The Lord appeared to Abram and
said unto him, I am the almighty God. Walk before me and be thou
perfect. The radio, I don't know how many
of you listened to the radio program this morning from Micah
6, 8, walking humbly before the Lord. have been picking those
in succession of the way they were preached three years ago. So it just came to that message
this morning. And this one is the same subject,
walking before the Lord. I have to believe that's of the
Lord in the mouth of two witnesses. But Abram, it says, was 99 years
old here. The last verse of the previous
chapter Abram was four score and six years old, so thirteen
years had gone by. It was nearly twelve years went
by from when the Lord first appeared to Abraham and promised him all
that he promised him, and then when he hearkened to Sarah and
went in to Hagar and did that. Nearly 12 years went by then,
and now another 13 years have gone by. Well, Abraham, the first
time, in his impatience, not waiting on the Lord, he hearkened
to Sarah, as we said, went into Hagar, and now 13 more years
have passed by, and the Lord still has not given him that
promised son that he said he would. And the Lord told him
again, I told him again here that I made my covenant with
you. He made the same promises again
to Abraham as he did in the very, very beginning. He didn't tell
anything. He was telling him the same promises over again. This is what you have to look
forward to. Just wait on me. Just wait on me. And you know
the promises of God to us in Christ are sure. They're yay
and amen to the glory of God and to the same promises that
God gave to Abram. He said, I'm your God. My covenant
is with you in Christ. You're going to inherit the land.
You're going to be a joint heir with Christ. You're going to
a promised land. God who cannot lie has promised
us eternal life. And he says, you trust in my
son and you're going to be there. Now wait, just live, walk my
faith, trust me, I can't lie, I'll do it in my good time, I'll
come for you, however, whenever, in my time, in the fullness of
my time, my purpose, I will come to receive you to my center.
Just wait, don't do anything rash, don't do anything hasty. He that believeth shall not make
haste, the scripture says. But oh, how we're like Abraham
are, impatient. Sarah, how impatient we are,
but how long-suffering our Lord is. You know, the Lord is not
slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness.
But He's long-suffering to us, to His people, not willing that
any of them should perish. Whoever His sheep are, they are
going to come to repentance. That's what that same passage
in 2 Peter 3 said. Not willing that any should perish,
but that all should come to repentance. If the Lord had come back in
the 60's or 70's. Now those were turbulent times,
weren't they? Those were, as Brother Stan prayed,
turmoil. This world full of turmoil. And
back in the 60's and 70's, you who were adults then, believed
that that was the most tumultuous times in your lifetime, weren't
they? The floodgate of iniquity opened
up in the 60s, didn't it? And it's only gotten worse, but
back then when all that started taking place and the youth of
this country were just corrupt, you remember, don't you? I was
right in the middle of that. Right in the middle of it. I
didn't think I was corrupt. But I was. I didn't think I was
lost. I thought I had all the answers.
Had God come then, I would have been lost. I would have perished.
And many of you in here would have too. Sam, Sherry, we would
have perished, John. Had God come then. But God has
lost something. Not willing that any should perish.
Any of his elect will perish. And the door, and he says, wait,
wait, and the door of the ark is still open, thankfully. There
are some that aren't in the ark yet. Some we love, huh? We want
to see them come in the ark. And our Noah, the Lord Jesus
Christ, is going to make sure they're all in there. You see,
when Noah went out to gather all those animals, there were
some asses out there. Some wild asses. some mules which
are pretty stubborn. It would take a little longer
to get them in than it would say a dog. What about a turtle? Noah couldn't carry every one
of them. That's where the type stops.
But he couldn't carry them all in. He had to Well, it just took time, didn't
it, to bring them all in. It took time. But they all came
in, every last one of them. And when they all were in the
ark, boom, the door shut. Well, seven days went by. So
I'm thankful the door of the ark is still open. As much as
I would love for the Lord to return right now, Lord, come
quickly. We want Him to come. We still,
as some, we want Him to bring in the ark. Well, so 13 years had gone by. Abram was 99 years old, and verse
1, the Lord appeared to Abram and spoke to him. The Lord appeared. Who? The Lord appeared. It doesn't say the Lord just
spoke to him. It says the Lord appeared to
him. Doesn't it? It made an appearance. It means he saw the Lord. Now
who's that? It can only be one person. in Christ with all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. God was manifest in the flesh. No man hath seen God at any time,
the Scripture said. No man hath seen God as a spirit. No man hath seen God at any time. Is that true? That's what the
Scripture said. But it goes on to say, the only
begotten Son, He hath declared Him. He hath declared Him. The Word was made flesh. and
dwelt among us. In the beginning was the Word.
The Word was with God. The Word was God. And the Word
was made flesh. And John said, we beheld His
glory. John said, we've heard Him. Life
was manifested. We've heard Him. We've hanged
on Him. We've beheld Him. God! Job said, I'm going to see
God someday with my eye. Well, Job, you can't see God.
He said, I'm going to. Well, who is God then? Jesus Christ. The Lord appeared
to Abraham in the beginning, no man knoweth the Father but
the Son, neither knoweth any man the Son but the Father, and
vice versa. And he to whom the Son will reveal
him, he to whom the Father will reveal the Son. So if we know
that Christ is God, God has revealed Him unto us. Christ has revealed
Himself. Like He said to Philip, Philip,
you've seen Me, you've seen the Father. He hath seen me, hath
seen the Father. And the world doesn't believe
that Jesus Christ was God, is God, but we do. We sure do. So once again, the Lord, as in
the beginning, in chapter 12, He appeared to him the first
time. The Lord appeared to Abraham
in chapter 12. And here again, the Lord Jesus
Christ appears to Abraham as He did to so many of His saints
in the Old Testament. Because the Lord delights, His
delights were with the sons of men. And I'm so thankful. Because
we're flesh and bone. Do you know that? We need a real
flesh and bone person to see and to hug up to and hold on
to. To hear, see, and feel. So our
God was manifest in the flesh. And someday we're going to see
Him as He is. We'll see Him as He is and hold
Him. He's going to touch us. We're
going to hear His voice. We're going to speak to Him.
And we're going to delight with Him. We're always going to be
flesh and bone. Don't ask me to explain that, but we're going
to have a new body, flesh and bones. Our Lord did. And we're
all going to touch each other as we do now. And touch Him. My, my. Alright, the Lord appeared
to Abram and said unto him, spoke the word. spoke unto him and
said, here's what he said, first thing, I am the Almighty God. I am. When God reveals himself
to a person, when Christ reveals himself to a person, he always
first reveals himself as the I am God, God. Martin used to say, You can't
have Jesus as Savior and not bow to Him as Lord. Every time
the word Lord and Jesus are together, it's in that order. Lord, Jesus. You come to know Him first as
Lord and bow to Him, repent, and then He reveals Himself to
you as Jesus. Lord, Jesus. And that's the way
you refer to Him from then on. The Lord. But our Lord Jesus
Christ came to Abram and spoke to him and said, I am the Almighty
God. I am. That I am. God Almighty. The Almighty God. The only true
God. Didn't our Lord say this is life
eternal? This is life eternal that they
might know Thee. The only true God. What does
it mean to be truly God? It means to be all Mighty, all
power, all authority, almighty, omnipotent. That's a biblical
word. The Lord God Omnipotence reigneth,
means He has all power. Now, He is not God who is not
almighty. In any sense of the word, if
he does not have all power over all principalities and power,
and we're not even going to mention flesh. Goodness gracious. Flesh? Come on now. If God doesn't have power over
flesh, he's not God at all. But scripture says he has all
authority and power over all principalities and power. Spiritual
wickedness in high places. He's above him, them, whoever
they are, Satan, everything. Man? Oh, come on. He's a worm. Gracious sake. What a fool man
is to not believe that God doesn't rule over worms and can't do
what He will with worms and maggots. Come on. That's how foolish we
were. Our understanding was darkened.
And in here we're in religion thinking that you made him Lord. Boy, aren't you glad he revealed
himself to you. But here's the absolute glaring
fact, people. The God that most people believe
in today is not the living and true God. He's powerless to do
what he will. He's not almighty because he
can't do anything unless man cooperates with him. That means
he's not almighty, doesn't it? That means he's not almighty.
David said it best in Psalm 115. Listen to that. He said it. Their idols, not gods, but their
idols, the gods they made up, are silver and gold, the work
of men's hands. They have mouths, but they speak
not. Eyes have they, but they see not. Ears, but they don't
hear. Noses, but they smell not. They have hands, but they handle
not. Feet, but they have, but they can't walk. Needless to
speak, they threw their throat, and those that make them are
just like them. What's that? Blind, deaf, dumb,
dead. Dead idols. Those that make them,
those that believe in them, those that trust in them are dead.
Just like their idols are. Alright, David, what about your
God? Where is your God? Our God? Our God? He's in the heavens. And he hath done, not will do,
not can do, if you let him, he hath done, hath already done,
whatsoever he hath pleased. And none can stay his hand, or
say unto him, you can't do that. Sorry, I already have. Can't
change it. Can't alter it. Can't manipulate
it. have any control over. He is
God. He is God. And Jesus Christ is God, because
Jesus Christ said, all power is given unto me in heaven and
earth. That's what Jesus Christ said.
The one who has all power is almighty, and that makes him
God. Without controversy. It's a controversy, alright,
among men. You know, you read the, anybody
get a copy of that book, whoever it was passed out, The Great
Controversy? Huh? Went to cut the sea and
land to pass out that book, The Great Controversy? There's a
big billboard down on 220, The Great Controversy? Who is that,
Ty? I think it's Seventh Day Adventist
or somebody like that. Jehovah Witnesses probably. They
say it's The Great Controversy. Well, Scripture says it's without
controversy. It's a controversy among you,
y'all trying to figure this out, but it's without controversy. God was manifest in the flesh.
God came here. He never told us he was God.
That's exactly right. But he told his people that.
He said, why can't you hear my word? Because you're heathens
of God, heareth God's words. And Thomas said, my Lord and
my God. And I do too. How about you?
Almighty God. That's who we worship. Almighty
God. I've got a habit years ago. It's
a good habit of calling God, God Almighty. God Almighty. That's what he said to Jacob.
He said, I know now you're going to call me God Almighty. God
Almighty. Now, more than ever, in a day
when men are blaspheming God and bringing Him down to the
level of man where He's not almighty at all, He has no might at all.
Now, more than ever, we need to tell them who we're talking
about. Who is your God? He's almighty. That's who He is. Can I say that
again? Are you with me? That those who love thy salvation
say, continue, the Lord be magnified. Tell us about your God. He's
almighty, all-powerful, over all flesh, over all souls, over
all everything. Barnard, you say that writhes
or wriggles. He's almighty. Almighty. All-powerful. I love the book
of Isaiah because from start to finish he said, I am God,
there's none else. And he keeps declaring that.
And in one place he says, I declare the end of the beginning. Things that are not yet done.
Say, my counsel shall stand. And then he said in chapter 40,
he said, you bring your prophets around and let them tell what's
going to happen before it happens. Come on, let them tell it. Just tell what's going to happen
five minutes from now. He said, I declare things before
the world begins. I have spoken it. I'll bring
it to pass. I've purposed it. I'll do it.
That's because I'm God, he said. Almighty. That's who God is,
and that's how He reveals Himself to every person of His elect. Every one of His elect. That's
what He said in Isaiah 43 verse 10. He said, You have I chosen
that you might know Me, that beside Me there is none else.
I've chosen you. I've chosen you, He said. You! Oh my, don't take that for granted.
The Lord God Almighty, Almighty. I am the Almighty God. Now Abraham
forgot this, that's why he took matters into his own hands. And
the Lord reminded him again, 13 years later. And we forget, don't we? So we
run ahead and we do things without consulting our God. We run ahead,
we make haste, we worry, we fret, we forget. That's why we worry
and fret. We forget that the Lord is almighty
and working all things. And so we should never forget.
And the Lord keeps reminding us over and over again to remember
for our wisdom, Not to do anything foolish, for our patience, to
wait on Him, for our comfort. No one, nothing has any control
whatsoever. I am the Almighty God. He keeps reminding us that. And
He's working all things together according to His will and His
purpose. Purpose. You know, the Scriptures
doesn't use the word plan. I know men use that, some use
that, but wrongly, because the Scripture doesn't use that. The
reason being, there's a reason for that. When you think of a
plan, what do you think? You make a plan, you think it's
something that might happen or might not. You make a plan, and
it might come to pass or it might not. Something might spoil your
plans. When the Lord talks about what He is going to do, He calls
it My purpose. My purpose shall stand. I have
purposed it. I planned it, and somebody messed
it up, and I'm going to make another plan. I have purposed,
or the purpose of God, that the purpose of God, according to
election, might stand. The purposes of God are in Christ
Jesus. The purpose of God. I have purposed
it. I'll bring it to pass. So, that's
why it says purpose. He works all things according
to His purpose. And nothing will change it. Alright, now look at what He
said to Abraham. And what He says to him, He says to us. Abram. We're just going to look at this
one verse. Because there's so much here. When Abram was 99
years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said unto him, I
am the Almighty God. Walk before Me. Be thou perfect. Walk before me. Now, before the Lord revealed
Himself to Abram, He walked with someone, didn't He? Before the
Lord reveals Himself to all of His people, they walk with someone. They walk a course, don't they? They walk in a certain way. What
does the Scripture say? In Ephesians 2, what does it
say? We all, when we were dead, walked according to the course
of this world. According to the God of this
world. And we walked with the world. We walked before the world. We walked with the world. The
world were our companions. The unbelieving people of this
world were our companions. You cannot walk with God and
walk with this world. You can't do it. I heard God
said that. Can two walk together? Except
that they agree. How can Baal have fellowship
with Christ? Like with Darth? You can't. We're forced to walk in this
world, walk among them, but not with them as our companion. You
can't do it. You can't do it. You're walking
in two different directions. The world hates God. You won't
walk with somebody that hates someone you love. You can't do
it. You just can't do it. You can't
do it. Can two walk together? Our Lord
said, lamest three, three, except they be agreed. The world says,
no God. We say, God is. The world says,
I don't believe God's Word. We say, it's life. The world
says, Jesus was just a man. We say, He's God. The world says,
everybody's okay. If there is a God, He loves everybody.
We say, no, God's angry. How are we going to walk together? Only one way is if we're silent.
And we're not going to convert then. We hope, we witness, we witness
to them, we talk to them, but it becomes very clear, very quickly,
that nothing we say or do is going to change them. That God's
going to have to do it. So then we reach that point and
say, I can't walk anymore with you. Come out from among them,
our Lord said, and be set free. Can't walk with the Word. Can't
do it. He says, walk before me. You
know, we used to walk before the Word
a little bit. Very conscious of what the world
thinks about us. Very conscious of what the world
is saying, what the world is doing, what the world is wearing,
whatever the world thinks is right. We're conscious of them.
That's who we want to impress. That's who we want to have them
know us. We want that connection. What's the word I'm looking for? Think of it. We want to have
those people to lend us. Anyway, we want the world's approval
and we want the world's recognition and we want the world to tell
us we're okay. But everything about this world
to God is not okay. It's all wrong. There's a way
which seemeth right to man, but the end is destruction. That which is highly esteemed
among men, God says is abomination to him. Doesn't He? And it's becoming more and more abominable
all the time. And as the days go by, as Christ's
return becomes clearer and clearer, we can't walk with Him. There's
just nobody out there that can. Religion is so abominable. Abominable. To walk before the
Lord is to walk conscious of Him, conscious of God. If you're conscious of God, you
won't too much care about what the world thinks about you. There are several ways the Scriptures
talk about us walking. It talks about walking with God. Enoch walked with God. Noah walked with God. To walk with God, you can't walk
with the world. Who was walking with Noah? What,
just seven members of his family? Everybody has perished in it.
Ain't it? To walk with God, you'll walk
alone, that is, except with the people of God. You can't walk
with God and walk with the world. To walk with God is to be conscious
of Him. To walk with God, as we heard
this morning, is to be in communion with God. Fellowship with God. Truly, our fellowship, John says,
with the Father and with the Son. Fellowship. It was in the same ship, going
in the right, same direction, same hopes, same service, same
life. And two walk together. To walk
with God is to walk with Him, not Him with you. He's not following
you. No, no, no, no, no. You're following
Him. He's not agreeing with you. No, you're agreeing with Him.
You're following Him. He's calling the shots, if you
will. He's the master. We're the disciple. We're the
student. He's the master. We're the dog. We're following. Walk with God. To walk before
Him, this talks about. Walk before God. And one of the
brethren I heard preach on this brought up a good point. Arthur
Pink said it first, I believe. Maybe not first, but way on that
line. But he said it's like to walk
before God is like a child. playing in front of His Father,
always conscious of the eye of the Father on Him. That's in
safety and under His eye and have comfort and care. That's
good. Walk before the Lord. To walk after the Lord is to
follow Him like a disciple or like a dog follows. He's leading. We'll walk after Him. To walk
with Him is as a friend, as a companion. To walk in agreement. as a friend. To walk in Him is to be in perfect
union with Him, in one person. But what this means right here,
to walk before me, he said, means to be in plain view of Him. Walk in plain view of Him and
be perfect. That's what this means. That's
exactly what this means. Scripture says all things are
naked and open before the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.
That's just the way it is. In the unbelieving world, man
says there's no God, and if there is a God, we can hide from Him
in the dark because he can't see in the dark. That's what
the Scriptures say. That's basically what they say.
He doesn't see us, the dark. But no, Scripture says the dark
and the light are both the light and the glory. All things are
naked and open before the eye. So he says, well, I see it. Well, what then? Hagar said that, didn't she?
Thou, Lord, seest me. Adam found it out, didn't he?
Adam and Eve ran and tried to hide from the Lord behind the
bush. Tried to hide their sin with
fig leaves. How ignorant can you get? That's man. That was us. Is us. Walk before me. I see you. Don't cover yourself. Don't cover
yourself up. Don't ever try to cover yourself
up. I see you. Walk before me. It's the best
way. It's the only way. You want peace? Unbelieving world. Well, it doesn't
believe that God is, but we do, and we walk in the light of His
countenance. We walk in the light of His countenance
before the Lord does three things. Listen. To walk conscious that
God, we are in the eyes of one. You remember when David said,
and he says this over and over in the Scripture, I've done this
in your sight. And not just outward actions,
but thoughts and words in his sight. So to walk before the
Lord, this will do three things. Number one, it will restrain
sin. It will restrain sin. By the
fear of the Lord, men depart from evil. And plainly as children, you
think if your parents are watching you, Secondly, it will constrain godliness
or holiness or Christlike, it will constrain that. Again, like a child wanting to
please their parent, conscious of the parent is watching it,
trying to do the best job of it. Trying to do the best job,
trying to please their parent. Is that scriptural? Absolutely. Paul said to the Thessalonians,
I'm going to tell you how you ought to walk and please God.
That's just love. It's just love. A child going
to please their parents. It's not trying to do it to be
saved. No, no, no, no. Nobody knows God is trying to
please God to gain heaven. They don't know God. Now, that's
self-righteousness. But everyone who has been saved
and loves God and wants to please their Heavenly Father. That's
what a child does. And thirdly, in being conscious of God seeing
us in His presence, will give us great comfort, should cause
us great comfort. He sees us. He sees us when we
stand. He sees us when we're worshipping.
He sees us. He knows us. David said, this
is too wonderful for me, but it is wonderful. It causes me
great shame and great conviction of my sin, of my evil thoughts
and my evil actions, my evil deed. Yet, when I find out He
still loves me, He's not going to catch me out. He gives me
great comfort. It's not a thing He doesn't know
about me. I'm going to do it before I do it. I don't want
to do it, and I do it anyway, Romans 7 said. I don't want to
do it, but I do it. God knows that. He sees that. He knows that better than you
know your children. Why do you know what your... Our children,
they're so ignorant, they think we were never children. And they think that we don't
know them. They came from us. You know why
we know them? You're me. I know what you're
going to do. I know what you're thinking.
Why? Because you're me. You came from me. And I was you,
my father's son, and I did exactly what you're doing. I thought
exactly what you're thinking. They can't see that. Duh. Dad
went from 12 to 40 overnight. Her mom, she doesn't have a clue
what I'm going through. Poor me. Poor you, I poor ignorant
you. And such were we and are we as
the children of God. He knows us. Don't cover it up. Don't get in too much despair
and don't be distraught. He sees you in your sin. He sees
you in the pit. He sees you. He knows you. And if you're convicted over
it, good. Whom the Father loveth, He chasteneth
and rebuketh. Whom He delighteth in. That's
what it says. Whom the Father delighteth in. Like a son, He
delighteth in. Get a hold of that, would you?
Buddy, there's nobody that loves their children more than I do.
And we just had Isabella with us a week, and it wasn't long
enough. I wasn't ready to see her go. And Sophie came and stayed
a couple more days, and I just delight in them. They are my
absolute delight. I mean, I take great pleasure
in them. The Scripture says that God delights
in His children. Can't you? You don't believe
that, do you? I don't believe that. But He
does. He said, how much more you have
in the Bible. Walk before me. Be open. Be honest. Come, I see you. Don't cover
up. Don't run and hide. I'll catch
you. I'll find you. If you sin, confess it. I forgive
it. Right now. Nobody's going to
cast me out. Can't do it. But there's my cell phone. I
always worry about that. Worry about that. But what happened? Oh my, thou Lord seest me. He
says walk before me. So walking in light of his countenance
will restrain sin. It will constrain us. to be like
Christ, and it will give us great comfort. There's not anything
you're going to do or say or have done that he doesn't know
about or will do that he doesn't know, and somehow it's going
to work his purpose out, and he's not going to kick you out.
Man. That's Pentecost. Somebody say,
Amen. Oh, that's good news. That's
what the gospel, or rather who the gospel is about. Almighty,
omnipotent, omniscient, all-knowing, omnipresent, everywhere, all
at the same time. Be perfect. Can God demand anything less? Be perfect. God is perfect. He can't demand anything less. Our Lord said this in Matthew
7, didn't He? Be ye perfect, Matthew 6, be
ye perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect. What did He mean
by that? He's not talking about sinless
perfection. You know that. You know that. We know that. The Word is upright. Upright. Man is the only creature
that walks upright. He's the only creature on earth
that walks upright. He said no monkeys do it. No,
they don't either. Watch them. No, they don't. Every
now and then they'll rise up and every now and then men act
like men but turn back to monkeys. But no man was created upright
in the image of God. Who's that? In the image of Christ.
He walks like Jesus Christ. Merciful, gracious, wise. Holy. Godly. With God. His eyes wide open. Be perfect. Upright. Like a man. Not a base
animal. Not a groveling worm. Stand up straight. Walk like
a man. Oh, but we sing that song, don't we? Oh, look how we grovel
here below. Crawl like worms. All the more
reason for our God to keep telling us, stand up, quit yourself like
man. Isn't that why he keeps telling
us that? Huh? We don't tell other people's
children what to do, but we do our own. We keep demanding things
of them, don't we? So does the Lord. So does the
Lord. Our Lord said that. Be ye perfect.
I have so much to say. You see how much is here? And
turn, where do I go? I want to go to Ephesians 4,
I want to go to 1 Corinthians 2, I want to go to 2 Corinthians
13. Turn to 2 Corinthians 13. 2 Corinthians 13. Go there in
closing with this verse. 2 Corinthians 13. Now, Ephesians 4 said the Lord,
when He ascended on high, He led captivity captive and he
gave gifts unto men, his people. He gave some prophets and apostles,
evangelists, pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints. And listen as I read on. It says,
for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body
of Christ. That is, building them up. Building up them on Christ Jesus. Alright? He always laid the foundation
of Christ. You build that hymn up on them.
Till we all come into the unity of faith and the knowledge of
the Son of God unto a perfect man. Stature of the fullness
of Christ. Don't you want to walk like Jesus
Christ did? Oh, my. That's why we've been predestinated
to be conformed to His hymn. That we his forth be no more
children tossed to and fro, but grow up in the hymn in all things. And you know that growth upward
is a growth in humility. Growth in humility. The Lord says, walk before me
and be perfect. He's not talking about sinless
perfection. He's talking about maturity.
He's talking about as a man. You know, our children, we love
them as children. And we delight in them as babes,
don't we? Yes, we do. Newborn babies, oh, you'll not
love that child any more than you do now. No, will you? And
each age has its own something you love about it, don't you?
I used to think that six months to a year was the cutest age
for me. I just loved that age. And then, well, two years, three years old, and now six
years old and on up. Every age has something you love
about it. They must go through that. But
what you want for them, and what you're training them
for, and every lesson you teach them, discipline, every chasing,
everything you do regarding them is that they might grow up and
mature into a fruitful, profitable, grown up. Right? And that's exactly
what the Heavenly Father purposed for His children. To measure
the stature of the fullness of Christ. Now there's no Contradiction
when the scripture says this, by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. And it says be ye perfect. It
says in 2 Corinthians 7 Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness
of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God."
There's no contradiction there. It's not talking about progressive
sanctification or growing more holy per se, but here's what
that is saying. Christ perfected, made it complete. There's a new creature in Christ
in every one of God's people. They're not going to be more
holy. They're holy, unblameable, unprovable. and God's eye, but they grow
up and mature just like Christ did. I don't understand how Christ
grew in wisdom and stature and favor with God and man. Do you?
But he did. Do you understand that? If you
can explain that, you can explain this. But he did. So that's what
he's talking about. There's no contradiction. It's
like our Lord said in John 13. He says, you're clean. You're
washed. Peter said, wash me all over.
He said, no, you are clean. But your feet need washing. How can you be clean, Steve?
Well, I think you understand. I think you understand. We're
here in 2 Corinthians, in closing. In verse 9, Paul, the Lord through
Paul, concludes this long letter and says in verse 13, we're glad
when we are weak. You remember Brother Clay's message?
Are you reading it, verse 9? We're glad when we're weak, and
you're strong. And this also we wish your perfection. See that? Perfection. Then look now at verse 11. He
says, Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect. Be perfect. Be of good comfort. Be of one
mind. Live in peace. That's a grown-up
in it. That's a mature person. The God
of love and peace shall be with you. Sounds like Philippians
4, doesn't it? It is the same. So walk before me and be perfect. You can't demand anything less.
I want to be. We say things like this, I'm
not perfect. We ought to say it with embarrassment. We ought to say it with great
conviction. Instead, we usually say it to justify or excuse ourselves. Well, I'm not perfect. Nobody's
perfect. Why not? Be perfect. Okay.