Redeemed by Precious Blood - 1 Peter 1:18-21
Pastor Tim Brown, Calvary Chapel Fremont, Sunday August 23, 2009
Redeemed by Precious Blood
1 Peter 1:18-21
You inherited a futile way of life from your forefathers
All of you should be really mad at your ancestors. Reading of will – you are left w/ $10,000, that house by the lake in the mountains, the record collection, and a futile way of life. Futile is defined by Thayer: 1) devoid of truth/success/result - 2) useless/of no purpose. You’ve inherited a faulty/failed/useless/purposeless way of life – no wonder so many are on drugs! Futile way of life -
A way of life that doesn’t lead to heaven. Remember, Peter is writing w/ Jewish Christians in mind. All of the rituals/regulations that have been passed on to them are useless in leading them to heaven. It doesn’t matter how much blood flows from rams and lambs/how much silver and gold is given into the temple treasury – heaven cannot be earned w/ the works of man. An attempt to earn heaven by a life of religious observance and thoughtful virtue is futile. Until you take Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you will have a futile way of life.
A way of life that can’t lead to heaven. No man can give you heaven for it is not theirs to give. And though you may inherit material wealth, you also inherit spiritual poverty. Many of you have godly parents that have raised you in the fear of the Lord – they have pointed you to salvation in Christ - but you have to take Him as yours. Until you take Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you will have a futile way of life.
A way of life that won’t lead to heaven. Not only did we inherit an empty manner of life from our forefathers, we were in bondage to this manner of life. We could not walk away on our own.
Now a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the LORD; and the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves.” 2K4:1
These children were in debt due to their father’s mismanagement or poor fortunes. According to Hebrew law, they would serve as slaves for seven years. There are slaves today who can never buy their own freedom for they are charged for their room/board/clothes/ transportation… a futile way of life. You were born into spiritual poverty and until you fall in step w/ Jesus, the road you are on does not, can not, and will not lead you to heaven. Until you take Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you will have a futile way of life.
You may be saying to yourself, “I don’t follow Jesus and I certainly don’t think I live a futile way of life. I don’t need to be rescued.” I won’t argue w/ you. How silly of me to try to convince you that deep inside you’re missing it and are really miserable. That’s the Spirit’s work. If you don’t think you need to be rescued, you won’t be. God won’t force Himself upon you. He won’t kidnap you and forcibly take you to heaven. Only those who desire to be a part of God’s family will be taken. Whenever we have moved I have only taken my kids w/ me – I haven’t rounded up the children of the neighborhood. But for those of you feel the weight of futility of life and who want to be part of God’s family, there’s good news.
There’s only one way out of the futile way of life you inherited – redemption. You can’t get yourself out, nor is anyone else able to.
No man can by any means redeem his brother
Or give to God a ransom for him—
For the redemption of his soul is costly,
And he should cease trying forever… Psalm 49:7-8
There’s only one way out… someone has to buy you out of your futile way of life/purchase your freedom – and silver and gold is no good – so we’re not talking about Bill Gates. There is a price tag on your soul $Your browser may not support display of this image. What if one of B. Gates’ relatives ended up in hell and Bill told God he would $50B to the work of the ministry at CCF if God would let him go? No man can redeem his brother…cease trying forever… Man giving share of his wealth to someone who thought it should be redistributed - he got his share of $1.87. If B. Gates were to do this you’d get $11.66.
You were redeemed by the precious blood of an unblemished lamb
Israel was in bondage to Egypt – powerless to liberate themselves. In Egypt, one generation passed on a futile way of life to the next. They were not free to leave/to worship as they would/to develop their dreams, passions, hopes. A father/mother could only pass on a life of bondage/privation. Israel could not fight/buy their way out. The shedding of blood became necessary for deliverance. God: “Your rescue will be purchased by the death of every 1st born in Egypt – but you can take a substitute.”
Passover – the precious blood purchased your salvation.
If someone murdered your child, what would it take for you to stop hating them and welcome them into your home? How many times would they have to mow your lawn/do your dishes/paint your house/wash your car before you were no longer offended and grieved at them? How many times before you would say, “OK, we’re even”? And wouldn’t people think it weird if you were to have your child’s murderer working around the house? “How can you stand the sight of him? How can you not just kill him yourself?”
And let’s imagine that he worked so hard that he earned your favor/captured your love so much so that you made the murderer of your son an adopted member of your family. What would people say then? “Hey, isn’t that the guy that murdered your son? What’s he doing eating at your table/sleeping in your house/driving your car? That’s sick, man!”
Imagine that the Roman soldier who pounded in the nails eventually came to faith in Jesus. He is seen lifting his arms in praise and worship and someone might say, “But you’re the one who helped kill Jesus. You’re to blame for His death.” God would say, “That’s not him. That man is dead. We buried him. I was there. This is a different man than the one who pounded in those nails. This is a brand new man.”
And this is what God has done for you – and not because you earned His favor – Someone else did. You didn’t pay off your debt…
Christ was foreknown from the foundation of the world
Calvary wasn’t patterned after Leviticus, but Leviticus after Calvary. Substitution of innocent for guilty - but guilty must take the innocent for themselves.
Will you take Christ for yourself? You can only inherit spiritual poverty from your parents. They couldn’t fight their way out of spiritual bondage or purchase their spiritual freedom and neither can you. You were purchased by the precious blood of Jesus Christ.
Until you take Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you will have a futile way of life.
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Redeemed by Precious Blood
1 Peter 1:18-21
You inherited a futile way of life from your forefathers
All of you should be really mad at your ancestors. Reading of will – you are left w/ $10,000, that house by the lake in the mountains, the record collection, and a futile way of life. Futile is defined by Thayer: 1) devoid of truth/success/result - 2) useless/of no purpose. You’ve inherited a faulty/failed/useless/purposeless way of life – no wonder so many are on drugs! Futile way of life -
A way of life that doesn’t lead to heaven. Remember, Peter is writing w/ Jewish Christians in mind. All of the rituals/regulations that have been passed on to them are useless in leading them to heaven. It doesn’t matter how much blood flows from rams and lambs/how much silver and gold is given into the temple treasury – heaven cannot be earned w/ the works of man. An attempt to earn heaven by a life of religious observance and thoughtful virtue is futile. Until you take Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you will have a futile way of life.
A way of life that can’t lead to heaven. No man can give you heaven for it is not theirs to give. And though you may inherit material wealth, you also inherit spiritual poverty. Many of you have godly parents that have raised you in the fear of the Lord – they have pointed you to salvation in Christ - but you have to take Him as yours. Until you take Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you will have a futile way of life.
A way of life that won’t lead to heaven. Not only did we inherit an empty manner of life from our forefathers, we were in bondage to this manner of life. We could not walk away on our own.
Now a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the LORD; and the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves.” 2K4:1
These children were in debt due to their father’s mismanagement or poor fortunes. According to Hebrew law, they would serve as slaves for seven years. There are slaves today who can never buy their own freedom for they are charged for their room/board/clothes/ transportation… a futile way of life. You were born into spiritual poverty and until you fall in step w/ Jesus, the road you are on does not, can not, and will not lead you to heaven. Until you take Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you will have a futile way of life.
You may be saying to yourself, “I don’t follow Jesus and I certainly don’t think I live a futile way of life. I don’t need to be rescued.” I won’t argue w/ you. How silly of me to try to convince you that deep inside you’re missing it and are really miserable. That’s the Spirit’s work. If you don’t think you need to be rescued, you won’t be. God won’t force Himself upon you. He won’t kidnap you and forcibly take you to heaven. Only those who desire to be a part of God’s family will be taken. Whenever we have moved I have only taken my kids w/ me – I haven’t rounded up the children of the neighborhood. But for those of you feel the weight of futility of life and who want to be part of God’s family, there’s good news.
There’s only one way out of the futile way of life you inherited – redemption. You can’t get yourself out, nor is anyone else able to.
No man can by any means redeem his brother
Or give to God a ransom for him—
For the redemption of his soul is costly,
And he should cease trying forever… Psalm 49:7-8
There’s only one way out… someone has to buy you out of your futile way of life/purchase your freedom – and silver and gold is no good – so we’re not talking about Bill Gates. There is a price tag on your soul $Your browser may not support display of this image. What if one of B. Gates’ relatives ended up in hell and Bill told God he would $50B to the work of the ministry at CCF if God would let him go? No man can redeem his brother…cease trying forever… Man giving share of his wealth to someone who thought it should be redistributed - he got his share of $1.87. If B. Gates were to do this you’d get $11.66.
You were redeemed by the precious blood of an unblemished lamb
Israel was in bondage to Egypt – powerless to liberate themselves. In Egypt, one generation passed on a futile way of life to the next. They were not free to leave/to worship as they would/to develop their dreams, passions, hopes. A father/mother could only pass on a life of bondage/privation. Israel could not fight/buy their way out. The shedding of blood became necessary for deliverance. God: “Your rescue will be purchased by the death of every 1st born in Egypt – but you can take a substitute.”
Passover – the precious blood purchased your salvation.
If someone murdered your child, what would it take for you to stop hating them and welcome them into your home? How many times would they have to mow your lawn/do your dishes/paint your house/wash your car before you were no longer offended and grieved at them? How many times before you would say, “OK, we’re even”? And wouldn’t people think it weird if you were to have your child’s murderer working around the house? “How can you stand the sight of him? How can you not just kill him yourself?”
And let’s imagine that he worked so hard that he earned your favor/captured your love so much so that you made the murderer of your son an adopted member of your family. What would people say then? “Hey, isn’t that the guy that murdered your son? What’s he doing eating at your table/sleeping in your house/driving your car? That’s sick, man!”
Imagine that the Roman soldier who pounded in the nails eventually came to faith in Jesus. He is seen lifting his arms in praise and worship and someone might say, “But you’re the one who helped kill Jesus. You’re to blame for His death.” God would say, “That’s not him. That man is dead. We buried him. I was there. This is a different man than the one who pounded in those nails. This is a brand new man.”
And this is what God has done for you – and not because you earned His favor – Someone else did. You didn’t pay off your debt…
Christ was foreknown from the foundation of the world
Calvary wasn’t patterned after Leviticus, but Leviticus after Calvary. Substitution of innocent for guilty - but guilty must take the innocent for themselves.
Will you take Christ for yourself? You can only inherit spiritual poverty from your parents. They couldn’t fight their way out of spiritual bondage or purchase their spiritual freedom and neither can you. You were purchased by the precious blood of Jesus Christ.
Until you take Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you will have a futile way of life.
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