The Precious Blood

by Richard St.James

The Precious Blood

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:
20 Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,
21 Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.”

1. The Silver and Gold
2. The Perfect Lamb
3. The Blood
4. Our Sure Future

1. The Silver and Gold

Verse eighteen: “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;”

Silver and gold has always been part of the measurement of one’s riches in this world. The first instance of a phrase in the Bible that includes the words “silver” and “gold” is located in Genesis chapter thirteen: “And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold.” [Genesis 13:2]

Now, God calls silver and gold … “corruptible things”.

Now, consider this for a moment. The things of this world [including all the silver and gold in this world] are, at very best, temporary! Why? Because they will not survive the fire with which God will burn this earth with in the future … at the end of the Millennium [known in the Bible as the Kingdom of Heaven]. [2 Peter 3:7] The corrupt things will not make it through the fire. They will be burnt up … they will be gone!

Now, there is something else, that we need to see while we are here. We need to understand that these “corruptible things”, the silver and gold of this world, or the riches of this world, form a real present danger to us … in that they will tend to lure us … to ensnare us … to our very hurt and to our destruction. This is what Jesus was warning us of in Mark chapter four, verse nineteen: “And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.” [Mark 4:19] We have received “by tradition” from our parents [it’s in the blood] a VAIN habit to put too much stock in the riches of this old world. Listen to me. Riches tend to DECEIVE us, or as they say, “pull the wool over eyes” concerning the TRUE riches to be found in Jesus Christ. Do not let the silver and gold of this world fool you and cause you to miss the most important things in life.

2. The Perfect Lamb

Now for verse nineteen: “But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:”

Let’s look at this lamb we see here for a moment. According to the BOOK, in Exodus chapter twelve, verse five, we see: “Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:” [Exodus 12:5]. This was a requirement of the LAW as given to Israel by GOD. The lamb had to be … a PERFECT lamb [“without blemish and without spot”] to qualify before GOD. No satisfaction [involving a lamb] for a sin offering was possible without a perfect lamb!

3. The Blood

Verse nineteen: “But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:”

Life in itself is wrapped up in and sustained by the blood. LIFE IS IN THE BLOOD! Do you believe this? Check it out. Turn to Leviticus chapter seventeen, verse eleven. Let the Bible define what life in the flesh is all about. “For 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 an atonement for the soul.” [Leviticus 17:11]

Now, we are ready to read verse fourteen: “For it is the life of all flesh; the blood of it is for the life thereof: therefore I said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh: for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof: whosoever eateth it shall be cut off.” [Leviticus 17:14]

The word “blood” appears 375 times [375 verses] in the Bible. There is no way to minimize the importance of the blood atonement to God. Do you believe me? Well, do not believe me, believe the BOOK. The BOOK says [in Hebrews chapter nine, verse twenty-two]: “And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.” [Hebrews 9:22] Did you get it? There is no remission of sins … without the shedding of blood!

If God gives great weight to “the precious blood of Christ” in order to “make an atonement” for our very souls, who are we to argue with Him?

• It is through the blood … that we have the forgiveness of sins: “In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:” [Colossians 1:14]

• It is through the blood … that we have the cleansing from sin: “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” [1 John 1:7]

• It is through the blood … that we have peace with God: “And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.” [Colossians 1:20]

• It is through the blood … that we have fellowship with God: “But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.” [Ephesians 2:13]

• It is through the blood … that we have justification with God: “Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.” [Romans 5:9]

Here is the bottom line. “This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.” [Luke 22:20a] Jesus Christ shed HIS BLOOD to save you and I … from eternal damnation in Hell. Look at what the blood did in Acts chapter twenty, verse twenty-eight: “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.” [Acts 20:28]HE shed HIS BLOOD so that HE could purchase us and take us to Heaven to be with forever HIM.

4. Our Sure Future

Now, we are ready for verse twenty and twenty-one: “Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.”

There is something in this world even surer than death and taxes. Do you want to know what it is? Why, it’s right there in front of you and I in this Bible. It is the testimonies of God. Let me rehearse to you what it says in Psalm 93. Here we go. “Thy testimonies are very sure: holiness becometh thine house, O Lord, for ever.” [Psalm 93:5] The believer in Jesus Christ [the true Christian] has a sure future because it is based on the “sure” testimonies of the LORD GOD.

SURE TESTIMONIES = SURE FUTURE

These “sure” testimonies of God concerning our salvation through the Lamb of God ensure our future hope. “Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;” [Hebrews 6:19]. What foundation could be more solid and sure? Look at what is found in the book of Second Timothy chapter two, verse nineteen: “Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” [2 Timothy 2:19] We will finish this study with Romans chapter four, verse sixteen.

Friend, our future is tied to a PROMISE of God, made by God, to all the seed of Abraham who come through the door of FAITH by GRACE. Let’s read it!

“Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,” [Romans 4:16]

My friend, are you saved? If you are, you have a SURE future. Amen!

The WORD of GOD

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The First Epistle of Peter

1 Peter 1:1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,

1 Peter 1:2 Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.

1 Peter 1:3 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,

1 Peter 1:4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,

1 Peter 1:5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

1 Peter 1:6 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:

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 1:8 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:

1 Peter 1:9 Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.

1 Peter 1:10 Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:

1 Peter 1:11 Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.

1 Peter 1:12 Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.

1 Peter 1:13 Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

1 Peter 1:14 As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:

1 Peter 1:15 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;

1 Peter 1:16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.

1 Peter 1:17 And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear:

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;

1 Peter 1:19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:

1 Peter 1:20 Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,

1 Peter 1:21 Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.

1 Peter 1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:

1 Peter 1:23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

1 Peter 1:24 For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flowerthereof falleth away:

1 Peter 1:25 But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.

The Precious Blood