Sermon
delivered on January 17th, 2016
By: Pastor Greg Hocson
Scripture Text: 1 Peter 2:1-10
Introduction
There are many precious things in
life - children,
grandchildren, parents, grandparents, husbands, wives, friends, life, health,
water, air and time. There are also many things that may be precious to you
that has absolutely no value whatsoever to somebody else. There are things in
your wallet, jewelry box, house, heart, mind that you treasure, that may mean
absolutely nothing to somebody else.
That's how it is in life. What one
person would throw away another person would say, I got to have that. That's
what garage sale is. One man's trash is another man's treasure.
That's the way also in spiritual
realm. There
are people who say, I must have Christ. I cannot live without Him. I need Him
more than anything else in this world. Then there are others who would say, I don't need Him. I
don't even know if He is real much less a Saviour. To
some people Christ is absolutely necessary but to others He means absolutely
nothing. To babies, gold means absolutely nothing. To the pigs or swine, pearls
are valueless. And, sad, sad, to many, Jesus Christ and His precious blood
means absolutely nothing.
Hebrews 10:29 Of how
much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden
under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood
of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done
despite unto the Spirit of grace?
But, this year I want to set forth
the preciousness of Christ. I want us as a church and as individuals have
year-long look at the preciousness of Christ.
What do I hope to see happen as we
consider the preciousness of Christ?
My prayer and earnest desire as I
deliver this series of sermons on the preciousness of Christ, is to see men,
women, boys and girls to fall in love with Jesus Christ. My prayer is that,
there will be a spiritual awakening, resulting in a deep love for Jesus Christ.
Now, I cannot make anyone love the Lord
Jesus Christ. I cannot talk anyone into loving Jesus Christ. It is like
introducing a young man to a young lady, with the hope that the two will fall
in love with each other. But you know very well that you cannot make them love
each other. All you can do is to make the introduction and hopefully something
will take place both in their hearts.
My prayer is that as I set forth
before you, Jesus Christ and His preciousness, you will fall in love with Jesus
Christ. I
am praying that, as you and I see the preciousness of Christ, we could not help
but love Him and that we will demonstrate that love by obedience to His words
and by living holy lives.
Would you pray with me? Pray with me that as we contemplate
on this great subject, it would result first of all, in harvest of souls and
then greater love and devotion to Christ and His Kingdom.
I am expecting great things for God
this year. I am praying that Christ will become really precious to each and
every ones heart. I believe that that would take place if I set forth the
preciousness of Christ.
I like what Spurgeon said to his
congregation, "Ask nothing for me, but ask large things for my Lord,
for the Crucified One!"
I - How Precious is
Jesus?
Peter loved to use the word, "precious". He used the word precious numerous times in his epistle.
1 Peter 1:7 That the
trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found
unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of
Jesus Christ:
1 Peter 1:18 Forasmuch
as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and
gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 19:
But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without
spot:
2 Peter 1:1 Simon
Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained
like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:
2 Peter 1:4 Whereby are
given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be
partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the
world through lust.
Here in our text, he once again used
the word to describe our LORD...
7: Unto you therefore
which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone
which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner,
According to Peter, Jesus Christ is
precious, that is, of great price, of great worth, very dear, highly esteemed.
2 Corinthians 9:15 Thanks
be unto God for his unspeakable gift.
He is God's unspeakable gift, the
indescribable gift to us. Christ
is priceless gift. Christ is precious.
How precious is Jesus Christ?
As the late S.M. Lockeridge
said ...
I wish I could describe Him to you.
He's indescribable!
He's incomprehensible. He's invincible.
He's irresistible. You cannot get Him out of your mind. You
cannot get Him off of your hand. You cannot outlive Him, and you cannot live
without Him. The Pharisees could not stand Him, but they found out they could
not stop Him. Pilate could not find any fault in Him. Herod could not kill Him.
Death could not handle Him, and the grave could not hold Him.
Yes! That's
my King, that's my King.
Let me attempt to give you a glimpse
of how precious Jesus Christ is.
He is the One Altogether Lovely.
(Song of Solomon 5:16)
He is the Chief Cornerstone. (1 Peter
2:6)
He is the Sun of Righteousness.
(Malachi 4:2)
He is the Sure Foundation. (Isaiah
28:16)
He is a Great Physician. (Jeremiah
8:22)
He is the New and Living Way.
(Hebrews 10:20)
He is the Sower
and the Lord of the Harvest. (Luke 10:2)
He is the Hidden Treasure. (Matthew
13:44)
He is the Living Water. (John 4:10;
7:38)
He the Bread of Life (John 6:35).
He is the Light of the World (John
8:12;9:5).
He is the Door (John 10:7).
He is the Good Shepherd (John 10: 11,
14).
He is the Resurrection and the Life
(John 11:25).
He is the Way, the Truth, and the
Life" (John 14:6).
He is the True Vine"(John 15:1)
He is the Friend that sticketh closer than a brother. (Proverb 18:24)
He is the One who will never leave
you or forsake you. (Hebrews 13:5)
He is the Wonderful and Great Saviour. (Luke 2:11; John 4:42; 1 John 4:14; Isaiah 43:11)
He is ...
The First and the Last.
The Beginning and the End.
He is the Keeper of Creation and the
Creator of All.
He is the Architect of the Universe
and the Manager of All Time.
He Always Was, He Always Is, and He
Always Will Be Unmoved, Unchanged, Undefeated, and Never Undone.
He was bruised and brought healing.
He was pierced and eased pain.
He was persecuted and brought
freedom.
He was dead and brought life.
He is risen and brings power.
He reigns and brings peace.
The world cannot understand Him.
The armies cannot defeat Him.
Schools cannot explain Him and the
leaders can't ignore Him.
Herod could not kill Him.
The Pharisees could not confuse Him.
The people could not hold him.
Nero could not crush Him.
Hitler could not silence Him.
The New Age cannot replace Him.
And Oprah cannot explain Him away.
He is Life,
Love, Longevity, and Lord.
He is Goodness, Kindness, Gentleness
and God.
He is Holy, Righteous, Mighty,
Powerful, and Pure.
His Ways our Right, His Words
Eternal, His Rules Unchanging, and His Mind is on me.
He is My Redeemer, He is My Saviour, He is My God, He is My Priest, He is My Joy, He is
My Comfort, He is My Lord, and He rules my life.
I love what J. C. Ryle said about
Jesus Christ ...
"We
can never make too much of Christ. Our thoughts about the Church, the ministry,
and the ordinances, may easily become too high and exaggerated or excessive.
But we can never have too high thoughts about Christ, we can never love Him too
much, trust Him too implicitly, lay too much weight upon Him, and speak too
highly in His praise. He is worthy of all the honor that we can give Him. He
will be all in heaven. Let us see to it, that He is all in our hearts on earth."
Revelation 5:12 Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to
receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour,
and glory, and blessing.
I could go on and on and talk about
the preciousness of Christ and why He is precious, but time would not let me, I
will do that in the coming weeks. But now the question is ...
II - To whom is Christ
Precious?
This world is filled with people who
despise Christ. The religious leaders in Jesus' time - the scribes, the
priests, the Pharisees rejected Him with contempt and derision.
1 Peter 2:4 To whom
coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God,
and precious, 5: Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an
holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus
Christ. 6: Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that
believeth on him shall not be confounded. 7: Unto you therefore which believe
he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the
builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, 8: And a stone of
stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being
disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed. 9: But ye are a chosen
generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye
should shew forth the praises of him who hath called
you out of darkness into his marvellous light; 10:
Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had
not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
He is the Stone that men and builders
disallowed, a stone of stumbling, a rock of offense. They rejected Him because
they could not see excellence in Him that they should build upon Him. Though He is Lord of all, they cast
Him away and reckoned Him to be as nothing.
John 1:10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the
world knew him not. 11: He came unto his own, and his own
received him not.
Even today, there are multitudes who
do not see Christ as precious.
They may believe Him to be a great
teacher, a great prophet, a great example, a very noble martyr. They may even
believe His claims to be the Son of God, the Saviour
of the world, but to them the Lord Jesus Christ simply is not precious. He is
not dear to them. They do not esteem Him very highly. They have no love for
Him, they do not see that Christ is indeed wonderful. In fact, they hate Him
and they want to get rid of Him and anything that would remind them of Christ.
But thank God, not all people do!
There are those who esteem Christ as precious. There are people who can say and mean it when they say, He
is altogether lovely. They can honestly say, take the world but give me
Jesus. They can honestly testify, none but Christ can satisfy. They
can joyfully sing, all that thrills my soul is Jesus. And who are these
people? Who are those who experience the preciousness of Christ?
1. Christ is precious to the
Believers
7: Unto you therefore
which believe he is precious ...
It is to the believer, and to the
believer alone, that Christ is precious. It is the believer who esteem Him
higher than any other thing or person in this world and life. They highly esteem,
cherish, treasure, value, prize, honor, respect, reverence Jesus Christ.
While the Lord Jesus is rejected by
the great mass of people, He is regarded by all true Christians as of great
worth and value. Why? They have been brought into a condition where they can
appreciate His worth. That
is what a true believer is, that is what true Christian is. A believer, a
Christian is someone who by the Spirit of God have been brought to place where
they see their need, their guilt, their helplessness, their hopelessness. They
have come to realization that they do not have righteousness of their own and
they are not able atone for their sins. Therefore, Jesus Christ, His blood and
righteousness are most precious to them.
To see the value of food, we must be
hungry; value of clothing, we must be exposed to the winter's blast; value of home, we must be
wanderers without a dwelling-place; value of medicine, we must be sick; value
of competence, we must be poor. So, to see the value of the Saviour,
we must see that we are poor, helpless, dying sinners; that the soul is of
inestimable worth; that we have no merit of our own; and that unless someone
interpose, we must perish. Everyone who becomes a true Christian is brought to
this condition; and in this state he can appreciate the worth of the Saviour. In this respect the condition of Christians is
unlike that of the rest of mankind - for they are in no better state to
appreciate the worth of the Saviour, than the man in
health is to appreciate the value of the healing art, or than he who has never
had a want unsupplied, the kindness of one who comes to us with an abundant
supply of food. - Albert Barnes
Thomas Watson
"Until sin be bitter, Christ
will not be sweet."
2. Christ is precious to the Father
1 Peter 2:4 To whom
coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God,
and precious, 5: Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an
holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus
Christ. 6: Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that
believeth on him shall not be confounded.
Isaiah 42:1 Behold my
servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth;
I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.
This is one of the reasons why Christ
is precious to believers because Christ is precious to the Father. Christ is infinitely precious to His
Father, who knows Him best, and who is a perfect judge of real excellency; and for that very reason He is precious to you
that believe. What
is precious to God, it is also precious to us believers.
Men wickedly reject this stone, and
even many of the professed builders of his church reject him. But to the
Father, He is the Living Stone, the Tried Stone, Elect, Precious, which God
Himself appointed from of old.
God the Father esteemed Him highly
Hear what the Father says about
Christ:
At Christ's Baptism
Matthew 3:17 And lo a
voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
At Christ's Transfiguration
Matthew 17:5 While he
yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them:
and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in
whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.
This is my beloved Son in whom I am
pleased. This is my beloved Son, He is precious to me. You must listen to Him I
value Him very vey highly. Christ is infinitely
precious to the Father.
After Christ's Exaltation
Philippians 2:5 Let
this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6: Who, being in the form
of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7: But made himself of no
reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the
likeness of men: 8: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself,
and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. 9: Wherefore God
also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
1:0 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and
things in earth, and things under the earth; 11: And that every tongue should
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
In raising Him from the dead the Lord
God exalted Jesus Christ above all. What a delight to contemplate on this
subject!
Closing Thoughts
Is Christ precious to you?
You cannot love Him until you believe
Him. He will not be precious to you until you trust Him, until you possess or
have Him.
A red diamond may be precious in
itself; but I cannot say that it is precious to me; because I don't have one. But if I own a diamond, when a thing belongs to
you, it has a value to you, it is precious to you. Now, no man possesses Christ
except he believes in Him. Though Christ is priceless gift, He is of no value
to you if you do not trust Him. You are without Christ if you are without
faith.
Are you a believer?
Do you want to know if you are a true
believer? Do you want to know if you possess the faith that saves?
Our text answers this question.
7: Unto you therefore
which believe he is precious:
This is not a command but a statement
of fact. A
person's view of Christ reveals ones spiritual state and it does not lie. A
person's esteem of Christ is an evidence that a person possesses the faith that
saves.
To the unbelievers among us ...
Come to Christ! You don't know how
much is in store for you who would believe...
1 Corinthians 2:9 But
as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into
the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
10: But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
To the believers among us ...
Is Christ becoming more and more
precious to you? Are you showing that by your obedience, your service, your
soul winning, your love for the brethren?
May God awaken us to how precious
Christ is, and cause us to a greater love for Him.
Amen!