I was struck recently when I
was reading this passage from Peter by a little phrase which
occurs there in verse 19. And the phrase is this, the precious
blood of Christ. And that's going to be my topic
this evening because I thought about that and I tried to think
what that was referring to, what it was meaning, and why it should
be called precious blood. Why is the blood of Christ called
precious? And as we thought about that
and as I reflected upon it, I realized that the word precious means
of great value. And when we talk about the blood
of Christ, we are talking about something that has great value. And it made me think, how great? How great is the value of the
blood of Christ? Why is it valuable? And is it
valuable to everyone? Or is it just valuable to some
people? I realised, as I thought about
this, that the blood of Christ isn't valuable to everyone. And I know that because the Bible
says that there are those who despise the blood of Christ. So they don't think that it's
precious blood. They despise the blood of Christ. And these people, we are told
by the apostle, have trodden underfoot the Son of God and
counted the blood of the covenant an unholy thing. So why is it
precious? When we use the word precious,
we often think about something that might be valuable like gold
or silver or money. And we often try to put precious
things down with some sort of financial value. But really,
in truth, and I think you'll agree with me, that sort of preciousness
really doesn't go very far. You can always put a value on
something if you're trying to talk about money, but the things
that are really precious in life, you don't actually put a value
of money against it. Friendship is a precious thing
in life. Friendship is precious because
of what it can bestow to another person. Liberty is precious because of
the potential that it offers for us to go out into the world
and do what we want to do. Health and strength and youth
is precious. And sometimes we don't realize
how precious this is until it's gone. Some of us older ones up
here can relate to that a little bit. But you know, there are
precious things in life, things that give us hope and give us
satisfaction, and it's in that sense that the blood of Christ
is precious. Not that you want to put a value
of money against it, but because of what it gives us, because
of what it does, because of the freedom that it allows, the blood
of Jesus Christ is precious because it accomplishes things. and because
it gives things. So what I'm going to do this
evening for just a few moments of your time is I'm going to
tell you five reasons why I think that the blood of Christ is precious.
And we'll see at the end of it whether you can relate at all
to any of these things. The first one is this. The blood
of Christ is precious because the blood of Christ forgives
sins. The blood of Christ forgives
sins. And sin is the problem that mankind
has before a holy God. Sin is that wicked outpouring
of iniquity. from the heart of a man and a
woman. Sin isn't the things that go
on around about us. Sin is what emanates in our heart
and in our nature that spoils us, that ruins us, that brings
us into condemnation. It's the state in which our nature
feels most at home. Sin has to do with selfishness. It has to do with putting me
first. It has to do with lust and desiring
the things in this world that satisfy our flesh. And it has
to do with idolatry because it says, no God, I'll do things
my way. I'll be in charge of my life
and I'll be answerable to no one but myself. And what the
Bible tells us is that because of sin we are condemned already. And sin will take us to hell. And so sin is a problem. But the Bible tells us that one
of the blessings of the blood of Christ that makes it precious
is that there is forgiveness with God because of the blood
of Christ. Colossians chapter one says,
in whom we have redemption through his blood, that is the blood
of Christ, even the forgiveness of sins. So the first reason
why there is a preciousness in the blood of Christ is because
it forgives sins. The second one is this, it cleanses
from sin. The blood of Christ not only
forgives sins, it cleanses. Now think in that for a moment.
Imagine that you had a friend and you let that friend down.
You betrayed the confidence of that friend. You abused the relationship
that you had with that friend. You rejected your friend. And then after doing all of those
things, you discover that your friend comes back to you and
says, I forgive you. I forgive you for what you've
done to me. It hurt. but I forgive you. You would think that that was
wonderful. You would think that here is
an opportunity to restore a confidence. But let me tell you something,
that for all that person might say, I forgive you, that person
knows what you've done. and you know what you've done. And whatever the relationship
is like in the future, that betrayal never goes away. Except it does
with the blood of Christ. Because the blood of Christ cleanses
us. Not only forgives us, it cleanses
us. The blood of Christ takes away
our sin. And you think to yourself, how
is that possible? John tells us in 1 John 1, the
blood of Christ, Jesus Christ his Son, cleanseth us from all
sin. Is that possible that our sin
can be taken away after it's been committed? Yes, it's possible
with God, because God says that on the basis of the blood of
Christ, He will take away our sin. Here's the third thing. Not only does the blood of Christ
forgive us and cleanse us, The blood of Christ makes us holy. Now this is actually like going
up a set of stairs because we're getting higher and higher with
every step. Not only does the blood of Christ
take away our sin, the blood of Christ makes us holy. This is good news for a sinner.
This talks about righteousness. It talks about the fact that
the death of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, his obedience,
his sacrifice on the cross, which caused the shedding of that precious
blood, takes away sin in its entirety, and it gives a holiness
in its place. He was made to be sin. that we might be made holy and
righteous. And Hebrews 13 verse 12 says,
Wherefore Jesus also that he might sanctify the people with
his own blood suffered without the gate. So there is forgiveness
by the blood of Christ. There is a cleansing by the blood
of Christ. There is a holiness that comes
by the blood of Christ. And it's a big mistake for us
to imagine in any way that believing in the Lord Jesus Christ will
get us forgiveness and get us cleansed and then leave us to
make ourselves holy. That's not how it works. The
blood of Christ is where the believer gets his holiness, not
from our works, not from the things that we do. Number four,
the blood of Christ brings us to God. It opens up a door of
access. The blood of Christ not only
deals with the problem of sin, not only cleanses us from our
sin and makes us holy, but it's as if the Lord Jesus Christ,
by that blood, personally brings us to God. Do you remember the
story about the sheep, the lost sheep, how it was out in the
wilderness and the shepherd had 99 sheep there in the pen and
he said, one is missing. And out he went into the wilderness
to find that sheep. When he found that sheep, do
you remember what he did? He lifted up that sheep, he put
it on his shoulders. Is there a picture there? Is
that what that? No. Is that it? It's there. There it is. Put
it on his shoulders and carried it home. And that's the picture
of what the blood of Christ does. the sinner. There is forgiveness,
there is cleansing, there is acceptance with God because we
are made holy and there is Jesus Christ bringing us back to God. Ephesians chapter 2 says this,
but now is Christ Jesus who sometimes, but now in Christ Jesus, ye who
sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. And here's the last one. The
blood of Christ purges our guilty conscience. The purging of a man or a woman's
conscience is one of the greatest blessings that can happen in
this world. Some of us spend the whole of
our life living with the regrets of the things that we have done. If you feel the need for any
of these blessings that the blood of Christ affords, it's for one
simple reason. that you know that you have a
need in your soul. You realize that you're a sinner. You know that you can't save
yourself. And the question is, how are
you going to deal with the sin problem? And how are you going
to deal with the conscience of that sin in your life? Hebrews
9.14 says, How much more shall the blood of Christ purge your
conscience from dead works to serve the living God? Christ's blood removes the sin
and the guilt of the sin. It purges us. And that power
that is in the blood of Jesus Christ frees us not only from
sin but from carrying around the guilt of that sin. It's a
complete work. It's a work that is done by the
Lord Jesus Christ Godward and it is a work that is done by
the Lord Jesus Christ manward. It goes to God and it goes to
man and it's a complete work. There is a cleansing and a purging
by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. I'm going to round this
up now, but I want to tell you something that I think is very
important. I'm not here tonight to tell
you what you have to do in order to be saved. I'm not here to
tell you what you have to do in order to have the benefits
of the blood of Jesus Christ. I'm here tonight to declare this
simple fact that everything that is needful for the salvation
of a soul has been accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ on the
cross and that's what makes His blood precious. The death of
the Lord Jesus Christ achieved and secured and delivered salvation
for all those for whom his blood was shed and whose sins were
carried by the Saviour on the cross. The power The efficacy,
the effectiveness is not in some human decision. I could get you
all to put your hands up tonight and say, yes, you want to be
a Christian, and it would be baloney. It wouldn't be real. Because that's not what makes
us a Christian. What makes us a Christian is
the blood of Jesus Christ. And that is why it is so precious. The blood is precious because
it's enough. It doesn't need any more. God says it's enough and God
said he was satisfied with the blood of Christ. The people of
God are redeemed, saved by the blood of Christ. It is effectual
for all for whom it was spilled. The blood of Christ is precious
because it freely provides all that we need for salvation. We
are clean by the blood of Christ. We are accepted by the blood
of Christ. We are brought nigh by the blood
of Christ. We are made holy by the blood
of Christ. Our consciences are parched from
the guilt of sin by the blood of Christ. Let us never be that
people who are found to have trodden underfoot the Lord Jesus
Christ and counted the blood of the covenant an unholy thing. It's Christ's blood, it's precious
blood, and it's all we need for salvation. Thank you for your
attention this evening, ladies and gentlemen. You have been
an amazing congregation. You're dismissed.