Well, it's wonderful to be here again tonight. I bring greetings from Jean-Claude. He talked to me through Facebook
today. And I told him it was good to
be in the House of the Lord. It was good. We've had sweet
fellowship. And again, thank you for bringing
us here. A real privilege, a real privilege. Tonight we'll be looking at,
or looking in, 1 Peter chapter 2. 1 Peter chapter 2. And we'll start in verse 1. laying aside all malice and all
guile and all hypocrisies and envies and all evil speakings,
as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word, that she may
grow thereby. If so, be ye have tasted that
the Lord is gracious, to whom coming as unto a living stone
disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious. Ye also, as lively stones, are
built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual
sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. 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. Verse 7, unto you therefore which
believe he is precious, and there's our text. And that's the third
time in this chapter he's mentioned precious. But unto them which be disobedient,
the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made
the head of the corner, and the stone of stumbling, and the rock
of offense, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient,
whereunto also they were appointed. But ye, but ye are a chosen generation,
a royal priesthood, in a holy nation, a particular people,
that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called
you, and look at this, called you out of darkness, and oh,
how dark that darkness was, eh? But he's called you out of darkness
into his marvelous light, which in times past were not a people,
but are now the people of God, which had not obtained mercy,
but have now, but now have obtained mercy. Tonight I'd like us to
look at five precious truths. Five precious truths. Unto you therefore, it says in
verse 7 at the beginning, unto you therefore which believe,
He is precious. He is precious. He is precious
to the believer. He is precious. Christ is precious.
But to the unbelieving world, He's not precious. And even before the Lord saved
us, He wasn't precious to us. But oh, to those who believe,
He is precious. He is precious. Thayer's Greek
definition for the word precious is held in honor. He's held in
honor by believers. Prized. Precious. He's the pearl of great price.
The English definition for precious is of great value or high price. You can't put a value on Christ
to the believer. He's priceless. Highly esteemed, the English
version goes on, highly esteemed or cherished for the English
definition. So today I'd like to look at
five precious truths. Five precious truths that believers
see when the Lord saves them. They don't see them before. But He reveals Himself. We see
more than five. I'd just like to look at five
points. Now we sing the song Amazing Grace. And it refers to that at one
time we were blind. At one time we were blind, but
what? Now we see. And beloved, we're given those
spiritual eyes. We can never see on our own.
But praise God, he gives us eyes to see him in all his glory,
doesn't he? And see what he's done for us in our room instead. And then we praise his mighty
name. five precious truths that we
were blind to, but if you're saved, you're made
to see. In these five precious truths,
all the carnal hopes of man are dashed. Unfortunately, folks in religion,
and I did it when I was in religion, they built a refuge of lies.
It's based upon what I've done. When I was a Catholic, it was
all, as I said earlier today, it was all based upon what I
had done. That God would weigh me in the scales of justice and,
well, you're not as bad as that guy over there. There's always
somebody worse than me. But when God reveals himself
to you, you're in the dust. You're not looking at the other
guy And religion is based upon self-righteousness. Although folks want to come out
and say it, it really is. I'm not as bad as him. I was
just full of self-righteousness. Self-justification. There's a
doctrine out there in the world. I don't know if you've heard.
It's called justification by death. justification by death,
and the world loves this doctrine. Because you can have the worst
person, the person who was an absolute drunkard, or an absolute
just gone off the rails, and somewhere, somewhere from the
funeral home to the grave site, they became a saint. Well, no, absolutely not. Absolutely not. No, we are only
saved by the grace of God in Christ, plus nothing. Nothing
else. So men build up these refuge
of lies and they comfort themselves saying, well, surely they're
in heaven because they were a good person. All right, we've all heard that,
right? But there's none good, scripture says. No, not one,
none. There's none that seek after
God. I did not seek God. I was in religion and was thinking
that I was doing things, but I wasn't seeking God. Not at
all. One day he sought me. And I know
it's the same for every believer. There was a time when he arrested
you like he did Paul. When he intervened in your life,
there was a but God in every believer's life. There really
is. There's a time when God had mercy
upon your soul if you believe. And now what is he? He's absolutely
precious. He's precious. You don't have
to find any hope anywhere else. Now when God's pleased to reveal
Christ to those he has saved, these precious truths are revealed.
And as I said earlier, the believer takes sides with God against
himself. because it's being revealed to
us what we are, sinners by birth, nature, and choice. So one of the first truths is
found in John 16, verse 7 and 8. John 16, verse 7 and 8. One of the first precious truths
that God shows us is we see our sin. We see our sin. John 16 verses 7 and 8. Nevertheless,
I tell you the truth. It is expedient for you that
I go away. For if I go not away, the Comforter
will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will send
him unto you. And when he has come, he will
reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment.
God, the Holy Spirit convicts us and shows us our sin. Shows us what we are. Shows us that we're sinners in
desperate need of Christ. This isn't revealed to us unless
God opens our eyes. The Greek definition for the
word reproved here means to convict. To convict. By conviction to
bring to light. To expose. The Holy Spirit exposes what
we are. What happens to the believer
then? Thy people are made will and
we run to Christ. We run to him. The Greek goes on to say, to
show one his fault. Do you remember earlier we read
in Jude to present you faultless? Wonderful, wonderful precious
truth. So he shows us our sin. And we are sinners born dead
spiritually into this world. Turn with me if you would to
Ephesians chapter two. Now a person who's dead, They
can't hear. They can't speak. They can't walk. They have no ability. Ephesians
2 says, and you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and
sins. Absolutely no ability to hear
God. No ability to come to God. A dead person can't do anything. This is referring to us spiritually.
We're dead spiritually when we come into this world. Dead. And we do not know this until
the Holy Spirit reveals this to us. And then what happens? We're shown The sinfulness of
our deeds. The sinfulness of our hearts.
The sinfulness of our nature. The sinfulness of our self-righteousness. And we're shown that even our
best deeds are what? Filthy rags in the eyes of the
Lord. And then we cry, woe is me. I'm a man undone. Because I am a man of unclean
lips. And I dwell in the midst of a
people of unclean lips. Isaiah had revealed to him his
own sinfulness. And if you want to look that
up, it's Isaiah 6, 5. Isaiah had revealed to him his own sinfulness,
as well as the sinfulness of all of humanity. He was showing
his depravity. and the depravity of mankind. And then he says, for mine eyes
have seen the King. Have you seen the King? Has he
opened your eyes? If he has, it's precious. Mine eyes have seen the King,
the Sovereign, the Lord of hosts, So Isaiah sees himself as a sinner. And he sees that all men are
in the same lost and hopeless state. And to the believer, it's
precious that God reveals to us our sinfulness. Otherwise,
we would just continue on in our sinfulness. Who made you
to differ? Who made you? In the Greek, that's
who distinguished you. Spurgeon has an excellent sermon
called Distinguishing Grace on that very text. Who distinguished
you? Who made you to differ? God in
Christ. It's wonderful. And so it's precious
that He reveals to us our sinfulness because we flee to Christ because
He makes us willing. The second precious truth is
the believer sees the infinite holiness of the law of God. Turn with me if you would to
Leviticus 22 verse 21. Now the law of God requires perfection,
doesn't it? It requires absolute perfection. We are imperfect. And think about this. I know
it was so for me. Did you know anything about God's
law before the Lord saved you? I didn't. I knew about the Ten
Commandments, but I didn't know about all the other things. I
had no idea. I had no interest. None at all. But now, In the law of God, I
see God's holiness. I know I can never fulfill that,
but Christ did it for me in my room instead. But it shows us
the holiness of God. Folks often say that grace folks
are antinomian. You've probably heard that down
the road sometime, which means against the law. I've never heard
a preacher say that yet. I've never heard a grace preacher
say that, that they're against the law. I had a dear friend,
dear brother tell me, and I totally agree with this. The Holy Spirit
will never lead us contrary to the law of God. We know we can't
fulfill it. It's precious and holy. What does it do? What does the
law of God do? We look at it and go, oh my gosh, God is absolutely
holy, and I'm so unholy, and you flee to Christ. It's to drive
you to Christ. But in it we see reflected the
absolute holiness of God. He is a God who is so holy. Sin
cannot be in his presence. And we can't even fathom who
he really is in that sense. And he became a man and died
in the room instead of sinners. Now God cannot and will not accept
anything less than absolute perfection. The law of God, when you look
at the law of God, it demands perfection. There's no wiggle
room in it at all. These folks who think they can
fulfill the law, what? Us? Sinful humans? Absolutely not. The law of God
slays us. Leviticus 22, 21, and whosoever
offereth a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the Lord to accomplish
his vow, or a freewill offering in beefs or sheep, it shall be
perfect. Perfect to be accepted. If it's
not perfect, it won't be accepted. Well, this is pointing to Christ.
There shall be no blemish therein. There's only one sacrifice that
the almighty sovereign God will accept. And that's the Lord Jesus
Christ, the sinless sacrifice, who died in the room instead
of his people. He's the only one. God is so holy, so perfect, so
just that He can only be satisfied by a perfect sacrifice. And we can never give that up. Oh, praise God. Christ, the perfect
sacrifice, died for his people. That's our hope, isn't it? All those sacrifices that were
offered in the Old Testament, they pointed to Christ. They
could never take away sin. but they pointed to the one who
could. They pointed to the one who could, the Lord Jesus Christ
and him alone. Turn with me again if you would
to 1 Peter 1, verse 18 to 20. Oh, only Christ can take away
sin. And remember in Leviticus, we
looked at the scripture that said it must be perfect with
no blemish therein. We'll keep that in mind as we
read this next text. chapter 1 verse 18 to 20. For as much as you know that
you were not redeemed with corruptible things, is silver and gold, you
can't buy your way into heaven? From your vain conversation received
by tradition from your fathers, you can't go to heaven by tradition? But look at verse 19. Ah, but
with the But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb
without blemish and without spot, there is the perfect sacrifice.
There he is. And look at verse 20. Who verily
was foreordained before the foundation of the world, it was planned
and purposed of God. When? Before the foundation of
the world. And then it says, but was manifest
in these last times, beloved, for you. For you. Christ is the spotless
sacrifice. He's the blameless sacrifice.
He's the sinner's substitute. Turn with me, if you would, to
Romans chapter 3. Christ is the propitiation to
God for the sins of His people. He has satisfied the law and
justice of God in their place. And the underlying word for propitiation
means to extinguish. To extinguish. Romans 3, verse 24 to 26. Being
justified freely by His grace. It's His free and sovereign choice
to save whom He will, when He will. Being justified freely
by His grace. Here it is, through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus. There's no hope, there's no redemption
anywhere else but in Christ. Whom God has set forth to be
a propitiation. Remember that means to extinguish.
through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for
the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance
of God. To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness,
that he might be just. Remember today we looked at the
holy one dying for the ungodly, the godly one dying for the ungodly?
Here, that he might be just, a just God uphold his law, and
a justifier, the one who redeems his people from their sins. So
the one who gave the law fulfills the law. Of him which believeth in Jesus,
he's extinguished the sins of his people. As far as the east
is from the west, gone. That's why we can, with confidence,
not in ourselves at all, not presumptuous, rest in trusted
Christ that my sins are forgiven, all of them. And all who call
upon the name of Christ. And He keeps us. And He never
leaves us. Never. He says, I'll never leave
you nor forsake you, in Hebrews 13. Never. Turn, if you would, a few chapters
over to Romans 8. Now, the cry of our Redeemer,
when He had accomplished the work, when He died in the sinner's
room instead, was, it is finished. Is it any wonder then that Paul,
by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, penned these words, Romans
8.31. What shall we then say to these
things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? Oh, he that spared not his own
son but delivered him up for us all. How shall he not with
him also freely give us all things? And then look at verse 33, beloved. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? Why can't anything be laid to
the account of God's elect? Now in ourselves we see lots,
don't we? Lots of things that we think, Remember justification
we looked at this morning? It is God that justifies. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. May we just marvel at the great
Savior. The great Savior of sinners.
The Lord Jesus Christ, God justifies his people. For he hath made him to be sin
for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. His righteousness is imputed
to us, our sins are imputed to him. He dies in the room instead
of sinners. And sinners rejoice who are saved
by the mercy of God. Because we know it's all His
work. The great substitute, revealed to the believer, is the Lord Jesus Christ, the
Son of God. And this is a precious truth. The next precious truth is that
Christ is the only way a sinner can ever find acceptance with
God. There's none righteous, no not
one. That covers everyone. Turn with me if you would to
Titus chapter 3. Now scripture is very plain on
this, that the only way we can find acceptance is with God and
Him alone. Acceptance with God is through
Christ and Him alone. Now we all know the verse, we're
probably familiar with it. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. And he
says, Paul tells us, not of your, yeah, for by grace are you saved
through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of
God. Not of works, lest any man should boast. Titus 3, 5, and 6 says this.
And keep in mind, one of the precious truths is that That
faith in Christ is the only way that a sinner can ever find acceptance
with God. Not by works of righteousness
which we have done. That destroys walking in an aisle.
That destroys praying a prayer. That destroys anything that we
can do in the flesh. Anything. not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to His mercy He
saved us. By the washing of regeneration
ye must be born again. You must be. You must be. In the renewing
of the Holy Ghost, verse 6, which He shed on us abundantly, abundantly,
through Jesus Christ our Savior. So the only acceptance with God
is the Lord Jesus Christ. And salvation by grace alone
and not your works is a constant vein through scripture. I ask you, beloved, do you have
any hope in yourselves? Not to gain merit and favor with
God? We don't have any hope in ourselves at all, do we? Folks often talk about works-based
religion, right? Works-based, and, you know, you
have to make a decision, it's all, and it's so man-centered,
and basically it's works. It's telling the person, you
gotta do something to be saved. Now folks often think it's just
walking an aisle, or do you know that the definition for the word
work, the English definition, is activity in which one exerts
strength or faculties to do or perform something. It's either
your mind, it's not just walking. It's people thinking they can
do something, just thinking right. No. No. Anything we try to do with our
minds or laboring to gain merit and favor with God is filthy
rags in the eyes of the Lord. Now, should we desire to serve
God? Absolutely. Absolutely. Yes, we should. Should we desire
to live To want to please the Lord? Yeah.
Mm-hmm. But remember, you're a sinner,
too. People will work or try to labor
to gain merit and favor with God, and it's nothing. Someone may tell you that you
have to be baptized to be saved. That just works. There's a whole congregation
out there that's based upon that. Someone may tell you that you
have to walk an aisle or pray a sinner's prayer. There's thousands
of churches out there, millions of churches out there that will
tell you that. Someone will tell you you have
to follow certain duties or keep to the law. thousands of churches
out there that believe that too. But the Lord Jesus Christ can save you without you moving a muscle. He can save you just like that
if he so pleases. And our prayer is that He would
have mercy upon you. That He would draw you to Himself. That
He would show you that you're a sinner. That He would show
you His infinite holiness. That He would show you that salvation's
only in Christ and not in any of your labors. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life. Don't you love the little word
hath? It's not maybe. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son shall
not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him, John 3.36. All who do not believe on Christ
will perish in their sins. But beloved, we could not believe
on our own, could we? We could not muster the faith
from within ourselves. And we have no ability to believe
on our own power, do we? Which brings us to our next point.
Faith in Christ is the gift of God. Turn with me, if you would, to
John chapter 1. and put a finger, if you could, into Ephesians
chapter 2. Faith in Christ is not within
our ability. It's not within human ability.
There's none that seeketh after God. When I was an Armenian, I used
to think, oh, yeah, you know, we just get this person to pray
this prayer and surely they're saved. And we even gave people
the false refuge of hope, saying, well, now you're part of the
family again. Oh, my. Oh, my. Oh, my. But praise God that he's delivered
us from that. And I know a lot of the other
grace preachers, they came out of the same spring. And now we
just proclaim salvation by Christ alone. By Christ alone. John chapter 1 verse 13 and 14. Salvation is a gift of God, which were born not of blood,
so it's not of the heritage, nor of the will of the flesh.
Well there, that's it right there, right? Try as you might, you
can't save yourself. Nor the will of the flesh, nor
the will of man. Man can't will himself into heaven,
although many have built a refuge of lies, thinking they could. Nor the will of man, but of God. But of God. And in turn with me, if you would,
over to Ephesians chapter 2. And in that passage we just looked
at there, a precious truth is proclaimed. Salvation is of the
Lord. It's not of the will of the flesh or the will of man,
but of God. And we can cross that over to
Jonah 2.9. Salvation is of the Lord. Ephesians
2. We already read the first verse.
Let's read the first verse again. And you hath he quickened who
were dead in trespasses and sins, where in times past you walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience. That's where we were, dead in
trespasses and sins. That's where we were. No hope,
no ability to come to God. Among whom also we all had our
conversations in times past in the lust of the flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature
the children of wrath, even as others." You could not tell that
I was one of God's elect from all my friends. And it's the
same with you. Before we were saved, we had
no idea we were one of God's elect. God knew, but we had no
clue. Look at verse 4. But God. But God. Oh, we could just park
right there. You don't have to go any further.
We're going to go further, but we have a nice place to stop
right there. But God. And like I said earlier today,
every believer has a but God time in their life, when God
had mercy upon your soul. But God, who is rich in mercy,
rich, For his great love, remember,
he loved us with an everlasting love, from eternity. For his
great love, wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in
sins, and he's referring again that we're dead in trespasses
and sins, hath quickened us together, regeneration again. with Christ
by grace are you saved and hath raised us up together and made
us to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus that in
the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace
in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus believers are trophies
of the grace of God in Christ and then here's here's the here's
the work slaying verses for by grace are you saved through faith
and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works." Not of works. Why? Lest any man should boast. And then look at verse 10. For
we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, unto good works
which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." Salvation is a gift of God. If you're saved, you're saved
by the pure, free, and sovereign mercy of God. And it's all in Christ. And this is why we lift up Christ,
saying, flee to Him. He's your only hope. Scripture plainly declares, you
can't get to heaven by your own works. Not at all. Although man tries and tries
and tries, and perishes in their sins. But praise be to God that
He had mercy on those of us who believe, because otherwise Left
to ourselves, we'd done the same thing. Faith is the operation of God,
the work of grace in a man's soul. Turn with me, if you would,
to Colossians chapter 2. And then also put a finger in
Romans 9.15. And this is still in the point
of faith is the gift of God. Colossians chapter 2 verse 10
to 15 and in Romans 9 verse 15 to 16. So Colossians
chapter 2. Colossians chapter 2 is all about
the preeminence of Christ. Colossians chapter 2 verse 10,
And ye are complete in Him, complete in Him, which is the head of
all principality and power. He reigns supreme. He reigns
supreme. In whom also ye are circumcised
with the circumcision made without hands, there's the new birth,
and put off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision
of Christ. buried with Him in baptism, wherein
also ye are risen with Him, through the faith of the operation of
God." It's the operation of God that we're saved. "...who raised Him from the dead,
and you being dead in your sins." There we are again. Cross-reference
that with Ephesians 2 where we were. and you being dead in your
sins, in the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened
together with him, heaven forgiving you all trespasses." All of them. This is wonderful news. Blotting out, blotting, whitewashing
in the Greek, whitewashing, like it's gone. Blotting out the handwriting
of ordinances that was against us. which was contrary to us
and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross. Oh, it's marvelous. Christ, the sinner substitute.
In heaven's spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of
them openly, triumphing over them in it. So it's all Christ's
work. He did it all. He's the alpha
and he's the omega of our salvation, the A to Z. and there's nothing we can add
to it, and the believer never would want to. Romans chapter 9, and this is just reinforcing
the fact that salvation is a gift of God, not of works, not the
result of man's free will. Faith is given to sinners according
to God's sovereign will. Look at Romans chapter nine,
verse 15 and 16. For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy. And I will have compassion on
whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that
willeth, there goes free will, gone. Nor of him that runneth, there
goes any doing, gone. But of God that showeth mercy, mercy. And these are five precious truths
that we believe as grace believers. We have no hope within ourselves.
It's gone. There was a time when we did
hope in ourselves, but not anymore. We are compelled to fall down
before Christ and sue for mercy. just like the public God be merciful
to me the scene or the leper that came to Christ
Lord if now Beloved, let us rejoice. Through the law and dead to the
law because I've been crucified with Christ. Turn with me, if
you would, to Galatians. Let's look at this portion of
scripture. And we're almost done. Galatians chapter two. starting in verse 19 to 21. For I, through the law,
am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless
I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. In the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me. Who loved me. That's for every believer, isn't
it? Who loved me. And gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace
of God. For if righteousness come by
the law, then Christ is dead in vain. O foolish Galatians,
who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth,
before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth
crucified among you? The believer is dead to the law. No hope held out to any man in
the law, The sinner's only hope of salvation is found in Christ,
and we must trust him alone. The unwilling are made willing. And it's all God's doing. Aren't you thankful he had mercy
on you? The sinner's only hope of salvation
is faith in Christ. We must trust the Son of God. Folks who say, well, I believe
that other folk, you know what, you can get to heaven in other
ways, it's just a lie. Remember, Leviticus, the sacrifice
must be perfect. In Christ, the perfect, sinless,
spotless Lamb of God died in the room instead of His people.
The perfect sacrifice. And God is satisfied with that
sacrifice. Do we then make void the law
through faith? God forbid we establish the law.
and we must never allow anyone to bring us back under the yoke
of the law. Galatians 5.1 says this. If you
want to turn there you can. Galatians 5.1. We must never allow anyone to
bring us back under the yoke of the law. Stand fast therefore
in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, free from
condemnation, free from the curse of the law, freedom in Christ. Christ hath
made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Praise be to God.