From Salvation to Spiritual Maturity: A Journey of Growth

Going to go ahead and continue on in our new series, A Summer of Spiritual Strength.

And we are taking a little bit of a break from our book studies until the end of the summer.

And we're going to be looking at what it means to have spiritual growth in our life and what it means to have spiritual growth within our church.

And so last week we looked at Ephesians chapter two, and we saw really who we were before we came to Christ.

That's the first three verses.

And if you remember, it wasn't a good picture.

It was a pretty bleak picture.

It told.

It told us that we were children of disobedience.

They told us that we were children of darkness, that we were serving a different master.

But then we saw in verse four, but God.

And that's a phrase that should always change our story.

When God comes on the scene and we see his mercy and we see his grace, and we see how he changes us, and we see that Ephesians 2, 8, 9 tells us that we're saved through faith, not, not of our own works, not, not of our own merit, but because God loves us and gifted us that grace.

And then we looked at verse 10 that told us that we are now, if we are believers in Jesus Christ, created in Christ Jesus unto good works.

So we're called to serve.

We're called to show what God has done for us.

And so part of spiritual growth is defining biblically what spiritual growth really is.

And we looked at this last week.

Spiritual growth is not just doing things.

Sometimes we're taught that if we just are in church every single Sunday, that means we're spiritually growing.

Well, maybe that is a manifestation of the spiritual growth that we want to be in church.

But we all know, I think we can all understand that just being in church does not equate spiritual growth.

I could be sitting in a pew and be a million miles away.

But we also know that just reading our Bible doesn't necessarily equate spiritual growth or praying or serving.

These are all things that are symptoms of spiritual growth.

But a lot of times what people are doing is instead of reaching the heart of spiritual growth, they're going to the place of, well, spiritual growth looks like this.

So I need to do these things that maybe it'll bring some type of level spiritual growth.

But we looked at what spiritual growth really is in Romans, chapter 8, verse 29.

The Bible tells us that true spiritual growth is conformity to Christ.

What does it mean to be conformed to Christ?

Simply speaking, and we should put it in A way that a child can understand conformity to Christ means looking like Jesus more and more every single day.

So I want to talk more like Jesus.

I want to walk more like Jesus.

I want to love more like Jesus.

I want to forgive like Jesus.

That's the mark of spiritual growth.

So if I want to grow in my walk and then gauge that growth, how do I gauge it?

Well, am I acting Christlike?

And so we see in Second Peter that it starts with faith.

And that's where we're going to spend most of our time here this evening.

Second Peter, Chapter one.

And we're going to start in verse number three.

And here we're going to see what it looks like to take those next steps in our spiritual walk.

It starts with salvation.

And for many people, that's where it ends.

Well, I'm saved.

I got my ticket to heaven.

I'm forgiven.

Now I can just continue the way that I want to continue.

Well, no, that's not spiritual growth.

That's not understanding what God has done for us.

The Bible says that salvation is just the start of the process.

So the Bible tells us in many places that it is Jesus that we are to build our foundation or build upon.

And he is our foundation.

So I want to take you to a few passages of scripture.

Keep your finger there in 2 Peter, because that's going to be our main text.

But I want you to see some other passages of scripture that speak of Jesus being our foundation for everything in our life.

I think that most of you know some of these.

But in First Corinthians 3:11, the Bible tells us that there's no other foundation that we can build upon that's going to bring satisfaction, sustainability, and ultimately salvation.

First Corinthians, chapter three.

You're very familiar with this passage.

Maybe, but.

Or maybe you're not, but this is the passage of Scripture where Paul is speaking to the church at Corinth and he talks to them in some strong language.

He calls them carnal.

Verse 2.

He says, I have fed you with milk and not with meat, for hitherto you are not able to bear it.

Neither yet are now.

Neither yet now are ye able.

So he speaks of them being carnal.

Now, carnal means fleshly.

It means that they're not walking as mature Christians, but they're walking as fleshly babes in Christ.

And he says, what does that look like?

Well, it looks like this.

Verse 4.

He says, well, some of you are saying that you're of Paul, and some of you are saying you're Of Apollos?

He says, is that not carnal?

He says, who then is Apollos?

And who.

Who is Paul but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?

He says, really the truth is, is that I have planted, Paul is planted, Apollos has watered.

But it is God who gives the increase.

And so when we're looking at spiritual growth, we're looking at fruitfulness.

We're looking at God working through us and giving us the opportunity to serve him, giving us the opportunity to share his word, and he provides that fruit.

But we see in this passage of Scripture, First Corinthians, chapter three, where the fruit comes from.

Spiritual growth does not come from my hard work.

Spiritual growth does not come through a pastor.

Spiritual growth does not come through a program.

Spiritual growth comes where from verse 6, God gave the increase.

So some are going to plant the seed, some are going to water the seed.

But it's God who gives the increase.

And we're building upon a foundation.

Then he goes on to say in verse eight, now, he that planteth and that he that are water are one, and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor.

And he goes on to talk about the fact that there's this building, verse nine, that there's this God's building that's being built.

He says, according to the grace of God, which is given unto me as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation and another built thereupon.

So he says, I built this foundation and other people are building upon that.

Well, what's this foundation?

He says, everyone needs to build upon this foundation.

Well, verse 11 tells us what that foundation is.

He says, for other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

He says, the foundation that we're all supposed to build upon within our ministries, within our families, within our personal spiritual growth path that we're taking, it's all built upon the foundation of Jesus Christ.

So spiritual growth is built upon how much we're abiding in Christ.

John 15 tells us all about that.

Jesus is speaking to his disciples and he says this.

He says, ye are the vine, or excuse me, he says, you are the branches, I am the vine.

Says, you can't grow without me.

And, and, and I.

And I want to show you John 15:5, because this is a very convicting verse.

Because anytime that I think that I'm doing something on my own strength, anytime that I think that I can do this without the power of God in my life, I go back to John 15:5, because it reminds me of a very sobering truth.

He says, I am the vine.

That means that Jesus is the source of our fruitfulness.

He says, you are the branches.

Ye are the branches.

He that abideth in me, what does it mean to abide in him?

It means to live in his truth, to, to walk in faith, to believe in everything that he says, to identify with him, to be reconciled to him.

He says the same.

The one who abides in Me bringeth forth much fruit.

And then this is the statement that I was alluding to.

And I hope that we all can take this as way of testimony here this evening.

For without me, ye can do nothing.

Jesus tells us, without me, you can do nothing.

So if we're tempted to think that we're growing in our spiritual walk, just because I read more or because I'm, I'm a, a good student, I can study these books.

That's.

It's not about head knowledge.

It's about this idea of abiding in the Lord.

Now, there is a level of knowledge that needs to be added to our life, which we're going to talk about in 2 Peter chapter 1.

But what I'm trying to nail down here, before we even take a step further, is that the foundation that is being laid in our salvation, the foundation that's being laid in our spiritual growth process is always the foundation of Jesus Christ.

And then we build upon that.

So many times the church tries to remove that foundation and tries to put in their own foundation.

Well, it's through our program that you can find true spiritual growth.

Though those other churches, they might think that they're spiritually growing, but it's through our program that you can find spiritual growth.

Or maybe it's through one man.

He says, no, you got to be a, a, a disciple of me before you can be a disciple of Jesus Christ.

Well, that's, that's faulty.

That's, that's heretical because the Bible says it's when we abide in him.

So if anyone preaches a message outside of Jesus being the hope for our salvation or our spiritual growth or teaching a false teaching, because it's only through Jesus.

So it starts with salvation.

It starts with a salvation that is solely based in faith in Jesus Christ.

But then, but then there's more.

You ever remember those TV ads when the guy's up there and he's like, you know, you can get this special rag that cleans up, but wait, there's more.

And he adds a free thing on.

That's how it is with the Christian life, right?

Every single time we think that we've gotten everything from God, there's more.

And so in Second Peter, chapter one, we're going to see that, yes, the foundation has been laid, and the foundation is Jesus Christ.

But remember what First Corinthians, chapter three says?

We need to build upon that foundation.

So I didn't bring it tonight, but there's some of you.

You guys ever played the game Jenga, Okay.

On the table, right?

With your.

Maybe with your kids, or maybe not with kids.

And, you know, building things around Silas is.

Is just a useless task because I don't know about you guys, but maybe I was like this when I was a child, but every time something is built, Silas just wants to knock it down.

That's his.

Wants to knock it down.

But.

But I.

We actually have here the church a.

A set of, like, really big Jenga pieces.

So I should have brought it in tonight as an example.

If I was more prepared, I would have done that.

But the idea would be this.

We're laying the foundation of Jesus Christ.

But oftentimes we think that that's enough.

But the Bible tells us that we're supposed to grow in him.

We see in second Timothy, chapter two, verse 19, about this idea that the foundation of God is going to stand.

Sure, there's other passages of Scripture, like First Peter, chapter two, that says that Jesus is the chief cornerstone.

And so as we build upon him, there's that recognition that there's something more to this life than just salvation.

Even though that would be enough.

Salvation would be enough if God just saved us and said, well, you don't get anything else.

You just get salvation.

It would be enough.

But the Bible says that there's more.

So I want you to see in Second Peter, chapter one, what the next step is after salvation.

Now, I know that all of you that have been saved for any amount of time realize that there's more.

But oftentimes we need to be reminded about this.

We need to be reminded that there are steps that we are supposed to take within our life to foster this spiritual growth process.

It starts with Jesus, which we're going to see.

But we see that it's built upon the truth of what he tells us in this passage.

So two Peter, chapter one, he gives this wonderful greeting, Simon Peter.

He talks about being a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ.

He talks about to them who have obtained like, precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Savior, Jesus Christ.

I mean, he so eloquently lays out for us what it means to be saved.

Those who obtained precious faith.

And as we obtain precious faith, we have a wonderful blessing.

As he says in verse two, grace and peace be multiplied unto you.

And he says, this is how you can receive that grace and peace.

This is how you can live in that grace and peace, he says, through the knowledge of God and Jesus Christ our Lord.

He says this, basically, the more you know about God, the more you understand who he is, the more you understand what he has done, the more you're able to live in that grace and peace in your life.

Now, what is grace and peace?

I think we should define that.

Grace is the unmerited gift that God has given us.

Unmerited favor.

Some folks do an acronym, G, R, A, C E. God's riches at Christ's expense.

Christ is the one who paid the price for us so that we can have this gift of grace in our life, this gift of forgiveness, this gift of love.

It's all grace.

What is peace?

Well, I used to think peace was getting away from all of my problems in my life.

We're going up this week to the mountains for just a little bit, just to get away.

And that's my happy place.

Some of you have a place where you like to go.

I enjoy going up and being in secluded nature.

And I think about that sometimes.

I think about, man, if I could just be away from all the problems of life, I'll have peace.

And then I realize I've got a bunch of little ones running around.

There's probably not even going to be peace out in the middle of the mountains.

But the reality is, is that as a Christian, that's not the type of peace that's being mentioned here.

Because I think that if Paul was talking about that type of peace, he wouldn't have been in the middle of the Roman Empire.

He would have tried to get away from all these problems.

So it's not about removing ourselves from all the problems of this world.

It's understanding that we have God in the midst of all the problems.

And we can have a type of peace that supersedes any issues that we're facing in our life.

He says, if you want to know more about this grace and peace, know it that it's through the knowledge of God.

Then he says in verse three, how we can have this fruitfulness that we've been talking about, this spiritual growth.

He says, according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness.

So it's through the divine power of God, that we're able to have this type of life and godliness.

What is godliness?

It's being Christlike.

It's being like the Lord.

It's walking like him, it's talking like Him.

And so he says, you are given this awesome opportunity to pertain that pertains unto life and godliness through the knowledge of him that have called us to glory and virtue.

There's so much there that we can unpack.

But really what I'd like you to see is this.

It is through the divine power of God that we're able to even access this life of godliness, this life of glory, this life of virtue.

It's impossible to live the Christian life without the power of God.

It's impossible to do the things that God has called us to do.

I've heard people say, well, the Christian life's hard, and it is to a degree.

I'm going to even take it a step further.

The Christian life without Jesus Christ is impossible to accomplish.

We think that sometimes we're doing it.

We think that sometimes we're the ones that are accomplishing what God is doing in our life.

But really, at the end of the day, it says here, it's only through his divine power that we're able to even experience a life that's capable of being a godly person, a virtuous person.

Now, again, I've often heard people say, well, we're just humans, so therefore we can never be like Christ.

No, that then he would say in Scripture, don't worry about being godly.

Just do what you want to do.

The reality is, as Romans 7 says, we're always going to be fighting the flesh, and that's the battle.

But we never give into the flesh willingly and say, well, you know what?

I'm just human.

I'm going to give into it.

No, the fight is, I'm going to allow God to fight through me and be the divine power to give me this godliness and this knowledge of him that leads to glory and virtue.

And then he says in verse four, whereby are given unto us exceeding and great precious promises.

Think about this for just a moment.

He.

He reminds the reader that part of spiritual growth is remembering these wonderful promises that he has given to us.

Part of the process of growing in the knowledge of God is growing in what he has promised us in our life.

I was having a conversation with someone recently, and they were really struggling with failures of their past.

I was like, you know, even after I was saved, I made some really bad decisions, and I'm embarrassed about that.

And there's shame there.

They said, you know, I just feel like one day I'm going to have to stand before God and he's going to have to replay all these things for me and I'm going to be embarrassed and I'm going to have all these things that I'm going to be ashamed of.

And I wanted to take them right then and there.

Eventually we were able to talk about it, But Romans, chapter 8, verse 1 tells us, Therefore there is now no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus.

Folks, we don't have to live under the bondage of sin anymore.

The sins of our past, present and future are forgiven.

Therefore, when we sin, we recognize that this is not something that I'm bound to, but God has given me victory over.

We no longer have to live in that shame.

Folks, I don't know about you, but that's a promise that gives me some level, some infinite level of comfort when it comes to my struggles in my life.

Because I can always go back to say, yes, I messed up.

Yes, I probably will mess up tomorrow.

But the promise that there is no more condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus is a promise that I'm going to claim and that I'm going to stand in.

There's other promises that I think about all the time when it comes to my spiritual walk.

One of those is that God's never going to leave me nor forsake me.

I don't know if you've ever been tempted in your life to question that.

Maybe you think that God's forgotten about you because of whatever circumstance that you're facing in your life.

But the Bible says that God will never leave you nor forsake you if you're his child.

We could sit here all night and talk about the promises.

Now, why would we do that?

Well, the reason why we talk about the promises of God is because oftentimes we forget about the promises of God and we aren't resting in the assurance of those promises.

Now, let's say, for example, tonight I made a promise to you.

I said, okay, next week when everybody comes, I'm going to be bringing you something.

I'm going to bring you a, you know, dessert after church.

And everyone's going to go, oh, great, okay, I'm definitely coming to church because pastor's promising me desserts.

And then guess what happens?

I go and I have a week that's a difficult week.

And I come back and I forget.

And you and all of you show up and you bring A friend with you.

And you say, okay, Pastor, where's our desserts?

And I go, oh, no, I promised you desserts, didn't I?

And I don't have anything now.

Sometimes my promises are not promises that are based in a lie.

I mean, I truly might have intended to give you that gift of that dessert.

But I'm limited in my knowledge.

I'm limited in my access.

I'm limited in my power.

So therefore my promises are only as good as who I am.

Now, I try to stay true to my promises.

I try to tell my kids things and stick by those things.

But even then, sometimes I fall short.

But you know what?

When God makes a promise, he is the creator of the universe, the one with all powerful nature, the One who knows everything, the One who is everywhere, all at once.

Every when he makes a promise, it is sure it is laid in and sealed in, in, in stone.

When he makes a promise, he keeps his promise.

So there's other promises that we can think of.

I mean, I think about the one with no condemnation.

I think about the one that he's always going to be with us.

I think about in Romans chapter 8 when he says that we can cry abba, Father, that we can have access to him.

Hebrews chapter four.

Hebrews chapter four tells us that we can come boldly unto the throne of grace to find help in time of need.

Man, we could sit here all night and talk about that.

Now that is so important because he says we're giving all these great promises that by these, by these promises ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

Now again, this is so rich.

And I want to break down as much as I can here this evening.

But what we see here is that part of the spiritual growth process is knowing the promises of God and trusting in the promises of God.

And when we do those things, we're reminded that we are partakers of the divine nature, that we are partakers of the power of God, and that we have escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

So we're reminded again of what we've been saved from.

Very similar to what happens in Ephesians chapter two.

Remember, Ephesians chapter two reminds us who we were and who we are now and what God has done in us.

That's the same thing that Peter is reminding us about.

Here you were here and then because of the promises of God, you are here and now you can live with confidence.

Sometimes I'm strange in the fact that I always want to know what words mean.

I want to go back to the etymology of the word.

And one of my favorite words is confidence.

And some of you, like, you have favorite words.

I do have favorite words, and I have words I don't like.

And I have words that I do like.

But confidence is one of those words that I love because that word in the Latin means with faith.

Confide means that I can live with faith and confidence in something.

Now, sometimes my confidence is in the wrong thing.

Sometimes my confidence is in my own wisdom, and that has failed me many times.

Sometimes my confidence is in my own memory.

Sometimes someone tells me, or confession time, someone tells me, hey, Pastor, can you take care of this this week?

And I go, oh, yeah, for sure.

Do you want to write that down?

No, no, I got it right here.

It's right here.

And this happens on Sunday.

Then I wake up Monday morning and my whole mind is wiped clean.

Okay.

I have nothing, no recollection of what was said.

And I forget.

Okay, so what does that mean?

That means this.

I can't have confidence in myself.

I can only go back to that sure foundation that my confidence is in him because he's reliable.

And so that reminder that we've escaped the corruption that's in the world through lust is found in the promises of God.

That's why when we went to Rwanda and we talked about to these guys, hey, you need to be able to share your testimony.

The real major part of that is who I was before God.

Then the promises of God, the promises of the gospel, the promises of salvation, the promises of his love.

And then how did that change me?

We need to be able to explain to people how the power and the presence and the provisions of God changed our heart to a place to be new, to be a transformed creation in Him.

So verse four reminds us that those promises are so vital.

And then it goes on to say this in verse five, and beside this, so added to this, giving all diligence.

So what does this mean?

This means that there is a level of our responsibility here.

There's a level of us to give some effort to something.

You might say, well, what's our effort?

Well, we're partakers of the divine nature, so.

So we get to have the Holy Spirit living within us.

But once we're made spiritual children of God, growth just doesn't happen to us.

It.

It's not just a natural thing.

We have to give diligence to the walk that God has called us to walk in.

So it's diligence to yield to him.

It's diligence to follow him.

So he says, give all diligence.

Give effort to what?

To add to your faith.

Now that's an interesting phrase.

I thought that faith alone saved me.

Well, this isn't talking about salvation.

This is talking about spiritual growth.

So faith is the start of spiritual growth, but we are called to add things to our Christian life.

And so he says it starts with salvation.

It starts with faith, but now start to add things.

As we begin our life with God in faith, our faith grows or progresses into something more, something.

Something of a blessed understanding of the grace of God.

Now keep your finger there in First Peter.

Excuse me, Second Peter, chapter one, and turn with me probably just a few Pages over to 2 Peter 3:18.

He starts with this understanding of adding to your faith.

And then he's going to end with a phrase that I believe culminates all of what he's saying here in this passage.

He says in second Peter 3:18, the very last verse, but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Now, let me stop there.

How I have heard that taught before, and some of you have maybe even heard me explain this, is that the more we love God, the more we serve God, the more God is just going to keep doling out grace to us.

But he's holding it here, and I have to perform.

And as I perform, God gives me grace.

I don't believe that that is is what this is talking about.

Why?

Because the Bible tells us that God abundantly sheds his grace upon us at the moment of salvation.

So how can we grow in grace then?

Well, growing in grace is understanding the infinite grace that God has already given us through growing in our spiritual walk.

So I'm able to understand God's grace more when I'm growing in the knowledge of Him.

That's what it says there.

He says in that last verse, but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

So it's knowing him more and understanding that level of grace that he has given us.

So the way that this could be described is this way, let's say you've been saved for 10 years, okay?

So hopefully the.

The goal for us is that in those 10 years we've grown in our understanding and our access to the grace that God has given us.

And then if God preserves us for another 10 years, that we should grow more in our understanding of God's grace, and that should bring us more to a place of humility.

And submission to Him.

And so we're seeing here that there's this understanding of growing in grace.

And so the way that I could describe it to you in the clearest way is that as we understand God more, as we grow in him, as we abide in him, we are able to grow in our understanding of his infinite grace that's imparted to us in our life.

And then we're able to access that grace by many different ways in our service.

Like, I'm able to give grace as I experience grace.

I'm able to teach grace as I have learned grace.

Second Peter, chapter one tells us that we're to add to our faith and grow in grace.

So what does it mean to add to our faith?

Let's see it here.

He says, add to your faith virtue.

The first thing we're supposed to add to our faith and our spiritual walk is virtue.

What is virtue?

Well, it's just moral uprightness.

It's following the Lord, it's obeying him, it's trusting him.

You remember what it says in the Gospel of John and in First John, if you love God, you will what, keep his commandments?

It's obedience.

So the first step, one of the very first steps of spiritual growth is trusting in God.

You would say, I thought you said obedience.

Well, we only obey who we trust.

So if you don't trust God, you're not going to obey him.

What if, what if someone came up to you and you didn't know them and they said, hey, do this, this and this.

And you're like, no way.

Why would I trust you?

I don't know you.

We're not going to obey somebody and their orders and their direction to us if we don't trust them, if we don't believe in them.

And so as we grow in our faith, the more we will trust and obey God when he says, thus sayeth the Lord, this is the right thing to do.

We, we see so many people today that are not following the word of God because they are trusting in something outside of what the Bible says.

They say, yes, I understand that the Bible says this, but.

And then fill in the blank.

They have all the reasons not to trust in the Lord.

So how can we live virtuous lives unless we are trusting in God?

So it starts with faith.

And that faith is manifested through a virtuous life.

In obedience to God doesn't mean a perfect life, but it just means a desire to be morally upright, to live a life of purity.

Really in that word, virtue is the word Is the meaning purity.

Now purity can be seen in many different ways, but really purity is just trying to stay spotless, trying to stay away from, from the things of this world.

And we could go into that whole category of First John, Chapter 2, what the World looks like.

Lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, pride of life.

There's so much there, but for the sake of time, we won't go there.

But one of the steps that we should take within adding in our faith is virtue.

The second, and this is kind of like building think, think about blocks.

Think about those Jenga blocks that I talked about before.

Jenga Block 1 is the faith in Jesus Christ.

Django Block 2 is a virtuous life of living in moral obedience.

Then the Jenga block upon that would be what add to your faith virtue and virtue knowledge.

So how can we continue to trust in a God that we aren't growing in our knowledge of Him?

We, we don't know him more.

What if I told you guys I know the same things about my wife and nothing more than the day I married her?

Unless I married her yesterday, that's a big problem.

Okay, okay.

I've been married to my wife for X amount of years.

And if I have not grown in my understanding of knowing her in a greater way, I have failed as a husband.

It is the same thing as a Christian.

If a Christian says, well, I don't know anything more about God today than I did 20 years ago, that's a major issue.

Why?

Because there are things that we are to know at certain stages of our life.

But the goal is that I know more about him each and every day.

I don't expect my kids to know everything about everything.

But the more they mature, the more they should understand different aspects of this world.

Same thing as a Christian.

As a Christian, I'm not expecting a brand new Christian to understand every intricacy of the Bible, every aspect of who God is.

But there is a level of growing in our knowledge of him and His Word.

So one step of spiritual growth would just be summarized in loving the truth of who God is and growing in our knowledge of Him.

How do we know about Him?

Well, one aspect is the word of God.

Some of you said maybe just then.

Well, Pastor, I thought you said reading the Bible isn't spiritual growth.

I said just reading the Bible is not spiritual growth.

But as we grow in the Lord and we read His Word, that's a tool to grow.

So if we're reading for the right reasons, to know God and to commune with him, and to grow in our obedience to him.

That's a wonderful tool for spiritual growth.

So he says, add to your virtue knowledge, and to knowledge, temperance.

The more you know about God, the more we're able to have what's called self control or moderation.

Basically, we're able to be restrained in our fleshly desires.

The world tells us just to feed the flesh, to do what feels good, to just get yours when you can.

But the Bible tells us something completely different.

Die to the flesh.

This is one of the hardest aspects of the spiritual growth process, and that is to die to our fleshly desires.

It's a level of sacrifice.

It's saying, I need to carry my cross daily.

The Bible tells us that as Christians, we are to bear our cross.

And sometimes people will say, well, bearing my cross.

Well, you know, Pastor, I bear my cross every day when I walk into my workplace.

Well, I get that it's probably sometimes a difficult thing to go into your workplace, or it's a difficult thing to deal with people at, you know, different places that you go.

But it's more than that.

Bearing your cross is not just going through minor inconveniences in your life.

Bearing your cross is dying to the flesh every single day.

Think about the cross as a symbol.

A lot of times we see the cross now as a aspect of jewelry or on a wall or in someone's house, and it's almost decorative to some degree.

But think about what the cross would have symbolized back at the time of the Bible.

It was a.

It was a instrument of death to the people in the Roman Empire.

So the cross is a sign of dying, but dying to what?

Well, in the case of a Christian, it's dying to our flesh, dying to our internal desires that God tells us are not healthy for us that are not honoring him.

So there is that level of temperance, self control.

One way you could put it, is not self control as much as God control.

God controlling my impulses so that I can die to my flesh and that I can be yielded to him.

Now, I know we're not having too much interaction here this evening, but I do want you to think about this, and possibly we could maybe work together on this.

How can we then die to the flesh and listen to God and do what God has for us in our life.

You say, well, how do I know what God wants for me in my life?

Well, the Bible very clearly tells us in the book of Ephesians that it's putting off the old man and putting on the new.

Well, who's the new man.

The new man's the Holy Spirit.

It's yielding to the conviction of the Holy Spirit.

We talked about this last week, remember?

The conviction, the comfort, the confidence of the Holy Spirit.

Well, it's saying, I know that this is what my flesh wants, but I'm going to yield to the Spirit and allow the Spirit to guide my decisions instead of my own personal desires.

And hopefully, as we continue to yield ourselves to the Spirit, our desires will be united with him and we will be walking in unison.

And verse five tells us that we're to add knowledge.

For verse six tells us we're to add temperance.

And then to temperance.

What?

Patience.

Patience.

I've heard it said.

I never pray for patience.

This type of patience is a little bit different than our English patience.

We talk about impatience in our English language as well.

I go to the dmv and I just need to be patient with all these people.

I need to be patient with the weight.

And a lot of times we think of patience being a passive thing.

We think of patience is, I'm not doing anything.

I'm just waiting for something to happen.

But I want to take you to a passage of scripture that I believe indicates and shows us what this type of patience is.

And actually, though, another word that we could use for this word patience is endurance.

So.

So come with me to Hebrews chapter number 12, and let's look at verse number one is such an appropriate verse for some.

I. I know we're getting a bigger crew that's running the 5K at the Peach Festival this weekend.

Pastor Carlos, you're going to be there, right?

Okay, good.

So this is appropriate for us who are going to try to run the race.

And all of you that are nurses, please be there at the finish line or maybe before the finish line.

But.

But Hebrews chapter 12 says this.

Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed with.

With.

About.

With so great a cloud of witnesses, we let us lay aside every weight.

So.

So remove the things in our life that are holding us back.

And the sin which does so easily beset us, and let us run the race with patience, the race that is set before us.

So what is it saying here?

Well, if patience is just passively sitting, how can I run a race if I'm just sitting down?

So it's not talking about that type of patience.

It's talking about endurance.

It's about going through it.

Running the race day by day, step by step, and going through the process of going, going into trials and tribulations and struggles.

And doubts, but running it with endurance.

And so the Bible tells us that as we add to our faith, virtue and knowledge and temperance, we then need to add that patience, that endurance.

Folks, sometimes it is a difficult thing to have that level of endurance.

The Bible says, did not get weary in well doing.

Why?

Because in due season we shall reap if we faint.

Not.

One of the things that I think about a lot and pray about a lot is the whole struggle of Christians walking away, right?

We have a lot of questions, well, were they ever a Christian?

Are they ever going to come back?

I, I, I think about that a lot.

And those are answers that we can maybe address at another time.

But I believe that many people step away from walking with God because there's a lack of endurance.

It just gets difficult.

They're not willing to necessarily risk the things that they're risking at this point.

The Bible says that that's a step of spiritual growth.

Step of spiritual growth is able, is being able to endure the difficulties.

Everybody that claims to be a Christian is going to be walking with joy and peace and patience and long suffering if everything's going their way, right?

Well, I got a raise at work.

My, my family was nice to me today.

I, I got an extra, you know, order of fries in my, my Burger King order, whatever it is, okay?

There's a lot of things that can cause us the joy of having and pursuing and eventually obtaining.

But the Bible says that that type of spiritual growth is a shallow spiritual growth because it's based in what I'm receiving here and now.

But here it says that, no, that type of patience or endurance is a mark of true faith when we go through the trial and we stay faithful.

So James talks about that, James talks about having that true faith, that authentic faith, not just saying that we believe, but also doing what we say, walking the walk, not just talking the talk.

Be doers of the Word and not hearers only deceiving yourselves.

Think about that.

Think about how many people hear the Word on a Sunday morning.

Think about how many people hear the Word here in America or around the world.

But how many of those people that hear the Word are going to take that and say, you know what?

I'm going to endure through the trial so that I can live this in my life.

And as we see here, he says, and to patience, godliness, Godliness again is that idea of being conformed to Christ, to be more like the Lord, to walk upright, to have that level of moral purity that displays God's characteristics in our life.

You know, there's some attributes of God that we can never obtain, at least on this side of heaven.

We'll never be able to be omnipresent, meaning we're everywhere, or omnipotent or all those things of his perfect holiness.

But we do know that there are some what we would call communicable.

Now that's a big word for us.

But communicable is like, like, let's say, for example.

I'll give you an example, kids, what communicable means is when you go and sneeze on your brother, okay?

That means that you could pass the sickness on to them.

So there are some communicable attributes of God that as he rules and reigns in our life and as we abide in him, that we're able to mirror.

And so that godliness would be this I love in a more God focused way.

I love with that agape, I forgive, as Ephesians chapter 4 says.

Tenderhearted, forgiving one another.

Why?

Because Jesus has forgiven us, because he has paid the price for us.

And so over and over again we see that the Bible tells us that we are to mirror those attributes that God has given us.

We're to shine the light.

The light doesn't emanate from us.

Matthew 5:16.

I quote this verse quite frequently.

It's let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Now, how do I shine that light?

Well, the Bible tells us in John, in the book of John, John chapter one, that Jesus is that light.

So as Jesus shines his light upon us, we reflect that light into the world and we're able to show godliness.

Now why do we show godliness?

Well, Matthew 5:16 told us what the purpose is.

Not so that people can look at us and say, well, that's a good Christian, that's a morally upright person.

You know, they should be elevated.

They should be.

What we saw in First Corinthians, chapter three, people started saying, I'm a Paul, I'm of Apollos.

No, it's always so that God can get the glory.

So it's godliness and then to godliness.

What brotherly kindness.

Think about that within our Christian walk, you know, are we willing to show that type of love that God calls us to have to our fellow brothers and sisters?

One mark of spiritual growth is getting along with other Christians.

That's what this is saying.

Okay, I don't want to get any more cloudy in the thinking in the most clear way.

It says that words have brotherly kindness, particularly with those that are of the household of faith.

There's other passages of scripture that say we should be kind to everybody, but in particularly the household of faith, meaning, yes, we should be loving to everyone, but there is a responsibility for us to walk together as Christians, to walk in unity, to walk in fellowship, to show acts of kindness, to have compassion, like we talked about this morning.

So one mark of spiritual growth that we should be adding to our life and asking God to give us on a daily basis is that love and kindness for others within the body of believers, and not just even within Middletown Baptist Church, but Christians across the world.

And then as we see what's added to brotherly kindness, well, it's charity.

Charity here is that agape love that we've been talking about.

It doesn't say dynamic speaking.

It doesn't say a bunch of talents.

The final addition to the spiritual growth process is this type of sacrificial love.

You say, how do we know if a person's really growing the Lord, if they have this type of agape love in their life?

You say, well, what does that look like?

It's the type of love that Jesus had for us.

It's the type of love that says, what can I do for you?

And I'm not expecting anything back.

You know, we.

We see people all the time that are elevated in Christianity.

Who's usually elevated in Christianity?

Dynamic speakers.

People that have good looks, people that have great talents.

And though there's nothing wrong with any of those things, that's not a measure of a person's spiritual growth.

I was talking to my Bible study this morning.

You could, and I. I truly believe this.

Now, they wouldn't be preaching with spiritual power, but you could take an actor, like a really quality actor and give him a script.

Just say, hey, here's my sermon.

You go preach it, and I guarantee you he's going to come across with less clutter words.

He's going to come across in such a way that is so compelling because he's an actor.

He knows how to appeal to the emotions.

But is there any truth behind it?

No, it's not real to him.

He's just portraying something in a way of his talent.

So I'm not downgrading great public speakers.

God gives people with that gift.

But what I'm saying is that's not the final mark of someone being spiritually growing.

It's what, what we see here.

Virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, charity.

We often don't Mark that in someone's life as a mark of spiritual growth.

We don't look at them and go, wow, they're really loving.

They're really growing in the Lord.

We usually look at people that have a lot of outward talents that we as humans look to as a mark of success.

But biblical success, biblical spiritual growth aligns itself with this passage of scripture that says, really, it's manifested in how we treat one another.

It's manifested in how much we love the Lord.

It's manifested in how morally upright we are.

Doesn't mean that we're perfect.

It just means that we're striving to be more and more like Christ each and every day.

I just want to go through these last two verses here, and then we're going to pick up more next week.

He says, for if these things be in you, these things that he just listed right here, these things and abound meaning grow even more.

They're in you and they're growing.

They make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

You want to be fruitful Christians?

He says, add this to your life.

We see so many people that are unfruitful Christians.

And many people.

People are questioning, why do I not see the fruit of God working in my life?

Well, maybe it's because we've neglected these things that we're supposed to add to our faith.

He says, if you want to be a fruitful Christian, add these things.

If you want to be an unfruitful Christian, don't add these things.

And he says, it's in the knowledge and the power of our Lord and Jesus Christ.

So verse nine, he says, but he that lacketh these things.

So he says, the person who has these things sees spiritual fruit, sees spiritual growth, and it's because of God.

Abide in him.

John 15:5.

He is the vine, we are the branches.

But he says, the one who does not add these things, the one who lacks these things is blind and cannot see afar off.

He's not.

He's not able to perceive God working around him.

He's not able to see the needs of Christians around him.

He's not able to see opportunities.

He's not able to see the promises.

He's blinded and he's.

He's missing things.

If, if we put glasses on everyone tonight as you're heading out.

And we said, okay, these glasses are special glasses.

They.

They block out everything that you can see, okay?

And they.

You can't see anything.

And we said, okay.

Find your way out.

And in the meantime, I had Pastor Ethan lay out a bunch of obstacles in the back.

And I said, okay, find your way out.

We have some people that were very upset because they couldn't get out.

And most people would be tripping and falling.

It's because of not being able to perceive the things that are around us, the distractions, the roadblocks, the struggles.

And so he says here, those that lack these things cannot see afar off.

They can't see God working.

They can't see what God is doing in the church or in.

In their own midst.

Why?

Because they have forgotten.

And this is a really interesting truth, and it's.

It's a powerful truth.

If a person has not grown in their faith and walked in these areas, they have forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.

What does that mean?

That means that someone could actually lose sight of how much they've been saved from.

They can lose sight of what they've been saved to.

You ever wonder why sometimes this isn't the only reason.

But you ever wonder why sometimes someone says, well, I don't even know if I'm saved for sure.

I just have no.

I have no confidence.

I'm not sure of anything.

It's maybe because they have not taken that step past just believing that God is their Savior now.

That is enough for salvation.

But as we see, he says, if you're not able to have these things growing in your life, they're going to be tempted to, in your blindness, doubt or forget that you've been purged from your old sins.

It's that understanding of, I'm just back to where I started from.

I'm going to go back to that same cycle and we've forgotten about what we've been saved from.

So there's a theme here.

Ephesians, chapter two.

We, what we've been saved from, what we've been saved to.

Two Peter, chapter one.

What we've been saved from, what we've been saved to.

And so be reminded of what you have been saved from.

That is sin.

That is the wage of sin.

That is death.

You've been given the gift of God, and now you've been called to add to your faith, all these areas.

Now we're going to come back next week and we're going to look at the fruit of the Spirit.

So, so we say, okay, that's great.

I'm.

I'm gonna try to do all these things this week, but I'm gonna try in my own strength.

I'm gonna Try to be diligent, to be virtuous.

I'm gonna try to be patient.

I'm gonna try to give people charity and kindness.

But what we're going to see next week is that all these things that we're called to do must be done through the fruit of the spirit and not the work of the flesh.

Because the work of the flesh works out all these other things.

And what happens is the work of the Spirit brings all these other things.

And sometimes people don't even know.

I don't know, Pastor, Am I acting in the flesh or am I acting in the spirit?

I'm not sure.

Well, Galatians gives us a very easy test to see whether or not we're acting in the flesh or acting in the Spirit.

And that's what's called the fruit of the Spirit.

And we're going to do a deeper dive into that next week.

And so as you leave here tonight, here are some takeaways.

The first takeaway is that the foundation that we're building upon is our salvation in Jesus Christ.

There's nothing else that we can build upon.

We can't say, well, I'm growing because I'm a member of Middletown Baptist Church.

I'm growing because I listen to Pastor Josh.

I'm growing because I follow so and so on YouTube.

Those are all not necessarily bad things.

But that's not the foundation that we're building our life upon.

Our foundation is Jesus Christ.

So that's the start.

But then we also understand that we cannot see any fruit in our life.

John 15:5.

Without me, without Jesus, you can do nothing.

So it's abiding in him for fruitfulness.

If we want to be fruitful Christians, it's every day yielding ourselves to him and saying, lord, I want you to produce that in my life.

Some plant, some water.

But it is God who gives the increase.

And then as we conclude here, salvation is the start.

The next step is spiritual growth, and that is to add to our life these things that are listed in Second Peter chapter one.

Virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and then brotherly kindness, charity.

And I hope that this is an encouragement for you.

I hope that it's eye openening for you to take a study, take a deep dive on spiritual growth, because we often just take for granted.

Yeah, I'm growing in the Lord.

But truly, are we are.

Are we looking at him for more understanding of who he is and what he has done?

You know, I often think I. I could never forget.

I could never forget what God has done for me.

And then I forget.

I'll never.

You know, I'll say this.

I'll never forget the day that I was married.

That was an exciting day.

We were.

We were young kids, but I think all of us that have been married for any amount of time can realize that not every day is like our wedding day.

There's days that might not seem as bright and sunny.

So what do we do?

Well, we don't just go, well, it's never going to be like it was that very first day and we're just going to never be happy.

No.

As a Christian, there's going to be days where we wake up and we're not feeling the joy of the Lord.

But what we have to do is we have to go back to God's great and precious promises that, yeah, he does love me.

He is there with me through this, and he's going to give me this growth that I'm desiring in my life.

The Bible says in Hebrews, chapter 11, and I'll close with this, that God, it's impossible to please him without faith, and that God is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.

God will reward your desire to know him more and to grow in his walk and grow in the walk with Him.

It might not be in the way that you expect.

It might not be in a way that's fast enough for you or for me.

But the Bible says that he will reward that searching.

And so I encourage you to search after him, to know him in a greater way.

And I truly believe, because of that promise that he is a rewarder of those that diligently seek Him.