Now let's open our Bibles to
the book of 1 Peter. 1 Peter chapter 1. Beginning with verse 18 of 1
Peter chapter 1, the scripture says, For as much
as you know, What we're about to talk about is not a matter of speculation
to us. It's a matter that we know. This
is not a theory, but it's a truth. It's something that we know. Much like when the Apostle John
said, We know that the Son of God has come. There's not a doubt
in our minds about it. We know that the Son of God hath
come into the world and given us an understanding that we may
know Him that is true. That is the true God. This is
eternal life. And much like Paul when he said,
We know that all things work together for good to them who
love God, to them who are the called of according to his purpose. We know that. It's not speculation,
not theory. John said, we know we've passed
from death unto life. This is something we know. And
he goes on, he says, for as much as you know, I know this, that
we are not redeemed. You're not redeemed with corruptible
things as silver and gold. from your vain conversation received
by tradition from your fathers." Now there's a twofold meaning
here, and the primary and first meaning has to do with the traditions
of the Jewish people. Peter is saying here that you
were not redeemed from those ceremonies and laws and traditions
and rituals with such a vain Christ as silver and gold. You're
not delivered from those things by silver and gold, by something
you supply. And then secondly, it includes
redemption from sin, because we're born in sin. We receive
that from our father, Adam. We're born in sin, guilty before
God, wrapped in false ideas of God, human religion and So you
see, it's twofold. We have been redeemed, we have
been delivered, we have been brought out, we have been ransomed
from a twofold prison. And that first prison is a prison
of sin, of the corruption of human nature with which we were
born, with which we came into the world, which flows through
our veins and permeates our soul. We're delivered from that body
of death, that wickedness and sinfulness of the Adamic nature. But not only that, practically
all of us were imprisoned also in a humanistic religion. The
Jews in particular, with their rituals and ceremonies and laws
and feast days and all these things that they felt brought
them to God. It's like David Adkin said in
a message a few months ago. He said, there's something worse
than being lost, and that's being lost and think you're saved.
That's worse than being lost. There's something worse than
being naked, and that's being naked and think you're clothed.
There's something worse than being a sinner, and that's being
a sinner and thinking you're a child of God. And so this is
what he's saying here. He said, you know, this is something
you know, that you have been redeemed from sin, from the evil
and wickedness of sin and the curse of the law and the condemnation
of sin. But God has also been pleased
to reveal to you that even your thoughts of God and your ideas
of God and your ideas of worship being all wrong. You've been
brought out of that too. Some of you know a whole lot
about that. You have an understanding of
what Peter's talking about. It's a two-fold redemption. A
redemption from sin and a redemption from the sin of religion. And
I tell you, we don't know how thankful we ought to be. Don't
know how thankful we ought to be that we're not bound up in
that way that seemeth right unto men, but the end is death. We've
had a twofold redemption. We've been delivered from the
curse of the law, but we've been delivered from that terrible
curse of a false refuge and a false foundation. All right? And he goes on, he says this,
and in this redemption the price is high. It's not silver and
gold, it's not reformation, it's not changing your ways, it's
not changing your denomination, it's not changing your doctrine.
But that price of redemption, verse 19, but we've been redeemed
with the precious blood of Christ. We've been redeemed with the
precious blood of Christ. Now here's the third thing that
I want you to see. Now, I hope you're with me. We
know this. This is something that's not,
we're not speculating about this. This is serious. What we're about
to partake of and participate in is as solemn and serious as
you can get in the presence of a holy God. You dare not, you
just dare not touch the art with vain hands. You just dare not
bring in any way your assistance, or your aid, or your merit, or
your deeds where this is concerned. It's all of grace. It's all of
the blood. It's all of Christ. It's all
by His work. And this I know. And I know this
redemption, this redemption from sin and even this redemption
from false religion, is all of His grace through His blood.
Now, we're redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. that is so obvious to me when
I read this book. And the more I read this book,
the more obvious it is, it becomes to me. When I read the Bible,
there is the clear, unmistakable connection between God's mercy
and the shed blood. I just, I see that more all the
time. God's mercy, the mercy of God
and the blood, the blood of Christ. I see, the more I read God's
Word, the more obvious it becomes to me, that is, the connection
between forgiveness, thy art forgiven, thy sins be forgiven
thee, between forgiveness and the blood atonement. I see the
inseparable connection between those two things. I see more
and more the connection between the covering of sin, the covering
of sin, so that even the sovereign piercing omniscient eyes of God
cannot see in us any fault or blame when it's covered with
the blood, the blood of Christ. As Spurgeon said one time, the
royal bath in which sinful souls are washed and made pure and
clean in the sight of God, that royal bath was drawn solely and
completely from the veins of the Son of God. And there is
no blood of martyrs, and no deeds of noble confessors, and no efforts
of human religionists have entered into or tainted that stream. It's pure blood. It's pure blood. You go back to the beginning,
when Adam fell and stood before God in his nakedness, fear and
shame and guilt. What's to be done? God slew an
animal, shed its blood, took its skin, and covered Adam's
face. That's a picture of our redemption.
When Abel and Cain, not boys playing games, but grown men,
probably heads of households, came before God with that first
sacrifice that we read about in the Bible, Abel was accepted. But he was accepted solely and
wholly and completely because he brought the blood of the Lamb.
That's the only reason. And Cain was rejected, and he
was rejected because he didn't bring the blood of the Lamb.
And that's where it is. When Abraham and Isaac started
up the mountain, Abraham said to worship God. Isaac noticed
that they had wood and they had fire. But they did not have that
necessary element. And he asked his father, Charlie,
where is the length? This is a useless venture, this
is a useless journey, this is a hopeless trip without the length. When Israel was delivered from
Egypt, God said one thing, not when I see your zeal, not when
I see your dedication, not when I see your numbers, not when
I see your words, He said, when I see the blood, I'll pass over
you. The blood. Turn to Hebrews 9,
the scripture we read just a moment ago in the study. Hebrews chapter
9, beginning with verse 19. Hebrews 9, beginning with verse
19. When Moses had spoken every precept
to all the people according to the law, he took the blood. the blood of calves and of goats,
with water, scarlet wool, hyssops, and he sprinkled both the book
and he sprinkled all the people, saying, This is the blood of
the testament which God hath enjoined unto you. Moreover,
he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels
of the ministry." What has he sprinkled now? The book, the
people, the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry.
And almost all things are under the law purged with blood, and
without the shedding of blood there's no remission. Now back
up to verse 9 of that same chapter, verse 11. Now watch this. But
Christ being come, a high priest of good things to come by a greater
and more perfect tabernacle than the one Moses just sprinkled,
the blood and the people and the tabernacle and the vessel.
We're talking about a greater tabernacle, not made with hands,
that is to say, not this building, and neither with the blood of
goats and calves, but by His own blood. We're redeemed with
His own blood, His own blood, pure blood, unmixed And with
that blood, with his own blood, he entered in once, not twice
or three times, but one time. Where? Into the holy place. And
we're not talking about the holy place made with hands either.
And he obtained eternal redemption for us. How? With his blood.
That's how he did it. For if the blood of bulls and
of goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled in the unclean sanctified
to the purifying of the flesh, If God, in His long-suffering
and patience, looked at this animal blood and considered these
people clean, how much more, think of it, shall the blood
of Christ, this pure blood of the Son of God, who through the
eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot, without fault,
without sin, to God, how much more shall this blood purge your
conscience? Not only your record, not only
your past, present, and future, not only your thought, word,
and deed, but your very conscience from dead works to serve the
living God. His blood redeems us from all
sin. Now watch it. Inherent sin and
personal sin. Inward sin and outward sin. Secret sin and known sin. His blood redeems us from all
loss and all tradition, all ceremonial works and all requirements, all
days and all feasts, all failures and all self-righteousness. You
know, the life of the Jew back in Old Testament days, I'm sure
at times it was happy. That is, compared to the heathens.
But the life of the Jew under the law was drudgery compared
to your life and my life. Do you realize that? Drudgery. That Jew under the old covenant
was hedged in with a thousand commandments and a thousand laws
and a thousand prohibitions. The farms and the ceremonies
and the days and the Sabbaths and the sacrifices were many.
and their details so minutely arranged by God not to be violated
in the least aspect. That Jew was always in danger
of making himself unclean even after he'd been cleansed. If he sat on a certain bed, he
was defiled. If he sat on a certain stool,
he was defiled. If he drank from a certain pitcher,
he was defiled. If he touched a wall a leprous
man may have touched, he was defiled. If he ate a certain
food, he was defiled. If he took too many steps, he
was defiled. If he did a certain deed, he
was defiled. A thousand sins of ignorance
were like hidden pits before him at all times. He must be
in constant fear lest he be cut off. No Jew ever rested in trusted
in or talked about a finished work, because the work wasn't
finished. The bullet was offered in the
morning, it's got to be offered in the evening. The lamb was
slain, but another must be slain. The atonement was made, but there
must be another. The high priest goes into the
holy, but he's got to go back again. They never saw the end
of any of these sacrifices, any of these peace, any of these
special days. They were always just beginning. Look at our position. We're complete in Him. There remaineth no more sacrifices. Christ is my Sabbath. Once cleansed, there remains
no more conscience of sin. Having been purged, not only
do I have a priest who goes into the Holy of Holies, but I do,
I go too. You think about that. Complete
in Him, redeemed by blood, no more sacrifice. By His blood,
He has perfected forever. For them that are sanctified,
relax. It's done. The great transaction's
done. I am my Lord's, and He is mine. Go back to the text now. Do you
see why this is precious blood? For as much as you know. Do you
know it? By divine revelation, do you
know it? That you're redeemed, you're
ransomed, the price is paid. And you don't think you have
anything to bring like silver and gold that can buy that, do
you? But we're redeemed with the precious blood of Christ.
Why is this blood called precious blood? Precious blood. Well,
number one, it's precious because, you know what it is? Precious.
Without any price or value that can be even estimated. Because you know what kind of
blood this is? This is actually human blood untainted by sin. Do you know that? It's human
blood untainted by sin. There's never been blood like
it. It says here in verse 19, without
blemish and without spot. There's never been a man ever
lived on this earth except one who had blood without spot or
stain. Precious. You talk about precious.
You call a diamond precious because there's not another one like
it. Or you call something else precious, there's not another
one like it, and it's sold for an astronomical amount of money. But you think about this. This
blood with which we're redeemed is so precious, there's never
been blood like it before or since. The blood of a man who
has no sin. And secondly, it's precious because
it's the blood of God. When Paul departed from the elders
at Ephesus, he said, now you take heed and feed the church
of God, which he purchased with his own blood. This blood, precious,
it's the blood of God. It's been said one time. It's
the blood of God, God's blood. I'm talking about, I'm resting
in God's blood. That's the reason the blood of
Christ is so effectual. to the cleansing of all to whom
it's applied and for whom it's sacrificed and given and to whom
it is revealed because it's so precious. It's human blood without
taint or sin or stain, and it's God's blood. God's blood. On Calvary's cross, He shed His
own blood, God's blood. And then turn to Hebrews 10.
I tell you why it's precious, because it's so effectual. Now
you, I want you to think of this. It's so, it's so powerful and
so effectual that it permits me. And in describing myself, I describe
myself like the Apostle Paul, the wretched man that I am, like
David of old, who said, my sins are ever before me. Who am I,
and what is my house? Like Job of old, who said, I
hate myself, I repent and sackcloth and ashes. It permits me, who has by my
sin cast away from God, separated from His presence, it permits
me, a son of Adam, a sinner by birth, choice, and nature, it
enabled me to come, believe it or not, boldly, with confidence,
right into the presence, the holiest presence of an Almighty
God, and call Him my Father. Now, you think that's how powerful
the blood of Christ is. Now, let's read Hebrews 10, verse
18. Now, where remission of sins
is, there's no more offering for sin. If sin's put away, it's
put away. All right. Having therefore,
brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus.
Now let me tell you, if I have no sin, if I have no sin, then
I've got to be perfect. Is that right? If I'm without
sin, I'm perfect. So being perfect, I can come
into God's presence, into the holiest. How am I perfected? I am not perfected by the Spirit
saving me and then the law sanctifying me. I am perfected by the washing
of regeneration, the renewing of the Holy Ghost, and the cleansing
of the blood of Christ. I am perfected, and I can come,
watch it, by a new and living way, verse 20, which He hath
consecrated, newly made for us, right through the veil. That
is to say, His flesh, and having a high priest over the house
of God, let us, all of us, draw near. Come on, come on, my friend,
come on, my sinner friend, with a true heart, with a sincere
unfamed, in confidence, in full assurance of faith, having your
heart sprinkled from an evil conscience, and your bodies washed
with pure water. That's how you can come to pure
water and blood that flowed from His side. That blood is cleansing
and that water is sanctifying. Save me from its wrath and power. Let thy blood be a double portion
and double cure from its wrath and from its power. That's right.
You need not stand back. You need not give way to the
more spiritual. You need not give way to those
with credentials. Your only credentials you need
is the blood of Christ. Come on into God's presence.
You need not stand back and say, well, I let the reverend represent
me, or the bishop, or the cardinal, or the pope, or the priest, or
any imposter. You come on yourself. You come
on yourself, whoever you are. You've been washed. You've been
washed. You've been cleansed. You've
been by Himself. He purged our sins. And where
that effectual blood, that precious blood, that human blood without
stain or taint, that blood of God, where it is effectual, it
has made that sinner pure and holy as God Himself. Come on
into His presence. That's what it says. is precious
because it can never lose its power. Dear dying lamb, thy precious
blood shall never lose its power till all the ransomed church
of God be saved to sin no more. And they sung a new song in glory,
saying, Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals
thereof, for thou wast slain, and thou hast redeemed us to
God by thy blood. Thou hast redeemed us to God.
Having been redeemed, we're redeemed. Having been ransomed, we're ransomed.
The price having been paid, it's paid. The work being done, it's
done. The sinner being cleansed, he's
cleansed. He has redeemed us to God by his blood out of every
kindred, tongue, people, and nation, and has made us ourselves
unto our God, kings and priests. So if I'm a priest But Gerald,
I got a right to offer the sacrifice. If I'm a priest, I got a right
in the Holy of Holies. If I'm a priest, I got a right
to come to God, and that's what I am. I'm a priest." Wow, let's
look at the text again. This I know. Let these other
preachers speculate if they want to. Let them hymn and howl. Let them talk about maybe, perhaps.
If you'll do this or you'll do that, then God'll meet you halfway.
Let him talk about God's done all he can do, and that's up
to you. I know, I know that I've been redeemed, and it's not with
dos and don'ts, and it's not with ifs and ands, and it's not
with perhaps and maybe, and it's not with cooperation, it's with
a precious blood of Christ. As a lamb, Now, here's another
thing that's obvious to me. This is as obvious as the other.
Verse 20. Who? Who are we talking about? Who
is who? This Lamb. This effectual Lamb. This Lamb was foreordained before
the foundation of the world. Now, there's no ifs and ands
about that. Another thing that's obvious
to me, the more I read this book, I'm not getting any softer on
it, I'm getting a lot firmer on it, is the fact that the cross
is no afterthought of God. The cross is not the panic button. The cross is not the plan God
devised after he met a situation that had been, that had arisen.
I'm saying that the cross—now, people talk this way, preachers
and all the rest of it, they talk and preach as if God's like
us, that He's unaware of the future, He's unaware of what's
going to take place. He meets each crisis with a solution
that oftentimes doesn't even work. But here it says that Jesus
Christ and His blood and His cross was ordained, it was ordained
of God before God ever made the world. Revelation 13.8 says the book
of the Lamb of God is the book of the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. Ephesians 1.3 says we were chosen
in Christ before the foundation of the world. Acts 15.18 says
known unto God are all His works from the foundation of the world.
Turn with me to Isaiah 46. Isaiah chapter 46. This I want you to look at with
me. Isaiah 46, reading verse 9 and 10. This is our God. This
is our God. Isaiah 46, 9. Remember. Remember
the former things of old. I'm God, and there's none else. I'm God, None like me, declaring
the end from the beginning. Verse 10, Isaiah 46, And from
ancient times the things that are not yet even done, saying,
My counsel will stand, and I will do all my pleasure. What are you saying, preacher?
I'm saying that this great priest, this great king and prophet,
this ordained redeemer, before the morning stars ever sang together,
before the sons of God ever shouted for joy, before God ever hurled
the world out into space, before God ever separated the dry land
and the ocean, before God ever planted a tree, before God ever
erected a rock, before God ever designed a mountain, before Almighty
God ever designed man, and breathed into his breath his nostrils
the breath of life, before man ever took the fruit and fell.
Almighty God said, I'll save a people from a fallen race by
the cross and the blood of my Son." That's what I'm saying.
Everything's moving right on schedule. He was ordained from
the beginning, He was promised in the Garden, He was pictured
in the Old Testament, He was presented in Bethlehem, and He's
been preached to you by His disciples. Look at verse 20 again. He was
ordained before the foundation of the world, but he was manifest,
but he was revealed in these last days for you. Now watch this. Two words there,
for you. All of this And it's just so
breathtaking, it's so wonderful that we meet tonight in the simplicity
of the supper. But you know something, why God
has ordained such simple elements, such a simple supper? Number
one is to keep from taking away from the grandeur and splendor
and majesty of His blood and His broken body. The more complicated
we make this, the more human things we interject in it. You
know, the less value something has, the more noise you have
to make. You know what I'm saying? The more simple you refer to
it and you picture it. That's right. So we just take
as a means of remembering his broken body. a common, ordinary
piece of broken bread. We take to set forth the glory
of that pure, that blood that has redeeming power and atoning
power and cleansing power and pleading power. The blood of
Christ speaketh better things than the blood of Abel, preserving
power. When we represent that blood,
we just take a simple glass of wine. That's all it needs. And this was offered, this was
manifest in these last days for you. For whom? All right, let's see. For you,
and there's no period there. It says this Lamb of God was
ordained before the foundation of the world. This is God's great
purpose and plan, but He was manifested, He was unveiled,
He was shown in these last times. He was crucified for you, comma,
who? You who believe. It's you who
by Him, not by your own self, by Him you believe. It's by His
grace you believe. It's by His power you believe.
It's by His revelation you believe. But you do believe, even though
it's by Him you believe. And that's the ones for whom
He was manifested. And that's the ones to whom He
manifested. And nobody else knows who He is. Oh, they know. They say He's a great man. They
say He's a great prophet. They say He's like Elijah. Maybe
like John the Baptist. But to you, he's the Son of God.
And he was manifested, and he died, and he was revealed only
to those who by God believe in him. That's what it says. You
believe in God that raised him from the dead, and in God who
gave him glory, and your faith and your hope is a certain faith
and a strong hope, and it's in God. All right? Now here's the
second. who believe in verse 22, and
it's for you who have purified your souls. How? You were baptized. No. You kept
the law. No. How did you purify your soul? You obeyed the truth. You obeyed
the gospel through the Spirit. You believed the gospel. You
obeyed the gospel through the Spirit unto unfeigned love. And it's a genuine faith because
it produces a genuine love. A phony faith produces a phony
love. I was sitting at the table today
talking to some of the folks that were visiting with us, and
this is what we were talking about. A lot of people who make fun of
what we preach and believe, all of grace, sovereignty, election,
predestination, predict the redemption. It's the works all of God. It's
all of God, not of you. That nothing you do or don't
do can add to the redemptive work of Christ. You know what
we believe? Nothing. I do or don't do. And yet you're the
most generous, loving, and honest, and straightforward
people I've ever met. The people of grace are straight
walking and talking and dealing people. Do you know that? But
now these other folks preach salvation by work. If God's done
all you do, now it's up to them. It's up to them. And they're
saved by making God's work effectual. They're saved by what they do.
They're saved by what they don't do. They keep themselves. And
that, we depend on Christ, and we walk in integrity and holiness. They depend on themselves, and
they're the most crooked, double-dealing, underhanded, phony people in
the world. They don't give. They don't love. They don't help. Their preachers
have to whip them to get them to come to church, have to threaten
them to get them to witness, have to promise rewards to get
them to give, have to preach on tithing to meet a budget.
But those are the people who are saved by their works. You
see what I'm saying? Law won't work. It will not work. Law won't do but one thing, that's
uncover a rebellious heart. The law won't do it. It's like
I said in a message one time, don't you tell your child to
do anything, and he'll be a loving, obedient child. Don't tell him
to do anything. Don't expect anything of him,
and he'll be just as loving. Tell him to do something, and
you'll find out what he is. And you put people under law,
and it doesn't do but one thing. It makes the sin to abound. But
when God puts a man under grace, pure grace, sovereign grace,
free grace, It gives him a heart of gratitude and love and motivates
him as nothing else. It works. It works. So he says in verse 22, he was
manifested for you who have purified your souls by obeying the truth
through the Spirit unto an unfeigned, that is not hypocritical, a genuine
love of the brethren. See that you love one another
with a pure heart fervently. He was manifested, verse 23,
to you who are born again. Born again how? Not of corruptible
seed, but born again of incorruptible seed by the Word of God, which
liveth and abideth forever. Oh, I tell you, His blood most
precious, His blood most effectual, His blood eternal, His blood
infinite, His blood our refuge and hope and ransom and redemption,
His blood ordained before the world and manifested in these
last times for you, for you, for you who believe, who obey
the gospel. who by the grace of God had been
born again. And I can't with any integrity
or truth promise anybody else that that blood was shed for
them. And that's the reason I can come, I don't feel any, I'm not,
I haven't attained, I haven't arrived, I haven't laid hold
upon that for which I've been laid hold of by Christ. But I
don't hesitate tonight to come and take that bread, which is
his body, and that wine, which is his blood, and put it on these
lips of which Isaiah said they're unclean, dwelling among a people
of unclean lips. But they've been cleansed by
the fire from the altar, and that's the blessed body of my
Lord. And they've been purified by his blood. And God tells me
to come. And on any other ground, I can't
come. I come as a sinner saved by Christ. I come as a sinner
washed by the blood. I come as a sinner saved by His
love and mercy. But knowing, knowing it, knowing
it, making no other boast,