The Saving Work of Jesus
1 Peter 2:22-24
August 11, 2019
I know it’s been a few weeks since we have been able to continue in our study of Luke’s gospel, and though I am eager to get back to that wonderful study, it will still be a couple of weeks.
Next week we will be having our “School Commissioning Service”
Which I think is vitally important.
And instead if giving 1 week of Luke and then pausing again
I decided just to wait until we could have some continuity again.
But in reality there is more of a reason even than that.
Primarily, I wanted us to be able to have the Lord’s Supper.
And it’s not that we can’t do this after any service, but I do think it’s always better
When the entire service points to that atonement as a preparation for the ordinance.
And so that’s what we’re going to do this morning.
We’re just going to spend our time together remembering Jesus
And glorying in the beautiful realities of salvation.
Last January the Lord really opened my eyes to a reality
That has captivated me now for about the last 20 months.
It is the reality of what it means to be “in Christ”
We’ve probably talked about it most in talking about the verse 2 Corinthians 5:21
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.”
We’ve looked at that verse many times over the last couple of years and discussed the sheer beauty of the reality of imputation.
• That my sin was imputed to Christ and His righteousness was imputed to me.
• That, Christ on the cross was treated by God as though He lived my sinful life
• So that now I can be treated by God as though I lived His perfect life.
Even in Malawi, we spent 2 days on in the church discussing this truth.
And this morning we are going to look at more of it
Because even when we studied that reality it was on a Sunday night
And I am aware then that there are many even in our church
Who may have never been introduced at all to this reality.
Now it took us 2 months to get through everything that was bound up in our understanding of the salvation of Christ so I can’t give it all to you this morning.
But if nothing else, I want to REMIND some and INTRODUCE others
To the glorious saving work of Jesus.
Our study of the saving work of Christ fell under the heading
Of what is commonly called: SOLUS CHRISTUS
If you are not familiar with the term, it is a Latin term
That came out of the Great Protestant Reformation.
The work of the reformers who protested against the Catholic Church Came to be summarized in 5 basic irreducible statements.
They came known to be called the five SOLAS
SOLA SCRIPTURA – Scripture Alone
Namely that Scripture alone is our source of authority. We don’t lean on popes or tradition or logic as our authority, but Scripture alone.
SOLA GRATIA – Grace Alone
That salvation is not something that is merited by the sinner. We don’t deserve salvation and we don’t earn it. Salvation purely the work and result of God’s grace.
SOLA FIDE – Faith Alone
That faith is all God requires for justification. There are no works needed, only faith in the finished work of Jesus.
SOLUS CHRISTUS – Christ Alone
Certainly that Christ is the only Savior, but also that Christ’s work alone is all that is required for salvation. That is to say that Christ doesn’t need our help. He did it all.
SOLI DEO GLORIA – The Glory of God Alone
That all of salvation is for and points to the glory of God. We don’t take credit, we don’t receive credit. No one will stand and sing our praises in heaven. God alone gets the glory for salvation.
And the SOLA we look at this morning is SOLUS CHRISTUS
That Christ alone accomplished all that is needed for salvation.
The key doctrinal phrase (if you have never heard it, write it down)
That is so important to our understanding of the gospel is this:
JESUS CHRIST DID NOT COME TO MAKE US RIGHTEOUS.
HE CAME TO BE OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
That is a very important statement.
The Catholic Church taught simply that Christ came to make us righteous.
• That is to say that the work of Christ was ultimately to provide a means and motivation and even a model for you to become righteous.
• You had to utilize the work of Christ, apply the work of Christ, model the life of Christ, and thus become righteous. And until you did, there would be no heaven.
• You would simply go to the place of Purgatory and be purged of your sinfulness until you were finally righteous and could enter heaven.
• And there were all sorts of ways in which a person’s stay in purgatory could be shortened through indulgences and self-sacrifices and other nonsense.
The reformers opposed this adamantly.
Jesus Christ did not come to make us righteous,
He came to be our righteousness.
And any obvious examination of believers should make this clear.
If Jesus came to make us righteous than we must all universally agree
That no one ever failed more at their work than Jesus did.
For can you name for me even one man that Jesus ever made righteous?
No.
Well that’s because that is not what He came to do.
He didn’t come to make me righteous,
He came to be righteousness for me.
When He died on the cross, He didn’t look down at His followers and say,
“There now, it is possible”. He said, “It is Finished!”
NOW DON’T MISUNDERSTAND ME.
I am not saying that Jesus has no interest in your righteous living.
• He does, this is what we call sanctification.
• This is one of the roles of the Holy Spirit in your life.
• Certainly Christ calls all of His followers to live holy and to be righteous.
Nor am I saying that Jesus won’t eventually make us righteous.
• He will, in glory when the flesh is removed.
But the reality is that in this life we never obtain righteousness.
And thus in this life we never satisfy God’s requirements.
All our righteous deeds are but mere filthy rags to Him.
Yet we are still justified before God because of what Jesus did for us.
AND SO WE ARE TALKING ABOUT CHRIST’S SAVING WORK.
And so we say that Jesus came to BE our righteousness.
Now, if you were not with us when we studied this work there are
TWO MORE ELEMENTS of the work of Christ that I need to reveal to you.
As we discuss that Jesus came to BE our righteousness,
We need to talk about that righteousness in two ways.
1) We discuss His ACTIVE OBEDIENCE
2) We discuss His PASSIVE OBEDIENCE
And while there are many passages that discuss this,
I think we can see them both here in this text in 1 Peter 2
It is actually a text about enduring suffering like Jesus did,
But in that we see a beautiful reality of exactly WHAT JESUS DID 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.
We are talking here about the sinless perfection of Jesus.
I don’t know if you realize how important that is to your salvation,
BUT IT IS HUGE.
When most people think of Christ being sinless
They see its importance from the standpoint that
If Christ hadn’t been sinless than God wouldn’t have accepted Him
He would have simply died on the cross for His own sins like any other sinner.
And that is certainly true.
But THERE IS MORE to this than just being an acceptable sacrifice.
What we have to take into consideration is the requirement of God.
In the Old Testament we are confronted with ONE COMMAND
That really encompasses the entire expectation of God.
Leviticus 11:44-45 “For I am the LORD your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. And you shall not make yourselves unclean with any of the swarming things that swarm on the earth. ‘For I am the LORD who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God; thus you shall be holy, for I am holy.'”
And this requirement of God has not changed.
We read the same command in the New Testament.
1 Peter 1:14-16 “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, “YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.”
We even have Jesus Himself say:
Matthew 5:48 “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
Or how about:
Matthew 5:17-20 “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. “For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. “Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. “For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
This is God’s universal requirement for humanity.
We must be holy.
Now some people have said, that’s true, but we aren’t
So Jesus came and died to satisfy God’s wrath on our sin.
• God allotted that when man sinned they could bring an atoning sacrifice
• And based on that sacrifice God would forgive them for their sin
• And so that’s what Jesus did. He died so that God would forgive our sin.
That is true, but that only solves HALF of the problem.
LET ME PUT IT TO YOU THIS WAY.
In regard to the Law of God there is more that is required than just to make a sacrifice when you mess up.
• God’s Law not only includes PENAL SANCTIONS (required sacrifices)
• It also includes POSITIVE COMMANDS. (righteous living)
You must understand that God is holy and He demands holy living.
His Law is filled with righteous commands that you must do.
Deuteronomy 10:12-13 “Now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require from you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the LORD’S commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today for your good?”
Micah 6:8 “He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God?”
Joshua 22:4-5 “And now the LORD your God has given rest to your brothers, as He spoke to them; therefore turn now and go to your tents, to the land of your possession, which Moses the servant of the LORD gave you beyond the Jordan. “Only be very careful to observe the commandment and the law which Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, to love the LORD your God and walk in all His ways and keep His commandments and hold fast to Him and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul.”
And that is just a few to remind you that
God has always been passionate about the fact that
As His children there is a righteous standard which we must meet.
Now, also provided for in the Law was the penalty and means of atonement for the times when we fail to uphold that standard.
Right?
I mean, when you fail to do what you are supposed to do, then you bring your sacrifice to God to be forgiven for your failure.
But please understand, the availability of atonement
Does not nullify the requirement of obedience.
Let me put it to you this way.
• Let’s say you tell your son, “God mow the yard”.
• But he decides to rebel against your command and refuses to do so.
• Will there be a punishment for his rebellion? Yes, there must be.
• But after the punishment is over, is the requirement to go mow the yard now
nullified as well?
• No
Does that help you understand God’s Law a little?
Just because forgiveness is offered through sacrifice
Does not mean that the righteous requirement is now nullified.
GOD STILL DEMANDS RIGHTEOUSNESS FROM YOU.
And this is where we talk about THE ACTIVE OBEDIENCE OF JESUS.
• He actively obeyed every command of the Father.
• He totally fulfilled the Law.
Matthew 5:17 “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.”
We read about it in Hebrews 10
Hebrews 10:5-10 “Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says, “SACRIFICE AND OFFERING YOU HAVE NOT DESIRED, BUT A BODY YOU HAVE PREPARED FOR ME; IN WHOLE BURNT OFFERINGS AND sacrifices FOR SIN YOU HAVE TAKEN NO PLEASURE. “THEN I SAID, ‘BEHOLD, I HAVE COME (IN THE SCROLL OF THE BOOK IT IS WRITTEN OF ME) TO DO YOUR WILL, O GOD.'” After saying above, “SACRIFICES AND OFFERINGS AND WHOLE BURNT OFFERINGS AND sacrifices FOR SIN YOU HAVE NOT DESIRED, NOR HAVE YOU TAKEN PLEASURE in them” (which are offered according to the Law), then He said, “BEHOLD, I HAVE COME TO DO YOUR WILL.” He takes away the first in order to establish the second. By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”
Quoting from Psalms 40 we are reminded that
God didn’t want a sacrificial goat, God wanted a holy life.
Jesus didn’t merely come to sacrifice, Jesus came to live holy.
RC Sproul put it like this:
“If Jesus merely needed to die on the cross to save His people, He could have descended from heaven as a man on the morning of Good Friday, gone straight to Golgotha, died on the cross, risen, and left again. Our sin problem would be fixed. He did not need to be born to Mary in a stable, go through all the trials and tribulations of growing up in this fallen world, or endure the animosity of the Jewish leaders during His ministry. However, Jesus did not live those thirty-three years for nothing. In order for Him to qualify as our Redeemer, it was not enough for Him simply to go to the cross and be crucified. If Jesus had only paid for our sins, He would have succeeded only in taking us back to square one. We would no longer be guilty, but we still would have absolutely no righteousness to bring before God. So, our Redeemer needed not only to die, but also to live a life of perfect obedience. The righteousness that He manifested could then be transferred to all who put their trust in Him. Just as my sin is transferred to Him on the cross when I trust in Him, His righteousness is transferred to my account in the sight of God. So, when I stand before God on the judgment day, God is going to see Jesus and His righteousness, which will be my cover.”
Adapted from R.C Sproul’s Preface in The Work of Christ (David C Cook, 2012)
When you read about Jesus being sinless or living righteous
You need to understand that He was doing that for you.
This is the significance of His body.
It is the body God gave Him
In which He lived a holy life and fulfilled your righteous debt.
• You were the son who was supposed to mow the yard,
• And when you didn’t, you deserved punishment.
• But Jesus not only took your punishment,
• He also went and mowed the yard.
Does that make sense?
That is what we mean by ACTIVE OBEDIENCE
• And that is why His sinless life is so important.
• That is why it is so important that He resisted the devil’s temptation.
• That is why it is so important that He lived as a holy man on this earth.
He was living the life that God demanded of you
So that one day He could give that life to God to satisfy your debt.
He didn’t come to make you righteous, He came to be your righteousness.
That is ACTIVE OBEDIENCE
And that is what Peter says about Jesus.
He “committed no sin”
Incidentally, if you want forensic proof of that,
• Look at the resurrection where God raised Him from the dead.
• That would not have occurred if Jesus had ever sinned against God.
Jesus was perfectly sinless in everything.
He always obeyed God
He never disobeyed God
The other point Peter definitively makes is
2) HE NEVER LIED ABOUT WHO HE WAS
“nor was any deceit found in His mouth;”
That is to say, He wasn’t a blasphemer.
• He never misrepresented God
• He never misrepresented Himself
• He never misrepresented the Truth
May favorite incident of this is found in John 5
• After Jesus healed a paralytic on the Sabbath and then called God His own Father.
• The Jews attacked Him and tried to kill Him for making Himself out to be equal with God.
• Well…that’s who He was, and He never lied about it.
Look at His answer:
John 5:19-23 “Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner. “For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and the Father will show Him greater works than these, so that you will marvel. “For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes. “For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son, so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.”
• He never lied about it.
• He never misrepresented.
• He always claimed to be God’s Son.
• He always claimed to be the Savior of the World
He wasn’t the most sinless and honest man to ever walk the earth, He was the ONLY sinless and honest man to ever walk the earth.
HE WAS SINLESS.
• He achieved a righteous standing before God.
• He satisfied God’s expectation for holy living.
AND SO PETER BEGINS BY MAKING THIS POINT:
CHRIST 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.
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 Christ’s 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
JESUS WAS NOT A MAN WHO SUFFERED JUSTLY.
HE 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: “yet not as I will, but as You will.”
• See Him when the SOLDIERS arrived: “Put your sword back into its place…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?”
• See Him before PILATE “You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above”
• See Him on the CROSS “Father, INTO YOUR HANDS I COMMIT MY SPIRIT.”
“but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously”
He put His life in God’s hands at every turn.
He was submissive.
NOW THIS IS THE OTHER SIDE OF THAT COIN.
We spoke of His ACTIVE OBEDIENCE.
Here we see His PASSIVE OBEDIENCE.
Whereas Active Obedience refers to what He intentionally did,
Passive Obedience refers to what He humbly endured.
And we also see Passive Obedience throughout 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.”
So in Christ we see a man who perfectly obtained a righteous testimony before God.
• He always obeyed God’s commands,
• He never broke God’s ordinances,
• He always submitted to the Father’s will no matter the cost.
AND THE GREATEST DEMONSTRATION OF THE PASSIVE OBEDIENCE OF CHRIST CAME WHEN HE ENDURED THE CROSS.
#3 CHRIST’S SUBSTITUTION
1 Peter 2:24
“and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross”
This is where the Passive Obedience of Jesus runs right into your story.
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.”
One the cross He was taking the punishment for God’s elect
Who had failed to keep their end of the bargain.
DO YOU SEE NOW THE WORK OF CHRIST ON YOUR BEHALF?
1) You had a righteous expectation you had failed to satisfy.
• Jesus came and actively obeyed the Father to fulfill that expectation.
2) You had a punishment you had to endure for your failure to obey.
• Jesus came and passively endured that punishment.
He came in a human body and lived a righteous life
And then presented that righteous life to God.
And in that same body He took the eternal punishment that you deserved.
HE DID IT ALL
(You didn’t do a thing)
He not only lived the righteous life God expected of me.
He also bore the just wrath that God owed to me.
That is why when we are talking about SOLUS CHRISTUS
We are NOT TALKING ABOUT what Christ did IN us.
WE ARE TALKING ABOUT WHAT CHRIST DID FOR US.
IT WAS ALL HIM
• 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
AND THIS REALITY THEN IS FOR ALL THOSE WHO ARE “IN HIM”
• It is for those who have forsaken their own efforts at pleasing God.
• It is for those who have repented of their sin.
• It is for those who have left it all and run to Jesus that He alone might be their
means of acceptance before God.
In effect they took off their garments and worth and put on Jesus
So that they might approach God wrapped in His righteousness alone.
THAT IS THE CHURCH
AND TO THE CHURCH CHRIST LEFT AN ORDINANCE
THAT WE MIGHT ALWAYS REMEMBER THAT
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 this morning I just think it’s fitting to rest in that.
And so we’re going to partake of the LORD’S SUPPER.
HERE WE HAVE TWO ELEMENTS.
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.
• We see His ACTIVE OBEDIENCE
In the other you have the JUICE which represents HIS BLOOD (His death)
1 Peter 2:24 “and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.”
• It was through this death that He satisfied the wrath you had earned.
• We see His PASSIVE OBEDIENCE
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.
AND WE DO THIS IN REMEMBRANCE OF HIM
AS ALWAYS WE WILL HAVE A TIME OF PREPARATION.
• This ordinance is only for those who are “in Christ Jesus”
• If you have not yet trusted in the work of Christ as your sole means of salvation then this ordinance has no meaning for you and to partake would be an insult to Christ.
• In fact 1 Corinthians 11 says that those who partake like that invite judgment into their lives.
SO WE HAVE A TIME TO PREPARE AND TO EVALUATE OUR MOTIVES
But let me say this.
• If you have never trusted Christ, what a great time to do so.
• What a great time to confess your sin to Him and to run to Him for salvation.
• And then after running to the Savior you may joyfully partake in the ordinance that symbolizes His saving work.
Let’s Pray, we’ll have a time of preparation, and then we’ll partake.
