S1: We need to understand the futility of what we think
S1: can give us authority over our sin other than Jesus
S1: Christ and Him crucified.
S2: Welcome to Treasure Truth with pastor and author James Ford, Jr.
S2: Senior pastor of the Christ Bible Church in Chicago. I'm
S2: Steve Hillard. Glad you're with us today. Now, pastor, I
S2: think everybody listening who would say, of course it's it's
S2: Jesus Christ who is going to give us authority over sin,
S2: you know, his death and resurrection. But what are some
S2: of the other things that we may think can give
S2: us authority over sin?
S3: Well, we really don't think these things, but there are
S3: others who think like their water baptism can deal with
S3: their sin. And I forgot what a great theologian it was.
S3: But he said, if water washes away my sin, I
S3: feel sorry for the fish. Yeah. And so, you know,
S3: some people think, you know, it's all in the water.
S3: And I tell the assembly that I pastor under the
S3: water is not under the blood. You can be baptized
S3: so many times that the fish can hit you up
S3: on Facebook and know your Social security number. It will
S3: not save you. Some people think it's transformation turning over
S3: a new leaf because it's brown on one side, but
S3: when they turn it over, Steve, they find out it's
S3: brown on the other side too. Yeah. And then, of course,
S3: there are those who think that it's church attendance going
S3: to church, quote, unquote. Well, going to church makes you
S3: a Christian and deals with your sin. Like going in
S3: a garage makes you an automobile. Like walking into McDonald's
S3: makes you a Big Mac. Number one supersize. It just
S3: doesn't work that way. Yeah. And so, you know what
S3: can deal with my sin? The songwriter said, what can
S3: wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
S3: What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood
S3: of Jesus. Oh precious is the flow that makes me
S3: white as snow. No other fount I know. Nothing but
S3: the blood of Jesus.
S2: Well, that's what we're looking at in our broadcast today.
S2: Join us in First Peter chapter one as we begin
S2: the message, the richness in redemption. Here's Pastor Ford.
S1: There's a story that's going about, uh, that's told about
S1: Albert Einstein. Nobody in here is Einstein challenged, are they?
S3: Alright.
S1: He was traveling from Princeton University, where he taught on
S1: a train. Uh, the conductor was going through, uh, the cabins, uh,
S1: punching the tickets, making sure that everybody had one when
S1: he came to Albert Einstein.
S3: Uh, he said, uh, your ticket, sir. And Albert Einstein
S3: checked in his vest pocket. No ticket. There's pants pocket.
S3: No ticket there. He opened up his briefcase. No ticket there.
S3: He looked beside his seat. No ticket there. He looks
S3: up at the young man, and before he could say anything,
S3: the conductor says, don't worry, sir, I know exactly who
S3: you are, and I'm sure that you bought a ticket
S3: to get on here. Don't worry about it. Don't worry
S3: about it. He turned to walk away. He turned around
S3: after he had punched about five more tickets. He saw
S3: Albert Einstein on the floor of the car looking for
S3: the ticket. He went back and he said, sir, I
S3: told you, I know who you are, so don't worry
S3: about the lost ticket. To which Albert Einstein replied, I
S3: know who I am too. I just don't know where
S3: I'm going. Well, I tell you, he's not by himself.
S3: There's a whole lot of people in this world that
S3: don't know where they're going. Now, there's some people that
S3: don't think they're going. Oh, but guess what? They're going
S3: because it's appointed unto man once to die. But after this,
S3: the judgment. You know, what's the death rate in the
S3: city of Chicago? One for one for everyone that's born,
S3: that one will die. And so everybody's going somewhere. And
S3: guess what? Everybody is going to live forever. You say,
S3: I didn't know that. Yes, you'll live forever in heaven
S3: or you'll burn forever in hell. Oh, yeah. You know,
S3: and the biggest problem. You know what it is. Uh, pastor,
S3: you know, the biggest problem is. The biggest problem is
S3: most people are like the little boy who is at
S3: Disney World. He was walking around and the officer saw him,
S3: walked up to him and said, little boy, are you lost?
S3: And he looked up and said, Uh-Uh, I ain't lost.
S3: But my mommy and my daddy, they lost. And so
S3: people are lost and they don't even know that they're lost. See? See,
S3: in order to get somebody saved, you first got to
S3: get them lost. And people, if they don't realize that
S3: they're lost, you're never going to be able to lead
S3: them to a saving faith in Jesus Christ. And here's
S3: the thing. You know, now, nobody in this service, of course,
S3: but a few in our 8:00 service and and people
S3: in the world, I mean, they're looking for something to
S3: satisfy them and they're going to find out, like some
S3: of us who are in the latter stages of our
S3: life or everything, you thought as a young person that
S3: would give you satisfaction. You get here and some of
S3: us done had all of it, and we could tell
S3: you that there is, according to the book of Ecclesiastes,
S3: a void in your life that only Jesus Christ can fill.
S3: You need to talk to some of us. But you
S3: don't believe we've been where you've been. I've got grandchildren,
S3: and they be trying to pull stuff. I say I'm
S3: the one who raised your daddy when he tried to
S3: do it and get away with it, and I tried
S3: it on my mama, and it didn't work. It ain't working. Amen.
S3: Been there, done that. Got the t shirt, doing conferences
S3: about the stuff you trying to pull. And here's what
S3: we found out. We found out that you try to
S3: fill it with the party, but guess what? The party's over. Yeah. Yeah.
S3: It always ends. Hey. Guess what? We tried it with
S3: the high. You always come down or come up, depending
S3: on what your higher preference was. Amen. We thought it
S3: was the money, but it always ran out. Have you
S3: found out yet? The car gets old, the house runs down. Yeah,
S3: we thought it was the sex. I ain't going to
S3: say nothing. Mm. Yeah. And so we need to understand.
S3: Y'all leave me alone now let me preach. Now quit.
S3: Quit bothering me now. And so we need to understand.
S3: There's a heaven to gain and a hell to shun.
S3: Now some people don't believe in hell. And I know that.
S3: I know they don't. Uh, you remember what happened to
S3: the Christian young man in the secular, uh, school? Uh,
S3: his professor was saying no such thing as heaven or hell.
S3: The Bible is not real. And, uh, Jesus and God,
S3: that's all fantasy. And and nobody believes that. And the
S3: young man said, I do. And he said, you believe
S3: that there was a whale that swallowed a man and
S3: then spit him back up and he was okay? Yes,
S3: I do, because the Bible says so. He said, well,
S3: how are you going to be confirmed in that? He said, well,
S3: when I get to heaven, I'm going to ask Jonah.
S3: He said, well, wonder if Jonah's Jonas. Not in heaven,
S3: he said. Then you asking? Mm. Yeah. And so here, here,
S3: here we are. Here we are. Because if we don't
S3: know how broke we were and how impoverished in our
S3: sin we were, we won't understand the richness of the
S3: redemption that's been given to us in Jesus Christ. Romans
S3: three puts it this way in verses ten and 11,
S3: there is no one that seeketh after God. All have
S3: gone their own way. Everybody wants to do their own thing.
S3: So no preacher can get up and say, y'all have sinned.
S3: He's gotta say all have sinned and come short of
S3: the glory of God. Yes. And so we need to
S3: understand the futility of what we think can give us
S3: authority over our sin other than Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
S3: Some people, I mean, you talk to religious people and
S3: you talk to individuals who think they got it together
S3: apart from Christ. They act as if they filled out
S3: an application. And the Trinity has become a quartet, and
S3: it's now no longer a Trinity. They were accepted as
S3: the fourth member of the Godhead. This Bible tells me
S3: there's no other way. Jesus said, I am the way,
S3: the truth, and the life. No man comes to the
S3: father but by me. You know what they're going to find.
S3: They're going to find out. Like that FBI agent. I
S3: know y'all heard about him. He went, uh. And they
S3: suspected this farmer, you know, of growing weed, marijuana, Mary Jane,
S3: whatever you call him that blunt. And so they sent him, and, uh,
S3: he came up to the farm, and he said, we
S3: suspect that you're growing marijuana on some of your acreage,
S3: and I'm going to check it out. And, uh, so
S3: you just, uh, stay here till I come back. And
S3: the farmer said, well, wait. Well, you could go anywhere.
S3: I don't have any. You just go anywhere you want
S3: to go. But listen. The far field over here. Don't
S3: go over there. Because don't tell me where not to go. No,
S3: but I'm trying. No. Don't tell. He put out his badge.
S3: See that badge? FBI. I go anywhere I want to go.
S3: That's my authority. Swami said. Okay, try to tell you,
S3: he said. As a matter of fact, I'm going over
S3: there first because you're trying to hide something. So he
S3: went over there about five minutes later, the FBI agent
S3: is running across the field. He's screaming and hollering for
S3: the farmer, and there's a bull that's chasing him. And
S3: he said, oh, help me, help me, help me. Farmer
S3: ran to the fence. He said, show him your badge.
S3: Show him your badge. Show him your badge. You. Hey,
S3: there's meaning to the madness now. Come on. Here it is.
S3: Here it is. He thought he had authority. And he thought.
S3: I'll show you my badge. It doesn't work with everybody.
S3: You need to understand that when you stand before God,
S3: your work's your badge of your self-worth will not get
S3: you into heaven. You're coming to church will not get
S3: you to heaven, because there are people who are in
S3: church and not in Christ. So they're coming to church
S3: and they're going to hell at the same time. Freeze, man. Freeze!
S3: No no, no. The only thing that God accepts is
S3: the work of Jesus Christ on the cross.
S2: That is such a sobering thought, but an important thing
S2: for us to understand. It is the work of Jesus
S2: that gets us into heaven. You're listening to Treasure Truth
S2: with Pastor Ford and a message called The Richness in Redemption.
S2: Really a look at First Peter chapter one today. And
S2: we're going to get back to this teaching in just
S2: one moment. If you ever want to find out more
S2: about this program and about upcoming broadcasts, you can come
S2: to our website. It's Treasure Truth radio.org. While you're there,
S2: you can begin podcasting this program. And if you happen
S2: to use iTunes for your podcasting, Casting. Would you go
S2: ahead and rate the podcast that'll help us be found
S2: by even more people. You'll find the links you need
S2: at Treasure Truth radio.org. Again, here's Pastor Ford.
S3: And so let's talk about it. I'm going to drop them,
S3: not push them. The five aspects of our rich redemption,
S3: of which Peter says here we should already be assured of.
S3: This should just be a highlight. Here it is. First
S3: of all, I want you to notice that he says,
S3: that the richness of our redemption is seen in the
S3: price of that redemption. What's the price? Verse 18 and 19,
S3: for as much as you know then that you're not
S3: being redeemed with corruptible things such as silver and gold,
S3: from your vain conversation received by tradition of your fathers,
S3: but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a
S3: lamb without spot and without blemish. Do you see what
S3: he's saying? He's saying that there are some people on
S3: church rolls, uh, that God doesn't have, and there are
S3: some that aren't God's role that the church doesn't have.
S3: Notice the first thing he does is he deals with
S3: the counterfeit price before he gives us, uh, the confirmed price. Say,
S3: what do you mean? He says, let me tell you
S3: what it's not first. And that's very important because he
S3: wants us to know. Listen. No no no no no
S3: no no no no, it's not by the vain tradition
S3: of your father. Now, the word vain, uh, literally means futile. Empty. Uh,
S3: it's a counterfeit payment. He says, listen, you must understand, uh,
S3: that there are those trying to give a substitute for
S3: what God actually wants. He's not looking for your church attendance.
S3: He doesn't care about your tithes and offerings. He doesn't
S3: care what kind of service you're doing. You say. You
S3: mean you don't care? No no no no no. That
S3: has nothing to do with your salvation. Let me take
S3: you all the way back to the book of Genesis.
S3: There were two sacrifices Cain and Abel. Cain sacrificed the
S3: fruit of the ground. God rejected it. Why? Because it represented. Works.
S3: Because God had cursed the ground. So Cain was giving
S3: him the best of his human ability. But it was cursed.
S3: And Abel brought the pleasing sacrifice that God wanted. Mm.
S3: Look at the confirmed price. We've been redeemed by the
S3: blood of Jesus Christ. Over and over again, the Bible
S3: tells us. The Bible says. What does the word redemption mean?
S3: It literally means to buy out of the slave market
S3: of sin so that God purchased us. And the price
S3: was blood. Okay. Leviticus 1711 I've given the blood upon
S3: the altar as an atonement for sin. Hebrews 922. Without
S3: the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin.
S3: I went through and and looked at some of the passages.
S3: There are over 100 passages in the New Testament about
S3: the blood. I'm not going to go through all of them,
S3: but Romans 325 and 26 says that the price was blood.
S3: Romans five nine the price was blood. Ephesians one seven
S3: redeemed through his blood. Colossians 119 and 20 his blood.
S3: Hebrews 911 through 15. Blood. Hebrews 1320. His blood. Acts 2028.
S3: His blood. So he says, you weren't redeemed by tradition
S3: or anything. It was with the precious blood of our
S3: Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And so he tells us
S3: that his blood is precious. Okay. Um, could you help me, sister?
S3: Come help me. I just want you to help me.
S3: I want to see. I want to show you what
S3: what he's talking about here. Now, here's what I want
S3: you to do for me. I want you to give
S3: me $100.
S4: I don't have $100.
S3: You don't have $100? Do you have any dollars? Personally, no.
S3: That's personal. No.
S4: You put me on the spot. No.
S3: You don't.
S4: Have any. No I don't.
S3: Okay, so here's what I'm going to do. Here's what
S3: I'm going to do. Okay. I'm going to give you
S3: $100 to give me back the $100. Really? Right.
S4: Yeah.
S3: Yeah, yeah. This is just an illustration.
S4: Okay. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I just got here. I
S4: just got here. I just got.
S3: Here. Okay, so now, because, see, I want you to
S3: give me what you don't have. So I'm going to
S3: give you what I want so you can give it
S3: back to me.
S4: Okay.
S3: You got it. Okay, so now I want $100. Now
S3: you can give it back to me. Come on, come on,
S3: come on, come on, come on. Now, what was the point?
S3: You saw the point. God wants something from us. We
S3: don't have it. As a matter of fact, this morning,
S3: the sister I called up, she had $5 and I
S3: said I didn't ask for five. I asked for 100.
S3: She said, well, I can't give it to you. I
S3: don't have it. I said, and you know what? And
S3: there's a lot of people that want to give God
S3: their $5 righteous works. Some of you got $6, some
S3: of you have 650. None of you have $100. So
S3: then what God did for us is he paid the
S3: price for us. Now, whenever he sees us, he does
S3: not see our sin. He sees his son because we're
S3: covered in the blood of Jesus Christ. It's called imputed righteousness.
S3: He put to our account what he wanted us to
S3: have that we didn't have, and he gave it to
S3: us so we could give it back to him what
S3: he wanted by faith in the shed blood of Jesus Christ.
S3: Let's give her a hand. And so it's the chemistry
S3: of the blood. Doctor DeHaan used to say that God
S3: can take a brown cow and it eat green grass
S3: and give white milk and produce yellow butter. That's the
S3: chemistry of God, where he can take the darkness of
S3: my sin, wash me in his blood and make me
S3: whiter than snow. Yeah. I wonder if you remember this, sweetheart.
S3: My wife and I were the first African American members
S3: of an all white, over 100 year old Southern Baptist church.
S3: And that was a miracle right there. Because I told
S3: you before and you know it. I was so racist,
S3: I wouldn't even eat white Right, right. I was so racist,
S3: I wouldn't even take aspirin because you had to pick
S3: cotton out before you got to the hospital. And we
S3: became the guy who led us to Christ was not
S3: only white, he's southern white, y'all. And we went to
S3: his church, and we're sitting there and we're singing. We're
S3: singing a song. And, you know, I didn't like him.
S3: I didn't like him at first because it's like I'm
S3: a jitterbug. And some of y'all don't know what that means. But,
S3: you know, I'm a jitterbug, you know? And so even
S3: the music I listen to, I very rarely listen to
S3: slow music. Amen. So. But, uh. But I'm a jitterbug.
S3: So we're sitting there, we sing the song, and Ron Kuykendall,
S3: our worship leader, he begins to crack up. And then
S3: I understand what he's cracking up about. I start cracking up.
S3: Preacher Bob gets upset. What are you guys doing? You're
S3: disrupting the service. And we were like, tears rolling out
S3: of our eyes. And then I think everybody else began
S3: to catch on. And before you knew it, the sanctuary
S3: was ablaze in laughter. And so we had to explain
S3: to preacher Bob, we're singing a song. Whiter than snow.
S3: Whiter than snow. Jesus washed us. Whiter than snow. And
S3: Ron looked at me and my sugar babe and said,
S3: God missed two people. Yeah, but here it is. Here
S3: it is. And he says he's like a lamb without spot. See, now,
S3: you know I'm not going deep into it because this
S3: would have been two messages or three messages by itself.
S3: But he says, as of a lamb the word is amnesty.
S3: And in the Septuagint it was used in Exodus chapter 29,
S3: verse 38 of the sacrificial lamb, the lamb that you
S3: brought for sacrifice. Uh, J. Sidlow Baxter, in the master
S3: theme of the Bible. It's a tremendous book. I'm going
S3: to read it a second time. He says this. Listen,
S3: he says there are ten primary passages where the lamb
S3: is specifically mentioned, and then he names all of them
S3: in Genesis four. It proves the necessity of the Lamb
S3: in Genesis 22. It presents the provision of the lamb
S3: in Exodus 12 records. The slaying of the Lamb in
S3: Leviticus 16 describes the character of the Lamb in Isaiah 53.
S3: The personality of the lamb. John chapter one reveals the
S3: identity of the lamb. Acts eight declares the promised Messiah
S3: is the lamb. Peter confirms the resurrection of the lamb.
S3: Revelation shows the enthronement of the land, and finally, revelation
S3: 2122 proclaims the everlasting kingship of the lamb. It's all
S3: about the lamb. And he's saying, listen, you need to
S3: understand that. Secondly, uh, this wasn't new and improved. He's
S3: talking about the plan of redemption was before the foundation
S3: of the world. That's the next point. Y'all can go on.
S3: It is just the plan of redemption. Who was foreordained
S3: before the foundation? In other words, before man ever sinned.
S3: God provided that the lamb would come and be slain.
S2: It is all about the lamb. Well, you're listening to
S2: Treasure Truth with Pastor Ford. And the first part of
S2: a message called The Richness in Redemption. Taking a look
S2: at First Peter chapter one. And we'll continue this next time.
S2: If you want to make sure that you don't miss it,
S2: or you just want to go back and listen to
S2: programs again, you can always do that by coming to
S2: our website. It's treasure truth Radio.com. You know, pastor, there
S2: are all sorts of voices in culture that are bombarding
S2: us with messages that are so contrary to God's Word
S2: and to what Scripture says. And I think one of
S2: the reasons that listeners may want to consider giving a
S2: gift to support is that Moody Radio and Treasure Truth
S2: can help us stand firm.
S3: Amen. Because Moody Network will give us the gospel straight,
S3: no chaser. And we don't want to mix anything with
S3: the Word of God, because if you dilute it, you
S3: pollute it. And you know, Steve, I went on an
S3: all fruit diet. And I gained weight and I couldn't
S3: understand what happened. I mean, you know, all I had
S3: was apple pie. Peach cobbler.
S2: Aha.
S3: You know, you see where you're going? Here. You get
S3: where I'm going. That everything I added to it polluted
S3: it and took away his nutritional value. That's what's happening
S3: with the word of God today. Hey, Moody encourages all
S3: of us not to be politically correct, but to be
S3: biblically correct.
S2: Well, you can help us do that to to share
S2: the truth of God's Word with those who will come
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S2: Come to Treasure Truth Radio org and click on the
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S2: Thanks to our producers, Amy Rios and Ryan McConaughey. For
S2: Pastor Ford, I'm Steve Hiller. Treasure truth is a production
S2: of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.