They Accused Him of sin

Opening song  15

Closing song   416

Scripture text  Math 11:16-19

11:16   But whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows, 

11:17   And saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented. 

11:18   For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil. 

11:19   The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children.

 

Intro

This is Part two to a series titled “what is sin”. (re-cap What is sin) From our last study we looked at what is sin and when it is imputed. We concluded that the underlying constant in trying to abstain from that type of sin rest upon our knowledge of what is good. Our conclusion was based upon James 4:17 To him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not to him it is sin.

In other words according to the bible a man does not fall under the condemnation of the law until he has come to a knowledge of truth and has rejected it.

Introduction

Today we shall be looking at another aspect of identifying sin which is found

Rom 14:23   And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because [he eateth] not of faith: for whatsoever [is] not of faith is sin.

This we shall do by taking a closer look at the importance of the accusations that were brought against Jesus that that led him to be crucified.

Legalism is not a recent phenomenon in the church. Can you imagine the state of self righteousness that the church had reached that they had even declared the sinless one sinful?

We were  not righteous judges

In the wilderness – you the priests & the elders

In canaan – judges

In Jerusalem – the prophets

At the time  of Christ – self appointed priests, scribes and pharisees

Ultimately God is our judge -

Monkey trial

We all know that Jesus was condemned to death, by the church after the state declared that there was no law that had been broken. The church used the sword of the state to put Jesus to death because they accused him of wrong doing.

The protocol was followed to have two witnesses confess against Christ. However no witness could agree, also the trial was in the dead of night, that if there was to be a defence for Christ it could not have been organized.

By the time it was morning, he was already in Pilates judgement hall. After the church had found no fault in Him. The church could not codemn HIM. So they deliverd him to be killed by the State.

Pilate says to them what crime has this man committed. They say he has broken our law. The Pilate says to them. Then you see to it if it is your law it is broken.

The the real intention of bring him to Pilate is revealed. We cannot kill a man.

Pilate is shocked. Kill him!? This is serious, let me examine this one.

After which time, he comes out saying I find no fault in Him. They say unto Pilate we don’t want Him.

Pilatea again trys to release Jesus by offering the worst criminal or Jesus.

To his amazement again, the Jews say Kill him.

Then Pilate orders the death of Jesus

AS a result we see here the death of Jesus was brought about by the union of state and church. As predicted in Revelation, this will happen again. Church and state will unite in the death of the Christians.

This is exactly what is meant in revelation when it says that the church commited  fornication with the kings of the Earth.

The church had become so caught up with the deeds of the law that they completely missed the spirit of the law. Indeed it is crucial to understand by letter what sin is, but it is even of greater importance to understand the spirit that leads to sin.

How can someone who is living by the letter of law, commit sin without the law?

If we understand that our sins are only removed from us by the lamb, then we will also understand why none is better than the other. Why there is no need to boast, and why no one can declare himself more worthy than the other.

Job 9:20   If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me: [if I say], I [am] perfect, it shall also prove me perverse.

Declaring yourself righteous because of the deeds you have done, is the sin of presumption. You have tried your own case and have passed judgment, taking the place of God as we read in James 4 the last time we were here.

If nothing else, taking the place of God as judge is a sin. This is what Lucifer wanted to do in Heaven and this is the same spirit that he has sought to create in us upon Earth.

Let us now take a deeper look into the law of God

One law two jurisdictions

Turn with me to

Rom 3:20   Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law [is] the knowledge of sin.

Notice the universal appeal

For purpose of this study today we shall narrow the definition of the word “law” mentioned here in this passage, to the Decalogue, otherwise known as the 10 commandments.

The Decalogue speaks to two relationships namely man to man & man to God. (rept 2)

As a result Christ was to operate blamelessly in these very same courts. He was to be blameless before man and blameless before God.

Accusation 1

This brings us to a pivotal point “What sins were Jesus condemned of?

I wish we had time to read the entire discourse in John 8, because two pivotal things are brought forth in this chapter. 

Nonetheless I shall look at two verses and hope you catch the essence of what is being said.

Jesus and the Jews are in a heated conversation when Jesus blurts out……….

John 8:46 Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?

Convinceth me in this verse has the following interpretation.

1) to convict, refute, confute

a) generally with a suggestion of shame of the person convicted

b) by conviction to bring to the light, to expose

2) to find fault with, correct

a) by word

1) to reprehend severely, chide, admonish, reprove

2) to call to account, show one his fault, demand an explanation

b) by deed

1) to chasten, to punish

The question seemingly went unanswered when by a strange twist of events a railing accusation arises.

John 8:57   Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? 

  8:58   Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. 

  8:59   Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.

He had to declare His Divine origin upon this accusation. But they wanted to stone Him

Having grasped a full understanding of the scriptures he was declaring precious truth, to the Jews steeped in darkness.

He was plainly telling them, I am the Christ that you have been looking for. I am your God come to save you. But steeped in sin and meaningless tradition, they could not discern the truth so clearly standing in front of them.

Why did they want to stone Him?

John 10:32   Jesus answered them, Many good works have I showed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me? 

  10:33   The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.

(this is the first accusation). Of which part of the Decalogue had been broken here? DID they have the right to stone him, if this was indeed blasphemy?

Leviticus 24:16

Part 2 – same accusation

Our accusation comes from

Mark 2:7, john 10:33- (your sins are forgiven-taking the place of God-blasphemy)

Accusation 2

John 5:16 & 18,  John9:16 -    (BREAKING THE sabbath)

Where is the story of the Sabbath breaker who was stoned?

Numbers 15:32-36

But

Why was it important to prove that Christ sinned?

Notice again, at what point the condemnation comes. He was not accused of breaking the last six but the first 4.

Q. Whose jurisdiction does the last 6 come under

A. State

Q.        Whose jurisdiction does the first 4 come under.

1. The church

Since the laws of the land were clear, and there were many Jews who did not break even one and bragged of it. But the law with which they struggle was that part of the law that pertained on to God.

The devil could not find a way of uniting the Jews against Christ for having broken the last six with any success, so he had to bring his ‘A’ game.

If he was going to find Christ guilty of sin, it had to be with the first four. However still this was impossible. How was you going to show the Lawmaker, who made a transcript of His character in the Decalogue, how was he going to prove Him guilty of transgressing His own character.

Well the devil could not win by convicting Christ of sin, however he could convince the onlookers that Christ was guilty of sin.

Maybe this would put doubt in the mind of Christ.  He did not at this point want Christ to outright sin. He just wanted Him to doubt.

If Christ had doubted, it would have been half the victory.

As result, this is what makes the 3 temptations at the beginning of Christ ministry so potent, is that they started with the all-important conditionally doubtful word “IF”. If any word has the power of crating doubt it is that little word.

Yeah hath god said, “then if He said that then why?”

Even could not answer the question as a result she put the word of God to the test, but on the wrong side.

Lucifer had to test how well Christ understood the law, because if did not know the law, he could be convinced of sin. And If Christ was convinced of sin then He could be persuaded that He could not be the lawful representative of Adams race.

Whatever is not of faith is sin! Did Jesus have enough confidence in the word of God.

If Christ had doubted, that would mean that not only Adams race would be subject to Satan, but the Redeemer Himself would become a subject to the enemy

The devil recognized that Christ was God, so in order to validate his claim “that God gives rules that He Himself cannot keep, the devil had to try to prove to Jesus that he was guilty of violating the first table.

The accusation would then be that as God He cannot keep his own laws.  Notice that the accusations come after his trial as man in the wilderness…..After Jesus demonstrated faith towards the words of God ,  which was where the first Adam fell (heb 4)

Heb 4:2-not mixed with faith in them that heard it,…

Was Jesus going to fall prey to the same thing where the first Adam at the foundation of the Earth?

Appeal

This is going to happen again….let us ensure that we have transferred our sin into heaven through the shed blood of the lamb, before the axe falls.

We will be brought before tribunals to give an account

Will the accusations be true? Or more importantly will the accusations cause us to doubt any part of our relationship  with God.

Remember whatsoever is not of faith is sin (it is now that we need to be sure

So that when that time comes we will be ready, to give an account