The sermon opens in 1 Peter 2:21-25, continuing a study begun the previous week on verses 18-25, where Peter calls Christians to endure unjust suffering patiently, without bitterness or retaliation, following Christ's own example. Today's exposition turns to God's deeper purpose behind Christ's suffering and death, tracing three times in this passage that Peter states God's good aim for his people: to follow Christ's example (v. 21), to live for righteousness (v. 24), and to return to the Shepherd and Overseer of their souls (v. 25). Together these show God's unfailing commitment to accomplish good for his people through the death of Jesus Christ, and they prepare the congregation to approach the Lord's Table that morning.

The first point comes from verse 21: "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." The call to follow Christ's example is broader than last week's theme of enduring suffering; it extends to imitating how Christ loved, how he lived, how he hated sin, and how he glorified the Father. But the sermon presses on the phrase "Christ suffered for you" as the key that makes such imitation possible at all. Christ's suffering does not merely model behavior for us to copy - it is suffering done in our place, and it supplies the very power that enables us to follow in his steps. The sermon contrasts Christ with reformers like Martin Luther and Jan Hus, who suffered and even died for the truth, yet could never be said to have suffered "for us" the way Christ did. Only Christ suffered for us in the substitutionary sense Peter describes.

The second point unpacks verse 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." The sermon walks through Christ's suffering - the unjust judgment, the mocking, the scourging, the nailing to the cross, culminating in his cry "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" - noting that only at this moment does Christ stop addressing God as "Father," having earlier prayed in Gethsemane "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me, yet not my will but yours be done." This is connected to Isaiah 53:5-6, "he was pierced for our transgressions... and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all," which the sermon identifies as the background Peter has in mind. Drawing on Jonathan Edwards's image from "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," the preacher likens God's holy hatred of sin to a girl who is disgusted by a spider yet holds it over a fire without dropping it - so Christ, though bearing our sin, is not let go but is instead drawn up and adopted as a child of God. The debt of guilt, the sermon insists, has been fully paid and nailed to the cross; nothing remains for the believer to pay. A personal anecdote about mishearing the hymn "Tuhan, Kasihmu Ajaib" ("Lord, Your Love Is Amazing") - momentarily hearing "was it I who nailed you" instead of the correct lyric - is tied to a Rembrandt painting depicting the crucifixion in black and white except for one colored figure pulling the rope to raise the cross, traditionally understood as Rembrandt's own self-portrait, symbolizing that every believer's sin nailed Christ to the cross.

The sermon then turns to the second half of verse 24, "that we might die to sin and live to righteousness," anticipating a temptation to feel that this command takes back with one hand the freedom just given with the other - a mindset the sermon labels antinomianism, in which the believer reasons that since all guilt is forgiven, sin no longer matters. This, the preacher argues, is a false doctrine or a rebellious heart, because Christ's death frees believers not only from the penalty of sin but also from its ruling power; to still desire a life enslaved to sin while claiming assurance of salvation reveals a love for sin greater than love for Christ, evidence that no radical change has yet occurred in the soul. The sermon acknowledges, citing Paul's struggle in Romans 7 ("the good I want to do, I do not do") and quoting Teresa of Ávila's prayer - "O God, I do not love you, I do not even want to love you, but I want to want to love you" - that pursuing righteousness remains a genuine, ongoing struggle even for genuine believers.

The third and final point comes from verse 25: "For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls." Healing "by his wounds" is spiritual, not physical, healing, evidenced by the sheep imagery that follows: like sheep who wander without realizing their danger, believers once strayed unaware, content even to play in filth, as in C.S. Lewis's image of a child happy in a muddy gutter, until the gospel and the Holy Spirit awaken them to return to the Shepherd. Echoing Psalm 23, the sermon notes that the Shepherd leads believers in right paths that still pass through the valley of the shadow of death - illustrated by the disciples nearly perishing in the storm on the Sea of Galilee even though Jesus himself had led them onto the water - yet his presence and Matthew 11's promise of an "easy yoke and light burden" mean the believer's righteous living is sustained by joy, not mere obligation. The sermon closes by tying this covenant commitment to the Lord's Supper: the bread and cup seal the new covenant in Christ's blood, by which God pledges not only to bear the believer's sin but to shepherd and keep them until they see him face to face, so that goodness and mercy will pursue them all their days.

Bible Verses Used

• 1 Peter 2:21: Establishes that Christ's suffering "for you" both gives an example to follow and supplies the power to follow it.

• 1 Peter 2:24: Shows Christ bearing our sins on the cross so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness, and that we are healed by his wounds.

• 1 Peter 2:25: Frames the sermon's third point - having strayed like sheep, believers have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of their souls.

• Isaiah 53:5-6: Cited as the Old Testament background behind Peter's language of wounds, healing, and the Lord laying our iniquity on Christ.

• Romans 7: Used to acknowledge Paul's own struggle to do the good he wills, showing that pursuing righteousness remains a real fight even for believers.

• Psalm 23: Referenced for the image of the Shepherd leading through right paths and through the valley of the shadow of death, with goodness and mercy pursuing the believer.

• Matthew 11:28-30: Cited for Christ's invitation to take his easy yoke and light burden after being freed from the burden of sin.