Introduction:
1 Peter 2:24 - He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
Three Reasons I Am Able to Live to Righteousness:
- Because I'm back with the Shepherd .
- Because I have new Appetites .
1 John 2:29 - If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.
- Because I now have the Power to make right choices.
Galatians 5:16 - But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
1 Peter 2:24 - He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin...
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
-
00:00-00:59
He is risen! Oh come on people, you're gonna have to be louder. I'm way back in Thursday. He is risen indeed. Yes, we have come together today to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the most significant, the greatest, and the most impactful event that has ever happened in the history of the world will never be topped. Our eternity hinges on this. So we are going to worship, we are going to celebrate, we are going to get into God's Word. So let's go worship the Lord together today. Open up your Bibles with me please once again to 1 Peter 2 24. While returning there many years ago, when my son Cade was four, he was kicked in the face by a horse. The horse somehow had gotten out of the barn and And Cade innocently ran behind the horse and spooked the horse.
00:59-01:06
And before any of us could intercept Cade, that horse reared back and kicked him right in the face.
01:06-01:12
He went flying, did a full flip, landed on his face in the yard.
01:12-01:17
And I remember running down and scooping him up in my arms.
01:17-01:23
And his eyes were half open, and he had blood coming out of his nose and out of his mouth.
01:24-01:27
He didn't seem to be breathing, and he wasn't responding.
01:28-01:31
And I just remember, horrified.
01:32-01:35
He's gone. He's dead.
01:36-01:41
And after what seemed like an eternity, he coughed, and then started crying.
01:41-01:43
And we rushed him to the hospital.
01:43-01:46
But I'll never forget that moment when he coughed.
01:47-02:00
That moment when he coughed, I remember, "He's alive! He's alive! Thank you God, he's alive!" I experienced going from thinking it was all over to seeing Him alive.
02:01-02:04
And the disciples of Jesus Christ had some of that going on.
02:05-02:06
He is risen.
02:07-02:10
It means everything to the faith, the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
02:11-02:12
It means our sins are forgiven.
02:13-02:16
It means eternal life is a reality.
02:17-02:19
It means the gates of heaven have been opened.
02:19-02:27
Every promise has been fulfilled, and it means everything to our daily conduct here and now.
02:28-02:32
1 Peter 2.24, this is what we started on Good Friday.
02:33-02:44
Peter says, "He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.
02:45-02:53
By His wounds you have been healed." Now we covered the meaning of the first part, let's sort of look at the rest of this verse.
02:54-02:58
That we might die to sin and, this next phrase is, live to righteousness.
02:58-03:00
We're going to cover that in a minute, that's like the whole sermon.
03:01-03:01
Alright?
03:02-03:12
But it says, "By his wounds you have been healed." That word for wounds literally translates "battle face." It refers to a bloody mark on someone.
03:13-03:20
"By his wounds you have been healed." The word "healed" means to make whole or to restore.
03:21-03:25
Now the context here is obviously not referring to physical healing.
03:26-03:33
You know, there are many people that point to this verse and say, "See, here is a clear promise from the Bible that God will physically heal us.
03:33-03:45
He'll remove all sickness." And I heard some TV preacher this past week talking about "True Christians won't get the coronavirus." If you have enough faith, you won't get coronavirus.
03:45-03:47
And that is just foolishness.
03:48-03:51
He's not talking about physical healing here.
03:51-03:53
Verse 25, look at the very next verse.
03:53-04:00
He says, "For you were straying like sheep." He's talking about sin sickness, right?
04:00-04:07
You're like, "Well, Pastor Jeff, do you believe in healing?" Absolutely I do. For sure. 100%.
04:08-04:09
Some people get healed.
04:10-04:12
And I've seen it more times than I can tell you in my ministry.
04:13-04:23
I would also say at the same time, for sure, someday, everybody in Christ is going to be 100% totally healed.
04:23-04:24
Someday that is going to happen.
04:25-04:33
If he just meant physical healing in this verse, the implication would be no Christian ever gets sick, no Christian would ever die.
04:34-04:39
And that certainly doesn't gel with experience, and more so it doesn't gel with the rest of Scripture.
04:40-05:13
The key phrase I want us to look at here sort of the other side of the coin, he says, "He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree that we might..." here's the two sides of the coin, "that we might die to sin and live to righteousness." Live to righteousness. The attitude of the Christian life, everything about the Christian life boils down to really one thing. The Christian life is about identifying with the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
05:14-05:19
You know, here at Harvest Bible Chapel, over the years, we have baptized many, many, many people.
05:19-05:21
And that's the very picture of baptism.
05:22-05:58
When you are baptized, when you go under the water, you are saying, "I'm identifying "with the death of Jesus Christ." And when you come up out of the water, you are saying, "I'm identifying "with the resurrection of Jesus Christ." Now, the meaning behind baptism isn't just for the day that you're baptized. That's a proclamation that is made in the life of a believer every day that we have on this earth. I am identifying with His death, I'm identifying with His resurrection. In other words, Jesus died so I'm dead to sin.
05:59-06:06
We talked about Friday. And here today we see Jesus is alive so I live to righteousness.
06:07-06:11
In Jesus Christ, you are pronounced righteous.
06:13-06:17
Meaning from God's perspective, you are 100% holy.
06:17-06:18
You are not guilty.
06:19-06:20
There is no guilt.
06:20-06:21
There is no shame.
06:21-06:22
You are faultless.
06:23-06:26
God sees you as 100% perfect.
06:26-06:26
Why?
06:27-06:37
Well, the Bible tells us in Isaiah 53.6 that the Lord has laid our iniquity on the Messiah, on Jesus Christ.
06:37-06:41
In other words, imagine that this isn't the Bible.
06:42-06:47
Imagine if this book was a record of every sin that I've ever committed in my life.
06:48-06:52
It would actually have to be a much, much bigger book.
06:52-06:53
It would have to be probably a whole volume of books.
06:53-06:54
We're just pretending.
06:55-06:57
So when God sees me - let this hand represent me.
06:58-07:02
When God sees me by nature, He sees my sin.
07:02-07:04
He sees I'm guilty of all of this.
07:04-07:13
But Isaiah 53.6 says, "The Lord has laid My iniquity on..." Let this hand represent Jesus Christ.
07:13-07:19
"The Lord has laid My iniquity on Him." Jesus Christ on the cross took My iniquity on Himself.
07:20-07:22
So now when God sees me, what does He see?
07:23-07:25
He sees nothing but perfection.
07:25-07:28
He sees that I'm righteous and holy.
07:28-07:39
Not because of anything that I did, but because Jesus Christ came and on the cross, He took my sin on Himself." You see, this is how God sees you.
07:40-07:45
And the Christian life, empowered by the Holy Spirit, living within is this.
07:45-07:51
It's living according to what God says you already are.
07:52-07:56
To put it simply, you are a child of God.
07:57-07:58
So you need to act like it.
07:58-08:02
Like, "Well, how do I do that?" I'm glad you asked, because I put this outline together.
08:02-08:04
I want you to jot some things down.
08:05-08:09
Three reasons I am able to live to righteousness.
08:09-08:11
That's what we are called to.
08:11-08:13
That's what Peter says is a reality.
08:13-08:15
That we might die to sin and live to righteousness.
08:15-08:16
How do I live to righteousness?
08:17-08:18
How is that even possible?
08:18-08:19
Well, here's three reasons.
08:20-08:23
It's not just possible, it's expected.
08:23-08:25
You are able to do this.
08:25-08:28
Three reasons I'm able to live to righteousness.
08:29-08:32
Number one, because I'm back with the shepherd.
08:32-08:34
Look at verse 25 again.
08:34-08:47
He says, "For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls." Now obviously here, Peter is using Isaiah 53 type language.
08:47-08:49
We already talked about Isaiah 53.6.
08:50-09:00
It says, "We all like sheep have gone astray, each to his own way, but the Lord has laid our iniquity on him." Peter's using that language to remind us, you were straying like sheep.
09:00-09:04
Sin causes me to stray like a sheep.
09:05-09:11
Now, the Bible calls you and me by nature, the Bible calls us sheep.
09:11-09:20
And that's not a compliment by the way, when the Bible refers to us as sheep, because sheep are the dumbest animal in the entire animal kingdom.
09:21-09:22
You know how I know that?
09:23-09:28
Very simply like this, what do you call the guy who is paid to watch the horses?
09:28-09:29
What do you call that guy?
09:29-09:33
Like, "Well, we don't really pay a guy to watch the horses." Right, you don't.
09:33-09:37
What do you call the guy that you pay to watch the dogs?
09:37-09:40
Like, "Well, we really don't pay a guy to watch the dogs." No, you don't.
09:41-09:43
What do you call the guy that you pay to watch the sheep?
09:43-09:44
Oh yeah, that's a shepherd.
09:45-09:45
That's my point.
09:46-09:55
You have to pay a guy to take care of them because sheep are so weak and defenseless and stupid, and that's exactly what we are by nature.
09:56-10:06
You see, sheep, catch this, without an external guide are driven purely by internal desires.
10:07-10:08
That's how a sheep operates.
10:09-10:10
A sheep doesn't think.
10:10-10:12
It's like, "Oh, look at this grass over here.
10:12-10:22
I'm gonna check this out." And then all of a sudden the sheep is like, "Well, I wonder what's happening over here." And then the sheep's like, "Well, I wonder what's going on over here." And the sheep just, then he just wanders off.
10:22-10:23
And the next thing you know, he's lost.
10:24-10:25
And the next thing you know, he's dead.
10:26-10:27
And that's how you and I are by nature.
10:28-10:29
What's going to make me happy?
10:30-10:31
How can I get what I want?
10:31-10:32
How can I do what I want?
10:33-10:39
What's going to fulfill my sensual desires, my physical desires, just led by the lust of the flesh?
10:40-10:50
We're just like the sheep." But he says, "No, no, no, look at this." He says, "You were straying like sheep, but now have returned to the shepherd and overseers." Overseer, excuse me, of your souls.
10:50-10:51
Overseer of your souls.
10:53-10:54
We have an external guide.
10:55-11:04
Jesus Christ, ironically, the external guide within us. You were straying but now you have a shepherd. You need to follow him.
11:05-11:18
You're able to live the righteousness because you're not on your own. You have a shepherd that you can follow. Back with the shepherd. Number two, three reasons I'm able to live the righteousness. Number two, because I have a new appetite.
11:19-13:12
I have new appetites. When you truly come to Jesus Christ, none of us live a a perfect life. But, something that does happen is your appetites change. You'll never convince me for a minute that the holy, almighty, sovereign of the universe comes and indwells a believer like the Bible says He does for all believers. That the God of the universe comes and indwells you and you are no different, you feel no different, nothing's changed. You'll never convinced me of that. You know, in the physical realm, like baguettes, like. Last September when we were in Thailand, we were sitting down eating dinner the one night and I had my phone out and I was showing Justin Cady a picture on my phone of me with the nature boy Ric Flair, a professional wrestler. And you're like, "Why were you showing Justin Katie a picture of you and Ric Flair. I'm gonna be honest with you, I show that picture to everybody. Everybody that sits down for more than five seconds. If I can get my phone open and to that picture fast enough, I am showing you a picture of me and Ric Flair. I was like 20 or 21 at the time the picture was taken and I was showing Justin, I can't remember what the topic was, but I handed my phone to Justin and Justin looked at the picture and he goes, "Wow, you look like And I guess when I look at the picture, I usually look at Ric Flair because I usually think I know what I look like, but I took the phone back and I took a hard look at like 20 year old me, and I was absolutely floored. I was like, "Holy smokes, I look exactly like Owen!" And then I was like, "How in the world did that happen?" Well, duh. He's my son and we have the same genetics. Really not hard to to figure out, it's pretty basic, right?
13:14-13:20
"Like begets like. My Son looks just like Me." And so it is with the one born of God.
13:20-13:21
Did you know that?
13:22-13:39
1 John 2.29 says - listen to this - 1 John 2.29, "If you know that He is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of Him." When you're born again, you take on the character of God.
13:40-13:45
the power of His Holy Spirit. And that's where these new appetites come from.
13:45-13:52
You see, before I knew Christ, I used to love my sin and I had little taste for righteousness.
13:52-15:05
And now, my desire is to serve Christ. And even though I still sin in the flesh, I feel sick when I do. As a child of God, my appetites have changed. How about you? Do you see in your life a growing appetite for righteousness? Like, "Well, what do you mean? Righteousness is kind of a vague term. What specifically is righteousness?" Well, the Bible tells us in Galatians 5 that the Holy Spirit bears fruit in our lives. We have the fruit of the Spirit and He gives us a list. It's love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control. Now you don't get like one or two of those, you get the whole basket of fruit. And all true believers should see these things growing in our lives. And come on, none of us have mastered them perfectly, but we should be able to look at that list and say, "These are the things that I have an appetite for, and by God's grace I'm growing." Three reasons I'm able to live to righteousness, number one, I'm back with the shepherd.
15:05-15:09
Number two, because I have new appetites, being born of God.
15:10-15:15
And number three, because I now have the power to make right choices.
15:16-15:19
I now in Christ have the power to make right choices.
15:19-15:19
What do you mean?
15:20-15:22
Well, the Bible says we used to be slaves to sin.
15:22-15:23
Did you know that?
15:24-15:25
Romans chapter six talks about that.
15:25-15:27
Look at verse 19.
15:27-15:29
We used to be slaves to sin.
15:30-15:33
There was a part of us that didn't want to sin, but we were slaves.
15:33-15:37
We had to do what our master, sin, told us to do.
15:38-15:44
But through Jesus' death and resurrection, Jesus opened the door for you to live life the way God intended.
15:44-15:46
We are no longer slaves to sin.
15:47-15:50
The Bible says instead we are slaves to righteousness.
15:50-15:57
And now through the continual reliance on the power of the Holy Spirit, we can do exactly what Peter's talking about here.
15:57-15:59
We can live to righteousness.
16:00-16:03
Like, yeah, I see where you're saying that, Pastor Jeff.
16:03-16:09
I see where you're getting your sermon content from, but why is it so hard?
16:10-16:11
Why is it so hard?
16:11-16:13
I mean, I want to do the right thing, but boy, I sure fail a lot.
16:14-16:15
And why is it so hard?
16:16-16:17
I'm going to tell you why it's hard.
16:18-16:24
Because as a born again believer in Jesus Christ, you and I are a weird sort of creature.
16:24-16:27
We're this unusual dichotomy.
16:27-16:41
We are people that have this new nature from God, but this new nature lives in fallen flesh that craves sin.
16:42-16:54
The Bible says the believers still sin because we live in these corrupt bodies, these fallen physical bodies, and these bodies still have an appetite for sin.
16:54-16:56
They still have a hunger for sin.
16:56-16:58
They crave sin.
16:59-17:02
The Bible says there's a little bit of a tug of war going on here.
17:02-17:03
We have this new nature.
17:04-17:05
We have this sin nature.
17:07-17:08
And that's what Paul says in Galatians 5.
17:09-17:12
These are at war with each other so you don't always do the things that you wish.
17:14-17:33
But you ask, "Well, if God's intention is that I live in righteousness, how can I grow in that?" There's a story about a man that had two dogs. He had a white dog and he had a gray dog.
17:34-17:38
And when he let the dogs off of their leashes to eat, the gray dog was stronger.
17:39-17:44
And he would overpower and attack the white dog and send the white dog running and the gray dog would get all the food.
17:45-17:53
Well, after some time, the gray dog getting all the food was getting bigger and stronger, and the white dog not getting the food was getting weaker.
17:53-18:00
So the man in this story said, "I'm going to do something about this." So what he did was he chained up both dogs.
18:01-18:08
And when it was time to eat, he let the white dog off the leash to eat as much as he wanted.
18:08-18:11
And the man only gave the gray dog enough food to survive.
18:12-18:16
Now listen, this is not a true story. I don't want you calling PETA.
18:17-18:21
This is an illustration. I love dogs. All right?
18:22-18:23
It's just a story.
18:23-18:31
But the man was feeding the white dog as much as he wanted, and the gray dog was getting barely enough to survive.
18:31-18:42
And then after time, after a season of this, the man would let both of the dogs off their leashes again to eat, and the white dog would overpower the gray dog now.
18:42-18:45
And the white dog was able to eat and get as much as he wanted.
18:46-18:47
But what's the point of the story?
18:48-18:50
The point of the story is this.
18:50-18:54
The dog that you intentionally feed is the stronger dog.
18:54-19:16
If you feed the flesh, the gray dog, if you feed the flesh, if you fill your mind with trash, you fill your time with meaningless activity, all your relationships are with lost people, you're feeding the gray dog, and the white dog isn't being fed, and you're wondering why you have little desire for righteousness.
19:18-19:39
However, if you feed your spirit, if you feed the white dog, meaning you are spending time in God's Word, you're spending time in small groups, you're filling your mind and your heart with worship music, you have meaningful relationships in the church with mature believers, you're feeding the white dog.
19:39-19:46
And you'll have little desire for sin as you're starving out the gray dog.
19:47-19:52
Because the dog that you feed becomes the stronger dog.
19:52-19:55
You have the power to make that choice.
19:55-20:07
And this is why Paul says in Galatians 5.16, "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh." Barber's Bible chapel.
20:08-20:10
"He is risen." Let's hear it.
20:11-20:13
Come on, I don't care what your neighbors think.
20:13-20:24
Let's try it again. "He is risen." He is risen! Therefore, so are we, to live to righteousness.
20:25-20:38
1 Peter 2.24 says, "He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness." Will you bow your heads and pray with me please?
20:39-20:45
Our Father in Heaven, we thank You that the work of Jesus Christ is a transforming work.
20:45-20:53
Father, we confess to You that that's very difficult for us sometimes, because we like how we are, and we're used to how we are.
20:54-21:00
And we have this sinful flesh that still desires the old stuff.
21:00-21:05
Father, You've made it very clear in Your Word that through the power of Jesus Christ, You've called us to live to righteousness.
21:06-21:11
And Father, everything that You call us to, You give us the tools and the power to do it.
21:11-21:15
So Father, I pray that we would lean on these tools that You've given us.
21:16-21:21
Lean on Your Spirit that You've given us in a way, perhaps unlike we ever had before.
21:22-21:25
And learn what it truly means to live to righteousness.
21:26-21:28
Father, it's all for Your glory and honor.
21:28-21:32
We praise You in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen.
Small Group Discussion
Read 1 Peter 2:24
What was your big “take-away” from Good Friday? From Resurrection Sunday?
Can a true Christian be continually defeated by sin? Explain your answer. How would you help someone who says they are a Christian but constantly feels defeated by sin?
Since we are delivered from the penalty of sin, is it right for us to ever feel guilt?
Why do you think God allows us to continue to live in sinful flesh even after being regenerated (born again)?
Breakout
Pray for one another.