Servants, be subject to your
masters with all fear. not only to the good and the
gentle, but also to the froward. For this is thankworthy, if a
man for conscience sake toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it, if when
you are buffeted for your faults, you take it patiently? But if
when you do well and suffer for it, You take it patiently. This is acceptable with God. For even hereunto were you called,
because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example
that we should follow in his steps. Who did no guile, 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 judgeth righteously."
And here, watch. and who bear our sin in his own
body on the tree, that we being dead to sin should live unto
righteousness by whose stripes you were healed. For you were
as sheep going astray, but are now returned unto the shepherd
and bishop of your soul." Verse 24 again. who his own self bear
our sin in his own body on the tree, that we being dead to sin
should live under righteousness by whose stripes we are healed. Now the diligent, careful, close
reader and studier of the scripture will soon discover something
that is not to be overlooked. It is very important and it takes
up a lot of the space in the scripture. And that is that there
is a strong repeated reference made to the atonement of our
Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. How the Bible speaks so frequently
and importantly of the atonement of the death of the shedding
of the blood of our Lord. First, it does so in the Old
Testament, in the prophecy, and in promises. It is there again
and again in the type and in the shadow. And in the New Testament,
the Lord himself in all four gospels makes frequent mentions
of his giving of himself in death and making himself an atonement
that he would shed his blood for the remission of the sin
of his people. And it is also mentioned in the
book of Acts. Very frequently we see the Apostle
speaking of the Atonement. Coming to the Pauline Epistle
and it is literally a cornerstone and given a prominent place in
the preaching of the Apostle Paul. And this he said was given
to him by revelation of God by the Holy Spirit of the Lord. It is found then in what we call
the church epistle, the manner of the death of our Lord, and
in the pastorial epistle, it is mentioned, and of course it
is brought before us in the epistle under the Hebrew. Also in the
epistles of John and of Peter, there is mention made of the
atonement. Just for the sake of it, I made
a count. And I found that there are 15
books in the Bible, not counting the four gospels, that emphasize
the atonement of our blessed Lord. Now, our present text is
found in the first epistle of Peter. And we see that it is
a very clear declaration of the substitutionary death of our
Lord Jesus Christ as a sin bearer, and we're also given the proper
result that are produced by it, that it is effectual to bring
us to a state of salvation and righteousness before God. But
before we consider the text, let's say a few things about
the man. about the man Simon Peter, an
apostle chosen of the Lord, and also about his work and his place
in the development of the early church and the spread and proclamation
of the gospel. We can say, I believe, that there
are two men that played a very important part in the New Testament
work of the gospel, the establishing of the church, and the spreading
of the message of Christ. They are, of course, the Apostle
Peter, under the Jew, principally in Jerusalem, And secondly, the
Apostle Paul to the Gentile and to the region beyond and unto
the nation. But the Apostle Peter, also known
as Simon and as Cephas, meaning a stone, in John chapter 1, and
verse 42, did personally company with our Lord Jesus Christ in
the flesh. He was called and commissioned
and taught and prepared by the Lord. He saw the Lord in the
flesh. He saw the mighty works that
were done. He saw the Lord on the Mount of Transfiguration. He was there at the empty tomb
on the morning of the resurrection. And he saw the resurrected Lord
and he witnessed his translation or ascension yonder into heaven. And in Matthew chapter 16, perhaps
the high point of the apostle's life, he was there with the Lord,
wondrously saw the Lord anointed, and was anointed himself by the
Lord, and was appointed to give and given the keys to the kingdom
of heaven. That's in Matthew chapter 16.
And I think that Gil is right. that the keys to the kingdom
of heaven refer to the gospel times that were just at hand
at that day. It was also on this occasion
that Peter made that great confession that is indeed the confession
of Christianity. You are the Christ You are the
anointed. You are the Christ, the Son of
the living God. And the Lord endorsed that as
being a revelation of the Father unto him, not learned by men,
but given by the Father. Remember also, later, that Peter
was there on the day of Pentecost to guide the Jew concerning the
meaning of the outpouring of the Spirit and to declare that
Christ was the author of that pouring out of the Spirit. Acts
chapter 2. Again, it was this apostle who
was sent down to the house of Cornelius to the Gentile to preach
unto them the Word of God when the Spirit of the Lord came upon
them as it did upon the Jew at Pentecost. And I like to call
it the Gentile Pinnacle. And at the same time, let us
also carefully guard against an error concerning this man,
Simon Peter. And that would be the dogma of
Rome. Peter was not a pope. The Lord did not make Peter a
pope, did not make him the first pope, He was one of the original
apostles, and the scripture, by the way, knows nothing of
the office or position of a pope. And you can see that Peter did
not act like a pope if you read in Acts chapter 10, verse 25
and verse 26. But coming now to the first epistle
of Peter, and two things that are here for us to notice. Number one, we want to look that
quickly at all of the mentions that Peter makes concerning the
death, suffering, and atonement of our Lord Jesus Christ. In
all, I think there are five of them in the first epistle of
Peter. By the way, there are also the
sermons of Peter recorded in the book of Acts in which he
makes that connection between the atonement of Christ and the
forgiveness and remission of sin. Then secondly, there is
that one special text that we want to look at today on the
atonement. Now first of all, we look very
quickly at the other four mentions of the atonement and of salvation
by Peter in this epistle. The first one is in the opening. in chapter 1, verse 1 and 2,
and the opening address, which is directed toward the scattered,
or the dispersion, referring to them as being elect according
to the foreknowledge of God, and he mentions the sprinkling
of the blood of Jesus Christ. Not only were they chosen in
Christ before the foundation of the world, but they were called
out of the world. They were sanctified by the Spirit
and sprinkled by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Not with
the blood of beasts and of animals, but with the saving blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. In Hebrew chapter 10 verse 22,
for under that old economy, sprinkling with blood, the blood of sacrifices,
signified legal purification. Sometimes it was sprinkling by
water. Sometimes it was sprinkling by
blood, but it was a type of Cleansing a type of cleansing by the blood
of Christ and by the Word of God So that's the first one the
second passage in the epistle is found in chapter 1 verse 18
and verse 19 where he declares the blood of Christ to be the
price of of our redemption, the means of ransom, that by which
we are bought. Now, this is in comparison to
those things that were used as redemption under the old economy. Most of the time, silver or gold,
which was the highest value in the worldly system, of course.
But the price of the redemption of the elect out of their bondage
is the precious blood of Christ, who as a Lamb, without spot and
without blemish, who was foreordained before the foundation of the
world, but manifest in those times for them. In the fullness
of time, Galatians 4 and verse 4, he was made of a woman, he
was made under the law for the purpose of redeeming the intellect
into their mature sonship. Thus, as George Hutcheson wrote,
His blood was, quote, sacrificially shed, unquote. We always must
think of it in that light. His blood is the price of ransom
and redemption. Now, skipping our present text
just for the moment, there is that passage in 1 Peter 3 and
verse 18. Christ has also once suffered
for sin, a model for the saint's suffering in verse 17, but just
for the unjust that he might bring us unto God as the fruit
of his dying. He was the righteous for the
unrighteous. He was made sin for us, though
He knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. Now, fourthly, there is a short
mention in 1 Peter chapter 4 and verse 1. Christ has suffered
for us in the flesh. It was not in his behalf that
he suffered or on his account that he suffered, but he suffered
for us, not for any fault. in himself, none at all, not
for any shortcoming before the law or any fault or stain. Then there is our present text,
Christ bearing our sin in his own body on the tree. As we look
back at that in chapter 2, let's see the lead-in to this blessed
text of scripture at verse 18. It follows the exhortation to
slave to be obedient unto their master, even to those that were
froward or that were unkind or perverse, even when they were
enduring wrong. For if they were punished for
wrongdoing, It is no credit, if they are punished for wrongdoing,
it is no credit or favor to them if they patiently endure it. But it is suffering for good
where there is favor with God. And that for two reasons. Number
one, in verse 21, because they were called unto such, and being
called being a servant would no doubt expose them to a greater
likelihood of unjust treatment at the hand of their master. And then number two, because
in verse 21 it follows the example of the Lord Jesus Christ. No
righteous one was ever more unjustly treated than our blessed Lord
and Savior. In verse 22 and verse 23, he
did no sin. He had no guile in his mouth. Yet he was called a blasphemer.
He was called a mad man, a wine-bibber, a gluttonous man. He was reviled,
yet he did not revile them again. He was threatened, and he did
not threaten those that did him harm, nor did he steady committed
himself to the righteous judgment and care of Almighty God the
Father. So, as in the end of verse 21,
because Christ suffered for us, or you, leaving us an example
that you should follow his footstep. So here is the essence of what
we have in our subject and text today. Five things, let's look
at them very quickly. Number one, Christ suffered. Number two, he suffered unjustly. Number three, he retaliated not
against those who brought him suffering. Number four, he suffered
as our example, as an example unto us. And number five, he
suffered for our good, our benefit, yea, our redemption and our salvation. But in this example, let's be
careful to handle at will. Let us be careful to handle it
well as we look at what he has written. For though Christ left
us an example. The word example here is a very
interesting word. Some Greek scholars say this
is the only time that we have this particular word found in
our New Testament. 1 Peter 2 and verse 21. And that this word example here
has the meaning of an underwriting, a copy that could be traced. You know, little children in
school are taught to trace and have a copy that they can trace. And so they say this is the meaning
of the word that is here. It is an outline that can be
and is to be copied. However, though Christ's sufferings
were, for example, yet they went far beyond a mere example. For the apostle is speaking of
them as being substitutionary, as being expiatory, and as being
reconciled. All of these things are involved
in the suffering of our Lord. Hear him in verse 21 as he said,
Christ also suffered for us in our behalf as our substitute,
as our vicar. Verse 24, who his own self bear
our sin in his own body on the tree. That's expiatory. Verse
25. You were as sheep going astray,
now return to the shepherd and the bishop of your soul. That's
reconciling. And then we notice. Let's dig
into these two verses. For there can be no doubt the
first word of verse 24, who refers to none other than Christ. And looking back to verse 22
and 23, the same opening word is used. Who did no sin, in verse
22. Who when he was revived. And all three of these who's
refer to the Lord Jesus Christ mentioned in verse 21. So in each one of them, the thought
is Christ who, that is, he or him, none other than the Lord
himself was it that did this. And the next words, him his own
self. His own self. He himself. The emphasis is there. Robertson in his word studies
calls this intensive pronoun with a relative who being a reference
to Christ the Lord. Now perhaps the emphasis is he
who, he himself, he himself and not any other He being the very
one who did this necessary and wonderful thing. Because you
remember Aaron the high priest did often offer his offering. He did often go. But they were
animal sacrifices and they were animal blood. There was a substitute
for Isaac caught by its horns in a thicket. But there was none
for the Lord Jesus Christ. He his own self. He did not delegate the work
to another and he did not send another to do it. Now these seem
to be the words. He bear our sin in his own body
on the tree. Now the word to bear here demands
our attention. It means to carry, like something
is carried up. And in this sense, he carried
up our sin, and in the place he carried them up, in his own
body, on the tree. Yet you have the same word back
in verse 5 of the same chapter, to offer up. You have it some
ten times all together in the New Testament, such as James
chapter 2 and verse 21 of Abraham offering up his son Isaac, of
Abraham carrying him up or bringing him up to the place of sacrifice. You have it four times in Hebrews
where it is carried up or offered up. Matthew 17, 1. Mark 9 and
2 it is the word that is used of the disciple bringing the
Lord bringing the of the Lord bringing the disciples up into
the mountain and Also, it is used of the ascension of our
Lord in Luke 24 and verse 51 He was carried up into heaven
Now that's the word used here in 1 Peter chapter 2. So we come
to the question then next, what did he bear? What did he carry
up? And the answer is our sin. Who could deny that the apostle
Peter no doubt has in his mind that great prophecy of Isaiah
in the 53rd chapter for Isaiah 53 and verse 4. He bore our grief
and carried our sorrow. But he also quotes from verse
5 of Isaiah 53 and verse 6 in 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 25
when he said, By whose stripes ye are healed For we were all
as sheep going astray, but are returned unto the shepherd and
bishop of our soul, and the Lord hath laid upon him the iniquity
of us all. And yes, he made him to be sin
for us. Think of it. Every sin to be
forgiven. Every sin ever made provision
to be forgiven. must have a just recompense of
reward. And our Lord gave us satisfaction
to God for them. But without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission of sin. Now, I would like to offer you
a point made by George Smeaton in his commentary on the Atonement,
that in this passage we have a three-fold view of the suffering
of our Christ. A, he was a patient sufferer. When reviled, he reviled not
again. He was an innocent sufferer in
that he had nothing to answer for, and he was a vicarious sufferer
in that he bore our sin in his own body on or to the cross or
to the tree. And then let's catch another
likeness from our passage in verse 24. Look at that. His own self. But then in verse 24, His own
body. His own self, but in His own
body. Both in regard to sin and speaking
of Christ making an atonement for sin, this He did. his body, his soma, the noun,
not the mystical body of the church, not a collection of a
body of people, but on the cross the Lord did suffer both in soul
and in body the due reward of the sin of his people. a special
kind of suffering for each of the human aspects of the son
of man, his body and his soul. For he had a true human soul
and he had a and he had a fleshly body. He died. He had blood and
he shed his blood and he breathed out his last breath upon the
cross and he dismissed his spirit from him. He was dead as to the
body and was taken down from the cross and prepared for burial,
and was placed yonder in the grave." This is emphasized in
the Hebrew epistle at length, especially in Hebrews chapter
10. And if you want to turn there,
just flip back a little bit to the 10th chapter of the book
of Hebrews, and there in verse 5 and through verse 10, you have
a marvelous passage. And let me say that it is based
upon and it is referenced from Psalm chapter 40 and verses 6
through 8. John Owen wrote, the apostle
here in Hebrews chapter 10 is stating the provision which God
provided to provide you a sin. which the legal sacrifices could
never do as we read here in chapter 10. He had no pleasure in them
and on that account would not have them to continue and he
required another of the sacrifice from the Lord Jesus Christ. So in that text Body he prepared
the son see the word a body hast thou prepared me Hebrews 10 and
verse 5 it is in Psalm chapter 40 and verse 6 this way mine
ears hast thou pierced or the margin has it digged or dug or
pierced Now, a little reading from the passage here in Hebrews
chapter 10 to work to the conclusion down in verse 10. We read the
development of the flow of thought. We observe in the context that
is built in. Verse 5, let's look at it. Wherefore, when he cometh into
the world, he saith, sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not,
but a body hast thou prepared me." Verse 6 and verse 7. in
burnt offerings for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said
I, that is Christ, Lo, I come in the volume of the book it
is written of me to do thy will, O God. Then look at verse 8 and
verse 9 of chapter 10. Above all when he said, Sacrifice
and burnt offering for sin thou wouldst not, neither had pleasure
therein, which are offered by the law. Then said he, Lo, I
come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that
he may establish the second. And then finally, the 10th verse. By the which will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. The preparing of the body refers
to the incarnation of the Son of God. Thou prepared him a body
in the incarnation. And again, verse 10, no doubt,
the thought is that God has so prepared and has so fitted the
Son to have a nature and a body completely and absolutely free
of sin and capable of being the perfect sin offering in behalf
of the elect. suited for that work that was
ordained for him to do, designed for the purpose of putting away
sin, to justify the elect from their sin, being a body, and
hear me now, being a body close enough to our nature to become
our kinsmen, but not close enough to be contaminated by the depravity
of human nature. Then, a final point. from Hebrews
10 and verse 10. Twice before, in the earlier
verses, the penman had used the word will. The word will, meaning
the will of God as executed in the Lord Jesus Christ. They are,
in verse 7, I will, says Christ, or I come to do thy will, O God. And in verse 9, I come to do
thy will, O God. So then, in verse 10, by the
which will, by this will, I come to do thy will, O God. By the which will, we are sanctified
once for all through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ. Now this opens wide the meaning
of the passage from Psalm chapter 40, that the will of God was
to bring the many Levitical sacrifices to an end and replace them by
the one sacrifice and death of Christ. which did what other
sacrifices could not do. It perfected the worshiper, it
sanctified them forever. So look at by the which will
or by which will. Owen wrote in the original it
reads in which will and then adding that the will of God he
refers to is that eternal purpose to save a people by means of
the incarnate son and the sacrifice of him. And it was by free and
sovereign mercy on the part of God. It was devised by infinite
wisdom by a mind that can know only all things." In other words,
this is the will of God that the son die on the tree and all
sufficient sacrifice for sin to save forever them that are
sanctified by it. Now, we've read a lot today about
the body of the Lord Jesus Christ as bearing our sin unto death. And I agree, it includes a contrast. from the bodies of the beast
and the sacrifices under the old Levitical system. Hebrews
13, 11, their bodies were killed, they were sacrificed, burned
as typical sin offerings, typical of Christ that was to come. But while the suffering of the
beast and animals under the old economy were confined only and
strictly to the body. The sufferings of Christ were
not confined or limited to the body only. His soul also felt
the heavy weight of his being made sin. And his soul became
exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death. In Matthew 26, 38, Mark
14 and 34. Isaiah has written, chapter 53
and verse 10, at least in the King James, Thou shalt make his
soul an offering for sin. And the margin has it, his soul
shall make offering for sin. In verse 11 there speaks of the
travail of his soul in Isaiah 53 and verse 12 of Isaiah 53
of his soul being poured out unto death. So again, we just
want to emphasize the fact that the word tree here is used by
the Apostle Peter rather frequently in his epistle and in his preaching
to designate the cross. Here are a few times where he
uses it early in the book of Acts. 530, he talks about the
tree. 10 and 39, 13 and 29, and Paul
does the same in Galatians chapter 3 and verse 13. Cursed is he
that hangs upon a tree. If I had just a minute or two,
that refers to Deuteronomy chapter 21. When a man was found guilty
of a transgression of the law that warranted the penalty of
death, that person was stoned to death and that day they were
hanged on a tree by the wayside and left there until the evening. And everyone that passed by and
saw that person hanging on a tree knew that it was for the curse
of the law, the curse of a tree. Cursed is he that hangs upon
a tree. But then look at our text. In
the end of verse 24, what a wonderful thing, the effect that the death
that Christ died had for us, making us dead under sin and
to live under God. That death that Christ died put
us dead under sin. Compare Paul in Romans 4. 7 1 through 4 member the husband
and the wife Dead he said to the law by the body of Christ
to be married or joined or unionized unto another Delivered from the
curse and the condemnation of the law not under the law but
under grace Romans 6 and 14 and None are dead to sin unless they
are also dead to and freed from the curse of the law. None will
be dead to sin unless they are at the same time freed from the
curse of the law. And the law releases none without
a just recompense of reward. And of course none can live unto
righteousness or live unto God except they are made dead to
sin by the body of Christ. Not dead to sinning and not dead
to sin per se, but free absolutely from the condemnation of sin,
dead unto sin. Sin hath nothing in us to condemn
us thereby. The law cannot condemn us, for
Christ bore its curse and answered its every charge. Sin cannot, because Christ was
made sin for us. So by his saving death, the wandering
sheep are all found, they're all brought back to the shepherd
and to the bishop of our soul, into the true fold of our blessed
Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And all of this owing to the
great transaction upon the cross. Hear it in closing, verse 24,
who his own self bear our sin in his own body on the tree that
we being dead to sin should live under righteousness by whose
stripes we are healed. Paul teaches the same thing in
other places. The two things, his own self,
his own body, he bore our sin and freed forever the elect. from the condemnation and the
guilt of sin. Who can condemn the elect? Who is he that condemns? Christ
has died, and we rest in that. We take our refuge and our shelter
only in the saving death of Christ, that and nothing more.