You can turn in your Bibles to the book of 1 Peter, the first epistle of Peter, and to chapter 2. 1 Peter chapter 2, we'll read from verse 11 to the end of the chapter, verse 25. Beloved, I beg you, as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation. 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. Well, let's again pray.
Opening Prayer
Our righteous and heavenly Father, we thank you now for this time of worship, the preaching of your word. We do pray that you would be with us, that you would, by spirit and by word, bless this congregation. For your saints, they would be instructed by your word. They would know more of the Savior and that they would leave this place equipped to live unto your glory.
We do pray again, Lord God, for sinners, young and old gathered who entered in these two doors this morning. We do pray that you'd be with them by same spirit and by that same word, that you would cause them to know our Savior by amazing grace, that they would turn from wickedness to righteousness, that they would turn from unbelief to belief, resting upon Jesus Christ for all things. We pray in his precious name. Amen.
Introduction
Well, some of the richest theological truths sometimes come from places or areas in scripture where the primary emphasis or the primary point is not necessarily to teach theologically. Stepping away from this text for a moment, for example, Philippians 2, 5 to 11, hopefully a passage that you're well familiar with. Remember what's going on there. In the process of simply exhorting the Philippian Christians to put on humility, to put off pride, and to be united for the gospel's sake, Paul, the apostle, brings to bear or displays rich theology concerning our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, His person and His work.
In fact, in the span of only six verses in chapter 2 of Philippians, verses 6 to 11, we get the incarnation of Jesus Christ. We get the active and passive obedience of our Lord Jesus Christ. We get the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ. We get the crucifixion. of Jesus Christ, we get the exaltation of Jesus Christ, we get the fact of Jesus Christ's universal Lordship, and we get the fact that one day, one way or another, every human person will be obliged to bend a knee to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.
That all in the span of six verses, and that all within the context of Paul simply exhorting the Philippian Christians to put off pride and put on humility. Well, here in 1 Peter chapter 2, we have something very similar, which right now we're going to work our way towards. But first, an introduction to our context.
Context of 1 Peter
What is going on in 1 Peter? First off, 1 Peter is written primarily to a Jewish Christian audience. First Peter is written to a Jewish Christian audience. There are some who disagree with that.
There are others who would agree with that. And I think there are a number of reasons why we know this is a Jewish Christian audience. First off, it is written and addressed, verse one, to the pilgrims of the dispersion in, and then listed are various places where there were Jewish communities with Jewish synagogues. Secondly, the citation and quotation of Old Testament scripture.
Throughout this, we have Isaiah brought to bear in many places, many places of Isaiah quoted by the Apostle Peter, cited and alluded to by the Apostle Peter and other Old Testament texts as well. The language used regarding the church and the use of the word Gentiles. He uses language from Deuteronomy and Exodus to characterize the church in the New Covenant era, and He also separates the recipients of the letter from Gentiles, uses the word Gentiles. The reference to Babylon at the end of the text, which many think is a reference to Rome.
It isn't. It's a reference to Jerusalem. If it's a reference to Rome, it helps the Catholics and it hurts the Protestants. It is a reference.
When he says he's in Babylon, he's in Jerusalem. That's confirmed by the Apostle John in the book of Revelation. Jerusalem is called Babylon. Also, the fact that Peter was apostle to the Jews.
The apostle Peter was the one anointed and appointed by God to be the apostle to the Jews. And lastly, the end of the letter in chapter four, there are warnings concerning coming judgment upon Jerusalem and the temple. What is the occasion for Peter to write this epistle? The occasion to write is found in chapters one, verse six.
Notice what he writes there. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials. That is the occasion for Peter's writing of this epistle. That's also found in chapter four from verse 12 to 19.
Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you as though some strange thing happened to you, but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings. So you see, Current suffering and coming suffering was the lot of the Christians that Peter is writing to, these Jewish Christians. Yes, there were some Gentiles there as well. So that's the occasion for Peter to write.
The purpose of the letter is seen in verses 13 to 16. We wanna bring this out so we understand what's going on when we get to our portion of the text. But the purpose for the letter is in verse 13 of chapter 1. Therefore, gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
As obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts as in your ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, be holy for I am holy. So those four verses serve as the summarization, if you will, of the purpose for writing the letter. that Peter will expand upon because you have been saved by amazing grace, because you have been the recipients of such rich grace, mercy and eternal loving kindness. Therefore, work and conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And then finally, the source of ability and comfort to endure is found in verses three to five, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to his abundant mercy, has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.
You see, if suffering was coming upon you, if you have already been the recipient of suffering and persecution, And if Peter is telling you that there is more on the horizon and even worse, what better comfort is there than verses three to five, that by the saving and perfect work of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are kept by the power of God until that day when we enter into glory to cast our eyes, not of faith, but our eyes of sight upon our blessed King, the Lord Jesus, that would serve as the ability to endure the suffering and as comfort in that suffering. And then finally, our immediate context in 1 Peter 2, Peter is expanding upon the purpose of his letter by dealing with various groups of people in the church. And immediately in our context, what we read through, we find in verses 11 to 12, a general exhortation for all the saints to godly conduct before Gentiles. So we have a general exhortation, live godly before the Gentiles.
Verses 13 to 17, a general exhortation for all the saints to submit to the civil magistrate. You see, we need to be reminded to do that because we don't like to do that. We need to be reminded to submit to the civil magistrate in those things lawfully given for us to obey. We're not to be insurrectionists, we're not to be ungodly rebels against the civil magistrate, but rather we are, as Peter commands us, to submit to those who rule over us.
And then verses 18 to 25, a specific now, exhortation for servants to be submissive to their masters. Now, I'm not going to go on on a long explanation or apologetic for the institution of slavery. If you have any questions about that afterwards, you can certainly come and talk to me about the Bible and slavery. But suffice it to say, slavery was a reality.
Because of sin in the world, because of sin affecting all areas of the social economic landscape, Paul has to deal with the reality of slavery. And so with that reality, he exhorts servants and he exhorts masters to live unto Christ in their various stations.
The Three Whos of Christ
Which brings us now to our text, verses 21 to 25. You see, very often what we have in our Bibles is the foundation for exhorting Christians is seen in expanding upon their salvation. That's exactly what we have in verses 3 to 5. Peter expands upon the salvation of the Christians in order to exhort them.
But you see, in our text here, we have something a little bit different. In a number of places, in order to command the saints, to command the Christians to live godly in an ungodly world, the apostles set forth the pure and the perfect and the excellent Christ and say, therefore, live unto glory. And we're going to look at Jesus Christ. We're going to look at the three who's of Christ, not that there are only three, but there's three in our text, the three who's of Christ in the process of reminding them these Christians of their calling to suffering, Peter sets forth Christ as the chief exemplar, that is, the primary example or the supreme and perfect example of patient, commendable endurance by writing of three aspects of his person and work, Christ's person and work.
So let's look at those.
Christ Was Without Sin
Let's go back to our text for a moment, this time verse 21. 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." The first who of Christ is that Christ was without sin. Christ was without sin. Notice again the text, and depending upon your Bible, it may do it a number of ways.
It may italicize it. It may indent it, it may indent it and italicize it. It'll add a little, you know, fancy number or word right by the who. But what's going on there in verse 22 is that Peter is quoting Isaiah 53 that we read at the onset of worship in giving this display of who Jesus Christ is, who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth.
Christ was without sin. Now, just a brief aside. Sinlessness, this sinlessness of Christ is not to be confused with his holiness or his deity. I'll explain that in a moment, but we are not to draw an equal side between sinlessness and holiness or sinlessness and deity.
Sinlessness and Transcendent Holiness
Turn to Isaiah six for a moment. Now, certainly as you're turning to Isaiah six, certainly sinlessness is an aspect of Christ's holiness, but there are two types, if you will, of holiness in Isaiah six. And I want to give credit to Robert Raymond for showing me this in his systematic theology with regards to this passage and the sinlessness of Christ. It's very interesting.
Let's pick up reading at verse one of Isaiah six. Just to understand Christ's sinlessness. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim, each one had six wings.
With two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another and said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out and the house was filled with smoke.
So I said, woe is me for I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Now, very often we go to this text and we remark concerning the holiness of God and this declaration by Isaiah the prophet, woe is me for I am undone, confronted by the splendor and the majesty of the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ, of God. The Sun prior to his incarnation Isaiah declares that he's unraveled. He's undone He's unmade by that glory But you see what we miss and what Raymond pointed out is that the angels the seraphim are sinless Remember the elect angels who praise God in heaven are sinless beings They are sinless spirit beings and still those sinless spirit beings are covering their eyes and declaring holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.
You see, holiness here isn't seen as sinlessness, but as Raymond points out, it's seen as transcendent separateness. You see, both God and the seraphim were sinless. But you see, only the triune God, in this case, only the pre-incarnate Christ, compared with the angels, it has that transcendent separateness from angels and from men. So the sinlessness of Jesus Christ is not seen in his deity necessarily, or in his holiness seen as transcendent separateness.
Now, because Jesus is God, God manifested in the flesh, but because Jesus is God, he is necessarily sinless. That is an attribute of deity. We cannot have a sinful deity. The Greco-Roman pantheon, that's the madness of pagan and heathen religion.
Sinlessness is a necessary attribute of deity. So what does this sinlessness that we speak of in this first who of Christ mean? Well, we need to remark what it means. It has to do with his messiahship.
It has to do with the fact that he is God, but manifested in the flesh, that the word who was with God, who was God, became the flesh and dwelt among us. So this sinlessness pertains to his, not his deity, but his perfect messianic humanity. Just before we get there, though, we need to remark that this is a fulfillment of prophecy. You see, very often I think we can skip past the fact that Christianity is a religion that has covenantal documents that promise things hundreds, sometimes thousands of years before they occur, and then in time and history, they occur without error.
You see, when we're reading 1 Peter, we're not just reading Peter writing to Christians, you know, about theology and live in light of that theology. We find that there, but we find prophetic fulfillment. 700 plus years prior to Christ coming and doing what he did. In all that glory and in all that splendor, Isaiah the prophet wrote concerning him who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth. We are to marvel the fact that the triune God gave Isaiah visions and information concerning something that would not occur for 700 plus years.
It's a marvelous thing. We need to see that the Bible is a document of prophetic promise and certain prophetic fulfillment. And that's what we find here. Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 53 7, all of this stuff concerning Christ not opening his mouth, no guile found upon his tongue and the fact that he was sinless.
So this is prophetic fulfillment. But we need to remark that this perfect that this sinlessness was his perfect passing. And bear with me for a moment. This is important to understand, though,
Sinlessness as Probation Fulfilled
this sinlessness was his perfect passing of Adamic Israeli probation. Now, I'm not going to spend a whole lot of time on this, but this is very important. Adam comes in at the point of creation. He is given a covenant by God that if he does, he will get.
If he does not, he will be cursed. Of course, Adam disobeys, Adam and Eve disobey, and they receive the curse of that particular covenant, death and all of those things associated to them in the creation. So Adam was given a covenant, given a promise by God, a command. He didn't fulfill it.
He failed. Israel in the old covenant is given a commandment by God that if you do my word and do my will, then I will give you these particular promises and blessings. But if you fail, if you break my covenant, which I make with you, then you will be cursed. Israel fails. and they are cursed.
Jesus comes along as the true Israel of God, as his firstborn son. Jesus comes along as the last Adam, and he passes the probation. First off, like Adam, actually unlike Adam, he's put in a desert, in a wilderness, not a beautiful garden of Eden. And he's tempted and tested by the devil, just like Adam was, and Jesus passes with flying colors.
He, unlike Adam, passes the probation, he passes with flying colors. Like Israel, he is charged with covenant obligations to upkeep or to maintain the law of his father. For every jot and tittle of the law, he was to obey, he was to fulfill. We read throughout the New Testament that he did so.
It is my will to do, or I do the will of the father who sent me. I always do the will of the one who sent me. So this sinlessness is seen as Jesus perfectly passing that Adamic probation that Adam failed in, Jesus perfectly passing the old covenant that Israel failed in, and he perfectly does what God has required of him, what God has sent him to do. We can say very simply that Christ the Messiah came and perfectly fulfilled his messianic obligations.
And then thirdly, we need to consider the wonder that is his sinlessness, don't we? Aren't we surrounded by sin every day? Now, you might be quick to fly to the fact that, yeah, I'm surrounded by other people sinning. But remember, you're always with yourself.
You're surrounded by sin, your own sin, and yes, the sins of those who surround you. We all sin. Even as redeemed Christians, we sin. What an amazing thing it must have been for Peter to observe, being so familiar with sin, his own, and the sins of others.
What an amazing thing it must have been for Peter and the other disciples to cast their eyes upon Jesus, to hang out with Jesus, to be with Him, and to see sinlessness. To never see Him be aroused unto an unwholesome anger. To never see him have loose lips and say something, to retaliate, to respond, to say something wicked, however small. To watch Jesus as he goes about his life and always doing the will of God, always being righteously angry when he should be, always opening his mouth when he should, always keeping it shut when he should. never slipping on any point of God's law.
That's an amazing thing. That is an amazing thing. We need to marvel at that. The preacher is devoid of words to try and bring that to the surface that we can behold it.
But just read your Bibles, read the Gospels, and see a Savior, see a Jesus Christ that is absolutely amazing. There is never a man, there never will be a man that remotely approaches the Lord Jesus. You see, this is why, This is why following people, celebrities, sports figures, that sort of thing. You can watch sports.
I like watching sports, that sort of thing. But to follow and to be so enamored with sinners in this world, to idolize them, to do whatever you do, to spend more time on Roberto Luongo than you do on the Lord Jesus Christ, is a wonder of wonders. We have the perfect sinless Savior who never opened his mouth to speak to cedar guile, who had a golden tongue, the golden tongue of God manifested in the flesh. One to follow, one who as we'll see is worthy of idolizing, if we can use that term.
It's not idolatry to worship Jesus, it's true and proper worship. But you see, Jesus Christ is one to follow, one to marvel at, One to wonder at. Christ was without sin.
Christ's Non-Retaliatory Resolve
Secondly, Christ had non-retaliatory resolve. I'll explain what that means, or you probably know what that means, just hearing that. Retaliation. To retaliate means somebody does something to you and you respond in turn.
Usually what it means for us wretched souls is somebody does something to you, and we respond tenfold because how could they do that to us? So Christ had non-retaliatory resolve. Again, retaliation, responding like for like, turn for turn. Notice what the text says, verse 23, who, when he was reviled, did not revile in return.
When he suffered, he did not threaten. Christ's non-retaliatory resolve. He was calmly determined to carry out his task, and in that, he did not revile when he was reviled. When people came at him with insulting and abusive speech, he didn't retort, he didn't reply because he wanted to get the upper hand or he wanted to respond.
They gave this to me, they have their comeuppance. No, Jesus Christ, when he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, When he was the recipient of physical, see, that's the difference here. Just so you know, reviling and when he suffered.
Yes, reviling, if you're reviled, that's a form of suffering. And yes, suffering, in that, someone can be reviling you. But there are different terms here. We could say that reviling has to do with speech, and suffering has to do with physical trial.
So even when Jesus Christ endured physical trial, remember what happened to the Savior. spit upon, beaten, had a crown of thorns not rested upon his head, but hammered into his skull, lashed with those lashes, nailed by Roman rusty nails into a wooden cross. Jesus endured physical suffering, but in that he did not threaten. So when Christ was reviled, He did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten.
Christ had a non-retaliatory resolve. Now, this has primarily to do with his crucifixion. Some commentators, and not that it's doing violence to the text, because we're going to do the same thing in a moment, but some commentators will throw in there the reviling throughout his life, and that's legitimate. But because Isaiah 53 is immediately in view, because Peter could have almost just slapped All of Isaiah 53 in there, when it says when he was reviled, he did not revile in return, that probably has to do with the immediate events of the crucifixion.
Matthew 26, 67 to 68, Matthew 27, 12 to 14, 28 to 31, 39 to 44. Because again, Isaiah 53 is in the mind of Peter. But let's expand upon the reviling for a moment. Seven points.
We're going to go through these quickly, but
Seven Instances of Reviling
seven points with regards to reviling. First off, he was reviled by his own countrymen. So we're going beyond the crucifixion here for a moment just to see the entire record of Christ's life. His resume is one where he committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth.
When he was reviled, he did not revile in return, et cetera. He was reviled by his own countrymen. Isaiah 53 promised it. that we would look upon him and we would see no beauty in him to desire him. He would be a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
John reports, remember, that Christ came to his own and his own did not receive him. And so he was reviled by his own countrymen. Second, he was reviled by the religious leaders of the day, the scribes and the Pharisees and the ungodly Jewish rulers of the day. He's a winebibber and a glutton.
He has a demon. He casts out demons by Beelzebub. He's a blasphemer, et cetera, et cetera. Christ was reviled by his own countrymen.
He was reviled by the religious leaders of the day. Third, he was reviled by Judas Iscariot, wasn't he? One of the intimate 12, one of his friends, one of the disciples reviled Christ. He betrayed him with a kiss.
He betrayed him for 30 pieces of silver. He was reviled by his countrymen, by the religious leaders of the day, and by Judas Iscariot, an intimate member of the Twelve. Fourth, he was reviled by those adjudicating at his crucifixion. By those trying to render justice at his crucifixion, he was reviled by them.
Remember, they call him a blasphemer. They call him under a curse by the living and true God to say if he is the Christ. He truthfully says yes. to summarize, and they call him a blasphemer. They rent their clothing in two, they rent their garments, and they revile him, they spit upon him, and they beat him with unjust, murderous hearts.
Fifth, he was reviled by the crowd at his crucifixion. Remember, the crowd at his crucifixion. Crucify him. Crucify him.
Not only do they cry out, let him be crucified, but Pilate says, I find no fault in him, and they cry out all the more, let him be crucified. He was reviled also by the crowd at his crucifixion. Sixth, Peter himself. Now as Peter is penning these words, who when he was reviled, did not revile in return, the theatrical mind in all of us would probably think, that's probably where Peter stopped for a moment.
It's probably where Peter stopped for a moment. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return. We don't know. Perhaps Peter broke down and cried.
Remember, Peter was one of those intimate three, one of those close three to the Savior. Talk about reviling. You see, it's bad enough when your enemies revile you. In fact, you expect that.
You expect enemies to revile you. You expect your enemy countrymen in their unregenerate apostasy to revile you. You expect religious leaders who don't want anything to do with this rabbi who speaks with such wisdom and such authority and such discernment. They don't want anything to do with him, nor do they want their people to be taken away by him.
You can expect to be reviled by them, but a friend? And a close friend. Peter does to the Savior, not only does he deny the Lord Jesus Christ, but he calls down an anathema upon his head if whatever he is saying is not true. When he says, I do not know this man.
I do not know this Jesus of Nazareth three times. He calls down the wrath of God on his head if what he's spitting out of his mouth is untrue. Christ was reviled. Remember that text. where Peter, as Jesus is being led away to be crucified or to continue the crucifixion trial process, the eyes of Peter and the eyes of the Savior connect.
Jesus knows. Peter looks at the eyes of Jesus and he knew, I just reviled my Savior. And Jesus, of course, knew because he promised that it would happen. But Peter, when he's penning these words, He'd have that strike to the heart.
But you see, as always with a Christian, what can be grief and what can be guilt would immediately turn to the rejoicing and what follows when he was reviled. That is, he did not revile in return. Because what did Jesus do for Peter? Peter, if you love me, feed my lambs.
That threefold restoration of Peter. You see, on the day after, the first time Jesus meets Peter again, after Peter had denied him, what does Jesus say to Peter? Come and eat breakfast with me. See, isn't that our Savior?
Isn't that our blessed Jesus? When he was reviled, he did not revile in return. You see, if it was any of us, we, you know, some of us probably would have, you know, maybe punched Peter in the head or gave him, you know, do you want one in the head or the gut? You know, we would have flew off our mouths and how could you ever do that to me?
And we do that with the smallest things. Somebody, you know, steps on our dog's foot and we, you know, curse them. Somebody cuts us off in traffic or somebody drives 98 in the fast lane and we want to blow their car up. We're horrible people.
But Jesus, after he is thrice denied by an intimate friend, come and eat breakfast with me. Come and eat breakfast. Come and have some broiled fish and honeycomb. Peter.
That would be in view as he's displaying his Jesus here as one when he was reviled, did not revile in return. And then lastly, seventhly, us. Us. If you ever do this, it's a wholesome exercise, I think, to rejoice in the gospel and to rejoice in our saviors is to dwell upon what we've been forgiven of.
We don't need to engage in some sort of weird self-loathing, Roman Catholic overindulgence in our own darkness and in our own guilt as if it's some sort of psychological atonement. That's wretched pagan pseudo-Christianity. But it's good to rejoice in the Lord Jesus Christ and in his gospel. And to do that, sometimes we have to remember our sinfulness.
Not just prior to becoming a Christian, but each and every second of each and every day where we violate the law of God. You see, Spurgeon said, it is a good exercise to remember that rock whence we were hewn and the pit of the hole from which we were digged, that we might immediately and all the more rejoice in the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. So you see, when you do that, when you go through that exercise of dwelling upon your sins, you can imagine what we do. You know, we remember I'm not going to go through anything, but we can remember sins of our life that we've done throughout the course of our lives.
And we can say, yeah, Christ forgave me of that. And he does. He forgives us of all of our sins. But do you ever think Jesus Christ, upon the cross, working out the salvation of men, died upon that cross for the sin of me rejecting him, for the sin of me reviling him?
You see, in unbelief, we reviled the Savior. In unbelief, we spoke, whether inwardly or outwardly, to whatever level, we spoke insults and abusive speech against the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. And he marched himself with resolute determination to that Roman implement of execution, and he died for that transgression. We reviled him when he was reviled by his people everywhere.
When he was reviled by his people everywhere, He did not revile in return. Bless His holy name. You know, it's a good exercise. Another one to do is to go, for example, to Matthew 27, 25.
You see, if we can think about our reviling of the Savior and Jesus Christ dying for that particular sin, it's a good exercise to go to two texts and to see something marvelous. First, Matthew 27, 25. Well, we'll read from verse 24, but it's 25 that we're concerned with. Matthew 27, 24, when Pilate saw that he could not prevail at all, but rather that a tumult was rising, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person, you see to it.
Verse 25, and all the people answered and said, his blood be on us and our children. Isn't that amazing? Thanks, mom and dad. His blood be upon us and our children.
Not only do they call a curse upon themselves, in a sense, let his blood be upon us, but they also indict their children after them. Now there is Old Testament to that, but let's go now to Acts 2. Acts 2. In Acts 2 verse 39, we find something of the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ attached to when he was reviled, he did not revile in return.
For the promise, Acts 2 39, for the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who were afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call. You see what's going on there? The apostle Peter, the writer of 1 Peter, by the authority of the risen and exalted Christ, who he's writing about in 1 Peter 2, is saying, you Jews, who in unbelief prior to your salvation, or no, sorry, you unbelieving Jews, currently unbelieving, who cried out, let his blood be upon us and our children, Peter, by the authority of Christ, is reversing that curse, for this promise is to you and to your children. So you see, Christ is reviled in horrible unbelief by insulting and abusive speech.
But in return, he doesn't revile, but rather saves to the uttermost. It's a glorious truth, glorious truth. Remember us, brethren, that we reviled, but he did not revile in return.
Christ's Substitutionary Curse-Bearing
And then lastly, thirdly, that is, under the three who's of Christ. So we have he was without sin. We have Christ had non-retaliatory resolve. And lastly, Christ performed substitutionary curse bearing.
Christ performed substitutionary curse bearing.
Bearing Sin in His Own Body
Notice the text in 1 Peter, if you can find your way back there. 1 Peter 2, picking up at verse 24, who himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree. Now I submit, that if you take substitutionary curse bearing out of the gospel, there is no gospel. See, if you have some other view of the atonement, now Christ didn't really die as a substitute. He died and we get forgiveness by virtue of that.
There's a lot of views of the atonement. But if your view is not substitutionary curse bearing, then you, dare I say, are not a Christian. You have torn the heart out of the gospel because if we don't have someone dying in our stead, we still reside under the wrath and under the curse of God. If Christ doesn't bear the curse for us, the curse remains.
Believe it or not, many multitudes of professing Christians reject the doctrine of substitutionary atonement or substitutionary curse bearing. The language is very simple. Think, for example, of the text in 1 Corinthians 15. When Paul is writing concerning the gospel, specifically at the point of defending the resurrection of the dead by arguing that Christ rose from the dead, he gives a definition of the gospel.
And his definition of the gospel is that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. And that he was buried and that he rose again according to the scriptures. Well, very simply, Paul is saying there, Christ engaged in substitutionary curse bearing. And that's a simple definition of the gospel.
When we read Christ died for us, we can read Christ died in our stead, instead of us, in the room of us, he died for us. So we have it clearly expanded upon by Peter here, who himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree. You see, he didn't just die to inaugurate some sort of forgiveness system. He died and he bore the sins of all of his people in his own body.
He didn't have a surrogate go to the tree. He didn't have a surrogate bear the wrath of God. He didn't have some sort of proxy bear the curse of God the Father, but rather he himself, who himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree. Christ died for us.
I love that the text of curse bearing is clearly seen in Galatians 3. You don't have to turn there, I can read this for you as we near a close. Galatians 3.13, 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.
You see, that language of for us is throughout the scriptures. Christ, again, didn't die. Now, you see, I say this because you might be thinking, we know substitutionary atonement. We get that a lot.
But you see, substitutionary atonement is rejected within evangelical Christianity. It's being attacked. In fact, people, I've seen, quote unquote, reformed pastors rejoice in books that were written to argue against substitutionary atonement. Rejoicing in it, saying, this is great, finally, send us this book, can I get a free copy?
You see, people outside of Christ don't want the crucifixion of the Bible.
The Cross: Ugly Yet Beautiful
You see, they want the crucifixion of 16th century Italian frescoes. That's the crucifixion that they want. A bespeckled cross with a savior with a slightly kinked neck who's wearing priestly robes and a glowing crown. No blood.
They don't want the Christ of the Bible naked upon a dirty Roman implement. Bleeding from the marks in his hands. Bleeding from his feet. Bleeding from the whippings and the scourgings.
Sweating. Water and blood coming out of the gash in his side that the Romans in gross shamefulness, stabbed into his side. They don't want that, Jesus. The bloody massacre upon Calvary's tree.
You see, the most beautiful thing in the history of the world is also the ugliest thing in the history of the world. Isn't it? You see, the unbeliever with mockery, head scratching, with confusion, with ridicule, will look at the cross and they want nothing to do with it. They don't understand it.
The Bible tells us that. It's a stumbling block. It's a scandal. It's an offense to them.
But you see, that offensive, that ugly thing, that work of substitutionary curse bearing, which was a naked bloody mess, is the most beautiful thing in the history of the world. Why? Because on that cross, Christ died for us, brethren. Christ died for us, who himself bore our sins.
You think you rehearse your sins, and you can never do it perfectly, that's for sure. If you rehearse your sins, you'll get about 0.98% of them. I guarantee you that. But rehearse your sins, and that 0.98 is a lot.
Consider your sins. You scan the landmarks of your memory, those sins of your memory. I love the way Spurgeon puts it. Deals with all age groups.
We will end soon, I promise the visitors. Again, if you do have to milk cows, if you do have to go tend to the sickly, please leave and you can listen to the rest later if you want to. Spurgeon put it wonderfully. He said, those who have long known our savior, Talking about older Christians, those who have long known our Savior, those whose hair is whitened by the sunlight of heaven, he says, can remember back upon their lives.
And they can remember a boatload of transgressions. Those of us who are younger should be able to remember a boatload of transgressions. But brothers and sisters, he himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree. You rip out that from the gospel, there is no hope.
That is in the gospel. So brethren, we have hope of hopes. We have glories of glories in the Savior who went to the cross to die in our stead for us. He made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him.
Brethren, hopefully We learn a number of things, hopefully some of which we'll see tonight, with regards to reviling. See, the point of this is that Peter is reminding the Christians that they were called to suffering because Christ suffered for us. And who better to give an example of how to endure suffering than the Savior himself? The one who endured more suffering than anybody ever will.
Hopefully we can learn something of how we are to deal with people. When we are reviled, we are not to revile in return. When we suffer, didn't spend time on this, we do not threaten, we do not physically retaliate, but we commit ourselves to him who judges righteously. You see, we leave wrath to God.
We want to leave wrath to ourselves. If they do that to me, pounce. Right? But you see, Jesus Christ is our example.
He knew everything that was going to happen to him, but with perfect deity with perfect humanity, with perfect calm determination and resolution. He did not open his mouth, but took the horror of the crucifixion that he might die for us. So saints rejoice in that Savior. Saints wonder in the sinless Christ, wonder in the Christ of non-retaliatory resolve, wonder in the Christ of gospel non-negotiables, substitutionary curse-bearing.
Rejoice in the Christ who took your sins in his own body on the tree.
Application
If you're here this morning and you don't know Jesus, Jesus is so beautiful. You might be, you are offended by the cross, stumbling block, a rock of offense. Jesus came into this world to die for sinners and to rise again. The wonder about this account is that he had, as he says in Matthew 26, a legion of angels at his call to remove him from the reviling, to remove him from the suffering, to remove him from the horror of what these people were doing to him.
People he created. Pilate and all these people blaspheme him with the breath that he was currently giving them by his mighty sovereign power. He could have pulled himself out of there and rained down hell upon all of his enemies. But in order to die for us, to bear our sins in his own body, he went to the cross.
When he was reviled, he did not revile in return. There's nothing ugly about the Savior. The crucifixion was ugly, but our Savior is beautiful. Our Savior is magnificent.
Our Savior is wonderful. To reject the Savior, to reject Jesus Christ, not only is it disobedience of eternal proportions, but it's madness to us Christians who watch. You reject the only one who can bring you hope and mercy, the only one who can bring you what you desperately need, which is salvation from sin, forgiveness of sins. The rejection of the Savior is the most laughable and horrible mistake that any human being can ever make.
That Jesus Christ of Philippians 2, that I spoke of earlier at the beginning of this sermon, who has universal lordship, who was exalted to that position, He's also the Jesus that will come again, that will judge the living and the dead. And you see, in that text, it says that every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord, that every knee will bow before his majestic perfection and his kingship. You see, for Christians, that is a bending and joyful obedience. That is a confession of tongue and joyful obedience.
But you see, for anyone here who doesn't know the Savior, That's a bending of the knee in forced allegiance. That's an opening of the tongue in a confession of Christ's lordship and sovereign mastery over the universe against your horrible and pathetic will. You believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. You believe on the Savior because only in Him is everlasting life.
Only in Him do you get the bliss of Emmanuel's land. You're a sinner. God is holy. God exacts obedience we cannot obey.
Christ obeyed for us. He died for the forgiveness of our sins. Don't cast that off and own everything else in the world as your joy and your pleasure and your hedonistic fulfillment. Own the Savior and you'll see all those other things as Paul saw, as dung, as rubbish, only that I may gain Christ Jesus my Lord.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved and saints rejoice in him. Let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank you for our Savior, the Lord Jesus. We thank you for the perfection of his person and work. We thank you for what we behold in this text concerning his sinlessness, perfection of his messianic work. We thank you for what we see regarding his character, that when he was reviled, he did not revile in return.
When he suffered, he did not threaten, but rather he committed himself to you. We thank you so much for the fact of his substitutionary curse bearing, fact with simple language that he died for us. We thank you for that truth. We pray, Lord God, that we would hold that truth as our everything, as the sum and substance of the gospel, that Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures.
We thank you for the precious truth that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. We thank you that by your grace, we believe in him unto the saving of our souls. We pray for anyone here outside of him. that does not believe, who resides in unbelief. We pray that you would deal with them by spirit and by word.
You would cause them to know our precious savior, to believe in him and to find all spiritual blessings in him. We pray that you would go with us now, help us to live in light of your gospel, in light of the truths of scripture, that we might each and every day raise our heads to profess with our mouths that Jesus Christ is Lord unto your glory and seek to live in this lower world unto your glory. We pray in Christ's name, amen. Well, why don't we all stand together and sing the doxology?
We'll stand together and sing the doxology. If you don't know it, it's on Roman numeral 16 in your hymn books. Let's stand and sing the doxology.