SERMON OUTLINE

Before and After 1 Peter 2.25

Introduction

-“Amazing Grace! How sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see!” John Newton

-This verse is my life story and yours, if you truly belong to God through Jesus Christ.

Straying/Wandering as Sheep

1) Sheep are dumb: We are not that smart. Our minds our fogged by slavery to sin. We have no power to do what is right. Evolution shows how dumb sin has made us. Romans 1.18-23. “futile in thinking …foolish hearts dark”

2) Sheep are directionless: We wander away and do not know how to get home again. Isaiah 53.6; Luke 15.3-7

3) Sheep are defenseless: No means of defense with many predators. Matthew 9.6; Ephesians 6.12

-Wandering is passive verb – “being led astray”. By using our sin nature, the lies of the world and the deception of the Devil lead us away from God to destruction.

Returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of Souls

-A return from lifelong wandering away from God to following after the Shepherd and Overseer.

-Turning is passive verb – “being turned”. God in love and mercy draws men/women to Himself and Christ.

-Jesus is the substitute sheep (Lamb of God) for our sin. Isaiah 53.6-7.

-Shepherd who provides and protects. Overseer who watches over the health of our souls. John 14.6

Conclusion

God draws us to Himself to bless us with His fellowship and promises. Hymn #244 from “Worship and Service Hymnal”.

SERMON NOTES

Before and After 1 Peter 2.25

-John Newton describes the story of his life in the song “Amazing Grace” with these words, “Amazing Grace! How sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see!” John Newton could have easily used the words from today’s verse to tell his life story, “I once was straying like a sheep, but by God’s grace I have been turned, to the Shepherd and Overseer of my soul”.

-In 1 Peter 2.25 I find my own life story and this is your life story as well if you truly belong to God through Jesus Christ. Like a sheep I was going astray, but I was turned to Jesus, the Shepherd and Overseer of my soul.

-This verse contrasts my past life in sin with my present life in Christ. It looks to what was my dangerous and fruitless path to a life that now is protected and filled with provision. This verse describes how I finally found my way. Let’s look more closely at this before and after picture.

1) First of all it says that “you were straying/wandering as sheep”. This is a description of each one of us before we came to know God through Jesus Christ. Some of you here are still wandering as sheep and have not yet turned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your soul. You are in the right place to learn how to turn to God but you have not yet made that decisive commitment to God so that He might become your Savior.

-The Bible often uses sheep to describe both lost people and the people of God because by nature sheep need a Shepherd to lead them. By nature sheep are dumb and because they are dumb they are constantly getting into difficult situations. Dumb sheep is a fitting metaphor for people. As smart as we thing we are, we are really not that smart especially when it comes to spiritual life and God’s direction and right behavior. Does it not surprise you how smart, sophisticated people whom you think should know better, just do dumb things which destroy their whole careers and shame those around them? These dumb-smart people are in the news every week. People are dumb because their minds are fogged up by their slavery to sin. The power of sin in their lives overcomes their better judgment and their conscience. People do dumb things because sin rules their life. Men and women need God’s power to do what they know is the right thing to do and cannot do because of the power of sin in their life. Even when men and women come to know God they still need to be renewed in their minds, from dumb thinking to the wisdom and direction of God. The popular belief of evolution points out how dumb people can be and how we have wandered from the Shepherd of our souls. Romans 1 teaches us that mankind in unrighteousness has suppressed the truth. “For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.” (1.18-23) By nature, sin has made us dumb like sheep and we are in need of a wise Shepherd to teach us.

-By nature sheep are directionless. When sheep wander off on their own they cannot find their way back to the fold. They have no sense of direction. Isaiah writes, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned – every one – to his own way.” (53.6) People like sheep naturally follow their own way, ignorant of the dangers ahead until they finally get trapped. On their own they cannot find their way back to the Shepherd. Like the parable of the lost sheep in Luke 15, so the Shepherd must go out and find the lost sheep and bring it back to the fold for sheep cannot find their way home. Before we turned to the Shepherd of our souls we aimlessly and blindly wandered in this world in danger of eternal damnation.

-And by nature sheep are defenseless. Sheep possess nothing to defend them against the attacks of their many predators. They are helpless. People are the same. As strong as we might see ourselves we are powerless against the power of sin and the Devil and the world. We are no match against the Devil and his evil spirits and his many deceptive schemes. We are powerless to stand on our own. “When Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” (Matthew 9.36) Paul plainly teaches us that, “We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6.12) When we were wandering as sheep we were defenseless against such powers.

-Before we turned to the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls we were wandering as sheep under the slavery and deception of sin making foolish decisions both spiritually and morally. Before we turned to the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls we were wandering aimlessly and blindly in the world without direction. Before we turned to the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls we were wandering as defenseless sheep open to the attacks of the Devil and following the destructive ways of this world.

-It is interesting to note that the verb “wandering/straying” is passive and points to an action done to us. It can be translated as “being led astray” and reminds us that by using the sin nature we are born with, the lies of the world and the deceptions of the Devil lead us away from God and away from spiritual life, towards destruction and death. Everything in us and around us leads us to wander away from God.

2) I praise God for the word “but” in this verse. But points to a new life with new thinking, new direction, and new protection and provision, in union with God through Jesus Christ who is described as the Shepherd and Overseer of our soul. “But (you) have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls”.

-The English word “returned” implies coming back to a past condition, but the emphasis of this verse is on turning away from a lifelong wandering away from God to following after the Shepherd and Overseer of your soul. If you are a Christian that has been negligent in your seeking after God and have allowed the world and the flesh to rule your life, and God has convicted you of your sin and led you to repentance, you can say you are returning to the Shepherd and Overseer of your soul. In a broader way we can think of returned in the sense that we once belonged to God as His creation but because of Adam’s sin we were separated from God, but are now returning to Him who always intended to be the Shepherd and Overseer of our soul.

-This verb is also passive and reminds us that it is because of the Mercy and Grace of God that we can turn to God at all, for sinners do not seek God unless God draws them to Himself. Each one of us who belong to God through Jesus Christ should bow down as low as we can with humble hearts of thanksgiving to God for His saving Grace, for without God’s call upon our life we would still be wandering as sheep in our sin and lost condition.

-In Isaiah 53.6 God says that “we all like sheep have gone astray and have turned – every one – to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Jesus the iniquity of us all.”  Then in the next verse Jesus is identified as “a lamb that is led to the slaughter”. We now know that Jesus became a substitute for us before God to receive the Holy judgment of God that we deserved for sin. Jesus is “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”. (John 1.29) Jesus suffered the consequences of the wandering sheep so that He might then bring us to Himself – the Shepherd of the sheep and the Overseer of our souls.

-It is God’s purpose to bring wandering sinners to Himself and to bless them with His fellowship and promises. God wants us to give ourselves to Him so that He might protect us and defend and provide for us as His own children. God does not call us to give our all to Him so He can take from us but so that He can give Himself to us as Shepherd and Overseer or our souls.

-All that we lack as dumb, directionless, defenseless sheep, God wants to be to us. Jesus said I am the way, that is direction. Jesus said I am the truth, that is wisdom and understanding. And Jesus said I am the life that is protection from death and destruction. Jesus also said, I am the Good Shepherd. As the Good Shepherd Jesus has given His life for the sheep, He provides for the sheep, He gathers the sheep together, and He keeps the sheep so that none will perish. The Shepherd loves the sheep and cares for the sheep and provides and protects the sheep and gives to the sheep whatever is needed for their health and growth. (John 10.1-18)

-Jesus is also the Overseer of our soul. An overseer is one who watches over, protects interests, distributes goods, manages resources, gives direction, seeks accountability, looks to the future and provides for the present. God does all these things for our soul by the ministry of the Holy Spirit and the teaching of the Word of God.

-Jesus as Shepherd and Overseer provides all that is needed for our souls to be nurtured, protected and to prosper. John Newton wrote, “I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see.” John Newton wrote many other hymns and here is another. (#244 Worship and Service Hymnal)

How sweet the name of Jesus sounds in a believer’s ear!

It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds, and drives away his fear.

Dear name! the Rock on which I build, my shield and Hiding place,

My never failing Treas’ry filled with boundless stores of grace.

Jesus, my Shepherd, Brother, Friend, My Prophet, Priest and King,

My Lord, my life, my Way, my End, accept the praise I bring.

Weak is the effort of my heart, and cold my warmest thought;

But when I see Thee as Thou art, I’ll praise Thee as I ought.

Till then I would Thy love proclaim with every fleeting breath;

And may the music of Thy name refresh my soul in death.

–For I was straying like a sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of my soul.