Always a great blessing to gather
together with the Lord's people. Turn, if you would, to Hebrews
chapter 4. That's where we'll be today. Hebrews chapter 4.
We'll be looking at a little portion there and then we'll
be going through various scriptures. But I had Brother Tim read that
section in verse 14. It's a magnificent verse of scripture. It says, "...how much more shall
the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself
without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to
serve the living God?" Now note there, if you want to turn there,
we can turn there quick, Hebrews 9.14. How much more shall the
blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself,
here's the key. without spot to God. When he
died on the cross, he offered himself without spot. He's perfect. He's sinless. He
is the perfect substitute. Our sins were imputed to him,
but he's offering himself up as the perfect spotless sacrifice
to God. Today we're going to look at
a topic called the impeccability of Christ. The impeccability
of Christ. Turn if you would to Hebrews
chapter 4 and we'll read verses 14 to 16. We'll look at the impeccability
of Christ. This means that not only was
Christ sinless, that he was impeccable. That is, he was incapable of
sinning. He was not only sinless, but he was incapable of sinning.
He's perfect. The scripture says in Proverbs,
to mark the perfect man. Because the end of his ways is
peace. Never forget who Christ is. He's
God incarnate in the flesh. He's Emmanuel. Christ said to
the Pharisees, which of you convinces me of sin? And they couldn't
convict him, beloved. They couldn't convict him of
sin because he knew no sin. In 1 John 3, verse 5, it says,
You know He was manifest to take away our sins, and in Him is
no sin, none. He's the impeccable man. He's
perfect. He's spotless, meaning in Him
there's no sin nature. See, we have a sin nature, beloved,
and we got that from our father Adam. He's the seed of the woman.
He doesn't have a sin nature. He's both God and man. The divine
nature and the human nature are intertwined together, beloved.
He's the God-man. Now this is a topic that the
old-timers, boy, they preached on this all the time, but you
just don't hear it a whole lot anymore. You hear it, of course,
in grace circles, but you don't hear about it in religion a lot. And this is a truth that used
to be trumpeted. But again, natural man and religious man try to
take things and say that Christ was peccable, that he was capable
of sinning. No, he's the perfect man. Now
everybody we know has a sin nature. You have a sin nature and I have
a sin nature. Everyone we know. When we look in the mirror, we're
looking at someone with a sin nature. It's evident. We see
ourselves, and we know who we are, we know what we are, we're
sinners. But in Him was no sin. No sin nature, beloved. None.
None. He had no desire to sin. None. None at all. He had no desire
for sin. None whatsoever. What does the
scripture say? Let's look at Hebrews chapter
4 here. Verses 14 to 16. Seeing then, we have a great
high priest. So here's our high priest presented
before us. And we know that's the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's the great high priest of
his people. that passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of
God. Let us hold fast our profession,
so we see here that we have a great high priest who is in heaven,
and his name is Jesus Christ, or Jesus, the Son of God. This
speaks not only of his humanity, but also of his deity. He's the
Word of God, he's the Son of God, and he's Jesus. He's a real
human, but he's God incarnate in the flesh. For we have not
an high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of
our infirmities, but was in all points tempted, likewise as we
are, yet without sin. Without sin. Key words right
there. Without sin. Let us therefore, as a result
of our high priest and who he is, let us therefore come boldly
unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in time of need. And we do, don't we? Whenever
we go before the throne of grace, we find grace and we find mercy,
don't we? The scriptures plainly declare
that God's mercies to his people are new every morning, right? They are, every morning they're
new to us. So when we consider who Christ
is, this is the key, when we consider who Christ is, he's
God incarnate in the flesh. He's the God-man. He's the sinless,
spotless Lamb of God. He's perfect. Absolutely perfect. The second Adam, who is the Lord
Jesus Christ, differed from the first Adam in his impeccability. Christ was not only able to overcome
temptation, but he was unable to be overcome by it, because
he's God incarnate flesh. See, we are overcome by sin very
easily, but we're mere mortals. We're finite beings, aren't we? Don't forget the infinite one
became a man, and he's called Immanuel right in the scriptures.
God with us. God with us. Christ was not only
able to overcome temptation, but he was unable to be overcome
by temptation again because he's He's God incarnated in the flesh.
He is the Almighty. There'd be no arguing that, right?
He's God. Scripture declares, Emmanuel.
And we know Christ was fully a man. We know that. But we also
must remember that He's fully God as well. He's fully God as
well. He's called the God-man. And
as the God-man, He is absolute Master and Lord of all things. We know that. He's Master and
Lord, even as the God-man. He's Master and Lord over all
things. And being Master over all things,
because we saw the proof of that with His dominion over the wind
and the waves, right? He commanded the storm to be
still. We know that He's Master over diseases. He put his hand
upon the leper and the leper was cleansed. We know that he's
master over death, which was clearly demonstrated when he
raised Lazarus from the dead. So it's logically only for us
to bring forth then that it was impossible that anything should
master him. If he's master over all, then
nothing can be master over him. Listen to what A.W. Pink said.
We are living in a world of sin. He wrote this in 1932. And it's
still relevant today. We are living in a world of sin,
and the fearful havoc it has wrought is evident on every side. How refreshing it is to fix our
gaze upon the one who is immaculately holy, perfect, who has passed
through the scene unspoiled by its evil. We saw that in Hebrews
4.14, we saw that. Such was the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Son of God incarnate. Perfect. Passed through this
world and yet was not tainted by anything in this world, nothing. He's perfect. So we see then
that there's nothing new under the sun because we, A.W. Pink
wrote about how he lives in the world of sin in 1932. We live
in a world of sin right now, 2020, don't we? Ain't nothing
new under the sun, beloved. Nothing new under the sun. And
we see frightful things occur daily in this world. But what
comfort the believer in Christ can glean looking to the impeccable
one, looking to the Lord Jesus Christ, looking to Him, the sinless,
spotless Lamb of God. And we're going to turn to a
few passages here, turn to 1 Peter 2. And think upon this, beloved
Our great God, our great Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, lived
upon this sin-cursed world. And He lived here for 33 years,
didn't He? 33 years. He lived amongst sinners,
He touched sinners, He touched the leper, and yet He was not
defiled. He was not defiled in any way. He's perfect, beloved.
Think of this. I like this illustration. Just
as the rays of the sunshine which light upon a stagnant pool. Now
you get a stagnant pool of water, right? And those rays of sunshine
are hitting that stagnant pool. They are not affected by the
stagnant pool, are they? They're still beautiful rays
of sunshine. Christ lived in this world for
33 years. He was not affected by anything
in this world. He's sinless. He's perfect. He's
absolutely perfect. Christ was unaffected by the
iniquity which surrounded him. And the scripture clearly and
plainly declares this truth. Look at this in 1 Peter 2, verse
22. Who did no sin, neither was guile
found in his mouth, who when he was reviled, reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened
not, but committed himself to him that judges righteously. Look at that, though. Who did
no sin? None. He's perfect. Turn now,
if you would, to 1 John 3. And as you're heading there,
actually stop in chapter 1, because I want to show you a picture
of us. We're going to contrast our sinfulness with Christ's
sinlessness. 1 John 1.8. If we say that we
have no sin, we what? We deceive ourselves. And the
truth is not in us. So that's us. That's natural
man. That's a man, that's every son and daughter of Adam. Right
there. OK? Now, go over to chapter 3
and look at verse 5. And ye know that he was manifest
to take away our sins, and in him is what? No sin. None. You see how the scripture
brings forth how Christ is perfect? He is the perfect man that Proverbs
talks about. He's the perfect man who we are
to mark, whose end is peace, beloved. Now turn, if you would,
to 2 Corinthians 5.21. And then we're going to go back
to our text in Hebrews 4. So put your 2 Corinthians 5.21. Look what the scripture declares
here. And we know that when Christ was made sin, that our sins were
imputed to Him. They were imputed to Him. He's
our substitute. He's our substitute. Look at
this in 1 Corinthians 5, verse 21. For He hath made Him to be
sin for us who knew no sin. Who knew no sin. that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. Look at that. Who
knew no sin. Again it's declared. Christ's
sinlessness is declared. Right there before us. 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. Now let's go back
to Hebrews chapter 4, verse 15. Let's read that verse. For we
have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings
of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we
are, yet without sin." Clearly stated again, right? Without
sin. Now turn over to chapter 7, same
book. Hebrews chapter 7. Look what
the scriptures declare about Christ here. He's holy, he's
harmless, he's undefiled, he's separate from sinners. Look at
verse 26. For such a high priest, this is being Christ, became
us, he became a man, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate
from sinners, he's separate from us, and made higher than the
heavens. But look what it declares, and
we're the opposite, beloved. We're sinners, the scripture
says, from the top of our head to the bottom of our feet, right?
That's what scripture declares. But look at what it declares
about Christ. For such an high priest became
us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made
higher than the heavens. Now go to chapter 9 where Brother
Tim read for us. And look what it declares. This
is declaring, remember 1 Corinthians 5.21, For ye have made him to
be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. So our sins were imputed to Christ.
He's still the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. That hasn't changed. And he's burying our sin in his
body on a tree. And how do we know that he's
still the sinless, spotless Lamb of God? Well, we compare Scripture
with Scripture, don't we? Look at this, when He died on
the cross, He offered Himself up without spot. Look at Hebrews
9, verse 14. He's sinless, we've seen in the
Scriptures, He's sinless in His life, and now we're going to
see He's sinless in His death. Look what it says, Hebrews 9,
verse 14. How much more shall the blood
of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without
spot to God, so He's offering Himself up as a sacrifice for
the sins of His people, to God without spot. He's perfect. He's
absolutely perfect. Our sins are imputed to him,
but he's he's offering himself up without spot because he has
to. All those lambs. Now, here's a here's a good one
for us to think about. Brother Drew and I were talking
about this this week in the in the Day of Atonement. There would
be two offerings. One would be the scapegoat. Right. And one would be the offering.
Now when they first bought those animals up, no one knew which
animal was going to be the scapegoat and no one knew which animal
was going to be the sacrifice. They didn't know because the
high priest would take a box and pull a lot out. Okay? And
that lot would fall upon whatever one that lot was determined to
be, that lamb would be slain and the other one would be the
scapegoat. But they both had to be perfect. You see? You know why, right? Because
no one knew which one was going to be the sacrifice. They both
had to be perfect. They both had to be spotless
beloved. And when they put their hands
on that lamb, right, and slit its throat, it was still a lamb
without spot, wasn't it? Oh, what a picture we have, beloved.
He offered himself up without spot. See? He's perfect. He's sinless. How much more shall
the blood of Christ, who threw the eternal spirit off of himself
without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to
serve the living God? Oh, my. What a Savior! What a
Redeemer is Jesus Christ, our Lord. So we clearly see from
scripture that our Lord is the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.
And the scriptures present our Savior as a completely holy person. We looked at that. We looked
at that in Hebrews 7.26. We looked at that through the
various scriptures. He's declared to be holy, harmless, undefiled,
separate from sinners. Think upon this, when the Bible
speaks of Christ, it does not speak of Him having victory over
sinful, rebellious desire, does it? No. But it speaks of Him
as being perfect in holiness. Perfect in holiness. Holiness
permeates His entire existence, beloved. His entire existence.
Inside and out. Inside and out. He's holy. He's perfect. Why? Because He's
Immanuel. He's God incarnate in the flesh.
He's God with us. On a mission, remember? For this
cause. I came into this world for this
hour. He came to redeem His people.
And He is the perfect, spotless Lamb of God. Oh, it's wonderful. It's a wonderful truth, beloved.
It's a wonderful, wonderful truth. And think upon this, beloved,
the immutability of Christ proves His impeccability. He was incapable
of sinning, as the Scriptures declare of our great Savior.
He's the same yesterday, today, and forever, right? The Scriptures
declare that about Christ. He's the same yesterday, today,
and forever. So the fact that Jesus Christ
is unchangeable guarantees His impeccability. And we clearly
see that the Scriptures declare that Christ is unchangeable in
His person. He's unchangeable. He has and
always will be God. And as God, though not the Father
but the Son, He shares the divine attributes, doesn't He? He shares
the divine attributes. And one of these attributes is
what? Holiness. We're the ungodly. Christ died
for the ungodly, the holy one. Remember what the demons said?
We know who thou art, thou holy one of God. They spoke of his
holiness and they trembled. They said, are you come to judge
us before the time? That's a paraphrase, but that's
what they said, which means the end. They knew who he was. Oh
my! He's the Holy One of God! Listen
to this quote by W.E. Best on this topic. He says,
Holiness is far more than the absence of sin. It is positive
virtue. To say that he could have sinned
is to deny positive holiness. To deny positive holiness, therefore,
is to deny the holy character of God. Holiness is positive
virtue. which has neither room for nor
interest in sin. The Lord Jesus Christ could not
sin because the days of his flesh meant only addition of experience,
not variation of character. You see, he was not susceptible
to any change. He was not susceptible to any
change. It was impossible for the incarnate Son of God the
sin. He's the Word of God incarnate.
He's the Word of God incarnate. He's the Word of God from eternity. And we know the Word of God is
unchanging. Thus the Scripture declares of
Christ, Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever. It's a truth that's in Scripture.
It's wonderful. So we see clearly His uniqueness.
Angels fell. Sinless Adam fell, right? Adam
was sinless before he fell, but he fell, but not Christ. He's
perfect in holiness. He is God incarnate in the flesh.
A.W. Prink brings forth, from the
very moment of its conception in the virgin's womb, the humanity
of Christ was taken into union with his deity and therefore
could not sin. A.W. Prink. I'll read that again.
From the very first moment of its conception in the Virgin's
womb, the humanity of Christ was taken into union with His
deity and therefore could not sin. They're intertwined. He's
the God-man. Also the fact that our Lord Jesus
Christ is all-powerful guarantees His impeccability. Our Lord Jesus
didn't just have sufficient power which would enable Christ not
to sin, beloved God, but He had more than sufficient power. The
Scriptures declare He had all power. Right? And he still does. All power. So the one who has
saved us, the one who has saved us, the one who keeps us is the
one who's unchanging and the one who has all power. That's
who shed his blood on Calvary's cross for us. That's who offered
himself before God without spot and blemish. God in the flesh.
See, we humans think too little of Christ. He's God. God himself
shall provide a land. Remember? with Abraham, God himself
shall provide a lamb. And God himself did provide himself
a lamb. God incarnated in the flesh,
the Lord Jesus Christ. It's wonderful. It's just, it's
wonderful. It's wonderful. It's good news
for sinners, isn't it? The question is, are you a sinner?
Are you a sinner? Oh, I pray that God would show
you who you are. Because we who are redeemed by
the blood of the Lamb, we know we're sinners, don't we? We know
we've been saved by the Holy One of Israel. We know that.
Oh, my. And think upon this, beloved,
the fact that our great Savior is all-powerful proves His impeccability. We know that even during the
days of His humiliation, which is His incarnation, our Lord
Jesus Christ possessed all power. Turn, if you would, to Matthew
chapter 28. Matthew chapter 28. This is clear from many, many
passages. We'll look at two here though.
Matthew 28 and then put your finger in John 17. Matthew 28
and John 17. This is clear. That our Lord
has all power. Not something that people like
to admit nowadays. Because if you admit God's all
powerful, then you have to admit that you're at His mercy. Right?
What do God's people say? Oh, God, be merciful to me, the
sinner. We do because we know what we
are and we are at God's mercy. Oh, my. Look at this. Matthew
28, 18. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying all power.
It doesn't just say it doesn't say some power, but but but not
in the salvation of a sinner, because man has a free will and
you can choose whatever they want. It doesn't say that, does
it? No. It says a L.L. Power all power
is given unto me in heaven and in earth all power, but that's
our Savior beloved That's our Redeemer the one who has all
power now. Let's turn to John 17 and look
at this This is this is wonderful. How is that power? Demonstrated
well look at look what it says here John 17 verses 1 to 3 These
words spake Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said
father the hour has come glorify thy son that thy son may also
may glorify thee as thou has given him power over all flesh
all that's man that's everything in all flesh created things we
know also uncreated things all flesh that was given a power
over all flesh that's our God This is our Savior, that He should,
what? Give eternal life to as many
as Thou has given Him. Praise be to God, that God the
Father gave a people to Christ, and praise to be to God, the
believer says, that I'm included in that number. Because if He
hadn't have done that, there'd be no one saved. Oh, but He gave
a people to Christ, didn't He? It says right here. As Thou hast
given Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life
to as many as Thou hast given Him. And this is life eternal,
that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ,
whom Thou hast sent. And the Holy Spirit reveals Christ
to us, doesn't He? He reveals the Father to us.
And we flee to Christ, don't we? And now we're spending a
lifetime while we're here on this earth as believers learning
about our great God through the preaching of his gospel and through
the studying of his word. One, our great Savior beloved
was God incarnate in the flesh and we see clearly He possessed
all power over all things. And we saw again, I mentioned
it earlier, we saw demonstrations of this power when He said, peace
be still and that storm was just, man, I love it when it says the
water was like glass. I remember being on the lakes
with my dad fishing when I was a kid and that water, it'd be
like a mirror, you could see your face in that water. Just
perfectly still, and then geese would be flying there, tipping
their wings in that water, you know, and just see little pools
of water. When they tipped, oh, it was the most beautiful thing
you ever want to see. And that's how it happened. It just went
still like that. So that was a demonstration,
wasn't it? That he has all power, all power. And he performed miracles. He cleansed lepers. Said to the
leper, the leper said, Lord, if thou will, and he says, I
will, be thou clean. And he touched that leper too.
Think of this. He touched that leper. You weren't supposed to
touch a leper back then. He touched that leper, but he
was not defiled. You ever think of that? Because
he's holy. He's perfect. He's sinless. That leper was
cleansed. Oh my. I love that narrative. That's just a wonderful portion
of scripture. And then he healed the blind,
didn't he? And the deaf were given ears to hear. And He raised
the dead. All demonstrations of His power.
Now think upon this. To speak of an all-powerful person
yielding to sin is a contradiction in terms. It's a contradiction
in terms. Because He alone is all-powerful.
We are so weak and so finite. But He is all-powerful. Who Christ
is, the God-man proves His impeccability. As in Him, we're united in a
manner altogether incomprehensible to created intelligence, the
divine and the human natures." We can't even fathom that, can
we? Really. Pink was a very intelligent man.
He says, this is incomprehensible. We can't even fathom this truth.
The uniting of divine and human natures. Scripture says, turn
up your word to James chapter 1. James chapter 1. And then
put your finger in Hebrews chapter 6. James chapter 1 and Hebrews
chapter 6. Think upon these scriptures.
God cannot be tempted with evil. James 1.13 says, look at, we'll
read James 1.13 to 15. Remember who Christ is. He's
God incarnate in the flesh. Let no man say when he is tempted,
I am tempted of God. For God cannot be tempted with
evil, neither tempteth he any man. But every man is tempted
when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. Then when
lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin. And sin, when it is
finished, bringeth forth death. Now turn, if you would, to Hebrews
chapter 6. We see here, so we saw there God cannot be tempted
with evil. We see here it's impossible for
God to lie. Look at this, Hebrews 6. We're so susceptible to be tempted
by evil, and we're susceptible to lie, aren't we? But look at
this, Hebrews 6, verses 17 to 20. Wherein God, willing more
abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of
his counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable
things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, We might have
a strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon
the hope that is set before us, which hope we have an anchor
of the soul, both sure and steadfast, into that within the veil. Whether
the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus made an high priest
forever after the order of Melchizedek. So we see there it's impossible
for God to lie. Remember Christ, who is Christ? He's Emmanuel. He's God incarnate
in the flesh. Christ was a divine person who
had been made in the likeness of man, Philippians 2.7. It was
then utterly impossible for the God-man to sin. Again, listen
to what A.W. Pink brings forth about the human
nature of Christ and the divine nature of Christ. He says this,
It is irrelevant speculation to discuss what the human nature
of Christ might have done if it had been alone. It was never
alone. It was never alone. It never
had a separate existence. From the moment of its being,
it was united to a divine person. He's God in the flesh. He's God
incarnated in the flesh. Now some will argue that a person
who cannot sin cannot be tempted to sin. But listen to this quote
from W.G. Shedd. Temptability depends upon
the constitutional susceptibility, while impeccability depends upon
the will. So far as his natural susceptibility,
both physical and mental, was concerned, Jesus Christ was open
to all forms of human temptation, excepting those that sprang out
of lust or corruption of nature. But his peccability, or the possibility
of being overcome by those temptations, would depend upon the amount
of voluntary resistance which he was able to bring to bear
against them. Those temptations were very strong.
If the self-determination of his holy will was stronger than
they, then they could not induce him to sin, and he would be impeccable. And yet, plainly, he would be
temptable. We know our Lord was tempted and yet He was without
sin. Why, may one ask? Well, we can
conclude from our study today that one of the reasons was that
it would demonstrate His impeccability. Because he's God. Again, he's
God incarnate in the flesh. And we know those things that
he went through were ordained by God. God allowed them to happen
to Christ. He was tempted by man. He was
tempted by the devil, by circumstances, and yet without sin. We know
that from our text. It says, For we have not a high
priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted like we are, yet without sin."
Without sin. Here is a good illustration.
I mentioned this in Sunday School. Here's an illustration that will
make it real clear for you and I. In light of Hebrews 4.15.
Let's turn back to Hebrews 4.15 and we'll read that again before
I give us this illustration. Hebrews 4.15. But we have not
an high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of
our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we were,
yet without sin." Okay. Now here's a wonderful illustration.
Wonderful illustration. Christ was in all points tempted
like as we were, yet without sin. Okay. Throw a lighted match
into a barrel of gunpowder, right? And what will happen? Kaboom!
Right? Huge explosion. Huge explosion. Throw a match
into a barrel of water and what happens? Gone. It's out. No effect. No effect. This is a very simple
way to illustrate the difference between Satan tempting us, or
the gunpowder, and his tempting of the God man. He's the water.
See? Real clear, isn't it? Here goes,
here's a match to Wayne and all the saints. Kaboom! Off we go. There's a fiery dart of the devil
against Christ. No effect. It's a wonderful illustration,
isn't it? Makes it real clear for us. We
are susceptible to Satan's fiery darts. But the Holy One could
say, and He said this in John 14, verse 30, The prince of this
world cometh and hath nothing in him. Nothing in him. No foothold,
nothing. And every person that's born
into this world is born a sinner. And we who are the children of
Adam are born with a depraved nature. You don't have to teach
us to sin and we don't have to teach our kids to sin, do we?
I never had to teach my son to lie. Oh, no, it just came naturally. No one had to teach me to lie.
No, it came naturally. Now there was consequences for
that that I'd rather not talk about, but I'll tell you what,
that was all to bring me in line, right? My goodness. No one had to teach us to do
those things. Boy, we're born sinners. But Christ had no original
taint of sin, none. He had no sinful nature. And
our Lord could not sin because in Him was no sin. So those fiery
darts of the devil, those temptations just fell in the water. Nothing,
no effect at all. No effect at all. Now we know
that our Lord was exposed though to severe testing, wasn't he?
We know that. We know that. He was exposed
to far more severe testing and trying than the first Adam was.
And he was exposed to far more severe testing and trying than
we ever will be. But all this was done in order
to manifest his mighty power, beloved. His mighty power of
resistance. in the fact that he was God incarnate
in the flesh, the one who came to save his people from their
sins. And again, our text in Hebrews
4, verse 15 says, For we have not an high priest which cannot
be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all
points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. So the result
of the temptations of Christ were like the matches that fell
into the barrel. They didn't have any effect.
They were extinguished. Turn, if you would, to Matthew
chapter 27. Matthew 27. We're almost done.
We're looking at two more scriptures here. Matthew 27. Matthew 27. Look at this. I found this in
our study and a commentator brought this forth. And I want to bring
this out. This was just, this was marvelous.
Matthew 27 verses 4. We'll read actually verses 3
to 5. Judas, after betraying Christ, proclaimed these words.
Matthew 27 verses 3 to 5, Then Judas, which had betrayed him,
being Christ, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself
and bought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests
and elders, saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed, look
at this, the innocent blood, I have betrayed the innocent
blood. And they said, what is that to us? Or see thou to that? And he cast down the pieces of
silver in the temple and departed and went and hanged himself.
Now a lot of people, I used to do it too, misquote this verse. They used to say, well, Judas
said, I betrayed innocent blood. Look what it says though in the
text. I have betrayed the innocent blood. It's singular. I have
betrayed the innocent blood. Now what makes the blood of Christ
the innocent blood? The innocent blood? Well, because
all our blood's contaminated with sin, right? Our blood's
contaminated with sin, and we all have a sin nature. We all
have a sin nature. Our Lord didn't have a sin nature.
He was the spotless, the perfect man, as mentioned in Proverbs,
sinless in his life and sinless in his death. Listen to what
Pilate had to say about Christ. Pilate examined Christ, and he
said, after all his research, after all his examination, I
find no fault in him. Pilate said unto him, what is
truth? Well, truth standing right in
front of him, right? He said, what is truth? And when he had
said this, he went out again unto the Jews and saith unto
them, I find in him no fault at all, none. So Pilate's confession,
after examining Christ, is, I find no fault in him. And the repentant
thief, he said, we're receiving the just dues of our reward,
we're receiving what we deserve, but this man's done nothing amiss.
See, believers see Christ as the Holy One. And so what joy
we can find in our sinless spotless Redeemer. No wonder the Father
proclaimed from heaven, this is my beloved Son in whom I am
well pleased. No wonder he proclaimed that.
Turn one more scripture and then we'll be near and close here.
John chapter 14 verse 30. Now think of that too. When the
Father proclaimed, this is my beloved Son in whom I'm well
pleased, He could not do that, He could not say that about Christ
if He had a sin nature. He couldn't. He couldn't have
said that if Christ had a sin nature. Christ is perfect. He's
the seed of the woman. He's perfect, spotless, holy,
undefiled, separate from sinners. And the Father says, in Him am
I well pleased. And that means that He's pleased
with all who are in Christ too. Praise His mighty name. Oh, it's
wonderful. Look at here, John chapter 14,
look at verse 30. The master is speaking here to
his disciples and he says, Hereafter I will not talk much with you,
for the prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me. What a statement. The prince
of this world cometh and hath nothing in me. Now if he came
for you and I, he got lots. There's lots in us, in there.
We're that gunpowder. Boom, right? That's us. That's
us. Lots in us. It says here, the prince of this
world cometh and hath nothing in me. Who's this prince of the
world? Well, the prince of the world is the devil. And Satan
comes and he can find no fault in Christ. None. No fault in
Christ. Nothing in agreement with His
evil designs, nothing in our representative, nothing in God's
anointed, but complete holiness and full submission to the Father.
Nothing! What a contrast from us, eh?
The Holy One died for the unholy. It's incredible. Oh my. We know that our Savior was victorious
in His resistance. And now this does not make him
unfit to be an example for imitation to a weak and sorely tempted
believer. No. Remember our Lord overcame his
temptations. And we know he overcome these
temptations and these conflicts. And his victory cost him tears
and blood. His visage was so marred more than any man. And
there was a travail of his soul, Isaiah wrote about. He cries,
Oh, my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless,
not my will, but thy will be done. Just because an army is
victorious, it by no means falls that the victory was a cheap
one. No, our Lord suffered like no other man has ever suffered
in this world. And he did it for us, but he
did it sinless. Isn't that incredible? Oh, my,
why? How could he do that? When when
we if we if we went through even a tiny bit of what he went through
persecution wise, we'd be we'd be fit to be tied, wouldn't we?
But he did it. Didn't say a word, just endured
it because he's God incarnate in the flesh. He's perfect. He's
holy. He's spotless. Wonderful, wonderful truth, beloved.
He's mighty to save. He has the power to overcome
all temptation when it assails his person, in order that he
may be able to secure them that are tempted. Beloved, here is
solid ground for us. Solid ground, a firm foundation,
which the born-again believer Rests in the Lord Jesus Christ
is Almighty God. He has absolute power over sin
and the feeble and sorry and tried saying we may turn to him
in absolute confidence beloved no matter what we're going through.
We may turn to him in absolute conference confidence and seek
his successful aid no matter what we go through. Nothing is
too small for you to bring it to the Lord. Nothing. And only He who triumphed over
sin, both in life and in death, can save me from my sins. Only
a holy, spotless Lamb offering can take away my sins and yours.
And He did it. The Lord Jesus Christ. Glory
to His name.