me this morning if you would
to John chapter 14. John chapter 14. This is where we want to at least
start verses. Come to my mind this morning
we kind of had a breakfast with brother yesterday morning and
kind of got to talking about a few things. This is kind of
one of the subjects that come up and it's been a while since
we've talked about it and preached about it. It kind of was lingering
on my mind this morning and I turned over and John was looking at
a couple passages here and was thinking back I think I've told
this story on a few occasions, maybe at least to individuals. Personally, I don't know if I've
ever done it from the pulpit or not. Whenever I come into
the doctrines of grace, and the Lord began to show me the truth
that's found in Scripture of God's sovereign grace, His predestination
and election particular redemption. It all began with a men's Bible
study at the Armenian church that I used to go to, that we
grew up in. We was having a men's Bible study
one morning. We used to have a men's Bible
study on Friday mornings before we went to work and we happened
to be having a men's Bible study that morning and The young man
that was bringing the, we called it a devotion that morning, but
he was bringing that devotion that morning. I don't even remember
exactly what he was preaching about, talking about, or anything,
but there was something that came up in, something that he
said, and whenever he said it, it just red flags went up in
my mind. Nothing that I had actually actively
studied out, But whenever he said it, it just didn't sit well
with me. It didn't seem right. I even
asked him afterwards for clarification of what he actually meant. And
sure enough, he meant exactly what I thought he said. And at
that point, that got me to begin to dive into the scripture and start
looking And the thing that he said, and it was just in passing,
whatever it was he was talking about, but he mentioned that
there was a possibility that Jesus could have sinned. That
Jesus could have sinned, but he didn't. He obeyed the will
of the Father, so he was obedient, and he just held out from sinning.
He chose not to sin, and therefore he was holy and was without spot
or blemish to be our sacrifice, but yet there was still the possibility
that Jesus could sin. And whenever he said that, it
just, man, that don't sound right. And so I, you know, I asked him,
I said, well, why do you think that he could have sinned? Surely
you don't think he could have sinned. And he said, well, if
Jesus, could not have sinned, then his temptation that he experienced
didn't mean anything. And therefore, how could he be
such a great high priest that can sympathize to all the things
that we go through if he could not have the ability to sin? And man, I just, whenever he
said that, I just was, man, I just, that don't sound right at all.
So I went to the scriptures and I began to look up the scriptures
and I began to look up different things about that men have written
about this topic. And the first thing I went to
was the scriptures and began to look and I seen all the verses
and many of them I've put down to look at today, but began to
read some of the verses that was talking about Christ being
without sin, being without spot or blemish and all these things.
But, um, You know, I thought it went a little bit deeper than
just saying that he did not sin. What was it that, you know, we
know that he did not sin, but could he have sinned? Could Jesus
have sinned? That was the question that was
kind of plaguing my mind and everything that didn't sit right. I thought that that was false.
Jesus could not have sinned. And so, you know, that's kind
of why I went on this. Well, I began to gather some
writings of the man on the subject of it and everything. found out
that the big word that everybody used in regards to this doctrine
or this study is called the doctrine of impeccability. Y'all ever
heard that before, impeccability? Y'all know what the word impeccable
means? It means perfect, right? It means without flaw, without
blemish or anything. If something is peccable, And
that means that it has flaw, that it can, is subject to messing
up. You can mess up and everything. But someone who is impeccable
is without flaw, without any ability to make a mistake. And so I began to look at that
and I gathered to myself several different writers of all different
persuasions, actually, and was kind of reading them. to see
what they had to say about that. But the thing that kept driving
me back was to the scriptures, to the scriptures. But through
that study, I found a writer that I'd never heard of before.
His name was W.E. Best. And it just so happened
whenever I found that out, I went into my grandpa's study where
he had all his books there at the church and began to look
through all his books. That was the first place I went
to look for to study on this thing is what he had. He had, you know, a couple of
books in there. One of them was by W.E. Best.
And so I thought, well, hey, I'm going to check this thing
out. So I checked it out. And then he had some books in
there by A.W. Pink. And then he had some books by
Spurgeon and some other men. Now, as I began to look at these things
and pull them off, especially A.W. Pink, I began to look at
the subject of the character of God, you know, God's attributes. Of course, Pink had a book, The
Attributes of God, so I began to look at that, and then in
turn, whenever I looked at the attributes of God, well, one
of those in there was the sovereignty of God. Of course, there's a
single work by Pink called The Sovereignty of God, and so I
read that, and whenever I started reading that about God's sovereignty,
the Holy Spirit just really began to teach me and began to convict
me that the things I had been holding to and believing were
incorrect and was taking me to the scriptures and was confirming
the things that I was reading that Pink was saying about God's
sovereignty. I was like, man, if that is true
about what God is like, then man, I've had things wrong. And
so I went back to the scriptures and just started reading the
scriptures, reading the scriptures and reading the scriptures. Now
at the end of my study about the impeccability of Christ,
I surely came to conclude that what I initially thought, what
I will say was the Spirit's teaching, was the Spirit's convicting,
the Spirit's constraining my mind from error in that particular
thing, is the fact that Jesus cannot sin. And hopefully I can
bring that out today if the Lord gives me ability. But through
all that, the Lord brought me into hearing and reading about
the sovereignty of God. My uncle had been sharing stuff
with me over time and everything, but I never did, you know, me
and him just kind of argued back and forth most of the time. But
then all of a sudden, the things that he began to say began to
make sense as the spirit was giving me understanding and everything. And that put me on the study
into the doctrines of grace. And as I began to keep studying,
I began to see that I was in error in the gospel. And thankfully
that the Lord taught me that and brought me out of that mindset
of free will, free decision, a gospel that Jesus has died
for everybody and that Jesus loves everybody and that Jesus
has done everything for your salvation, but it doesn't happen
until you accept him or choose him or decide to be whatever
follower he is or invite him into your heart or make him lord
of your life, whatever those phrases that we used to use were,
I found that that was not the gospel, that that was a false
gospel. And so the Lord began to teach
me that the scripture overwhelmingly teaches that Jesus came and that
he had a people that he chose from the foundation of the world
and that people that was given to him by God he came and died
for to redeem them from sin. And that was through the work
on his life, his death, his resurrection. All of that is what secured their
righteousness. And it was given to them by substitution
and imputation. And all of their curse that they
had, that the condemnation of the law had, was laid upon him. And he was their substitute.
And it was imputed unto him all of our sin. And therefore, we
are saved objectively, not subjectively. We are saved objectively, meaning
that what Christ actually did actually saved the people for
whom he died. It wasn't an opportunity to be
saved, an offer to be saved, an invitation to be saved, a
maybe salvation. It was a secured salvation. He
actually saved every person that he died for in that work, and
those people immediately upon that righteousness, and I say
immediately, of course this goes back before the foundation of
the world and the predestination of God and the holy calling before
the foundation of the world in Christ Jesus, that was given
to us and we were saved before we were ever created. We were
saved before we were ever born. We were saved because of the
work of Jesus Christ. And so I found that that gospel
was completely wrong that I've been preaching. And I pray that
the Lord continues to keep me faithful as he grows me in the
grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I continue
to learn more and more of this wonderful sovereign grace. Now, with that being said, going
back to the topic of Christ impeccability, whenever I began to study this,
I began to see overwhelmingly in scripture that there is absolutely
no way that Jesus could have died. Number one, Jesus couldn't
have sinned, and the biggest main reason, we're gonna look
at some verses where it actually states this and show that there
is a biblical record of this, but the main reason that we see
why Jesus could not sin is because of what's found in John 14. Now
turn with me, if you would, to John 14 in verse 30, and let's
look at this. I want to start the reading though at verse 22. It says, Judas saith unto him, not
Iscariot, so this is not Judas that betrayed Jesus, this is
another Judas. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot,
Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us and
not unto the world? Now that was the understanding
of this disciple of Christ, is that Christ would manifest himself
unto his people, but not unto the world in general. So to say that that's not the
teaching of Jesus is false. If anybody says that Jesus wants
everybody in the world to know the gospel, which that's what
98% of the churches that are out there preach, is incorrect. Jesus himself said
that this is hidden from the wise and the prudent, but revealed
unto babes. Jesus said that this gospel is
hid to those who are perishing. The gospel is hid to those who
are the reprobate, those who are of the natural mind, who
have not been quickened of God and given spiritual life. They
cannot understand or know or do the things of the Spirit of
God. It's an inability. So, Judas wasn't wrong in what
he was saying here, that Jesus was gonna manifest himself to
his people and only his people. But look what he says in verse
23. Jesus answered and said unto him, if a man love me, he will
keep my words, and my Father will love him, and we will come
unto him and make our abode with him. He that loveth me keepeth
not my sayings, and the word which ye hear is not mine, but
the Father's which sent me. These things have I spoken unto
you, being yet present with you. But the Comforter, which is the
Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, shall teach
you all things and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever
I have said unto you." And I believe that's what happened with me.
The Lord sent the Holy Spirit to bring all things to remembrance. that the Scripture had said.
Had I read those things before? Yes, I'd read those things. I
knew the Bible said that Jesus couldn't sin and never sinned
and that He was holy and righteous and blameless and all these things.
But yet, did I ever study it to the point of could He have
ever sinned? No, I'd never done that. But for some reason, that
didn't seem right. Why? Because the Holy Spirit had taught
me that that's not correct. He said in verse 27, Peace I
leave with you, my peace I give you. Not as the world give I
unto you, let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be
afraid. Ye have heard how I have said
unto you, I go away and come again unto you. If ye love me,
ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father, for my
Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before
it come to pass, that when it is come to pass, ye might believe. Hereafter, and here's the verse,
hereafter I will not talk much with you, for the prince of this
world cometh and hath nothing in me, but that the world may
know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave me commandment,
even so I do. Arise, let us go hence. Let's
bow and pray. Father, we thank you for this
day, and we thank you for your word that you have given us that
has been preserved through all the ages, that we can turn and
see the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ. And as we gather
here today, we ask, Father, that your Spirit would be with us,
the Spirit of Christ, to teach us and to guide us into truth.
Lord, we pray that you would give us understanding, the mind
being given to know, the heart being given to receive, Father,
we thank you for these things that you have written about your
son, and we rejoice in them. We rejoice in the gospel today,
and we are just truly blessed to be able to gather, as we do,
in a place where we can openly preach and teach the gospel of
Jesus Christ. Brethren that are here, Lord,
I thank you that you have brought them together once again for
this day to worship, and Lord, we just pray that If there are
others like us that are in this town, Lord, that you would bring
them our way and that you would join them with us to be able
to partake in the gospel together. And Lord, that we might be able
to edify one another as your spirit aids us. Lord, we just
ask today that you would help us in preaching and in worship. Lord, we need your spirit to
do these things. Without the spirit, there can
be no worship. Without your word, without the truth, we could have
no worship. And so we pray that we would
worship you in the spirit of truth today. And we ask that
Christ would be glorified and that he would be honored in the
things that we say and the things that we preach. Lord, help me
to preach today. Give me the words and the utterance,
Lord, that you would have me to give to your people. These are your sheep. I know
that I am not the shepherd, that you are the great shepherd of
the sheep. And I know, Father, that you are the one who will
feed them. And so I pray that today that
you, by your Spirit, will come and feed your sheep and help
me to keep from error. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Jesus said here, he said, hereafter
now, if you remember, this is before Jesus was crucified. Matter
of fact, this was right before Jesus was about to go into his
time of suffering. and to be crucified. And so he's
telling his disciples, listen, I'm about to go away and I'm
going to send you the comforter who was none other than God himself
coming back as the Holy Spirit. And so we see that Jesus is going
to come back to them. He said he was going to come
back. He says that You heard how I said unto you,
I go away and come again to you." Well, He did come again to them.
He came immediately back to them in the form of the Holy Spirit.
It was the Spirit of Christ. Now, we know that because in
John chapter 14 and verse 16, He says, And I will pray the
Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may
abide with you forever. See, Jesus was fixing to go away.
The man Jesus was about to go away. Okay, go back into heaven. And he says, I want to send you
another comforter. And this one is going to be with
you always. He says, even the spirit of truth
in the world cannot receive because it seeth him not neither knoweth
him, but ye know him, for he dwelleth with you and shall be
in you. Okay. He says, I will not leave
you comfortless. I will come to you. Now, I've
preached on this before, and you've heard me talk about this
before, how a lot of people try to separate the Godhead out into
three distinct, separate, equal, individual persons. But yet we
see here that Jesus here is affirming the fact that he himself is the
one that's coming back, but he's not coming back as the man, Jesus
Christ. He's coming back as God, the
Holy Spirit. He's coming back to them as God
the Holy Spirit. God is one. God is one God. And He is revealed in three. There's three that bear record
in heaven. The Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit. The Word
was made flesh, came in the flesh, Jesus Christ. The Father, Jesus
Christ, is the everlasting Father, the wonderful Counselor, the
mighty God. Jesus Christ is God manifested
in flesh. And therefore Jesus, whenever
he goes back, okay, whenever that manhood goes back and God
is back in heaven as God, and of course he was God here too,
but he goes back, he sends the comforter. And the comforter
comes, that comforter is the spirit of Christ. We see that
throughout the scriptures as well, that's Christ's spirit. Which is God, because God is
spirit. The one God that we serve is
one God, and He is spirit, He is invisible. But yet He took
on flesh as Christ, and He comes to us as the Holy Spirit, and
that is how we are taught, that is how we are convicted of sin,
that is how God does the works of God in us, is through the
Holy Spirit. And so Jesus here is given a
promise that He is going to come again, and He is going to give
them comfort. Now, this is again right before
he died. Now, in saying all that, he says
here, I will not talk with you for the prince of this world
cometh and hath nothing in me. Now, what's he talking about
there? Well, the prince of this world we know the Bible talks
about is Satan. Satan is the prince of this world. And of course, we know that Christ
coming into this hour of suffering, that he felt all the temptation
of man. We know that he felt the temptation
of man. The Bible tells us that he was
tempted in all points like as we are. And we're going to read
that verse just a little bit. But he was tempted just like
we were. We know that in the beginning
of his ministry, Satan came and tempted him. And for 40 days
in the desert, he was tempted of Satan. And Satan, every time
he tempted him, Jesus just spoke to him the Word of God and talked
to him. And the devil couldn't get nothing
to happen, couldn't get him to sin, couldn't get him to give
up, couldn't get him to turn around, do something else. He wasn't able to get Jesus to
buckle to sin. And so Jesus here is saying,
that the prince of this world is coming again, and he's coming
again for attacks, for temptation to sway him. And we know that
in the garden, he struggled in the garden, remember? He suffered
and sweat as great drops of blood. Not that he was ever going to
deviate from what he was coming to do, but that the whole thought
of what was about to happen had flooded this man's mind about
the fact that here I am the eternal God and yet God is going to forsake
me. God is going to forsake this
body and He's going to forsake me and leave me to suffer on
the cross and to take on all sin. Him who knew no sin. But he who know no sin. And so
Christ was saying there is an hour fixing to come whenever
the temptation is going to be the heaviest that it has ever
been. But it says right here, and hath
nothing in me. Satan is coming, but he hath
nothing in me. What does that mean? He has nothing
in me to entice. See, turn with me if you would
over to James chapter 1. James chapter 1 and verse 14.
Now this is the account, the testimony of God about how sin comes into being. Now I would say, as we're reading
this, that this isn't just for everybody since Adam. This actually included Adam.
Adam was no different in this point. Whenever God created Adam,
He created him, as the Bible said, natural, of the earth earthy. He created him not spiritual. Theologians out there, seminaries
out there, churches out there, I and my old understanding, used
to preach it this way, that Adam was created spiritually alive
and died spiritually. And that was what the fall was,
that he died spiritually whenever he sinned. But the Bible clearly
states that Adam was not made spiritual, he was made natural.
It's Christ, the second Adam, who was made spiritual, who is
spiritual. He is the man from heaven. Adam
was of the earth, earthy, and he was made natural. He was made
with a natural nature, and the Bible says that that natural
nature cannot keep the things of God. It cannot obey the law
of God. It cannot understand the spiritual
things of God. Therefore, Adam is just as much
in this verse as it is all of us. But let's look how sin actually
takes place. Look at verse 14. It says, But
every man... Was Adam a man? Yes he was. But what does it say? But every
man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. So how does temptation take place? What is temptation? Temptation
is enticing the lusts that are within us. That is in our nature. Our nature has lusts that is
in there. And those lusts are enticed by
the things of this world. The Bible says that we are enticed
by the things of the world, by the things of Satan, by the pride
of our own life, the pride of the flesh, the pride of the eyes,
the pride of life, the Satan in the world and all the system
of the world. These things entice us because
we have lust within us. And it says here that when lust
hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin. So where does sin come from?
Sin comes from the nature of man who has lust within it. And those lusts, when enticed,
and that enticing turns to a conceiving, meaning that you give forth to
that lust. You give way to that lust. When
you give way to that lust, you sin. That is our nature. So we are sinners not only by
action, but we are sinners by who we actually are in that nature. See, we sin because we are sinners. See, the sin is derived from
the nature. The sin comes forth from the
makeup of the nature that is to lust. Our nature is to lust
after what we don't have. To lust after what was said,
don't do. That's why the Bible says whenever
the sin came in, we died. Why? Before the sin came, I didn't
know it was wrong to do this. But whenever the law came, sin
revived. Why? All of a sudden, I was told
not to do that. Now, all of a sudden, I'm lusting
to do that. Why? Because I'm told not to
do that. Just like whenever you kids were little, your mom would
make cookies and say, OK, here's some cookies, but you can't have
any right now. Leave them right there. You guys were salivating
at the mouth, wanting those cookies. And every time you walked into
the kitchen, you was like, can I have a cookie? Can I have a
cookie? Sometimes you may have even taken one when you shouldn't
have. Why? Didn't even cross your mind
until you found out, don't get these cookies. You didn't even
know there's cookies in there. Didn't even have any reason to
want the cookies until someone said, there's some cookies and
don't have them right now. Right? So it says here that we
are drawn away by our own lust and enticed and when lust is
seated, it bringeth forth sin. So sin is brought forth from
a nature that has lust. Now, why could Jesus not sin? Why did Jesus say that the prince
of this world cometh and hath nothing in me? There is nothing
to entice me because I do not have any lusts. I don't have any lusts in my
heart. There is no sin in me. And if there is no sin in me,
there is nothing to entice to get me to actually sin. See, if there is no nature to
sin, there can be no sin. Now, I want to say this. This
is in respects to the manhood of Christ. Now, Jesus couldn't
have sinned because He was God. That's the main reason, is He
could not sin because Jesus was not just man, but He was God. He was one man who is both divine
and both man. But yet that man was not full
of sin. He did not have the nature. Now
the Bible says that Jesus came in the likeness of sinful man,
but he didn't come with the nature of sinful man. The Bible said
he was created like unto his brethren, but he is like unto
his brethren, not just like his brethren. He wasn't made sinful. He wasn't made with a nature
to sin. Jesus was created and formed
and fashioned in that body and that body And that man was holy
and without blame. It was spotless. That person
was from heaven. He was spiritual. He was without
sin. Now, the reason Jesus didn't
sin wasn't because he just held out to the end and didn't engage
in sin. He could not have sinned because
the nature of Christ Jesus was divine. It was holy. He was altogether God. He was
the God-man, and he couldn't sin because he was God. Now some will say, well, he was
born of Mary. Therefore, he was born of Adam's
race. No, he was not born of Adam's
race. You show me one scripture that says that he was born of
Adam's race. The Bible says in Corinthians
15, that he was the man from heaven. That whenever the Holy
Spirit came and overshadowed Mary, that what was conceived
in her was conceived of the Holy Spirit. It wasn't conceived of
Mary and it wasn't conceived of Joseph. It wasn't conceived
of any man. But that man from heaven was
conceived in her by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, Jesus Christ
did not have his manhood from Mary. or from Joseph or anybody
else. Of course we know it wasn't any
other man because she was a virgin. But he didn't get it from Mary
because if he would have got his manhood from Mary, he would
have been of the earth earthy just like Mary. He would have
had the nature of Adam which is full of sin. Therefore, whenever
he said that in verse 30, he would have been lying because
he would have had something in him that the prince of this world
could have came to entice. But yet in this passage, Jesus
said there's nothing in him. He hath nothing in me. He has
nothing to entice. And that's because he is the
God from heaven. Now, we know that God is holy,
right? I think all of us are pretty
aware of that and know that. And holiness is not just keeping
from sinning. See, the fellow that was leading
the devotion that morning admitted, now Jesus, he kept from sinning. He didn't sin. I'm not saying
he was a sinner. He didn't sin. He never sinned
once. He was holy. He never sinned.
Well, brethren, holiness is more than keeping from sinning. Holiness is actually the character
of God. It's the substance of who God
is. He is holy. Therefore, everything
He does is holy. Now, in regards to Jesus' manhood,
he could not have sinned because he was God and he kept the law
of God. Now, as it is divine, God is
not under a law. As Christ, Jesus submitted himself
under the law of God and became a servant under the law. But as God, he is above the law.
He does not have a law that anybody has given him. No man has ever
given God a law, nor can they. I heard Brother Lackey say this
not too long ago. You know, show me the man that
is going to stand as God's lawgiver in the court of justice and say,
why have you done this? There ain't nobody that can.
Nobody can be his counselor, the Bible says. God is not as
divine as not under any law. But as Christ, he submitted himself
to the law of God, came under the law of God, and kept that
law. He wasn't obligated to the law
as divine because the law was given for man. But as our substitute,
as our man substitute, as our second Adam, He came and submitted
himself to the law and kept that law 100%. Not just keeping it
outwardly, but keeping it inwardly. Something that we could never
do, even though we could wash the outside, as Jesus alluded
to with the Pharisees, you washed the outside and whitewashed it
and made it look clean, but on the inside of dead men's bones,
we can clean ourselves up outwardly and maybe look like we're keeping
the law, But inwardly, we don't. I may never commit adultery with
a woman, but in my mind, I can lust after a woman. And Jesus
said, if you've lusted after a woman, you've committed adultery
with a woman. So see, we cannot, because of
our nature, keep from sinning. That's who we are. Our flesh
is full of sin, and that's all it can do. Jesus was not of this
world. He was a God from heaven. He
was the man from heaven. His flesh was from heaven. He
said in John chapter 6 that His flesh had come down from heaven. Therefore, it is not tainted
of this world. It is not of this earthy. It is not natural. It is spiritual. Therefore, Christ could not have
sinned even though He had come under the law. And as God, He
could have done anything He wanted because He is holy and righteous
and just. But as the Son, He came and He
submitted Himself to that law and He kept that law. And therefore,
not only was He holy in the aspects that He was God, but He was holy
in the aspects that He submitted Himself to the law of God and
kept the law of God in every point. Now, another reason that
Jesus could not have sinned, and again, we're going to get
into some verses showing all this, But I just wanted to give
you the reasons why I come across what the Bible teaches overall
and why Jesus could not sin. Another reason that Jesus could
not sin is because all the Old Testament prophecies that was
talked about, about Jesus coming and being without sin, were all
grounded in the decrees of God before the foundation of the
world. God predestinated everything from the foundation of the world
and Christ was to come as a lamb slain without spot or blemish
from the foundation of the world. All the prophecies of the Old
Testament foretold of Jesus coming but being without sin. And therefore,
if God in His predestination, in His decree, had decreed that
Christ would be a lamb without spot, then there was absolutely
positively no way that Christ could have ever sinned. Otherwise,
God would have been a liar. His decrees would not have been
valid. He did not have the power to
uphold it. All the Old Testament prophecies were lies. So the very fact that God had
prophesied and prophecy, all prophecy is, is telling what
God has already determined in the past. That's what prophecies
are. Prophecies aren't foretelling the future as in looking down
the corridor of time and seeing what's going to happen or all
this stuff. What prophecy is is men telling
what God has already ordained to do from the beginning of the
world. He's already done. But another reason that we know
that Christ could not have sinned is because the Bible clearly
declares that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And if He is such,
He could not have sinned unless He would have become a sinner.
If Jesus could have sinned, then He could have become a sinner. And there is no possibility that
Jesus could have become a sinner because He does not change. God
cannot change. Now, preacher, can you back that
up in Scripture? Glad you asked. Thankfully, the
Holy Spirit has given us, through these writers, ample testimony
to this. But, brother, just think about
it. If Christ could have sinned, then He still could sin, right? I mean, He's ascended back to
the Father and He's still in His manhood. He could still sin. And what's to say, if he could,
that he doesn't? And if he can, then everything
that he has done on our behalf is useless. Right? Turn with me, if you would, to
Exodus chapter 12. Exodus chapter 12 and verse 5. The first thing I want us to
do, I want us to go back and look at the Old Testament. I want
us to look at a few passages that show us Christ could not
have sinned because, as I just said, the Old Testament prophecies
foretold that he would be without spot or blemish. And that was
in the types and the foreshadows. In Exodus chapter 12 and verse
5, when God was instructing the sacrifice for the Passover, He says this. I'm going to start
reading verse 5. That's what we're going to look
at. I'll start in verse 1. And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in
the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning
of months. It shall be the first month of
the year to you. Speak ye unto all the congregation
of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month, They shall
take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their
fathers, a lamb for a house. And if the household be too little
for the lamb, let him and his neighbors next unto his house
take it according to the number of the souls. Every man, according
to his eating, shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb
shall be without blemish. A male of the first year, ye
shall take it out from the sheep or from the goats. So it has to be without blemish. Also notice if you'll say here's
the male of the first year, his firstborn son. Christ was the
firstborn son of God, the only son of God, but the firstborn,
was the firstborn of Mary also, look at it physically, but we
see here that he is to be without blame. This Passover lamb was
a type of Christ. It was the gospel being taught
in this very sacrifice for them. Christ is our sacrificial lamb. He is our Passover lamb. Look,
if you would, at Leviticus chapter 22. whenever God gives the law to
Moses and the priesthood and how they were to carry out the
sacrifices. Leviticus chapter 22, I'm going
to start reading in verse 19. It says, You shall offer at your
own will a male without blemish of the beeves, of the sheep,
or of the goats. But whatsoever hath a blemish,
thou shalt ye not offer. for it shall not be acceptable
for you." So here again we see that God specifically required. And why did He do that? Because
this type is a symbol, is a showing of Christ. And so the type and
the substance has to be compatible. It has to be commensurate with
the substance. The type has to be commensurate
with the substance. That's why in the Lord's Supper,
that's why it's important that we have the unleavened bread
and the alcoholic wine because there is no leaven in the bread
and there's no leaven in the wine. Both of those were symbolic
And God gives them as symbols to point to Christ. If you take
grape juice, it has leaven in it. It's full of leaven. And
leaven represents sin in the Bible. You guys have seen, I've
showed you the illustration. If you guys remember, it's been
several years ago. I think you remember, you're
a little one. You remember I took a glass of
wine and I took a glass of grape juice and I put it there at the
church when I was in the other building. And we just let it
sit there. And we let it sit there for several
weeks. What happened to that glass of wine? Nothing. It was as clear a month later
as it was the day that we poured it out. But what about that glass
of grape juice? Turned nasty, didn't it? All
this mold and bacteria started growing on it. Why? Because there
was lemon in there. The wine had been purified. The
alcohol that was in there had purified that That is why Christ
instituted the Lord's Supper with the wine, because it symbolized
His blood. And we are given those testaments,
those remembrances, to remember those things. And the type has
to be commensurate with the substance. And here we see God said, take
a male without blemish. Okay? And this is foreshadowing Christ. Now let's go to the New Testament
and go to 1 Peter chapter 1. Look at verse 18. It says, For as much
as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver
and gold from your vain conversations received by tradition from your
fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb
without blemish and without spot." So here we see that Christ, again,
is being likened unto that spotless, blemish-free lamb of the Old
Testament. Christ, who is our sacrifice,
is as a lamb without blemish and without spot. So we see that
He had no sin. Look, if you would, at Hebrews
chapter 9. Hebrews chapter 9, starting in
verse 13. It says, For if the blood of
bulls and of goats and of the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling
the unclean, sanctified to purify the flesh, to the purifying of
the flesh, 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." So here
we see once again that Christ offered Himself to God without
spot. Now without spot doesn't mean
that He just held out and didn't sin. Without spot meant that
there was no blemishes in Him. That there was nothing in Him
at all that could be blemished. If we keep from sinning The best
that we could ever say is that we have not sinned. But that
still doesn't remove who we are inwardly in our nature and what's
on the inside. See, the reason Jesus didn't
sin inwardly, even though He kept from sinning outwardly,
He didn't sin inwardly. The reason He didn't sin inwardly
is because there was no sin in Him inwardly. There is sin in
us inwardly. So therefore, Jesus could not
have sinned because there was no sin in Him. Therefore, no
blemishes could ever be found because blemishes come from the
inside out. Jesus said it's not what goes
into the man that corrupts the man, but it's what is inside
of the man that corrupts the man. What makes us corrupt on
the outside is what is on the inside. Therefore, if Jesus could
have sinned, That meant that there was sin in Him. There was
corruption in Him that that corruption could have gotten out. Jesus
could not have sinned because there was no blemish in Him.
There was no corruption in Him. He was without spot or blemish. Look at Ephesians chapter 5. Ephesians chapter 5. Verse 2, it says, And walk in
love as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for
us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor. Now, the only way that that offering
could have been offered to God as a sweet-smelling savor is
if that offering was offered to God in the way that God commanded
the offering to be given to Him, and that was without what? So here again, the only way that
Christ can be a sweet-smelling Savior unto God in His offering
for our sins is for Christ to be not only without, but within,
without blemish, without spot. So we see the type, we see the symbol, the work of the Passover
lamb, the sacrifice, showing that Christ was without spot. But let's look also in the scripture
because there was many times that people was directly told
that Christ was without sin. Look if you would with me to
Luke. and it was verse 34. Let's back
up to 31 here so we can kind of get the idea of what's going
on. Remember this is where the angel come and told Mary about
Jesus her being with child Says, and behold, thou shalt conceive
in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name
Jesus. He shall be great, and shall
be called the son of the highest. And the Lord God shall give unto
him the throne of his father David. And he shall reign over
the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom there shall be no
end. Then said Mary unto the angel,
how shall this be seen? I know not a man. And the angel
answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee,
and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore
also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called
the Son of God. So you see here, it's that holy
thing which shall be born of thee. So it was speaking of Jesus
being holy before he was ever born or had ever done anything
good or bad, not just keeping himself restrained from sinning.
See, that's so ridiculous that anybody would think that Jesus
was holy because he just kept from sinning, even though he
could have. He's not holy because he kept
from sinning. He kept from sinning because
he is holy. And here we see the angel specifically
tells Mary, this child that's going to be born of you is a
holy thing. Not only holy in the fact that
he is consecrated of God, he is the anointed of God, the appointed
of God, the one who has been separated of God for this ministry. but He is holy in the fact that
He is the divine God in flesh that is coming down out of heaven
and being placed in your womb and you're going to give birth
to the Son of God. He's a holy thing. Look, if you would, at Matthew
chapter 1. Verse 18. For now the birth of Jesus Christ
was on the wise, when as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph
before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy
Ghost. Then Joseph, her husband, being
a just man and not willing to make her a public example, was
minded to put her away privily. But while he thought on these
things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in
a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take
unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her
is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son,
and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his
people from their sins. Now all this was done that it
might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophets,
saying, Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bring
forth a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which being
interpreted is God with us." So here we see that the angel
is specifically telling Joseph, this child that is going to be
born of your wife is not of this world, he's from heaven. He is
a holy thing. Of course, we'll see that in
a minute. But he says, this child is God with us. It is Immanuel. This is God himself
coming down in flesh. Then Joseph, being raised from
sleep, did as the angel of the Lord had bid him and took unto
his wife, and knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn
son, and he called his name Jesus. So see, this is God with us.
It wasn't just Jesus coming as man, but it was God in flesh,
and God cannot sin. Look back, if you would, again
in Hebrews. Look at chapter 4. Look, if you would, at verse 15. Hebrews
chapter 4 and verse 15. For we have not a 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. See, Jesus said that the prince
of this world has nothing in me. Why? Because I am without sin. Sin
is a principle in us. It's not just an action on the
outside. Sin is a principle in us. And that sin principle that
is in us is what causes us to sin. And Jesus could not sin
outwardly because the sin principle was not in Him. He was tempted
like as we are, yes, in every point. And I take that for what
it means. He was tempted in every point, but yet without sin. He was tempted
without sin. There was no sin in Him. There
was nothing to entice him. There was no lust. Therefore,
while he was tempted in all points like as we are, and then some
are going to say, just like the man did that morning whenever
I questioned him about this, well, then Christ's temptation
has no meaning if he could not have sinned. If he could not
have sinned and the temptation didn't mean anything, it's worthless. It's not worthless, brethren.
It's not worthless. The temptation of Christ Jesus
is not a meaningless thing. Matter of fact, the temptation
of Jesus Christ is a glorious thing. What happens is, is man
wants to pull God down to his level and say, well then God
isn't like me. How can God be sympathetic to
my temptations if He didn't have something in there to be enticed?
The point of Jesus' temptation wasn't to be just like you. The point of Jesus' temptation
was to show and to prove the validity of who He was. The validity that He was God
in the flesh. The validity of He was a spotless
land. The validity that He did come
as the Savior of the world. And He did everything that He
said He was. He truly was. And the fact that
He could not be tempted. The fact that He never did sin.
The fact that there was no sin in Him proved the validity for
who He was. And in that validity of being
Christ, the Anointed One, the Son of God, Emmanuel, the Divine
in flesh, the fact that He was who He said He was means that
the salvation that He procured in His death is effectual. See, if Christ died as just another
sinner, then our salvation is not nothing. We're still in our
sins. We're still without hope. But
because Jesus is who He said He was and it was proven by the
temptation that there was no sin in this man. It shows that He and His sacrifice
was accepted by God. Well, what about Him being our
sympathetic Savior? Well, He's our sympathetic Savior
because He was tempted in all points. He knows in all points
that we can be tempted as men. Mankind. He knows those temptations. And as having seen and experienced
those temptations, the Bible says that we can boldly come
to His throne of grace and obtain mercy. Because He knows the temptations. He also knows that we have sin
that entices us through those temptations. and how that we
are incapable of rejecting those temptations. That our flesh is
incapable of keeping the law of God. And he knows what it
means to keep the law of God. Therefore, he knows how to be
our mediator. It isn't just, oh, I feel how
bad you feel because you did that. That's not the purpose
of why Christ did that. The purpose that Christ can sympathize
with us is He knows the temptations that come of man and the sin
that is in us that we cannot keep from sinning apart from
God's restraining grace. Therefore, as the mediator between
God and man, Christ can mediate between us, knowing the temptation,
knowing the inability, knowing His perfection. Therefore, He
comes with the gospel as the comforter and gives us grace
in knowing and believing upon Him that even though we have
sinned, we have an advocate with the Father. even though we've
been enticed and have been tempted and drawn away by our lust, we
are not under the condemnation of sin. He becomes our suffering,
sympathetic priest in the fact that He brings us the comfort
of the Gospel, that therefore there is now no condemnation
to those who are in Christ Jesus. Because He, who suffered for
us, give us His righteousness. And God no longer looks on us
in those sins. Christ's temptation wasn't meaningless,
brethren. Look at chapter 7 and verse 25. It says, Wherefore
He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto
God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession. For such a high priest became
us, who is holy, who is harmless, Undefiled. And here it is. Separate from
sinners and made higher than the heavens. Listen, while He
came in the likeness of sinful flesh, He is separate from sinners.
He is not like us in the fact that He has no sin in Him. He is separate from sinners.
Don't bring God down to your level. Jesus Christ, and I've
heard this said before, and I used to say this, and it just grieves
my heart that I used to say this. It was blasphemy. I still hear
people that I know and I love say this, and it's blasphemy
against Almighty God. But to say that Jesus is what
Adam was supposed to be is blasphemy. They say Jesus was just like
Adam. Adam was just like Jesus before
he sinned. That is not true. You can't find one shred of evidence
of that in Scripture nowhere. I put out $500 for anybody that
can show me that Adam, before he sinned, was like Jesus was. Show me that in Scripture. And
I will give you $500 for enlightening me and correcting me in something
that is of utmost importance. The Bible clearly says that Jesus
was the second Adam, not the first Adam made over again. The
Bible clearly says that the second Adam was not of this earth, but
from heaven. The Bible says the second Adam
was not natural, but spiritual. The second Adam is holy and harmless
and undefiled and separate from sinners. Adam was a sinner. Adam was made natural. He was
made with the, if you want to say propensity, if you want to
say had the bent to sin, say whatever you want to say that
eases your consciousness, but the fact remains that God made
Adam A natural man without the ability to obey predestinated
Adam's fall, predestinated Adam's sin, predestinated that all of
the people through Adam would fall in sin and death through
his one transgression. God created a man for that purpose. That's why He said He was very
good, because He was created for the purpose of bringing sin
and death into the world, so that through sin and death, He
would send His Son to redeem His people who He chose, not
in Adam, but in Christ, and redeem them from that to the glory of
His grace. Why is it important that Christ
not be able to sin, because all this would not happen. Quickly, let's look at a few
more verses here. Isaiah saw it. Isaiah saw this
holiness. Look at Isaiah chapter 6. Familiar
passage. Wonderful passage of Scripture.
Isaiah chapter 6. In the year that King Uzziah
died, I saw the Lord sitting upon the throne, high and lifted
up, and His train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims,
each one had six wings, and twain, He covered His face with twain,
He covered His feet, and with twain He did fly. And one cried
unto another and said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts,
the whole earth is full of his glory. And the post of the door
moved, and at the voice of him that cried, and the house was
filled with smoke. Then said I, woe is me, for I
am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell
in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the
king, the Lord of hosts. Isaiah saw Christ on the throne. We learn that in John. John tells
us that the man that Isaiah saw on the throne was Jesus Christ. And what was all of heaven proclaiming? Holy, holy, holy is the Lord
of Hosts. Who's the Lord of Hosts? Jesus
Christ. They weren't proclaiming, the Father is holy, the Son is
holy, the Holy Spirit is holy. No, holy, holy, holy. The three chantings of holy was
given to the man Jesus Christ who was on the throne. He is
holy. Why? Because He is the image
of that triune God. He is the embodiment of the Triune
God. All the fullness of the Godhead
dwells within that man bodily. And He is the King of kings and
the Lord of lords, who all of heaven and all of earth will
give praise and glory to. Isaiah knew that this man was
holy. Matthew chapter 3 and verse 14. It says, But John forbade him
saying, this is the baptism of Jesus here. But John forbade
him saying, I have need to be baptized of thee and comest thou
to me. And Jesus answered and said unto
him, Suffer it to be so now, for thus it cometh us to fulfill
all righteousness. See, even the very small act
of, well, John, I know that Jesus didn't need to be baptized. Yeah, he did. He did need to
be baptized. Why? Because the righteousness
of God declared such. Jesus said for us to fulfill
all righteousness. Jesus had to obey in every aspect,
right? And so he came and he was baptized. And so even the very smallest
thing of being baptized, Jesus came and obeyed. Look, if you would, at Luke chapter
5. Luke chapter 5 and verse 8. Isaiah recognizes it. Matthew
recognizes it. Luke here recognizes it. Look,
verse 8 says, When Simon Peter saw it, When Simon Peter saw it, he fell
down at Jesus' knees saying, Depart from me, for I am a sinful
man, O Lord. Peter recognized Christ and His
holiness and knew that he was a sinner before God because of
the holiness of Christ Jesus. Look in John chapter 18 and in
verse 38. This is where Jesus was about
to go to be crucified. He was on trial before Pilate. Verse 37, 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, and for
this cause came I into the world. What did Jesus say? What was
the reason that He came into the world? For this cause. You
can say all that you want. If you even recognize me as a
king, it's still going to take place. I'm still going to be
sent to that cross. You're going to send me to that
cross. Why? Because you don't have any power
in this earth. My Father has power over everybody. My Father is the one who gives
power and gives authority. And you can't do anything without
Him giving you the okay to do it. But even if you think that
I'm the king, I'm still going to that cross, because this is
the reason that I came. Now, again, that goes back to
the whole type and foreshadow. Jesus Christ was sent into this
world, why? As a sacrifice for sin. And that sacrifice had to be
without spot, without blemish. But look what he says there.
He says, For this cause came I into the world, and that I
should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the
truth heareth my voice. Pilate said unto him, What is
truth? When he had said this, he went
out again unto the Jews and said unto them, I find in him no fault. You see, even Pilate saw that
this man had not done anything worthy of death. Look at Acts
chapter 3. Acts chapter 3 and verse 14. I'll back up to verse 13. It
said, The God of Abraham and Isaac of Jacob, the God of our
fathers, had 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 ye denied the Holy One and
the just and desired a murderer to be
granted unto you." So here we see Peter again, who had recognized
Christ's holiness earlier that we just read, now is declaring
that holiness to all the Jews, saying, listen, Christ came out
here and even Pilate recognized this man hadn't done anything.
And yet you wanted a murderer instead of the holy and just
one. So Peter declared him to be holy and just before all of
Israel. Lastly, let's look at one Peter. Brethren, I'm sure there's many
other places in Scripture that I've probably forgotten. These
are the ones that come to my mind this morning. Write down a few verses to remember,
because I can't remember a lot of these verses unless I write
them down. 1 Peter chapter 2, and look with
me if you would, verse 21. It says, For even here unto where
ye called, because Christ also suffered for us, leave in this
example that we should follow His steps, 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 judgeth righteously."
Jesus who knew no sin. Could Jesus have sinned? No. He couldn't have sinned. He couldn't
have sinned because of nature. He couldn't have sinned because
of decree. He couldn't have sinned because of the predestinated
work of God. He couldn't have sinned because
of the office that He had took up as our mediator, as our substitute. The very fact that He took on
our flesh as our substitute meant that Jesus could not have sinned. Otherwise, He would not have
been our substitute. Brethren, I'm here to say that
Jesus Christ not only kept from sinning, but could not sin. He was impeccable. And because
of that impeccability, we have salvation. What a glorious truth,
glorious doctrine. Don't let the theologians of
the day try to misguide you or sympathy for men's hearts, corrupt
hearts by the way, Try to sway your thoughts that Christ could
have done this, otherwise we'd never have a sympathizing Savior.
Brethren, praise the Lord we didn't have a Savior that could
have sinned. We've got one who is unchangeable,
the same yesterday, today, forever. He's just as much unable to sin
today as he was when he came. Therefore, our salvation is secure
in Him, right? Alright, anybody got any questions,
comments? Alright, let's pray. Dear Jesus, we thank you
for your spotless sacrifice, your spotless, flawless, sinless
person. You who are God, fully God, all
of God, the direct image of God, the representation of God, the
manifestation of God, all who God is in the flesh. Therefore, we have confidence
in the salvation that you have secured because you changed not,
being God. You're the same yesterday, today
and forever, being the anointed one of God, the Christ, We know, Father, that the promises
of God are yea and amen in you. Therefore, because those promises
hinge upon you, they cannot change because God cannot lie. Therefore,
you cannot sin. You will never sin. So, Father, we're so grateful
today for this salvation, for the glorious gospel and testimony
before us today. I'd be with your people if you
would. If it be your will, Lord, would you keep us in the faith
till we meet again. May Christ be honored. In Jesus'
name we pray.