The Price of Redemption

in which he was betrayed, took
bread. And when he had given thanks,
he break it and said, take, eat, this is my body, which is broken
for you, for every believer, for every child of God. My body
is broken for you. Christ died for every believer,
every child of God. You do this in remembrance of
me. This is not a sacrament. It has
no saving power. The saving power is in the broken
body and shed blood of Christ, not in the bread and the wine.
It's in Him. But we take this bread in remembrance
of Him. We take this cup in remembrance
of Christ. If we know Him, we want to remember
Him. We don't want to forget Him. Constantly remember how
we're saved, by whom we're saved, why we're saved, for His glory.
And to what we're saying? To everlasting glory. And so
you do it now. You do it. Every believer. Just
do. He didn't say talk about it.
He didn't say argue about it. He said do it. Do it. Do it. Take heed. This is my
body. This represents my broken body. You take it, you eat it. It's
broken for you. If it's broken for you, you take
it and eat it. And you do this in remembrance
of me. This is not a church fellowship supper. It's not to show your
worthiness, it's to show His worthiness. But I'm not worthy
to take it. You weren't worthy when He chose
you, and you weren't worthy when He died for you, and you weren't
worthy when He called you, and you're not worthy now, and you'll
never be worthy. It's not our worthiness, it's
because He's worthy. I'm coming to this table not
because I'm worthy, but because He's worthy. He's worthy. Worthy is the length to receive
all the honor and glory. Now, you do it in remembrance
of Me. Don't you let anything keep you
from it. If you're His own, if you're His own, you belong to
Him. After the same manner also, He
took the cup. And when He had sucked, He won
with us. One with us, He's our representative,
our Redeemer. He suffered, He took upon Himself
our sins, identified, numbered with the transgressors. And He suffered, saying, this
cup is the new covenant, new testament in my blood. This do ye, this do ye, as often
as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat
this bread and drink this cup, You do what? You show the Lord's
death until he comes. We'll keep remembering him until
he comes again. Wherefore, whosoever shall eat
this bread and drink this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner.
What is an unworthy manner? Not discerning the broken body
and shed blood of Christ. Not being one of his own. That
be the only unworthy manner. is not knowing Him, not loving
Him, not believing Him, not resting in Him. If you do it as a form
or a ceremony, it's unworthy. If you do it for any other reason
than to remember Him, you do it unworthily. But when a genuine,
sincere believer who loves Christ and believes Christ, does what
Christ tells him to do, takes the bread, remembering his broken
body, and takes the wine, remembering his shed blood, It's not unworthily,
it's sincerely, discerning, understanding why he died. Shall be guilty
of the body and blood of the Lord, verse 28, and let a man
examine himself. It's not my business to examine
your heart, your faith, your confidence. I don't know who
knows Christ and who doesn't. I believe you do. But I do know
this fellow here. I know of all of his sins and
weaknesses and failures and unbelief. But I do know this. I know whom
I have believed. And I'm persuaded he's able to
keep that that I've committed to him. And I have committed
it to him, I guess, that day. And I do love this Savior. He
knows it. And I know it. Do you know it? Sure you do.
Then let a man examine himself. Don't look for perfection. You
won't find it anywhere but in Christ. Don't look far enough
here or out there. But don't look in here. Look
to Him. Let a man examine himself for what? Are you resting in
Christ? Do you believe Christ? Let a
man examine himself, and didn't say, and go away from the table,
and pass by the table. Let a man examine himself, and
so let him eat, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink
of that cup. That's verse 28. All right, let's turn in our
hymn books to number 191. This is a song we're going to
sing to another tune, Abide With Me, but it's a great hymn. Notice
carefully the words while we sing it. Let's stand while we
sing it. Number 191. Here, O my Lord, I see thee face
to face. Here would I touch and, and all
things unseen, Here grasp with firmer and eternal grace, And
all my weariness upon thee lean. Here would I feed upon the bread
of God. Here drink with thee the royal
wine of heaven. Where would I lay aside each
earthly load If they suppress the calm of sin forgiven? I have no help but Thine, nor
do I need Another arm, say, thine to lean upon. It is enough, thy Lord, enough
indeed. My strength is in Thy might,
Thy might alone. Mine is the sin, but Thine the
righteousness. Mine is the gift, the sign, the
cleansing blood. Here is my Rome, my refuge and
my peace. Thy blood, thy righteousness,
O Lord my God. When I survey the wondrous ground
On which the Prince of Glory All earthly gain I count but loss, And poor contempt
on all my frown. Christ shed His blood. It was there He was crucified. He arose again and He lives in my heart. All is real and perfect love. Forbid it, Lord, that I should
go. Loving things that charm me most
I sacrifice them to His blood See from His head, His hands,
His feet There's such love and sorrow
me. For thorns compose so rich a
crown. It was on the cross Christ shed
His It was there he was crucified. But he arose again, and he lives in my heart,
where all is peace and perfect were the whole realm of major minds that were a presence
far too small. Love's so amazing, it's so I shall have my soul, my life,
my all. It was on the cross Christ shed. And He lives in my heart Where
all is peace and perfect love Yes, He arose again And
He lives in my heart That's good, Mike. Very good. All right, open your
Bibles now to the book of 1 Peter. My message tonight is on this
subject, the price of redemption. And 1 Peter chapter 1, it's a
familiar text, 1 Peter chapter 1. I preached from this not too
very, not too awful long ago. But Peter, in the early verses
of chapter 1, identifies the people to whom he's writing.
In verse 1 he calls the strangers. We're in this world, but we're
not of this world, and we're not loved by this world. We're strangers. We're not strangers
to God or to one another, but we're strangers to this world.
And then in verse 2, he calls this God's elect. God has made
a difference between us and the people of the world. John said,
We know we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.
And Moses said, God put a difference between the Israelites and the
Egyptians. We're God's elect, chosen before
the foundation of the world. And then he says in verse three
that we're born again, begotten us again. We're born the first
time, and that made us sons of Adam, children of wrath by nature. We're born the second time, That
made us sons of God, children of God, born of God. Then in
verse 4 he says, we are heirs of God, we have an inheritance
that's incorruptible and undefiled, it fadeth not away, reserved
in heaven. Reserved in heaven, for whom?
For you. And there's no period there,
it's a comma, for you who are kept by the power of God. We
don't keep ourselves, we're kept by the power of God. through
faith, not apart from faith, through faith unto salvation.
Then he says in verse 6 and 7 that we're tried people, we've got
to experience the furnace of affliction. And he tells us in
the book of Job that after we've been, he knows our steps, he
orders our steps, and after we've been tried, we'll come out of
that furnace as gold, purified for the glory of our Lord. And
then he says, we are saved people. In verse 8 he says, whom having
not seen, we haven't seen Christ, not with these eyes we have with
eyes of faith. I see Him in the Word, and I
see Him in providence, and I see Him in His people. I see Him in a lot of ways. I
see Him in the wisdom of His creation. I see Him, but not
with these eyes. But having not seen, we love
Him. And in whom though now we see him not, yet we believe.
We not only love him and believe him, but we rejoice with joy
unspeakable and full of glory. And all of this winds up in the
salvation of our souls. And now down in verse 17, that's
where I want to go. Now, and the people he's writing
to now, remember those words that I've used there from first
few verses, but he says now, And if you call on the Father,
who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's
work, God looks on the heart. That's where he sees, not the
outward flesh. He doesn't respect a man's flesh,
either man or male or female, Jew or Gentile, old or young,
God doesn't respect. these credentials that we think
we have, he sees the heart, the new heart which he gave us, past
the time of your sojourning here in fear. What's that saying?
If you call on the Father, if you're one of these elect, strangers,
born again, heirs of God, some interpret this as a time of prayer
and devotion, when you call on God in prayer. And that's all
right, that's very true, that's applicable. Like I've told you
so many times, the Scripture is bifocal. And as long as it
doesn't violate the rest of the Scripture, no Scripture has any
private interpretation. That is, it won't stand alone.
It's got to have all the rest to the Word of God. And there's
nothing wrong with interpreting that that way. If you pray, if
you call on the Father, if you call for His mercy and His grace,
you remember who you're talking to. That's right. Remember to whom you're speaking.
He's God. God's in heaven, you're on earth.
Let your words be few. Choose them carefully. A fool's
known by the multitude of his word. Choose them carefully.
But I don't think in the context that's what he's talking about
here. It's not just a devotion or a time of prayer. And that's
true, we do. We slip into God's presence.
Do it with reverence. Do it with awe. Do it with fear.
Come before his presence with thanksgiving. get in the glory. But, what we're talking about
here, if you're one of those elect strangers, one of those
redeemed, tried, and kept believers, born again, if you call God your
Father, not just calling on Him, but you call Him Father, Abba
Father, if you call on God for mercy and grace in Christ all
the way through this life, and the life to come, Then you
do so all the way on this road, on this, through this valley
of tears and through this, through this dark valley. You,
as you walk this road, you've got a time here to spend. You're
a sojourner, you're a pilgrim, you're passing through. So you
spend that time in fear, all of it. That's what that's saying,
isn't it, Cecil? It's saying, you read that, read
the other verses that go with it. If you call Him Father, If
you profess to know Him, if I do, claim to be His child, then you've
passed all of this journey, not in spits and spurts and high
and low, you've passed it all in the fear of the Lord, all
with reverence for God Almighty. We don't change. That message
never changes. He's God yesterday, God today, and God tomorrow.
He's on the throne. Whatever happens, that's right.
Whatever happens. And I know we have these. Conflicts
and thoughts that we ought not have, but we better squash them
and pass the time in fear, fear of the Lord. All right, look
at verse 18. Forasmuch as you know. You know
this. This is not speculation. This
is not up for debate. We know. We know. We're not redeemed
with corruptible things as silver and gold from our vain conversation
received by tradition from our fathers. Let's take those words
one at a time. Say something we know. This we
know. He's God. He's redeemed us. Delivering
from going down into the pit, I found a ransom. Our Lord Jesus
Christ was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. Galatians 1.13. Look at this. Listen to it. Galatians 1.13.
We know this. Galatians chapter 1, chapter
3, verse 13. Galatians 3.13. Christ hath redeemed
us. He hath redeemed us, bought us
back, paid the ransom from the curse of the law, being made
a curse for us. We know that. For it's written,
Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. He's redeemed us.
Now look, we're not redeemed with corruptible things. Well,
it says such as silver and gold. I often, I used to wonder why
he's talking about silver and gold. Well, there is a certain
redemption in the book of Numbers. Turn over here a minute. Numbers,
chapter 3. There's a certain type of redemption
that was done with silver and gold. I want you to watch this.
In Numbers 3, verse 48 through 51, you can read, several passages before and see
what this is all about. But look here, Numbers 3, verse
48, And thou shalt give the money, wherewith the odd number of them
is to be redeemed, unto Abram and his sons. And Moses took
the redemption money of them that were over and above them
that were redeemed by the Levites. Of the firstborn of the children
of Israel took he the money, a thousand, three hundred, three
score, and five shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary.
And Moses gave the money of them that were redeemed unto Abel
and to his sons according to the word of the Lord, as the
Lord commanded Moses. I have silver and gold and a
type of redemption or payment, and I'm sure a picture of our
Lord. As Spurgeon said one time, the silver of his sweat and the
gold of his blood was the price he paid. But we're not redeemed
with silver or gold and corruptible things. And turn to Hebrews 10.
Silver and gold passes away. Silver and gold is certainly
corruptible, but here's something else with which we're not redeemed,
and that is the sacrifices and ceremonies and holy days and
all of these Old Testament pictures and types. We're not redeemed
with those things which are corruptible. Look, if you will, at Hebrews
10, verse 5, "'Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he
saith to the Father, Sacrifice an offering thou wouldest not,
But a body hast thou prepared me, and burnt offerings, and
sacrifices for sin, thou hast had no pleasure." Not one blood
sacrifice, not one day of atonement, not one sin offering has ever
brought pleasure to the Father. These things do not redeem. They
weren't given to redeem. They weren't given to redeem.
They're pictures of Christ who redeemed. All right, turn back
to the text, I Peter 1. We know this. We know that we
are redeemed, but we were not redeemed with corruptible things
as silver and gold, works, obedience, religion, ceremonies, sacrifices,
feast days, all of these things. We're not redeemed with those
things. "...from our vain conversation received by tradition from our
fathers." What is this vain conversation? Well, twofold. Twofold. And it's summed up in one statement.
The best translation I found of this is the following. Listen. You're not redeemed with corruptible
things as silver and gold from your useless way of living. Useless
way of living. And that applies, first of all,
to the Jewish religion that had degenerated From the time Moses
gave that law, the Levitical law, and gave the types and the
pictures and the shadows and the sacrifices, it had degenerated
into just a religion of form and ceremony, useless way of
living, just a useless way of living. But it not only applies
to that false religion, and I had that useless religion one time,
many of you did, but it also applies to that useless way of
living we inherited from our fathers. You had to quicken who
were dead in trespasses and sin. And you walked according to the
course of this world, according to the prince of the fire, the
air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience,
wherewith we all had our useless way of living. But we're not
redeemed with corruptible things, a silver and gold, or works,
or religion, or ceremony, or sacrifices from our useless religion
and useless way of life. But listen. Precious blood of
Christ. That's how I'm redeemed. With
the precious blood of Christ. That's how I'm redeemed. That's
how you're redeemed, with the precious… There are not many
things called precious in the Bible. Did you know that? Not many things called precious.
Some things. I know for a… For one, He's precious. Scripture says, under you that
believe, he's precious. He's not precious to those folks
you work with, but he's precious to you, isn't he? Under you that
believe, Christ is precious. He gets sweeter every day, more
precious every day. Not only is he precious, but
his blood's precious, it says there. Precious blood. His promises
are precious. Where would we be without his
promises? Abraham believed that what he promised he's able to
do. His promises are precious. Faith's precious. He has given
us like precious faith. If you got faith, it's precious.
How precious it is. And the death of His children
is precious to Him. Precious in the sight of the
Lord are the death of His children. Those are things that are precious.
He's precious. His blood's precious. His promises
are precious. The faith He gives us is precious,
and when we come to leave this earth, there'll be a precious
time. Why is His blood called precious blood? Well, let me
tell you. Let me tell you. Number one, because it's the
blood of God. Something that's precious is valuable, isn't it?
That's why it's precious, because it's valuable. It means everything
to Him is precious. So precious. Well, this is the
blood of God. feed the church of God which
He purchased with His own blood. Not only is it precious because
it's the blood of God, but it's precious because it's untainted
by sin. When you go down to the hospital
and give your blood, they run it through every test known to
man. Why? Looking for something wrong with it. And they'll usually
find it. But His blood is pure, unspotted, untainted by sin. It's precious. And I tell you
this, it's precious because it's got the power to save the chief
of sinners. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanses me from all my sins, past, present, and future. That's power. Power in the blood.
Power in the blood. No power in my handshake, no
power in the altar, no power in the pool, but there's power
in the blood. Power to save the chief of sinners.
Keep him safe. present Him faultless before
the throne of God, righteous and holy as the Son of God Himself.
Tell you another reason why this bread's precious, because it's
just offered one time. By one offering. Just one time. Things that happen once are precious.
One time. One time. To know Him is to have life.
To miss Christ, you're gone. Because it's just one time. By
one offering. One shedding, one cross, one
death, one sacrifice, one high priest, one Savior. And then
it's precious because it's the song of the redeemed in glory.
That's what they're singing right now. And that's what we'll be
singing when we stand in His presence under Him. And you know
that it'd be easy to sing then if you've been singing it here,
won't it? Under Him who loved us and washed us from our sins
with His own precious blood. I want to read you something
I gave you this years ago, ten, twelve years ago. It's about
the blood, the blood, the precious blood of Christ. His blood redeems
us from all sin, inherent sin, personal sin, inward sin, outward
sin, secret sin, known sin, past sin, future sin. Oh, how blessed
we are to be redeemed from the bondage of sin and from the law. I know those old Jews like Abraham
and Aaron and Moses and Jacob were blessed. Some of them were
looking to Christ. But the bondage of the ceremonial
law was such a burden to them. They were hedged in by a thousand
commandments and prohibitions and rules and regulations. The
farms and ceremonies and sacrifices and holy days were many, and
these Jews were always in danger of making themselves unclean.
If they sat on a certain bed, unclean. Sat on a certain stool,
unclean. If they drank from a certain
pitcher, unclean. If they touched a wall that a
leprous man may have touched, unclean. If they ate a certain
kind of food, unclean. If they did a certain deed, walked
too far on the Sabbath day, unclean, defiled. A thousand sins of ignorance
were like hidden pits before them. They must be in constant
fear lest they be cut off. No Jew ever talked of a finished
work. No Jew ever talked of an effectual
sacrifice. The bullet was offered, but there
must be another. I'm free. I'm free. The black people used to sing
that song, free at last, thank God Almighty I'm free at last.
I know the meaning of that song. I'm free. Free from the law,
oh happy condition. We don't know how happy that
condition is. Jesus has died. There's remission. Oh, I tell you, do you know that? That's what Peter said he knew
it for as much, and he said, you know it. As you know, you
were not redeemed with corruptible things such as silver and gold
from your vain, useless way of life, received but tradition
from your fathers, but you were redeemed with the precious blood
of Christ as a lamb without blemish or spot. Now watch this in closing. Who? Who? Who? The Lord Jesus. That's who
we're talking about. You're not talking about the
Lord Jesus and anyone. We're talking about the Lord Jesus.
Verily. What's that word mean? Truly.
Certain. Who verily, verily, verily, verily,
verily I say unto you. Truly, truly I say unto you.
Who verily was foreordained. He was predestinated. He was
chosen to be our surety. There was a lamb before there
was ever a sinner. There was a surety before there was ever
a fall. ordained, foreordained, before the foundation of the
world. He's the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world, but He was manifesting. He came,
born of woman, manifesting in these last days. What's this
now? For you. For you. You strangers. You elect. You're born again. You try. You cap, you heirs. For you,
watch and see, there's no period there. It's the same, he words
in the same way he speaks in verse 4, to an inheritance incorruptible,
undefiled, that fate is not a way reserved in heaven, not for everybody,
for you who are capped. This inheritance is designated
and ordained and reserved, incorruptible, in heaven, for you. of certain
people for you who are kept by the power of God. And then down
here in verse 20, he says, he was barely foreordained before
the foundation of the world, but he was manifested in his
last times for you, comma, who do by Him, who by, how do you
believe? By Him you believe, by His grace
you believe, by His work you believe, by His gift you believe,
by His quickening you believe, by His grace, who by Him, And I thank God I believed on
Jesus. I thank God He enabled me to believe on Jesus. I thank
God He gave me faith to believe on. I thank God He called me
in the day of His power. If He hadn't called me, I'd have
never called on Him. If He hadn't pursued me and arrested
me and come out there in the wilderness and found me and put
me on His shoulders, I'd have never found my way home. I didn't
know where home—I didn't know I was lost. I not only didn't know where
home was, I didn't miss it. That's right. Who by Him, and
the prodigal son didn't miss it either until he got down,
until he got down, until he got stripped and broken. That's when
he missed home. He was ordained for you who believe.
He fulfilled all righteousness for you who believe. He died
on the cross for you who believe. He was manifested for you who
believe. He'll one day come for you who believe. Who by Him do
believe in God. that raised him up from the dead
and gave him all the glory that your faith and your hope might
be in him. And he said, I go to prepare
a place for you. That's that for you again. For you. I go to prepare a place
for you. This inheritance is reserved for you. The precious
blood of Christ was ordained and manifested for you. I go
to prepare a place for you, and I'm coming back for you." Isn't
that good? I'm coming back for you. That
where I am, there you may be. There you may be also. All right, the brethren are going
to serve the Lord's table now. And we, with one heart and one
voice, do thank Thee tonight, that by Your grace we know something
of these precious things. To us, Christ is precious. And Thy promises, Thy Word, O
God, is precious. how comforting, how confident
we are in resting in Thy Word, Thy promises. It cannot fail. And we recognize that this, the
very fact that we believe this Gospel, that we believe Thy Word,
we believe Christ is a miracle of Thy grace. And we do believe, Lord help
our unbelief, increase our faith, this precious faith that you've
given us. And Lord, we know that when we come to
leave this earth, because of the hope that we have in Christ,
it'll not be a fearful time, it'll be a precious time. And
we'll come into Thy presence to enjoy Thy glory forever. And all of this is ours because
of His precious blood. And I thank you. Thank you for
this congregation of believers. But the hope that we have in
Christ Jesus And before Thee and before one
another, we declare that our hope is built on nothing less
than our Lord's blood and righteousness. And our God, this is no form
that we're going through. This is our confidence, our hope,
and our lives. Christ is our life. And we pray that you would take
the message and take this experience and all that transpires in these
days and use it to glorify Him who is worthy. We thank you. In His name we pray. Amen.

The Price of Redemption

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