Open your Bibles, if you would,
to 1 Peter 2. 1 Peter 2. The name of the message is The
Great Substitute. The Great Substitute. 1 Peter
2, we'll continue our study in 1 Peter, and just a quick setting
of it. The saints here are suffering
saints. They're suffering for the cause
of Christ. They're being persecuted for their faith. And Peter writes
them to comfort them. And I've noticed something in
all these messages and in studying this book You note with Peter,
and we saw it in Colossians as well, that the writers of the
letters and the scriptures always point us to Christ. Always point
us to Christ. He's the only comfort for us.
If we look to ourselves, we have no peace and no comfort. But
when we look to Christ as believers, we have great peace and great
comfort. We find great peace and great comfort in Christ and
Him alone. So let's read from verses 13
to 25. Submit yourself to every ordinance of man for the Lord's
sake, whether it be to the king as supreme or unto governors
as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evil
doers and for the praise of them that do well. For so is the will
of God that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance
of foolish men. As free and not using your liberty
for a cloak of maliciousness, but as the servants of God. Honor
all men, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king. servants
be subject to your masters with all fear, not only to the good
and gentle, but also to the forward. For this is thankworthy if a
man's conscience, if a man for conscience toward God endure
grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it if when
ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? But
if when ye do well and suffer for it, ye take it patiently,
this is acceptable with God. For even Here unto where ye called,
because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example,
that ye should follow his steps. Now here's our text from verse
22 to 25. Speaking of Christ, who did no sin, neither was guile
found in his mouth, who when he was reviled, reviled not again.
When he suffered, he threatened not, but committed himself to
him that judges righteously. Who his own self bare our sins
in his own body on the tree. that we being dead to sin should
live unto righteousness, by whose stripes ye were healed. For ye
were as sheep going astray, but are now returned unto the shepherd
and bishop of your souls. So last week we looked at verses
17 and 21, where we saw that we who believe suffer for Christ's
sake. We suffer for Christ's sake.
And we looked at the fact that we are called by God with an
effectual call. And as our masters suffered,
so will we. When we profess Christ Jesus
our Lord, we will suffer. We'll suffer persecution from,
and it comes from the home sometimes, it comes from family members,
it comes from friends, it comes from all different places. So
don't be surprised. And Peter's writing them here,
writing the saints and telling them, don't be surprised when
you suffer persecution. Don't be surprised. And we looked
also at how the servant is not above his master. And since Christ
suffered persecution, then we can expect it as well. As the
servant is not above his master, we're to take it patiently, knowing
that it's ordained by God. And knowing that he will give
us grace and strength to endure whatever situation we're going
through. And then we looked at verse 21
where we touched on briefly about our suffering substitute. And
this will be our topic today. The Lord Jesus Christ, our suffering
substitute. So let's start at verse 21. We'll
read that again. For even here unto where ye call,
because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example
that ye should follow. follow his steps. So again, we
see Peter here writing to suffering saints. And we know that this
book is written to saints again who are going through trials
and tribulations and persecutions for their faith. And he reminds
them that they're called of God. They're called of God. And this
is a great source of joy and strength for the believer at
all times, knowing that if God called me affectionately by his
grace, then here keep me. Here, keep me. And this is a
deep well, beloved, for us to draw from, isn't it? It's a deep
well for us to draw from. It's a well full of cool water.
Know that our God will keep us. And we know that we're called
to obedience and godliness and good works and to bear whatever
affliction and trial and suffering may result from a godly life. Therefore, we must bear reproach
and the suffering. in the pursuit of what one commentator
said, a true Christian conduct, then this is all part of our
calling. This is all part of our calling.
Turn, if you would, to 2 Timothy chapter 3. 2 Timothy chapter
3. You know, you don't have to teach
Christian living. People like to write books and
all this stuff on this. God's people will be taught how
to live, won't we? We'll be taught how to live.
There's some things we don't want to do. And then there's
we confess our sin and we move on, don't we? Look at this in
Second Timothy chapter chapter three, verses 10 to 12. But thou has fully known my doctrine,
manner of life, purpose, faith, long suffering, charity, patience,
persecution, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Icrium,
at Lystia, what persecutions I endured, but of them all the
Lord delivered me. Yea, in all that live godly in
Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. So we ought not to be surprised.
But notice there, but of them all the Lord delivered me. Keep
that in your heart when you're going through things. Keep that
in your heart, beloved God. The Lord delivers His people. And He does it constantly, doesn't
He? He does it constantly for us. Now we enter in more depth
in the passage here, which proclaims our suffering substitute on Calvary's
cross. And let's look at each verse
here to finish the chapter and we'll start with verses 22 and
23. Speaking of Christ here, who
did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth, who when
he was reviled, reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened
not, but committed himself to him that judges righteously. And note here, very plainly proclaimed,
our Lord Jesus Christ is and was sinless. Sinless. Who did no sin. None. Neither was guile found in His
mouth. He was in the world. and yet did no sin, no guile,
no deceit, no lies, no exaggeration from his mouth, and yet he suffered. He suffered. When men reviled
him, they called him a devil, a wine-bibber, a friend of sinners.
He didn't revile them in return, beloved. He didn't render evil
for evil, did he? Not at all. When he suffered,
He did not make them suffer in return. He has all power, remember
that. When He suffered, He didn't make those who were persecuting
Him suffer in return. He didn't threaten them with
vengeance, but rather He prayed for them. And this is what we
should do for those who persecute us. We should pray for them,
shouldn't we? Remember, Father, forgive them,
for they know not what they do. They know not what they do. Turn
if you would to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. Paul writes this exhortation
to believers. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verses
14 to 18. Look at this. And this is an exhortation from
our dear brother Paul. Now we exhort you brethren, verse
14, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feeble-minded, Support
the weak. Be patient toward all men. See
that none render evil for evil unto any man. So if a man renders
evil to you, don't render evil back to him. Now that's hard
for us to do, isn't it? Because we still battle the flesh,
don't we? But we're not to do that. But ever follow that which
is good, both among yourselves and to all men. Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything
give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning
you. Now it's hard for us to give
thanks in all situations, isn't it? It is. But when we remember
that it's ordained of God, and when we remember what was written
before that we looked at, that God will take us through whatever
we do, It can give our hearts joy amidst tribulation, can't
it? It can give our hearts joy. We don't like going through,
no one likes, I don't know anyone, anyone, and I'm gonna say this
plainly, I don't know anyone who likes to go through a trial.
I don't know anyone who likes that, or a tribulation. But we can find great strength. in our Redeemer, we can find
great strength as a believer in Christ Jesus our Lord, knowing
that it's for our good and his glory. And so here's our example again
before us, beloved God. We may be misunderstood. People
misunderstand us. They may ridicule us for our
faith. We may be persecuted for our faith, but we are not to
render evil for evil. We're to pray for those who persecute
us without a cause, leaving them in the hands of our Heavenly
Father. Let's consider verse 24 now. Look at this. And we
see our sufferer and substitute here. Who his own self bare our
sins in his own body on the tree, that we being dead to sin should
live unto righteousness by whose stripes ye were healed. Here we see our Master. The Lord
Jesus Christ, God incarnate in the flesh, and we see His great
condescension, bearing the sins of His people on Calvary's cross.
And the believer cries out, He's bearing my sins. He's sinless,
remember? He's perfect. He's the spotless
Lamb of God. And it says there though, who
his own self bear our sins. Now remember who Peter's writing
to. He's writing to blood-washed saints, isn't he? He's writing
to the people of God. And we can look at this today
and apply it to us, who his own self, we who believe, who his
own self bear our sins. Not some of them, but all of
them. In his own body on the tree.
All my sins were imputed to Christ. The believer says that. We look
at that and says, he bore my sin. All of it. And we know that he did this
in full submission to the Father. He willingly did this. He willingly
did this. He willingly left the glories
of heaven. Now, we get a glimpse of that
in Isaiah, don't we? Isaiah chapter 6, and he's so
great that his train fills the temple. And remember, kings back
then, the bigger the train was, the more vast their empire was. And it says in Scripture that
his whole train filled the temple. He's the king of the universe.
And then we've seen the angels bowing before him, and they have
to cover, remember, they have to cover themselves? Because they can't
even be in His presence without covering themselves because He's
so holy. And our Lord left all that to come to this earth to save His people from their
sins. And each one of us believers say, He bore my sin. He left the glories of heaven
for me. For me. What great condescension we see
here. He came to pay all that was demanded
by God for His people. To be the sinless sacrifice.
To be the substance of all the shadows. Right? Of all those
sacrifices in the Old Testament. They were just shadows, weren't
they? But here's the substance. Who bear our sins, beloved. who his own self bear our sins
and his own body on the tree that we be indebted to sin should
live unto righteousness by whose stripes ye were healed. He's the great substitute, the
sinless sacrifice, just as on the Day of Atonement pictured
both in the sacrifice and the scapegoat. Our Lord was buffeted, He was
scourged, He was crucified, and yet He's the silent substitute. Turn if you would to Isaiah chapter
53. He's the silent substitute, bearing the sins of His people,
not saying a word. Now remember, when those soldiers
were beating Him and scourging Him, and then they Later that
crown of thorns on his head, with one word he could have wiped
them all out. He's got all power. But he knows
he must complete the mission he was sent to, to come and do. to redeem His people from their
sins. Look at Isaiah 53, 7 and 8. And this whole chapter is wonderful,
but we'll just read these two verses. Look at this. He was
oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth.
Oh, He's bought as a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep
before his shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
He is the great substitute, beloved. He is the great substitute. He
was taken from prison and from judgment. And who shall declare
his generation? For he was cut off out of the
land of the living. For the transgression of my people
was he stricken. And the believer looks at this
and says, for the transgression of my sins. Was he stricken? I'm one of the people mentioned
there, are you? Oh, the Lord was stricken for His people. Let's go back
to our text and note how plainly it's stated here in our text
that the Lord Jesus Christ bore the sins of His people. 1st Timothy
2.24 who His own self bear our sins in His own body on the tree,
that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness,
by whose stripes ye were healed. Now here is substitution right
here before us. Right here, very plainly stated.
Who His own self bear our sins in His own body on the tree. Our Lord Jesus Christ, The sinless
sacrifice. God incarnate in the flesh did
this alone. He did it alone. He alone bore
the sins of His people in His own body on the tree. All the
sins of all the elect, of all the ages was placed upon Him. And this was typified by the
high priest, bearing the sins of holy things of the people
of Israel, when he went into the most holy place and laid
his hands upon the sacrifice, and also by the scapegoat, bearing
the iniquities of all the people unto a land not inhabited. And
remember, those two lambs were examined, they were perfect and
spotless, without blemish. It pictured Christ, beloved,
pictured Christ. And all this was foretold by
the prophets. And note, He bore our sins in
His own body on the tree. It was at Calvary where our Lord
Jesus Christ carried the burden of our sins up to the tree. And there, there Beloved, and
I want us to hear this, there Beloved, He made an end to them.
He made an end to them. He paid for the sins of His people. When He cried, Finished. And he gave up the ghost. Oh,
the great substitute. Finishes the work which he was
sent to do. Again, let's look at our text.
Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree that
we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness by whose
stripes ye were healed. And note the text here, we being
dead to sins. This speaks of God's people.
And let us never forget that this is a one-time sacrifice. Never to be repeated. A one-time
sacrifice. The Lord Jesus Christ paid for
the sins of His people on Calvary's cross once. It's finished. It's never to be done again.
And His people are bought and paid for. He bore the sins of
His people. And now He bears the sins of
His people no more, does He? No, He's resurrected in glory.
And both the sinner and the substitute, the sinner's surety, the Lord
Jesus Christ, are free. Free. The law of God is vindicated
for our sins by the death of Christ. The justice of God is what? Fully
satisfied. He paid it all. He paid it all. Christ died in our place. And
the salvation which has been wrought out by Christ, what is
it? Beloved, it's complete. And it's eternal. See, this is the difference between
grace and religion. There's nothing for us to do
but look to Christ. And even that we can't do it
in our natural state, and He makes us willing. And we're born
again by the Holy Spirit of God, and then we look to Christ. It's
all the work of God, beloved. Salvation's of the Lord. It's
all the Lord. It's all the Lord. Salvation
is complete. The perfect, spotless Lamb of
God has died in the room and place of His people. And God
is satisfied. God is only satisfied with Christ
and His work. That's it. It's wonderful. He will only accept the atonement
made by Christ, the death of Christ, And in the payment and
purchase of His people's eternal souls, He purchased us with His
own blood. He redeemed us with His own blood. He bore our sins and He paid
everything that God demanded for them at Calvary's cross. And what a wonderful condition.
God's blood-bought people are legally dead to the punishment
of sin. Legally dead to the punishment
of sin. Now again, that doesn't give us a license to go crazy,
but what a wonderful deliverance we have, eh? What a wonderful
deliverance when you think of that. And what do God's people
say when we consider that we are legally dead to the punishment
of sin? We say, bless the Lord, praise
His holy name. This is wonderful. Wonderful
news. We no longer love sin, but now
we hate it. It ceased to have the dominion
over us at once had. Now we live under righteousness,
don't we? Trusting and resting in Christ alone. And that's the
hardest thing for us to do, too, as believers, just to rest. Brother
Joe Terrell is coming in the summer and I'll never forget
when Joe and I had a talk years ago and he said the hardest thing
for us as believers, and I know I repeat this all the time, but
it's worth repeating, the hardest thing for us to do is just to
rest in Christ. It's the hardest thing for us
to do. It really is. But the Lord teaches us, doesn't
he? He teaches us. Beloved, we're dead to sin. We
no longer love it. It ceased to have the dominion
over us, it once had. We were born in sin, but by the
death of Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit in us, we're
born again. We who believe are now dead to
sin. Dead to sin. And note, we who were dead in trespasses
and sins, our text here says, now live under righteousness.
We're born again by the Holy Spirit of God. We have a new
life within us, newness of life in the kingdom of grace. And
we desire to live unto the Lord. One time we lived unto ourselves,
didn't we? Now we want to live unto the
Lord. Live unto Him. And notice whose stripes it is.
But notice by whose stripes it is that we are healed from our
sin sickness. Sin is a plague. Notice it says
here who his own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree
that we being dead to sin should live under righteousness by whose
stripes ye were healed. In this portion again, turn if
you would again to Isaiah chapter 53, we'll just look at one verse
over there. This is a reference to Isaiah 53, verse 5, which
is a prophecy of the Messiah, and we know that the Messiah
is the Lord Jesus Christ, and look at Isaiah 53, verse 5. But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace
was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed. Now sin is like
a disease, a natural and hereditary one. It's a pandemic, really,
which has infected the whole human race because we come into
this world conceived in sin. And none of us can heal ourselves. None of us can heal ourselves.
This deadly disease is incurable by natural man. Man cannot heal
himself of the sin sickness which we have. But there is one physician
who can cure us of this loathsome disease. This sickness called
sin, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ. Turn if you would to Luke chapter
1. Luke chapter 1 verses 76 and 77. And then we'll read verses
78 and 79. Luke chapter 1 verse 76. And thou, child, shalt be called
the prophet of the highest. For thou shalt go before the
face of the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation
unto his people by the remission of their sins. Now note the word
remission there. It means to release from bondage
or imprisonment, forgiveness or pardon of sins, letting them
go as if they had never been committed. That's wonderful. That's wonderful. remission of
the penalty. And then look at verses 78 and
79. Through the tender mercy of our God, whereby the dayspring
from on high have visited us to give light to them that sit
in darkness. That's our natural state in the
shadow of death. Again, that's our natural state
to guide our feet into the way of peace. Who's the Prince of
Peace? The Lord Jesus Christ. Turn,
if you would, to Psalm 103. 103. Christ is the only physician
and His blood the balm and sovereign medicine, which cleanses His
people from all our sins through their remission or pardoning
of our sin, which is meant by healing, or healing of disease,
and forgiving iniquities is one and the same. We see an example
of this over in Psalm 103. Look at this. And it'll tie in
with, by His stripes we are healed. Psalm 103, verses 1 to 4. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and
all that is within me. Bless his holy name. I just love
that verse. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and
forget not all his benefits, who forgiveth all thine iniquities,
who healeth all thy diseases, who redeemeth thy life from destruction,
who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies. Beloved, we were healed and we
remain so. It is not a thing to be done
in the future. It has been wrought by Christ and Christ alone, the
great substitute when He died for His sheep on Calvary's cross. Now let's look at verse 25. Let's
look at verse 25 in 1 Peter 2. Verse 25. For ye were a sheep
going astray, That was our natural state, beloved,
but are now returned unto the shepherd and bishop of your souls. Spurgeon says this about us being
sheep. First, it was brutish. Ye were
as sheep. Sin has made us so that we are
only fit to be compared to beasts and to those of the least intelligence,
he says. We were as sheep, but are now
men and women redeemed unto God. Now, note also our state. We
were going astray, prone to wander. That's us. We're prone to wander. It's natural for a sheep to do
so. And we were always going astray. We were lost sheep. And
we were loving to go astray. We delighted in it at one time.
We didn't know we were even sheep. And now, sometimes even the believer
still wanders. But now we seek the right way.
We desire to follow the shepherd of our souls, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And if we wander, it's either
through ignorance or temptation. And what happens, though, to
the believer? We quickly repent, don't we? We quickly repent when
the Holy Spirit convicts us. And truly, the Lord watches over
us, though, as a shepherd does his flock. He won't let us get... We'll never be out of his sight,
beloved. We'll never be out of his sight. Think upon this, when
we were wandering astray, dead in trespasses and sins in our
unregenerate state, we had no way to come to the shepherd,
and we did not desire to come to the shepherd. But, now we who are born again
by the Holy Spirit of God, though we have wandered, we've returned
to our shepherd, because we've heard his voice. He's called
us. He came and sought us out. He came and sought us out. And
our soul cries this, Whom have I in heaven but Thee? There is
none upon the earth that I desire beside Thee. And all this is
because the Lord died for us, and we who are born again, we
now have a love for Christ, which He's created in us. And it leads
us to seek His face. It leads us to seek His face
and renew our fellowship with Him when we've wandered off.
Look, it says here, for ye were a sheep going astray, but are
now returned unto the shepherd and bishop of your souls. Now
we who are the Lord's people have one leader, beloved. We
have one leader who is here called the shepherd and bishop of your
souls. God's blood-bought people put their entire dependence upon
Christ in salvation and in all matters of life. Christ is the
shepherd and bishop of your souls to the believer. This is what
he is to us. And think upon this. He who bears
the office here of shepherd fully performs it by feeding his sheep,
by providing for his sheep, by giving them fold and pasture
for them, by gathering the lambs in his arms and gently leading
those that are with young, by healing their disease and preserving
them from beasts of prey, Therefore He is called the Good, the Great
and the Chief Shepherd. Turn if you would to Psalm 23.
Psalm 23. The Lord Jesus Christ is for
His people the Bishop of our souls. The Bishop of our souls. Look at Psalm 23. We can probably
almost read this from memory. But let's look at this in light
of what we just read here. He's the bishop, the shepherd
and bishop of your souls as a believer. Look at this, Psalm 23. The Lord
is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures. He leadeth me beside still waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth
me in the path of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though
I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear
no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort
me. Thou preparest a table before
me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil.
My cup runneth over. Surely, goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the
house of the Lord forever. And then I'll read again our
text. For ye were as sheep going astray, but are now returned
unto the shepherd and bishop. of your souls. Christ alone is
the bishop or overseer of the souls of his people. It is he
who took the oversight of them willingly, willingly beloved. And it is he who watches over
his flock and he provides for their care and needs. And he
will never, he will never, he will never leave them nor forsake
them. And one day their faith will
become sight when they see him in heaven and are with him in
heaven forever. And the salvation of the souls
of his people has been accomplished, has been accomplished just as
we've looked at today by his obedience, by his suffering and
by his death. The salvation of His people is
absolutely complete. And the believer in Christ says,
praise His mighty name.