This study is from an on going online Daily Bible Study at:
DailyBibleStudy.Org | Daily Bible Study Index Page | Daily Bible Study Online E-Book Library
1 Peter 2:22-23
22 Who [hos] did [poieo] no [ou] sin [hamartia], neither [oude] was guile [dolos] found [heurisko] in [en] his [autos] mouth [stoma]:
23 Who [hos], when he was reviled [loidoreo], reviled [antiloidoreo] not [ou] again [antiloidoreo]; when he suffered [pascho], he threatened [apeileo] not [ou]; but [de] committed [paradidomi] himself to him that judgeth [krino] righteously [dikaios]: KJV-Interlinear
22 who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; 23 and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; NASB
The who, is Jesus Christ. And it was He, who lived His entire earthly life as a man, for thirty-three and a half years, in sinless perfection.
From infancy to the Cross, He lived a life as we all do, but unlike you and I, He never committed even a single sin. Foregoing His powers of deity, Jesus lived His entire life relying on the support of the Holy Spirit, thereby proving that it is possible to live a life in this world (which is a life in fellowship), apart from sin.
Jesus was rejected, despite His perfection. Jesus was despised. Jesus was hated. Jesus was set up. Jesus was accused of being an imposter, of lying, of being in league with the devil, of trying to overthrow the government. He was beaten, and run through six separate trials, and despite all of this, He never opened His mouth, nor had even the slightest of negative thoughts against anyone.
Isa. 53:9
9 His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth. NASB
Isa 53:7
7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth. NASB
Psa. 37:5-9
5 Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, and He will do it.
6 And He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, And your judgment as the noonday.
7 Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, Because of the man who carries out wicked schemes.
8 Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; Do not fret, it leads only to evildoing.
9 For evildoers will be cut off, But those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land. NASB
And why did he not cut down His accusers right where they stood? Because defeat of the enemy, of sin and evil and death was not His purpose at the first advent. Salvation was the goal of Jesus Christ, and the cross was His destiny, for which He was born.
Satan tried as best he could to cause Jesus to fail and take the cross in sin. Satan tried to prevent the cross by a perfect Jesus. But Satan could do neither.
Through all of the spitting, and foul mouthed comments, through all of the beatings and accusations, through the malicious public charges by the ‘influential’ of the land, through the attempts to distance His friends from Him, through all of the sarcasm, mockery, scorn, gossip, ridicule, contempt, and so forth, Jesus never once became defensive, never once tried to get even, never once returned sin for sin.
And why? Because it is the Father who blesses, not man. It is the Father whose plan will be accomplished, not mans. It is the Father, who possesses the power and authority, and the ultimate judgment against everyone, not man. And Jesus looked to the Father, not to man.
People overestimate their own worth. People overestimate their own value. People overestimate their own power over life and circumstances. And it is people who ultimately will cause the downfall and near extinction of the entire human race (in the Tribulation).
Jesus could have easily called down an army of angels, and wiped everyone off the face of the earth. But, that is not in the plan of God.
To commit sin never pays, therefore, every time you get tempted in life, for whatever reason, whether you have good cause of not, consider the repercussions of your thoughts and actions. Sin removes your blessings. Sin causes you loss. Sin takes away from your spiritual stability.
And even if you find it easy to sin, to hate, to get even, to lust, etc., simply by giving in to the temptation, opens up the door for further excuses for the same, and the more you open up that door, the more the possibilities you will fall into the trap.
You are not stronger than sin. You are not stronger than your sin nature. So do not believe for even a second that you can beat it at its own game, or that you can have life both ways.
Only in doctrine, can you defeat sin and temptation, and doctrine is from God, not from yourself. Only in spiritual growth will you develop the spiritual muscle to fight the good fight. Only through your daily study and use of doctrine will you have the exercise that develops spiritual muscle and therefore spiritual endurance to get you through life.
Look at this life and examine just what you will gain from your hate, from your gossip, from your revenge, from your crusade, from your self-pity, from whatever it is that you expect out of this life. And, you can take one-hundred percent of everything that you will ever get out of this life and put it in a bag and throw it in the garbage. And that is all you will ever have from this life.
Now compare it to what you will receive in eternity. By the way, eternity is a very long time.
Before you were born into this life, you had no say as to how your life would pan out. You had no say as to who you would be, as to who your friends would be, as to what circumstances you would face in life. You had nothing with which to predetermine your life in this world.
But in the spiritual life, we have the ability to define our next life. We can advance to maturity and be counted among the phenomenally wealthy, the phenomenally gifted, the phenomenally talented, the phenomenally blessed, the phenomenally promoted, and far more for the next life – which will be the bulk of our existence.
Would you trade that away, for a bag of garbage?
Is getting upset worth it, when you really have lost nothing in this life, but could have real losses from the next?
