The Holiness of Christ

Again, reading in "The Pursuit of Holiness"......

"....On numerous occasions the Scriptures testify that Jesus during his time on earth lived a perfectly holy life. He is described as "without sin" (Hebrews 4:15); as One who "committed no sin" (1 Peter 2:22); and as Him who had no sin" (2 Corinthians 5:21). The Apostle John stated, "In Him is no sin" (1 John 3:5). The OT describes Him prophetically as "the Righteous One" (Isaiah 53:11), and the One who "loved righteousness and hated wickedness" (Psalm 45:7). ....
....Even more compelling, however, is Jesus' own testimony concerning Himself. On one occasion He looked the Pharisees squarely in the eye and asked, "Can any of you prove Me guilty of sin?" (John 8:46). As someone has observed, it was not their failure to answer His question that is so significant, but the fact He dared to ask it. Here was Jesus in direct confrontation with people who hated Him. He had just told them they were of their father the devil, and that they wanted to carry out his desires. Surely if any people had a reason to point out to Him some careless act of His or some flaw of His character, they would. Furthermore, Jesus asked this questions in the presence of His disciples, who lived with Him contniuously and had ample opportunity to observe any inconsistencies. Yet Jesus dared to ask the question because He knew there was only one answer. He was without sin. But the holiness fo Jesus was more than simply the absence of actual sin. It was also a perfect conformity to the will of His Father. He stated that He came down from heaven "not to do My own will, but to do the will of Him who sent Me" (john 6:38). On another occasion, He said, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me" (John 4:34). Perhaps His highest testimony to His positive honiness was His statement, "I always do what pleases Him" (John 8:29).
Such a positive declaration must include not only His actions but also His attitudes and motives. It is possible for us to do the right action from a wrong motive, but this does not please God. Holiness has to do with more than mere acts. Our motives must be holy, that is, arising from a desire to do something simply because it is the will of God. Our thoughts should be holy, since they are known to God even before they are formed in our minds. Jesus Christ perfectly met these standards, and He did it for us. He was born into this world subject to the law of God that He might fulfill it on our behalf (Galatians 4:4-5).
Whenever we seriously contemplate the holiness fo God, our natural reaction is to say with Isaiah, "Woe is me, for I am ruined~ Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live amoung a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts" (Isaiah 6:5).
A serious view of the holiness of God - His own moral perfection and infinite hatred of sin - will leave us, as it did Isaiah, seeing with utter dismay our own lack of holiness. His moral purity serves to magnify our impurity.
Therefore, it is important that we receive the same assurance that Isaiah received: "Behold....your iniquity is taken away, and your sin is forgiven" (Isaiah 6:7). It is not only at the initial point of salvation that we need this assurance. In fact, the more we grow in holiness, the more we need assurance that the perfect righteousness of Christ is credited to us. This is true because a part of growing in holiness is the Holy Spirit's making us aware of our need of holiness. As we see this need, it is well for us to always keep in mind the righteousness of Jesus Christ on our behalf, and the fact that "God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21).