Transcript: Becoming Perfect in Christ: James 3:2

Music A number of years ago, we were asked by a pastor to minister to his church on a particular Sunday while he had planned to be away. Before we were introduced and the pulpit was turned over to us, the individual in charge of the congregation was giving a brief discourse on a prior Bible study that they had had that morning in their Bible study before we were going to deliver the message that was to come forth. Well, the individual made a comment that resounded loud and clear in response to the Bible study presentation that was given. This person said, how many of you know that you cannot be perfect? No matter how hard you try, you will never be perfect in this life. well the way that this individual announced these words was with such great emphasis and almost an undertone of pride and self-congratulations in this erroneous and careless statement that resonated loudly in the ears of the hearer that day well people in the congregation responded by nodding their heads in agreement and smiling and shouting Amen, amen, amen. Both my husband Lee and I and the others who were with us as a part of our ministry that day watched silently while the misguided and ignorant brothers and sisters expressed such joy and relief to be free of the accountability, the authority, the obligation of even trying to measure up to Jesus Christ's holy command found in Matthew 5, 48. which declares, therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect. Well, Apostle Paul's yearning, desire, and great zeal expressed in 2 Corinthians 13, 9, in the New King James Version, when he said, for we are glad when we are weak, and you are strong. And this also we wish even your perfection. The Living Bible Translation says it like this, We are glad to be weak and despised. If you are really strong, our greatest wish and prayer is that you will become mature Christians. You see, what these ignorant and immature Christians were congratulating and cheating themselves out of and believing that day nearly 10 years ago, was not having or taking the personal responsibility or the obligation to grow up and to mature in the holy precepts and insights and ordinances commanded, instituted and insisted upon by the all-righteous, the all-knowing, self-existing creator of the universe as the right and holy standard and way for all of his people to obey and submit to. Your obedience to God's instituted and obligatory commands is then promised in return to cleanse, to purify your hearts and souls and is guaranteed to make you pure vessels unto the Lord for his glory. Proverbs 15 verse 7 declares that the lips of the wise disperse knowledge, sifting it as chaff from the grain, but not so with the minds and the hearts of the self-confident and the foolish. You see, the misguided words of this individual that day empowered the devil in the lives of those people who agreed with the words of ignorance that were vomited upon them. How true the proverb is that says, the lips of the wise disperse or sow knowledge, but not sow with the minds and hearts of the self-confident and foolish. What a blessing it is to have a wise man or woman who has been the student of God's word and who has the divine ability to sift the truth from the chaff and sprinkle and teach it as wisdom from the very heart of God. It is not only sinful and a crime to pour out foolishness, but it is a shame and a disgrace to not disperse or sow the truth of God's living word. The wise words of Apostle Paul earlier in this word were, Our greatest wish and prayer is that you will become mature Christians. You see, unbeknownst to many Christians, the word perfect or perfection simply means in the Greek to become mature. The word for perfect in Greece is pronounced teleos. Perfect or teleos means having reached its end or finished. Complete. Perfect. It means full grown, of full age, mature and complete. In Hebrews 5.14, the word says, But solid food is for full-grown men, for whose senses and mental faculties are trained by practice to discriminate and distinguish between what is morally good and noble and what is evil and contrary either to the divine or the human law. Paul's greatest desire for his followers was to live in the perfection or the maturity of the truth. He longed for the fruit of truth to grow and manifest itself as proof, as their transformation and regeneration from their past life to their new life in Jesus Christ. Christ. Paul, in effect, is saying that this proof of perfection or maturity manifests itself as a fruit in our lives by the evidence of our sincere ambition, our motives and aspirations to be thoroughly cleansed of every sinful passion, of every evil thought, and every disdainful deed in our lives. This sincere aim of ours must come by way of gospel perfection, or said in another way, in the perfection, the authority and validity of God's word called the Bible. It must be in accordance with the truth of Scripture. And this comes by growing in grace and knowledge, which are both charged and qualified with faith and certainty of the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ who makes salvation possible. This way of perfection, dear one, increases in holiness and teaches us in the way of God's righteousness. And it is sprinkled with correction, with admonition and warnings as we allow the Holy Spirit to do his wonderful and continuous work of purification in our hearts and souls. This perfection comes in the way of gradual and continuous degrees. Dear church, this is what God's law requires. This is what many ignorant and ill-informed Christians are not aware of. And this is what many sitting in the pews each week are ignorant of learning and growing in as basic understanding in the milk of God's word. For those who stand behind the pulpit and neglect to teach the truth in this point that I am endeavoring to bring to the light today, that is, as a Christian, you and I are commanded to be perfect. These blind guides are criminals in the eyes of God because they are guilty of stealing the very essence of light and life from the Lord Jesus Christ's precious inheritance whom he has died for. There is great responsibility in God's word, especially to those who teach and preach his word. Ignorance to the truth must not be overlooked For any who feel they have a call from God To share his unadulterated and pure word solely Hear this Solely for the purpose of salvation For sanctification For edification and maturing in his righteous and holy way of life made possible through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Ignorance is a term in God's word that speaks about error or going astray. It speaks about moral blindness or sinful ignorance, and even, hear this, even willful ignorance. How sad. To be sinfully ignorant of this perfection which God commands and requires of his holy people and also is one of the very basic foundation, the foundational truths on which we build to gain deeper knowledge called revelation knowledge. and is missing the mark or the objective of our Christianity solely, again, I repeat, because of sinful ignorance. We have a saying regarding the law here in America that says, Ignorance of the law is no excuse. If you run a stop sign because you didn't see it, you will get a ticket. Same with God's law. If you break God's righteous laws or his commands, your personal sinful ignorance will not let you off the hook. You will still incur or provoke and draw the judgment of God for sin of breaking his righteous commands, whether you purport to be a Christian or not. It's just like that. It's just that way. revelation knowledge is known as the higher and the deeper knowledge of God and leads you to the place where you can truly discern good from evil the holy from the profane and this is the place and the road to true maturity or perfection in your Christian journey this is the place that God wants all of his beloved children to be It is called walking in the spirit. The whole object and desire of God in all of his requirements and commands, dear one, is totally for the perfection or the maturity of our souls. God absolutely and unequivocally requires it. this is as I had said is the law of God and all true believers in Jesus Christ must be willing to go through this wonderful and divine process of transformation which leads into this new life in Jesus Christ please understand that your Christian maturity or perfection is within reach It is within reach. Your Christian perfection is attainable from the very fact that, number one, God has commanded it. Think about that for a moment. Would God command you to do something that was impossible? Would he send you on a rabbit chase, running after something that was elusive, like grease within your grasp or your reach? Allow me to say, oh no, he would not. Are we not always to ascertain or conclude that when God commands something, that there is a legitimate and a just, or simply put, there is a good reason in why he commands that we follow his instructions. A good reason for it. After all, let's not forget that he is God. His ways are higher than our ways. He is the only one true and living sovereign God who knows all things, sees all things, and dear one, he never changes. It should be clearly understood and cemented into your hearts that when God the Father or God the Son require anything of you or me as his true children, We have been given everything that we need to be winners. Now, I'm saying that we possess everything necessary in the divine power of God through his Holy Spirit to be able to attain and reach the requirements which God commands in his holy book to be made perfect or mature in our Christian growth. Otherwise, God commands something of us that is impossible, futile, or absurd, unattainable, and unimaginable. But this is not the case, and this is the picture which I endeavor to paint for you today in God's Word. In 1 Samuel 15, 29, the word declares, He who is the glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind, for he is not a man that he should change his mind. You see, God never, never, and does not ever make demands that we as his people could not achieve. And if he did then we would all go to hell for not doing what we were in no way able to do because he fooled us He lied to us or kept moving the goal or the marker of attainability in an attempt to outwit us The New Testament in Titus 1-2 confirms this very fact that God cannot and he will not lie. Titus 1-2 declares, A faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time. You see, it is to the honor of God that he cannot lie nor deceive. And this is the very comfort that we as believers have. Our treasure is laid up in all of God's faithful promises made before the world began, namely and mostly importantly, the promise of eternal life. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Our faith in Christ, who is our Savior and the one whom we are to imitate in regards to his character and his nature, will lead us to eternal life and gives us a well-grounded hope and expectation of it. Because God, our Father, cannot lie because he's promised it. Yes, because he has promised it. The book of Proverbs 10.22 declares the blessing of the Lord. It makes truly rich and he adds no sorrow with it and neither does toiling increase it. Verse 23. It is as sport to a self-confident fool to do wickedness, but to have successful and godly wisdom is a pleasure and relaxation to a man of understanding. The thing a wicked man fears shall come upon him, but the desire of the uncompromisingly righteous shall be granted. What an encouraging word. What a promise. If your true desire as a Christian believer is to attain the wonderful and privileged place called eternal life, In the everlasting kingdom above, God's blessing is promised to rest upon you. And he will make you truly rich in his wisdom and will give you understanding because your heart and your focus is set upon him. And not on carnal or earthly desires and passions that your natural eyes can literally see. Well, this boundless wisdom of God is found only in Jesus Christ. Knowledge is simply the enlightenment, the intimacy and grounding with the truth. Wisdom is the use and the result of that enlightenment and then is actually the application of it in your life. God will give you the desires of your heart. The promise is in these verses that the rewards will be given to the righteous. But there will be failure, loss, and ruin for those who live contrary to the truth. The blessing of the Lord makes you truly rich, and he adds no sorrow with it, and neither does toiling increase it. Hallelujah. When your reason for being is absolutely made known to your spirit and soul by revelation of the eternal living God, you know his blessing rests upon you. And you know that his wisdom has superior advantages for living within the realm of his righteous decrees and ways. You just know. worldly wealth is typically what most people in this world have their eyes and their hearts set upon most wish to have it in abundance and hope that no sorrow will be added to any tormenting grief for the loss of it as they endeavor to hold on to it but the true blessing of the lord which makes You, genuinely and eternally rich, is one that you become very protective and zealous over. This blessing of eternal life brings untold joy and gladness of heart and preserves your soul from those stormy and destructive passions and lusts which would otherwise consume your possibilities of attaining this privileged place for all of eternity. Being and remaining diligent in this pursuit of wisdom makes one eternally rich, and it is to be emphatically understood that it is a blessing of the Lord. The riches to be gained and gleaned from God's wisdom will require that you be diligent. Diligence will be the tool that you will use to find the hidden treasures in God's wisdom. unflagging diligence requires hard work in your efforts of being zealous, steady and preserving in your quest of fulfilling God's command of being perfect as you grow and mature into a productive Christian to the glory of your Lord and your God. And when you find these treasures in God's wisdom, it must be attributed again to God's blessing and his grace. He must have all of the glory in what you have found and you have acquired. He must have the glory, dear church. Wisdom is indeed needed to achieve Christian perfection. Look at it this way. You can hold in your possession all of the necessary materials for building a house. And these materials can be the very best that money could buy. But without the necessary and required construction abilities and licenses, those building materials are really worth nothing. Now I think about the people who cheerfully and with such willing-heartedness brought abundant materials to the site where the tabernacle was to be built. They were restrained from bringing more because they had more than enough in which to build the building. But without Bezalel and Aholab, the two men whom the Lord supernaturally bequeathed with wisdom and understanding to know how to work all manner of work for the service of the sanctuary, the building materials brought by the people would have been useless. Exodus 36 verse 1 declares, Then wrought Bezalel and Aholib and every wise-hearted man in whom the Lord had put wisdom and understanding to know how to work all manner of work for the service of the sanctuary according to all that the Lord had commanded. Verse 2, And Moses called Bezalel and Aholib and every wise-hearted man in whose heart the Lord had put wisdom, even everyone whose heart stirred him up to come to do the work. Well, this was a work of perfection, dear church. And this is what we should desire of the Lord in building our temple. As he labors to build his temple in us, to perfect this temple in us, this is what we should require of ourselves. You should desire perfection in this work of maturity that is taking place in your soul right now. Get this. This wonderful and awesome work of maturity in your heart and soul is truly a blessing from God. And this blessing is necessary wisdom that we need from God. Jesus is very aware that we have need regarding this work of perfection in our soul. He knows what we need. He knows when we need it. But throughout the whole account in Exodus 36.1, the building of the temple, there was a clear distinction between God and his people in the respect of giving. God is a giving God. Giving can be appreciated here in this account in that it is an attribute of God's character. God liberally pours out to those who please him and shows an earnest in shaping and modeling and fashioning their lives in the pattern of his precious son, Jesus Christ. Seeing this ardent and diligent and impassioned desire at work in your heart, it motivates and arouses the creator of the universe to fulfill his covenant promises, which include a myriad of countless blessings that he holds in store and desires to lavish upon you, all because you are hungry and passionate to know him in a deep and intimate way. You may not know it, but you are really fulfilling the greatest commandment ever spoken by Jesus Christ in both the Old and the New Testament. In Matthew 22, 37, Jesus spoke, saying to the people regarding the greatest commandment for us to keep, You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, all of your soul, and all of your mind. You see, God, to and for us, is not a part of our energy or strength of life, meaning that he needs to receive anything from us before he can bless us. Let us understand, please. God the Father must be our life in totality. He has given very liberally when he gave us his Son as an atonement for our sins. He has given all through and in his precious Son, Jesus Christ, dear church. His giving is pure. He doesn't give to get from you and me. The Lord needs nothing from you nor me except our obedience and submission to his commands. And if you understand this privilege of submission, you will unequivocally and absolutely walk in his spirit and respectfully honor him with your sincere and unadulterated pure love and worship which comes from your heart and not from your head. Hebrews 12, 28 says, Let us therefore receiving a kingdom that is firm and stable and cannot be shaken, offer to God pleasing sacrifice and acceptable worship with modesty, pious care, and godly fear and awe, for our God is indeed a consuming fire. Understand, please, you and I cannot worship nor love acceptably unless we worship with godly reverence and fear. Just as faith is necessary to acceptably love the Lord your God, so is acceptable worship. Your Heavenly Father is not complicated in His giving, dear one. His blessing and promises are given without contempt or reproach. And his giving is joyfully lavished upon all who respectfully reverence and worship him for who he is and not for what they can get from him. He is not a gimme god. or he's a slot machine that you could put 25 cents in, pull the handle, hit the jackpot and shout hooray and go on considering yourself a winner. When this whole method and way for a Christian is considered illegal and off limits, let alone treat God like he is a common object or a thing to order around or do what you want him to do in the moment or at the drop of a hat or at your beck and whim. There's a big difference here, dear one. You must put things in right perspective when it comes to understanding the command that Jesus Christ gave us all when he commanded, you shall be perfect as my Father in heaven is perfect. this statement and command ought to cause us as his redeemed to stop short and say whoa, these words are deep these words are vital and necessary to my eternal life oh my Lord, my God help me to capture the depth of this command you might say oh lover of my soul Be not distant from me. Help me to know your will and your ways and to know you in a deep and an intimate way, O God. Let the lips and the kiss of your blessing intersect with my asking. You see, God is worthy of yours and my respect. And he is honored when you willfully, with all of your heart, long to know him for who he is. the Almighty, the great and all-powerful Creator, and yet as the one who has been endeavoring to draw you close to his heart, to know him and his Son Jesus Christ in an affectionate, a cherished, and a confident way. And the more we ask the worthy one for the right and appropriate tools to perfect our temples, Believe me when I say he is pleased to accommodate your request and he will bountifully and extravagantly fulfill the desire of your heart in this quest to perfect your soul's longing to grow and mature in his love, in his wisdom and his grace. Bottom line here, dear one, God sees the willingness of your heart to conform with his commands. And this moves his heart because it is very rare in the body of Christ today. Let me say here you can legalistically and dutifully be fulfilling the commands of Scripture that tell us to be obedient and submissive to God precepts and commands Many of the scribes and the Pharisees and pretenders of the faith did this right down to the very letter of the law You might go to church twice a week, serve in your church in some capacity, sing in the choir, play an instrument, preach behind the pulpit, Or you might say I faithfully give offerings and tithe 10% of my income. Or you might think I don't smoke. I don't drink. I don't commit adultery or fornicate. I don't lie or cheat. I read God's word and I pray two hours diligently every day. You see, you might do all of the above and many more as proof as your methodology to be perfect in God's eyes. and you might impress the people around you. But I ask you, what divine and supernatural conformity has taken place in your heart and soul to witness the proof or the evidence of the tangible and manifested presence and communion between you and your God? There are people who pride themselves of walking in the Spirit or say that they sense God's presence when in fact it is another spirit. And it is not the Holy Spirit who is promised to true believers who live in Jesus Christ and are true to his commands. True believers have no secret inward life with minds like sewers, nor fantasize about sexual pleasures or are tormented with demonic or satanic images and suggestions or voices. True believers who live in Jesus Christ hear one voice only, and that voice is the voice of their shepherd who says, follow me and imitate me. True believers do not have a form of godliness or put on a mask and pretend that they are godly and speak a Christianese language. There are those in the church who live sinful lives by filling their minds with pornography, whether from the Internet, from books, magazines, or movies. And there are those who go to church every week, but live with a boyfriend or a girlfriend. And get this, many of these live in their Christian parents' home with their approval. True believers have no secret or hidden lifestyle. They have learned to hate sin and long to know what pleases the Lord so that they may draw nearer to him. Let me tell you, dear believer, bottom line, God is looking for the willingness of your heart to love him with a deep and an inward love that cannot or will not be satisfied to prove it with your delusionary, self-deceived right and perfect methods or rituals in how you think he ought to be reached and loved and worshipped. but purely with respectful, reverential and awe-inspired love out of a healthy appreciation to know him for who he is and to know his ways, for his ways are good and right. It is only by this way that you will have matured to the point to know that his ways are right and good, strictly and mainly for the betterment of your spiritual perfection. This way is called the way of righteousness and holiness. You see, when you please God with the willingness of your heart, rather than by the drudgery or duty of fulfilling your Christian responsibility, he has something to be offered by you that delights the very core of his heart and draws him like a magnet unto yourself. Listen to this revealing mystery between the Creator and His created being in Song of Songs 5, verse 1. I have come into my garden, my sister, my promised bride, and I have gathered my myrrh with my balsam and spices from your sweet words. I have gathered the richest perfumes and spices And I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey And I have drunk my wine with my milk Eat, O friends Feast on, O revelers of the palace You can never make my lover disloyal to me Drink, yes, drink abundantly of love, O precious one For now I know that you are mine Irrevocably mine and with this confident word still thrilling her heart through the lattice, she saw her shepherd turn away and disappear into the night. The revealed mystery in these words of the Creator to his beloved is an expression of his love and gratitude for his beloved creation who has brought a satisfactory offering unto him. Can I tell you, the only satisfactory offering that you or I could ever bring before the living God, the only one that he would ever find acceptable, is a broken heart that is truly surrendered to him. Only this kind of offering is acceptable because it is called a freewill offering. And a freewill offering is spoken of in this scripture in terms of myrrh, of balsam and spices and perfumes and honeycomb. And the myrrh, balsam, spices and perfumes speak figuratively of those particular oils that were used in anointing the priests. And the priests were separated and dedicated unto the Lord for the sake of offering worship unto him in the temple. and also they had the responsibility to minister to his people. Myrrh especially signifies suffering love and this was the main oil used in embalming Jesus after his death. Our beloved creator Jesus Christ says, I have come into my garden, my sister, my promised bride And I have gathered my myrrh with my balsam and spices from your sweet words. I've gathered the richest perfumes and spices. Here he is saying, I am gathering back unto myself your sweet, sincere, pure words that you speak unto me in this secret place. I'm gathering all the humility. the willing sacrifice and brokenness of your life that you have willingly laid down for me and I find it an acceptable offering of your gratitude and your love. What we're talking about here is the place in your relationship with the Lord where the outward circumstances in your life nor your methods or imaginable and inventive ways of touching the heart of God will satisfy you any longer, but rather you know it is only the love and the joy of the Lord himself that will delight your heart and strengthen your souls as you pursue him. The significance of the woman breaking the alabaster box in the account of Mark 14.3 represents the breaking of your soul. The breaking of the alabaster jar caused the fragrance of the sweet ointment to flow out and fill the house with its sweet smell that day. But Jesus emphasized in these scriptures that more than ministering to others, the sweet smell of the ointment and the kind offering offered by this woman ministered more to him. and the others who were concerned about the cost of the ointment were to just button up and remain silent. This woman, according to Jesus, had done a memorable and good deed unto her Lord. She brought him an acceptable and a pleasing sacrifice. Jesus said in verse 9, And I surely tell you, wherever the good news the gospel is proclaimed in the entire world, what she has done will be told in memory of her. What she had done was more than just pouring out a precious oil upon her Savior. But dear ones, the reason she will be remembered is because she demonstrated a genuine and intimate love, a deep godly kind of love that Jesus accepted as the highest kind of free will offering that we could ever bring unto him. The mature love that this woman displayed, get this, please get this and do not miss it, it was out of gratitude for what he had done for her. What maturity, what perfection of the soul's longing to please her beloved. This memorable act and display of perfect love shows the inner beauty of the soul in the one who truly loves in this way. It demonstrates that the soul is totally and entirely surrendered to her beloved and also so were her fruits. They are for the sole purpose of the Lord and to the singular glory of God to do with as he wills. And this is what we should endeavor to bring before the Lord every day as we offer up our sweet devotions and sincere worship in prayer, in our praise, with a broken, surrendered heart entirely dedicated to him. Again, the people in our account in Exodus 36.1 who brought the freewill offerings for the work of the building and the sanctuary did so out of love and gratitude to the Lord their God. I guess when I think about the one in the New Testament who was reaching for the high mark or prize in his quest for spiritual perfection it would be Apostle Paul. Paul made a profound statement in his epistle in Philippians chapter 3. Let's look in that verse. For it is my determined purpose that I may know him, that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of his person more strongly and more clearly, that I may in some way come to know the power outflowing from his resurrection, which it exerts over believers, and that I may so share his suffering as to be continually transformed in spirit, in his likeness even to his death, in the hope that if possible I may attain to the spiritual and moral resurrection that lifts me out from among the dead even while in the body. Verse 12. Not that I have attained this ideal or have already been made perfect, but I press on to lay a hold or grasp and make it my own, that for which Christ Jesus the Messiah has laid hold of me and made me his own. 13. I do not consider, brethren, that I have captured and made it my own yet, but one thing I do, it is my aspiration, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead. I press on toward the goal to win the supreme and heavenly prize to which God in Jesus Christ is calling us upward. and I believe what we really need to understand here in the main verse nestled in the midst of these scriptures and that would be verse 12 that this deep penetrating and thought provoking truth that Paul spoke saying not that I have attained this ideal or have already been made perfect but I press on to lay hold to grasp and make it my own that for which Christ Jesus the Messiah has laid hold of me and made me his own. We need to understand that Paul was not speaking of any deficiency in his own grace or spiritual state, dear one. He does not mean by not having yet some have falsely and dangerously thought and taught and imagined in their lack or depth of understanding. but Paul speaks of his not having finished his course by martyrdom which he knew would come sooner or later and it would be the final outcome of his life and this is what he considered as the perfection of his service to God he was led to view or perceive everything else as imperfect or unfinished until his martyrdom had taken place In the same verse he says, I press on to lay hold and make it my own. Another translation says, I follow hard after. But both translations in effect are saying, but I pursue and I know that several have gone before me. And in this glorious way and have attained the crown of martyrdom. And I am hurrying after them. he says specifically that I may lay hold or apprehend and what he is saying is that he may receive those blessings to which he is called by Jesus Christ to complete this faithful contest or race is what Paul had in view he had his eyes and his heart set on apprehending or laying hold on that for which he had been apprehended by Jesus Christ Remember that Jesus had laid hold of this man in a unique and dramatic way He spoke conversion to him He strengthened and empowered him with the highest apostolic office so that he might fight the good fight of faith and lay hold of eternal life Paul was the most influential and greatest apostle and was the one who was the interpreter of Christ's message and teaching. He was given great authority and power and was entrusted with secrets from heaven, some of which he shared with the body and many of which he did not. Nevertheless, this man carried on in teaching the command in Jesus' word in Matthew 5.48, which were, You, therefore, must be perfect, growing in complete maturity of godliness in mind and in character, having reached the proper height of virtue and integrity as your heavenly Father is perfect. Paul's epistles magnify Jesus' commands in regard to the greatest mandate. Christian perfection is associated with other words and terms such as, Be holy as I am holy. Be imitators of God. Or in 1 Thessalonians 4.7, For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. Other scriptures issue the commands to put on Christ, have the mind of Christ, walk in righteousness, be a holy people, purify your hearts, walk in the Spirit. Or in 1 Peter 2.9, in regards to Christian perfection or holiness, the word declares, You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. As I stated earlier at the beginning of this word, God has given us everything that we need in and through his son to fulfill the mandate and command to be perfect. And again, I say that you and I are without excuse when it comes to fulfilling this mandate and command, because again, God has commanded it. We possess everything necessary in the divine power of God through his Holy Spirit to be able to attain and reach the requirements which God commands in his holy book, and that is to be made perfect or mature in our Christian growth and walk. otherwise God requires something of us that is impossible, futile, absurd unattainable and unimaginable but this is not the case as you have seen in this word today if you catch anything today in this word please grasp this this mandate of attaining perfection or maturity is yoked to cleansing yourself from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit. Again, one of our key verses is found in 2 Corinthians 7, verse 1. Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. you cannot arrive to the privileged place of perfection or maturity which Jesus commands in his word if you are not willingly allowing the spirit of the Lord to do his sovereign work of cleansing your mind your soul and your spirit of all filth otherwise you will be one of those echoing the words of the individual who said we cannot be perfect and never will be as long as we live on this earth There was a well-known Christian pastor, a teacher, an orator in the early 1800s, who was eulogized as, quote, no other clergyman of the English church during the present century who has had the reputation for eloquence and rhetorical achievement in his discourses, which Mr. Melville retained to the last, even to the time of his death. Well, I found the word rhetorical interesting as I read the short description of this man's life and mainly one comment that he had made concerning our subject today. First of all, rhetorical means eloquent, embellished, exaggerated, flamboyant, flashy, ostentatious, overblown and windy. His comment was, quote, Christian perfection is like those problems in mathematics where we can never find the true answer. I know you're probably going, wow, will you say that again? Sure, I'll accommodate you. I had to do it myself. I had to read it several times. I went, oh, no, this can't be. his quote, Christian perfection is like those problems in mathematics where we can never find the true answer. He says, we may go on working the sum for years, and though each succeeding figure brings us closer or nearer to it, we can never actually achieve it. What blatant and shameless air for one who was taught in the churches and universities and was a chaplain to the queen, would settle craftiness of the devil through pride-filled words and flagrant misrepresentation of the precious and pure word from the very heart of the one who commands us himself as his precious inheritance to be perfect. it's a crime that he ever went so far to supposedly be a voice for God and was yet the ruin for many out of the super abundance of his vain and his empty doctrine which came from his own imagination if he'd truly been a student of God's precepts he would have never uttered those words that said Christian perfection is like those problems in mathematics where we can never find the true answers. If he would have opened his Bible, he would have seen, as you are hearing today, that Jesus commands that we be made perfect. And it's like saying that God's word does not contain the truth. You cannot find true answers, he says, to understanding the command of Christian perfection. As I had said, Apostle Paul's yearning, desire, and great zeal was expressed in 2 Corinthians 13 9 when he said for we are glad when we are weak and you are strong and this is also what we wish even your perfection see perfection or maturity in your lives must be yoked to willingly cleansing yourself from all filthiness of flesh and spirit I repeat again one of our key verses that we have read, and it's found again in 2 Corinthians 7.1. Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Well, since we are called to be perfect or mature and righteous, you can know that it is the preparation necessary to step into the office that Peter spoke about in 1 Peter 2.9, when he said, you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Well, see, you can't live a double life on this earth and think that you shall inherit or wear this title of a priest or king unless this process of purification is taking place presently in your body, your soul, and your spirit. Paul said, therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. This perfecting holiness is necessary to worship God in spirit and truth. It is necessary to be a minister of the Lord. Christian sanctification is an entire and a whole thing where your mind, your soul, and your spirit are concerned. And nothing less than presenting the whole person as a sacrifice unto Jesus Christ will do. Paul had said, I pray to God that your whole spirit and soul would be found blameless. It has been reiterated several times saying, God has given us everything we need to grow up in this place of perfection or maturity. Not only has the Father given us his Son, but he has given us his Spirit. He has also set godly leaders over his body to aid this growth and process of perfection. Ephesians 4.11 declares it was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, some to be pastors and teachers. To prepare God's people for the works of service. so the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach the unity of faith in the knowledge of the Son of God to become mature, attaining to the whole measure and fullness of Jesus Christ. Verse 14. Then we will no longer be infants tossed back and forth by the waves and blown here and there by every wind and teaching, by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, We will in all things grow up into him who is the head and that is Christ. You can see clearly through this teaching today that the command to be perfect requires that you willingly cleanse yourself from all filthiness of flesh and spirit. Jesus did not command something that could not be attained in this life. It is possible, I say it again, it is possible for us to stop sinning. And this is what we are cleansing ourselves of through the help of precious Holy Spirit, dear church. He is very passionate about this work in yours and my spirit and soul. And this is the reason that Jesus Christ came to this earth. Full provision has been made for overcoming the three greatest enemies of our souls, which are the world, our own fleshly passions, and saint and the devil. Regarding the world, Jesus said in 1 John 5, 5, Who is it that is victorious over the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God, who adheres to, who trusts in and relies on that fact. regarding your flesh Galatians 5.16 declares but I say walk and live habitually in the Holy Spirit responsive and controlled and guided by the Spirit then you will certainly not gratify the cravings and desire of the flesh of human nature without God and then regarding saint and the devil Ephesians 6.16 declares the shield of faith shall quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. Dear church, God is more than able to perform this awesome and wonderful work of perfection and maturity in your soul and spirit if you will bow your knees and your heart to him. I believe that it's time for Christians to open their Bibles and begin to take serious Paul's exhortation to his spiritual son Timothy when he said, Son, study to show yourself approved of God I encourage you to reach like Paul for that most exalted position Called perfecting holiness You must not believe the lie That perfection is impossible in this life But rather that it is a thing to be reached and attained in part Now while you have breath You must blame yourself If you fall short of it Because it certainly is not God's fault since he has commanded it. And if he has commanded anything, then he's given us everything that we need to accomplish it. You must continue in any degree of perfection called maturity of holiness, the mind of Christ, purity, and so on. You cannot allow yourself to be satisfied and stay where you presently are. You must agonize like Paul after the perfection of your own character by willingly allowing the cleansing passion of the Holy Spirit to do his supernatural and divine work in your soul. As a priest in his kingdom, you will enjoy sweet communion and fellowship with Jesus Christ, your bridegroom. And you will appreciate the boldness of access to his throne without fear of his judgment or of his all-consuming presence and power. You will be given the stability, the steadfastness, and the peace, whether you are in a good and quiet place or whether you are in the midst of adversity and misfortune. Remember that Christian maturity or perfection is within reach. Wisdom is needed to achieve Christian perfection. your Christian perfection is attainable from the fact that God has commanded it and that he has given you everything that you need to attain it in this life .