6/9/2019
Spiritual Maturity Pt 2
Romans 8:29 …those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son…
Philippians 3:13-14…one thing I do, forgetting what is behind, I strain to what is ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
The Objective of Spiritual Maturity is Christlikeness
1 John 2:5-6 …whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.
Salvation Has Been Accomplished By God Alone
Romans 3:28 …we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.
Galatians 2:16 …no one is justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ…because by observing the law no one will be justified.
Colossians 2:10 …in Him you have been made complete…
He sees us in His Son as righteous. He sees us in His Son as perfect. We remember from 2nd Corinthians 5:21, “On the cross Jesus took our sin so that He could give us His righteousness.” He dies on the cross as if He had lived our sinful life & then God imputed His perfect life to our account as if we had lived His sinless life. That’s the glory of the great doctrine of substitution…imputed righteousness. John MacArthur
Spiritual Maturity Is Cultivated Only By The Word
1st Peter 2:2 …like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation…
Spiritual Mentors are Given to Us for Our Spiritual Health
Ephesians 4:11-13 He gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, & some to be pastor/teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith & in the knowledge of the Son of God & become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
Correct Biblical Teaching Can Grow Us Beyond Spiritual Infancy
Ephesians 4:14-15 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back & forth by the waves & blown here & there by every wind of teaching & by the cunning & craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Him Who is the Head, that is, Christ.
The Lord Personally Warns Us of False Teachers
Matthew 24:4-5 Jesus answered, “See to it that no one misleads you, for many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ & will mislead many.
Matthew 24:11
Matthew 24:23-27 …if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ,’ or ‘There He is,’ do not believe it. For false Christs & false prophets will arise & will show great signs & wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. Behold, I have told you in advance. So if they say to you, ‘Behold, He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out, or, ‘Behold, He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe them. For just as the lightning comes from the east & flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.
We Live In A Prophesied Reality Concerning God’s Word
2 Timothy 4:3-4 …the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires & will turn away their ears from the truth & will turn aside to myths.
All False Teaching is Demonic
1 Timothy 4:1-2 …the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits & doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron.
In Order To Grow Unhindered You Must Resolve That The Bible IS God’s Word
2 Timothy 3:14-17 …from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God & profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.
You Must Read it, Hear It & Obey It
Revelation 1:1-3
Acts 4:12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.
1 Timothy 2:3-6 …God our Savior, wants all men to be saved & to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God & one mediator between God & men, the man Christ Jesus, Who gave Himself as a ransom for all men…
Acts 16:14 A woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening; the Lord opened her heart to respond…