Jesus is Precious
When I am praying and considering messages for this radio broadcast, I always want to give a relevant message, a message that you can use everyday. This message is very relevant because if you believe that Jesus is precious, it will affect the way you live. If you don’t believe Jesus is relevant, you will disregard him and his teachings, and your life will reflect that disregard. You can have a life of peace, joy and happiness in God’s service, or you can have a lifetime of sin, misery, and defeat in your own service. You see, what happens in your life, the values you hold dear, and the principles you live your by, are directly related to whether or not you hold Jesus and his principles precious.
Definition of "precious" – valuable, costly, or honored, esteemed, or beloved, very dear, honourable.
We don’t use the word precious very much, at least not in casual conversation. But notice, Peter does. And Peter is a man, a rough and tumble businessman that was going to do his thing. It was Peter who owned those ships and hired people to work for him. It was Peter who cut off the high priests servant’s ear. It was Peter who cursed and denied knowing Christ. But it is also Peter who uses the word "precious" to describe his Lord, Jesus Christ, his eternal savour.
There are a lot of things that men count precious:
Their lives.
their possessions,
their families.
their jobs.
their health.
life itself.
I think sometimes when we think of precious things, we think too much of temporal (that is, temporary) things, and not enough of the real, true values of eternity.
But what is the most precious thing of all? Let the Bible give us the answer.
I Peter 1:18-20 – 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: 20 Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,
Redemption means to be purchased from the slave market of sin. It means to have a home in eternity with Jesus, forever and forever.
We were redeemed not with corruptible things, but with the precious blood of Jesus Christ.
Our good works didn’t redeem us.
Our going to church didn’t redeem us.
Our trying to live the law didn’t redeem us.
Our being baptized didn’t redeem us.
Our church membership didn’t redeem us.
What did? The precious blood of Jesus Christ.
But notice – what one man highly esteems and counts as precious above all things – other men despise.
I Peter 2:4 states, "To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious,"
Notice that God has chosen Jesus Christ, his only begotten son, to die in our place. God has declared that Jesus is precious. But notice what God has declared as precious, men have disallowed (disapproved, repudiated, rejected). Please understand the great wickedness of men who reject Christ, and do not count him as precious. They have gone against God himself. These wicked men have lifted themselves up above God, just like Satan, in Isaiah 14, desired to rise up above God, and sit in the sides of the north, on the very throne of God. This is a terrible thing, indeed. It is probably the most wicked thing a person can ever do.
People who are saved have come to Jesus because the Holy Spirit of God, through the preaching of the Word of God has revealed to them that Jesus is very, very precious.
People who are saved have come to the living stone, not a dead stone.
It is amazing how the lost and the save live in entirely different worlds.
The lost live completely in a materialistic world. Their hopes, dreams and plans are all of this world.
The saved live in this world, yet they are not a part of this world. They are strangers and pilgrims, and as the song goes, This World Is Not My Home I’m just a passing through, my treasures are laid up, somewhere beyond the blue.
In I Peter 2:6 God declares again that Jesus is precious. Listen to the verse, "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."
Jesus is the chief corner stone, and that is what makes him so precious to us, and to all believers.
Our lives are anchored in Christ, not in ourselves, or our own good works, or our own good intentions, our plans, or our programs. Our hope is in Christ, and in Christ alone.
Notice the latter part of the verse, "…he that believeth on him shall not be confounded."
The word "confounded" means to be ashamed, or to blush, or to be dishonored.
The Bible is saying that the believer will never be confounded, but will be in peace, because he is trusting in Christ, the precious one from God. He is not trusting in himself.
Compare the believers confidence with the unbeliever, who has nothing to have confidence in. I Peter 2:7-8 states, "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."
Christ is indeed very precious to all believers, but notice what he is to all unbelievers.
If you miss what Christ is to unbelievers, you will never understand why there is so much difference between believers and unbelievers. You will never understand why there is so much difference between the lives of believers and unbelievers.
To the unbelieving, Christ is a stone of stumbling.
a. Jesus Christ is a stumbling block to unbelievers, an obstacle in the way which if one strikes his foot against he stumbles or falls; that over which a soul stumbles i.e. by which is caused to sin.
b. Unbelievers will each come to the place where they will know about Jesus Christ.
c. They won't go to hell without stumbling over Jesus Christ.
4. Christ is a rock of offence.
a. Christ is a rock: the word is Petra, a large stone that cannot escape our attention. Christ is looming over all unbelievers, they cannot get through life without being confronted with his presence, without being confronted with their sinfulness and his salvation.
b. To believers, He is the Rock of Ages, the hope of all our salvation and life.
c. To unbelievers, He is that which is totally abhorred and to be avoided at all costs.
5. Christ is an offence.
a. It is amazing to think that Christ would be an offence to anybody.
b. He is the perfect one from God Himself.
c. Christ never sinned, so how could he be an offence to anybody?
d. Christ is an offence because of the disobedience of unbelievers.
6. The lost stumble at the word, being disobedient to the Word.
a. The Word of God did not cause them to stumble, but their being disobedient caused them to stumble at His Word.
b. Luke 7:30 - The Pharisees rejected the counsel of God against them because they didn't have the baptism of John.