***** 1 peter 2:24-25

What we have in Him!

(1 Peter 2:24–25

1 Peter 2:24–25 (NRSV)

24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. 25 For you were going astray like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.

Those who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins in faith are born again into the family of God! When we receive Jesus we receive eternal life! Many times we fail to remember what we have in Him! If we are not careful we will get caught up with what we have down here and never realize and rejoice in what we have in Him!

◾ In our favorite team we have the hope of victory and the enjoyment in watching them do well!

◾ In our job we have a place that we earn a living and support our families need.

◾ In our home we have comfort, companionship, and communion.

◾ In our church we have friends, family, and faith!

All of this together can never compare to what we have in Him! In Christ we have:

▆ A love that can never be fathomed;

▆ A life that can never die;

▆ A righteousness that can never be tarnished;

▆ A peace that can never be understood;

▆ A joy that can never be diminished;

▆ A hope that can never be disappointed;

▆ A glory that can never be clouded;

▆ A light that can never be darkened;

▆ A happiness that can never be enfeebled;

▆ A purity that can never be defiled;

▆ A beauty that can never be marred;

▆ A wisdom that can never be baffled;

▆ And resources that can never be exhausted.

We need to thank God daily for what we have in Jesus! We need to live for the One who died for us! Christian’s are the most blessed people in the world because of what we have in Him! Peter declared the price, the power, the people, and the path of redemption. Christians are people who have been bought by the Lord, brought to the Lord, and are blessed by the Lord. Do you realize what you have in Jesus? What difference does what He did make in what you do? Have you trusted in the Lord Jesus? Have you died to sins? Are you living for righteousness? Are you guarded and guided by the Great Shepherd? These verses of scripture give us some revelations of what we have in Him!

I. Redemption through the sacrifice of our Savior (24)

A. The method of our redemption (24a)

“who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree.”

Because Jesus submitted Himself to the Father’s will and carried out the Father’s will and completed the Father’s will those who come to faith in Jesus are redeemed! Peter tells the church that the Lord Jesus suffered for us so that He could redeem our lost souls. We have redemption through the sacrifice of our Savior! The Lord Jesus suffered a mock trial, the vicious words, the physical abuse, the Roman scourge all for us! Peter tells the church that when He was reviled that He did not revile in return, when He suffered He didn’t threaten those who were wronging Him! He had the power to destroy them all, but He submitted to the Father and suffered it all because He loved us!

Peter reminds the church of the method for our redemption. May we never forget what the Lord Jesus went through to save us! Peter tells the church that the sinless Son of God bore our sins in His own body on the tree! “Who Himself” gives emphasizes to the fact that Jesus alone paid the price for our sins.

Leon Morris wrote, “To put it bluntly and plainly, if Christ is not my Substitute, I still occupy the place of a condemned sinner. If my sins and my guilt are not transferred to Him, if He did not take them upon Himself, then surely they remain with me. If He did not deal with sins, I must face their consequences. If my penalty was not borne by Him, it still hangs over me.”

It was because of His work and not our work that we are saved! It was because of His sacrifice and not our sacrifice that we are saved. We must be dogmatic about the facts! Jesus alone suffered and paid the price for our sins. Peter reminds the church of what the Lord gave and how the Lord paid for our sins. He gave Himself for us on the cross! Bore: (KJV: Bare) anaphero, an-af-er’-o; to take up (literal or figurative), bear, bring (carry, lead) up, offer (up). Peter refers to the massive weight of sin in which the Lord Jesus took upon Himself. The word was used to describe a priest carrying up the sacrifice to the altar. The Lord Jesus took my place at Calvary, He took my sins to Calvary, and He took my punishment at Calvary! Hallelujah to the Lamb of God!

Peter includes himself in this exhortation as he realized that Jesus took his sins as well as the sins of his readers! Sins: hamartia, ham-ar-tee’-ah; sin (properly abstract) offence, sin (-ful). Our sins were not placed symbolically on a lamb, but literally on the Lamb! Peter is teaching the doctrine of the substitutionary atonement. He took our sins in His own body so that we would be free from our sins!

Charles Spurgeon said, “Less than God could not have borne your sin so as to put it away; but the infinitely glorious Son of God did actually stoop to become a sin-bearer. I wonder how I can talk of it as I do. It is a truth scarcely to be declared in words. It wants flame and blood and tears with which to tell this story of an offended God, the Heaven-Maker and the Earth-Creator, stooping from His glory that he might save the reptiles which had dared to insult His honor and to rebel against His glory; and, becoming one of them, to suffer for them, that without violation of His law He might have pity upon the offending things—things so inconsiderable that if He had stamped them all out, as men burn a nest of wasps, there had been no loss to the universe. But He had pity on them, and became one of them, and bare their sins. Oh, love ye Him; adore ye Him; let your souls climb up to the right hand of the majesty above, this morning, and there bow down in lowliest reverence and adoring affection, that He, the God over all, whom you had offended, should His own self bear our sins.”

Peter tells the church that Jesus bore our sins in His body on the tree! Tree: xulon, xoo’-lon; timber (as fuel or material); by implication a stick, club or tree or other wooden article or substance, staff, stocks, tree, wood. We have redemption through the sacrifice of our Savior. It was because He suffered, bled, and died for us that we can be saved! Jesus became a curse for us and took the curse for us so that we can be freed! Galatians 3:13 says, “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”)

Deuteronomy 21:22–23 says, “If a man has committed a sin deserving of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, 23 his body shall not remain overnight on the tree, but you shall surely bury him that day, so that you do not defile the land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance; for he who is hanged is accursed of God.”

Peter tells the church clearly about the method in which Jesus has redeemed us! He bore our sins in His own body on the tree! We are not saved by the example of the Lord Jesus, but by the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus. In the great hymn by Isaac Watts are these words:

Alas, and did my Savior bleed, and did my Sovereign die? Would He devote that sacred head for sinners such as I?

Was it for crimes that I had done He groaned upon that tree? Amazing pity, grace unknown, and love beyond degree!

Well might the sun in darkness hide, and shut His glories in, when Christ the mighty Maker died for man, the creature’s sin.

But drops of grief can ne’er repay the debt of love I owe; here, Lord, I give myself away, ‘tis all that I can do.

At the cross, at the cross where I first saw the light, and the burden of my heart rolled away, it was there by faith I received my sight, and now I am happy all the day!

Thank God for the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have redemption through the sacrifice of our Savior. There is no other means of redemption! He is the only way to heaven! There is no other name given whereby we must be saved! (Acts 4:12) In a day where there are a multitude of religions claiming to know God, serve God, and get to God, Christian’s must stand firm on the word of God! There’s not a multitude of ways to be redeemed! There’s not even 1 other way to be saved!

New breakthroughs offer great hope for those who are sick. There are 122 new medicines being developed to treat heart disease and stroke, and 176 new medicines are in process for neurological diseases. Over 150 new medicines are in the pipeline of America’s biotechnology companies for children’s illnesses. Pharmaceutical companies are targeting 30 new diseases that affect women, with 358 medicines in development for these disorders. It would be wonderful if these medicines were available right now when people needed them. But it can take $800 million dollars and 15 years just to bring one of these wonder drugs to the market.

There may be a multitude of ways and medicines available to cure sicknesses, but there is only one way to cure sin! Peter tells us that Jesus Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree. Peter reveals the method of our redemption. Peter is revealing to the church what we have in Jesus. In Jesus we have redemption through His sacrifice. We have learned about the method of our redemption. We also see in verse 24:

B. The marks of our redemption (24b–c)

1. Seen in our heading (24b)

“that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.”

The Bible clearly teaches us that when a person is saved by the Lord Jesus that that person is changed by the Lord Jesus. When we have been redeemed we will definitely give evidence of our redemption. Peter tells the church that because He died for us we die with Him! All true born again believers have died to self and died to sin because they died with the Savior. Peter reminds the church that they have a new heading, they have new direction, and they have got new bearings! Peter considered it a done deal! He used the past tense word in describing their current position. We have died to sins. Died: (KJV: being dead) apogenomenos, ap-og-en-om’-en-os; past participle of—absent, i.e. deceased (figurative renounced), being dead. The word means “to be away from, depart, be missing, or cease existing.”

→ The Lord Jesus died on the cross to separate believers from sins penalty and He lives today to separate believers from sins power.

Christian’s have died to sins! There was a time where we once lived for sin and lived in sin, but now we have died to sins. Paul gave that same treatise to the Romans.

Romans 6:7–14 says, “For he who has died has been freed from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. 13 And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.”

Christian’s have died to sin! Have you died to sin? When we have been redeemed by the Lord we will give evidence in our living! We’ll have a new heading!

In the 1960’s television show “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea” the crew of the Sea-view would explore and be put on some tough assignments. Admiral Nelson would get orders from Washington and he would get on the loud speaker and announce their new heading. The crew would go to work and get the sub going in the new direction. The crew didn’t argue with the Admiral, debate with the Admiral, or question why they had to change direction. They did what they were commanded to do. They got their new bearings and headed out on the next adventure! That’s just a television show, but I want you to know that we are doing something more important than obeying an Admiral on a sub, we are obeying the Master from above!

The Lord Jesus does not just give us new directions to die to sins, but He also gives us new directions to live for righteousness! Peter says, “having died to sins, might live for righteousness” We give marks that we’ve been redeemed we’ve died to sins because we don’t live in it, but we also live for righteousness. A child of God will love the word of God and live the word of God. The things of God are precious to a child of God. A child of God will practice righteousness. Live: zao, dzah’-o; to live (literal or figurative), life (-time), (a-) live (-ly), quick. We were once dead in our trespasses and sins, but now through faith in the Lord Jesus we have died to sins and we are a live from the dead to live for righteousness. (Ephesians 2:1–5)

◾ If you do not live to serve the Savior,

◾ if you do not live to fellowship with the saints,

◾ if you do not live to help the needy,

◾ if you don’t live to be holy,

◾ if you don’t live for the truth

◾ then you have not died to sins!

Peter tells us that we got a new heading when we were redeemed. We now live for righteousness. Righteousness: dikaiosune, dik-ah-yos-oo’-nay; equity (of character or act); specially (Christian) justification:-righteousness. The Lord Jesus has freed us from the penalty of sin and the power of sin so that we can live for Him. Andrew Whitman wrote, “There is no forgiveness of sin without freedom from sin.”

In the hymn “Rise my soul! Behold ‘Tis Jesus,” J. Denham Smith wrote these words: “All our sins were laid on Jesus, Jesus bore them on the tree; God, who knew them, laid them on Him, and, believing, we go free!”

God has set us free from our sins and we are redeemed through the sacrifice of our Savior. John Phillips wrote, “Christ died not only for us but also as us. He not only gave His life for us but also gives His life to us. We who are saved are no longer free to sin; we are free from sin.” Because we are free from sin we are to live for righteousness! We are to live with an all out passion for righteousness! What are you living for? Have you died to sins? Are you living for righteousness? Are you living on purpose with a purpose?

Country singer Tim McGraw won song of the year at the 38th annual Country Music Association awards in November of 2004. “Live like you were Dying” became the biggest hit of McGraw’s career as it was Number 1 for much of the summer. The song is especially important to McGraw who lost his father, well-known professional baseball pitcher, Tug, to cancer in January of 2004. The lyrics of the song tell of a man in his early 40’s who learns that he is dying. When asked how he handled the news, the song goes, “Someday I hope you get the chance to live like you were dying.” The prospect of death heightens our senses of life and can be a great motivator for living more fully. Christian’s are not called to live like we’re dying, but we are called to live because we have died! Has God changed your heading?

Jacob Koshy grew up in Singapore with a driving ambition to be wealthy. That led him into the world of drugs and gambling, and eventually he became a one-man international smuggling network. In 1980 he was arrested and placed in a government drug rehabilitation prison in Singapore. Jacob was a smoker, and cigarettes weren’t allowed in the center, so he smuggled in tobacco and rolled it in the pages of a Gideon Bible he found in his cell. One day he fell asleep while smoking. He woke to find that the cigarette had burned out, and all that remained was a scrap of charred paper. Unrolling it, he read these words: “Saul, Saul, Why do you persecute me?”

Jacob asked for another Bible and read the entire story of the conversion of Saul of Tarsus. He realized that if God could help someone like Saul, God could help him, too. There in his cell he knelt down and prayed and repented of his sins and asked Christ to come into his life and change his steps. He started sharing his story with the other prisoners; an as soon as he was released, he became involved in a church. He met a Christian woman, married, and is now a missionary in the Far East where he tells people far and wide, “Who would have believed that I could find the truth by smoking the word of God.”

The Lord Jesus has a way of dramatically changing our direction when we begin walking with Him! We have died to sins and we are a live to righteousness in Jesus name! The marks of our redemption are seen in our heading. We also learn that the mark of our redemption is:

2. Seen in our healing (24c)

“—by whose stripes you were healed.”

Peter proclaims that through the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus those who believe in Him get a new heading and they also get healing. God heals our souls through the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter wrote this letter to many slaves who could have identified with being beat and have stripes laid upon them. Peter reminds them that they are not saved by their suffering, but they are saved by His sacrifice. They are not healed by their stripes, but they are healed by His stripes. Stripes: molops, mo’-lopes; (the face; a mole (“black eye”) or blow-mark stripe. The stripes of the Lord Jesus remind us of the death of the Lord Jesus.

Kenneth Wuest wrote, “Thus we have the portrait of the suffering Servant of Jehovah, His blessed face so pummeled by the hard fists of the mob that it did not look like a human face anymore, His back lacerated by the Roman scourge so that it was one mass of open, raw, quivering flesh trickling with blood, His heart torn with anguish because of the bitter, caustic, malevolent words hurled at Him. On that bleeding, lacerated back was laid the cross.”

We are not saved just because Jesus took a beating and a whipping for us! The stripes were part of the suffering and sacrifice of the Lord Jesus. Peter tells the church that because He suffered, bled, died for us that we have spiritual healing and the forgiveness of sins. Healed: iaomai, ee-ah’-om-ahee; to cure (literal or figurative), heal, make whole.

Peter is not teaching that we get physical healing by the stripes of Jesus, but he is talking about our spiritual healing.

Remember Peter said that Jesus bore our sins in His own body. Remember a text without context is a pretext! Jesus didn’t die to free us from our sickness: He died to free us from sin. It is a false doctrine to teach that we can claim physical healing based on the stripes of Jesus! Our greatest need is to be healed spiritually! I believe that God can and does heal us from our sicknesses! God’s will is for us to receive spiritual healing!

John MacArthur wrote, “Those who claim that Christians should never be sick because there is healing in the atonement should also claim that Christians should never die, because Jesus also conquered death in the atonement. The central message of the gospel is deliverance from sin. It is the good news about forgiveness, not health. Christ was made sin, not disease, and He died on the cross for our sin, not our sickness.”

Those who teach that we should always be healed and never sick set their folks us for disappointment and disillusionment. Peter does tell the church that the believers are healed by the Lord’s stripes! We have spiritual healing in Jesus and we give marks of our healing. FACTS: When a person gets physical healing there is immediate signs and evidence that that person has been healed. There are marks when a person is physically healed. There are also marks when a person is spiritually healed! When a person is redeemed they will give marks of that redemption by their death to sin and their living for righteousness. Are you giving evidence that you have been healed? Are you living for righteousness? What we have in Him! We have redemption through the sacrifice of our Savior. We also learn that we have in Jesus:

II. Returned to the Shepherd of our souls (25)

A. Our former position (25a)

“For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.”

Peter gives a graphic illustration about our former position. Peter tells the church that we all were like sheep going astray. Why did Peter give refer to their former position as sheep going astray! Sheep are prone to wander and prone to leave the flock and the safety. The facts are that sheep are stupid! They are ignorant animals. The Bible tells us that when we live for ourselves and do our own thing that we are living in ignorance. We are like sheep wandering into danger, wandering away from safety. Astray: planao, plan-ah’-o; to (properly cause to) roam (from safety, truth, or virtue) go astray, deceive, err, seduce, wander, be out of the way.

Before I got save I was living out of the way. I was going astray and living in ignorance of God’s love, God’s will, and God’s word. I was living for self and living in sin until Jesus came in! The Lord Jesus convicted me of my sin and I repented of my sins and called upon the name of the Lord Jesus to save me. We have all been like sheep that has gone astray. You may not have my testimony of wandering, but you do have your testimony of wandering. We have all been lost, without hope, and without direction. The world is full of people that are like sheep going astray. Are you going astray! We learned about our former position. We also see in verse 25:

B. Our founded possession (25b)

“For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.”

Peter reminds the church of what they once were and about what they are now. We have redemption through the sacrifice of our Savior and we have returned to the Shepherd of our souls. We have returned to Him because He came after us. Christian’s were all like sheep going astray but we have been

• sought by Jesus,

• bought by Jesus,

• caught by Jesus,

• and now we are being taught by Jesus.

Luke 15:4–7 says, “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he conies home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ 7 I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.”

Have Returned: epistrepho, ep-ee-stref-o; to revert (literal, figurative or moral), come (go) again, convert, (re-) turn (about, again). This word gives the connotation of repentance which is a turning away from sin and trusting in and having faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. We are His special people and His is our Savior! There’s a great song that I love to sing that goes like this:

“Because He loved me my Savior died; on a cross was crucified. No greater love has ever been shown.

Oh, praise His dear name I love Him so, now I am His; He’s mine I know. He suffered it all because He loved me!”

Peter tells the church that through our faith and repentance we have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls. Shepherd: poimen, poy-mane’; a shepherd (literal or figurative):-shepherd, pastor. Jesus is the true Shepherd, the good Shepherd, and He is the eternal Shepherd. The shepherd will lead the flock, guide the flock, provide for the flock, protect the flock, be followed by the flock, and secure the flock!

John 10:7–11 Jesus says, “Then Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. 9 I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. 11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.”

Warren Wiersbe said, “In the Old Testament, the sheep died for the shepherd; but at Calvary, the Shepherd died for the sheep.”

Jesus also said in John 10:27–30, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. and My Father are one.” Have you returned to the Shepherd of your soul? Have you repented and trusted in the Lord Jesus alone to save you? Is the Lord Jesus Christ your Shepherd? Robert Hamblin wrote, “Christ becomes to many people an abstract principle of religion rather than a personal being with whom they have daily communication and fellowship. Christ is not a set of rules to be kept nor a system of doctrine, He is a Person Who wants to tend to souls like a shepherd tends to his flock.”

Peter tells the church that they have returned to the Shepherd and the Overseer of their souls. Overseer: (KJV: Bishop) episkopos, ep-is’-kop-os; a superintendent, i.e. Christian officer in general charge of a (or the) church (literal or figurative) bishop, overseer. This word refers to one who watches over or one who oversees. We were once lost and drifting, doomed and damned, but now we have found life eternal in the Great I AM! Is the Lord Jesus the Shepherd and Overseer of your soul? As Overseer He is watching out for us, He pays close attention to us. We do not ever have a need that He is unaware of. Before we could ever get a prayer chain started the Lord already knows the need! We do not ever have a need that He is not well able to meet! We are His possession and we belong to Him!

• Our former position was as straying sheep!

• Our founded possession is as staying sheep!

• We have the Lord as our Good Shepherd!

• We have the High Priest as our Great Bishop!

We need to be thankful for our Shepherd and Overseer of our souls. We need to thank the Lord for what we have in Him! We need to share with others what we have in Him!

Fritz Kreisler, the world famous violinist, earned a fortune with his concerts and compositions, but he generously gave most of it away. So, when he discovered an exquisite violin on one of his trips, he wasn’t able to buy it. Later, having raised enough money to meet the asking price, he returned to the seller, hoping to purchase that beautiful instrument. But to his great dismay, it had been sold to a collector. Kreisler made his way to the new owner’s home and offered to buy the violin. The collector said it had become his prized possession, and he would not sell it. Keenly disappointed, Kreisler was about to leave when he had an idea. He said, “Could I play the instrument once more before it is consigned to silence?”

Permission was granted and the great virtuoso filled the room with such heart-stirring music that the collector’s emotions were deeply stirred. The collector said to Kreisler, “I have no right to keep that to myself, it’s yours, Mr. Kreisler. Take it into the world, and let people hear it.” Because of what we have in Jesus we are to take the gospel into the world and let people hear it. We are to share our founded possession of eternal life with those who are dead in their trespasses and sins.

We are to tell others about our redemption through the sacrifice of our Savior. Have you truly returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your soul? Does your life bear marks of redemption! Are you giving evidence that you have been born again? Have you died to sins and are you living for righteousness? What we have in Him: We have redemption through the sacrifice of our Savior. We have returned to the Shepherd of our souls.

The Life o