First Baptist Church of Hoquiam
Sunday Worship, March 30, 2025

  • What would you describe as perfect?

    What about the perfect meal?
    The perfect day?
    A perfect 10?
    A perfect country?
    A perfect man?
    A perfect woman?
    The list goes on . . .
    Today, the psalmist is going to talk about the importance of what we hang our hats on when it comes to perfection. Where does our standard for perfection come from? If you found something truly perfect, what would you do with it? How would you engage it? What role would it play in your life?
    Lamedh
    Psalm 119:89-96 in Hebrew
    Psalm 119:89–96 ESV
    89 Forever, O Lord, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens. 90 Your faithfulness endures to all generations; you have established the earth, and it stands fast. 91 By your appointment they stand this day, for all things are your servants. 92 If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction. 93 I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have given me life. 94 I am yours; save me, for I have sought your precepts. 95 The wicked lie in wait to destroy me, but I consider your testimonies. 96 I have seen a limit to all perfection, but your commandment is exceedingly broad.

    God is our Creator

    Psalm 119:89–91 ESV
    89 Forever, O Lord, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens. 90 Your faithfulness endures to all generations; you have established the earth, and it stands fast. 91 By your appointment they stand this day, for all things are your servants.
    Genesis 1:1 ESV
    1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
    Colossians 1:16 ESV
    16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.
    John 1:3 ESV
    3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

    What does this mean to us?

    Design

    Psalm 139:13–16 ESV
    13 For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.
    I’m not junk.

    Stability

    Colossians 1:16–17 ESV
    16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
    The world is not out of control.

    Certainty

    Isaiah 41:13–14 ESV
    13 For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, “Fear not, I am the one who helps you.” 14 Fear not, you worm Jacob, you men of Israel! I am the one who helps you, declares the Lord; your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
    Isaiah 43:1 ESV
    1 But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.
    John 10:2–4 ESV
    2 But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.
    Ephesians 1:13–14 ESV
    13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

    The Word of God is our Guide

    Psalm 119:92–94 ESV
    92 If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction. 93 I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have given me life. 94 I am yours; save me, for I have sought your precepts.

    According to the Word of God . . .

    . . . what is our affliction?

    Death
    Romans 6:21–23 ESV
    21 But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

    . . . how does God’s Word give us life?

    2 Timothy 3:16–17 ESV
    16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

    . . . we need to be saved.

    Romans 7:15–25 ESV
    15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

    Nothing Compares to the Word of God

    Psalm 119:95–96 ESV
    95 The wicked lie in wait to destroy me, but I consider your testimonies. 96 I have seen a limit to all perfection, but your commandment is exceedingly broad.

    What will you do with the perfect Word of God?

    Will you seek the answers for your life in it?

    Will you change in order to align with it’s truth?

    Will you trust what it says about you?

    Will you say with the Psalmist, “I am yours, save me.”

First Baptist Church of Hoquiam
fbchoquiam@outlook.com
3605324887
http://fbchoquiam.com
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