Matthew chapter 5, and I'm taking
the title for the message from what is said down in verse 48
of Matthew chapter 5. You got it there, Matthew chapter
5? Look at verse 48. Be ye therefore
perfect, perfect, even as your Father, talking about your heavenly
Father, God our Father, which in Heaven is perfect. Be you perfect. Be you perfect.
That word perfect here has a meaning of completeness. Completeness. We know that our only perfect
and complete, we know that we are only perfect and complete,
where? Hiding in Him, in the Lord Jesus
Christ. We're not perfect or complete.
In our flesh, are we? In the flesh, no man completes
God. Listen to this scripture. In Him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and in Christ we stand complete, perfect
in Him. We can only be perfect if we
are perfect. Is that true? We can only be
perfect if we are perfect. And that is only realized by
our vital union being made one with Him in Christ alone. As I've said over the years,
what is true of the head is true of the body. When our Lord prays
in John 17, He prays this way, I in them, thou in me, that they
may be made perfect in one. Boy, that's a prayer that is
answered in Christ, that John 17, 23. I in them, thou in me,
that they may be made perfect, perfect in me, perfect in one. And then he goes on to say, Father,
as you have loved me, so have you loved them. Now, we know
no mere sinful man in the flesh has ever produced perfect holiness,
perfect righteousness before God's holy law. Now, some man
may say, well, I'm perfect. I've never done anything wrong.
The only one that can say that is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's
the only perfect man. If it were possible for us to
provide or produce perfection in the flesh, no need for the
Lord Jesus Christ to come and suffer and die. I can get it
done on my own. I don't really need him, do I?
He is the only perfect man. We are sinful through and through.
Because we are sinners, everything we think, everything we say,
everything we do is contaminated with sin. Contaminated with sin
that needs to be washed in his cleansing blood. John puts it
this way, if we say we have no sin, singular, sin nature, if
we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. If we say we have
not sinned, we make God a liar, and the truth is not in us. Now,
we are sinners. A sinner cannot produce perfection. That's true. We know that so,
don't we? The scriptures are absolutely
clear that by our deeds and our works and our merits, no flesh
shall be justified before God. By the deeds of the law shall
no flesh be justified. Remember we had last week, Romans
3, 19 and 20, what things whoever the law saith, it saith to them
who are under the law that every mouth should be stopped and all
the world become guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds
of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for
by the law is the knowledge of sin." Now remember I told you
last week the law of God, and we're talking about the Levitical
law, the Mosaic law. The law of God was never given
to take away sin. It was given to reveal sin. It was given to drive us to the
Lord Jesus Christ. I opened up my email this morning
and I found this article in someone's bulletins. I get about 20 or
25 different bulletins from pastors around the country, California,
New Jersey, Florida, other places. And here's what I read this morning. The law manifests what is in
men, sin. Grace manifests what is in God,
love. Law demands righteousness from
men. Grace, the grace of God, brings
righteousness to men. The law sentences men to death. The guilty must die. Grace brings
dead men to life. The law speaks of what I must
do. Grace tells us what Christ has
done. Isn't that good? Law gives the
knowledge of sin. Grace and the blood of Christ
puts away our sin. You know who wrote that? Who
does that sound like? Henry T. Mahan. Henry T. Mahan. And that is true. We are saved by the grace of
God. Now, saved by the grace of God alone. Now, does that
mean We're not under the law. Scripture said we're not under
the law, but under grace. Does that mean we should live
as believers, careless and reckless, disobedient lives as believers
and not be very careful about our personal conduct and our
personal character before men and the Lord? Certainly not.
Certainly not. Now, some of those who would
oppose us and oppose the gospel of grace would charge us and
accuse us of preaching lawlessness. Because we preach and believe
that we're not under the law of Moses, but we're under the
grace of God. And that sinners are saved by
the grace of God alone, Christ alone, the Word of God alone,
mercy alone, not of works. Now, that's exactly what the
legalists and the Pharisees accused the Apostle Paul of. Shall we continue in sin that
grace may abound? Remember Romans chapter 6? And
here's what Paul writes back. And this is what God gave him. When they accused Paul of being
a lawless sinner. Not under the law, but under
grace. Here's what Paul writes back.
For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you're not under
the law, but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because
we're not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. Now,
we sin every day in every way. I sin more than I want to, and
I wish I could stop, but I cannot not sin. We are sinners. We are sinners through and through.
Now, because we've been delivered and redeemed from the curse of
the law, that does not motivate the believer to live without
obedience to the word of the Lord. and submission to the will
of the Lord. Certainly not. Believers are
motivated to live unto His glory by the constraints of His love.
Not law, but love. There's a big difference. Paul
writes this in 2 Corinthians 5. For the love of Christ constrains
us. It's the love of Christ that
constrains us. It's gratitude to His mercy, gratitude to His
love that motivates the believer. The apostle writes this to the
Galatians, for in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth
anything nor uncircumcision, but faith which works by love. Love, his love constrains us.
You think about all that the Lord Jesus Christ had done for
us. He loved us and gave himself
for us. He washed us from our sin in
his own blood. Doesn't that motivate and inspire
gratitude and thankfulness and submission to the will of the
Lord? The believer has new motives, new desires, new appetite for
the things of God to honor and magnify His grace by demonstrating
faithful obedience to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're
no longer going about to establish a righteousness of our own, but
we have submitted unto Christ, who is the Lord, our righteousness. If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creature. Old things are passed away, behold,
all things have become new. We are his workmanship created
in Christ Jesus unto good works. James writes this about faith.
Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead being alone. Yea, a man may say thou hast
faith and I have works. Show me thy faith without thy
works, and I'll show thee my faith by my works. Now, that is not saying that
we are justified by works, are we? Here's what he's saying,
our faith is justified by works. He's not saying that we are justified
by works, he's saying our faith is vindicated and real, known,
real faith is justified by works. Not sinners, but now our faith
is justified by works. Now, having said that, let's
look at verse 38 down to verse 42. You have heard that it has been
said of old times. Now here's what the law of God
demands. Here's what the law of God says, an eye for an eye.
You take out my eye and I'm going to take out yours. As you knock
out one of my teeth, I'm going to knock out one of yours. That's
what the law says. But I say unto you that you resist
not evil. But whosoever shall smite you
on the right cheek, turn to him the other. If any man will sue
thee at the law, and take away your cloak, just let him have
your shirt and your coat. Whosoever shall compel you to
go a mile, go with him too. Give to him that asketh thee,
and from him that would borrow of thee, turn not away. Now we see a contrast here of
law and grace. Law and grace. And what we see
here and what the Lord is teaching, He's teaching us the practice
of grace. The practice of grace. Now the
holy law of God demands strict justice. No doubt about that.
That is, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. The holy
law of God demands strict justice. That is the law that our Lord
Jesus Christ died under and fully satisfied Our sin demanded His
death because He was guilty of our sin being laid upon Him.
And the law of God says the guilty must die. That is why the Lord
Jesus Christ died for our sin. The wages of sin is death. That's why He dies for us as
a sinner substitute. The just for the unjust, bearing
our sin in His own body on the tree. But I say unto you, verse
38, This is a way of grace revealed in the gospel, and this is the
practice of grace. But I say unto you, verse 39,
that you resist not evil, but whosoever shall smite you on
the right cheek, turn to him the other. Now, practice grace. Practice grace. Now, our Lord
forbids us taking personal vengeance into our own hands. to retaliate
toward those that have abused us in an ungodly manner, we should
not try to get even. Now, I know the way of the flesh.
I'm just like you. When someone would abuse us or
something, our flesh immediately rises up and wants to strike
back, doesn't it? Vengeance belongs unto the Lord. The practice of grace says, let
it go. Walk away from it. Walk away
from a fight. Don't pick a fight. Submit and
walk away. A quarrelsome and bitter contentious
disposition is contrary to the way of grace in the gospel. If
someone has wronged you, forgive them and live peaceably among
men the best you are able by the Lord's grace. Now, remember
what we read over here? Recompense to no man evil for
evil. Provide things honest in the
sight of all men, if it be possible. Now sometimes, sometimes it's
just not. But if it be possible, as much
as lies in you, live peaceably with all men. Dearly beloved,
avenge not yourself, but rather give place unto wrath, for it
is written, Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord. Now, it is much better to walk away
from a fight if it's possible, to let it go and forget it and
walk away from it. Now, we're not talking about
things that are criminal. But even then, don't take personal
vengeance into your own hands. Let the judicial system in our
country, let them prosecute the offender because the powers that
be are ordained of God. How far should we go with this?
If someone hits you upside the head, just turn the other cheek,
or if you can, just walk away. Now, how far are we to go with
that? Well, I know this, and I don't
think the Lord is teaching this, defending yourself and defending
your family when you're viciously attacked. If someone is viciously
attacking my wife, Am I just going to sit back and say, well,
have at it? No. He's not talking about when
someone viciously attacks you that you're not supposed to defend
yourself or defend your family. I would even think about it.
If someone was attacking my child or my grandchild, you wouldn't
even think about it, would you? You'd fight back with all that's
in you. But he's not talking about those
things. He's talking about if it's possible, walk away from
a fight. Walk away from an argument. Don't
give the enemy reason to argue with you. Just let it go and
walk away. Now, I'll give you the prime
example of this. Turn to 1 Peter 2. What would you say was the
prime example of someone turning the other cheek? Isn't that exactly
what the Lord Jesus Christ did? Turn over here to 1 Peter 2.
Verse 20. 1 Peter 2.20. What glory is it if when you
be buffeted for your faults you shall take it patiently? But
if and when you do well and suffer for it and you take it patiently,
this is acceptable with God. For even here unto were you called,
because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example
that we should follow his steps, who did no sin, neither was there
guile found in his mouth, who when he was reviled, rebelled
not again, he submitted himself like a lamb to the slaughter.
When he suffered, he threatened not, he didn't rail back, but
committed himself to him that judges righteously, who his own
self bare our sins and his own body on the tree, that we being
dead to sin should live unto righteousness by whose stripes
we are healed. For we were a sheep going astray,
but are now returned as the shepherd and bishop of our soul." So there's
our example. as the Lord submitted to those
who came after him, if it's possible, live peaceably with all men everywhere. He was oppressed and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth. He was brought as a lamb to the
slaughter and as a sheep before his shearers had done, so he
opened not his mouth." So, let it go if you can, walk away from
a fight if you can, but sometimes it comes to the point where you
have to defend yourself. have to stand up for those who
would viciously... I'm talking about someone...
I'm not talking about someone who just calls you a name. Someone
calls you a name, just walk away. Walk away. Don't pick a fight.
I know that's contrary, but this is what I'm calling the practice
of grace. The practice of grace. Now here's
the second thing our Lord says in verse 43. You have heard that
it had been said... Now this is referring back to
the Levitical law. Leviticus 19.18 is a reference
there. Thou shalt love thy neighbor
and hate your enemy. But I say unto you, love your
enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate
you, pray for them that despitefully use you and would persecute you,
that you may be children of your Father which is in heaven. For
he makes his Son to rise on the evil and the good. He sends a rain on those who
are just and those who are unjust. So, you've heard it said, love
your enemies, rather love your neighbors than hate your enemies.
That's what the law said. Now, really the Pharisees misinterpreted
that saying, because it says in Leviticus 19, 18, thou shalt
not avenge nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people,
but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. I am the Lord. But the old Pharisee Jews had
perverted that to say it's okay to love your neighbors and to
hate your enemies, hate your enemies. It was right to hatred.
The Lord never said that, neither did any of his apostles say that. Our Lord said, by this shall
all men know that you're my disciples, that you love one another, that
you love one another in the Lord Jesus Christ. I say unto you,
love your enemies. That's the way of grace. That's
the practice of grace in the gospel. Love your enemies. That takes a lot of grace. That
takes a lot of grace. When Luke records the words on
the Sermon of the Mount in Luke chapter 6, he writes there, Be
ye therefore merciful, even as your Father in heaven is merciful.
You see what he's saying is this, Show mercy to others as the Lord
has been merciful to you. Show mercy to others as the Lord
has been merciful to you. Forgive others as the Lord has
forgiven you. Paul writes this, he said, do
you kind one to another, tender hearted, forgiving one another,
even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you. Forgive one
another as you have been forgiven. Forgive others. as the Lord has
forgiven you. Now here's the lesson for us. His grace given to us makes us
gracious to others. His mercy given to us makes us
merciful to others. Doesn't it? Sure it does. That's
because the love of God has been shed abroad in our hearts by
the Holy Spirit. This is a way of grace. Now look
at verse 44, Matthew 5, verse 44. But I say unto you, don't hate
your enemies, love your enemies. Love your enemies, bless them
that curse you, do good to them that hate you, pray for them
that despitefully use you and persecute you. Tall order, isn't
it? This is a way of grace. Is not this exactly how the Lord
Jesus Christ acted when He was nailed to the tree for our sins?
You remember the first thing He said of those seven sayings?
You remember what He said, first of all, when they nailed Him
to a tree and hated Him and plucked out His beard and put a crown
of thorn on His head and nailed His hands and feet to the tree?
He looked at that crowd and said, Father, forgive them. They do
not know what they are doing. I know this, everyone for whom
the Lord prayed for that day, forgive them, they were forgiven.
Someone said that's why there was 3,000 converted at the day
of Pentecost. He prayed for those 3,000 and
5,000 later. Love your enemies. That's the
way of grace. That's the practice of grace,
is it not? The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
gentleness, meekness, temperance. Love your enemies. Bless them
that curse you. Bless them that curse you. Turn
over here to 1 Peter chapter 3 this time. 1 Peter chapter
3. 1 Peter chapter 3, look at verse
8. Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of
another, one of another, love as brethren, pitiful and courteous,
not rendering evil for evil, railing for railing, but contrary
wise, blessing knowing that you are called that You are there
unto call that you should inherit the blessing. For he that will
love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from
evil and his lip from speaking guile. Let him eschew evil, that
is, shun evil and do good. Seek peace and pursue it. The
eyes of the Lord over the righteous, his ears are open to their prayers,
but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. Don't render
evil for evil or railing for railing. I know that's contrary
to the flesh, but that's the practice of grace. Love your
enemies. Bless them that curse you. Do
good to them that hate you. Do good to them who hate you. Don't turn. Let me just read
it to you again. Dearly beloved, Romans 12. Avenge not yourself, but rather
give place unto wrath. For it is written, vengeance
is mine. Say it to the Lord. I will repay. Therefore, if thine
enemy hunger, feed him. If he's thirsty, give him drink,
give him the bread and water of the gospel. For in doing so,
thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome
of evil, but overcome evil with good, with the gospel. The gospel
of God's grace is good. Now, preacher, do you do all
those things? No, you don't either. It's something that the believer
desires to do. None but the Lord Jesus Christ
ever truly loved his neighbor as himself, like he did. None ever truly loved his neighbor
as himself. None but Christ could truly love
his enemies as he did. None but Christ truly prayed
for his enemies and for those that despised him. Thanks being
to God, He fulfilled the law's demand for us as our faithful,
surety, savior, and substitute. Remember we studied, look back
over here in Matthew chapter 5 verse 17. Think not that I
am come to destroy the law or the prophets, I'm not come to
destroy, but to fulfill." The Lord fulfilled the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ and fulfilled the law of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He cannot fail. We read in Isaiah 42, verse 21,
The Lord is well pleased for His righteousness' sake. He will
magnify the law and make it honorable. And He has for us. Now, look
at verse 45. Verse 45, that you may be children
of your Father, which is in heaven. That you may be children of your
Father, which is in heaven. We don't become the children
of God by doing these things, but it is truly the desire of
those who are made children of God by His sovereign grace to
desire these things in our heart and to seek these things that
honor Him to His glory. God sends the rain, as He says
there, Verse 45, He sends the rain on both the just and the
unjust. He sends the rain on those who
are justified in Christ, as well as those who are undeserving
rebels. Now, look at verse 48. Be ye therefore perfect, even
as your Father, which is in heaven, is perfect. Now how can we be as perfect
as God? As I said earlier, you can only
be perfect if you are perfect. That can only be found as we
are in union with the Lord Jesus Christ who is our perfect Savior. He is our perfection. I thought
of this verse in James 1 verse 17. Every good gift and every
perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of
light, in whom there is no bearableness, neither shadow of turning." So
He is the perfect gift given unto us. I want you to find this
scripture here. We quote this quite often. Turn
over here to the book of Colossians. Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians. Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians,
Colossians chapter 1. Colossians chapter 1, look at
this. Verse 25, Colossians 125, I am made a minister
according to the dispensation of God, which is given to me
for you to fulfill the word of God, even the mystery which has
been hid from ages and generations, but now is made manifest to his
saints, "...to whom God will make known what is the riches
of the glory of His mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ
in you, the hope of glory." Look at verse 28 now. "...in whom
we preach, warning every man, teaching every man in all wisdom,
that we may present every man perfect in Christ." Now how are
you perfect? Perfect in Christ. Perfect in
Christ. He is our perfection. In Christ we have all spiritual
blessings and we are perfected and complete in Him. We have
perfect and complete eternal salvation, don't we? We have
perfect and complete eternal salvation in Christ Jesus. He
has saved us with an everlasting salvation. We study in the book
of Hebrews, you remember verse 9? that being made perfect, He
became the author of eternal salvation for us. So, in the
Lord Jesus Christ, we have perfect and complete, and we have eternal
salvation in Him, in whom we have redemption. Secondly, in
the Lord Jesus Christ, we have perfect and complete, eternal
redemption from all sin in Christ. We have a perfect Redeemer. We
have a perfect Savior. And we are in Him, hiding in
Thee. Hiding in thee. Oh, that may
win Christ to be found in him. You see, in Christ we have a
perfect, complete, and eternal redemption from all sin. The
Lord Jesus Christ as our great High Priest didn't bring the
typical animal sacrifice. He didn't bring the blood of
bulls and goats. He obtained for us eternal redemption with
His own blood. Now that's perfect redemption.
God said their sin and their iniquity will I remember no more.
That's perfect redemption. You see, as sinners we need perfect
salvation, don't we? That's in Christ. We need a perfect
atonement, don't we? That's in the Lord Jesus Christ.
We need a perfect righteousness, don't we? Where is that found? It's not found in us, is it?
It's not in us by nature. But we have provided for us a
perfect, complete, righteous, established, and then freely
given unto us. You know, the Lord Jesus Christ
said at Calvary, it is finished. And that word can also be rendered,
it is perfected. It is perfected. Now in closing,
I want you to turn to this. It will be a blessing to you.
Turn over here to Psalm 138. Psalm 138. We've studied through
these Psalms many times. But look at Psalm 138 verse 6.
Psalm 138, verse 6. Now, I'm considering this word
and looking at this word perfect. Perfect. You remember Philippians 1, verse
6, God being confident of this very thing, God who had begun
a good work in you will perfect it, finish it, accomplish it. Now, Psalm 38. Verse 6, Though
the Lord be high, yet he hath respect unto the lowly, but the
proud he knoweth afar off. Though I walk in the midst of
trouble, thou wilt revive me. Thou shalt stretch forth thy
hand against the wrath of my enemy. Thy right hand shall save
me. Now look at verse 8 carefully.
The Lord will perfect that which concerns me. He will perfect
that which concerns me. Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth forever. Forsake not the wrath of thy
hand. Now, you see the marginal reference on verse 8, Psalm 57,
verse 2, and then that verse I just quoted, Philippians 1,
6. Now, turn back to Psalm 57, verse 2. And the same word is
used here in Psalm 57, verse 2. One of my favorite verses, I
quote it quite often. Psalm 57, look at verse one.
Be merciful unto me, O God. Be merciful unto me, for my soul
trusteth in thee. Yea, in the shadow of thy wings
will I make my refuge until these calamities be overpassed. The
shadow of thy wings is a mercy seat. I will cry unto God most
high, unto God that performeth all things for me. Now that word
performeth, is exactly the same word that we read a moment ago
in Psalm 138. I will cry unto God most high,
unto God that perfecteth all things for me. We have a perfect
salvation in crying. Read on, look at Psalm 57. He
shall send from heaven and save me from the reproach of him that
will swallow me up. God shall send forth His mercy
and His truth. His mercy is perfect mercy. His
truth is perfect truth. Perfect truth. He will perform
all things for me in the Lord Jesus Christ. So, Matthew 5,
verse 48, Be ye therefore perfect. Okay? Now you understand how
you're made perfect? How are you complete in Christ?
Be therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven. He is perfect. He's perfected
all things for us.