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You can turn in your Bibles to 
1 Peter 1. We're going to pick up reading in verse 10 and read to verse 21. So this is 1 Peter 1, beginning 
in verse 10, the word of God. Of this salvation the prophets 
have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that 
would come to you, searching what or what manner of time the 
spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when he testified 
beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would 
follow. To them it was, excuse me, To 
them it was revealed that not to themselves but to us they 
were ministering the things which now have been reported to you 
through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy 
Spirit sent from heaven, things which angels desire to look into. 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 pray. God, 
we thank you for your time now in the preaching of the word. 
We would pray that you would now be glorified in our midst. 
We pray, God, that Christ would be raised high. We do pray, Lord 
God, that we would be nourished and fed and strengthened by your 
word and by your spirit. And we do pray, Lord God, that 
saints would be well-instructed and well-equipped, that sinners 
would be saved, and that once again, God, having gathered in 
the Lord's Day Sabbath evening, you would be honored, that you 
would be glorified, and that your people would be strengthened 
for a new week. We do pray be with us now and 
might your name be hallowed in the name of Jesus Christ our 
Savior, amen. Well, what Peter is doing in 
his first epistle is he's doing what Paul does in his epistles, 
is he's setting forth the beautiful and the glorious doctrine of 
salvation by a triune God in order to exhort his audience. 
Obviously, he wants his audience to rejoice in the salvation afforded 
perfectly by Father, Son, and Spirit, particularly through 
the perfect saving work of Jesus Christ the Lord. But he's also 
using that blessed theology as the means to encourage them, 
A, in the midst of persecution, and B, unto good works in the 
midst of that persecution. We see here many exhortations 
throughout the epistle to be obedient to the civil magistrate, 
to submit to one another in good works, to gird up the loins of 
their minds, being sober, resting their hope fully upon the grace 
that is to be brought to them in the revelation of Jesus Christ, 
to be holy for God is holy. And these things rest upon these 
glorious truths that he brings out in the epistle. And one of 
the truths that he brings out in verses 18 to 20 is the perfect 
sacrifice rendered by Christ upon Calvary's cross. As we come 
tonight to observe the Lord's Supper, what we want to do tonight 
is to examine the breadth and the depth, the scope or the extent 
of that remembrance. What are we remembering? Surely 
we are remembering the death of our Lord Jesus Christ, but 
what does that mean and what does that contain? And in a matter 
of 41 and a half minutes, we probably won't be able to do 
that to proper justification. But nevertheless, in our time 
together, let's have a look at what the passage sets before 
us that we might only mind some of the riches therein. We want 
to notice three things as we work through this text tonight. And those three are simply these. 
The value of the death remembered. The divine purpose in the death 
remembered. And then lastly, the singular 
uniqueness and certain truth of the death remembered. So first, 
the value of the death remembered. Notice what we have beginning 
in verse 18. 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." 
Hopefully you see here the value of the death remembered. The 
value in our salvation and the value that we are to attach our 
souls to does not rest upon physical and passing and corruptible things, 
but it rests upon eternal and incorruptible things. And so 
we see first, under the death of, or the value of the death 
remembered, that it was not according to the perceived value of earthly 
things. And that's what the text says 
here. There's a negative statement. It's helpful when we have these 
in the Holy Scriptures where the authors say what something 
isn't and what we are not to rest our souls upon before giving 
us the truth and the clarity of what we are to rest our souls 
upon. And so first, it was not the 
death remembered according to the perceived value of earthly 
things. Notice here, knowing that you 
were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold." 
And just very briefly, we are not redeemed by the perceived 
value of earthly things, or the value in the death that is remembered 
at the Lord's Supper does not rest upon the perceived value 
of earthly things. We are not redeemed, Peter says, 
with corruptible things like silver or gold. We can, in our 
humanity, we can, with that remaining corruption, inordinately attach 
ourselves and our hope and our joy and our happiness to earthly 
things, all the while setting aside, if perhaps only for a 
moment or moments, the glory of Jesus Christ, setting Him 
in the shadow of perishable. things, setting Christ in the 
shadow of corruptible things, all the while neglecting Him 
and spending time in those things which do not profit. We are not 
redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold. This language 
is to conjure up, hopefully, reflections upon Old Testament 
texts. There are some paramount passages 
in the Old Testament that speak to the same thing that Peter 
here is speaking about. And so turn with me back in your 
Old Testaments to the book of Jeremiah. Because I want you 
to see here that the value of the death remembered, and if 
we are to expand and say the value of our Christian religion 
does not depend upon earthly things, but of course, and most 
certainly, upon the heavenly things of God and His Christ. 
Notice what we have in Jeremiah 9 at verse 23. And just to set 
a little bit of the stage here, God through Jeremiah is announcing 
the destruction of Jerusalem. God through Jeremiah is not saying 
judgment might come, but he is rather saying judgment is coming. Because of your covenantal unfaithfulness, 
because of your apostasy and your idolatry, your judgment 
from God is coming upon you. And so he wants to to set or 
align their hearts to proper things and away from improper 
things. And notice what he says here, 
God through the prophet in Jeremiah 9.23. Thus says the Lord, let 
not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man 
glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches, 
but let him who glories Glory in this. So you see, just firstly, 
He's calling upon these sorts and these classes of men, any 
man, to not set their eyes, and to not set their confidence, 
and to not set their joy and their happiness upon these things 
in the face of judgment, because these things won't save them. 
Judgment is coming, and so the wise men who think they might 
be able to wiggle out of, politically, the coming judgment from a foreign 
nation, they might be able to speak wise words to those who 
are coming, not fully grasping, of course, in their unregeneracy, 
that it is God Most High who is coming as an unstoppable train 
of judgment to render wholesome severity upon an apostate people. Let not the mighty man, glory 
in his might, perhaps the strong men of the nation of Israel were 
saying, by our might, we will stop this coming judgment. By 
our might, by our strength, we have many mighty men here in 
Jerusalem. Perhaps we will be able to stop 
the onslaught of this coming judgment. Nor let the rich man 
glory in his riches. And perhaps they thought that 
if they paid tribute to the coming conquerors, they might be able 
to set aside this coming judgment. But you see, God, knowing, of 
course, because He has decreed it and He is bringing it providentially 
to pass, brings into view and presents before them the proper 
course of action. And this is instructive for us. 
Verse 24. But let him who glories glory 
in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord, 
exercising loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. 
For in these I delight, says the Lord. So getting back then 
to 1 Peter 1, and v. 18, negatively, we are not to 
see value in earthly things, but we are to see value, of course, 
in eternal things. But we're not there yet. One 
more example, this time from the New Testament. Now, I know 
I'm preaching to the choir here because hopefully there is no 
Christian in the room that is resting upon earthly things for 
their salvation, because no Christian does that. That's madness. It 
is not a Christian who is resting upon earthly things for his or 
her salvation. But hopefully this helps us as 
Christians, as we constantly inundate ourselves with the repetition 
necessary to weaken to weary souls who are often carried off 
by a languor and a coldness in things God and Christ, this helps 
us to remind ourselves that there is redemption only in the incorruptible 
things of God and His Christ. in the redemption wrought by 
the Savior. Notice in Hebrews 11. In Hebrews 11, and many of 
you may know where I'm going with this, but in Hebrews 11, 
we have all of those by-faith statements, and one of them speaks 
to this matter quite well. That is Hebrews 11, verse 24 
through verse 26. Notice on this idea that the 
value of the death remembered is first seen and that it was 
not according to the perceived value of earthly things. Hebrews 
11.24, by faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be 
called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction 
with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of 
sin. Esteeming the reproach of Christ 
greater riches than the treasures in Egypt. for he looked to the 
reward. You see here the posture of a 
Christian that is resting not upon the corruptible things of 
silver and gold, these treasures in Egypt, these passing and temporary 
things, these earthly things, but rather is resting upon and 
hitching his caboose to the reproach of Christ. And what a contrast 
this is. Silver and gold. these earthly 
treasures and the reproaches of Christ. He'll take the reviling 
of His own countrymen, the reviling of God's own chosen people in 
the Old Covenant, their reviling and their grumbling and their 
murmuring and their complaining with respect to the promises 
of Christ wrapped up in their wilderness wanderings rather 
than engage in the pleasures of passing earthly things and 
the temporary things of sin. So second then, because this 
is where we're going with this particular point, if you can 
find your way back to 1 Peter 1, it was then, the value of 
the death remembered was according to the incomparable value of 
a perfect sacrifice. The value of the death remembered 
is according to the incomparable value of a perfect sacrifice. We have not been redeemed by 
those earthly, corruptible things but, verse 19, but with the precious 
blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. Beautiful language. in beautiful 
language. The first thing we want to note 
here is the precious blood. We're talking about the incorruptible 
or the incomparable value of a perfect sacrifice. And the 
first thing that we are wholesomely confronted with here in the beauty 
of the text is that we have been redeemed with the precious blood 
of Christ. You like that qualifier there, 
that adjective? The precious blood of Christ. You know, Peter uses the word 
precious more than anyone in the New Testament. I believe 
there are 15 instances where the Greek word in this variation 
and close variations of the word are used. 15 instances. More 
than half of those are used by Peter, and three quarters of 
those are used in this particular epistle. And they're used with 
respect primarily to Christ and His redemption first, but then 
also God's view of Christ's people seen through the lens of the 
perfection wrought by Christ in His redeeming activity. But 
all of that to come back to this. Peter is the apostle of the precious 
Christ. Uses this language often. And 
Peter would have a blessed view of Christ and His preciousness, 
wouldn't he? Just think about this on a personal 
matter. I think we've made this point 
before. maybe not at this text, but certainly other texts of 
like flavor. Peter would know the preciousness 
of Christ because of his personal dealings with the Savior, especially 
connected to Christ's love, Christ's grace, and Christ's mercy. If 
we remember the narrative prior to the crucifixion, what is Peter 
doing on the night in which Christ was betrayed? He is denying His 
Savior thrice before the interrogations of a servant girl and before 
the interrogations of others. He's denying thrice this Savior. Prior to that, Jesus had said 
to Peter, Peter, the devil has sought to sift you like wheat. 
Satan has sought to sift you like wheat. But I have prayed 
for you, he said, that your faith might not fail. And when you 
have returned to me, strengthen your brethren. He says that, 
Christ does to Peter, before he says that Peter will deny 
him three times. You see what's going on here? 
This Jesus intercessorially, no, that's not the right word, 
whatever the proper word is, praying by intercession, Jesus, 
prayed by intercession for this Peter, that after he had denied 
him, his strength would be increased, restored, and strengthened, and 
that he would speak well of his Christ, speak well of the gospel, 
and strengthen his brethren. In that day of the resurrection, 
Jesus speaks to Peter, feed my sheep, feed my lambs, feed my 
sheep, eats broiled fish and honeycomb with him, sends him 
his spirit, sends him on his way proclaiming the riches and 
excellencies of Christ. And here, Peter can use the word 
precious because he knows all too well of the preciousness 
of the Savior. In fact, look at 1 Peter 2 for 
a moment. Notice the language that we have 
in verse 6, and this is bringing to the fore language of the Old 
Testament from the book of Isaiah. But notice in verse 6, the use 
of the word precious. Therefore, it is also contained 
in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, 
elect, precious. and he who believes on him will 
by no means be put to shame." Notice the purpose clause or 
the therefore clause here. Therefore, to you who believe, 
he is precious. But to those who are disobedient, 
the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief 
cornerstone. But Peter uses here in 1 Peter 
1.19 the language of precious in speaking about the blood. 
This blood is precious. Why is it precious? Well, let's 
trace through some texts. What do we mean when we say precious? 
Kids, hopefully you know what precious means. Perhaps your 
parents have used it, your grandparents. sort of thing. We can use Precious 
for some lawful things like a porcelain rooster collection. A precious 
little porcelain rooster collection. We can use my Precious. Oh, we 
use Precious quite in a more elevated fashion for our children, 
our precious children. They are precious. They're given 
to us from God. We can use precious for a whole 
host of things. Certainly, we move from the preciousness 
of earthly things to the high and lofty, incomparable preciousness 
of eternal things when we speak of our God, of His Christ, and 
of His Gospel. Tracing the preciousness of blood... 
Again, that's where I was going. What does precious mean? It means 
something of a high price, doesn't it? Something of a great value. Something that is dearly beloved in the considerations of those 
who have the thing. And so for Christians, when we 
talk about the blood of Christ, because we are washed in the 
blood of Christ, because we have our sins forgiven in the blood 
of Christ, because it is the blood of Christ and the blood 
of Christ alone that washes our iniquities away. It is to be 
of a high and inestimable value to us. It is to be dear to us 
in a way that nothing else is dear. You can turn to Matthew 
with me for a moment. Matthew 26. While I fix the microphone 
thingy. Matthew 26. Just to trace some of these things 
related to the precious blood of Christ. Wherein does the preciousness 
of Christ's blood lie? Well, first here in Matthew 26.26, 
with regards to His own words, we see the preciousness Mounting. Verse 28. Well, let's back up 
to verse 27. Then he took the cup and gave 
thanks and gave it to them, saying, Drink from it, all of you, for 
this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the 
remission of sins. I think hopefully this sort of 
language doesn't get lost on us because we repeat it often 
when we are partaking of the Lord's Supper. Hopefully this 
never becomes rote and it never becomes just liturgical as the 
pastor up here is speaking these words. Consider this and consider 
from your Christian hearts the fact of the preciousness of the 
blood of Christ. This is my blood of the new covenant, 
which is shed for many for the remission of sins. You see, that 
language would have been to the audience a prick. upon their memories to reflect 
upon a particular passage in the Old Testament. Jeremiah 31, 
31 to 34. There is a new covenant that 
the Lord God is making with the house of Israel and with the 
house of Judah. Not like that old covenant that 
He made, which He broke, even though He was a husband to them, 
but rather this covenant will be marked by the fact that He 
will write His law upon their hearts, that all of them will 
know Him, that all of those who are in the covenant will know 
Him, that He will be their God and they will be His people, 
and that they will have the remission, the forgiveness of sins. The 
blood of Christ is precious because this new covenant reality is 
ratified, is perfected by Jesus Christ in the shedding of blood. 
How is it that we as Christians, in God's appointed and accepted 
time, were brought forth from the darkness and the deadness 
of sin to life and light in Christ Jesus? It was because Jesus shed 
His precious blood upon Calvary's cross. The value of the death 
remembered is seen in the blessed reality that Christ has shed 
His blood according to new covenant ratification and for the remission 
of sins. Notice in Acts 20, as we work 
through the precious blood with respect to Christ Jesus our Lord 
in Acts 20, Mysterious and glorious and beautiful 
and high and lofty language used by the apostle in preaching to 
the Ephesian elders. And notice in Acts chapter 20, 
beginning in verse 28. In fact, only v. 28. Therefore 
take heed to yourselves and to all the flock among which the 
Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God 
which He purchased with His own blood. Hopefully you see the 
preciousness here of the blood of Jesus Christ. Why Peter can 
speak with regards to redemption, setting it against the madness 
of resting our souls upon silver and gold in order to prop up 
and magnify and lift up and elevate the fact that we rest our souls 
upon precious blood. You see the language here that 
the apostle is using. The church of God, which he purchased 
with his own blood. We ask the question, does God 
have blood? No. With respect to the divine 
nature, the perfection of the divine essence, of course God 
doesn't have blood. He's a spirit. He's most pure 
spirit without body, parts, and passions. Invisible, immutable. 
But insofar as the Son of God, the brightness of the Father's 
glory, the express image of the Person of the Father, took to 
Himself man's nature in the union of the divine and human natures, 
and is one Christ the only mediator between God and man, the apostle 
can use with propriety the language that God purchased the church 
with His own blood. But it highlights the magnitude 
and the glory and the preciousness of the blood of Jesus Christ 
that was shed for the remission of sins. God purchased the church 
with His own blood. That is, Christ being God, having 
assumed our nature for our redemption and recovery, shed His blood, 
shed His precious blood, that we might have the forgiveness 
of sins. Well, we won't read more texts. 
If we wanted to go on on this particular point, we could read 
from Ephesians 1.7, Colossians 1.20, Hebrews 9.12-13, 1 John 
1.7. In fact, I do want to read one 
more, and that is the Hebrews passage. Hebrews 9. Because there 
is another contrast brought out here. If you turn with me to 
Hebrews 9, and then we're going to move on to the faultless offering. 
from 1 Peter 1.19. But notice in Hebrews 9 on this, 
continuing on this particular point that the value of the death 
remembered is according to the incomparable value of a perfect 
sacrifice, first reflecting upon the precious blood. Notice in 
Hebrews 9 at verse 12. Well, backing up to verse 11, 
"...but Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with 
the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, 
that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and 
calves, but with His own blood, He entered the most holy place 
once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the 
blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling 
the unclean sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much 
more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit 
offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience 
from dead works to serve the living God?" Yeah, that's a passage 
where perhaps if you were at home reading your Bible, you 
would fall on your face in the presence of God in your privacy 
of your own home and sing the praises of so great a sacrifice. 
Not that you can't do that in the church, but sometimes unto 
good order, it's good to continue with the preaching. All of that 
to say this, this is amazing. This is absolutely amazing. You see, the language of the 
apostle in the book of Hebrews is so wonderful because he very 
often repeatedly does this. If this, then this. If this lesser 
thing is true, then this high and lofty thing is gloriously 
true. And notice the language here 
that he uses. For if the blood of bulls and 
goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifies 
for the purifying of the flesh, You see, if this temporary thing, 
if this type, if this shadow, if this thing marked by a divinely 
designed obsolescence that points forward to eternal and lasting 
things could do something, Then what? Then how much more, verse 
14, shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit 
offered himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience 
from dead works to serve the living God? You know, this is 
the sort of stuff, this is why the Apostle Paul can, in a sense, 
in verse one of Hebrews 8, and you can flip back there for a 
second, this is why the Apostle Paul writes things like this, 
and why this verse has something of apostolic marveling in the 
background. In other words, Paul doesn't 
write here, I marvel that you guys are, you know, even, bothering 
to entertain going back to temple religion and the washings and 
the ceremonies and the sacrifices when the Christ had come to whom 
all those things pointed? What's wrong with you? We can 
almost read that into this verse. But notice what he says, v. 1 
of Hebrews 8. Now, this is the main point of 
the things we are saying. Let's just wrap this up into 
a nice package. You're just not getting it. If we were to summarize, if we 
were to contemplate this in the span of a couple handfuls of 
words, now this is the main point of the things we are saying. 
We have such a high priest who is seated at the right hand of 
the throne of the majesty in the heavens, a minister of the 
sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not 
man. we see that that is brought about 
by the reality of His blood, His precious blood. Well, secondly 
then, under that second point, it was according to the incomparable 
value of a perfect sacrifice. Back in 1 Peter 1, 19, notice 
that it is according to a faultless offering. That this redemption 
this glorious, incomparable, perfect sacrifice of the highest 
value that this is brought about by a faultless sacrifice. I apologize if you were looking 
at that. Wiping my nose. Verse 19, but with the precious 
blood of Christ, notice, as of a lamb, without blemish and without 
spot. See, this just magnifies and 
it amplifies the precious blood, if that's even possible. Just 
adds language upon language to magnify the salvation wrought 
by our Savior, Jesus Christ. The precious blood of Christ, 
as of a lamb, without blemish and without spot. The Apostle 
Peter here is not just using language that's sort of helpful. Oh yeah, in the Old Testament, 
There was a sacrificial system that had lambs and stuff. And 
there was a Passover ordinance for a perpetual remembrance inaugurated 
by God through Moses for the people of Israel in Exodus. So 
maybe I can just use some of that language to sort of talk 
about Jesus. There is a deliberate connection, 
of course, to the Old Testament here. Why? Because Christ is 
our Passover sacrifice. that Passover sacrifice, and 
we're not going to read from it, but make a note here, Exodus 
12, 5-14. What's in the background here, 
when the Apostle Peter is using the language that our redemption 
comes from the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without 
blemish and without spot, that last clause, as of a lamb, without 
blemish and without spot, Exodus 12, 5-14 is in the background. 
Yes, The Levitical system, the book 
of Leviticus, with the constant reiteration of a lamb without 
blemish, a lamb without blemish, a lamb without blemish, is in 
view. Make no mistake. But because 
he has already used the sprinkling of the blood of Christ in 1 Peter 
1, 1 and 2, And because this peculiar language harkens back 
to that giving of the Passover mandate for a perpetual remembrance 
of the exodus that was to occur, we see here that the Apostle 
Peter rightly, wholesomely, with deliberation, is connecting Jesus 
Christ to the Passover. Why? Because He is our Passover 
sacrifice. The remembrance of the Passover 
was not an end unto itself. It was a remembrance of the exodus 
wrought by God when He pulled Israel from out of Egyptian bondage, 
but it pointed forward in its ultimacy and unto the anti-type, 
unto the substance, and unto the true of that copy, the Passover 
Lamb, Jesus Christ. That's what was in view. this 
lamb as of a blemish, or lamb, as of a lamb, excuse me, without 
blemish and without spot. This is a connection to the Passover. And I want you to think about 
something for a second. You know, connecting this to our remembrance 
that we're about to engage in as we observe the Lord's Supper. God's, you think about a passage 
like Malachi 1. where God indicts the nation 
of Israel for their horrible and wicked obedience, in air 
quotes, to the sacrificial system. In fact, turn there for a moment, 
because I want to bring about a particular point. I don't want 
to drag it out too long, and hopefully this doesn't seem like 
it, but I want you to see something from Malachi, chapter 1. Connecting it with the Lord Jesus 
Christ, God's integrity, His zeal, His jealousy, to use improper 
predication, with respect to His sacrifice, with respect to 
the sending of the Lord Jesus Christ to be a faultless offering. Notice the language of Malachi 
1, first in 7 and 8. So Malachi 1, beginning in verse 
7, you offer defiled food on my altar, but say in what way 
have we defiled you? By saying the table of the Lord 
is contemptible. And when you offer the blind 
as a sacrifice, is it not evil? And when you offer the lame and 
sick, is it not evil? Offer it then to your governor, 
would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you favorably, 
says the Lord of hosts. Now notice verse 13 as well. You also say, oh, what a weariness, 
and you sneer at it, says the Lord of hosts, and you bring 
the stolen, the lame, and the sick. Thus you bring an offering. Should I accept this from your 
hand, says the Lord? Now, I want you to understand 
that, of course, the Lord God Almighty here is angry with the 
wicked offering of the blind and the lame. There is no heart 
religion going on here. There is no obedience, there 
is no religious joy and zeal. These are not heartily going 
to the temple, bringing the best of their flock to offer up sacrifices. But I want you to see even beyond 
that, that God is incensed because these sacrifices were instituted 
by the Lord God to point forward to the greater sacrifice. So 
not only were these disobedient and not doing what they were 
called to do in service to Yahweh of Israel who pulled them from 
out of Egyptian bondage, who esteemed them, but they're destroying, 
they're wickedly engaging, they're bringing their blind and their 
lame when they are to bring their best because the best of the 
flock pointed forward to the best of the flock, Jesus Christ, 
to the lamb without blemish and without spot. What wickedness, 
what violence, What madness done in the name of religion when 
these would bring their blind and their lame in a ceremony, 
in a sacrifice that was to point forward to our blessed Lamb, 
our blessed Christ, our precious Jesus. So when it comes to our observation 
of the Lord's Supper, or just very briefly, an application 
at this particular point, twofold. First, is Christ precious to 
you? We see that we're redeemed, Christians 
are, by his precious blood and by a faultless offering, because 
make no mistake, we read here a lamb without blemish and without 
spot. We're talking about the fact 
that Christ is a sinless, holy offering to the Father. He's 
sinless. Christ goes as a lamb without 
blemish and without spot, holy, harmless, and undefiled was Christ 
our Savior, giving himself upon Calvary's cross. Is Christ precious 
to you? Spurgeon was right. We'll give 
our attention to a poisoned weed while letting the rose of Sharon 
wither. What he's saying, kids, is that 
we'll give our attention to the earthly things. We'll give our 
attention to the corruptible things. things that have no inherent 
value, things that have no lasting value, things that only have 
a passing and a temporary and an earthly value, and all the 
while will suffer the rose of Sharon that is Christ, will suffer 
this gem, this jewel, this glorious one, this treasure to wither. We give our time and we give 
our energy to so many things, and yet we forget our Christ. 
We forget our Christ. God forbid that any Christian 
could articulate the thrust-to-weight ratio of an F-111, but not know 
how to articulate substitutionary atonement. You know, far be it. God forbid that any Christian could list off the stats of their 
favorite basketball team or hockey team, but not give one minute 
of attention to the precious blood of Jesus Christ? How many 
lawful things do we engage in an unlawful pursuit of while 
neglecting and while passing off and while casting off the 
precious blood and the faultless offering of our blessed Christ? It's Christ precious to you because 
Peter writes to those who believe he is precious. And secondly, 
when we observe the Lord's Supper, you're all here tonight, so that's 
good. It is good that you are here. You see, it's a grieving 
thing, though, and it's a troubling thing when the pews are empty 
of Christians that should be here tonight observing the Lord's 
Supper. You know, pastors cannot bind 
your consciences with a lot of things, but we can bind your 
conscience to the observation of the Lord's Supper. Because 
it's not me binding your conscience, it's the ascended Christ who 
spoke words from His lips while He was going about the earth 
doing good to His disciples saying, do this in remembrance of me. 
So it's a good thing that you're here tonight to observe the Lord's 
Supper, but is it not a Malachi? sort of thing, though not coming 
from unregenerate hearts, but hearts that should know better, 
that reject and forsake the Lord's Supper. When Christ gave himself 
his precious blood in a faultless offering that we might remember 
him. Well, secondly, the divine purpose, 
yeah, that was only firstly, I'm gonna move a little bit quicker 
so that we can get to the Lord's Supper here, though, but the 
divine purpose in the death remembered, notice the language here, and 
getting back to 1 Peter 1. 1 Peter 1, as we continue with 
the language, well, verse 20, he indeed, that is this one who 
had precious blood, who has precious blood, the precious blood of 
Christ, a lamb without blemish, without spot, he indeed was foreordained 
before the foundation of the world. The divine purpose in 
the death remembered. You see, when we reflect upon, 
when we remember tonight the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, 
When we remember the death of our Savior, we are not only remembering 
this historical intrusion upon our lower shame where the Glorious 
One came to give Himself. We're reflecting upon that which 
is in the divine mind and purpose and plan from before the foundation 
of the world. The divine purpose in the death 
remembered. Notice that first, it is according 
to the determined plan of God. The language is, He indeed was 
foreordained. He indeed was foreordained. Henry 
writes this, it implies more than bare prospect or speculation. It imports an act of the will 
that the thing shall be. In other words, it's not just, 
he's not just, this isn't just the language of foreknowledge 
because the same word or a similar form of the word is used in verse 
two, elect according to the foreknowledge. of God the Father. And the idea 
is just this bare prescience, or this bare knowledge of looking 
forward and seeing something. And Henry Wrightley says, because 
this is translated here, foreordained, eternally determined, Henry Wrightley 
says, it implies more than bare prospect or speculation. It imports 
an act of the will that the thing shall be. You have the language 
and the idea and the glorious theology of a sovereign and immutable 
and eternally perfect Lord God Almighty from Acts 2 and Acts 
4. Just very briefly to rehearse 
as we move towards the death remembered in the ordinance given 
by our Christ. Acts 2, verse 22. Men of Israel. This is the same 
person speaking. We're in 1 Peter. looking at 
that blessed language. Acts 2.22, same man, same apostle, 
same Peter speaking. Men of Israel, hear these words. 
Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested by God to you, by miracles, wonders, 
and signs which God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves 
also know, him being delivered by the determined purpose and 
for knowledge of God. We are to glory in the fact that 
we have a God of determined purpose. You see, we don't worship a God 
who bumbles about and who moves from point in time to point in 
time, just living the life of His creatures with us. He's a 
little bit more exalted than us. He's sort of a super angel, 
kind of fellow cosmic agent in the sky, but He's learning as 
He goes about. He's sort of starting new plans 
and that sort of thing. It's madness. It's blasphemy. 
That's pagan deity. You know, the A.W. Pink rightly 
said, and I'm paraphrasing here, but the God of the modern church, 
and there's a lot of churches out there that preach the true 
God, don't get me wrong here, we're not, shouldn't be old curmudgeons, 
Free Grace Baptist Church is the only church, there's a handful, 
not a handful, there's a multitude, there's a multitude, there's 
a lot of churches out there, Reformed Baptist, Presbyterian, 
this, that, and the other thing, that preach God, that preach 
Christ, and that preach the gospel. But hopefully, perhaps you've 
seen the state of many churches out there. Perhaps you've come 
from a church to this church where they are not preaching 
the true and living God, but some new God. They are not preaching 
the old and saving Christ, but some new Christ. They are not 
preaching the old and saving gospel, but some new gospel. 
A.W. Pink rightly said as he cast 
his eyes out upon the modern church of his day, and that's 
decades ago, He said that the God of the modern age that is 
proclaimed from pulpits, that doesn't have a determined purpose 
and a plan and a sovereign working and providential mastery over 
His creation and all things, that God compared to the biblical 
God of determined purpose is like a flickering candle compared 
to the glory of the noonday sun. We have a God of determined purpose. We have a God who foreordained 
this Christ of precious blood and faultless offering. It's 
according to the determined plan of God. And note that it is not 
some mechanical predestination, but it's marked by love. You 
know, this language of before the foundation of the world that 
comes here after, this foreordained language, notice another place 
where that is used in John 17. When we talk, when the Reformed 
preach about predestination, we're not preaching a mechanistic, 
fatalistic deity that goes about the machinations of foreordination. as if he is some divine robot. But we're talking about the infinite, 
eternal, and unchangeable God of immutable love, who predestinates 
according to the counsel of his own glorious will. John 17, notice 
the language that Christ himself uses in the high priestly prayer. 
Notice John 17.24, Father, I desire that they also whom You gave 
Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory 
which You have given Me. For You loved Me before the foundation 
of the world. Now if you see the connection 
there, the love of God, the unchangeable love of God, never diminishing, 
never growing because perfection cannot be added to and perfection 
cannot be stolen away from, But this God of immutable love loved 
the Son before the foundation of the world, and that is connected 
to, intimately connected here to, this reality that I desire, 
Father, that they also whom You gave me may be with me where 
I am. That they may behold my glory. 
You see, what's connected to foreordination is divine love. And there is no higher love. 
There is no love more glorious than a predestinating love. In love, Paul wrote, in a doxology, 
in love he predestinated us unto adoption as son by Jesus Christ 
to himself, according to the riches of his grace. First, it is according to the 
determined plan of God, but I want to note, secondly, that it was 
from eternity, very briefly. We will close soon. I say that 
to those who have seen me say that before and not do it, but 
I intend to do it. Listen to Calvin here, before 
we talk about this divine purpose from eternity. Listen to this. 
with respect to comfort. Because this is the takeaway. 
This is the application from this section only briefly dealt 
with. That we are to take great comfort from this language that 
Christ was foreordained before the foundation of the world. 
What would be the stability of our faith if we believed that 
a remedy for mankind had suddenly occurred at length to God after 
some thousands of years? In short, we cannot confidently 
rest on Christ except we are convinced that eternal salvation 
is in Him and always has been in Him. That's why, secondly, 
this is from eternity. The language of the text in 1 
Peter is clear that this Christ foreordained was from before 
the foundation of the world. It is of the greatest comfort. It is of the most blessed confidence. And lastly, in only a matter 
of minutes, the singular uniqueness and certain truth of the death 
remembered. Notice in 1 Peter 1, Verse 20, continuing, He indeed 
was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest 
in these last times for you. He was not manifest before, but 
was in these last days manifested for you. We want to note very 
briefly first that there is a point being made respecting the historical 
coming of the Son of God to die for His people. He was manifest. this eternal Son, with respect 
to the promise that He would take upon Him man's nature for 
man's redemption, this Son was manifest to us. It was a promise. It was a divine promise from 
before the foundation of the world And as all divine promises, 
it was a divine promise that came to fruition. He was manifested 
to us. You know, people make promises 
to us all the time. You might make promises to me. 
I might make promises to you. I don't know how many times I 
said, yeah, I'll email that quote to you, and I never emailed it, 
so please forgive me. There's a quote that I was supposed 
to email you back in 2007. If you remember what it was, 
I'll email it to you. But you see, we make promises all the 
time. Never fulfill them. Our God is not a God of broken 
promises. Our God is not a God of solid 
plans and solid purpose. Our God is a God of fulfilled 
purpose, plan, and that perfectly. He was manifested. Texts that 
could come to mind. What does that mean, He was manifested? Well, twofold before we move 
on and close. It is pertaining to His incarnation 
first. God was manifested in the flesh, 
1 Timothy 3.16. 1 John 1.2 and 1 John 3.8 as 
well. And also, Titus 1.3, that the 
Gospel, according to God's eternal purpose, was manifested to us. This Christ comes, He's manifested 
in the flesh, He preaches the Gospel, and upon His ascension, 
He gives His Spirit, empowering those messengers of His to proclaim 
that self-same Gospel, the riches and the excellencies of saving 
and perfect redemption. And second and lastly, under 
the singular uniqueness and certain truth of the death remembered, 
there is the accompanying fact that he really was manifested. 
He really was manifested. The second Peter 1.16, we do 
not follow, we did not follow. Cunningly devised fables when 
we made known to you the power and the coming of our Lord Jesus 
Christ. but were eyewitnesses of his majesty." The disciples 
were eyewitnesses of his manifested majesty. And Peter is writing 
this epistle. He was an eyewitness of the manifested 
majesty of the Son of God come incarnate, took to himself man's 
nature for the perfect redemption of his elect, and he preaches 
these glorious things of precious blood and of a lamb without blemish 
and without spot. He really was manifested. And so what do we do then with 
this particular point? Well, notice that it is for you. 
He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, 
but was manifest in these last times for you. Now I know Peter 
didn't originally write his epistle to the believers at Free Grace 
Baptist Church in Chilliwack. There was an original intended 
audience, but by divine design and by a glorious and purposive 
providence, We, 2,000 years later, are an intended audience because 
it is by the Word of God, the Word of Truth that we are brought 
forth to rejoice in the precious blood and in the faultless offering 
of Jesus Christ. But this Christ is for you. So 
now as we observe the Lord's Supper, we are to respond in 
a joyful obedience to the command, do this in remembrance of me, 
and we are to remember this precious one. this faultless offering, 
this glorious Christ. If you're here tonight, it's 
a good thing that you are here to observe, for the better and 
not for the worse, this ordinance given by Christ to remember His 
death until He comes again. So always be here, unless you're 
providentially hindered. That doesn't mean a football 
game. That means you've broken your leg. and you're unable to 
come because you're in excruciating pain. If you're somehow hindered, 
but be here for the Lord's Supper. It's not a, ah, yeah, whenever 
I can make it, you know? Whenever we aren't having tacos 
for dinner. This is commanded by Christ, 
and what a remembrance. This is a Malachi 1 thing. Why 
would you bring your blind and your lame? Come, remember this 
precious Christ. If you're here tonight and you 
don't believe in this Christ, the pastoral and the Christian 
exhortation is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall 
be saved. You know, the doctrine of predestination 
and election does not rail against the proclamation of the word 
of God. The doctrine of predestination and the doctrine of election 
undergird and serve as the foundation for the confident preaching of 
the gospel of Jesus Christ. There is a God who draws all 
that will come to Christ, and all of those who are drawn will 
be raised on that final day. The means that God has ordained 
for the drawing of His people is the proclamation of the Gospel 
in contexts like this. The command is believe. The command 
is come. The glorious bidding is come 
to the Savior of precious blood and faultless offering, and you 
will find peace and everlasting life in Him. Let us pray. God, we thank You for Your Word. We rejoice in the Gospel of Jesus 
Christ. We thank You for our Savior of 
precious blood, of faultless offering. this perfect sacrifice 
rendered substitutionarily in the stead of all who believe 
in His most precious name. We do pray that you'd help us 
to rejoice in this truth, that you would save sinners, that 
you would strengthen saints tonight, that you would help us now as 
we remember the Lord's Supper. Help us as we remember in the 
Lord's Supper the Lord's death. Might you strengthen us, might 
you nourish us in our faith, and might we leave this place 
equipped well to conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel 
of Christ, reflecting on the fact that we've been saved by 
amazing grace through the perfection of so great a Savior and so great 
a saving sacrifice. And we pray in his precious name, 
amen.