Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening. And
now for today's program. Welcome to our program. I'm glad
you could join us this morning. And if you'd like to follow along
in your Bibles, I'm going to be preaching from the book of
John, the gospel of John, chapter 14. And we're at the point where
Christ is speaking to his disciples in the upper room. This is where
he instituted the Lord's Supper. He's preparing himself and preparing
his disciples for his going to the cross, being arrested and
being ridiculed, all the things that he went through as the surety,
the substitute, the redeemer of his people, laying down his
life for his sheep, That's who Christ died for. And so he's
preparing them. And one of the things he says
in verse 27, he's talking about how when he goes away, he'll
send the comforter, that's the Holy Spirit. And he says in verse
27, peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you. And I'm
gonna go back over that. But let me just give you the
title of the message today. And I'll tell you where I'm headed
with this. It's found in verse 30. But the title is The Impeccable
Christ. The Impeccable Christ. Now that
word impeccable, you may be familiar with it or not, but what it means
is that there was absolutely no possibility no vulnerability
in Christ that would cause him to be contaminated with sin or
to sin at all. Christ could not sin. And the main reason for that,
as we look back upon the testimony of the scriptures concerning
who Christ is, and I've often told you on this program that
the gospel concerns mainly the glorious person and the finished
work of the Lord Jesus Christ, who he is, what he accomplished
on Calvary's cross for the salvation of his people, where he is now,
and why he did it all for the glory of God. But the main reason
that there is no possibility, there was no and is no possibility
that Christ, even in his humanity, even as he walked this earth,
for him to sin is because of who he is. He is God manifest
in the flesh. Now, he had a human nature, a
human body and soul that was prepared for him in the womb
of the Virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit. It's quoted from the
Psalms and in the book of Hebrews where he talks about, as he was
speaking to the father, he said, a body hast thou prepared me. He is a human body, very human,
with all of the sinless infirmities human nature and I've often told
you this you know he hungered, he thirsted, he grew tired, he
had sorrow, he wept, the pain that he suffered was real pain,
agony, on the cross think about it what he went through and so
he wasn't immune to the sinless infirmities weaknesses of the
flesh. The Bible says that he suffered
for us yet without sin. He went through the infirmities,
the weaknesses of the flesh, and I'm trying to think of the
word, but I'll show it to you here in the book of Hebrews chapter
four before I read our text. In the book of Hebrews chapter
four, it says that verse 14, this is Hebrews four and verse
14. Seeing then that we have a great high priest that is passed
into the heavens, literally passed through to the heavens, and this
is Christ as he went to the cross, he died, he was buried, he arose
again the third day, and he ascended into heaven. He went unto the
Father because He put away the sins of His people. He redeemed
His people from sin, which means they cannot be lost. All for
whom He died shall be saved. He didn't die for everybody without
exception. He died for His sheep, God's
elect, given to Him before the foundation of the world. And
when He said it's finished on the cross, He finished the transgression. He made an end of sin and He
brought in everlasting righteousness. And one of the ways the Holy
Spirit brings us to a saving knowledge of Christ in Holy Spirit
conviction, the Bible says in John 16 that he will convict
the world of sin because we believe not on Christ. Without Christ,
everything is sin. And he will convince us of righteousness
because he went to the Father. and he went by way of the cross. Hebrews 4.14, seeing then that
we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus,
the son of God, let us hold fast our profession. Now listen to
this, verse 15, for we have not an high priest which cannot be
touched with the feeling of our infirmities. our weaknesses,
the limitations of humanity, human nature, but was in all
points tempted or tested like as we are, yet without sin. On the Mount of Temptation, when
Satan tempted him and tested him, he was tested and tempted just
as we are, yet there was no sin in him. And that's what I'm gonna
get to here in John chapter 14, that Christ was impeccable. There
was no possibility for him to sin. Somebody said, well, if
he could not have sinned, there wasn't a real temptation. Oh,
no. When he was on that mount, he had fasted 40 days and 40
nights. Can you imagine not eating any
food for 40 days and nights? How hungry would you be? Well,
Christ, in His humanity, He was just as hungry as you and I would
be. But the difference is, in us,
there is sin. There's a sin nature. The human nature is sinful. Our
human nature. And there was a bent a desire within us that we would
do anything to relieve our hunger. We would even deny the glory
of God to relieve our hunger. But in Christ, He was just as
hungry and His humanity as we are, would be in that situation,
but there was no thought or desire within Him to deny the glory
of His Father in order to relieve that hunger. And that's the difference. yet without sin. And so he had
to be that way to be a proper, qualified substitute for his
people. If the lamb, who is Christ, that
was given for the sins of his people, if the lamb was spotted,
contaminated with sin, he couldn't have died for us, for his people.
You see, you remember the picture back in the Passover, the lamb
had to be without blemish, without spot. So look back at our text
and let's read through this. Verse 27, he says, peace I leave
with you, my peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth,
that's a temporary peace. The world can give you peace
for a while, but it won't last. And he says, give I unto you,
let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid, And
now he's talking about in this matter of salvation, talking
to his disciples. He's getting ready to go to the
cross. They were concerned. They were fearful. They knew
he had to go because he told them that. When Peter made that
great confession as recorded in Matthew, I believe it's 16.
When Christ asked him, who do men say that I am? And Peter
spoke up and said, thou art the Christ, the son of the living
God. And Christ said, flesh and blood has not revealed that to
you, but my father, which is in heaven. Well, right after
that, Christ told them that he had to go into Jerusalem and
he would have to die. And Peter spoke up and said,
God forbid, And the same Peter, the same disciple, who before
spoke out of the revelation of God, made this statement. He said, God forbid that you
would go and die. And you remember what Christ
said to him? He said, get thee behind me, Satan. In other words, Peter spoke out
of his sinful flesh at that time. desire inspired by Satan because
Christ had to go to the cross in order to make the payment
of God's justice and establish righteousness which God has imputed
to all of His people. He had to go to the cross to
put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself so he says, let not
your heart be troubled over these things, neither let it be afraid.
Verse 28 he says, you have heard how I said unto you, I go away
and come again unto you. That's the thing, he told him
he was going away, well he wasn't just going on vacation, he wasn't
just taking a week off, he was going to die. He was going to
die and be buried and raised again the third day, and then
he was going to the father, but he told him, he said, I'm coming
again. He said, now, while I'm away, I'm not gonna leave you
comfortless. I'm gonna send the Holy Spirit
in a special way to give you comfort. And how does the Holy
Spirit give comfort? He drives God's people, Christ's
sheep. He drives us to Christ for our
comfort. looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith. And he says, he says, I go away
and come again unto you. He says in verse 28, if you love
me, you would rejoice because I said, I go unto the father
for my father is greater than I. Now, again, you'll see language
like that used by the Lord, which reflects the covenant offices
of the father, the son, and the spirit. And you have to understand
this. And when I say understand it,
nobody can really truly understand all the nuances of the Trinity. God is one God in three persons,
and that boggles the mind. That's why the Muslims tell us
that we believe in three gods. We don't believe in three gods.
We're not polytheistic. We believe in one God. Our God
is one God. and He's the unique God, but
He subsists in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the
Spirit, and they each have their offices according to the covenant
of grace for the salvation of God's people. The Father represents
the sovereign rule, the preeminence of the Godhead in that rule,
sovereignty. He chose a people before the
foundation of the world, and He gave them to His Son, and
the Son represents the surety ship, the government, the redemption
of God's people. He's the Redeemer. He's the Savior. He's the one who brought in everlasting
righteousness, whereby the Father could be just to justify the
ungodly. And the Spirit is the applicator,
the applier, of all the benefits and blessings of spiritual and
eternal life to the people whom God the Father chose and whom
Christ the Son redeemed. And so when he says, my Father
is greater than I, he's not denying his deity. He's not even denying
his equality with the Father and the Spirit in the attributes
of deity. But what he's saying, he's admitting
to his servanthood And you can read about that, for example,
look at passages like Philippians chapter two, beginning at verse
five, where Paul said, let this mind be in you, which was in
Christ Jesus, who made himself to be lower than the angels. That's talking about his humanity,
made himself a servant. and he obeyed unto death, even
the death of the cross. The son submitted himself to
the rule of the father in the covenant of grace, not that he
became lesser God or any unequal with God, but he became the mediator,
the intercessor, the enactor of the covenant of grace. And
he had to do that in order to save sinners like me, sinners
like you. who he saved. And so he says,
the father's greater than I. The father represents the sovereignty,
the rule of the Godhead. And then he says in verse 29,
John writes, as Christ is speaking here, and now I have told you
before it come to pass, that when it is come to pass, you
might believe. I'm telling you these things
before. And when these things come to pass, you'll believe
them. Now, they already believe the gospel. I've often said,
we don't know exactly when each individual disciple was truly
converted to faith. We know they were sinful human
beings. We know that Christ kept them together providentially. You know that many of them doubted
and denied. Peter denied Christ three times
out of fear of man. We're all fearful. We're all
sinners. We who believe are. Not all of
us without exception. But if you're saved by the grace
of God, you're a sinner saved by grace. And he said, but you're
going to see these things happen. And he says in verse 30, now
listen, this is where I got this subject from and the title of
the message. Hereafter, I will not talk much
with you for the prince of this world cometh hath nothing in
me." Now the prince of this world is Satan and Satan is coming. Satan is the great enemy of Christ
and his people. Satan will do his best to thwart
the purpose of God, the glory of God, the work of Christ. He
cannot do it. Satan has already defeated Christ
and Christ defeated him on the cross. Christ said, now is the
hour that he's gonna put down the prince of this world back
over in John 12. And he said, if I be lifted up, I'll draw
all unto me. All that he died for gonna be
drawn to him under the preaching of the gospel by the power of
the spirit. But here's what he says. He says, Satan has nothing
in me. Satan has no ally in Christ. There's no sinful human nature
within Christ that would align itself with Satan. Just like
Peter, Peter was a sinner saved by grace, but he still, like
all of us who are saved, we still have the flesh, which contaminates
and corrupts everything we think, say, and do. That's why we're
in such a battle, the battle, the warfare of the spirit against
the flesh. And when Peter heard Christ say
he's going to Jerusalem, he's going to die in his fleshly,
sinful nature, he stood up and Peter said, God forbid that you
would do that. And Christ said, get thee behind
me, Satan. See, Peter still had an ally
within himself, an ally with Satan. Now, thank God, when we're
born again by the Spirit, we have the Holy Spirit indwelling
us, and we have the Spirit of life. He's given us new life
and a new heart. The flesh cannot overcome us
and defeat us ultimately, but we still struggle. And sometimes
if we're sinners saved by grace, we act according to the flesh
and we have to be brought back into our right minds, which is
the mind of the spirit. And we have to ask for forgiveness
for acting in the flesh. So, but Christ said, Satan has
no ally in me. He has no ally in me. And he
says in verse 31, but that the world may know that I love the
Father and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do.
Arise, let us go hence. Christ says Satan has no ally
in me. He's not gonna divert me from
my purpose and my goal, which is to go to the cross and die
for the sins of his people. be buried and raised again the
third day. Christ did it as our surety,
having our sins imputed, charged, accounted to Him. He did it as
our substitute. He put Himself in the place of
His people, the people whom the Father gave Him before the foundation
of the world. And He accomplished redemption. He put away, listen, Christ died
for your sins, that means you've been redeemed and your sins are
put away and they cannot be charged to you. Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies, Romans
8 31. Who can condemn us? It's Christ that died, yea rather
is risen again, seated at the right hand of the Father ever
living to make intercession for us. So if Christ died for me,
there's no way that I can perish. And if Christ died for me, I'm
going to be born again under the preaching of the gospel by
the power of the Spirit. And I'm going to come to faith
in Christ. Faith is the gift of God to His people. You're
saved by grace through faith, that not of yourselves. It's
the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. But
let me show you something over here. Turn over to this passage
in the book of 2 Corinthians. And look at 2 Corinthians chapter
five. Now there's a verse of scripture
here, 2 Corinthians 5, 21. This is a gospel verse. My old pastor used to say, this
is the gospel in one verse. And it takes some explanation.
We have to know the meaning of these terms and who he's talking
about and what he's talking about. But what he's talking about here
in this whole passage is God reconciled to His people, sinners
saved by grace, and His people whom He chose and gave to Christ,
for whom Christ died, reconciled to Him. This whole passage is
about reconciliation. And you remember in our text,
Christ said, he said, in chapter 14, in verse 27, he said, peace
I leave with you, my peace I give unto you. That peace is reconciliation
with God. It's that peace that passes understanding. But now peace with God for sinners,
has to be based upon a righteous, a just ground, a holy ground. In other words, God is holy and
He must punish sin. The Bible says God hates the
workers of iniquity. So in order for God to love His
people, There must be a just and proper ground that honors
God. He cannot just say, make it go
away with a whim. He cannot, the Bible says that
the love of God for his people is in Christ as the propitiation
for our sins. And a propitiation is a sin bearing
sacrifice who makes satisfaction, pays the debt, satisfies the
law and so peace with God has to be based upon a right ground
whereby God is honored and glorified both in His justice and His mercy,
in His righteousness and His love, in His compassion and His grace. So the question
comes, how can a holy God who must be just, who must do right,
who must punish sin, how can He be holy and remain such and
still justify and save sinners like us? We who deserve nothing
but damnation and wrath. If God, listen, if God dealt
with me individually on my own, in His strict justice, I would
be condemned forever. So how can God forgive me? That's
what justification is, it's forgiving my sins on a just ground. It's
declaring me righteous, really righteous, not fake, not fictionally,
but declaring me really righteous in His sight on a just ground. And that's what the topic is
here in 2 Corinthians 5.21. Well, look at verse 21. And here's
what it says in verse 21. It says, for he, that is God
the Father, hath made him, that's God the Son incarnate, Christ,
to be sin for us. And then it says who knew no
sin, that's Christ. He made him to be sin who knew
no sin. for us sinners, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. Now that's the gospel. God the
Father made His Son, Jesus Christ, the impeccable Christ, who cannot
sin and cannot be corrupted with sin, cannot be contaminated with
sin, but He was made sin. He made him sin for us, Christ
who knew no sin. He had no firsthand knowledge
of sin. He walked with sinners. He ate
with publicans and sinners. And he died for sinners under
the wrath of God to satisfy justice for their sins, to shed his blood
for their sins. But he didn't know sin in his
mind, in his heart, in his affections, in his will. He remained pure
and holy, harmless, undefiled, the spotless Lamb of God. He was never corrupted. So how
was he made sin? Well, let's look at the context
of this passage. And you'll see that Christ was
made sin and still remained impeccable. sinlessly perfect within himself. And it says, he's talking about
salvation here. Salvation includes the legal
aspect of salvation, justification before God based upon the redeeming
work of Christ. And salvation includes the new
birth. Sinners being brought to faith
in Christ, being made new. by the power of God. And he's
made a new creature, a new creation here. It says in verse 17, old
things are passed away. Behold, all things are become
new. In verse 18, it says that all things are of God. All things
in salvation are the work of God. They're not the work of
man. It's not a bilateral subject
here. And so they're the work of God.
And it says, verse 18, and all things are of God who has reconciled
us to himself by Jesus Christ and had given it to us the ministry
of reconciliation. I'm gonna continue with this
next week because it's so important that we understand this, the
impeccable Christ and how he was made sin, yet he was not
contaminated with sin. He never became a sinner. He
was never made to be a sinner. He was always the impeccable
Christ. We'll pick up there next week. I hope you'll listen to
us next week for another message from God's word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, write us
at 1-1-0-2 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia. Contact us by phone at 229-432-6969
or email us through our website at www.theletterofgrace.com. Thank you again for listening
today and may the Lord be with you.