First Peter chapter number two. I will read verses 18 through the end of the chapter to verse 25. This morning and next Sunday, we will close out this section of chapter two and soon begin chapter three. So follow as I read, beginning in verse number 18. Servants, be subject to your own master with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. For this is thankworthy, if a man, for conscience toward God, has a sensitive conscience toward the will of God concerning his behavior, and he endures grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it when ye be buffeted for your faults, you shall take it patiently? But if when you do well, and you suffer for it, and you take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. For even hereunto were you called to suffer wrongfully. not suffer because we deserve it, but suffer wrongfully. Because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow his steps. Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. He was innocent, and yet, who when he was reviled, reviled not again. When he suffered, he didn't threaten. but committed himself to him, his father, who judgeth righteously. He who his own self, speaking of Christ, bear our sins in his own body on the tree, so that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness, by whose stripes we are healed. For you were as sheep gone astray, but you are now returned unto the shepherd and the bishop of your souls. Our key phrase that we will fold all of this information around these next two Sundays is the one in verse 21, where it is said, Christ also suffered for us. From the beginning of Peter's letter, he reminds us that as strangers and pilgrims, we will be exposed to many kinds of trials. Some, he said, will even be severe. He referred to them as fiery trials. that will test us to the core of our being. But he also encouraged us with knowledge that every trial is traced upon the dial of God's love, as the hymn writer writes. And we are confident that God will use all trials to refine and grow our faith. Nothing slips through God's protection of our development without being sanctified and designated for our good. Nothing. And we can have confidence in that as we live out our Christian life in this world. And beginning in chapter two, verse 18, where we read, we are reminded that some trials come with intense pain. God's people will experience the kind of suffering that is extreme, possibly. The kind of trial that comes, not in just one size, but it comes in many sizes, in all realms and areas of our life, and it comes with various degrees to all of God's people. This kind of trial that Peter has already discussed previously is a form of suffering that he is dealing with, physical suffering. And we know from the rest of Peter's letter, he's not limiting the trial of suffering to just the pain we experience physically. We can suffer pain mentally, the battles that go on within our mind and emotionally, our affections. We can feel at times disoriented and confused, and we can even doubt God's love and care for us when we suffer, especially when it's severe. Peter opens this next section of his letter that we are in by reminding God's people who are hearing his letter read to them, who suffer great abuse among them, there are people among them who suffer great physical abuse. Servants and slaves who had been converted by the power of God through the preaching of the gospel, they were among the gathered saints when they gathered for worship. Many gathered in physical pain. They were a visible reminder that God's people will suffer as long as we live in these bodies of flesh, and some will suffer in greater ways than others. Not only were servants and slaves being exposed to great suffering, just think of the time when Peter wrote this letter. Many saints faced the possibility of martyrdom, a form of death with exaggerated suffering and pain. And many were experiencing the hardships that come with persecution that was being felt at that time. So suffering was common. To the people that received this letter, times have changed, but we are still learning the truth concerning what Peter has said that spans human history and speaks to us even today. One of the primary lessons for us is whatever we suffer, regardless of the cause or degree, we must guard our life, our words and our responses, so that we are innocent when we suffer. God cannot be glorified in our suffering unless we are suffering wrongfully. This kind of suffering that honors God, suffering wrongfully, is to be viewed as a normal experience, Peter says. He tells us that God's people are called to this kind of suffering. Not just to suffer, but to suffer wrongfully. He also told us that God accepts this suffering of being mistreated. But we must bear up, he says, under the load of that suffering and wait patiently, trusting in the righteous judgments of our Heavenly Father. This is acceptable suffering in the sight of God. Suffering alone. is not enough. We must suffer, committing ourselves to him who judges righteously, which means we are to follow the example of Christ that he gives to us here. When we are called to suffer wrongfully like he was, this is a special call. Don't despise it. Cherish the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of your Savior. And verse 21 captures something very important for us in this phrase, Christ also suffered for us. While our suffering For the cause of God in the world has value for us personally, and God finds our suffering wrongfully valuable as we promote his glory through our suffering wrongfully. As we show in our life being worked out the power of his grace at work in the midst of our trials. But there's an infinite gap here between our suffering for and God or Christ's suffering for us. That's a huge gap. Christ's suffering is substitutionary and ours is not. a vast and comprehensive subject when we think of the substitutionary death of Christ, there is a massive amount of scripture that is given to this subject, and I'm simply doing two sermons on it. So we're not doing it any justice here, but we are opening it up because we believe There is great value in us considering this simple statement in Peter's letter, Christ suffered for us. And that is different than any other kind of suffering. When Peter is led by the Holy Spirit to make this simple statement, he's opening the subject up for consideration. Christ suffered for us. includes his entire earthly life, from the cradle to the grave, all and every event, every experience in his flesh was and is to be seen as having been done for us. You heard some of that said in the hymns and statements and scriptures that have been read earlier in our service. So I'm going to ask you to think with me about Christ's substitutionary suffering. First, I want you to consider that it was intentional. It was not an accident. It was deliberate on God's part that his son would suffer for us as a substitute. I generally don't read a bunch of scripture, but this morning is going to require us to look at several. So would you begin where we began Sunday morning in Sunday school just a few moments ago in John chapter 17. We are on a parallel track with our Sunday school this morning, John chapter 17. Do you remember when Peter was preaching to the listeners about being tried and abused by people at that time, punished because they preached Christ? He told his accusers that they were guilty of having with wicked hands they took and they murdered, they slew Christ in Acts chapter four. And then he adds that little phrase when he says, which, by the way, you did, but was only predestined. Predetermined by God, preordained. Same word translated predestined. You did what God determined. You're guilty because you did it with your wicked hands. But God determined that it would be done. We needed a substitute. It had to be done. And that's what Peter is saying here. Christ suffered for us. In John chapter 17, Danny taught it in Sunday school. These words spake Jesus. This is right at the end of his earthly life. Leading up to his crucifixion, he lifted his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify thy son that thy son also may glorify thee. As thou hast given him power over all flesh, you have given me power over all flesh. that he, the Son of Man, should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. So there is this eternal covenant that existed between God and the Son before the Son ever came into the world, before the world was ever created. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on the earth, and I have finished the work which you gave me to do." And now he was ready to be the substitute. It's intentional. It was planned and designed before the worlds were ever created. that he would bear the names of the elect children of God upon himself and for them he would suffer for them. He would die for them. He would do everything necessary to bring them to the Father. That was his mission. Christ suffering for us. And of course, you're familiar with the passage in Ephesians 1 where we're told that we were chosen and placed in Christ. Look at a few of the key words there that Paul uses in Ephesians chapter number 1. Ephesians 1 in verses 3 through 6, he talks about the fact that we have been blessed with unbelievable spiritual blessings because we are in Christ. according as he has chosen us in Christ before the worlds were ever formed, so that we would be holy and without blame in the presence of God before him. dwelling in His love. How do you get a sinful people to that place of dwelling in the presence of a holy God enjoying His love, right? How do you get them there? The only way it can be done is you have to place them, and this is what the Father did, in His Son before time began, and His Son took on the mission of bringing them to the Father, and that required Him to suffer for them. He must suffer. He must bear all of the burden of their sin upon Himself. because the Father, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by the means of Jesus Christ to himself, and he did it according to the good pleasure of his will and to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted, fully accepted before him because of Christ. So when we think of the substitution of Christ, we need to keep in mind this was not an accident. This was an intentional plan. God intended for his son to suffer for us. And Peter captures it in this little phrase, Christ suffered for us in a way that is far different than any kind of suffering that we suffer for Him. Also, consider the fact, as Peter does here in 1 Peter, we go down a few verses to verse 24. He says, who his own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree. Christ suffered alone. Nothing else, no one else can save us. Christ must suffer as our substitute. He must, God can only solve this problem by becoming a man. God must take on human flesh. And for us, he must carry the burden on our behalf so that we can be set free from the guilt of our own sin and shame. Look at Hebrews in chapter number one. Peter says, by himself, He bear our sins in his own body on the tree. That's what our substitute did when he suffered for us. In Hebrews chapter one, verse one, God who at different times, sundry times, and in different manners spake in the time past to the fathers by the prophets, he hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son. whom he hath appointed heir over all things, by whom he made the worlds, who be in the brightness of his glory, in the express image of his own person, and upholding all things by the words of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins. He sat down at the right hand of the majesty in the heavens. By himself. When we think of the substitutionary death of Christ, we think that he suffered. As Peter said, he suffered for us. He suffered alone. There is no one else. No one else. By himself. Is how the writer of Hebrews expresses it. By himself. He purged our sins. Look at chapter 10 in Hebrews in verses, beginning in verse number four. Chapter 10, beginning in verse four. He writes, for it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sin. It's impossible. Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice an offering thou wouldest not. He didn't bring Christ in the world to offer just any other sacrifice. But a body hast thou prepared me. The sacrifice that God required would be a body, a human, sinless, perfect body that was prepared for him. And so he writes, wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he saith, sacrifice and offerings thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you have had no pleasure. Quoting from the Old Testament, then said I, lo, you hear the son and the father in their covenant agreement concerning these people that had been chosen. Lo, I come in the volume of the book it is written of me to do thy will, O God, whatever it is, I will do it. And above, when he said, Sacrifice and offerings, and burnt offerings, and offerings for sin, thou wouldst not, neither hadst pleasure therein, which are offered by the law. Then said he, Lo, then said he, it's at that moment, as if it were, he said, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. And he taketh away the first, the whole first covenant and first structure that he may establish, the new, the second, by the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. So Christ alone, there is nothing, there is no animal, there is 10,000, a million, billion humans could die and pour out their blood and it will not redeem a single soul. It is not enough. Blood flowed from Genesis in the Garden of Eden immediately after the fall. Blood continued to flow until the cross. And that's when it ceased, when God's Son suffered as our substitute. We didn't need any other sacrifice. His was enough. His was sufficient. This one event in human history, when God became a man and then took the God-man and made him a substitute for his people, every problem that sin caused for man and in a sense for God, A solution had been permanently found, and that solution is when Christ suffered as a substitute for us. In his own body, said Peter in verse 24, in his own body on the tree, he suffered As our substitute in his own body, he bore our sins on the tree. Something else to consider about Christ's suffering for us is that Christ suffered to achieve or to make us righteous before God. He didn't just satisfy a legal requirement. What he did was he met every demand that we could not meet for God. He fulfilled them perfectly and exactly so that when it was finished, we stood before God as righteous, not just Christ, but because we are in Christ, we are righteous as Christ is righteous. That was achieved. No other way for mankind than when he suffered. for us. And now we are righteous positionally before God. It's a remarkable thing to contemplate in substitution positionally before God because we are in Christ. His righteousness has been imputed, credited to our bankrupt account of an infinite debt that we could not pay. We are now righteous in Christ. And we are not only righteous, we are justified. The indictments against us have been satisfied. Everything that we were guilty of is gone. Can you imagine being guilty of so many crimes and you come before the judge and he says, you're free. There are no outstanding crimes against you. How did that happen for the Christian? Christ was our substitute. He took all of those crimes upon himself. All of our indictments, he placed them on himself and he bore them. And the one who died was a righteous man. He suffered wrongfully at the hands of the people of this world. He was righteous. He didn't die for his sins. He was righteous. He died for us. And then he took his own righteousness. He gave that to us, that we might be righteous while he bore our sins in his own body. He imputed it to us. that we would stand before his father innocent of the crimes. They had all been removed. Substitution is how this was achieved. That's why it's such a big word in the Bible. Substitutionary death is the only way these things could occur. And he provided for us also when he died, according to Peter. At the end of this verse, he says that we, to this end, why did, why, what's a reason for why he would be willing to do that? And Peter says that we, being dead now to sins, should live unto righteousness. We've been made righteous. Now let us live unto. righteousness. That's the goal. And Romans 6, 7, and 8 expand on that in a marvelous way. We being dead to sins because we died in Christ. We died in Christ and all of our sins were punished in Christ. and all of them were removed permanently because he satisfied the requirements of a holy God. And now, all of that has been done for what reason? Peter sums it up simply, that we should live righteously. If we have been set free from our sin and its judgment upon our life, how should that impact us? We should live righteously. Christ was God's substitute for us. And then Peter adds, by whose stripes we are healed. What a wonderful way to condense it all, all that was done and achieved into this simple phrase, by whose stripes, beating the pounding of God's wrath against his body, by whose stripes we are healed. And so that whole idea of substitution again, he bore it for us. I don't, fully comprehend, I wish I could, better than I do, what Christ experienced in the punishment for our sin that was, as it were, leveled and beaten against him by the wrath of God. I can't comprehend that. But it does speak to me about what happened when he took my place. That he took in his own body what I deserved. By whose stripes all the blows of divine justice against us as sinners fell on him. our substitute who suffered for us. We are healed. We are healed. His actions for us have made us whole. Made us whole. We were healed by what he did when he suffered in our place. We are whole. The leprosy of our crimes that we committed against God, they're gone. We've been healed, cleansed, and washed. And now in Christ, we stand righteous in God's presence. No other way to do that unless we have a substitute. He suffered for us. in his own body on the tree, so that we, being dead now to sins, should live unto righteousness by whose stripes we are healed. There's so many references about Christ suffering the just for the unjust. He did it for us. He did it for us. And this is an important doctrine for Christians to know and understand. When you get into the world and you begin to hear the different thinking about Christ's suffering and his death on the tree, there are a lot of washed down, weakened, and distorted views on Christ's suffering for you. And when you hear those things and you contemplate them, they diminish what was done for you. When you fully understand the truth, clearly, it increases your gratefulness for what he did when he suffered for us. We will continue this into next week as we look at a variety of other things that his suffering achieved. When we think of words like expiation and propitiation, these are all words that are attached to the substitute. what he achieved for God, what he achieved for us. We should know these things and should relish them and think about them when we think about Christ suffering for us. It's interesting that both ordinances that God gave to the church are there to remind us of that. Baptism is a reminder of death and burial and resurrection and new life because we were in Christ. And because he died for us, we enjoy so many great things from that victory. Or the Lord's Table is another constant presentation before us. Whenever we do the communion service, We acknowledge this, Christ suffered for us. He was our substitute. And I pray that God will use these things as Peter has given them to us, leaving us an example that should inspire and encourage us ready to be courageous to suffer for him. We suffer for Him, for His cause and interest. We suffer by putting sin to death in our life. We suffer for Him, but not as a substitutionary means of our salvation. He suffered and did all of that as the only substitute that is acceptable to God. So much to contemplate here in this latter portion of Peter as he opens up this great theme of the substitutionary death of our Redeemer. May God use this to help us. Father, thank you for the reminder of things that we often forget. We know the ordinances are given to us so that we don't forget. And I pray as we consider this truth as it's found in Peter, as we open it up even one more Sunday that it would become clearer to us the knowledge and understanding of what it means Christ suffered for us. In his name we pray, amen.