Peter Exhorts the Persecuted Believers Volume 25

We True Believers will Suffer Reproach for Christ Sake

1 Peter2:21-22 For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow His steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth: KJV Note: ESV=English Standard Version

The life of our Lord Jesus Christ was like a light tower 🗼used by boats during days of old to guide ships on the sea in the right direction. So, have we believers been left the human life of Christ Jesus our Lord to guide us through this pilgrimage and sojourn of ours home to Heaven. The Apostle Peter writing back then directly to born again Jewish brothers and sisters 'in Christ' who were being brutally persecuted for their faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, even tortured and murdered for being in union with our Lord Jesus. (Note: How much do we see in the Word of God that completely destroys this false narrative, that is, this false prosperity gospel which is no gospel at all.) Some of those Jewish converts were able to escape physical death during that time, but the pursuing of the devil 👿 after them never ceased throughout their lives and such is the case for we true believers today and those of every era and generation since the Cross ➕ of Christ Jesus our Lord. The Apsotle Peter declared to them and declares to us what our response should be with these words, "For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow His steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth:" (1 Peter 2:21-22) (KJV). Peter's first statement to them and to us is that 'For even hereunto were ye called', that is, the moment of our awakening/resurrection in the new birth we were called or bid into the family of God to suffer on this earth for Christ sake in bearing His Name and His reproach in this world that hates Him above all. Questions: Is Buddha's name used as a cuss word? Is Muhammed's name used as a cuss word? You know the answer, of course not. The world system set up and run by Satan is geared to make unregenerate, unredeemed, and unbelieving humanity hate everything that makes mention of Jesus Christ and His Word the Bible. However, we must look to our light tower 🗼 our Lord Jesus Christ and the way He responded to the hatred of Himself by Jews and Gentiles when He walked on the earth in His humanity. The Apostle John documented for us the hatred that many of the Jews had for Him right after He had declared Himself to be the Bread of Life to all sinners who would come and feast upon Him (John 6:22-71), "After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill Him. Now the Jews' Feast of Booths was at hand. So His brothers said to Him, 'Leave here and go to Judea, that Your disciples also may see the works You are doing. For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If You do these things, show Yourself to the world.' For not even His brothers believed in Him. Jesus said to them, 'My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil. You go up to the feast. I am not going up to this feast, for My time has not yet fully come.' After saying this, He remained in Galilee." (John 7:1-9) (ESV). However, His half brothers from His Mother Mary and Joseph's sexual union did come to believe in Him later and know the same hatred as He (Christ) did and when we declare this same truth we will be hated for His sake as well. Our Lord Jesus was always found without deceit or deceitfulnes, that is, He never used tricks to deceive someone (in order to extract money from them) at any point of His earthly ministry. On the contrary, He gave of Himself freely to whomever wanted to know Him personally. Yes, He had followers who provided for their daily necessities of food, shelter, and clothing, as it is documented for us by Luke with these words, "Soon afterward he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the Kingdom of God. And the twelve were with Him, and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod's household manager, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their means." (Luke 8:1-3)(ESV). Our Lord Jesus Christ never in His earthly ministry displayed the building of an earthly kingdom that consisted of great cathedrals made with the finest building materials or the finest feast days or any other such temporary things, but as is written by the Apostle Paul with these words, "For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." (Romans 14:17) (ESV) and also these words, "For the Kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power." (1 Corinthians 4:20) (ESV). The Kingdom of God is not made manifest or visible to the unbelieving world by who has built the biggest and most elaborate structure or structures or who has the most followers online or who has the largest attendance each week or month, but Paul declares to us that written above is what the Kingdom of God is and looks like here on the earth 🌎, remember what our Lord Jesus said, "Jesus answered, 'My Kingdom is not of this world. If My Kingdom were of this world, My servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But My kingdom is not from the world.'" (John 18:36) (ESV). Instead of building an earthly material kingdom, our Lord Jesus Christ is building a spiritual Kingdom comprised of born again souls that have been made by Him into 'new creations' (2 Corinthians 5:17) being prepared and sanctified for habitation in the new heaven and new earth 🌎, as it is written, "For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind." (Isaiah 65:17) (ESV).

Alexander MacLaren had this to say of Christ suffering for us 1 Peter 2:21, "So far as the language of my text is concerned there can be nothing more expressive, more outspoken, or more intelligible, ‘Christ also suffered for us,’ for our realm. But that is not all that Peter would have us learn. If you want to know the nature of the work, and what the Saviour suffered on the cross for our behalf, advantage, and benefit, here is the definition in the following verse, ‘Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we being dead to sins should live unto righteousness.’ ‘For us,’ not merely as an example; ‘for us,’ not merely for His purity, His beautiful life and calm death; no, better than all that, though a glorious example it is. He has taken away our sins, we are sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ; ‘for us’ in the sense of the words in another part of the Epistle, ‘Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot,’ and if so, we are living examples of what Christ our Saviour has done for the whole world. There is only one way of carrying the cross of Christ, which God lays on us all, and that is bowing our back. If we resist, it will crush us, and if we yield we have something to endure; and there is but one thing which enables a man to patiently bear the sorrows and griefs which come to us all, and that is the simple secret, ‘Father, not as I will, but Thy will be done.’ Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example that we should follow in His footsteps, and when we patiently do this the rod becomes a guiding staff, and the crown of thorns a crown of glory. You will not have to go on trying to make a bungling imitation; you will get it photographed on your spirit, and on your character more distinctly and more clearly down to the very minutest shade of resemblance to the Master, and with simple loving trust you will go on from strength to strength glorifying God in your life. They that begin with the cross of Christ, and make the sacrifice their all in all, will advance heavenward joyously; the cross and the sacrifice will be the pattern of your pilgrimage here, and the perfectness of your characters unto the likeness of the Son. The cross is the agency of sanctification as well as the means of forgiveness—saving grace to save us from the world, saving grace to help us everywhere and in everything for our salvation, and saving grace to help us to conquer our self-will, and saving grace to bind us to Him, whose abundant goodness and gratitude no man can tell. If we love Him we shall keep His commandments; if we love them we shall grow in grace, and not else. None else, my brother, my sister, but the Eternal Exemplar stands there as our refuge; and if you want to be filled with this all-saving grace, deep down to the bottom of His tender heart, if you want to be good, and of pure mind, then you have to begin with that Saviour who died for you, and trust to the cross for your forgiveness. Then listen to Him saying, ‘Any man who comes after Me, let him take up My cross’—take it up, mark—’and follow Me.’"
Here is what Dr. John Gill had to say of 1 Peter 2:22, "He was in the likeness of sinful flesh; He looked like a sinful man, being born of a sinful woman, and keeping company with sinful men, being Himself a man of sorrows, greatly afflicted, and at last put to death. He was traduced as a sinner by His enemies, and had all the sins of His people on Him, which He bore, and made satisfaction for, and were the reason of His sufferings; but He had no sin in His nature, nor did He commit any in His life: neither was guile found in His mouth; though it was diligently sought for, by the Scribes and Pharisees; there was no deceit in His lips, no falsehood in His doctrine, any more than there was immorality in His conversation; He was an Israelite indeed on all accounts, and in the fullest sense of that phrase; reference is had to Isaiah 53:9 and this is observed, partly to show that Christ suffered not for Himself, or for any sins of His own, but for the sins of others, for which He was very fit, since He had none of His own; and partly as an argument for patience in suffering; for since Christ suffered, who had no sin, nor did any, nor could any be found in Him, charged upon Him, and proved against Him; and which sufferings of His He bore with patience; then how much must it become sinful men to bear their sufferings patiently, though they may not be criminal with respect to the things for which they suffer, but yet are so in other things, whereas Christ was not criminal, nor blameworthy in anything?

If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...


Sincerely in Christ,


Clifford D. Tate, Sr.


Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reade, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…