If you'd like to follow along,
1 Peter chapter 2. 1 Peter chapter 2. Now, I don't mean to sound melancholy or morose or morbid
this morning, but I just am struck with a little more sense of urgency
about this thing. Would to God That I were more
urgent that we were more urgent about this thing. And wholly
consumed. With it, I'm continually asking
you, as I asked this morning, I'm asking again. This question, who or what? Is the dearest thing in your
life? Who or what? is the dearest one
to your heart. Now, let me put that question
in perspective. Brother Scott Richardson has
a family of members that attend his church. Their names are Hardman. Some
of you may know them. I don't know. They have two children,
one son and one daughter, both of them in their early 30s. It's
a very dear and sweet family. Just very, very special people. To Brother Scott and the people
there and everyone who knows them. Well, their young daughter,
Danette, 30 years old, she's married. She has a new home. And expecting
their first baby, her and her husband. And three days ago she
collapsed and they took her to the hospital and they found a
large aneurysm in her head and performed surgery and since then the aneurysm burst
and she's now in a coma and At best, they think if she recovered,
there would be paralysis, but they're not expecting recovery. Now, let me ask you that question.
Who or what is the most precious thing in your life? Something like that should put
this thing in perspective. Hear this young 30-year-old girl
expecting a child, a brand new home, and all her life before
her. Gone. Who would have thought? If that were your daughter, if
that were your husband or your wife, how would you bear this? It's a necessary question, isn't
it? How would you pair this? Who is the most precious thing
in your life? Well, look at verse 7 with me.
Verse Peter 2. Unto you therefore which believe. He is precious. He is precious. If you believe,
there's no if and buts and maybes about this, is there? And you
therefore which believe, he is precious. Now, let's get down
to this thing. Two basic points. Why is Christ precious? And to
whom is he precious? Why is Jesus Christ precious?
Four reasons for this. Rare when something is precious,
it's because it is rare. And it's valuable. And it's necessary. And it's an honor, a great honor
to have it. Now, why is Jesus Christ precious?
Because he's rare. He's rare. You know, they talk
about things being things of antiquity being being rare, such
as things being only one of a kind, a production of an artist or
whatever, such as the Mona Lisa. It's of tremendous value because
it's one of a kind. It's the only one like it. Well,
Jesus Christ is the only Son of God. He's the only begotten
of the Father, the only one. There are no others. He's just
one, the only begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ. He said he's
the only way to get to God. The only way. No other way. No
matter what we think. No matter what we do. He's the
only way. He said, I am the truth. Everything else is a lie. Everything
anybody else is saying is a lie. Let God be true and every man
a liar. He said, I am the truth. You know me, you know truth.
He's the only one, Henry. Only one. The only truth. The
only source of truth. He said, I am the life. You have
not Christ, you live not in Christ, you're dead, you don't have life,
you don't have Christ. He said, I'm the life, the only
one, the life. Scripture says there's one sacrifice,
one acceptable sacrifice, one offering for sin, there will
be no others. One offering for sin, Jesus Christ. God sent his son down here to
pay for sin and then brought him back from the grave and sat
him on his right hand and there's no more. There's nothing left
to be done. There's not going to be any more
offerings for sin. That's it. It's him or nothing. He's the only one, only one like
him. He's rare. He's rare. Scripture says there's
one name, one name, one name, none other, no other name given
among men under heaven, whereby we must be saved. There's no
other name, no other person to resort to. Nowhere else to go
but Jesus Christ. He's the only one. The only one. He's rare. He's rare. Better have him. Better
have him. He's rare. And when something
is precious, it's valuable. When it is why Jesus Christ is
precious, something is precious because it's valuable. That means
the great worth of it. It's a tremendous value, like
I said, concerning that painting, the Mona Lisa or whatever it
may be, antiques. Things, some things are considered
invaluable, you can't put a price on them. And you know, this is
just the nature of things, that the older they become, the more
valuable. Some of y'all didn't know that,
did you? But they do, that things become more valuable as they
grow older, antiques and so forth. Scripture says His goings forth
have been of old, from everlasting to everlasting. He's the Lamb
slain all the way back before the foundation of the world.
He goes back a long way. He's valuable. He's the priest
forever after the order of Melchizedek, having neither father nor mother
without the sin, having neither beginning nor end. or end of
life, one made like unto the Son of God. He's valuable because
he's eternal. That's why. You know, on the
job where you work, the man, probably the man or the woman
who is the most valuable person to that company is the one with
the most experience, the one that's been around the longest.
I'll take his brother Lewis as an example. He's been around
a long time, and he's needed, he's necessary, he's valuable.
I would say that his employers think that he's probably one
of the most valuable people that works there, the most valuable
man on the job, the oldest and most experienced. The Scripture
says Christ is the firstborn among the brethren of every creature. He's before all things, and by
him all things consist. He lived a long time before anybody
or anything else. He's the most valuable, the most
valuable. And when something is valuable,
when it's valuable, it is so because of who it's from. If
you were to have an original Picasso set, all of you probably
heard that name, Picasso, if you had a painting by him or
an original piece of music written by Beethoven
or whoever. It would be a valuable piece
because of the ones who wrote it, the ones who painted it or
whatever. It wouldn't mean much to me. I care less for Picasso.
I care less. I like Beethoven. But at any
rate, the world would consider that a valuable piece because
who it's from. Christ said, when he came down
to earth, he said, I came from God. He's valuable, Terry, because
of who he comes from. He came from the Father. The
Father in heaven sent Jesus Christ for an express purpose. God took
time out to send his Son, his only Son, down to this earth
for a purpose. He's valuable. Not to many people,
but he is valuable. To those that believe, he's valuable.
He's precious. The only begotten well-beloved
son of God. And when something is valuable,
it's valuable because of its exquisite beauty. You know, gardeners,
I don't know how many of you like to garden, but a lot of
people are caught up with rose gardening. They can tell you
that of the priceless beauty of exquisite roses and so forth. Scripture says he's a rose of
Sharon. I've never seen a rose of Sharon, but I hear it's unequaled
in its beauty. The lily of the valley. I've
heard something of those beautiful lilies over there in the eastern,
far eastern countries in the valley. You've seen some of them
growing. He's the bright and morning star,
the brightest star in the heavens. That's Christ. He's the fairest
of ten thousand. He's the altogether lovely one.
He's valuable. It's the only one like him. He's
the perfect, spotless, sinless, holy Son of the Most High God. Do you know him? Do you value
him? He's the only one. He's the only
one. Let me read you something here.
I gave it to all of you at one time. To the artist, Jesus Christ
is the one altogether lovely. To the architect, he's the chief
cornerstone. To the baker, he's the living
bread. To the banker, he's the hidden
treasure. To the biologist, he's life.
To the builder, he's that foundation we talked about. To the doctor,
he's that great physician. To the teacher, he's the master.
To the farmer, he's the lord of the harvest. To the florist,
he is the rose of Sharon, the lily of the valley. You think
of it, Nancy, when you're fixing those flowers up? To the geologist,
he's the rock of ages. Judge, he's the righteous judge.
To the jeweler, where's Nancy? He's the pearl of great price.
To the lawyer, he is the lawgiver. To the newspaper reporter, he's
the good news. To the philosopher, he's the
wisdom of God. To the preacher, he's the word of God. Everywhere
you look, you see him. To the statesman or the politician,
he's the Lord of all nations. To the student, he's the living
truth. To the sinner, He's the Lamb
of God that takes away the sin of the world. To the Christian,
He's the Son of the living God, the Savior, the Redeemer, the
Lord of the universe, their Lord and Master. Well, when something
is precious, it's precious because it's necessary. You've got to have it. Not only
is it rare, it's the only one like it, but it's precious when
you've got to have it. It's the only one, and you've
got to have it. Mmm, if you get it. It's precious. It's vital. Such things, common
things that we take for granted. Water. Anybody thirsty? Would you like that some? Nothing like it. And everybody's
got to have it. Everybody. It's indispensable
to everyone. And only God can give it. Right?
Only God gives it. It just comes down freely from
heaven. That's Christ, isn't it? He's
the water of life. He's indispensable to all. You've
got to have Him. You're going to dry up on the
vine. You've got to have Him. And only God can give. Only God. And He alone is satisfying. You
can drink all the Gatorade you want, but it won't meet your
thirst like just good old water. Bread. We've got to have bread
to sustain these bodies. That's the gift of God, too.
And it's indispensable. Everybody's got to have it. And
it's really the only thing that'll satisfy. Christ said, I'm the
bread. I'm the bread of life. I come
from God. Everybody needs me. And I'm the only one who'll satisfy
your hunger. Only one. Air. We need oxygen.
We've got to breathe air. These bodies without oxygen will
die. Just die right now. We've got
to breathe. And the soul without Christ is
dead. Dead. Dead. He's necessary. Necessary. Needed. Christ is
necessary and vital as our wisdom. We've got to know Him. You might
know many things. Many things. You might know how
to drive a truck, how to work on a car, how to teach a class,
whatever. You don't know Christ. You don't
know anything. He is wisdom. Whom to know is
to have eternal life. Righteousness. Scripture says
we've got to have this righteousness, perfect holiness, to be accepted
by God the Father. Christ is the only source of
this righteousness, isn't it? You know what the Scripture says?
You've got to have Him. Got to have him. Sanctification, holiness,
redemption. He's the only one that's got
the price to pay. We're in bondage. We're bound by Satan's sin and
self. He's the only one that can set
us free. The only one that can pay the price and the debt that
we owe to God for his broken law. Other things. He's freedom
for captives. David went down to that cave,
you know, and all that were in distress and discontented and
sad and in debt and so forth, they resorted to David in that
cave. Christ is the only one. He's the only one. It's freedom
for the captives. Come to Him. The Son will set
you free. You'll be free. And you'll have
to tell that to some people you see out here in obvious legal
bondage. You want to go up to them and
say, Ma'am, if you knew the Son, if you knew Christ, He'd set
you free. He'd set you free from all your
religious traditions received. from the fathers. Christ alone is pardon for the
guilty. Christ alone is healing for the
sick. I tell you what, if you ever get really sick, a doctor
is pretty precious, isn't he? A hospital, you know, nobody
likes to lie in a hospital. You need one, buddy. It's a good
place to be in. If you ever get really, take
an inhaler for granted, won't you? Not this woman. You ever
need something bad enough where you can't do without it, buddy,
when you get it, it is precious to you. Precious. That little
girl of ours, precious to us. That boy. If you're blind, sight
is mighty precious, isn't it? Mighty precious. Sin has blinded
men's eyes. The God of this world has blinded
their mind. lest they should see the beauty,
the preciousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. But blessed are
your eyes, they see. And your ears, they hear. And
that makes Him precious. Well, something is precious,
fourthly, when it is honorable. Did you notice, did your margin
have, did that word precious there in verse 7 have a number
beside it? And in the margin it says an honor. Did yours have
that? Did you look? Is it is he precious
and honor? You know. Christ is the. The greatest honor that can be
bestowed upon a human being. The greatest honor that can be
bestowed upon a human being. I forget exactly who it was,
but. Some missionaries son. Became an ambassador. He was
a missionary. to this country along with his
father, and he became an ambassador to some country. And his father
lamented that he had taken a demotion. A demotion. Because to be a child
of the Most High God, a servant of Christ, no matter what circumstances
you're in, is the greatest honor on the face of the earth. The
greatest honor. name you could have bestowed
upon you is not president, not ambassador, not senator, not
governor, not congressman, but Christian. The greatest title
a man or a woman, a human being, a young person could have. The
scripture says, peace on earth. When those angels came down,
they said, peace on earth, goodwill toward men, glad tidings, good
news of great joy. Somebody's here. Somebody's here. Power is going to fail. Riches
are going to vanish. Your family is going to die.
Fame is fleeting. Eternal life in Christ forever.
It's just that. Eternal. It's eternal. Life with
Christ. The Scripture says this about
honorable. He says in Proverbs 21, 2, He
that followeth after righteousness and mercy finds life. and righteousness and honor. Honor. We just don't. Someday, we're going to see,
when we stand before that awesome, like Old Mephibosheth, when we
stand before the awesome, holy presence of the Most High God
of the universe, when we stand before Him and have Him say,
enter. What an honor. What an honor.
And it's going to be the greatest dishonor and the most horrifying
and horrible experience known to man to have him say, you wretched
creature. He's going to say that about
some people. Hopefully not you. Well, turn back to 1 Peter 1. Look at verse 7 with me. He says,
the trial of your faith is more precious than gold that perishes. Though it be tried with fire,
though it's tough, but in the end it will be found unto praise
and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. Honor. You love your wife, you love
your husband, you feel privileged and honored to have them, you
feel blessed of God to have them, you feel as if They grace your
life? Do you go out in public with
them, proud of them, proud to be with them, feel honored to
be beside them? At the appearing of Jesus Christ,
you're going to be the most honored person in the world to stand
by him, have him put his arm around you. You know, everybody
wants to be known by somebody. I know such and such. I, you
know, you might have run across, one time I I went to a golf tournament
and I spoke with Jack Nicklaus, you know, and at the time I just
thought, oh, wow, I'm just the most honored person on the earth.
He's just a word. But when he comes down and I
can say, I know him, and when he says, I know you, oh, what
an honor, what an honor, what a privilege, what glory at his
appearance. That's why he's precious. because
of who he is and what he did. Now, to whom is he precious?
Stay with me. Look at the text again, verse
7 of chapter 2. "...unto you therefore which
believe he is precious." What is it to believe? Well, it's
certainly not what some think it is. What is faith? Well, it's three things, very
simply put. Three things. Knowledge, firm
persuasion in the heart, and then a committal trust. Knowledge, heart persuasion,
and trust or committal to him. Knowledge. Paul said, I know,
hmm, I know somebody. Not quite, although it does start,
if any man abide not in the doctrine of Christ, he's not of his either. You've got to know. You've got
to know some things, yes. You've got to know who God is.
You've got to know what you are. You've got to know who Christ
is and what he did. You're not going to call on him
whom you do not believe. No, you're not going to call on him whom
you do not believe. You're not going to believe in him whom you've not heard.
You're not going to hear without a preacher. You're not going
to call upon a Christ that hasn't been revealed to you. Nobody
does. Nobody does. They call upon some Jesus who's
unable to save. But they don't call on the Lord
Jesus Christ of glory who's able to save unless they really believe
He can save them. It's people making their decisions
for Jesus and so forth. But there's not many people calling,
begging and screaming, Lord save us or we perish. That's calling
on the name of the Lord. You have to know who He is. You
have to know who He is and what you are. Knowledge. Yes. But
it goes much deeper than just knowledge. The love of Christ
that passes knowledge, Paul said in Ephesians 3. It's a firm persuasion. With a mouth, confession is made,
but with a heart, man believes in the righteousness of the heart.
Why? Because the Lord looks on the
heart. He's not interested in what you're saying. He knows
that, Jeanette, he knows your words, they're not worth a flip
now. Our little two-bit confession
is not worth a flip to God. It's so easy. Thoughts, words
come cheap, don't they? Oh, but heart feelings. Heart
feelings. Why does God pay attention to
the heart? Because he's the one that puts it there. Only he and he alone
can give this. With the heart, man believeth
unto righteousness. And this is the only way that
a man can say with the Apostle Paul, I'm pressing I don't know
about you, but I'm pressing toward the mark, the prize of the high
and honorable calling of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. Why?
Because I know Him. I know what He's like. I know
who He is. I know what He's done. I've got
to get to Him. Oh, that I might win Christ.
That's heart faith. It's not the, oh, I'm firmly
persuaded of the sovereignty of God. I'm glad. I'm glad. I'm firmly persuaded That Christ
is able to say, I'm glad. It starts there. But it better
get down in your heart where you say, I've got to have Him. Oh, that I might win Christ and
be found in Him. Oh, that I might know Him. Abraham
believed God. Yes, he believed God. But he
committed himself. This is what brings me to my
next point. More than just a notional ascent,
true heart faith. as an inner persuasion that leads
to trust. But my little daughter, she trusts
me. She loves me. She knows me to
some degree, and therefore she trusts me. She's not really too
worried about things. Now, other times, sometimes she
doubts and afraid and all, but most of the time she's very secure
in her knowledge of me. She knows me. She trusts me.
And we've got to come to reach that point with Him. That's faith. That's the maturity. That's faith. Trusting Him and
Him alone. Leaning on the everlasting arm.
Submitting to Christ as Lord in our lives. Whatever comes
to pass. Whatever. He's Lord. It's the
Lord. It's the only way we're going
to be able to bear up under something such as I mentioned to you, Walter.
The only way, Virgie. The Lord takes your husband or
your child or whatever. The only way you're going to
be able to bear up under that is to know He's in charge. He's in charge. And he won't
do anything to his children except exactly what's bad. I know. It's the Lord. It's tough. Boy, it won't completely keep
you from weeping. I talked to Brother Scott on
the phone. He said, yeah. He said, everybody
weeps. He said, Daryl and Joyce, their
parents, they're submitting to the will of God. They're trusting
Him. They're weeping. Oh, they're weeping. Weeping. But the only thing that can keep
you from taking a gun to your head is knowing that your Almighty
Heavenly Father is in charge now and He's not going to do
anything but what's best. Best. A mere nominal and notional
knowledge of the sovereignty of God ain't going to get it.
Ain't going to get it. Knowing Him, though, that personal,
vital, union and communion with Him, and this trust leads to
desire. Hungry and thirsty. Christ said,
blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness.
Do you? Now, you know what righteousness,
Christ is made on this wisdom of righteousness. Christ is that
righteousness. Do you hunger and thirst after
the Lord Jesus Christ? Blessed are they that do. He
said, I'll fill them up. Somehow or another, we're going
to have to start hungering. All of us... Let me get real
personal here. All of us are very good actors,
aren't we? Very good actors. I include myself
here. Everything I say here, I'm including myself in it. And
like I said, this whole thing is a sense of urgency. Concern
for you, I see. for you, for myself, and a great
sense of urgency in light of death, the shortness of time.
We're all very good actors. We can fool most everyone into
thinking the best about us. Some of us are so good at fooling
people, we fool ourselves. The old saying says you can fool
all the people some of the time, or some of the people all the
time, but you can't fool all the people all the time. You
can't fool God any of the time. Let me ask you this. Ask me this.
What kind of wife is it that doesn't know whether or not she
wants to really be married or not? What kind of employee would it
be who rarely lifts a hand on the job? What kind of husband
would he be who would rather be out with his friends than
his wife, or who rarely comes home? What kind of father or mother
would it be who rarely spends any time with their children,
and when they do, they show very little enthusiasm? and maybe
even fall asleep right in the midst of something. What kind of Christian with this
day, disciple of Christ, follower of Jesus Christ. It's not one. It's not one. And you, therefore, which believe,
he's precious. You've got to have him. He's
precious, and you're going to get him. The promise comes to
you that believe, you're going to get him. You're going to get
Him. Those that love, know, trust,
desire, and depend upon Him. He's precious. He's an honor.
He's valuable. He's necessary. He's your life.
Not a sideline. He's your life. Right? Know what this book says? Yes,
it does. If there's any doubt in your
mind, As to what Christ is to you, you better go home and get
in your closet, and the same applies to me. If there's any
doubt in my mind as to what the Lord Jesus Christ means to my
heart, I better go home and get in the closet and scream out
for God to show me His value and His presence, or I'm going
to die without Him. And you better be here tonight
and Wednesday night and every time a man stands up to tell
you about this Lord Jesus Christ. If you don't know Him, if you're
not sure, because tomorrow you may die. That's all there is
to it. A little flow of blood go to
your head and explode and you go out to see God Almighty. Do
you know Him? Do you see the urgency here? And the Word says, time and again,
brethren, the time is short. They that have wives, be as though
they had none. They that have husbands, be as though they had
none. They that have children, be as though they had none. They
that have houses and lands, be as though they never had one.
They that have Christ, by the truth, don't set up servants. Don't let it go. Not for anything
or anybody. Someday everybody's going to
see. Someday all will see. that Christ is all, isn't he?
Someday everybody, everybody is going to see, and they're
going to believe in their heart, isn't they? Oh, he is all, isn't
he? He is all, and some people are
going to rejoice and say, he is all, he's my all, and some
people are going to say, he's all, why wouldn't he be my all? The scripture says, remember,
remember, our pastor gave us these points. I'm going to preach
on it sometime. Hell, hell is, what is hell? It's separation
from God. Get out of here. We don't know. We just don't know what that's all
about because God has still got his hand on things. You go into
the ghetto of New York City, go downtown into the seediest
part, and you'll find a little taste of what it's like to be
without God. Wickedness! That's what hell
is, without God. Hell is truth realized too late. That rich man in hell lifted
up his eyes and he saw too late. Truth realized too late. unfulfilled lusts. It'd be like
the alcoholic without a bottle. Don't want the DTs. It'd be like
the pervert without sex. It'll be like whatever. Unfulfilled
lusts. And he said it's, I can't remember
exactly all of them, but he said lastly, no hope. You know, that's what keeps most
people going. Just the slightest, they entertain the slightest
little thought that, you know, well, some day down the road,
you know, I'm going to get right with God or do this and that.
I'll have a chance, you know, the chance. Then, no hope. None whatsoever. Have you ever
been in that situation where you say, like, no hope. No hope. No hope. You know, this sort of hell never,
scared anybody into believing. Never did. But, I showed you
from the beginning, somebody's precious and valuable. That'll
bring somebody. That'll show somebody. That'll
point somebody. And I hope the Spirit of God
will show you His preciousness right now. Right now. And make
you trust Him, cling to Him, and devote all of your being
to the Lord Jesus Christ. He's real. He's precious. He's
valuable. He's necessary. He's knowledge.
He's got to have it. He's got to have it. He's the
only one. Stand with me and I'll dismiss
this in prayer. Our Lord, we thank You for Your
Word. It does many things to us. It convicts us. We need conviction. We're just convicts and lawbreakers. We need conviction. But it also
comes in to show that our great actions are causing our health,
our peace, and the goodness of God. The Lord has taken away
our sins and has plied our hearts and has laid us down. Put us in line. Put us in line
with the rest of the saints. Follow Christ. Let Him come out
from among you. Follow Him. Christ say, get on with your
glory, your eternal glory. Amen.