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For our Lord's Supper meditation 
this evening, you can turn to 1 Peter, the book of 1 Peter 
in chapter 1. Just to introduce while you're 
finding yourself there, Peter is explaining and enlarging upon 
the doctrines of Christianity for primarily a Jewish audience. 
He's also additionally exhorting them to walk in holiness. As 
Henry says, in the faithful discharge of all personal and relative 
duties, to shut the mouths of adversaries, to shut the mouths 
of the enemies of the gospel of Christ, they are to walk after 
a pattern of holiness. As God is holy, so too are his 
children to be. As well, Peter is putting them 
in readiness for persecution and suffering, making them fit 
for the opposition that they would certainly endure in the 
lower world. The immediate context in 1 Peter 
1, specifically verses 13 to 21 that we're going to read right 
now. Peter is exhorting Christians to live in holiness before a 
watching world, and he brings the price of their redemption 
to the fore in order to bolster, in order to make that exhortation 
weighty, in order to insert some weight into the exhortation for 
Christians to walk in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ 
Peter brings before them the precious blood of Christ Jesus, 
the Lord. So let us read 1 Peter 1, beginning 
in verse 13. 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 us go 
again to our God in prayer. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, 
we rejoice in this, the reading of your scriptures. We thank 
you for what you have set before us in 1 Peter, the precious blood 
of our Lord Jesus Christ. We know that we have not been 
redeemed by corruptible things, but our redemption came at such 
a cost, even the blood of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. 
And we pray that you would help us now as we as we contemplate 
these things, as we study these things in the Holy Scriptures, 
that we would rejoice in you, our God, that we would rejoice 
in our Christ who shed his blood perfectly upon Calvary's tree, 
and that we would sing the praises of amazing grace. And we pray 
in Christ's name. Amen. Well, the Bible has a bloody 
theology. The Bible has a theology of blood. We don't need to travel too far 
in Revelation before we realize the significance of blood, that 
blood carries a central theme in Holy Scripture. Before their 
expulsion from the garden and after the fall, we see God shedding 
blood to offer Adam and Eve covering. We read in Genesis 4 of Abel 
bringing that respectable, that respectful sacrifice before God, 
the firstborn of the flock. Fresh off the boat, we have Noah 
building an altar to God and sacrificing animals upon that 
altar. We have Abraham and Isaac and 
the ram caught in the thicket. We have mosaic Israel and the 
paschal lamb. and the instituted sacrifices. 
We have a theology of blood brought before us in the Bible, and all 
of those things have a designed, we may say, inferiority before 
the superior theology of blood, that crowning instance of the 
theology of blood that is brought before us in holy writ, that 
being the precious blood of Jesus Christ. As we come tonight to 
observe the Lord's Supper, What are we called to remember there 
but the breaking of the body and the shedding of the blood 
of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so tonight we're going to 
consider simply the precious blood of Christ from 1st Peter 
1 and notice again our text 18 and 19 specifically 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." A beautiful text of Holy Scripture. You see, 
the Christian doesn't shy away from those antiquated notions 
of blood and sacrifice, because they are the heartbeat of Christianity. There may be those with delicate 
sensitivities, even within professing Christendom, that like to distance 
themselves from talk of blood and sacrifice. That stuff is 
precious to the soul of the Christian. Spurgeon says at this particular 
point, the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Introduce our meditation 
this evening. Would you have me silence the 
doctrine of the blood of sprinkling? Would any one of you attempt 
so horrible a deed? Shall we be censured if we continually 
proclaim the heaven-sent message of the blood of Jesus? Shall 
we speak with bated breath because some affected person shudders 
at the sound of the word blood, or some cultured individual rebels 
at the old-fashioned thought of sacrifice? Nay, verily, we 
will sooner have our tongue cut out than cease to speak of the 
precious blood of Jesus Christ. For me, there is nothing worth 
thinking of or preaching about but this grand truth, which is 
the beginning and the end of the whole Christian system, namely, 
that God gave His Son to die that sinners might live. See, 
the Christians hold precious the blood of Christ. And this 
is brought before us in this text from 1st Peter. And so we 
want to look at it under three considerations, 1st Peter 1, 
18 and 19. And those three things are this, 
the vanity of bloodless redemption, the vanity that necessitated 
blood redemption, and the exclusive and infinite value of the blood 
of Christ for redemption. So first off from this text, 
we want to notice the vanity of bloodless redemption. Notice 
what Peter writes here. knowing that you were not redeemed 
with corruptible things like silver or gold. Remember what 
Peter is doing here. Peter is exhorting them to holiness. He had previously written, verse 
13, 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. You see, 
Peter wants them to have Christian obedience, Christian ethics, 
Christian works and Christian deeds that are performed proportionately 
to the price of their redemption. And so he holds before them first 
negatively what their redemption does not come by. Verse 18, knowing 
that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver 
or gold. Peter stresses the rejection 
of an earthly or a cheap redemption. They were not redeemed by corruptible 
or perishable things. You see, our redemption is so 
high and so heavy as Christians. What a folly it is then, isn't 
it, for anyone claiming the banner of Christ, claiming to fly the 
banner of Christianity and saying that we can in some measure or 
in some spot be saved by works, whether in whole or in part. 
because of the precious blood of Jesus Christ. You see, our 
works are perishable. Our works are corruptible. Any 
earthly means of redemption is valueless, especially in light 
of the reality of what our redemption truly comes by, the eternal value 
and the eternal merit of Jesus Christ, the Lord. knowing that 
you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold. You 
see, Peter brings before them two things that are very high 
in value, silver and gold. Probably in view is silver and 
gold coinery, coins that hold a high value for purchasing, 
for the purchase of redemption, perhaps, after earthly manners 
of purchasing redemption. Silver and gold have a great 
value even in our day. You see, like we sang tonight 
in that hymn 129, fair is the sunshine, fair is the moonlight 
and all the twinkling starry host. Jesus shines brighter. Jesus shines purer than all the 
angels heaven can boast. You see, silver and gold hold 
an earthly value, but they are blackest darkness compared to 
the eternal glory. The redemption wrought by Jesus 
Christ the Lord. The vanity of bloodless redemption. You know what vanity means, hopefully, 
don't you? The emptiness, the valuelessness 
of something. There is emptiness in anything. Anyone who would come and seek 
to communicate any sort of religion, any religion at all, that does 
not find At the heart of that religion, redemption by the blood 
of Christ, it's vanity, it's valueless, it's emptiness. There 
is, of course, only one religion, true religion, the religion of 
our Lord Jesus Christ, that which comes to us in our Bibles, the 
religion of Christianity, properly and truly considered. The vanity 
of bloodless religion, though, again, for anyone to fly the 
banner of Christianity and say, well, yes, you know, Christ, 
yes, Christ came to to save sinners, but you see, that's not enough. 
We need to do X, Y, and Z. We need to observe A, B, and 
C. It's to do cosmic violence to 
the finished blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is as if to 
argue that there is anything to be added to the finished work 
of Christ is as if to sew fecal stain patches upon the pure white 
robes of the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Filthy, 
dirty, vanity is anything that is put in place of or added to 
the redemption wrought by Jesus Christ, knowing that you were 
not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold. Notice this language of corruptible 
or its opposite, incorruptible, Peter has already used in his 
epistle in 1 Peter 1 and verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father 
of our Lord Jesus Christ. who, according to his abundant 
mercy, has begotten us again to a living hope through the 
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance, 
notice, incorruptible and undefiled, and that does not fade away, 
reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God 
through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last 
time. Pastor Butler instructed us this morning in the doctrine 
of the perseverance of the saints. What we have in the doctrine 
of the perseverance of the saints, among many other things, is an 
inheritance incorruptible. You see, earthly inheritances 
will be given to you, and they may be lawful, of course. They 
are wholesome in affording you things in this lower world. If 
your parents or your grandparents die and they leave you an inheritance 
of silver and gold, you can provide food for your families, you can 
manage your estate, and you can You know, enjoy all manner of 
wholesome enjoyments in this lower world. You see, they hold 
no eternal value. They hold no eternal merit. They hold nothing of significance 
when held up against the glory of Christ and redemption by his 
precious blood. An incorruptible inheritance 
is what we have in Christ. So we are not to seek to be redeemed 
by anything corruptible. in its nature. James 5, 3. And you can turn there with me 
because we see the folly and the madness of earthly gain and 
things of earthly value put in place of the infinite value of 
the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice in James 5. James 5. And notice the striking 
language here. Verse 1. Come now, you rich, 
weep and howl. for your miseries that are coming 
upon you. Your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth eaten. 
Your gold and silver are corroded and their corrosion will be a 
witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You 
have heaped up treasure in the last days. There is nothing inherently 
wrong with silver and gold. But you see, when silver and 
gold is your all and all and Christ is your nothing, Your 
riches are corrupted. Your silver and gold are perishable. They're corruptible. The vanity 
of bloodless redemption. Peter brings this forth in writing 
that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver 
or gold. Notice, secondly, the vanity 
that necessitated blood redemption. If you're finding your way back 
in 1 Peter 1. Secondly, the vanity that necessitated 
blood redemption, he writes, knowing that you were not redeemed 
with corruptible things like silver or gold from your aimless 
conduct received by tradition from your fathers. It wasn't 
corruptible things. It wasn't earthly and cheap things 
that redeemed these from their aimless conduct received by tradition 
from their fathers. What is the vanity that necessitated 
their blood redemption that will follow in verse 19? It is this 
phrase. Their aimless conduct received 
by tradition from your fathers. We want to notice firstly and 
more generally that life without Christ is aimless. That is, it is purposeless. That 
is, it is useless. Calvin puts it this way. The 
whole life of man until he is converted to Christ is a ruinous 
labyrinth of wanderings. The old boys had a mastery of 
putting phrases together, stringing words together that in an entertaining 
way even communicate the despair, the reality, the glory of various 
situations. In this case, again, the whole 
life of man until he is converted to Christ is a ruinous labyrinth 
of wanderings. So what then is the vanity that 
necessitated blood redemption? It is exactly that. that the 
recipients of this letter, that all of us by nature are trapped, 
are lost in a ruinous labyrinth of wanderings. And we bounce 
about, we stroll about, we wander about aimless and purposeless, 
useless in our travels until we close with Christ, until we 
know his redemption, until we're found safely in the folded wings 
of amazing grace. The vanity that necessitated 
blood redemption is simply the sinfulness of man. Generally 
speaking, we need to observe that life without Christ is aimless. If you're here tonight and you 
don't have Christ, you are aimlessly wandering through life. Again, Peter's language here, 
aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers. Generally 
speaking like we're going to get to specifically speaking 
because Peter isn't necessarily being general here But it is 
a wholesome observation that we need to see that we are redeemed 
by wandering purposelessly through life following after sin following 
after Iniquity we're son we're sons of our father the devil 
doing the desires of our father when we're outside of Christ 
and We're walking after the prince of the power of the air, walking 
after the flesh, walking after disobedience, all manner of sin 
and iniquity. The vanity that necessitated 
blood redemption is that we would have everything else save for 
Christ. Aimless walking is Christless 
walking. Purposeless walking is wandering 
without the captain of our salvation. without the King of Kings and 
the Lord of Lords. What a horrible place to be, 
pursuing or seeking after the passing pleasures of sin and 
not having the surpassing treasure of Christ. If you're here tonight 
and this stuff is bouncing off your heads and you want to have 
nothing of it, you've fixed your neck and your head in such a 
way and maybe you've cracked a little bit of a smile so I 
think that you're with me, but you're far from me. You're here 
for whatever reason, and Christ isn't yours. He isn't precious 
to you. Know that you are not walking 
with a purpose or with a use, but rather you're aimless in 
your wanderings. You're trapped like a rat in 
a labyrinth of ruinous wanderings. Christ is the answer. Being found 
in Christ, having redemption through him is the answer. But 
secondly, and more specifically, That Judaic religion at the point 
of vain tradition and the use and abuse of ceremonial law is 
primarily in view in the phrase, from your aimless conduct received 
by tradition from your fathers. You see, if Peter is writing 
to primarily a Jewish audience, then when he's writing about 
tradition from your fathers or aimless conduct received by tradition 
from your fathers, then he has in view what Gil elaborates upon, 
meaning not the corruption of nature, which is propagated from 
father to son by natural generation. So when Peter is writing aimless 
conduct received from your fathers, he's not speaking about original 
sin. meaning not the corruption of 
nature, which is propagated from father to son by natural generation 
and lies in the vanity of the mind and is the spring and source 
of an evil conversation. Though the saints, as they are 
redeemed from all sins, so from this that it shall not be their 
condemnation, not Gentile ism. which lay in vain philosophy, 
in idolatry and superstition, and in evil and wicked conversation, 
encouraged by the example of their ancestors, fought Judaism, 
and either regards the ceremonial law which was delivered by Moses 
to the Jewish fathers, and by them handed down to their posterity, 
and which was vain as used and abused by them and was unprofitable 
to obtain righteousness, life and salvation by and therefore 
was disinhaled by Christ who has redeemed and delivered his 
people from this yoke of bondage or rather the traditions of the 
elders which our Lord invades against. All of that to get to 
this point. Turn with me first to Galatians 
1. Notice what we find there at the point of aimless conduct 
received by the tradition of their fathers. Notice in Galatians 
1, Paul refers to his own ruinous labyrinth of wanderings, if you 
will. In Galatians 1 at verse 13, For 
you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted 
the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it. and 
I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in 
my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of 
my fathers." You see, Paul reports concerning his former conduct, 
he says. What was it? Well, he was, if 
we can paraphrase and insert Peter, he was walking aimlessly 
after that same conduct of his father's, being more exceedingly 
zealous for the traditions of his fathers, he writes. There 
is an exhortation, a commandment, an admonition, strong words spoken 
by God in the book of Ezekiel at this very point. And you can 
turn there with me to Ezekiel 20. Notice the same thing that 
we have there. In Ezekiel 20 and verse 18. Notice what we read. 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. I am the Lord your God. Walk 
in my statutes. Keep my judgments and do them. Calvin, interestingly on this, 
writes, this makes greatly against such who think it a very heinous 
sin. to relinquish the religion of 
their ancestors, or that in which they were brought up. But if 
this does not appear to be according to the word of God, the statutes 
and judgments of our fathers should stand for nothing, yea, 
should be rejected." Perhaps many of you, like me, have the 
experience of coming out of a tradition flying the banner of Christianity 
that has many things that are not properly conversant with 
biblical Christianity, that do not properly follow from biblical 
Christianity. And I got to tell you, God saves 
you. God convicts you. And it's difficult to divest 
yourselves of those things. But you see, we are not to be 
lost in the ruinous labyrinth of wanderings of false religion 
and bad religion. Again, Calvin, because we have 
this family patriotism, if you will. God convicts us of some 
certain truths and it takes us 17 years to leave a tradition 
that has kept us in a measure of bondage, kept us in a measure 
of untruth. Calvin, again, at this very point, 
and hopefully you see how this connects to 1 Peter 1.18, This 
makes greatly against such who think it a very heinous sin to 
relinquish the religion of their ancestors or that in which they 
were brought up. But if this does not appear to 
be according to the word of God, the statutes and judgments of 
our father should stand for nothing, yea, should be rejected." Christ 
came in such a manner, not to bring peace, but to bring a sword, 
to set Father against son, and son against mother, and et cetera, 
et cetera. We are to hold with a white knuckle 
grip the stuff of a bleeding Savior and set aside, jettisoning 
all things that are of unbiblical tradition and irreligion. Getting 
back to 1 Peter then, the vanity that necessitated blood redemption 
is this ruinous labyrinth of wanderings, this aimless conduct 
received by tradition from the fathers. Jesus Christ himself 
in the gospel accounts, Matthew 15, brings this to bear when 
he says to the unbelieving Jews of his time who were heaping 
unbiblical traditions upon good biblical truth. He tells them 
that their traditions are the tradition of men that render 
the truth and the law of God of no effect. The vanity that 
necessitated blood redemption, of course, is generally sinful 
and aimless wandering, but any irreligion flying the banner 
of God that would seek to steal away from the glory and the exclusivity 
of the blood of Christ for redemption. Which place we go now? Point 
number three, the exclusive and infinite value of the blood of 
Christ for redemption. Notice 1 Peter. 1, 18 and 19, 
reading it all again, 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. The exclusive and infinite value 
of the blood of Christ for redemption, but with the precious blood of 
Christ. as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. Notice 
first, Peter calls this precious. He uses the word precious. This indicates the high value 
of the blood of Christ, doesn't it? To Peter, it's precious. Is it precious to you? Let's 
stop for a second Consider Peter's use of the phrase here, or the 
weight that it would have for Peter. Peter writes here, the 
precious blood of Christ in 1 Peter 2, 7, he would write, therefore, 
to you who believe, he is precious. Think about Christ to Peter here 
for a moment. Do you know that some of the 
heaviest words of Holy Scripture It can be found in my mind, Luke 
22, 61, and the Lord turned and looked at Peter. The reason is this. A text comes 
when Peter has denied his Savior three times. He's called down 
an oral curse, if you will, upon himself. If what he is saying 
is not true, I do not know this man. He does it three times. In the book of Luke, Verse 61 
of chapter 22, we read, and the Lord turned and looked at Peter 
right after he denied the third time. Ooh. What a weighty moment. What happens 
after that? Peter weeps bitterly. The gaze 
of the Sovereign One, the God-man, just landed upon his eyes after 
he denied Christ three times. Yet what happens after the resurrection? You see, in the back of Christ's 
mind, if you can speak this language, in fact, in the fore of Christ's 
mind, if I can use that language, post-resurrection when he comes 
to Peter, what's in the fore of his mind isn't, oh, how that 
wretched Peter denied me three times. What is it that's in the 
fore of his mind? The words that he spoke to Peter. 
Peter, Satan has sought to sift you like wheat. but I have prayed 
for you. Your faith might not fail. Jesus 
comes, his precious Jesus, and instead of beating Peter over 
the head, instead of giving him a three-hour sermon on repentance 
and forgiveness and obedience, he loves Peter. He gives him 
broiled fish and honeycomb, and he says, feed my sheep, feed 
my lambs, feed my sheep. Anybody can say, precious blood 
of Christ, Christ, to those who believe, is precious. It's Peter. Oh, what a glorious Savior is 
Jesus Christ the Lord. And Peter, using this language 
of precious, no doubt had that in his mind, his personal relations 
with the Savior. But what is peculiarly in view 
is the blood of Christ. Notice, of course, that it is 
the blood of Christ that is precious. It is not Any other blood that 
is the price of redemption, but the blood of Christ alone, thy 
blood, O Lamb of God, thy blood alone, O Lamb of God, can give 
me peace within. Words of Bonar, the other stands 
and no other works save thine, no other blood will do. And that's 
true, isn't it? Only Christ's blood is precious. Only Christ's blood can truly 
bring redemption. That's why it is That's why it 
is brought in view here in its exclusivity and in its infinite 
worth as the price of redemption. So therefore, because you have 
been bought by such a price, live in a manner worthy of the 
gospel of Christ. The precious blood of Jesus Christ, 
and it is precious, isn't it? Because of its infinite value 
and its power. It's atoning efficacy. The blood 
of Christ is precious because it perfectly does that which 
it was intended to do. Cast away any strange and superstitious 
notions of some mysterious and ethereal power to the actual 
physical blood of Christ. Our language uses of such things 
manifold superstitions and gross idolatries. We are not to have 
some Protestant doctrine of the blood of Christ that is tantamount 
to bees carrying off Romish wafers into beehives and worshipping 
the so-called flesh of Christ. The blood of Christ is not some 
sort of mysterious and ethereal liquid. Its efficacy and its 
power is seen in what it is. It's securing the sacrificial 
and substitutionary death of all who believe. There is blessed 
doctrine and blessed, understandable theology to the blood of Christ. 
It is precious because our Christian minds come to our Christian Bibles 
and we see that the blood of Christ secures propitiation. It secures justification. It 
secures expiation. It secures our covenantal benefits, 
our peace with God, and our cleansing from the guilt of sin. The blood 
of Christ is precious to us because before we, by faith, believed 
in the Lord Jesus Christ outside of the efficacy and the power 
of that blood, we were all lost in that ruinous labyrinth of 
wanderings. The precious blood of the Lord 
Jesus Christ is brought to our souls by amazing grace, and we 
know then the atoning efficacy of His work. What does that mean, 
kids? The atoning efficacy of His work? We use big words from 
the pulpit. That simply means that He perfectly 
secured by His sacrificial death the salvation of a multitude 
of sinners. No man can number. If you, children, 
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you have that atoning efficacy. Christ shed his blood for guilty 
sinners, and if you believe on him, he's precious. He's precious 
to you. Is Christ precious to you? It's 
a question you need to ask yourself. There's a lot of things that 
can be precious to us. Some people like to collect painted 
porcelain chickens. And they have a really large 
collection of these things. And they're very precious to 
them. They're set up on shelves and, you know, they're dusted 
off. And you go on to eBay and Amazon and try and find, you 
know, finish your series of, you know, roosters or whatever 
it is. I remember when I was young, 
I liked to buy models of fighter jets and I'd see if I could get 
the most realistic looking gunmetal grey by using different paints 
and stuff. Spending hours on these things. 
Things can be precious to people in that way. You see, multiply 
things of earthly value only that can be precious to people 
and we need to see, brethren, that if they If they are followed 
after and purchased and held with some weird measure of cherishing 
to the exclusion of holding fast to Christ and seeing him as our 
all in all, then we'll follow painted porcelain chickens to 
the pit. It's Christ alone who is precious. It's Christ alone 
who has this infinite worth in the realm of redemption and the 
scope of salvation. In the economy of God's glorious 
plan of salvation, there is only one thing that has infinite redeeming 
value, and it's the blood of Christ. Is he precious to you? Again, verse seven, therefore 
to you who believe he is precious. Brethren, hopefully that's true 
of you. That you hold Christ precious. Hold him dear. You 
cherish him. Again, the hymn that we sang 
this evening. Fairest Lord Jesus, ruler of 
all nature, son of God and son of man, thee will I cherish, 
thee will I honor, thou my soul's glory, joy and crown. Is he your soul's glory, your 
soul's joy? Do you cherish him? You know, 
brethren, we are to be like we don't have when we won't until 
we see him in glory. We never have seen Christ with 
our eyes. our physical eyes. And yet we 
all are to be just like that Thomas who stood before his resurrected 
glory, gazing at the print of the nails in his hands, gazing 
at the wound in his side and his feet. We are in a Thomas-like 
rapture to cry out, my Lord and my God, daily to cherish him, 
daily to honor him, daily to hold him dear. The precious blood 
of Jesus Christ Very briefly, some of those things that we 
would want to rehearse in a rehearsal of the precious blood of Christ, 
Ephesians 1 7, redemption, forgiveness in him, in Christ, you have redemption 
through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. Remember the Bible's 
theology of blood. The blood. of Christ is everywhere 
in the scriptures. And you see there that the theological 
concepts and that might just sound mechanical to you, but 
it's a blessed two word phrase, theological concepts and truths 
in the scriptures that multiply at the point of the blood of 
Christ. Redemption and forgiveness. Ephesians 1 7, Hebrews 9 12, 
Revelation 1 5, Revelation 5 9 and 10. In him, we have redemption 
through his blood. Propitiation Christ by his blood 
shedding is set forth as a propitiation for the sins of his people. That 
is a wrath bearing sacrifice. Romans 323 in first Peter here 
as well, we read he himself bore our sins in his own body on the 
tree. Wrath bearing sacrifice, brothers 
and sisters, the blood of Christ. Justification, isn't it interesting? 
Romans 5 9, you can turn there as we do near an end in Romans 
5 9. Notice what we find there. The 
point of justification in the blood of Christ, because you 
see our theological parlance. Is normally such that when we 
talk about justification, we talk about being justified by 
faith. The Bible also talks about justification 
by grace and justification by blood, for notice Romans 5 9. 
Much more than having now being justified by his blood, we shall 
be saved from wrath through him. Christ, by his blood shedding, 
completed the whole course of his obedience, which is the ground 
of our justification. His precious blood, covenantal 
benefits in Ephesians 2, 12 and 13. What does Christ's blood 
do? But it brings those who were 
strangers and foreigners to the covenants of promise to covenant 
benefit reality. Those who once were a far off 
are brought near by the blood of Christ. We have peace with 
God, according to Colossians 1 20. And this comes at the point 
of the shed blood of the Savior. The language is glorious. For 
it pleased the Father that in him all the fullness should dwell, 
and by him to reconcile all things to himself, by him, whether things 
on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the 
blood of his cross. You see, blood, sacrifice, it 
comes to the sensitive, unregenerate ear and it scandalizes them. 
That's what the Bible says. To those who are perishing, the 
cross of Christ is foolishness. It comes as a rock of offense, 
a scandal. They hear blood and they think 
violence. They hear blood and they don't 
think peace, but the Bible clearly brings before us that blessed 
reality that Christ upon the cross shed his blood and in so 
doing made peace between God and sinners. That glorious truth. The blood, the precious blood 
of our Lord Jesus Christ. And brethren, we're cleansed 
by the blood. of the Lord Jesus Christ. Hopefully 
these words of Holy Scripture come to the ears or when you're 
reading them, they come to the mind. And they warm your heart 
and they lift your soul. The first John 1 7. But if we 
walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship 
with one another and the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses 
us from all sin. The blood of Jesus Christ is 
precious to us, brothers and sisters, because of all those 
things we have just said and because now it cleanses us from 
our sin. That language is such that it 
carries the weight of a thoroughgoing purification and purging. The 
language is used in the gospel accounts when John the Baptist 
announces that this coming Christ would thoroughly cleanse his 
threshing floor. used in Hebrews 1-4 when it says, 
he himself purged our sins and sat down at the right hand of 
the majesty on high. The precious blood of Christ 
cleanses us from all sin. You see, brethren, when the guilt 
of sin weighs you down, the gaze that you are to have at that 
point is not inwardly at yourself. When the guilt of sin weighs 
you down, you don't look inwardly to see the motions of the spirit 
and to see those things that might help to lift up your day. 
Oh, but you know what? Yeah, I did that. But over here 
I did that. And the gaze doesn't go inward. It goes upward. And 
with eyes of faith, you look upon the Lamb of God who takes 
away the sins of the world. You say the precious blood of 
Christ. Arise, my soul, arise. Shake off thy guilty fears. The 
bleeding sacrifice in my behalf appears. We're going to take 
the Lord's Supper in a number of minutes here. And brethren, 
you take the Lord's Supper not in remembrance of how great you've 
been. Oh, preacher, you say that every 
time we take the Lord's Supper. Yes, because it is the human 
heart can find itself landing upon our good works and our good 
deeds when we come to the Lord's Supper. The Lord's Supper is 
a remembrance of the once for all perfect and finished work 
of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a remembrance of the blood 
of our Savior. The blood of our Savior cleanses 
us from the guilt of sin. Your way down, look not to yourselves, 
but to a bleeding Savior. And upon the heels of such a 
gaze, upon the heels of such a looking, then this is true 
of what we find in 1 Peter. Therefore, gird up the loins 
of your mind, be sober and rest your hope solely upon the grace 
that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 
the exclusive and infinite value of the blood of Christ for redemption. Finally, before we move on to 
the observance of the Lord's Supper, notice under the exclusive 
and infinite value, the amplification of the significance of Christ's 
blood. You see, he says, he writes rather, 
as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. It's enough 
to be sure to write but with the precious blood of Christ. 
But this is amplified by, as of a lamb, without blemish and 
without spot. Why? Because it highlights the 
perfect holiness of Christ. It's without blemish and without 
spot. In contradistinction to silver 
and gold, in contradistinction to anything corruptible in this 
earthly world, He is without blemish and He is without spot. It highlights the perfect holiness 
of Christ, but you see it portrays the death of Christ as a sacrifice 
that fulfills the types and the shadows of Old Covenant religion. The language is that Christ is 
a lamb without blemish and without spot. Hopefully as Christians, 
hopefully as taught and stable Christians, you come to a text 
like this and you say, oh, yeah. Exodus chapter 12. Take a lamb. God commands. In remembrance 
of the upcoming exodus, take a lamb and post up and put its 
blood upon the doorposts and the lintel, the destroyer will 
not come and take you. The Lamb of God, the Paschal 
Lamb. Hopefully you read this language and you think, oh yeah, 
Isaiah 53, verse 7. It's brought as a lamb to the 
slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearer is silenced, so he 
opened not its mouth. You see, those old covenant sacrifices 
pointed forward to Christ. And I want to close with this, 
this point of connection Calvin writes. The celestial perfection 
and purity of Christ was shown forth by this visible perfection 
of the Lamb. He's commenting on Exodus 12, 
5. The Lamb. The celestial perfection and 
purity of Christ was shown forth by this visible perfection of 
the Lamb. What a, what a colossal irreverence 
it was then, brethren, in the Old Covenant, to grab blind and 
lame sacrifices and to bring them before God. Why? Yes, because 
of the holiness of God, but because of the one to whom those sacrifices 
pointed. If the perfection of these physical 
sheep was clear to the eyes, then it was to speak concerning 
the celestial perfection of Jesus Christ. So to offer up, blemished, 
and spot full sacrifices to God was to do violence to the anti-type, 
the Lord Jesus Christ. Brethren, the precious blood 
of the Lord Jesus Christ. As we come to the Lord's Supper, 
as we observe the Lord's Supper in a few minutes, hopefully you, 
believer, come to the realization that not just on a on a Sunday, 
but each and every day, Christ is to be precious to me. While we can collect our painted 
porcelain chickens and put together a model F14, the thoughts that 
ought to be upon our hearts when we arise in the morning and the 
thoughts that ought to be in our hearts when we put our heads 
to bed at night, the precious blood of Christ. Precious blood 
of Christ to you who believe He is precious. But you notice 
what that text says in 1 Peter 2. But to those who are disobedient, 
the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief 
cornerstone. If you're here tonight and you 
don't know Christ, hear the words of Spurgeon. Turn those eyes 
of yours to the full atonement made, to the utmost ransom paid. And if God enables you, poor 
soul, this morning to say, I take that precious blood to be my 
only hope, you are saved and you may sing with the rest of 
us now freed from sin. I walk at large, the Savior's 
blood's my full discharge. At his dear feet, my soul I'll 
lay, a sinner saved in homage pay. We come to the Lord's Supper 
now. We remember our Savior. Believer, 
hold him precious. Unbeliever, we pray that you 
would close this night by saying Jesus is precious to me. Having 
everything else save Christ precious to you prior to that, we pray 
God would cause you soul to stir with high and burning remembrance 
of a Christ that gave himself for guilty sinners. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you 
for the saving work of Christ. We thank you for his precious 
blood and we rejoice in what this text discloses to us concerning 
the infinite value, the exclusive value of the precious blood of 
our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you so much for what 
he did on behalf of all of his people. We thank you for what 
he did on behalf of all those you had given unto him and we 
pray that you would help us now as we go to the Lord's Supper 
to take it with joyful hearts and yet in a manner that is solemn 
because it is such a weighty and a high remembrance of such 
an act and such a glorious salvation. We pray that you would help us, 
as was Peter's end in this epistle, to consider the high price of 
our redemption and to therefore conduct ourselves in a manner 
worthy of that redemption. Go with us by your spirit into 
this upcoming week that we might not give occasion to the enemies 
of the gospel to blaspheme your word, but rather that we would 
be salt and light in this lower world and that we would conduct 
ourselves in a manner that would bring honor to you and adorn 
the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's in the name of the Savior, 
Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.