Turn back to Genesis chapter
17. Walter Groover died this Thursday,
and I love that man dearly. He's been such a blessing to
me. I think that he is, in my mind,
no man has ever been used by the Lord more than this simple,
faithful man, Walter Groover. I think that he's probably, if
people were writing biographies of the great missionaries, I
think that he would be right up there with the greatest of
them. And I'm very thankful that the
Lord has privileged us to be a part of having the privilege
of supporting in this man as being a missionary. I've entitled this message, Be Thou Perfect. Be thou perfect. The Lord appeared to Abraham
and said unto him, I am the almighty God. Walk before me and be thou
perfect. And that word perfect is translated
44 times without blemish. It's translated without spot,
whole, complete. It means perfect. You know, how many times have
you said or have you heard somebody else say, I'm not perfect? I didn't know that, thanks for
telling me. The Lord says, and this is not
relative, be thou perfect. sound, wholesome, unimpaired,
innocent, guiltless, without fault, what is complete and entirely
in accord with truth and fact. Be thou Perfect. This is not a relative term. Be thou perfect. Now, let me
ask you a question. Can the Lord expect anything
less? Read in Leviticus 22, 21, it
shall be perfect to be accepted. There shall no blemish be there
in. God could require no less, but
listen to this. Everything he requires, he provides. If he requires you to be perfect,
and that's required of every believer, everyone who comes
into his presence, If he requires perfection out of you, you know
what? He provides that perfection. I think of Isaac going up the
mount with his dad, Abraham, and said, here's the fire, here's
the wood, where's the lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham
replied, my son, God will provide. himself a lamb for a burnt offering. There's nothing you could provide,
but God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering.
Now look how the Lord appears to Abraham. And when Abram was
90 years old and now 99 years old, now 13 years have passed
between Genesis 16 and Genesis 17. And we don't know where the
Lord said anything to Abraham during this time. Perhaps he
did, but 13 years have passed between Genesis 16 and Genesis
17. And now the Lord appears to Abraham. Now, this was a pre-incarnate
appearance of Christ. Somebody says, what's that mean?
That means he appeared before he became flesh. He became flesh
2,000 years ago. Before that, he made many appearances. And this is an appearance that
he made toward Abraham. Now understand this. If you're
going to know the Lord, he's going to first have to appear
to you. You know something I'm very thankful for? The Lord's
arm of grace is very long. You can't be so sunk down into
sin and unbelief that he can't reach you and me. Somebody you
love, they can't be too far gone for his arm of grace to reach
down and speak to them. He appears. He is the Lord who
appears. And I pray that he will appear
to me and make himself known to me. And I pray that he will
make himself known to you. Aren't you thankful the Lord
appears? We'd never know him and be happy to not know him.
Did he not appear to us? The Lord appeared, made himself
known. He showed himself to Abraham. And what did he do? He said unto
him, I am the almighty God. God omnipotent. God almighty. Now I hope we can learn something
about what that means this morning, but I know this, if he appears
to you, if he appears to me, He will appear as God Almighty,
El Shaddai. That's the first time this word
is used with regard to the Living God, God Almighty. John put it this way in Revelation
19, verse 6, hallelujah, the Lord God Omnipotent, same thing,
all powerful. Now, if God appears to me and
you, he's going to appear as all powerful, absolutely sovereign,
with the power to perform whatever it is he wills. Now, God is the only independent
being. You think about how dependent
you are, how dependent I am. You know that breath, last breath
you took, it was because God willed it. And if God shut your
lungs down, you won't breathe and you'll die. You're completely
dependent upon him for everything. He is independent. That's what is meant by him being
almighty. He has no needs. He said, if I were hungry, I
wouldn't tell you. He is not worshiped with men's
hands as though he needed anything. He certainly doesn't need me.
And he does not need you. He doesn't need you to make him
happy, to fulfill him, to complete him. He is utterly independent,
the only independent being. I love Psalm 62, verse 11, God
hath spoken once, twice have I heard this, that power belongeth
unto the Lord. He has a monopoly on it. He has
ALL power. I want you to remember, the next
time you hear about a powerful man or a powerful woman, there's
no such thing. The Lord is the only one who
has power, and every man, woman, boy, and girl is a pawn in his
hand, doing his will, doing his purpose. Power belongeth. I like that, don't you? I love
that. Power, omnipotence, God Almighty, power belongeth. unto the Lord. He's infinite in power. He has
no limitation. No power is greater than His
omnipotent power. I am God Almighty. Now, all of His attributes would
be meaningless without His omnipotence, wouldn't they? This is why if
you know Him, you know Him as God Almighty. If you don't know
Him as God Almighty, you don't know Him at all. This is His
revelation of Himself, El Shaddai, God Almighty. What would His
decrees be if He didn't have the power to make them come to
pass? What would His will be if He
didn't have the power to make his will come to pass. What would his wrath be if he
didn't have the power to execute it? What would his salvation
be if he does not have the power to save everybody he intends
to save? His omnipotence is non-communicable. What's that mean? It means he's
the only one who has it, and it is not communicated to me
or you. He only is almighty. He can do anything that's not
contrary to his will or to his nature. I love what Abraham or what the Lord said
to Abraham. Is anything too hard for the
Lord? is ANYTHING too hard for the
Lord. He can do anything that s not
contrary to His will or His nature. Lord God Almighty, I am Almighty
God. Now, this is demonstrated first
of all by creation. With no pre-existing matter He
created the universe as an act of His omnipotence, by His own
sovereign will. Now, you can only have two views. You can either believe that God
created the universe, or you can believe something else. Somehow it just happened. But
let me remind you, if God didn't create the universe, This life is meaningless. This
is all random. It's just a cosmic accident. There's really not a right and
wrong. Who's to say? Somebody says, well, I stand for what's
right. Who's to say what's right or wrong if there is no God?
But God created the universe as an act of His omnipotence
with no preexisting, there was nothing. All there was was God
and He spake and the universe was brought into existence. What
power. And you know what? It wasn't
difficult for him. He didn't get tired after this
creation. Now, the next way God's omnipotence
is seen, I am God Almighty, it's seen in his providence. What
is providence? everything that takes place in
time. Romans 8, 28 says, and we know
that all things, all things, all things work together for
good. To them that love God, to them
who are thee called according to his purpose. Everything that happens in time,
and let me repeat, everything that happens in time, did so because he willed it. Everything. Somebody says, are
you making God the author of evil? You know, philosophers
talk about the problem of evil. The problem of evil, kind of
like, you know, how could God exist if he, it's not a problem,
he's God. The problem of evil. He's God. Are you saying he's the author
of evil? I'm saying he's God. And everything that takes place
takes place because He willed it to take place for His own
glory. The lot is cast into the lap,
but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. He is before all things, and
by Him all things consist. I was just thinking about this
this morning while I was looking over my notes. The Lord said,
not a sparrow. falls to the ground without your
Heavenly Father. I don't know if there's any sparrows
in the islands on the South Pacific. Maybe there's some kind of bird.
Of course, there's some kind of bird in an uninhabited island
that maybe nobody's ever been to or no people there now. A bird falls to the ground. Insignificant? No, it happened
because of the will of your Heavenly Father. He is in control of providence. I love that. I don't want to
live in a world where God doesn't control everything, do you? But
thank God, he's God. He's almighty God. And most especially,
his power is seen in the salvation of a sinner. Now, only omnipotence. That means all power. Only omnipotence
can cause his purpose of salvation, the purpose of the salvation
of the elect to actually take place. It takes omnipotence to
cause salvation to take place. Look at the omnipotence that's
involved in the incarnation of Christ. God inhabited, the infinite,
omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent God lived in a womb for nine
months. And the Lord Jesus Christ had
the same consciousness as a fetus at that time. What power that
God became man, what power is involved in the virgin birth. What power is involved? Omnipotence is involved in Him
keeping the Law, in Him doing what only God could do in the
miracles He performed in this life. What power was involved
in Him dying? I think that is... When He died,
He made my sin not to be. What power is involved in that?
What power is involved in His resurrection? The scripture says,
the Lord says with regard to himself, he says, I have power
to lay it down, talking about his life. I have power to lay
it down, I have power to take it up again. He gave himself
life from the dead. What power is involved in that?
I think of his power in giving life to his people. I mean, it's
the same power that was exerted in the resurrection of Christ
is exerted in raising a dead sinner to life and giving him
life. What power is involved in my
preservation? The fact that I'm kept by the
power of God through faith into salvation. What power is involved
in me being glorified? Now unto him that's able to keep
you from falling and to present you faultless before his presence
with exceeding glory. What power is involved in the
salvation of the sinner? Now, his omnipotence actually
is the ground of our faith. I think of what the Lord said
to those two blind men, do you believe that I'm able to do this? Do you believe He's able to save
you without any contribution at all from you. You believe
that? That's called saving faith. I know whom I believed and I'm
persuaded that he is able. That is our faith, his ability. Not my experience, not my ability,
His ability. All of our salvation is contingent
upon, conditioned upon His ability. I am God Almighty. Now the only person who loves
and believes this is the person who really believes that they
are unable to do anything to save themselves. If you believe
that about yourself, like the scripture says, no man can come
to me. No man has the ability to come
to me except the father which has sent me draw him. The carnal
mind is enmity against God. It's not subject to the law of
God, neither indeed can be. It doesn't have the ability to
be. Now, if you're someone who is unable, you're unable to believe,
you're unable to repent, you're unable to love, you're unable
to please God, you're fraught with inability. That is the person
who rejoices in the fact that God is able. I am almighty God. I am El Shaddai. Now we can worship,
we can adore, we can trust one who is almighty. I am almighty God. Whatsoever the Lord pleased,
that did he. That's the God we worship. almighty
God. Now, the next thing he says to
Abraham after he appears as almighty God, he says, walk before me. walk before my face. Now, walking before him speaks
of an actual relationship with the living God. Walk before me. Now, it's only as Almighty God
that you can be enabled to walk before him, but still here's
the command. I am Almighty God. Walk before me. The scripture
says Enoch walked with God. Noah walked with God. We walk by faith and not by sight. Now, he says to Abraham, walk
before me. Now, if you would look at Abraham's
life, many times it appeared that he
wasn't walking before God, doesn't it? Wouldn't that be said of you
too, and of me too? There are many times when someone
would look at our walk and say, they don't appear to be walking
before God. But that doesn't take away from
the reality of the fact that every believer does walk before
God. We read if walking before God,
walking after God, walking with God and walking in God. We read
of all four of those things. Now, first of all, we walk before
God. We walk before God Almighty.
You know what that means? I walk as His child, knowing
He's Almighty. Therefore, I don't have anything
to fear. He's my God. If God be for us, who can be
against us? This walk before Him is walking
before our Almighty Father. Walking after God means we walk before Him as His
servant. Walking with God means we walk
in communion and fellowship with Him. There's a real relationship. Walking in God is walking in
the Lord Jesus Christ. That means abiding in him. Where
is the place we walk? In him. We walk nowhere else. We are in him. Walk before my
face and be thou perfect. Now you think of this thing of
a relationship with God. Because he said walk before me,
I can walk before him, not as a criminal, but as one justified. What a walk that is. I walk before
him as one without sin, justified. I walk before him not as a servant,
but as a child. I'm a child of God. What a relationship
that is. I'm his child. He's my father. He's my elder brother. I walk
before him as a free man, not as a slave, but as one who has
been set free. I walk before him as his bride,
not on my own, but as his precious bride." What a relationship every
believer enjoys. We walk before his face. Look what he says, and here's
what I entitled this message, and I'll spend the last few moments
considering this. And when Abram was 90 years old
and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram and said unto him, I am
the almighty God. Walk before me and be thou perfect. Remember, it should be perfect
to be accepted. Now, when God says, be ye holy, for I am holy. The only way you can be holy
is if you are holy. You don't do things to become
holy. When the Lord said, Light be,
light was. When God says, Be holy, you're
holy. When God says, Be perfect, you're
perfect. Walk before me and be ye Perfect. You can only be perfect if you
are perfect. Noah was said to be a just man
and perfect in his generation. It was said of Job that he was
a perfect man and upright, a man that feared God and eschewed
evil. And this is the description of
every believer. When God says. Be perfect. He's speaking to one. who is
perfect. Perfect in Christ Jesus. Somebody says, I'm not perfect.
I understand you saying that, but with regard to every believer,
I am perfect. I am perfect, complete, entire,
holy in Christ Jesus. Hebrews 10, 14 says, by one offering,
listen to this, By one offering, he hath perfected. Perfected. Forever! Them that
are sanctified. In Christ Jesus, every believer
is perfect. Without blemish. Without fault. Sinless. This is what the Bible
calls justification. Means you're perfect. Means you're
without fault. Means you're perfectly righteous
in his sight. Now this thing, be perfect. Let
me repeat this. I want you to hear it. You can
only be perfect if you are perfect. You can only be holy if you are
holy. And this is what every believer is in Christ Jesus. Perfect, it's just that, without
blemish, without fault, sinlessness before God. If you've ever sinned,
you can't be that way. Now, every believer, God can
say, be perfect. Because they are perfect in Christ
Jesus. By the witch will, we are sanctified
once for all through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ. Paul said in Colossians 128 that
we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. That is every believer. Now, what does that look like? I'm going to close by reading
a passage from Matthew chapter 5. God appeared to Abraham, and
the only way we'll ever know Him is if He appears to us. We're
totally dependent upon revelation. He appeared to him as Almighty
God. If He ever appears to you, you're
going to know this about Him. He's Almighty. He's absolutely
sovereign. He really is God. It's not just
a term. He's God of all. God of creation,
God of providence, God of salvation, God Almighty. El Shaddai. And he says to Abraham, this
one who is almighty, walk before me. That speaks of the relationship
every believer has with the living God. Walk before me. Isn't just some special group.
This is every believer without exception. Walk before me and
be thou perfect. Be entire, be sinless. Now, you know, as well as I do,
that you're still a sinner. Isn't that so? You're still a sinner. Turn to 1 John 3 for just a moment. Before we get into Matthew 5,
I want to look at a passage in 1 John 3. Verse 4. Whosoever commiteth sin transgresseth also the law, for
sin is the transgression of the law. Now, I think it's strange
how a lot of translations say whosoever habitually practices
sin. They say that word commits means
habitually practices. And I was talking to Lynn this
morning, and I said, well, how can people say that? You don't habitually practice
sin? Ain't nobody believes that. You can make that claim, but
it's a lie. Everybody habitually practices
sin. That's no excuse. It's wrong,
but it's the fact. And I love the way he says it.
Here it is, who so committed sin. It doesn't say habitually
practices sin. It says just commitment is the
transgression of the law. And you know that he was manifested
to take away our sins. And in him is no sin. That means
if you're in him, you have no sin. Now look at verse six. Whosoever
abideth in him sinneth not. Well, that means he doesn't habitually
practice sin. The word does not mean that means
he doesn't sin. He doesn't sin. You know, somebody
doesn't sin, you know what they are? They're perfect. They're
perfect in Christ Jesus. Whoever abides in him does not
sin. Sinneth not. Whosoever sinneth
hath not seen him or known him. Now, who is this person that
abides in him? Every believer. And every believer
sinneth not. Now, since we don't sin, and
yet you know in your own experience, you sin. I hope I don't have
to prove that to anybody. Now with that in mind, go to
Matthew chapter five, verse 43. You've heard, Matthew five, verse
43, you've heard that it hath been said, thou shalt love thy
neighbor and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your
enemies. Bless them that curse you. Do good to them that hate you. And pray for them which despitefully
use you and persecute you, that you may be the children
of your Father, which is in heaven. For he maketh his Son to rise
on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just
and on the unjust. For if you love them which love
you, what reward have you? Do not even the publicans the
same? And if you salute your brethren only, what do ye more
than others? Do not even the publican so? Be ye therefore perfect. Same thing he said to Abraham,
isn't it? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father, which is
in heaven, is perfect. Now this I know about perfect
people. They love their enemies. They bless those that curse them. They do good to them that hate
them and pray for them, which despitefully use them and persecute
them, that you may be children of your father, which is in heaven. The Lord appeared to Abram. Thank
God for that. And he said, I am El Shaddai,
God almighty, nothing beyond his ability. Walk before me. This is his command. Walk before me and be ye perfect. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you that you're
El Shaddai, God Almighty. And Lord, how we thank you that
you are God Almighty and that nothing is beyond your power. And Lord, how we need you as
God Almighty to put away our sin and to give us a new heart.
Lord, may we be perfect, even as our heavenly Father is perfect.
Lord, will we be enabled to love our enemies and to pray for those
that despitefully use us as your children do. O Lord, say to each person here,
according to your glorious will, I am almighty God. Walk before me. and be thou perfect. And Lord, we confess, perfection
is in thy son. Give us the grace, give every
one of us the grace to believe on him as our perfection before
you. In Christ's name we pray, amen.