Let us just unite our hearts together in prayer. Our eternal, loving Heavenly Father, we thank Thee again for the return of the prayer meeting. We thank the Lord for Thy grace that finds us here this evening. And we bless Thee, O God, that we can sing of our blessed Redeemer. O Lord, we rejoice in the one who loved us with an everlasting love, laid down his life on that cross that we might be redeemed. O Lord, we bless thee tonight for the one who was unjust, gave himself for the unjust, the shepherd laying down his life for the sheep. And Lord, we praise thee this night, we have one in the glory, having finished the work on the cross continues as our great high priest continues to make intercession for us. We thank thee he is touched with the feeling of our infirmities. We thank the Lord he knows every weakness that we have and Lord we pray tonight that thou might help us Lord in this place of prayer. For Lord, we're conscious it doesn't come to us naturally. Lord, we're a very spiritual business tonight. And we pray, Lord, for the help of the Holy Spirit, even as we would come to seek Thy face. And we would, Lord, desire the Holy Spirit to help us as we turn to Thy Word, that He might give us understanding even in these things. Lord, that Thou would edify our souls again tonight, We thank thee for every head that's bowed in thy presence. Thank you, Lord, for the young as well as the older. We pray, Lord, that thou might meet each soul at the point of their need. And, Lord, that thou would give us a little word in season. Lord, we might be conscious that thou art here. We might know that help from above. Oh, Lord, make it easy tonight to even engage in prayer. Lord, shut out the things that would distract us. We know, Lord, the devil hates to see the people of God in the place of prayer. We know he'd use many a distraction, Lord, to take us away from the spirit of prayer and concentrating in it. Lord, we ask that that would bind a strong man. Now, Lord, give us that help that we need tonight. Even, Lord, to do business with thee, our God. Remember those that need the special touch, those that are laid aside, children, young people, old or alike, that are not well, others that have come across today even, others, Lord, that, oh, we may not know by name, but, Lord, they're going through trialsome times, troublesome times, and, Lord, they're thy children. We pray that thou would meet with them, and they might know thy touch even at this time. So Lord, we look to thee afresh. Abide with us, O God. Help us, Lord, to give attention to the reading. Lead us out after thyself even this night. For we ask these things in our Savior's precious name. Amen. Verse Peter chapter 1. Let's just read the words from verse 10. 1 Peter chapter 1 reading verse 10. We have dealt with most of these verses but just to give us the context again as we go back to this study. Peter is writing to the believers that were scattered abroad throughout the various regions. He says, "...of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you, 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." 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. Wherefore, get up the loins of your mind, and be sober, and hope to the end, for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance, but as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation. Because it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy. And if ye call on the Father, who without respect to persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear. 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, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot amen i'm just ending a reading there at the end of verse 19 the apostle peter here has been pressing upon these believers the whole facet of of their christian lives And so there was to be the Holy Living, not being conformed any longer onto the world from which the Lord had saved them out of. And once they walked in, they were to be those who were known to be praying unto their Father, their Heavenly Father. They were to be those whose lives were marked by a solemn Christian living, those who passed the short time of their sojourning to the glory of God. And that's just a little brief summary of the verses leading up to verse 17. But you see, men and women, the ground or the reason to do those things is the fact that they knew that they were redeemed. You see the word forasmuch, that's the great connecting word between verse 18 and that which has come before it. Biblical holiness is not just a set of rules. We're not speaking about legalism tonight, or the Bible doesn't teach that. Biblical holiness, it stems from the redemptive work of Christ on the cross of Calvary. That's why we would want to be holy. That's why we would want to be upright in all manner of conversation of which he has been speaking about, for as much as you know you've been redeemed. It's all on the basis of the work of the Savior. And it brings us to consider some of the greatest verses that we find in the Scriptures, speaking of our salvation and of the price that had to be paid. Peter here, by the power of the Holy Ghost, he causes us to consider the great Redeemer, The one we've been singing about already tonight. He causes us to consider His precious blood. And as we come to verses 18 and 19, we can really say what was said to Moses. We're standing on holy ground. We're considering the Savior tonight. We're considering His precious blood. I want you to notice, first of all, the purpose of redemption. When we speak of redemption in a particular sense, then it has to do with the deliverance of God's people from a state of sin into a state of salvation. What then is the purpose of God in redemption? It was so that His chosen people would be delivered from captivity and from the misery of sin by the work of a Redeemer. The word itself is a very strong one when it's applied to men. It's common meaning is to lose or to set free, to release. And especially in the context of from bonds or from the prison house. And from the earliest times it gives the picture of the slaves being liberated from their bondage. It gives a picture of the great emancipator walking into the prison house, throwing open the prison doors and liberating a people unto himself. That's really the picture behind the word. And for slaves to be released, there had to be a price that was to be paid as their ransom. And the price paid rendered them completely and absolutely at liberty from the bondage that they were in. We can therefore see why Peter uses such a term when he has these believers in mind. You see, every child of God has known that deliverance from the prison house of sin. As slaves to sin and to the devil, we have been redeemed. We've been set free from the slave market. We have known through the work of redemption the power of sin broken. And Peter, in the words of verse 18, reminds them what they and what each of us have been redeemed from. You'll see it there, for as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, the silver and gold will come back to that, from your vain conversation received by or from your fathers. This manner of life, that's what he's speaking about. If I go back a wee bit, if I back up and look at the word vain, vain gives the idea of something which is of no purpose. It's an unsuccessful attempt to gain something. Therefore, the vain conversation which the Christian has been liberated from is the manner of life before they were saved. That manner of life that failed to meet the standards that God required, it fell short of His glory. It was a vain behavior. It was a vain conversation of life. It was of no purpose. It was a futile life which failed in its attempt to measure up to a life which would glorify God. And Peter says, you were redeemed from your vain conversation. How did we get such a manner of life? We were all born in sin, shaping an iniquity. And by nature, we were sons of Adam's race. Romans 3 and 23 reminds us of that, of course. Or as Peter puts it in this verse, we received it by tradition from our fathers. This manner of life was passed down from father to son. We came into being with a totally depraved nature. Romans 3 and 10 reminds us there's none righteous, no not one. That's the manner of life in which these believers to whom Peter writes had known and from which they had been delivered and we are no different. When we consider ourselves, we were those fallen creatures. So not only, therefore, is there the necessity of God's redemption clearly seen in these words, but there's also the thankfulness of heart that God, ever in mercy, was to set his love upon you and me so that we would be redeemed from our sin. We would be redeemed from that vain life that we lived. And for the child of God, Our redemption is something Peter brings out here we know. And if you come back with me, you'll see it again, Ephesians 1, in the words of verse 7, in whom we have, speaking of Christ, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. Peter says, for as much as ye know, ye were redeemed. Job could say, Job 19.25, for I know that my Redeemer liveth. from the Scriptures of truth, by the testimony of the Spirit, by His work upon the soul, by application of the benefits of our redemption, such as justification, adoption into God's family, pardon of our sins, sanctification that's ongoing. We can be sure that we are recipients of God's redemption, but also Consider that the fullest expression of God's redemption is still yet to come. The redemption that we possess and enjoy now is but a foretaste of what is yet to come. Romans 8. You look at Romans 8 in the words of verse 23. 22 gives you the little contact, he says, for you know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together unto now. Speaking about creation, he's speaking about the world and it groans. There's the earthquakes and all the other things and it's groaning. Why? It's waiting for the return of the Lord, the one who created it. If that's true of the earth, verse 23, and not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves grown within ourselves, waiting for the adoption to wit, the redemption of our body. Redemption of our body. And that speaks of the time when our very bodies will also be finally redeemed and that will be in heaven where sin and vice will be eradicated for all time. Our souls are redeemed now. One day our bodies also will be redeemed and fitted for glory. If you die, if I die before Christ returns, our soul goes to be with the Lord and our soul will come And the Lord returns and that body that was led in mother earth shall rise and the two shall be united again to go to be forever with the Lord, forever with the Lord. Ephesians 1 and 14. which is the earnest of our inheritance, speaking about the Holy Spirit of promise, the earnest of our, the guarantee, if you like, of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of his glory. He's speaking of something future. Ephesians 4.30. and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. He's talking about the future redemption of the body. That redemption that is still to come. Our redemption draws nigh. It has been fully purchased and we possess it now. but the full effects of it will only be realized at the second coming of the Lord, when shall come to pass that which the Apostle Paul could speak about in Philippians chapter three in the words of verse 20, where he said, for our conversation is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body. These bodies won't do for heaven. These bodies will not do for heaven. We're speaking about future redemption of the body. And God shall change your vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. And by the way, those you have come to pray for who are unsaved, their bodies will not do for hell either. They'll be fitted for the flames for those who die without Christ. Let's go on then a little. Not only the purpose of redemption, but the person of the Redeemer here. Where there is redemption wrought, buying out of the slave market then, there needs to be a Redeemer. Remember Naomi? Did a little study in the book of Ruth. Naomi needed one to redeem her back her land. She needed one to purchase Ruth as his bride so as to raise the name of the dead upon his inheritance. And she was to find such a kinsman redeemer in the person of Boaz. And in him is an outstanding example of our greater redeemer in the Lord Jesus Christ. To be a redeemer, there were three requirements. We've seen it in Boaz. He had to be near of kin, he had to be one who was able to redeem, and he had to be one who was willing to redeem. And in the person of Christ, those requirements, praise his name, were met. For in his perfect humanity, he took upon himself our character. He was bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. We come back to Hebrews 2, in the words of verse 16 and 17. For verily he took not in him the nature of angels, but he took in him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of his people. He had to be near of kin. He had to become us. And He did become us. He took into His divinity our humanity, yet without sin. But you know, men and women, He was also able to redeem us. Hebrews 7, verse 25. Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. He was able to redeem us and praise his name, he was willing to redeem lost sinners like you and me unto himself. We think of 2 Corinthians 8 and the words of verse 9. For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich. He was willing to redeem us. And you'll notice in these verses in 1 Peter, how the apostle describes our Redeemer. Verse 19, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. That's how he describes him. The Lord Jesus Christ is the lamb. And you know what he's spoken of right throughout the scriptures. In Genesis 22, he is prophesying. Where Abram said, when Isaac asked him of the wood and of the fire, but where is the lamb? God will provide himself a lamb. Prophesying. In Exodus chapter 12, he's typified as the Passover lamb for the salvation and for the deliverance of God's nation. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. In John 1, he's identified. In John the Baptist turned and he's said to the congregation, behold the lamb of God, which beareth away the sin of the world. He's identified. In Revelation where we have the view of heaven, He's glorified. He's the glorified Lamb. And here the scene brings to us to consider the crucified Lamb. There are two things in particular which confront us in these verses about our Redeemer. There is the fact that He's the sinless Lamb without blemish. without spot. We believe what the scriptures teach concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. We read of him in 1 Peter 2 and 22, who did no sin. But it goes further than that. Because we read in 2 Corinthians 5 and 21, he knew no sin. 1 John, you turn over a few pages if you like to 1 John 3, verse 5. And you know that he was manifested to take away our sins, and in him is no sin. So He did no sin, He knew no sin, He did no sin. In the person of Christ, we have a Redeemer who not only did no sin, but He could not sin. Now, there's some commentaries don't believe that, don't teach that. There's some theologians don't believe that, don't go as far as that. But that's what the Bible teaches. He who is the same yesterday, and today, and forever, and is all holy, and has been from all eternity, is one who could never have sinned. The same truth found in Hebrews 4, in verse 15, for we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like us. We are yet without sin. There was no sin in his temptations. Satan tempted him, but yet without being able to draw him into any sin, so although the Savior had one who had an external foe in the devil, just the same as you and I have, yet with Christ, there was nothing internally that the devil had in him. We cannot say that, for we have that old nature. We have that nature that responds to sin and which Satan can tempt and cause us to be drawn into. But the Lord could say, the devil has nothing in me, nothing that he could latch onto to cause him to sin. He was truly sinless without blemish and without spot. That's the first thing you'll learn about the lamb here in this verse. But then as a lamb, we consider he was also the sin bearing substitute. Savior and the only Redeemer of God's elect came for this very purpose. He came not to minister but to be ministered unto and to give his life as a ransom for many. Matthew 20 verse 28, He was the Lamb who would stand in our guilty room and in our guilty stead, the Lamb of God who offered himself in that place of those whom he was redeeming from the slave market. You see, that's the glorious person of our Redeemer. All praise and all glory must go to him and even more so when we consider the third and final thought that I want to leave with you tonight and that is the price of redemption. The soul of man is of greater value than the world itself and the apostle reminds us that we were not redeemed with the coinage of silver or gold. Those were the things that were used in the Old Testament. The greatest amount of money could not have been sufficient to redeem one's soul from the curse and from the penalty of sin. These are words which instruct us that man cannot purchase God's redemption. The price that had to be paid was infinitely greater than any amount of money. We were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold. but with the precious blood of Christ." That word precious there has a two-fold meaning. It means costly in terms of its value, and that is so because it's God's blood. Remember how the Apostle Paul spoke to the elders at Ephesus in Acts 20, and he told them to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. God being manifest in the flesh, deity taken unto himself, humanity, but it also means that it is highly esteemed or it is held in honor. Because Christ took upon himself the form of man, because he became the Word incarnate, then the blood of Christ is highly honored by the Father. We weren't set free from our sin, we weren't delivered from the prison house of sin by gold or by silver, but it was by the precious and valuable blood of our Redeemer. And all the Old Testament types pointed forth to the great price that was to be paid by Christ upon the cross. It was by the shedding of blood that Adam and Eve were to have their nakedness covered, that nakedness that was due to their sin. It was by the sharing of blood that Abel's offering was accepted. It was by the sharing of blood of the Passover land and its application to the home where in the nation of Israel found salvation and shelter from the death angel. The blood was counted as precious. That's why you never read that they put the blood on a threshold. It was only on the lentils in the doorposts. It wasn't to be trampled upon. It was precious. And that is brought out even in Leviticus chapter 17 and 11, 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 atonement for the soul. It was by the sacrifice and the shedding of blood that was to atone for the sins of the people in the tabernacle. And the high priest would present the blood before God on the day of atonement once a year and be sprinkling it upon them before the mercy seat. It was precious. But you come to Hebrews 9, you look at the words of verse 11 with me. Hebrews also, you know, will draw you back to consider the Old Testament's tabernacle, the Old Testament economy, and there's the contrast made with Christ. You see again verse 11, But Christ, being common high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building, neither by the blood of goats and calves. That's bringing you back to the Old Testament. but by or with his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal, eternal redemption for us." You have in that verse what Christ presented to his Father as the price of our redemption. And when we speak about the blood, men and women, we are encapsulating all that is found at Calvary. everything to do with that once for all sacrifice of Christ. And Christ finished the work he was slain, his blood was shed, but he presented his blood to the Father. That's why we read in Hebrews 12, the blood is in heaven. The blood of Christ is of greater value. It's more precious than the blood of any bulls or goats or calves. And learn also that the blood of Christ is incorruptible. You see the verse. It says, for as much as you know that you are not redeemed with corruptible things, the silver and the gold is corruptible. It tarnishes, it wastes away, it loses its value. We around pounds are going to lose our value next week, our brave and soon. I mean nothing. That loses its value. But the soul which is eternal, it must be redeemed with something that is eternal. It must be redeemed with something that is incorruptible, and that is the precious blood of Christ. For the same term is used of the blood as is used of the body of Christ. Acts chapter 2. Peter bringing it out in the day of Pentecost, verse 27, because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption. Same word. The body of Christ would not see corruption in the tomb. God raised him the third day. And so we come back to 1 Peter and we're not redeemed with corruptible things. But we're redeemed with that which is incorruptible minimum, and the blood is in heaven. It's upon the mercy seat. It's pleading yet for each of us people, of God's people. And because it never loses its power and its value, then that means that the sacrifice of Calvary and the price of our redemption, it doesn't need to be repeated again. It is done once and for all. Listen to me. The blood didn't run down into the ground of the cross. Some books will tell you that. Some theologians have taught that, but it's not what the scriptures teach. Christ entered into the holy place with his own blood. We cannot fully explain it. We confess that. But the blood didn't run down into Calvary's Golgotha's brow and congeal away, waste away. This verse tells me tonight it's incorruptible. We can only sing surely, having considered those two verses of doxology, unto him that loved us. and washed us from our sins in his own blood. To him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Thank God we belong to a church that makes much of the blood. There's no gospel if it's bloodless. No gospel. Cain's offering was bloodless, it wasn't acceptable. But we thank God tonight that we preach Christ and Him crucified. And we're redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, incorruptible, that speaks peace and pardon to our souls tonight before the throne of God. I pray the Lord will bless even those few thoughts to our hearts this evening.