1. Be perfect.

2. God is perfection.

“Christian character is not expressed by good-doing but by God-likeness.” (Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, Chambers, 47)

“The secret of discipleship is personal devotion to a personal Lord.” (Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, Chambers, 38)

“Holiness is not something to be received in a meeting; it is a life to be lived and to be lived in detail.” (Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, Lloyd-Jones, 255)

3. Don't be overwhelmed.

“He invades the privacy of your comfortable bad habits with intrusive words which sometimes make you smart. He watches all your movements, letting nothing pass, requiring you to do things differently in a way that at first seems awkward and chiding you, fiercely perhaps, when you go on in, or fall back into, the old ways. Sometimes he will act angry at you, and denounce you before others….But in your somber moments you know it is in a good cause; he is committed to changing you for the better and his persistence…is really an affirmation of you, for unless he saw that you could improve he would not waste time and energy on you…Here is a further picture of what God is doing to you and me through His words to us and His providential ordering of things. He reproves, corrects and instructs in righteousness; He is training us ‘that we may share in his holiness.’” (God Has Spoken, Packer, 79-80).

“The proof that we have been regenerated is that when we come in contact with the things that upset us, we find to our astonishment that we have a power to keep wonderfully poised in the center of it all. It is a power we did not have before, a power that is only explained by the cross of Jesus Christ.” (Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, Chambers, 47)

Sermon Questions

1. What are some verses that have been taken out of context? How can we keep from taking them out of context?

2. So...what do you think? Can we truly be perfect? If no, why not? If so, how?

3. What other verses back up sharing about God's perfection?

4. Holiness is not talked about much now. What is holiness, and is that God's desire for us? What are some ways to develop holiness?

5. What are some ways to not be overwhelmed to be "perfect" all the time?

6. As you look back on the Sermon on the Mount, in what way is God desiring you to move forward in your perfection?