Let us read tonight from 1 Peter
1. The precious blood of Christ. That's what we want to think
about tonight, the precious blood of Christ. Beginning in verse
18, for as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible
things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received
by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of
Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, who
verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world,
but was manifest in these last times for you, who by him do
believe in God that raised him from the dead. and gave him glory
that your faith and hope might be in God. Tonight we are observing
the Lord's Supper, this ordinance that the Lord Jesus gave to his
church, to his disciples, to do in memory of him. And in this ordinance, of course,
we see his death is pictured to us. If a person is given understanding
in reading the Word of God, and only God the Holy Spirit can
give a person understanding, I understand that. But if a person
is given understanding in reading the Word of God, that person
will realize the importance of blood. Someone told me recently
that Their granddaughter had bought a Bible or was given a
Bible, and she was beginning to read it, and she wanted to
begin in Genesis. Genesis chapter one, verse one,
and read through the Bible. That's good. I and this person
I was talking with, I believe both of us would have suggested
that maybe she begin in the Gospel of John, new to the Bible. But anyway, that was her desire,
and that's good. But she will not read very far
into the scriptures before she comes to the word blood. The
first time that we see it is in Genesis chapter four. But
we believe that blood had to have been shed when God covered
Adam and Eve with coats of skins in chapter three. So blood is
very prominent in the word of God. When God delivered Israel
out of Egypt, think of that. There would have not been any
deliverance apart from blood. From blood, blood of the paschal
lamb, yes, but the blood had to be applied to the doorpost
and the lintels of the house. or the destroying angel would
enter into that house that night that God passed over Israel and
destroy the firstborn in the house. And then, of course, when
you come to the law which was given at Mount Sinai to Israel,
given through Moses, you can't read into those books, those
books of Leviticus which deal with the priesthood, Book of
Exodus, you can't read into those books very far without noticing
that blood is mentioned quite often. In fact, in Leviticus
chapter 17 and verse 11, we read, for the life of the flesh is
in the blood. It's in the blood. That's one
of the first things they do if you go to the hospital. emergency
or something like that. What did they do? They draw blood.
Why? Because the life of the flesh
is in the blood. And there's so much that a blood
sample tells the medical people about your body. The life of
the flesh is in the blood. And I have given it to you upon
the altar to make an atonement for your souls. to make an atonement,
a covering. Nothing else will cover the sins
of the people of God except the blood of Jesus Christ. I have
given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your
souls, for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. And of course we recognize, or
at least men should recognize, that it's not possible that the
blood of an animal could remove the sin of a person, and it doesn't,
and it didn't. It never was given for that purpose,
was it? But the blood was given, the
blood of animals, to picture the precious blood of Christ. And I want us tonight to consider
especially the preciousness of the blood of Christ. Do you have
anything that's precious to you? I know you do. You have a family
member, a wife, a child, a husband, precious to you. Precious. But think about the preciousness
of the blood of Christ. That's what Peter says here,
isn't it, in our text. For as much as you know that
you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold, that's
silver and gold considered precious metals, right? In this world,
everyone wants more gold and more silver, very precious, but
it cannot redeem a soul. Because even the gold and the
silver is under the curse of God. God cursed this earth. Everything that comes out of
the earth is cursed. You know, it's going to take
something more than silver and gold to redeem a soul. It's going
to take the precious blood of Christ. Nothing else. The precious blood of Christ. But how? How can we Judge the
preciousness of the blood of Christ. Well, I have five things
tonight I hope will help us to see the preciousness of his blood. The first is, it's preciousness,
that is the blood of Christ, it's preciousness is seen in
his person, in who he is. The blood that Peter said redeems
is the blood of him who is perfect God and perfect man. It is the blood of the one who
is equal to the Father as touching his Godhead and inferior to God
the Father as touching his manhood. As a God man, we know he came
into this world as the Father's servant. That's part of his ministry,
wasn't it, to be the servant of Jehovah. God said, behold
my servant, mine elect. Behold him. As a God-man, he
is the Father's servant, his willing servant, and that was
pictured to us, wasn't it, in the Old Testament. So many of
those types just speak of Christ, I think of that servant who had
served, the Hebrew servant who had served his master for six
years, and the law said, turn him loose. Seventh year, he can't
serve any longer. Oh, but he says, I love my master. I love my children. I love my
wife. I'll remain a servant. And his
ear was pierced, or as the Lord said, his ear was digged when
he came into this world. Why? Because he willingly was
a servant of God. The preciousness of the blood
of Christ is seen in his person, he who is both God and man. You know, in Acts chapter 20,
when Paul, the apostle Paul, met with those elders from the
church at Ephesus, actually called his blood the blood of God. Doesn't
he? The blood of God. Well, God doesn't
have blood, God is spirit. Oh, but he became man, didn't
he? He was made flesh, that he might
have blood, that he might bleed, that that blood, that precious
blood might redeem his people. Look back with me into the Old
Testament, into the book of Zechariah. Yeah, I believe it's next to
the last book in the Old Testament, Zechariah. chapter 13. Zechariah chapter 13 in verse 1 we read,
In that day there shall be a fountain open to the house of David and
to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. Think about that, a fountain,
a fountain which washes away sin, which washes away uncleanness. Well, what fills that fountain? Is it filled with just water? Dish detergent? That'll wash
the outside, won't it? Yeah, that'll wash the outside. But no, this fountain is not
filled with water, it's filled with the blood of Christ. Who
is this one? If you look down in verse seven,
you see who he is. God said, Awake, O sword, against
my shepherd, And now notice this, against the man, awake, God's
sword of justice, awake against the man, but what man? The man who is my fellow, who
is my equal. In other words, he is the God-man,
equal with the Father. Well, that certainly shows us
the preciousness of the blood of Christ, doesn't it? This blood
comes from him who is both God and man. Second, its preciousness is seen
in its purity. Its purity. In Hebrews chapter
7 and verse 26, this is declared about Christ, our high priest,
He is holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. The
preciousness of his blood, this blood that we are remembering
tonight with the cup, this blood is precious because it's holy
blood. He's a holy one. One of the charges that was brought
against the Lord Jesus Christ when he was here in the flesh,
the religious leaders of Israel, that is the Pharisees and the
Sadducees, those who were the teachers in Israel, one of the
charges they brought against Christ was he received sinners. He eats with sinners. And he
did. He did. They would not have done
that. They would not dare have done
that because they were of the opinion that the sin of those
publicans and harlots could somehow rub off on them. The Lord Jesus
Christ, he was a man who received sinners, who ate with sinners,
was in the company of sinners. He came to save sinners. That's
one of the things about preaching the gospel, isn't it, that we
must emphasize. People don't like to hear that
they are sinners, but if you deny that, you just cut yourself
off from the Savior. He came to save sinners. And
if you're not a sinner, He didn't come to save you. He came to
save sinners, people who have need. who were people who are
defiled. Yes, he came to save sinners.
And though he accompanied with sinners, received them and ate
with them, he was never polluted. He was never defiled by the sins
of others. And even in our text here tonight,
here in 1 Peter 1 and verse 19, now this is a testimony of a
man who lived with the Lord Jesus Christ more or less for three
years, who walked with him, who listened to him teach, who observed
him. And this is what he said, but
with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish
and without spot. I heard today on a radio program these predispensational, these
dispensationalists talking about the red heifer. The red heifer. They're so excited. They have
five red heifers, they say, over there in Israel. And they sent
rabbis over here to Texas, and I think down in South Texas,
they examined those cattle. and made sure, I mean they observed,
carefully observed that there was no hair coming out of that
heifer that was not red. It couldn't be white or gray
or anything like that. It had to be red, a red heifer. Poor people are so deceived and
so blinded not to see that that was a picture of the Lord Jesus
Christ. When that red heifer was sacrificed
and its ashes were burned and mixed with hyssop and scarlet
and water, it was typical of the cleansing, ceremonial cleansing
of the Israelites. But that blood of the heifer,
a red heifer, a black heifer, a white heifer, any other kind,
It's not possible that the blood of bulls and goats can take away
sins. Oh, but Peter said, I observed
him. I observed him. And he was without blemish and
without spot. And the apostle John in first
John, he wrote something very similar when he said, and we
know that he was manifested to take away our sin, and in him
is no sin. Even the demons, remember he
went into a synagogue in the early part of the gospel, I believe
of Mark, and there was a man in that synagogue with an unclean
spirit, and the spirit cried out, What have we to do with
thee, thou holy one, the holy one of God? We know who thou
art. Even the demons testify to his
purity. And our Lord God the Father also
at his baptism, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. The preciousness of the blood
of Christ is brought out to us and the fact that it was holy. It was perfect, pure, without
blemish, without spot. A third way that its preciousness
is seen is in its power. We sing that hymn sometimes,
there's power, power, wonder-working power in the blood of the lamb. And there is power. It has the power to cleanse from
all sin. 1 John 1 and verse 7, the blood
of Jesus Christ his son cleanseth us from all sin. Sometimes if
you watch the news, I know some of you don't, and you're probably
wise, but sometimes you'll see a picture, they'll call it a
mugshot, of someone that has been charged with several different
crimes, And you wonder how in the world he's even out on the
street. How is he still free? He's got a rap sheet, I believe
they call it. I read the other day a preacher
in England. He said that he witnessed, I
believe, the execution of a criminal in Norfolk Island. And he said
he read a very strange thing. He read a catalog that was between
72 and 108 inches. In other words, it was between
two and three yards long. Just imagine. Between two and
three yards long. And he said it was crime after
crime after crime after crime after crime. He'd never seen
anything like that in his life. But what about me? What about
you? If God had written down every
sin, every vain thought, every foolish thought, every evil thought,
every sin from the time we came into this world until today,
it would be a list a lot longer. been two and a half yards long,
wouldn't it? Well, sure it would. And yet
the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin. It'd be a very long list when
the Israelites came back out of Babylon after 70 years of
captivity and Ezra One of his prayers confessing the sins of
the nation, he said this, he said, our iniquities are increased
over our head and our trespass is grown up into the heavens. Every one of us tonight could
make the same statement. We could say the very same thing
by the power of God's spirit. My iniquities are increased over
my head, and my trespasses grown up into the heavens. The thought
of foolishness is sin. Every idle word. What if that
was the only thing listed there? Just idle words. Every idle word
man shall give an account for in the day of judgment. What
a long list. And yet the blood of Jesus Christ
has the power to cleanse from all sin, all sin. Oh my, that's
wonderful, isn't it? Isn't it? It is, yes it is to
me. The fourth line, it's preciousness
is seen and it's making a person near to God. Look with me in
Ephesians chapter two. His blood is precious in making
a person near to God. But now, verse 13 of chapter
two in Ephesians, but now in Christ Jesus, ye, who sometimes
were far off. How far? How far? So far we couldn't
find our way back. Ye who sometimes were far off
are made nigh. Nigh to who? Nigh to God. How? By the blood, the blood of Christ. When you read the parable of
the prodigal son, what causes your heart to rejoice when you
read and meditate on that parable? Your heart doesn't rejoice when
he tells his father, give me that part that's mine. No, we
say, what kind of a son would do that? Or when he goes into
the far country, that doesn't make your heart rejoice, does
it? When he wastes all of his living, righteous living, that
doesn't make you rejoice. But I'll tell you what makes
me rejoice when he comes home and his father runs out there
to meet him. And he was of the mind that he
would just be made like a servant. A father wouldn't have any of
it, would he? He's not going to be a father living out there
in the back shack eating scraps. No, no. This is my son who was
lost and is found. What brings us near to God? It's the blood of Christ. Only
the blood of Christ. The hymn writer said, so near,
so very near to God. I cannot near be. For in the
person of his son, I am as near as he. So dear, so very dear
to God, I cannot dare be. For the love with which he loves
his son, such is his love for me. Yes, the blood of Jesus Christ,
its preciousness, and lastly, Its preciousness is seen in bringing
the center home to glory. If we could see this evening,
we see a glimpse of it in Revelation chapter five, but if somehow
we were privileged to look into heaven tonight and the thousands,
yay, probably millions of people there, who are there around the
throne, singing God's praises, and we asked them, how did you
come here? Everyone in unison would say
the same thing. I'm here because of the blood
of Jesus Christ has redeemed me. And if time goes on and there
are billions of people there, we don't know how many people
will be in heaven, do we? I believe there's gonna be a
great, well, I know there's a great multitude already. I believe
it's going to only increase as time goes on. And everyone who
is there will say the same thing to him who loved me and washed
me from my sins in his own blood. That's how I'm here, only through
his blood. Well, I pray tonight as we eat
this bread and drink this cup that we remember him. That's what he said, this do
in remembrance of me. We remember him. We commune with him. One day, God willing, we'll be
at the table with him, literally, at the Lamb's Supper. We'll be
there setting down. People will come from the east
and from the west and from the north and from the south, and
we'll all sit down there with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, eating
in the kingdom of God, and we'll all be there. because of the
blood of Christ and only because of his blood.