Good evening to everyone. You can turn with me in your Bibles to the book of 1 Peter. 1 Peter chapter one. 1 Peter one. I'm gonna pick up reading at verse 13 and read to verse 21. Our focus will actually just be on verses 18 and 19 tonight.

It's a good thing we gather together for the Lord's Supper to consider the householder of the entirety of the cosmos, who is our God, who is also in a special way the householder of the church of the living God, who invites us to heavenly banquets at his table, and who does so by virtue of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, And it is 1 Peter here in his first epistle. It is 1 Peter. It is Peter, in his first epistle, who writes with regards to the language of Christ as Passover Lamb. And we'll have a look at this wonderful language that Peter uses.

So 1 Peter 1, beginning at verse 13, the Word of God.

Scripture Reading: 1 Peter 1:13–21

Therefore, gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts as in your ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct. Because it is written, Be holy, for I am holy. And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear, knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, who through him believe in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. Amen. Well, let's go to our God in prayer. Let's pray.

Opening Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank you that we can gather now on this second time on your Lord's Day Sabbath for the worship of our blessed God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We do pray that you would help us now as we engage in this act of worship, the preaching of your holy word. Do be with us by your spirit, illumine our minds according to your revealed truth and help us to all the more glory in Jesus Christ, our precious savior. And it's in his name that we pray, amen.

Well,

Introduction

just a little bit of brief introduction to what's going on in this particular book of 1 Peter. 1 Peter is written by, you guessed it, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, who as we'll see, came to know in a very special and peculiar way, with regards to his own personal experience, the preciousness of Jesus Christ, as he uses that language, as we heard this morning, He uses that language a fair bit in his first epistle, the language of precious as applied to the people of God, more exaltedly though, as it applies to Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, written by Peter and largely Though there is some disagreement, largely though, to Jewish Christians of the dispersion. Notice the language of verse 1. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the pilgrims of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. So it's most likely Jewish Christians that were dispersed, as Leighton notes, Robert Leighton, an old brother, that those dispersed strangers who dwelt in the countries here named were Jews, appears if we look at the foregoing epistle.

He talks about, he's talking about the book of James. where the same word is used and expressly appropriated to the Jews. Their dispersion was partly first by the Assyrian captivity, and after that by the Babylonish, and by the invasion of the Romans. And it might be in these very times, the times of 1 Peter, increased by the believing Jews flying from the hatred and persecution raised against them at home. So Peter writes to them.

He writes to them with regards to first their earthly or physical ethnicity, if you will, but then elevates it and says in verse two, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. You might be the dispersed and now the hated amongst the nations, but know for a certainty that you are much higher and much more glorious elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. Think not about that, but think about the highness of your identity in the triune God and by virtue of Jesus Christ, your Savior. It's written that these may rejoice in the midst of their current trials that they were going through.

We see in this first chapter that they are undergoing the endurance of many trials, sufferings, persecutions, oppositions. So this epistle is written that they might rejoice in the midst of their trials and that they would be conformed not to the world of sin, but to Christ. And that's where we land ourselves with our particular passage. Your uninspired subheadings may use the language of living before God our Father.

That's what the Apostle Peter here is writing with regards to, is that given all of the blessed truths concerning your salvation, given the glory of salvation by Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience, that is, the obedience of Christ and the sprinkling of His blood, by virtue of all the glories of amazing and victorious grace, conduct yourselves in this lower sojourn as those who have been brought forth by so great a price." And he lays out what that price is and was, in verses 18 and 19. First, he gives a negation, you were not redeemed by your salvation does not come by virtue of this, but it does come rather, by virtue of another thing that is most certainly glorious. And this is a particular convention used by the authors of Holy Scripture a fair bit. In fact, in in 1 Peter alone, this language of stating a negation that this is not the case, and then an assertion that this is most gloriously the case.

Peter does that on a number of occasions in only his first pistol. If I'm counting here, at least 10, we won't work through all of them. But ours, negation, then assertion, is probably the central instance of this confession in Peter, this convention in Peter. Notice, 1, 18, and 19, first the negation, knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver and gold from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but the assertion with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

So first,

The Measured Worthlessness of Earthly Things

we're gonna simply note two things tonight. First, the measured worthlessness of earthly things. And secondly, the immeasurable worth of the spotless lamb. So, noticing first the measured worthlessness of earthly things.

Now, when we say that, We're not talking about the fact that God gives us earthly things for our enjoyment. The great God, Lord of the cosmos, condescends to bless his creatures with a multitude of benefits, with a multitude of good things. Now that's not what we're saying here when we talk about the measured worthlessness of earthly things. We're obviously speaking within the category of, the blessed category of redemption. of reconciliation, of salvation.

So the measured worthlessness of earthly things, you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers. Outside of this particular epistle we're we're familiar with similar language to that, a negation and an assertion. You've been saved not by deeds of righteousness, which you have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. It's ensuring that the audience knows for the most obvious of facts and truths that this is not the case.

They often have to do this, and the writers of Holy Scripture often have to do this in the face of grave error. As we've been working through the book of Galatians, though not recently, you might be asking, why aren't you back in Galatians? Well, it's hard to get back into the study of a book regularly sometimes when There are a lot of other things going on. But there, the Apostle Paul, time and again, says what is not the case.

You're not redeemed by old covenant religion. You're not saved by faith plus works. You're not saved by a little bit of Christ and confidence in the Judaic calendar. You're not saved by a little bit of Christ in your circumcision.

You're not saved by Christ in your works, but much rather you're saved by Christ and Him alone. And so here, the Apostle Peter is doing something similar. Under the measured worthlessness of earthly things, we want to note first, the

Insufficiency of Material Things and Universal Sin

broad sense or the wider reference here. The insufficiency of material things and the universal reality of sin. You can turn with me back to your Old Testaments to Psalm 49. We're gonna start by looking at the broad sense or the wider reference that is the insufficiency of material things and the universality of sin, and then move to perhaps what Peter has with that included, but more specifically in view given his audience.

Notice in Psalm 49, Psalm 49, with the language of you were not redeemed by corruptible things like silver and gold in our minds, notice in Psalm 49, at verse six. Behold, you desire, that's not it, I'm on the wrong page, that's Psalm 51, Psalm 49, six. Those who trust in their wealth and boast in the multitude of their riches, none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him, for the redemption of their souls is costly, and it shall cease forever, that he should continue to live eternally and not see the pit. You see there what the Apostle Peter has most peculiarly and eminently in his mind, that we cannot trust in wealth or boast in the multitudes of our riches to redeem or to ransom, for the redemption of their souls is costly.

The redemption of souls is costly, and the Apostle Peter is bringing into view the most costly things in the material world. He speaks of things corruptible. And at the top of the list, he puts silver and gold. Those things held in the highest value by us here in the lower world.

Silver and gold. When we think about really super precious stones or things, we don't normally think about brass, bronze. Well, bronze is up there on the list. But we don't think of wood and sedimentary deposits.

We think of gold and we think of silver and such like things. Well, the redemption of the soul is so costly that of course, even the costliest things in this material world cannot redeem one from the grip of death, from the grip of the devil, and from the grip of condemnation due to sin. Turn as well to the book of Proverbs, Proverbs 8. being wisdom itself. We read here with regards to the same language that we see in Psalm 49 and in other places, though only a select few that we're surveying here.

Proverbs 8, Notice at verse 10, receive my instruction and not silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold. Verse 18, riches and honor are with me, that is Christ who is wisdom. Enduring riches and righteousness. My fruit is better than gold, yes than fine gold, and my revenue than choice silver.

As Christians here tonight, hopefully, I imagine it must, because you're Christians. You've been regenerated, you've been made alive by the power of God. This resonates with you. This resonates with you.

My fruit, the fruit of Christ, the fruit of divine favor, benefit, and salvation, wrought and secured solely by Christ, is better than gold. Yes, than fine gold. And that revenue of Christ and the triune God is much better than choice silver. That's Peter's point here in the context.

One of his points, the weight of the emphasis is away from those material things and upon the things that are exaltedly everlasting and spiritual. Notice as well in Proverbs 11. If you're there still, Proverbs 11 in verse 4, riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death. It's almost, when we're reading 1 Peter that, because he knows the Proverbs, is that it's very proverbial.

It's an expanded proverb. It's an expanded Proverbs 11.4. Riches do not profit in the day of wrath. You were not redeemed by silver and gold, by corruptible things like silver and gold, but righteousness delivers from death.

The one who is our righteousness, the Lord Jesus Christ, delivers us from death, that Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. Moving then to the broad sense or from the broad sense or the wider reference. Suffice it to say here that the broader sense is simply saying material things do not save, they cannot redeem or ransom one who is bound to sin, who is bound to depravity. who is bound to transgression and iniquity, something greater must obtain." Now how about the

Insufficiency of the Old Covenant System

narrower or the more specific reference, which in the mind of Peter here and in the emphasis of Peter, may have to do with the insufficiency of the old covenant system. the insufficiency of the old covenant system. Remember, he's writing to Jews of the dispersion, Jewish Christians converted by the power of God to own the one that they beforehand rejected, to own the one who is that stumbling block, that rock of offense, the one that they now own by amazing and victorious grace, he's writing to them and he's writing with regards to the insufficiency of the old covenant system to redeem. The language of silver and gold is utilized in the Old Testament by God through inspired authors to highlight the glory of things like the tabernacle, like the temple, like the cultists of old covenant religion, not in order to exalt the things themselves, but insofar as they pointed to the great God to whom they pointed. You can turn with me to Exodus 30.

Exodus chapter 30. As we read this, we would want to note, this is speaking with regards to the language of ransom. And remember that that language of ransom is used with regards to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one who paid exclusively our ransom that we might be bought from out of that marketplace of death and sin and the devil to be found amongst the blessed ones of God and the saints of the living Christ.

Exodus 30, notice at verse 11, Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying, when you take the census of the children of Israel for their number, then every man shall give a ransom for himself to the Lord when you number them, and that there may be no plague among them when you number them. This is what everyone among those who are numbered shall give, half a shekel, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, a shekel is 20 geras, the half shekel shall be an offering to the Lord. Everyone included among those who are numbered from 20 years old and above shall give an offering to the Lord. The rich shall not give more and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel when you give an offering to the Lord to make atonement for yourselves.

The language of silver and gold, now it's absent from here, but shekels made of silver, some shekels mostly made of silver, some made of gold. Speaking of silver and gold coinage, if you read John Gill's commentary on this particular passage, he'll speak applying it to the Jewish cultus of religion in the Old Covenant, the insufficiency of such a thing, and he speaks with regards to the shekels. and the silver and gold coinage being used. The context is atonement. The context is ransom and here, not that it actually purchased a soul, but here the language in the material or physical realm and under God has to do with ransom or redemption or atonement.

The purchasing from out of a thing to a particular position or benefit or vantage point. Notice as well in the book of Numbers with regards to the Levitical priesthood. in the context of language concerning the Levitical priesthood, but in the book of Numbers in chapter three. As we move forward in an exploration of some of these texts, just to see the connection being drawn here to the supremacy of the new covenant wrought in the blood of Christ as compared to or juxtaposed to the insufficiency of old covenant things. Notice in Numbers 3 at verse 46.

And for the redemption of the 273 of the firstborn of the children of Israel, who are more than the number of the Levites, you shall take five shekels for each one individually. You shall take them in the currency of the shekel of the sanctuary, the shekel of 20 geras. And you shall give the money with which the excess number of them is redeemed to Aaron and his sons as well with regards to the construction, without considering the construction and the implements and the various accoutrements of the sanctuary, that is the tabernacle. You can turn with me to 1 Chronicles 22 with regards to the construction of the temple. 1 Chronicles 22, 14-16, notice, Indeed, I have taken much trouble to prepare for the house of the Lord one hundred thousand talents of gold and one million talents of silver, and bronze and iron beyond measure.

For it is so abundant, I have prepared timber and stone also, and you may add to them. Moreover, there are workmen with you in abundance, woodsmen and stonecutters, and all types of skillful men for every kind of work. Of gold and silver and bronze and iron, there is no limit. Arise and begin working.

The Lord be with you. You can make a note of 1 Chronicles 29 where the language is repeated. But as we exhaust some of the passages, not all of them, but those under our consideration, you can turn with me to the book of Ezekiel. Just two more passages to frame a little bit of an exploration of the old covenant reality that gold and silver are applied to in our particular context.

In Ezekiel 7, we read the following. And this is in the context of judgment. So judgment is coming upon the nation of Israel. Remember, when we consider, when we talk about, when we discuss, when we engage in the preaching exercise and we explore physical judgment, the visitation of divine judgment physically, the visitation of the deuteronomical curses upon the nation of Israel, in the old covenant, our minds aren't to stop there.

They're to then lift up to and be exalted to a point of, let's now consider the things to which those things pointed. The higher and the more grave and the more significant visitation of divine judgment upon those who have sinned, upon those from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation who have violated the law of God, who are found under the power and the condemnation of sin." So here in the context of judgment, Old Covenant reality, notice Ezekiel 7, 19. They will throw their silver into the streets, and their gold will be like refuse. It'll be, of course, corruptible.

Their silver and their gold will not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord. They will not satisfy their souls nor fill their stomachs. And one last text here, and this one in Ezekiel as well, has now to do with what we read in 1 Peter as the aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers. Notice in Ezekiel chapter 20. the aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers.

In Ezekiel chapter 20, first in verse 18, But I said to their children in the wilderness, do not walk in the statutes of your fathers, nor observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols. Verse 24, because they had not executed my judgments, but had despised my statutes, profaned my Sabbaths, and their eyes were fixed on their father's idols. See, while we've only spent a matter of a couple handfuls of minutes exploring some of the Old Covenant connections here, hopefully you can see those connections. The silver and gold that it was applied to, to purchase, to equip, to bedeck, to inform some of the Old Covenant religious aspects of the nation of Israel, here in our immediate context, the fact that it was the character of the nation of Israel to follow after the aimless conduct of their traditions, their eyes were fixed on their father's idols, we then can now turn to the reality of the assertion of the thing.

So the

The Negation Summarised

negation in 1 Peter 1.18, knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers. Yes has to do with that broader and most certain sense, that wider reference, the universality of sin and the impossibility of earthly and material things to redeem anyone. Think about it for a moment. If corruptible, if gold and silver is corruptible and cannot redeem, then most certainly our righteousnesses, which are not gold and silver, but are like what?

Filthy rags, cannot redeem us. So what can redeem us? That's now where we move to the immeasurable worth of the spotless lamb. the

The Immeasurable Worth of the Spotless Lamb

immeasurable worth of the spotless lamb. Again, verse 18, with the negation, knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers and the blessed and glorious assertion, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. This language ought to warm our Christian hearts. the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. Let's explore some things on this particular point.

First off, what does it mean when we read redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Why do you think 1 Peter, I keep on calling Peter the Apostle 1 Peter, maybe he was the 1 Peter, probably not, but Peter in 1 Peter, why does he use the language Why does he use the language of the precious blood of Jesus Christ? Hopefully, as Christians here in the audience, the wheels of your Christian minds and souls turning a little bit, you can put a list together. Well, let's explore a little bit of a list.

The precious blood of Jesus Christ.

Precious Because of the Person Who Shed It

It is precious because of the one who sheds it. Hopefully this is an obvious one. It's called the precious blood of Jesus Christ because of the preciousness of the one who sheds it. The one who shed his blood upon Calvary's cross, remember, is the creator of all things.

Lord of the cosmos, the one who fashioned the universe in the space of six days and all very good. the one who impressed his will and his favor and his grace and his mercy upon the patriarchs, upon all of the figures that we know in our Bibles in the Old Covenant, the Lord of the Covenant, the one who is the sustainer of all things, the one who holds in the grip of his most sovereign hand the atoms of the entirety of the universe, this is the one who condescended to shed his blood. The language, remember, that the apostle uses in the book of Acts in Acts 20, verse 28, is that God shed His blood for the church. shepherd the church of God, he says, which he purchased with his own blood. Of course, God does not have blood, he being spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in all of his glorious perfections, but insofar as the second person of the Holy Trinity, being very and eternal God, the brightness of the Father's glory and the express image of his person did in the fullness of the times take upon him our nature, he sheds the blood according to the nature, the only nature by which blood blood could be shed, his humanity. The son of God, very God of very God, true God, takes upon himself our humanity in that glorious condescension, that amazing stoop, and he sheds his blood.

His blood is precious because of who he is, the God-man, the theandric one, the one who is God and man, yet one Christ, the only mediator between God and man. That is Point number one, with regards to why that blood is so precious, because of the superabounding excellence of the person himself who sheds it. Secondly,

Precious Because of What It Accomplishes

it is precious because of what it accomplishes. The redemption of the elect, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. It's precious because of what it accomplishes. Christ was set forth as a propitiation for the sins of his people, and he executes perfectly upon that purpose for which he was set forth.

His redemption, his atonement, not maybes, not perhapses, but perfections of the work of Christ. Very God and very man, yet one Christ. It is precious. The blood of Jesus Christ is precious because of what it accomplishes.

Precious Because of What It Cost

It is precious because of what it cost. The language of the corruptibility of silver and gold, things which in the human mind are of an exalted value, an exalted cost, those things are juxtaposed with that thing that which really is without value. which is the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. You can turn with me to the book of Romans for a moment with regards to the cost, the preciousness of the blood of Jesus Christ is such because of what it costs. Notice in Romans 8.

In Romans 8. Verse 31, what then shall we say to these things if God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? You see the preciousness of the blood of Jesus Christ and what it costs.

God, the father, did not spare his own son. the high and the infinite value of the shed blood of the Savior is wrapped up in its pricelessness, its high and infinite and surpassing value. And don't you like the movement here, as you've noticed before, from this passage when it's been read and when it's been preached, the movement from the greater to the lesser, which itself is still great. He who did not spare his own son but delivered him up for us all, how then can he not do the lesser thing, if you will. He gave up his only son, he gave his only son, delivered him up to be the propitiation for the sins of his people.

How then could not that God also then freely give us all things? The certainty of the greater will lead to the certainty of that which is lesser but still great. We see the preciousness of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ in the reality of its

Precious in Its Once-for-All Uniqueness

unrepeatable uniqueness. As we gather together for the supper of the Lord in just a couple handfuls of minutes, as we gather together for that, we're remembering something that is that bears a once-for-allness. The preciousness of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ is seen in the unrepeatable uniqueness of that bloodshedding. It was not like those sacrifices of the old covenant, which were offered up daily and yearly, which remember, according to Paul in Hebrews, could never take away sin.

But this one, when he came down from on high and assumed our nature with all of those properties and infirmities yet without sin, when he did that, When he went to the cross of Calvary whereupon his body was broken and his blood was shed, he secured the salvation of a multitude which no man can number by the uniqueness and unrepeatableness of that blessed sacrifice. It is a once for all sacrifice and therefore his blood is precious. It is precious because of its endless efficacy. As we drink of the wine, we with Christian souls reflect upon the reality that the shedding of the blood of the God-man is such that it bears not an end to its efficacy, that at some future date in 2087, it will run out and we're gonna require some new act of redemption, no.

He once for all gave Himself and gave Himself in such a manner of perfection that by the giving of Himself and the shedding of His blood, He brings a multitude of sinners to everlasting glory. He is perfect and His blood And lastly, but certainly not exhausting the list of why the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ is precious, it is

Precious by Eternal Appointment

precious because of its eternal appointment by the triune God. Notice back in 1 Peter, in the language that is in our text, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, he indeed, verse 20, was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you. It's precious because of its eternal appointment. When we gather together for worship, We do not come before a God who bumbles his way through a number of different dispensations and finally lands upon a redemptive act and a redemptive purpose that works.

Such a God would not be a God, let alone a God worthy of adoration, but much rather we come before a God who before the foundation of the world purposed in time to save a multitude which no man can number, and in time that one who was foreordained came. He came in these last times for us, and with the perfection of his shed blood, he brings a multitude of the sons and daughters of Adam to glory. We want to

The Lamb Without Blemish and Without Spot

close then with this language of a lamb without blemish and without spot. As we move towards the Lord's Supper, we looked only briefly at the preciousness of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, hopefully rolling around in our Christian minds some of those things that bring the weight of glory to that statement, the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Now, in only a matter of minutes, let's have a look at this language of a lamb without blemish and without spot. Why is Christ called a lamb, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

Well, he's called a lamb, we would wanna say first, because of the Passover sacrifice. You can turn with me, you don't have to, I am going to read it, but in Exodus 12, we have the language of 1 Peter, And the language that Peter is no doubt drawing from as he's giving us these glorious words. In Exodus chapter 12, notice at verse one. Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, this month shall be your beginning of months.

It shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, on the 10th of this month, every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household. And if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of the persons. According to each man's need, you shall make your count for the lamb.

Your lamb shall be without blemish. A male of the first year, you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. This institution or this language continues up until verse 13 and of course moves beyond that. But notice the language of this Passover lamb The, your lamb, verse five, shall be without blemish, a male of the first year.

Read the commentators on this, on verses one through 13, and the connections to Jesus Christ are not just confined to a lamb without blemish. Male of the first year, a lot of these clauses that mount one upon the other, you can see in them the typical weight that points forward to the antitype Christ and the glory of his sacrifice. But Peter has in his mind the Passover sacrifice. You can turn as well with me to the book of Leviticus.

The book of Leviticus in chapter 22. If he has in mind the Passover sacrifice, he also has in mind the sacrificial offerings of the Levitical system. In Leviticus 22 at verse 17, notice, And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to Aaron and his sons, and to all the children of Israel, and say to them, Whatever man of the house of Israel or of the strangers in Israel who offers his sacrifice for any of his vows or for any of his free will offerings, which they offer to the Lord as a burnt offering, you shall offer of your own free will a male without blemish from the cattle, from the sheep, or from the goats. you can make a note of Numbers 28. And in fact, in Numbers 28, the language is even more expanded and mounted, clause upon clause, especially verses 3, 9, 11, 19, and 27, which all speak to a lamb without blemish and without spot.

But one more place, and then we move on and move towards the Lord's Supper. I want you to notice something in the book of Malachi, and we'll connect it to We'll connect it to our observance in a moment here of the Lord's Supper as well. In Malachi chapter one, the language of a lamb without blemish and without spot is being delivered within a particular context. Notice in Malachi one at verse 14. but cursed be the deceiver who has in his flock a male and takes a vow, but sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished.

For I am a great king, says the Lord of hosts, and my name is to be feared among the nations." This language here, cursed be the deceiver who has in his flock a male, takes a vow, but notice, sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished, for I am a great king. The connection that we want to draw here to the Lord's Supper is that when we come here in the Lord's Supper, we are not offering up an offering or a sacrifice, as our confession says, for the quick and the dead, but rather this is a remembrance of the one for all sacrifice rendered by Jesus Christ and a spiritual oblation, spiritual sacrifice or praise for that same sacrifice rendered. But what I want to draw out here is that the offense in the Old Covenant for offering up a blemished and not an unblemished sacrifice was against the holiness of God who was the Great King to be sure But I think we should also observe that the offense of offering up a blemished sacrifice was because it rendered, it pulled down the anti-type Christ, who would be an unblemished sacrifice, into the mire of irreligion. If you offer up a blemished sacrifice, what is that saying about the anti-type?

If as this typical offering, you offer up that which is blind and lame and stolen and blemished and with spot and with wrinkle, what does that say about the glorious one who in the fullness of the times would come to give his unblemished and spotless self for the salvation of sinners? We can't work through the remainder of this particular section, why is the lamb without blemish and without spot, but I'll only make just three quick notes as to why does the lamb need to be without blemish and without spot. The language here of Peter in 1 Peter is that the lamb, of course, needs to be without blemish and without spot.

Why the Lamb Must Be Unblemished

Three quick reasons in a minute and 43 seconds as to why it must be a lamb without blemish and without spot. First, because of the one to whom the offering is made. Why must the Lamb be without blemish and without spot? Because of the unrivaled, holy, holy holiness of the living and true God.

He is of such a purity and such a most absoluteness and most holiness that He cannot look approvingly upon evil, and so that which is offered up for His honor, for His glory, and for the sins of the people must be without blemish and without spot to reflect the holiness of God. The holiness of God demands an unblemished sacrifice. And we could note Isaiah 6, 3, Habakkuk 1, 13, and of course Hebrews 12, 28 to 29. Why must the Lamb be without blemish and without spot?

Because of the ones for whom the offering is made. because of the one for whom the offerings are made, but not in this case because of their glory, because of their holiness, and because of their absoluteness and their perfection, but rather because of the complete opposite, because of our unholiness, because of our unrighteousnesses, because of our sin, our depravity, and our wickedness. The depth of human blemish requires a perfectly unblemished sacrifice. We are with blemish and with spot. And that's just, let's be honest with all of ourselves, that's just putting it lightly.

We have a multitude of blemishes, a multitude of wrinkles, a multitude of spots, a multitude of unrighteousnesses, a multitude of wickednesses, a multitude of sins, a multitude of filth and uncleanness. We must, we require, the depth of human blemish requires a perfectly unblemished sacrifice. And that's what we're going to be remembering here in the supper in 47 seconds. Lastly and finally, why is the Lamb not exhausting these things?

Why is the Lamb to be without blemish and without spot? Because of the nature of substitution, that must be made. Connected to number two, the logic of substitution requires that the substitute be free of what is imputed to it. For substitution to be effectual, for Christ to truly be our substitute, for Christ to bear the weight of blemishes and the weight of spots, he himself must be without blemish. and without spots.

The offerer's blemishes and spots in the Levitical system passed to the animal precisely because the animal had none of its own to bring. With regards to Christ, his own unblemishedness is the ground of his capacity to bear ours. He is sin-free and therefore can be sin-bearing. And so now as we move to the supper, this is what we ought to be dwelling on as Christians.

As we engage in what the Lord commanded us to do, do this in remembrance of me, our Christian minds are now, as we engage in this, to land upon a lamb without blemish and without spot, the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. As we take of this bread, And as we take of this wine, we are to have our minds sweetly contemplating the glories, the riches, and the excellencies of Jesus Christ, the Lamb, unblemished and spotless, who took upon Himself our guilt, who took upon Himself our condemnation, who took upon Himself the wrath of God that was due to His people, and bore all of those things in our stead, that we, having died to sin, might live to righteousness, to glory, and that it might be true of us. that our faith and our hope, verse 21 of 1 Peter 1, are in God, who raised Christ from the dead and gave him glory. Praise God that he will raise us up and give us glory, not because we're glorious, but because the Lamb of God is and was and ever will be. And if you're here tonight, you're not taking up the supper because you're not a Christian, It's only Christians who are to take.

If you're outside of Christ, know that you are not redeemed by silver and gold, by earthly things, by the deeds of your own righteousness, which there is no such thing. You are unrighteous. We all are and were. God saved us according to His amazing grace.

If you're outside of Christ, know assuredly that your only way of salvation is to be found in the unblemished and the spotless One, Jesus Christ. In Him is everlasting life. In Him is the hope of glory, everlasting bliss, and the presence of the Triune God, world without end. believe on him and you will have everlasting life. Well, let's pray.

Closing Prayer

God, we thank you for your truth. We rejoice in your goodness towards us in the scriptures. We thank you for what we can read of with regards to our precious Savior as the Lamb of God, unblemished and spotless, the one who came down from heaven, sinners to save. We do pray as we partake of the Lord's Supper that you would help us You would cause us, as we reflect upon the doing and the dying and the rising again of the Son of God incarnated, that we would also avail of the presence of your Spirit, even the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, who by His Spirit grows us and strengthens us and increases us in our faith by partaking in this blessed sacrament.

We do pray that you'd be with us as we continue in worship. Do help us to honor you, Father, Son, and Spirit, and cause us Cause us, Lord God Almighty, to rejoice in the things that you've given us, in these heavenly invitations to this table of the Lord, that we may partake of it in a manner worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And it's in Christ's name that we do pray. Amen.

Scripture References

• Exodus 12:1-13; 30:11-16
• Leviticus 22:17-21
• Numbers 3:46-48; 28:3; 28:9; 28:11; 28:19; 28:27
• 1 Chronicles 22:14-16; 29:1
• Psalm 49:6-8
• Proverbs 8:10; 8:18-19; 11:4
• Isaiah 6:3
• Ezekiel 7:19; 20:18; 20:24
• Malachi 1:14
• Habakkuk 1:13
• Acts 20:28
• Romans 8:31-32
• Titus 3:5
• Hebrews 10:11; 12:28-29
• 1 Peter 1:1-2; 1:13-21