I'm not going to give a test
tonight, but I am going to ask, and I'm not asking for a show
of hands, but how many of you can remember the five things
we looked at that God calls precious last Sunday evening? You remember,
we said that, well, the Scripture says that His blood is precious. We're not redeemed with corruptible
things such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of
Christ. And then we saw that God says
that his promises are precious. He's given unto us exceeding
great and precious promises. These promises are found in the
New Covenant. And then we saw that faith, the
faith by which we believe in Christ. Faith is important, isn't
it? The object of our faith is all
important. But yet we must believe. Believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. And no one
can believe for us. No one can believe for you. You
must believe for yourself. faith we have obtained, like
precious faith. The faith that you have tonight
is just like the faith that the apostles had. And also we saw
that God calls his people precious, because thou wast precious in
my sight. He redeemed you. And then we
saw lastly that God calls the death of His saints precious. Precious in the sight of the
Lord is the death of His saints. Tonight, I want us to look at
five things that God's people call precious. There's five things
in the Word of God that God calls precious. We've just gone through
those. Let's think this evening of five things that you and I,
if we are God's people, five things that God's people call
precious. And let me say, first of all,
I had to use the word things. Five things that God calls precious,
but the first one is not a thing, or five things that God's people
call precious. The first one is not a thing,
it's a person. God's people call Christ precious. Look with me in 1 Peter, if you
will, 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 7. This is one of the marks of
those who truly believe, of those who have faith. Sometimes Believers
and sometimes non-believers, they have this question, do I
really believe? Do I really have faith? Well,
here's one of the ways that we know that we have or we do not
have faith. 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 7,
unto you therefore which believe, he is precious. We call, that is God's people,
call God's Son, God's Savior, precious. And I jotted down here
four areas in which He is precious to us. First of all, we call
Him precious in His person, His person. Who is He? Who is He? We know that He is both God and
man. one of the fundamental doctrines
of Christianity, of the truth, that Jesus Christ is God, that
He is God manifest in the flesh. You know that scripture, I believe
it's in 1 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 6, which says, Great is
the mystery of godliness. That is the mystery of salvation,
the mystery of the gospel. And the first thing that the
Apostle mentions is God was manifest in the flesh. Now some of the
translations, some of the Bible translations, they will not have
God was manifest in the flesh, but they will have He was manifest
in the flesh. To me it's a big difference.
A big difference. What is it to say that I was
manifested in the flesh? How else would I be manifested?
What is it to say that any man, mere man, mere woman, was manifested
in the flesh? How else could we be manifested? along with the Father and the
Holy Spirit in every way, every attribute that is true of God
the Father is true of God the Son. He's eternal. He's omnipotent. He's omniscient. He's omnipresent. He's immutable. He's love. Every attribute. And I was thinking yesterday,
when we read the attributes of God, read about the attributes
of God. And I, you know, I love that
book by Arthur Paine, The Attributes of God. I don't know how many
chapters he has of various attributes, but every time I read one attribute,
I read one chapter this morning on the mercies of God. No matter which attribute I read,
I think, wow, that's the best. That's the best. No, they're
all the best, because He's the best. God was manifest in the
flesh. He's precious in His person,
because we know that He is of the same essence with the Father,
so that we see, to see Him, rather, is to see the Father. But yet
we know that he is man, that he was born of the Virgin Mary
in such a way. His birth was miraculous, there's
no question about that. He's the seed of the woman. His
birth was a miraculous birth, so that he did not partake of
Adam's sin. And when he came into this world
as a man, he was not under the curse of the law. He's the holy,
harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, high priest that
God has given us. He's both God and He's man. The Apostle Paul said, For in
Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead. all the fullness
of the Godhead, dwelt bodily in the man, Christ Jesus, the
God-man. Doesn't it thrill you tonight
to think, and to know, not just to think, but to know there's
a man, there's a man in glory. There's a man at the right hand
of the presence of God. And as one writer pointed out
years ago, if one man is there, why not this man? Why not this
man? If one man has been taken to
glory, why not this man? Yes, he's precious in his person. Two natures, and yet one person. He's precious in his work of
redemption. That's the second thing I thought
about. He's precious in His person, but He's precious in His work
of redemption. His obedience in all things,
even unto death. That was part of His obedience.
Even unto death, He is precious. For by Him, we are justified,
we are sanctified, and we will be glorified. We are accepted
in Him. And because of his work, we have
boldness, boldness the scripture says, to enter into the holiest
by the blood of Jesus Christ. When you pray and you call upon
God, you have boldness to enter into the very throne room of
God. That holy place where a priest
could only go, the high priest, could only go once a year in
that typical tabernacle. But you have boldness to go there,
because the way has been opened up for you through the flesh,
that is, the veil which pictured the flesh of Jesus Christ, which
was sacrificed, which was crucified for you. He's precious, isn't
He? He's precious in His person.
He's precious in His work. He's precious in His promise
to receive. to save and to keep all who come
unto God by him. Come unto me, all ye that labor,
and I will give you rest." Now, that's his word, isn't it? When
he told that woman at the well, If you had asked of me, if you
had asked of him, I believe it is, he would have given you living
water. That's his word. That's his promise. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out. He's precious in his promises.
And fourth, He is precious in His titles. There are many titles
which are given unto Him, and we have a cluster of these titles
in one verse in Isaiah chapter 9 and verse 6. Wonderful, Counselor,
the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace. He is precious in all of His
titles, but maybe the most precious title of all. It's the title
of Savior. He's my Savior. The hymn writer began that hymn
that I love for us to sing, I am not skilled to understand what
God hath willed, what God hath planned. And I confess the same. I'm not skilled to understand
all of God's ways, all of God's purpose, all of God's will, I
only know, she went on to say, I only know that His right hand
is one who is my Savior. To you which believe, He is precious. All right, here's the second
thing that God's people call precious, His Word. Look back
with me, if you will, to the book of Job. There's many verses
we could look to, but I chose this one, Job chapter number
23. Have you ever thought about this? I know you have, how that Job
was afflicted. He was greatly afflicted, wasn't
he? I know many of you have gone
through afflictions, maybe going through afflictions at this time,
but do you know of anyone who was ever afflicted like Joe,
other than Christ? I mean, to lose everything that
he had in this world, materially, it's all taken away. And it was done quickly, wasn't
it? And then he lost his children,
and then he lost his health, and yet he maintained his integrity. Notice what he says here about
the Word of God. I tell you, he had been in the
Word before all of that happened. He had been in the Word. The
Word had been precious to him. No doubt that's one way he was
able to go through those things and say, naked came I into this
world. The Lord gave and the Lord hath
taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. We sang that hymn just a few
minutes ago. Charles Wesley wrote oh four
thousand times to sing his praise. I've often thought about that.
Most of us have. a lot of trouble with one time. I don't know if we need a thousand.
But if God were to give us a thousand, might we use them all in praising
Him and glorifying Him. But God's Word, God's children
call His Word precious. This is not just any book. This
is THE book. Look here in Job 23 and verse
12. He said, neither have I gone
back from the commandment of his lips. I have esteemed the
words of his mouth more than my necessary food. God's word,
the words of his mouth. Job said, I have esteemed more
than my necessary food, more than the food that I need to
survive We all recognize that as our soul is much more valuable
than the body. This body is going to die and
decay, but our soul lives on forever. Our bodies, our souls
are more valuable than our bodies, but our bodies need food, so
do our souls. Hence the food for our souls
is much more valuable than our necessary food. In the Scriptures, we find, as
the Apostle Peter tells us, milk for babes. When a person is first
born by the Spirit of God into the Kingdom of God, there's milk
here. There's milk. And yet, at the same time, there's
meat for strong men. Those who have grown in the grace
and knowledge of the Lord, there's meat here. You never outgrow
God's Word. We never will. In Psalms 119 and verse 128,
David expressed the believer's confession concerning the Word
of God. He said this, I esteem all thy
precepts. All, A-L-L. He didn't say, I
esteem some of your precepts. I esteem most of your precepts.
No, David said, I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things. to be right. God's word is precious to God's
children. The law of the Lord is perfect,
converting the soul. You know, Psalm 19, rather, it
begins speaking about God's book of creation, how that all of
creation speaks to us, but there's a God. But creation, the book
of creation, is not sufficient to convert the soul. It's the
written word. The last part of the psalm speaks
of the written word. The law of the Lord is perfect,
converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is
sure, making wise the simple. The third thing that God's people
call precious is God's worship. Psalm 122, turn here. Psalm 122. I was glad, verse 1, Psalm 122,
I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house
of the Lord. I remember reading several times
a short bulletin article by Henry Mahan on this verse. I was glad when they said unto
me, let us go into the house of the Lord. Number one, and
I'm going by memory, so I can't guarantee these are in order,
but number one, I was glad that someone cared enough for me,
that loved me enough to say, let us go to the house of the
Lord. Number two, I was glad there
is a house of the Lord to go to. You know, when we think about
this, I know this is not God's house, but this is where we meet.
But a lot of effort went into building this building. A lot
of work. Men of this congregation. I could
name several, a number, that worked here week after week. I'm glad we have this place,
aren't you? We have a place to come when it's hot, with air
conditioning when it's cold with heat. We've got a roof over our
head. I'm glad. I'm glad. I'm glad I have a desire to go
to the house of the Lord. God's people love God's worship. It's not like pulling teeth to
get people that love God to come to church. I mean, it's just
not right. that you have to offer entertainment
and try to bring people to the house of God by means that the
world uses to draw people to their events. God's people love
God's worship. I was glad when they said unto
me, let us go into the house of the Lord. Look back with me to Psalm 84. In this psalm, David describes
a time in his life, I don't know when it was, we're not told.
But it was not possible for him to attend what we would call
today the House of the Lord. He was in exile or something
like that, maybe out in the cave where he was living. But notice
how he speaks about the privilege of public worship, and even seems
to envy the birds, the birds that were free to fly,
and to visit the tabernacle. Psalm 84, how amiable are thy
tabernacles, O LORD of hosts. Now, if he's talking about the
tabernacle that Moses erected in the wilderness at God's command,
when you looked at that tabernacle from the outside, there was nothing
attractive about that place. It was a skin, a goat skin, I
believe, and it was a brown color. There was no stained glass windows. There was nothing attractive
about that place. But yet, David says, how amiable! How delightful! The tabernacles
of the Lord. Why? Because there it was where
the gospel, in type, yes. In pictures, yes. but where the
gospel was proclaimed in that dispensation. How amiable are
thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth
for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh crieth
out for the living God. Yea, the sparrow, here's the
birds, the sparrow have found an house. and to swallow a nest
for herself, where she may lay her young, even by an altar."
There'd be some place there in the confines of that tabernacle,
in that courtyard, there was some place. And birds, I tell
you, they can build a nest almost anywhere. They'll find a little
place and they'll build a nest there, and before long they'll
lay their eggs there, and those little Birds will hatch out. David said, the birds, the swallow
has found a place where she may lay her young, even around the
altars there, the one altar in the tabernacle. O Lord of hosts,
my King and my God. Blessed are they, blessed are
they that dwell in thy house. And notice this, it's got my
attention. Blessed is the man, or blessed
are they that dwell in thy house, they will be still praising thee. Selah. You know what that word
Selah means. It means stop, think, meditate. Those that dwell in the house
of the Lord, they will be still praising Thee. Yes, when they
are together in public worship, they are praising Thee. But when
worship has ended and men and women have gone back to their
homes, they'll still be praising Thee. They'll still be praising
Thee. There's just something about
public worship that is precious. As believers, we come together,
we sing praises, we offer prayers, we hear God's Word preached,
and we observe the two ordinances that our Lord has left us. That
is, when someone confesses faith in Christ, we observe them being
baptized, and when we remember Him in the Lord's Supper. This
is precious to God's people. Isn't that so? Sure it is. Worship is precious. Number four, we call God's people
precious. God's Son, we call Him precious
to you who believe He is precious. God's Word, we call it precious. And God's worship, we call it
precious. And we call God's people precious. I John chapter 3 and verse 14,
I'll just read the text. John said, We know, we know that
we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brother. He that loveth not his brother
abideth in death. You know, the Apostle John, in
his first epistle, a very short letter, but he wrote quite a
bit about loving our brothers in Christ. Now, God calls our
brothers and sisters precious. His people are precious. And
what is precious to God is precious to us. When your children marry, bring someone into your
family, husband or wife, that person becomes precious to you.
Isn't that true? We have four children and all
of them married and their spouses became precious to us. They were
precious to our children. They're precious to us. God's people are precious to
Him. They're precious to us. John said this about God's commandment. He said that we should believe
this is God's commandment. that we should believe on the
name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, as He gave
us commandments. He also wrote His commandments
are not grievous. It's not grievous to love God's
people, is it? I'm just really going to have
to work at it. I just don't like that commandment. I've got to
love God's people. No, His commandments are not
grievous. We love God's children. And he
goes on to say, If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother,
he is a liar. Period. Don't make excuses. No. If a man say, I love God
and hateth his brother, he is a liar, for he that loveth not
his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath
not seen? Number five, we call God's promise
of eternal life precious. Look in Titus with me, Titus
chapter one. Status chapter 1. Verse 2. In hope of eternal life,
which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began. Before
the world began. Scripture says, in the beginning.
This world had a beginning, didn't it? God didn't. God has no beginning nor end. He is eternal. But everything
else outside God had a beginning. And it began according to His
will, His pleasure. But yet, Paul tells us here that
before the world began, God promised. And God cannot lie. He cannot
change. He promised eternal life before
the world began. Now, obviously, you were not
there. I was not there. But yet He promised
us eternal life. Those of us who believe in Him,
trust in Him as our Lord and Savior. He promised you eternal
life in your head, in your head, in your representative, the Lord
Jesus Christ. I love that promise, don't you?
Eternal life. And eternal life doesn't just
mean endless life. Eternal life means much more
than that. Our Lord said, this is eternal
life, that they might know Thee, the
only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. Eternal
life is knowing God, enjoying God, seeing God, being with God. Don't ever worry about getting
bored. I've heard people say, it just
seems like I'd be so bored to be in heaven forever and ever
and ever. No, don't ever think of it like that. At His right hand are joys forevermore. Who's at His right hand? Christ. The joy that He's promised us
eternal life. It's precious. It's precious. Well, I pray that the Lord would
bless these words to all of us here tonight.