COLERAINE EVANGELICAL CHURCH
SERMON NOTES FROM SUNDAY 30 NOVEMBER 2025 – MR KEITH
LINDSAY, ACRE GOSPEL MISSION
1 PETER 2 VERSES 1 TO 9
If I asked you today “what is the most precious thing you have?” What would you say? There are many things considered precious to us. Some people have bought things for us and we think of them as precious. We accumulate for time. Sometimes we forget that soon it will all be over. We have a long eternity to prepare for. Verse 7 not a command but a declaration
“Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner,”
“He is precious”
that is what Christians have testified to in every age. No matter where we are
from or what language we speak we cannot help but say he is precious. Why is
the Lord Jesus precious or why should he be precious? Because of what he has
done for us. What is Christmas all about at the end of the day? God became
man. He left the splendours of heaven and came down to earth. He became flesh
to become God among man. He came to grow in the body, to become a man. We read
that in John 1. We are introduced to the Lord through his earthly ministry. He
did so many wonderful things. He turned water into wine, healed the sick and
blind, made the lame to walk. He did so many wonderful things. But that is not
why he came. He is precious for what he has done for us. He set his face
towards Jerusalem and said “I must needs go there.” We remember how when he
came to Pilate’s judgment hall. Pilate asked “who do you want me to release,
Barabbas or Jesus.” The people cried “crucify him, away with him.” It was all in
the perfect plan of God. God had it planned long ago. The sinless, spotless Lamb
of God. He was the once for sacrifice for sin. That is why he is so precious.
Remember in the Garden when he cried “Lord if it be possible let this cup pass
form me.” Imagine the suffering he went through. His visage was marred more
than any man yet he was willing to go through the physical suffering of
Calvary, to be nailed to the cross, rejected by the world. God cannot look on
sin, he turned his back on Jesus. The salvation plan is accomplished on the
cross. Is he precious to us today? Because of what he has done for us? He became
sin for us.
He is also precious because of what he is doing
right now. The Lord is not merely a teacher or prophet but the Son of
the living God. Emmanuel, God with us. The world may reject him. Those who
believe, he shall be precious to us. The more we learn of him the more precious
he shall be. Holy, merciful, compassionate, powerful, faithful. He is alive
today. God called us out of darkness into his marvellous light. We are a privileged
people, a peculiar people, a chosen generation. God has given us so much. We
have a Saviour who died on the cross. But he is not on the cross or in the
tomb. We have an empty tomb and a living Saviour. He is precious because he is
not dead. He lives in our hearts today. As believers we have something to sing
and shout about today. Christ has changed our lives because he is a living
Saviour. He is seated at the right hand of his Father today in heaven. “In my
Father’s house are many mansions; if
it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again,
and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” The work is finished, complete. He is alive and ever
lives to make intercession for you and I. As I go to various churches I don’t know
wo is in the pew, what people have been through. But there is one who knows and
one who understands. As believers we know the one who holds tomorrow. He knows
what you need today. He intercedes before the Father. He cares for us as
individuals. He loves us with an everlasting love. He is interested in us. That
is more than our families or neighbours are interested in us. We can cast our
cares on the Lord today. We have a Saviour who knows. Some days in the darkness we cannot see
through to the light. Some times we will look back and be able to understand
more.
He is precious because of what he
is going to do for us. In a hopeless world today we can know the assurance that we have
a hope today. A peace the world cannot give us. It passes all our
understanding. We have the assurance of sins forgiven and a home in heaven for
all eternity. God has given us wonderful privilege of hearing the gospel. He is
precious to us because of what he is going to do for us in the future. We will
see Christ face to face.
“ For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to
face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.”
