Bible Lesson 177

CHRISTIAN PROGRESS IN CHIRST

“AND DO NOT PRESENT YOUR MEMBERS AS INSTRUMENTS OF UNRIGHTEOUSNESS TO SIN, BUT PRESENT YOURSELVES TO GOD AS BEING ALIVE FROM THE DEAD, AND YOUR MEMBERS AS INSTRUMENTS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS TO GOD. FOR SIN SHALL NOT HAVE DOMINION OVER YOU, FOR YOU ARE NOT UNDER THE LAW BUT UNDER GRACE.” ROMANS 6:13-14

“The sower sows the word….some on the pathway, some on stony ground, some among thorns, but these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.” Mark 4:14-20

“THE GREAT THING IS TO BE FOUND AT ONE’S POST AS A CHILD OF GOD, LIVING EACH DAY AS THOUGH IT WERE OUR LAST, BUT PLANNING AS THOUGH OUR WORLD MIGHT LAST A HUNDRED YEARS.” C.S. LEWIS.

I would ask that you stop and think about your life for a moment before you read too far into this lesson. Think about all that you can remember, even from your first memories after you were born. We all know that we were not born at the same stage of life that we are in today, so there have been many changes, adjustments, and some even great changes as we have progressed in life. The greatest change that will ever occur in a person is the adjustment from the child of the devil to a child of God.

Now, I know that it is difficult for many who will read this lesson, to admit to the fact that they were at one time in their life, and possibly are still today, a child of the devil. You can argue with me but let me refer you to the Bible where we find Jesus Christ, God in the flesh preaching and it was He who accused sinners of being children of the devil (John 8:42-44). All of us were born as helpless babies, who were destined to eat and grow strong enough to first crawl, and then walk and then run and fend for ourselves.

Then as we grew we found our places in our family, some times with one or more siblings. Growing or progressing has always required that we be flexible, able to enter into whatever relationship we had to enter into. The biggest thing in progress is the individual’s earnest desire to progress. It is natural for people to desire to grow up to be one thing or the other; however many, especially in our society, begin to progress, but they continually build obstacles in their own way and that makes it hard for them to move forward. For some it’s alcohol, and for others it is drugs of one type or another, and then for some it involves personal relationships.

It all ends up hindering as much progress as we need to make in our lives. I think that it was Edison who said “Restlessness and discontent, are the first necessities of progress.” That means unless we want to progress enough to really cast off from where we are at the moment and go out on that great ocean of possibilities that call to us to come and succeed, come and progress to some degree. God made us to progress, to learn the rules and obey them, to reach out with caution in order to get to where we want to go.

We might as well know that there are places and things and people out there that will somehow affect the direction of our lives and we must make sure that we never allow ourselves to be drawn in the wrong direction and that would be away from our God and the basics of all life. Man needs certain things to have a profitable life and to be what God make us to be, so our eyes must remained fixed on that One Who is higher than we or anyone or anything in this world.

We live and progress properly only as we progress in the love and knowledge of God. Progression in Christian living is what we are going to be talking about in this lesson, but I think it’s important to stress the fact that we progress in Christian living much like we do in anything else. Of course, we have the power of God in us to energize and move us along. That does not mean that we can, as so many pseudo-Christians like to think, just lay back and do nothing and float into heaven on a fluffy cloud. That is not the way it works, and we need to know the truth. In the First Epistle of Timothy we find the Apostle Paul writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit as he stresses to young Timothy the necessity of preaching the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth and He tells Timothy to “Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all.”

Paul understood just like we must understand today, that the best evidence of God’s power in His Children, is a life that knows the truth of the Word of God and is able to give a good defense of the hope that comes with it (1st Timothy 4:15-16). Let me repeat we cannot know the Word of God as we should, unless we know it experimentally from reading and studying it for ourselves. We know from the inspired, inerrant word of God, that All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work (2nd Timothy 2:15-16). Lest you think that I am accusing every pastor of preaching less than the truth, I am not; however we know that many in our society and in the quest for church growth, have more or less gone into business for themselves. I know that I always recommend that people listen to what I preach and then check the scriptures for themselves to make sure I am not leading them astray. To be so lazy and unconcerned that we only listen for the truths of the Bible is unimaginable; but many do that. Not that they don’t sometimes pick up their Bibles and read a few verses,..but they never really study the Bible to make sure what that particular verse is saying. Remember Scripture explains scripture, and you need to be familiar with it all.

We cannot be children of God, if we walk in the flesh, because we are given a promise in verse one of Romans chapter eight, which tells us…”There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh (Romans 8:1-3). The truly saved person does not walk in the ways of the flesh, because God has put the flesh to death on the cross.

That’s the reason we can confess with the Apostle Paul. I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I but Christ lives in me, and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the One who loved me and gave Himself for me. We who are saved are indwelled by the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13), we are ‘in Christ’ and He is in us and we are all in God the Father (Ephesians 2:10; 2nd Corinthians 5:17; John 17:21-24). How close is the really saved person to God and Christ’ They have been predestined to be conformed to the image of God’s Son Jesus Christ (Romans 8:29). When people look at us they should see Christ in us and let me be quick to say that it is possible, by the power of God, that we can and do radiate the love of Christ to others. That is the reason that we exist, if we are saved, and that is to go out and teach others about what Christ has done for those who will love Him enough to obey Him (John 14:21-24; Hebrews 5:8-9). One of the last commands that Christ gave those who were His disciples, was “Go make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you. ..”. (Matthew 28:19-20). The only way that we can accomplish what the Lord has commanded us, is to progress daily as we draw closer to Him, study His Word and reach out to those who do not know the truth. Always remember we cannot teach what we do not know, and we cannot lead, where we cannot go.

Progression is not only necessary but rather it is critical in the Christian life. We are born or recreated into Christianity, as babes, and just as babies are born to sinners, unless they progress toward adult lives, they die. I do not believe that anyone in whom God plants faith, and begins regeneration, can fall away and not progress (Philippians 1:6). There may be slow growth in some and fast growth in others but there will always be growth. There is no such thing as someone professing Christ and going back into their lives of death in trespass and sin. I really believe that we as Christians have allowed our values to become pawns in our attempt to appear tolerant.

We have backed away from preaching and believing that marriage is between a male and a female, we are smiling at same sex marriage, and we are splitting hairs the place of the husband and the wife in proper marriage. We dutifully send our children off to schools who are so political and anti-God, that our children soon look at us parents as their enemies. Instead of preaching that God gave children to parents to raise, and discipline when needed. Government has injected itself into our inner-most lives and holds a sort of, sword of Damocles’ , over our heads, unless we satisfy some government official. God gave children to Parents, not to governments. Certainly, there are times that parents for one reason or another may make bad decisions, but that should be handled by other parents in the community. If we need government to take the place of community awareness, then perhaps we need to examine our own lives to test our morals. The reason that we find our selves in a position to require outside (government) instructions is that we have become lazy, undependable and just plain sorry. We left the ‘Main Thing’ (God and His righteousness) and adopted as sort of ‘go along to get along,’ life style because it requires no effort on our part.

That does not mean that there are not a lot of people who are big on church attendance that do not have the Biblical sense they need to function in God’s world. You know what I’m talking about and it’s not the Church that meets the qualification of the Church that Christ said He would build (Matthew 16:18). These churches are all to often built by people who have found a group that they can get along with and who sit under preaching that is less than what God has inspired. If America ever has a chance of being what God gave us the opportunity to be, it will be by revolution (leaving our ideas of who God is, and picking up the Bible and learning about Who God really is. We who make up the true church, are people who know for certain that salvation is not about us, but about God. We are simply people who have received God’s grace and because of that; we are part of that living water that manifest itself in the knowing, believing, and passing on to others that knowledge of God which will manifest itself in some and not in others. We don’t just talk about Jesus, we become ‘little Christ’s’, which is what the word Christian means.

Remember, our scriptural text for the base of this lesson is Galatians 2:20, which tells us that “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Do you believe that with all of your heart, mind and soul’ If you don’t you are probably not saved at all; because that is the mark of the true Christian. God did not give us a plan of life that allows us to change, deny, or amend, His way of Salvation. Those who followed Christ were people who put their lives at risk for the sake of being called Christians. We seem to want to think that we can be God’s undercover people. We hardly ever speak of Christ to someone else, unless it is behind our hand, or speaking a lie about Christ. You know what I’m talking about, we don’t mind whispering to others that ‘Christ loves you just the way you are’, or Christ died for everybody, and you can receive or reject His salvation. What we must remember is that Salvation is not something that we earn, it is not something that we deserve, it is a gift from God and all you can do with a gift is receive it. God has done and continues to do all that is required in salvation. Salvation is not passive once it is applied to an individual. Salvation is active and it becomes an ‘I can’t help it’ life that picks up and continues down that narrow path that leads to eternal life (Matthew 7:13-14).

Now, if anyone is on that ‘narrow path’ they are progressing toward eternal life in heavenly bliss; and that is what we define as ‘progress’. Are you one of those Christians(‘), that will not examine yourself to make sure you are saved’ It is a must for those who are truly saved; because God commanded us to (2nd Corinthians 13:5). Do you even know where to look to examine your life’ Try Matthew chapters 5-7 and you will find there in the Sermon on the Mount what a Christian’s life should look like, and there you will find that first Christians live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God and that means that you know and obey the Word of God. You will find there that you have died to self, you are poor in spirit, your dependence in every thing is based on God. You will find that in the Salvation process you have truly repented and mourned over your sinful flesh, you will find that you cannot depart from study of the Bible, you hunger and thirst for righteousness, then you find that you will be merciful, a peacemaker (on God’s Terms), and you will be persecuted by those who are worldly. Now that will get you started and what you should have seen by now is that if your old life has not been drastically and dramatically changed you need to go back to the Cross and ask God to show you His Grace.

The visible church has been so wrong for so long that when it hears the truth it thinks that it is a lie. This is not a new and novel understanding of the waywardness of the church of our day. William S. Plumer, and others back in the 1800’s realized back, then that the church was on the wrong track. All of us will have to admit that most of the churches of our day always want to identify as sinners instead of saints. We think that if we truly want to commit sin, that we have bound God with unbreakable chains to forgive us and never mention it. In His book titled ‘Vital Godliness’ William Plumer, recounts a story of a person that suspected a minister that he knew was not truly orthodox, and he went to him and said “Sir, I am told that you are against the perseverance of the Saints.” The pastor replied, that it was the perseverance of sinners that I oppose.

The other person replied, that is not a satisfactory answer sir. Do you think that a child of God cannot fall very low, and yet be restored’ The minister answered I think it would be very dangerous to make the experiment. Now, it is obvious that the pastors answer was consistent with the Bible; because it is very dangerous to even consider just how far into sin one can go and yet be restored. Remember, ‘the soul that sins presumptuously shall surely be cut off’ (Numbers 15:30). Declension is a very dangerous thing and the person who attempts to navigate that path between pleasing God and offending God is not smart at all. The church apparently believes, that whatever it chooses to preach and teach, will be accepted by God. That is an abomination, because we are told plainly that we are to “Preach the Word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. (2nd Timothy 4:2). There is entirely too much attempting to, thread the needle so to speak, as we attempt to walk what we think is a thin line between sin and solemn service of God. In Colossians 2:6, we find Paul writing under the inspiration of God and he says to us, “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him.”

Whenever we find the word ‘walk” used in the Bible it refers to the Christians daily life and actions. That verse points back to our scriptural text for the lesson which says. I have been crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I but Christ lives in me, and the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. If we are truly saved, we have a command from God to walk like Jesus walked. It is not a request, it is a command. Walk points to progress made in the Christian life, and it comes as the price of serving Christ. Walk implies that the person who is walking like the Savior; proceeding from grace to grace, abiding and continuing in the Word and Will of God. In closing, let me share with you the idea that God has given us of the need to progress. Romans 12:1-2 reminds us that we are to present our bodies, a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our mind, so that we may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Let’s examine ourselves to make sure we are really saved, walking and progressing in our knowledge of God and our witness of His gospel to those who walk in darkness.

Until next time,

may God bless and keep you

This is Bro. Bob