I've titled this message, Mark,
the Perfect Man. If you'll turn with me in your
Bibles to Psalm 37, verse 37. Psalm 37, verse 37. Some self-professed theologians
want to believe that a few of the Psalms are messianic. We
know that not to be true. We know that all 150 Psalms are
messianic, that this entire book is messianic. In the volume of
the book, it is written of me. When our Lord speaks in Psalm
37, calls on us to mark the perfect man. Can there be any question
at all as to who that perfect man is? I looked up that word perfect.
It means to be undefiled. It means to be lacking in nothing. It means to be complete and morally
innocent. There's only one man that fits
that description. What do people say today? Well,
nobody's perfect. I was talking to a Jewish lady
some years ago, and she was talking about the hypocrisy of her Jewish
friends who were pretending to keep the law, but she knew that
they weren't keeping the law. And she made the statement, she
said, you know, nobody can keep God's law, nobody's perfect.
And I said, yeah, except for one. And she immediately looked
at me and she said, you're right. She said, the difference between
you and me is that you think he's already come and I'm still
waiting on him. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
perfect man and God's called us to mark him. Look to him. Set our affections on things
above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. He
goes on in this same passage to say, behold the upright. Behold the Lamb of God, John
said, who taketh away the sins of the world. And then when John
the Apostle was in that heavenly revelation, and he saw that God
held a book, and that no man was able to open the book, you
remember what the angel said? Said, John, weep not, for the
Lion of the tribe of Judah hath prevailed. And he is able. He is able. Oh, that God will
enable us to behold the Lamb of God. To behold the upright
one. To mark that perfect man. Let me tell you what I hope the
essence of this message will be this morning. Everything that God requires
God must provide. And the only thing that God accepts
is that which He provides. And everything He provides, He
provides in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the gospel. Everything
that God requires of a sinner He must provide. And He only accepts that which
He provides. And everything He provides, He
provides in the person, this Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what God's saying when
He says to me and you, mark the perfect man, behold the upright,
for the end of that man is peace. No peace outside of Him. Todd, in preaching from Daniel
chapter 6, last night, brought out that verse where Daniel says,
Innocency was found in me. So many folks think that God
grades on a curve, and He doesn't. He requires absolute perfection. The Lord Jesus Christ is likened
unto a plumb line. I think it's interesting that
one of the very few tools that we use today in construction
is a plumb line that used to be used back then. But we do,
we still use plumb lines, don't we? And all men are likened unto
a teetering wall measured up to that plumb line. And the Lord
says, less would be found in him. Our only acceptance before
God is in the beloved. Behold the upright. Mark the perfect man. That's what Blind Bartimaeus
did. You remember that story, don't you? When Blind Bartimaeus
heard that Jesus of Nazareth was coming by, and he began to
cry out, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy upon me. What did
Bartimaeus' friends do? Bartimaeus, you're just embarrassing
yourself, you're embarrassing everybody else, you're a dirty
blind beggar, just shut up. And the more they tried to get
him to shut up, the more that he marked the perfect man. He
couldn't see him, but he knew he was there. And he cried all
the louder, Jesus thou son of David. Now son of David is a
reference to the Christ, the anointed one. The one who came
in the full power, that Jewish friend, that lady I was talking
about a moment ago, to this day she believes that when the Christ
comes, He's going to save all of Israel. He's going to be a
successful Savior. No Jew has ever thought of a
Christ who wasn't successful. And Bartimaeus knew that He was
the Christ. He said, Son of David, have mercy upon me. The scripture
says that the Lord Jesus Christ stood still. He always stands
still for blind beggars, doesn't he? He does. And they said to
Bartimaeus, be of good cheer, Bartimaeus. He calleth thee. He calleth thee. That woman with
an issue of blood, she marked the perfect man. She had spent
all that she had on physicians and was worse off now than she
had been before. Some of us have done exactly
that. Spent all our lives in religion, looking for some solution
to our sin problem. We've got an issue of blood,
don't we? And she thought, if I could just
touch the hem of his garment, I'll be made whole. And that's
exactly, she marked the perfect man. She beheld the one that
was upright. She knew that the end of that
man was peace. And she knew that everything that God required
of her was going to be found in Him. And that God was going
to have to provide it all for her. This matter of God accepting only that which
He provides, it has to do with our union with
Christ. Do you remember when John and James One of the gospel
accounts tells us that they actually sent their mother to ask the
Lord to allow them to sit on the right hand and the left hand
when he entered into his kingdom. And the Lord looked at James
and John. He said, are you able? Are you
able to be baptized with the baptism that I'm baptized with?
Are you able to drink of the cup that I'm going to drink of?
You remember what they said? They said, Lord, we're able.
We can do it. And the Lord said, indeed, you will. You will be
baptized with the baptism of fire, the wrath of God's judgment
that will fall upon me, for you're going to be in me. You're going
to be in me. The cup that I'm going to drink
of, the bitter dregs of God's wrath, the damnation that I'm
going to drink dry, you're going to drink of that cup too. That's
why Paul was able to say later, he said, I am crucified with
Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, Christ liveth in me. The life that I now live in the
flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me
and died for me. This matter of being one with
the Lord Jesus Christ, everything that God requires, God provides. And the only thing that God accepts,
that which he provides. In Daniel chapter 10, Daniel
has this vision of the Lord Jesus Christ and he sees the Lord Jesus
Christ as having loins of pure gold. Now loins in the scriptures
are a picture of reproduction. They're a picture of those, the
seed of a man is in his loins. And I want you to look with me
here at Psalm 38. At verse 7. And here's the Lord
Jesus Christ speaking. For my loins are filled with
loathsome disease. Isaiah chapter 53 the scripture
says that God saw his seed You see the truth is that just as
we were physically in the loins of our father Adam So that when
he sinned in the garden we were there We were there in him, you
know all these new DNA tests and People do. If you were to
be able to trace all of our DNA back far enough, we'd all be
found descendants of Adam. We were there physically in the
loins of our father Adam. When he sinned, in Adam all died.
And so it was The Lord Jesus Christ is now
saying that though I have by my own nature loins of pure gold,
now that I'm on the cross bearing my people, bearing my seed, my
loins are filled with loathsome disease. Everything that God
requires, God provides. And the only thing that God accepts
is that which he provides and everything he provides, he provides
in the person of his dear son. Someone says, well, God requires
me to be sorry for my sin. Well, my question to you would
be, how sorry do you have to be? How sorry do you have to
be? And when someone apologizes to
you for something that they've done to offend you, You want
to sense in that apology that they have some understanding
of the pain that they've caused you, don't you? So a person says
to you, well, you know, if I've offended you, I'm sorry. That's
no apology. Or if they say, well, I genuinely
am sorry, but they have no understanding of what they've caused you, you
question that sincerity of that apology, don't you? When the
Lord Jesus Christ was hanging on Calvary's cross, he said,
Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. Now, in Zechariah chapter 11,
the scripture says that when God pours out on the house of
David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, his spirit It will
be the spirit of grace and the spirit of supplication. And he
will cause them to look upon the one whom they pierced and
to mourn after him as one mourneth after his only son. There is
a work of grace that happens in the heart when God makes us
to be sinners. And we have some understanding
when we look to the Lord Jesus Christ as the sin bearer, as
our substitute hanging on Calvary's cross. We have some understanding
of what our sin has cost God. But even then, even then, we're
not capable of understanding the fullness of what our sin
has caused Him, have we? How are we going to be sufficiently
sorry? People say, well, if I'm just
sorry enough for my sins. Look in Psalm 38, verse 3. There is no soundness in my flesh
because of thine anger, neither is there rest in my bones because
of my sin." Now remember, we're in the loins of the Lord Jesus
Christ. We are, according to Isaiah 53,
His seed. He's not just bearing the guilt
of our sin, He's bearing us. We went to the cross with Him.
All of God's people are crucified with Christ. And now he's owning
our sin as his own. God made him who knew no sin
to be sin. And here he's crying out in the
Psalms, for mine iniquities are gone over my head. As a heavy
burden, they are too heavy for me. That's why the Lord Jesus Christ
cried from Calvary's cross, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me? The eyes of God were too pure
to look upon sin. God forsaking his own son. Becoming
sin on our behalf and he says my loins are filled with a lonesome
disease Look at verse 11 my lovers and my friends stand aloof from
my sore and my kinsmen stand afar off All alone on Calvary's cross
and now look with me at verse 17 for I am ready to halt I'm
ready to halt My sorrow is continually before me, for I will declare
mine iniquity, and I will be sorry for my sin. There is a sorrow that comes
into the hearts of God's people when the Spirit of grace is poured
out on them. But your sorrow is not sufficient,
not sufficient. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
only one who is able to express true sorrow to the Father. You see, what God requires of
us, God must provide. And God accepts not ours. You know, we feel sorry when
we're caught for sin, don't we? God accepts only that which he
provides. And everything He provides, He
provides in the purse of His Son. Mark the perfect man. Behold
the upright. The end of that man is peace.
Look to the Lord Jesus Christ for the expression of your sorrow
to God for your sin. For He's the only one. He's the
only one who has a full understanding of what our sin costs God. He's
the only one. God required a blood sacrifice.
Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin.
And God said to Moses in the wilderness, I mean, in Egypt,
when they were to slay that Paschal lamb and put the blood on the
doorposts and the lintels of the house and stadium, God said,
when I see the blood, when I see the blood, I will pass by you. And then Aaron was to go into
the holies of holies and take that blood of that lamb and put
it on the mercy seat. And God said, here, I will meet
with you. No amount of sacrifice on our
part will be sufficient. What God requires, God had to
provide. It wouldn't just any blood. It had to be a spotless lamb.
The just for the unjust that he might bring us to God. In
Isaiah chapter 53, God said, when I saw the travail of his
soul, I was satisfied. God's not satisfied with our
travailing. He's not satisfied with our efforts
and with our work. He's satisfied with His Son.
That's why He said, this is my beloved Son. In Him I'm well
pleased. Hear ye Him. God's satisfied
with Christ. Nothing that we can bring satisfies
God. Don't you love that story in
Genesis chapter 22 when God says to Abraham, Abraham, take thy
son, thine only son, thy son whom thou lovest and get thee
up to Mount Moriah and make of him a burnt offering. And as
they're going up that mountain, Isaac said to his father, he
said, father, here's the, here's the fire and here's the wood.
Where's the land for the sacrifice? You remember what Abraham said
to Isaac? God will provide himself a lamb. God's gonna do all the
providing. God's gonna provide himself as
the lamb, and God's gonna provide the lamb to himself. You see,
what happened on Calvary's cross was not God making an offer to
us, but God was making an offer to God. The Lord Jesus Christ
was doing business with the Father on Calvary's cross. And Abram,
in obedience to God, did everything that God commanded him to do,
raised his hand to put his son to death, and the Lord stopped
him. He told him to look back behind
him. That's what Scripture said. Read Genesis 22. Abraham looked
behind him. And that's where you're going
to find that ram that's stuck in a thicket. There's the sacrifice. The Lord, you know, the horns
in the Bible of an animal are a symbol of strength. Here we
have the Lord Jesus Christ in the fullness of his power and
strength entangled in the thorns of the sins of his people and God said look behind you
Abraham We're gonna have to look behind us, aren't we? We have
to look way behind us far before we ever came into this world
2,000 years back. We're gonna have to look and
when the Lord Jesus Christ bore our sins in his body on that
tree. We've got to look back even further
than that. We've got to look back before
Adam and see that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Lamb slain before
the foundation of the world. God will provide himself a sacrifice. Here's the message. Everything
that God requires of me and you God must provide. And the only
thing that God accepts is that which He provides and everything
that He provides. He provides in the person of
His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so God says, Mark the perfect
man, I require absolute perfection and you don't have it. You can't
do it. Mark him. Behold the one that
is upright. Isaiah 53, again, he was wounded
for our transgression. Somebody said, well, I've got
to atone for my sins, don't I? Why was the Lord Jesus Christ
wounded where he was wounded in his body? The first wounds
we read of are when he was flogged. And the Roman soldiers took that
cat of nine tails and ripped open the back of the Lord Jesus
Christ. What is that wound a picture
of? Paul said, in Romans chapter
7, he said, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from
the body of this death? That's our old man. That's our
old man. By his stripes we are healed.
He was wounded for our transgressions. We can't atone for our sins.
The Lord Jesus Christ atoned for our sins when He suffered
all those wounds in His body. What about the crown of thorns?
Well, there's our problem, isn't it? The Scripture says the head
is sick. That's the truth of it. We're
just sick in the head, aren't we? We are. And the Lord had
to be wounded in His head. in order to atone for all the
evil thoughts that you and I have in our minds. He had to be wounded
in his hands. Who shall stand in his presence?
They that have clean hands. Everything that God requires,
God provides. The Lord Jesus Christ, the only perfect man
that had clean hands. He had to be wounded in his hands
because our works are so unclean. He had to be wounded in his feet
because we're not able to stand up or walk straight. And he had
to be wounded in his heart. That Roman soldier had to pierce,
why? Because the heart is wicked and
deceitful above all things, who can know it? By his wounds. By His stripes, He was wounded
for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of His peace, our peace, was upon Him. Everything that God requires,
God must provide. And the only thing that God accepts
is that which He provides. and everything he's provided,
he's provided in his son. Mark the perfect man. Righteousness. Righteousness is absolute perfect
obedience to the law of God. The yoke in the Bible is a picture
of when Paul said in Genesis chapter 5, Galatians chapter
5, he says, be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Stand fast in the liberty wherewith
Christ has made you free. And then the Lord said in Matthew
chapter 11, he said, all you that labor and are heavy laden,
come unto me. You should learn of me, learn
of me. And you shall find rest for your
soul. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. You ever thought about the fact
the Lord Jesus Christ never had to work to keep God's law? He was just himself. His yoke
was easy. The law was never a burden to
him. The law's a burden to me and you. Christ is the end of
the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it. He
kept the law perfectly without any effort. Without any effort. My yoke is easy. Don't go back
to the law. Don't try to earn righteousness
with God by the law. He is the Lord our righteousness,
isn't He? Everything that God requires,
God must provide. And He only accepts that which
He provides. Somebody says, well, I've got
to have faith. I've got to have faith. Without faith, it is impossible
to please God. Faith is the evidence of things
hoped for. It's the substance of things not seen. Without faith,
we have to have faith. Where's that faith come from?
For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourself.
It is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Faith
is to spiritual life what breathing is to physical life. When a baby
is born, what's the first thing that baby does? What's the first
thing it does? It breathes, doesn't it? If the
baby doesn't breathe, it's not alive. Faith is the... Breathing
for a baby is the evidence of life, not the cause of it. If
that baby's born alive, it's gonna breathe. And so it is with
our spiritual life. Faith is not the cause of our
salvation. It's the evidence of it. The cause of our salvation
is the new birth. It's the life that's given to
us by the Spirit. It's what the Lord said to Nicodemus. Nicodemus, you can't see the
kingdom of God unless you're born again. Nicodemus, how can
I be born again? How can I go back into my mother's
womb? Oh, Nicodemus, that which is
of the flesh is flesh. The flesh profiteth nothing.
It's the Spirit that giveth life. Being born from above is being
born in the Spirit of God. And the Spirit is like the wind. He listeth with us wherever He
wills. You don't control the Spirit of God. The new birth
is a work of grace. What God requires, God must provide. He must provide. And the only
thing He accepts is that which He provides. Faith, that's what God provides. The new birth, that's what God
provides. Even the faith that we have.
We're not saved by our faith, we're saved by our person. You
see, it's the object of our faith that matters. Everybody's got
faith of some sort. Everybody has faith of some sort.
But it's the object of our faith that matters. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
only one that had perfect faith. When those Pharisees asked the
Lord, what's the greatest commandment? The Lord said that you love the
Lord your God with all of your heart and all of your mind and
all of your soul. And one thing he didn't say was all the time,
but that was implied. The Lord Jesus Christ, he's the
perfect man. He's the only one that believed
God with all of his heart and all of his mind and all of his
soul all the time. We have to be You remember when
the man brought his son who was possessed with a demon to the
disciples, and the disciples couldn't cast him out. And so
the man, in desperation, brought his son to the Lord. And he said,
Lord, he said, if thou canst do anything, help us. And the
Lord said, if thou canst believe, all things are possible to them
that believe. And what'd that man say? Oh, Lord, I believe.
In tears, he said, I believe. Help thou mine unbelief. We're
always like that. How much faith do you have to
have? How strong do you have to believe? We have to believe
on the one who had perfect faith, who believed God with all of
his heart and all of his mind and all of his soul, all of the
time. You know, we often quote our Lord's last words on Calvary's
cross as it is finished. Those weren't his last words.
His last words were, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. Yes, the work of redemption was
accomplished. But the Lord Jesus Christ was
saying to me and you, I've trusted my Father perfectly to my dying
breath, to my dying breath. You want God to judge you based
on how much you trust Him? What God requires, God must provide. And the only thing that God's
going to accept is that which He provides. Mark the perfect
man. Behold the upright. For the end of that man is peace. And somebody said, well, I need
to keep learning so that I can have some better understanding
before I can be saved. And the scripture says, hearken
everyone unto me and understand. God commands us to understand.
But then he says, why do you not understand my speech? Even
because you cannot hear my word. Don't you love that story in
Luke 24 when the Lord's walking to Damascus alongside these disciples
that thought all has been lost. The one that we thought was the
prophet has been crucified. And the Lord, beginning with
Moses and the Psalms and the prophets, began to expound unto
them those things concerning himself. And then he opened up
their understanding that they might understand the scriptures.
And what did they say? Oh, did not our hearts burn within
us as He walked with us on the way? If we're going to have any
understanding at all, and oh how small our understanding is,
He's going to have to give it to us. Here's what we need to
understand, and here's what every believer understands. All that
God requires, God must provide. And the only thing that God accepts
is that which He provides. And everything that He provides,
He's provided in the person of His dear Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ. So doesn't God command us to
come? Yes, the Spirit and the bride say, come. The Lord said,
come unto me, all you that labor. If any man thirst, let him come. And then the Lord said, no man
can come unto me unless the Father which sent me draw him. We don't
have the ability to come. We need his irresistible grace,
don't we? We're like that crippled at the
gate called beautiful, trying to get into glory. Now there's
a picture of heaven. God had to make him to stand,
didn't he? Silver and gold have we none,
but such as we have, give us unto thee. In the name of Jesus
of Nazareth, stand and walk. Everything that God requires,
God must provide. I love that story of Mephibosheth.
Mephibosheth, the only living heir to the throne of Saul. Mephibosheth would have been
a threat to David's reign. And David asked Ziba one day,
he said, is there anyone left from the house of Saul that I
might show him kindness for Jonathan's sake? And Ziba said, yeah, over
there in Lodabar, there's a cripple boy. He was crippled in a fall,
and he's hiding from you because he knows if you find him, you're
going to kill him. Do away with any threat. His name is Mephibosheth,
so go fetch him. Go fetch him. Mephibosheth never
would have come to David had Ziba not gone for him. He went
and got him. And Mephibosheth all the way
to Jerusalem must have just thought, this is it. This is it. David's going to kill me. And
when David saw Mephibosheth, what did he see? He saw the likeness,
as we often see in children, we see the likeness of the parent,
don't we? And he saw the likeness of Jonathan
in Mephibosheth, and he said, oh, Mephibosheth, Mephibosheth. He loved Jonathan. He said, Mephibosheth,
you sit here at my table. I'm going to hide those crippled
legs underneath my tablecloth, and I'm going to feed you with
the king's fare the rest of your life. Yes, we have to come to Christ.
But to come, He's got to fetch us. He's got to fetch us. Everything, everything that God
requires of you and me, God must provide. The only thing that
God accepts is that which He provides. Mark the perfect man. Behold the upright. For the end
of that man is peace. Peace. Peace with God. In the Prince of Peace. My peace
I leave you. My peace I give unto you. Not
as the world giveth. No, this is peace with God. Isaiah
put it like this in Isaiah 26. will keep him in perfect peace,
whose mind is stayed on thee. Mark the perfect man. Behold
the upright. The Lord said, in this world
you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I've overcome
the world. I've overcome the world. I know
the thoughts that I have for you. Thoughts of peace. not of evil,
to bring you to your expected end. Mark him. Mark the perfect man. For in him is everything that
God requires of you and me. And he's the only one that did
it right. He's the only one with whom God
is pleased. being found in him, we shall
have peace with God. Come to Christ just like you
are, just like, just like you are. Pastor.