WEBVTT 00:00:00.560 --> 00:00:09.040 Now we turn in our Bibles to Luke's Gospel, Luke's Gospel chapter four and we're going to read the first 13 verses. 00:00:09.520 --> 00:00:16.145 Luke chapter four reading the first 13 verses and this is God's word. 00:00:16.545 --> 00:00:26.730 And Jesus full of the Holy Spirit returned from Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days being tempted by the devil. 00:00:27.050 --> 00:00:32.010 And he ate nothing during those days and when they were ended he was hungry. 00:00:32.250 --> 00:00:43.175 The devil said to him, 'If you are the Son of God, command a stone to become bread.' And Jesus answered him, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone. 00:00:43.815 --> 00:00:57.940 And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time and said to him, To you I will give all this authority and their glory for it is being delivered to me and I give it to whom I will. 00:00:57.940 --> 00:01:02.260 If you then will worship me it will all be yours. 00:01:02.885 --> 00:01:19.050 And Jesus answered him, it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.' And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, if you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here. 00:01:19.450 --> 00:01:29.290 For it's written, he will command his angels concerning you to guard you and on their hands they will bear you up lest you strike your foot against a stone. 00:01:29.975 --> 00:01:35.815 And Jesus answered him, it is said, you shall not put the Lord your God to the test. 00:01:36.135 --> 00:01:42.790 And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time. 00:01:43.270 --> 00:01:43.990 Amen. 00:01:44.790 --> 00:01:54.470 Now in a Essian criticism in the famous eighteenth century poet Alexander Pope said this, he said, To is human. 00:01:54.995 --> 00:01:56.835 To is human. 00:01:57.155 --> 00:02:02.195 And it's the idea that imperfection is bound up with our human nature. 00:02:02.355 --> 00:02:11.250 We're finite creatures, we all make mistakes, we intellectually and not only that but moral failure to some extent is inevitable as well. 00:02:11.490 --> 00:02:13.890 To is human. 00:02:14.450 --> 00:02:19.250 And very few people, if they're really being honest, would ever claim perfection. 00:02:19.695 --> 00:02:23.535 Many would admit, maybe you've heard them say it, well, I'm not perfect. 00:02:23.535 --> 00:02:27.455 And usually that's followed by a but, but I'm not perfect. 00:02:28.015 --> 00:02:33.870 And the danger is to say, well, I'm not perfect, and you use it as an excuse. 00:02:34.110 --> 00:02:40.830 And you know the mantra very well, imperfections, yes of course I've got imperfections and I've never claimed to be perfect. 00:02:40.830 --> 00:02:42.270 I do make mistakes. 00:02:42.270 --> 00:02:43.550 I do get things wrong. 00:02:43.550 --> 00:02:46.430 I do and say things I shouldn't. 00:02:46.430 --> 00:02:48.055 I'm only human. 00:02:48.535 --> 00:02:52.615 And you know these platitudes are offered as an excuse some would argue. 00:02:52.615 --> 00:02:55.815 Well you can't expect perfection. 00:02:55.895 --> 00:02:58.055 That's just the way human beings are. 00:02:58.455 --> 00:03:15.090 And then you begin to go down a slippery slope when you start taking that line of argument because you can't blame people for their intellectual mistakes and you can't blame people for their moral failures, can't blame them at all, and the person who says that is really working to an agenda. 00:03:15.455 --> 00:03:20.975 Well you can't blame me, I'm just human, I'm not perfect, I never said I was. 00:03:21.055 --> 00:03:23.695 To is human. 00:03:24.495 --> 00:03:31.560 In Hebrews chapter two and verse 17 we read that the Lord Jesus had to be made like His brothers in every respect. 00:03:32.280 --> 00:03:38.040 And that ties into your sermon from last week when we were thinking about the Savior's true humanity. 00:03:38.280 --> 00:03:45.405 That He has a human nature, a body and a soul exactly like us in every respect with a single exception. 00:03:45.645 --> 00:03:47.725 And we said that exception is sin. 00:03:48.605 --> 00:03:54.365 And if he's truly human does that imply that he was a sinner? 00:03:54.765 --> 00:04:03.030 If he was like every other human being, he was made like his brothers in every respect, well he's also an imperfect human being. 00:04:03.030 --> 00:04:08.710 The question is put out there, is that where the case is at? 00:04:08.950 --> 00:04:22.895 Would the implication not be that, well if that was his case, that he wasn't in any way perfect or there was some form of imperfection with him, well, that would question his whole ministry as a savior. 00:04:22.895 --> 00:04:27.295 Surely he couldn't be a sinner to save sinners because that doesn't seem possible. 00:04:28.210 --> 00:04:34.530 So this morning we're coming to this third message in our series exploring the wonder of salvation. 00:04:34.930 --> 00:04:38.850 In a previous message we looked at the Savior as fully God. 00:04:38.850 --> 00:04:53.345 Last week we looked at the Savior as fully human and today we're going to look at the Savior who is sinless and here another vital and essential element of the perfect the perfect perfection and person of Christ is brought before us. 00:04:53.825 --> 00:05:00.820 And we said at the beginning of the series that the person of Christ and the work of Christ are intertwined. 00:05:01.540 --> 00:05:02.900 They're inseparable. 00:05:03.220 --> 00:05:07.700 The work that He does to save us is actually rooted in who He actually is. 00:05:08.335 --> 00:05:15.455 And I trust we have seen in these earlier sermons of the person of Christ that He is a Savior without sin. 00:05:16.015 --> 00:05:21.055 And these are three truths that are essential that we look at this morning. 00:05:21.055 --> 00:05:26.860 Three truths that are set out for us regarding our sinless savior. 00:05:26.860 --> 00:05:33.420 What are these three truths that we need to look at as we think of the Lord Jesus Christ being the sinless savior? 00:05:33.420 --> 00:05:38.185 Well, first of all, we need to think about the origins of Christ's sinlessness. 00:05:38.585 --> 00:05:42.425 Then we need to think of the evidence of Christ's sinlessness. 00:05:42.505 --> 00:05:46.585 And then we need to think of the certainty of Christ's sinlessness. 00:05:47.225 --> 00:05:51.970 So let's think first of all of the origins of Christ's sinlessness. 00:05:51.970 --> 00:05:54.610 The origins of Christ's sinlessness. 00:05:54.610 --> 00:06:06.290 Now the Bible shows us that every human being and where we are no exception to this is born with a corrupt inheritance from Adam our forefather the first human being. 00:06:06.895 --> 00:06:19.215 We have thought about that in different occasions, many occasions in fact, we looked at the Bible's covenant story and we saw that Adam in the Garden of Eden, of course, represented all his descendants, the whole human race. 00:06:19.450 --> 00:06:25.690 And we know in the Garden of Eden, God made with Adam and with Eve a covenant of works. 00:06:26.010 --> 00:06:30.170 And that structured the relationship between God and human beings. 00:06:30.250 --> 00:06:34.090 And in the covenant of works, Adam represented the entire human race. 00:06:34.090 --> 00:06:41.085 And it meant that what Adam did for good or for ill would implicate all of his descendants. 00:06:41.565 --> 00:06:44.605 Let me share you a little analogy to help you understand it. 00:06:45.005 --> 00:06:58.240 If you think of the actions of our government, when the government makes certain decisions, perhaps if they decide to declare war on state, every citizen is implicated in that particular decision. 00:06:58.320 --> 00:07:05.295 The government represents the people, and it means that everyone is included in the covenant made in the Garden of Eden. 00:07:05.295 --> 00:07:10.415 What Adam did as our representative implicated all of us as well. 00:07:11.215 --> 00:07:12.495 And you know what he did? 00:07:12.895 --> 00:07:15.855 You know that he broke the covenant in Eden. 00:07:15.855 --> 00:07:20.550 He disobeyed God's command, and he plunged the whole human race into sin. 00:07:20.790 --> 00:07:28.710 And that's what lies behind what Paul tells us in one Corinthians twelve twenty two, In Adam all die. 00:07:29.430 --> 00:07:31.350 We are all in Adam. 00:07:31.590 --> 00:07:34.470 We die physically, death came into the world at that point. 00:07:34.825 --> 00:07:43.305 But at a deeper level, we die spiritually, we're dead in Adam, our forefather, and we're all implicated in that broken covenant. 00:07:43.785 --> 00:07:51.620 So we're born into this world guilty, morally corrupt, and sin is rooted in our first moments of existence. 00:07:51.700 --> 00:08:01.860 And David talked about sin being rooted in our first moments of existence when he sings in Psalm 51 that he was sinful from the moment of his conception. 00:08:02.775 --> 00:08:06.695 In my mother's womb, I was born in sin. 00:08:06.695 --> 00:08:11.175 He didn't have to learn to sin and you don't have to teach a child to sin. 00:08:11.175 --> 00:08:11.975 You know that. 00:08:12.055 --> 00:08:18.850 Might say it comes naturally and it comes naturally because we've all got a twisted fallen nature. 00:08:18.930 --> 00:08:24.450 We're descendants of Adam, not just physically but spiritually, so in Adam all die. 00:08:25.570 --> 00:08:27.650 And you know the Lord Jesus is different. 00:08:28.130 --> 00:08:33.745 He's the single exception to that principle in all in Adam all die. 00:08:33.745 --> 00:08:34.065 Why? 00:08:34.065 --> 00:08:35.185 Because He's different. 00:08:35.985 --> 00:08:42.625 And to understand how the Lord Jesus is different, we need to go back to what we mentioned last time, the virgin conception. 00:08:43.240 --> 00:09:01.845 Yes, we're all familiar with the term the virgin birth and when we understand that in the context, yes, that's fine, but it was at his conception, it was at that moment when he was conceived in the virgin Mary that He was fully human and fully God and fully perfect and without sin. 00:09:02.325 --> 00:09:10.565 At that point the powerful working of the Holy Spirit sanctified His human nature from any stain of sin from the very point of conception. 00:09:10.885 --> 00:09:16.980 Isn't it interesting that we're talking this morning about conception? 00:09:17.060 --> 00:09:19.300 Life begins at conception. 00:09:19.780 --> 00:09:26.255 And we have in the city hall tomorrow being lit up celebrating abortion. 00:09:26.735 --> 00:09:32.175 And yet the Word of God clearly tells us that life begins at conception. 00:09:32.175 --> 00:09:33.295 It's so sad. 00:09:35.455 --> 00:09:44.530 His human heart was free of all pollution, of sin, of guilt, and that was the beginning point of his sinlessness, the moment of conception. 00:09:44.610 --> 00:09:50.370 And there never was a human being, Jesus, who was not united to a divine nature, to the Son of God. 00:09:50.535 --> 00:09:56.695 It's not as if God adopted a human being who had already existed and who'd been sinful and fallen. 00:09:56.695 --> 00:10:01.655 From the very moment, the first moment of His existence, Jesus was free from all sin. 00:10:02.710 --> 00:10:09.030 One exception in the human race, no pollution, no guilt, no sin resting upon Him. 00:10:09.590 --> 00:10:11.270 There's a mystery in that. 00:10:11.510 --> 00:10:12.790 How did that happen? 00:10:13.750 --> 00:10:14.870 How did God do that? 00:10:14.870 --> 00:10:24.665 No doubt we're dealing with things that are beyond what our little minds can really comprehend and we don't fully understand how sin is passed on from generation to generation. 00:10:24.985 --> 00:10:29.785 If we could, and if God wanted us to know, He would have told us so. 00:10:30.490 --> 00:10:36.490 But the virgin conception of Jesus is so important because it represents a break in the line of Adam. 00:10:36.570 --> 00:10:39.130 He was not born in the conventional way. 00:10:39.130 --> 00:10:41.130 You go to the shorter catechism. 00:10:41.290 --> 00:10:44.250 Question 16 gives an exact answer. 00:10:44.865 --> 00:10:50.545 Question 16 says, Did all mankind fall in Adam's first transgression? 00:10:50.625 --> 00:11:00.160 The answer comes back, All mankind descending from Adam by ordinary generation sinned in him and fell with him in his first transgression. 00:11:00.160 --> 00:11:02.560 Note the phrase ordinary generation. 00:11:03.040 --> 00:11:03.760 That matters. 00:11:03.760 --> 00:11:10.625 The ordinary process of conception, development and birth has been spoken about here. 00:11:10.625 --> 00:11:17.665 Jesus, we have seen and looked at that from the point of conception, He was without sin. 00:11:17.665 --> 00:11:21.025 He didn't descend from Adam by ordinary generation. 00:11:21.025 --> 00:11:28.090 He didn't have a human father, so the link was broken, and he was holy from the very first moment of his existence. 00:11:28.970 --> 00:11:40.915 A possible understanding of course of this or the real understanding is found in Scripture when the angel appeared to Mary and said, The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. 00:11:40.915 --> 00:11:45.235 Therefore, the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. 00:11:46.035 --> 00:11:51.235 And the Spirit was working from the very moment of the existence of Jesus' human nature. 00:11:51.235 --> 00:11:56.010 He did not descend from Adam in the usual way as we all do. 00:11:56.570 --> 00:12:04.570 In a spiritual sense, the Lord Jesus was not in Adam and He didn't bear the guilt and the sinfulness of Adam as we do. 00:12:05.475 --> 00:12:08.115 He wasn't a covenant breaker like we are. 00:12:08.755 --> 00:12:12.835 And that's why the virgin conception is so important theologically. 00:12:12.835 --> 00:12:16.355 It's not just a curiosity about Jesus's origin. 00:12:16.675 --> 00:12:25.630 It matters profoundly because it means the link is there with Adam set down the link that is actually broken. 00:12:25.950 --> 00:12:29.710 The Lord Jesus from his first moment was free of all sin. 00:12:29.870 --> 00:12:37.855 He escaped guilt, the corruption that all the rest of us share in and that means he has no sin of his own for which he needs to atone. 00:12:37.935 --> 00:12:46.655 And if Jesus had been sinful he would have to pay the price for his own sin and he couldn't help any of us because he would have had the burden of his own guilt to deal with. 00:12:47.150 --> 00:12:54.990 But because he's free of any guilt of any sin then he is equipped to be the savior of sinners. 00:12:55.230 --> 00:12:57.950 That's not a sinner saving other sinners. 00:12:57.950 --> 00:12:58.910 That's impossible. 00:12:59.345 --> 00:13:03.585 It's the sinless one saving other sinners and that's our Savior. 00:13:03.585 --> 00:13:07.345 He is without sin and He is able to save people like us. 00:13:07.425 --> 00:13:09.585 In Adam we're dead. 00:13:09.745 --> 00:13:11.745 We have no hope in ourselves. 00:13:11.745 --> 00:13:16.500 The origin of Christ's sinlessness is right back at his conception. 00:13:16.500 --> 00:13:20.820 The very moments of the existence of that human nature. 00:13:20.980 --> 00:13:25.940 He doesn't carry the burden of sin and guilt that we do when we come into this world. 00:13:26.020 --> 00:13:28.100 So get something straight this morning. 00:13:28.415 --> 00:13:38.815 As we think of our Savior He is sinless and we see the origins of His sinlessness because of His conception. 00:13:40.095 --> 00:13:45.480 And that leads us to think secondly about the evidence of Christ's sinlessness. 00:13:46.200 --> 00:13:48.200 The evidence of Christ's sinlessness. 00:13:48.600 --> 00:13:52.680 And in that testimony we look to the Bible when we think of this. 00:13:52.680 --> 00:13:55.800 We get a testimony in the Bible and the Bible is very clear. 00:13:55.880 --> 00:13:59.320 It gives us clear evidence with regard to his sinlessness. 00:14:00.135 --> 00:14:03.095 Take for example Hebrews chapter four and verse 15. 00:14:03.335 --> 00:14:12.935 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are yet without sin. 00:14:13.780 --> 00:14:18.820 He was tempted in every way just as we are yet without sin. 00:14:19.700 --> 00:14:22.020 And that's an amazing statement isn't it? 00:14:22.180 --> 00:14:23.540 That He was tempted. 00:14:23.620 --> 00:14:25.300 He underwent the temptations. 00:14:25.300 --> 00:14:27.780 That's why we read from Luke chapter four. 00:14:28.375 --> 00:14:30.775 It's one of the reasons we read from this passage. 00:14:30.775 --> 00:14:35.255 He knows the battle with temptation but he never gave in. 00:14:35.735 --> 00:14:37.095 He's free of sin. 00:14:37.815 --> 00:14:42.080 It's a reminder that sin is not an essential part of human nature. 00:14:42.080 --> 00:14:46.160 In fact sin actually reduces and undermines our humanity. 00:14:46.240 --> 00:14:54.480 Human beings are most fully human when they're in fellowship with God and if they're in fellowship with God that isn't spoiled by sin. 00:14:54.835 --> 00:14:57.395 They are as human as they can be. 00:14:57.795 --> 00:15:00.355 And that was Adam and Eve if you remember in the garden. 00:15:00.435 --> 00:15:12.870 In a certain sense, Adam and Eve were more fully human than we are because they enjoyed fellowship with God, no sin to spoil, nothing to take away from it. 00:15:13.190 --> 00:15:22.135 And when God walked in the cool of the day in the garden they would go and they would meet Him and they would talk with Him and it must have been amazing. 00:15:22.535 --> 00:15:24.055 They were fully human. 00:15:24.295 --> 00:15:34.695 They were the people of God and the people of God were such that well we have here the fact that they were free from sin. 00:15:34.695 --> 00:15:36.720 Adam and Eve were free from sin. 00:15:36.720 --> 00:15:39.520 They perfectly reflected the image of God. 00:15:39.840 --> 00:15:45.040 And the Lord Jesus Christ free of sin is indeed perfectly human to a degree that we are not. 00:15:45.040 --> 00:15:49.120 Imagine that our Savior is more human than we are. 00:15:50.205 --> 00:15:53.085 Usually don't think of it in that particular way, but it's true. 00:15:53.085 --> 00:15:56.605 There's no sin to spoil the image of God that He actually bore. 00:15:57.085 --> 00:16:06.610 You read the gospel records that you see over and over again in different settings and different circumstances, the sinlessness of Jesus is clearly taught to us. 00:16:07.570 --> 00:16:11.970 It stands out in contrast to the sin of the people around Him, even His own family. 00:16:12.450 --> 00:16:18.050 In His childhood we're told in Luke chapter two and verse 40, the favor of God was upon Him. 00:16:18.635 --> 00:16:21.915 Even his enemies had to acknowledge sinlessness. 00:16:22.235 --> 00:16:32.795 They didn't want to acknowledge that but it was true and if they could find one little imperfection, if they could find one little sin they would have pointed it out but they couldn't. 00:16:34.250 --> 00:16:44.650 In John chapter eight verse 46 he looked around at the crowd, he looked at the Pharisees, the religious leaders, the men that hated him, the men who would eventually plan his death. 00:16:44.650 --> 00:16:51.865 They would be the instruments of his condemnation and his death and he looks at them and he says, Which of you convicts me of sin? 00:16:52.265 --> 00:16:53.625 Can you imagine that? 00:16:54.265 --> 00:16:59.865 Could you imagine saying that to a group of people who hated you and loathed you who would find any fault in you? 00:17:02.270 --> 00:17:05.710 Could you turn right and say to them, Which of you convicts me of sin? 00:17:05.710 --> 00:17:07.470 You wouldn't dare do that. 00:17:07.950 --> 00:17:09.230 But Jesus did. 00:17:09.870 --> 00:17:11.550 And nobody could say a thing. 00:17:11.790 --> 00:17:14.590 If they could find a fault they would. 00:17:14.670 --> 00:17:16.910 But there was no response possible. 00:17:17.555 --> 00:17:25.475 That set the pattern for his life and it begins right back here in the passage we read from Luke chapter four in the temptations. 00:17:26.035 --> 00:17:32.835 Satan, not just in this occasion we're told at the end of the reading, he left him until a more opportune time. 00:17:33.340 --> 00:17:40.140 And Satan would come back and come back and come back, trying and trying by any means possible to draw Jesus into sin. 00:17:40.140 --> 00:17:51.775 And over and over again, the Savior stood fast and here in these three temptations, each time Jesus we know quotes from the book of Deuteronomy and that's an interesting place to go for an answer to temptation. 00:17:51.855 --> 00:17:57.055 Some of us might have maybe gone to the book of Deuteronomy for that, but Jesus did. 00:17:57.295 --> 00:17:59.215 But He stood fast in the face of temptation. 00:17:59.850 --> 00:18:04.090 And you see the same thing in the claims that Jesus made about himself. 00:18:04.410 --> 00:18:08.810 Jesus said in John chapter eight and verse 12, I am the light of the world. 00:18:08.890 --> 00:18:12.170 He was coming and saying, look I'm the source of all truth. 00:18:12.555 --> 00:18:17.755 He was saying, look, I am the very essence of holiness in the world. 00:18:19.115 --> 00:18:21.195 Who would dare make such a claim? 00:18:21.515 --> 00:18:25.595 Not one of us would dare to say and stand up and say, I am the light of the world. 00:18:25.850 --> 00:18:36.970 We're too conscious of the darkness of our own hearts but Jesus did and He could and it's a claim that no sinner could credibly make and yet here Jesus made it. 00:18:38.105 --> 00:18:47.465 He goes on later in the chapter in John chapter eight in verse 29, he says literally, I always am doing what is pleasing to my Father. 00:18:47.945 --> 00:18:50.905 I am doing always what is pleasing to my Father. 00:18:50.905 --> 00:18:53.590 Now again, we know our own hearts. 00:18:53.590 --> 00:18:55.350 Can we really say that? 00:18:55.590 --> 00:18:58.310 All the things that we do are pleasing to our Father. 00:18:58.790 --> 00:19:01.990 We might be willing to say, well, we're doing our best. 00:19:03.585 --> 00:19:07.105 That even might be an exaggeration, but not for Jesus. 00:19:07.185 --> 00:19:09.905 He could say, I always do what pleases Him. 00:19:10.225 --> 00:19:16.705 And what a claim He knew He was completely free from sin, no guilt, no stain, no mark of wrongdoing. 00:19:16.705 --> 00:19:23.160 He continually and habitually did His Father's will, walking in righteousness in a way we never do. 00:19:23.160 --> 00:19:25.720 And that's the view of the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:19:26.040 --> 00:19:28.840 And that was the view preached by the early church. 00:19:30.280 --> 00:19:40.895 When we move in on from the Gospels into the book of Acts, we start to listen to the apostles and others preaching the gospel and it's significant how they refer to the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:19:40.895 --> 00:19:45.055 They speak of the Lord Jesus Christ as being the Holy One, as the righteous one. 00:19:45.440 --> 00:19:53.120 And without any sense of inappropriateness, the church is always talking about Him as the Holy One, as the Righteous One. 00:19:53.360 --> 00:19:57.200 And they knew that nobody would be able to contradict the verdict that they had come to. 00:19:57.875 --> 00:20:02.675 In Acts chapter three and verse 14, he's called the holy and righteous one. 00:20:03.155 --> 00:20:16.700 Or when Stephen, if you remember, is defending himself against the hostile crowd in Acts chapter seven, he refers to Jesus as the righteous one, and that's who he saw at the Father's right hand as he left this world and his life passes into glory. 00:20:16.700 --> 00:20:18.380 He sees the righteous one. 00:20:19.100 --> 00:20:25.660 Now the people who were being addressed by the apostles and by Stephen, many of them would have remembered Jesus. 00:20:28.535 --> 00:20:35.415 Some of them at least would have known about him, and the church had no qualms about proclaiming the sinless one. 00:20:35.735 --> 00:20:40.535 They presented the sinlessness of Jesus as a fact that nobody could contradict. 00:20:41.770 --> 00:20:50.650 And now you know of course there have been religious leaders over the years who have said that they were perfect and well of course time goes by and they're exposed. 00:20:51.130 --> 00:20:53.450 They're a fraud, they're immoral, they're ungodly people. 00:20:54.765 --> 00:21:02.685 And the church had no fear that their claims about Jesus would ever be exposed as false because He was the righteous one. 00:21:02.765 --> 00:21:04.445 He was the holy one. 00:21:04.605 --> 00:21:09.725 And those who preached the gospel were fully conscious that nobody could deny that particular fact. 00:21:09.725 --> 00:21:13.460 They might not believe in Jesus but they couldn't find fault. 00:21:13.940 --> 00:21:16.900 They couldn't expose any sin in Him. 00:21:17.220 --> 00:21:22.340 And there are many other texts in the New Testament that we could turn to but we don't have time to this morning. 00:21:22.695 --> 00:21:34.535 But just a few examples, Hebrews seven and verse 26, Jesus is described as holy, innocent, unstained, separate from sinners. 00:21:35.160 --> 00:21:38.840 He's like us in every way, but He's separated in one respect. 00:21:38.840 --> 00:21:39.880 He's free from sin. 00:21:39.880 --> 00:21:41.080 He's free from guilt. 00:21:41.240 --> 00:22:07.250 In first Peter chapter two in verse 22, Peter who lived with Jesus for three years along with the rest of the disciples, he heard Him, he watched Him, he saw Him, and when He was in public ministry and when He saw Him in private and when He saw Him in unguarded moments, Peter was able to say in one Peter chapter two and verse 22, He committed no sin, neither did any deceit come out of his mouth. 00:22:07.890 --> 00:22:16.370 We think of the most godly people that we know and we wouldn't dare say of that person, He has committed no sin or She has committed no sin. 00:22:16.610 --> 00:22:27.045 But here's Peter knowing Jesus as well and Peter so conscious of his own sins and feelings can say of the Lord Jesus Christ, He committed no sin. 00:22:27.365 --> 00:22:29.605 The evidence of Christ's sinlessness. 00:22:30.005 --> 00:22:42.280 It's everywhere you look in the New Testament, in the Gospels, in the Acts, in the letters, over and over in the church is this profound conscious fact that the Lord Jesus Christ is sinless. 00:22:42.840 --> 00:22:49.515 It's a fact that could not be disproved by anybody that Jesus was free of all sin. 00:22:49.515 --> 00:22:57.675 He battled temptation and we see those temptations in Luke chapter four and another Gospels yet without sin. 00:22:58.315 --> 00:23:01.355 The origin of Christ's sinlessness. 00:23:01.970 --> 00:23:10.050 The evidence of Christ's sinlessness and thirdly and finally the certainty of Christ's sinlessness. 00:23:10.450 --> 00:23:12.370 The certainty of Christ's sinlessness. 00:23:12.370 --> 00:23:14.290 Now this is vital to the gospel. 00:23:15.155 --> 00:23:19.875 Jesus who is a sinner in any respect is not a savior. 00:23:19.875 --> 00:23:23.475 He cannot save sinners if He Himself is a sinner. 00:23:25.715 --> 00:23:33.150 It would be I suppose in many ways like a man drowning in a river and somebody jumps in who can't swim and drowns as well. 00:23:33.470 --> 00:23:34.990 That's no rescuer. 00:23:35.630 --> 00:23:44.270 That kind of person in spite of their enthusiasm and their zeal and their desire they can't save us because they can't swim themselves. 00:23:45.105 --> 00:23:49.265 A Jesus who's a sinner can't save other sinners. 00:23:49.505 --> 00:23:52.465 He needs a Savior Himself if that's the case. 00:23:52.465 --> 00:23:56.305 And that's why this is so important that we understand it and we believe it. 00:23:56.305 --> 00:23:59.185 The certainty of Christ's sinlessness. 00:24:00.820 --> 00:24:05.140 A question sometimes asked is well, could he have sinned? 00:24:06.420 --> 00:24:11.140 Okay he didn't sin but could he have sinned? 00:24:11.300 --> 00:24:14.740 Is it possible to say that Jesus could not sin? 00:24:15.805 --> 00:24:22.125 And we're dealing with a phrase that theologians call the impeccability of Christ. 00:24:23.085 --> 00:24:26.365 If he didn't sin but could he sin? 00:24:27.005 --> 00:24:29.965 Was that a possibility that he might have sinned? 00:24:32.310 --> 00:24:43.270 You know, some would say, Well, look, if he really shared our human nature, if he was like us in every respect, surely that human nature must have been fallen and imperfect. 00:24:43.685 --> 00:24:49.605 Now God might have acted to prevent him actually sinning, but surely the potential was there. 00:24:49.605 --> 00:24:51.125 The potential to sin was there. 00:24:51.125 --> 00:24:53.285 He might have, perhaps he could have. 00:24:53.285 --> 00:25:00.500 And after all, if you look into the Garden of Eden, people will argue, two perfect human beings, Adam and Eve, and they fell. 00:25:00.500 --> 00:25:01.540 They did fall. 00:25:03.780 --> 00:25:05.380 Is it the same with Jesus? 00:25:06.260 --> 00:25:09.355 Mighty have fallen, Mighty have sinned? 00:25:09.355 --> 00:25:10.635 Honey, the potential? 00:25:11.195 --> 00:25:16.155 Well, the Scriptures don't address specifically the issue of Christ's impeccability. 00:25:16.555 --> 00:25:21.675 So we've got to see what evidence we can gather from Scripture and deduce from it an answer. 00:25:22.330 --> 00:25:28.650 And remember we have said Jesus is fully God and fully man, two natures in union with one person. 00:25:28.650 --> 00:25:29.450 He's unique. 00:25:29.530 --> 00:25:34.410 There never has been and never will be anyone like Him, so He has a divine nature and He's got a human nature. 00:25:34.695 --> 00:25:41.975 The human nature was always united to His divine nature, but back to what we said at the beginning. 00:25:42.375 --> 00:25:48.935 Right from the moment of conception Jesus is God and man. 00:25:50.750 --> 00:25:54.750 Let us suppose that human nature sinned. 00:25:54.750 --> 00:25:56.510 What are the consequences going to be? 00:25:56.510 --> 00:25:58.350 The consequences are unthinkable. 00:25:58.350 --> 00:26:02.670 Can you imagine the divine nature of Christ united to the sinful human nature? 00:26:02.670 --> 00:26:03.630 It's unthinkable. 00:26:03.630 --> 00:26:12.485 Surely, in some way, the holiness of His divine nature would have been compromised, and then our views of God and His holiness, etc, would just collapse. 00:26:13.765 --> 00:26:26.450 If Jesus was truly God and truly man right from first moment, and we must conclude that because He is God, and it's impossible for this person, the God man to sin. 00:26:26.610 --> 00:26:28.210 It simply could not happen. 00:26:28.210 --> 00:26:35.785 The union of his divine nature with his human nature, it would seem entailed that he could not sin. 00:26:35.785 --> 00:26:42.505 It was impossible for Christ to sin in whatever temptation and whatever battle with the evil one, he could not sin. 00:26:43.225 --> 00:26:44.825 That throws up a question. 00:26:47.305 --> 00:26:52.740 Sometimes troubles Christians if he could not sin, were the temptations actually real? 00:26:53.540 --> 00:27:05.700 Here's Satan taking him up to the top of the mountain and he's taking him up to the top of the pinnacle in the temple and says, Throw yourself off and there's all the kingdoms and you'll have them if you bow down to me. 00:27:06.505 --> 00:27:10.025 And if Jesus couldn't sin, were those real temptations? 00:27:10.425 --> 00:27:17.145 When the letter to the Hebrews tells us he was tempted in every way as we are, how do we understand those temptations? 00:27:17.145 --> 00:27:24.490 You read the record, the gospels, and you know we have to see that there's a real contest taking place. 00:27:25.610 --> 00:27:30.250 But is it really a contest if there's no possibility of Jesus falling? 00:27:30.410 --> 00:27:36.775 Now again these are mysteries because we're dealing with the Savior who is God and man. 00:27:36.775 --> 00:27:43.335 How little our tiny minds understand these things, but they're questions that trouble people. 00:27:45.175 --> 00:27:52.700 Another question that comes into the mix is this, what what kind of attraction could these temptations have presented to the sinless Son of God? 00:27:54.060 --> 00:27:57.820 Was it all just a pretense that he couldn't fall? 00:27:58.300 --> 00:27:59.820 It wasn't really a temptation. 00:27:59.820 --> 00:28:04.295 How could he be attracted to these things that the devil came and the devil offered to him? 00:28:04.295 --> 00:28:12.855 And again, are things about this we may not understand, but if it isn't a real battle, then there isn't a real victory to be won here. 00:28:13.415 --> 00:28:22.410 Could it be that the temptations the devil offered him were to achieve a good end, to have the nations submitting to him, but to do it in an ungodly way? 00:28:23.290 --> 00:28:28.170 And to do it in a way other than the way that the Father had laid down for Jesus to do? 00:28:28.170 --> 00:28:39.585 A way that meant that he would go to the cross, he would suffer, he would die, he would rise again because Satan in every sense didn't care what Jesus did as long as he didn't die on the cross. 00:28:40.305 --> 00:28:43.665 And that's always what the devil is trying to get him to avoid. 00:28:44.270 --> 00:28:52.110 Go another way as long as it isn't the way of the cross because that's where Satan would be absolutely and utterly defeated. 00:28:53.710 --> 00:28:59.075 So the temptations are presented with a good end, the nations serving you. 00:28:59.955 --> 00:29:01.475 That's what the devil says. 00:29:01.875 --> 00:29:08.915 But Jesus knew the nations would serve Him when He went the way of the cross and died and rose again in victory. 00:29:09.210 --> 00:29:10.570 He would go God's way. 00:29:10.570 --> 00:29:20.890 He'd walk the hard path of suffering and death and not take Satan's shortcuts and where that the devil was trying to offer him. 00:29:21.845 --> 00:29:25.285 And we might wonder, well, we can't be sure. 00:29:25.285 --> 00:29:29.205 Did Jesus know in his human mind that he couldn't sin? 00:29:29.285 --> 00:29:34.325 Well, he didn't know, then perhaps it makes it easier to understand the battle of temptation. 00:29:34.700 --> 00:29:37.580 Gradually he would feel more and more the power of temptation. 00:29:37.660 --> 00:29:47.260 Only someone who has fully resisted temptation knows its true power, and we give up so often because we feel the full power of temptation. 00:29:47.260 --> 00:29:48.060 Jesus didn't. 00:29:48.215 --> 00:29:49.975 He knows the power of the enemy. 00:29:49.975 --> 00:29:51.095 He stood firm. 00:29:51.095 --> 00:29:52.855 At no point did he give in. 00:29:52.855 --> 00:29:56.775 He was tempted as we are, yet without sin. 00:29:57.735 --> 00:29:59.255 That's as much as we know. 00:30:00.560 --> 00:30:03.120 And that's as much as we need to know. 00:30:03.280 --> 00:30:06.080 The Lord has not told us more than that. 00:30:06.080 --> 00:30:19.875 If He did, we'd probably just be baffled anyway, but we know enough because the unanimous testimony of Scripture is this: The Lord Jesus Christ our Savior did not and could not sin. 00:30:19.955 --> 00:30:25.075 He was tempted yet without sin and therefore he had no need of salvation. 00:30:25.075 --> 00:30:32.210 He had no sin of his own that required it to be dealt with, and as a result he's able to save sinners like us. 00:30:32.290 --> 00:30:35.890 The certainty of Christ's sinlessness. 00:30:37.170 --> 00:30:48.305 So the sinless Savior, and it's important that we understand this, The origin of Christ's sinlessness, the evidence of Christ's sinlessness, the certainty of Christ's sinlessness. 00:30:48.625 --> 00:30:59.790 And as we explore in the coming weeks the wonder of salvation, we will, God willing, see Christ is able to take our sin and our guilt and to bear our punishment, to take our place. 00:30:59.950 --> 00:31:02.670 We deserve to die the death that Jesus died. 00:31:03.070 --> 00:31:06.750 And that's what our sin earned and earns us. 00:31:06.830 --> 00:31:17.445 But here's one free of all sin, fully equipped to save, to bring us out of our lostness and out of our darkness into a kingdom of light of hope to provide full salvation. 00:31:18.245 --> 00:31:22.725 Does it matter whether Jesus was sinless or not? 00:31:23.330 --> 00:31:24.770 It matters so much. 00:31:25.090 --> 00:31:31.730 So much because a Savior who is not Himself without sin is no Savior. 00:31:31.970 --> 00:31:45.795 And praise the Lord, we have a Savior free of all sin who triumphed in the battle of temptation and who took our sin and our guilt and our deadness in Adam and gives us eternal life and salvation, and such a great salvation it is. 00:31:46.275 --> 00:31:54.290 And the more we think about the person of the Lord Jesus, and the more we think of the work of the Lord Jesus, surely we say, what a wonderful salvation. 00:31:54.450 --> 00:31:58.130 What a wonderful salvation that is ours freely given. 00:31:59.490 --> 00:32:04.450 If you haven't received that salvation, I say to you today, don't delay. 00:32:04.930 --> 00:32:16.585 There's no other hope for any sinner, for you, for me, for anyone else, because we're all dead, dead, dead spiritually in Adam. 00:32:17.785 --> 00:32:31.930 Only the sinless righteous Savior is able to save, and He's able to save you if you repent of your sin and you believe on Him. 00:32:32.570 --> 00:32:34.490 May God give you the grace to do so.