[0:00] The First Epistle of Peter Verse 21 1 Peter chapter 2 Reading from verse 21 For even here unto where he called Because Christ also suffered for us Leaving us an example that he should follow his steps Who did no sin
[1:00] 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 judged righteously Who his own self Bear our sins in his own body on the tree That we being dead to sins Should live unto righteousness By whose stripes ye were healed For given as sheep going astray But are now returned unto the shepherd And bishop Of your souls Last Sabbath morning
[2:04] We endeavor to deal with The 21st verse And this morning As we shall be enabled We shall gather together our thoughts On the 22nd and the 23rd verses Namely 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 judged righteously Generally speaking
[3:09] We have here The character Of the Lord Jesus Set before us As it was expressed Both in what he did And in what he did not It is said of him That he did No sin Neither was guile Found in his mouth Who when he was reviled Reviled not I guess When he suffered He threatened not But committed himself To him
[4:09] That judged Righteously Again we may remind ourselves Of the fact That this is said of him As the example Of the church The example He left Of bearing Patiently The suffering That came upon him For Well doing If ye do well And suffer for it And bear this Patiently This is acceptable To God For even Christ Leaving us An example And this is the example
[5:10] He did Lose it Neither was guile Found in his mouth What an example Now if he were nothing But an example This would be But to mock Our impotence To laugh at us In our distress He did no sin And he is the example The conclusion Is irresistible Those who name His name Ought To do No sin If he is to be That example But the apostle
[6:13] Goes further He says Neither was guile Found in his mouth There wasn't even a suspicion Of deceit Of hypocrisy Of lack of integrity In all his doings And in all his thoughts The sinlessness Of Jesus Is most emphatically Set before us here And let us always remember That this in itself Is a moral merit In the chaos Of man's sin
[7:16] In a world Distorted By wrongdoing That appears One who is So far removed From this general condition As to stand On a plane of his own This is nothing short Of And nothing other than A mirror From the anthropological The sociological The sociological And the psychological This is a miracle The sinlessness Of Jesus Is Something that is set
[8:17] Before us Not only As our example But as a matter Of the greatest Wonder Now unfortunately In the history Of the church There were those Who held To the sinlessness Of Jesus And yet Who disputed His deed That we take it Is an impossible position This is Of such an aim That We must take One of two positions And third Is impossible It is All down In the very nature Of things
[9:18] We must Adhere To the sinlessness Of Jesus And therefore To his deity Or We must Let's go To go We cannot Hold to the one And not to the other As is always The case In this connection We are confronted With two alternatives And a third Is impossible We must Either Allow his claims His own claims For himself And His servants Claim for him
[10:18] We must Allow This Or else We must Place him On the level Of a deceiver If not On the level Of a madman These are The issues That confront us There is No room left For patronizing Nonsense No room left For exhausting The example Of Jesus And Making him Out to be A mere man The data Furnished Excludes That conclusion His sinlessness Is An irresistible Proof
[11:18] A conclusive Proof Of the validity Of his claims That he was And is Not a mere man But God In our nature As we so often Remind you That is not Easy to believe Only the unthinking Would for a moment Suggest Far less Mentee That it is easy To believe It is It isn't easy To believe At all It appears To contradict The basic Exercise Of man's Interfect It isn't easy
[12:18] No man Can say That Jesus Christ Is wrong Except Through the Holy Ghost No man Can say That he is wrong Except Through the Holy Ghost That's the testimony Of scripture And it is the testimony That meets Squarely The whole case It meets The condition Of man Who Whatever he may think And whatever He has been taught Will not accept That God Was manifest In the flesh The human intellect Rebells against that It will not accept It Whatever teaching One may have had But
[13:19] What the human intellect Rebells against It's not necessary To That is What we would demand Is not necessarily The truth Certainly the truth As it appears to us Which is a different Matter entirely And how When does A man believe This That Jesus Christ Is Lord When he has The evidence Belief Is impossible But on the basis Of evidence And only The Holy Spirit Can supply The evidence The evidence That will make A man believe That Jesus Christ Is Lord The evidence That will Make him Worship With another Says My Lord
[14:19] And My God He did No sin A more Miracle We repeat Neither Was a guy In Found In his Mark Examined Cross Examined And Cross Examined Again All The judges Had to Return The same Burden I find No Fosses And that Is recorded For The information Of All Generations Despite The sentence Of condemnation There is The word I find
[15:20] No fault In it So Pilate Said So Herod Said So The devil Said So God Said The same Testimony He did No sin Or The form And the Original Is even Stronger Than this It means Who never Did sin Neither Was there At any Time Guile found In his Most Who never Did sin Again Let us Remind Ourselves That This Is The Example There Is No Excuse For Sin Not For The Slightest Sin If
[16:21] There Is Such No Excuse What So There May Be A Lot Of Explanation But There Is No Justification For Sin At All It Cannot Be Justified In The Moral Universe Of God But There Is Sin You Say Oh Yes There Must Be Sin As Things Are That Is True But There Is No Justification For It There Is Explanation Of Course It May Be Explained But Never Justified And May We Have This At Least May We Have This Much Of The Spirit Of Truth That We Will Not Justify Our Sins Perhaps
[17:22] There Is Nothing So Near The Hardness Of Heart Which Bespeaks Reprobation Man Is The Effort Of Man To Justify The Sin It Is Bad Enough To Sin But It Is Worse When People Try To Justify It To Themselves Or To Others There Is No Room Here For That He Did No Sin And He And He Only Is The Ex Up Neither Was Guile Found In His Mouth You Remember What James Says If A Man Is Able To Bridle His Tongue That Is A Perfect Man Able Also To Bridle
[18:22] His Whole Body What The Simileness Of Jesus Extends To Every Particular Of His Activity To Every Particular Of His Moral Nation There Isn't That Hint A Suspicion Of Moral Corruption To Be Found In About Him At All This Then Is The One Of Whom Peter Is Speaking And He Has Asserted This Before He Has Asserted This In The First Chapter When He Says He Have Not Been Redeemed From Your Vain Conversation By Such Things As Silver And Gold But By The Precious Blood Of
[19:22] Christ As The Blood Of Allah Without Blemish And Without Spot Here He repeats The same Thing In Different Words There Was No Guile What Is Guile Guile Guile But The word Guile Is Not Often Used Nowadays Its Equivalent Is A More Prevalent Use Namely Deceit There Was No Deceit In This World In This Particular Connection It Means He Made No Effort To Escape The Verge That Was Passed
[20:23] On After He Had Been Arrested After He Had Been Brought To The Tribunal Of Pilate And Of Herod And Of The Chief Priests He Could Easily Have So Presented His Own Kiss As To Make His Condemnation Impossible You Know There's A Way Of Presenting Cases And The Same Case Can Be Presented In Many Different Ways Sometimes It Can Be Presented With Guile Or Deceit There May Be Nothing Untrue In What He Says Yet
[21:25] The Facts Are So Arranged As To Give A Different Impression From What The Actual Facts Are Truth As Someone Has Said Depends As As As As As As An Actual Statement Now A Case Can Be Presented In Such A Way As To Give It An Entirely Different Slant From From What It Is In Actual Fact Now In The Case Of Jesus And Perhaps This This Stands Out More Prominently Than Anything Else There Is In The Slightest Effort To Evade The Point Of The Accusations Brought Against There Is No Resort
[22:25] To Deceit In The Slightest Degree When He Does Speak He Speaks The Facts Plainly So That No One Is Left Endurbed One Was Before The Tribunal Of The High Priest The Charge Was That He Had Blasphemed That He Had Said He Was The Son Of God Now He Is Asked About This Art Thou The Son Of God His Reply Is Direct Up To The Point I Am I Am In Another Way We Have It In The
[23:25] Aramaic Idiot Where It Is Said Those He That I Am That Means Exactly I Am And There Was No Need To Call Any More Witnesses That's What Caiaphas Said What Further Need Have We Of Witnesses We Have Heard From His Own The Blasphemy But He Acts As Matthew Tells Us Hence For Nevertheless Nevertheless Nevertheless Hence For He Shall See The Son Of Man Sitting On The Right Hand Of The Glory Of God There Is No Attempt
[24:25] Made Their Made To Evade The Charge There Was No Guile Found In This Man And Perhaps Peter Just Think Of The Thing Which He Himself Had Witnessed Maybe And It Is Very Like That He Is Living Again But Never To Be Forgot Night In The Palace Of The High Priest As He Contrasted The Conduct Of Jesus With His Own Conduct There We See The Lord Of Globe In All The Majesty Of His Untainted Character Standing In The Midst Of His Enemies And
[25:27] Of Course There Is No Trials So Severe As The Trial A Man Has To Face In The Midst Of His Enemies It Is The Way We Conduct Ourselves In The Midst Of Our Enemies That Shows What We Are Made Of Now If You Contrast The Quiet Dignity The Guindlessness Of Jesus With Peter's Conduct When He Realized He Was In The Midst Of His Enemies He Became A Coward A Liar A Deceiver He Was Very Brave In The Garden He Took A Sword He Was In The Midst Of Friends There He Took
[26:27] A Sword And Cut Off The Right Deer Of The High Priest Serve Around But In The Palace Of The High Priest He Has Nothing To Say He Wants To Evade All Questions He He He Wants To Hide Himself But He Wasn't Successful In That There Were Those Who Saw And Recognized Him And He Has Resort To Subterfuge And Deceit I I Am Not I Am Not This Man's Desire I Am Not Probably Peter's Thinking of This As He Pens These Words He Never Sinned Neither
[27:28] Was Guile Or Deceit Found In His Mouth When He Was Reviled He Reviled Not Again And This Is Another Outstanding Characteristic An Outstanding Feature Of The Trial Of Jesus How Of Endure He Answered Not A Word He Answered Not A Word As The Prophet Long Ago Had Predicted He Is Brought As A Lamb To The Slot And As A Sheep Before Her
[28:28] Sheer Is Dumb So He Opened Not His Mouth He He He Gave No Ask So That Pilate Marked There Were So Many Strange Things About This Triumph Pilate He Had Never Met One Like This Before Whatever Was Brought Against Him That Is Whatever Of Her Personal Need Was Brought Against Him He He Did Not Deny He Only Replied When The Interest Of Truth Demanded
[29:29] He Never Spoke For The Sake Of Clearing Himself Of A Charge He Certainly Never Spoke To Deny What The False Witnesses Brought Against Him When He Was Reviled When He Was Charged With Being A Cheat And A Mad Man He Reviled Not Again When He Suffered He Threatened Not Now Here As Always There Is A Direct Connection Between The Propositions Of The Apostle When He Was Reviled Did He Suffered When He Was Reviled Did He Suffer He Certainly Did Only
[30:29] He Himself Knows What Is Suffered In Being Reviled When He Was Numbered With The Transgressions Charged With Hypocrisy Deceit And Ungodliness He Suffered But That Was Not All His Sufferings Pilate Scourged Him Yet He Tread Not He He Never Spook To Remind Pilate Of The Consequences Of His Actions He
[31:29] Threatened Not Now Men Have Various Ways Of Threatening They Threaten Those In Whose Power They Find Themselves They Threaten Them With Vengeance Of Some Kind Either With The Vengeance Of Man Or With The Vengeance Of God He Never Failed He Never Even Said God Will Look After You For This Or God Will Have Entry What Did He Say Father Forgive Them For We Know Not What They Do He Threatened Them Not He
[32:30] Prayed For Their For For For For For For For For When He Surpled He Threatened Them He Didn't He Didn't Resort To To What Many Resort To When They Have No Other Redress They Called Down The Vengeance Of God On The Head Of Their Persecutors Jesus Didn't Do That He Prayed For Them He Prayed For Those At Whose Hands He Suffered So Far Was He From Threatening That He Paid For Their For For For Giveth What A Glorious Example What
[33:32] A Godlike Example Jesus Is God's Example He Left An Example That You Should Follow He Steps When He Was Revised He Revised Not Again He Did Not At This Point And In This Connection He Didn't Adopt The Policy Of Those Who Say We Pay You Back In Your Own Coin That Is Very Gratified To Human Agents Very Gratified To Be Able To Pay Their Back In Their Own Coin And That May Be The Philosophy Of Worldly Wisdom
[34:32] It Is Not The Philosophy Of Christianity Because That Is Not The Example That Christ Blessed He Revised Thought Again When He Suffered It Threat But There Is Something He Did Do He Committed Himself Now You Will Notice In Your Bibles That The Word Himself Is Written In Italics The Word Himself Is Not In The Original At All It Is Like This He Committed To Him That Judge That Right Justly What What Did He Committed To Him Well There Are Various Interpretations Of That But I But I
[35:34] Think That The Quintescence Of All That Is Said May Be Put Into The World He Committed His Case Not Not Only Himself Personally He Did That One Of The Sayings From The Cross Is Into Thy Heart I Commend Or Commit My Spirit He Committed Himself In That In That Way But It Seems To Be More Than That In This Particular Instance He Committed His Case In All Its Implications And Romifications The Whole Case He Committed It To Him Who Judged Righteously
[36:36] He Wasn't He Didn't Take Upon Himself To Judge He Certainly Judged And He Judged Righteously For But For The Execution Of The Sentence Of Equity He Of That To See He Relieved Himself He Committed It Into The Hands Of Him Who Judged Righteously His Whole Case Everything About It And We Have To Remember Here That There Is Much In This Case It Is Not An Ordinary Case It Is A Unique Case So Far From It Being An Ordinary Case There Is No Other Case That Can Be Compared With It It
[37:38] Is Unique This Is A Transaction That Has No Parallel In God's Moral Universe He Suffered Being Innocent His Sinlessness And His Sufferings Are Placed Side By Side Now This Calls For An Examination Of The Principles That Underlie The Whole Of Morality The Whole Of God's Government How Is A Sinless Person Suffering How Does Justice Allow It We Often Hear In
[38:39] Connection With The Disagreeable Things Of The Disagreeable Things Of This Life We Often Hear How Does God Allow Such Things It Is Us All It Is With The Hypothesis That If There Is A God How Does He Allow Such Things Oh It Is Admitted My Friends That There Are Difficulties In Connection With God's Government Difficulties That No Man Can So But This Is The Most Difficult Of If That Question Can Be Asked We Dispute The Fact That It Can Be Rightly Asked Of Any Sinner But It Certainly Can Be Asked Here Yea It Must Be Asked Here How
[39:43] Is This Allowed To Happen How Is The Sinless Permitted Sin to Suffer Under The Righteous Government Of God How Well the Apostle is Careful To answer That question And he As Answered in The next In the next Version Who Be Ihave Bade in his own body. To the tree or on the tree, both ideas have to be taken into consideration.
[40:30] He bared thousands, and the word bared there means to be brought as a sacrifice. It is the word used of the sacrifice that is brought to the altar.
[40:48] Perhaps the best rendering we could have may be in the words he carried and offered us.
[41:03] He bared our sins in his own body to the tree.
[41:15] That is the explanation with which we shall deal at some few days. God forbid us.
[41:27] But in conclusion, let us remind ourselves again of the example that has been left.
[41:39] Left to the church of God to follow, to follow closely. Let us remind ourselves that to come up to this is impossible.
[41:53] The word used for example is, it is used of writing. Most of us are familiar with this. At least in my time in school we had a carpet.
[42:15] And on the top of the page, there was written what we were to copy. But it was written in such a way, it was written so well, that at that stage it would be impossible for us to make a new copy of it.
[42:35] Well that is precisely the word that Peter uses here. He uses the words that were used of such writing.
[42:47] Writing that was made specially so that others could copy it and thereby learn to write well. But no child, as he begins to learn writing, can't do it the way it is done on the book.
[43:05] It is impossible. Nevertheless, this is to be the child's aid. To write in this way, in the way that is set down for an example.
[43:19] Well that is precisely how it is in the moral and spiritual universe. Christ the Existence, no Christian can ever come up to it.
[43:31] It is impossible. Nevertheless, this should be the aid. Nothing short of it should be the aid.
[43:43] And while the mark may be missed again and again and again, yet this is what God has said before his church as an example to follow.
[43:57] Christ, who never did sin, neither was God in his mouth. Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again.
[44:10] When he suffered, he let him not, but committed his case to him who judged the righteous.