“His Death, Your Life”
(1 Peter 2:24-25)
Series: Strength Through Adversity (1Peter)
Rev. Todd A. Linn, PhD
Henderson’s First Baptist Church, Henderson
Take your Bibles and open to the Book of 1 Peter, chapter 2 (page 815; YouVersion).
While you’re finding that, I want to remind you we are worshiping next Sunday morning at the Fine Arts Center at 10:30 AM. We’re combining all three worship services into one so we can be together on a very special Sunday. I’ll be bringing a Christmas message and we’ll be broadcasting live on WSON. Be sure to invite folks to be with you next Sunday morning for worship at the Fine Arts Center.
We are in 1 Peter chapter 2 this morning and we’ll finish the chapter today. We remember from last week that Peter is teaching Christians how to suffer wrongfully. He says in verse 21, “…Christ…suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps.” And we left off at verse 23, where Peter says that when Christ, “was reviled, (He) did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously.”
So we said when suffering wrongfully, follow your example. Follow Christ. When suffering injustices do as your Savior did. He did not return evil for evil. When spoken against, He didn’t revile in return, He did not threaten, but He committed Himself, His accusers, and the entire situation to God the Father who always does what is right.
We also noted that we are to remember our motivation for this kind of behavior. Two words in verse 21, “for us,” remind us that Jesus suffered in our place. The death of Christ in our place is our motivation, empowering us to forgive those who have wronged us and reminding us why such forgiveness is needful.
Today we’re going to place a magnifying glass over this teaching of Christ’s suffering for us. So let’s study now the last two verses of chapter 2, verses 24 and 25.
Stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word.
24 who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.
25 For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
Pray.
Introduction:
Many of you know that before I was in the ministry I worked for seven years in North Georgia as a parole officer. And as I was beginning to grow in the Lord I discovered God had placed me in a mission field there in North Georgia and I began witnessing to my clients. And in order to share what Christ did for us with these parolees I tried to illustrate Christ’s substitutionary atonement in a way a convicted felon might understand.
And so I would say to him something like, “Imagine you’re in a courtroom being tried for a crime you know you committed. You know you are guilty. You know you are unrighteous. And the judge has rightly found you guilty and, because he is a just judge, he is going to pronounce a sentence of punishment upon you. And as he’s considering the extent of your punishment, imagine a man stands up in the courtroom and offers to take your punishment. The man is innocent and morally upright. He is considered righteous by everyone in the community and everyone in the courtroom. So this man offers to take your punishment. And because what you “owe” to society is exactly what this righteous man is willing to “pay,” imagine that the judge, who is a just judge, allows the man to take your punishment. So the judge punishes the righteous man in your place for your crime. And then, the judge tells you that your punishment is paid for and that you may freely walk out of the courtroom. That’s what Christ did for you.”
These two verses, verses 24 and 25, teach us about what is often called, “The Great Exchange.” In the death of Christ, a great exchange takes place: God gives to Christ what was ours–sin–that He might give to us what was Christ’s–righteousness. Our sin imputed to Christ, His righteousness imputed to us. Our sin charged to Christ’s account, His righteousness credited to our account. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (NIV).”
Let’s look now more closely at these verses. Verse 24 teaches that Christ is our substitute and verse 25 reminds us that Christ is our shepherd. First:
I. He is our Substitute (24)
24 who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree,
The word, “tree” there translates a word was used in Peter’s day as a synonym for the cross. Peter does this intentionally because he is alluding to:
Deuteronomy 21:22-23,
22 “If a man has committed a sin deserving of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree,
23 his body shall not remain overnight on the tree, but you shall surely bury him that day…for he who is hanged is accursed of God.
So what Peter is doing is using the word “tree” here so that these Christians would remember Deuteronomy 21 and see how Christ was made a curse for us, that Christ bore the wrath of God for us, in our place, as punishment for our sins. “He Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree.”
It also recalls Isaiah 53:12, “And He bore the sin of many…” and Hebrews 9:28, “…Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many…”
Like the man in the courtroom, Jesus Christ says, “I will bear your sins. I will take your sin upon Myself, taking also the punishment your sins require.”
24 who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.
Peter reminds Christians that, because Jesus died for our sins, we too have died to our sins, our old lifestyle, that we might live a new way of life, living for righteousness. Jesus took the punishment our sins deserved. His death and resurrection–and our faith in Him and what He has accomplished–empowers us to live differently.
We have died to the dominating rule of sin and so we are now to live differently. It’s much as Paul says in Romans 6:2, “…How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” We are to live differently now. Why? Because God charged our sins to Christ and credited His righteousness to us.
24 who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.
That word “stripes” refers to the beatings and sufferings Christ took as our substitute. By whose stripes you were healed or, as the Phillips translation has it, “It was the suffering that he bore which has healed you.” That’s what that phrase means, “by whose stripes you were healed,” it was the suffering that he bore which has healed you.”
And this phrase, too, is reminiscent of Isaiah 53:5, “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.”
One more passage is helpful as a summary statement of this teaching of Christ’s death for our life. Peter says in the next chapter, chapter 3, towards the end of the chapter, in verse 18, here’s what he says:
1 Peter 3:18, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit.”
“Christ suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust.” Hear that substitutionary language there? Christ suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust. He is just we are unjust. God treats Christ as though He were unjust that He might treat us as though we were just.
Now look I know this is lot of theology here, but it is important that we get it right before we even think about about how it applies. So if your head is kind of swimming, let’s pause for a moment and catch our breath and restate this teaching in a way I think is very helpful.
We are sinners and Christ takes our sins upon Himself. That doesn’t mean He became a sinner. He is not a sinner. He is righteous. But on the cross, for one moment in history, the Father treated the Son as unrighteous. God the Father treated Christ as though He were unrighteous. God the Father treated Christ in a legal sense, regarding Christ in a legal sense as one who is unrighteous. So on the cross Christ is not actually unrighteous, but legally unrighteous.
Why is that important? Because of the exchange, the counterpart. Similarly, the Christian who is credited with the righteousness of Christ is treated as one who is not actually righteous, but legally righteous. Just as Christ is treated not as actually unrighteous, but legally unrighteous, so the Christian is treated not as actually righteous, but legally righteous.
See, actually, you are a sinner. Actually you are unrighteous. But on the cross, through the work of your Substitute, Jesus Christ, God treats not as you actually are, but legally as though you are another. God treats you legally with favor because He treats you legally as Christ. He declares you righteous in Christ.
God doesn’t treat us as we actually are. We are actually sinners. But so many miss this teaching and they think that they can become actually righteous. You share Christ with someone and they’re like, “Oh, I could never be a Christian. I’m so messed up.” What are they really saying? They’re saying, “I can’t be actually righteous.”
So we help them by teaching, “You’re right. You’ll never measure up. You can’t be actually righteous. That’s why Jesus came. That’s why He became your substitute. He is actually righteous, but God treated Him as though He were unrighteous. God treated Christ like you deserved to be treated. And if you’ll follow Him, God will treat you as though you are righteous. You’re not, but He’ll think of you as though you are. He’ll declare you righteous because Christ has substituted Himself for you.
So when Peter says we have died to sins that we might live for righteousness, he’s not talking about our ability to become actually righteous, but rather that we should live in a way that is consistent with our new position in Christ.
When we realize that God treats us with favor, regarding all of our sins–past, present, future–as forgiven in Christ we want to now “live for what is right.” That’s the idea in that phrase, “having died to sins we might live for righteousness.” We sever all ties with the old way of life and live a new way of life.
Christ is our substitute. Then, number two:
II. He is our Shepherd (25)
25 For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
Isaiah 53:6, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”
Before we were saved, we were like sheep going astray. If you’ve ever been driving down a country road and come upon a bunch of sheep you know how ignorant they are. They just stand there looking at you and you can honk the horn and scream and shout, and they just blink at you, unaware of their impending doom and eternal peril. Unless their shepherd comes and rescues them they will wander off into oblivion.
And Peter says that’s how we are before we are saved. We are like sheep going astray. We were once totally unaware of our spiritual condition and unable to better ourselves. We were on our way to oblivion, to hell. So the Shepherd comes to rescue us. And Peter says, “we have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls.”
So the shepherd imagery here is used by Peter not as it is in other places of the Bible, where Christ is pictured as a gentle shepherd, smiling and petting sheep, and so forth. The imagery here is that of one who rescues and oversees our souls. The shepherd imagery here is that of authority and rule. Sheep must follow their Shepherd who rules over them as Lord.
Okay, what do we do with all this?
**How are We to Live? Four Things:
1) Find your Salvation in Christ
The only way to be saved from sin, death, hell, and the grave is to receive Jesus Christ as Lord. You cannot enter heaven by being good. You need someone who is good for you. You cannot enter heaven with the stain of sin all over your body. You need someone who takes your sin upon Himself. You need someone who takes the punishment of sin upon Himself. You need a substitute in order to be saved. “Christ Himself bore your sins in His own body on the tree.” He died for you.
When you find your salvation in Christ you can sing with the hymn-writer:
My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought! My sin, not in part but the whole, Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more, Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
Find your salvation in Christ. Number two:
2) Find your Acceptance in Christ
God will never be any more pleased with you than He is pleased with you in Christ. You cannot become “more acceptable” to God than you already are in Christ.
When a Christian sins he often feels guilt and shame and feels he needs to do something to commend himself to God, to make himself acceptable to God. The beauty of the Gospel is that you are always acceptable to God because of Christ. Because you are “in Christ,” you will never be any more acceptable or any less acceptable to God.
Why? Because you are not treated as you actually are–unrighteous–you are treated as Christ actually is–righteous. God treats you not actually, but legally righteous.
Remember what Jesus said from the cross just before He died? He said, “It is finished.” There is nothing more to be done. You can’t add to the work of Christ. You can’t make yourself any more acceptable to God. Nor can you make yourself any less acceptable to God. It is finished. Christ has done it all.
The reason many Christians struggle with acceptance before God is because they are forever trying to do for themselves what Christ has already done for them. Find your acceptance in Christ. This leads to number three:
3) Find your Identity in Christ
Remember that your life is bound up in Him. You are who you are because of who He is in your place. You are accepted by God in Christ. When you fully realize that God accepts you, you’ll never worry whether others accept you. Your identity is bound up with Christ.
God accepts you in His Son. You needn’t worry, then, whether others like you, love you, or think you’re hip or cool. You won’t always be defending yourself and proving yourself. What matters most to you is what God thinks of you. So remember your identity as one who is “in Christ,” which is the greatest thing in the world. Fourthly:
4) Find your Purpose in Christ
Because God has rescued you, a sheep who had gone astray, because the Shepherd and Overseer of your soul has rescued you from eternal peril, live your life for Him. You died to what was wrong that you may live for what is right. Live as one who follows the Shepherd. He knows what is best for you. Trust Him. Follow Him. He will not lead you astray.
Let’s stand for prayer.
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