I would like to read verse 27
through verse 29, the last three verses of this chapter. To whom God would make known
what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles,
which is Christ in you, the hope of glory, whom we preach. warning every man, and teaching
every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect
in Christ Jesus, whereunto I also labor, striving according to
his working, which worketh in me mightily." I wanted to speak
on these verses this morning, having been moved, as I believe,
by the Spirit of God to bring a message this morning on the
subject of perfection, the subject of perfection. Now as I thought
about myself and also about you, I was greatly discouraged in
my initial thinking because I recognize that we're so imperfect. Every
one of us here in a body of flesh, in a state of nature, the old
Adamic nature, We, every one of us, are imperfect. And I was
greatly blessed as I meditated and studied anew these verses
because they show us how that even sinners, those who are born
of a woman who are unclean, how they can become perfect in the
sight of God. That's a glorious thought, a
glorious message. Now, to tell out all the truth
about this subject would take a more eloquent tongue than mine.
Certainly, it would take the tongue of an angel to be able
to spell out all of the glory that's in such a text as we have
before us this morning. But I want to begin to say a
few words here about Paul, the Apostle Paul. First of all, we
notice Paul's message here. And we read here in verse 28,
he says, whom we preach. Now in the last part of verse
27, he says that the mystery which has been hid from many
is that mystery of Christ being in men and women, and Christ
being in them is the hope of glory. And Paul said, he went
on to say, whom we preach? Christ, who dwelling in the heart
by faith is the hope of glory. Paul said, whom we preach? We
preach Him. We preach Christ. Now, beloved,
the Apostle Paul was no disciple of Moses. The Apostle Paul was
a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, meaning he was a follower
of Christ, he was an imitator of Christ, and he preached Christ. And might I say that the Apostle
Paul was intoxicated with the Lord Jesus Christ. Is there anything
wrong with that? Isn't it all right to be filled
with the Spirit? The Bible says, be not drunk
on wine, but be filled with the Spirit. Isn't it all right for
a man to be intoxicated with the Lord Jesus Christ? In that,
that Christ is the hope of glory. Paul said to the Corinthians,
I determine not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ. and him crucified. And Paul said,
we preach not ourself, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and we're your
servants for Christ's sake. Now whom we preach then? The
Apostle Paul preached the Lord Jesus Christ. That was his message. And how glorious it is to have
the ability and the measure of strength and health to be able
to preach him this morning. Somebody well said that any sermon
that doesn't have Christ in the beginning, Christ in the middle,
and Christ in the end is a sin in conception and it is a crime
in execution. And so we want to preach Christ.
We glory in the Lord Jesus Christ and we want to preach Him. So
He was Paul's message. And then we have also his method
here in verse 28, warning every man and teaching every man in
all wisdom. The Apostle Paul believed that
he ought to preach the gospel to every creature. Paul said
in Romans 1 and 16, I'm not ashamed of the gospel because it is the
power of God unto salvation, unto everyone who believes, unto
the Jew first, and also unto the Greek. And so Paul's method
was mourning every man. The Apostle Paul would warn you
this morning that for you to die outside of Christ is to mean
that you'd be lost forever. It means that you'll perish.
It means that you'll never see glory, you'll never see the bliss
and blessing of eternal life, you'll never experience it, never
have it, if you die outside the Lord Jesus Christ. You die in
your sin, you have no hope, and you'll perish forever. Paul would
warn you of that this morning, and said, teaching every man
in all wisdom. The Apostle Paul had spiritual
wisdom. He was anointed with the Holy
Spirit and he had spiritual wisdom. But yet he understood that it
was God who must always, when a man preaches, even though a
man preaches with wisdom and he preaches with the understanding
that God has given him, that it's God that must give the increase.
And so as we speak to you this morning, attempting, and as we
often do, we search to find a way. We search to find words that
God the Holy Spirit will bless to the enlightening of souls,
to the quickening of souls. Words that when they're set before
men and women will be used by God to bring them out of death
unto life, out of spiritual darkness into light and life. in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so Paul said we teach every
man in all wisdom. And so we're attempting to find
a word from God to be able to set forth the truth. And we believe
that God is able to so bless the preaching of the message
of the gospel that the words that are spoken will not fall
to the ground. but that God will make them to
accomplish that wherein, too, he sent the message, that God
will bring forth fruit from the preaching of his word. And then
he says, thirdly, in his object, in his preaching of Christ, in
his warning and teaching every man, is that he might present
every man perfect in the Lord Jesus Christ. that he might present
every man perfect in the Lord Jesus Christ. What a glorious
thought. Now this, beloved, was his object,
and I believe this morning it's my object. I would like to see
every one of you perfect in the Lord Jesus Christ. I'd like to
know of a certainty this morning that those that are in this audience,
that they would come to that place where they would believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ and receive his perfection and that
His righteous and holy garment might be spread upon you, and
you would have a standing before God, just as if you were without
blame, and that you were perfect, holy, and unreprovable in His
sight. Now that's my hope, that's my
desire. And I recognize that many, many times, things like
this, or verses like this, or truths like this, they startle
people. They startle them. that he might
present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. I never will forget
a number of years ago, the first time that I met Conrad was down
in Lewistown, Montana. I'd been invited down there to
fill the pulpit there for Brother Bruce. apprentice, and I preached
the sermon along these lines. And I never will forget it because
of the look that was on the face of the people in the congregation,
how startled they were to hear something like this. and how
they were taken aback. And after the meeting, there
was various ones that made comments. Some of them said, I've never
heard anything like that ever before. And others said, never
heard anything like that except one time down in Texas or somewhere
like that. But they were taken aback. They
were startled. They couldn't imagine that a
man would get up and preach that it was possible for sinners to
be perfect in the Lord Jesus Christ. But nevertheless, that's
exactly what Paul says. And then we find here also in
verse 29 the strength that Paul had for his labor. He says, Whereunto
I also labor, striving according to his working, which worketh
in me mightily. Now Paul's strength for his labor,
it came from the Lord. Our strength in the ministry
is the measure of His strength that is put upon us, that is
given unto us. That's all the strength that
we have, because our sufficiency is of God. If any man minister,
let him minister with the ability which God gives, that God in
all things may be glorified. And the apostle Paul made the
statement that he had labored more abundantly than all the
other apostles. But he said, yet not I, but the
grace of God that was within me. And so Paul said, I labor,
striving according to his working. As the Spirit of God moves and
stirs my heart, and as God works in me mightily, I continue this
work of preaching the gospel, warning and teaching, and trying
and attempting, by the grace of God, to preach the gospel
that some would be saved, that some would come to know the Lord
Jesus Christ, and they would become perfect in Christ. All right? Now, beloved, we see
perfection then in verse 28. Paul said, that we may present
every man perfect in Christ Jesus. Perfection in the Lord Jesus. Now, I question whether there's
any mortal mind that is capable of grasping the idea of perfection
any more than it can grasp the idea of eternity. Perfection
without flaw, flawless and without any blotch, without any blemish,
to be absolutely perfect before God. Can you grasp that idea?
Well, I would find when we begin to think about eternity, beginning
without beginning and without end, certainly perfection is
a word that would be as difficult to grasp with. as the word eternity. For the mind of man to comprehend
or to lay hold of, it's beyond us. But perfection means to be
without fault. It means to be without a flaw. Now, perfection indeed belongs
to God. He is perfect in everything.
If you were to look in Matthew chapter 5 and look at verse 48,
you would find these words. And this is a tremendous verse,
and we need to look at it. Many, many times, you know, we'll
take a look at a verse one time, and then we'd like to forget
it. We'd rather not remember it anymore because of what it
says. But in Matthew chapter 5 and
verse 48, it says, Be ye therefore perfect. Be ye therefore perfect,
these are the words of the Lord Jesus, even as your Father which
is in heaven is perfect. Be you without fault, without
flaw, complete in all respects, without defect or omission, sound,
be you flawless. And that's what our Lord Jesus
said to the disciples. He says, as your Father in heaven
is perfect, then you be perfect in all things. Now, from whatever
point of view, and I believe in all of the attributes of God,
that there is no lack, there is no imperfection in all of
the attributes of God. Let me hasten to say that perfection
is the sole prerogative of God. Absolute perfection is the sole
prerogative of God Almighty. Now from whatever point of view
we regard Him, He is without blemish or without spot. And
no man speaking truthfully of God can say that there is an
ounce of imperfection in Him. He is absolutely perfect. If we talk of majesty, if we
talk of His glory, if we talk of His power, if we talk of His
omnipotence, if we speak of His wisdom, which is the wisdom of
the ages, the wisdom of the Godhead, all of this is without imperfection. It all is perfect. And I say
it is a fact which you will not deny, that in you, that is in
your flesh, that is in your person, that there is not only imperfection,
but there dwelleth no good thing. Paul in Romans chapter 7 says,
in my flesh there dwelleth no good thing. Now God is the ever-happy
God, He's the ever-blessed one, and that is because He is without
sin. There's no void to be filled
with God or in God. There's no frustration with God.
God is absolutely, He's never frustrated. God knows the end
from the beginning and all of His works are known to Him from
the beginning. And there's no impatience with
God. God is, somebody said, the mill of God grinds slow, but
it grinds sure. Surely, you know, sometimes men
look at the fact that God doesn't speedily bring judgment upon
the world, upon sinners, and they think that God is not in
business. that he's went on a vacation
or something like that, but it's not true. The mill of God grinds
sure, and God will in no wise acquit the wicked. God will bring
judgment upon the impenitent. He will bring judgment upon sinners. Now, beloved, we know that in
and of ourselves that we are imperfect because we're sinners,
and sinners are lawbreakers. and you're imperfect because
you've not measured up to God's holy law. You have broken God's
law, guilty of all of it, and you're imperfect. Now then, to
be honest and from the depths of our soul, we must confess
that whether Adam lost perfection or not, or whether we ever had
it, or whether we didn't, whether we were born with it or was not
born with it, somewhere along the line, We lost perfection,
and we don't have perfection in and of ourselves. We don't
have it in our conduct. We don't have it in our conversation,
our behavior. We don't have it in our life.
We are strangers to perfection. Now, we wish it were our daily
experience, but it's not. We wish that we were perfect,
but we're not. But beloved, every tear that
runs down our cheeks says, imperfection, and every sigh which comes from
your heart says imperfection, and every harsh word which you
speak, beloved, says imperfection, and every duty which is not done
with the most holy and strict and rigid observance of God's
law cries out imperfection. So everything about us, you see,
speaks of our imperfections. So we're guilty before God in
nature for perfection is not in us. It's far from us. Now
we must remember when speaking of the doctrine of perfection
that according to the Word of God, perfection is absolutely
necessary for all who hope to enter into heaven. Now, this
verse that we mentioned out of Matthew 5 a while ago, and verse
48, I think it may be said, when it says that we ought to be perfect,
or we must be perfect, even as God is perfect, that for one
to be perfect, that they must not want anything that is absolutely
necessary for the salvation of their soul. Now all of us are
lacking in righteousness. We're sinners and we lack that
which is necessary, absolutely necessary for the salvation of
souls. We must be perfectly righteous
as God is. We must be as righteous as Jesus
Christ himself in order to go to heaven and spend eternity
in his presence. Now then, we must understand
that even though we've lost perfection, and even though we say, well,
we've lost it, and we don't know where we lost it, and we don't
know where to find it, nevertheless, God demands it of you. Whatever
your ignorance be in connection with perfection, God demands
perfection of you. He demands that you be perfect,
that you be absolutely holy. It may be impossible that we
should ever be perfect in ourselves, but God demands that we must
find perfection in His Son, the Substitute. Now the holy law
of God was given by God, and if we would be saved by it, we
must keep it perfectly. Cursed is the man who continueth
not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do
them. Would you be saved by the law? Then you must keep the law. You must keep it. Every jot and
tittle. Every jot and tittle of the law
of God must absolutely be fulfilled either by you or by a substitute
because God demands perfection and you're not getting into the
gates of glory without perfection. You must be perfect before you
can enter in. You must be flawless. Now a supposed
perfection will not do. Somebody says, well, I think
I believe, and I'm attempting to be sanctified, I'm attempting
to grow in grace, and I'm attempting to get to the place where I overcome
my habits, and I hope to get to the place eventually where
my old nature will be completely eradicated. Now, I'm telling
you, it's no supposed perfection that's going to get us by. into
eternal glory. And it's nothing that you can
work up. It isn't anything you can pump out of your well. It's
nothing that's going to come off of a human dunghill. My friend,
this perfection that we're talking about got to be absolutely perfect. And there's people running around
saying they are perfect. Well, I'll tell you how you can
get them to see that they're not. Step on their corn if they
have one. Just step on it, and you'll find
out they're not perfect. And if you just stay with them
long enough and keep talking to them, you'll find out they're
a long way from perfection. And I want to tell you this,
that the Bible says in 1 John 1 and verse 8, that if we say
that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not
in us. So you might as well own up to
it, You have sin in your life, therefore you're full of imperfection. Now no man who is not perfect
then can hope to enter into heaven. Unless he can find perfection
somewhere, in another, if not in himself, he must be irretrievably
ruined, driven from God's presence. No man can walk the streets of
glory until he gets perfection somehow or somewhere. He must
get it. Now, it would be unjust of God
if he did not punish man if he's not perfect. Now, God must punish
your sin. God is absolutely holy. If God
does not punish sin, there'll be a blot on the whiteness of
his throne. And God is absolutely holy. Now, his very nature demands
that he forever bar pollution, sin, and shame from eternal glory. And those holy gates forever
bar pollution, sin, and shame. Now every attack on the doctrine
of hell is an attack on the holiness of God. Now you see, beloved,
this world is full of preachers that are denying the doctrine
of hell. They say that God will not punish sin. They picture
God as if he is an old grandfather and people come, you know, like
little children and sit on his lap. and he's a very merciful
God and that he's not going to send anybody to hell but I want
you to know this that God's nature demands that he punish sin and
your sin will be punished the chief attribute of God is holiness
And as we quoted that song, those holy gates forever bar pollution,
sin, and shame. And so as we think upon this
subject of holiness, let us remember that heaven itself is a holy
place. And it's a place where the redeemed
of the ages will dwell and where the spirits of just men that
have been made perfect will dwell for all eternity. Look in Revelation
21 and 27. I want to lay the foundation
here for what we have to say about perfection being in Christ.
And we're doing that in verse 27. And there shall in no wise
enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh. Abomination,
or maketh a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb's book
of life. So this verse is talking about
heaven, and it says that there will be no wise enter into it
anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination
or maketh a lie, but that which is written in the Lamb's book
of life. And so, beloved, do we see this?
that heaven is a holy place and it's a place where perfect souls
and perfect spirits dwell forever. And you would not be happy in
heaven if you were imperfect. If you somehow or other could
get there imperfect, you would not be happy there. You would
not be. And of course you're not going
to be there, so that will not be a problem. Now that brings
me then to the first point and the doctrine of the text. that
we have here in Colossians 1 this morning, and the doctrine of
the text is that every man who is in Christ is perfect. They are perfect. Now, what does
this mean? As we said earlier, it would
take the tongue of an angel to set forth all this means, but
I'm going to give it a shot. I'm going to try to tell you
what it means. The doctrine of this text is
that every man who is in Christ is perfect, perfect in the scriptural
sense of the word, without flaw, blameless, unreprovable. He is absolutely justified and
righteous in this one, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the newborn
saint, Let's say that a person was born again 10 minutes ago. Let's say he was born again 5
minutes ago, or 2 minutes ago, or 1 minute ago, or if just now
you've passed from death unto life, let me tell you, according
to the text, you're perfect in Christ Jesus. If you have come
to believe in the last few minutes the gospel of redeeming grace,
if you believed on the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, if
you're united to Him, then, beloved, you're perfect in Christ. Now,
all of us, whatever we're going through, now, some of us have
been saved a number of years, some not so many years, but whatever
we're going through, whatever be our situation, let's look
at a backslider. Here's an individual that started
out believing on Christ, trusting Christ, and through the years,
they've gotten away from the Lord. But the Lord is dealing
with that soul. He's bringing that person around
and making that individual to feel the desperateness of his
situation and make him to feel what he's lost and what his situation
has been and what he's been robbing himself of by the way he's been
living and living in his rebellion and so on. Well, if that individual
truly believes on Christ, even though he's a backslider, that
individual is perfect before God in the Lord Jesus Christ. Because that's what Paul said.
He didn't say anything about you being perfect in yourself.
He said you're perfect in Christ Jesus. Now we're complete, and
yea, we are perfect, being washed in his blood, clothed in his
righteousness, and united to his person. And then we might
have an old white-headed man here in this service this morning,
and he's received a mini-scar and a mini-wound in the service
of God. and he's lived and walked with
the Lord for a number of years. But in this mortal body, he has
been weakened by the various scars and wounds that he received
along the way. And if you were to ask him, I
mean, if you were to get up close to him and speak in his ear,
he might even be hard of hearing, and you were to say, well, do
you feel like you're perfect? And he's been in the way of faith
for many, many years. Do you feel like you're perfect?
And he would say to you, no, I still feel very diseased in
this body. I still feel like that in me
there dwelleth no good thing. I still know that I'm a sinner,
and I realize what I am as a sinner. In the flesh, I know that I do
commit sin in the flesh, but I do believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and I am perfect in Him. If you see me in Him, I am perfect
in the Lord Jesus Christ. But none but those who are washed
in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ can lay claim to being
perfect. You must have perfection if you
would enter heaven. And if you're in Christ, hallelujah,
whatever your situation be, then your standing is in Him. You're
not perfect in yourself, but we're perfect in Him, because
in Him, there is no sin. There is no sin in Christ. Perfect notwithstanding all of
our corruptions and all of our frailties. Somebody said, I like
to hear these corruption preachers. Well, maybe we would listen to
them for a few minutes, but I wanted to get away from corruption and
get to perfection in the Lord Jesus Christ. I like to hear
about a man being perfect in Christ and having the blessings
of the gospel upon him through the merit of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, somebody might say, well,
preacher, I think you've gone too far. when you go talking
about a man being perfect in Christ, and while he's still
a sinner in his body, and while he's still got frailties about
him, and while he's still got inconsistencies, I think you've
gone too far. Well, I know some of the Lord's
people find it very hard to believe. Some do not understand the doctrine
of substitution. Ephesians 2, 8, and 9 says, for
by grace are you saved through faith, that not of yourselves,
it's a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. And
then in Romans 4, and turn back with me to Romans chapter 4,
hurriedly, and let's read a verse here and then read one in chapter
11. But in Romans 4 and verse 16, you see if I've gone too
far by proclaiming that a man is perfect when he believes on
the Lord Jesus Christ. In verse 16 of Romans 4, it says,
Therefore it is of faith that it might be by grace to the end
the promise might be sure to all the seed, not to that only
which is of the law, but that also which is of the faith of
Abraham, who is the father of us all. Let me make it crystal
clear. It is of faith. Perfection is
of faith. Right standing with God. Justification
is by faith in the substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ. You see,
God knew that we could never keep His law. God knew that we
would send away our day of grace. God knew that we could not establish
a righteousness which He could accept. God knew that. He sent
His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. Sin accepted in
the Lord Jesus Christ. And Christ became our substitute. And everything God demanded of
us, He gave us in His Son. We demanded perfection, and Christ
was perfect. And that's the way we get our
perfection, by His righteousness being given over to us, it being
accredited to our account. In Romans 11, beginning with
verse 5 here, it says, Even so then, at this present time also,
there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And
if by grace, then it's no more of works. Otherwise, grace is
no more grace. But if it be of works, then it's
no more grace. Otherwise, work is no more work. So isn't that clear? Now, have
we gone too far? No, we have not gone too far.
Good works will never merit justification. Now, it's not anything in myself
that saves me. Nothing in myself that saves
me. I'm justified by faith, and good
works will follow. Good works will follow where
there's true faith, no question about it. It will follow. But
let me say that good works, they are the handmaiden, they're not
the mistress. They're that which follows the
work of God in our souls. And they will never merit justification,
whatever our works be. Now, I think that it's important
for us to understand that the way the Lord looks at his people,
the way he sees us, he sees us as being perfect as we stand
in him because there's no sin in Christ. And he said in the
Song of Solomon, Thou art all fair, my love, there is no spot
in thee. Now that's Christ talking to
his church. And he says that you're all fair,
my love, there's no spot in you. Now, I hope then that we can
understand that faith in Christ is the foundation, it's the cornerstone,
it's the topstone of justification. And while good works are evidences
of justification, they have nothing to do with procuring it. Not
by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to
his mercy, he saved us by the washing of regeneration and the
renewal brought about by the Holy Spirit. The songwriter said,
nothing do, sinner, either great or small. Jesus did it, did it
all long, long ago. Now then, consider with me briefly
how God's people are in Christ. We've got to be in Him to be
perfect. Well, how are we in Christ? Well, Ephesians 1 and
4 says that according as He has chosen us in Him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
Him in love. How did we get in Christ? Well,
we got in Christ by the Father choosing us in His Son. We were
chosen in the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, the Father could not
save us apart from His holy, spotless Son. We could not be
accepted by God except we be spotless and holy and without
blemish and flawless as the Lord Jesus. And so He chose us in
Him and put us in Him in the eternal covenant of grace, and
that's where we are. Now the chosen of God are all
in Christ. We're all in Christ by redemption.
We died in Him when He died on the cross. We were in Him. God
put us in Him. in the old covenant of grace. And so we died in Him. We suffered in Him. Somebody
said, well, don't sin have to be paid for? It was paid for.
The Lord Jesus Christ paid our sin debt in the full. Our sins
were laid on Him. And the justice of God exacted
from Him full payment for our sin. And then we arose in Him
by faith of the operation of God. And we're now seated at
the right hand of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how
we're in Him. Then thirdly, we're in the Lord
Jesus Christ actually and positively and to our own knowledge when
we believe in Him by sovereign grace. Now there's a time that
comes in the life of a child of God when they know positively,
actually know, that they're in Christ. And that's when they've
come to believe on Him. Now, follow with me if you will.
We were in Him before, but we did not know it till faith came. God put us in Christ before the
foundation of the world, but we didn't know it. I didn't know
it when I was 13, 14 years old. I didn't know that I was in Christ. I didn't know it until I came
to faith in the Lord Jesus. The foundation of the world,
we were made secure before the foundation of the world was ever
laid. But we didn't know anything about it until we come to faith
in Christ. You take a, here's a boy and
he's been left an inheritance. And this boy is only maybe, say,
10, 12 years old, but when he gets 21, there's a big sum of
money that's coming to him. Now, he may know about that or
he might not know about it, but there isn't anything he can do
until he's of age. Now, this coming of age is when
we get our inheritance, and that's when we believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. We become perfect in Him. The
possessions of the covenant of grace belong to the elect of
God, even before they believe, but they cannot touch them until
the appointed time of the Father, when by sovereign grace, we say,
they're enabled to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And then
we see that they can feed on these things, and they can rejoice
in these things. Now when we have faith then we
come in to our inheritance. Let me say this, that no man
has any right whatever to make any pretense of being in Christ
until he believes. How do we know when somebody
is in Christ? Well, we can only suspect that
they're in Christ when we know that they believe, and when they
testify that they believe, and when they follow the example
of the scriptures. in regards to testifying of Christ
in baptism, when they submit themselves to water baptism.
That's the only way we can know it. But no man is in Christ,
he has no right to say he's in Christ until he becomes a believer. He may believe election, he may
believe in the great doctrines of grace, all of them. but until
he believes personally on the Lord Jesus Christ and made Christ
his own by faith, that man has no right to lay claim to be in
Christ. Now, you may say, well, Is that the way you get into
Christ? Absolutely. We get into Christ
by God putting us in Him. And then we get into Christ by
the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus. And then we get in, actually
get in, when we experience faith in our Lord. Now then, that brings
me to the last thing, and that is this. the influence of this
doctrine of perfection in Christ when it's realized in the heart.
What's the influence of it? What effects does it have on
your soul? Now, let me say first of all,
because I know this is something that most generally is attributed
to a message like this, that it gives people license to sin. That whenever you say a man is
perfect in Christ, regardless of what their state is, if they're
true believers in Christ, somebody says, well, that just gives somebody
a license to sin. It promotes licentious living,
loose living. But it does not. It does not
lead to sin. Now let me point out a couple
things here. I believe, and I'll speak for
myself here this morning, that I am most holy when I feel myself
to be the most unholy. Now, you may say, well, now wait
a minute now. You say, you find yourself feeling
most holy when you know yourself to be most unholy let me let
me try to explain that my friend there's nobody going to know
there's nobody going to suspect that there's anything wrong with
them really until god does something in them and then against the
background of what god does they're able to see how far wrong they
are and how far off they are. That's against the background
of what God has done. Now if a person believes himself
to be holy, oh there's somebody, and they're just, just look at
me, just keep looking at me, because I'm an example and I'm
holy. That fella don't know a thing
about holiness. But if he goes around lamenting
his weakness, his frailties, if he does not attempt to call
any attention to himself, if he's ashamed to call any attention
to himself, that man is more holy than the man who's going
around boasting about his holiness. Because the work of God in a
man will shut his mouth. It'll fill his heart, but it'll
shut his mouth. and anytime you see these people
running around holier-than-thou folks you know right then that
God hadn't put anything in their hearts. If he had, they'd have
shut their mouths. They'd be ashamed of themselves.
And so when we're the most holiest is
when we feel in ourselves that we're the most unholy. Now I
can live most like Jesus when I live on Jesus. Now you think
about that a little bit. I can live most like Jesus when
I live on Jesus. Gratitude to God for what Christ,
what He has done, what God has done for me in the person of
the Lord Jesus Christ will be the strongest tie to virtue and
the greatest bond to a holy life that will ever exist in my life.
love to God, my friend, love to Christ, will make us live
as good as a mortal can live in this world. There isn't any
stronger motive to compel the people of God to live the best
they can than the love of God in Jesus Christ toward their
souls. Paul said, it's the love of Christ
that constrains me. It isn't the law of Moses. We
already broke the law of Moses. It's not going to restrain us
from doing something that we ought not do. But if you love
Christ, if you love him, if you love him sincerely, and by the
way, if you're in Christ, you do love him. You love Christ.
You're bound to. You love him sincerely if you're
in Christ and you have this desire to be like him and want to live
for him and live for his glory. So love to Christ will make us
live as good as we ever gonna live in this world. As good as
mortals can live in this world. And there is no stronger motive
than that. And so the influence of this
doctrine makes us to live on Christ. It makes us to keep coming
to Him, keep believing on Him, keep trusting in Him, and keep
praising Him for what He has done for us and for the perfection
that our souls have in Him. and we keep living out of gratitude
for that on the Lord. Now the second thing I would
like to say that this gives the Christian the greatest calm,
quiet, ease, and peace that he can have this side of heaven.
Are you cast down? Why are you cast down? You're
perfect in Christ. What's wrong? You're perfect
in the Lord Jesus. Now that means that God is going
to treat you just like he did his son. He's going to treat
you just like Jesus was treated after He was raised from the
dead. He was taken into glory, and that's what God's going to
do with you. You see, you're perfect before God, and you're
accepted of God. Jesus was accepted, that's why
He sat down at the right hand of God, and we're accepted in
Him, and so you're accepted of God. Now it's one thing to know
this truth, It's another, when we get into trial and when we
get into difficulty, to reflect upon it and to think upon it
and to make it a part of our mental pattern. It's one thing
to just know it and cast it off, but brethren, this is not a truth
that we can afford to cast away and to live as if we didn't even
know that it existed. This is a truth that we must
continue to think upon, and we must think on it because we're
going to find ourselves in trials, in trials, hard trials. And I'll
tell you what, you're going to be afflicted and tested in this
world. And you need to remember your
perfection in Christ. And Satan is going to assault
you, my friend. And you need to know about perfection
being in the Lord Jesus Christ. Because you're going to find
yourself absolutely sick to your stomach about how you, your own
self, how that you respond to the troubles of life, and to
the difficulties of life, and to the test of Satan, because
you're going to fail almost every time. Now, though there's much
to be done, we need to realize that we're perfect in the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's where our perfection is.
So you say, preacher, perfect in Christ Jesus, huh? Perfect
in Christ Jesus. And you say, well, I'm not able
to say that. No, sir, I'm not able to say that. It'd be a bare-faced
lie if I was to lay claim to perfection here this morning. My heart will not allow my lips
to say it. I can't say it. Well, if that
be the truth, face the truth. Face the truth. Here you are
this morning, you're outside of Christ, and you're not perfect
before God. None are perfect but those who
believe on the Lord Jesus, and you're not a believer. Therefore,
face the truth. and you're going to spend eternity
in that lake which burns with fire. You're going off yonder
to be with the devil and with his angels forever and ever,
his demons forever and ever. Face it, my friend, and ask yourself
this morning, may God, have I been asking God to give me an interest
in his son, Christ Jesus? Have I been asking him to save
me? Oh, it's amazing. But every once
in a while it leaks out on somebody. They tell about how they cried
to God. How they looked to God when they
knew they were lost. And how they cried to God. Lord,
have mercy on my soul. Lord, save me. Give me an interest
in Christ. Give me this perfection that
I must have to be able to enter into eternal glory. Give that
to me. And may God give you an interest.
in the Lord Jesus. Now if you're perfect in Christ
Jesus, this is a sweet brotherhood. The brotherhood of the perfect.
Do you believe in the brotherhood of the perfect? Hallelujah. Well,
let's shake hearts. Did you ever hear that expression?
Let's shake hearts. We're in the brotherhood of the
perfect. You say, I wish I could say that. I wished I could. And I wouldn't
care anymore whether I was rich or poor, whether I was sick,
or whether I was well. I wouldn't be miserable ever
again in my life if I could just say I'm a member of that brotherhood,
a brotherhood of the perfect. Now that would just solve a lot
of problems. If you ever get to the place where you're real
burdened over your sin, then you, my friend, will want to
be a member of this brotherhood, the brotherhood of the perfect
in the Lord Jesus Christ. God give all of us to realize
that we are perfect in Christ if we believe on him. In Jesus
only, if we believe in Jesus only, and if we believe in Jesus
forever, then my friend, we shall be perfect, accepted of God,
and live forever in the presence and glory of heaven. Are you
perfect in Christ Jesus? Answer the question in your own
heart, and may God be pleased to give you the gift of faith,
sovereign grace. We believe by sovereign grace.
We believe as God enables us to believe. It is given. It is
given. Faith is given. It's a gift of
God. Ask Him for it. Seek Him. Seek Him and you'll
find Him. Let's pray. Father, in the name
of Jesus, we thank You for this privilege this morning, and we
do pray for Your Spirit to take this message and, Lord, use it
in the hearts of these dear ones that have come out. May they
take great courage, have great hope in and of themselves, in
their hearts as they look to Christ, that they are perfect
before God, holy and without blame, spotless, unreprovable
before God. God himself and all of his holiness
looking upon them cannot find one blotch, one spot, a wrinkle,
or any such thing. Absolutely perfect. And Lord,
we sit here like stumps. and we seem not to have an appreciation
for these things. Quicken our hearts, O Lord, quicken
our hearts, and may you never take away the message of perfection
and righteousness in Christ from this congregation to where they
have to listen, constantly listen to the drone of some preacher
that is not preaching the gospel. May there become some young people
here, some young men, that will become intoxicated with Jesus,
and intoxicated with these truths, to where they'll begin to preach,
and speak, and study, and search out, and find out more and more
about these glorious truths that we've just scratched the surface
of this morning. We pray it in Jesus' name, and
for His sake, amen.