in your Bibles to 1 Peter 2. 1 Peter 2 for our meditation before the Lord's Supper. The bulk of 1 Peter is practical in nature. The doctrinal foundation is chapter 1, verses 1 to 12. And then after that comes mostly practical exhortation for the people of God on how to live before God in this present world.
There's heavy emphasis by Peter on submission. We are to submit to government, we are to submit as slaves to masters, wives are to submit to husbands, and younger people are to submit to their elders. So that is a key emphasis by the Apostle in this passage, or in this book. Specifically, I want to focus on verses 21 to 25 in 1 Peter chapter 2. but I do want to begin reading in verse 13.
So 1 Peter 2 at verse 13, therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether to the king as supreme or to governors as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men, as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the King. Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh.
For this is commendable if, because of conscience toward God, one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow his steps, who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth, who, when he was reviled, did not revile in return.
When he suffered, he did not threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously, 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. For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls. Amen. Let us pray.
Our Father, we thank you for that written word that you have given to us. We thank you that it demonstrates from cover to cover the glory of Jesus Christ and the salvation of sinners. How we thank you, Father, for this redemptive word, how we thank you for this inspired word, and how we pray that even now we would receive it, that it would strengthen and encourage our hearts. And God, cause us to reflect afresh upon the sufferings of Christ on behalf of his people.
Help us as well to reflect upon that death on the cross that was not for sins or crimes that he had committed, but he stood in our place. He was our substitute. He was our surety. And in this week, greatly rejoice, Lord God.
We thank you as well that the grave did not contain him. We thank you for that resurrection on the third day and for his current session now at your right hand. And even now we pray that from that vantage point, He would send the Spirit to strengthen us, to help us, and to guide us as we study your holy word. And we ask these things through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Amen.
Introduction
Well, very simply, what the Bible sets forth in terms of Christ's suffering and death for his people is not in the first place exemplary. In other words, that means it's not in the first place an example for us on how we ought to live. Now, having said that, the apostles and Jesus himself did point to his example to encourage believers in the life of Christian ethics. The purpose primarily of Christ's work was redemptive, it was to secure the salvation of his people, but then secondarily we see Jesus himself, as I said, we see Peter in this particular passage, we see the Apostle Paul in Philippians chapter 2, point the people of God to the Lord Jesus to study his example on how they are to function in the world around them.
And that is precisely what Peter is doing in this section in verses 18 to 25.
The Duty: Servants Submit
Notice that first of all he provides or sets forth a duty, a responsibility, a command. That's found in verse 18. Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. This is a very curious and a very interesting sort of exhortation.
We would think that this is contrary. No, you report those harsh masters. Get those harsh masters fired. You get them arrested.
You get them removed from the scene. That's not Peter's tact. Peter says not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. You're to submit.
You are paid to submit. Servants in this capacity were not unpaid laborers. They were paid. In fact, much of the Roman Empire was made up of slaves.
And they had rights. They had a lot of blessings and things that the government afforded to them. So it was a bit different. than a shadow slavery that we have seen in our history. But then notice he highlights the importance of this in verse 19.
He says, for this is commendable. If because of conscience toward God, one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. In other words, you are first and foremost responsible to the Lord. As a worker, as an employee, as a servant, as one, under the authority of another, your primary or chief responsibility is to the living and true God.
That is the orientation that the people of God are always to have and possess. And then in verse 20, he says, what credit is it if when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? What's the implication? You deserved it.
You should take it patiently. And then he goes on to say, when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. So you see, the recurring emphasis in Peter is that our conduct before godless masters is nevertheless to bring glory and honor to our God. We live first and foremost for Him, and our conduct before our human or earthly masters is no exception. wherever you find yourself, whatever part of the week it is, God is the primary orientation for the believer's life.
Now he points to the example of the Lord Jesus Christ as a great example of one who suffered, of one who did it silently, of one who, when he was reviled, didn't revile back. And that is the example to which Peter calls us to consider.
Christ's Redemptive Suffering Described
So I want to look first at the description of Christ's redemptive suffering in verses 21 to 24a, and then secondly, the result of Christ's redemptive suffering in verses 24b and 25. Again, he's pointing to it as an example for how we ought to function in terms of our human masters. But it does not take away from the reality that the primary emphasis in Scripture is that Christ's sufferings weren't first for our example, but were first for our salvation and redemption. Now, in terms of the description of his redemptive suffering, if you look at verses 21 to 24a,
Isaiah 53 as Background
the background is specifically Isaiah the prophet, Isaiah 53. If you look at Peter here in chapter 2, verse 22, it corresponds to Isaiah 53.9. It's a direct quotation. But verse 23 also is reminiscent of Isaiah 53 7.
Verse 24 is reminiscent of verses 12, 4, and 5 in Isaiah 53. And then 1 Peter 2 25 is Isaiah 53 6. So whether it's a direct quotation or it's an allusion, that's the background for Peter's exhortation. He is thinking of the prophet Isaiah.
He is thinking of Christ's redemptive work. He is thinking of what Christ has accomplished on behalf of his people. And it's what the prophet Isaiah spoke that is forefront in his mind. And then notice
The Person of Christ: True Man
in terms of the person of Christ, he wants to illustrate and he wants to highlight. Remember that Jesus was one of us. Jesus was a true man. Jesus took on our humanity with all the essential properties and all the common infirmities thereof, yet without sin.
Jesus was called to submit. Oftentimes women hear that word from Paul and Peter that they are to submit to their own husbands. And for whatever reason, the reflex in our day and age is to recoil. Oh no, you're not the boss of me.
I don't have to submit to anybody. We all have to submit to a whole lot of folks. We all have to submit to governing authority. We all have to submit to governing authority within the context of the local church.
We all have to submit to one another in the fear of Christ, according to Paul in Ephesians chapter five. Jesus submitted to his earthly parents and they weren't perfect. Jesus submitted to the civil magistrate. Jesus ultimately submitted to the will of his father.
Submission is not bad. submission is a good thing. If God calls us to it, we ought to embrace it, and we ought to carry it out wholeheartedly. So Christ was one of us in context that we're not completely unsimilar to what we face. For to this you were called.
Verse 21, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow his steps. And then notice in verse 24, he says, who himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree. He wants to highlight that true humanity of Christ. It wasn't an apparition.
It wasn't sort of a metaphor for what it is to be submissive. He was a genuine man submitting to all things that fell upon him. And he did it without complaint. He did it without grumbling.
He did it without whining. He did it without the sorts of things that oftentimes characterize his people. And so Peter is holding this up to us so that we may follow. And then notice as well,
The Sinlessness of Christ
he highlights the fact that in terms of the person of Christ, he is the sinless one. Again, Isaiah 53, 9, quoted by Peter in verse 22, it says, who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth. I think John Gill makes a good observation. He says, neither was guile found in his mouth.
Then he says, though it was diligently sought for by the scribes and Pharisees. Think about that for just a moment. We live in a day and age where a politician said something 35 years ago, and somebody has a transcript of it, and they bring it out to show what a terrible guy he is. There's an investigative authority out there that can find dirt on each and every one of us, I'm sure.
If you think, well, you know, I'm untouchable, OK, just let them have a go or a run at you. They'll find something. I mean, things that you said in first grade, I mean, you know, a fit of passion, it can be used against you. I've often thought, you know, with reference to your emails, be careful.
They may end up in a deposition against you. So be very careful what you say. how you say it, and that sort of thing. So think about what Gil says. The scribes and the Pharisees were looking for this.
They were trying to find Jesus. They were trying to trap him. They were trying to show him to be a fraud. They were trying to display that he was a fake, that he wasn't what he purported to be.
And while the prophet had said this, and while Peter is applying this, he committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth. He had people out there looking for this. He had people out there that would have gladly embraced this. He had people that would have seized upon it.
Gil goes on to say there was no deceit in his lips, no falsehood in his doctrine, any more than there was immorality in his conversation. He is the sinless one. And then that is magnified by Peter. And again, in example form for us, so that we don't whine and complain and grumble and snivel.
Notice what he says in verse 22, who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth. And now a concrete illustration of that in verse 23, who when he was reviled, did not revile in return. Remember before the Sanhedrin, the Lord Christ is accused of horrific things, but he never answers back until he's abjured by the priest to swear with reference to his origin or with reference to his identity. But he doesn't revile back.
He never says things like I think we would say. I'm framed. I'm an innocent man. I wasn't doing the things that you have said that I'm doing.
This is all fake. It's a sham. It's fake news. He doesn't do that.
He willingly submits himself in the midst of suffering. On the cross, you see the same thing. Those wretched, unbelieving Jews at the foot of the cross are mocking. He saved others.
Let's see him come down from the cross and save himself. He doesn't revile back in that posture. He doesn't revile back. He doesn't complain at them.
He doesn't grumble at them. This is a demonstration of his righteousness. So not only does he not revile, not only does he not grumble, not only does he not complain, but he actively committed himself to him who judges righteously. Notice in verse 23, he actively committed himself to him who judges righteously.
God was his protector. God was his shield. God was his all in all. And if his conscience is clear before God, then that's what matters.
That's what needs to matter with us. If our consciences are clear before God most high, it doesn't matter what men say ultimately. It doesn't matter what men do. If we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, that's everything.
We're the richest men and women on the face of the earth. Those who have been justified freely by God's grace. There's no better position, there's no better posture, there's no better status for one to possess than that reality. So Christ commits himself to him who judges righteously.
Turn for just a moment to chapter four. This is a disposition that the suffering church is to imbibe as well. 1 Peter 4, verse 17, for the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God. And if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? Now, if the righteous one is scarcely saved, where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?
Therefore, let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful creator. So like the Savior, so the servant. We need to commit ourselves to this living and true God. Now back to our particular text.
When we look at this, He committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth. He was reviled, but He didn't revile in return. This highlights, again, the true humanity of Jesus Christ, the fact that He is sinless, but as well the fact that He is the acceptable offering. Leviticus chapter 23, the Lord God, through Moses there, makes it very, very plain that when you came to worship at the tabernacle and then temple, you didn't pick the worst of your flock.
You didn't pick the one that was lame. You didn't pick the one that was blind. You didn't pick the one that lost the recent fight in the farm, you know, in the farmyard. You picked the best.
You pick the very best. And when Jesus comes, John the Baptist says, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. God provided the best when it came time to provide a sacrifice. And that emphasis is obvious in Peter's teaching here.
He was reviled, he didn't revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously. He is true man, he is sinless, and he is in fact the acceptable one with reference to this sacrifice to God on behalf of his people.
The Work of Christ on the Tree
So that's his person, but then notice the work of Christ, the fact that he suffered and died. Verse 24, who himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we having died to sins might live for righteousness. He suffers and he dies on behalf of his people. Turn back for just a moment to the book of Deuteronomy.
Deuteronomy chapter 21. Peter refers to this tree that Jesus died on. Contrary to Jehovah's Witnesses and their nonsense about the stake or the cross or whatever, it really doesn't matter if you call it a tree or you call it a cross. The idea is the same.
There was this instrument of execution that our Lord Jesus Christ was hung on. This instrument of death that he was hung on. whether it was a tree or a cross. It was a cross made of a tree. So we ought to have no confusion about this.
For those of you who have never been sort of exposed to Jehovah's Witness, they think the whole idea of a cross is just crazy and ludicrous and it was this state. What difference does it make? It was a cross, according to scripture, made out of wood from a tree. But I think the use of tree does reminiscently suggest a connection to Deuteronomy 21.
Notice in verse 22, if a man has committed a sin deserving of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain overnight on the tree, but you shall surely bury him that day, so that you do not defile the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, for he who is hanged is accursed of God. See that idea, that concept, he was hung on a cross, he was hung on a tree, that means he was accursed and you must remove his body before the sunset. But notice prior to that in verse 18, it's a passage that I think we visited some months ago in terms of corporal punishment for criminal offenders. Notice what it says in verse 18.
If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and who, when they have chastened him, will not heed them, then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city, to the gate of his city. "'And they shall say to the elders of his city, "'This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. "'He will not obey our voice. "'He is a glutton and a drunkard.
"'Then all the men of his city "'shall stone him to death with stones. "'So you shall put away the evil from among you "'and all Israel shall hear and fear.'" Now, it is intriguing that in Matthew's gospel, I don't wanna get too far afield here, but I wanna show you a connection that I think the New Testament picks up on with reference to this passage in Deuteronomy 21, not just verses 22 and 23, but also verses 18 to 21. Remember the complaint of the religious leaders about Jesus in Matthew's gospel in Matthew chapter 11? They said he was a wine bibber and a glutton.
He was a wine-bibber and a glutton. The two offenses that are brought out in this passage with reference to the incorrigible son. In other words, when these parents brought their son, their adult son, who was criminal, to the elders of the city in order to be stoned, that was the formal accusation. He's a wine-bibber and a glutton.
Well, in Matthew's gospel, Jesus recognizes that his contemporaries accuse him of the same thing. I think the allusion is to Deuteronomy. They were suggesting that he was an apostate. They were suggesting that he was worthy of death.
They were suggesting that he should be executed already at that particular vantage point. In Matthew chapter 12 at verse 14, after a Sabbath controversy, we see that the Jews plotted to put him to death. So they looked at him as the incorrigible son of Deuteronomy chapter 21. Well, that Paul quotes Galatians 3, or in Galatians 3 quotes this section about the cursed one hanging on a cross.
I think that this is the illusion. I think that they thought Jesus was the apostate that was deserving of death. What they failed to meditate upon or muse on is that they were the apostates and they were the ones ultimately liable to the just judgment of God Most High. But Peter refers to this particular maxim that you do not leave this offender on the tree. because accursed is he who is hung on a tree.
So back to our particular passage. In terms of his suffering, it was not first and foremost for our example. Verse 24 highlights that. Who himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree.
That is crucial information that you and I need to digest on a daily basis. He bore our sins in his own body on the tree. That's why we have forgiveness. That's why we've received a righteousness.
That's why you and I will go to heaven. And in light of that reality, Peter says you need to function as servants towards your masters in a manner that is consistent with his redemptive suffering and death that was wrought out for you. He saved you, not so you can be a whiner at work. He saved you not so you can be, you know, a pathetic performer at work.
He saved you not so you could be lazy and lay around all day, but he saved you to go to work, to work hard, and to glorify God in the midst of it. So don't revile, don't complain, don't whine, don't grumble. Do what you're supposed to do the way that your master did it. He didn't revile when he was reviled.
The Result of Christ's Suffering
Now let's look secondly at the result of his redemptive suffering. So Peter sets forth what Jesus did on our behalf. Now he sets forth what we accrue from this. And in verses 24b and 25, I would suggest first we have the freedom of his people, and then secondly, the recovery of his people.
Freedom: Died to Sin
In the first place, notice the freedom. Who himself, verse 24, bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, here's the first aspect, having died to sin. It's a beautiful thing, isn't it? Having died to sins.
Now, conceptually, that might be hard to entertain because you probably just sinned. or at least this afternoon at some point. I'm just spitballing here, right? Do you realize that if you're not loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and loving all your neighbors as yourself right now, you're sinning? Did you know that?
Here's the good news for you. Actually, that's not good news. That's what makes the good news good news. Praise God Almighty that He has forgiven us that we don't do what we're supposed to do with reference to the two chief commandments, love to God, love to men. with reference to this whole idea, having died to sins.
Again, we are so experientially connected to sin, it's tough to conceptualize this. But it's first and foremost a reference to our position. We have died to sins. Paul the Apostle brings that out very clearly in the book of Romans, at Romans chapter 6.
After having dealt with justification by faith alone, the imputation of the righteousness of Christ in 3, 4, and 5, he then gets into the practical ramifications in terms of our sanctification in Romans chapter 6. And he uses this sort of language. We've died to sin. We're no longer sins slaves.
We're no longer subject to sin. We're no longer subjects in a mindless sort of way that we always do sins bidding. Again, there is that aspect of remaining corruption and the things that we wanna do, we don't do, and the things that we don't wanna do, we find ourselves doing. There is still that going on in the lives of God's people, but positionally, we have died to sin is what the apostle brings out.
And to tease this out a little bit further,
Freed from Condemnation
the believer is delivered from the condemnation of sin. Turn to Romans chapter eight. Romans chapter eight, the believer is freed from the condemnation of sin. Romans chapter eight, verse one, there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.
Beautiful thing, isn't it? There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. What does that mean, are in Christ Jesus? How are we in Christ Jesus?
By belief in the gospel, by accepting the propositional revelation given to us from Genesis to Revelation, by by God's grace, laying hold of it in faith, receiving and resting upon Jesus Christ and his righteousness alone for salvation. That's what it means to be in Christ. And as a result of that, there is therefore now No condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Freed from the Curse of the Law
The believer is delivered from the curse of the law. You can turn to Galatians 3. Galatians 3, verse 10, For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse, for it is written, Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. See, this is where the impossibility of a covenant of works is seen.
God demands not partial obedience to his law, God demands complete obedience to his law. So Paul says, as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse, for it is written, curse it is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them, but that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for the just shall live by faith. Yet the law is not a faith, but the man who does them shall live by them. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us, for it is written, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree, that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law. That doesn't mean there's no law for the believer. We certainly have law as blood-bought children of God. The Lord Jesus justifies us freely by his grace.
Once we are justified freely by grace, he then points us to the law as a pattern for sanctification. We call this the normative use of the law, which means normally using the law for our day-in, day-out activity and conduct. But in terms of being under the law as a covenant of works, That curse is gone. It has been abrogated by our blessed Jesus.
And then
Freed from the Wrath of God
the believer is delivered from the wrath of God. You can turn to Romans 3. Romans 3. I mentioned this word propitiation a couple of weeks ago and said there was a gold mine of great things in it.
Romans 3, 24, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. This word propitiation is a great gospel word. The presupposition is God's wrath. See, Paul starts his presentation of the good news with the bad news.
And the bad news, according to Paul in Romans 1.18, is that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. The wrath of God is revealed from heaven. Psalm 7.11 tells us that God is angry with the wicked every day. The wrath, the fury, the judgment of God is directed towards sinners.
Well, this word propitiation means that Christ took that on our behalf. It's not the case that he deflected it or diverted it, but it is the case that he received it himself. It was spent on him. He drank the cup of God's wrath to the final drags and satisfied divine justice.
Propitiation is a wonderful gospel word that ought to speak great encouragement and comfort to our soul. One of the fathers, the Edoret, said, a new and strange method of healing. The doctor suffers the cost and the sick receive the healing. I think that's beautiful.
Back to 1 Peter chapter 2. We are freed from the penalty of sin. But if we continue in Peter's section there, we see that
Freed from the Power of Sin
we're freed from the power of sin. This is important, brethren. The grace that justifies is the grace that sanctifies. Not to conflate the two, keeping them in their proper categories, keeping them in their proper compartments, we do need to appreciate the reality that we have freedom under God to not engage in the acts of lawlessness that once characterized our lives.
Going back to verse 24, who himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree that we, having died to sins, might do what? We might live for righteousness. I don't think we appreciate that fact. Now, maybe you do, and I don't, and I'm showing something about, you know, me here, but it's almost like, maybe it was, you know, my Roman Catholic upbringing.
Maybe some of you have that, if you were brought up Catholic, or maybe in other sorts of religious contexts where they were heavy on guilt, and heavy on shame, and heavy on God's always mad at you, and God's always angry, and He's always out to get you. I mean, you know, this is one of the tendencies that we have, perhaps, as we come into the state of grace, to realize that we now have the freedom to actually do something that pleases God. Yeah, we do. Not perfect, not exactly, not entirely, not perpetually, but we do.
You know, the letters to the churches in the book of Revelation, those seven churches in Asia Minor, several of them contain commendation. Commendation from our Lord. I know your works. I know that you're being faithful.
I know that you're persevering. I know that you've tested those who claim to be apostles and are not. Christ sees the good that we do and actually commends those churches in Asia Minor. It's a blessed thought.
Again, it's not the case that we wake up in the morning, I'm going to go out and do 50 great things so God's happy with me. No, it's not that way at all. It's a reflex of our salvation. It's a reflex of our having been born again.
We've died to sins and now we live unto righteousness. Now we don't let sin reign in our mortal members. We do not present our members as instruments of unrighteousness like we used to do so often. In fact, look at Peter in 1 Peter 2 at verse 11.
He tells them, don't live the way that you once lived, but rather live unto righteousness. That is something that's in our wheelhouse now. That is something that we have the capability of actually engaging in. The Spirit filling the people of God who have been saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ can live unto righteousness.
Again, not holy perfectionism, not Wesleyanism, not second work of grace. higher life blessing or any of the other sanctification nonsense that sort of attached itself to this doctrine, but we can live unto righteousness. We can do those things that are pleasing to God, not for our salvation, but because God has saved us. The believer now has the spiritual freedom that brings true joy and everlasting happiness. The reality is, is that we have died to sins and now we live for righteousness.
By whose stripes you were healed. It never lets us forget the reason this is, not because you're great, it's not because you're wonderful, it's not because you're perfect, but because through the stripes of Christ you have been healed from your sin and malady. And then
The Recovery of His People
look finally at the recovery of this people. Verse 25 is a blessed statement of what God in the gospel does with us. Christ does. For you are like sheep going astray.
It's Isaiah 53, 6, right? All we, like sheep, have gone astray. You are like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls. Now, we think sheep, we think cuddly, don't we?
White, fluffy, happy, careless. That's what I think. I mean, I see sheep once in a while. They look nice to me.
They look cute. They look like you could give them a big hug and it'd be quite nice. But when the Bible compares us to sheep, that's not a good thing. It's not saying you guys are fluffy and cuddly and huggable and all that sort of thing.
When it speaks about sheep, it is not reflecting well on people. John Gill says, not that they have the agreeable properties of sheep as to be meek, harmless, innocent, clean, and profitable, for they are the reverse of all this. I think he's right. And then D.
Edmund Hebert, an Armenian commentator, excellent commentator, on 1 Peter says, the comparison of sinners to straying sheep is a common biblical figure. It is not a complementary comparison since sheep are notoriously dull, prone to stray, and helpless to find their way back. Straying sheep lost in the wilderness or mountains and exposed to wild beasts and destruction present a wretched picture of the needy state of the lost. So it's not complimentary.
You were like sheep. Oh, cuddly, white, clean, lovable, huggable. That's not it at all. Ignorant and dull.
I remember years ago, my daughter Kelly showed me a story about a sheep that jumped off a cliff, and as sheep are wont to do, everyone followed after it. Now, of course, the initial sheep fell and died, but by the time there was a good base of sheep, other subsequent sheep jumping into it didn't die because there was enough sheep cushion so that they wouldn't hit the ground and die. That's what sheep do. They follow the leader and they jump off cliffs.
That is not a complimentary comparison. All we like sheep have gone astray, but the shepherd came and sought us. The shepherd came and caught us. The shepherd came and put us on his shoulders.
The shepherd went back into heaven rejoicing over this one sheep that was lost and is now found. And Peter highlights, you were like sheep, going astray, but have returned to the shepherd. Jesus Christ is the shepherd of his people. Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
Isaiah 40, Ezekiel 34. All of these passages prophesy concerning the new covenant era where Christ is the Davidic shepherd over his people. And then he uses the language of overseer. You've all heard that word before.
It's the Greek word episkopos, where we get the word episcopalian. It means simply that, to be an overseer. Praise God Almighty that he doesn't leave us on our own. Praise God Almighty that Christ is our shepherd, that Christ is our overseer, that Christ is that chief bishop that left heaven above to come into this world on a mission of recovery, to save us from our sins.
That is the emphasis of the apostle in this particular passage. Gil says, not returned themselves, but were returned by powerful and efficacious grace. Saints are passive and not active in first conversion. They are turned, not by the power of their own free will, but by the power of God's free grace.
They are returned under the illuminations and quickenings of the Blessed Spirit and through the efficacious drawings of the Father's love unto Christ. That's Peter's emphasis. Christ, the true man, was the sinless one who presented an acceptable sacrifice to God Almighty. That one bore in his own body our sins on the tree, that we might die to sin, that we might live unto righteousness, having been recovered by the shepherd, the one with whom there is no want, and the one who is the overseer, the bishop, the episkopos over our souls.
He has sought us, he has found us, he has put us on his shoulders, and he has gone back rejoicing over sinners who have repented by God's grace and for his glory. So Peter's argument in context is, don't whine, Don't grumble. Don't complain at work. Peter's argument in context is be like the Savior.
He didn't revile when he was reviled. He didn't whine when he was put into excruciating circumstances. He didn't sort of, you know, maintain his innocence or demand his rights or demand mediation. No, he submitted himself, he committed himself to the father who judges righteously.
So believers, all of us, we need to be like Jesus when it comes to these particular things in our lives. But in the larger scheme of redemptive history, this isn't exemplary first, it is redemptive. Christ went through what he went through in order to save us from our sins. He went through what he went through so that you and I might die to sin and live unto righteousness.
He went through what he went through so that the wrath of God is no longer our foe. The Lord God Almighty has sent his Son into this world for sinners, for the likes of you and I. And I just want to conclude with this sort of summary statement. He took upon himself man's nature, for our salvation.
He rendered, in the language of our confession of faith, personal, entire, exact, and perpetual obedience to God's law. He was holy, harmless, and undefiled. He was separate from sinners. He was, in the language of the prophet and the apostle, he had committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth.
This is demonstrated in the fact that he didn't revile when he was reviled. He committed himself to him who judges righteously, and he does this. He does this for you and I. He does this so that we might have salvation.
He does this that we might have the forgiveness of sins and the imputed righteousness of Jesus, and that we might live lives that are somewhat pleasing to God Almighty. Let's remember that together, the reality that we might live for righteousness. Things that we do don't matter in terms of, now listen to what I'm saying, trying to distinguish and qualify, in terms of our acceptance with God. We're justified on the basis of the active and the passive obedience of Jesus Christ.
But in terms of our sanctification and what we do, that stuff does matter. As, you know, I think it was Luther said, God doesn't need your good works, but your neighbor does. Now, you know, we need to make sure we understand that as well. It does bring glory to God.
You see that in the Apostle Peter here. They see your good works. It may silence them. It will glorify God Almighty.
Jesus makes the same emphasis in the Sermon on the Mount. Let your lights so shine before men that they may see your good works and do what? Give glory to God. In other words, when you and I do something right, it's not that you and I get the credit, it's that God gets the glory, and that's the way it's designed to be.
So take this particular passage to heart, praise God Almighty for it, and rejoice in the one who is the shepherd and overseer. Curiously, these are terms applied to the pastoral ministry, shepherd and overseer. We need to remember, under-shepherd and under-overseer. We are under the Lord Jesus Christ.
He is the shepherd. He is the overseer. He is the owner of, the master of, and the one who has rule and authority over his church. Shepherds and overseers in a local church context are ministers.
They are servants. They carry out the will of the master. They don't engage in authoritative, dictatorial sort of conduct. They are always bought with a price and they're called. to serve the Lord God Most High in a manner that is consistent with His revealed will.
Let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Father, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You for Christ's redemptive sufferings and death on behalf of His people. Thank You for including us in that blessed number. And God, may this passage speak great comfort to our hearts, because it tells us what Jesus did for us.
As well, may it speak comfort to our hearts as it as it shows us what freedom we have, freedom from sin, freedom to righteousness, and the things that we see oftentimes in the New Testament. Give us grace, Lord God, to live in a manner that is consistent with your holy gospel, and do continue to conform us unto the image of your beloved Son. And we pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.