1 Peter 2 21-25 For even here unto
where ye call, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving
us an example, that ye should follow his steps, who did no
sin. who did no sin. Neither was guile found in his
mouth, who when he was revealed, revealed not again, and when
he suffered, he threatened not, but committed himself to him
that judges righteously, who his own self bare our sins. bear our sins in His own body
on the tree, that we being dead to sin should live unto righteousness,
by whose stripes ye are healed. For ye were as sheep going astray, but are now returned unto the
Shepherd and Bishop of your souls. No guile. Our text will be found
in verse 22. There was no guile found in His
mouth. Our Lord was absolutely perfect. Our Lord was absolutely sinless. Perfect in every way. In this
verse, look at 22, it proclaims the sinlessness of our wonderful
Savior, who did no sin. Nothing. None. Neither was guile found in his
mouth. He is God incarnate in the flesh,
the perfect man, the sinless man, the righteous one. And our text says, neither was
guile found in his mouth. Now the Greek word for guile
there means to bait or contrive for entrapping. Fraud, deceit,
cunning, guile. There was no cunning in his words,
no deceit in his words. He didn't seek to entrap anyone. The words that our Lord spoke
were true words. There was no deceit in them at
all. He did not seek to deceive anyone. Think of this. He's truth incarnate. He's truth incarnate. Turn, if
you would, to John 14, verse 6. And then turn, if you would,
to Colossians 2. I'm going to go over a verse that we went
over on Wednesday night. just to show you the opposite
of man compared to Christ. Look at John 14, 6, a verse we're
all familiar with, but I think it's very pertinent for this
message. John 14, 6, Jesus saith unto him, I am the way. So when he says that, there is
no other way. He's truth. What He speaks, there's
no deceit in His words. There's no cunning in His words.
So when our Lord and Savior proclaims this, whether people believe
it or not, this is absolute truth. I am the way. There's no other
way to the Father. None. I, and he says the truth. He's absolute truth. What he
speaks is absolute truth. And the life. We know that there's
no eternal life outside of Christ. There's none. Now this doesn't
change whether or not people believe it or not. This is truth. This is truth proclaimed. I like
what Brother Donnie always says. We don't debate scripture. We
just proclaim it. This is what it says. This is
the Master speaking. This is God incarnated in the
flesh. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. No other way to glory. No other
way to stand in the presence of God the Father except through
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now let us look at what the false
teachers, which had crept into Colossus, they used what's called
beguiling words. Look at Colossians 2.4. And this I say unto you, lest
any man should beguile you. That's deceive you. With enticing
words. That's persuasive language in
the Greek. So deceptive, persuasive language. But our king, he had no deceit
in his words. So what he proclaimed is absolute
truth. The word beguile is defined in
the Greek as deceiving words. And as I said, the word for enticing
is persuasive speech or language. Kind of like, you ever been around
a slick salesman? I don't like slick salesmen,
honestly. When I go to buy something, if
someone just let me look, Instead of like pressuring me into something
and if I have a question I ask them, but you ever been around
a slick salesman I've been around many of them. They try to deceive
you with a sale. They try to talk you into it. They're persuasive. So sometimes
you leave a store without something you didn't even want. They persuade
you. Well, the false teachers, they
use deceit and persuasive language to deceive, to deceive. But our Lord Jesus Christ, He's
absolutely sinless. Our text says, who did no sin,
neither was guile found in His mouth. He's absolutely sinless,
perfect. Everything He spoke was truth.
Everything. God incarnate in the flesh. He
told us of our need to repent, to turn to Him. He said, I'm
the way, the truth, and the life. He said, come unto me all ye
that labor and are heavy laden. Are you heavy laden by works? By trying to earn your way to
heaven? The Lord said, come unto me. Come unto me. Christ is the only one who can
save our eternal souls. And every one of us in this room
has an eternal soul. Now the fact that Christ was
guileless is found all through the Scripture. And the fact that
He was the truth, turn if you would to John 14.
The fact that He was the truth and was sinless is spoken of. He had no sin and no guile, and
His sinlessness withstood the test of man and of Satan. We looked at this last week.
I want to bring it out again here, John 14, 30. Hereafter,
I will not talk much with you, for the Prince of this world
cometh and hath nothing in me. There was nothing, no foothold,
For anything. Satan had nothing on him. He's
perfect, sinless, spotless. Now there's a lot he has on us.
But not on Christ. Not on Christ. Satan could find
no sin, no fault, no deceit in Christ at all. And neither did
any man either. Turn, if you would, to Matthew
26. Let's see how man sought to ensnare our great king, plotting
to kill him. Matthew 26, verses 1-5. Oh, they sought to ensnare the
King of kings and the Lord of lords. Matthew 26, verses 1-5. And it
came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, He
said unto His disciples, You know that after two days is the
Feast of the Passover, and the Son of Man is betrayed to be
crucified. Then assembled together the chief
priests and the scribes and the elders of the people unto the
place of the high priest who was called Caiaphas, and consulted
that they might take Jesus by subtlety and kill him. But they said, Not on the feast
day, lest there be an uproar among the people." See the word
subtlety? There it's the same Greek word
that's used for guile in our text in 1 Peter. Our Lord had no guile, but these
men were full of craftiness and full of deceit, and they sought
to kill the Lord of glory. What defiles a person? That which
proceeds from an unregenerate heart. We are all sinners in
that enmity with God, in our hearts and in our minds, in our
deeds. And these Pharisees, they sought
to kill the Lord of Glory. Why? Because they did not know
Him. They didn't know who He was. They had no clue. They saw Him as a threat to their
standing, to their fame, to their financial gain. And they did
not know Him and they hated Him. And they were revealed to be
the blind leading the blind. Let's look quickly at that which
defiles a man. Turn if you would to Mark chapter
7. Mark chapter 7. And remember, our king who did
no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. He's perfect. Perfect. What defiles a man? Mark chapter
7, verses 14-23. And when he had called all the people
unto him, he said unto them, Hearken unto me, every one of
you, and understand. There is nothing from without
a man that entering into him can defile him. But the things
which come out of him, those are they that defile the man.
If any man have ears to hear, let him hear. And when he was
entered into the house from the people, his disciples asked him
concerning the parable. And he saith unto them, Are ye
so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive that whatsoever
thing from without entereth into the man that cannot defile him,
because it entereth not into his heart? but into the belly
and goeth out into the drought purging all meats." So it's not
what we eat or drink that defiles us. And he said, "...that which
comes out of the mouth that defiles the man." For from within, out
of the heart of man, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications,
murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness,
an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these things
come from within and defile the man. So we have a heart problem. Humanity has a heart problem. We're plagued. We're plagued
with the plague of sin. I remember on Sunday night I
talked about how people are all worried about a pandemic. There's
been one going on for thousands of years. It's a plague of sin.
And it affects every single human that comes into this world. Except one. The God-man. The seed of the woman, the Lord
Jesus Christ, who did no sin, neither was guile found in His
mouth. Oh, the chief priests, they sought
to kill Him. Turn, if you would, to Mark chapter
14, verses 1 to 2. They sought to kill Him, and
He was innocent. Mark 14. And also put your finger
back in Matthew 26. I'm sorry, I had you move out
of there right away. Mark 14, the chief priests and
the scribes, the religious who's who of the day plotted to kill
the master, plotted to kill the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at Mark
14, verses 1-2, After two days was the feast of the Passover,
and of unleavened bread. And the chief priests and the
scribes sought how they might take him by craft and put him
to death. But they said, Not on the feast
day, lest there be an uproar. We don't want to get the people
worked up. The word craft in verse 1, is
the same Greek word in our text. So our king, the sinless one,
had no deceit, no craftiness. In his words, he spoke the truth. He has a divine nature. That
which proceeds from him is absolute truth. We have a heart issue. So what we speak is craftiness.
And that's what these men were doing. But he had no craftiness in his
words, perfect, sinless, no deceit at all. Jesus saith unto him, I am the
way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. Truth. Absolute truth proclaimed. Now one might say, well that's
pretty narrow. They might say, you know, that's
pretty narrow. This is the King of Glory speaking this. This
is not no mere man. This is God incarnate in the
flesh. And yes, yes, it is narrow. He is the only way. There is
no other way to heaven. The one who is speaking, the
one who is speaking is the one who has eternal life. The one
who is speaking is the sinless one. The one who is speaking
is God incarnate in the flesh, who left the glories and splendors
of heaven to come to this earth to be spit on, to suffer at the
hands of unjust men. Why? For my sins. And if you're
a believer for your sins, God incarnate in the flesh. The
only way of salvation is through the King of Glory, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Let's go to Matthew 26, starting
in verse 57. So these Pharisees and scribes,
they used crafty words. But in Christ was no craftiness,
no deceit. These men, these Pharisees, used
deceiving words. False teachers used deceiving
words, persuasive language. Christ didn't do that. He proclaimed
the truth. And if you notice, mark this
when you read our Savior's words. He mostly spoke in one- and two-syllable
words, beloved. He didn't speak in fancy language. Our King spoke in normal words. And He's the King of glory. Look at Matthew 26, verses 57-60
we'll read right now. And they that had laid hold on
Jesus led Him away to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes
and the elders were assembled. But Peter followed him afar,
off unto the high priest's palace, and went in and sat with the
servants to see the end. Now the chief priests and elders
and all the council sought false witness against Jesus to put
him to death, but found none. Yea, though many false witnesses
came, yet found they none, and at last two false witnesses.
So they could find no witnesses, none at all, to fulfill their
purpose. They couldn't. He's sinless. So what do they do? They bring
in false witnesses, speaking lies about our great God and
King. Look at Matthew 26, 61-68. This fellow said, I am able to
destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days. And
the high priest arose and said unto him, answerest thou nothing? What is it which Thou, or these
witnesses, against Thee? But Jesus held His peace. He
held His peace, beloved. And the high priest answered
and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou
tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus saith unto
him, Thou hast said, nevertheless I say unto you, hereafter ye
shall see the Son of Man sitting in the right hand of power and
coming in the clouds of heaven. He just told him who he was. Then the high priest rent his
clothes, saying, He has spoken blasphemy. What further need
have we of witness? Behold, now ye have heard his
blasphemy. What think ye? They answered
and said, He is guilty of death. Then did they spit in his face. and buffeted him, and others
smote him with the palms of their hands, saying, Prophesize unto
us, thou Christ, who is he that smote thee? Oh, if they had only known the
one who they were smoting, that he could have called down legions
of angels to destroy every one of them, If they knew who He was, they
would tremble before Him. And here we have our silent,
suffering Savior. He's a lamb being led to the
slaughter, beloved. Why is He silent? Why does He endure all this,
beloved of God, for my sins? And if you're a believer, for
your sins. And for the sins of all the people
that God has given Him before the foundation of the world.
Turn, if you would, to John chapter 18. Do you know Pilate could
find absolutely no fault at all in Him? None at all. He is absolutely
sinless. Absolutely perfect. Look at John
18, verses 33 to 40. Then Pilate entered into the
judgment hall again and called Jesus and said unto him, Art
thou the king of the Jews? Jesus answered him, Sayest thou
this thing of thyself, or did others tell it of thee of me? Verse 35, Pilate answered, Am
I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief
priests have delivered Thee unto me. What hast Thou done? Jesus answered, My kingdom is
not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world,
then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered
to the Jews. But now is my kingdom not from
hence. Pilate therefore said unto him,
Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that
I am a king. To this end was I born. For this cause came I into the
world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Everyone that
is of the truth heareth my voice. Pilate saith unto him, 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. He's perfect, beloved. But ye
have a custom that I should release unto you one at the Passover. Will ye therefore that I release
unto you the King of the Jews? Then cried they all again, saying,
Not this man, but Barabbas. And now Barabbas was a robber. This is all happening according
to the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, beloved.
Christ must redeem his people from their sins. He must. And
note in verse 38, Pilate asks, what is truth? Not knowing that
the one who stands before him is truth incarnate. God in the
flesh He has no clue at all, and he still finds no fault in
Christ. Yet, to appease the Jews, he's a politician. To appease
the Jews, he releases Barabbas, the guilty one. Now, think of
this. Barabbas was condemned by the law. Brabus had a seal of death upon
him, didn't he? And the guilty is set free. That's what Christ did for his
people. The law and justice of God found us absolutely guilty.
We had a death sentence. The soul that sinneth, it must
die. Christ dies in the room and place of his people. Greater
love hath no man than this. Someone this week asked me, someone
very close to me, who I love dearly, don't know a lot about
the Bible, though. They asked me about the love
of God, as it's spoken of. They asked if it was much spoken
in the Bible. I told them this. God who inhabits
eternity, who was and is and is to come, in order to redeem
a people who are sinners by birth, nature and choice, becomes a
man. God, perfect, sinless, no guile, And He lives the absolute perfect
life in the place of those people who were given to Him by the
Father as their substitute. And then He goes to Calvary's
cross and He dies for their sins. He dies for their sins before
the wrath and justice of God, shedding his blood to purchase
the eternal souls of those people. And then he rises from the grave,
and he ascends back into heaven, and he is now seated at the right
hand of the Father in absolute majesty and in absolute power. And I continue to say, think
on of these people whom he came to redeem. They were enemies
to him in their mind. By wicked works. Some of us were
outright rebels. And some were moralistic people.
But all were sinners. As there's none good, no not
one. And there's none righteous before God based upon our works. And I said, now think on this.
The love of God was set upon those people from eternity, from
before there was ever a star, before there was ever an angel.
Before the heavens were ever created, before the sun and the
moon were hung in the sky, before the universe was spoken into
existence, the love of God was set upon those people. And I
quoted the Scripture, The Lord hath appointed a period of old
unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting
love, I have drawn thee, or therefore with loving kindness have I drawn
thee. Jeremiah 31.3 And even though those people were enemies
in their minds by wicked works, God's love in Christ was set
upon them. Was set upon them. And it's never
changed. It's never changed towards His
people. And Christ died upon the cross
to redeem them, to purchase them from their sins. And when he
finished the work, he cried, it's finished. And I finished up the answer
to this person who I love dearly with,
is there any love that ever compares to this upon us? Nothing. Nothing. Nothing compares to
the love that God has for his people. Nothing. So I ask you who are here today,
you who are saved, you who have been recipients of this love,
does it not fill you with awe? Is it not amazing that God's
love was set upon you from eternity? Undeserving sinners. And why did Christ die upon the
cross? Because he loved us with an everlasting
love. And he loved us before we loved
him. Greater love hath no man than
this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. And Christ
laid down his life for his friends, for his people. And the believer says, Praise
is my name. Thank you, Lord, for including
me, because I'm surely not worthy. There's an old hymn I heard sang
at a couple of different Grace churches called, He Included.
Beautiful song. Oh, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now this is what we remember,
isn't it? When we partake of the Lord's Supper. What He has done for me. And if you're a believer, what
He's done for you. Oh, what great cost. We proclaim
what Christ has done for us, that He died upon the cross for
our sins. And if you believe, for your
sins, right? And for whoever the Lord will
draw in, all His sheep, He's still drawn in his people. Folks
say, well, churches are dying and this and that. I remember
talking to a guy and he said to me, Christianity is going
to die in 50 years. I just laughed at him. Whatever. Rome tried to stamp out Christianity.
What happened? It just spread. It just spread. God will always have a people. Always. So this is my Savior. This is my Savior. Is He yours? This is my Redeemer. Is He yours? Oh, that God would make you willing
to flee to Him. Oh, that He'd make you willing
to flee to the sinless substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom
is found no guile. Let's finish with Revelation
14. Let's finish with Revelation
14. Revelation 14, verses 1 to 5. And I looked, and lo, a lamb
stood on the Mount Zion, with Him in a hundred and forty and
four thousand, Heaven and His Father's name written in their
foreheads. And I heard a voice from Heaven. It was the voice
of many waters, and it was the voice of a great thunder, and
I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps. And they sang, as it were, a
new song before the throne, before the four beasts and the elders.
And no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and
four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. These are they
which were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are
they which follow the Lamb whatsoever He goeth. These were redeemed
from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. And
look at verse 5. Look at this. This is true of
every blood-bought saint in heaven. And in their mouth was fine found
no guile. For they are without fault before
the throne of God. How can a man be justified before
God? How can a man stand before a
holy and righteous God? How can a sinner stand before
the holy God of the universe clothed in the righteousness
of Christ? And that's it. No other way. We know that no one will enter
into heaven but those who have been chosen by God the Father
in eternity, redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, and
regenerated by the Holy Spirit of God. Salvation is of the Lord,
beloved. And not one of God's sheep will
be missing. Not one. Not one. Look again at this wonderful
verse in verse 5. And in their mouth was found
no guile, for they are without fault before the throne of God. Grace makes sinners worthy of
glory as the believer is clothed in the righteousness of Christ. By nature, we are corrupt and
defiled by sin. But in Christ, we're made pure. Pure. Look it. They are without
fault. What a miracle of grace. What
a miracle of grace. Every child of God, every blood-bought
saint stands before the throne of God or will stand before the
throne of God. Absolutely blameless. We're sinners. Isn't it marvelous
when you think of that? What a great Savior. What a wonderful
Savior. His precious blood cleanses me
from all my sin, all fault, Before the throne of God, and I stand
before God, I will stand before God one day without fault. Blameless. Blameless. How? One may ask, how? Well,
because, again, the believer has this perfect, spotless righteousness
of Christ imputed to them. And the sins spoken of by the
people in that text in Revelation 14, 5 are all placed upon Christ in
Calvary's cross. And His perfect, spotless righteousness
is accounted to the sinner. Greater love hath no man than
this. Isn't this marvelous? Isn't it incredible? It's incredible. What a glorious salvation we
have in Christ. Faultless before the throne of
God. Faultless before the throne of
God. Turn, if you would, to Jude. I'll finish with this. And think of this. It's not just
temporary. The believer will stand before
God for eternity. faultless, blameless, spotless
because of the righteousness of Christ for eternity. And it's based upon absolutely
nothing in us. Nothing in us. The question is,
will you be one of that number? Is Christ your Savior? Is He
your Redeemer? Oh, that should flee to Him.
Look at Jude. This is one of my favorite portions
of Scripture. Jude, verse 24. And I know we've
read this many times, but I think it's real fitting right now.
Now unto Him, being Christ, that is able to keep you from falling,
and to present you faultless. Oh, in Revelation 14, 5, it said
those are presented before the throne without fault. Look at
this, faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. It brings Christ great joy to
present His spotless bride before the throne. To the only wise
God, our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power,
both now and ever. Amen. Let's go to the Lord in
prayer. Gracious Heavenly Father, thank
you for the Word. Oh, Lord Jesus, we just marvel
at the fact that you are the sinless Savior. We are sin. We sin in our thoughts and in
our words and in our deeds, but you are absolutely sinless, the
perfect, spotless Lamb of God. and there is no greater love
than what you did for your people. No love on this earth can even
come close to that. And may we just marvel, may we
leave this place, we who believe, rejoicing that your love was
set upon us from eternity. And even when we didn't love
you, You loved us with an everlasting love. I pray You use this message
to draw sinners to Thee. Oh, Lord, we pray for Your glory
and honor and praise. In Jesus' name, Amen.