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I have a question this morning to start the message. What is the goal of Christian ministry? What's the goal of Christian ministry? Why does Bethlehem Bible Church exist? Why are we here? Maybe before I answer that question, I have another question.
Who decides why we exist? Who decides what our purpose is? Why we belong here could be a democratic majority. They might want to decide. Could be some kind of vocal minority. Maybe we could be pragmatic and say, well, if it works.
Maybe creeds would determine that. Maybe church history. Maybe a denomination. Maybe the Puritans. Maybe the Reformers. Maybe the elders here at this church. The goal of Christian ministry, though, determined by the Bible is this.
I'll give you one word. Maturity. We exist to be mature. So mature, matter of fact, that we reflect the person and work of Christ Jesus in our lives. That we are people that have been affected by Christ's life and death.
That we become more and more like him, not just in position because we are in Christ, but in practice looking like Christ Jesus. If the goal of our getting together is fellowship, well, then we'll have a certain methodology for getting to that goal.
If our goal is for me to teach you how to be nice, because after all, it's nice to be nice and it's good to be good. If that's our goal, then we have a different approach. If our approach is, well, we'd like to have a lot more people here, then our beliefs will drive our methodology.
If our desire is we'd like to have two services, more missionaries, we'd like to grow in numbers, we'd like to have an asphalt paved parking lot, well, then there's a way to go about getting that. We have one person here, I won't mention any names, Lisa Huber, but she first came here, she got saved in Florida and was all excited to go to a Bible teaching church and she almost turned back around after she drove in and saw our parking lot.
She thought she better come in as well. And now, you don't even notice, do you, because she wants the meat of the word. She wants the word of God to proclaim Christ Jesus. Maybe we want friendship. If the goal of the ministry here is, let's be friends, let's have fellowship, let's enjoy one another, then there's a way to go about that.
But if, in fact, our goal is maturity, development, Christ-likeness, then there's a way to get there. Colossians 1 says that, "...we may present every man mature in Christ.". That's what we want as an elder board for you, for us.
We want you to mature. We want you to, if you're immature, to be more mature. If you're very mature, to even be more mature. And let's turn our Bibles to 1 Corinthians 3 in our ongoing series from 1 Corinthians that talks about maturity.
And the church of Corinth was immature and they should have been mature. Bethlehem Bible Church, I think, is maturing. So I want to spur you on, not by some kind of stern lecture, it's time for you to grow up, stop being like Corinth.
I want you on the flip side to say, there's a way to grow and I don't want to end up like Corinth. Oh, for certain, there are a few people here that act like Corinthians. But overall, we have a church that wants to learn, that wants to grow.
And you can even ask yourself the question, what were we like five years ago? Has love for the saints increased in the last five years? Has the love for the word increased in the last five years? What were we like 10 years ago?
What were we like 15 years ago? And I just, in my own life, the elders' lives, the elders' desire for your life is that you would be mature. Well, let me just read these first four verses in 1 Corinthians 3.
We did the exposition of them last time, and I want to just use these four verses today to launch our thoughts, kind of a Corinthians Cape Canaveral, I'll call these verses, because the message stems from these verses.
1 Corinthians 3, this is a swivel set of verses. Paul is discussing how to be a unified church, and he says in chapters 1 and 2, you've got to have the right view of wisdom. He says in 3, 5, all the way through the end of chapter 4, you've got to have a right view of leadership.
So these are kind of these swivel verses here, and he begins to talk to them about maturity. And he says in verse 1 of chapter 3, but I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ.
Can you imagine reading that for the first time or having that read to you by Paul? This is by Paul, read to you by someone else at the church, rather. That would be an amazing thing to read. I'd probably reread it.
I'd probably look at it again. How do you know you're growing? You can take in more truth. He says in verse 2, the opposite though, I fed you with milk, not solid food for you, we're not ready for it.
And even now, I wrote you this letter some time ago, but even now, you are not yet ready. There's nothing wrong with immaturity if you're Branly, Branly, what's Branly? Did you have your Bran today? If you're a brand new Christian.
When we have some of these new babies at the church, and by the way, I think we need a new church building because the nursery is going to go chaos here. We don't even know what goes on behind their 50 babies.
You know, and I'm glad for the growth. They happen to be all unregenerate growth and they can't add them to the rolls, but I'm glad for the babies. We pray that they will be saved. And he says it's one thing to be in the nursery when you're supposed to be in the nursery.
It's another thing to be a teenager and you're in the toddler room, and it shows that you're immature. Look at verse 3 and 4. There's jealousy, quarreling, backbiting. Act your age, not your shoe size.
Act your spiritual age, not your shoe size, for you are still of the flesh. Here's the proof. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way like mere men?
Well, of course. He gives another case in point. There's factionalism. For when one says, verse 4, I follow Paul and another, I follow Apollos. Are you not being merely human? In the time that I have left, which is a long time, I want to talk to you about how to stay spiritually immature.
Some relating directly to these four verses and some just from the biblical perspective of maturity. Every one of you here, if you're a Christian, I want you to be more mature than you are. Fair? I'd like to be more mature.
And if you're not a Christian, you can hear these words and I hope God makes you into a Christian. He causes you to be born again. But this is for Christians who do not want to stay in the proverbial car seat.
We don't want that. Forever in diapers, spiritually, theologically. D .A. Carson said, those who have the spirit and who therefore come to grips with the message of the cross are expected, listen to this, are expected to mature rapidly.
If you understand the cross and the wisdom behind the cross, 1 Corinthians 1 and 2, God expects you to mature rapidly. So I ask you the question, have you been maturing rapidly? Are you a mature Christian?
If you're a brand new Christian, well, there's not enough time to mature yet, but it still should be your desire to learn, to grow. Are you maturing rapidly? Let me use the format today, how to stay spiritually immature so I can teach the opposite.
By the way, I was working on this message a couple of days ago, sitting in a lawn chair in the front yard, and my neighbor came over to me and sat right down next to me, said, what are you doing? I said, oh, I'm working on my sermon.
And she said, oh, I have a question for you. I said, sure, what's the question? We'll talk about the Bible sometimes, and I'll preach the gospel to her sometimes. And she said, I've been driving by the church building, and why would you ever preach a sermon series on how to remain spiritually immature?
Because it gets you to think, because who wants to be immature? So it's a teaching device, that's all it is. As I give you these, I want you to do the opposite. I want the Spirit of God to work in your life so you continue to develop.
And if you are a Christian, and you have been for a long time, and you're immature, then let me just say it before we start, because I know you're expecting it, it's time to grow up. And let's learn about that right now.
How to stay spiritually immature, number one, drink milk when you should be eating meat. Drink milk when you should be eating meat. Hebrews 5 talks about this immaturity, and it says, you know enough that you should be what?
Teachers. Now, I already preached this point last time, so let me just say this. Pick an ology this year. Pick an ology. What's an ology? Well, like bibliology, Christology, pneumatology, the spirit, eschatology, the study of the end times.
Pick an ology. Pick a portion of something to study in the Scripture. I think bibliology would be the best. I'll even give you the name of a book that you ought to get. Geisler and Nix, two last names, Geisler and Nix, a introduction to the Bible.
What's it called? A general introduction to the Bible. And you need to get that book and read it. There's an attack today on inerrancy and on sufficiency and on everything else, and you need to say to yourself, I need to look at the Bible the way God wants me to look at the Bible.
I've got who knows how long to live. Let's just pick out of the 10 ologies, one this year. I've got nine more to go, nine more years. And, you know, how do you eat an elephant? One ology at a time. That's exactly what you do.
Bibliology. And as you study that, you'll begin to say to yourself, deep theology is better than shallow. Shallow, it's kind of nice, and it's cotton candy. This summer, I'm sure we'll go to the fair, and it's dollar cotton candy night, and it kind of feels good, tastes good.
I don't even like it anymore, but you can just imagine something like that, and it's just junk food. It's not going to give you any substance. So for those of you that study, go to IBS and all that, I'm glad.
But there have to be a few of you that say, I just want the easy way out. I want you to study the deep truths of Scripture so that when you're in a horrible trial, a difficult situation, the truths of God will bring you through.
It's not too late to start. Number two, still in review, how to stay spiritually mature. Think church service and church people should revolve around who you are and what you personally like. I basically, last time, wanted to warn you against consumer mentality.
Well, I like this, I don't like that. It's the kind of mentality that basically says, you walk out of a church and you say to your friend, well, it's fine, Bible teaching, all that, but I really didn't like the worship.
And we know, don't we? Worship is giving. Worship is singing. Worship is preaching. Worship is hearing the word preached. If you didn't like the worship, you've asked the wrong question. If you are wanting rock and roll music, and there's nothing wrong with rock and roll music by definition, I'm not trying to be some legalist, but you say, I like rock and roll.
Well, again, I have news for you, you can just go to your car and listen to Striper. That's fine by me or whatever other band you listen to. Is Guido here? No, Guido's not here. He likes Striper, I know, still.
The issue is not, this is what I want. The issue is, what have the elders put together for a service that exalts Christ in his word? And worship isn't singing with a heavy bass drum. Worship is listening, preaching, giving.
Number three, don't show up for corporate worship unless a senior pastor is preaching. Stay home instead. That will be a way you can stay immature. If you like the senior pastor's preaching, that's fine.
But there's something behind the preaching by the pastor, and that is a view of the word of God. And if you have the right view of the word of God, you'll have the right view of preachers. Now, if the other guys this summer don't preach the word of God, I prefer if you don't call me on my vacation, but you can call me if they don't preach the word of God.
You know, 1 -800-DIRECT, right to my bat phone line. Just call me and say, this person is up here teaching 2 Maccabees. You can just give me a call. If your view of the word is the preached word transforms, changes, and matures, and God has called you as a corporate body not to forsake the assembly of believers, then you don't say, well, I wonder who's preaching today.
You say, I'm here to give worship, and God will bless through the word. Number four, abandon your leadership and let those you're supposed to lead lead. Number four, last one of review. You know, I don't know if I should really pick a church.
I want to make sure I'll let my wife pick, you know, I'll let my kids pick. Of course, you want to get input. Of course, you like to talk and all that about the issues. But if you're a man here and you're a family leader, you need to be the leader.
As I say to men in my office sometimes, I just have a short slogan for you men that are married, lead or be led. And so, let's lead our families. All right. Now, we've caught ourselves up. Number five, how to stay spiritually immature.
How to stay spiritually immature? Again, we're using just Chapter 3, 1 through 4 as a launching pad for some of these ideas because I'm glad you're not immature, but I think we have room for growth. Number five, try to stay as close as you can to the world.
After all, you need to know them to evangelize them, don't you? Try to stay as close as you can to the world. It tends to be in premarital counseling, but other times, it manifests itself as well. How close can I get to sinning without actually sinning?
What can I do properly and with a good conscience and biblically, but still not fall into a sin? I've used this illustration many times. My father drove us up to the top of Pike's Peak. What's the highest mountain in America?
It's not Pike's Peak. It's what? Mount Rainier, maybe? Sounds good. And of course, my dad being the good father that he was, he drove all the way to the side and he was showing how he could get one centimeter between the radial tires and the cliff down the hill.
And he just said, look at how good I am. I can just stay so close to the edge. What did my father do? No, he tried to see how far away he could stay. And so, when you say to yourself, how close can I get to sin, it's showing your immaturity.
Listen to what Spurgeon says, for you Christians ought to watch against the beginning of worldly conformity. I do believe that the growth of worldliness is like strife, which is like the letting out of water.
Once you begin, there's no stopping. I sometimes get this question put to me concerning certain worldly things. May I do so and so? Wonder what Spurgeon would say. Here's what he said. I am very sorry when anyone ever asks me that question because it shows that there is something wrong or it would not be raised at all.
Do not love the world or the things of the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, that is pride and possessions is not from the Father, but is from the world.
Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility towards God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Number six, we'll get into some passages here very quickly.
This is just to kind of get us going. Number six, I know there are a few people here that always have to know the number that I have. Even though I'll never get to it, I have 15. It's never going to happen.
Email me. How to stay spiritually mature, number six. Forget that Jesus will literally return again. Forget the eminent return of Christ bodily, physically. Turn your Bibles to 1 John 3. I'm not going to stay here for very long, but I just want you to be reminded that as you look for the return of Christ, the Spirit of God uses that anxious longing to mature you, to purify you.
And you ought to be saying to yourself, Jesus is coming back soon. And then the bumper sticker says what? Look busy. Remember, have you seen that? That's a blasphemous bumper sticker. Jesus is coming back, look busy.
But it's no less blasphemous than God is my co-pilot. I mean, you know, I think we should do a radio show on bumper sticker theology. I think we already have done one on that. Be aware of bumper sticker theology.
Jesus is going to come back soon. And that idea, that hope, that truth has a cleansing, purifying effect on the heart. See what kind of love the Father has given to us, 1 John 3, 1. That we should be called the children of God, and so we are.
Can you imagine, just stop there for a second, that you've been called, if you're a Christian, you've been called a child of God. Used to be a child of Satan. Jesus said of the unbelievers, you have a father and his name is what?
Satan. And now you have God as a father. And you have neighborhood kids and you know, well, my dad does this and my dad does that, and I wish my dad was this or that. Used to have Satan as a father, now we have God as the father.
That kind of love. What kind of love is that? You'll like this quote by Jack Miller. Cheer up, you're a lot worse off than you think you are. I told you you'd like it. No, comma. But in Jesus, you're far more loved than you ever could have imagined.
I like that so much, I'll quote it in a sermon. Jack Miller, cheer up, you're a lot worse off than you think you are. But in Jesus, you're far more loved than you ever could have imagined. That's exactly what he's talking about here in verse 1.
Verse 2 says, beloved, we are God's children now and what we will be has not yet appeared, but we know that when he appears, we shall be like him because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself as he is pure.
That's why we look for the blessed hope. That's why 1 Peter 1 says, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Christ Jesus. Number 7, all leading up to one passage.
Number 7, believe that knowledge alone sanctifies. How to stay spiritually immature? Number 7, believe that knowledge alone sanctifies. True or false, a sheer lapse of time always guarantees maturity.
No, it doesn't. It doesn't. Now, people say, well, you know, I've got a lot of head knowledge, but I don't have much heart knowledge. I have a lot of knowledge that's up here, but it doesn't go down here until it comes out, and I wish it would go down here before it comes out here.
I mean, there's all these kind of, this talk. For the Jew, for the Greek, he would say, I have no idea what you're talking about, head knowledge and heart knowledge, because the heart for the Jew, the heart for the Greek was this mission control center.
It was all put together. There wasn't head knowledge and heart knowledge, and people say, I've heard it. Well, BBC's really good on head knowledge but not heart knowledge, and I just go, I have no idea what to do with that, but if that means I'm supposed to dumb things down to a smaller level, I don't get it.
If it means, you know, I wish you guys at BBC would live out what you know, I wish we did too, and we have a problem. Here's the problem. Truth has to be taught from the pulpit week in and week out at a high level.
So here's what happens. We learn Christian truth, and then the Spirit of God gives us opportunities to obey it. Then the next week, we learn Christian truth, then we have opportunities to obey it. Then we learn Christian truth, and then we obey it.
And this gap gets to be huge. What I know and what I do. You kind of feel the same way? I know so much, but if I could just do what I know, actually, that's a sign of maturity. That's a sign of maturity, where you say, the hypocrisy that lies in me, I don't like, and I know so much, I should be doing things commensurate with that, but that whole time, I'm reminded that I follow one, and I'm in one, who everything he learned, he did, and his name is Christ Jesus.
I have to teach you truth, but just because you have memorized the Bible, doesn't make you mature. Number eight, here's what I'm after today. This and some other things. How to stay spiritually immature.
Take your eyes off of Christ, his person, and his work, because after all, you're already a Christian. You only need Jesus for salvation, that's all. Let's turn our Bibles to Colossians chapter one. Colossians chapter one.
How do you grow as a Christian? Well, of course, Jesus saves, but how do you grow in Christ? Well, I think the answer is related to the person of Christ. Jesus isn't just for salvation, he's also for sanctification.
Sometimes you'll go to a church, and that church will teach an evangelism sermon, and they'll teach that evangelism sermon every single week. I'm glad for evangelistic sermons, but we need to have the goal of maturation of the Christians in the church, and how do we do that?
By preaching Christ Jesus. Take a look at Colossians chapter one, in this book that has all kinds of statements about the supremacy of Christ Jesus. See it tucked away at 128, towards the end there, that we may present every man mature in Christ.
Paul says, I've got a goal, and that is I don't want you to be a beginner your whole life. I don't want you to be a novice your whole life. I want you to be fully instructed, because I, as an apostle, want to present you like a Levitical priest would present the offering.
I'm going to be presenting you as an offering to God. This is my ministry. You are my ministry. What I like here is he says that we may present every man, or the ESV says everyone, all kinds of people, male, female, old, young, Jew, and Gentile, complete, full grown.
Paul says that's my ministry. I want you to grow up in Christ Jesus. Have you ever seen those carnival mirrors where the head is way too big for the body? Doesn't it look weird to you? You say, here's this body that's kind of a stick figure, and then the head is this big.
So here's Christ Jesus, and we're going to grow into the fullness of Christ. But how do we get there? Say, I want mature believers. How do we get there? Answer, look at the very beginning of the verse.
How do we accomplish the goal of seeing people spiritually mature? And Paul front loads the language, especially if you've got the ESV. What's he say in Colossians 128? There are seven promises that you should keep.
There are 12 steps that you should obey. There are 40 days that you should have purpose. If the goal is to get unbelievers to attend this church, then you water down things and turn up the music. You turn up the programs.
If the goal of the church is to have everybody have a nice, warm, fuzzy today, and really feel warmth of the Spirit of God, then you preach a certain way. If the goal is to get numbers, then you have, you know, recovery groups.
If the goal is to get people pleased, then I just tell you how wonderful you are and God's just so crazy about you. The goal of social time, then you have, I don't know, you have pastor dunk tanks out in front of the church to get people to come in.
But if the goal is maturity, wouldn't you like to be more mature? When that trial comes your way that you could analyze it properly, say the right things to others, when you have a friend lose a loved one and they call you on the phone and you just think, you know, the Lord has taught me and I'm mature enough that I could, I know what to tell them.
I know how to come alongside of them. If the goal is maturity, then who do we talk about? See the text? Isn't it fascinating? If I was writing, I'd say, we proclaim Him. Paul, Timothy, Epaphras, we proclaim Him.
We preach about Him. We declare Him. We herald Him. But what does the text say? I mean, it is so fascinating. Him we proclaim. The focus is on Christ. Him we proclaim, not just for salvation, but for maturity.
Griffith Thomas said, this then is the blessed and glorious theme of the Christian ministry. Christ, the divine person, the anointed Savior, the revealer of God, the atonement for sin, the guide of satisfaction and completion of life, the refuge of the past, the stay of the present, and the hope of the future.
I know I'm preaching to the congregation. I know I'm preaching to the choir. But if you come to this church, I'm going to talk about Jesus morning, noon, and night to you. And then next week, I'm going to say, you know what?
Let me tell you about who Jesus Christ is. And then the next week, you come on Sunday night, I wonder what I'll talk about tonight. I'm going to proclaim to you Jesus Christ because I want you to grow up into the fullness of Christ Jesus.
Oh, no, we already kind of got that down. I said the sinner's prayer. I accepted Jesus into my left ventricle. Everything's fine. We're good to go. I've got all that down. No, you don't have all that down, and God knows that.
And that's why he sent apostles and prophets and preachers and teachers to say, this is the one. Christianity is not, I've already done that. Now give me the five ways to make my budget work. No, here is the person that's to be proclaimed.
In Colossians alone, Paul calls Jesus the son of God, the redeemer, the image of God, the Lord of creation, the head of the church, the reconciler of the universe, supreme authority over all Christ has, the essence of the mystery of God, Jesus is.
He's the conqueror of evil enthroned on the right hand. And for Paul, here's what was going on. It wasn't like people were saying, Jesus is bad. They were saying, Jesus isn't enough. You need Jesus and psychology, Jesus and political activism, Jesus and the social gospel.
You need Jesus plus. And Paul is saying, forget all that. It's Jesus. You don't need human experience, charismatic experience. Jesus is enough. If you like homework, here's my homework for you. The first part of the homework is easy.
Buy the book by John Stott called The Cross of Christ. Second part of the homework is not as easy and that's reading it. If you're a baby in Christ, you won't like the book. That's my psychological way to get you to want to read it.
Okay, then I'm going to prove you wrong. I'm just kidding. And then after you read it, do what Barnes said. I entreat you to devote one solemn hour of thought to a crucified savior. Think of the cross, the nails, the open wounds, the anguish of his soul.
Think about how the son of God became a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief that you might live forever. Think as you lie down upon your bed to rest how your savior was lifted up from earth to die.
Think amid your plans and anticipations of future gaiety what the redemption of your soul has cost and how the dying savior would wish you to act. And then the knife comes from Barnes. Jesus' wounds plead that you will live for better things.
Number nine, how to stay spiritually mature, number nine. Say, well, today really is an exposition. It's kind of a topical message. Yes, in fact, that's true. I preach one topical sermon a year, repent, and then move on.
So I'm using my spiritual capital now to do that. Number nine, major on subjective experiences. Focus on the mystical. The churches in America are wrecked from the inside out because of mysticism. Organizations that used to call themselves Christians being run now by mystical experiences grieve me.
Let me quote a theologian to you and let him offend. And I'll put balm on maybe later. The reliance on special signs from God is the mark of an immature person. The reliance on special signs from God is the mark of an immature person.
Someone who cannot simply believe the truth is presented but must have a special miraculous sign as the symbol of authority from God. I don't really know who to marry. Do I marry Jim or do I marry Sam?
And, oh, wow, I just drove by Sam Avenue. It's a sign from God. People do that. They so want God to put His stamp of approval on their decision. They so want God to give them more revelation because they don't think what He's given is adequate, sufficient, that they have to say things like, that's an open door from God.
God's telling me to do it. God just whispered something to me in a still, small voice, so now it's true. Do you know, I really am feeling led. It's my spirit agrees with your spirit, and I think that's the right thing to do, and the Spirit of God is talking to me.
I can feel it. Now, if you do that, you can still mature. None of us have our theology all perfectly down. But if you do that, I know something about you, is that you're spiritually immature. And I want to teach you what God's Word really says.
So you don't have to fall prey to, you know, I have a real peace about it. I felt a real peace about it. Well, try to sit in on an elders meeting regarding church discipline and see if there are peaceful, easy feelings going around the room there.
Try to go out to evangelism on Saturday with the other people down at Worcester Common, and if you say, I've got a real peaceful feeling about this, therefore it's right. I think you're going to be going, I hope nobody comes up and punches me.
I'm scared. I don't have a peace about it. If I operate on, I've got a peace about it, I would never preach. While you guys are all singing about the glories of Christ, I'm trying my best to sing about Christ, but I'm saying to myself, I have to go talk to these people, preach to them about Christ Jesus, and it better be biblical, it better be generous, it better be kind, and it better be authoritative.
And I stand there and I go, what? Today I was saying exactly what Spurgeon taught his students to say. When you walk up to the pulpit, just keep saying underneath your breath, I believe in the Holy Ghost.
I believe in the Holy Ghost. I believe in the Holy Ghost. I'm telling you right now, I do not have a peace about preaching to you right now. But what does that have to do with anything? Because you know when I'll have a peace about it?
When I go home this afternoon, have lunch, take a nap, and I'll say, duty discharged, I had a real peace about that. Tonight we're going to look at the book of Jonah. Jonah had a real peaceful, easy feeling at the bottom of the whale, and he was in the exact opposite direction he was going.
You say, I have a peace about it, but I can't use that as my authority. Well, God seems to be leading me. Well, you better check that there's something more important than subjective experience. Let's go to 2 Peter chapter 1.
BBC folks know the passage, but I want to remind you anyway, because you might listen to this again, or the internet, etc. Let's talk about what is the most important, what is the only guide for the Christian.
Of course you can ask for wisdom from other people. You should. Of course you could ask for wisdom from God. You ought to. But we need to be saturated with the Word of God, and then make decisions in light of that trusting the Father, and His good providence, not trusting that God just said something to me.
And you say, well, you know, God does talk to me. Well, God just told me in a still, small voice that He doesn't talk to you. So now where are we? Well I guess we both now have to appeal to the Word, and so here's my appeal.
Don't live your life based on your own intuition, your own thoughts, your own feelings, and your own experiences for this main reason. You're fallen. And therefore your own thoughts, emotions, will, feelings are also what?
Fallen, and you can't trust yourself. There are two religions in this world. Jesus did all the work, done, done, done. We have to do things to please God. Do, do, do, do. Only two religions, Christianity and everything else.
There are also only two religions when it comes to guiding the Christian, guiding the person. The religion that says there's an outside external authority called the Word of God, objective, fixed, the Word of God.
And there's everything else that says, I feel, I emote, I am, you know what this is? This side? It's Quakerism. It's the inner light. Now, it's much easier if you say, well, God is leading me, because then you think, God just told me to do that, and hey, if God says it, I feel more bold.
Hey, God says, go do that. Okay, he said it. Let's get back to the Word, because I think you're going to trust him more when you just see how he works. Now, 2 Peter 1, verse 16. I'm going to try to show you from these verses that if you need guidance, Edwards would say, why do you stop looking at the North Star and you go to a jack-o'-lantern?
Why do you abandon the North Star of the Word of God and go to a carved-out pumpkin with a candle in it, your own mystical inner experience? God never will talk to you outside the Word of God. The question is, why would he?
Let's find out. This is just the best. I'm so glad we have everything we need. I'm so glad as a pastor I have everything I need in this toolkit of the Word. Otherwise, what would I do? For we, Peter said in 2 Peter 1, verse 16, did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
What's he talking about there? Transfiguration, right? Not just eyewitnesses, but earwitnesses for when he received honor and glory from the Father. If I could have only been there. Can you imagine that moment when Jesus is receiving honor and glory from the Father?
And a voice, here's the earwitness, was born to him by the majestic glory. What a name for God. This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased. Peter was there. We ourselves heard this very voice born from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain.
Peter says, I saw Jesus. I saw the inner essence of Jesus come flying out through his skin, as it were. It's like he just, in my mind, I think he didn't have to peel his skin away, but it was like through every pore you start seeing the glory of God come out.
And Peter saw, James saw, John saw, and then not only saw, but they what? Heard. This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. He did hear from God. This is not, well, you know, I'm driving in my car and God just spoke to me.
Yes, it's okay to date that person. Yes, it's okay to do this. It's okay to move. It's okay to take this job. This is something a little bit different, I think you would agree. And then verse 19. What's more sure than God the Father really speaking?
What's more sure than the Son getting transfigured? And we have something more sure. More sure than eyewitness stuff, more sure than earwitness stuff, more sure than an experience. I had an experience.
Well, there's something more validating than experience. The prophetic word. We have something more sure. What? The Bible, the word of God preached through prophets, then apostles. And if that's the case, look what he goes on to say.
To which you do well to pay attention to the burning in your bosom. Which you do well to live your life like an immature person looking for an open door or a closed door. You do well to only operate on your feelings.
He didn't say that at all. It wouldn't make sense. Which you do well to pay attention to the word, the prophetic word, as to a lamp shining in a dark place. How long until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your heart.
Here's how I want you to operate. Scripture, experience. Never scripture, experience. Never scripture, experience. One man said, do not take control. Do not resist. Do not analyze, just surrender to his love.
You can analyze the experience later, just let it happen. I have no idea what that man just said. Scripture is not a source, it's the source. B .B. Warfield said, the real question in a word is not a new question, but the perennial old question.
Whether the basis of our doctrine is to be what the Bible teaches or what men teach. Warfield said, revealed religion comes to man from without. It is imposed upon him from a source superior to his own spirit.
The unrevealed religions, on the other hand, flow from no higher source than the human spirit itself. Number 10. Number 10, put anything in your mouth that calls itself Christian. Put anything in your mouth that calls itself Christian in spite of what your leaders say.
Now, as kids get older, you know, one of my favorite moments when my four kids were growing and maturing is when I couldn't set them on the bed anymore and just have them stay stable. You know, when they're really little, you just lay them on the middle of the bed.
They can't roll over. They can't do anything. You can go take a walk around the block and you come back and that kid is just still there. And all of a sudden, then you come back one time and you think, the kid's kind of rolled over.
The kid kind of inched over. Some kind of inchworm on my bed and you go, I can't leave my kid on the bed anymore. And they start inching over and then they start crawling, you know, they've got that army kind of crawl that they do, at least my kids did.
And God just told me your kids did that too, but you just don't want to admit it. And then when they're crawling around on the ground, then it is a battle zone and anything that's on the ground is fair game.
Oh, look at that needle. For somebody in my family growing up back in Nebraska, it was dog food. And this particular person would, it wasn't me, praise the Lord, would pick up a piece of dog food and we would say, what is coming out of your mouth?
And it was kind of this Purina dog chow goo coming out of the mouth. Kids crawl over there, oh, there's a marble, oh, there's a marble. And all these different things people just put in their mouth, pencils, some crumbs that fall from the table, they just over there and the infants put things in their mouth.
And then the parents say, that's a no-no, you know, you can't put that razor in the mouth, you know. Oh, no, no, it's not good for you. It's not because we're mean, we're not going to let you have any fun, you're an ebondroth and you're a duty man.
No, it's just not good for you to do. But if you're a Christian and you say, am I mature or immature? One way you'll show your maturity is if you're warned by people that you trust and people that you serve with, the elder of the church, and they say, listen, for your own good.
It's not that we're always saying everybody else is wrong and we're the only ones that have the truth. There goes another baby putting whatever they want in their mouth. It's not that we say no to everybody because we're trying to build ourselves up.
But the Bible says we have to teach sound doctrine, we have to refute those who contradict. The Bible names names. If there's a name that's affecting you and you're putting it in your mouth and we don't want you to put it in your mouth, you ought to say, the elders care for me, the elders love me, they want what's best for me.
And so if the elders say, congregation, would you please stop putting Joyce Meyer in your mouth? You, if you're immature, should say, I can't believe it, I like that kind of preaching, they've done good for me, who does he think he is, saying more things, condemning discernment ministry.
We like to tell you that you should read Christian things, not heretical things. Say, well, you know, I know people get things and, you know, I just like Rick Warren and it just goes in my mouth, it feels good.
Robert Shuler, it just tastes good. Some of the people that put some literature in our door and say there's no trinity, they have some excellent things. People over in Lancaster, they come over and they say, you know, here, here's some good health benefits for you if you'll just be a vegetarian.
And, you know, I'm tired of the church leadership always trying to be for what they're against. Now, they're known for what they're against, never, they're not known for what they're for. When people say that, if you're a new Christian, I get it.
But if you're wanting to be a maturing Christian, you would never say that because it's my responsibility, yes, my job, you should fire me if I don't warn you, if I don't contend for the faith, if I don't say, Hymenaeus and Alexander, these guys have done a lot of harm to these people, watch out.
And, by the way, false teachers on the TV are just kind of like, you know, multiplying, it'll be the next guy and the next guy and the next guy. They're kind, they look good, I mean, who comes out and says I've got horns on and everybody that wants to go to hell, you follow me with Metallica in the background or something.
Why have I talked about music so much today? I have no idea. It sounds right, it feels right. And we're just saying if the leaders think that it's important enough to say, you know, just stop reading the shack because it blasphemes God, it has a horrible view of God and a horrible view of man and what you read will affect you.
So read this other good book instead and if you say how could they, I know the shack, I love the shack, my old pastor says the shack is good, then I'm just trying to tell you, you need to grow up, you need to discern, you need to examine everything carefully, you need to say to yourself, you know what, why would I do that by the way?
We would get more people in this church if I would just be quiet about it because we probably have visitors a day and they're like, who is this guy, you know, he's nicer on the radio than he is in person, he always says he's nicer in person but it's not true.
Who is this guy? I don't do it to win applause, I don't do it to get more people, I do it because God has given me His Word and His Word says teach the good stuff, warn against the other stuff. And why would I have to say, well, everybody stop buying Aryan books, there's a big conspiracy around Aryan books now, everybody quit reading them.
You would go Aryan, Shmerian, you had no idea. So I talk about the things that are common, I talk about things that are on TV and you look at that and you say, I can't believe that she just denied substitution and atonement and she believes that you had to be born again in hell, Jesus had to be born again in hell to get to heaven, what is going on here?
And then people say, well, you know, yeah, but I get some good out of it. I'm just telling you, you're picking it up, putting it in your mouth and the elders say, it's not good for you, here's something else.
If the only thing we ever did was saying bad, bad, bad, bad, I could get your point. But we want to try to teach you the good stuff too, that's why there's a bookstore there, that's why there's a bookstore upstairs, that's why there's a library upstairs, that's why you'll never hear me, there's only one teacher in the world and everybody else is a blasphemer, that's why we want to teach you about R .C. Sproul and James Montgomery Boyce and Sinclair Ferguson, S. Lewis Johnson, there's a whole plethora, a myriad of persons, people who've stood up and said, let me teach you the good stuff and let me warn you, stop putting things in your mouth.
Now, turn with me to Ephesians 4, that was all kind of the...before I even get to the passage, but it is very, very critical, if you'd like to grow, that you watch what you put in your mouth, that's all.
I would love it if I didn't have to say things, but I'm not going to let the spirit of the age or some immature people muzzle my responsibility before the Lord. And if you look at Ephesians 4, reading from the ESV, look at verse 14, chapters 1, 2 and 3, who we are in Christ and then out of that, because of that, we act a certain way and he's talking about unity, sounds just almost like 1 Corinthians there for a while, verses 9 to 13.
And then there's a reason, so that we may no longer be what? Children. What happens to children? Who are children? What are they characterized by? I'll tell you what they're characterized by, instability and gullibility.
They're instable and they're gullible. And look at the language, isn't this interesting? Tossed to and fro by the waves, agitated, you go do some laundry this afternoon, if you're a Sabbatarian, don't do laundry until tomorrow, but the next time you do laundry, look in there and what's that inside thing for the washer of your clothes?
What's it called? Agitator. Good. Immature Christians, we're not talking about little children, although it's true for them, but we're talking about immature Christians. They just get agitated all the time by the latest thing that's coming down the pike in their faith and using Acts 27, driven about in the Adriatic Sea.
It's kind of an onomatopoetic word, too. It sounds like what it is, Clunaridzomai. I can almost say it, Clunaridzomai, just shaking around, Clunaridzomai, I didn't get it exactly pronounced right then, grow up.
Like the surf of the sea, James 1, driven and tossed, kids are fickle. Look what else it says about the spiritually immature, carried about by every wind of doctrine. They're not just unstable and vacillating, but here they just, they follow the crowd.
They're literally swung around. Have you ever taken a top and just spun the top so hard that it kind of comes upright and it just spins and you see the pattern there? That's the Greek word, like a spinning top, it's like a little tornado.
And they're manipulated, you see the text? Carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. How do I know I'm growing? I don't get caught up in the busy, spinning, vacillating, unstable world that I used to because I used to turn on the Christian radio and go, everybody's good.
I used to turn on Christian TV and go, Benny Hinn's good, by sleight of hand, deceit. That word, by the way, strangely enough, is where we get the word dice playing. Sleight of hand, trickery, loaded dice.
These people, they know how to teach. They know how to get money from people. You can get money two ways from people. Here's the biggest way, appeal to their greed. That's why there's a lottery line at Cumberland Farms every time you go there.
Got to get $8 cigarettes and $50 worth of scratchers. They play to the greed of the person. And that's why false teachers on Trinity Broadcasting Network appeal to your spiritual greed because if you send them money, you'll get something.
Paul says, don't fall for these kind of wily coyote things. They're crafty. They're unscrupulous. They stop at nothing. They will manipulate you. And if you have a five-year-old kid and send them to New York City to close the business deal, they're not going to make it.
They're going to get taken. It's going to be highway robbery. So we would never do that. We would have that person to learn and grow under his father, under the boss. And then when he's old enough to go make the decision, he can and he's not going to be tricked by schemes, by literally methods.
And if there's a sucker born every minute, tonic salesmen selling things, we, the pastors, don't want you, the flock, to be taken. Just going to give you these and I won't talk much about them. Number 11, I'm just going to give them to you all.
If you have problems with it, you can see the pastoral staff when I'm gone this week. Number 11, compare your pastors to Christian celebrities. As a matter of fact, just do a TV church and get the best preaching money can buy.
Why listen to Abendroth, Tilak, Cooley, and Jeffries when you can get MacArthur, John Piper, and whoever else you like? Number 12, give yourself to selfish hedonism and entertainment all the time. Don't serve, in other words.
Josh Harris said, and I think it's right, you want to know what takes more courage and what will make you grow faster than anything else? Join a local church and lay down your selfish desires by considering others more important than yourself.
Stop complaining about what's wrong with the church and become part of the solution. Good advice. Is that 12? Number 13, don't delight yourself in the study of God's Word. Think that Bible study is always boring, always drudgery.
I was going to preach through Psalm 1 there. Number 14, never be discipled. Never be discipled. Discipleship is simple. Find someone that knows more about the Lord and His Word and the walk of Christ than you do, learn.
Find somebody that knows less than you do, teach them. You should have somebody over you discipling you and under you that you're discipling them. And here's the great news about discipleship, you can fail.
We have 14 new men who are going to join the discipleship class that I have here this September. Pray for them. I literally mean that because they could fail. Bible study is we just came to church. I told them that they need to read A Shame to the Gospel, my MacArthur 3rd edition, and they aren't allowed in my class unless they walk through the door saying, I have read that book.
And people who think that I'm joking, if you think you're one of those guys and you kind of go, well, I didn't really get a chance to read it and I was busy and was doing other stuff, I'm going to say there's another Sunday school class over there.
You know what that does to a group of guys? I bet you we'll have, you can't bet, but I think we'll have 14 people who will be there because in discipleship you can fail. And you know what you can also do in discipleship?
By the grace of God, succeed. I didn't want to go to that hospital call. I didn't want to go there with you. I didn't want to try that. And now I can do it. I could actually do it. I did it. You helped me.
I can go serve. Lastly, number 15, there's much to be said, but I'll just say it succinctly. If you'd like to stay spiritually immature, then don't give of your time and money sacrificially. Somebody else will give.
Somebody else will do it sacrificially. This is a maturing church. I think I'm a maturing pastor. I have a long way to go. You have a long way to go. But we have the word of God and we have Christ Jesus at the helm.
Well, maybe you could come up with your own list, but those are the 15 that I thought about. Next time, I will add number 16, have the right view of leadership, but that's found in 1 Corinthians 3, 5 and following.
Let's pray. Our Father, we are so thankful today that you care for us and that you have loved us. How could we ever wonder in a trial, do you love me, Father? When you've given us your Son and loved us to the uttermost.
I thank you, Father, for the dear people here at Bethlehem Bible Church. For those that need encouragement today, I pray that you'd spur them on and give them encouragement and let them see how far they've come by the Spirit's power, where they were, where they are, so they'll have hope for the future.
Father, for those that are immature here, I pray you just use this word to break up follow ground and that they might have a real desire, it's never too late to do the right thing, that your Spirit would help them repent and want to grow up.
And Father, for those who are not Christians, who today if they die and will stand before you, excuseless, I pray that you would grant them repentance leading to eternal life, that they would take your word for what your Son did on behalf of sinners and how he was raised from the dead and they would repent and believe in you.
We ask these things in Christ's name, Amen.