I'd like us to turn their Bibles for the meditation before the supper to the book of 1st Peter chapter 2 tonight. 1st Peter chapter 2. I want to focus upon the Savior, of course, at this important time of our remembrance of Him. And then 1st Peter chapter 2, I'll read the first ten verses and then focus on our text for the brief time that we have together. Someone has said, I think it was Luther, The Lord's Supper is the food of the soul that nourishes and strengthens the new man. The Lord's Supper is the food of the soul that nourishes and strengthens the new man. Follow, if you will, as I read now the first ten verses of 1 Peter 2. Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. Come unto him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God, and precious. You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Therefore, it is also contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on him will by no means be put to shame. Therefore, to you who believe, he is precious. But to those who are disobedient, the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they were appointed, also appointed. But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, who once were not a people, but are now the people of God. who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul." Now the context of our subject is the fact in the statement that the Apostle Peter says here that Christ is precious. Christ is precious. Precious. of great value, dear d-e-a-r, beloved or beloved, extremely valuable, precious. I have to admit to you that I have often struggled and found it hard to relate to the word precious. I have thought in context of when I have heard it often, is it more like a feminine word and not a masculine word? I related it to the ladies as they see a young child, a birth of a young child, and they look at that little boy and the little girl and say, how precious it is. Sometimes we refer to, or they refer to, a little puppy, a fluffy little puppy, and say, isn't he precious? So I found this context of precious in there, and it's a sad thing to say, I'm not proud of it all, but it's a sad thing, it's been hard to me to relate to the word precious. But I can tell you that I have learned the meaning of precious. Precious is referred to as precious metal. We've heard that thing. I have never held a bar of gold in my hand. I have never held a large and valuable diamond in my hand, only a small and expensive one, but it did its work. And I learned the meaning of Proverbs 18, 22. He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor of the Lord. My wife is precious. And then there was the blessing that the Lord gave to us, and that is three precious little girls. And they still are precious. They're not little anymore, but they still are precious. And then in God's kindness, And here we bring out a little bit further in the preciousness. God gave each of those girls a man, a godly man who loves the Lord. And now I can say about those men, they are precious. They have taken over some of my responsibility as they have taken them as their wives. And then came along 11 precious little ones. Again, they are not so small. They are still precious though, very precious. And I can say to you tonight, And I can say it to Sarah, you may not remember this, you are precious to me now. The scriptures tell us now in our text that there is one who is precious. Christ is precious. But to whom is Christ precious? This is a very important question because he is not precious to all. We learn from this passage it is a privileged class, a peculiar people, a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people who proclaim the praises of him whom he has called out of darkness into his marvelous light. They have tasted that the Lord is gracious and they're coming to him. They are referred to by the Apostle as a holy priesthood, offering up spiritual sacrifices acceptable through the Lord Jesus. They are a people often unknown. These are the people who feel the Savior's preciousness. Of all mankind, it is to those who fit into this class of people to whom He, the Lord Jesus, is precious. Now how do they obtain this privilege? How did they get into this place, that is, those who are identified by the Apostle people and have such an attitude towards Christ that he is precious to them? Or, how is it that these people, to these people, Jesus Christ is precious? Well, the answer to this question is in the declaration by God himself of the Holy Spirit in our text, which is verse 7 of that portion that we're reading. The Holy Spirit says to us, and notice, to you who believe He is precious. To you who believe He is precious. Only to the believer is Christ precious. Now that statement is philosophically as well as scripturally true, of course. There cannot possibly be a felt conviction of the worth of a person or an object, for that matter, of which we have no intelligent and clear perception. There must be something to create interest. There must be something to awaken admiration. There must be something to inspire love. The person or object must be seen, known about, or experienced. Now the only scriptural faculty that discerns the Lord Jesus Christ, and in discerning him, that realizes his preciousness, is faith. He who believes, to him who believes, he is precious. Faith, as referred to by some of the older writers, is the spiritual eye of the soul. The soul can see, and of course it sees the preciousness of Christ. Faith sees the Lord Jesus Christ. And as he is seen, his excellence, his greatness, his significance, his eminence are made known, are revealed by the eyes of faith. And then he becomes precious. And as his importance becomes known, so he becomes an object of endearment to the heart. He becomes precious. That statement, perhaps, is one of the better statements and definitions of precious endearment. to the heart. It is then that the believer can say, how lovely, how glorious is the Lord Jesus. Again, another word, how lovely. When you see the preciousness of Christ, you realize how lovely and how glorious is the Lord Jesus Christ. And it is because of the clear, discerning eye of faith. Faith sees him, the matchless, unparalleled one. Faith sees the splendor that overshadows everything, everyone, and all other beings as they see Christ. Faith sees majesty in His lowliness. Faith sees dignity in His condescension. Faith sees honor in His humiliation. Faith sees beauty in His tears. Faith sees divine and surpassing glory in the cross. in proportion as the personal dignity and beauty and value of the Lord Jesus Christ becomes clear to the believing eye. He becomes more sensibly and deeply exalted in our heart. Lifted up into the heart's warmest love, He becomes precious the more we see Him, the more we realize who He is. We must know the Lord Jesus to admire Him. We must admire Him to love Him. And we must love Him to serve Him. But when we see how precious He is, that is accomplished. Again, to the text. To you who believe, He is precious. First then, two points. First, it is then to us, as believers, we can grasp We can take hold in how suitable, how right, how significant, how qualified, how in every quality necessary the Lord Jesus is to our need, divinely appointed for our salvation. And when we see that and see him in that context, he is precious. We see him then, as believers, to be just the Savior who is adapted, who is perfectly fitted to meet the necessity of our soul's salvation. The only Savior. And that makes him peculiarly precious. As believers we can say, I see him to be exactly the Savior I need. His fullness fills my emptiness. His blood cleanses my guilt. His grace conquers my sin. His patience bears with my infirmities. His gentleness strengthens my weakness. His love energizes my obedience. His sympathy soothes my griefs. His personal affection enhances my faith. And the more we see these characteristics of the Savior, by faith, he becomes precious. He is just the Savior. He is just the Savior that I need, and it is then no words can describe his preciousness to my soul. The believer can say, the Lord Jesus is mine, and I have all things in one, and that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. He is my all and all. And this simple faith, this trembling faith, this faith that is prominent in its simplicity, strong in its tremblings, grasp hold of the blessings of the eternal promises of grace. And all the fullness of the surety of those promises as our confidence. And I can say, they are mine. because Jesus Christ is mine and I am his. Listen, if you have come to the Lord Jesus as a poor, empty, believing sinner, there's not a throb of love in his loving heart, there's not a drop of blood flowing from his veins, there's not a particle of grace from his mediatorial work, not a thought of peace toward man in his divine mind, That's not yours. All is yours. Inseparably yours. As much yours as if you were the only one to possess it. In proportion as we deal with Christ, in our individually coming to Him, in our sincerely trusting in Him, in our intentionally living out of Him, in our dealings personally with Him, as He deals personally with us. As these are accomplished, as we are dealing with Christ, He will gradually introduce Himself to our senses and He will become growingly precious to our souls. If we could grasp by the power of the Spirit of God the view that is presented to us in the Scriptures of what Jesus Christ, our Savior, has done for us, we will find ourselves more overwhelmed with his preciousness. To you who believe, he is precious. So first of all, as believers, we grasp the suitability of the Lord Jesus as our Savior. Secondly, just two points. Secondly, As believers, in the particular circumstances of our Christian experience, the Lord Jesus becomes especially precious to our souls. Let me give you an example. I'll give you two examples, and then we'll close. In the peculiar circumstances of our Christian experience, in the dealings, the deep plowing of our hearts' hidden sinfulness. In other words, when the Holy Spirit reveals more of the innate corruption in our nature, He becomes precious. When the Holy Spirit gives a more spiritual perception of sins exceeding sinfulness. And we can see that picture before us on the table. How horrible, how much he had to suffer because of sin, our sin. He becomes precious. How precious then does his finished work become to our souls. How precious the blood that cleanses us from all sin. become to our souls. Let me say this, in the particular circumstances of the Christian experience, in the deep plowings of our hearts' hidden sinfulness, if you're going through that, this particular stage in your experience in the Christian life, you must not find yourself so filled with doubts, but rather recognize that that experience is only the way to build up His Son, the Lord Jesus, in you. To build up on the destruction and ruin of your own merit. To build you up on the ineffectiveness of your own strength. To do it. To be a Christian. To follow Christ. and to build you up also of the hopelessness of your own sufficiency. You see, when we find the grips of this plowing of the Spirit of God bringing us under the conviction of sin, the real sin that is there, the sin that the psalmist talks about as the sins that are numbered as the hairs of our head, so many and so great in what we've done to the Savior, we should see that it points out the preciousness of the Savior. Draw your hearts to Him, not to yourself. Because our Father would have us love His Son with a love like His own, a love of divine, supreme, inexpressible affection. And this can only be done in the area of our own nothingness. So we can see how valuable He is when we see how empty we are. So in the circumstances of the Christian life, our Lord is precious to the believer in knowing that the experiences of the deep plowing of our hearts, hidden sinfulness, the revealing of our innate corruption, the perception of sins exceeding sinfulness. But secondly, in the second example, in the circumstances of the Christian life, our Lord is precious to the believer in knowing this, that as believers, we have found ourselves in the circumstances of our spiritual relapse. How precious does our Lord Jesus become as the restorer of his saints, as the shepherd who goes in pursuit of his strained sheep and brings them back to the fold with rejoicing. How unspeakable, how unspeakably dear, how unspeakably precious is the Lord Jesus, our Savior, to our wandering yet restored hearts. You can consider this, and I think you can relate as I can, our backslidings are perpetual. They're loathsome. Our affections are inconsistent and changeable and wandering. Our faith fluctuates. Our love wanes. Our zeal deteriorates. Our walk is often weak and unsteady. And how shameful it is. How shameful, how unshameful. But our Lord does not withdraw his care from his own work in our souls. He never for a moment loses sight and holds back from his strained sheep. He still draws us back. How precious a Savior we have in the light of our weakness and failure. How precious the Lord Jesus becomes to a restored heart. To you who believe, he is precious. As believers, we grasp the suitability of the Lord. As believers, in the particular circumstances of our Christian experience, the Lord becomes especially precious to our souls when there's that deep plowing of of our own heart's hidden sinfulness, the revealing of our innate corruption, the perception of sin's exceeding sinfulness, He becomes precious. And then in the experience of knowing that we have this constant relapse, coming back again, coming back again, how faithful He is to us. Now, in conclusion, I want to read something to you that is for the most part taken from a man by the name of Octavius Winslow on the subject of the preciousness of Christ. He wrote this, and I found it very helpful in considering how valuable, how important the preciousness of Christ is to us as believers. I'll read it to you. Very few changes that I've made on it. To you who believe, he is precious. There is a time that is coming And it is coming so quickly, a time that will be the most solemn and sobering time. Yet it will be the most pleasant and the truest test of the sustaining, soothing power of Christ's preciousness in the experience of his saints. That time is the last sickness, the closing scene of our life. Imagine that that moment has arrived. All of Earth's attractions have stopped. All of creature allurements fail. Everything is failing. The heart and the physical strength are failing. Mental power is failing. The medical skills of men are failing. Human affection and sympathy are failing. The covering of death is on the eye. And the invisible realities of the spirit world are beginning to be seen in our mind. A loved one who has come to be with you seeks for a sign of life. You are too weak to pull together a thought, too faint to breathe a word, too absorbed to give a responsive glance. You cannot now declare your faith in a developed creed, and you have no profound experience or static emotion of a heavenly vision to describe. One brief, but a very emphatic, very expressive sentence contains the amount of all that you know, believe, and feel. It is the profession of your faith, the sum of your experience, the ground of your hope. Christ is precious to my soul. And that's enough. That's enough for the dying Christian to have. And an inquiring friend can wish for no more. That's it. Our dear Savior to be close to me in that solemn moment. It is that He would be in that valley beside me. It is that he would comfort my faint, weary soul in his hand. It is that he would speak these words to lift my struggling, anxious, departing soul. Fear not, for I am with you. Then it will be happiness for me to die. Death will have no sting. The grave will have no gloom. Eternity will have no dread. And from the experience of His preciousness on earth, I will pass in triumph through the shadowy foyer into the full sunshine and perfect realization and eternal enjoyment of all that faith believed, love desired, and hope expected of His full orbed glory and preciousness in heaven. In your presence is fullness of joy, and at your right hand there are pleasures forevermore. A felt conviction of the preciousness of our Savior has been regarded by enlightened souls, based on scripture evidence, the existence of divine life in the soul. It is going beyond a theoretical or a theological creed or a nice analysis of spiritual feelings and emotions that the question is, what is your experience of the worth of the Savior? Is Christ precious to your heart? In proportion as the Holy Spirit gives us a real intelligent sense of our own personal sinfulness, that there will be in our hearts the appreciation of the value, the sufficiency, and the preciousness of the Lord Jesus. Thus far in the reading from Octavius Winslow. Now this evening our consideration is concerning the preciousness, his preciousness, the Lord Jesus' preciousness in himself. And that is the conviction of Christ's personal dignity and worth that gives to faith a substantial realization of the greatness and the preciousness of his work. In exalting the work of Christ, which is what we're doing here tonight in the remembrance of his death for us, We are reminded today that we must not neglect the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, we must trace the efficacy of Christ's sacrifice to the essential dignity of Christ's person. We must see that in these elements, the presentation of the person of Christ in his suffering, the person of Christ in his suffering. May God help us to do that, that here and now, we who have this vivid portrayal of the preciousness of Christ to our souls. Here and now is a time for us to remember how precious He is. And notice again the text. It is to the believer, the one who is believing, He is precious. The Lord's Supper is the food of the soul that nourishes and strengthens the new man. May God bless us with that strengthening as we are led to the supper in the remembrance of Christ. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the Lord Jesus. We thank you for what truth has been revealed to us concerning him, which means he is so precious to our souls. May we tonight, in the remembrance of him and his great work when he died and rose again, may this be including and influencing part our remembrance of Christ. We pray it in Jesus' name. Amen.