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TOPIC: Gordon, Samuel Dickey - Quiet Talks About the Tempter (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: 065. No Sin
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No Sin
There are five things to be noted in the answer. Two of them are negative things, but of immeasurable positiveness in their very negative-ness. The other things are positive in form as well as in fact.
The first thing to note is this: there was no sin in Jesus. It tried to get in. Most careful search was made for any crevice or crack of an opening however slight, through which sin could find an entrance. But no entrance was ever found. He was sinless. He Himself challenged His foes to find any sin in Him. (Joh_8:46.) That was a daring thing to do. It was the daring of purity and of truth. Certainly if there had been sin or fault these were the very men to have found it, and ruthlessly held it up to the strongest light. By consent of all who had to do with Him during the hours of His trial and death, He was free from sin so far as could be discerned. The agreement among doubters and critical sceptics regarding the perfection of His character is most striking.
I am speaking wholly now of the practical side of this fact. Leaving aside all discussion just now of the nature of our Lord's person, and of the theoretical possibility of His sinning—this is the bit of truth which I want to emphasize now: Jesus was sinless because He chose to be. He refused to sin. He resisted earnestly and actively and prayerfully every temptation to sin.
Practically sin is entirely a matter of the will. It is an act of choosing. Our Lord chose to keep sin out. He had the immense advantage of having no inheritance of sin to weaken Him. Against the most cunning and insidious attempts, He deliberately and habitually chose not to sin. It cost Him effort. It meant active choosing on His part, a constant choosing. It meant as great a use of will power as ever human made. He was obliged to choose. All about Him, the presence of sin and temptation forced Him to choose. His sinlessness practically consisted in this, that He chose not to sin.