Now we're going to look here
in 1 Peter 2, verse 7, where Peter writes, unto you, therefore,
which believe, he is precious. I'm not going to read any further
past that because I guarantee you I'm not going to get any
further than that. Unto you, therefore, which believe,
he is precious. I've been chewing on that phrase
for two weeks. unto you therefore which believe,
he is precious." The word there is actually preciousness. Christ
is preciousness personified. He is the pearl of great price.
And human language cannot express how precious he is. In 2 Corinthians
9, when Paul was talking about the Lord Jesus, he says, thanks
be unto God for his unspeakable gift. It's too great for human
language to express. And even someone with the language
power of the Apostle Paul said he's the unspeakable gift. He's precious. Christ is so precious
that he cannot be bought at any price. Yet you have him freely. Look at Isaiah 55. He's so precious. He can't be
bought with any price. Yet, Isaiah says in Isaiah 55
verse 1, Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. And he
that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat. Yea, come buy wine
and milk without money and without price. And you know he's talking
about the Lord Jesus there. You have him without price freely. Now, something that's precious
is rare. And also, something becomes precious
if it has a great intrinsic value. It's just valuable in itself.
And that's the Lord Jesus Christ. He is rare. He's the only perfect
man to ever live. Now, in one moment, did he ever
sin in thought, in word, or in deed? The only man to ever do
that. perfect man. He's rare because
He's God's only begotten Son. He's rare because He is the one
and only Savior. And that makes Him precious.
And He has great intrinsic value. He's valuable in Himself because
He's God. He's precious simply because
of the majesty and the glory of His person. He's precious.
He is so precious He's so valuable that one man saved a multitude
of sinners, a number so big we can't count that high, by one
man because He's precious. In Him, sinners who've never
done anything but sin are not guilty. In Him, the vile, the
unrighteous are as righteous and as holy as God Himself because
of how precious Christ is. He's precious in his character.
What was the charge the Pharisees brought against him? This man
receiveth sinners and eateth with them. Well, that made the
Pharisees turn up their nose at him to a sinner. That makes
him precious. This man receiveth sinners. Publicans
and harlots were comfortable in the presence of our Lord.
His character was to be patient and kind to sinners. Now, he
had harsh words for the self-righteous, but to sinners, he had kind words,
welcoming words. He had words that would heal
the brokenhearted. He has words that would strengthen
the weak. Look in Matthew chapter 12. This
is his character. In Matthew 12, verse 20, A bruised reed shall he not break,
and a smoking flax shall he not quench, that he send forth judgment
unto victory. And in his name shall the Gentiles
trust. Why will the Gentile heathen
trust in his name? Because it's his character to
receive sinners. And that makes him precious.
The character of our Lord is giving. He gives freely and he
gives generously. You know, we all like to be around
someone whose character is to be generous. Well, that's our
Lord. He gives generously. Well, it's
John's message Wednesday night. He giveth more grace. Not only does he give generously,
he gives to the undeserving. If you're going to give grace,
you're going to give it to the undeserving. He gives generously to those
who do not deserve it. He giveth more grace. It's his
character to be forgiving. He's not constantly bringing
up our past sins, our present sins, our present failures and
shortcomings. He's forgiving. This man is a
true friend. Solomon said, here's a friend
that sticketh closer than a brother. The Lord Jesus Christ. A true
friend is hard to find. And when you find one, they're
precious. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
A precious friend. A friend who can truly comfort. A friend who doesn't forget about
you, who doesn't leave you. Friends come and they'll go,
but not this one. He's precious. A true friend. That's his character. He's precious
in his offices. He's precious as prophet, priest,
and king. Here's a king people love to
serve. chafe under his rule because
his commandments are not grievous to his people. We delight to
live under his rule. He rules and reigns for our good. We have a king who never makes
a mistake and who never lacks the power to protect his people.
That's precious. His kingdom is a calm, peaceful,
loving kingdom. He's precious. He's precious
as our prophet. The prophet speaks to the people
for God, reveals God to the people. And we would never know the Father
apart from Christ, our prophet. Look back, if you're still there,
in Matthew 11, or in 12, look back a page at Matthew chapter
11, verse 27. All things are delivered unto
me of my Father, and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father. Neither
knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever
the Son will reveal him." That's our prophet, revealing God to
us. He's precious as our priest.
The priest represents the people to God. Now, we're sinners. That's the way we're born in
this world, and that's the way we stay throughout our time in
this life, sinners. And we cannot stand before God,
but our high priest can. And He comes and offers a sacrifice
that makes us, you and me, accepted in the Beloved. There's just
one priest that can do that. The Lord Jesus Christ. He's precious. Our priest is precious and the
sacrifice He offers is precious. The one sacrifice of Christ put
away all the sin, a world of sin, all the sin of His elect. Now in the Old Testament, there
were many, many, many, many sacrifices offered. A river of sacrifices
offered. And they never put away a single
sin. Because it was animal blood. Those sacrifices were just pictures
of the sacrifice that was to come. Those sacrifices, all they
required is more sacrifices. Those sacrifices just made a
remembrance of sin. Until the Lamb of God came. to put away sin through the sacrifice
of himself. And we no more offer the sacrifices
of bulls and goats and lambs because there's no need. Look
at Hebrews chapter 10. There's no more need because
the precious sacrifice has already been offered. Hebrews 10. Verse 9. I'm sorry, verse 10. By the witch will, we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once. Once for all. In verse 14, for
by one offering, He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Because His offering, His sacrifice
is precious. And you know, there aren't many
things that are precious to both God and sinners. Who could be further apart in
the things that they love, the things that they like, the things
that they look for, the things that could be precious to them
than God and sinners. But the sacrifice of Christ is
so precious, that his sacrifice is precious to the Father and
the sinners. Look at Ephesians chapter 2.
His sacrifice is precious to you and me. That's easy to see.
His sacrifice is precious to the Father. In Ephesians chapter 5, verse
2, And walk in love, as Christ also
hath loved us, and hath given himself for us, and offering
it a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor. That sacrifice was sweet-smelling
savor is precious to God. And that sacrifice is precious
because of who offered it. Not only is his sacrifice precious,
to both the Father and us. That sacrifice is precious to
both because Christ is precious to both the Father and sinners. Here in our text in 1 Peter,
look back in chapter 2, verse 6. Wherefore also it is contained
in the scripture. Behold, this is God speaking,
I lay in Zion, a chief cornerstone, elect and precious. He's precious to the Father And
our text in verse 7 says, unto you therefore which believe,
he is precious. Christ is so precious. He's precious
to the Father and to sinners. And the death of Christ is precious. Now, the death of a loved one
is not precious to you and me. That's not precious to us because
when a loved one dies, We've lost someone that we love. We
don't have their companionship. We love them, so we love their
character. We love the time we spend together
with them, and that's gone. So their death is not precious
to us. And the believer truly loves the Lord Jesus Christ. We love Him like no other. Whom having not seen, ye love. Now you love Him. If you're a
believer, you love Him. Yet His death, is truly precious
does. It's precious does, first of
all, because it's a substitutionary death. Here in 1 Peter chapter
2, verse 4. I'm sorry, verse 24. Who his own self bear our sins
and his body on the tree that we being dead to sin should live
under righteousness by whose stripes ye were healed. In chapter
3, verse 18, For Christ also hath once suffered for sins,
the just for the unjust. He's our substitute, the just
for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to
death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit. His death is precious
because it's a substitutionary death. 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. because of his substitutionary
death. Christ has redeemed us from the
curse of the law being made a curse for us. He took our place as
our substitute and was made a curse for us. His death is precious
because it's a substitutionary death. He took the death and
the punishment that I deserve. His death is precious second,
because it's a voluntary death. Look in John chapter 10. It's
a voluntary death. That just didn't happen by accident.
He didn't just take the bullet for you because he wasn't looking.
It's a voluntary death. John 10, verse 7. Verse 17. Therefore, doth my Father love
me, because I lay down my life. It wasn't taken from me. I lay
it down, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from
me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down.
and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received
of my Father." It's a voluntary death. And a person will only
voluntarily lay down their life for someone that they love. Now
I have to think, for a moment at least, about voluntarily laying
down my life for someone. Except for her right there. In a moment's notice, I would
gladly lay down my life for her. Why? I love her. The Lord Jesus Christ voluntarily
laid down his life for his people because he loved them. Greater
love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his
friends. That voluntary death makes his
death precious. Third, his death is precious
because his death sets us free from condemnation. Who is he
that condemneth? It's Christ that died. There's
none that condemneth because it's Christ who died. His death
is precious. The name of Christ is precious. The name of someone you love
is precious. You're not going to let him talk
bad about that name because that person is precious to you. Well,
our Lord's name is precious because it describes who He is. He's
Emmanuel, God with us. He's Jehovah, God my Savior. He's Jehovah Jireh, the Lord
will provide. I'm poor and needy. It's okay.
Jehovah Jireh will provide. That's His name. Jehovah Sidkenu,
the Lord our righteousness. Jehovah Shammah, the Lord's presence. Wherever you go, he's present. His name is precious. Look at
Acts chapter 4. In Acts chapter 4, verse 10. Be known unto you all, and all
the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth,
whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him does
this man stand here before you all. This is the stone which
was set at Nod of you builders, which has become the head of
the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other. For there
is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must
be saved. His name is precious. There's
salvation in no other name but His name. The songwriter said
there is a name I love to hear. I love to sing its worth. I love to sing its worth because
His name is precious. The Father has given Him a name
which is above every name. It's a precious name. And I thought this week, I ran this by Janet, she thought
it was pretty good. Something that we don't have is precious
to us. If you don't have something and
you need it, it's precious. It's all a matter of perspective.
If you've got a lot of something, it's not precious to you. But
if you don't have much of it, you don't have any of it and
you need it, it's precious. Water is precious. to a thirsty
man. When I was in junior high and
high school, I played basketball. At that time, you just didn't
have water all over the place. You learned to be tough by being
dehydrated. And when they'd give us a break
for water, buddy, you'd go out to that water fountain and you'd
hug that thing and you'd suck on it for all your worth like
you'd never seen one before and you'll never see one again. You
were so thirsty, you'd die without it, without water. is the water
of life. And it's not just a drinking
fountain you get to go to every once in a while. You don't need
to go find it. It's a fountain of water that's in you. Look
at John chapter 7. He's precious. John 7 verse 37. In the last day, that great day
of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst,
let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the
scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living
water. He's precious. This water of
life is precious. Bread is precious to a starving
man. I don't go hungry very often
or for very long. I just don't do it. But if you're
really hungry, bread is precious. Well, Christ is the bread of
life, a feast to a starving sinner. Look back at John chapter 6.
He is a feast to a sinner. John 6, verse 32. Then Jesus
said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you
not that bread from heaven, but my Father giveth you the true
bread from heaven. For the bread of God is not a
thing, it is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth
life unto the world. Then they said unto him, Lord,
evermore give us this bread. And Jesus said unto them, I am
the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. He is the bread of life, and
if you are a sinner, he is precious to you. is precious to a naked man. Now, here we all sit this morning,
got dressed up. As we're sitting here this morning,
you haven't thought about how precious some clothes are. But
if you're sitting there naked, clothing would be mighty precious.
Somebody give you some clothes to cover up, that'd be awful
precious. Well, no believer will be found
naked in the Lord Jesus Christ. clothes us with His perfect robe
of righteousness, that wedding garment that makes us accepted. Life is precious. Life is especially
precious to someone who's dead. You know, when a person is sick,
these bodies fight for life. I mean, they fight for life.
Why? Because it's precious. Well,
we're born into this world dead in Adam. I mean, dead as a doornail. But the Lord Jesus Christ is
our life. He's the one who made us the
living stones that we studied about last week in 1 Peter 2.
He made us living stones. He is our life. Because I live,
you should live also, He said. He said, I am the resurrection
and the life. And he that believeth in me,
though he were dead, even if he's dead in Adam, yet shall
he live. Because Christ is our life. John
said, In him was the life, and the life was the light of men.
He's precious because he's life. Peace is precious. If you don't
have peace, you live in a home that doesn't have any peace,
you live in a workplace or you're surrounded by people where there's
never any peace, Peace becomes mighty precious. To a defeated
enemy, peace is precious. When they quit lobbing those
shells at you, the planes quit flying over, dropping bombs,
and the infantry quits coming in and tearing everything up
and killing everybody in sight, peace is precious to a defeated
enemy. Our carnal mind has declared
war on God. Our mind is enmity against God
and we're in a war we cannot win. But the Lord Jesus Christ
appeared and He made sin for His people with the Father through
the blood of His cross. And that peace is precious. Oh,
it's precious. If you're unrighteous, righteousness
is precious. If you don't have any righteousness
of your own, if your righteousnesses are filthy rags, righteousness,
true righteousness is precious. And sinners, are made righteous
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord our
righteousness. He doesn't just give you righteousness.
He makes you righteous. That's precious. Sanctification. Being made holy is precious. It is if you're undefiled. That
might not have been precious to the Pharisees. They didn't
think they needed it. But to a sinner, sanctification is precious. Well, the Lord Jesus Christ is
our sanctification. He's precious. Wisdom is precious. Particularly if you're ignorant,
wisdom is precious. Isn't that the way we're born?
Spiritually ignorant. I mean ignorant. Ignorant of
God's righteousness. Ignorant of what true righteousness
is. Ignorant of the spirituality of the law. Ignorant of who we
are. Ignorant of who God is. We're
so ignorant, we don't even know we're dead. But Christ is our
wisdom. He makes just you and me wise
because He is our wisdom. Redemption is precious. It's
precious if you're sold under sin. It's precious if you're
in bondage to the law. Redemption is precious. And Christ has redeemed us from
the curse of the law. He is our redemption. He's made
unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption. He's precious. Wealth is precious. Now, they have a lottery drawing
every Wednesday night and every Saturday night. And some Saturday
night, one of us won the lottery. We'd be partying. I mean, we'd
be jumping up and down because we don't have anything. Now,
you know, Bill Gates won two or three million dollars. It
wouldn't matter to him. It's a matter of perspective.
To the poor, to the poor in spirit, wealth is precious. And we're
born into this world spiritually bankrupt. I've been to bankruptcy
hearings. And the person who's declaring
bankruptcy has got to go before the judge. First, they've got
to go before some hearing officer. And they've got to lay out everything
that they've done. I used to have it. I lost it.
They've got to write down every single debt that they have. And you look at those things
and you think, how did you incur all that debt? Why did you go
into debt for something? You go into debt for $300,000
and you make $30,000 a year. What were you thinking? You're
bankrupt. But in Christ, all those debts
are paid. He paid the debt in full with
His own blood. And in Him, we have all the riches
of God. We have the riches of His mercy,
the riches of His grace. We have the riches of His goodness,
which leads us to repentance. Paul said in Ephesians 3, verse
8, that the Lord had called him to preach among the Gentiles
the unsearchable riches of Christ. The riches that we have in him
are unsearchable. You can't find them all. You
can't get to the bottom of it. You can't count them all. Now,
the riches of this world, they're deceitful, but the riches of
Christ are far better. David said in Psalm 119, he says,
you're better unto me than thousands of silver and gold. Why? Because the riches of this world
perish with the using. You might have it for a while,
but you go buy something and it's gone. The more you use Christ,
the more you use His grace, the more it grows. You don't exhaust
it, it grows. The riches of this world can
be lost. People lost fortunes this past
week on the stock market. But the riches of Christ are
eternal because the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. He'll never take them back. Solomon
said they're durable riches. They're eternal. Freedom is precious. You're in bondage. Freedom is
precious. People give their lives for freedom
all the time. We've got men and women right
now in harm's way fighting for our freedom because it's precious.
Well, in Christ, we're God's free men. We have the glorious
liberty of the children of God. We have freedom in Him. Light's
precious. You might not think it is right
now, but what's the first thing you do when electricity goes
off? You're stumbling around in the dark trying to find a
flashlight. I mean, you don't even wait a second. It's just a knee-jerk
reaction to get that flashlight or find a candle and get it lit.
Because light's precious. And we live in a dark, Dark,
dark world. So dark you cannot see your hand
in front of your face. But Christ is our light that
lets us see. He's the light of the world that
John says shined in darkness. The right way is precious. Precious,
if you're lost. That's why people got these GPS
things they've got in their cars, trying to keep you from getting
lost. Because men don't stop and ask for directions. If women
were the only people out driving, you went GPS thing, they'd never
sell one. But men won't ask for directions.
And when you're lost and you finally stop and you find somebody
to tell you the right way to go, it's precious. All the pressure's taken off,
isn't it? Well, we don't know the way. We're going the wrong
way. until Christ finds us. And not
only does He put us in the right way, He is the way. I'm the way,
the truth, and the life. He is the way. He's precious.
Love is precious. People need to be loved. You
know, you hear about wealthy people who've got everything
the heart can imagine to ever want. And they're miserable because
they run their family off and nobody loves them. And they trade
it all for a family like yours that loves you, loves precious. And the amazing fact of grace
is in Christ, God Almighty loves you, loves his people. Christ
is the precious father to the orphan. He's the precious husband
to the widow. He's the great physician to the
sick. He's the precious shelter from the stormy blast, the place
to get out of the rain. He's the precious great rock
that provides shade in the desert. He is precious because He is
everything I'm not. He's everything we need. Well, I've got to quit. I can't
believe this. I've got more. Let me give you this before I
quit. You know, there are some things in God's Word that are
called precious. I'm just going to give you one
of them. In Psalm 116, verse 15, David said, Precious in the
sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. You know, that death is precious
to the believer, too. Like I said a minute ago, that's
not precious to you and me because we've lost a loved one. But it's
precious to the Lord, and I guarantee you it's precious to that believer.
David said, I'll be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness.
How's that going to happen? Well, you're going to have to
go to sleep. This body's going to have to die. It's going to
have to go to sleep so we can awake in His likeness. To be
taken from the body of sin to a perfect body. To be taken from
a world of sin to a world wherein dwelleth righteousness. That's
precious to be with forever, eternally with the Lord Jesus
Christ, who is precious. That's precious to the believer.
And the death of the saints is precious to the Lord. Because
that event brings his child that he loves home to be with him.
Look in Isaiah 43, I promise I'll quit. Isaiah 43. It's easy
to understand. how Christ can be precious to
me. But look at this, Isaiah 43,
verse 4. Here's a miracle. Since thou
was precious in my sight, and this is God speaking. He said,
you, my people, you're precious in my sight. Thou has been honorable. I've loved thee. Therefore, I
will give men for thee and people for thy life. You cannot understand, if you
know anything about yourself, how you can be precious to God. I'll tell you how. In the Lord
Jesus Christ, He put us in His Son. When He sees me, He sees
His Son, who is precious. And that's why we're precious
in His sight, because He sees us in His Son, who is precious,
who is preciousness. All right. Well, hope that'll
bless you.