The writer of this article then went on to suggest that this review was no big deal. Sinners, he maintained, may reject God, but they do not necessarily reject the good.

And, of course, there is an element of truth. Nobody who has taken the time to investigate the matter believes that Christianity teaches that all men are as bad as they possibly can be. The fact that there is some good left in people is testimony to the common grace of God in restraining wickedness - it is no proof of the irrelevance of the concept of sin. Banishing a word as being out dated does not however banish the reality to which that word refers. Would that life were so simple!

If we were to ask in Herne Bay this evening the question "What is sin?", I'm sure we would hear many different answers. It is a question that has frequently been asked down through the centuries. The answer given in the famous Westminster Shorter Catechism remains difficult to improve upon:

"Sin is disobeying or not conforming to God's law in any way."

Such a definition embraces the various nuances of the word that is employed in the Bible – sin involves missing the mark, it includes wandering from the path of honour or uprightness, it contains the idea of erring and it comprises the violation of God's law in thought, word and deed.

Sin, whether we employ the word or not, addresses a reality of everyday life, a reality which affects each and every one of us and which, if not satisfactorily dealt with, will have lasting and devastating consequences.

The Bible has much to say about sin and much to say concerning what God has done in providing a definitive solution for the problem of human sin. And this evening we are going to focus upon the amazing fact that, alone amongst all other men and women, Jesus was and is completely exempt from personal sin.

Jesus Forces the Issue

The discussion which leads up to Jesus asking his question that we find in verse 46 does not appear to be a very calm one at all. Although the people to whom Jesus is speaking are described as being "believers" it becomes clear as the discussion unfolds that their "believing" is very deficient indeed. And this deficiency has become apparent chiefly because Jesus forced the issue. He did not take their profession of faith at face value, accepting it and applauding it. Rather he challenged and probed in order to elucidate the truth.

How strange that seems to us today! We want to do everything we can to be charitable and if a person says he believes then that must be true! Charitable – or naive? Perhaps we simply lack the courage of serious love. What a dreadful thing to applaud spurious faith!

This is something Jesus does not do. To those who make a profession of faith he confronts and challenges with his teaching. He knows that his sheep will hear his voice and will not ultimately reject what he has to say but receive it even though it may well surprise them. But he does not want to leave people in error.

And so as Jesus leads the discussion provoking ever more hostile responses he reveals very serious misconceptions and failure to understand who he himself is and consequently what he has come to do. This is not nitpicking for it is absolutely essential to have clear, precise and accurate views of the Lord Jesus Christ. The world's preference may well be forvaguegeneralities – for a warm fuzziness but - that is not God's way.

It would seem that Jesus deliberately orients the conversation in such a way as to bring the question of his own sinlessness very much to the fore:

"Which of you convinces me of sin?"

The question is asked as his hearers become progressively annoyed and disillusioned by what he teaches and in their disillusionment they turned to hostile accusations.

But accusations are one thing, proof is an altogether different thing! Jesus by this question declares that they are totally unable of proving their accusations against him – he is guilty of no sin, not even one!

What a claim this is! And how important a claim it is! If the claim were untrue, then Jesus would be utterly incapable of successfully carrying out the mission that had been entrusted to him by the Father. If this claim were untrue, then no salvation would have been secured for us. If his claim were false, then we will all have to give an answer for our own sin and answer simply cannot afford to give.

Because the claim is of such importance we should not be a bit surprised to find that survival contains multiple testimonies to Jesus' innocent and impeccable character. Let me direct your attention to some of these testimonies now.

Testimonies to Jesus' Character

1. The Old Testament Testimony

2. Angelic Testimony

3. Jesus' own testimony

4. The Father's Testimony

5. Apostolic Testimony

6. The Testimony of a Blind Man Healed

7. The Testimony of the Uncommitted

8. The Testimony of His Enemies

The Old Testament Testimony

The sacrificial system of the old Testament included the offering in sacrifice of unblemished sacrificial animals. For an animal to be used acceptably in the sacrificial system it have to be a perfect specimen.

New Testament writers concur in interpreting Jesus' death as a sacrificial offering to pay the price of sin.

Peter wrote:

1Peter 1:19 "but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot."

Similarly, the apostle Paul could speak of the death of Christ as the sacrifice of "our Passover lamb". (1Corinthians 5:7)

The Writer to the Hebrews also spoke about the Lord Jesus Christ offering himself as a single sacrifice whereby he was able to perfect for all time what the Old Testament sacrifices could not do. He had come in order to do the will of God, he was perfect. (Hebrews 10:7, 9)

Angelic Testimony

When the Angel Gabriel appeared to Mary with the news that she was going to bear a child he specifically described the character of the one to be born:

Luke 1:35 "And he Angel answered her, "the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the most high will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy – the son of God."

Now a verse like this on its own would not be conclusive. Holy can simply mean "set apart" without necessarily implying anything about the moral quality of the person involved. However, when taken in consideration with other verses we are justified in reading "holy" here in its fullest sense.

Jesus' Own Testimony

The very fact that Jesus asks his hearers the question that we are considering this evening is tantamount to claiming to be without sin. But this is by no means the only evidence we have.

When Jesus went to John the Baptist and presented himself for baptism at first John was reluctant to proceed. Do you remember what Jesus said to him at that particular time?

Matthew 3:15 "But Jesus answered him, "Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfil all righteousness."

From the very outset, Jesus was concerned not simply to do some things right but to do all things right. Later, as he was coming towards the end of his three years of Ministry, he could look back and declare that his life had been exemplary in every way:

John 15:10 "If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love."

A little earlier, he told his disciples that Satan has never succeeded in getting his hooks into him;

John 14:30-31 "I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, but I do as the Father has commanded me."

The ascended Christ also dictated letters addressed to 7 churches – these are found in the book of Revelation. Listen to how he describes himself as he writes to the church in Philadelphia:

Revelation 3:7 "the words of the holy one, the true one."

The Father's Testimony

Let's go back again to the event of Jesus baptism. We've already noted that Jesus spoke of "fulfilling all righteousness" and when he did so John consented to baptise him. The next thing that we read is that as Jesus came up out of the water the Spirit of God descended upon him and a voice from heaven spoke:

Matthew 3:17 "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased."

What approbation from the God who is "of purer eyes then to see evil", from the God who "cannot look at wrong". (Habakkuk 1:13)

In Acts chapter 3 after healing a lame beggar Peter preaches to the crowd. He begins by insisting that the healing is not to be attributed to any power that he or John might have and he then goes on to speak about the Lord Jesus Christ. He describes Jesus in a number of ways – he is God's servant, he is also "the Holy and Righteous one". This was not the way in which his Jewish hearers evaluated the Lord Jesus. Peter points out the real contrast between how the Jews had assessed Jesus and how God the Father had reacted:

a. the Jews delivered him over, denied him and asked for a murderer in his place thus killing him

b. God the Father on the other hand raised him from the dead and glorified him

The Father's full approval is hereby given to the one that Peter calls "the Holy and Righteous one".

Apostolic Testimony

Both Peter and John had the opportunity of observing Jesus Christ close-up. As members of the apostolic band they had privileged access to the Lord Jesus Christ, access that was not available to all. For three years they followed him closely, listening to him, hearing him teach, watching him and his relationships with all those who came to him. If he was at fault in any way these other men who were best placed to discover it. And what was their testimony?

On one occasion, Peter was so overwhelmed by the Lord Jesus that he cried out:

Luke 5:8 "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord."

Later in life, Peter wrote to encourage Christians to go on trusting in the Lord and as he wrote he reflected on his experience of the Lord Jesus:

1Peter 2:22 "He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth."

1Peter 3:18 "for Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous"

Never once did Peter see Jesus doing something that was wrong, never once did he hear him after anything that was wrong. This man was righteous with a perfect righteousness.

Nor is it different when we turn to consider what John had to say about him. Writing in his first letter about the universality of sin John sets Jesus apart as part of the solution and not of the problem:

1John 2:1 "My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous."

1 John 3:5 "You know that he appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin."

Paul is equally forthright:

Romans 5:19 " For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous."

Or again:

2 Corinthians 5:21 "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."

The writer to the Hebrews held exactly the same view of the sinlessness of the Saviour:

Hebrews 4:15 "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin."

Or again:

Hebrews 7:26 "For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens."

The Blind Man's Testimony

After having been healed by Jesus, the man who was formerly blind was questioned by the authorities. They were looking for some means of discrediting what had taken place. According to this man's simple logic the matter was irrefutable:

John 9:31 "We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him."

The Testimony of the Uncommitted

I'm not sure that this is the best way to describe the collective testimony of this disparate group of people. But all that they have to say concords perfectly with what we have already seen:

There was Pilate's wife:

Matthew 27:19 Pilate's "wife sent word to him, "have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered much because of him today in a dream."

Or Pilate himself for that matter:

Matthew 27:23 "And he said, "Why, what evil has he done?"

And of course there is the centurion who witnessed the crucifixion:

Luke 23:47 "Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, “Certainly this man was innocent!”"

The Testimony of His Enemies

Judas who betrayed our Lord was struck with remorse over what he had done returned crying out to the Jewish authorities:

Matthew 27:4 "I have sinned by betraying innocent blood."

The action of those same Jewish leaders in employing false witnesses in their unsuccessful attempts to find a legal reason for executing Jesus itself speaks volumes of their inability to condemn him – he was sinless!

Final Words of Application

We should not overlook this simple fact that is so clearly laid out for is in Holy Scripture.

We are so used to imperfect people. Everyone gathered in this place this evening is tainted by sin. Indeed everyone we have ever met has been affected to a greater or lesser extent by this most dreadful of curses. But simply because we're all in the same boat must never be allowed to minimize the gravity of sin. Left undealt with sin will consign each and every one of us to an indescribable eternity – shut out of the blessings of God's most glorious presence as we are left exposed only to His unmitigated and unmitigating wrath.

Jesus life of sinless perfection should stand out to us like a beacon – warning us off dangerous rocks and calling us home to safe haven in himself alone.

It matters what we believe! It matters that our belief is solidly founded. It matters greatly to the whole scheme and plan of salvation. Our sin must be dealt with if we are to be saved – we cannot possibly save ourselves and God cannot pretend that our sin doesn't exist. Our sin must be atoned for – a sacrifice must be offered and it must be a sacrifice of sufficient merit and sufficient quality to answer for us.

Jesus' life as the incarnate Son of God has sufficient merit – infinite merit – His life can substitute effectively for all those who will come to Him and place their trust in Him. But is His life of sufficient quality to stand before the bar of God for those He represents?

In order for Him to do so He must Himself be without sin, without the slightest, smallest, hint of personal sin. Only so can His sacrifice accomplish the purposes of God.

What do you make of the sinlessness of Jesus? Is it a subject that thrills your own heart and soul? Finally, here is a man who has fully satisfied all that God so righteously demanded of Him. And what a wonderful life it was. Not a life lived away in the splendid isolation of some monastic existence but the life of a real man who was so attractive that all kinds of people found a warm welcome and a transforming power as they came to Him and placed their trust in Him.

As Jesus' life is the only sinless life He is the only one who can save us! No other can pay the price of sin on our behalf!

Notice too that none will be able on the judgement day to complain to God that the standards were simply set too high, that none was able to keep them and so therefore none should be excluded from heaven. The Son of Man will be standing there, indeed the Father has placed the responsibility for judging into His hands, and He has kept the righteous requirement of the law. There will be no excuse for those who are not in Christ.

So come to Christ, come to Christ and rejoice for in Him we have the exact Saviour we stand in need of – a Saviour who, being utterly and completely without sin became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him!

To God be the Glory for such a wonderful salvation!!

Amen and Amen.

******

64 Sunnyhill Road, Herne Bay, Kent. CT6 8LU