← Back to sermon library

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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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, 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. 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 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.