Let's open our Bibles together
to 1 Peter chapter 2. 1 Peter chapter 2. Beginning with verse 21. 1 Peter 2 verse 21, For even hereunto
were ye called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving
us an example that ye should follow in his steps, 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 bear our sins in his own body on the tree,
that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness,
by whose stripes you were healed. For ye were as sheep going astray,
but are now returned unto the shepherd and bishop of your souls. Now I have five points this evening.
I pray the Lord would bless us to know these things. Five points. And as we look at these, I want
you to consider this statement, what he did. what he did. And the first is this. He suffered
for us. He suffered for us. Look at verse
21. Even here unto were you called
because Christ also suffered for us. Leaving us an example
that you should follow in his steps. an example that you should
follow. Now, in 2 Timothy 3, Paul wrote
this. He said, Thou hast fully known
my doctrine, my manner of life, my purpose of faith, longsuffering,
charity, patience, persecution, afflictions, which came unto
me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra, everywhere he went. And what persecutions, he says,
I endured. But out of them all, out of all
those persecutions, he said, the Lord delivered me. Yea, and all that will live godly
in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. The early saints,
they suffered. In Hebrews 11, 35, we read that
women received their dead, raised to life again. Others, others
were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might
obtain a better resurrection. And others had trial of cruel
mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover, of bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned. They were sawn
asunder, cut in two, tempted, slain with sword, wondered about
in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, and
tormented. Think of the things the early
church suffered for sake of the gospel. They suffered great things,
and we're told In this world, you're going to have tribulation. It doesn't say you might have
tribulation. It doesn't say you might avoid
it. It says in this world, you're going to have tribulation. The
believer is going to suffer tribulation, going to suffer persecution.
But that's not what we're reading about here. In our text, it says
this, that Christ suffered. the Lord Jesus Christ suffered. He suffered the humiliation of
being made a man. Think about that. Almighty God
took upon himself flesh. He was made a man. And as such,
he suffered like men suffered. He was hungry. He grew thirsty. He knew sorrow.
He was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. He suffered in many ways in which
his people suffer. But listen to our text here.
Verse Peter 2, verse 21, Christ also hath once suffered for sin. We read that when he was in the
garden, he sweat great drops of blood. I've seen men labor. I've seen
men in distress. I have never in my life seen
anybody sweat great drops of blood. He suffered false allegations
against him. On the cross, he suffered being
made sin. You know, we drink, Scripture
says that we drink iniquity like water, and we're really thirsty,
aren't we, huh? The Lord Jesus Christ knew no
sin, yet he was made sin. The Holy Son of God made sin. He died the just for the unjust. He said this, he said, behold,
behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which
is done unto me, wherewithal. Think about this, the Lord, the
Lord hath afflicted me. His Heavenly Father, Almighty
God afflicted him in the day of his fierce anger. Again, he suffered the just for
the unjust and not for his own sins. He had none. He suffered for sins. He suffered
for the sins of his people. When he suffered on the tree,
we were in him. We were one with him. His suffering
and death were our suffering and death, in that he suffered
for us. That which was due us, that which
we deserved, he endured. He did no sin. Look at verse 22. Who did no
sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. He did no sin. He's holy. He's harmless. He's undefiled. He's separate
from sinners. There's no fault to be found
in him. Listen to these scriptures. He
hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin. 1 John 3 verse 5 says, And ye know
that he was manifested to take away our sins, and in him is
no sin. This one who did no sin, He came to take away our sin. It's in Christ that the believer
has no sin. Remember when John saw the Lord
Jesus Christ walking to him? Remember what he said? Behold
the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. It is Christ that came to destroy
the reigning power of sin in the believer. Sinless. Sinless. We can't even begin
to enter in what that means, to be without sin. The Lord Jesus Christ, He was
made in the likeness of sinful flesh. No doubt he looked like
a sinful man. He was born to a sinful woman. He kept company. He kept company
with sinful men. We know that's true. Why else
would they have called him a friend of sinners? He was a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief. He was greatly afflicted. And
finally, he was put to death. He was falsely accused as a sinner. Men called him a sinner. His
enemies called him, referred to him as a sinner. In John chapter
9, our Lord had healed a blind man. And those religious Jews,
they called that man that was blind and they said to him, they
said, give God the praise. They were religious, right? Give
God the praise. And then they said this, we know
that this man is a sinner. Can you imagine? They accused
our Lord of being a sinner. And He had all the sins of all
of His people laid on Him. And He made satisfaction for
those sins. Almighty God was satisfied with
His offering. Sin was the reason of his suffering. But despite all that, he had
no sin in his nature. He never committed a sin. He never had one bad thought. He never thought... As a young
boy, I just suspect when his mom and dad told him to go do
something, he just did it. He didn't like cross his arms
or have a bad attitude about it. Think about that. He's absolutely
sinless. He's that lamb declared in Scripture,
that lamb without spot and without blemish, that firstling of the
flock. Well, third, he was reviled. He was reviled. Look at verse
23, "...who when he was reviled,
reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened
not, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously." Men reviled our Lord. It's no different. It's no different
in our day. They railed on him. They questioned
who he was. They said things like this, thou
that destroyest the temple and build it in three days, save
thyself. Just save thyself. If thou be
the Son of God, as He hung on the cross and suffered, they
said, if thou be the Son of God, why don't you just come down
from the cross? They called Him a devil. They
called Him a wine-bibber, a friend of sinners. The soldiers there
at the cross, they reviled Him. They mocked Him. They clothed
Him in purple. And then they made a crown of
thorns and they plaited it. They thrust that down on his
head and they saluted him. They mocked him. They said, hail,
king of the Jews. And then they took a reed and
they smote him on the head and they spat upon him. And then
they bowed their knees and pretended to worship Him. And after they
finished mocking Him, they took that purple from Him and they
put His own clothes on Him and they led Him out to crucify Him. In all that, He reviled not. When He suffered, He didn't make
them suffer in return. He didn't threaten them with
vengeance. What did He do? He prayed. He prayed to His Father
and He said, forgive them. Forgive them, for they know not
what they do. And He committed His cause to
the Father. He left his case with the judge
of all men. Shall not the judge of the earth
do right? Fourth, what did he do? He bore our sin. Look at verse
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 are healed." David said this, he said, blessed
is the man to whom the Lord will not impute
iniquity. We've committed iniquity. We've
committed sin. But it's not imputed to his people. It's not laid on his people.
It's not charged to his people because it's been charged to
him. It's been charged to the Lord Jesus Christ, our substitute,
that one who stood in the sinner's stead, that one who stood in
our place and he took upon himself the sins of his people. He bore our sins. He stood in our place. He that
knew no sin. He that had no sin, did no sin. He's faultless. On Him were laid the sins of
all of His people for all time. All my iniquity, all my iniquity
on Him was laid. He nailed them all to the tree.
Jesus, the debt of my sin fully paid. What's the rest of it? He paid the ransom for me. Christ bore our sins in his body
on a tree. And that being so, we are justified,
pardoned, redeemed by God. Turn to Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53. I remember, on more than one
occasion, Brother Henry saying to read this passage. You mentioned this the other
day. Read this passage, read these verses of scripture, and
when you see the word, I, when you see the word, we, When you see us all, the believer, you can put your
name right there, right there. Look at that, verse 4. Surely
he hath borne Dave's griefs, carried Mike's sorrows. Yet we
did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he,
who's he talking about here? The Lord Jesus Christ. He was wounded. Terry's transcript. Think about that. Can you put
your name there? He was bruised for Perry's iniquities. The chastisement of our peace. Think about that. You put your
name right there. It was upon him, and with his
stripes, Eric, I just put my name there,
healed. All we like sheep have gone astray,
we've turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord hath laid
on him. laid on the Lord Jesus Christ,
the iniquity. That's all. Put your name there. Can you find comfort? Comfort
in those words? And let me ask you this, and
I'll ask myself this. If Christ bore my sin, scripture
says he did, then why do I try to continue
to bear them? We don't bear them, do we? As a believer, I want you to
listen to these words again. His own self bear our sins in
his own body on a tree. He bore my sin. It was mine, but not any longer. Not if he bore it. He took it
upon himself. And if he bore my sin, I am clear. The debt's paid. Sin's been punished. Listen to this again. Blessed
is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. The Lord Jesus Christ, I ask
you, what did he do? Well, here we read he suffered
for us. We read here that he did no sin. We read that he was
reviled, that he bore our sin. And then my last point is this. He brought us back. He brought
us back. Look at verse 25. Ye were as sheep going astray,
but are now returned unto the shepherd and bishop of your souls. We, we were as sheep going astray,
but that's not the case anymore. It says, but are now returned. Now this word on the surface,
it might lead you to believe that this act of returning, that
that's the work of the sheep. But you know that word, if you
look it up, here's a meaning. to cause to return. It means to bring back. Turn with me to Luke 15. I know
this is a familiar passage. I know we look at it often. Luke
15. We began the service with it. Look beginning with verse 4. Luke 15 verse 4. What man of
you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, if one of them goes astray, does
he not leave the ninety and nine and go into the wilderness? and
go after that which is lost. That's what he came to do. He
came to seek and save that which was lost. And he goes after that
which was lost until he finds it. And when he hath found it,
he lays it on his shoulders rejoicing. And when he cometh home, He returns
it. He calleth together his friends
and his neighbors, saying unto them, Rejoice with me, for I
have found my sheep which was lost. I say unto you likewise,
Joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than
over ninety and nine just persons which have no need of repentance. This isn't a hireling. You know,
the hireling fleeth. This isn't a hireling, this is
the shepherd, who's, they're his own sheep. There he is. The hireling, when he sees a
wolf coming, he's going to leave the sheep and he's going to flee. And the wolf catches him and
scatters the sheep. What man of you, he says, having
a hundred sheep? The shepherd loves his sheep. He cares for his sheep. They're his sheep. And scripture
says he laid down his life for the sheep. And this sheep that
we read here, where was he going? Astray. That's a picture of each and
every one of us. But our Lord said this, of all
which thou hast given me, I'll lose nothing, not one. And he goes after that which
was lost until he finds it. And when he finds it, oh, this
is such a beautiful picture. What's he do? He picks it up
and he puts it on his shoulders He bears it. He doesn't grab
it by the nap of the neck. He doesn't wrap a rope around
it and drag it back home. He lays it on his shoulder and
then he returns it. It's his. It's his sheep. He has compassion on it. He reaches
down and he and he takes it up in his arms. Maybe he found it
in a thicket of briars. Trapped, I don't know. I've heard
of sheep, like if they get wet, they can actually just lay there.
They get waterlogged, they can't even get up. Maybe it's stuck
in the deep miry clay. Wherever it is, we know this,
he reached down. He reached down and he puts it
on his shoulder and he bears it. Listen to these words from
Isaiah 46. He says, even to your old age,
I am he. And even to whore hairs, even
to gray hairs, will I Carry you. I've made you. I'll bear you. I'll carry you. I will deliver you. Listen to our text. For we, ye
were as sheep going astray, but are now returned unto the shepherd
and bishop of your souls. Is there any question, any question
at all with regard to who did the returning? We were as sheep going astray,
walking our own way, but almighty God in his grace and mercy, he returns us back to our shepherd. our Master, the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to the words of this hymn.
We had wondered, we all had wondered, far from the fold of the shepherd
of the sheep, but he sought us where we were, on the mountain bleak and bare. He didn't leave us there, did
he? says He brought us home. He brought us home and brought
us safely home to God. Who did it? He did it. He did it. He did it all. I ask
again, what did the Lord Jesus Christ do? He suffered for us. We read He did no sin. We read
He was reviled, that He bore our sin And why did He do these
things? That He might bring us home. Christ also hath once suffered
for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God,
being put to death in the flesh and quickened, quickened by the
Spirit. Well, in closing, just one more
time, let's read through this passage here, 1 Peter 2. Verse
21, for even here unto where you
called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example
that you should follow his steps, 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 bear 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. right now returned unto the shepherd
and bishop of your souls. All right.