Would you turn in your Bibles
with me to the book of Hebrews chapter seven? Hebrews chapter seven. The title
of my message this morning is Our Sinless, Sin-Bearing Savior. Our Sinless, Sin-Bearing Savior. Now, for us to know the gospel,
for me to preach the gospel, for us to believe the gospel
by the power of God, there ought to be four questions posed and
answered in some form to some degree in every message. And
those four questions are these. Number one, who is Jesus Christ? Who is he? And that is answered
by the fact that he is God manifest in the flesh, God man. And then what did he accomplish
when he came to this earth, walked as he was made under the law
and went to the cross to die on Calvary? What did he accomplish?
Not what he tried to do, not what you think he did, but what
did he accomplish? And the Bible says he saved his
people from their sins. He established a salvation in
his work, putting away the sins of his people by the shedding
of his blood, establishing righteousness for his people by which God is
just to justify them. And then the third question is,
why did he do all that? And the answer is for the glory
of God. for the glory of God and the
salvation of his people. And then the fourth question
is, where is he now? He's not in a grave somewhere. He's not in a tomb. Don't waste
your time going overseas to look for an empty tomb. He's risen. And he's now seated at the right
hand of his father ever living to make intercession for us.
Whenever we consider the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ,
one of the most comforting truths of the scripture has to do with
the union, the oneness of Christ and his people. There is and
always has been an eternal, unchangeable, unbreakable union of Christ and
His people. A unity, a union that cannot
be broken. It's mentioned back in Hebrews
chapter two and verse 11. Let me just read it to you. It
says, for both He that sanctified, that's Christ who sets us apart,
and they who are sanctified, they who are set apart, that's
His people, given to Him before the foundation of the world,
are all of one. And he said that's the reason
he's not ashamed to call them brethren. They're all of one. Now the Bible
illustrates this unity in many ways. For example, the Bible
says that Christ is the head and his church, his people, God's
elect are the body. He's the head, we're the body. You separate the head from the
body, what happens? Death. So he's the head, we're
the body. Also, the Bible teaches that
Christ is the foundation and the chief cornerstone and his
church is the building. Christ is the rock of the church. Not any man, not the Apostle
Peter, not the Pope, not anybody like that. Christ is the foundation
stone, the rock. And then he's the chief cornerstone. They build a foundation and they
lay the chief cornerstone and everything is to be measured
as it relates to the chief cornerstone. And Christ is all that and his
church is the building. Upon this rock I will build my
church, the rock of Christ and him crucified. Another way that
this unity is illustrated is Christ is the vine and we're
the branches. Now where does the life come
from? It comes from the vine. And what do the branches do?
They don't produce fruit, they bear fruit from the vine. Christ
is the life of his people. Another illustration of this
unity is marriage. Christ is the bridegroom and
we're the bride. The bridegroom and the bride.
You know, when a man and a woman come together in marriage, they
become one flesh. And his church, as his church,
his people, We were betrothed to Him before the foundation
of the world. God chose us in Christ. And if
we're in Him, in that betrothal, in that electing grace, we're
sure to be married to Him. Let me give you three aspects
of this union. First, there's an eternal aspect of that union.
Again, God chose His people in Christ. If you wanna see that
in scripture, read the whole chapter of Ephesians chapter
one. But let me just read a portion here to you. This is in 2 Timothy. In 2 Timothy, or 1 Timothy, I'm
sorry. 1 Timothy, well, no, it's 2 Timothy
chapter one, here it is. Listen to this, Paul's speaking
to Timothy, or writing to Timothy, he says, in verse eight, be not
thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of
me his prisoner, but be thou partaker of the afflictions of
the gospel, according to the power of God, who hath saved
us and called us with an holy calling, not according to our
works, but according to his own purpose and grace, now listen
to this, which was given us in Christ Jesus, before the world
began. That was given to God's people,
His chosen people in Christ Jesus before this world was ever created. That's an eternal unity, an eternal
union. Christ is the representative,
the eternal representative of His people. And what we're going
to see, He's the eternal surety of His people. He's the surety
of a covenant. For as in Adam all die, even
so in Christ shall all be made alive. That's in 1 Corinthians
15, 21. So all whom the Father gave to
him are betrothed to him. There's a union there. And then
secondly, there's a legal union. Now this legal union involves
Christ doing the work of a surety. You know what a surety is. You
may have seen in our call to worship the word impute or imputed. came up a few times. What does
that mean? That means charged. And as the
surety of his people, God the Father charged the sin debt of
his people to Christ. And Christ willingly took that
debt. You have a beautiful illustration
of that in the little book of Philemon. You ever read Philemon
about the slave Onesimus who ran away and stole from his master
and he ended up by the providence of God with the apostle Paul. We don't know how all that took
place, but God worked it out, didn't he? And Paul preached
the gospel to Onesimus and Onesimus, by the power of God, was converted
to faith in Christ. And so Paul wrote a letter back
to the master that Onesimus had done wrong. And he said, I'm
gonna send him back to you, Thylemon, and I want you to receive him,
but not just as a wrongdoer, not just as a slave, I want you
to receive him as a brother in Christ. And Paul made this statement. He said, this is how I feel about
this man. If he had done you wrong, if
he'd done any wrong to you, if he'd taken anything from you,
put it on my account, I'll repay it. That's what imputation is
about. That's what Christ said to the
father, essentially, in this legal union, put it on my account,
I'll repay it. And in that legal union, he came
to earth as the substitute of his people. Not only as our representative,
but as one who would take the place of his people. He called
him his sheep. Now that's another illustration
of the unity. Christ is the shepherd, his people
are the sheep. And what did he do? He said the
good shepherd gave his life for the sheep. Why did he have to
give his life? Because that was the payment.
The wages of sin is what? Death. That's why he had to become
man without sin. And as that substitute, He went to that cross willingly. You know, he made a statement
that was just astounding. He said, no man takes my life
from me. He said, I give it. Why? For the glory of his father and
the love of his people. John 13 one said he loved his
own until the end. That means until the completion
of a work. And that work wasn't completed until he said in John
19 30, it is finished. What was finished, justice was
satisfied, the sin debt was paid, righteousness was established
by my substitute. That's amazing, isn't it? And
in that way, Christ and his people are one in the view of God's
law and justice. The law cannot condemn a sinner
for whom Christ died because the law cannot charge that sinner
with sin. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
can condemn us? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather
He's risen again at the right hand of the Father, ever living
to make intercession for us. So by our substitute, the redemption
price is paid. fully paid, not just part of
it now. He didn't make you saveable and
then say, now, come on, seal the deal, will you? No, he didn't
do that. He paid the price in full, and
all legal obstacles that would hinder our marriage to Christ
are removed by him on the cross. In fact, Romans 6.3 says it this
way, when he died, we died. When he was buried, we were buried.
When he arose again, we arose with him. Not personally, but
in the person of our substitute, our redeemer, that legal union. That's the basis of our salvation. And then, how do I know? that
I'm part of this eternal union and this legal union. How do
I know that Christ is my surety? How do I know that he substituted
himself under the law for me, that he died for me? Well, there's
a spiritual union. And that spiritual union takes
place by regeneration and by faith. It's called the new birth.
You must be born again. You know what the new birth is?
I believe you can describe it this way. It is the impartation
of the very resurrection life of Christ to a dead sinner. Christ said, unless you're born
again, you can't see the kingdom of God. Means you don't have
spiritual life. He said you can't enter it. We don't have faith to believe.
Faith is the gift of God given to us in this spiritual union. It can be called a faith union.
We are brought by God to believe in him, to lay hold of him, and
that's called a marriage. Look over in Romans chapter seven.
Listen to this. This is verse four, Romans chapter
seven. Now here's this spiritual union. I love this verse. He says, in
Romans seven, verse four, he says, wherefore my brethren,
you also are become dead to the law. Now what does it mean to
be dead to the law? It means this, the law cannot
charge me with my sin. It cannot impute sin to me. Remember
David, Psalm 32, blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth
not iniquity. Remember what Paul translated
that as in Romans 4, 6, blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth
righteousness without works. Because Christ died for me. God
has imputed His merit, His worth, His value, His righteousness
to me. I stand before God, not in my own works, they're no good,
not upon my own merit, but in Christ, washed in His blood,
clothed in His righteousness. So the law cannot charge me.
Well, preacher, aren't you a sinner? Yes, I am. I'm a sinner. but blessed is the man to whom
the Lord will not charge with sin. Who shall lay anything to
the charge of God's elect? What is it to be dead to the
law? That means the law is satisfied. Justice is satisfied. Now, how
did I get that way? Well, you made a decision for
Christ. No. You walked an aisle and shook
the preacher's hand and turned around and made a spectacle of
yourself, or you got in the baptismal pool. No. Look at it, Romans
7, 4. How'd you get that way? By the
body of Christ. By his death. That's how we got
that way if we're in him. Now, all that took place in order
that you should be married to another, wedded to Christ. Even
him who's raised from the dead that we should what? Bring forth
fruit unto God. What is that fruit? It's faith
in Christ, repentance, following him, looking unto Jesus, the
author and finisher of our faith. That's that spiritual union.
That's when we're sanctified by his word, as he said in his
high priestly prayer. But now listen to me. Now, go
back to Hebrews 7. As there is an unbreakable union,
with Christ and his people, a oneness that is glorious and comforting
and cannot be denied and should not be diminished or ignored,
there's also a reality of separation that must be maintained. Give you an illustration. Here's
a man and a woman. They come before God and men. They say, we want to be married. And the Bible says when they're
married, they become one flesh. But I've got news for you. They
are one flesh. They're in a marriage union.
The man is still the man, the woman is still the woman. Now
society today is trying to scrap all those distinctions, aren't
they? I mean, I could get up here and
declare myself to be a horse if I want to, I guess in some
people's eyes. You can call yourself anything
you want. A man calling himself a woman, that's blasphemy. We could call ourselves dogs,
you know, like old Mephibosheth. And when David called him to
the king and said, what does he want with such a dead dog
as I? But think about that. When a man or woman marry, they
become one flesh, but the husband's the husband and the wife is the
wife, and that separation there, that distinction there should
never be denied. And it's the same way with our
oneness with Christ. Christ and his bride become one,
but they're not the same. What are you saying, preacher?
I'm saying this. Christ and his people are one, but they're not
the same. Christ, he's not me, and I'm not him. Now, you say,
well, why would you even have to say stuff like that? I'm gonna
tell you something. You wouldn't believe some of
the things I've heard from preachers. I heard a preacher say this one
time. He said, in salvation, now listen to this, he said,
Christ had to become all that I am so that I can be all that
he is. Well, that's blasphemy. I'm a
sinner saved by grace. I'm not all that Christ is. Christ
is God in human flesh. I'm not. Some of them, they look at justification
as being this. They say, God looks at me or
God looks at Christ as if he had sinned and God looks at me
as if I had obeyed. No, he doesn't. When God saves me, you know what
I am? Just like we sing a hymn, I'm only a sinner saved by grace. That's my story. To God be the
glory. Christ is always the sinless
one. Somebody said, well, they define
justification this way. Just as if I had never sinned. I think that's misleading. I
know it is. God never treats me just as if
I'd never sinned. Now, he doesn't charge me with
my sin. He won't condemn me for my sin because I'm washed in
the blood of his son. I'm clothed in his righteousness,
but I'm a sinner. If you read Revelation chapter
five, you'll find out that the song in heaven is worthy as the
lamb. Look at Hebrews 7 verse 26. Here's what's being taught here.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the one and only high priest that
I, a sinner, needs. He says, for such an high priest
became us. What does that mean? The kind
of high priest, remember the high priest in the old covenant?
He represented Israel. He brought the sacrifice into
the holiest of all and sprinkled the blood on the mercy seat.
That was all a picture of Christ. the high priest of his people,
the one and only high priest, the eternal high priest. The
high priest whose priesthood never changes. Well, Christ is
the kind of high priest that a sinner like me needs. He became
me. That doesn't mean he turned into
me, that means he fitted my situation. He was appropriate for what I
need. What do I need? I'm a sinner.
Without Christ, what am I? I'm condemned. Without Christ,
I'm doomed for eternal death and damnation. I need a high
priest who is able to save me from my sins. I need one who
can do the job. That's what that means. For such
a high priest became us. Over in, if you look over in
Hebrews chapter two in verse 10, it says in verse 10 of Hebrews
chapter two, talking about Christ, for it became Him for whom are
all things and by whom are all things in bringing many sons
to glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect through
suffering. It was befitting to Him. Who's the Him there? That's God.
You know, the high priest, had to represent God to men and men
to God. So I need one who is fitting,
who is fitted for the task. And that's what he's saying,
for such, verse 26 of Hebrews, for such a high priest became
us. What kind of high priest do I
need? I need one who is both God and man in one person. If he's not God, he cannot represent
God to me. And if he's not man, he cannot
represent men to God. Every high priest must be taken
from among men. So Christ had to be both God and man. Who is
Jesus Christ? His name is Emmanuel, which being
interpreted is God with us. And anything, anyone less doesn't
become me, doesn't become you, doesn't fit your need. Deny his
deity. you don't have a high priest
worth anything. Deny his humanity, you don't have a high priest
who's worth anything. For such an high priest became
us. Now what is it about him that
meant the situation here? Well, think about it. Christ
alone And our salvation conditioned on him is the only way suited
unto our fallen sinful condition. And look what it says, look back
at verse 26. It says, he is holy. Now you
know what the word holy means? It means sanctified. It means
separated for a specific purpose. In John 17 and verse 19, the
Lord himself said this. He said, and for their sakes,
that is for his sheep, his church, the elect, I sanctify myself
that they might also be sanctified through the truth. He was set
apart. He set himself apart for a specific task. If somebody calls a plumber to
come and fix their pipes, They don't expect the plumber to come
in and start cooking dinner. He's there for one purpose, to
fix the pipes. And if he tries to do anything
else, he's out of his league. Well, Christ had one task. And what was that task? His name shall be called Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. That was his
task. We've been reading here in Hebrews
chapter seven about the suretyship of Christ. And that's a comforting. What was his suretyship all about?
It says it was to bring his people unto God. It's not to bring them down an
aisle, bring them to the preacher, or bring them in, even get them
to join the church. It was to bring them to God.
That means to save them, as we're gonna see, to the uttermost.
He's holy. Christ was separated to be my surety, my substitute,
my redeemer, my intercessor, my righteousness. We who believe are separated
to be the redeemed, sinners saved by grace. There's no way that
I can say that I personally paid my sin debt or satisfied the
justice of God for my sins or that I worked out a righteousness
to justify me before God. Christ did all of that. That's
what he was separated unto. And what I have, it's all by
grace. That's what I'm separated unto. So when we say truthfully
that when Christ died, we died, when Christ was buried, we were
buried, when Christ arose again, we arose again, we can thank
God for and appreciate our oneness with Christ, but we must always
acknowledge our separateness. He's the Redeemer, we're the
redeemed. He's the Savior, we're the saved. The next thing it says that he's
harmless. It means he's blameless. He's innocent. No sin ever proceeded
from his holy humanity or his deity. None in thought. Listen, Christ is our sinless,
sinless Savior. He never had a sinful thought,
a sinful motive, a sinful desire, a sinful goal. He never had any
sin. That's why I had Brother Mark read that portion from 1
Peter, in speaking of Christ as the example of his people.
You know, when somebody does us wrong, what do we wanna do?
We wanna get revenge. But he wasn't like that. You
know, his dying on that cross, his being raised from the dead,
and his working all things out for the salvation of his, is
not revenge. Now he is a just, God is a just
God, and vengeance belongs to him. But what did Peter say about
him? He says, Christ suffered for
us, leaving us an example that you should follow in his steps,
who did no sin, Christ did no sin, neither was guile found
in his mouth. There was no dishonesty or hypocrisy
found in his mouth. Who when he was reviled, when
he was spat upon, when he was beat, all of that, he reviled
not again, They didn't take him to the cross
by force. He could have called 10,000 angels. You remember when they came to
arrest him in the garden, he come out and he said, who you
want? He said, we want Jesus of Nazareth. He said, I am, and
they fell back. And then he said, come on, fellas,
I'll go with you. He went willingly, Isaiah said.
He opened not his mouth as a lamb to the slaughter. It says here
that when he suffered, he threatened not. When I suffer, I do a lot
of threatening, how about you? But committed himself to him
that judgeth righteously. In other words, while he was
going through that suffering on the cross now, he fully had
faith, perfect, uninterrupted, uncontaminated faith in his father
to do what was right. When I go through a trial, I've
told you all this before. When I go through a trial, especially
a severe trial, I never come out on the other side. I know
it's God who sends it. I know that it's the work of
a loving father to chastise his child. And I know it's God who
brings me through it. It's not my power or my goodness.
But I'll tell you something, I never come out on the other
side of a trial feeling good about me. Boy, I really, you
know, come out on the other side, boy, I really, I was a shining
example of faith through that. No, but I do come out on the
other side thanking my Lord more and more that Christ is my Savior,
that He is my righteousness, that His blood is enough to save
me from my sins. That's that peaceable fruit of
righteousness in Hebrews chapter 12. He says here, he says, verse
24, 1 Peter 2, who his own self bear our sins in his own body
on the tree. Think about all that. Look back
at Hebrews 7, 26. It says here that he was harmless,
blameless, innocent, and undefiled. Although he was in this evil
world, he remained unpolluted from it. Although he met and
even ate with publicans and sinners, he contracted no sin, either
from sinful men or even demons. The only contact Christ had with
sin, other than by proximity, was by representation and imputation. Our sins were imputed to him,
and that's the only way. It was by the imputation of sin
to his account that God was just to bruise him, who by nature
was and is sinless. He's our sinless Savior. He was
the sacrificial lamb, but he was a lamb without spot and without
blemish. He suffered the just for the
unjust, and then here in verse 26, it says separate from sinners. He's the friend and savior of
sinners and he commands sinners to come to him. And although
he intercedes for and protects and comfort sinners and bring
sinners unto God by his grace, he's distinguished from sinners
as to any contamination or corruption. He was never made to be a sinner. He never became a sinner. And
even on the cross, when he was truly made sin, he was still
undefiled and separate from sinners in himself. It says here, he was made higher
than the heavens. He was for a season made lower
than the angels in his humiliation, sufferings and death in order
to satisfy all conditions of our salvation. And now he's exalted
unto such majesty as is described by the apostle John. He's seated
at the right hand of the father ever living to make intercession
for us. But look at verse 27. He says here in Hebrews 7, he
says, who needeth not daily as those high priests offer up sacrifice
first for his own sins and then for the people's, for this he
did once when he offered up himself. Now you know those old covenant
high priests, those human high priests, you know what? They
were sinners themselves. And when they went into the Holy
of Holies with the blood of the Lamb, representing the people
of Israel, they had to offer the blood first for their own
sins and then for the sins of the people, because they were
sinful men, but not Christ. When he went into the holiest
of all, into the very presence of God, he didn't have to offer
up for his own sins, for he knew no sin. He did no sin. He's the
sin bearer. How did he bear our sins? God
charged him with our debt. He became our sin offering, our
sin bearer. The Lord laid upon him the iniquity
of us all. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him. He went in solely for the sins
of others, not for his own because he had no sin. His death, when he offered up
himself, think about it, his death on the cross to die for
our sins. How could one who is as Christ is described here,
sinless and severed, how could he justly die for the sins of
his people? Well, there's your answer. It's
by sin imputed to him. He was made sin. Sin was imputed
to him that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
His righteousness imputed to us. That legal exchange, our
sin offering. And then look at verse 28, it
says, for the law maketh men high priests which have infirmity.
That's the law, the old covenant law. Every one of those high
priests had infirmity. But the word of the oath, that's
the new covenant, that's the everlasting covenant of grace
in Christ, which was since the law maketh the son who is consecrated
forevermore. Think about it. Christ was set
apart considered by His Father in the perfection of His person
as our High Priest, which includes His perfect sinless humanity
and His perfect sinless sacrifice. Our sinless, sin-bearing Savior. He truly bore our sins. Let me
read this passage and then I'll conclude here back where Brother
Mark read in 1 Peter 2. Listen to this again. And all
this says that while he was on that cross, he committed no sin,
he knew no sin, he had no sin. But verse 24, 1 Peter 2, who
his own self bear our sins, he bore our sins. In his own body,
in a human body, God in human flesh, he bore our sins. How did he bear them? The sin
debt was charged to him, accounted to him. on the tree, on the cross,
that we being dead to sins should live unto righteousness by whose
stripes you were healed. Think about it. Our sinless,
sin-bearing Savior. That's an amazing truth. That's
a gospel truth. You know, think about it. No
other religion even comes close to any truth like that. I mean, you go to other religions,
even some that call themselves Christian, but they deny the
sinless, sin-bearing Savior who got the job done. Think about
it. That's unique, isn't it? That's
the gospel.