Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

I want to begin this morning by telling you a story about "The Boy Who Lost His Boat" Good News Publishers, Westchester, IL.

Tom carried his new boat to the edge of the river.

He carefully placed it in the water and slowly let out the string.

How smoothly the boat sailed!

Tom sat in the warm sunshine, admiring the little boat that he had built.

Suddenly a strong current caught the boat.

Tom tried to pull it back to shore, but the string broke.

The little boat raced downstream.

Tom ran along the sandy shore as fast as he could.

But his little boat soon slipped out of sight.

All afternoon he searched for the boat.

Finally, when it was too dark to look any longer, Tom sadly went home.

A few days later, on the way home from school, Tom spotted a boat just like his in a store window.

When he got closer, he could see -- sure enough -- it was his! Tom hurried to the store manager: "Sir, that's my boat in your window!

I made it!"

"Sorry, son, but someone else brought it in this morning.

If you want it, you'll have to buy it for one dollar."

Tom ran home and counted all his money.

Exactly one dollar!

When he reached the store, he rushed to the counter.

"Here's the money for my boat."

As he left the store, Tom hugged his boat and said, "Now you're twice mine.

First, I made you and now I bought you."

If you ever think that you aren't worth much and if you think you're cheap, just remember what God thinks of you.

He thinks you're His.

Twice His.

First you're His because He made you.

And second you're His because He bought you on the cross.

He paid a price to redeem you.

And that's what we want to talk about this morning.

The fact that we are redeemed with the precious blood of Christ.

We are twice His.

I recently read this passage in 1Peter as part of my Bible reading plan.

It was convicting and encouraging to me and with its emphasis on Christ it is perfect for our communion Sunday.

The focus of this message will be in answering two questions.

Why is the blood of Christ precious?

Why is it able to redeem?

Peter gives us three reasons here.

As we understand why Christ’s blood is precious and able to redeem we will be challenged to imitate Him.

In the imitation of Christ our goal, desire, and focus becomes pleasing our Redeemer.

Peter records for us that the blood of Christ is precious and able to redeem first of all, because He is...

1. Separate From Sinners vv.

13-16

So often when these verses are read or taught the emphasis is placed on the responsibility of the believer.

That is appropriate because Peter’s main point is the necessity for believers to change their behavior and live in conformity to the character of Christ.

But I want to focus this morning on the standard Peter gives for our behavior.

The standard is Christ!

We are to be holy as He is holy!

Here’s a question for you.

“How holy is Christ?”

To be able to answer that question we must first define holiness.

"Holy" is the Greek word ἅγιος hagios and it means holy or holy one, pure - having the characteristics of moral or ritual purity.

Here the previous verses make it clear that the moral purity of God is in view here.

The idea behind the word is being set apart from one thing to be used for something else.

We are to be set apart or separated from moral impurity so that we can be used for God and His glory!

The standard for this separation is the holiness of Christ.

Since Jesus Christ is God, He is perfect.

That means His holiness, His separation from sin is perfect!

That is the target that we are trying to hit.

The perfect holiness of Christ!

This phrase, "Be holy, for I am holy" is adapted from the OT where it appears several times.

God is infinitely, perfectly holy.

This holiness enables Christ to be the perfect sacrifice for sin.

Not the type of sacrifice that must be continually offered, but a sacrifice offered once for all!

We learn that in...

This is the Jesus that went to the Cross for you and me!

He is our High Priest!

The only one who can approach God and make an acceptable sacrifice!

Our only mediator!

He is Holy, completely set apart.

Harmless, undefiled, He is separate from sinners.

Made higher than the heavens.

The holiness of Christ is a requirement for our justification.

If He were not holy, He could not bear the penalty for sin.

He is sinless!

And as the sinless Lamb of God He offered Himself as the payment for sin!

That is who we celebrate today!

That is who we serve!

Our God, our Redeemer, our Savior; He is holy!

Because He is holy, we have a responsibility.

The believer's responsibility in these verses is clear.

We can summarize them into six actions that we will briefly review.

Prepare your mind for action.

Be self-controlled.

Completely set your confidence in Christ's second coming.

Be obedient.

Oppose evil desires.

Be pure in conduct.

These are the actions we must take because of who Christ is, and that we might live in holiness as Christ did!

These actions are the natural result of a passionate pursuit of Christ and we cannot hope to be holy apart from them.

The more we are consumed with Christ, the greater our ability to reflect His glory.

This process that we call sanctification is the process of us being holy because He is holy.

Sing with me...

"Be Unto Your Name" (verse 2)

Jesus' blood is precious and He is able to redeem because He is holy.

He is also...

2. Without Blemish vv.

17-19

Jesus is first introduced as the Lamb by John the Baptist.

But this prophecy goes all the way back to Isaiah 53 and we understand that it is pictured in the replacement ram for Isaac in Genesis 22, in the sacrifice of Abel in Genesis 4, and even in the clothing of Adam and Eve in Genesis 3. When Jesus is coming to John the Baptist to be baptized and John declares Him to be the Lamb, everyone knew what he was claiming!

This imagery gains even more power as we look to the history of the nation of Israel.