"BE THOU PERFECT"

GENESIS 17:1

A. BACKGROUND TO THIS DIVINE SUMMONS
  1. Abram's difficulty -- how to realize God's promise of a son in his old age:
  2. Sarai, too, doubted in her heart that she could bear a child, as old as she was:
  3. Abram's marriage to an Egyptian woman and the subsequent domestic trouble: Compare Gen. 12:1-3 with chapters 13:14-17; 16; 17
B. THE DIVINE SUMMONS
  1. "Walk before me":
    1. Be fully conscious of my presence in all you do - Acts 2:25; Gen. 16:13
    2. Let my presence guide you in all you do; it will be a safeguard for you against hasty and unwise actions.
    3. How different our lives would be if we realized that our actions are like an open book before God! Ps. 139:1-17
  2. "Be thou perfect":
    1. That is a divine summons -
      1. To exercise complete confidence in God's promises - Rom. 4:16, 17
      2. To rely, not on human effort, but upon God's power - Job. 42:1, 2; Matt. 19:26; Mark 9:23
    2. The command "Be thou perfect" rests on the same basis as the command -
      1. "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect" - Matt. 5:48
      2. "Be filled with the Spirit" - Eph. 5:18
    3. The attainment of perfection comes in our complete confidence and compliance with the perfect will of God -
      1. Peter learned this truth the hard way - Matt. 14:28, 29
      2. The disciples, too, learned from experience - Luke 8:22-25; John 6:5-14
      3. We also need this lesson - Luke 18:8; Matt. 24:12, 13
C. OF SPECIAL IMPORTANCE TO THE CHRISTIAN BELIEVER IS THE NAME BY WHICH GOD MADE HIMSELF KNOWN TO ABRAM - "I AM THE ALMIGHTY GOD"
  1. This name is full of divine signification:
    1. God is all-able - Matt. 19:26; nothing is too hard for Him - Job. 42:1, 2; Sarai was reminded of this truth because she doubted God's promise - Gen. 18:9-15. We need not point a finger of accusation at Sarai. We, too, doubt at times that God will keep His promise to His children.
    2. Let God be all-sufficient for you. "Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee" - Ps. 16:2; 73:25
    3. For our God is altogether dependable -
      1. "My God shall supply all your needs" - Phil. 4:19
      2. "In thy presence are pleasures forevermore" - Ps. 16:11
      3. Christ never changes - Heb. 13:8; Matt. 24:35; Mal. 3:6
  2. Here, dear friends, is the great secret of our opening text:
    1. Perfection centers in Jesus Christ - Heb. 1:3; Col. 2:9
    2. If we have Christ living in us, we have the key to Christian perfection -
      1. "There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus " - Rom. 8:1
      2. "Christ in you the hope of glory" - Col. 1:27
      3. "Ye are complete in Him" - Col. 2:10
  3. Also, the ability to be perfect is embodied in our faith in God and our consequent obedience to the divine summons:
    1. That is how Peter walked on the water - Matt. 14:28, 29; caught the fish with the coin that was to pay his taxes - Matt. 17:27
    2. That is how the ten lepers were cleansed - Luke 17:14
    3. That is the answer to Christian perfection.


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