Christian Growth & Victory Part 3

 MEMORY VERSES: Matthew 13:22; 1 Corinthians 15:33; Ephesians 5:11; 1

Peter 2:1-2; 1 John 2:15-17

 

In the last lesson we looked at four important ways to grow spiritually and to have victory in Christ: abiding in Christ, putting off the old man and putting on the new, confessing sin, and pressing toward the mark.

 

In this lesson we will look at four more things: devouring the Word, protecting the Word, separation from the world, and separation from false teachers.

 

DEVOURING THE WORD (1 Peter 2:1-2)

 

An essential thing for growing in Christ and for spiritual victory is the Bible. The Bible is God’s living Word and it has the power to make us grow (Heb. 4:12; Acts 20:32). It is spiritual meat. The believer must immerse Himself in it. It has been said, “A dusty Bible indicates a dirty heart,” and, “The Bible will keep you from sin or sin will keep you from the Bible.” The Christian that desires to have spiritual victory will make the Bible the Book of his life.

 

He must establish a habit of daily reading. He must also learn how to study it and interpret it. (We deal with this in the course Fundamental Lessons in How to Study the Bible.) He must attend a good church faithfully to hear the Bible taught and preached.

 

He must memorize the Bible and meditate on it throughout the day. And he must base his decisions on its precepts.

Notice in 1 Peter 2:1-2 that as the believer receives the Word of God, he must also be laying aside sin. If we try to take in the Word while holding onto our old sinful ways, we will not grow.

 

The first thing I suggest to new believers or those who are struggling in their Christian lives is to get serious about reading and studying and memorizing the Bible. There are many ways this can be done. If you haven’t been faithful in reading the Bible every day, commit yourself to this. Establish a time and a place and keep that divine appointment without fail. If you have been reading the Bible a chapter a day, commit yourself to tripling this or even more. You could add the reading of Psalms and Proverbs to your daily reading program. You can read through the Psalms in a month by reading five chapters a day and through Proverbs by reading one chapter a day. You could read Psalms in the morning and Proverbs in the evening, or any other plan that you decide on. A pastor recently told me that he is reading the Bible through in one month and that it has been one of the best things he has ever done. One couple told me that they spent a year doing this, reading the Bible every month together, and it greatly enriched their lives. A youth pastor told me that he is memorizing ten verses a day this year. Immersing oneself in the Scripture is the best way to grow and to get through spiritual difficulties.

 

PROTECTING THE WORD (Matthew 13:22)

 

In the Parable of the Sower Jesus warned that the Word can be choked by the care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches. Mark adds the “lusts of other things entering in” (Mark 4:19), and Luke adds the “pleasures of this life” (Lk. 8:14).

 

Countless believers have unwisely failed to protect the Word in their hearts. They attend church and hear God’s Word and even read the Bible regularly, but in their day to day lives they allow the cares of life and the lusts of other things to dominate their hearts and thus choke out the effect of God’s Word.

Consider the lusts of other things. The Lord showed me this as a new Christian, when I realized that though I was studying the Bible diligently, it was not having the desired effect because I was still feeding the old man through rock & roll and unwholesome movies.

 

Consider the care of this world. If a believer finds that the Word is being choked out of his life because of the care of this world, he needs to sit down before God and examine his situation. Sometimes there is no way to avoid a worrisome circumstance, but oftentimes the believer can escape it if he is willing to put God and God’s will first. And one thing the believer can always do is cast his care upon the Lord (1 Peter 5:7). When reading the Bible, it is wise to have paper and pen at hand, and when some worry or concern comes to mind write it down and deal with it later instead of allowing it to choke God’s Word.

 

Consider the deceitfulness of riches. Many believers have failed to grow and to do God’s will because they allowed the “deceitfulness of riches” to choke God’s Word. Riches are deceitful because they promise happiness and this is a lie. The richest people in the world are not the happiest! Riches are deceitful, too, because they are uncertain. They often “take wings and fly away” (Prov. 23:5). The solution to this problem is contentment (1 Timothy 6:6-10) and putting God and His will and His business first (Matthew 6:33). He has promised to take care of me if I put Him first.

 

SEPARATION FROM THE WORLD

 

Another thing that is necessary for spiritual growth and victory is to separate from evil. We mentioned this earlier in the context of obedience, but it bears repeating.

 

The Bible warns that evil communications corrupt good manners (1 Cor. 15:33). This refers to any sort of evil thing, whether it comes by way of literature or television or movies or the Internet or music or personal associates or friends or relatives. “Good manners” refers to the good Christian life. Paul is saying that

any kind of association with evil hurts the quality of one’s Christian life.

 

We are instructed to have no fellowship with evil things (2 Cor. 6:14-18; Eph. 5:11). This is a very high standard. If the believer does not cut off his fellowship with evil, he will not grow.

 

The Bible says that if the believer loves the world, he does not love God (1 John 2:15-17). The world is defined as “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.” Therefore, the believer must make many hard choices. He must choose whether to love the world or to love God. This shows the error of the “Christian rock” philosophy. I cannot love the world’s wicked pop culture and love Christ, too.

 

When I was a new Christian saved out of a hippie background, I had to make choices about many things in my life. I had to separate from rock music and filthy movies and smoking and drinking and many other things that I had enjoyed before I was saved. I did this because I wanted to please the Lord who had saved me, and I wanted to grow and to find His will.

 

SEPARATION FROM FALSE TEACHERS

 

God instructs His people to mark and avoid those who teach things contrary to the Bible (Romans 16:17-18).

 

Paul told Titus that he must stay away from heretics (Titus 3:9-11). This refers to false teachers who refuse to submit to the truth. Paul warned that heretics ask foolish questions. This refers to insincere questions that are asked with the objective of causing doubt about sound doctrine. For example, the Jehovah’s Witnesses deny that Jesus is God. They ask questions to try to confuse the brethren on this issue. Their questions are not sincere. They don’t want to hear a good Bible answer. They simply want to confuse people and draw them into their false doctrines. The Bible warns us to stay away from this type of thing,

because if you don’t it will cause you to doubt the truth and to be devoured by the devil.

 

To separate from false teachers means to stay away from their churches, their Bible studies, their books, their television and radio programs, and their audio and video recordings.

 

 

REVIEW QUESTIONS ON CHRISTIAN GROWTH PART 3

 

1.  According to 1 Peter 2:1-2, what are two things the believer must do to grow?

 

2.  What are five things the believer must do to make the Bible the Book of his life?

 

3.  According to the Parable of the Sower, what kind of things can choke the Word in the believer's life?

 

4.  What verse says the believer can cast his care upon God?

 

5.  We can cast our care upon God, because he                  for us.

 

6.  Why are riches deceitful?

 

7.  Proverbs warns that riches can take                  and             away.

 

8.  What verse says that if I put God first He will take care of me?

 

9.  What verse says evil communications corrupt good manners?

 

10.  What does this mean?

11.  What verse says to have no fellowship with the works of darkness?

 

12.  What book and chapter says to come out from the evil and to be separate?

 

13.  What passage warns the believer not to love the world?

 

14.  How does this passage define the world?

 

15.  What verse says to mark and avoid those who teach things contrary to the Bible?

 

16.  What is a heretic?

 

17.  What type of question is a foolish question?

 

18.  What is an example of a foolish question?

Christian Growth & Victory Part 2

MEMORY VERSES: John 15:4; Ephesians 4:22-24; Philippians 3:13-14; 1

John 1:9

The “keys” to Christian growth are found in the entire New Testament, but the following are some of the major elements. In this lesson we will look at the first four: abiding in Christ, putting off the old man and putting on the new, confessing sin, and pressing toward the mark.

ABIDING IN CHRIST ( John 15:1-10)

The true Christian life is not a religion. It is not merely a bunch of regulations and rituals; it is a personal relationship with the resurrected Christ. Those who have spiritual victory are those who know Him personally and walk in fellowship with Him day by day, serving Him and learning of Him. This is “abiding in Christ.” If the believer forgets Christ and starts living his life apart from conscious fellowship with Christ, he is in spiritual danger.

 

In John 15:1-10, Jesus emphasized that it is God’s will for the believer to bear fruit (verse 2), more fruit (verse 2), and much fruit (verse 8). We should be growing, and the growth is the product of abiding in Christ.

Jesus taught that the key to abiding in Him is obedience to His Word (John 15:7, 10). Abiding in Christ is not mystical in the sense of the popular contemplative philosophy. It is not a feeling or a sensual experience. It is not being “overcome by the Spirit,” speaking in tongues, falling on the floor, laughing hysterically, being swayed by powerful music, entering into a meditative state through contemplation, or being moved by candles and incense. It is simply walking in fellowship with Christ by honoring and obeying His Word.

PUTTING  OFF  THE  OLD  MAN  AND  PUTTING  ON  THE  NEW

(Ephesians 4:22-24)

 

The Christian life is presented in this passage as a matter of growing. It is a process of putting off the old man, which is the sinful nature that we inherited from Adam, and putting on the new man, which is Christ. Paul explains how to do this in the succeeding verses. Putting off the old man means to stop lying and to deal with anger and to stop stealing and to put away corrupt speech and many other such things (Eph. 4:25-29). To put on the new man is to speak the truth and to give to meet needs and to use edifying speech and other such things (Eph. 4:25-29).

 

These are high and holy standards that go much deeper and are farther reaching than the Law of Moses ever went. To stop lying involves learning to be honest in every way and situation. There are a thousand ways that the corrupt human heart, the old man, lies and dissimulates. To let NO corrupt communication proceed out of the mouth, to put away ALL bitterness, wrath, anger, clamour and evil speaking, is an amazingly high standard.

 

Confessing sin (1 John 1:5-10)

 

Again we see that the believer can and does sin, but to sin is to walk in the darkness rather than in the light. When we sin, God has given us a way to restore fellowship with Him, and that is confession. Confession of sin keeps me in the light and in fellowship with God. He is light and holiness and He will not fellowship with sin and darkness. He will not walk in fellowship with me in darkness. If I want to fellowship with Him, I must walk with Him in the light.

 

Confession of sin means to agree with God against my action. It is the opposite of making excuse for my sin. Making excuse and blaming others is the way of Adam. Our first father blamed his wife for the sin, while she blamed the serpent. We have a natural tendency to follow in these unwise footsteps. We blame our nationality, our age (“I’m young” or “I’m old”), our sex, our background, our

circumstances, and many other things for our sin. For example, if I get angry and bitter at my wife, that is a sin, but it is easy to make excuse and blame her or blame something else, such as the fact that I am having a bad day or that she is unreasonable, instead of admitting that I have done wrong in God’s eyes. Or if I lie, I can make excuses and say, “Well, everyone lies sometimes.” Or if I disobey and dishonor my parents, I can make an excuse and say that they are too demanding or they are hypocritical. On the other hand, I can admit to God that I have sinned and agree with Him that it is evil. If I make excuse for my sin, I am walking in darkness rather than light and I do not have fellowship with God.

 

God promises that He will forgive us and cleanse us if we confess our sins to Him. He is faithful and just to forgive us because Christ died for our sins.

 

How many times will God forgive? He will forgive as often as we confess. Doesn’t He get tired of us sinning and then confessing? No, we have His promise that He will forgive and cleanse every time. Jesus taught that if someone sins against us we should forgive him 490 times (Matthew 18:21-22). If we are expected to forgive that many times, how much more will God forgive! Remember that God’s mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:23), so get up and obtain fresh mercy (Hebrews 4:16) and move ahead!

 

Confession makes things right with God. It puts us in the light. It is the way of victory. It stops the spiral of sin. When we sin, we must not get discouraged and faint; we must confess it honestly and claim God’s promise of forgiveness and stand on our spiritual birthright (Ephesians 1:3).

 

PRESSING TOWARD THE MARK (Philippians 3:13-14)

 

After we confess our sin we need to put it behind and not fall into the temptation to dwell on it and to fear that God hasn’t forgiven. To do that cripples the Christian’s life. The way to put sin behind is to keep one’s eye on the goal of fulfilling God’s perfect will. Keep looking ahead, not behind. When God convicts us of sin, He does so in order to lead us to confession and cleansing and

victory, but when the Devil accuses us he does so in order to discourage and devour us.

 

 

REVIEW QUESTIONS ON CHRISTIAN GROWTH PART 2

 

1.  The true Christian life is not a                   ; it is a                          

                                with Christ.

 

2.  In what book and chapter did Jesus instruct the believer to bear fruit?

 

3.  Jesus taught that the key to abiding in Him is what?

 

4.  What is the "old man"?

 

5.  How does the believer put off the old man?

 

6.  What chapter and verse says that if we say we do not sin we are liars?

7.  Confession of sin means to                                    against my action.

8.  Confession of sin is the opposite of                                                     for my sin.

9.  Who was the first man who blamed others for his sin?

10.  How many times did Jesus tell Peter that he should forgive others?

11.  What verse says God's mercies are new every morning?

12.  What verse invites the believer to come to God's throne of grace to obtain mercy?

13.  In what book and chapter did Paul say he was pressing ahead?

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

                             .