Old Llantrisant Hill
- Example of Belgium: tree lined avenues with fountains, walking around a circle all pointing to the central fountain
- So it is with scripture: there is a wide broad avenue that leads to the fountain of Christ
- The cross of Christ is the centre of true experience
- The cross is the centre of all that Peter and the apostles are teaching
- We are strangers, pilgrims, sojourners (1 Pet 1:1, 2:11)
- The world goes against us - Christians are going against the tide
- Peter is writing to encourage them if they have been singled out for being Christians
- Part of being a Christian in the world is that you will suffer
- Christ suffered
- He was an example for us
- Example - means a traceable copy
- Christ's response to injustice
- His disciples were very keen to jump in and protect Him (Luke 9:51-56)
- David's men were very loyal to him (2 Sam 16:5-11)
- Why does David and the Lord Jesus not take revenge on their enemies?
- Jesus committed Himself to God (v23)
- David committed Himself to God
- Jesus knows that God the Father is the only righteous judge
- God will repay (Rom 12:17-19)
- What can we do against those who oppose God's people?
- The key to not reviling, retaliating or wanting revenge is to submit to God
- He is unprejudiced and unbiased
- He will have the last word
- Our cause is in the hands of God
- If the law of the land has been broken we turn to the justice system
- For personal attacks we turn to God for justice
- We die to sin and became alive to God
- Christ bore our own sins in His body
- Four aspects of Jesus death:
- Jesus dies a substitutionary death - one in the place of many (v21, 24; 3:18)
- Jesus dies a spotless and sinless death (v22 cf Isa 53:9)
- Pressurised and in pain yet pure
- He lived out perfect righteousness for us
- Jesus suffered silently
- The Pharisees and Scribes of the Sanhedrin should have recognised the Lord Jesus yet reviled Him
- cf Mar 14:61-62, 15:1-5
- Jesus' sufferings were those of a Shepherd
- The key to your responding rightly is that you have returned to the Shepherd of your souls
- Your eternal destiny and salvation is with the eternal Shepherd
- We were once not a people, now we are a people (v10)
- We had not obtained mercy, but now we have obtained mercy (v10)
- We are under His oversight and care