Moving Toward Maturity

- In touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley, next on In Touch, moving toward maturity. - When a child is born, you expect that child to grow. And after a few weeks maybe or a few months, and you think something's wrong, this child's not growing, because it's natural for them to grow. When you were born again as a child of God, you became just that a child of God. And likewise, you and I are expected to grow. Now, being born again means that God has forgiven us of our sins, and he's brought us into a personal relationship with him. That's salvation, that's being born again. So being born again, we as believers, if we don't grow, there's something wrong with us. Because God intends for us to grow, and to grow, and to grow till the day we die, with to grow spiritually. And it's interesting in 1 John, those five chapters, 13 times John identifies the Christians, believers as my little children. And so God sees us as that. And then we're saved and we walk years and years and years fought with him, we become adults, always a child in our spirit, yielding to him and recognizing him as our father, but to grow. And I wonder if you feel today that you're growing in your Christian life. Oh, would you be one of those persons who said, well, you know, I grew for a while,

but then I thought, I've grown enough, I know a little bit about the Bible, I can quote some scripture, I know where Exodus is, I know where Leviticus is, if you know where that is, you know where everything is. And so, you know, I think I'm okay, no, you're not. You're not okay. What it says is that you're backsliding. You say, I don't drink and I don't do this. Listen, he says we are to grow, grow in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you're not growing in your Christian life, there's something wrong. You say, well, how will I know? If you listen carefully to this message, you're gonna find out how to judge yourself, test yourself, engage yourself as to if you're growing as a Christian, or if you're stagnating. Well, somebody says, well, maybe I'm just stagnating, I'm staying where I am, no. If you stagnate, you don't stay there. If you drift further and further and further away from God, if you are not growing. And I wanna show you the warnings that he tells us here in Second Peter. So if you'll turn there for just a moment, and in the first chapter, he begins by reminding his readers that God has given us everything we need to be the persons he wants us to be. The second chapter, he reminds us of the false doctrine

that's floating around, causing people not to grow and leading them astray. Then when he comes to this third chapter, he helps us bet all the things that are happening and will happen, and he comes to this last verse, and I will just read just a few verses here. Let's go to the 17th verse. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, that is, the difficult times are coming, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the era of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness. And then he makes this statement is where I'm coming to. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to him be glory, both now and to the day of eternity, amen. Now look at that verse, he says, but grow, that's an imperative, and it happens to be in a great tense that says this, grow and keep on growing, and keep on growing, and keep on growing, not just grow to a point, but just keep on growing in your Christian life. And that's what he's saying to us here. So when we think about that, when we think about why we should grow and think about what does it mean to grow in his grace? Well, his grace, of course, is his love and is undeserved love in favor to us, and we need to be growing in that continually. So we want to answer the question, first of all,

why should we endeavor to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? Why should we do it? And so there are three reasons primarily. The first one is that he has predestined, predetermined before you were saved, before you were saved, he predetermined that you would grow, that's the will of God, that's the will of God and plan for your life. So he says in Romans chapter eight, that 29th verse, If I'm if I'm becoming more and more in the likeness of his son I am changing in my conversation my conduct my character. I'm growing So ask us up the question. Is that happening in your life or is it not a Second reason he wants us to grow is in order to protect us to protect us from false ideas false prophets as he said So I want to give you a few verses of scripture That sounds just like our society today And he says one of the reasons you need to keep growing is to protect you in this kind of environment So there and God knows sort of like ours. So let's look if you will in that Look in the second chapter beginning in the first verse He said but false prophets also arose among the people just as there will be false teachers among you Who will secretly introduce destructive heresies Even denying the master that is Jesus bringing swift Destruction upon themselves Many will follow their sensuality and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned And in their greed they will exploit you with false words Their judgment from long ago is not idle and their destruction is not sleep He says he's predestined us to be confirmed the likeness of his son And he wants to protect us in the society in which you and I live and the third reason He says our love for Jesus and our knowledge of him And so God is very very interested in our relationship to him

And his will is that you and I are growing Now nobody knows whether you're growing but yourself but probably other people who watch you they can tell by your conversation by your attitude By what you do by what you talk about All these things it indicates that somebody's either growing and not they're not growing And if you look at your life and you say well 10 years ago where was I? And you say well, I'm better where I was then then you've been backsliding for 10 years You say well, I don't drink. I don't smoke. I don't commit a delta. I don't do all these things We're not talking about what you don't do. We're talking about who you are as a person Growing and lightness to Jesus Christ you say but he was absolutely Sinless as he was and that doesn't mean that you and I are going to reach the stage of being sinless But he says he predestined us listen to be he predestined us to become like his son Conformed to him that is as much lightness as we can possibly be People do not become born again By the grace of God changed had name written in the lambs of book of life Sealed about the holy spirit of promise who lives within them And one who does not draw unless that person is holding on to something in their life That's keeping them from growing so I'll ask you a question What just came to your mind as soon as I mentioned that Because it did That was if you're not growing and you're living in sin and and you say well, I'm not living in sin I got a few sins, but Listen if I am continually being conformed to his likeness, you know what I'm doing. I'm can I'm continually being sanctified Cleaning up anything think about this Somebody says well, I think I'm doing pretty good. Okay, sir If you had an absolute white suit beautifully white suit or ma'am you had on a beautiful white wedding dress and we said well We going down into this coal mine You think you're going to come out white no Because it's going to rub off on you

We are living in a society where sin Whether it's through the television where people go what they buy what they look at what they see what they do Our lives are easily Unclean if we are not careful And the bible talks about sanctification a sanctified life Watch this a sanctified life is a life that is continually growing and holiness righteousness and obedience to god It doesn't mean that you'll not sin But here's what it means if you're growing in him you deal with it right then And when people say well, you know nobody's perfect everybody's got their sin not necessarily so It may be to have some people have this weakness of that weakness of them But that doesn't mean they have this and they may be battling with it. They may be struggling to give up with it And to lay it aside Which is what we ought to be doing if there's something in our life that's not right And so god Has intended that you grow and you were saved to grow and to live in righteousness growing in the Lord, or evidences that you're not. And I think you'll agree with every one of them. You may not like them, but you'll have to agree that if I'm growing, the following things are true. So are you ready to say amen? All right, number one. If I'm growing in the Lord, I'm becoming increasingly aware of my sinfulness and my weaknesses. I'm increasingly aware, as I grow, I understand more. I become more and more sensitive to things in my life that are not right. As we come along in life, things we don't think about. But the more you grow into Christ's likeness, watch this. He gives you the spiritual insight to see that that doesn't fit who you are. And so one of the reasons we know that we are growing, if we become more and more sensitive to sin in our life, even little things, for example, used to put up with, maybe words you used to say, things you used to look at, whatever it might be, you become more and more sensitive. And here's what happens. The sensitivity is that doesn't fit me. That doesn't indicate that I'm being conformed to the likeness of Christ. A second thing is this. Our response to sin in our life is quick, involving genuine repentance. That is, repentance means I am sorry for what happened. I turn away from that. I don't want that in my life. Listen, you don't think it'll grow from 9 o'clock in the morning to 11 o'clock at night? Yes, it will. The time to deal with sin

is immediately. Lord, I want to ask you to forgive me for that. I'm ashamed of myself, and I want to handle it right now. If you're growing in your Christian life, you don't wait. Number three, our spiritual battles are becoming more and more intense, and yet we're still rejoicing. Now, if you're growing in your Christian life, here's what happens. You begin to realize that spiritual battles, listen, are difficult, and they're hard, but they're opportunities, in which you realize, for example, this is bothering me today, and three months or six months from now, and the same thing happens, and you know what? You said, thank you, Jesus. Thank you, thank you, thank you, dear Lord, for sending that in my life, because you're showing me now, I can love you, and I can forgive them with no problem whatsoever, so you can measure that. Then, of course, we begin to see trials and temptations as opportunities for growth. In other words, God, I want to thank you for how you're going to deal with this in my life. I'm going to trust you. I don't know exactly what to do this moment, but I know you'll show me how, and I'm going to deal with it, and you bring me through it. Then, of course, we begin to view service to him as a high honor, not a burden, and I think how often people say, well, you know, I go to church, and I just don't have time to serve in the church. You don't have time. Oh, God could give you time to take away your job and everything else, but in other words, here's the thing about it. You have to find out what does God want you to do. We're not saying that everybody ought to preach and teach and sing and acquire, or lead the music, or do anything else we do. But the truth is, you and I have time. You have time to visit somebody who's sick. You have time to witness to somebody who just opens the door wide open for you to share your faith. You and I have times to serve God in many, many, many ways, and we don't see it as a burden. For example, suppose I saw sermon preparation, which is a task, for sure, every week, not once in a while, but every week, because every sermon, I want to be the best I can do. Suppose I saw that as a burden. No, it's one more awesome opportunity. Listen, do you know who grows the most? I do. God discover things. I've never discovered it. But we'll see things in Scripture. I never paid any attention to it. Here's the thing about it. Watch this. God is going to stir you up enough and plow up your ground enough that when something new comes along, you think, "Mm, how did I miss that, Lord?" The Christian life is a wonderful, exciting journey because you're growing into Christ's likeness. You know what you're doing? You're putting yourself in a position for God to really bless you. Look, he says,

"My will is to conform you to the lightness of my son." And so when you think about, "What do you're growing or not?" See if that's the truth. Now, the next one is one of the most important lessons I've ever learned. We're able to view everything is coming from him. That is probably one of the most, not probably, that is one of the top lessons I've ever learned in the Christian life. You say, "Wait a minute. Everything doesn't come from him." I didn't say that. and lots of enemies who wanted to get rid of me and did everything possible and in the prayer room one day it's like the Lord said to me you want to win this battle do exactly what I tell you you see everything is coming from me not them no matter what they say what they do how they treat you you see that is coming from me because I could stop it but I'm allowing it and I'm allowing it for a reason so if you will see that is coming from me you won't get angry you won't get bitter you won't get resentful you won't get hostile they won't even figure out what the world's going on that they can do all those things and you're just happy about the whole situation it is a powerful lesson because it is the truth nobody can do anything to a child of godness he allows it if we're going to grow in our christian life we have to lift our vision no no matter what they say I must say that's coming from you must have known that I needed that lord you're testing my patience you're testing my morals you're testing this testing that so I must need that praise god sent him on and and and what happens is you're able to see a difference in your life then of course we'll sense when our faith's growing stronger you'll be able to tell when you're growing stronger because things that used to bother you won't bother you places you used to go you won't go anymore things you used to want you don't want anymore things you used to see you don't see anymore and you thank him seeing it as from him and you'll find your faith growing stronger then of course if we are growing in the lord we're going to spend more time in worshiping him and praising him this is why people I don't understand people who don't go to church regularly now you may you may be in one of those areas this country that's not a church within 50 miles I do realize there's some places a long ways away or maybe somebody in your home they can't be left alone I'm sure they're exceptions but forget about the exceptions why don't you go to church you say I can live a Christian life without it well tell me what you're doing for Jesus tell me about how much time you're spending in prayer and worship I'm not saying that people

can't I'm just saying simple this he says forsake not the assembling of yourselves together as some do you know why God puts us together he puts us together for example worship him to praise him now I can worship the lord and praise God singularly in my house by myself I can shout or sing I can praise the lord and whatever it might be but it's a whole lot more powerful when I hear you saying and why we all praise the lord and we are all reading the scripture and we're just having a good time praising God he wants us to praise him and you know what'll happen when you're growing in the lord you want to be a part of a fellowship you want to grow in the lord you want to be in his word you want to hear somebody explain to what a god you want to grow you want to see every single time an opportunity and I remember when I was going to seminary the pastor that I wanted to hear was in Dallas now we were in full worth and then that was a long time I mean a long ways not long anymore I couldn't wait to go here this pastor he was a he was elderly a well speaking of elderly well that just depends on how you act I thought he is and he he was not nearly as old as as I am and but I but he had some age on him but I couldn't wait to hear him every opportunity I got I went to Dallas, Texas went to the first bed with shirts that he had W.A. Criswell there's something about him the first time I ever heard him preach I slipped over there with a friend of mine and sat on the third row and he walked out and this preach and he stepped up to the podium and he said my text tonight is this grace wearing we stands preaching the book of Romans and for the first time in my life I heard somebody that I could say now that's what I call preaching the gospel because I'd heard a lot of stuff in those days it was real liberal and you know sermon that's and not much of anything at all ready and I won't look back and wonder how anybody ever grew in any of that there are a lot of those churches still here today but when he spoke I listened to every word I didn't want to mimic anybody and there was something about him that I knew the spirit of God was on this man. We choose whether we want to grow or not. Then our desire to obey Him is becoming more and more intense and sin is less and less attractive. The more you and I live like Jesus, the less and less we're going to put up with sin in our life. And God wants us to live a sanctified life. Now listen to this, a sanctified life

is a life that has been set apart by God through the Holy Spirit to live a godly life. It doesn't mean that we're sinless, but sanctified means I've been set apart by Him. You have, if you save, you set apart by Him to live a godly life. And so when that's true, you have less and less interest. Here's what will happen. You'll spend less and less time on foolish things, less and less money on foolish things, less and less time listening to foolish stuff, less and less time wasting your time when you could be filling your mind with Godly thoughts and filling your mind with truth that builds you up, strengthens you and empowers you to defend your faith. And we need that in this day and time. Then of course, we'll be more and more eager to share what Christ is doing in our life. As you grow in your Christian life, you won't tell it, you can't keep it to yourself. And as I said before, when I go to a restaurant, something, the first thing I'm doing is looking for an opportunity to say something to whoever's waiting on me that'll open the door for me to not tell them who I am, and only I want them to know who I am, I just want them to know who Jesus is. And I don't say, have you ever been born again? No, I don't say have you ever been saved? No, you can just say, well, you have a lovely smile.

Disarmed, just like that. Where are you from? And you can just take it easy. You may not say any more of them that. Next time you go back, you ask another question, before long, they want you to talk to them. And so you can tell by your growing whether you have laid down all that, well, you know what I may say the wrong thing. And God knows your heart. You know what it means to trust Jesus as you save you. You know what it means to walk in the spirit of God. You know the difference between sin and righteousness. So think about that part. Then we, listen, we are experiencing an ever increasing awareness of his presence. I think personally for me, that word presence is number one. Walking in his presence, he's sleeping in his presence. You wrestle with difficulties in his presence. And the more Godly you become, and the more Christ like you become, and the more obedience you become. Listen, there's some things you absolutely would not say if Jesus was sitting here, or would not do. Well, he is here. And see, the stronger you become as a believer, what happens is the more aware of his presence you are, and some things you don't tolerate in your life because you're a follower of Jesus Christ. Then of course, you'll know how well you're growing

when you just love to spend time alone with God. You'll know when you're growing, when you covet the time you spend along with him. God, I just want to be alone with you. It has nothing to do, how long it depends on what's going on. But when you think of who God is, and that he loves you, and he's willing to spend as much time with you as you're willing to spend with him, he, listen, you'll be growing in your Christian life when you're saying, thank you Jesus, thank you Jesus, thank you, I'm gonna have this time just alone with you. And somebody said that to me this week. She said, you know, I'm so excited about what's going on in my life, because now I'm gonna be able to spend more time alone with the Lord, and less time I have to work. You have to make time. I guarantee you the devil's gotta list this long for every one of us. You need to do this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, and when you finish doing all that, you don't have anything to show for it. It's a choice we make, and I don't know how to tell you any clearer. It's a choice we make, how much time we spend with him. Then of course, one of the things that's so important, when you're growing, the more you grow in the Lord, the more you're gonna want to give. Yeah, you know, it's just, that's just what happens.

Why, because you're becoming more like him. He says he's conformed us to the likeness of his son, and so God's always given to us. We're gonna want to give more to others, and to the Lord's work, whatever it might be. And then there's gonna be a continuous growing hunger in your heart for God. Thing you want. What do you do you look on then think? Oh, this is what I think I want You spend your money on it It may satisfy you it may not I can tell you this You're always satisfied When you spend time with him He'll see to that because you're growing into Christ lightness. You're honoring him and he's gonna honor you and one last thing I'd say If you're growing You're gonna feel God's love You're really growing you're gonna feel he loves you. Listen. I Can give you a testimony. They'll make it short There was a time in my life, and I've been a pastor for a number of years If you ask me if God loved me, I'd tell you yes If you ask me do you feel it I? Didn't feel it I Didn't feel like I was worthy of it And I was preaching to other people about the love of God But when I went back to look at my sermons, I only had one And it was not worth listening to you can't preach something you don't practice and So when I think about growing in the Christian life when you were able to experience in Sense and feel the love of God in your life Now watch this Satan will say what about this? What about this? What about this? What about this? You just ignore that we're talking about God's God's love for you doesn't change whether you sin or not

His love doesn't change You suffer the consequences of disobedience, but he loves you just the same Now you probably had thought about all those things already Imagine being on your deathbed and for the last 30 years of your life. You've just had it your way If you've never trusted Jesus as your savior number one You ask him to forgive you of your sins based on what he did at the cross Surrender your life to him and ask him to help you grow as a believer as a follower of Jesus and be true to him And watch what an awesome thing he does in your life So I would simply ask you the question this morning that nobody's business, but yours Would you say on the basis of what you've heard? That you are growing in your Christian life and you're excited about Jesus or so what you have to say I Thought I was Then if you just thought you were what are you willing to do about it You willing to ask God to forgive you that you're not growing like you ought to be growing You want to repent of your sin and you want to ask him God? What am I holding on to in my life that I should not be holding on to that's keeping me from growing the way you want me to grow God? I'll let it go Amen And father, we thank you for your forgiveness and your cleansing Thank you that you're right here 24 hours a day 60 minutes in every hour and 60 seconds and every minute in Your presence willing to aid us help us to grow into Christ's lightness We pray this one that you'll speak to somebody father who's unsaved and To realize what a tragic life they're living they may have all the money All the popularity all the prestige all the glory all the position all of that without you is zero Open their eyes dear God to help them see They need to be forgiven of their sins They need to repent of their sins

They need to surrender themselves to you and really begin living for the first time in their life in Jesus name Amen You a a [MUSIC PLAYING]