Christ - For Us

[00:00:01] Thank Lord God, as we now come before the preaching of Your Word in which Your Spirit searches our hearts, I pray for Your wonderful working, Your shining light upon our understanding. May the light of Your Word shine into our understanding through the wonderful Holy Spirit, so that we might see, we might grasp, we might grow in our belief and hope and encouragement and that these wonderful truths would reach deep into our heart, into our soul, enlivening us to Christ and all that he has done for us. [00:01:07] So I pray that you would bless the preaching of Your Word, and I seek the inspiration, the anointing of Your Holy Spirit to proclaim these things. [00:01:25] I pray all this in Jesus'wonderful name. Amen. [00:01:31] Well, I'm going to be delivering our message from the same text as last Sunday morning. [00:01:41] Last Sunday morning, we were in this particular passage, first Peter, chapter two, verses 21 through 24 or 25. And last Sunday we especially focused on verse 21 here, which teaches that Christ suffered for us and that we are to follow Christ in his sufferings. And now this morning, we're going to focus in on verse 24, where we learn once again that because of what Christ has done on the cross, well, he did it for us for our benefit. So with that in mind, let's now attend carefully to the reading of God's Holy Word. One Peter, chapter two, beginning in verse 21. [00:02:26] For to this you have been called because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you might follow in his steps. [00:02:36] He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting Himself to Him who judges justly. [00:02:51] He Himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness by his wounds. You have been healed, for you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls. This is the word of the Lord. Amen. You may be seated. [00:03:31] Well, if someone were to come along and offer you help in an area of need, in an area where you struggle, wouldn't you say that that person was for you? Well, this is exactly what Peter is getting at, what he's teaching us here in verses 21 to 25 of First Peter two, jesus really is for us, for his people. [00:04:02] And we see this in verse 24, where we see that he enables us, through his work, to die to sin and to live. Notice the contrast. Die to something bad and live to something good, to righteousness. So think about it. [00:04:22] What's the source of so many of our problems and troubles and fights and squabbles and so on in our lives? [00:04:35] Isn't it so often ourselves, our crazy, insane, stupid sin, our believing that we know better than god how to live life that we know better than God, even the path to blessings in life. [00:04:56] So where do we find help for our struggle with the insanity of our own sin? [00:05:04] Well, our help is found in Christ, who is for us. [00:05:11] He Himself bore our sins in his body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. [00:05:23] Let this great Gospel truth of verse 24 here grip you penetrate deep down through Christ saving work on the cross. We have died to sin's terrible, horrible power over us, and that then frees us so that we can now live to what is good and right and the path to blessings. [00:05:55] So let's journey into this great verse 24 here. Beholding how exactly Christ is for us. [00:06:08] And what I want to do is start with zeroing in on the first part of verse 24 here in chapter two of First Peter, he Himself notice how personal this is. He himself bore our sins. [00:06:24] And again, it's personal now it's for us. He Himself bore our sins in his body on the tree. [00:06:32] This is no disconnected, cold, impersonal God, is it? He Himself bore our sins in his body on the tree. [00:06:41] When you think about all of the exhortations and commands that Peter lays on us right here in this single epistle alone, where he writes things such as isn't that in chapter one, verse 1618, verse 16, you shall be holy, for I am holy, he says, be holy in all Your conduct. When you consider things like this, we can become greatly discouraged. [00:07:15] We can even sink into a deep state of despair over just how short we fall of this call this command be holy as I am holy. Be holy in all of Your conduct. [00:07:32] We fall short, incredibly short of that kind of a command. [00:07:40] And Peter, he knows. [00:07:45] He understands our struggles. The Holy Spirit who inspired Peter to write this stuff down, he knows what our struggles are like. After all, the Gospels record for us peter's own failures, shortcomings, faults, sins. [00:08:06] And so what Peter does is address us with something that he learned. Peter directs our gaze away from ourself to Christ, who is for us, to Christ as our sin bearer. Christ, who took the full weight of our guilt, the full load of our sin upon Himself on the cross as our substitute. [00:08:34] And there Jesus drank the cup of God's wrath in all of its righteous fury, so that the entire weight of our sin, of our guilt, of our foolishness would be lifted off of our backs forever. [00:08:53] Christ is for us. [00:08:59] Furthermore, the very thought of what Christ endured on that cross for us, what he suffered, what he endured, the flowing blood, the shame, the humiliation, the rejection, the physical and spiritual emotional suffering, agony, the rejection, he endured it all. Not only to do away with our guilt, but also so that we would die to sin's domination over us. [00:09:37] And the realization of such suffering for us, for you, should soften our calloused hearts. [00:09:51] It should melt us with grief, a repenting grief and gratitude for such a sacrifice for me, for you, for such a profound love, such a self giving suffering. Again for me, for you. [00:10:14] Now, while Christ, as the sinbearer, suffered on the cross, we need to realize that he suffered in his own soul. [00:10:25] Think about Christ for a moment. He is the holy, the pure second person of the Godhead. [00:10:34] He is the One who knew no sin, but who, out of sheer grace, out of sheer love, became sin for us, for you. [00:10:48] The depths, the anguish of his heart and soul that he must have experienced on the cross as he was bearing our sins on the tree, bearing under the weight of the sheer ugliness, the foulness of our sin that all laid upon him. What he endured for us, the whore, the revulsion that he experienced, must have been all the worse when we consider that our sin, all of that foul, putrid rebellion and so forth, wasn't laid upon him gradually, but rather it was placed upon Him in just one huge, stinking heap. [00:11:41] And as Christ then on the cross, became sin for us, and because the Father cannot have sin in his presence, the judgment of Isaiah 59, verse two fell upon Christ as our substitute. But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you. [00:12:04] And thus Christ, who had only known forever and ever and ever the love of the Father, and such intimacy and such warmth and closeness, he, as the Father, separated from all that foul, putrid sin being laid upon him. Christ cried out in agony of soul, with the deepest sense of abandonedness and alienation and loneliness. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? [00:12:38] He was forsaken for you, for me, for us. [00:12:45] The very thought of our suffering Savior bearing our sins on that tree, the very thought of Christ paying the price that we rightfully should have paid, the very thought of Christ being abandoned so that we would never be abandoned again, the realization of such pain, such suffering, such agony for us should soften our hearts. [00:13:17] It should break through that hardness which we so often experience and live with. It should break down our stubbornness. It should melt us with grief and gratitude for such a deep, profound, giving sacrifice for us, for you. [00:13:48] To further grasp what Christ went through, the humiliation, the shame and the horror of it all, let's also consider who he is and what Christ is. And perhaps that realization might further stir our affections, our gratitude for what he has done for us. Consider that the One who died on that tree wasn't just an ordinary man. [00:14:22] He is the eternal God. [00:14:25] Come to earth for us. Christ is the second person of the Holy Trinity. Remember what he said in John's gospel truly, truly I say to you before Abraham was, I am he's, the Eternal God. Imagine God himself came down from the glory and the joy and the splendor of heaven out of sheer magnificent grace and mercy, out of sheer undeserved love to suffer, to die for you. [00:15:02] Consider also that the one who bore our sins in his body is in fact the one who is the God of glory, a glory that is almost beyond imagination. John One and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. There John 114 he's full of glory, and yet there's the cross for us. [00:15:32] Revelation, chapter one. John writes on turning I saw one like a Son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white like wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire. John is struggling to even begin to describe the glory that he beheld in Jesus, there in heaven. And he continues his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars. From his mouth came a sharp, two edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. When I saw him. What was John's response to such majesty, to such glory, to such splendor? When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. [00:16:30] But he laid his right hand on me, saying, Fear not. I am the first and the last and the living one. I died, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Hades and death. [00:16:42] Furthermore, that sin bearer who bore our sin for us is the Creator of the universe. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. Moreover, the one who is for us has all power, even over creation itself. Matthew eight and behold, there arose a great storm on the seas, that the boat was being swamped by the waves. But he was asleep, and they woke him, saying, Save us, Lord, we're perishing. And he said to them, why are you afraid, o you of little faith? Then he rose and he rebuked the winds and the sea. And there was a great calm, and they marveled, what sort of man is this that even the winds and the sea obey him? [00:17:40] The bearer of our sins is also the beloved of the Father. And behold, a voice from heaven said, this is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. [00:17:53] And he is also the one who has compassion for the lost. Matthew Nine when he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. [00:18:13] We need to allow the sheer wonder and grace and love to fill our hearts with awe and gratitude for what this God has endured, has suffered, what he has done, what he has accomplished for us. He Himself bore our sins in his body on the tree. [00:18:43] Christ, the eternal God of glory, the Creator of all there is the beloved of the Father. He Himself personally bore my sins, your sins? He took the full weight of the horror of our sin, our shame, our guilt upon Himself on that cross. And there he drank the fullness of the wrath of God down to the very last dreg drop for you. [00:19:18] He did that for you. [00:19:22] And the fact that he did this for us, that he bore our sins, well, this raises a question why? [00:19:34] Why did he do that for you? For us? For me? Well, thankfully, verse 24 gives us the reason and he gives us the purpose behind that. [00:19:47] It continues that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. Why did Christ take our sins upon Himself on the cross? That word that is really critical, that word that indicates purpose, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness, what good news. [00:20:18] Now we most commonly, I think, think of Christ as dying for our sins so that we can be forgiven of all of our sins and be reconciled to our Heavenly Father. And that is a completely correct answer. [00:20:34] But there's more as to why Christ bore our sins in his body, on that tree. [00:20:41] It's not just so that we could be forgiven and not just so we could be reconciled to our Heavenly Father, but it's also that right now, in this present life, we might die to sin. [00:20:55] And through our dying to sin, we can then really begin to live, to live to righteousness. And this is huge in terms of the why Jesus did this for us. So remember the context, the setting of this particular verse before and after this passage here. It's all about Peter's writing about our conduct, what it should be like in the midst of suffering and what our conduct should be like before the eyes of a watching world. And Peter's concern is that in the midst of hardship, in the midst of persecution, in the midst of suffering, his concern is that we should live holy lives, righteous lives, honorable lives. [00:21:47] And Peter knows too well that we're not really able to do that in our own strength. [00:21:54] Sin is just too energetic, it's just too powerful. So powerful in fact, that what we really need is a complete break from it to die to it. [00:22:09] In fact, what we really need is divine help to be able to break from it and die to it and be raised to newness of life. So with that in mind, listen again to verse 24 he himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. Isn't that glorious? [00:22:34] Christ died on the cross, so first of all, that we might die to sin. [00:22:40] This is hope. [00:22:42] This is real help. [00:22:44] It should remind us of a similar statement that the Apostle Paul made in Romans, chapter six, verse two, where Paul keying off of this fact that we've died to sin through our union with Christ. Paul asks this question how can we who have died to sin still live in it? [00:23:06] Well, because we've been united to Christ in his saving work on the cross, we have undergone a momentous change in our relationship to sin. [00:23:19] We have in reality died to sin in terms of its control over our lives. [00:23:29] In other words, we are to see ourselves. Romans, chapter six. Paul is really arguing that we are to now see ourselves as we are now in Christ. [00:23:42] We are to understand ourselves as someone who, through our union with Christ's death, we have died to sin. We have died to sin's, control, domination, rule over us because of our union to Christ's death. For us to continue living as if sin was in control, as if sin was our master, would be a total contradiction to the work of Christ, to the teachings of Scripture. How could Paul ask, how can we who have died to sin still live in it? How can you continue pursuing it, you who profess to be trusting in the saving work of Jesus Christ, do you ever think of yourself in this way, like Paul is calling for in Romans six, that you have died to sin? [00:24:35] Has that reality ever penetrated and formed a foundational point of your understanding of your new life in Christ? [00:24:47] The death? Christ died. He died for us with practical benefits for this present life. Now, his death really did break the power of sin over us. [00:25:04] It broke sin. We died to sin in terms of its penalty as well as its power over us. Dr. Ligand Duncan observes this in Romans six. Paul emphasizes how radical the break of the dominion of sin is by using three words crucified, dead and buried. [00:25:25] You can't find three words that better stress the discontinuity between our old life and our new life. [00:25:34] If you have been crucified, you are good and dead. [00:25:38] If you've died, you are good and dead. And if you've been buried, you are good and dead. [00:25:46] Licking Duncan says so. Can you see that the good news, which Paul is declaring in Romans Six, is really the very same good news that the Apostle Peter is proclaiming here in verse 24 of one peter, chapter two, he himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live for righteousness. [00:26:13] Scripture so consistent with itself. [00:26:18] This is incredibly good news. [00:26:21] Think of it in this way our salvation in Christ is a complete package. [00:26:28] Our salvation in Christ is a complete package. It's not that Christ gets the ball rolling and then it's up to us to add in what's missing through our own efforts. That's actually Roman Catholicism. [00:26:43] In Roman Catholicism, Christ gets the ball rolling through the cross and then we begin going through all the works, making up for what's deficient in the cross. [00:26:58] No, the saving work of Jesus Christ in his death and resurrection is a complete saving package that has incredible meaning for our life now, extending on through eternity. In Christ, we not only receive the full forgiveness of our sins, but we are also released from our bondage to sin. We're made righteous in Christ, we're justified, we are resurrected to a newness of life in which we begin to receive the grace we need to increasingly say no to sin and yes to righteousness. [00:27:39] You see, Christ really is truly for us. For you. [00:27:48] Going a bit further with verse 24. Here we see that Christ has not only borne our sins on that tree, that we might die to sin so that we might be released from our bondage to sin. But we also see here now that Christ bore our sins so that we would live so that we would live to righteousness. Again, christ really is for us. [00:28:14] So taking this here a step further, because we've died to sin and evil, because further, we've been made alive to God, to those things which God loves, we now look at sin differently. There's a change in even how we view sin. [00:28:35] Our sin, which moved Christ to go to that terrible, horrible cross, our filth which was laid upon him, should no longer be attractive to us. [00:28:50] Why do people sin? Because it's attractive, it appeals. [00:29:01] But because we're now alive to Christ, sin becomes increasingly ugly. [00:29:09] It becomes something too appalling to treasure, to pursue, to indulge in any longer. [00:29:18] And of course, we all know why we sin. [00:29:21] We all know, really we do, why we do the things that are wrong in the sight of God. We do this because sin makes promises, but they are deceptive promises. [00:29:36] Sin deceptively promises, blessings, pursue it's. It's like sin says, do this, pursue this path, and you'll be happy, you'll be blessed, you'll receive good things if you only come down my path. But again, because we are now alive to righteousness, we see the deception, we see the reality. Sin begins to lose its appeal, its attractiveness. And we begin to realize that the things we could gain through sin will only turn to gravel, they will only turn bitter in our mouths. [00:30:18] By God's grace, we really begin to see sin for what it really is. The veil over our hearts, over our eyes that hid its hideousness has been lifted, it's been removed. And we now begin to see sin for what it really is. We begin to smell its stench, because we're now alive to God. [00:30:44] Furthermore, looking here at the very end of verse 24, where Peter says that we live to righteousness because of the work of Christ, because Christ is for us, living to righteousness means that not only are we now aware of how bad sin is and its deceit, and all of that also a new passion. Whereas previously we had a passion for sin, we now have a new passion, a new interest. [00:31:17] That new passion, that new interest begins to dominate our hearts and our desires, living for what's true, what's really good, what's really right, what's really beautiful. [00:31:32] One thing I have found through the years is that those who truly and savingly believe upon Jesus Christ, they develop a growing love for God's commands. And I'm always very self conscious when I use that word command or commands, because sin in us goes, oh no, there's that awful word, God's commands. [00:31:59] He's hemming us in, he's restricting us, he's putting up barriers to blessings, to good things in life. But no, when we're made alive to righteousness, we now begin to see the blessings in commands. [00:32:15] You see, it's almost like before Christ. We see commands as anti blessing. [00:32:24] And now we see commands as pro blessing, the path to blessings, because we've been born again and we've been made alive to righteousness. Deep down, there's something in us that really wants to go down that path, really wants to live for righteousness, because we are now alive to it. [00:32:49] This is also why Christians down through the ages, for example, have loved Psalm 119 blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord. Blessed are those who keep his commandments, who seek Him with their whole heart, who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways. Oh, that my ways would be steadfast in keeping your statutes. [00:33:13] We love even just those opening lines of Psalm 119. [00:33:20] This whole change in our desires is because Christ is for us, he's for you, and because he is for us. We are now alive to righteousness. And this is a wonderful, beautiful, glorious thing. [00:33:37] And so, if you're a believer, doesn't all of this tug at something in your heart? [00:33:46] Don't you desire that dying to sin and being alive to righteousness here, that that would be true of you, that you would really increasingly see the foulness of sin and desire righteousness? [00:34:06] So how in God's creation can we begin to attain this dying to sin, living for righteousness? [00:34:15] Our help is found in Christ, who is for us. He Himself bore our sins in his body, on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. [00:34:29] The dominion, the rule of those old desires, those old affections, dies a death in our hearts. [00:34:39] We die to our old love of going against God. We begin to see just the stench, the smell of sin and its ugliness. And thus even the ways of fallen humanity around us no longer have the appeal that it once did. [00:35:00] And because Christ in his cross really is for us, new desires and new affections begin to come into our hearts, grow in our hearts, and we become alive to God. And because now we begin to see the beauty of righteousness, we begin to desire, to walk in obedience and to walk in God honoring holiness. [00:35:27] And so let Christ, being for you, grip your heart deep down inside through Christ's saving work on the cross. [00:35:44] You have died to sin. [00:35:46] You have died to its terrible control, its domination over you. So that this is good news. So that you can now live to what is good and true and right and beautiful. [00:36:02] Isn't this the very best of gospel? Good news, christ for you. Oh, believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, you and your household. Let's pray. [00:36:26] Our Lord Jesus Christ, what an incredible thought, what an incredible truth that you are for us. [00:36:39] I pray that this great gospel reality through the power of your Holy Spirit would grip us, would begin to truly penetrate deep inside to change us, to change our very affections and our very desires and to give us hope in our struggle with the deceits of sin, in our struggle to grow in living for what is right. [00:37:18] To grow in our loving what is holy and pure and true. [00:37:25] So help us to believe, to understand and make Christ for us, really impact us at the deepest levels of our heart and soul, so that we would live for your glory, so that we would know the blessings of Christ for us even in this present life. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.