Reference: Colossians 1:25-29
How many times have you heard it said whena person makes a mistake saying, "well, nobody's perfect"? You nodoubt have heard this saying a number of times. When people make this statementthey of course are confessing to the fact that they don't believe that anybodyon this earth is perfect. Now if this be true why then does the Bible in manyplaces speak about the subject of perfection telling us to be perfect even asGod is perfect?
It's very plain to see that anybody whodoes not believe in perfection don't truly understand just exactly whatperfection is as taught in the word of God. Many people of course may believethat the Lord Jesus was perfect, but when it comes to anybody else outside ofhim, then they don't believe that it's possible for anybody else to reach thisperfect state of being. Our text above found in the epistle of Colossiansplainly reveals the fact that the apostle Paul makes a dogmatic statementsaying that he warned every man that they must be presented perfect in ChristJesus. Now what most people are failing to take into consideration on and aboutthe subject of perfection is that the word of God makes it quite plain thatnobody can possibly be perfected without Christ being the one that is perfectedin the believer.
Anytime that the Bible speaks aboutperfection in the new testament it is of course referring to the Lord Jesusbeing perfected within the heart and life of the true believer. It's utterlyimpossible for a man to be perfected outside of the fact that Christ is the onebeing perfected in a person. A perfect man is a person that Christ has beenformed in. The word of God very plainly teaches that Christ becomes the life ofevery true born again child of God.
The perfecting of Christ in the believeris exactly what the gospel will do for every person who truly receives andobeys its contents. The apostle Paul tells us in II Corinthians 5:17 thatif any man be in Christ, then they are new creatures wherein old things arepassed away and behold, all things have become new.
Now this new creature is not the very sameperson having been given a new spirit and a new heart in exchange for their oldcarnal heart and spirit, but rather it's the Lord Jesus Christ that has beenspiritually formed within their very being and it will then be Christmanifested in the flesh and living their life through and for them. The plaintruth of the matter is that Christ and the believer has become one just likeChrist and the Father were one.
Now in order for Christ to become our lifethen we absolutely must die like a grain of corn must die in order to bringforth a new life. Now we know that in order for anything to grow from the grainthat's placed in the ground, then it absolutely has to die first. The grain hasto die because there is a seed within the grain that will begin to come forthif the outer shell of the grain rots and decays. The same is true with ourcoming forth as a new creature in Christ. Paul tells us though our outward manperishes our inner man is renewed day by day. Now this inward man cannot comeforth unless the outer man perishes. The perishing of the outer man, which isthe flesh, is accomplished by abstaining from the pleasures of sin and walkingdaily in a different way of life altogether.
Christ can come forth from within usbecause he is the light that lighteth every man that is born into this world. (John 1:9) This light thatlighteth every man is the word of faith placed in the heart by Almighty Godhimself. This word of faith is the seed word of God that will come forth in itsfulness if we possess the Holy Spirit in our heart. The Holy Spirit leads thebeliever in all truth revealed in the gospel. This truth will perform aspiritual operation on our whole being that consists of body, soul, and spirit.
The Spirit takes up his abode in the heartof the believer. This coming in of the Holy Spirit purifies the heart, but itdoes not renew the mind nor crucify the flesh. The renewing of the mind isbrought about by the power of God's word revealed in the gospel. In the sameoperation the lusts and desires of the flesh will be crucified. This renewingof the mind and the crucifying of the flesh is a spiritual death to our oldcarnal man. The death of our carnal man is not the removing of our spirit from withinus, but is rather the spiritual cleansing of the knowledge of good and evilthat was inherited through the fall of Adam and Eve.
Since the fall in the garden of Eden, manbecame a partaker of both good and evil deeds. The deeds of good and evil isthe natural life that every person born from the womb of their mother willautomatically take part and live in. Sad to say there are millions of peopletoday who are struggling to manifest the good side of life and trying to keepthe evil side hidden, but this is absolutely not what the christian life is.What most people call christianity today is nothing more than a cultivation ofthe good and putting a damper on the evil. This is exactly why the averageconfessing christian today cannot agree with what the Bible teaches on the sinquestion. Since modern christianity today teaches that sin will be manifestedin the life of the children of God, they can't possibly accept the truth thatsin will not have dominion over them.
If the church world today could see thetruth about perfection then it would be easy to see how they would accept thesubject about sin in the life of the born again child of God. A true born againchild of God is a person that Christ has been formed in. Since Christ becomesour life, then it's easy to see that sin will not have dominion over us and wecan completely cease from it and perfect Christ within us.
The perfecting of Christ in us is exactlywhat Paul warns us about in our text of Colossiansthe first chapter. The perfectingof Christ in us can only be done through the power of the Holy Spirit. It seemsthat anytime the subject of perfection is brought up that the average persongets their eyes on the fleshly person, thinking that there's no way possible tobecome perfect.
This is in reality denying the very powerof Almighty God. Although there may be many movements in the world today thatbelieves in perfection, they are forevermore saying that it's yet a futureevent to take place and they are struggling for it. There are movements thattaught the doctrine of perfection when they were first formed hundreds of yearsago, but are yet today saying the same thing, not being able to achieve it.
These people are forevermore learning, butnot being able to come to the knowledge of the truth on this important subject.This is because they are steeped in error, but will not come to the light ofthe truth concerning it. Jesus said be ye ready and watching; thetime is at hand!!!