto it a crown of
gold round about. And two golden rings shalt thou
make to it under the crown of it, by the two corners thereof
upon the two sides of it shalt thou make it, and they shall
be for places for the staves to bear it withal. And thou shalt
make the staves of shiddom wood, and overlay them with pure gold."
Everything on that altar was covered in pure gold. Everything. The same thing was said, if we
continue reading, the same thing was said about the ark. God told
Moses, I want you to make an ark. The mercy seat. that went on
top of the ark, the cherubims on the mercy seat, the table
of showbread, the dishes, the spoons, the bowls, the candlestick,
everything, everything that pertained to the law. Everything that pertained
to God's law was covered in pure gold. And man, trying to appease
God, for breaking that law by making continual sacrifices to
Him. All through the Old Testament,
the priest made continual sacrifices to God on these golden altars
and on these tables and the candlestick. Everything that pertained to
the law and pertained to the sacrifice, they continually made
sacrifice, continually made sacrifice. And that's what men and women
are still doing to this day. They are continually trying to
make sacrifices to God for their sins. They sacrifice this, and
they don't touch that, and they this. They're trying to sacrifice
to God for their sin. Everything that pertain to man's
sacrifice. The sacrifice that took place
in a tabernacle that chapters 26 and 27, if we Continued reading on into 26
and 27, it says the tabernacle had to have sockets of silver
and hooks of silver and pillars of silver. Everything that pertained
to man's sacrifice was covered in silver and gold. Everything. And it was never enough. It was never enough. That golden
altar had sacrifice after sacrifice after sacrifice on it. That golden
bowl was filled with blood, and it was filled with blood, and
it was filled with blood, and it was never enough. And that's
what I'd like for us to get a hold of. This debt is so great, man's
sacrifice will never be enough. Men and women are always trying
to find out the answer to the question, what do I have to do?
What do I have to do for God to be okay with me and God to
accept me into His kingdom and everything to be appeased? And
what do I have to do? What do I have to do? What sacrifice
do I have to make? It will never be enough. Man's
sacrifice will never be enough. It will never be able to pay
this indescribable debt. Never. The debt is too great. There is not enough gold and
there's not enough silver. There's not enough sacrifice
by the hands of man, by anything that exists in this earth. It'll never be enough. In Hebrews
10, it says in verse one, for the law having a shadow of good
things to come and not the very image of the things, can never,
with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually,
make the comers thereunto perfect. Those sacrifices that they offer,
they could never make those who were coming for a sacrifice clean
and perfect and spotless and sinless, couldn't do it. Verse
two says, for then would they not have ceased to be offered?
If they became perfect, wouldn't the sacrifices have stopped?
And that's a good question for men and women today. If we have
been made perfect by a sacrifice, shouldn't we stop trying to make
our own? Verse 2, for then would they
not have ceased to be offered because that the worshipers once
purged should have had no more conscience of sins. There'd be
nothing to sacrifice for. But in those sacrifices, there
is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not
possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away
sins. It is just not possible. Not
possible that the blood of bulls and goats should put away sin. The reason is because, here's
the reason why, that blood is not valuable enough. That's the
reason why. There's not enough value in it.
If every animal on this earth was slain, every single animal
on earth, the debt would still be infinitely more than the price
that all that blood could pay just for one sinner against God.
My sin, your sin. If all the animals on earth were
slain, it still wouldn't be enough. There's not enough value in it.
Christ paid a debt that He did not owe. He paid a debt that
we could not pay, and nothing on this earth could pay. He was
the only one. He was the only one. All right,
well, what did Christ pay it with? If He was the only one
who could, and if He did, what did He pay it with? If there
was nothing here that was valuable enough, what did he pay it with? Well, if you're turning with
me and you want to hold your place in Hebrews, we're going
to come back in just a moment. It says in Acts chapter 3 verse
1, Acts chapter 3 verse 1, it says, Now Peter and John went
up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the
ninth hour, And a certain man, lame from his mother's womb,
was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple, which
is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the
temple." They brought this man who was lame and they laid him
there so he could beg. Verse 3, "...who seeing Peter
and John about to go into the temple asking an alms. And Peter
fastening his eyes upon him with John said, Look on us." And He
gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them.
He thought they were going to give Him some money. So I'm sure
He reached out His hand to take it from them. Verse 6, it says,
Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have,
give I thee. End the name. of Jesus Christ
of Nazareth, rise up and walk. And that's what the true preacher
of the gospel tells men and women today. Sinners today who are
lame before God, broken poor beggars before God, silver and
gold have I none. I don't have any deeds of the
law to give you, but such as I have, give I to you. What did Peter have to give him?
What did John have to give him? What does every true preacher
of the gospel have to give sinners? Here it is, the message of the
blood of Jesus Christ. The message of who Jesus of Nazareth
is, why he came, what he accomplished, and where he is now. The gospel
of the blood of Christ. He said, in the name of Jesus,
Christ of Nazareth. Why would He call Him that? Jesus
of Nazareth. Why call Him that? It's because
He shall save His people from their sins. Verse six, then Peter
said, silver and gold have I none, but such as I have, give I thee
in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. And he took him by the right
hand and lifted him up and immediately his feet and ankle bones received
strength. And he leaping up, stood and
walked and entered with them into the temple, walking and
leaping and praising God. He was already healed before
he ever walked into the temple. He went into the temple just
to give thanks, not to do anything or offer anything to be healed.
He was healed. He just went in leaping and praising
God, thanking God for what He'd done for him. Over in Acts chapter
20, it says in verse 28, Take heed therefore unto yourselves
and to all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost has made
you overseers to feed the church of God which he hath purchased
with his own blood." He purchased them with his own blood. That's what made the payment.
That's what made the purchase, His own blood. That's the only
thing that was valuable enough to make the payment, His own
blood. Back in Hebrews, this time chapter
nine, in Hebrews chapter nine, verse 12 says, neither by the
blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood, He entered
in once into the holy place, having obtained not having put
a down payment on, not having opened up the way to make it
possible, not having just started the work, having obtained, finished,
paid in full, having obtained eternal redemption for us. He went in one time into the
Holy of Holies with His own blood, He did that on the cross of Calvary.
He was the Lamb slain, the sacrifice slain with His own blood. He
took that before God. He made one offering to God.
And in that one offering, He obtained eternal redemption for
us. That's glorious, isn't it? That's
just beautiful. What nothing on earth could do
One offering. He obtained it forever. Now,
if you go with me back to our text, which is 1 Peter 1, verse
18, it says, 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."
We know through the good news of this Word that we were redeemed
by the only thing that could redeem us. God's people know
that. They see that through the Word of God. Redeemed by the
precious blood of Christ alone. That's it. Now, what does it
mean when he says precious? He said it's the precious blood
of Christ. What does that mean? Why is it
precious? What makes his blood precious? Well, it's precious because it's
sinless. That's what made a payment for
us, sinless blood. He's the only one who possesses
sinless blood. Verse 19 says, without blemish
and without spot. Sinless. It's precious because
it's only found in one place. In Him. There's a fountain filled
with blood. Where'd it come from? It was
drawn from Emmanuel's veins. It was drawn straight out of
God Himself. It's precious to God because
it's His own blood. It's His own blood. You think
about that. In order to redeem His sinful people, it took the
blood of God Himself. It took His own blood that was
God's blood straight out of the body of God. Precious to Him. It's precious to Him because
it's His own blood. It's precious to us because it
actually made the payment. It actually made the payment.
All those bulls and goats and all of these pagan religions
have sacrificed young girls and things of that nature, and they
never made the payment. His blood actually made the payment,
actually made the payment. It was the only thing that actually
made the payment. Now, entering in just a little
bit to how great the debt was, nothing on earth was valuable
enough to pay it. Entering into that, let's take
just a small moment here and enter into how great the payment
was. We see how great the debt was.
Let's see how great the payment was. We'll never be able to fathom
how great the payment that he made was. Never. infinitely greater
than the debt, though. We've tried to enter into how
great the debt was. Infinitely greater than the debt
was the payment for it. Infinitely greater. It was a
precious payment. And the word precious means,
when you look up the translation of the word, it means of great
price. It means held in honor. It means highly esteemed. It means especially dear. And this is my favorite one.
It means had in reputation. That's what the word precious
means. Had in reputation. This payment was had in reputation. What that means is all of heaven
knew. All of heaven knew. Knew what?
What did heaven know? Heaven knew how precious it was. Heaven knew how valuable it was. Heaven knew how valuable it is.
Heaven knows that, how valuable it is. It's held in reputation. His blood is held in reputation. The end of verse 12 says, all
the angels desire to look into what He did. All the angels desire
to look into this. And the reason is because all
the angels know that Christ's blood is the most valuable substance
in heaven. Nothing more valuable. The life
is in the blood. Eternal life is in His blood. And it's held in honor. It's
held in reputation to be the most costly thing that heaven
possesses. Just like when Mary Magdalene,
I'm sure you know the story of when she broke the most valuable
thing she had in her house, an alabaster box full of ointment.
She broke it and poured it all over the Lord Jesus Christ. On
the day of our redemption, Our blessed Redeemer took the most
valuable thing that heaven possessed, His own blood. It was housed
in His body and He broke it and He poured it all over His people.
And the fragrance filled the house of heaven. God smelled
the sweet savor of His offering of blood, the valuable blood,
and He was satisfied. It would be just like if we wanted
to buy a one-cent lump of coal. We wanted to purchase a one-cent
lump of coal, and we came and brought a $500,000 gold brick
and set it down and said, is that enough? Will that make the
payment? Is this enough to redeem that
one cent lump of coal? When God the Father looks at
us, covered from the crown of our head to the sole of our foot
in the most costly substance that heaven possesses, the blood
of His Son, when He looks at us covered in that blood, He
says, what debt? What sin? Oh, the payment is
made. made in full. You know, we have
it in our minds that we owe this much and he just paid right up
to it to the last cent. No, no, no. The payment so far
surpassed the debt. Where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound. And all the angels, when they
look at God's people covered in that blood, they're in awe
of what they say. Just the value. The value. We're bought with
a price and we cannot imagine the price. We cannot imagine
the value of what He paid to redeem our sinful souls. How glorious it is to be covered
in the precious blood of the Lamb. That's a glorious gospel. That's glorious news. We just
hope God will accept us covered in His blood. It'd be like somebody
having one painting in their house. I just have one painting,
all I have, the Mona Lisa. That's the only one I have. Priceless. That's what we have if we have
the blood of the Lamb. I pray God may cover us in His
blood. May He cause us to see His blood
to be the only thing that will redeem us. May He cause us to
see His blood to be the only thing of any value and worth. Oh Lord, cover us in the blood.
May God look upon us covered in that blood. and in that blood
may we have eternal life with Him. Everything heaven possesses
with Christ. Till next week, may the Lord
bless His word to our hearts. You have been listening to a
message by Gabe Stoniker, pastor of Kingsport Sovereign Grace
Church in Kingsport, Tennessee. If you would like a copy of this
message or to hear other messages of sovereign grace, log on to
our website at ksgctn.org. If you would like to come and
worship with us, our service times are Sunday morning Bible
study at 10 o'clock a.m., worship at 10.45 a.m., and 6 o'clock
p.m., Wednesday evening at 7.30 p.m. Please tune in next week
for another message of God's free and sovereign grace. you