The Christian Pilgrim and Unjust Suffering (2)

First Baptist Church Leominster

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The reason they were probably separated by the Gospel of John is that Luke and Acts, by the way that some of all of Luke's writings is probably more in substance and quantity in the

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New Testament than even the Apostle Paul's writings, but the length of Luke and Acts was probably required two scrolls,

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Luke on one scroll, Acts on another scroll, and of course these scrolls would be kept in collection, and so this is probably how

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Luke and Acts got separated from one another in our final canon, but it is

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Luke's continuation, Acts chapter 1. We'll begin reading today, and this should take us probably into July, Lord willing, when we complete this book.

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In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day when he was taken up after he had given commands through the

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Holy Spirit to the Apostles whom he had chosen. He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the

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Kingdom of God, and while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the

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Father, which he said, you heard from me, for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the

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Holy Spirit not many days from now. So when they had come together, they asked him,

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Lord, will you at this time restore the Kingdom to Israel? He said to them, it is not for you to know times or seasons that the

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Father is fixed by his own authority, but you will receive power when the

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Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all

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Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.

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And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes and said,

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Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.

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And they returned to Jerusalem from the Mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a

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Sabbath day journey away. And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room where they were staying,

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Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the zealot, and Judas the son of James.

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All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer together with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.

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In those days, Peter stood up among the brothers, the company of persons was in all about 120, and said,

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Brothers, the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested

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Jesus. For he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.

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Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out.

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And it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their own language,

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Akildama, which is field of blood. For it is written in the book of Psalms, may his camp become desolate and let there be no one to dwell in it, and let another take his office.

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So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John, until the day when he was taken up from us, one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection.

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And they put forward to Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called

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Justice, and Matthias. And they prayed and said, You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which

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Judas turned aside to go to his own place. And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.

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Let's pray. Thank you, Father, for this record that we have of your dealings in history.

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We thank you, our Father, that visibly the Lord Jesus was seen by these apostles ascending into heaven and received into that cloud your

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Shekinah glory, where he was exalted and thrown as King of kings and Lord of lords.

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And we thank you, our God, for the power of the Holy Spirit that not only came upon them, but is available to us to carry on your work,

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Lord, in your world today. And we pray, our God, that just as you, our

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Lord Jesus, continued your work through these apostles, we pray you would continue your work through us.

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And even now through your servant, Pastor Jason, as he comes to bring your word to us. We pray this in Jesus' name.

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Amen. Good morning, everybody.

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Before I begin, I just want to say thank you for all of the Christmas cards and the notes and the gifts that were given over the last few weeks.

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It's been a tremendous blessing. You're a very, very generous body. And we just wanted to thank you for that.

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Made our Christmas very nice. Let's quickly pray. Our Father, we thank you for this morning.

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We thank you that we can gather around your word and hear it proclaimed. We thank you that we can sing praises to you, that we can hear your scripture read, that we can give our tithes and offerings.

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We thank you for the fellowship that we have in Christ Jesus. Lord, we pray that you would bless this time together, help us to see the word clearly, help us to apply these things to our lives, and help us to live them out.

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Thank you, Lord. In Jesus' name. Amen. At the very core of the gospel message, at its very center, is the doctrine of the substitutionary atonement of the

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Lord Jesus Christ. If you were to take everything that encompasses the gospel, everything that encompasses the good news of Jesus Christ, you would be left with the substitutionary atonement.

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This is the beating heart of Christianity, the Lord Jesus Christ dying in the place of sinners and bearing the full wrath of God and the full weight of punishment and penalty that sin deserves.

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All men are in desperate need of a substitute because all men are guilty, guilty of sinning against a thrice holy

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God. All sin deserves punishment because sin is personal rebellion against the

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Lord God Himself. In the Old Testament, animal sacrifices took on the guilt of God's people, but these sacrifices could never fully atone for the sins of man.

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For that, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, had to come and He had to die in the place of His people as their substitute.

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Jesus Christ had to take upon Himself the full wrath, penalty, and punishment that we had earned in our unrighteousness.

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Without the substitutionary atonement, there would be no justification. And rather than standing before God and declared to be righteous because of Christ Jesus, we would stand before the

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Lord God, receive justice, and be declared guilty. Without the substitutionary atonement, there would be no forgiveness.

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And rather than standing before the Lord God as one whose debts had been canceled out, as ones whose debt had been removed and taken out of the way, we would stand before the

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Lord God as a debtor, completely unable to repay what is owed.

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Without the substitutionary atonement, there would be no adoption. And rather than standing before the

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Lord God as His beloved child and heir to a vast and eternal inheritance, we would stand before the

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Lord God as a stranger, as one who is not known. Without the substitutionary atonement, there would be no reconciliation.

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And rather than standing before the Lord God as a friend, we would stand before the

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Lord God as His enemy. Without the substitutionary atonement, there would be no redemption.

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Our ransom, our deliverance from payment of a price, would not have been paid.

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And we would still remain enslaved and in bondage to our sin.

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Beloved, without the substitutionary atonement, there would be no salvation. There would be no healing.

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And there would be no hope. Leon Morris writes, to put it bluntly and plainly, if Christ is not my substitute,

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I still occupy the place of a condemned sinner. If my sins and my guilt are not transferred to Him, if He did not take them upon Himself, then surely they remain with me.

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If He did not deal with sins, I must face their consequences. If my penalty was not borne by Him, it still hangs over me.

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It is absolutely crucial for us to understand the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ.

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Because it is through His atonement that we have been delivered from death to life.

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It is through His atonement that we have been delivered from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of God's beloved

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Son. It is through the substitutionary atonement that we have been delivered from the penalty of sin and the power of sin, and one day soon, the presence of sin.

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For by His wounds, we have been healed. Understanding the substitutionary atonement will enhance your walk with the

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Lord God, because it will enhance your understanding of the character of the

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Lord God. It will enhance your understanding of our great and glorious salvation. And practically speaking, it will enhance your understanding of the great priority to live a righteous life.

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Please join with me to the book of 1 Peter. This morning we continue our study of 1 Peter 2, verses 21 through 25.

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1 Peter 2, verse 21 through 25. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you might follow in His steps.

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He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in His mouth. When He was reviled,

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He did not revile in return. When He suffered, He did not threaten, but continued entrusting

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Himself to Him who judges justly. He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.

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By His wounds, you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but now have returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls.

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Here in this passage, Peter reveals to us that the example set by the Lord Jesus Christ provides us with everything we need to know in order to endure triumph over unjust suffering and tribulation by reminding us of four things.

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He reminds us of our calling, in verse 21. He reminds us of the example set by the

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Lord Jesus Christ, verses 22 through 23. The purpose of the cross, verse 24.

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And the result of the cross, verse 25. Last month we looked at points 1 and 2, the calling and the example, verses 21 through 23.

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And this morning we will conclude with points 3 and 4, verses 24 to 25.

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The purpose of the cross and the result of the cross. Let's look at each one in detail.

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First Peter 2, 24. He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.

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By His wounds, you have been healed. As those who have been called to suffer, we are to follow the example.

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We're to follow the pattern. We're to follow the standard that was set by our Lord Jesus Christ.

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In the midst of great suffering, in the midst of great unjust suffering,

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He committed no sin. First Peter 2, 22. Neither was deceit found in His mouth.

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When He was reviled, He did not revile in return. When He suffered, He did not threaten.

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Rather, He continued entrusting Himself to Him who judges justly. In the midst of our unjust suffering, we must follow in the steps of the

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Lord Jesus Christ. We must commit no sin. We must speak without any deceit.

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We must not revile or speak harshly when we are assaulted. In our suffering, we must not threaten.

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We must not take matters into our own hands. But rather, we will entrust the entire situation into the hands of our

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Heavenly Father. We will commit it all and hand it all over to the

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Lord God Almighty. The entirety of our lives must be entrusted into His hands.

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For the Lord God will make it right. For the Lord God judges justly.

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If in the most difficult of circumstances, the Lord Jesus Christ did not sin and was able to entrust

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Himself to God, then we, in far easier circumstances, must strive to do the same.

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However, as we strive to follow Christ's example, we must remember that His suffering was distinct from our suffering.

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His suffering was unique because His suffering was without sin.

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And it is His suffering that serves as the basis of our salvation.

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The Lord Jesus Christ suffered and died as our substitute.

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The Lord Jesus Christ suffered in our place. In 1 Peter 2 .24,

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we see the supreme and ultimate illustration of unjust suffering. He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree.

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The Greek word translated bore literally means to carry, to bring up, or to bear up.

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This term was often used in relation to a sacrifice or to an offering. The sacrifice or offering was brought up to the altar.

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It was placed up upon the altar. Also implicit in this term is the idea of moving from a lower position to a higher position.

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To lift up, to pick up, or even to carry a load. The Lord Jesus Christ, He Himself bore our sins.

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He lifted them up. He picked them up. And He carried them to the cross. Again, there are many similarities between this passage and the messianic prophecy of Isaiah 53.

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The suffering servant. Isaiah 53 .4. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.

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Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. Isaiah 53 .11.

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Out of the anguish of my soul He shall see and be satisfied. By His knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous.

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And He shall bear their iniquities. Isaiah 53 .12.

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Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the many. And He shall divide the spoil with the strong.

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Because He poured out His soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors.

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Yet He bore the sin of many. And makes intercession for the transgressors.

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The Lord Jesus Christ. He Himself voluntarily and without any coercion offered

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Himself up as a sacrifice for us. A perfect sacrifice. Without spot.

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Without blemish. He Himself carried up to the cross our sins in His body.

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And He offered Himself up as a sacrifice. As atonement for sin.

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The term atonement means to make right. Or it means to amend. Or to repair a wrong.

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And the term refers to removing the guilt of man. By repairing the broken relationship that exists between God and man.

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As a result of sin, the relationship between the Lord God and man has been estranged.

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The relationship between the Lord God and man has been severed. Communion with the Lord God has been severed.

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Because of sin, all men are born spiritually dead. And alienated from the life of God.

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Because of sin, all men are born without hope. And without God in the world. Because of sin, all men will walk in the futility of their darkened minds.

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And die in their trespasses. And immensely suffer for their sin.

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For all eternity. And this is the miserable path that all men will follow to their destruction.

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But God. But God, because of His great love for sinners, sent

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His Son, Jesus Christ, into the world. So that sinners might be saved.

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So that sinners might be reconciled to God. So that our relationship with the

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Lord God might fully be restored. And fully amended. Fully repaired.

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Romans 5, 1 and 2. Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our

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Lord Jesus Christ. Through Him, we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand.

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And we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Beloved, our peace with God is made possible only by the life, death, burial and resurrection of the

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Lord Jesus Christ. Our peace with God is made possible only by what the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished on our behalf.

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As our substitute. In His life, Jesus Christ accomplished what none of us could ever accomplish for ourselves.

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He perfectly obeyed the law of God. He perfectly obeyed God the

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Father. He perfectly surrendered His will to the will of the Father. Jesus Christ lived an absolutely perfect life.

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It was without spot. It was without stain. It was without blemish. As John the

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Baptist proclaimed, He was the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

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In His death, Jesus Christ died as a divinely appointed substitute. And His death provides atonement between God and man.

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Between God and sinners. The death of the Lord Jesus Christ upon the cross established lasting peace.

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Romans 5 .8, God shows His love for us and that while we were still sinners,

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Christ died. Ephesians 2 .16, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross.

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Thereby killing the hostility. 1 Peter 3 .18, for Christ also suffered once for sins.

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The righteous for the unrighteous that He might bring us to God. Being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit.

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You see at the cross of Christ, an amazing transaction took place. An amazing exchange took place.

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The righteous life that the Lord Jesus Christ lived was exchanged for the unrighteous lives that we have lived.

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The wages of our sin, the record of our debt that stood against us, our transgressions, our sins, our unrighteousness, was transferred to the account of the

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Lord Jesus Christ. It became His. Our sin was imputed to the

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Lord Jesus Christ. He picked it up. He carried it. He placed the full weight of our sin upon Himself and He took it to the cross.

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He bore our sins in His body. 2 Corinthians 5 .21

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says, for our sake, He made Him to be sin who knew no sin.

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Isn't this an amazing truth? It's almost incomprehensible. The thrice holy

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God takes our sin and places it upon His perfect Son, the

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Lord Jesus Christ, who willingly bears our burdens. But this is only half of the transaction.

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What's the other half of the transaction? Not only was our sin imputed or credited to Him, but His perfect life,

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His blamelessness, His sinlessness, was imputed and credited to us.

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The Lord Jesus Christ and His righteousness was transferred to our account.

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It became ours. Our sin was placed upon Him and His perfect life became our perfect life.

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Double imputation. John Bunyan writes, our sins when laid upon Christ were yet personally ours, not

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His. So His righteousness when put upon us is yet personally His, not ours.

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Beloved, the only reason we are able to be reconciled to the Lord God is because of Christ's righteousness.

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Because we have been covered in His righteous robes. Our great high priest, the

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Lord Jesus Christ, bore our sins as our substitutionary sacrifice, dying in our place in order to bring atonement, in order to fully repair our estranged relationship with the

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Lord God. I came across an interesting story that helps illustrate this marvelous truth.

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In the early 1800s during the French Revolution, men were conscripted into the

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French Army by a lottery system. And if your name was drawn, then you had to go off to battle.

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But in the rare case that you could get someone else to take your place, you were exempt. On one occasion, the authorities came to a certain man and told him that his name had been drawn, but he refused to go, saying,

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I was killed two years ago. And at first they questioned his sanity, but he insisted that this was the case.

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He claimed that the records would show that he had been conscripted two years prior and that he had been killed in action.

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He explained that when his name came up, a close friend said to him, you have a large family and I'm not married and no one is depending on me.

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I'll take your name and your address and go in and take your place.

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And the records upheld the man's claim. The case was referred to Napoleon himself, who decided that the country had no legal claim on that man.

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The reason he was free was because another man died in his place.

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Beloved, the reason why there is no condemnation, the reason why we are free from the penalty and power of sin is because another man died in our place.

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The Lord Jesus Christ endured the punishment of sin. The Lord Jesus Christ endured the penalty of sin.

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He satisfied the demands of the law. He satisfied the demands of a thrice holy God, a just God.

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He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree.

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Now, why does Peter use the word tree rather than the word cross?

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I remember the first time that this verse was brought to my attention. I was at Bible camp and one of the counselors was teaching that the church and pastors and historians had it all wrong.

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Christ was not crucified on a cross, but on a tree. Now, at the time,

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I didn't give much credence to his argument. It didn't matter much to me whether or not it was a tree or a cross.

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The important thing was his actual death. But I wasn't sure how to respond to him.

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I didn't have a good answer for him. And I did wonder why certain passages of scripture refer to Christ dying on a cross and others refer to him dying on a tree.

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Well, in the Greek language, there are two separate words for cross and tree. The Greek word translated cross is staros, and it refers to a crucifixion stake.

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The Greek word for translated tree is ksoulon, and it refers to an actual tree or that which is made from wood.

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In 1 Peter 2 .24, Peter uses the word ksoulon for the word for tree.

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Now, the question is, why? Why was this term used? Why not eliminate any confusion and use the term for cross?

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Well, by using the word tree rather than cross, I think Peter was actually alluding to the

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Old Testament passage in Deuteronomy, which prescribed the penalty for a condemned criminal.

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Deuteronomy 21 .22. If a man is committed a crime punishable by death, he is to be put to death.

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And you hang him on a tree. His body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day.

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For a hanged man is cursed by God. You shall not defile the land that the

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Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance. The Apostle Paul also refers to the same passage in the book of Galatians.

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Galatians 3 .13. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.

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For it is written, cursed is everybody who is hanged on a tree. Peter intentionally uses this terminology to place emphasis on the fact that the

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Lord Jesus Christ became a curse for sinners. The Lord Jesus Christ had to take upon himself the curse of the law, the punishment demanded by God for sin and for unrighteousness.

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So not only did he take upon himself our sin, but Jesus Christ became a curse for us.

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In his own body, on the tree, on the cross, through crucifixion, he had to die.

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He had to be lifted up. He had to be crucified. He was the propitiation for our sins.

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In other words, he absorbed and experienced the full judgment and the full wrath of God.

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He experienced the full judgment and the full wrath of God on our behalf.

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The holiness of God, the justice of God demanded that this penalty be paid for sin.

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So Jesus Christ willingly took this penalty. He became a curse and he bore our sins in his body.

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Well, what was his purpose in him bearing our sin? Why did

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Jesus Christ take our sin upon himself? How does Peter answer these questions?

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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.

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By his wounds, you have been healed. The reason why the Lord Jesus Christ took our sin upon himself was so that we might die to sin and we might live to righteousness.

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He himself bore our sins so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.

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The Greek word translated die is a very unique word. In fact, this is the only place that it shows up in all of the scriptures.

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It means to depart. It means to be removed from or to cease existing.

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This term was used in classical Greek to refer to the dead, to those who had departed from this world, to those who would never be seen again.

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The purpose of the substitutionary atonement was that we might depart from our sin, that we might turn away from our sin, that we might cease from sinning and that our sins would cease to exist in our lives.

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Beloved, you must die to sin and you must live to righteousness.

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Well, how do we do this? Practically speaking, how do we accomplish this command? Yes, the

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Lord Jesus Christ frees us from the penalty of sin and from the power of sin, but how do we fight against the continual presence of sin in our lives?

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How do we actually die to sin and live to righteousness? Well, this isn't something that we can accomplish in our own strength.

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Fighting against sin, putting our sin to death and living to righteousness can only be carried out through the power and guidance of the

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Holy Spirit. We can't do it ourselves. The Holy Spirit was given for this purpose.

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He helps us. He helps us in our weakness. He convicts us. He teaches us and He guides us into all truth.

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Everything we need to fight against sin, everything we need to live to righteousness has been clearly laid out for us in the

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Scriptures. Everything has been abundantly provided for us by our Father God for righteous living.

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Every spiritual blessing, all things pertaining to life and godliness have been given to us in Christ Jesus.

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But how do we actually do it? Well, Paul provides us a formula for putting sin to death.

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If you have your Bibles, turn with me to Ephesians chapter 4, verses 22 through 24.

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Ephesians chapter 4, 22 through 24. Paul writes,

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To put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

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Now, I've shared this passage many times because this passage has probably been the most helpful for me in my fight against sin and in my walk in righteousness.

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It's a formula. It is God's formula for dying to sin and living to righteousness.

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Beloved, this is a passage that you need to be very familiar with. So star it, or underline it, or memorize it, but don't leave here today without knowing and understanding this passage.

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If you want to die to sin, if you want to live to righteousness, if you want to change, if you want your life to be transformed and conformed to the image of the

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Lord Jesus Christ, if your desire is to please the Lord God and to live an obedient life, a life that will glorify

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Him and honor Him and please Him, here is the formula. Ephesians 4, 22 through 24.

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Put off the old. Put on the new. And be renewed in the spirit of your mind.

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That's it. It's simple and it's to the point. Put off the old, put on the new, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind.

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Well, let's examine this formula a little closer. First off, we are told to put off the old self.

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Christians must lay aside the old self. Well, how do we do this? This means that we are to remove, we are to strip off, we are to take off the old self just as we would remove clothes that were filthy and soiled.

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The old self is our old man. It's the old way of our thinking prior to receiving the

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Lord Jesus Christ. The old man is concerned about one thing, and that one thing is pleasing himself.

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The old man is fighting for the right to regain its rule and authority in your life. According to Paul in the book of 2

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Corinthians, 2 Corinthians 5, 17, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

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The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. As a new creation, the old has passed away.

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And thus, we must put him off. We must put off our old self, and we put off by putting on, by putting on our new self.

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In other words, we put off by putting on. The old is removed and the new is put on, just as you would put on a new set of clothes.

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Christians are to put on the thinking and the behaviors that are exemplified in the

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Lord Jesus Christ. Just as the old self is concerned with one thing, pleasing self, the new self is also concerned with one thing, pleasing the

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Lord God alone. The old self is conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but the new self is being conformed to the image of the

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Lord Jesus Christ. In Ephesians 4, 23, it says, we put off by putting on, by being renewed in the spirit of our minds.

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What does this mean? It means that as we behold the scriptures, as we read them, as we hear them, as we study them, as we memorize them, as we meditate upon them, the

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Holy Spirit illuminates the Word of God to us. The Holy Spirit enlightens our minds so that we can receive it, so that we can understand it, so that we can apply these truths to our lives.

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So in the strength of the spirit, we put off the old man with its evil practices and with its evil passions, and we replace it with the new man, with new practices, with new passions, and new practices that please and honor the

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Lord God. A great example of this formula for change is found in the following verses,

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Ephesians 4, 25 through 31. Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.

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What's the put off? Falsehood. What is the put on? Truth. In the strength of the

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Lord, we put off falsehood, and we put on truth by being renewed in the spirit, by being renewing our minds with the truth of the scriptures.

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Ephesians 4, 28. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.

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What's the put off? Theft. What's the put on? Hard work.

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In the strength of the Lord, we put off theft, we put on hard work by renewing our minds with the truth of the scriptures.

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Ephesians 4, 29. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up as fits the occasion that it may give grace to those who hear.

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What's the put off? Corrupting talk. What's the put on? Edifying talk.

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In the strength of the Lord, we put off corrupting talk, and we put on edifying talk by renewing our minds with the truth of the scriptures.

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Ephesians 4, 31. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you along with all malice.

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This entire verse is the put off. What's the put on?

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Ephesians 4, 32. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God and Christ forgave you.

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Change is that simple. Put off the old man, put on the new man, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind.

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Beloved, living to righteousness becomes a reality by departing from our sins.

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Living to righteousness becomes a reality by dying to our sin. In other words, as you live to righteousness, as you put on the new man, you will die to sin and you will put off the old man.

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You put off by putting on. Romans 6, 11.

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So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

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Let not sin reign in your mortal body to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.

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For sin will have no dominion over you since you are not under law, but under grace.

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Beloved, do not let sin have dominion over you. Do not let sin have any control over you.

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Sin is dead to you and you are dead to sin. You must deprive your evil desires of their strength and their power.

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You must mortify them. You must kill them off entirely.

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With all of your might, with all of your strength, with all of your being, do everything that is possible to rob your evil desires of their influence and power in your life.

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Fight, wrestle, strive. Put off your sinful desires and bury them in the grave.

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Remember what the Lord Jesus Christ has accomplished on your behalf. Remember who you are in Christ Jesus.

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You have been crucified with Christ, Galatians 2 .20. And it is no longer you who live, but Christ lives in you.

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And the life that you now live in the flesh, you live by faith in the Son of God, who loved you and gave himself up for you.

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The Lord Jesus Christ died for you in order that you might depart from your sin and live to righteousness.

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He bore your sins in his body so that the pattern of your life would be conformed to the pattern of his life.

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And to do this, the Lord God has made you a new person, a new creation. He has transformed you from sinner to saint.

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You are a new man. For by his wounds, you have been healed.

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In the Greek, the word translated wounds literally means to trickle with blood.

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And it can refer to a violent blow to the body or to scars received from an injury or a beating.

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By his wounds, by his scars, by his pain, by his brutal affliction, you have been healed.

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Isaiah 53, verse four. Surely he has borne our afflictions. He has carried our sorrows.

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Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions.

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He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him, the chastisement that brought us peace and with his stripes, we are healed.

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The suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ is the means of our spiritual healing.

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It is the means of our transformation from death to life. It is the means of our deliverance from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light.

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It is the means of our deliverance from enslavement to sin to enslavement to righteousness.

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The Lord Jesus Christ took our place to make this healing a reality.

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He took our place. Peter not only describes the

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Lord Jesus Christ as our example and our substitute, but also as the shepherd and overseer of our souls.

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First Peter 2, 25. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls.

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As Peter concludes this passage, he once again refers back to the prophecy of Isaiah 53.

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All of us like sheep have gone astray. We have turned every one of us to his own way and the

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Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Like sheep who have strayed from their shepherd, so have all men strayed from the

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Lord God. All men have gone their own way. All men follow their own path and this path leads them to destruction far away from the

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Lord God. But even though we were straying like sheep, we have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of our souls.

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Here Peter is referring to man's unsafe condition prior to salvation. We were like sheep prone to wander and unable to find our way back to God.

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But the Lord God has laid on him the iniquity of us all. It is through the provision of the

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Lord Jesus Christ that we have returned to him. The Greek word translated return carries with it the idea of repentance, a turning away from sin and a turning toward God, placing our faith in the

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Lord God. Acts 3 .19, repent therefore and turn again that your sins may be blotted out.

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The times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. Acts 11 .21,

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and the hand of the Lord was with them and a great number who believed turned to the Lord. Acts 14 .15,

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men, why are you doing these things? We also are men of a like nature with you and we bring you good news that you should turn from these vain things to a living

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God who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. To return is to repent and believe.

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And to repent and believe is to return to the shepherd and overseer of your soul.

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These two titles, shepherd and overseer, convey the role of the Lord Jesus Christ in our lives.

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The Lord Jesus Christ is the good shepherd. He lays down his life for the sheep. He promises to gather and to care for his scattered flock.

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He is our leader, he is our shelter, he is our feeder, our cleanser, our restorer.

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The Lord Jesus Christ is the overseer of our souls. All who belong to the

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Lord Jesus Christ come under his perfect care and provision and protection.

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He watches over all the sheep of his flock. He watches over every member of his church. He knows his sheep and his sheep know him.

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What tremendous blessings are found in the character and the work of Christ Jesus.

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If you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ, if you are lost or wandering or without hope, return to him.

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Return to him. Repent of your sins and believe in him. Jesus Christ, God the

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Son, became sin. He became a curse. He was smitten by God and afflicted.

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Jesus Christ died to save sinners. This is the gospel. This is the good news.

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Believe in his perfect sacrifice. Believe in his perfect atonement. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.

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By his wounds you have been healed. So beloved, put off, put on, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind.

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Consider yourselves to be dead to sin and alive to God. Live to righteousness.

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Follow the pattern of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was wounded for our transgressions.

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By his wounds we have been healed. So live a life that is worthy of his great sacrifice.

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Live a life that is worthy of the calling to which you have been called. Live a life that is patterned after the

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Lord Jesus Christ to his praise, to his glory, and his honor.

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Make this decision today. Die to sin and live to righteousness and follow through with it with all of your might.

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Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we are so grateful for the work of Jesus Christ.

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We could never do what he did. Without him, we would be lost. Without his advocacy, we would be your enemies.

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Without his mediation, we would be strangers. But Lord, we are your sons and your daughters.

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We've been purchased out of the slave market of sin. We have been redeemed. We have been reconciled.

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We've been justified. Lord, all of these blessings are so unfathomable.

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We thank you for these truths. Lord, help us reflect upon these things. Help us to remember them throughout the day.

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Help us to recognize our great worth in Christ Jesus. And Lord, may these blessings spur us on to live lives that are pleasing to you.

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Help us to put away our sin. Help us to die to it. Help us to mortify our sins.

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Help us to live to righteousness. Lord, we can only do this through your spirit. We can only do this as we behold the word of God.

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Help us, Lord, in our reading, in our hearing, in our memorization, in our meditation, in our study.

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Help us, Lord, to live out these things. Thank you for your grace. Thank you for your substitutionary atonement.

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Thank you for the great salvation that we have in Christ Jesus. In Jesus' name, amen.