We continue today in our study of 1 Peter. And as I have stated previously, I believe that the theme of 1st Peter is our sanctification. Sanctification means set apart for holiness. The same word in the Greek, hagiasmós, hag-ee-as-mos’, is translated equally as both holiness and sanctification. Peter states in the opening verses of this letter that we are chosen of God by the sanctifying work of the Spirit to obey Christ and be sprinkled with His blood. In effect, he’s saying that we are chosen by God for sanctification. The Spirit working in us produces obedience to Christ which is sanctification.
He then goes on to quote the Lord in chapter 1vs 16 saying, it is written, “YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.” If we are God’s people, then we should model the character of God, which is holiness. Sanctification is holiness. Peter adds to that in vs 22, “Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart.” There we see that sanctification is the purification of the soul.
In chapter 2 vs 5 he says we are to be a holy priesthood, offering up spiritual sacrifices unto God. To be sanctified then means we are a holy priesthood offering up righteous lives to God. In vs 9 he adds to that we are a holy nation. To be sanctified means we are a chosen, set apart, righteous people. And as such we are to abstain from sinful lusts of the flesh. We are to set aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. And we can do this by the sanctifying work of the Spirit in us as we obey the word and grow or mature in our salvation.
Now we should understand that we are credited with Christ’s righteousness or holiness at the moment of our justification, and then with the empowerment and leading of the Holy Spirit in us we work out our salvation, or live out our salvation in holy living. So sanctification is both imputed and learned. It is a process in which we live in obedience to Christ, even as Christ Himself is said of in Hebrews 5:8 that He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.
Now last week we looked at the steps to sanctification as we walk after the Spirit in the light of God’s word. And to follow up on that today we are looking at an illustration of the path of sanctification in the person of Jesus Christ. Peter, like all good preachers, uses an illustration from time to time in order to better explain a doctrine. And Peter gives us the best illustration possible in the person of Jesus Christ.
And let me just add that I believe illustrations are best when they are taken from the word of God. I I’m very aware that there are many resources available online or in print with suitable illustrations for sermons. They are arranged by topic and are very easy to copy and paste into your message. BUt as someone who grew up in church, and have attended thousands of services, and heard thousands of messages, I have noticed that often people remember the stories but not the message. So over the years I have depended less and less upon such things, and instead have looked in the Bible itself for illustrations. The Bible is full of great illustrations. The Old Testament in particular is a great source of illustrations for New Testament doctrines. And so I find that there is very little need to go to outside sources, in hopes of providing a suitable sentimental story that will hopefully capture people’s attention. So a lack of stories or jokes or poems is hopefully not an indication of my lack of preparation, but a desire to preach the word and very little else.
So Peter has been laying out the doctrines of sanctification, of holiness, and now in vs 21 he says we have been called for this purpose. The question is, what purpose? At first glance it would seem he is saying that we are called for the purpose of suffering, because he immediately begins talking about Christ has suffered for us. Or is it that we have been called for the purpose of following in HIs steps? I believe that is a better interpretation.
Let’s read the verse again, “For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps.” Suffering is a necessary part of sanctification, but suffering is not in and of itself the goal of sanctification, nor of our salvation. There was a time, particularly in the Middle Ages, when the Roman Catholic church practiced asceticism or monasticism. And perhaps they still do to some extent. Their view was that by deliberately making themselves suffer they could achieve some degree of righteousness or holiness. Martin Luther, the great Reformer, suffered all kinds of things in hopes of finding justification with God and it was in his failure to find true satisfaction, that he finally discovered the scriptures which helped him to understand that justification is by grace through faith. We are not called to suffering, but to sanctification. Suffering may be necessary, but the goal is sanctification.
So I believe the correct interpretation is that we are called for the purpose of following Christ. Jesus said to the disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.” If you are going to be a disciple, a Christ follower, then you must do as Jesus did. That is the essence of what it means to be a Christian.
Paul said in 1Cor. 11:1 “Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.” Eph 5:2 says, “walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.”
Phil. 2:5 “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus.”
1John 2:6 “the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.”
So the gospel teaches us that we are to follow in the footsteps of Christ. And I believe that Peter is saying here that our purpose of our salvation is our sanctification, which is accomplished by walking as Jesus walked, in His footsteps.
What Peter is saying is that since Christ suffered for you, that is since Christ accomplished your redemption, you are to follow in His footsteps. So you see that Peter is not saying that holy living is the means of salvation. That was accomplished by Christ’s suffering on the cross. But since our salvation has been accomplished by Christ’s suffering, let us now walk as He walked, act as He acted, and have the same attitude which He had.
And to emphasize that point, Peter uses a specific word which is only used here in the entire New Testament. It’s the word translated “example.” It comes from the Greek word “hypogrammos” which means a writing copy, including all the letters of the alphabet, given to beginners as an aid in learning to draw them. It’s a wonderful word picture of how we are to walk as Jesus walked. We follow His example, tracing our lives in the pattern which He gave for us by His life here on earth.
Peter than gives us five specific examples of how Jesus acted while He was on this earth. And these are obviously examples in which we are to imitate when faced with similar circumstances. The first he says is that Jesus committed no sin. He was holy, righteous, spotless. Now that’s a pretty high standard right there. We might say it’s impossible. But God wouldn’t tell us to do something that is impossible. From a practical point of view we might realize that it’s improbable, but not impossible. With God all things are possible. With the Holy Spirit to lead us and to help us it’s possible to live righteously. I will agree that no one in the who is still in the flesh will be able to live without sin all the time, but I will also say that as sanctified people of God who are the temple of the Holy Spirit, sin is something we should be committing less and less. It’s no longer our practice and it should become more and more of an anomaly as we progress in sanctification. As Paul said in Rom. 6:1-2 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?” So when we follow after Jesus, and become His disciple, we deny ourselves, die to sin, and live for Christ.
Secondly, Peter says nor was any deceit found in His mouth. Jesus didn’t lie, He didn’t deceive. He spoke the truth. Even His enemies said about Him, “Teacher, we know that You are truthful and defer to no one; for You are not partial to any, but teach the way of God in truth.” It’s important that we are people of the truth. Jesus said let your yes be yes and your no be no. Don’t make deceitful deals in the workplace. Don’t try to sell something that isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. I remember when I was an antique dealer, this was constantly something that was a temptation to me. And when I didn’t represent something exactly as I should have, it seemed that the Lord always made it come back to haunt me. Jesus said I am the way, the truth and the life. So if we are to follow Jesus’s example, then we must speak the truth.
Thirdly, Peter says about Christ is that while being reviled, He did not revile in return. To revile means to criticize, to insult, to retaliate. I’ve often said that the fault of us Harrell’s is that we don’t have a normal sense of humor. We think it’s funny to insult someone. We tend to make fun of people and think that’s hilarious. Well, it may be funny to us, but it often isn’t to others. Isaiah 53:7 says, “He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth.” So Jesus did not retaliate when He was attacked and scorned and insulted, and that should be our attitude as well.
Jesus said in Matt. 7:3-5 “Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? “Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye? “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.” So don’t criticize others, but perhaps even more to the point, don’t give a tit for tat. Don’t retaliate at others criticism of you by doing the same to them.
Fourthly, Peter says that when Christ suffered, He uttered no threats. Paul says in Ephesians 6 in addressing masters, to give up threatening. That means when you have a position of authority, don’t use that authority to threaten others. But in the case of Christ, He was suffering unjustly, and yet He still did not threaten those who were mistreating Him. For instance, He didn’t respond to the Roman soldiers who were nailing Him to the cross, “Just you wait. I’m going to cast you into the deepest dungeon of hell for what you are doing to me today.” No, in fact, Jesus prayed for them, saying “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
The fifth example of Christ Peter says we are to emulate is that He kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously. Peter will go on to say in chapter 4:19 “Therefore, those also who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right.” God will one day judge all men according to what they do and say on this earth. If our accusers or persecutors are doing wrong towards us, then God will judge them and we should trust God to take care of them. “Vengeance is mine, I will repay says the Lord.” But in like manner, if we are righteous, then let us act righteously in all circumstances, knowing that God will bring all into account, whether good or bad. 2Cor. 5:10 “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” The example of Christ is that because He was righteous and did the works of righteousness, He could trust God to judge Him favorably. And so we who also suffer in doing right can trust the righteous Judge to judge us favorably as well.
In vs 24 then Peter recapitulates what he has previously stated in vs 21, by expanding upon it. He said in vs 21 that since Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example to follow in His steps, and remember we said that referred to Christ’s dying on the cross for your salvation, that you might receive His righteousness. Now in vs24, Peter restates and expands on that idea, saying “and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.”
This is our salvation and sanctification in a nutshell. If there is any doubt that we are to live holy lives, this verse puts an end to that. Since our sins were born away by Christ, we are no longer to live in them. We die to sin. We crucify the flesh and it’s sinful desires. That’s what Jesus meant when He said to “take up your cross and follow Me.” Deny yourselves. Die to sin. Consider those things as dead.
Paul speaks of dying to sin in Rom. 6: 11 “Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus”. …then in vs 16 “Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone [as] slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?” and then in vs 22 “But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.”
So sanctification is not just dying to sin, but living righteously. Consider how John speaks of it, in 1John 3:7 “Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous.”
Back to our text, I especially want you to notice the last phrase of vs24: “for by His wounds you were healed.” This is a verse that has been taken out of context by many contemporary teachers today. And it’s important that we truly understand what is being said here. First look at the context of how Peter uses it. “and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.”
Is not the context of this verse our salvation and sanctification? Does it not mean that since Christ was wounded for our sins, we might saved to live in righteousness? Thayer’s Greek Lexicon says of the word “iaomai” which is translated healed, as meaning to cure, heal, to make whole, to free from errors and sins, to bring about (one’s) salvation. So contrary to the popular interpretation that Christ suffered on the cross to bring about our good health, I think the clear meaning in context is that of salvation. Metaphorically, it’s speaking of spiritual healing.
Furthermore, I would have you to turn to the Old Testament passage which Peter is quoting from in Isaiah 53, vs 5, “But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being [fell] upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed.” Notice He suffered for our sins, our transgressions, our iniquities, and by His scourging we are healed. It does not say He was pierced through for our illness, He was crushed for our diseases, but rather that He suffered for our sins, that we might be saved. He was our substitute, who died in our place on the cross, so that we might live in Him.
Notice also the next verse of Isaiah 53, vs 6, “All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.” Isaiah is still talking about our sins being put upon Christ, so that we are not punished but rather made right before God. And Peter takes the thought of this passage, and adds to it saying in vs 25, “For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.”
This is the purpose of our salvation, even our sanctification. That we die to sin, since Christ died for our sins, and that we live for righteousness, even as He is righteous. What do sheep do in relation to their shepherd? They follow Him. He leads and they follow. He speaks and they obey. And it is good to obey the Shepherd, because He knows the best way. He knows the way of life. He is the Guardian of our souls, even as the Shepherd is the Guardian of the sheep from marauders, from robbers, from wolves an lions who go about seeking someone to devour.
Sanctification is simply walking where Jesus leads. Walking where He walked. Acting like He acted. Having the attitude that He had. Treating others as He treated others, even to the point of not only forgiving His enemies, but dying for His enemies. What an example. What a Savior. The secret of holiness is to stay close to Christ. To walk with Him day by day, moment by moment. And when we walk in His footsteps, following in His example, we become like Him, conformed to His image, and we shall have life more abundantly, a life pleasing to God, a life which will be considered an acceptable sacrifice.
Rom. 12:1-2 “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, [which is] your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” Walk in the Spirit, so that you may not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.