Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nyberg. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 1030 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
945 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor, Todd Nyberg. In the 17th chapter of Genesis,
in verse one, and when Abram was 90 and nine years old, the
Lord appeared to Abram and said unto him, I am almighty God. El Shaddai, God Almighty, God
Omnipotent. I am the Almighty God. Walk before me. And that before me is literally
before my face. Walk before me. and be thou perfect. I've entitled the message for
this morning, Be Thou Perfect. Now someone is thinking, well,
nobody's perfect. Well, I understand in and of
ourselves, no one is perfect, that's true. When people say
to me, I'm not perfect, I think, well, I'm glad you told me, I
wouldn't have known it. Yes, I would have. Be thou perfect,
well, there are some people who God says are perfect. Now, this word perfect, is translated
44 times in the Old Testament without blemish. It was used
to describe the sacrificial animal. It had to be without blemish.
If it had any blemishes at all, you were not permitted to use
that animal as a sacrifice. And that points to the perfect
life of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the purpose of no blemish. It's translated without spot. Be thou without spot. It's translated
whole. It's translated complete. It means perfect, not relatively
perfect, but perfect, sound, wholesome, unimpaired, innocent,
entire. that which is complete and entirely
in accord with truth and fact. This is not a relative term when
he says, be thou perfect. Interestingly, my marginal reading
says be sincere. Well, you ought to be sincere,
but have you ever been sincere enough? My marginal reading says
be upright. Well, you ought to be upright
and I ought to be upright, but is there perfection in your sincerity? Is there perfection in your uprightness? This is what this is speaking
of. Be thou perfect. Now let me ask you a question.
Can God require anything less? Can God accept anything less. Now remember who He is. He's
the God of glory. He's the Holy God. Can he accept
anything less? The answer to that question is
no. It shall be perfect to be accepted. Leviticus chapter 22.
But I'm so thankful I can also say this in speaking of God's
requirements of perfection. Everything that he requires,
he provides. His name is called Jehovah Jireh. The Lord will provide. When Isaac
and Abraham are walking up the mount and Isaac says to his father,
here's the wood, here's the fire, but where's the lamb for a burnt
offering? Abraham replied, God shall provide
himself a lamb for a burnt offering. Do you know that there is nothing
you or I can give that God could accept? Nothing. But thank God,
everything He requires, He provides for Himself. He provided the
sacrifice, You didn't. He provided himself as the sacrifice. He provided himself as the sacrifice
for himself to make a way for him to be just and justify somebody
like me or you. God will provide. Now, in this verse of scripture,
it says, the Lord appeared unto Abraham. Now this was without
question what is known as a pre-incarnate appearance of the Lord Jesus
Christ. When Christ came some 2,000 years ago, he came in the
flesh. But there were appearances throughout
the Old Testament of the Lord Jesus Christ when he didn't actually
take on flesh, but he appeared to his people. The Lord appeared
to Abraham at this time. And notice this. The Lord appeared to Abraham. If the Lord doesn't appear to
Abraham, and if the Lord doesn't appear to me and you, we'll never
see him. We'll never know him. You and
I can't figure this thing out. We're totally dependent upon
him to reveal himself to us. were totally dependent upon Him
to appear to us. If the Lord didn't appear to
Abraham, Abraham would have never seen or known the Lord. The only way you and I can know
the Lord is if He makes Himself known. were totally dependent
upon revelation. And I want us to notice how it
is that he appeared to Abraham. When Abraham was ninety and nine
years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said unto him, I
am the Almighty God. El Shaddai. God Almighty. John said in Revelation chapter
19 verse 6, hallelujah, praise the Lord, for the Lord God omnipotent
reigneth, almighty, omnipotent, all powerful. Now if I don't know him as all
powerful, I do not know him, period. He is almighty God, all-powerful,
sovereign. You can't have one without the
other. If he's all-powerful, he is sovereign. That means he
controls everything. And if he controls everything,
he must be all-powerful to do so. God is the only independent
being. That means he has no needs. He's
not dependent upon anything or anyone. He is independent. He said, if I was hungry, I wouldn't
tell you. The cattle on a thousand hills
are mine. He's not worshiped with men's
hands as though he needed anything. Now for him to be independent,
he has to be all powerful, and he has to be sovereign. In Psalm 62, verse 11, God hath
spoken once, twice have I heard this, that power belongeth unto
the Lord. Now understand this, he has a
monopoly on power. You know, men and women like
to look at other people and think, well, they're either powerful
individuals, influential individuals, or they're powerless individuals. Do you know that there's no such
thing as a powerful person? Power belongeth to the Lord.
All power goes to Him. If you're in a position of power,
He puts you there to do His will, but you don't have any power
at all of yourself. No man does. Power belongeth unto the Lord. He's infinite in power. There's
no limitation to his power. There's no power greater than
his. And you think of this, all of
his attributes would be meaningless without his omnipotence. For
instance, how could he make his will come to pass? How could
it be sovereign if he were not all powerful? What would his
wrath be without his power to execute it? What would his providence
be if he didn't have the power to make sure everything he purposed
came to pass? What would his salvation be if
he didn't have the power to save? You know, Isaiah warns us of
those who, he says, they have no knowledge that pray unto a
God that cannot save. And you know, the God that I
preached in this, here preached in this generation is a God that
can't save. He can't save unless you let him. Now, a God like
that, a God that cannot save unless you give him permission
to save you and ask him to save you is a weak God, is a non-existent
God. Power belongeth to God, and His
omnipotence is a non-communicable attribute. What's that mean? Only He has it. It's not shared
with anybody else. All power, the Lord said, belongeth
to Me. Is anything too hard for the
Lord? That's what the Lord said to
Sarah when she heard that she was going to be with child and
she'd already gone through menopause and she laughed. How could this
be? Is anything too hard for the Lord? Is anything beyond
His power? Now, He can do anything that's
not contrary to His will or His nature. Now, He cannot sin. That's
against His nature. But He can do anything that's
not contrary to His will and purpose and His nature. Now,
God's omnipotence is seen, first of all, in creation. With no
pre-existing matter, He created the universe from nothing. this universe into existence
because He is all-powerful. And it was not difficult for
Him to do this. You know, when someone takes
an atheist position that God did not create the universe,
that's so foolish. It's illogical, it's irrational,
and it's foolish. God created the universe. and his power is displayed in
creating something from nothing. God's omnipotence is displayed
in providence. What's providence? Everything
that happens in time is what he determined in eternity. Proverbs
8, verse 28 says, and we know that all things work together for good to them
that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Now, all things means all things.
That means everything that happens, he is in complete control of. He is completely sovereign over
the free and uncoerced actions of men. Everything that happens
is his will being done. Now, I realize there are people
that will have a hard time with that, but think of the opposite. If His will is not always done,
that means somebody else's will is done. That means somebody
else is in control. That means there's something
that He can't control, and that's not so. His will is seen in providence
by Him working everything together. for good to them that love God,
to them who are called according to His purpose. He said there's
not a sparrow that falls to the ground without your Heavenly
Father. He's in control of everything. The wise man said the lot is
cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. He's before all things, and by
Him all things consist, and most especially is His power seen
in the salvation of the sinner. Christ is the power of God. Now, only omnipotence can cause
His eternal purpose to come to pass—the salvation of His people. Anything less than omnipotence
could not bring that to pass. You think of the omnipotence
that's involved in God becoming flesh. Great is the mystery of
godliness. God was manifested in the flesh. You think of the omnipotence
involved in Him living a perfect life and never sinning. Nothing but omnipotence could
do that. You think of the omnipotence
that is demonstrated in his death. The fact that he could die in
the first place is mysterious and amazing. He's the God-man.
And think about what he accomplished in his death. This took omnipotence. The moment he died, the sins
of all the elect were put away and they were all justified by
what he did. What omnipotence that causes
my sin to not be and makes me stand before God without guilt.
What omnipotence God demonstrated when He raised His Son from the
dead. Christ raised Himself from the
dead. What omnipotence? What omnipotence is displayed
in giving a dead sinner life and giving them spiritual life,
giving them faith, giving them love for God, love for Christ,
granting them repentance? What omnipotence is used in preserving
a believer and causing him to persevere all the way to the
end and not give up? What perseverance there is in
the glorification of a believer when every believer is going
to stand before God perfectly conformed to the image of Christ.
What omnipotence is used in the spread of the gospel. God uses
weak, sinful, stupid men like me and you to spread His gospel. He works in spite of us, not
because of us. Power belongeth unto the Lord. I am God Almighty. And His omnipotence is actually
the ground of our faith. The Lord said to those blind
men, Do you believe that I'm able to do this? Do you believe
I'm able to give you sight? They said, yeah, Lord. Do you
believe that God is able to save you without any contribution
from you? Do you believe that God is able
to save you without you doing anything to save yourself? Do
you believe that? Now that really is what saving
faith is made of. Let me read you some scriptures. Abraham was fully persuaded that
what God had promised, he was able also to perform. Now unto him that is able to
do exceeding abundantly above all we ask or think. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which
I've committed to him against that day. Now listen to me. I've
committed the entire salvation of my soul to him. If he doesn't
do it all, I will not be saved. but I am persuaded that He is
able to do it all, that He is all in my salvation and nothing
else is needed. When He said, it is finished,
my salvation was signed, sealed, and delivered. He is able to
save to the uttermost them that come unto God by Him. Now unto Him that's able, to
keep you from falling and to present you faultless before
His presence with exceeding joy. You see, our salvation is predicated,
is dependent upon His omnipotence, His ability to save. So when God makes Himself known
to Abraham, when He appears to him, He appears to him as the
Lord God Almighty, El Shaddai. And the only person who will
love and believe this is the person who is persuaded that
they have no ability to save themselves. If you have no ability
to save yourself, none, zilch, nada, zero. If you have no ability
to save yourself, you will rejoice in his ability to save you without
your works. Hebrews 1.3 says, when he had
by himself purged our sins, that means you and I didn't have a
hand in it. He did this by himself. Now, according to the scriptures,
we don't have any ability to save ourselves. Not everybody
believes that, but everybody that believes the gospel believes
it. Romans 8, 7 says, for the carnal mind is enmity against
God. It's not subject to the law of
God, neither indeed can be. Our Lord said in John 6, verse
44, "'No man can come to Me, except the Father which has sent
Me draw him.'" 1 Corinthians 2.14 says, "'The natural man
receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness
unto him, neither indeed can he know them.'" because they're
spiritually discerned. The Lord said, without me, you
can do nothing. Now notice he didn't say hardly
anything. He said, you can do nothing. You know, the very idea
of free will is ludicrous to somebody who is persuaded in
their own inability. It's just ludicrous. There's
no such thing. God says, I am El Shaddai. God Almighty. We can worship,
we can adore, we can trust one who is indeed God Almighty. Listen to this Scripture. Whatsoever
the Lord pleased, That did he in earth and sea and all deep
places. Whatever he pleased, he did because
he is omnipotent. Where's your God, David? Our
God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath
pleased. You see, the only limitation
on what God does is his will. It's not an inability on his
part. If he doesn't do something, it's because he willed not to
do it. Now, the Lord appears to Abraham
and he says, I am El Shaddai. I am God Almighty. Walk before
me. Now, walking before him speaks
of a relationship. Now, there are no doubt other
metaphors that describe the relationship of God and the believer, but
the believer is turned from a criminal into justified before God. The believer is turned from a
slave to a free man, freely serving the Lord. The believer is turned
from a servant to a child, a child of God, a son of God. A believer
is made his bride, not a woman forsaken and alone, but his precious
bride. There is a relationship with
God. Walk before me. Enoch walked with God. Noah walked
with God. We read in Colossians 2, verse
6, as you receive Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him. And we walk by faith, not by
sight. The things I see are not what
gives me confidence, but the things they're not seeing. The
fact that God is on the throne, the fact that Christ is all.
Now, there were many times in Abraham's life when he didn't
appear to be walking with God. Could not the same be said of
me and you? Abraham was a man who still possessed
a sinful nature. He doesn't now, but he did then,
but in spite of all that, he was one who walked with God. Walk before my face and be thou
perfect. Now, when God says be perfect,
you can only be perfect if you are perfect. You can't do things
to become perfect. When God says be holy, you can
only be holy if you are holy. You cannot do things to make
yourself holy. Noah was said to be a just man
and perfect, without blemish in his generation. It was said
of Job, he was perfect and upright, a man that feared God and eschewed
evil. Now this is true with regard
to every believer because Hebrews 10.14 says, by one offering he
hath perfected. forever them that are sanctified. Now to be perfect, to be holy,
you have to be sinless. you have to have a perfect righteousness
before God. And that is exactly what Christ
achieved in behalf of his people because of his death. Colossians
1 verse 22 says, we are holy and unblameable. and unreprovable
in His sight through the blood of the cross that He made peace
by. Holy, unblameable, and unreprovable in His sight. A state of sinlessness
before God. You see, if you've ever sinned,
He's not going to accept you. Somebody says, well, how could
that be? Well, if you're in Christ, you have never sinned. Your sin
is put away. It's not there anymore. As he
is without sin, you are without sin if you're in Christ. 1 John
4, 17 says, as he is, so are we in this world. Is he sinless? So are we in him. Walk before me, before my face
in fellowship, in communion, believing that I am. Walk before
me and be thou perfect. And when God says to someone,
be thou perfect, they are perfect. Paul said in Colossians 1 at
the end of the chapter, every believer is presented perfect
in Christ Jesus. Every believer is one of those
ones known as holy brethren. Every believer is perfect in
Christ Jesus. Now, God doesn't say do things
to reach perfection. He doesn't say do things to become
holy. He says, be perfect. And the only way you can be perfect
is if you are perfect. The Lord said, be ye perfect,
even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. Now this is not a relative term. You can't be sort of perfect.
You can't be close to perfect. You can't be semi-holy. You're
either perfect and holy or you're imperfect and sinful. And in
Christ Jesus, every believer is perfect is what the Bible
calls justification. You remember that publican in
the temple beating on his breast, God be merciful to me, the sinner. You know what Christ said about
that man? He said, I tell you, that man went down to his house
justified, not merely forgiven, justified. No guilt before the
law of God. That man was a perfect man, declared
so by Christ himself. You see, it's who Christ is and
what he did that makes the believer perfect. May God richly bless
you is our prayer. Amen.