His Work is Perfect
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Introduction
It is a great honour and privilege to be with you all today at your 11th anniversary service. Of course many of you will my Father in Law - Pastor David Moore and I know that he has preached the last two anniversary services for you and has told me many good things about you all and the welcome and hospitality he received.
just think of me as a younger and slimmer model :)
Only joking aside we are going to now open the word of God and think about our theme text for today, if you have your Bibles with you can you open with me to
4 He is the Rock, his work is perfect: For all his ways are judgment: A God of truth and without iniquity, Just and right is he.
Let’s just pause for a word of prayer shall we, and seek the Lord before we go any further...
THE PERFECT STORY
The story is told about a perfect man who met a perfect woman. After a perfect courtship, they had a perfect wedding. Their life together was, of course, perfect.
Then one stormy, Christmas Eve this perfect couple was driving along a winding road when they noticed someone on the side of the road in distress. Being the perfect couple, they stopped to help. There stood Santa Claus with a huge bundle of toys. Not wanting to disappoint any children on the eve of Christmas, the perfect couple loaded Santa and his toys into their vehicle. Soon they were driving along delivering the toys.
Unfortunately, the driving conditions deteriorated and the perfect couple and Santa had an accident. Only one of them survived the accident. Who was the survivor?
The answer: The perfect woman. Because, after all, she’s the only one that really existed in the first place. Everyone knows there is no Santa Claus and no such thing as a perfect man.
The men’s response to the answer: If there is no such thing as a perfect man or Santa Claus, then the perfect woman must have been driving...which explains why there was a car accident.
Now this afternoon we are not talking about the perfect man, or perfect woman that dont exist, we are thinking about our perfect saviour and his perfect work
The portion of scripture we have just read, comes from the song of Moses,
There were two songs given by Moses, forty years apart, one at the crossing of the Red Sea and the other was the song Moses sang the day that he died. Moses began his wilderness career with a song and ended with a song
the first song is given in Exodus 15:1-19 just after the red sea crossing , which technically might be better known as a song of Moses and Miriam, but the second song recorded for us here in Deut 32:1-43 is solely a song of Moses and is sung just before his death.
Now this isn't a song that you are going to hear on the radio, you probably have never heard it sung before, I mean it doesn't look like it makes for a chart topper,
14 Butter of kine, and milk of sheep, With fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, And goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat; And thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape.
Well we may not of heard the song of Moses now, but one day every believer will here this song sung in the heavenlys
1 And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God. 2 And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. 3 And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. 4 Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest. 5 And after that I looked, and, behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened:
This song will be sung with the song of the lamb, how awesome and powerful is that, how holy is that, that the truths we have read will in our theme verse will be sung out in the courts of heaven, picture the scene....
look at verse 3
3 And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.
great and marvellous are thy works, the songs will be about praising and honouring the Lord..
for his work is perfect...
Now what does that mean for us today, His work is perfect, how does this apply. And we are going to look this afternoon at the application of his perfect work on the life of the believer, in the life of the Church and then finally unbeliever
Now rather than just using our theme text as a springboard, I believe we can see these three application within the text itself
firstly then when it comes to the Christian we have
The Perfect Work of Salvation
The Perfect Work of Salvation
“He is the Rock, his work is perfect”
further down in the same song, we have the term - The rock of salvation
15 But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: Thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; Then he forsook God which made him, And lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.
and its a term we se repeated through scripture
47 The Lord liveth; and blessed be my rock; And exalted be the God of the rock of my salvation.
6 He only is my rock and my salvation: He is my defence; I shall not be moved. 7 In God is my salvation and my glory: The rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God.
26 He shall cry unto me, Thou art my father, My God, and the rock of my salvation.
1 O come, let us sing unto the Lord: Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.
Jesus is the Rock of our salvation, a sure and eternal refuge, the foundation on which rests the hope of heaven.
6 Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.
“The one who trusts in him will never be put to shame” (1 Peter 2:6)
Our redemption, Salvation was a work, not by us but by Him
it was a work, but a work only he could do, and his work was perfect. it was complete, it was without blemish!!
4 I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.
The work was mandated in the heavenlys before the foundation of the world
8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
It was a foretold work and it was a finished work
30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.
The work of Christ was a completed work, it was a finished work
work- old boss - dictionary with post it note at the the definitions of complete and finished
there are many today who would want to mark Christs mission as not complete, not finished.
they want to say that Christs work was good, but not enough
they want to say that we have to take over the work from him to secure our salvation through our own efforts
they want to say you can lose your salvation
what nonsense utter tripe Christs work, it was a perfect work!!
It was a finished work
TETELESTAI means to bring something to a successful end to or to its intended or destined goal.
It does not mean just to complete a task but to carry it out fully, to bring it to the finish or to perfection.
It follows that Jesus’ cry of TETELESTAI is a word of finality.
there where many different uses of this word in the ancient world
When a Roman citizen was convicted of a crime, he was thrown into prison. A "Certificate of Debt" listing all his crimes was nailed to his cell door so that anyone passing by could know what he had been accused of and the penalty assessed.
When the prisoner had served his sentence and was released from bondage, the indictment was taken down from the door and the judge who had put him in prison would sign the indictment and write across it the word TETELESTAI.
The freed prisoner was then given this document and if questioned as to why he was out of jail, he could point to the indictment across which the judge had written TETELESTAI.
He could rest in safety and security because the word TETELESTAI guaranteed his deliverance and his liberty.
The charges for those crimes could never again be brought against him. He would never be a victim of "double jeopardy" (having to pay for the same crime twice).
When Jesus cried "TETELESTAI" on the cross, He was saying that anyone who places his trust in His sacrificial death on their behalf, receives in essence a "certificate of debt" with the inscription of "tetelestai", indicating that all their "crimes" (past, present and future) against God have been PAID FOR IN FULL! paid in full, finished, done, nothing you can add to it, it was all of him, it was his work and it was only possible by him.
Believer you have entered into the perfect work of Christ in your salvation!
understanding that it is a perfect work will help you when the enemy throws his darts of doubt
It will help you when the wolves want to come along and tell you you have to add something to secure your salvation
that Jesus work was not perfect
that you need to add something!
No, His work is perfect and his work of salvation is perfect....
secondly we see the the perfect work in the life of the unbeliever
The Perfect Work of Separation
The Perfect Work of Separation
“For all his ways are Judgement”
judgement, in the sense of his being free from bias, or self serving interests
He is the perfect Judge and all his judgements are perfect
we can’t play favourites with God
11 For there is no respect of persons with God. 12 For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law;
all are to be judged according to the same perfect standard
God is an impartial Judge
God is a righteous Judge
God is a Holy Judge
There can be no charge levelled at God of corruption
His work of separation is Perfect
The unbeliever cannot stand before God at the hour of judgement and cry out this isn’t fair, this isn’t right !!!!
"The most violent expression of God's wrath and justice is seen in the Cross. If ever a person had room to complain about injustice, it was Jesus. He was the only innocent man ever to be punished by God. If we stagger at the wrath of God, let us stagger at the Cross. Here is where our astonishment should be focused." — “The Holiness of God” RC Sproul
There are many today though, that want to take their chances and bargain with God
my good
outweighs the bad
But his work of seperation is perfect!
his judgement is perfect
48 He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.
One thing of a surety and that is "judgment" day is coming and the measuring stick will be the same 'WORD OF GOD" which many still yet rejects even in our world today.
Judged by the Word of God alone!
His perfect work is one of judgement, and the unbelievers will face the judgement and separation that is the sentence..
finally then we come to the application for the Church in...
The Perfect Work of Sanctification
The Perfect Work of Sanctification
“A God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he”
when we think of sanctification, we are drawn to think about our own lives as we walk with the Lord
but there is a corporate sanctification, a sanctification of the Church
24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. 25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
“that he might sanctify and cleanse it”
to present it to himself a glorious Church, without blemish!
The Hebrew word for perfect in Deut 32:4 Taw-meem, is found 91 in the OT and is translated as
entire
complete
full
undefiled
but the most times it is translated as without blemish - 44 out of the 99
his perfect work of sanctification will mean that the Church will be presented to the Lord
the bride given to the bridgegroom
without blemish
perfect, through his perfect work
Now of course the true Church the universal Church is made up of born again Christains
and we can that also to heart in the truth of this perfect work of sanctification
6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
What a blessing to know that Church
We also need to know that the agent of this sanctification process within our Lives and with he Church is the Word!
17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
the word is all important in this perfect work
challenge to Church to get back to the book
Sanctification - Holiness
The Call to Reject all that is unholy
The Call to Reflect a Holy God
The Call to React in a Holy Way
The Call that is a requirement of a Holy God
7 For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.
One day beloved the Church will be perfectly sanctified and presented to the Lord, spotless, without blemish
Conclusion
“His work is perfect”
We could go on and on about the various forms of his perfect work, it really is a subject that has no bounds as it were.
The perfect work of salvation — our redemption secured once for all who would come in repentance and faith to the saviour
The perfect work of sanctification - both individually but more than that as the Bride of Christ, the Church.
The perfect work of seperation - there can be no false accusal from the accused, his judgement is perfect
His work is perfect...
But by way of application, what about our work?
His perfect work has secured us privileges beyond imagination, we are blessed with heavenly promisees..
When we think of his work for us, how are we motivated for him?
Max Lucado tells a story from ages past about a stately prince and a peasant girl who fall in love. This really a difficult one to understand.
On the one hand is a prince who literally had the world at His disposal. There has never been a more perfect specimen of a man that ever lived. Nothing about Him was common. You wouldn’t be exaggerating to say that He is a perfect catch.
On the other hand there is a peasant girl. She is nothing more than average. At her best she is plain, but at her worst she can be just plain ugly. There are times when she is cranky and moody, and she rarely ever achieves all she could. To look at her from anyone else’s eyes you would never believe she was worth much. But if you could see her through the eyes of the prince, you would believe that she is “to die for.”
Because the prince determined that He couldn’t bear to live without her, he asked her to be His bride. The angels in heaven listened expectantly as she accepted his proposal. The prince promised his bride that He would come back for her soon, and the peasant turned princess pledged to faithfully await his return.
To this point the story could be any of a number of fairy tales, but now the plot takes a bizarre twist.
You would expect the bride to be always thinking about the coming wedding, but she rarely ever mentions it.
You would think that her every waking moment would be lived out in anticipation and preparation for the coming of her prince.
However, by the way she lives you wouldn’t even know she’s the bride of a perfect prince. More frequently than not, you can’t even tell the difference between the bride and any of the other peasant girls in the village.
There are even times when she can be seen flirting with the other men of the village in broad daylight, and who knows what she is doing when nobody is around to see!
Can you imagine a peasant girl fortunate enough to be the object of a perfect prince’s eternal love?
You would expect her to be captivated by His love and filled with a sense of wonder that she was fortunate enough to be loved by Him.
You would think that she would be careful to remain pure in anticipation of the return of her royal groom. Instead, to look at her you might wonder if she even remembers she is engaged at all.
How could a peasant forget about her prince? Is it possible for a bride to forget her groom? (Lucado, When Christ Comes, p. 138)
I wonder this afternoon have you forgotten what he has done for you?
16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: 17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
what promises we have, what privileges we have...
why?
because of his perfect love
how?
because of his perfect work..
4 He is the Rock, his work is perfect: For all his ways are judgment: A God of truth and without iniquity, Just and right is he.
Let’s pray
Song of Moses
also ref Rev 15
perfect - 91 times in Old testament - show different usages, but main one is without blemish -44 of 91
perfect work of christ in church
perfect work of christ for believers
perfect work of christ for non believers