THINGS PRECIOUS TO THE CHRISTIAN
Dr. W. A. Criswell
1 Peter 1:7-19
1/16/83
This is the Pastor of the First Baptist
Church in Dallas, delivering a message in the series that will take us through
the last Sunday night of March in the Epistles of Simon Peter. And, the
title of the sermon tonight is: Things Precious to the Christian.
Let us turn to 1 Peter, chapter 1.
We shall read out loud, together, verses 3-9—1 Peter, chapter 1, verses
3-9. If your neighbor doesn't have a Bible, share it with him. And,
all of us reading out loud, together, 1 Peter, chapter 1, verses 3-9—Now,
together:
Blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again
unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
To an inheritance incorruptible, and
undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,
Who are kept by the power of God through
faith unto salvation ready to be received revealed in the last time.
Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now
for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations;
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;
Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom,
though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and
full of glory;
Receiving the end of your faith, even
the salvation of your souls.
Simon Peter likes that word “precious”—timē,
“preciousness”--timios, “preciousness.” And, he uses it in these
brief epistles seven times: chapter 1, verse 7; chapter 1, verse 19; chapter 2,
verses 4, 6 and 7; and 2 Peter, chapter 1, in verse 1 and in verse 4. He
likes the beautiful word “precious.” And, we shall speak of the times
that he uses that word. And, it so appropriately brings a precious
message to our own hearts.
First time he speaks of it is an amazing
use. I can hardly believe that you would use the word “precious” for a
trial, but he does. And, when we look at it and think of it, it is
understandable how a trial could be of great value. In the first chapter,
verses 6 and 7:
Ye greatly rejoice, though now for a
little while, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations;
That the trial of your faith, being much
more precious than gold, though it be tried with fire, might be found with a
praise and honour and glory at the apokalupsis, at the revelation, the
appearing of Jesus Christ.
The
trial of your faith, more precious than gold.
There are two words there he uses
together, both of which mean “trial,” translated “temptations” in verse 6: peirazō.
That has an overtone of an attempt to entice to evil, like the Devil is called
a peirazōn. He tempts to evil.
But, the next trial—dokimion—that
is a trial, the end of which is expected to be good, a building of character: “The
trial of your faith is more precious than gold.” Well, how could such a
thing be, the trial of faith, the struggle we have, the sorrows in which we
find ourselves engulfed? How could it be more precious than gold?
When you think of it closely, it becomes
very apparent: the deep spiritual truth to which the apostle refers. For
example, it is true in our human relationships. The pain and the sorrow
that cost us in human life, makes that life doubly dear and doubly precious.
For example, in the story of Israel, of
Jacob, in the Book of Genesis, when they came to Bethlehem, close to Bethlehem,
Rachel struggled to give birth to her second child. And, she died in that
sorrowful agony. And, Jacob Rachel called the name of the boy, Ben-oni,
“a child of sorrow.”
And, you'll not find in human literature
so dramatic a confrontation as when Judah, in the land of Egypt, stands before
his brother, Joseph, whom he does not know, who is lord over Egypt, and makes
appeal for Benjamin that Joseph says must stay behind, if he gives food to the
brethren to take back to Canaan. Why that dramatic appeal in behalf of
his aged father, Jacob? It lies in the tears and in the sorrow and in the
agony of Rachel, when she died, giving birth to that boy, Benjamin.
It is true in all of our human
relationships. The pain and the cost and the sorrow make things dear to
us, precious to us. It is also true in the realm of our spiritual
relationships.
Sometime, when you have opportunity, you
read the twenty-ninth chapter of the Book of Job. He was the most
righteous man, God said, in all the world. He was the best man, the Bible says,
in the whole earth. And, nobody knew that better than Job.
For example, in the twenty-ninth chapter
of the Book of Job, he will say,
When the ear heard me, it blessed me;
and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me;
I delivered the poor that cried... .
The blessing of him that was ready to
perish came upon me; I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy.
I put on righteousness, and it clothed
me; my judgment was as a robe and diadem.
I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I
to the lame.
I was father to the poor; and the cause
which I knew not I found out.
I brake the jaws of the wicked... .
My glory was fresh in me, and my bow was
renewed in my hand.
Unto me men gave ear... .
After my words, when I spoke they spoke
not again... .
I chose out their way, and sat chief
among them, as a king.
He
was a good man. God said so: the best man in the earth. The Bible
says so. But, nobody knew it better than Job himself.
Now, I'm going to read you what Job said
after the sorrows of the loss of his family and the loss of his home and the
loss of his possessions and the loss of his health, when he sat in an ash heap
and cried in misery and in pain because of the afflictions that had come upon
him. Now, you listen to Job, the last chapter: “O God, I have heard of
Thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth Thee. Wherefore I
abhor myself, and repent in dust and in ashes.”
It's another kind of a man. Isn't
that right? It's another kind of a Job. Sorrows and heartache and
loss and pain were precious in his life in bringing him to his knees.
That is true in our heavenly
relationships. The trials we have in life make heaven dear to our
souls. In the twenty-first chapter of the Book of the Apocalypse, he says,
as he sees the glory of the new city Jerusalem, our heaven, he says that, up
there, “there is no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither is there any
more pain; for these things are all passed away.”
But, I ask you, what would that be, if
you had never stood by the side of an open grave for God to say, “There's no
more death?” What would that mean to you, if you had never sorrowed and
had never hurt, when God says, “There's no more sorrow and there's no more
crying?” And, what would that mean to somebody who had never experienced
the hurt of heart and of body to say, “There's no more pain?”
These things, the apostle says, are
precious. The trials of our lives, the sorrows that we know, the hurts
that afflict us and bow us to our knees, he says, are precious. God,
having a beautiful reward for us which is more to be desired than gold—the
trials of our lives, he says, are precious.
Look, again, in that first
chapter. He says that the blood of Christ, our Savior, is precious:
Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not
redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold...
But by the precious blood of Christ, as
a lamb without blemish and without spot;
Who verily was foreordained before the
foundation of the world, but was manifest in our time.
The
atoning blood of Christ, to us, is precious.
Now, he says here that we are redeemed,
not with silver and gold, but by the precious blood of Jesus. And, the
whole thought and meaning of the preciousness of that sacrifice is found in the
word “redeemed.” “Redemption” refers to the buying back, the delivery,
the freedom of a slave. A slave is redeemed, bought back, freed, the
redemption of a human slave.
Now, that redemption, he says, can be
with money. It can be a redemption payment in gold and silver. I'll
never forget one of the most dramatic preachers, who has recently died,
speaking at a vast convention. He was describing an auction block.
And, on that auction block there was
being sold a young woman. She was one-sixty-fourth Negro. And, one
of the men in the bidding bought her, redeemed her with money, bought her with
money. And, when the girl was brought to him, she supposed, as his slave,
to be used. That's what slavery was.
And, the man who bought her, redeemed
her with money, said to her, “Dear, you are free. Free. I have
given you now your liberty. I have bought you and you are free.”
Redemption with money.
Now, the Apostle writes, we who are sold
to sin and to judgment and to death, we who have been slaves of the judgment of
our iniquity, God in Christ has bought us. He has redeemed us, not by
gold and silver, but by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. What a
beautiful way to say it and to think of it. Standing at the cross, I can
well imagine blood falling on my hands and, looking up, falling on my face from
the wounds of our dear Savior. “See, from His face, His hands and His
feet, sorrow and love, blood flow mingled down.” I can well imagine
standing there and blood drops falling on my hands and on my face. And, I
ask, “What is this? What is this?”
And, I hear the voice of our Lord,
saying, “This is the new covenant in My blood, shed for the remission of sins.”
And, I can hear an angel answer from
heaven: “Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin.”
And, I can hear the sound of the voice
of Jehovah, God our Father, in Leviticus 17:11, saying:
The life of the flesh is in the blood;
and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls;
for it is the blood that maketh atonement for the soul.
That's one word, and the only one that I
know, that the English language has added to the great nomenclature of
theology: “atonement”—“at one.” It's an old English expression: “at
one.” When two are in disagreement, the old English expression when they
came together, they are “at one.” And, they took that old expression, “at
one,” and added “ment” to it, “at-one-ment”—“atonement.” That is, we who
were estranged from God because our sin hid His face from us, we have been now
brought in agreement with God, “at one” with God, an “atonement” with God in
the blood, in the suffering of Jesus Christ.
There's a great theological truth
there. What can bring me to “at-one- ment” with God? Shall I pray
until my knees are calloused? Will that bring me “at-one-ment” with
God? Shall I take seven sacraments or 70 sacraments? Will that
bring me “at-one-ment” with God? Shall I worship the Lord in one language
or in 50 languages? Will that bring me “at-one-ment” with God? Shall
I be baptized? Shall I do 10,000 alms? Will that bring me
“at-one-ment” with God?
My sins are washed away and I am brought
to “at-one-ment” with God only in the sacrificial atoning blood of Jesus
Christ.
Could my tears forever flow?
Could my zeal no anger know?
These for sin cannot atone.
Thou must save Thou alone.
In my hands, no price I bring,
Simply to Thy cross I cling.
It
is the blood of Christ he calls “precious” that brings us “at-one-ment”—“atonement,”
before God.
“These are they who have washed their
robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” Blood “that speaketh
better things than that of Abel.” Blood cries. Blood speaks.
And, the blood of Christ speaks peace and salvation and forgiveness to our
souls. The blood of Christ is precious.
Look, again, how we will use the word in
the second chapter of the Book of 1 Peter, verse 4:
Our Lord, to whom coming, as unto a
living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious.
Ye also, as living stones, are built up
a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices, acceptable
to God by our Lord Jesus.
Wherefore also it is contained in the
Scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief corner stone, elect, precious; and he
that believeth on him shall not be confounded.
Unto you therefore who 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,
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.
“To us who believe,” Jesus, he says, “is
precious.” What a beautiful way to say it: “To us who believe, Jesus is
precious.”
And, he uses here an old tradition and
story referred to in Isaiah 28:16 and in Psalm 118:22. And, the story is
tha,t when they were building Solomon's temple, there was a great stone that
was of no use. It fit no place. And, they cast it aside and later
found that it was the chief cornerstone of the building of God.
And, he uses that as an illustration
that, to some, the chief cornerstone of human life and human history and our
hope of heaven and glory, Jesus, to some, is useless, has no place, no
acceptability. But, to us who believe, He is the chief cornerstone of our
faith, of our life, of our hope for heaven. And, as such, Simon Peter
says, Jesus, to us who believe, is precious.
He's precious to the Father. How
many times do we read in the Bible the Lord saying—God, in heaven, saying,
“This is My beloved Son... Hear ye Him.” Or, “This is My Son in whom I am well
pleased.” Or, as John will write it in the third chapter and the
thirty-fifth verse: “The Father loveth the Son.” He is precious to the
Father.
But, oh, oh, to us who believe, how
precious is Jesus, our Lord? There was an old man, a saintly old
man. His wife had died and his daughter and son-in-law built a little
room to their house and he lived there in that room. One day, the old
saintly man went to his pastor and said, “Pastor, somehow, when I pray, it
seems to me I'm just talking to myself. Nobody hears my prayers.
Jesus seems so far away.”
And, the pastor said to him, he said, “I'll
tell you what you do. You draw up a chair by your side. And, when
you sit down in your chair, you talk as though Jesus were seated in that empty
chair. And, you just tell Him everything in your heart. Just talk
to Him as you would to a dear personal friend. And, Jesus will talk to
you in your heart.”
So, the old gentleman made a practice of
doing that. He would pull up an empty chair by his side and he'd talk to
Jesus and tell Him all the things on his heart.
Upon a day, the couple, the daughter and
the son-in-law, went to the pastor and said, “Dear Pastor, in the night last
night, our father went away to heaven. But, Pastor, there's something
strange. Sometime during the night he had gotten up and pulled an empty
chair by the side of his bed. And, he died with his hand on that empty
chair.”
Precious Lord, take my hand,
Lead me on, help me stand.
I am weak, I am tired, I am worn.
Through the storm, through the night,
Lead me on to the light.
Precious Lord, take my hand, lead me
home.
When the night grows drear,
Precious Lord, linger near.
When my life is almost gone,
Hear my cry, hear my call.
Take my hand, lest I fall.
Precious Lord, take my hand, lead me
home.
To
us who believe, He is precious.
And, last, in the first chapter of 2
Peter, our faith in the promises of God are precious. He used it twice:
Verse 1 and verse 4: “Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to
them that have obtained like precious faith with us”;
Verse
4: “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises.”
Our faith in the promises of God, the
Apostle says, is precious. We trust in God keeping His Word. In
John 6:37, “He that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out.” Or, John
10:28: “I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never ever perish, and no
one is able to pluck them out of my hand.”
The promises of our faith and our faith
in the promises of Christ is precious. I am comforted and strengthened in
the thought that, when I commit my soul and my life to the blessed Jesus,
whether I live, whether I die, I am in His wonderful hands. And, Peter
says that faith in the promises of God is precious.
I was preaching in the mountains of
eastern Tennessee. And, an old mountaineer came up to me with a picture,
an enlarged picture.
He said to me, as he showed me the
picture—he said, “This is my boy.”
And,
the picture was of a young fellow being baptized. He said to me, “Just
before he went away to the war in Vietnam, he was saved. The boy was
saved and he was baptized. And, this is the picture of my boy being
baptized.”
And
the old mountaineer, breaking down, said, “Two weeks ago, my boy was killed in
Vietnam.” And, he said, “You know, I have taken this picture and I have
placed it on the wall of my home.” And, the old mountaineer said, “Every
day, I go by and I look at that picture of my boy being baptized. And, I
thank God that he gave his heart to Jesus and that I'll see him someday in
glory.”
The promises of God to us are
precious. Ah, in how many ways, in how many wonderful and beautiful ways,
is our Savior precious to us. To us who believe, Jesus is precious.
May we stand together. Our
wonderful, precious God, blessed, heavenly Lord Jesus: Ah, that we had 10,000
tongues to sing Thy grace and praise and love and atoning sacrifice for us, our
poor stammering words.
Lord, we just can't say it as it really
is. It's too wonderful: the love of God in Christ Jesus, the sacrificial
and atoning blood that makes us clean, acceptable in His sight, the redemption
price more precious than gold that bought us out of slavery, into the freedom
of the children of God.
And, while our people pray, and, in a
moment, when we sing our hymn of appeal, a family—you: “Pastor, we have decided
for God and we're coming tonight”; a couple or just one somebody—you: “The Lord
has spoken to me and I am answering with my life.”
If you're in the balcony, there's time
and to spare, down one of those stairways, come and stand by us. In the
throng on this lower floor, into one of these aisles: “Pastor, God has invited
us and we're answering tonight.” Do it,
and
may the angels in heaven attend your way as you come. Make the decision
now in your heart. And, when we sing the appeal, on that first note, that
first step will be one of the most precious you'll ever make in your life.
And, our Lord, thank You for the
beautiful and precious harvest you give us tonight. In Thy saving name,
Amen.
Welcome. Welcome. Welcome.
