Good morning. As we were singing
that hymn, I was reminded of all that the Lord put Martin
Luther through, and how God uses afflictions
in order to grow us in his grace, to teach us, to reveal himself
to us, Those words that the Lord gave to Luther are really timeless,
but they come out of great affliction, as do our blessings. Our blessings come out of trials
and trouble. And we have two dear sisters now,
I'm sure there's others, but two that I know of, that are
suffering afflictions and that would be Jeanette Briggs and Deanna. Deanna, thank you. Jeanette's in the hospital and
Deanna, as you all know, has been on oxygen and been taking
blood thinners and she's experiencing some bleeding that she can't
control. from her nose, so let's pray for them together. Our heavenly
father, we're reminded of the words that
you gave to David when he said, before I was afflicted, I had
gone astray, but now I have kept thy word. Lord, how prone we
are to go astray, how prone we are to wander, how prone we are
to forget and to rely upon our own strength and how merciful
you are to remind us through our afflictions of your strength
and your mercy and your grace. Lord, we pray that you would enable us during our times of
trial to know that the trying of our faith worketh patience. Patience, when it is complete,
makes us to be perfect and entire, lacking in nothing. Lord, we
know that that perfection is only found in Christ and how
all of these things are to cause us to look to him. Lord, we do pray for Jeanette
and we pray for Deanna. And we ask for your hand of grace
to be upon them. We pray that you would comfort
them in Christ. And we pray that you would give
them physical strength and healing. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Let's open our Bibles together
to 2 Samuel chapter 22. 2 Samuel chapter 22. I quoted a verse of scripture
from James chapter one in our prayer, where the Lord tells
us that the trying of our faith work at patience, but when patience
it is complete, it shall make us perfect and entire, lacking
in nothing. There is no such thing as perfection
in this world. Nothing is perfect. Everything can be improved upon. To illustrate that, many mathematical
calculations are made from the dimensions of a circle. Space
travel is determined by those mathematical equations. But from what I understand, A
perfect circle does not exist in the real world. It is a mathematical
theory. It doesn't exist. It can't exist. Which just illustrates the fact
that everything in this world falls short of perfection. And yet, perfection is exactly
what God requires if we're going to stand in his presence. We
must be found perfect. And what James was talking about
there is that the trying of our faith is what drives us to Christ
and in Christ we are found before God perfect. Perfect. We use the word perfect
very loosely and but it's never accurate when
we use the word perfect concerning the things of this world. Anytime
I compliment Tricia and tell her something she did or made
or is doing, I say, perfect. She always responds with this
response. I love that word. I love that word. I love for
you to say that. And I do. And in my eyes, it
is perfect. She knows and I know that everything
falls short of perfection. When God uses the word perfect,
he means perfect. He means that it can't be added
to, it cannot be improved upon. That in his sight, it is absolutely
perfect. And what hope we have in not
having a theory of perfection like we have in the circle, but
we have the substance of perfection in God's word, both written and
living in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's read this
verse together. 2 Samuel 22 at verse 31. As for God, his way is perfect. Perfect? God says his way is
perfect. He's not using that word like
we use it. The word of the Lord is tried. The Lord is a buckler to all
they that trust in him. First time the word perfect is
used in the Bible is in Genesis chapter six. When the scriptures
tell us that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Noah was a sinner, just like
everyone else of his generation, but God chose him and put his
grace upon him. And the next verse says this,
Noah was a just man and perfect in his generation. He was justified before God. He was without sin before God
because God had shown him his grace, his undeserved favor,
his mercy, his grace, something that Noah could not qualify for
in any way. And as a result of God showing
Noah his grace, here's what the Lord says about Noah. He was
justified. He was without sin and he was
perfect in his generation. Perfect. The second time. And maybe the
third time that the word perfect is used in the Bible is found
in Genesis chapter 17 concerning Abram. Abram was another man
that God chose. He was in the Ur of the Chaldees.
He was a pagan, just like all of his descendants and all of
his neighbors were pagans. And God chose him out and gave
him grace and gave him faith. to believe God. Bible says in Romans chapter
four, Noah believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness.
That faith that God gave him was result of the grace. Faith
always comes as a result of grace. And here's what the Lord said
to Abram in Genesis chapter 17, I am the almighty God Walk before
me and be thou perfect. Walk before me and be thou perfect. If we walk in the light as he
is in the light, we have fellowship one with another and the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ cleanses us of all our sins. This is what the Lord came to
do. He came to make his people perfect. Those that walk before God. Now that word before doesn't
mean in front of God, it means in his presence. So we are walking,
looking to him for all the hope of our salvation. And the Lord
said, be thou perfect. This word perfect is most often
used in the Bible translated without blemish, without blemish
concerning the sacrifice. The Lord told the children of
Israel when they choose a blood sacrifice, that sacrifice was
to be perfect in the sight of God. Are there any animals that
are perfect? Are there any that could not
be, that could, I mean, that's what you understand the money
changers in the temple were taking advantage of the people. When
the Lord went in at the beginning of his ministry and chased out
the money changers in the temple and accused them of turning the
house of God into a den of thieves, and then he did it again at the
conclusion of his public ministry just before his crucifixion. And those money changers were taking
what God required, a perfect sacrifice, a sacrifice that was
without blemish. The people would come and they
would bring their animals to sacrifice whether it was a dove
or a lamb. and the priest would find something
wrong with it. Oh, there's a blemish right there.
And then the priest would force the people to buy one of theirs,
which they made a profit on, and then they would turn around
and sell the one that they had confiscated to someone else.
But the people knew that God would not be satisfied without
a sacrifice that was not perfect. It was not without blemish. So
if the priest found a blemish, then something had to be done. All the times that those sacrifices
were brought in the Old Testament, they were to be without blemish
in the eyes of a man. They were to be as perfect as
perfect could be. They weren't to bring the lame
and the sick sacrifices, they were to bring the best of the
flock. But Without blemish, never referred to those animals. They
were to bring those sacrifices in faith, looking not to the,
to the perfection of the animal, but to the perfection of the
one that the animal represented, the Lamb of God, which came to
take away the sins of the world. The one who himself was holy,
harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners, higher than the
heavens. The one who is himself perfect. The way of the Lord
is perfect. That perfection can only be seen
through the eye of faith. Leviticus chapter 22 says, whosoever
offers a sacrifice of a peace offering unto the Lord, it shall
be perfect in order to be accepted. And then the Lord tells us in
Ephesians chapter one, that we are accepted before God in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Because the sacrifice that he
made was perfect, perfect. for a sacrifice to be acceptable
to God. It must be perfect. It must be
without blemish. It must be without spot. God
cannot see an infraction. He cannot see sin anywhere on
us if we're to be accepted before his holy presence. We must have
clean hands and a pure heart and we cannot have lifted up
our lips to vanity. We cannot have spoken a lie,
we cannot have thought something, we cannot have done anything.
We have to be perfect. Perfect is what God requires. How many times we talk to people
about the gospel and they say, well, I'm doing my best, doing
my best, I'm sorry. I'm sorry your best might impress
men and your best might be something that gives you a clear conscience
but your best will never be acceptable to God. We ought to do our best
in everything we do but we never look to what we do for our acceptance
before God. The way of the Lord is perfect. That sacrifice shall be without
blemish. Deuteronomy chapter 32 verse
four says, his work is perfect. The work that the Lord Jesus
did in fulfilling all righteousness, not only by his active obedience,
The Lord Jesus was actively obedient in his life, in his hands, in
his lips, and in his heart, perfect before God. But he was also perfect
in his passive obedience. The Lord Jesus, when he went
to the cross, was passive in the judgment that God placed
on him. He was the object of that wrath.
and he was obedient, yea, even unto death, yes, even the death
of the cross, the scripture says. That's what the Lord requires.
He requires an active obedience, actively accomplishing all that
God requires in hand, heart, and lip, and he requires a passive
obedience. He requires a sacrifice for sin. And Deuteronomy 32 verse 4 says,
his work, his work is perfect, perfect. Oh, what hope we have
in knowing that we can stand in the presence of a holy God
and be found perfect. not having our own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that righteousness, which is by the
faith and faithfulness of the Lord Jesus Christ. His way is
perfect. Listen to what the Lord said
in John chapter 17, when he was praying to his father for his
people, he said this, father, I in them, and thou in me that
they may be made perfect. Perfect. We have to be made perfect. We
can't accomplish perfection at any level. But here's what the Lord said
that they may be made perfect in one. and that the world may
know that thou hast sent me and that thou hast loved me even
as thou hast loved them." Habakkuk tells us that the eyes of God
are too pure to look upon iniquity. They're too pure. Now, iniquity
is what man does in order to try to Offer to God a work that
will merit him favor in the presence of a holy God. That's what iniquity
is. In other words, iniquity is the
best thing that a man does. And the scripture says that every man at his best state is
altogether vanity. We can never look to anything
that we do for acceptance before God. This is the wonder of the
gospel. This is the hope of the gospel. God's eyes are too pure. Oh, but when he looked upon his son,
what did he say? This is my beloved son in him. In him, I'm well pleased. And
that the world may know, Father, that I am them Thou in me that
they might be made perfect and that the world might know that
Thou has loved them even as Thou has loved me. Go back with me to our text.
As for God. As for God. And that phrase right
there stands in stark contrast as for everything else. As for
us and as for everything else in this world, it all falls short
of perfection. But as for God, his way is perfect. Perfect. The word of the Lord
is tried. You and I live in a world that's
drowning in an ocean of words. We have them more now than ever
in the history of mankind. Words, talking heads everywhere
in our pockets and on our televisions and on our computer screens and
on our radio and everybody's got words and we're trying to
discern what is true and what's not true and what to believe
What's profitable and what's a waste of time? Everywhere we
turn, our ears and our minds are being
filled every day with a cyclone of words. How much time and how much effort
we spend trying to navigate our way through this turbulent sea
of words, words. Let us turn the voices of men
off regularly, regularly. It's what we've come here to
do. We've come here to turn the words of men off that we might
hear the word of God. We have a word from God that's
been tried, a word from God that's been proven, a word from God
that is without fail. And these words came not by private
interpretation, but holy men of God wrote as they were moved
by the Holy Spirit. And every word Every word is
profitable for doctrine and for reproof and for correction and
for instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be thoroughly
furnished unto all good works. That's why the Lord tells us,
be still, be still and know that I am God. David in the Psalms
talks about being quiet in the morning and going before the
Lord and getting a word from God. That the word from God might
overshadow and be louder than all the words of men that we're
exposed to every day. How desperate it is that we get
a word from God. And what a blessing it is that
God has given us his word. He's given us his word. And we
go to the Word of God, we don't have to think, we don't have
to do like we do with the words of men. Well, I wonder if this
is really true. I know that the world is full
of people that believe that the Bible contains the Word of God
and that We have to, in our own discernment and intellect, be
able to discern the difference between what's true and what's
not true. We don't believe that for a second. And we're not here
to prove to anyone that every word in this book is God's word.
When God calls a man out of darkness into his marvelous light, he
opens the eyes of his understanding and he makes him to believe that
every word in this book is the inspired, inerrant Word of God. God's Word has been tried. Listen to what Psalm 12, verse
6 says. The words of the Lord are pure
words, as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. As silver, tried in a furnace
of earth purified seven times. Where was the earth? Where was
the pure Word of God tried? Well, it's been tried by every
child of God, every believer that's ever drawn breath in this
world has been brought every day back to the back to the foundation
of God's word for the hope of all their salvation. We have this treasure, the scripture
says we have this treasure, the treasure of God's word, both
written and living, we don't separate the two, in an earthen
vessel, in a body of clay, And yet it is through the earthen
vessel that the treasure is tried, isn't it? It's the weakness of
our flesh that causes us to have to come back again and again
and again to the surety and the stability
and the inerrancy of God's holy word. What does God say? What's
God say? The word of the Lord is tried. Oh, Satan questioning. The very first, the cause of
our fall in our father Adam was because of Satan questioning
the word of God. The very first words out of his
mouth to Eve, did God say, And then he perverted what God said,
that thou shalt not eat of all the trees of the garden. No,
no, no, that's not what God said. But now the door was open and
the foot of Satan was in it. And now the lie begins. And Satan convinces Eve that
his words are more true than God's word. He hadn't changed his tactic
one bit. All the words that we're exposed to, all the words that
we think on our own, all the words that we speak in this earthen
vessel bring us back to God's word. The scripture says that every
man is a liar. God alone tells the truth, tells
the truth. And the Lord Jesus said, if you
know the truth, truth will set you free. Set you free. And Pilate said, what is truth?
What is truth? For this cause came I into the
world and for this reason was I born to bear witness unto the
truth. They that are of the truth, they
hear my voice and they follow me. They follow me. Oh, child
of God, what hope, what comfort we have in being able to come
back to the truth. Tossed about by all the turbulent
waves of the words of man and we have the Word of God. We have
the Word of God. You remember that French philosopher,
Voltaire? He lived about 250 years ago. And philosopher is not what he
was because philosopher means a lover of wisdom. And in fact,
Voltaire was an atheist and hated wisdom. He hated wisdom. He hated God. And just before
he died, he predicted that within a hundred years of his death,
the only place any man would be able to find a Bible would
be in a museum. That was Voltaire's prediction. Well, he found out that there
was a God and God's word has not been relegated to a museum. Oh, there's no stopping God's word. The Lord
makes his word effectual. and his word never returns to
him void. It accomplishes the purpose for which he sent it.
What is the purpose that the word of God accomplishes in the
lives of his children? It's faith, it's faith. Faith comes by hearing and hearing
comes by the word of God. So when God speaks, God's people
believe. They believe, they believe that
all of their perfection is found in the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Not only is the written word
of God tried, but the living word of God was tried. For 33
years, he was tried. He lived in a sinful world, a
world that you and I become so accustomed to. We're so anesthetized
to the things of evil in this world. We can see it, it doesn't
bother us much. But the Lord Jesus, the Bible
said, suffered the contradiction of sinners. Every minute of every
day, everything that he saw was a contradiction to what he was. and what he knew and he came into this world to do
just that, to be tried so that we would have a priest before
God who was able to sympathize with our afflictions and with
our weaknesses In that he himself suffered being
tempted, he is able to succor or help them who are tempted. We're tried, we're tempted, we
have the living word of God who was tried and found pure. as silver in an earthen vessel,
seven times, seven times perfection. The Lord Jesus was tried by the
law of God and he was found pure, found pure. For our God, as for our God,
verse 31, as for our God, his way is perfect, The word of the
Lord is tried and he is a buckler to all them that trust in him. Now this word buckler is most
often translated shield, shield. Shield is a defensive weapon. When Paul defines the armor of
the faith, In Ephesians chapter 6, remember the sword of the
spirit which is the word of God and the helmet of salvation,
breastplate of righteousness, all those things. He says this,
above all, above all take the shield of faith wherewith you
shall be able to quench the fiery darts of the evil. How you and I need a shield of
faith. Because Satan is hurling fiery
darts. And we're prey to them. We're victims to those things
apart from the shield. And what did the Lord say to
Abraham? I am thy shield. I am thine exceeding great reward. The Lord himself is a shield
unto all them that trust him. You remember when the Philistines
sent Goliath against Saul's army and told the children of Israel,
send out one representative, you know the story of David and
Goliath. And when David showed up at the
battlefield and convinced Saul that he would go up against Goliath,
Saul tried to dress him in David's armor. And David put it all on and it
was weighty and bundlesome. And he said, I've not tried this
armor. You can't use someone else's
armor. And then Goliath, the Bible says
in that same story in 1 Samuel 17, Goliath had a servant to
hold his shield in front of him. I wondered, I know the Lord ordained
that whole story for the destruction of Goliath and it's a gospel
story of the Lord Jesus defeating sin and Satan and death, no question
about it. But I wondered if Goliath might
have been a little quicker to lift his shield and see the stone
coming if he didn't have someone else carrying it for him. Point being, you can't wear someone
else's shield. and you can't have someone else
carry your shield for you. David said this, the Lord, the
Lord who delivered me. Remember David tells Saul after
he puts on this armor, he says, I was a shepherd. and a lion
came and I defeated the lion and a bear came and I defeated
the bear and the Lord who enabled me to destroy the paw of the
lion. Now what is the lion? Satan. As a roaring lion seeketh whom
he may devour. And you know, you see this in
religion so much and we see it, we've got to be reminded of it
ourselves. Because in self-righteous, freewill, legalistic religion,
being delivered from the lion is what it's all about. Changing
your behavior and having your life cleaned up and washing the
outside of the cup and whitewashing the tomb, that's what it's all
about. Impressing other men, improving your life, being a
better person. And they pride themselves in
having defeated the lion only to be killed by the bear. Now what is the bear? It's God's
law. It's God's law. Not only does Satan have to be
defeated, but God's law has to be fulfilled. And in man-made
self-righteous religion, they don't realize the law is pursuing
them and the law is requiring perfection. David said, the Lord who delivered
me out of the paw of the lion and out of the paw of the bear,
he will deliver me out of the hand. of this Philistine. And Goliath said, am I a dog
that you would come against me with staves and sticks and send
this boy out to defeat me? And what did David say? You come
with sword and spear and shield, but I come against you in the
name of the Lord of hosts. He will defeat thee. The battle's not yours, it's
the Lord's. As for God, nothing in this world's
perfect, but as for God, his way is perfect. His word is tried and he himself
is a buckler all them that trust in Him.