The precious attributes of Christ (Quality: Average)

[0:00] For his help, I gain us your attention to the first epistle of Peter chapter 2 and verse 7.

[0:12] The first epistle of Peter chapter 2 verse 7. And unto you therefore which believe he is precious, and unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed is become the head of the corner.

[0:36] The same is made the head of the corner. And unto you therefore which believe he is precious, and unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner.

[0:52] And I began this morning to look again at this word.

[1:03] It was as if I was trying to drain the sea. There was more, and there shall ever be more, to be said of the preciousness of the Lord Jesus that cannot be expressed in time.

[1:23] I don't believe, and I say it very reverently, I don't believe eternity will ever exhaust such a word as this.

[1:34] Who can describe, and indeed what grace is needed to describe, the preciousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. If we stay here, my friends, to however long we shall stay here, we have a subject that's inexhaustible.

[1:56] It will be but a scratching of the surface. It will be, at the end of it all, but a poor attempt. Because there will be far much more left than has ever been brought out at this subject.

[2:10] But then, my friends, who is it that will know anything of this precious person? Who is it that can even lisp a few notes to his praise for his preciousness?

[2:28] And indeed, who shall it be who shall be in receipt of those things which flow through him? But they are but poor sinners in themselves.

[2:41] It is a rich gospel, because it is the gospel of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. And the black of the sinner, that is in his feelings.

[2:54] And the most foul sinner in his feelings. The most impossible character in his feelings. And indeed, the most unworthy.

[3:08] My friends, these are those who shall know something that shall be formed in their heart. That shall reveal the preciousness of this person.

[3:20] Oh, we fail, my friends, miserably. But we fail, and I was going to say willingly, because it is far and beyond us.

[3:32] But he is precious. And as we said this morning, the very person of Christ is precious. The very glorious, the glorious Son of God, in human form, suffering in this world of sin and woe.

[3:51] And yet, having dealings with sinners for their spiritual and eternal good. My friends, this is the precious person of Christ.

[4:01] He who knew no sin, had dealings with those who were nothing but sin. And when he fulfilled his engagement, his covenant engagement, when he did his Father's will, when he was nailed to Calvary's tree, upon him was the sins of these people who are his.

[4:30] And they were eternally saved, and eternally saved. But he is, as he is revealed to you, as precious.

[4:44] I wondered about changing one of the hymns tonight, and I looked at that blessed hymn of John Newton. I'm no disciple of John Newton. I love him for the truth's sake.

[4:57] I don't follow him. My friends, Christ is the one to follow. But his hymn is this. What thinking of Christ is the test to try both your state and your scheme.

[5:12] You cannot be right in the rest, unless you think rightly of him. As Jesus appears in your view, as he is beloved, beloved or not, so God is disposed to you, and mercy or wrath are you not.

[5:31] You know, my friends, I can tell you this, wherever you are this night, and however dark is the path, or however out of sight, as it were, are those things that you would have, that would make the Lord Jesus Christ more precious.

[5:49] And I say it very tenderly to your soul, judge your standing, my friends, on what you feel of Christ, what you desire of Christ.

[6:01] Don't judge your standing on what you know of Christ. Because you might be in that place where you have to say, it is of him I little know. But judge your standing on what your exercise is of the preciousness of Jesus Christ, of the suitability of his person, of his work.

[6:22] And indeed, as he is the channel of mercy to the souls of the people of God, my friends, he becomes more and more precious. I said this morning, my friends, that we began to speak of what it was to be a believer in one's own, standing as a sinner.

[6:44] What it was that grace has revealed in your soul and mine that we stand a sinner before a holy and a just God. But it also is, my friends, also to the comfort of your soul what has been revealed to you and to your soul that makes Christ precious.

[7:08] Because all your salvation is revealed to you in that blessed person. You may not have attained all your salvation. You may be still in that pathway of seeking and desiring and longing and indeed going after such a salvation.

[7:27] but my friends, I believe he's precious to such a soul that seeks him, such a soul that has been brought to need him and he's so precious to a person, my friends, that cannot lay claim to him but who long for him.

[7:45] And he's precious too in that abundant way, in that remarkable, merciful, miraculous way when such sinners attain him and lay hold of him.

[8:00] And to you which believe he is precious. Well, my friends, we must try as the Lord will help us to go along a little further with this so fuller text, so great a word.

[8:17] because, my friends, when one tries to speak of this blessed person, well, we come so far short in it all. But it must be as it has been and as it must surely be now what is revealed of this person that shall make him precious.

[8:40] And his preciousness, my friends, is known by what is then shown to the soul. We spoke and we used the word in the previous chapter, we spoke of his blood being precious as the remedy for sin, as indeed the, that which will put away the iniquity, which has put away the iniquity of the people of God.

[9:12] Oh, let me say again, my friends, you may not have any comfort now or you may not see the comfort that you should see.

[9:24] But compare your desire to the desire of the world. We read, and it is in that parable that I was led to read, I only, it came to my mind in the vestry about the man who built, who sold everything to possess the pearl of great price.

[9:45] It is a parable, it is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning, but it is true, is it not? My friends, who can be compared to this precious one?

[9:56] He is the pearl of great price. We sang 940, Heal Us, Sunday was it, compared with Christ, in all beside, no comeliness I see, the one thing needful, dearest Lord, is to be one with thee.

[10:15] He is the pearl of great price, everything and anything, my friends, must be set aside. There is no value in anything but Christ, but it is an investable value, it is, and I say this very carefully, and I trust very reverently, my friends, it is a value that goes up, it is a value that goes up, it surely must be.

[10:42] Oh, you that are in the way everlasting, do you not see a more preciousness in him now, more precious than you did in the first time of revelation?

[10:55] Do you not think, my friends, and perhaps that is the wrong way of putting it, but you consider meditating and in your meditation, think about those dear souls in glory?

[11:07] Is he more precious then in glory as they are with him now than when they was here on earth battling with the powers of hell? Isn't his blessed uninterrupted presence and his sacred comfort of his presence with them in the eternity of glory, doesn't that make him more precious then that they have ever known him precious in this world of sin and woe?

[11:36] Oh, my friends, I don't wish to say there's degrees in things, but I do believe this, my friends, he becomes more precious to the people of God, more precious.

[11:47] If he was precious in those years that have passed, and years have rolled over your head perhaps, and you come into various trials and troubles, did it not increase in your spirit the preciousness of this person?

[12:05] If you enjoyed his conversation, felt a union and a fellowship to him, walked with him in the ways of God, and yet in the wilderness now in the darkness, and distressed of the soul, as you've gone on that pilgrimage journey a few more steps in the way, is he still precious?

[12:28] Is he not more precious? We know when he hides his face, he's still precious. When he withdraws his felt presence, he is still precious, my friends, but oh, when he shows himself, as it were through the lattice, when he begins to reveal himself to his people, my friends, I believe it becomes more and more precious to their soul.

[12:55] To you, therefore, which believe, he is precious. Now, that precious blood, we could borrow the hymn writer's words when he said, shall never lose its power.

[13:09] Oh, that's what's so precious about his precious blood. It does cleanse from all sin. It will cleanse from all sin. It brings peace to the conscience.

[13:20] It brings pardon to the soul. My friends, it is precious blood indeed. It's precious because, my friends, it is needed. And it's beyond value.

[13:32] Who can put a price to it? I thought of those words of the Lord Jesus Christ, what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?

[13:46] What shall a man give in exchange for his soul? But, dear friends, what was given in exchange for your soul if you are a believer in this precious person?

[13:57] But his life, his blood, and himself. That's what was given. What shall a man give? We can't give anything that shall redeem our soul from the pit.

[14:09] But he gave himself for the souls of his people. He gave himself and shed his blood that they shall be pardoned. He gave his precious blood to wash away their iniquity.

[14:23] It's precious blood if you need it, my friends. What a high value did the Jews of old in Goshen would have put upon that blood that was on the doorpost and lintel.

[14:35] What a high value. It was the blood of a lamb that was without blemish and without spot. It was the blood of a lamb that was shed for them.

[14:47] It was in the place of their first bull because the lamb was slain, because the blood was put on the doorpost, it spoke safety and security to the Jews and to the firstborn son in particular.

[15:05] They would have thought that blood to be of great value. And my friends, what was it that made it value? It stood between them and the destroying angel.

[15:18] That's what made it valuable. That destroying angel couldn't touch them because the blood intervened. My friends, what must we draw from this Old Testament story?

[15:35] What must we draw from that deliverance of the Jews of old in Goshen? What must we draw from that promise? And when I see the blood, I will pass over you.

[15:47] a holy and a just God, cannot touch the people of God, cannot destroy, cannot bring any of those who are believers in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ because the blood stands between.

[16:05] Oh, it is efficacious blood. It is invaluable blood. But it stands between. It's Christ's blood. blood. And it has been shed for many and shed for sinners.

[16:18] And because of that blood that was shed, my friends, the justice of God has been appeased. The sins of the people of God have been removed. And instead of hell, there is heaven.

[16:32] Instead of destruction, the salvation. Instead of the darkness of the pit, there is the atonement. This is what this precious blood has provided. My friends, and that is a shield.

[16:45] This precious blood is a shield, my friends, in that day of justice when we shall stand at the judgment seat of Christ, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

[17:06] Then we closed this morning with that hymn, and in that one we've just sung, that spoke about his precious name.

[17:18] Well, to the people of God, his name is as ointment poured forth. In the Philippians, we have the Apostle Paul's writing there, and he says, and has given him a name which is above every name.

[17:34] Now, my friends, this will distinguish you from the world. What think you of his name? What does his name so affect your spirit?

[17:49] That hymn comes to mind how sweet the name of Jesus sounds in a believer's ear. It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds, and drives away his fear.

[18:03] not to those out there, it isn't. It's a name that's blasphemed. It's a name that is set at naught. It's the language of the wicked, the blasphemy, and the blasphemer, and they shall not go untouched, my friends, because of that.

[18:25] But oh, what a precious name it is to believers. It is to poor sinners. I spoke this morning about that dear woman with the issue of blood.

[18:36] And what was it? When she heard of Jesus, the gospel says. When she heard of that person, but she heard of that name. Oh, it drew her unto him as she was.

[18:50] She didn't wait till she was a little better. You know what the poet says, if you carry till you're better, you will never come at all. These that are sin-sex souls, these that are poor worms of the earth, how they value this precious name.

[19:07] And it's the only name, dear friends, that prevails with God. Oh, when that precious name is pleaded, I believe in the early days, I trust there have been early days of teaching and prophet to my soul.

[19:25] I was brought into all sorts of troubles. Providential troubles and in providential troubles, I was brought into troubles of my soul.

[19:38] But in those early days, we used to read that 14th of John, and it says, if you shall ask anything in my name, anything.

[19:49] That was an all embracing word. That was comprehensive to my soul. Oh, I could use that name then. And I don't mean that wrongly. That's the name, my friends, we can approach the Lord of glory.

[20:04] This is the name we would present the petitions of the people of God upon. That precious name, because it prevails with God. God, and to you which believe he is precious, that is a precious name, means nothing to the world.

[20:23] Does not affect them at all. Can't see anything lovely in that name or in his person. She's a word that's abused, my friends, but she's a word that's loved.

[20:36] Oh, the precious name of the Lord Jesus. My friends, again, judge your spirit by what you think, what you feel of his name.

[20:49] Judge your spirit as you may be enabled to by what you consider his precious person. And look into your heart and ask the question, my friends, what do you feel of his precious blood?

[21:05] What need you have? This precious name of the Lord Jesus. It's a name, which is above every name, it's a name that means something to the people of God.

[21:18] I suppose if you can find the right book, you'll find the names of most people, and they have a meaning.

[21:30] I don't want to get into those things, but my friends, the names of people have a meaning. How they come by it, I've no idea, but you look in Matthew chapter 1, and you'll find the meaning of the name of Jesus.

[21:47] For he shall save his people from their sin. And to you, therefore, which believe, he is precious. We spoke, my friends, of that which is again, all these things are so sacred and so full, and all these things are so needful, and they make up experience and the pathway of those who desire to fear his name.

[22:16] We spoke a little of his presence, how precious that is. My mind went again, as it has done before, to the apostles' words, when he came to the end of his life, and he said, all men have forsaken me.

[22:39] At my first answer, no man stood with me, but all men forsook me. I pray God that he may not be laid to their charge, not withstanding the Lord stood with me.

[22:52] that's the presence, my friends, that's the blessed presence of Christ. You may wonder at your friends who forsake you, so-called friends.

[23:06] You may feel sometimes that there's not one of them anyway could be of any comfort or help to you. They are inadequate, aren't they? But the friend of sinners, this precious person, person, and the blessed, precious person of Christ, my friends, what a company to walk with.

[23:32] What a company to walk with. That he walks with his people and he talks with them. He communes with them, speaks to them, comforts them with his word, stands by them in their times of trial, and never leaves.

[23:49] And what you see again, we come back and you can go from Genesis to Revelations, my friends, and you will find an abundant evidence of his promised presence.

[24:02] The abundant evidence of it. Promises that are found through the word of God. And my friends, to the comfort of the people of God, I speak especially that he is with them.

[24:20] How precious then is his person. Who's known him, who but has the people of God known him on a bed of affliction? No, my friends, it's not, he doesn't wait till conditions get better.

[24:34] He doesn't seek an improvement in your health, or indeed in your mind or your body. He doesn't look for circumstances to improve before he draws near.

[24:45] You read a guy in the 24th of Luke, there they were, believers in Christ, resting short, they were unbelievers. That is, they were questioning his death, questioning his resurrection, but Jesus himself drew near and went with them.

[25:04] Or have you known these occasions when there's no one else to commune with, and there's no one else who understands your case, and you wouldn't tell it anyway to your best of friends because of the darkness or the distress, or you wouldn't tell him about your sins and your slips and your falls, but this blessed person, the Saviour, my friends, you can tell him.

[25:29] To you, therefore, which believe, he's precious. But what he is, my friends, he is eternally. My thoughts again went to those words, familiar words in Hebrews 13.

[25:45] Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and today, and forever. And what we might glean out of this word, this day is what I was going to say, but fractions of anything that might be said of him.

[26:04] It seems so great and so full that it seems totally impossible to even come to anything of any substance out of these words.

[26:16] But, my friends, that in itself is the most sacred truth. He is the eternal Son of the Eternal Father. And what he was in those early days of blessing, my friends, he is today.

[26:33] And what he may be today to you, he is and shall eternally be so. How precious is an unchangeable God. Earthly friends may fail, and they certainly will, and they may fail because they are taken out of the way.

[26:51] They may indeed leave us, forsake us. But this blessed person of the Lord Jesus Christ, the friend of sinners, cannot through you therefore which believe he is precious.

[27:06] precious. But then, my friends, what can be said of his love? What can be said of his love? How precious that is.

[27:18] You know, love between one and another is very precious, between husband and wife, between parents and children and so on. My friends, how precious is natural love?

[27:31] But how much more precious is spiritual love? my friends, how much precious was it? Ruth said in the first chapter, entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee.

[27:47] For whither thou goest, I will go. Where thou lodgest, I will lodge. Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.

[27:58] Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me, and more or so, if all by death part thee and me. She was speaking of love.

[28:09] It was that which enabled her to cleave to Naomi. But we believe, as we read the words surely, that there was an underlying love too to the people of God.

[28:26] We know that we are passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. And as I've often said, it isn't their old nature that you so much love, you know, it's Christ in them that you love.

[28:40] Oh, the love of Christ, how precious. It is rich and free, fixed on his own eternally. Somewhere where I was recently, we sang that hymn 633.

[28:55] that speaks of the love of Christ, fixed on his own eternally, nor earth nor hell can it remove long as he lives, his own, he love.

[29:13] But to try to speak a little of the preciousness of that love, that foundation, stone of salvation, that, indeed, that foundation, stone of every mercy, what was it, my friends, and this is such a depth, and it needs much grace to ponder over it, and it needs living faith to believe it.

[29:41] That we believe in the eternal counsels of God before one speck of dust rested upon another, before creation's work begun. before the stars were formed in the heavens, before this earth was spoken to being, we believe in the counsels of God.

[30:02] But, oh, in the counsels of God, there was a people chosen. And these are the people that find Christ precious. But what caused him to choose?

[30:16] What was, indeed, and we must use the poet's word, the motives, clear, it is all for love. My friends, it wasn't in good deeds or good works.

[30:29] There was nothing to say. The determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, my friends, there was a people chosen, and you put things in order.

[30:41] You must put things in order. My friends, he placed his love upon whom he will. Oh, this cuts across nature, cuts across everything of works, cuts across everything of this old man.

[31:01] But, my friends, he did, and he did it because he worked. And he was to show forth the praises of him who hath called him out of nature's darkness.

[31:13] I think it was, yes, it was last Sunday we spoke about that word in the ninth of the Romans, that eternal choice of God.

[31:26] For the scripture saith, unto Pharaoh, even for this purpose, if I raise thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth, therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.

[31:45] Thou wilt say then unto me, why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? Nay, but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God?

[31:56] Shall the thing form say to him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the power power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?

[32:10] But that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he hath prepared unto glory.

[32:24] My friends, the truth remains whether men believe it or receive it or not. His eternal love. Oh, that you and mine might be able to meditate on it in such a blessed way, love.

[32:40] The love of Christ, the love of the Father, the love of the Holy Ghost, what precious love it is. You know, we often have to say that the more you know of yourself, the more ashamed you feel, but the more you wonder at his love, on such love, my soul still ponder.

[33:05] love so great, so rich, so free, say while lost in holy wonder, why oh Lord, such love to me.

[33:18] But it's precious love, is it not? No, my friends, natural love is precious. There seems to be a shortage of it today. I don't know how, what the percentage of marriages break today, my friends, but they never started right, whilst they wouldn't have broken.

[33:38] My friends, it could be said truly, if a marriage begins right, it will continue. But this blessed love, which is precious to the people of God, which motivates them, constrains them to walk in the ways of God and his commands, my friends, is his precious love, because it flows from the Saviour.

[34:04] There is the fountain. Within the Saviour, my friends, is the fountain of all goodness, and in that fountain of all goodness is the fountain of his love. We love him because he first loved us, and we love the people of God because their love, his love, is in them.

[34:22] It is demonstrated. It is demonstrated in their walk, and it is demonstrated to in their communion, in fellowship with him and with the people of God.

[34:38] But then, it is an unchanging love. No, my friends, we I believe we don't value his love enough. Neither can we explain it simply enough, my friends, but it is an unchanging love.

[34:55] Higher than the heights above, deeper than the depths beneath, free and faithful, strong as death. And that's another thing about this precious love, my friends, it's who it's for, who it's for.

[35:10] Not the good and great, but those deserving endless misery. Oh, if you feel that love, my friends, you'll say that surely is precious.

[35:22] Precious love. Oh, he paid the price for his sin, for the sins of his people by dying for them.

[35:33] I told you before when I was young, we had a deacon in a chapel I went to that used to announce the ordinance of the Lord's Supper and he used to speak of the dying and the undying love of Christ.

[35:49] And it doesn't need any explaining. The love of Christ cannot die, but, my friends, it was demonstrated when he did die. It was demonstrated there on Calvary's tree.

[36:04] Oh, how precious is that love because it's unchangeable, because it's eternal, because it's indeed known by worthless worms of the earth.

[36:16] How precious is it? And it is free, poured out upon poor sinners. Precious is that love, as he himself is precious, and everything about him is precious.

[36:32] Unto you, therefore, which believe he is precious. Then, my friends, we might say this, that if he's precious to you, he is indeed in your esteem greater and more blessed and more needful than anyone else.

[36:57] Anyone else. My friends, he is the person whom you desire after, seek for, long for more. He is the person who you seek communion with and communication from.

[37:14] He is the blessed person who, for the sins of his people, shed his blood. They will live because he lives.

[37:27] They will live upon him. They will go to heaven on the grounds of his merit, on the grounds of his finished work. He shall have all the praise and the honor and the glory in this time state and throughout eternity because he's been made by the blessed spirit of truth, precious to their soul, precious in the need of him, precious in the possession of him.

[37:57] Oh, then this is to those who have believed that they are sinners. And to you therefore which believe, he is precious.

[38:11] And dear friends, as you enter into this week and walk a few more steps of your journey, may it please the Lord to reveal to you more of his preciousness, more of his suitability, more, my friends, of his loveliness, more of his invaluable blood, more of his person.

[38:38] There's not, my friends, any possibility of exhaustion such a subject. I've scratched the surface today, and I feel absolutely inadequate.

[38:51] But I do believe this, I've felt at times such a love to this blessed person, that he claims everything from me, and he can indeed, and shall indeed, be the altogether lovely to me.

[39:06] unto you therefore which believe, he is precious. Amen. Amen. Again, the notice is that God willing on Wednesday we hold our Thanksgiving service, and Mr. Wood is expected to preach services at three o'clock and six o'clock.

[39:31] The next Lord's Day, Mr. Izzard, will preach here. God willing, the 30th of September, Saturday, we hold a church meeting, and the time is 3 p.m.

[39:45] Shall we now close with hymn 141. behold, the sure foundation stone which God in Zion lays to build our heavenly hopes upon and his eternal praise.

[40:23] Chosen of God to sinners dear and saints adore the name. They trust their whole salvation here, nor shall they suffer shame.

[40:35] Hymn 141. Hymn 141. Hymn 141. Hymn 141. Hymn 141. Hymn 141.

[40:47] 152. 142. 152. 153. 193. 141. 153. 154. 154.

[40:58] Rotate on earth. I have turned out The greatest Which liberal That's all I have Two Intentives

[42:02] The world has gone to the sun. The world has gone to the sun.

[42:16] The world has gone to the sun.

[42:32] The sun has gone to the sun. The sky like waves.

[42:49] Reaching the sky. The sky like waves.

[43:00] The sky like waves. The sky like waves. The sky like waves.

[43:14] The sky like waves. The sky like waves. The sky like waves. The sky like waves.

[43:28] I'll see you next time.

[43:58] I'll see you next time.

[44:28] I'll see you next time.

[44:58] I'll see you next time.

[45:28] The fellowship and communion of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, continue with us, abide with us forever.

[45:38] Amen.