A PROPITIATION AND A PATTERN

1 PETER 2:2

A. "CHRIST ALSO SUFFERED FOR YOU, LEAVING YOU AN EXAMPLE, THAT YE SHOULD FOLLOW HIS STEPS."
  1. These words are a striking illustration:
    1. Of the way in which the Gospel brings Christ's principles to bear upon morals and duty
    2. The Apostle simply reminds the believers to arm themselves with the same attitude toward persecution and hardship
  2. We have but to note the suffering of the Lamb of God:
    1. To see the reason for our trials and persecutions
    2. "If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you" - John 15:20 B. A PROPITIATION AND A PATTERN
  3. The Propitiation: "Christ also suffered for You"
    1. Suffering, beyond any doubt, is the commonest feature of human life. There are none who escape
    2. This writer has seen so much suffering in his ministry that his heart aches as he thinks of it
    3. On many occasions the sufferer would say: "Why do I have to suffer so much--what have I done that other people do not do?"
  4. I seriously doubt that any one of us is able to answer such a question satisfactorily:
    1. We do know that suffering is common to all men - the righteous as well as the wicked - I Cor. 12:26
    2. "Yea,--and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." 2 Tim. 3:12
  5. Christ's suffering was propitiationary--Christ suffered and died for our sins - I Pet. 3:18:
    1. God made Him sin, who knew no sin, that we may become the righteousness of God - 2 Cor. 5:21
    2. Isaiah 53:1-12 explains the suffering of the lamb of God in an awe-inspiring way
    3. The suffering of the Son of God cannot be understood or explained, save it be that he suffered for others
    4. He suffered for my sins and your sin, to make an atonement for all sin - Rom. 5:11
    5. "Who of his own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye are healed." - I Pet. 2:21-24 C. THE EXAMPLE: "LEAVING YOU AN EXAMPLE, THAT YE SHOULD FOLLOW HIS STEPS
  6. Think, dear friends, of the magnitude of the word--"Leaving us an example"
    1. Do we realize what it means? If we did, it would revolutionize our life
    2. Do we even begin to know our Bible as He did?
    3. Do we even begin to pray as He did?
    4. Think then, how thoughtful and kind he was with others. He stooped down to serve; are we ready to follow his example?
  7. The point is clear, that Peter speaks of suffering and he wants the believers to follow the example the Son of man has left us:
    1. His attitude toward His persecutors was not avenging: "Father forgive them for they know not what they do" - Luke 23:34
    2. When He was reviled, He reviled not - I Pet. 2:23
    3. "He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth" - Is. 53:7
  8. "That ye should follow his steps"
    1. As a guide going across a wet moor with a traveler calls out: "Step where I step, or else you will be bogged."
    2. There are a number of requirements for one to walk in the footsteps of another:
  9. We must plant our feet into the foot prints that were made for us;
  10. To do this we must keep our eyes on the foot prints. We cannot look at other things and yet walk in the footprints
  11. Our Lord teaches us by His suffering great Gospel truths:
    1. When He suffered He revealed the Love of God in a way that thinking people could read it
    2. By his suffering He revealed the value of Heaven to us
    3. A mother reveals her love to her child, in that she is willing to suffer to save the child
    4. The marks in the body of the Son of God are the engraven marks of His suffering to save us from perishing in sin - Gal. 2:20
    5. Paul must have understood the true suffering for Jesus Christ, for he writes: "I bear in my body the marks..."


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