Go with me if you would back
to 1 Peter 1. I pray the Lord might honestly
let us enter into this tonight. Ask the Lord in your heart to
let you enter into this. 1 Peter 1 verse 18 says, For as much as you know that
you were not redeemed. Now we know some things. We don't strongly suspect some
things. We know some things. There are
a few things that we know. We know that we lost everything
in the bankruptcy of sin. We lost it all. We lost it all. We literally drowned in the dead
of sin. Ended up laying there on the
floor. Dead on the ocean floor of sin. That great ocean of sin. That great debt that swallowed
us up. Great, great debt. But we also know that somebody
redeemed us. Somebody paid a debt that he
did not owe. A debt that we could not pay
and he did not owe. And I'll tell you what else we
know. The debt was so great. The debt was so great. Nothing
on this earth was valuable enough to pay it. The debt was so great. Nothing
on this earth was valuable enough to pay it. Verse 18 says, For
as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible
things as silver and gold. It's not that silver and gold
were just not selected to pay the price. That's not what it was. It's
not that the one who redeemed just decided to not use that
form of currency. There was not enough silver and
gold on the earth to pay the price. It wasn't valuable enough. All of the silver and all of
the gold that this earth contains, all put together, did not reach
enough value to pay the price. The debt was too great. Now we know that our debt was
paid. That's something we all know.
Our debt was paid. I'll tell you, though, what we
don't know and will never know. We will never be able to fathom
how great that debt was. Never. That's what I pray we
might get a hold of tonight. I pray the Lord will let us enter
in in a little bit more specific way, a little bit deeper way,
how great this debt was. We were redeemed from our debt,
but we will never fathom how great it was. This debt to God,
that's who we owed it to. We owed it to God. And it was
so great, there was not enough silver or gold in all the earth
to pay it. And not only was there not enough
silver and gold to physically pay it, what silver and gold
represent couldn't pay it either. Go with me over to Exodus chapter
30. Exodus 30. Verse 1 says, And thou shalt
make an altar to burn incense upon of Shittemwood, shalt thou
make it? A cubit shall be the length thereof,
and a cubit the breadth thereof. Four square shall it be, 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, make an altar and overlay the whole thing with pure gold.
It said, 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 the for places for the staves to bear it with all. And
thou shalt make the staves of Shittam wood and overlay them
with gold. Everything pure gold overlay the whole thing with
gold. The same thing was said about
the ark. The same thing was said about
the mercy seat. The cherubims on the mercy seat.
The table that held the showbread. The dishes all of the spoons
all of the bowls everything. Had to be overlaid in gold. The
candlestick, overlay all of it in gold. Every bit of it in gold.
Everything that pertained to the law. And man trying to appease
God for breaking that law by making a continual sacrifice
for Him. God said overlay it all in gold. That tabernacle, it says, we're
not gonna turn, but in chapters 26 and 27, it says the tabernacle
that housed all this had to have sockets of silver, hooks of silver,
pillars of silver. He said, I want it to be all
silver. Silver and gold. Silver and gold. Everything that
pertained to man's sacrifice was covered in silver and gold,
and it was never enough. Never enough. That golden altar
had sacrifice after sacrifice after sacrifice on it. That golden
bowl was filled with blood and filled with blood and filled
with blood and it was never enough. Never enough. It could not pay
the debt. The debt was too great. It was
too great. It is not possible that the blood
of bulls and goats should put away sin because it's not valuable
enough. If all the animals on the earth
were slain from all generations, it would not create enough value
to pay the debt. If all the gold and silver and
all the animals were slain, the debt would still be infinitely
more than the price that all that could pay. Infinitely more. He paid a debt that he did not
owe, and he paid a debt that we could not pay. I mean, we could, nothing could
pay this debt. Nothing on earth could pay this
debt. Nothing. Go with me to Acts chapter 3. Acts chapter 3 verse 1 says,
Now Peter and John, went up together into the temple at the hour of
prayer. Here they go into that temple.
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. So they brought this lame man
and set him there every day so he could beg for money. Verse
3, Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple,
asked in alms. And Peter, fastening his eyes
upon this lame man with John, said, Look on us. And he gave heed unto them, expecting
to receive something of them. Then Peter said, Silver and gold
have I none. But such as I have, give I thee. What did he have? He had the message of the blood
of Christ. He had the gospel of the blood
of Christ. He said, in the name of Jesus
Christ of Nazareth. Why that name? Why call him that
name? Because that name means Savior. He shall save his people from
their sins. He will pay a debt that nothing
else can pay. Verse 7, 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. Go with me to Acts 20. Acts chapter 20 verse 28 says, Take heed therefore unto yourselves
and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you
overseers to feed the church of God which he hath purchased
with his own blood. That's what made the payment.
That's what made the purchase. His own blood. Alright, now go
with me to Hebrews 9. Hebrews 9 verse 12 it says, Neither by the blood of goats
and calves, but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy
place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. Alright, now go with me back
to our text in 1st Peter chapter 1. First Peter 1 verse 18 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. There was only one thing that
was capable of redeeming us. There was only one thing that
could pay that great of a price. The precious blood of Christ. Now what does that mean, precious?
What is precious about His blood? What makes it precious? It's precious because it's sinless. Verse 19 says, without blemish
and without spot. It's precious because it's only
found in one place. There's only one place that we
can find this blood. him it's precious to God because
it's his own blood that's what we just read in two places Acts
20 and Hebrews 9 it's his own blood it took God's blood that
has hit me after studying this like it's never I knew it was
but it's hit me like it's never hit me before it took God's blood It's precious to God because
it's His own blood and it's precious to us because it actually made
the payment. It was the only thing that actually
made the payment. All right, now, entering in just
a little bit to how great the debt was. Nothing on earth was
valuable enough to pay it. Do we have some grasp of that?
Some grasp of just how great this debt was. Now, let's enter
into just a little bit of how great this payment was. Understanding
how great the debt was. It's not just that there was
a debt. Realizing that we'll never truly be able to fathom
how great our debt was. Entering into that will cause
us to understand a little bit about the fact that infinitely
greater than the debt was the payment infinitely greater than the debt
was the payment as great as that debt was infinitely greater was
the payment it was a precious payment that word means of great
price held in honor highly esteemed, especially dear, and this is
the one I'm just in love with right now. It means had in reputation. Precious. This payment was had
in reputation. What that means is all of heaven
knew. All of heaven knew. Knew what? how valuable it was. It was had
in reputation. That's why the end of verse 12
says, all the angels desire to look into this. It's because
all of heaven knows, the angels know, that Christ's blood is
the most valuable substance in heaven. It's the most costly,
expensive substance in heaven. The life is in the blood. Eternal life is in His blood. It's held in honor and reputation
to be the most costly thing that heaven possesses. Just like when Mary Magdalene,
don't you love that story of when Mary took the most valuable
thing in her house? It was an alabaster box of precious
costly ointment. And she broke it And she poured
it all over the Lord Jesus Christ. On the day of our redemption,
our blessed Redeemer took the most valuable thing heaven possessed. The most valuable, costly thing
in all the house. His own blood. The blood that
has the life in it. The blood that is contained,
preciously contained in His body. He took that and He broke it. And He poured it all over His
people. The fragrance of that filled
the house of heaven. God smelled that sweet savor. Don't compare the smell of that
to the smell of our own blood. Our own blood is rotten with
sin. Our own blood is ruined. Our blood smells like death.
His blood smells like the sweet spices of incense. It filled the house. God smelled
that sweet savor. Offered up as a payment for our
sin. Just like if we were going to
try to buy a one cent lump of coal with a $50,000 gold brick. Is that enough? Will that make the payment? Will
that pay it all? I'm giving it all. I expect no
change. In the same way, when God looks
at us now covered from the crown of our head to the sole of our
foot in the most costly substance that heaven possesses, the blood
of Christ his Son. When he sees how far the payment
surpasses what was owed, he looks at that and he says, what debt? All I see is equity. Where sin abounded, grace has
infinitely more abounded. infinitely more about it. Now
I'll tell you something that we all naturally think. We have
it in our mind that he paid every cent of our debt to the penny. That's not so. The payment far exceeded the
price that was owed. I mean it infinitely exceeded
the price that was owed. We can't fathom how much was
owed. And the payment infinitely surpassed
it. You could never fathom how far
the payment surpassed what was owed. We are bought with a price
and we cannot fathom how costly the price that was paid was. We can't fathom it. The value
of it, the value, the amount that He paid. We know that we
have been redeemed by, covered by His blood. We know that. But
in our simpleness, our simple minds and our simple hearts,
we go stand before God asking, will this pay my debt? Is this enough to pay my debt?
I know I have a great debt that I cannot fathom. Is what I'm
covered in head to toe enough? Because this is all I have. This
right here is all I have. All I have is a payment that
is infinitely more valuable than all the gold and silver and everything
this earth has to offer. Is that enough? It'd be like somebody only having
one piece of artwork in their house. This is all I have. Just the Mona Lisa. That's all
I have. I told you not long ago, I went
to England on a school trip. High school school trip. I waited
in line to see the crown jewels. I think they're in the Tower
of London. Waited in line. Stood there in
queue, they call it. And I saw something of incredible
value. Incredible value. You know why I did that? I desired
to look into those things. They were had in reputation to
be worth a great price. Everybody knew. I was amazed by them. I really
was. There's a diamond on the end
of a scepter and it's called the star of something. I can't
remember now, but it's incredible. That crown is incredible. I was in awe of the value, the
incredible cost and the incredible worth that I saw. When the angels
look at us covered in the most expensive substance that His
Majesty possesses, His own blood, they're amazed by it. It's amazing. They're in awe of the value they
see. The worth. Where is that worth? Is it in us? It's in His blood. It's in His blood. Lord, Thou
art worthy for Thou wast slain and hast redeemed us back to
God by Thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people
and nation. and has made us unto our God,
not bankrupt, not ruined debtors, kings and priests. Your payment
redeemed us so far back, we're going to reign with Him on the
earth. Verse 20 says, Our Lord was foreordained
to make this payment for us, 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 up from
the dead and gave Him glory, that your faith and hope might
be in God. By Him we believe God. God foreordained Christ to make
this payment for us from the foundation of the world. He foreordained
from eternity to give it all. Give it all. And by him, by Christ,
we believe in God. That's who this table that we're
about to take is for. Believers. That's who it's for. Believers. Believers in the blood. Believers of its value. Not just
that the price is paid, but that it's infinitely paid. Infinitely
paid. My contributions are of no value. Seeing that, does that not make
you want to count all your own contributions? Dung! When you
see the value He paid. My contributions are no value.
His blood is infinite value. Every person who believes that,
Let's take this table in great joy. You know how much value
that is? Let's take it together in remembrance
of Him, that great price He paid.