Redeemed by Blood, Not Gold

Introduction

There are moments when you wonder what your life is really worth. You look at your bank account, your job, your successes or your failures, and a small voice whispers that your value depends on what you produce, what you own, what you show. This Advent message, given at Momentum, comes to cut that voice short. The preacher returns to words the apostle Peter wrote to scattered, tested, discouraged Christians: your life was not redeemed with silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish and without spot (1 Peter 1:18-19).

The message falls during Advent, a few days before Christmas, just as the church prepares to receive its prophetic word for 2026. And that is exactly where the preacher wants to bring you back: before setting goals, before writing down your resolutions, before hoping for a better year, you need to know who you are. And that identity, you did not buy it. It was given to you at the price of Jesus's blood.

Outline of the Message

1. Your identity is not decided by what you produce

The preacher begins with something obvious that we quickly forget. We all think differently, because God gave us free will. You can prefer one soccer team, one city, one style, one job, and that does not make you a sinner or a better person. Those things do not define your core identity.

He recalls the verse given to the church for the current year, taken from Luke 6:17-19: Jesus comes down from the hillside, stops on a level place, and a huge crowd comes to Him from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. They all seek to touch Him, because power was coming out from Him and healing them all. That is where our identity is decided: in contact with Jesus. Not in our preferences, not in our successes, not in our failures. Our core identity is in Christ, and the living Christ stands at the center of our lives with power.

2. What redeems your life is neither silver nor gold

The preacher then opens 1 Peter 1:18-19: "knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from the useless way of life handed down from your fathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish or spot, the blood of Christ."

Peter writes this to believers going through dark seasons, just as Peter himself went through his good moments and his bad ones. And he gives them a powerful revelation: your life, my life, was not bought with money. We often think the solution to our problems will come from a little more money, a little more resources. Peter says the opposite. What was paid for you is a far greater price, and a far more precious one. The blood of Jesus, the lamb foreknown before the foundation of the world, and revealed in this last age for your sake (1 Peter 1:20).

You can put your faith and hope in gold or silver, or you can put it in God, who raised Jesus from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope might be in God (1 Peter 1:21). One of these does not hold up over time. The other holds all the way into eternity.

3. The blood of Jesus washes, covers, and heals

The preacher goes back further in Scripture, to the last plague on Egypt. Before the people went out, God asked that the doorposts be marked with the blood of the lamb (Exodus 12:7). It is a very old picture, and yet it already tells the gospel: the blood of the lamb protects, it makes judgment pass over the house.

Today, that blood is the blood of Christ. It washes. It covers your wounds. It enters your life and gives you peace when you hand Him your thoughts. It washes you from the inside. The preacher presses on this concrete reality: we need our wounds to close. There are unjust, painful, difficult things that have happened and that leave open scars. But the blood of Christ passes over those wounds and heals them. It does not merely cover things on the outside. It makes you a new creation before God.

4. Faith is necessary to overcome

One phrase marked the preacher while preparing this message: "Faith is necessary to overcome." Faith is believing what you do not see, walking sometimes without seeing. And it is also perseverance. Some people pray once or twice, see nothing happen, and give up. Others keep believing and come back with great testimonies.

This message is given during Advent, the season when we wait for the One who came and the One who will come again. Each Sunday, one more candle is lit until Christmas. It is a simple picture: the closer you draw to Christ, the more light there is. Jesus came quietly, into an ordinary family, in a stable, with no room at the inn. The only witnesses were shepherds watching their flocks by night. He came as a child, and He grew until He fulfilled His ministry: the storm calmed, walking on the water, the healing of lepers, the healing of the man born blind, His conversation with the Samaritan woman whom the Jews despised. Everywhere He goes, He gives people their identity back.

5. The Lord's table: drinking into this covenant

The message flows into the Lord's Supper. The preacher reads again the words of Jesus: "As they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, 'Take, eat, this is my body.' He took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, 'All of you drink it, for this is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many for the remission of sins'" (Matthew 26:26-28).

Taking communion is not a liturgical routine. It is remembering that your name has been written down, that the Lord is waiting for you, that He has not forgotten you. Through that blood, your sins are covered, your problems are placed into His hands, and a different future opens up.

Key Takeaways

• Your core identity is in Christ. Your tastes, your job, your city do not define who you truly are. What defines you is having been touched by the power that comes out from Jesus.
• You were redeemed at a price money cannot pay. Not with gold, not with silver, but with the precious blood of Christ (1 Peter 1:18-19).
• The blood of Jesus washes, covers, heals. It passes over open wounds and closes them. It makes you a new creation.
• Faith is necessary to overcome. Persevere in prayer. Sometimes change your strategy, but stay in the Word. God answers when we seek Him (Jeremiah 33:3).
• Communion reminds you of the covenant. Every cup recalls that the blood of Jesus was poured out for the remission of your sins and to open a future in Him.

Personal Application

1. Where are you looking for your identity right now: in what you produce, in what you own, or in Christ?
2. What is that open wound you have carried for a long time, one you have not yet let the blood of Jesus pass over?
3. What have you prayed for again and again without seeing an answer, and where are you tempted to give up on faith? What would someone do who truly believes that faith is necessary to overcome?
4. How do you want to experience communion next time: as a ritual or as a memorial of your redemption?
5. Looking ahead to 2026, what goal should you not set before letting Jesus remind you of who you are in Him?

Scriptures Cited

• 1 Peter 1:18-19 · "knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things... but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish or spot, the blood of Christ."
• 1 Peter 1:20-21 · Christ foreknown before the foundation of the world, revealed for your sake.
• Luke 6:17-19 · The crowd comes to touch Jesus, power was coming out from Him and healing them all.
• Exodus 12:7 · The blood of the lamb on the doorposts.
• Matthew 26:26-28 · "This is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many for the remission of sins."
• Ephesians 1:7 · "In whom we have our redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace."
• Jeremiah 33:3 · "Call to me, and I will answer you."

FAQ

Why does the Bible say we have been "redeemed"?

Because the Bible describes our condition before Christ as bondage: we were chained to a useless way of life handed down from our fathers (1 Peter 1:18). To redeem is to pay the price to free a slave. Christ paid that price with His own blood, not with silver or gold. Ephesians 1:7 sums it up: "In whom we have our redemption through his blood."

What does it actually mean that "the blood of Jesus washes me"?

It means His death on the cross has a real effect in your life today: forgiveness of sins, cleansing of conscience, healing of inner wounds. When you confess your faults, when you hand Him your thoughts and your scars, that blood covers and closes what was still bleeding. You are no longer required to carry that open wound your whole life.

How should I live out communion after this message?

As a living memorial, not a formality. Before taking the bread and the cup, let Jesus remind you that your name is written down, that you were redeemed at a great price, and that the blood poured out is the blood of the covenant for the remission of your sins (Matthew 26:28). Give thanks, hand Him what weighs on you, and walk away with the assurance that He has not forgotten you.