10                                                                                  You Are To Be Perfect

Matthew 5:48 "Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

As we read the fifth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew Jesus starts out by telling us who are the blessed in this life;  And opening His mouth He began to teach them, saying, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. "Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth. "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.  "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.  "Blessed are those who have been per­secuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. "Blessed are you when men cast insults at you, and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely, on account of Me. Today we would call most of these attributes virtues, but please understand carefully what our Savior is saying, He is saying that people with these attributes are the only ones who are blessed in this life! If any of these attributes are missing in your life, you are not blessed. This is part of the perfection that Jesus Christ demands to be in our lives.

Then we find many commands made by the Son of God, such as “But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except for the cause of unchastity, makes her commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.” This is not popular today, but it is true none the less.

In the last seventy five years Satan has made many strides in the area of divorce and re-marriage. Approximately one hun­dred years ago it would have been almost impossible to find one pastor of a Church, that would perform a marriage ceremony for a  divorced woman. Twenty years ago I con­sulted with fifty different pastors involved with many different denominations. I asked them what they believed

about a divorced woman remarrying, even though she had a living husband, and without exception, they said that it would be all right. What was it that Jesus, our Savior said? Why is this?

More commands from the One sent to save us; "Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you.  "You have heard that it was said, `You shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy.'  "But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.” "You have heard that the ancients were told, `You shall not commit murder' and `Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.” "But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever shall say to his brother, `Raca,' shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever shall say, `You fool,' shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.

It seems that Jesus is expecting a lot from us poor fallen souls! Yes, He is, and it is because He has made a way of redeeming us and changing our very lives in order for us to be in the very center of God's will, yes, in everything. This command to
“be perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect” was not a mistake or Jesus being overly zealous, IT IS THE WILL OF GOD!

Our God has provided everything in order to bring this about. In John's Gospel Jesus tell us of our need to be born again from above. Without this new birth we can never live up to the standard that Jesus and our Heavenly Father have set in chapter five of Matthew's Gospel.

Do not forget what the Angel of God told  Joseph, in Matthew 1:21. "And she will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins." The Angel told Joseph that Jesus was the one that was going to save HIS people from their sin! Now follow me through. In Matthew 5:48 we are told by Jesus Himself "Therefore you are to be perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect.” This is very clear, we are not only to stop sinning (disobeying God) but we are to be perfect! Again in Romans 6:12.  we are commanded, “Therefore do not let sin reign in your

mortal body that you should obey its lusts,” Here we have another direct command to not let sin rule in our lives!

This command to be “Perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect."  is intended to reverse what happened when Adam sinned. Many people are shocked at the idea of anyone being even for a moment without sin in this life. And to expect to be perfect in this life, is to them a most unreasonable request. With most people, it  seems that Christ's command to be perfect as God is perfect, is something which Christ did not  expect we could, or would obey in this world. But just the opposite is true, He not only expects it, He commands it!

Yes, Jesus Christ truly wants us to be ready for our Heavenly abode, to be proper citizens of Heaven, just as the Angels in Heaven are.

What Is Sin

Sin is rebellion against the throne of God, sin is not having a conscience that is pure towards our Heavenly Father. Sin is the destruction of our very lives, it is a hell that doesn't wait, it destroys us now in this life, and that is why Jesus came to save us from it.

Sin brings about fear, sin is darkness of the worst sort. How many sins did Adam and Eve do before God put them out of the Garden of Eden?

The answer is ONE! Yes, only one sin and they lost their place in paradise, sin caused them to hide from God, sin brought a curse upon all of mankind, and the earth itself. Do not ever underestimate the power and destruction of sin.

Yet our Savior has said very clearly "If therefore the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.” This is His promise of our being freed from sin! The Apostle Paul received this freedom,  And Paul, looking intently at the Council, said, "Brethren, I have lived my life with a perfectly good con­science  before God up to this day." Acts 23:1

Are you living your life right now with a perfectly good conscience before God and men? This is the will of God for your life. You may say I have never met anyone who has a perfect conscience! And I wouldn't argue with you, this is the very fruit of today's brand of religion, it is dead, it is fake!

A few years ago I met a young man. We were talking about the Lord, and something that I had said caused him to ask me “You are not saying that you live without sinning everyday in word, thought, and deed are you?” I answered yes, I don't  practice sin anymore, sin is the very rare exception in my life now, whereas, I used to sin almost daily, but now I am sanctified, and the Lord Jesus Christ has set me free from sin.

He was incensed, he said, “No one has ever said that to me, do you mean you don't sin anymore?” He then told me that the Bible didn't promise anything like that, that the Bible said that we all have to practice sin every day of our lives.

I asked him to go home and lock himself away with his Bible and find for me just one verse that said a Christian born again from above could have a practice of sin and be in good standing with God. I told him if he could show me that one verse anywhere in the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, that I would throw away my five hundred and twenty nine verses that I have found in the New Testament, that tell us to live a holy and consecrated life and I would join him in his way of life, but, he would have to show me the verse first, because I am a man of the Word, not the teachings of man!

He came back and exploded on me, his vituperation was indeed something. The only thing he left out of the conversation was the one little Bible verse that I had asked for! I pointed this out to him, and again asked him not to ask his Sunday school teacher, or his pastor, but to simply look in the Word of God and find me this

one little verse that I was asking for. If in fact the Bible teaches a sinning religion, then it should be a simple thing to find only one little verse that says this.

The problem is that the Bible teaches no such thing! Look at what the Bible actually teaches; Mat 7:21-23 "Not everyone who says to Me, `Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. "Many will say to Me on that day, `Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' "And then I will declare to them, `I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.'

Mat 16:24-25. Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. "For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake shall find it.  Mat 11-13. "And many false prophets will arise, and will mislead many.  "And because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold. "But the one who endures to the end, he shall be saved.  1 John 2:3-4 And by this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, "I have come to know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him;  1 John 2: 29. If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him.

1 John 3:9  No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

To read all 529 Scriptures we have a little book that lists all of them, you may down load a copy from www.matthew548.com click on the button that says “Books That Can Change Your Life” Then click on “To Sin Or Not To Sin, That Is The Question.” All of these Scriptures show us God’s will for our life, and that we are to be free from a practice of sin; we are to live a Holy life in this world; we are to be a light to the world!

What God does not mean when He tells us to be perfect!

He does not expect us to know everything, nor does being perfect in the Biblical sense mean that we are not to make mistakes, such as, math mistakes, work mistakes, tripping while we walk, and things like these. The perfection that God is after is “heart perfection,” a “pure conscience,” our wanting to be perfect as He is perfect, is where it all begins. And until you believe it is possible to be perfect, until you WANT to be perfect, you will never even find the smallest pinch of perfection in your life! This is why the Apostle Paul said in Romans 6:3-5  Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.  For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.

Baptism is a picture in the natural, of that which has already happened in the spiritual, “All of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death” When we go down under the water, we are presenting a picture of the death and burial of the old man. When we are raised up again, from under the water, we see another picture of the resurrection to newness of life. Baptism is a complete picture of our dying to self, or, the “old man” and being born again, of the Spirit.  Here we are told the secret of how we can be born again of the Spirit of God, it necessitates our truly dying to ourselves! Without Matthew 16:24 being true in our lives we shall never be born from above, we shall remain in our self-will, and our self-righteousness, and of course we will truly not live one moment of our lives without a practice of sin!

    A Very Important Thing To Remember

     “Apart from Me you can do nothing” 

This is very true our Savior said it in John 15:5

 "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.” Just as a branch would die without it's union with the vine, so we die the moment we stop abiding in our vine, Jesus Christ! The Apostle Paul told us that  “it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” Jesus Himself also lived His Holy life in this same way, listen as He explains it to us, John 5:30  "I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me”  John 14:10  "Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works.”                      

Let’s look at another Scripture, 2 Corinthians 5:17. KJV “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”  Do you see this wonderful truth; we become new creatures, we are not given a little overhaul, we are made into new creatures. Now watch what happens as a result of this “All things are becoming new.” Why is it so necessary for “All things to become new,” why must this happen? It happens because we are no longer the old creature that we were in our original birth, that consisted of nothing but flesh and blood, but now we have truly become a new creature, born from above, born to newness of life. This clearly takes on its real meaning when we look at Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.  The word “transformed” is the Greek word “metamorphoo” which means to transform (literally

or figuratively, "metamorphose") - change, transfig­ure, transform. This is the same word we use to describe the process of an ugly caterpillar changing into a beautiful butterfly.

Have you received this power? Are you abiding in Jesus Christ, are you always patient, meek, and humble? In other words, have you been born again, in the very love of God? Have all of the “old things” passed away? Patience, meekness, and humility, are not natural in the un-regenerate man, if these virtues are a practice of your life, then you have truly been born again!

You see, to sin is the natural thing for an un-regenerate person to do, and God be praised, Holiness is just as natural for the one who has been born again to newness of life! Praise God for His great salvation that turned a worm like me into a son of God!  It can't be more simply said, than in these words of our Lord, "He that commits sin, is the servant of sin"; but surely that servant of sin, can't at the same time be a living member of Christ's body, or the new creature who dwells in Christ, and Christ in him.

How easy is it to see, that the sincerity of our weak endeavors is quite a different thing from that, which alone is, and can be the required perfection of our lives. The Savior said for us to "Strive," to enter in at the strait gate." Here He is requiring our best and most earnest efforts. Do not fail to obtain this prize. Listen to the Old Testament Promise of Holiness, Ezekiel 36:25-27 Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.  A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: And I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put My spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do [them]. God meant every word, you can depend on it, He never fails!