THE PERFECT SACRIFICE (1 Peter 2:22-25)

If I were to ask you to describe something in your life that was absolutely perfect, what would you say?

I would say a big round plate, with three buttermilk biscuits, made from scratch, piping hot from the oven, split open with steam coming off of them, and then multiple ladles of sausage gravy filled with pounds and pounds of spicy sausage poured all over those biscuits.  And then me with permission to eat the whole plate, bite by bite, until it was all gone.  Now that is the absolutely perfect meal.

How about the love of my wife for me, now that is absolutely perfect.  Why she loves, I don’t know, but she does, and in my eyes it is perfect.  

Unfortunately, as good as those things are, we really have no concept of the absolute perfection of the living, true, almighty, God.  That sausage gravy may be too thick or runny, and as perfect as my wife is, she still gets mad at me from time to time.  Yet, God’s perfection is total and complete.  

God’s Son, Jesus Christ, is perfect.  He came to this earth and He remained absolutely perfect.  He died on the cross for our sins, even though he was totally pure of sin in any form. He had no reason to do this other than His love for us.  No other sacrifice could do what His did.  No other sacrifice could be good enough to meet the demands of God’s holiness. This is why no amount of good behavior can grant you eternal life in heaven.  We simply cannot be good enough, there is nothing on this earth that is truly perfect.  But Jesus Christ was and is, and He chose to suffer for us.  At Calvary, all of the sins of the world, past, present, and future were placed upon this perfect sacrifice.  The Lord Jesus his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree.  He died so that we might live.

Last week we described the Jesus Christ who willingly chose to step down from His throne in heaven and come to earth as God incarnate in man in order to suffer for us because sin raised its head in the universe and was transplanted to Earth.  Adam fell.  Sin entered, and death by sin.  Now the Creator must become the Christ.  Prophet after prophet arose to foretell the coming of a Kinsman-Redeemer, a Savior which is Christ the Lord.

So God's Son became the Seed of the woman, the Seed of Abraham, the Seed of David.  He was to be the Lion of the tribe of Judah.  He was the Child born and the Son given.  He was called the Wonderful Counselor, the Father of eternity, the Mighty God, the Prince of peace.

He was born of a virgin in Bethlehem, the Lord's Anointed, Prophet, Priest, and King.  Page after page of the Old Testament told the story.  Book after book was written, all about Him.  Detail added to detail increased the wonder of it all.  He stood apart from all others, robed in majesty, the altogether lovely One, and the chiefest among ten thousand, the One who suffered for us.  He was the perfect sacrifice.