1 Peter 2:21-23 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)
21For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His footsteps:
22“He committed no sin,
and no deceit was found in His mouth.”
23When they heaped abuse on Him,
He did not retaliate;
when He suffered, He made no threats,
but entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly.
Following Christ’s Example
When we believe in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of our
lives, it is not just so that we can have our sins forgiven and so we can go to
heaven when we die. Jesus gave His life up for us on that cross to redeem us,
i.e. to buy us back for God, i.e. to deliver us out from under our addiction to
sin so that we will now serve Him with our lives in walks of surrender to the
will of God in obedience to His commands. And we who believe in Jesus are to
follow after His example in how He lived so that we follow Him in His
footsteps.
Flee From Addiction to Sin
Now, Jesus Christ was not born with a sin nature as we are,
because He was not conceived of man, but of the Holy Spirit, to a virgin woman.
So when He lived on the earth He was both fully God and fully human (God
incarnate). Although He was tempted to sin as we are, He never sinned. That
will not be true of us who are born with sin natures. But, by the grace of God,
and in the power of God, by biblical faith in Jesus Christ, we can be delivered
out of our addiction to sin so that we no longer make sin our practice (our habit).
No Lies! Speak Truth!
And no deceit was found in His mouth. We who profess faith
in Jesus are to be truth tellers, not liars, not deceivers. Even what some
people call “white lies” are still lies. Now this does not mean that you have
to tell everyone everything you know or that you have ever done in your life. But
we who follow Jesus with our lives are not to be liars, but truth tellers. We
are not to be those who say things as though they are truth in order to deceive
other people when we know full well that what we are telling them is a lie.
No Retaliation
If we are following Jesus Christ with our lives, and if we
are following His example to us in how we are to live, not necessarily in
absolute sinless perfection, but definitely in habitual obedience to His commands,
and so we are speaking the truth of God’s Word to the people, we should be
prepared that even other professing Christians, and “the church,” in general, might
heap abuse upon us. For so many have gone the way of the world and have
rejected the biblical gospel, and so they may go to attacking us personally.
Although it is certainly acceptable for us to respectfully defend
our own honor, as did Jesus and His New Testament apostles when they were being
mistreated, or when they were being falsely accused of what they did not do, we
are never to retaliate. We are not to do anything to get back at them. Instead,
we are to forgive them, and do good to them, pray for them, and love them, and
speak the truth to them which is for their good. For we are to do good to those
who hate us and who mistreat us (see Luke 6:27-28).
1 Peter 2:24-25 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)
24He Himself bore our sins
in His body on the tree,
so that we might die to sin
and live to righteousness.
“By His stripes you are healed.”
25For “you were like sheep going astray,” but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
The Gospel
If I had to summarize the message of the gospel of our
salvation in a very short statement, I would probably choose to quote 1 Peter
2:24. Why? Because it says it so plainly and yet precisely. For Jesus Christ’s
whole purpose in allowing Himself to be crucified on that cross was to put our
sins to death with Him so that, by faith in Him, we will now die to sin and
live to His righteousness in walks of obedience to His commands in surrender to
His will and purpose for our lives. This is what the Scriptures teach us.
Jesus Christ did not die that horrible death on that cross
just to forgive us our sins and to guarantee us life eternal with Him in heaven
without the purpose and the requirement that we must now die to sin and obey
our Lord in holy living, giving glory to God by how we live our lives. For that
was the whole reason He died for us, to free us from our addiction to sin so we
will now follow Him with our lives wherever He leads us in doing what He has
called us to do for His purposes and for His glory. We must follow our Lord!
[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts
26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans
8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 1
Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians
5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14;
Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24;
1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation
3:1-22]
Following in Christ’s Footsteps
An Original Work / October 2, 2026
Christ’s
Free Servant, Sue J Love
Follow Him
Based off Luke 9:22-25
An Original Work / February 21, 2013
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
Jesus, Son of God,
Died for us on a
cross.
Anyone who would
come to Him
Must deny himself
and follow.
He must take up his
cross daily;
Die to sin and self
each day.
Father, God above,
Loved us so: gave
His Son.
If you want to save
your old life;
Keep on sinning,
follow your ways,
You will lose your
life forever;
Hope of heaven gone
away.
Spirit of our God
Gives us life in
God’s Son.
Nonetheless, if you
die to self;
Forsake your sin;
follow Jesus,
You will live with
God in heaven,
And forever praise
His name!
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