The Progress of a Healthy Christian Part 1
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.
To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.
Sanctification isn’t about perfection, but it’s about progress!
One of my biggest problems, now, maybe ya’ll don’t have a problem with it, but I’d say I’m not alone, one of my biggest problems is comparing myself with someone else who is a little further along in their Christian walk.
When I do this, everytime…everytime, I become discouraged because I’m not measuring up...
Listen to me, the question is not: Are you perfect? The question is not: Are you like them? The question is: are you making progress in your own life?
We can make progress today in our relationship with Jesus Christ. We need our eyes on Him, and not the people around us. You don’t need to worry about how someone else does things. You’ll always find someone more spiritual than you, and you’ll never live up to them, but that isn’t the point.
We should be looking to Jesus, and striving to live up to Him, knowing we never will, but the keyword is “progress” - Are you further today than yesterday? That’s what I’m talking about...
Peter is interested that the believers do some growing. Non-growing believers are a problem in every age. Some have been saved for years but are still in the nursery spiritually - This is the problem, some people have been in church for years and years, have professed to be a Christian for years and years, and yet have never made any progress in their life with Christ.
Listen, you might not be as smart as someone else, you might not be as talented as someone else, you might not be as spiritual as someone else, but the question is, are you making progress? None of us learn the same way, none of us have the same gifts, this is why we must not get our eyes on someone else, but keep them on the Saviour and grow in our relationship, me and Christ, not me, someone else, and Christ.
The Christian life involves an instantaneous radical transformation when we trust Christ as Saviour. We are immediately changed from a sinner to a saint; from being on our way to Hell to being on our way to Heaven. Sanctification, however, is that process that begins at salvation and is not completed until glorification. The changes that take place are not instantaneous but rather a process that the Holy Spirit accomplishes through us as we yield daily to Him.
This process isn’t always fun and exciting—it can be grueling and even discouraging. It requires good old- fashioned discipline, but we must keep the “prize” in mind.
24 Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. 25 And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. 26 I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: 27 But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.
With this in mind, I’m going to try and answer the question, how can I make progress in my walk with God today?
1-We Must Depart Daily
1-We Must Depart Daily
1 Peter 2:1 (KJV)
Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,
The Bible constantly reminds us that we are in a daily battle!
I think about Joseph in the Old Testament:
10 And it came to pass, as she spake to Joseph day by day, that he hearkened not unto her, to lie by her, or to be with her.
When did the temptation come? “day by day”
Soldiers don’t fight constantly, but they are always in a mode of readiness for the battle. Daily preparation in our lives is the key to winning the war against our enemy.
Satan doesn’t attack once and then give up, no, he attacks us at every opportunity!
We must be armed for battle constantly because Satan is a constant threat...
I want you to notice right off in the verse, we have the phrase, “laying aside all”…not a little bit, not a good amount, not most of it…it says “all”
- Now, it’s possible to for someone to drive a tractor trailer with one flat tire, unless it’s one of the tires you steer with, but it slows you down; it is costly; it is a time-waster; and it is embarrassing. Eventually, that flat tire may even cause a fire!
The point is, you can drive so much better with all your tires in tact...
When we are challenged to lay aside all, we must be careful to lay aside all!
What are we to lay aside, what are we to depart from daily?
1-We depart daily from Ungodly Attitudes
1-We depart daily from Ungodly Attitudes
1 Peter 2:1 (KJV 1900)
1 Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,
The Christian’s duty is to put off all ungodly attitudes.
As believers we have the Spirit of Christ and we have the mind of Christ therefore we should have the attitude of Christ.
We should not be haughty, but humble.
We should not be boastful, but bold.
We should not be malicious, but merciful.
We should not be deceitful, but delightful.
We should not be envious, but encouraging.
The first thing we are to depart from is:
Malice: badness, i.e. (subject) depravity, or (active) malignity, or (passive) trouble, evil, malice, naughtiness, wickedness. This word carries with it the idea of desiring to harm someone else. This word refers to any kind of wickedness. There is so much maliciousness in the world, but it should not be named among the saints of God.
Guile: a trick (bait), wile, craft, deceit, fraud. This word means “guile, dishonesty, falsehood, and treachery.” Refers literally to a trick or bait, but metaphorically to fraud or deceit.
This term is used throughout the New Testament to describe deceitful means to trick a person…
Mark 14:1 (KJV 1900)
1 After two days was the feast of the passover, and of unleavened bread: and the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take him by craft, and put him to death.
Matthew 26:4 (KJV 1900)
4 And consulted that they might take Jesus by subtilty, and kill him.
We find in Romans 1 that guile, or deceit is a character trait of a reprobate mind:
Romans 1:29 (KJV 1900)
29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
The word picture of guile is to set a trap to catch an animal or bait a hook to catch a fish. We catch them by trickery! And as Christian’s we are to lay aside all guile.
Envies: ill-will (as detraction), i.e. jealousy (spite). Remember that Peter is telling Christian’s to lay aside all malice, all guile, or deception, and all envy.
These attitudes can get into the life of a Christian and hinder our spiritual progress and hurt us physically as well. Envy will destroy a person!
30 A sound heart is the life of the flesh:
But envy the rottenness of the bones.
17 Let not thine heart envy sinners:
But be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long.
Envy is a dangerous sin. It can destroy our relationships, our happiness, and even our lives.
If we want to live a happy and fulfilling life, we need to learn to let go of envy. We need to be content with what we have, and we need to be grateful for the blessings that God has already given us.
These are the ungodly attitudes that verse 1 tells us to depart from, but then...
2-We depart daily from Ungodly Actions
2-We depart daily from Ungodly Actions
1 Peter 2:1 (KJV 1900)
1 Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,
Through the Holy Spirit of God Peter exhorts the church to put off all ungodly attitudes and all ungodly actions.
What are the ungodly actions we are to depart from?
Hypocrisies: acting under a feigned participle i.e. (figurative) deceit (“hypocrisy”), condemnation, dissimulation. Those who are hypocrites have their true identity covered up. The word refers to acts of impersonation and deception.
This word was used of the Greek actors who would play a part on the stage. Hypocrites are playing a part on the stage of life.
They may be fooling some people, but they can never fool the Lord.
Hypocrisy is probably the leading excuse in people’s hearts for their unconverted condition. They have seen something in the life of a believer that is inconsistent with the Word of God, and as a result they have rejected Christ.
Jesus reserved His harshest words for hypocrites.
25 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. 26 Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.
27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. 28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
We would do well to remember our walk is often speaking so loudly that people can’t hear what we are saying.
Evil Speakings: defamation backbiting, evil speaking, or speaking down.
Speaking bad about someone else may have been a part of our lives before we came to Jesus, but it should never be a part of our life in Christ. We are to repent of those ungodly actions.
When we speak evil of a brother or sister it shows the condition of our heart. It shows that we are not right with the Lord Jesus. It shows that we have not laid aside those things.
If we don’t have anything good to say about someone we don’t need to say it.
If we have to talk to someone about someone else talk to Jesus about them. It is so easy to get caught up in speaking evil about someone or listening to the evil about someone.
Proverbs 18:21 (KJV 1900)
21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue:
Conclusion
Conclusion
All of these actions belong to the former life of sin, and we are to depart daily from them...
I’m out of time tonight, but I have two more points.
We find things here in verse 1 that we are to depart from daily if we are going to make any progress in the Christian life. It’s step 1 so-to-speak. In verse 2, we find the second step, and that is to dine daily - but we will get into that next week.
Take a moment to reflect on what verse 1 says: is it talking about you? Are you guilty of these things? The Bible tells us that a Christian shouldn’t be - it tells us we are to lay aside these things. If you have any of them in your life, why not come lay them aside on this altar tonight?