From back to 1 Peter chapter
2, title of the message, Christ is precious. I looked that word
up, precious. We can say it like this, Christ
is valuable, valuable. None and nothing to be compared
to the Lord Jesus Christ. It also means valued, highly
valued. It also means loved, loved. It also means not to be wasted,
not to be wasted. If we are going to describe our
Lord, we can do no better job than to use the language of Scripture. He is precious. I don't know how many times I've
heard that word when someone looks at a newborn baby and they
say, oh, it's so precious, so precious. It's not precious to
everybody, but it's precious to a few. So parents, grandparents,
family, Others look at it and they're just like, that's another
baby. But to you who believe, to you who are the family of
God, the children of God, Jesus Christ is precious. Oh, so, so precious. So valuable. So valuable. When our Lord came
into this world, He came on a mission. He did not come on a sightseeing
trip. He had a better view from where he was, if that's the case.
He came on a mission. He came to save sinners. Not to make it possible, but
to make it absolute. Our salvation in the Lord Jesus
Christ is absolute. And he did so by his blood, his
righteousness, his very person, the God-man, the God-man mediator. We are saved by the substitutionary
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't get tired of hearing
that. That's my salvation. He's my salvation. And when he
came, he came with a message. I wrote down here a precious
message. of grace and mercy. He came with a message of hope
for the hopeless, help for the helpless. If I can just find
some of those people, just find some, I've got good news. I have good news for lost sinners. I don't have any good news for
anybody else. I have good news for the lost. I have good news
for the hopeless. I have good news for the helpless.
I have a good message, a precious message for sinners, for sinners. Look over in Isaiah 61. This
is our encouragement when we stand and preach week after week,
is that we are preaching a gospel of hope. a gospel of salvation
to the lost. Our Lord says in Isaiah 61, the
Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, and this is Christ speaking,
because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto
the meek. It's good tidings. He has sent
me to bind up the brokenhearted. There is no other message that
can do that. There is no other one that can
do that. And there is no other message that tells us of the
one that can do it. Just the one we got here out
of the scriptures. To proclaim liberty to the captives
and the opening of the prison to them that are bound. To proclaim
the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our
God. To comfort all that mourn. To appoint unto them that mourn
in Zion. to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for
mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness,
that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting
of the Lord, that he might be glorified." That's our message. When our Lord came, he came with
this message. And not only did he come with
this message and preach this message, he left us this message
to preach. He left us this gospel to proclaim
until he comes back. Until he comes back, we have
this gospel to proclaim. Now, here in 1 Peter, as I said
earlier, Peter likes that word precious. And I know, I know
that to all of God's children, he is precious. But when I read
the Scriptures here in 1 Peter, I think of Peter denying the
Lord three times, not just one time, three times. He denies
the Lord. And yet the Lord said, Peter,
feed my sheep. He didn't run him off. He used
him. I know that Peter, in his own
heart, saw no difference in himself and Judas. In his own heart,
he said, I know better than Judas. Judas betrayed him right, but
he said, I denied him three times. By nature, I know better than
that one who went out and hanged himself. But the only difference
between me and Judas is Christ. And he says he's precious. Oh,
he's precious. Now why is he so precious? I
thought of that verse over in Song of Solomon. What is thy
beloved more than other beloveds? That you charge us so? Why is
he so precious? Well, one of the reasons, and
I tell you what, I can't even scratch the surface here. I might
give you three or four points here, I'm not even going to scratch
the surface of why he's so precious. But one of the reasons I thought
of as I was looking at this is because the foundation on which
the church is built is unmovable. It's unshakable. That foundation
is unshakable. And that foundation is called
a living stone. Not concrete, not just some cold,
hard rock or concrete, but a living, living stone. Look over in Matthew
chapter 7. I said it's unmovable, it's unshakable. In Matthew 7, listen to these
verses. Christ says in verse 24 of Matthew
7, Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, Therefore, whosoever heareth
these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a
wise man which built his house upon a rock. And the rain descended,
and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that
house, and it fell not. For it was founded upon a rock,
an unmovable, solid rock. The floods came, and when the
floods receded, there's the rock. The wind blew. The hurricane
came through. Everything else may have been
knocked down, but there's that rock. It's still there. He's
unmovable, unchangeable. I am the Lord. I change not.
Therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed." It's not because
I'm trying to live right. It's because God doesn't change.
His mercy to us in Christ, His salvation in Christ, His grace
in Christ, the cleansing of His blood, His righteousness does
not change. I change daily. Sometimes I'm
up, sometimes I'm down. He's always the same. Jesus Christ,
what? The same. Yesterday, today, and
forever. Isn't that good news? I don't
need someone like me. I need someone who can be touched
with the feelings of my infirmities. I don't need someone that's up
and down, up and down. Like me, I need a solid rock
that when the winds blow, the trials and the heartaches and
these things come, that rock is still underneath my feet.
I'm still on it. And then he's precious because
he's chosen of God. God chose him. Behold, he says,
mine elect, over in Isaiah 42. Behold, mine elect. God chose
him to be our Savior. And God has given him to us as
our Savior. He is our Christ. He's our Christ. He's our Savior. And He's chosen of God. And He's
the only one chosen of God to be the Savior. Paul said they'll
come preaching another Jesus, but that guy's worthless. But
there is one Jesus chosen of God, and He's precious. He's
precious. He may be disallowed of men, But what's that matter? What's
that matter? God chose him. God set him up.
God called him forth. The whole world, all of hell
can stand against him. It's not going to change. He's
chosen of God. He's the Savior. And he's precious
to the Father. His priesthood is precious. No
other priest, no other priest, was able to offer up themselves
and satisfy God. All the other priests before
him, they offered up the blood of bulls and goats, and that
didn't satisfy. That did not put away sin. They
could not offer up their own blood. That wouldn't put any
sin away. But this priest, chosen of God, this high priest, offered
up one sacrifice for sin forever, and that one sacrifice for sin
that he offered up was himself. His priesthood is precious to
God. It allows God to be just and a justifier. It allows God
to be a just God and a Savior. It allows God to be a just God
and have anything to do with someone like me. His priesthood
is precious to the Father. He's precious to the Father in
this, as the prophet. No man knoweth the Father save
the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. There
is no way, absolutely no way, that you and I can know God.
That you and I can have any understanding of God except Christ reveal the
Father. We'll go wrong every time. Every
time. Our thoughts of God will be wrong
every time. But Christ is that prophet that
Moses said would come, like unto himself, hence shall ye hear. He revealed the Father, he honored
the law, and all the promises of God in him are yea and amen. The precious promises of God.
That's what they're called, precious promises And then He's precious
to the Father as the King. As the King. Who is this King
of Glory? Look over in Psalm 24. It says in verse 7 of Psalm 24, He's precious as the King. Lift
up, in verse 7, lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye
lifted up, ye everlasting doors, And the king of what? Glory. Not the king of Saudi Arabia
or some other nation on this earth. This is the king of glory
which is over all. Be ye lifted up, ye everlasting
doors, and the king of glory shall come in. Who is this king
of glory? I wrote out by that Jesus Christ.
That's who the king of glory is, Jesus Christ. The Lord strong
and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O
ye gates, even lift them up, ye everlasting doors, and the
King of Glory shall come in." Who is this King of Glory? The
Lord of Hosts. He is the King of Glory. He's
God's King. He's God's King. There is no
King like King Jesus. He is the King of Glory. And
He's precious to the Father as the King. And his scepter is
a scepter of righteousness. There's no king ever walked on
this earth except for our Lord whose scepter was a scepter of
righteousness. But our Lord, his scepter, his
power, his rule is one of righteousness. Isn't that good news? How many kings has this world
had to deal with that's so corrupt? Even the best of them fall. Even
the best of them fall. King David, look what happened
to him. But not our king. Our king didn't fall. Satan tried
him 40 days, 40 nights in the wilderness. And at the end of
it, he said, get thee behind me, Satan. Adam, we don't read
of 40 days and 40 nights and afterwards of hunger, do we?
No, he's in a garden where it's just plush. Everything is absolutely
plush. And he fell. He fell on the first
infusion. No king like our king. No king
like the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, he's so precious. Why do
men stumble at Him? Well, the simple answer is this.
They are dead in trespasses and sins. Born dead. I mean, that's the simple answer.
By nature, we are dead and see no value in Jesus Christ. He's not valuable to anyone that's
dead in trespasses and sins. But let me give you a few things.
They stumbled at him because when he came into this world,
he came into this world not like they thought he would come into
this world. He came into this world very poor. He was not born in a palace.
He was born in a barn. And they stumbled at that. How
can this be the Son of God? If he's the Son of God, I mean,
you know, naturally, well, you know the gospel, so you know
why, but if you naturally think, the natural man thinks that this
is the Son of God, he's not going to be born in a barn. And they
stumbled at that. They stumbled at it. And then
they were offended and they stumbled at him because he didn't graduate
from their universities. How knoweth This man's letters
have him never learned. They considered him to be, you
know, they couldn't resist the wisdom and power of his words,
but he didn't graduate from their schools. And it offended them,
and they stumbled at that. They stumbled at it. I had a
thought about this example today. I did business with a man some
years ago. He's dead now. He died. Passed
away. Brilliant man. Just a brilliant
man. And he was the head of an engineering
firm. They did a lot of coal mines
equipment, things like that. And he was the head of the engineering
department. Brilliant man. And he told me
one day, he said, I had a lot of trouble there for a while. He said, I only have an iSchool
education. And he said, it took a while,
it took a good while for the engineers that were there to
give me the respect, to give me the respect, because I didn't
graduate with them at that level. And he said, I just graduated
with a high school degree. But he was a brilliant man. The
things that he could calculate just astounded me. And these men, these Pharisees,
these rulers, they said, we know you. You're the carpenter's son. You live down there in a poor
section of town. We know where you're from. And you're trying
to teach us? They were offended at that. And
then they were really offended and they stumbled at him because
he sat down And he ate with publicans and
harlots, sinners. This man receives sinners and
he eats with them. In other words, he sat down with
people like you and I. Dogs, that's what we were called,
Gentile dogs. And he sat down and fellowshiped,
ate with them, talked with them. And they stumbled at that. They
stumbled at that. And then they stumbled at his
message. Look over in John chapter 6. John chapter 6. John chapter 6. Look in verse 51. I am the living
bread which came down from heaven If any man eat of this bread,
he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give
is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." The
Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give
us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of
Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth
my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life, and I will
raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed,
and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and
drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living
Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth
me, even he shall live by me. This is that bread which came
down from heaven. Not as your fathers did eat manna, and are
dead, he that eateth of this grace shall live forever. These
things said he in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum. Many,
therefore, of his disciples, when they heard this, said, this
is a hard saying. This is a hard message. Who can hear it? And many of
them left. They stumbled at his message.
And then they stumbled at the manner of his death. He died
the death of a criminal, not a hero. a criminal. He was hanged between two thieves,
and they stumbled at that. If you're the son of God, come
down. They just could not believe that the Messiah would die the
death of a criminal. Well, that's because the people
he died for were criminals. In God's sight, before God's
law, I was a criminal. And He took it. And they stumbled at it. Now, in closing here, let's look
at the blessing conferred on them to whom He's precious. He
says in verse, let me go back here, in verse 9, But ye, you,
now you listen to this child of God,
Listen, this is precious. This is precious. You are a chosen
generation. God chose you. It says in Psalm
100, we didn't make ourselves, but God made us. Now it's made
us and not we ourselves. He said to his disciples, I chose
you, you didn't choose me. Everyone whom God saves, He chose
to save. He chose to save them. You are
a chosen generation. You are royal. You're just not
like the old priests. You're royal. King priests. We wear the robe of His righteousness.
We wear the robe of the King of glory, which is His righteousness. You are a royal priesthood. We offer up prayers and thanksgiving
in the name of Christ through His blood and righteousness.
We come before God. We are allowed into the presence
of God Almighty through the blood and righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And you're a holy nation, a special
people, a special nation. You know, you look back in history,
In the Old Testament, there were many nations, weren't there?
There were many nations. But there was only one nation
called Israel. There was only one nation that God claimed as
His nation. And the believers, the church,
He says, Here, you are a holy You're not just a nation chosen
of God. You are chosen of God, but you're
holy. In Christ, you're holy. And you
are a peculiar people, a special people, a purchased people. Oh, my. Isn't this precious?
And here's our duty, and I close. Here's our duty. That ye should
show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness
into his marvelous light." Every time we have an opportunity,
we show forth his praises, who he is, what he has done for us,
where he is now. We show forth his praises. We
did it in song, in reading, and now in preaching. And when we
fellowship together, when we go out into the world, you know,
God did not make me for me. He didn't make me for me. We
are made for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Whatever position
I'm in, wherever He places me, I am for the glory of Christ,
and I am given the privilege to show forth the praises of
my Lord. The glory of my Lord. To show it forth. It's like the
sun. When it shines, you see all those
rays that come out. All those rays. We should show forth all those
praises of our Lord. You can't exhaust that. You cannot
exhaust that. Our duty is this, that ye should
show forth the praises of Him who has called you out of darkness.
Not everyone's called out of darkness. Not everyone. But he's
called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. He's illuminated you. He's illuminated
you. Christ is precious. To you he's precious. To the
Father he's precious. To the angels he's precious. We have through him precious
promises. We've been given precious faith
that's in him. Anything that has to do with
Christ, our relationship to Christ is precious, valuable, very valuable. Okay, Mike.