Sinlessness of Jesus Christ

Introduction: The Glory of Christ's Sinlessness

0:04 One very wise and experienced spiritual counselor gave this advice to someone whom he was seeking to help in his Christian life.

0:16 For every look you take at yourself, take ten looks at Christ.

0:25 Well, the text we were considering this morning, by the very nature of its words, demanded that we look at ourselves. For we've re-entered our studies in the book of Ephesians, and in a consideration of the opening words, we could not help but look at ourselves in all of our native ugliness as dead sinners. But tonight I want to give you not ten looks at Christ, for I only have time to preach one sermon, but I trust the Holy Spirit will give us one sight of one aspect of the glory of Christ that will indeed help us to look at ourselves. Indeed, suffice under the blessing of the Spirit to warm our hearts and to draw out new dimensions of love and devotion to the One who has loved us and gave Himself for us.

1:18 Perhaps few things are a more accurate index of just where we are spiritually than to hear that the preacher is going to attempt to open up some facet of the glory of Christ. If you're a Christian, already your heart leaps. With anticipation, you pray, Lord, give me a new sight of my Savior. And if it doesn't, it's just an evidence that you're either in that state we considered this morning, total spiritual death, or you're in a present place of relative death as a child of God, and you need a gracious reviving, and nothing is more cultivated to give than a new sight of the Savior.

2:01 Now what I wish to do, as I intimated this morning, is to draw your attention to one aspect of the glory of Christ's person, namely the sinlessness of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. That Jesus Christ was sinless is everywhere implied in the record concerning Him. But not only is that fact implied everywhere, it is explicitly asserted in some specific passages of the Word of God. And I want to read, in brief, and briefly comment upon three such passages, and then develop the theme from those statements of Holy Scripture.

Explicit Scriptural Assertions of Christ's Sinlessness

2:44 The first passage is 2 Corinthians chapter 5, in which the sinlessness of Christ is explicitly stated in these words.

2:56 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 21, Him who knew no sin, He, that is God the Father, made to be sinless, and made to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. This phrase is descriptive of the Lord Jesus, who knew no sin. And the word know there is used in its biblical sense of that of having intimate acquaintance with, experimental knowledge of, delight in. And the text states, in words that cannot be misunderstood, that Jesus Christ was totally free from any experimental acquaintance with sin. He knew no sin. And now, if you will, over to Hebrews chapter 4.

3:57 In this portion of Scripture dealing with the priesthood of Christ,

4:03 we read, beginning with verse 14 of Hebrews 4, Having then a great high priest who hath passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, Jesus identifying Him in His true humanity, the Son of God identifying Him in His true, His eternal, His essential divinity, His deity, let us hold fast our confession, for we have not a high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but one that hath been in all points tempted like as we are, yet, without sin. Our Savior is true man, the man Christ Jesus. He is true God, the only begotten Son of the Father. And as the unique God-man, He experienced the reality of temptation, and yet the text explicitly and categorically states that He was never tainted with the sin. Though tempted, and tempted in all points like as we, yet He was totally and completely without sin.

5:20 And then the third explicit assertion of the sinlessness of Christ, 1 Peter 2 and verse 24. 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 22. I'm sorry, not 24, verse 22.

5:38 Perhaps we should back up to verse 21 for the beginning of the sentence. For hereunto were ye called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow His steps. Who did no sin? Neither was guile found in His mouth.

6:00 Here again is an explicit categorical statement that Jesus Christ never performed one act that could be constituted sin. He did no sin. Now we read these passages, and I would venture to say that most, if not all of you present tonight, subscribe to their truth without any reservation, mental or otherwise. But let me ask you, have you ever felt the weight of what they assert?

6:32 Have you ever been spiritually baffled and astounded by the significance of these statements? He knew no sin, yet without, without sin. Who did no sin? Has the sinlessness of Christ ever been a subject of sweet contemplation to you?

The Context of Christ's Sinlessness: True Humanity

6:58 I must confess that up until recently, I had never really felt something of the awesome mystery and the unspeakable glory of these simple statements, though I've never had one ounce of doubt as to their truth. And I trust that the fruit of my own meditations will be owned of God to bring some similar blessing to your own heart. Now to think our way through this very vast subject, which we can only touch upon tonight, I want you to consider with me, first of all, the context of the sinlessness of the Son of God. Secondly, the meaning of the sinlessness of the Son of God.

7:39 And thirdly, the benefits that flow from the sinlessness of the Son of God. First of all, then, the context of the sinlessness of the Son of God. In what setting did Jesus Christ live for 33 years and never once commit sin? Let me suggest that you won't appreciate His sinlessness unless you see the setting or the context in which He so lived His sinless life.

8:10 And there are three elements of that context. First of all, the reality of His humanity. As a man, our Lord possessed all the various faculties common to us as human beings. He had a mind which conceived ideas which in turn become the spring of action.

8:35 For as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. Our Lord had emotions. He had the ability to feel. And our emotions, as with our Lord, are those funny things that trigger attitudes and many times actions in us contrary to the will of God.

8:55 Our Lord had emotions. We see Him in the Gospels rejoicing. We see Him sorrowing. We see Him filled with amazement.

9:03 We see Him filled with anger, filled with grief. Our Lord had a will, a will that could choose and then bring in its train all of the faculties of the body. Our Lord has a physical constitution with all the normal appetites, attentions, intent upon a true human body. Hunger, thirst, the desire for sleep, weariness.

9:28 May I suggest if He was a true man, He had everything else that was common to a true man in genuine, valid, adult humanity. In the way of physical appetites, He had a psyche or a soul with all of its appetites for companionship, for love, for understanding. And we behold Him. In those appetites in the Gospels, I shall only mention one.

9:55 In the hour of His deep grief in Gethsemane, He longed for the companionship of those inner three. And He came grieved and said, What could you not watch with me this one hour to Peter, James, and to John?

10:10 Now our Lord had all of these as a true man. And He had them from the moment of His conception to the moment He breathed His last, His humanity was not some phantom. It was a genuine, valid, bonafide humanity. Therefore, it took Him nine months to come from that little speck of life in the womb to being the baby that cried that first Christmas day.

10:42 God did not bypass the normal period of gestation. Mary had her full nine months. And Jesus had to learn how to say, say His first word.

10:56 And Jesus had to learn how to tie His sandals. And Jesus had to learn how to pick up His clothes and put them in the hamper and make His bed. And Jesus had to learn how to operate a fork and a knife and a spoon. And Jesus had to learn everything that children have to learn.

11:17 So where do you find that in Scripture? Well, it's everywhere implied, but it's explicitly stated in Luke chapter 2. The child grew! In wisdom, stature, favor with God and man, there was every stage of normal development.

11:34 You say, well, what in the world does that have to do with the sinlessness of Christ? Well, you hang on and you'll see. For we must see the context of His sinlessness before we can appreciate it. And it was the context of a true humanity, and I'm going to go further.

11:49 It was true humanity not in the Edenic state, true humanity in a fallen world.

11:59 Hence, Paul waxes, not eloquent, accurate to the point where he can go as close to stepping over the boundary into blasphemy as it's possible to go. And he says in Romans 8 in verse 3, he was made in the likeness of what? Sinful flesh.

12:25 Not made in the likeness of innocent pre-fall flesh. We read in Hebrews, He took on him the seed or the name, the nature of the sons of Abraham, true humanity. But here we read in the likeness of sinful flesh. Why does Paul use this phrase?

12:48 I quote Professor Murray's answer to that question because it is so succinct and beautiful in its accuracy. The question is, why did Paul use the term sinful flesh when it is necessary to guard so jealously the sinlessness of our Lord's flesh? Because he is, concerned to show that when the Father sent the Son into this world of sin and misery and of death, He sent Him in a manner that brought Him into the closest relation to sinful humanity that it was possible for Him to come without Himself becoming sinful. He Himself was holy and undefiled.

13:30 The word likeness guards this truth. He was not sent in sinful flesh, but in the likeness, the likeness of sinful flesh. No other combination of terms could have fulfilled these purposes so perfectly. There is emblazoned on the Apostle's language the great truth that when the Father sent the Son, He sent Him for the deepest humiliation conceivable for Him who was the Son of God and who in His human nature was holy, harmless, and undefiled.

14:05 It is sinful flesh that dies. It is sinful flesh that is weary. It is sinful flesh that must toil in the sweat of its brow. It is not pure pre-fall flesh that knows death and toiling with sweat.

14:20 That's man in the state of under the curse. Jesus Christ experienced all of those things because He came in the likeness of sinful flesh. Therefore, the context of the sinlessness of the Son of God must be understood. It must be understood to be a context first of all of the reality of His humanity.

The Context of Christ's Sinlessness: Comprehensive Law

14:42 Secondly, it is the context of the comprehensiveness of the law of God. When the Scripture says He did no sin, when the Scripture says as we've read that He knew no sin, it means that not once in the thirty-three years from the first cry as an infant to the last breath upon the cross, not once was there anything that could be called a deflection in one degree from the law of God. For sin is transgression of God's law. Sin is either failing to measure up to the demands of the law or violating the precepts of that law. Now, what is the summary of that law? Our Lord Himself gives it in Matthew 22 and verse 34. And it is this, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, mind, soul, and strength, and thy neighbor is thyself.

15:50 Now, what does that involve in detail? Well, our Lord tells us in such passages as the Sermon on the Mount, it means that to love God perfectly and my neighbor perfectly, that not only will I do with my hands what God requires, not only will I minister with my hands, what love requires to my neighbor, but it means in the first springs of thought and of attitude,

16:20 I do what is pleasing to God. For Jesus said, The look of lust is a violation of the seventh commandment. The spirit of anger is a violation of the commandment, Thou shalt do no murder. Covetousness is a disposition of the heart.

The Context of Christ's Sinlessness: Intimacy with Sinners

16:35 And so, if we are to understand and appreciate the sinlessness of Christ, we must not only see Him as a true man coming in the likeness of sinful flesh, but we must see His sinlessness against the backdrop of the comprehensiveness of the demands of God's law. God's law touches the whole man in the whole of his life in the totality of all that he is as a man. Thoughts, emotions, affections, attitudes, actions, reactions, the first springs of conscious thought and will and choice at every point the law of God touches the whole man. Now then, thirdly, we must consider in the context of Christ's sinlessness not only the reality of His humanity, the comprehensiveness of the law, but the intimacy of His contact with a sinful world and the sinners. Since our Lord had no indwelling corruption such as we have, a monastic life would have been an assistance to holiness in the Son of God. Now you see, monasticism has never been any handmaid to true holiness amongst fallen creatures simply because they take their worst problem with them, even behind the monastic walls. They take their inbred corruption with them, but the Son of God had no inbred corruption.

18:06 He was born without that disposition to evil and therefore His inducements to sin, His temptations had to come from external stimuli, from external provocations.

18:21 But our Lord did not draw Himself off.

18:26 The Scripture gives us the picture from His very early days of one who lived in intimate and constant contact with the real world of sinners and with sinful people.

18:41 He was reared in a town that had a very checkered reputation. Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Can any good thing come out of that place?

18:52 Upon His baptism and His anointing with the Spirit, He is driven by the Spirit for what? Forty days of first-hand encounter with the fiend of hell Himself. The Scripture says He was an hungred. And after a fast of that long a time, we are told by those who fasted for great lengths of time that there are cycles when the body no longer is conscious or never doesn't send the signals of hunger.

19:20 But at this point, everything in the Son of God was crying out for that appetite to be gratified with legitimate food. For the Scripture says, and afterwards He was an hungred. And at that precise point, the tempter came and says, since you're the Son of God, certainly God's concerned for you. You're His beloved.

19:41 You're the darling of His eye. His eternal and only begotten Son.

19:47 God wouldn't want to see you suffer with hunger pangs. You've not been out here on a joyride, on a fool's errand. You've been out here doing your Father's will. And if He's your Father and He loves you, why certainly He won't mind you turning a few stones into bread and gratifying your hunger.

20:05 Our Lord was a real man.

20:08 There's no record that God suspended the gnawing of His hunger pangs.

20:15 And He said, it is written, it is written, though everything in me craves for food, the Father has not yet revealed that it's the time to provide that food. And I, I will not, I shall not partake of that food against the revealed will of my Father. For it is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. We read that and quote it so glibly.

20:38 But can you relive it?

20:41 If our Lord was a true man with true hunger,

20:45 every word was wrung out with deep pain. The pain that often comes when our commitment to the revealed will of God means we must trample underfoot the screaming longings of our own physical appetites and passions.

21:04 We find our Lord in the closest contact with sinners, so much so that His reputation was jeopardized amongst the religious leaders. Friend of publicans and sinners.

21:15 This guy goes into the houses of publicans and he hobnobs with them. He's their friend. Now put the sinlessness of Christ in that context. A real association with real sinners.

21:31 He was close enough to feel the pressure of the unbelief of his own half-brother, brothers and sisters, as recorded in John chapter 7. It says his own brethren did not believe on him and they taunt him about going up to the feast and parading his stuff before the eyes of the nation. Now in that context, let us consider the sinlessness of Christ. A true man obligated to obey a law that touches every facet of the whole of his humanity and a law that must be obeyed in a setting in which there is constant influence of sinners all about him.

The Meaning of Christ's Sinlessness: Mind, Soul, and Body

22:12 Now then, in that context, what is the meaning of his sinlessness? Well, let's break it down. First of all, is it related to the actions of his mind? And I am not speaking technically now when I use the terms mind, spirit, body, soul.

22:29 I'm using them in the way they're used in scripture. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy mind, with all thy soul, with all thy strength. Think what it means when the scripture says he did no sin as it relates to the functions of his mind. Not once did he think a thought independent of the revelation of his Father's will and his Holy Word.

22:58 Think of it. Every time you think wrong thoughts of God, that's sin.

23:06 Jesus never thought one wrong thought about his Father. Never once did he interpret any fact of life wrongly.

23:20 Never once did he view any circumstance wrongly. The thinking of his mind was holy because it conformed completely to the law of his Heavenly Father.

23:39 Never once was his mind allowed simply to run all over the place and undisciplined faculty. All of its powers were employed to knowing and doing the will of the Father.

23:55 Mental laziness is sin.

23:59 The law requires that you love God with all your mind, that all of its high and noble faculties be employed actively, diligently, assiduously in knowing God's mind, thinking God's thoughts after him. And mental laziness is sin. Never once was Jesus found dissipating mental faculties upon unworthy objects. Never once did that holy mind think an unclean thought.

24:34 Never once did it conceive an unloving notion. Think of it. Never once did it misjudge a person.

24:44 Never once did it have unfounded suspicion of another human being who did no sin.

24:56 Who did no sin. A mind perfectly free. From sin. Think for a moment of the meaning of his sinlessness as it relates to his spirit or to his soul.

25:09 Not once was there the whisper of pride.

25:14 Never once did the holy soul of the Son of God experience the defilement of being lifted up beyond its proper sphere.

25:26 Never once was there the acid. Not one tenth of a hundredth of a drop of the acid of man. To his own fleshly brothers and sisters who taunt him. To his enemies who spit upon him.

25:44 To his friends who forsake him in the hour of his need.

25:49 Never once was there any bitterness.

25:54 Never once was there unbelief that doubted the Father's goodness, the Father's word, the Father's character. Even in his plaintive cry, my God, my God, why hast Thou abandoned me? That was not the cry of unbelief. For he still is conscious of his relationship to the Father when he says, my God, my God.

26:21 It is the real cry of the real pain of the abandonment, the accursedness of Calvary. Not a cry of unbelief, but a cry of genuine anguish. Never once was his soul tainted with unbelief. Think of the sinlessness as it relates to his body.

26:40 Though he sat at banquets, never once was he intemperate and guilty of the sin of gluttony. Never once did he go home and say to the disciples, fellows, I ate too much tonight. That would have been an abuse of that holy temple. Not once guilty of gluttony.

27:03 Though he enjoyed the good things so that they called him a wine-bibber and a glutton, never once did he take one ounce more of the wine that he should have taken. It would have cast him past his mental faculties in any other frame than that of perfect control. In the moment alcoholic beverages are consumed to the point where you have anything less than full and absolute control of those faculties you are sinning, never once did the Son of God think of his sinlessness as it relates to that body. No gluttony, no drunkenness on the one hand, but on the other hand, though he fasted, and did vigils in prayer, he was never guilty of a sinful asceticism that downgraded the dignity of the body. When he needed a good sleep, even though a storm is raging, he says, time to sleep, let the storm rage on, I'm going to get my rest. Oh, the beauty of the sinlessness of Christ. No gluttony, no indulgence beyond propriety, yet no sinful asceticism.

28:17 The sinlessness of his body is seen that that holy tongue never once framed a sarcastic word. Never once did that tongue become a rapier to pierce and to wound. Oh, it spoke some scathing things when needed, but always in perfect control of the will of his heavenly Father. And this thought to me is absolutely astounding, baffling.

28:48 Not one ounce of energy was ever expended in any enterprise concerning which, when it was done, the Father could not say that pleasing. He loved his Father with all, not only the mind, the soul, but all his what? His strength! And as the food he ate was turned into that energy, not one ounce of energy ever expended in any enterprise which, when completed, the Father could not say, this pleases me well.

29:31 In whom I am well pleased. Oh, dear people, think of the sinlessness of the Son of God. Never did he meet the needs of man at the expense of God's rights. Never did he protect the rights of God at the expense of meeting legitimate human need and thereby guise his indifference under a cloak of false piety.

29:57 All of the duties were performed in perfect balance. In perfect conformity to the whole law for the whole of every day, through the whole of his entire life. And if, follow me now, if there had been one millisecond in which he did not obey that law perfectly, the whole fabric of human salvation would have crumbled and there would be nothing but hell for the whole human race. And I tell you, dear ones, such thoughts best leave us on our faces in worship. To me it almost is a prostitution of the sacredness of the concept to attempt to exhort on the basis of it. Admire him, worship him, praise him, fall before him and say, Hallelujah, what a Savior. This, I suggest, is a little bit of what it means when the Scripture says he did no sin.

Benefits of Christ's Sinlessness: Perfect Righteousness Provided

31:11 The context of his sinlessness, that of a true humanity, a comprehensive law, close identity with sin and sinners, having looked at some of the facets of what it means when it says he was sinless, what benefits accrue to us because of this. For remember, the sinlessness of the Son of God as a man amongst men was not for anything it would bring to him. It was on behalf of those whom he came to save. It was a sinlessness enacted in his capacity as the Savior of sinners. And therefore it is not selfish but right and biblical that we should ask the question, what benefits flow to us because of the sinlessness of the Son of God? Let me suggest four that flow to us. Number one, a perfect righteousness has been provided. You see,

32:21 the law of God has both a set of threats for disobedience and it has a set of precepts and directives which must be obeyed if the sinner is to be accepted. And if you and I are ever to stand before the bar of God and have him say, acquitted, accepted, it must be not only that our breaches of the law have been paid for, that the penalties of the law have been met, but that the positive sanctions of the law have been met in our substitute. And so we read in that key text in the book of Romans so pivotal to an understanding of what it means to be justified. Verse 19, For as through the one man's disobedience, that is Adam, the many were made for constituted sinners, even so through the obedience of the one shall the many be made righteous. Adam's disobedience brought the sentence of condemnation, but the obedience of the last Adam brings the declaration of righteousness and justification. When the father said,

33:48 This is my son in whom I am well pleased, he was not speaking of Christ as a private person. You remember he made that announcement when he was officially set apart for his work as the appointed Messiah. It was after his baptism and his anointing with the Spirit, as the heavens were opened, the voice came thundering, This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. And the Lord Jesus was acting as the head of his people, as the covenant head of the new humanity.

34:25 And every holy act of obedience was as it were another thread in that fabric of perfect righteousness which he was weaving, that he might impart it to all who are in him. And so the sinlessness of the Son of God has as its first benefit to us as sinners, that a perfect righteousness has been provided, that we may this day rejoice in the fact that at the right hand of the Father is one who did perfectly obey in a sinful world amongst real sinners and in the presence of a real devil, who obeyed in thought, in motive, in attitude, so that the burning eye of God, seeing the full extent of the demands of his law, could look at every facet of his Son and say, There is not one blemish. Perfect obedience. And now the Son says, My Father, I give that obedience to all my people. Secondly, a perfect sacrifice has been offered. If you are

Benefits of Christ's Sinlessness: Perfect Sacrifice Offered

35:43 familiar at all with your Bibles, you know that there is much rich instruction to be gained from the Old Testament sacrificial system. The whole concept that God could be approached only on the basis of the blood of an innocent sacrifice. And we find that when the Lord Jesus came, John the Baptist pointed to him and said, Behold the Lamb of God who bears away the sin of the world. And every Jew knew what that analogy was. It was speaking of the sacrificial lamb, and one of the requirements was that it have no spot and no blemish. God foreshadowing the fact that Jesus Christ would come in time, and that he who would be the substitute of sinners must himself be without the least taint of sin. And so we read in the passage I read at the outset of our study together, 2 Corinthians 5 21, He who knew no sin was made sin. Listen, if he had not been without sin he could not have been made sin for others. Had there

36:55 been, and I want you to feel the weight of this tonight, had there been one deflection from one facet of one element of God's holy law upon the mind, the soul, the body of the Son of God at one millisecond in his life, he could not stand as the innocent one in the place of the guilty. He himself must stand to bear the weight of God's wrath against him as a sinner. And it's only because he was the sinless one that he could take the place of the guilty ones. The one who did no sin was made to be sin for us. He who did no sin was able to bear our sins in his own body up to the tree and bear them away into his open tomb that we might be forgiven. And then thirdly, his sinlessness brings to us this benefit. A perfect intercessor has been constituted. Not only a perfect righteousness provided, a perfect sacrifice offered, but a perfect intercessor has been constituted.

Benefits of Christ's Sinlessness: Perfect Intercessor Constituted

38:14 I direct your attention to Hebrews chapter 2 verses 17 and 18. Hebrews chapter 2 verses 17 and 18. Wherefore it behooved him in all things to be made like unto his brethren, that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people for in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted. The temptations of Jesus Christ were not some kind of a phantom experience. He wasn't play acting. When the scripture says to go back to a passage I referred to earlier in Matthew 4 when it says he was in hunger and then Satan came and said if thou be the son of God turn the stones into bread. Why does God put that there?

39:20 And afterward he was in hunger. Why does God say that? Let us know that in that temptation there was real suffering. The suffering you feel when everything in your flesh is crying out for gratification contrary to the will of God and everything in you as a new man or woman in Jesus Christ is crying out to trample your flesh underfoot.

39:42 That's suffering my friend and if you don't know what that is I doubt you're a Christian. If you don't know that inner pain of real temptation when there's the pull of your base or remaining corruption in this direction and the pull of everything you are as a new man in Christ in this direction. The flesh lusting against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh. What do we do in such times?

40:14 You say we're supposed to turn to the Lord yeah but what's he know about that? Oh my friend he knows everything about it. He has suffered being tempted but he never succumbs so I just don't come and as it were cry in my ear with some fellow sinner who's also wallowing in his filth with me no no I come to this one who conquered and yet I say Lord Jesus you know what it is to suffer being tempted succor me minister to me give me strength Lord Jesus because you've been constituted a perfect intercessor perfect because sympathetic sympathetic because tempted in all points like as I am tempted. Go to Hebrews 7 another passage that underscores this principle Hebrews 7 verses 25 to 28 Wherefore he is able to save to the uttermost them that draw near unto God through him seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them for such a high priest became us holy guileless undefiled separate from sinners and made higher than the heavens who needeth not daily like those high priests to offer up sacrifices first for his own sins and then for the sins of the people for this he did once for all

41:43 when he offered up himself Jesus Christ has been constituted a perfect intercessor because he has no sins of his own that need atonement no sins of his own that need purging but he is one who is able to sympathize with us though holy guileless undefiled and separate from sinners he is the same one described in chapter 4 and verse 15 we have not a high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but one that hath been in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin let us therefore draw near with boldness if he had sinned why draw near for help if he couldn't himself be sinless how can he help me if he had never been tempted why draw near he can enter in to the agony of temptation but we have a high priest who is touched with the feeling of our infirmities who does know what temptation is but blessed be God who does not know what sin is without both elements he would not be constituted

Benefits of Christ's Sinlessness: Perfect Pattern Established

43:09 a perfect intercessor but thank God both are there and he is therefore constituted our perfect intercessor and then in the fourth place the sinlessness of Jesus Christ has left us a perfect pattern a perfect pattern has been established for all of his people now granted the liberals back some years ago abused the idea that Jesus Christ of perfect humanity what man ought to be Jesus Christ was but though liberalism abused it by bleeding out the elements of substitution and the accursedness of the cross and they made the cross simply the crowning example of selfless abandonment to a good cause instead of the planned transfer of the guilt of sinners to the Son of God and penal satisfaction rendered to divine justice and that omission has damned and deluded multitudes and we have no sympathy for it but we as evangelicals have forgotten there is a biblical doctrine of Christ as the pattern of his people and we read in that very passage from which we took one of our opening texts 1 Peter chapter 2 though he did no sin neither was guile found in his mouth we are told in that very passage that he has left us an example

44:37 that we should follow his steps and 1 John 2 verse 6 says he that saith he abideth in him ought himself so to walk even as he walked dear child of God what does it mean to be holy as a man as a woman with all the legitimate God given needs of your humanity the physical the psychological the emotional with all your faculties of mind and soul and body what does it mean to be holy Jesus Christ is the perfect pattern he has shown us what holiness is for human beings and human beings in sinful life what does holiness mean look at the son of God does holiness mean that we act as though we were disembodied spirits with no bodies that had bodily needs well some would lead us to believe that and so you have the cursive doctrine of asceticism that looks upon the human body as this prison that holds in the soul and you can't wait for the day when you'll jump out of that prison and go to glory our Lord never regarded his bodily needs that way I gave you some instances earlier it was our Lord that said to the disciples come apart and rest a while it was our Lord who after preaching and teaching said look these people are fainting in the way

46:05 they need a good meal may I say it reverently he didn't go around to every one of the individuals and say now if you'll make a profession of faith you can stay on to the meal he fed them all of them many of whom have no saving knowledge many of whom according to John 6 went back and walked with him no more and he says you follow me not because you understand the significance of what I've done but because your bellies were filled but even knowing that Jesus filled their bellies what's it mean to be holy oh dear people the sinless son of God is the perfect pattern study the gospels not only to behold the glory of God in the face of Christ not only to see the great sweeping panorama of the saving acts of God in Christ but read the gospels as God's pattern of what holiness means in this life in a sinful disordered imperfect world thank God for a sinless savior who is a perfect pattern for his people at every point of their experience now as I bring our study to a close tonight let me seek to press home upon the consciences of all present to you very elementary things

Conclusion: Call to Praise and Repentance

47:32 first of all let me address a question to you who are Christians those of you who count yourselves among the Lord's sheep how long has it been since you consciously praised your savior for all that he went through to be your sinless savior I just never thought of that well I hope you've been provoked to think about it tonight when you praise him for his condescending grace you thank him that he was willing though rich to become poor for your sake I hope you thank him that he was willing to come to the confines of a virgin's womb willing to be born in a stinky cow barn willing to live amongst men but oh have you thanked him for all that he went through to remain sinless have you thanked him that when everything in him cried out for bread he said it is written when everything cried out in him to avoid the agony of Gethsemane and Golgotha he said not my will but thine be done that was a valid choice of the will oh you say but could he don't you entertain such academic questions my friend don't speculate when you're on such holy ground the bible teaches it was a valid bonified activity of his human will he chose to die

48:59 he was not driven like someone half stupefied he faced the agony and everything in him recoiled but he chose it not my will but thine be done have you thanked him who did no sin have you thanked him that he resisted every inducement to evil every inducement to evil thoughts and attitudes child of God I hope before you pillow your head tonight somewhere you'll say Lord Jesus thank you for being my sin saver thank you for the presence of the unconverted who are here tonight those of you who have found no delight in these past 45 minutes in fact you've really found them rather boring and rather puzzling you say what in the world is that man getting all excited about my friend will you listen to me as I press some things home to your own conscience tonight why did the son of God come to a sinful world why do you live among sinners he came to seek and to save

50:26 that which was lost he came on a mission of mercy to sinners he came not to seek something from men but to impart something to them and he's not changed that purpose though he is no longer amongst us in the flesh he's gone back to the right hand of the Father he lives this night willing and able to receive every sinner no matter how vile he may have been and accept you on the grounds of what he did in that sinless life he has perfected a righteousness that has no flaw and that perfect obedience of Jesus Christ obedience even unto death can be yours the full satisfaction of the law of God in the death of Christ is that which God will impute to you if you will abandon yourself if you will say oh God I do not look for acceptance on the basis of what I do what I am but I put the whole case of my soul's acceptance in the hands of the Son of God do you know what God says he that thus believes on his Son has everlasting life

51:54 now you say that's too simple yes that's why the gospel is a stumbling block to men you want to be told to do something you want to be told to perform something you want to be told to work up something but God says no I have already constructed the perfect covering for human sin and the righteousness and obedience of my Son you can't add to it may God grant that someone sitting here tonight who has never contemplated the mystery of Christ and his sinless life may even now say oh God I have never seen it that way before I've been going to church all my life but I see it now that it's what he has done that is the ground of my hope it's his obedience his perfect sinlessness his death for sin that's the ground of my hope casting yourself upon him God promises you will be accepted and accepted for eternity the sinlessness of our Lord Jesus Christ may God make it a profitable and an enriching subject again and again as we think upon our