Christian Growth & Victory Part 1

 MEMORY VERSES: 2 Peter 1:5-9

 Few issues in the Christian life are more important than this. Practically every new believer is puzzled about why he still has a problem with indwelling sin and how can it be handled. That is the question that we will answer in these lessons.

 Introduction

 1.  When the believer comes to Christ, God regenerates him and gives him a holy nature, but the old sin nature is still present. It is called the “old man.” This is why the New Testament everywhere instructs believers to put away sin (e.g., 1 Peter 2:1). The ongoing presence of sin in the Christian life is everywhere taken for granted in the New Testament Epistles. If sin were somehow eradicated, the Epistles would not everywhere address the need to deal with it. If sin could somehow be eradicated, the New Testament would explain how this could be accomplished, and this experience would everywhere be offered as the solution to the sin problem. But this is not what we find. There is a spiritual war that goes on in the believer’s life. The flesh wars against the Spirit; the old man wars against the new man.

 

2.   There is no one secret or key to spiritual victory in the Christian life. Many “keys” have been proposed, such as the baptism of the Holy Spirit, a second blessing, the crucified life, and John Piper’s joy in God path. If there were one such thing that would give the believer victory, every New Testament epistle would say so. For example, when Paul wrote to Corinth to correct their sins, he would have spent the entire epistle explaining the “key.” Instead, Paul dealt with many different things. The same is true in the epistle of Ephesians. Chapter 4-6 is a treatise on the Christian life, and instead of one “secret” Paul dealt with all sorts of things, such as putting off the old man and putting on the new (4:22-24), not grieving the Holy Spirit (4:30), having no fellowship with evil (5:11),

walking circumspectly (5:15), redeeming the time (5:16), being filled with the Spirit (5:18), giving thanks always to the Lord (5:20), wives submitting to their husbands and husbands loving their wives (5:22-33), and putting on the whole armor of God (6:10-18).

 

3.     Some of the things that we would ordinarily include in this section on Christian growth and spiritual victory, such as prayer and the church, are dealt with in their own separate sections.

 

4.  In 2 Peter 1:3-11 we see several important truths about Christian growth:

 

a.    Christian growth flows from God’s abundant salvation (2 Pet. 1:3). At salvation the believer has everything he needs to grow and be fruitful. All he has to do is use it.

 

b.   Christian growth is a process of adding to one’s faith (2 Pet. 1:5-7). When we are saved, we only have one thing, and that is faith. The Christian life is adding every good thing to faith.

 

c.     Christian growth is not instantaneous; it doesn’t come overnight. The believer doesn’t suddenly have perfect virtue, perfect patience, perfect charity. Growth is a gradual thing. You can’t see a baby grow on a daily basis. We must therefore have faith and patience. We must keep on keeping on. This is one of the most important traits in the Christian life. It is described as walking with Christ (Galatians 5:16; Ephesians 5:8; 1 John 1:7). This is a step by step, day by day thing; the Christian life is not a leap or a flight, but a walk.

 

d.     Christian growth requires “all diligence” (2 Pet. 1:5). The half-hearted Christian will not grow. He will remain a babe and will continue to cause trouble in the church and do more to hinder God’s work than to help it. Jesus said that He hates lukewarmness (Rev. 3:15-16).

e.   Christian growth is an individual path and process (2 Pet. 1:5-7). We cannot measure ourselves by one another; we have different handicaps, different spiritual and moral baggage that we brought into the Christian life.

 

f.    Christian growth is to live by the new law, which is Christ (2 Pet. 1:5-7). Verses 5-7 describe Christ. He is all of these things incarnate: virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity. The goal of the Christian life is to reach the “measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13).

 

g.     Christian growth requires patience (2 Pet. 1:6). This is one of the most important things in the Christian life. Patience is essential for growth because it is a process, and there are many trials and obstacles and enemies. You just have to keep on keeping on, keep on walking with the Lord and trusting Him and praying and reading your Bible and going to church and obeying Him.

 

h.    Christian growth guarantees fruitfulness (2 Pet. 1:8). Every believer can have good fruit and blessing in this present life if he is willing to be diligent in seeking to grow in Christ.

 

i.   If the believer is not growing, he is going backwards (2 Pet. 1:9). It is like traveling up a river against the flow of the current. As long as I keep paddling I can make progress, but as soon as I stop paddling I start being carried back down the river. Likewise, the believer cannot stand still spiritually. He cannot say, “I am satisfied with where I am, so I will just stay at this place in my Christian life.” We must keep pressing on to higher ground, or we will backslide.

 

j.    Backsliding makes the believer nearsighted and forgetful (2 Pet. 1:9). He becomes filled with the cares and lusts of this world so that he does not think about eternity. His eyes are on man rather than on Christ. He forgets the important things and focuses on the unimportant things. Backsliding is a sad and unfruitful condition.

k.    Christian growth does not save, but it does prove one’s salvation (2 Pet. 1:10). Peter’s challenge in 2 Peter 1:10 is the same as Paul’s challenge in 2 Timothy 2:19 and James’ in James 2:17-18. Those who profess Christ but do not live for Him have no biblical basis to say that they are saved.

 

l.    Christian growth does not produce salvation; it produces rewards (2 Pet. 1:11). Peter is not saying that by growing we will make it into heaven; he is saying that by growing and serving Christ we will lay up treasures in heaven. Compare 1 Timothy 6:12.

 

 

REVIEW QUESTIONS ON CHRISTIAN GROWTH PART 1

 

1.  What is another name for the old sinful nature?

 

2.  If sin could somehow be eradicated, the New Testament would explain how this could be                                          , and this                            would everywhere be offered as the                                             to the sin problem.

 

3.  In what book and chapter is the believer taught how to add to his faith?

 

4.  What is one of the most important traits in the Christian life?

 

5.  The Christian life is not a           or a                    , but a                  .

 

6.  What will happen if the Christian is not diligent in seeking to grow?

 

7.  What is the believer's new law?

 

8.  If the believer is not growing, he is                                           .

 

9.  How is the Christian life like paddling up a river?

10.  What does backsliding produce in the Christian's life?

 

11.  Christian growth does not save, but it does                     one's salvation.

 

12.  Christian growth does not produce                       ; it produces

                             .

The Law and the New Testament Christian

MEMORY VERSES: Romans 3:19-24; 7:4; Galatians 3:10, 13, 24-26

There is a lot of confusion about the Law of Moses and what place it has in the Christian life, and it is essential for every believer to settle this issue on a solid Scriptural footing.

The following major New Testament passages clarify the matter: Romans 3:19-24

1.   The Law of Moses or the Old Covenant was given to show men that God is holy and that they are sinners (Romans 3:19). Men naturally think that they are righteous. They compare themselves to human standards of righteousness and one with another rather than with God’s perfect law. Men need to see that by God’s standards we are all sinners because we have broken His laws.

 

Take the Ten Commandments, for example (Exodus 20:1-17). Men have broken all of these. We have put other gods before the one true God (Ex. 20:3). We have made idols and worshipped them (Ex. 20:4-5). We worship and serve ourselves more than God, thus making our own selves into idols. We have taken the name of the Lord in vain (Ex. 20:7). We have broken the Sabbath and treated all days the same, neglecting to set apart even one day for the worship of God (Ex. 20:8). We have dishonored and disobeyed our parents (Ex. 20:12). We have killed (Ex. 20:13). We have committed adultery (Ex. 20:14). We have stolen (Ex. 20:15). We have lied (Ex. 20:16). We have coveted (Ex. 20:17).

 

The law of Moses requires perfect obedience (Deuteronomy 27:26). To break one law is to break all (James 2:10).

Jesus taught that God not only requires perfect external obedience to the Law, but internal obedience as well. To hate my brother is the same, in God’s eyes, as murder (Matthew 5:21-22). To lust after a woman is the same, in God’s eyes, as adultery (Matthew 5:27-28).

 

Thus it is obvious that we are all guilty of breaking the law and are sinners in God’s sight.

 

2.  The Law of Moses cannot bring salvation (Romans 3:20).

 

The Old Testament cannot bring salvation because it requires perfect holiness, whereas man is a fallen sinner and cannot live up to its requirements. Thus, the Law of God can only curse us. The word “justified” means declared righteous by God. God cannot declare a sinner righteous on the basis of the Law of Moses, because it requires perfect obedience.

 

3.  Salvation is through faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 3:21-24).

 

The way of salvation is not through the Law of Moses, but through Jesus. The Law demanded that the sinner die, and Jesus died in our place (Romans 6:23). The Law demanded that blood be shed, and Jesus shed His righteous blood in payment for our sins (Hebrews 9:22). Because of what Jesus did on the cross, the believing sinner can receive the very righteousness of God through faith (Rom. 3:21-22). The believer is justified freely. This means that salvation is a gift of God that was purchased by Christ. We are redeemed by His blood. The word “propitiation” means satisfaction of a debt, and that is what Jesus did for us. He paid a price He did not owe to satisfy a debt we could not pay.

 

Romans 7:1-4

 

1.   The Law is not the Christian’s rule in life (Romans 7:1-2). Christ is our new husband and Lord, and He rules our lives through the New Covenant. Our rule in

life is not the Law of Moses but Christ as revealed in the New Testament Scriptures. Trying to serve God under the old Law is like a woman who serves a husband only out of fear. She cooks and cleans house because she is afraid not to. Serving God under the new Law is like a woman who serves a husband out of love. She cooks and cleans house for her master, but not because she is afraid of what he will do to her, but simply because he loves her and treats her so well and she, in turn, loves him.

 

2.  The Law of Moses cannot condemn the believer (Romans 7:3). The believer is as dead to the Law as a wife is to a deceased husband. The Lord Jesus Christ took our condemnation upon Himself on the cross, and we are safe in Him from all fear of eternal judgment.

 

3.   The Christian has a new power, which is the indwelling Holy Spirit (Romans 7:6; 8:1). The believer serves Christ through the Spirit, not through his own strength. Compare Galatians 2:20.

 

1  Corinthians 3:5-18

 

This passage compares the Old Covenant with the New.

 

1.    The Old Covenant was the Law of Moses (2 Corinthians 3:7, 13). It was “written and engraven in stones.” That specifically refers to the Ten Commandments (Deut. 4:13; 5:6-22).

 

2.    The Old Covenant was a ministration of death (2 Corinthians 3:7) and a ministration of condemnation (2 Cor. 3:9). This is because it required perfect obedience from the heart, and we being sinners are incapable of providing this level of obedience.

 

3.   The Old Covenant has been done away in Christ (2 Cor. 3:11). It is not the believer’s rule of life.

4.  The believer has a new law (2 Corinthians 3:17-18). The fact that the believer is not under the Law of Moses does not mean that we don’t have a law. In fact, we have a higher law. It is the law of Christ. We are conformed to His image (Romans 8:29). As we see Him in the Scriptures, we are changed to His image.

 

Galatians 3:10-14, 24-26

 

1.    The Law of Moses, or the Old Covenant, required perfect obedience in all things; men, therefore, cannot be saved by it (Galatians 3:10-12). Because it requires perfect holiness, it can only bring a curse upon a fallen sinner. We cannot live up to its holy requirements.

 

2.  Christ took the punishment demanded by the Law (Galatians 3:13). He died in the sinner’s place in order to provide us with eternal salvation.

 

3.   The Law of Moses is our schoolmaster to lead us to Christ (Galatians 3:24). This is the major purpose of the Law. It is designed by God to show the sinner his fallen and lost condition and to lead him to put his faith in Christ.

 

4.   The believer is not under the Law of Moses (Galatians 3:25). The believer’s law is not the Law of Moses. The believer has a new law, which is the law of Christ. This means to be conformed to His image. The believer’s new law is also called the law of the Spirit (Galatians 5:16-18). By walking in the Spirit, which means obeying the Spirit and yielding to Him day by day, the believer does not fulfill the law of the flesh.

 

Colossians 2:13-17

 

1.   Christ took away the Old Covenant, or the Law of Moses (Colossians 2:14). He did this by fulfilling its demands and paying the price that we owe for

breaking it.

 

2.  The believer does not follow the Old Covenant (Colossians 2:16-17). The Law contains types and shadows that point to Christ, but the believer has Christ Himself.

 

REVIEW QUESTIONS ON THE LAW OF MOSES

 

1. What are the five major New Testament passages that we examine in this lesson? (book and chapter only) 2. What is the purpose of the Law of Moses?

 

3.  What verse says that to break one of God's laws is to break all of them?

 

4.  In what book and chapter does Jesus say that to hate is the same as murder and to lust is the same as adultery?

 

5.  Why can't men achieve salvation through the Law of Moses?

 

6.  What verse says that without shedding of blood is no remission of sin?

 

7.  When the Bible says the believer is justified "freely," what does this mean?

 

8.  What is the believer's rule in life?

 

9.  Why can't the old Law condemn the believer?

 

10.  What is the power by which the believer serves God?

 

11.  What was the Old Covenant?

 

12.  What does Paul refer to when he writes of that which "was written and engraven in stones"?

13.  Why is the Law of Moses a ministration of condemnation and death?

 

14.  What is the believer's law?

 

15.  What type of obedience does the old Law require?

 

16.  The Law of Moses is our                             to lead us to Christ.

 

17.  What is the major purpose of the Law of Moses?

 

18.  What is the law of the Spirit?

 

19.  How did Christ take away the Law of Moses?

 

20.  The Law of Moses contains              and                       that point to Christ.

Position and Practice

 MEMORY VERSES: Ephesians 1:3; 5:8; Hebrews 12:6-8

Another essential thing in the Christian life is to understand the difference between position and practice or relationship and fellowship. What we mean by this is that the believer has a new position and relationship before God that is eternal and perfect and unchanging and that depends entirely upon Christ, but the believer also has a practice in this present world that is less than perfect and that depends on his obedience.

 

Multitudes of professing Christians have become discouraged or even shipwrecked from failure to understand this truth. This almost happened to Harry Ironside, the famous Bible commentator. He began his Christian life as a zealous member of the Salvation Army. Believing their doctrine of a second blessing of sinless perfection, Harry set out to obtain this experience. He fasted and prayed and sought God as earnestly as he knew how. Finally he went out into the woods, determining to stay as long as necessary, and he experienced what he thought was the second blessing. He returned to a Salvation Army meeting and stood up to testify that he “had found it.” Soon, though, he realized that the “old man” was still present in his life, and he became so discouraged that he had a breakdown and ended up in a hospital. He determined to forget about the Christian life, since it “didn’t work,” but God sent two believers to instruct him properly in biblical sanctification. He was then able to establish his Christian life on a proper foundation and go on to be a very fruitful servant of Christ.

 

Relationship and Fellowship

 

The believer has been adopted into God’s family as a son because of Christ’s blood (Galatians 3:26), and this new relationship will never change. It is a gift that was purchased at great price. God will never “kick” the believer out of His family. At the same time, in this present world fellowship with God depends on

whether or not I walk in the light. Walking in fellowship with God is the subject of 1 John (1 John 1:5-7). If I walk in darkness I am out of fellowship, but this does not change my relationship. God does not throw away His children; He spanks them to bring them back into fellowship (Hebrews 12:6-10).

 

Relationship and fellowship can be illustrated by human relationships. I was born into my father’s family and I am his son. Nothing has ever changed that. There were times when I was disobedient and foolish and I displeased my father, and we did not have good fellowship together during those times. My father still loved me and yearned for my fellowship, but I had to repent and honor him before that could happen. The same is true in God’s family.

 

Position and Practice, Standing and Walk Another way to describe this is position and practice or standing and walk. Consider the book of Ephesians.

 

The first three chapters describe the believer’s new position or standing in Christ, whereas the last three chapters describe his practice or walk in this world.

 

The key phrase in chapters 1-3 is “in Christ” (Ephesians 1:1, 3, 10, 12, 20; 2:6, 10, 13; 3:6, 11). In God’s eyes, the believer is in Christ. He is forgiven, justified (declared righteous), redeemed, adopted, and given eternal life. The believer is “blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3). This new position is not based on the believer’s works. It is God’s free gift in Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9). The price was Christ’s own blood (Eph. 1:7). Therefore, the new position is sure and unchanging.

 

In chapters 4-6 the subject changes to the believer’s practice in this present world. The key word here is “walk” (Ephesians 4:1, 17; 5:2, 8, 15). This word describes Christian living. If the believer doesn’t “walk” in obedience, he does not have right fellowship with the Lord. If he walks in sin, he displeases the Lord and grieves the indwelling Spirit (Ephesians 4:30). But he does not lose his position in Christ. That is settled and sure and eternal.

The two aspects of the Christian life are seen together in Ephesians 5:8. The believer is a child of light “now.” It is a present possession and position that was purchased by Christ and received as a free gift through faith. Since we are children of light, we should walk as children of light. In other words, since we are saved and have eternal life and are children of God, we should live like it.

 

Conclusion

 

1.      If the believer does not understand these things, he can become very discouraged and confused when he sins. Those who believe that a born again child of God can lose his salvation do not understand this clear teaching of Scripture.

 

2.    The fact that the believer’s position is not affected by his daily walk is no excuse to sin. We have already seen in these studies the terrible price that believer must pay if he does not walk in fellowship with his Lord. We have also seen that it is possible to be a professor of salvation without being a possessor.

 

 

REVIEW QUESTIONS ON POSITION AND PRACTICE

 

1.  What did Harry Ironside try to experience?

 

2.  How did God help him to become grounded in the truth?

 

3.  What verse says the believer becomes a child of God by faith in Jesus Christ?

 

4.  What is the subject of 1 John?

 

5.  What does God do His children when they sin?

 

6.  How is relationship and fellowship illustrated by human families?

7.  What is the theme of Ephesians 1-3?

 

8.  What is the key phrase in those chapters?

 

9.  What was the price that was paid to place the believer "in Christ"?

 

10.  What is the theme of Ephesians 4-6?

 

11.  What does the Christian's "walk" refer to?

 

12.  Since we          children of light, we should            as children of light.

 

13.  True or false: Since the believer cannot lose his salvation, it does not matter how he lives.

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