The Suffering of Christ
Notes
Transcript
Peter writes to Christians who are suffering. They’re scattered all over Asia Minor. They’re a small minority living in a hostile and pagan world. They’re living among a people who accuse them of wrongdoing and who hold vastly different beliefs.
Peter’s writing to encourage them, even as they suffer. And here, in the verse we’re looking at together this morning, Peter, in a sentence, gives the ultimate encouragement to his readers.
If you ask me, this is one of the greatest verses in the Bible.
As I was reading and studying I realized there was no way I could do justice to verse 18 if I preached it as one part of a sermon. If we merely glanced at this verse or made it one of the points in a multi-point sermon, it’s importance and significance would be lessened.
Now, let me say this: I still will not be able to do justice to 1 Peter 3:18. If it was the only verse I preached for the rest of my life, I couldn’t ever proclaim its fullness. I’ll never be able to plumb the depths of the beauty of this verse, but we are going to spend this morning focusing on just this verse.
I pray the LORD would use this time to work on us, that we would catch just a glimpse of what Jesus has done for us, that the Holy Spirit would impress on us what Jesus’ suffering means for us.
If you have your Bible (and I hope you do), please turn with me to 1 Peter 3. If you are able and willing, please stand with me as we read this one verse from God’s Holy Word:
18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit.
May God add His blessing to the reading of His Holy Word!
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We’re going to take this a phrase at a time and reflect on what Peter’s saying. We’re going to pause and apply these wonderful truths to our lives. We will make sure to give thanks to the LORD God for His indescribable gift.
Peter begins saying, For Christ also suffered once for sins…
Christ Suffered Once for Sins
Christ Suffered Once for Sins
Peter shows that the cause of Jesus’ suffering was not persecution, but rather suffering for sins. Jesus suffered the punishment of our sins, which lead to His death.
It was because of our sin that Jesus suffered and died.
Our sin, the sin that we sometimes regard so flippantly and indifferently actually sent Jesus to the cross.
Oh, that we would remember this the next time we contemplate giving in to temptation! Instead may we reach out to Him for strength to do battle.
Christ suffered and died for sins. Not His sins (He had no sin); but He suffered for ours.
Christ suffered/died for sins.
John Piper writes: “This is what separates me from God… My sins are my biggest enemy.”
The prophet Isaiah teaches us the same:
2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.
This is the truth, this is the reality of our sins. Our sins separate us from God. Our sins have cut us off from God. The Holy God cannot, will not tolerate our sinfulness. Your sins, my sins, are an offense to Him.
But Jesus died for sins. This is the greatest thing in the world. I do not have to die in my sins; you do not have to die in your sins. There is forgiveness. This is why people believe in Jesus even if it costs them their lives.
Christ suffered once for sins—this is an example of vicarious substitution.
People speak all the time about “living vicariously” through someone else. “Vicarious” means “experienced through the activities of other people, rather than by doing something yourself.”
Parents are sometimes said to be living vicariously through their children.
I was never very good at basketball, so I’ll just live vicariously through Magal and Miracle and then I can know what it feels like to be a starter, instead of my lifetime of riding the bench and getting some “good minutes” on the C team.
My parents did not live vicariously through me.
Christ suffered once for sins—this is vicarious substitution; Jesus in our place so we can be in His place. Jesus swapped places with us.
Jesus suffered once for sins.
This means there would never need to be a repeat sacrifice again, as was the case with the OT sacrificial system.
In Numbers 29, the Festival of Tabernacles is described and the necessary sacrifices are detailed. The festival was celebrated for 7 days.
Day one, the offering was 13 young bulls, two rams, 14 male lambs all without defect. Day two, the offering was 12 young bulls, two rams, 14 male lambs. Day three, 11 young bulls, two rams, and fourteen male lambs. Day four, 10 bulls, two rams, and fourteen male lambs. Day five, 9 bulls, two rams, and fourteen male lambs. Day six, 8 bulls, two rams, and fourteen male lambs. Day seven, 7 bulls, two rams, and fourteen male lambs.
And then, on day eight, they were to hold a special closing assembly, and offer one bull, one ram and seven male lambs.
And all that’s just for one annual festival.
There were daily offerings, Sabbath offerings, monthly offerings, the Passover, the Festival of Weeks, the Festival of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement.
Sacrifices upon sacrifices, repeated and repeated, over and over and over. Day after day, month after month, year after year.
Jesus suffered once for sins. Once. And then He sat down at the right hand of God the Father. The single, all-sufficient atonement made by Jesus has everlasting effectiveness.
Jesus’ ONE sacrifice on the cross is the only sacrifice needed. “Jesus paid it all.”
When Jesus cried out from the cross, “It is finished,” He was making a profound claim: the work of the atonement was over forever because all the punishment for all the sins of all the redeemed had been fully rendered.
Jesus suffered and died. He was put to death in the body when He suffered once for sins, paying once for sins, once for sins for all time.
Christ suffered once for sins…
Christ Suffered, the Righteous for the unrighteous
Christ Suffered, the Righteous for the unrighteous
In this expression—the righteous for the unrighteous—we find a clear, emphatic expression of vicarious substitution.
The righteous for the unrighteous, that is, Jesus (the Righteous) suffered and died for us (the unrighteous). We are the undeserving sinful ones He redeemed by His bearing our sin.
The righteous for the unrighteous.
The innocent for the guilty.
The pure for the impure.
The holy for the unholy.
Jerry Bridges, when speaking about this, used the phrase, “The Great Exchange.” The exchange here is unmistakable; it’s our sin for His righteousness.
Until we dwell on this and attempt to grasp what Peter has said, we’ll never grasp the weightiness of what Jesus has done.
John Piper writes: “Christ died, the just for the unjust. His death was substitutionary. He took my place. He stood under the wrath and the penalty that I deserved and bore it for me. His death was utterly innocent. It was all for others' sins, and not His own.”
The Righteous for the unrighteous.
Jesus was Himself righteous—perfectly sinless—the human equivalent to an unblemished sacrifice.
Peter has made this point before.
18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.
The righteous for the unrighteous; Jesus, a lamb without blemish or defect, was the only One who could redeem us. It had to be Jesus in our place.
If you think about it (and I think you should think about it), some of the most popular stories of our time are mere shadows of this, the BEST STORY: Jesus in our place.
Okay, spoiler alert! I’m about to ruin some movies for you if you’ve not seen them. Honestly, they’re old enough that if you haven’t seen them by now, it’s kind of your fault if this spoils them for you. Just sayin’.
You might remember when Boromir comes to the defense of Merry and Pippin in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. He defends the two hobbits at the expense of his own life; he dies for them.
With the fate of Earth hanging in the balance, Harry (Bruce Willis) takes it upon himself to blow up the asteroid in the movie Armageddon. To do so, he has to trick the man dating his daughter out of the opportunity. Harry shoves A.J. (Ben Affleck) back into the ship, sacrificing his own life to save earth from, well, Armageddon.
In Big Hero 6, Baymax sacrifices himself for Hiro. It’s all animated and Baymax is just an inflatable robot, but if you didn’t tear up when Baymax says, “Are you satisfied with your care?” and then uses his last bit of energy, sacrificing himself to save Hiro, you are dead inside.
Doc Holliday steps up to duel Johnny Ringo, in place of Wyatt Earp.
“I’m your huckleberry.”
“Fight’s not with you, Holliday,” says Ringo.
“I beg to differ, sir.”
(That’s a friend)
Tony Stark/Iron Man steals the infinity stones from Thanos, says, “And I… am… Iron Man,” snaps his fingers, sacrificing himself, saving the Marvel universe, and putting us all out of the 3-hour-long misery of sitting through that movie.
I could go on and on and on. Think about the best stories of our time. Think about the blockbuster movies and award-winning books.
Any story where someone sacrifices themselves for another is merely an echo, a glimpse, a partial picture of what Jesus did for us.
Jesus was right:
13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
Paul wants us to marvel at was Jesus did in our place:
6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Jesus, the Only Righteous/Sinless/Perfect One gave Himself for us. For us. For you. And for me.
This is the greatest story, the most wonderful truth, the earth-shattering reality:
Christ suffered, the Righteous for the unrighteous...
Christ Suffered to Bring You to God
Christ Suffered to Bring You to God
This is the goal of the gospel, the very purpose of Jesus’ atonement. All the other grand and glorious aspects of the gospel are means to this end, to bring [us] to God.
What Adam and Eve possessed in the Garden of Eden is something mankind has been striving to get back ever since
Adam and Eve, our first parents, were kicked out of the Garden, expelled because of their sin and disregard for what God has said.
If only there was a way to get back what they lost, to be able to walk in garden in the cool of the day, walking and talking with the Creator...
In Genesis 11, the people decided that they would make their way to God. So they set out to build tower, nice and tall, reaching to the heavens.
Turns out, their piddly little effort came to nothing. From a human perspective, it was quite impressive. From God’s perspective, it was laughable. God had to “go down to see what they were building.”
They built a downright impressive tower that was nowhere close to getting them to God.
Since the fall of man, post-Babel humanity is still trying to make their way to God, all on their own, in their own effort, with whatever strength they can muster.
“If I pile up all my good works, all my good deeds, all my charitable giving, all the time I’ve volunteered, all the Girl Scout cookies I’ve purchased—that’s gotta count for something.”
“I’m a pretty good person. I give and I give, I serve and serve, I read my Bible and pray, I visit orphans and widows in their distress…God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.”
All our good works/effort/religiosity will never bring us to God. We cannot make our way to Him; He has to come to us, to rescue us and redeem us. He must bring us to Himself.
And He does.
The eternally-existing Son of God, descended to us, becoming like us. He suffered in our place, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring us to God.
To bring us to God.
This is what Jesus has done for us; this is the reason He came and suffered and died. This is the reason He sacrificed Himself for us. So that we could be with God.
There is nothing more. There is no greater treasure than God Himself. This is precisely what Jesus has done for us—bringing us to God.
Jesus brings us to God as the only one qualified to introduce us on friendly terms.
Christ goes so far as to invite us to call God our Father.
He taught (Matthew 6:9) “This, then, is how you should pray: “ ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,”
When Christ brings us to God, He does it in such a way that our relationship with God will last forever.
We never have to fear that God will have a change of heart toward us. God is not like man, fickle and changing.
We rightly sing of Him, “Thou changest not.”
God Himself initiated the plan. He called us in Christ to Himself, and in Jesus, our inheritance [from Him] is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading…kept in heaven for [us].
Jesus suffered to bring us to God.
Jesus suffered to bring YOU to God.
God Himself is our ultimate reward. There’s nothing that compares to Him.
God is what makes heaven, heaven. Without God, without Jesus, heaven would be as unfulfilling as this present world. But, because Jesus brings us to God, we get God.
You could never, not ever, come to God on your own. You wouldn’t get remotely close to Him in your strength and effort and do-goodedness.
We can’t find our way back to the garden ourselves, but Jesus, born of the woman, crushed the serpent’s head and will lead us to paradise, bringing us home to God.
Like the foolish residents of Babel, we try to make our way to God, and that will end—always—in utter disaster. We can’t make our way to Him; instead, He comes to us, born in a manger bed, living a perfect life, dying in our stead, to make us right with God, bringing us all the way home.
None of our prideful, religious behavior will ever justify us before God. In humility, we must repent of our sins and our sinful pride, and pray, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
You must be brought to God. And Jesus suffered to do just that—to bring us to God.
18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit.
This is the good news that saves. But this good news isn’t just the beginning of the Christian life. The Good News isn’t just for the first part of our Christian life; it’s for all of our life.
The Good News—the Gospel—is our motivation and our power to do.
Our relationship with God is utterly dependent upon each phrase of this verse.
If our sins weren’t paid for by Jesus, once for all, we would despair.
If Jesus didn’t exchange places with us, we would be lost. Dead in our trespasses and sins.
Apart from Jesus, we would never find God.
The Gospel declares that Jesus has paid the price. He has taken our sins, and our faith in Him, our believing in Him, our trusting Him is credited to us as righteousness.
Brothers and sisters, rest in what Jesus has done.
And preach these truths to yourself every day:
“Jesus suffered for my sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring me to God.”
Friends, if you don’t know Jesus, repent of your sins and believe in Him today.
Because of what Jesus has done, the Holy God welcomes you with sin-forgetting forgiveness.
Jesus suffered once for sins.
The Righteous for the unrighteous.
To bring you to God.