Open your Bibles if you would
to 1st Peter chapter 2. The name of the message is Christ
the sinless one. Christ the sinless one. Our Savior in order to be our
Savior must be a perfect man. He must be without sin, and He
is, because He is God in the flesh. Always remember that.
We've been marvelling over that in Sunday school lately, the
fact that God saved us. God saved us. The Word of God,
the second person of the Trinity, became a man, fully man, and
yet fully God, and He saved us from our sins, and He's sinless.
He's absolutely sinless. He's conceived by the Holy Spirit
of God. We're conceived by our mom and dad. And they have a
sin nature, so we have a sin nature. Oh my. But he's the seed
of the woman. He's conceived by the Holy Spirit
of God. And it's remarkable when you
think, great is the mystery of godliness, right? That God became
a man. Men have tried to figure this
out, but we never figure it out. It's a mystery. It's the mystery
of godliness. We are just in awe over the fact
of it. And he was absolutely sinless. The total opposite of us. Everything
we do is tainted with sin. He was absolutely sinless. Look at this in 1 Peter 2, where
we read verses 21 to 24. For even here unto where ye called,
now look at that, we're called. And that call is an effectual
call, right? That call is an invincible call
of God. Because Christ also suffered
for us, leaving us an example that you should follow his steps.
He was a man of humility, great humility as we've seen in our
Sunday school lessons. He made himself of no reputation,
which in the Greek is he emptied himself. He emptied himself,
beloved. Oh my. Now look at this. Who
did no sin. The scripture means what it says
there. Brother Zane, our great Savior never sinned. It's amazing. It's amazing, because all we
are is sin. Everything we do is tainted with sin. I heard
a fellow this week, my buddy Jim, he said, and I really appreciated
that he said this, he was talking to someone, we were both witnessing
to this person, and he said, he said, you know, people say,
well, people murder because of sin. He says, no, we are sinners
first, and that's why we're murderers, or that's why we're thieves,
or that's why we're liars. And I thought that was a great
point because that's true. The heart of it is our sinfulness.
The heart of it is our depravity. That we are sinners. And as sinners,
we can in no way do anything to be accepted by God by anything
we do. Because everything we do is tainted
with sin. But there is one. who sinners
can be accepted in. There is one who the Father says,
this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. And you know
what? If you're in him, he's well pleased with you too, and
me. That's wonderful news for poor wretched sinners like us,
isn't it? That's glorious news. Look at
this though. Who did no sin, neither was guile
found in his mouth. He was absolutely sinless. He
had no sinful motives. See, our motives are sinful.
We may have some what people would call good motives, but
they're tainted with sin. He was sinless. It says here,
who did no sin. Neither was guile found in his
mouth. So he was sinless in his life and beloved. When he was dying on that cross,
he was absolutely sinless. Now our sins were put upon him,
and God's wrath fell upon him instead of us and our room and
place, but he still remained the sinless, spotless Lamb of
God. Otherwise, like Zane, and I've
talked to Zane about this, otherwise he couldn't be our Savior. There's
no way he could be our Savior if he was a sinner or if he became
sin. He became sin by imputation,
but he's sinless. He's spotless. He's the perfect
lamb of God. And I believe in the impeccability
of Christ. I believe he could not sin because he's God. And we know God cannot sin. And
he's fully man and he's fully God, but as God, he can't sin. And as man, he's perfect. It
says here, look at this. who did no sin. He was tempted
like we are, yet without sin, because he's perfect. Look at this, who when he was
reviled, reviled not again. They were cursing them and smacking
them and hitting them. We'd have gotten mad. He didn't
get mad. He was silent as a lamb, given
over to the slaughter. When he suffered, he threatened
not. Someone hits us, we're like, I'm going to get you for that. He didn't do that at all. Remember,
they planted a crown of thorns on his head. They beat him, they
smote him. All he had to say was, you're
dead, and they'd all die. All he had to do is take their
breath away, and they'd all drop dead on the spot. What long-suffering we see here. When he suffered, he threatened
not, but committed himself to him that judges righteously.
He committed himself to God the Father. He said in the garden,
not my will, but thy will be done. Fully committing himself
to the will of the Father, surrendering his own will. Remember the bond-slaven?
bond servant. The bond servant becomes a willing
servant, which Christ is a willing servant, and he surrenders his
will to the will of another, to the will of the master. It says an example. What an example.
That's why we desire to be obedient. I love the message we looked
at on Sunday school this last week. And when I said, oh, the
message is called obedience, we were all kind of like, but
then I said, it's not about our obedience. It's about Christ's
obedience. It's about what he's done for
us. It's all about him. It's all about him. But we desire
to be willing servants, don't we, for our King. We desire to
glorify God and magnify him in everything we say and do. Look
at this. Who his own self bear, look at
this, our sins. Brother Zane, he bore our sins.
Our sins. Sister Vicki, Sister Diana, he
bore our sins. That's what it says there. In
his own body. They were imputed to him. on the tree, on Calvary's cross,
that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness.
Remember how we're born? Dead in trespasses and sins.
And we didn't even know we were in that state, did we? Until
God revealed it to us. Didn't care either, brothers
and amen. Didn't care at all, did we? Not at all. Not at all. No. Being dead to sin should
now look at this should live under righteousness. Who's our
rights brothers and who's our righteousness? Christ is our
righteousness. Amen. We live under him now,
don't we? We desire to live under him.
We seek to glorify him. We seek to magnify him because
only in Christ is the father pleased. Right, this is my beloved
son in whom I'm well pleased. Hear ye him. Hear ye him. Oh my. And then look at this. By whose stripes ye were healed. Now notice it doesn't say you
might be healed. And notice it's past tense too.
Ye were healed. And that's not talking physical
healing like those false word of faith folks get a hold of.
That's talking about spiritual healing, beloved. He's healed
us from all our sins and from the judgment of them, the condemnation
of them. And one day the presence of the
man, one day. And then look at this. And you
know, see, this is something we now know. We did not know
this before the Lord saved us. And you know that he was manifested,
what? To take away our sins. He died
for our sins. He's the one with no sin, we
see in verse 22. He's the one with no guile. So he's dying for someone's sins
up there. He's sinless. The Holy Spirit has Peter write
this, our sins. Each believer could say, my sins.
Let's read that again. And you know that he was manifest
to take away our sins and in him is what? No sin. Look at that. None. Not one ever. Not one ever. I remember hearing
someone say, they were talking about this made sin issue that
goes on. It's just, I'm so tired of it. And they said, the preacher was
preaching and he said, well, Jesus Christ became and he used
his name. Christ never And I thought, no, you're a sinner. You're a sinner. He didn't become
us. He was made in the likeness of
humanity, yet without sin. Now God looked at him with my
sin upon him, and all the sin of all the elect, right? But
he's still the sinless, spotless lamb of God, beloved. Scripture
says even this in Hebrews. He offered himself up without
sin Without sin Now we were in him
weren't we brother Zane we were in him But he didn't become us
No, we're dirty rotten sinners Likeness amen like we've been
studying in Philippians in the likeness of We're sinful men. He's in the likeness, but he's
without sin, the scripture brings forth. He's Christ, the sinless
one, beloved. And you know, in the scriptures,
even the demons call him the holy one of God. The holy one
of God. That means he's perfect. They
know who he is. And they tremble, beloved. They
tremble, tremble, tremble. Scripture says the devils believe
and tremble. Oh, my. Now, when Christ is preached,
we often make reference to Christ's sinlessness. It's all through
the scriptures. We just saw it so evident in
those verses right there. Actually, too, I quoted 1 John
3, 5 as part of 1 Peter 2, but it wasn't. 1 John 3, 5 says,
and you know that he was manifest to take away our sins, and in
him is no sin. The whole reason he came was
to save us from our sins. That's magnificent. What love
motivated him to do that. What mercy is in his heart towards
his people. What longsuffering he has for
us. Loving us even when we were dead
in trespasses and sins. Loving us even now, although
we still sin, his love never changes. My oh my. Oh my. In the Old Testament,
he's called, the Messiah is called, the God of Israel is called the
Holy One. In 1 Kings it says this, or 2
Kings 19.22 it says, When hast thou reproached and blasphemed
against whom hast thou exalted thy voice and lifted up thine
eyes on high, even against the Holy One of Israel? That's one
of his titles. And when those demons said, we
know who thou art, thou holy one of God. That's one of his
titles. He's the holy one. They knew. They knew who he was. He's the
captain of the Lord's host. Oh my. Oh my. Turn if you would to Job. Job
chapter 6. Job chapter 6. And we'll read
verses verses 9 and 10 look at this again we see the same title for
him the holy one that's our god our savior is the holy one he
has no sin without sin look at this look at this job 6 verses
9 and 10 even that it would please god to destroy me that he would
let loose his hand and cut me off Then should I yet have comfort,
yea, I would harden myself in sorrow. Let him not spare, for
I have not concealed his words, or the words of the Holy One.
The Holy One. Look at that. The Holy One. Then over in Psalms, it says
this, I will also praise thee with the psaltery, even thy truth,
O God. Unto thee will I sing with the
harp, O thou holy one of Israel, Psalm 71, 22. And then in Isaiah
chapter 43, verses, verses, Verse 3 and verse 14 and 15 it
says, For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior.
I gave Egypt for a ransom, Ethiopia, and Sheba for thee. And then
in verses 14 and 15 of Isaiah 43 it says, Thus saith the Lord
your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, for your sake I have
sent the Babylon, and you have brought down all their nobles
and the Chaldeans whose cry is in the ships. I am the Lord,
your Holy One. He's pronouncing that as his
own title. Your Holy One. The Creator of
Israel. Your King. Marvel, beloved. Our King is
the Holy One. Our Savior is the Holy One of
God. My, oh my. Turn, if you would, to Luke.
Luke, chapter 4. Luke, chapter 4. Oh my. So we've heard there in the Old
Testament that God, our God, is the Holy One. God the Father
is the Holy One, God the Son is the Holy One, and God the
Holy Spirit is the Holy One. They're the Holy Ones of God,
aren't they? They're the Holy Ones. God is holy. That's why He can't have sin
in His presence, because He's holy. That's why we have to be
made perfect in Christ. Clothed in His righteousness.
And that's the marvel of salvation. He took our sins upon himself
and he gave us his holy spotless righteousness. It's absolutely
amazing. Look at this in Luke chapter
4. Luke chapter 4. We see here that
Christ is called the Holy One by the demons. They know who
he is and they are terrified of him. They are terrified. They have more sense than men. More sense than men. There's
millions of people out there that don't fear God. These demons
got more sense than them. Let's see this. Luke 4 verse
31 to 37. And came down to Capernaum, a
city of Galilee, and taught them on the Sabbath days. And they
were astonished at his doctrine. There's our astonishing God,
right? They're astonished at his doctrine. For his word was
with power. or he's God in the flesh. They
don't know that, but he's God in the flesh. And in the synagogue,
there was a man which had the spirit of an unclean devil and
cried out with a loud voice, saying, look at this, let us
alone. What have we to do with thee,
thou Jesus of Nazareth? They know his name. Look at that.
They know his name. Art thou come to destroy us? They know His power. Look at
that. They know His power. I know who thou art. And they're
not saying this like, I know who you are. They're saying like,
I know who you are. Are you coming to destroy us? Look at this. the Holy One of
God. They know he's sinless. They
know he's perfect. They know he's the Word of God
incarnate in the flesh. The Jews don't have a clue, do
they? We didn't have a clue when we were in darkness too. But the demons know. They know. Now watch the power
exercised here. And Jesus rebuked him, saying,
hold thy peace. They just, they can't say a word. Now they announced who he was.
He said, hold thy peace. And what happened? They can't, they're muzzled.
They're muzzled by the power of God. Just the words, hold
thy peace. And come out of him! And look at this. And when the
devil had thrown him in the midst, he came out of him and heard
him not. That demon had to come out. Because the Holy One of
God, the One who has all power and might, and He knows, He knew
who He was. He knew who He was, calling Him
Jesus of Nazareth, His earthly name. And He knew who He was,
calling Him the Holy One of God. notice that and with a word of his power
they were muzzled and with the word saying come out they tore
out of him remember the same with the gathering demoniac what's
your name legion for we are many are thou come to torment us before
the time And I'll come to cast us into the deep in another portion,
which is the abyss in the Greek. Cast us into these pigs. Suffer
it to be. They know he's got the power
to destroy them. They know. And yet man shakes his fist.
We did, before the Lord saved us, shook our fist at God. What
mercy he's had upon us. What grace he's shown us. What
longsuffering he has towards us. And he's loved us, beloved,
with an everlasting, unchanging love. And look at that. He came out
of him and hurt him not. Didn't hurt the fellow. And they were all amazed. They're
astonished, now they're amazed. And spoke among themselves, saying,
what a word, what a word is this? For with authority and power
he commanded the unclean spirits, and they came out. They're all,
Zana, be like you and I said, did you see that brother Zane?
My, he just said that. And you'd be like, yeah, he just
commanded them to go, and they were gone. We'd be amazed. They were amazed at what had
just happened. And the fame of him went out
into every place of the country, round about. So we've seen here
that the demons acknowledge Christ's power. And they acknowledge that
Christ is the Holy One of God. And I love how, I love the power
just in his words, hold thy peace and come out of him. What power,
what authority, He's God in the flesh. And think, he submitted
himself to all that cruel mocking, right? And the spitting on him,
and the whipping him, and beating him with a cat and nine tails,
and scourging him, and plotting a crown of thorns on his head,
and throwing a robe on him, and ripping it off, and then finally
going to the cross, being nailed on the cross, and he did that
to save us from our sins. And he could have just said,
you're God. No breath. But he must go to
Calvary's cross. Amen, brother. He rejoiced in
the joy that was set before him, didn't he? He went to that cross
with joy, knowing he's redeeming you and I. His bride. His bride. It's the most wonderful
news, I'll tell you. It's good news for sinners, isn't
it? It's wonderful. He did it for sinners such as
us. My and our great king this shows us that our great king
the Lord Jesus Christ. He has all power. He's not wringing
his hands No, he saves he saves whom he wills. He saves all that
the father gave him. He gives them eternal life We
didn't know we were we were one of the ones that that God God
gave to Christ until we're born again and he saved us from all
our sins and now we never stop rejoicing and we're gonna rejoice
in heaven and with no sin. Oh, my. My. And he's perfect, sinless, God
incarnated in the flesh, tempted yet without sin. He's immaculate. Think of that. He's immaculate
before God's law. God's law has no claim on him
at all. No claim at all. Lots of claim
on us. No claim on him. Well, not now,
because he paid it all for us. He paid it all in full. My, oh
my. Listen to this verse in John
chapter... 14 I remember the first time
I seen this verse I was listening to brother Henry preach and he
bought this out and You know like like happens to all of us
You see a verse for the first time even though you've read
it hundreds of times and it was in John 14 30 and he says hereafter. I will not talk much with you.
He's talking about now. He's going to go to the cross
He says for the prince of this world comet. That's the devil
right and have nothing in me Nothing to lay hold nothing to
charge him with Because he's sinless. He's perfect and even
those demons acknowledged it when he said you're the Holy
One of God Nothing again lots in us, but nothing in Christ
That's why we need the perfect spotless righteousness of Christ.
That's why we need to be redeemed by the precious blood of the
Lamb. Oh my And our Lord, in that verse, in John 14, 30, he
proclaims that Satan can find nothing in him because he's absolutely
sinless. He's perfect. He's perfect. Vincent's Greek word study says
this about hath nothing in me. It says, no right nor power over
Christ. Satan has no right nor power
over Christ because Christ is God. Christ, as you said one
night, sister, Satan is just a created being. Christ is God,
and he has absolutely no power and no authority over our king.
He's tethered, amen, brother, just like Pilgrim with those
two lions as he's trying to walk through, man, and they're growling
and snarling, and they hit the end of them chains, and he walks
right through them. And I think it was evangelists
that said, you can walk right through there. They won't hurt
you. They won't hurt you. Oh my. No right nor power over
Christ, which sin in him would give that to the enemy of our
souls. But because he's sinless, he's
got no right nor power over him. And he's God. And again, I believe
in the impeccability of Christ. I don't think he could sin. I
really don't think he could. The Greek order is, in me he
hath nothing. That's what the Greek translation,
in me he hath nothing. Nothing. No power over him. But now Christ has got all power
over him, doesn't he? He crushed his head at Calvary's
cross. Oh my. My oh my. Christ had no sin in him? Which
can be said of no other but Him. No other but Christ. He's the
perfect sinless Lamb of God. He's God in the flesh. But He
had the sins of His people laid upon Him, didn't He? And who
laid them upon Him? God laid them upon Him. Oh my. Imputed to Him. But He had no
sin of His own. And this is where Daniel speaks
of the Messiah being cut off in Daniel 9.26, but not for himself. The Messiah is cut off, he dies. But it's for our sins, it's for
our iniquities. But not for himself. Listen to
this, Daniel 9.26. And after threescore and two
weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself. And the
people of the prince that shall come, shall destroy the city
and the sanctuary, and the end thereof shall be with a flood.
And unto the end of the war, desolations are determined."
But listen to that. Messiah shall be cut off. That's
his death. But not for himself. For us. My. It's amazing. What love. What love. My oh my. And then he proclaims,
as I read in John 1430, Prince of this world comes and has nothing
in me. Nothing. Can't find nothing in me at all.
He's perfect. He's sinless. And in 2 Corinthians
5.21, for he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin,
that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Spurgeon calls
this the great transfer, that our sins are imputed to him.
He's still sinless, Spurgeon says. He's still spotless. And
then his perfect righteousness is imputed to us. The great transfer. That's amazing. And he pays everything
that God demands, so much so, So much so, Brother Zane, that
he says about your and our sins and the sins of all his people,
God says, I don't remember them. It's like they didn't even exist.
They're gone. And we say, hallelujah. Praise
be to God. That's the most wonderful news. Oh my, I was asking God for forgiveness
for something that happened 30 years ago. Even though I know it's forgiven.
Came to my mind and I said, Lord, please forgive me. I know it's
washed under the blood, but please forgive me for that. I was so
wrong. We confess our sins, right? He's
faithful and just to forgive us. All our sins. It's wonderful. It's wonderful. Now, I know that sin was covered
under the blood of Christ, but still. I confess to my king and our
king that it was wrong. It was wrong. So, it can be said of no one
but Christ, who is the seed of the woman, it can be said of no one other
than Christ is born holy. We're born sinful. We're born
sinners. Christ was born holy. Spotless. And the angel said unto her,
the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the highest
shall overshadow thee. Therefore also that, listen to
this, holy thing which shall be born of thee, he shall be
called the Son of God. That's over in Luke 135. Isn't
that amazing? That holy thing, that holy one
in your womb, And remember what I said in Sunday
school? God the Son became the Son of God that we might be called
the sons of God. That's amazing. That's absolutely
stunning. My oh my. Turn, if you would,
to Acts chapter 3. Acts chapter 3. He was born sinless. We're born sinners. This can
only be said of none but the Lord Jesus Christ. And again,
he's proclaimed all through the New Testament as spotless and
perfect, the Holy One. Look at this in Acts 3, verses
13 to 15. My, oh, my. The God of Abraham
and Isaac and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified
his Son, Jesus, whom ye delivered up and denied him, in the presence
of Pilate when he was determined to let him go. But she denied
who? The Holy One. There it is again.
There it is again. And look at what, here's the
next title too. And the just. He's the just one,
beloved. And now we're called just only
because we're justified in him. And the scripture says the just
shall live by faith. That's folks who've been made
just by the just one. by Christ. Oh, listen to this. But she denied the Holy One,
and the just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you, and killed
the Prince of Life, whom God hath raised from the
dead, wherever we are witnesses. Now I'll go over one more chapter
to Acts 4, Acts 4, and let's read verses 26 and 28 here. So we just saw him called the
Holy One, over here we're going to call see him called the holy
child remember he was called the holy thing in the womb then
he was called the holy one in what we just read now look at
this acts 4 verses 26 to 28 i could have named the message the holy
one couldn't i it's just incredible yeah Look at this, the kings
of the earth stood up and the rulers were gathered together
against the Lord and against his Christ, that's his Messiah,
and the Lord Jesus Christ is the Messiah, and he's Jehovah's
Messiah. He's sent by God the Father,
right? For of a truth against, look at this, thy holy child
Jesus. That can only be said about Christ,
the holy child. We're all born sinners. Every
beautiful little baby we see is just nothing but a sinner.
right because sinners begat sinners right sinners conceive sinners
but remember he's conceived of the holy spirit of god and the
scripture says god prepared a body for him that that just blows
my mind away god prepared a body for him for the word of god to
become flesh and we see he's called the holy one the holy
thing, the holy one, the holy child, the holy one of God. For of a truth against thy holy
child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate
with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel were gathered together.
Now there's the Gentiles, that's the Romans, right? Oh yeah. Pontius Pilate, who actually
wanted to let them go, but gave in to the pressure of the crowd,
which is typical politician, right? The people of Israel,
the ones he came to, were gathered together for to do. Now look
at this. Now here, here's God's sovereignty. Look at this. For
do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to
be done. We're going to look at that. We're going to look
at the fact. That our God is control of everything
on Sunday morning. That wicked men took him and
are fully responsible for taking him and crucify him. Yet it all
happened according to the foreknowledge and counsel of God. Look at that. For to do whatsoever thy hand,
God's hand, and thy counsel, God's counsel, determined before
to be done. You remember God the Son in eternity,
the Word said, I'll go and die for them. Father said, I've chosen
people in you. And Christ said, I'm going to
go die. He pledged, I'm going to go die for them. And the Holy
Spirit said, I'm going to fetch them and regenerate them. And there was no counsel of anyone
else there. Just God the Father, God the
Son, and God the Holy Spirit, and they covenanted together.
to save a people called God's elect. Made up of Old Testament
saints and New Testament saints. People says, oh, the church just
began at Pentecost. No, the Old Testament saints
were just as much the church as the New Testament saints.
They're the bride of Christ. I like to say in the New Testament,
we see the beginning of the New Testament church. because David
was part of the Old Testament Church, John the Baptist was
part of the Old Testament Church, and they're one with us, aren't
they, in Christ. If you ever want to read a sermon
called The Bride of Christ by Spurgeon, that's what really
straightened me out with all that stuff. And he says, all
the elect of all the ages are the bride of Christ. It's beautiful. It's absolutely beautiful. It
unlocks so many questions that we can have. Oh, it's wonderful. So we can say that Abraham is
saved by the same faith as we are, faith in Christ, faith in
the Messiah. They look forward to the Messiah.
We look back to the Messiah. We're saved by the same one.
We have the same spirit, don't we? same father same redeemer
same holy spirit oh my oh my and the same greek word is used
in all these occurrences in the new testament when it says holy
it means sacred physically pure morally blameless or religious
ceremonially consecrated most holy one thing and then Something
for us to ponder is that the word saints is the same Greek
word for believers. We're made holy. But see, we're
only holy in Christ. Isn't that beautiful, beloved?
It's beautiful. We say, how can this be? Because
it's all Christ. It's all his work. And it's all
in Him. Salvation's all in Him or there's
no salvation. Right? As we always say, salvation's
in the Lord or there's none. Salvation's either all of grace
or there's none. I heard a fellow, I heard a fellow this week, Calvinist
and all this stuff. And I started to listen to him
because I heard that somebody, somebody I knew was going there.
And so I thought, well, I want to hear what this guy has to
say. And I flipped him on, and I'm listening, and you know what
he said? You ever hear someone preaching,
and it's like, ah, just beautiful music, right? Preaching Christ,
and it's just like this beautiful sound. Oh my, you just feel like
your heart's being lifted up. And then you're listening to
someone, and they say something, you know it's not right, and it's like,
gong, right? I'll tell you what this fellow
said. You tell me if it was a major gong to you, because it was a
major gong to me. He said, do you know why Noah
found grace in the eyes of the Lord? Because he was obedient. Isn't that horrible, brother? So that's basing his receiving
grace on his obedience. That's works. Amen, brother.
That's exactly what it is. You've just punctured a hole
in grace. There's no more grace there.
It's works. I know you picked that up right
away too, brother. Yeah. And I heard that and it was like,
gong. And I'm like, that's not right
at all. And I go out and tell Vicki, I said, I can't believe
what I just heard. See, that places the emphasis
on man and his obedience. And that's why those fellows
I've been listening to, they're receiving flack. They're reformed
guys, and they say, our obedience doesn't save us. It's Christ,
and we have to rest in him and him alone. And they're receiving
flack from the whole community. Well, no wonder. If people are
making statements like that, that their whole reason Noah
found grace in the eyes of the Lord, because he was obedient,
that's works, brother. You hit it right on. amen we're
obedient because of grace we desire to serve christ because
of the grace of god working in us that's the whole thing and
that causes us to desire to rest in him to trust him because we
know the scripture says without him We can do nothing. We can
do nothing. So how is it? How is it that
so see now see here's here's the juxtaposition, right? Okay,
so this fellow says that that in order to be Received grace
Noah had to be obedient and then over here. It says For by grace
you say through faith and that not of yourselves. It's a gift
of God not of works lest any man should boast And then it says we are his workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus. And he's ordained us unto good
works. But we don't have a clue what they are. And those good
works, just being obedient to him, just desiring to serve him.
Even though we know when we serve him we still have sin, we still
desire to serve him, don't we? Not for rewards, not to receive
grace and merit, but to exalt the one who saved us from all
our sins. Oh my, what a Savior. Do you
see how much that robs God of the glory? And God said, I will
not share my glory with anyone. Anyone. My, oh my. So let us remember this. We are
saved based upon Christ and His work, the union that we have
in Christ. So the believer is only made
holy in Christ. Outside of Christ, there's no
one holy. There's no one holy outside of Christ. And why are
we made holy? Because we're clothed in the
perfect spotless righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
God accepts us in the beloved, in Christ. It's wonderful. And that righteousness is perfect.
It's spotless. How do we have to be to be in
the presence of God? I think it was Henry said this
one time. How do we have to be? We have to be perfect. Well,
we're imperfect. How is an imperfect being going
to be made perfect? Only in Christ. Now, that doesn't
mean we don't sin anymore. That's when we finally make it
home. We're going to be perfect when we get home. But God looks
at us and doesn't see our sin anymore. That's amazing. He sees us clothed. I remember,
I'll never forget when I read F.W. Krawmacher, and he brought
that out. I about fell on my face and wept, just wept, because
he said, when God looks at us in Christ, he sees no sin. Oh my! We see ourselves as sinners,
don't we? And you know the reason why humility's
important for us? Because we don't ever come from
laying in the dust. We don't ever graduate from being
at the feet of Christ. And that humility is worked in
us by God the Holy Spirit. The more he teaches us about
our state before God, before the Lord saved us, and that we're
nothing without Christ, it'll make us humble, won't it? It'll
also make us grateful. It'll make us rejoice in Christ.
Because that which is impossible with man is possible with God. It's beautiful. It's beautiful.
It's beautiful. So this is precious truth for
the believer. When we study Christ's sinlessness, we become more and
more aware of our unworthiness of the gift of God, of Christ. of being given faith to believe
on Christ, salvation in Christ. Oh my. Our Savior, beloved, is
the Holy God. He's the Holy God. He's holy
and reverend is His name. He is the Holy One of Israel,
as we looked at earlier in this message. In being God, he's glorious
in holiness, it says in Exodus 15, 11. And the Lord Jesus Christ
is equal with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. Revelation
3, 7 says this, and to the angel of the church of Philadelphia,
write, these things saith he that is holy. That's speaking
Christ is speaking to them. He that is holy. He that is true. He's holy and true. He that hath
the key of David, that's our king, and openeth He that openeth,
and no man shutteth, and shutteth, and no man openeth." Oh my. That text there has reference
to Christ's holiness as the God-man, our Savior. Just what we're looking
at today, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. And it's our Redeemer's
representative, meditorial, vicarious holiness that gives us comfort
and encourages us to trust Him, doesn't it? What he's done for
us, and his love for us, encourages us to trust him. And that only
comes by God-given faith, right? We know that. But the more we
hear about what he's done for us, the more it encourages us
just to rest in him, just to trust in him. Cease from our
labors, right? That's what we're to do. Cease
from our labors and rest in Christ. Oh my. And the Lord Jesus Christ was
himself holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners when he
lived as a man in this world. He had no sin, no original sin,
no actual sin. He's perfect in every way. And
then when he offered himself up as the lamb for our sins,
as the sacrifice for our sins, he's absolutely sinless. He's perfect, beloved. He's perfect. And he was made sin for us by
imputation, by divine imputation. When he died as our substitute
on Calvary's cross. Again, our Lord Jesus Christ
had no sin of his own, none. But he died for our sins. He
took away our sins. He took them away. He knew no
sin. The prince of the world come,
had nothing in him. Because there's no sin in him.
And Christ is our representative and substitute. The Son of God
lived in this world as a perfect man in perfect holiness. And
he did it for us. Remember, not only was his death
a substitutionary death, but his life was a substitutionary
life. Amen. That's right, brother.
That's where the code of rights and so is we. In that perfect
life and he did every step he took brother was for you and
I in all the elect of all the ages He he so fulfilled the law of
god that the scripture says christ is the end of the law for righteousness
He so perfectly fulfilled the law of God in our Roman place
that the Scripture declares, Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness. That's our Redeemer. That's our
Saviour, beloved. Praise His mighty name. He's
so wonderful. So let we who trust Christ remember
this. It'll strengthen us through our pilgrimage on this earth
that the Lord Jesus Christ lived as a believer's substitute and
died as a believer's substitute. Scripture says, for by one man's
disobedience, Many were made sinners, so by the obedience
of one, Christ, shall many be made righteous. Shall, not if. Not God's done all he can, the
rest is up to you. No, that's just a lie from the
pit of hell, isn't it? No, it says, so by the obedience
of one shall many be made righteous. How are they made righteous?
By God himself. Dying for our sins. And we're clothed in that
righteousness by God the Father, beloved. Remember? Remember when
the prodigal son came back? He said, bring forth the best
robe and clothe my son. Amen, brother. That best robe is the righteousness
of Christ. That's the best robe. That's
the best robe, beloved. Oh my. So if you're a believer,
if you trust Christ, then his blood has washed away all our
sins. Because one, number one, his sacrifice paid our debt and
satisfied the law and justice of God that demanded our death. Number two, his death removed
your, or our, I like to say our, our guilt from before God. This is if you're born again,
if he saved you from all your sins, And his blood purchased
our eternal souls. And his righteousness, the complete
obedience to God as a man, is imputed to us. Isn't that marvelous? Because our sins were imputed
to him. Remember the great transverse version said, our sins are imputed
to him, and his perfect righteousness is imputed to us. The old-timers
used to call it alien righteousness, because it's a righteousness
of another. It's the righteousness of Christ. Therefore, he is called
the Lord our righteousness. And he was the God-man, divine
in human nature, united in one. And he could not sin because
he's God. And he's the same yesterday,
today, and forever, right? So he couldn't sin. He's tempted,
yet without sin. Tempted like we were, yet without
sin, yet without sin. And he's not able to sin because
he was sinless. And he couldn't be our Savior
if he was a sinner. He's the sinless, spotless Lamb
of God. And it's because Christ alone
is sinless. That Acts 4, 4.12 is true. The Acts 4.12 in the whole scripture
is true because Christ is the sinless one. Listen to this.
Neither is there salvation in any other. Because he's the only
man who was ever sinless, there's salvation in no other name. Neither is there salvation in
any other, for there's none other name under heaven given among
men. whereby we must be saved. Salvation's only in Christ and
him alone. And we believers, we say amen
and amen.