THE SINLESS SON OF GOD (2)

Victor M. Eskew

 

INTRODUCTION

 

A.   Last Sunday, we began a study entitled:  “The Sinless Son of God.”

1.    Five times the New Testament declares that Jesus had no sin (Ex., Heb. 4:15).

 

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.

 

2.    Jesus was accused of sins, but He was never convicted of any sin or of any crime.

3.    His mode of overcoming sin involved His strong commitment to doing the Father’s will.

a.    Whatever the Father commanded, He did.

b.    When His will conflicted with the Father’s will, He yielded His will to that of the Father.

 

B.   Even though all of the things we have mentioned are true, there are still some who will affirm that Jesus did commit sins while He lived on earth.  In our lesson today, we want to examine some examples that some use against the Christ.  We have entitled our lesson:  “The Sinless Son of God (2).”

 

I.             THE ANGER OF JESUS WHEN HE CLEANSED THE TEMPLE

 

A.   Jesus cleansed the temple on two different occasions (John 2:13-17; Matt. 21:12-13).

1.    When some see Jesus’ actions on this occasion, they believe that He commited sin (John 2:15-16).

 

And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables; and said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house a house of merchandise.

 

a.    There is no doubt that Jesus was angry.

b.    His anger was demonstrated in the cleansing of the temple.

2.    Some believe Jesus committed more than one sin.

a.    The sin of anger and rage.

b.    The sin of failing to abide by the laws of men.

c.    The sin of assault and battery.

d.    Quote:  “So instead of being obedient to the governing laws, or reporting the thieves to the proper authorities, Jesus decides to become as a thug and invoke his own sort of vigilante mob justice and began to assault these men and scourged/beat them up with a painful corded whip. What a HYPOCRITE!” (The Immaculate DECEPTION?” The Virgin Birth Lie!!: YES, JESUS DID SIN TOO! THE SIX MAJOR SINS OF JESUS!! (derrickbowdown2yhwh.blogspot.com).

 

B.   Several comments are in order.

1.    First, these men were committing sin in the way they were doing business.  They were both extorting and robbing those who came to the temple to purchase animals for sacrifice. 

a.    Jesus told them:  “Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house a house of merchandise” (John 2:16). 

b.    During the second cleansing, Jesus said:  “…It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves” (Matt. 21:13).

2.    Second, if these actions were being conducted in the temple, these individuals had the approval of the religious authorities to be there.  It would have been a useless endeavor to try to correct something upon which they had put their stamp of approval.

3.    Third, the expression of anger is not necessarily a sin. 

a.    Some anger can be sinful (Eph. 4:31).

 

Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you with all malice.

 

b.    It is possible to be angry and sin not (See Eph. 4:26). 

 

Be ye angry, and sin not:  let not the sun go down upon your wrath.

 

c.    Jesus’ anger was righteous indignation against extortioners and thieves. 

4.    Fourth, there is a law that is higher than man’s law. 

a.    It is the law of God. 

b.    Man may allow something sinful to happen, but this does not mean it is proper to follow along with it.

5.    Fifth, the Bible nowhere tells us that Jesus smote anyone with the whip.

a.    Whips were normally used to drive animals in the direction one wants them to go.

b.    The text does not reveal that Jesus hit anyone with the whip.  That is something the critic injects into the text that is not there.

6.    Sixth, Jesus was God on earth. 

a.    What He saw ignited His righteous zeal (John 2:17).

 

And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.

 

b.    He did what the religious authorities of His day refused to do.

7.    Seventh, Jesus was fulfilling the prophecies of the Old Testament (See Ps. 69:9).  Would the Holy Spirit have prophesied of a sin that the Messiah was going to commit?

 

II.           HEALING ON THE SABBATH DAY

 

A.   The Sabbath Day was supposed to be a day of rest for the Jews (Exo. 20:8-10a).

 

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.  Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work:  but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God:  in it thou shalt not do any work…

 

1.    The Lord was strict about keeping the Sabbath (Ex., the man who picked up sticks, Num. 15:32-36, esp. v. 35).

 

And the Lord said unto Moses, The man shall be surely put to death:  all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp.

 

2.    The Jews were also very strict about keeping the sabbath, especially after they endured the 70 years of Babylonian captivity.

 

 

 

B.   Jesus healed individuals on the sabbath.

1.    There are seven recorded miracles of the Christ that were done on the sabbath day.

a.    The man with an unclean spirit (Mark 1:21-28)

b.    Peter’s mother-in-law (Mark 1:29-31)

c.    The man with the withered hand (Mark 3:1-6)

d.    The woman with an infirmity (Luke 13:16-17)

e.    The man with dropsy (Luke 14:1-6)

f.     The man who was lame thirty-eight years (John 5:1-18)

g.    The man who was born blind (John 9:1-16)

2.    On at least four of these occasions the Jewish religious leaders were present There were times when they confronted Jesus for violating the sabbath.

a.    Luke 13:14

 

And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the sabbath day, and said unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to work:  in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the sabbath day.

 

b.    John 9:16

 

Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the sabbath day.

 

C.   Jesus confronted these accusations in several ways.

1.    Question:  Were acts of mercy forbidden on the sabbath? (Mark 3:4).

 

And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil?  To save life, or to kill?  But they held their peace.

 

2.    The hypocrisy of the religious leaders (Luke 13:15; 14:5)

 

The Lord then answered him, and said, Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering?

 

a.    If they could loose an animal, why couldn’t Jesus loose a human from suffering?

b.    A human is of much more value than an animal.

3.    Two additional arguments (Mark 2:27-28)

 

And he said unto them, the sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:  therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.

 

a.    The sabbath is made for man, and not for the sabbath.

b.    The Son of man is Lord of the sabbath.

 

III.         DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE

 

A.   At the trial of Jesus, false witnesses were brought against Jesus.

 

B.   One of the accusations made against the Christ was that He said He would destroy the temple and build it in three days (Matt. 26:60b-61).

1.    If He didn’t do it, He would have been a liar.

2.    If He did do it, He would have destroyed the holy place of God.

 

C.   The answer lies in the definition of the word “temple.”

1.    Jesus did not have reference to the physical temple in Jerusalem.

2.    Jesus was talking about the temple of His body (John 2:21).

 

But he spake of the temple of his body.

 

3.   LESSON:  Words have more than one meaning.  Before we make accusations against people, we must first come to understand the meaning attached to the words they use. 

a.    Example 1:  “I was inspired when I preached that lesson last Sunday.

b.    Example 2:  The meaning of the phrase “Son of God” as used by the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Mormons.

 

CONCLUSION

 

A.   There are many who have made false accusations against Jesus in order to claim that He was a sinner.

 

B.   The problem with accusations is that many will believe the accusations without really investigating the reality of the situation.

1.    Did Jesus get angry?  Yes.  But, His anger was righteous, and He hurt no one at the temple that day.

2.    Did Jesus heal on the sabbath?  Yes, but there were cases that involved mercy that allowed an individual to display mercy on the sabbath.

3.    Did Jesus say He would destroy the temple and build it again in three days?  Yes, and He did.  But, it was the temple of His body and not the physical temple.

 

C.   The reality is that the charges against Jesus are always false, trite, outlandish, or all of the above. 

 

D.   Christians can confidently affirm that Jesus is “The Sinless Son of God.”