1 Peter 1:19

Scripture distinguishes a twofold fear, one — preliminary, the other — perfect. The preliminary fear, which is also the foundational one, consists in someone turning to an honorable life out of dread of accountability for one's deeds, while the perfect one consists in someone, for …

This is the price of which the Apostle says: "You have been bought with a great price; bear and glorify God in your body." That the price is great, the Apostle Peter says: "You were redeemed not with corruptible gold or silver from your vain …

But with the precious blood of Christ,....

We have come in our theological conversation to use that word, "blood," somewhat lightly. I think it should scarcely ever be pronounced without a shudder. "The blood is the life thereof." When shed, it indicates suffering—suffering more intense than that of chastisement or bruising. Wounds are inflicted which make the lifeblood to flow out. In the case of our Lord, Jesus Christ, the term, "blood," brings before us all His griefs and anguish and where the crown of thorns pierced Him. Behold the Man!

As Israel's redemption from Egypt required the blood of the paschal lamb, so our redemption from sin and the curse required the blood of Christ; "foreordained" (1Pe 1:20) from eternity, as the passover lamb was taken up on the tenth day of the month.

IT is frequently my fear I should fall into the habit of preaching about the Gospel rather than directly preaching the Gospel. And then I labor to return to the first principle of our faith and often take a text upon which it would not be possible to say anything new, but which will compel me to recapitulate in your hearing those things which are vital, essential and fundamental to the life of our souls.

IT is frequently my fear I should fall into the habit of preaching about the Gospel rather than directly preaching the Gospel. And then I labor to return to the first principle of our faith and often take a text upon which it would not be possible to say anything new, but which will compel me to recapitulate in your hearing those things which are vital, essential and fundamental to the life of our souls. With such a text as this before me, if I do not preach the Gospel I shall do violence both to the sacred Word and to my own conscience. Surely I may hope that while endeavoring to unfold my text and to proclaim the saving Word, the Holy Spirit will be present to take of the things of Christ and to show them unto us and make them saving to our souls. Blood has from the beginning been regarded by God as a most precious thing. He has hedged about this fountain of vitality with the most solemn sanctions. The Lord thus commanded Noah and his descendants, "Flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall you not eat." Man had every moving thing that lives given him for meat, but they were by no means to eat the blood with the flesh. Things strangled were to be considered unfit for food, since God would not have man became too familiar with blood by eating or drinking it in any shape or form. Even the blood of bulls and goats thus had a sacredness put upon it by God's decrees. As for the blood of man, you remember how God's threats ran, "And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man.

We have come in our theological conversation to use that word, "blood," somewhat lightly. I think it should scarcely ever be pronounced without a shudder. "The blood is the life thereof." When shed, it indicates suffering—suffering more intense than that of chastisement or bruising. Wounds are inflicted which make the lifeblood to flow out. In the case of our Lord, Jesus Christ, the term, "blood," brings before us all His griefs and anguish and where the crown of thorns pierced Him. Behold the Man! Think of Gethsemane, where He sweat, as it were, great drops of blood falling to the ground! Think of Gabbatha, the pavement, where they scourged Him with rods, and with the scourge of the Roman lictors where the crown of thorns pierced Him. Behold the Man! Think, lastly, of Golgotha! There they pierced His hands and His feet and, at last, pierced by the spear, out of His side there came blood and water. Pass not lightly, therefore, over such a word as this—blood—the blood of Jesus Christ, God's dear Son! And when you read of its being "precious," remember that the word never had such a wealth of meaning in it, before, in any of its applications. Precious metals—gold and silver. Precious stones—sardonyx, agate and diamond—these are but gaudy toys compared with Christ's precious blood! Precious, for He is God as well as Man. Precious, for He is Jehovah's Darling, the Lamb of God, without spot or blemish! Precious, when you think of God's design. Precious, when you see the effects which it produces. Precious, certainly, to the heart of every pardoned sinner and precious in the song of every glorified spirit before the Throne of God! It is not, however, my objective, this evening, to pursue the sacred history, so much as to set forth the saving Doctrine, while I remind you of some of the uses of this precious blood.

The precious blood of Christ - Τιμιῳ αἱματι· The valuable blood; how valuable neither is nor could be stated. As of a lamb - Such as was required for a sin-offering to God; and The Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. Without blemish - In himself, and without spot from the world; being perfectly pure in his soul, and righteous in his life.