We've been working our way through this epistle and have come to a section dealing with submission. But as we see Christ as our example, we have taken last week in this, and if I'm being honest, maybe next, to consider the sin slaying work of Christ. Last week we, last week we considered the verse 22. He committed no sin. Today we turn our attention to verse 24. He himself bore our sins. It strikes me as we have sung songs today about the death of Christ. As we have in our hearts this almost funeral-like feeling when we consider Christ's death, today I hope that we see that while it is not wrong to have a funereal attitude toward the death of Christ. That's not the only thing that we see. That's not the only thing that wells up within us. We rejoice in the death of Christ. If you have found your way to 1 Peter 2, follow along in your copy of God's word as I read verses 21 through 25. For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in his steps, who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth. 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. 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. For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls. God, we thank you for your word. We pray now that as your word is preached, that in the preaching of the word of God, we would hear the word of God. Our prayer is that you would hide the preacher behind the cross, that as the preacher becomes invisible, Lord, that we would see Christ, that we would hear the voice of our dear Savior. God, we pray today for the preaching of the word that it would truly be a means of grace, a means of grace sanctifying your people and saving lost souls, granting to them the twin graces of faith and repentance. God, we pray now that you would help us, guide us as we consider It's in his name that we pray these things. Amen. In just a couple of weeks, all of Christendom, indeed most of the world, will celebrate Easter. For those who don't know Jesus Christ as Savior, this celebration has no real meaning, no more than Valentine's Day or a birthday. And perhaps for them, Easter will have even less meaning, but for Christians, Easter, or as I prefer to call it, Resurrection Sunday, is the event of the calendar year. One of those two Sundays when we enjoy the company of our CEO Christians, those Christmas Easter only Christians, we get to enjoy that. here at Waco Family and at many Reformed churches, we try to make sure that the celebration of the resurrected Savior is an every Lord's Day thing. We want to celebrate the resurrection of Christ every Lord's Day. And we hope that one Sunday per year does not cast a shadow or overshadow the other 51 Sundays of the year. We want to celebrate our risen Lord every Christian Sabbath day that we gather. And today is no different. We recognize that in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we have hope, hope for forgiveness of sin, hope for eternal life, hope that we who die in the Lord will one day be raised as Christ was raised. But today's text calls us to look not at the resurrection, but at the event just prior to the resurrection. This event, if we don't have this event, then the resurrection loses all its meaning. This event is the cross of Calvary where Jesus bled and died. And if there is no cross, then the resurrection has no effect. The Bible is very clear that all men will be raised from their graves. Some will be raised to eternal judgment and everlasting torment in hell. And if there is no cross, then this is what we all have to look forward to. The cross of Jesus Christ is the reason that we find hope in the resurrection. The cross is the reason we have forgiveness of sins. The cross is the reason we can anticipate being called from the grave on that final day to be with Jesus in heaven. The cross of Jesus Christ is the central event of Christianity. Sadly, in our day, some have come to ignore the Bible's teaching on the cross? Or to distort the Bible's teaching on the cross? Some have decided that Christianity is too much a bloody religion. Why would we continue to talk about shed blood on Calvary? And they abandon the cross altogether. And then they have no hope, no gospel. Some have decided that the cross is for us only an object lesson so that we might know how to face adversity. Some denying the wrath of God for sin say that the cross is the arena where Jesus destroyed Satan, winning victory over evil. How foolish it would be The only reason the cross was necessary was because of the righteous wrath of a holy God that needed to be satisfied in order for him to save sinners. The wages of sin is death. Many of us know that verse, but we forget We forget what that means. The wages of sin is death. And in order for God to redeem a single sinner, His divine justice had to be satisfied. So this required the cross. Not only a cross. There were many crosses, even in Jesus' day. But a death on the cross. And that death had to be Jesus died in the place of all the elect of God. And in that great heavenly transaction which occurred on Calvary, Jesus paid our sin debt by bearing our sin. Taking the guilt and the weight of sin from us and placing it, taking it upon himself. Then, bearing up under the weight of sin, He suffered the righteous punishment, the punishment for sin, due to everyone who would believe on Him, was paid on Calvary's cross. He bled and He died in our place. Here in the text of 1 Peter 2, Peter quotes extensively from Isaiah 53, which was read in our hearing just earlier. Isaiah, the Old Testament prophet, speaks of what Jesus would do to save sinners. He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquity. The chastening for our peace was upon Him. We find in verse 24 of 2 Peter, he himself bore our sins in his body on the cross. And there's so much truth, so much weight in these words. All of the gospel message is contained in these words. He bore our sin. There's no way Today, even though we have read and sung and prayed and now hear the preaching of this text, even with all of that, there's no way that we will exhaust. Just these few words he bore our sin. But we will work through this verse. To see just a glimpse of the of the magnificence that is contained here. Verse 24 says, He bore our sins. He bore our sins. Jesus Christ, He bore our sins. This speaks to the exclusivity and the uniqueness of Jesus as Savior. Last week, we considered that He committed holiness, that He committed no sin, uniquely qualified Him to be the Savior, the precious Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. So we lovingly, but clearly declare to all, to the Muslim, to the Buddhist, to the Jew, to anyone who seeks salvation from some other source, Sacrifice for sin. He is the only Savior We declare with Peter as he said elsewhere that there is no salvation in any other neither Is there any other name given under among men whereby we must be saved? He bore our sin Christ alone He is the only Savior We read here in this verse, he himself bore our sin. He himself bore our sin. This points us to the active role which Jesus had in his death on the cross. In John 10, Jesus said that no man could take his life. He would lay it down and he had the power to lay it down and the power to take it up again. being the sacrifice for sin was not something that was done to Jesus. It was something that he did for those whom the father had given to him. He laid down his life. Some have said, well, the cross of Calvary, isn't that just cosmic child abuse where the heavenly father did these things to his son. No, there is no cosmic child abuse. Calvary was not a punishment inflicted by the father on an unwilling Jesus. Jesus laid down his life. Payment for sin on the cross was a Trinitarian work. Father, son, and spirit. Perhaps you Perhaps you're thinking of the verse that says that where Jesus prayed, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. And we're reminded in this that Jesus was the God man, fully God and fully man. And there are things that he experienced as a man being fully man that God does not experience. He hungered, he thirsted, he grew weary, he grew tired. So he experienced those things, we say, according to his humanity. And yes, according to his humanity, certainly there must have been a dread of going to the cross. And he prayed, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. But according to his deity, from before the foundations of the world, Jesus was a willing participant. lost sinners. No one forced Jesus to the cross. He himself bore our sins. We've been saying this in this verse, he himself bore our sin, but we must ask, what is it to bear sin? What is it to carry these sins? What does this mean? It's not just that Jesus carried our sins around for He bore our sins as the wrath of God due to sin was meted out or afflicted upon Him. Isaiah said, and we sing, that He was stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. He bore our sins and He paid the price for our sins. In bearing our sin, Jesus paid the price of God's wrath in full. That old song, Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, he washed it white as snow. He bore our sin, paying the price of God's wrath, and he paid it in full. Our Bibles use a word to speak of Jesus in this sin bearing, sin paying position. We find it in First John, Two, two, he himself is the propitiation for our sin. He himself is the propitiation for our sin. The concept here is the same as in our text. He himself is the propitiation, he himself bore our sins, the same idea. Propitiation is not a word that we use in our everyday vernacular. It's not something that we're accustomed to. Though we do have a song or two that we sing that has the word perpetuation in it. Some have said we need to get rid of the word perpetuation, we need to update, we need to update the word. I'm a proponent for holding on to the word perpetuation. There are words that we can update, there are words that we can bring into our vernacular, but this word we want to hold on to. Some say, rather than propitiation, they might say sacrifice. Something to that effect. And there are elements of truth when we substitute words, when we take away propitiation and we say that Jesus was a sacrifice for our sin. But it leaves out an important aspect of what Christ did in bearing our sin, that he was our propitiation. Propitiation assumes wrath and punishment. Propitiation assumes the wrath of God. All men deserve the wrath and punishment of God for sin. For everyone who believes in Jesus, he is our propitiation. He takes the hit, he takes the pain, he takes the wrath and punishment for us on our behalf. He bore our sin means that he is the propitiation for our sin. Someone will say, this seems too much. A death on the cross of an innocent man One whom Pilate himself declared, I find no fault in him. And now we read of this punishment, this penal death on the cross. And some will say that goes too far. It goes too far. Beloved, for anyone who thinks this sacrifice was too great, Here's why you miss it. You think too lightly of sin, and you think too lowly of the holiness of God. Listen to how the hymn writer put it. If you think of sin but lightly, nor suppose the evil grant, here you see its nature rightly, here its guilt, appointed, see who bears the awful load, tis the word, the Lord's anointed, son of man and son of God. Our sin debt was so great. Our sin was such an offense against the holiness of God that no sacrifice would do except the pure, precious blood of Jesus Christ. because of the seriousness of sin and because of the holiness of God, Jesus' death on the cross was the only sacrifice sufficient for forgiveness of sin. One more thing that we get from this phrase, he himself bore our sin, is this, if Jesus bore our sin, if Jesus paid the full price, then our sins are no longer a burden for us to bear. He bore our sin. Now we no longer bear our sin. Friend, if you're looking for a way of salvation where you can pull your own weight, where you can carry your own load, where you can do your fair chair, where you can bear your own sin. Christianity is not for you and you'll find that there is no salvation in burying your own sin. There is no hope in carrying your own load. This is why Jesus had to die for all those who would be saved. And now we who are in him, we who received this forgiveness of sin, we who He bore our sin. Now we rest in him and his completed work of sin bearing. He himself bore our sin. The text tells us he bore our sin in his body. Jesus did not just go to the cross to talk about sin bearing. Jesus didn't go to Calvary in order to open the door for us to walk through. Jesus bore our sin in his body. He accomplished salvation for everyone who would be saved. And in accomplishing salvation, he accomplished it from beginning to end, from start to finish. He died to secure salvation. But he also, in his death, secured the means as well as the end. In his body, this phrase, in his body, he bore our sins in his body. It reminds us that Jesus suffered and died bodily according to his humanity. Again, God cannot die. God did not die. And so according to his deity, Jesus did not suffer. He did not die. God can't suffer or die, but he is fully God and fully man. And according to his humanity, he suffered and he bled and he died, bearing our sins in his body. As our confession and our catechism teach us. He continues to be God and man in two distinct natures and one person forever. And his body carries the marks of mercy and grace. The scars of bearing our sin in his body were visible to his disciples after his resurrection, and they will be in view for all eternity. He himself bore our sin in his body, the text adds the phrase, on the cross. It's significant that Jesus died on a crucifixion cross. Not just any death, the death on the cross, the death on the tree. That death, before it was ever invented, was prophesied by the prophets. And it was plain throughout the Old Testament that death on a cross, death on a tree was a cursed death. He was cursed for us. God made him who knew no sin, that is none other than Jesus. God made him who knew no sin behalf. He became a curse on our behalf in order to bear our sin on the cruel cross of Calvary. He himself bore our sin in his body on the cross. And if you're following along in the text, you see next to me have these words that is a it's a purpose clause. We find the words so that which speaks to something which was accomplished. He bore our sins and accomplished something by this action. Jesus bore our sins so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness for by his wounds you were healed. This speaks to what we call double imputation. Double imputation. The first imputation, he bore our sin. And then the second imputation is that Christ's righteousness is imputed to us. By this double imputation, we are dead to sin and alive to righteousness. This is pictured in the Lord's table. The cup pictures the blood of Jesus poured out for forgiveness of sin. but that would not be enough. That would only bring us to a zero level. Forgiveness of sin was not enough for our salvation. Even with our sins forgiven, we would not have the righteousness required to stand before God. So at the table, the bread represents the body of Jesus and taking on humanity, taking to himself a true body, He earned all the righteous obligations of the law. And he did so that his righteousness that he earned might be imputed to us, that we are clothed in his righteousness. By his stripes, you are healed. As I mentioned last week, this doesn't speak to temporary healing of a body. Temporary healing. Well, at times we rejoice in temporary healing. But this is much more serious, much more eternal. By his stripes you were healed. This speaks of the healing of sin sickness. Sinners being made whole by the life and death of Jesus. This text has one more thing that we need to take note of. Read again verses 24 and 25, and let's point out, he himself bore our sin in his body on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness, for by his wounds you were healed. For you, and that you is plural, For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and the guardian of your souls. These great gospel truths that are contained here, that we have been speaking of, are for a group called we. A group called us. The group, our. So we must ask, if he bore our sin, and then through his sacrifice, we died to sin and we live to righteousness, who is the we? And more importantly, not who is the we, but are you part of the we? He bore our sin. This is referring to believers, those who believe those who have placed faith in Jesus for salvation, repenting of their sin. Now, beloved, it's not my job or your job, nor do we have the ability to save ourselves. We cannot. And we're not supposed to figure out who it is who has been chosen or predestined, or elected. Those are truths that the Bible teaches plainly, and that's God's work. That's God's business. Christians, it is our responsibility to proclaim the gospel to all. And lost person, the Bible instructs you Believe on Jesus. Turn away from all else and receive him for salvation. There's nothing else to do. He has done the work. He has done the saving work. He himself bore our sin. Believe on him. Jesus Christ came to Earth. And he went to Calvary's cross to die for all who would believe. You know that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. But not for all to be saved, that whosoever believeth would not perish, but would have everlasting life. Whosoever believeth, it's the believing ones. Friend, as you consider the sin bearing work of Jesus, will you look at him and turn away? Will you look at him and then turn back, return back to your sin, continuing down the road to hell? Or will you look upon Jesus, the one who for our sins. And will you say with the songwriter bearing the shame and scoffing rude in my place? Condemned he stood. He sealed my pardon with his blood. Sarah, will you look to him today? And declared. Hallelujah, what a savior. He is my Savior, and I place my faith, my trust in Him and in Him alone. God, we pray that you would apply these words to our hearts. God, we pray that that you would grant to them repentance and turning from their sin and turning to Jesus Christ as the all in all, that they would find in him forgiveness of sin, that they would find in him new life, eternal life, true life. God, for those who are yours by the blood of Jesus. As we come to the table, we pray, God, that you would give us once again a glimpse of Christ. himself for our sake.