2020-04-29 1 pet 2.24-25
Notes
Transcript
24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree; so that, having died to sins, we might live for righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
25 For you were like sheep going astray, but you have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
I. We are healed by Christ’s wounds.
I. We are healed by Christ’s wounds.
24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree; so that, having died to sins, we might live for righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
A. Jesus personally bore your sins.
A. Jesus personally bore your sins.
24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree; so that, having died to sins, we might live for righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
Illus: The foundation for the way you live your life is driven by the work God did first.
As I made the case for Sunday, we are all helpless, sinful enemies of God. Because of that condition, we are doomed to death and wrath from God.
There is nothing we can do about it.
If God were fair he could have just said, you made this mess, now deal with it. Not only would Adam face the punishment for his sin, but we would face the punishment for every sin we have comitted.
BUT, God chose to personally step into our world.
Just listen to the sheer audacity of the Gospel. The God of the universe, who spoke it into exsistence became a human being.
He suffered in every way humans could suffer.
More than that, the God of the universe died in the most horrific way to pay for all the wickedness you, I, and mankind have committed throughout the history of time.
The foundation of who you are as a believer is the God of the universe who personally suffered and died in your place.
14 “I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me,
15 just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep.
16 But I have other sheep that are not from this sheep pen; I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. Then there will be one flock, one shepherd.
17 This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life so that I may take it up again.
18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have the right to lay it down, and I have the right to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.”
B. You have been healed.
B. You have been healed.
24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree; so that, having died to sins, we might live for righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
Illus: Let me try to make this as vivid as I can.
Suppose you find out today that you have cancer or the Rona.
The doctor walks in and tells you that your condition is fatal without and medical solution. You have days.
At the doctor’s prognosis you plead asking what can be done.
The doctor, a good man, looks and says, I will take your virus, and give you my health.
In that moment the disease is transferred to the doc, and his immunity transferred to you.
This is what Jesus did on the cross. With the cancer of sin on us, he took the cancer and gave us His life.
We life because He died.
We are healed by his wounds.
4 Yet he himself bore our sicknesses, and he carried our pains; but we in turn regarded him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced because of our rebellion, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on him, and we are healed by his wounds.
II. We are healed with a purpose.
II. We are healed with a purpose.
24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree; so that, having died to sins, we might live for righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
A. You are healed. Die to sin.
A. You are healed. Die to sin.
24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree; so that, having died to sins, we might live for righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
Illus: If I have heard it once, I’ve heard it a thousand times… “Jesus doesn’t judge” put in another way, “Doesn’t the bible say judge not”, or another “Only God can judge me.”
These phrases are the stupidest misinterpretations of scripture I have ever known. They are people who know there are places in their lives that do not please God attempting to twist scripture to excuse their own sin.
At the heart of these fake arguments is the logic, if Jesus loves me, he wont judge me… so if you love me, you won’t judge me.
The deep flaw in the argument is that God has judged you, your sins, and Jesus paid for it.
Continuing to sin after coming to know christ is utter foolishness.
Think about it from a financial perspective. You max out a credit card to a place where you must declare bankruptcy. A generous benefactor comes and tells you that He will pay for your dept. In response to that gift, you look at the benefactor and say, hold on, can I make a few more purchases on the card since you are paying.
What you do when you continue to sin after following Jesus is despise the gift given to you on the cross and spit in the face of God.
If you truly embrace the love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ, you will love God enough to leave your sin. If Jesus is your life, you don’t go back to the vomit of sin that you once wallowed in.
1 What should we say then? Should we continue in sin so that grace may multiply?
2 Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it?
3 Or are you unaware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
4 Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life.
B. You are healed. Live for righteousness.
B. You are healed. Live for righteousness.
24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree; so that, having died to sins, we might live for righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
Illus: Jennifer’s grandmother was a life long smoker. Her addiction to cigarettes began when she was 14 years old and she only found freedom in her 60s.
Because of this habit she completely destroyed her lungs and struggled to breathe.
Where cigarettes were once her go to, later in life she hated them. Why, when you have been freed from something that kills you, you loath both it and it’s consequences.
On a regular basis when she would go grocery shopping she would see a teen with a cigarette in their hand. As a 70 year old woman, she would march up to the teen and emphatically make the case for them to stop smoking.
This is not just about smoking. Those most passionately against sin are those who have been freed from sin.
If you are still an apologists for your sin, you don’t despise it, or you try to to rationalize it, you have not been freed from that sin, and it still has a place over your heart.
Hear me friends, if you have been healed, you will live for Jesus.
20 But that is not how you came to know Christ,
21 assuming you heard about him and were taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus,
22 to take off your former way of life, the old self that is corrupted by deceitful desires,
23 to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,
24 and to put on the new self, the one created according to God’s likeness in righteousness and purity of the truth.
III. Your life should match God’s reconciliation.
III. Your life should match God’s reconciliation.
24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree; so that, having died to sins, we might live for righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
25 For you were like sheep going astray, but you have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
A. Do you live a Godward life.
A. Do you live a Godward life.
Illus: The christian life should be one where we purposely search our lives for sin so that we might kill it and pursue christ.
The christian life should be one where we constantly pursue the righteousness of God.
The Christians life should be one where holiness is an all consuming goal.
Do you have a passion for righteousness, holiness, godliness?
Do you take time regularly to seek out sin in order to surrender it.
This is the Godward life. It is a life so passionate about God that you intentionally and regularly work out your salvation with fear and trembling.
Will you take the step today to put to death your sin, and pursue righteousness?
1 So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
5 Therefore, put to death what belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry.
6 Because of these, God’s wrath is coming upon the disobedient,
7 and you once walked in these things when you were living in them.
8 But now, put away all the following: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and filthy language from your mouth.
9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old self with its practices
10 and have put on the new self. You are being renewed in knowledge according to the image of your Creator.