Christ’s Passive Obedience
1 Peter 2:22-24
February 25, 2018
We are currently in our discussion of SOLUS CHRISTUS
Namely the understanding that our salvation is IN CHRIST ALONE
More specifically what we are trying to understand is that
Our salvation is not about what Christ has done IN us,
But rather what Christ has done FOR us.
We have also simplified this understanding by saying,
“Christ did not come to make me righteous, but to be my righteousness.”
And really as a pinnacle verse here to understand that we have often returned to:
2 Corinthians 5:21 “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
And in that one verse is really contained
All of the depth of what Christ did for us.
I suppose you could say that as we have embarked upon this journey to understand SOLUS CHRISTUS
Our first course of business has really been to answer the question:
WHAT EXACTLY DID CHRIST DO FOR US?
And we have broken that down into two categories.
1) We spoke of His ACTIVE OBEDIENCE
Christ fulfilled the positive requirements which God set forth in His Law.
• These were God’s righteous expectations which we have failed to keep.
• Christ came and kept them for us that He might then impute that righteousness
to us.
And we looked specifically at Hebrews 10
And how instead of giving God sacrifices,
Jesus was given a body in which He lived a perfectly obedient life.
That is really the first thing Jesus did for us.
He lived a perfectly obedient and righteous life.
Tonight we move on to the other thing Jesus did for us.
2) That would be His PASSIVE OBEDIENCE
Not just that Christ actively fulfilled
Our righteous obligations before God.
BUT CHRIST ALSO PASSIVELY ENDURED
OUR RIGHTEOUS PUNISHMENT FROM GOD.
We are talking now about His atoning work.
This concept is far more familiar to most of us than that of His active obedience,
But it is still so rich and so important
That it absolutely bears us examining it again.
For after a life of deliberate and faithful obedience to God
This Christ then offered Himself up in submission
To receive punishment which He did not deserve.
We are talking about His substitutionary atonement.
Now to be sure we have already discussed this some in our study.
If you remember our study of SOLA GRATIA we talked about
The concept of Limited Atonement or Particular Atonement.
We examined His death on the cross and noticed that what was happening there most certainly was NOT POTENTIAL.
• Jesus was actually bearing the wrath of God on the cross.
• We saw the darkness at noon (picturing the day of the Lord wrath)
• We heard Him cry, “My God, My God, why have You forsake Me?”
We know that Jesus was actually bearing the wrath of God on the cross.
The question we want to more definitively answer here is: WHY?
• Why was Jesus bearing the wrath of God on the cross?
• Was it for something He had done?
• Of was there a different reason?
And of course you already know
That central to the Christian faith is the belief that
On the cross Jesus bore the wrath which was due to the elect
For He had no deserved wrath on His own account.
• We believe that He submitted Himself to our punishment.
• We believe that He bore our sin and the wrath that abides on it.
• We believe that He suffered as though He had lived our life.
And that is what we want to examine even more here tonight.
To do so, we are looking at a very popular text in Peter’s first epistle.
To be accurate, it is a text which is really a mere illustration to Peter’s main point.
• Peter’s epistle is about the suffering and how believers should endure it.
• In the immediate context Peter is addressing SUFFERING UNDER UNJUST
PERSECUTION.
• Peter’s request is that instead of rebelling true believers should patiently
endure suffering as Christ did.
• Peter’s point is that as followers of Christ we should passively endure and
obey.
And then Peter gives us the example of Christ’s PASSIVE OBEDIENCE
As the example we should follow.
Tonight, we are just going to look at that example
As Peter gives us the glorious truth of what Christ endured for us.
There are three points we want to make.
#1 CHRIST’S SINLESSNESS
1 Peter 2:22
Here Peter quotes directly from Isaiah 53:9
Isaiah 53:9 “His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.”
And in quoting this text
Peter makes two very definitive statements about Christ.
1) HE COMMITTED NO SIN
“who committed no sin”
This of course refers to the fact that
Jesus never did anything in violation of the Law of God.
This does not so much speak of His fulfillment of the things God requires
(as we spoke of in His ACTIVE OBEDIENCE)
As much as it reveals that Christ never violated anything God forbid.
He never broke one of those “Thou Shalt Nots” we read of.
He never offended God through rebellion or disobedience
Or transgression of any kind.
Now IF YOU WILL REMEMBER, this was one of the main goals of the religious leaders of His day; to prove that He did.
He was constantly being accused of violating God’s Law
And thus making Himself deserving of wrath.
They accused Him several times of violating Sabbath Law.
TURN TO: MATTHEW 12:1-14
There are two incidents in which Jesus was accused of breaking the Sabbath.
• One for His disciples picking grain
• The other much more bold when Jesus specifically healed on the Sabbath
But in both cases the issue was NOT that Jesus broke the Sabbath,
But rather that the religious leaders
Did not understand the Law they claimed He broke.
• The Sabbath Law never forbid deeds of necessity (eating…see David, vs. 3-4)
• The Sabbath Law never forbid deeds of worship (see the priests, vs. 5)
• The Sabbath Law also didn’t apply to God (see Jesus, vs. 6)
• The Sabbath Law also didn’t forbid mercy (see sheep in a ditch, vs. 11)
The issue there
(as in all other times they accused Him of breaking the Sabbath)
Was not His rebellion, but rather their ignorance.
But Sabbath Law wasn’t all they accused Him of breaking.
Other times they accused Him of violating dietary restrictions.
Matthew 15:1-2 “Then some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, “Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.”
Jesus first rebuked them and then responded:
Matthew 15:10-11 “After Jesus called the crowd to Him, He said to them, “Hear and understand. “It is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man.”
The issue there being that they again
Didn’t understand the purpose of the Law.
TURN TO: LUKE 11:37-41
Jesus there revealed that the issue wasn’t His violation of the Law,
But again their misunderstanding of it.
They assumed all of those commands were merely external,
Jesus revealed otherwise.
God wasn’t worried about clean hands or clean stomachs,
God was concerned with clean hearts.
JESUS NEVER VIOLATED THOSE COMMANDS.
The point being that Jesus was not guilty of violating God’s Law…EVER
• He “committed no sin”
• Not once, not ever.
The other point Peter definitively makes is
2) HE NEVER LIED ABOUT WHO HE WAS
“nor was any deceit found in His mouth;”
Trying to prove Jesus violated the Law was only one tactic.
THE OTHER (as we have been seeing in Luke on Sunday mornings) is that
They tried to prove that His power was really from Satan and not God.
They repeatedly accused Him of blasphemy because of what He said,
Thus trying to prove Him to be a liar.
TURN TO: JOHN 5:8-18
• There again they start by being angry because of another one of those Sabbath healings,
• But they end up chasing a different rabbit into the bush.
• They decide instead to try to nail Him as a liar because He called God His Father.
We don’t have time to go through the entire response,
But the basic response of Jesus was this:
(READ 36-39)
• I’m not lying about who I claim to be, My works prove that.
• The only reason you can’t see it is because you are ignorant.
• The Father has clearly testified of Me,
• It’s just that you don’t know the Father and you can’t hear or understand His word.
Jesus didn’t lie about who He was, they just couldn’t comprehend it.
And of course there are other accounts of this same sort of thing:
John 8:48-49 “The Jews answered and said to Him, “Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?” Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon; but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me.”
Or
Matthew 12:24-26 “But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “This man casts out demons only by Beelzebul the ruler of the demons.” And knowing their thoughts Jesus said to them, “Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and any city or house divided against itself will not stand. “If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then will his kingdom stand?”
Obviously Jesus was not demon possessed.
• Why would Satan drive his own army out?
Jesus was exactly who He said He was,
The Son of God who had authority over evil spirits.
And then of course there were just those BLANKET ACCUSATIONS.
John 18:29-30 “Therefore Pilate went out to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this Man?” They answered and said to him, “If this Man were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered Him to you.”
Or
John 8:46 “Which one of you convicts Me of sin? If I speak truth, why do you not believe Me?”
Or
John 18:23 “Jesus answered him, “If I have spoken wrongly, testify of the wrong; but if rightly, why do you strike Me?”
Their accusations were totally baseless.
They were never able to provide one single piece of evidence
To prove that He was anything other than who He said He was.
And that is what Peter wants you to know first about Christ.
HE WAS INNOCENT OF ALL WRONG DOING
“who committed on sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth”
Jesus was exactly who He said He was and He never did anything
To deserve one single drop from the cup of God’s wrath.
He did not deserve the cross.
It was as Peter preached at Pentecost
Acts 2:22-23 “Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know — this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.”
(You can see why Peter uses Jesus as an example of unjust suffering)
That was Christ’s Sinlessness.
#2 CHRIST’S SUBMISSION
1 Peter 2:23
One thing we know about humanity is that
Very few submit to suffering that they do deserve,
But I don’t really know of anyone
Who willingly submits to suffering that they don’t deserve.
That was one of the things that made His death so peculiar, and so emboldened His enemies.
• The fact that He would submit to this death on the cross without kicking and screaming only served to prove to His enemies that they were right about Him.
Isaiah said it years before:
Isaiah 53:4 “Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted.”
They just thought that He was suffering for His own sin.
But Peter ALREADY reiterated that He didn’t have any sin to suffer for
THIS WAS NOT A MAN WHO SUFFERED JUSTLY.
THIS WAS A MAN WHO SUFFERED WILLINGLY.
“and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously;”
Instead of complaining about His predicament…
Instead of threatening those who accused Him…
He “kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously”
That is to say He just kept putting His fate in God’s hands.
Did we not see that over and over and over?
Go to the garden:
Matthew 26:39 “And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.”
See Him when the soldiers arrived:
Matthew 26:51-54 “And behold, one of those who were with Jesus reached and drew out his sword, and struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his ear. Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place; for all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword. “Or do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels? “How then will the Scriptures be fulfilled, which say that it must happen this way?”
See Him before Pilate
John 19:8-11 “Therefore when Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid; and he entered into the Praetorium again and said to Jesus, “Where are You from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. So Pilate said to Him, “You do not speak to me? Do You not know that I have authority to release You, and I have authority to crucify You?” Jesus answered, “You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above; for this reason he who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.”
See Him on the cross
Luke 23:46 “And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, “Father, INTO YOUR HANDS I COMMIT MY SPIRIT.” Having said this, He breathed His last.”
“but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously”
He put His life in God’s hands at every turn.
He was submissive.
And as we said at the very beginning of our study a few weeks ago,
This was NOT JUST AN ATTITUDE HE EXHIBITED AT THE END.
His PASSIVE OBEDIENCE is characteristic of His entire life.
• He submitted to the incarnation
• He submitted to the manger
• He submitted to human parents
• He submitted to earthly struggles
• He submitted to human persecution and hatred
His whole life was passive obedience.
Philippians 2:5-8 “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
And those aren’t all.
The Psalms give particular interest to Christ’s PASSIVE OBEDIENCE
And His willing submission to the Father.
TURN TO: PSALMS 16
(You’ll recognize this one as the often preached Psalm by the apostles)
• See Jesus in the Garden, ministered to by angels, faithful to the Father (1-4)
• See Jesus looking past the cross to the reward (5-6)
• See Jesus confidence while facing hostility and even death (7-11)
TURN TO: PSALMS 118
Another Psalm of His passive obedience to the Father
• See Him in the Garden (5-7)
• See Him before Pilate (8-9)
• See Him on the cross (10-14)
And we didn’t even look at the famous Psalm 22
Which details His crucifixion.
The point that is being made is simply that
In His suffering it was NOT because He did something wrong.
He was bearing the wrath of God not because He was guilty
But because He was submissive.
So we are already answering that question as to
Why He was bearing God’s wrath on the cross.
We can clearly say that it wasn’t because of something He did.
• He was innocent
• He knew He was innocent
• And He knew that God knew He was innocent and would vindicate Him
So why was He suffering?
#3 CHRIST’S SUBSTITUTION
1 Peter 2:24
What a wonderful and yet gut-wrenching answer.
“and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross”
He wasn’t being punished for His sins,
He was being punished for our sins.
Isaiah 53:1-6 “Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.”
This is the reality of what was happening on the cross.
He was suffering for the way I have lived my life.
2 Corinthians 5:21 “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
Or listen to Paul when he wrote to the Galatians.
Galatians 3:13 “Christ 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”
When Paul speaks of the “the curse”
He is referring to the penalty for breaking any of God’s righteous commands.
Deuteronomy 28:15-20 “But it shall come about, if you do not obey the LORD your God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes with which I charge you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you: “Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the country. “Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. “Cursed shall be the offspring of your body and the produce of your ground, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock. “Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out. “The LORD will send upon you curses, confusion, and rebuke, in all you undertake to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken Me.”
That is what Christ was taking on the cross.
He was taking the punishment for God’s elect
Who had failed to keep their end of the bargain.
He took that curse upon Himself.
He willingly and submissively endured that punishment.
That is why when we are talking about SOLUS CHRISTUS and salvation in Christ alone, we are NOT TALKING ABOUT what Christ did IN us.
WE ARE TALKING ABOUT WHAT CHRIST DID FOR US.
So what did Christ do for us?
1) He actively fulfilled our righteous obligation before God.
2) He passively endured our just punishment from God.
We didn’t do that, He did that.
He didn’t just do most of that, He did ALL of that.
• We don’t present any mixture of our own righteous deeds up with His as our offering to God.
• We don’t endure one stroke of punishment as payment for our sin before God.
Jesus paid it all
Jesus achieved both
Romans 8:1 “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
That is the verse that speaks to the greatest fulfillment of
THE PASSIVE OBEDIENCE OF CHRIST.
If you want to use a word for what Christ’s active obedience means,
That word is FREEDOM (we are freed from the Law)
If you want a word for what Christ’s passive obedience means,
That word is NO CONDEMNTATION. (there is none left)
This is what Christ did FOR us.
And tonight I just think it’s fitting to rest in that before we go any further.
And so we’re going to partake of the LORD’S SUPPER tonight.
I need our deacons to come and pass out both elements tonight.
NOW, LOOK AT THEM FOR A MOMENT.
In one hand you have the bread which represents His body.
Hebrews 10:5 “Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says, “SACRIFICE AND OFFERING YOU HAVE NOT DESIRED, BUT A BODY YOU HAVE PREPARED FOR ME;”
• It was in this body that He fulfilled your righteous obligation.
In the other hand you have the juice which represents His blood (His death)
• It was through this death that He satisfied the wrath you had earned.
He came to this earth and lived a righteous life
And then died a sacrificial death.
We partake in this as an acknowledgement
That what He did, He did for me.
1 Corinthians 11:23-25 “For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”
And now let’s just stand and sing.
