Table Talk

The Cost of Redemption. 1 Pet.1:18-20

I want us to spend a few minutes thinking about something that every Christian knows, but something we might not think about enough - the cost of our redemption.

Listen to what Peter says in 1 Peter 1:18-20

1 Peter 1:18–20 CSB

18 For you know that you were redeemed from your empty way of life inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of an unblemished and spotless lamb. 20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was revealed in these last times for you.

When Peter talks about redemption, he is using a word that his readers would have understood very well. To redeem something meant to buy it back. It was often to describe slaves who were purchased and set free. The picture is that someone is in bondage, unable to free themselves, and another pays the price for their release.

That is exactly what God has done for us.

Before Christ, we were slaves to sin. We were separated from God and unable to save ourselves. No amount of good works or effort could remove that guilt. We needed to be redeemed.

But Peter wants us to think carefully about what that redemption cost.

He says we were not redeemed with "corruptible things, like silver or gold."

Throughout history, silver and gold have represented great wealth. People spend their lives trying to obtain them. Wars have been fought over them.

But Peter says that when it came to saving your soul, they were worthless.

Imagine if every ounce of gold on earth were gathered together. Imagine every bank account, every investment, every piece of jewelry, every treasure ever discovered. Even all of that combined could not purchase forgiveness for one sin.

Money can buy many things.

But not eternal life.

Many things but not peace with God.

And it defiantly cannot buy redemption.

The value of something determined by what someone is willing to pay for it. Peter reminds us that our salvation required something way greater than earthly wealth.

He then contrasts silver and gold with something infinitely more valuable:

"But with the precious blood of Christ."

The word "precious" means valuable and priceless.

Why is the blood of Christ so precious?

Because of who shed it.

This was not just the blood of some man. This was the blood of the Son of God. The sinless Savior who willingly offered Himself as the sacrifice for our sins.

Peter describes Him as "a lamb without blemish and without spot."

And this language goes back to the sacrifices of the Old Testament. Under the old Law, the sacrificial animals were to be without blemish or defect. and the point of that was to point forward to the perfect sacrifice that would one day come.

Every lamb offered on an altar was ultimately pointing toward Jesus.

When Christ died on the cross, He became the fulfillment of all those sacrifices. And unlike those animals, His sacrifice did not need to be repeated. His blood was sufficient once and for all.

As the Hebrew writer says, the blood of bulls and goats could never truly take away sins, but Christ offered Himself for us.

And sometimes we can become casual about sin.

The world treats sin lightly. People laugh about it, celebrate it, and excuse it.

But if the Son of God had to die to save us from sin, then sin is more serious than people think.

The cross shows us both the love of God and the terribleness of sin.

When we look at the cross, we see the price that had to be paid.

Every lash of the whip, every thorn pressed into His brow, every nail driven into His hands and feet reminds us that sin carries a terrible cost.

And our redemption was expensive because our sin was serious.

At the same time, this passage shows us the incredible love of God.

Notice that Peter says Christ "was foreknown before the foundation of the world."

Before the world was created, God already knew what redemption would require.

Before any of the events you read in the bible or history books.

Before any of us were born.

God's plan for redemption was already in place.

That means the cross was not an accident. It was part of God's eternal purpose.

Think about that for a moment.

God knew the cost before He created the world.

He knew what His Son would endure.

But He loved us enough to carry out that plan anyway.

As Paul wrote in Romans 5:8, "God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

The cross shows us that God's love is greater than we can fully comprehend.

The question we should ask ourselves right now as we prepare for this supper is this:

How should we respond to such a costly redemption?

Peter's point is not just to inform us about the price. His point is to motivate us.

If Christ paid this price for us, then our lives should belong completely to Him.

Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 6:20, "For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's."

So this morning as we partake in this remembrance, let's remember the price that was paid. And let us let that price motivate us to live lives that honor the One who gave everything so that we could be set free.