And from Isaiah chapter 53, we'll read four verses, if you please. Isaiah chapter 53 and verse 6, then fall down to verse 10, verse 11, and verse 12 of that great prophecy. Isaiah 53 and verse 6. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. Now verse 10, 11, and 12. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief. When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquity. Therefore I will divide him a portion with a grape, and he shall divide the spoiled with the strong, because he has poured out his soul unto death, and he was numbered with the transgressors, and debare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. Or write in 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 18 through verse 25. Servants be subject to your masters 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 endure grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it, if when you be buffeted for your faults, you shall take it patiently? But if when you do well and suffer for it, you take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. For even hereunto, were ye called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that ye should follow his steps. who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth, who, when he was reviled, reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened not, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously, who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree that we, being dead to sin, should live under righteousness by whose stripes ye were healed. For ye were as sheep going astray, but are now returned under the shepherd and the bishop of our soul. Verse 24, who his own self bear our sin in his own body on the tree that we being dead to sin might live unto righteousness. Now, I do not think that there is a more important subject in all of the scripture connected to our salvation than that of the death of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. This is the essence of the gospel. This is the essence of our great salvation. Paul states in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 3 how that Christ died for our sin according to the scripture. buried according and raised again according to the scripture on the third day. And so, says Paul, we preach Christ crucified. Our message is Christ crucified upon the cross. And the reason and the essence and the nature of that great death, writes Paul again in Galatians, the third chapter, that Christ was made a curse for us. that He endured the very curse of the law. We lay heavy under that curse except for our connection to Christ and His death in our behalf. He redeemed us from the curse of the law, brought us out from under the curse of the law, that we might receive the adoption of children by and through Jesus Christ. They have not preached the gospel, who have not understood this great message in the scripture. They have not known these things. They have not known the gospel and the way of salvation. When we think about the death of Christ, we can say it this way, that our Lord's death was vicarious. That is, it was on the behalf of others. not for himself, but it was upon the behalf of others. Also, that our Lord's death was a propitious death, that is, it was a death that might put us in the favor of God by the way that Christ died. It was a redemptive death in that he brought us out from under the slavery of sin and the bondage of sin. His death, furthermore, was an atoning death That is, it covered our sin, it reconciled us unto God. So, let's notice something about the text in the passage here in 1 Peter chapter 2 that we have read for today. First of all, I think you might notice that the words of this text by Peter are couched in Old Testament terminology. That is, there is Old Testament terminology that is employed here in describing Christ. I mean by that, that it is phrased, it is spoken or written in such a way as to make a Jew think of certain passages of scripture that he has heard and read from a child in the Old Testament. And it carries his mind to those verses of scripture in the Old Testament scripture. And they are applied by the Apostle Peter unto our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Here are some that are set forth in the Old Testament. First of all, there is that of sheep and of shepherd that we find throughout the Old Testament, the people of God. are referred to as the sheep of the Lord, the sheep of his pasture. The words of Isaiah 53 and verse 6, all we like sheep have gone or turned astray or aside. We have gone in our own way. And then in 1 Peter 2 and verse 25, you were as sheep going astray. We have all, like sheep, gone astray. Now says Peter, you were as sheep going astray. And then there is that familiar and that shameful image of one hanging upon a tree. in the old economy. You'll find it in the end of Deuteronomy, the 21st chapter, verse 22 and verse 23, where one is hanged upon a tree by the wayside for all to see as they pass by. And Paul In Galatians 3 and verse 13, cursed is everyone that hangs upon a tree, who Jesus, that is, the Jews slew Jesus and they hanged him up on a tree. Acts chapter 5 and verse 30. So that makes the connection there between that one cursed and dead through the law hanging on a tree by the wayside until the evening of the day. And then there's another thing here. This is another place in the Apostles' writing where an exhortation to the saints of God regarding their Christian behavior turns into, or morphs as it were, into one of the greatest passages concerning the work of the Lord. Now the greatest one in my mind is Philippians, the second chapter. where Paul there exhorts the saint to be in lowliness of mind and to regard the things of others, not just the thing of himself, to consider the interest of others and to have the mind or to have the attitude of Christ in regard unto others. The Lord existed in the form of God, yet he became incarnate and took on the form of a servant or of a man, and he even gave himself up to the death of the cross in the behalf or for the sake of others. The supreme example of looking upon the things of others is the death of our Lord as he gave himself upon the cross. And here in 1 Peter chapter 2, The exhortation is to patiently endure the things that come upon us and cause our suffering as a Christian. And the spirit of that suffering is to be after the spirit of our Lord. He said in verse 21, to this we have been called, that is to suffer for the sake of our Lord. Christ endured reviling without reviling back again. He did not threaten those that reviled him, though he might have called fire down from heaven or 12,000 angels that might have destroyed them. Instead, Christ gave himself up are over into the hands of God the Father, the righteous judge, as he is called, and this included giving himself over to that righteous judge for the death upon the cross. He said on the eve of that crucifixion, the cup the Father hath given me to drink, shall I not drink it, as he agonized in Matthew 26 and 42, John 18 and verse 11 Philippians chapter 2 And verse 8, He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Yes, He endured the cross. Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 2. So let us know the mind of our blessed Lord, that He in His suffering, quote, committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously, unquote. Oh, that we might have the faith and the courage to do that. One of my interlinears has it this way, quote, delivered himself to the one judging righteously. And then in another version, I found it this way, quote, kept entrusting himself to him that judges righteously, end quote. This gives us occasion, therefore, for us to take note of some passages which declare that our God is a righteous judge. The first one that I'll mention is from Abraham himself, way back on in Genesis chapter 18. And verse 25, shall not the judge of all of the earth do right? 2 Timothy 4 and verse 8, Paul calls God, quote, the righteous judge, unquote. In Acts 17 and verse 31, he will judge the world in righteousness, end quote, for he is Indeed, a righteous judge. Now, as for the words at the end of verse 23 in the passage from Peter, I took this quote from John Brown's commentary on that section of the word of our Lord. And he said this, and I quote, he, that is Jesus Christ, was persuaded that both he and his righteous cause of the divine glory and salvation of men was perfectly safe in the hands of him who judges righteously, unquote. And so he committed himself into the hands of a just, righteous God to carry forth the death and crucifixion upon the cross. In all that befell our Lord, in all that came before Him as a suffering servant of Jehovah, He committed Himself perfectly to the will of God. He said in Matthew 26, 42, Face in the cross thy will be done. He said unto the Father, He gave His back to the smiters. He gave his cheeks to them that plucked off the hair and the beard. He hid not his face from shame and from spitting as he endured that great shameful thing. In Isaiah 50 and verse 6, and devoted his will to suffer the full extent required to make the great atonement for the sin of his people and his elect. And in verse 24 of Peter, it is the heart of this message. Who his own self bear our sin in his own body on the tree. His own self and his own body. And that up are upon the tree are the cross. He made an all-sufficient sacrifice. Nothing was kept back. Nothing was withheld. He carried our sin. He gave satisfaction to the law and the righteousness of God, that God might be righteous in forgiving the sin of the elect. See the personal way that Christ Jesus took our sin in this verse. who is own self. They were not like Abraham who found a ram to substitute in the stead of his son, but the Lord his very on itself. And not only that, but in his very own body. What did he do? He bore, he bare, he carried our sin to the tree. And the margin has it, I think, to the tree. That is, to it, upon it, and fastened to it, and hanging there. Of course, the same word translated back in verse 25 return to or unto the shepherd and the bishop of our soul. The Lord bear our sin up to and upon the tree that we might live unto righteousness." Now is there here an intended contrast by the apostle between the Old Testament sacrifice of the beast and of the animal and the sacrifice of our Lord's Christ His very own body and soul given up unto sacrifice. In Hebrews 9 and 12, not by the blood of goats and bullocks and such like, but by His very own blood our Lord entered into the Holy of Holy. Now the Jew, for centuries, had been used to animal sacrifices and the shedding of their blood. Them being slain by a human priest at a material altar and their blood carried and sprinkled that it might make an atonement for their sin. But such sacrifices, says Hebrews, could never take away their sin. No, the blood of goats and bullocks and turtle doves And all of that could never take away sin. So says Hebrews chapter 10, verse 1 through 4. But they were types and they were shadows of the great sacrifice of Christ, of the better sacrifice that was to come, the sacrifice of the new covenant, Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 1. So Christ himself is our sin bearer. He did not settle for a lesser sacrifice, not at all, or shift the work to the sacrifice of another. He sacrificed himself. He has given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor." So says Paul in Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 3. He has given himself to God a sweet odor and acceptable sacrifice. He was made sin for us. 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 21. Not made sinful, but made sin in the sense of the meaning of the text. He was made a curse for us, or He endured the curse for us, Galatians chapter 3 and verse 13. So let's look, if we might, at what the Lord Himself bear. What did He bear in His very own body? Where did He bear it? up on the tree? The answer, sin. He bore sin in his body on the tree. And the question again is, whose sin? And the answer that Peter gives is, our sin. He bore our sin, our as it is in the Greek, the same of us as the words we, us, and our refer to such as have been regenerated and called and believed. and converted to such as have a saving interest in the Lord Jesus Christ. It speaks of those in a state of grace, us, our, we. He bore our sin, the sins of us, so that we can never separate the death of Christ from the demerit of our sin, which was upon us. Sin requires death. Sin brings death. And that is very clear in the scripture. For the wages of sin is death. The soul that sinneth shall die. The Old Testament prophet had said, should we need we ask ourselves, what is sin? Some people take it very lightly. To many people, sin is not a serious thing at all. But if you want to know what sin is... and the vileness of it and what God thinks about it, look yonder at the cross with His only begotten Son hanging there bearing our sin. What is sin? Sin is the transgression of God's law. 1 Peter, or rather 1 John chapter 3 and verse 4, that every sin in some way comes back to be a transgression of the law of God. Our sins are our personal acts, our words, our deed, our thoughts, our motive, our violation of the law of God. Now, how this is variously described in the scripture is an interesting thing unto us. It is called sin, transgressions in one place. It might be called iniquity. It's called ungodliness. It's called unrighteousness. It's called evil. Perhaps some more that I have left out or forgotten. And with sin there comes that guilt. Guilty sinners incur the guilt of sin and sinners stand guilty before God apart from the sacrifice of our blessed Lord. Next comes the question that we want to ask, how it is that Christ, holy, innocent, without sin, no fault, no guile in his mouth whatsoever, how is it that Christ came to bear the sins of his people? The sins are not his. They're not his sin, per se. They're not his personal sin. They are ours, they are ours and ours only. He knew no sin. 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 21. And none could convince him of being a sinner. John chapter 8. and verse 46, as he hurled the charge before them. He is separate from sinners, holy and undefiled. Hebrews chapter 7 and verse 26, he did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. Verse 22 of 1 Peter chapter 2 has already told her. So how is it that Christ came to bear our sin in his own body and that upon that cursed tree are the cross of Calvary, one of the most shameful deaths that ever the world had seen to that time. And that death be effectual to save guilty sinners. How can an innocent one take the sins of the guilty, bear their sin, and they be set free and declared righteous in the sight of God? How come they came to be in his own body and upon him in his own self? We read it. Isaiah 53 and verse 6. The Lord hath laid upon him The iniquity of us all. There's that us again. Of us all. Thus made him to be sin for us. Laid on him. What? Our iniquity. He let our iniquities fall upon our blessed Savior. We read in Isaiah 53 and verse 12, He bear the sin of many. Some say the words in Isaiah chapter 53 and verse 6, laid on him the iniquity of us all. You might notice that it is in the margin, has made to meet or to light upon him. the iniquity of us all. And some say that that describes a heavy load lighting upon our blessed Lord. Some good expositors think that the good literal rendering would be either this the Lord made to meet on him the iniquities of us all, or the Lord has made to fall upon him the iniquity of us all. This was typified, you remember, when the high priest Aaron Back in Leviticus chapter 16, on the day of atonement, he brought out the two goats and lots were cast for them, one for the goat and one lot for the Lord, because verse 9 The Lord's lot fell up on him. That goat died. His blood was taken and sprinkled upon the mercy seat. Leviticus 16 and verse 15. Notice that again. The goat on whom the Lord's lot fell. that was singled out by an act, a sovereign act of our Lord. Now the other, the second goat, Aaron laid his hands upon that one, upon his head, pressed down, and confessed over him all the sins of the people of the children of Israel. Quote, putting them upon the head of the goat, unquote. Again, Leviticus chapter 16. And then the goat, with their sins, symbolically or typically. pressed down upon his head. And verse 22, and the goat shall bear upon him all the iniquities unto a land not inhabited, and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness, unquote. And that goat never returned into the camp again, signifying their sins are upon him. They're gone out of sight, never to return upon them anymore. And Isaiah 53. And verse 6, John Brown builds a case here that the words Jehovah laid on him, that is, on his righteous servant. In Isaiah 53.13 and 53.11, which of course is Christ. And it describes what the writer John Brown called, quote, a fierce, hostile attack, unquote, as the sin of the elect were laid or imputed unto our blessed Lord. And the same word appears in other places in another way in context. For example, in Numbers chapter 35, I believe that it is, verse 19 and 21. The avenger of blood fell upon the person to slay them. And he did not so gently, but violently took hold of them that he might slay them. Fall upon me, in Judges chapter 15 and 12, seems to be the same word. So that our sin came upon Christ as a heavy burden. In 1 King 2 and 25. when Benaiah fell on Adonijah. And see that he died. He died by Solomon's orders as they fell upon him and they slew him. Now our sins did not ease gently upon the Lord Jesus Christ. They came armed with a curse of the law, because the strength of sin is the law, 1 Corinthians 15 and 56, and requiring death and nothing but and nothing short. of death, for it is sin that puts the sting in death," writes the Apostle Paul. How unnatural for the Holy Christ to be made sin in behalf of others. And as the hour approached Him, when the Lord would bear our sin literally, finally, and fully in His own body on the cross and in the garden, we read, that he began to be very sorrowful. He began to be very heavy. Matthew chapter 26 and 37. Mark writes it like this in Mark chapter 14 and verse 33. He began to be sore amazed and to be very heavy. how that burden began to ease and come upon our Lord in the eve of the crucifixion and His death upon the cross. Luke 22 and verse 44, and being in agony, He prayed more earnestly and his sweat was, as it were, great drops of blood falling to the ground. See our Lord there, he travailed in soul as the great weight of our sin settled upon him for the full. and the final accounting. Spurgeon put it this way, quote, this was the sole travail which was completed at the cross, unquote, as he bore our sin actually upon the cross. Appointed he was before the world began to die, he assumed our flesh, it was that he might die. But now in Gethsemane, He has come near death's door, even the very next day. And his soul becomes exceedingly sorrowful. And the disciple had never seen their Lord like this before. They'd never seen our Lord in such agony, never seen their master, as it were, sweating drops of blood. He said to them just a little bit before, the hour is come. John 17 and verse 1. It might be rendered, I think, that hour or the hour. that hour appointed by God from before the foundation of the world. Here's again how Spurgeon put it, the travail of soul which was completed at the cross, unquote. So let me try, if I might, to emphasize that Lord and his dying and bearing our sin. Number one, the Lord lay under the sentence of death all of his life. He came into the world that he might die, a body God prepared him that he might offer a sacrifice unto God. But then came the actual hour. A couple of examples might suffice. All of us realize, even from our young life, that we will die someday. But we think it may be here. It is a way off. It is a great way off. Then comes the sickness, and then comes the suffering in the body, and death comes and grabs us. And then thirdly, think of one who has committed a crime, and he's sentenced to die. And he's yonder in the prison. His death date is appointed, but it's 10 years off. And yet one day, the 10 years marches by, and they come and they take him down for the chamber and the execution. That being said, let us hear again the words of our Lord. My soul is exceedingly sorrowful even unto death. My soul is sorrowful even unto death. I think the key word here is the word soul. My soul is exceedingly sorrowful. My soul as in Matthew 26 38 Mark 14 and verse 34, Scripture speak, you know, of the soul of our Lord. And I'd like to say a few things about the soul of our Lord. I think some folks probably might not understand exactly the nature of the soul of our Lord. In John chapter 12 and 27, now is my soul troubled. My soul is troubled. The Lord also spoke of his soul. God spoke of it. The Lord also spoke of his soul. Remember Psalm 16 and 10 referred to in Acts chapter 2 and other places. Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell. Hades, also Acts 2 31. And from the prophecy of Isaiah, chapter 58, verse 10, verse 11, and verse 12, there are three mentions of the soul of God's suffering servant. Verse 10, that his soul should make an offering for sin. Verse 11, he shall see the travail of his soul and be satisfied. And again in verse 12, he has poured out his soul unto death as God's suffering servant. Now consider if you will, if we were to ask an evangelical Armenian consider the soul of the Lord Jesus Christ as mentioned in the scripture, would he think that it is a divine soul or is it a human soul? The best way perhaps to ask the question is, the soul of Christ so often mentioned in the scripture, is it a part of his divine nature or a part of the human nature. If it is a part of his divine nature, then he brought it with him from in the incarnation and always had it. It is a part of his divinity. When a soul would be incapable, therefore, of the sorrow and the suffering that our Lord said that he would endure. If we eavedrop on the Armenians a little more, we might hear them speak of Christ's divine soul and Christ's divine blood is the way they often speak. And yet, as Williamton Huntington once wrote, a great old-timer, divinity has no blood to shed. No doubt at times the soul is put for the whole self in the scripture. We recognize, we understand that. But as he gave himself, Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 2, he offered himself without spot to God, Hebrews 9 and verse 4. As John Brown put it back in Isaiah chapter 53, he laid down his life. He laid down his whole living self on the altar of divine justice," unquote. The Lord said, I lay down my life for the sheep in John chapter 6. In his incarnation, the eternal son, in accordance with the divine purpose, took a whole but impeccable human nature into hypostatic union with the divine nature of our Lord. How be it? The humanity of Christ was impeccable and the two natures are not co-mingled or inextricably mixed together. They're not indivisibly merged one into the other. He was a God-man. He's the God-man. His divine nature was not turned into human and his human was not turned into divine. A body thou hast prepared him, Hebrews 10 and 5. In Hebrews chapter 10 verse 10, it is by the offering of that body once for all that we are sanctified. He partook of flesh and of blood to take the necessary kinship with his elect that he might redeem us and act as our Goel Redeemer. That'd be Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 14. He himself partook of flesh and blood. Thus we read the Lord's body, Hebrews 10, of his soul, Matthew 23, 38, of his spirit, Luke chapter 23 and 46. And if I might quote Huntington again, quote, the Lord from heaven took on him the whole of man's nature, consisting of human body and reasonable soul, unquote, even as human creatures are body and soul. Now wherein consists his being made like unto his brethren. He partook of flesh and blood, a human body and a human soul. And in that body and upon that cross, he bore our sin. And though he carried our sorrow and bore our grief all the days of his life, it was culminated in the cross. when our Lord died that awful death. Remember, we said the word can be to the cross. Why must the Holy Christ bear our sin under the tree? Why must he hang on a tree, a sign of and a curse? It signifies that the wages of sin is death. That we lay under the curse of God. In Deuteronomy 21, 23. He that is hanged is accursed of God. Literally, the curse of God. Under the curse of the law. When they saw that man hanging upon that tree, it spoke to all that passed by. He has committed a sin. worthy of death and is died under the curse of the law. It was a posthumous, if I may use the expression. It was a posthumous degradation to slay him by stoning for transgressing the law, and then to affix his body to a tree the rest of that day, that all that passed by first killed and hanged upon a tree. And the one hanged on the tree signified that the curse of the law had been imposed or endured And Christ, taking our sins under the cross, completed the great work of expiation, and our sins are put away. For Christ has acted as our surety. He has paid and answered our debt. He has suffered what satisfied God as a just recompense of reward. so that there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ and for whom Christ Jesus has died. Think of Paul's words in Romans 8, 32. He spared not his own son. He spared Abraham's son, but he spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all. The focus is upon this. Spared not, delivered up. Bear not means he did not forego the punishment due our sin simply because it was against his very own son. He gave him the full measure of punishment that our sins deserved, and he delivered him up. He delivered him up to the death of the cross. Delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by wicked hands, crucified, and slain," said Peter in the second chapter of the book of Acts. Yes, he bore our sin in his own body on the tree that we, being dead to sin by that act, might live unto righteousness. We cannot do without it. This is God's doings. It's marvelous in our eye. that he has provided for us a lamb and for himself a lamb to bear the sin of the elect. And thank God for that great work and act of our blessed Lord. Thank God for it.