 And our sermon title is Lessons in Leadership and we are in part five of the series in leadership lessons here from Paul to Timothy in 1 Timothy chapter three verses one through seven. And we've been walking through this paragraph here in chapter three, looking at the qualifications for leadership in the Lord's church. And we've looked at the qualifications for those leaders in terms of the elders calling in terms of his character, his experience and now his testimony. Last week we began looking at experience demonstrated in one of two ways. First, his experience demonstrated by his maturity in running his household well. For a leader in the Lord's church, he must be able to run his household well. He's got to have good Christian experience in that area and needs to be doing that well in order to be able to take care of the church of God. Then also today we'll see experience demonstrated by the leaders or by the elders spiritual maturity. And so today we'll finish out this paragraph by looking at the elders testimony. So we've looked at calling, we've looked at character, we've begun looking at experience. And let's finish that out today. Point one here is our second part look at the elders experience. His experience as a Christian or his spiritual maturity and that begins with verse six. Verse six says here, not a novice. The leader, the person who desires the position of a bishop, the one to lead the church is not to be a novice. Lest being puffed up with pride, he fall into the same condemnation as the devil. This word novice here that he begins with is the word from where we get our English word neophyte. It literally means newly planted. It could mean a recent convert to Christ or someone who is immature in the faith. It's a compound word in the Greek made up of neos, which means new, fresh or young. And the word fuo meaning to grow. Elders or leaders in the church can't be new in the faith. A leaders cannot be immature in the faith. A leaders for the church must come from then another group, a more mature group of disciples within the church. And it's one thing to say that they must be mature, but what exactly does that entail? What does maturity look like? If we look around the church, often many of us can point out maturity, but how do you define it? How do you put your finger on it? What is it exactly that is maturity and how is it that that maturity in Christ is attained? Is it just because the guy is old? No, it's not because just because the guy is old, but how is that maturity is attained? What does it look like? And if you're a Christian and you're a disciple of Christ and you're serious about following the Lord, you should be saying to yourself, how do I attain that maturity? I want to be mature in the faith, especially here when in verse six, even in the first few clauses here that there is a danger associated with being a novice, that they might be puffed up with pride and fall into the condemnation of the devil. There is a danger here of not progressing. Is the condemnation mentioned here in verse six, is it a possibility? There are many that think that it's hypothetical or just a fear that it's not real. The condemnation here is a real possibility. You might say to yourself, I thought the Bible taught that there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, and that's true. The key there is in Christ Jesus. There are many who profess the name of Christ who are not in Christ. They profess faith, but they do not possess faith. I've seen too many young guys, young ladies, profess Christ. They begin to follow Him fervently. And in this fervency for Christ, in this new knowledge or understanding of the truth that they've acquired, they become puffed up. And they leave off following Christ in their pride, not listening to reason. They went out from us because they were not of us. If they had been of us, they would have continued with us, but they went out that it might be made manifest that they were not of us. They fall under the same condemnation as the devil because they were never saved to begin with. And it's a result of pride, pride. And here's what this looks like. You'll have someone that will come and say, after a month of study, two months of study, four months of study, I've come to a theological position. I've come to a theological understanding that differs from my church, that differs from my brothers. And you know what? I don't think I can be here anymore. They leave off in their pride. They come and say, I've got a different theological position, and we turn to them and say, I thought you were saved Wednesday. It's pride. It is pride. Here in verse six, not a novice, less being puffed up with pride. They get puffed up with pride. Puffed up there is the word two-fo face. It means to wrap or to fill up with smoke. The concern here is that if a neophyte is put in a position of leadership, that that new Christian, that young Christian, that young person in the faith will become conceited, will become arrogant, will be puffed up with pride. This is a young Christian's, it's a young man or a young woman's disease. Two-fo face, to wrap, to fill up with smoke, to blind. It carries the sense of blinding. Here it is the blinding smog of their own wicked pride that leads them away from Christ. You're in 1 Timothy chapter three. Just go over one page to 1 Timothy chapter six and look at an example of this in verse four. 1 Timothy chapter six, verse four, hear of someone teaching false doctrine. It says he is proud knowing nothing. It's amazing those two things go together. They're prideful and yet they know nothing. That goes together all the time. Proud knowing nothing but is blinded, is wrapped up in smoke, is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth. Destitute of the truth. Who suppose that Godliness is a means of gain and here is the exhortation from such withdraw yourself. Look at a few pages more to the right. 2 Timothy chapter three, 2 Timothy chapter three and look beginning in verse one. 2 Timothy chapter three, verse one. Here Paul says to Timothy, but know this, that in the last days, the days that we're in now, perilous times will come for men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud. Do you see that? Blasphemers disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traders. And here's again, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying its power and here the exhortation again from such people turn away. It will drag you into their proud, haughty, headstrong ways quicker than you can imagine and lead you off under the same condemnation of the devil. From such, withdraw yourself. I've seen young lads, young lasses in the faith. Listen, you don't have to be in the role of a leadership position too soon in order to be puffed up with pride and fall into the condemnation of the devil. All you need is pride. There's a Beatles song, all you need is love. Well, this is Satan's song. All you need is pride. Wa, wa, wa, wa, wa, right? And there is a, there's a warning in this, isn't there? There's a warning here. One commentator said, however, taking the lead can plant a seed. When watered with self-conscious reflection, it gives rise to the noxious weeds of self-importance. And we can add to this. Pride alone can plant that seed, revealing you as a stinking weed. Young believers beware. You older believers, you beware too. All it needs, all it takes is pride. So how are we to gauge spiritual maturity? We need to be able to look at and gauge spiritual maturity on a practical level such that you can identify it, such that you can pursue it and attain it. And further insight with this is given in chapter three with respect to choosing deacons. And I want you to look at that. First Timothy chapter three, but drop down to, in the qualifications for deacons now, drop down to verse 10. Regarding deacons, this aspect of spiritual maturity is visible through testing, through testing. Look at verse 10. But let these, let these deacons also first be tested, then let them serve as deacons being found blameless. If qualified for leadership, that testing in chapter three, verse 10 there, results in an assessment of blamelessness. Goes hand in hand with what we see in elders in chapter three, verse two, when it says a bishop then must be blameless. And then here again in verse six with respect to his spiritual maturity. And we know from scripture, we know from experience that for a Christian, oftentimes this testing most involves trial. It involves difficulty. It involves suffering. It involves tribulation. So with this in mind, with this testing in mind and this understanding, let's take a test ourselves in this this morning, all right? I want you to self-diagnose. I want you to take a test for yourself, examine yourself and do a serious self-assessment this morning for you. Where are you with respect to spiritual maturity? And how should you conduct yourself as a result of your assessment to the one who desires the position of a bishop as we've seen in verse one? This quality of spiritual maturity must be yours. If you desire that position of a bishop, then keep pressing toward it, pursue it. But to the one who professes Christ and who professes to be indwelt by the Spirit of God, this quality of spiritual maturity must be yours in the same way. So pursue it, attain it. Go after it. Keep pressing toward it for both. The one who professes the desire for the position of bishop and for the one who professes Christ. This is a good lesson in leadership. Gotta mature in Christ. Move on in maturity in Christ. I wanna look at two conditions related to this issue. Got this issue of spiritual maturity that is brought up here in chapter three, verse six. And there are two conditions related to this that we need to look at. One, one condition very clear here in verse six is that being a novice. The condition of being a novice in Christ. And because verse six attaches to a novice, the concern of being puffed up with pride and falling into the condemnation of the devil, we need to talk about that. We need to look at that. We need to look at the danger associated with it. But the second condition that is inherent here is the condition of remaining as a novice. Staying in that state of spiritual immaturity. We must also understand there is a grave danger associated with remaining a novice. In the same way that pride can cause the novice to be puffed up and fall into the condemnation of the devil, in the same way pride can keep you in your spiritual immaturity and keep you in that grave danger, the danger of not progressing in Christ. Now for each of these conditions, in your self diagnosis, I want you to diagnose yourself in the passages that we'll look at. I want you to see in those passages the danger that is involved there. And then from scripture we wanna give directions for moving on to maturity in Christ. There are two issues, a diagnosis involved, there's a danger involved, and then directions for what to do, all right? So the condition one, condition one that we're gonna look at is being a novice, is being a neophyte or a newly planted. Let me begin here by saying that it is not wrong for a new Christian to be immature in Christ any more than it's wrong for a child to be childish. It's not wrong. When you first come to Christ, you're going to be immature in the faith. Now realize though that there is an associated danger. When you have the little lambs in the flock that are birthed, they need to stay close to their mother because there is danger. There is a prowling predator seeking them, whom he may devour, right? So there's a danger here. It's not wrong for a Christian to be immature any more than it's wrong for a child to be childish. When a four-year-old, five-year-old in your house runs around in his underoos with a cape on, professing to have superpowers, that's cute, right? There's nothing wrong with that. But if dad starts doing that, we've got a problem. There is cause for concern. It's not cute in dad. The word for this is puerility. That's your word for the day, puerility. It means childish, it means silly, it means juvenile. And it's annoying in an adult. When you understand that, that juvenile, that childishness becomes annoying in an adult. It's so annoying to Paul that there are exhortations throughout Scripture to move on, move on in maturity in Christ. You must move on to maturity. You cannot stay a novice. So let's take a self-diagnosis now, being a novice. You say that you're a new Christian. Let's take a look at our first diagnostic tool together. Turn with me to Matthew chapter 13. Matthew chapter 13. You need to diagnose yourself here. Are you one who is in Christ? Or are you one who might fall into the condemnation of the devil? And we're using this idea in 1 Timothy chapter three, verse six of newly planted, newly planted. And so we'll look at the parable of the sower in Matthew chapter 13. Let's begin reading in verse three. Matthew chapter three, chapter 13, verse three. Then Christ spoke many things to them in parable saying, behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside and the birds came and devoured them. Some fell on stony places where they did not have much earth and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up, they were scorched. And because they had no root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns and the thorns sprang up and choked them. But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop some 100 fold, some 60, some 30. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. But here is our parable. Now this parable is explained beginning in verse 18. Let's read together there, verse 18. And Christ says again, therefore, hear the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received the seed by the wayside. We see this happen all the time, don't we? Someone comes. The word of God is being preached and it is going in one ear and out the other. They don't get it. The word of the kingdom, the word of eternal life, the word of eternal damnation is preached and yet it doesn't pierce the heart. It doesn't pierce the understanding and it is lost on them. And they continue to persist just as they always have. It doesn't change them. It doesn't break them over sin. This word is a word of power and the gospel is the power of God under salvation and on some it falls powerless. That's not the problem with the word. That's the problem with the stony heart that it's falling on. They don't get it and they are lost. That's the birds that sweep in, snatch away the seed and they continue in the way that they always have and they lead themselves down the primrose path to hell. They're lost. But next look at the next soil, verse 20. But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. Yet he has no root in himself but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. Here is the shallow hearer. Are you a shallow soil hearer? Here there is a shallow repentance, a weak commitment. No intention really to turn from sin because you really don't understand your sin for what it is as grievously and infuriating before God. And so you're a shallow hearer. There's a shallow commitment. There's a shallow trust in Christ. You just give intellectual assent or a nod to these things but again it doesn't penetrate into the depths of your heart. It is just superficial. It's shallow. This is likely based on emotion. Based in feeling. Why, I felt convicted. I think I even teared up a little. I felt like I needed Christ and so look at what I did. I just committed myself to the Lord. Likely this is based in experience. I felt this way. This happened. And so now I guess I'm a Christian. Maybe it's based in your own decision. You know what I think? I'll follow Christ. But it's shallow. It's superficial. There is no real dying to self. There's no real counting of the cost because of the shallow depth of the word not penetrating your heart. There's no real resolve in your heart to pay that cost when it comes. And it will come, right? All the changes here are on the surface. It changes the way you feel but it doesn't change your heart. It changes the way you think possibly but it doesn't change your soul. It doesn't change your eternal destiny. We compare here this shallow soil here to the marks of a true Christian in Matthew 5, the Sermon on the Mount. There is no poverty of spirit. There is no bankruptcy of spirit before the holy God of the universe. And so there is no mourning over sin. Do you mourn over your sin? Or are you superficial? Are you shallow? Are you hypocritical in your understanding of the Word of God on this? You are a destitute sinner in need of a Savior. Has it penetrated your heart? That poverty of spirit and that mourning over sin leads to humility, leads to meekness, the antithesis of pride here in 1 Timothy 3, verse 6. There's no pride in someone who has been crushed over their sin. There's no real hungering and thirsting for righteousness the way Christ describes it in Matthew 5. You don't feel that desperate need for life through God's Word in order to hunger and thirst to live it and to know it and to learn of Him. It's just shallow and superficial. You go through the motions. Yeah, I go to church. I think I'll go this Sunday. Yeah, oh, I liked it. It was nice. Where are we going to lunch? Just shallow. And there is great danger here. If you are young in the faith, new in the faith, and you're professing Christ, there's great danger here. Great danger. You've got to live this faith out. What does it mean to be young in the faith? Is that six months? Is it a year? Is it six years? Is it six minutes? Where are you in the faith? There's danger here. And the worst thing that could happen is that you endure long. You travel along, believing yourself to be saved, and yet because of some experience, because of some feeling, because of some emotion, because of something you did, you believe yourself to be saved and you are deceived. You believe yourself to be a Christian. Listen, if you don't have these marks, young Christian, old Christian, no matter, if you don't have these marks to some degree in your Christian life, you are not a Christian. These are children of the kingdom. This is what it looks like to be in the Lord. How do you know, young believer, if this is you or not? Be sure, be sure the test will come and your pride will rise up and you will not last if you're outside of Christ. And because of pride, you will fall into the same condemnation as the devil. How do you know, young Christian, if this is you? Look at verse 21. Look at verse 21. Yet, he has no root in himself. If this isn't real, if this is all just a big fake, if you've professed Christ and it isn't true in your life, then you have no root in yourself. But it says here, endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. That's interesting. It endures only for a while. We don't know how long that is. We don't know how long that endurance is. The springing up in verse 20 is immediate. Here's the word, springs up with joy. Would charge hell with a squirt gun for Christ. Springs up immediately. In verse 21, after tribulation and after persecution, the falling away is immediate. The difficulty comes. You know what? I'm out of here. Sometimes it's not I'm out of here. It's just I'm going to do what's easiest for me and they just persist in their deception. I'm not going to follow the Lord in this. I'm not going to obey the Lord in this. In this, I'll compromise. And they just endure in their deception. The Christian can't endure for too long in that state. They will leave it. This deception for the false convert can last a lifetime. How many? How many? How many do you know? Easy believism, antinomianism, living the so-called Christian life, a lie, that year after year after year, never leave their sin, never fervently follow Christ. They're camped out in the first Baptist church of the far country, believing themselves to be saved. And they never move on to maturity. I grew up in church, spent 30 years in church before the Lord saved me and I couldn't have explained to you one passage of scripture. Biblically illiterate. That's not the Christian life. Certainly they stayed long enough or they endured long enough for tribulation and persecution to arise. Think about it for a moment. To the Christian in the first century, when someone came to Christ, that persecution, that tribulation came immediately. When someone professed the name of Christ, man, they lost friends. They were disowned from their family. They lost job, they lost everything. And with Paul they would have said, I count it all as rubbish for the glories of gaining Christ. And they would have gladly relinquished it. And there was a real test, real soon, for those who profess the name of Christ. What about today? When someone comes today to Christ, well, it's real easy to hide, isn't it? Man, if you just don't press the wrong buttons in talking to someone, you can skate by and never incur persecution. You can just keep your mouth shut and you can profess Christ all your buddies in church, but live a life that is different outside of church and go on like that for years, playing the hypocrite. The deal here, where the test comes in, where the danger is revealed, is when the tribulation comes, when the difficulty comes, I have a choice here set before me and it's set on the table. Will I obey the Lord? And will I obey Him with the resolve in my heart that I'll obey Him to my death? Or will I compromise? And that decision is laid before you. What will you do? Will you obey the Lord? Will you follow Scripture? Will you do what you know to be right to do? Or will you compromise? Have you built your house on the shifting sand of experience? On the shifting sands of your own opinions, your own worldly conceits? Have you built your house, your spiritual house, on the shifting sand of emotion, of feeling, the shifting sand of your own profession, the shifting sand of your own understanding of what repentance looks like? If it's in your own opinion, in your own understanding, in your own reasoning, if that's where you've built your house, then when that storm comes, you will fall. And great will be the fall of your house. It must be on the bedrock of God's Word and a resolve that comes out of a new heart in Christ to obey Him. Otherwise, new Christian, old Christian, you'll fall when difficulty arises and the test comes and it will come. You'll not last, you'll not endure. And that test may not come for a while. How long is it? How long is it, six months? Is it a year? We don't know. Many have stayed in that condition for long periods of time. Listen, a Christian, a genuine Christian, may go through periods of time of apathy, may go through periods of time of indifference. However, a genuine Christian will not stay there. How can you live, Christian, in that condition when you hunger and thirst for righteousness? How can you live in that condition when you're mortified over your sin, torn up over your flesh? And many of these that are in that position, it just, think about it completely the wrong way, they will comfort themselves over and over and over again with the idea that it is acceptable, maybe even normal for a Christian to live in that state. I'll submit to you that that is terribly dangerous thinking because it will deceive you and carry you in your deception straight to hell. That is wrong way of thinking, oh, this is normal. What I'm going through, other Christians go through. And you comfort yourself in that? What you should be thinking, what you should be saying to yourself is, God, how is it possible that if you have saved me and it dwelt me with your spirit, that I can continue in this deadness of my heart? How is it God that I can keep walking in this indifference that I can be cold? How can I cohabitate with this sin when you have redeemed me? And you're more inclined to think to yourself, now how can I be saved and live like the devil? You can't endure very long in that condition if you're a genuine Christian. Christians won't stay there. They rationalize themselves away from what the Bible says about remaining steadfast. He that endures to the end will be saved. He that holds on to that confidence which he had at the beginning. It's that one that is saved. And they justify themselves by changing their theology even about that. It's amazing to me how people change their theology, change their opinion about the Bible, change their opinions about what is godly and right in order to justify themselves in sin. It's amazing to me. Listen, don't change your theology. Change your hearts. Live fervently for Christ. And don't let your wicked deceitful heart deceive you. Little children, let no one deceive you. Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness. He who practices the habit of their life practices righteousness is righteous. He who sins is of the devil. How much clearer can John put that? It's interesting here in Matthew 13 that the word falls away there is the word skandalizo in the Greek. Skandalizo, it's where we get our words scandalized from. But it carries the sense of falling away. It carries the sense of causing offense, causing offense. The new false professing Christian full of pride and lacking humility, lacking a sober understanding of the gargantuan plank that a new Christian will have in their own eye, they get offended by something. Somebody says something, somebody does something, something they hear, someone they hang around with, they get offended. They're easily offended. And so their shallow, fake, superficial, hypocritical faith is tested and they stumble and fall over some offense. What offense is there to be between brothers and sisters in Christ? Young, immature professing Christian and diagnosing yourself, are you easily offended? Are you easily offended? William Arnot said this. He said that a new Christian's heart, a new Christian's heart will be bruised small. I like that. A new Christian's heart, you're gonna face trial and suffering and difficulty and trial and tribulation, suffering and difficulty. The weight of your own sin, the weight of your own depravity, the weight of your own failed attempts at honoring and living for Christ wholeheartedly are going to bruise your heart small. How can you with bruised heart turn and be offended at some trivial thing? John MacArthur said this. If a person's profession of Christ does not involve a deep conviction of sin, a genuine sense of lostness, a strong desire for the Lord to cleanse and to purify, a hungering and thirsting for righteousness and a love of his word along with a genuine willingness to suffer for his sake, there is no root to his spiritual life and it will be only a matter of time before his religious house falls. But young Christian, take comfort in this. What is also true, however, is that the very same difficulties, the very same offenses, the very same trials, the very same tribulations that would cause one to be offended or fall will cause you to become stronger, will plant your roots deep. When you weather that and by faith in Christ, you come out on the other side of that thing, victorious in him. Man, you'll look back on that and praise him. Your roots will go deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper and that's the way we move on to spiritual maturity through the word of God, obedience to the word of God, trusting God, looking to Christ, living this Christian life, which is not going to be easy. But remaining steadfast, confident in your hope, firmly to the end. The next, look at verse 22. The next thing we see here in Matthew 13 is the worldly hearer, the worldly hearer. In verse 22, now, he who receives seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, look what it says, in the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word and he becomes unfruitful. This person has heard the word of God but they are too worldly for that word to take root in their life. Is this you? The cares of this world, have they choked your unfruitfulness? Have they choked your Christian life? Worldliness here is the reason that the seed doesn't take root, worldliness. Worldliness is the reason that it does not root, that you have no root to the word of God in your life. You love the pleasures of this world as such you have no real union with Christ. There's a preoccupation in this person with worldly things and those worldly things blind this person from following Christ. All this worldliness deceives the person. We're deceived by worldliness, deceived by the world and it chokes out the word in a person's life. A love for the world and a love for Christ are mutually exclusive. They can't go together. 1 John 2 says this, Do you not love the world? Do you not love the things in the world? If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, it's not the Father, not of the Father, but it's of the world. This is the person who comes to church but seldom, if ever, serves. They seldom, if ever, give. They seldom, if ever, do anything. They're preoccupied with money, preoccupied with fun, preoccupied with sports, preoccupied with work, preoccupied with all kinds of things, preoccupied with how they look. They're preoccupied with everything else but the Lord's work. And that's not just, listen, in the mind or some ethereal thing. It is the work of the Lord. There's work to be done. This is the person that doesn't do it, doesn't obey. This is the person with a weedy, fruitless, and worldly heart. Where are you with respect to this? If this is you, you're not a Christian. You're not a Christian. You must turn, turn from the world and turn to Christ and be saved. Get yourself a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you persist in deception when the Word of God is so clear on these things? How many, how many do we see that profess the name of Christ? And they've got no interest or no love for the things of God. No interest or no love for the work of God. The work of the kingdom. If you're a saved hearer, if you are saved, young Christian, if you're diagnosing yourself, if you are saved, you will be sanctified and you will bear fruits. You'll bear fruit in your character. Love, peace, patience, gentlemen, it's kind of self-control. You're gonna bear the fruit of the spirit in your life. You're gonna see that in embryo form, grow over time and mature over time and get more and more Christ-like over time, but you'll bear fruit in your obedience. Does that mean you're gonna go out and get all kinds of converts? Just a bunch of the people are gonna get saved all at once. No. But you're gonna bear fruit in evangelism, in faithfulness to preach the message. You're gonna bear fruit in your obedience to Christ when Christ gives you something to obey from His Word. You bear the fruit of obedience, just trusting Him, living for Him. The word disciple in Christ, disciple in the Bible, is predominantly, by far, the description of a genuine Christian. You can call them a believer. You can call them a Christian, but the scripture primarily uses the word disciple. What is a disciple? Someone who learns and follows. What does that word following mean? It means doing. What the disciple-maker is doing. Our chief disciple-maker is Christ. We do the works of Christ. Those good works that He foreordained from before the foundation of the world that we should walk in them if we are in Him. We ought to walk as He walked, as John said. Where's your heart this morning? Do you have the marks of a genuine believer? Do a diagnostic on yourself. Let me give you some directions. You see the danger in this. You see clearly from the word of God what this looks like. Here's some directions for you. Poor contempt on your pride. Poor contempt on your pride. Plant your roots deep. Pride will keep you from this. Pride will keep you from the kind of humility that honors God. Pride will keep you from the type of submission and just humble obedience that has just resolved to follow Him in all things. Study and learn the word of God. Cultivate a hatred for sin, a humility. Cultivate a hunger and a thirst for righteousness. Cry out to God to cleanse you of that worldliness. Cry out to God to cleanse you from the stain and filth of worldliness. Stay in the Word. And when you're in the Word, work. Obey. Serve Him. And that's serving Him means evangelism. Means discipleship. Means loving your brother and sister. Means sacrificially loving your wife. Means submitting to your husband. Means training up your kids in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Means studying scripture and preaching Christ. All of that is what it means to serve the Lord. You keep on enduring in trial. You endure difficulty. You endure offenses. You endure and you endure and you endure. Listen Christian, in all of this what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger. So come what may, James 1 says this, my brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience, perseverance, right? But let patience have its perfect work that you may be immature. That he may facilitate your immaturity over a long period of time. Know that you may be perfect. Listen, God wants you to grow in Christ. He wants to conform you into the image of Christ to make you fit for heaven, fit for glory. Let Him, you gotta respond right during these trials. These trials is testing that will come is to make you perfect as James says and complete lacking nothing, lacking nothing. That's what we're moving on toward. Resolve every conflict. Battle your pride with learning, humble learning. Battle your pride with loving, humbly loving your brother and sister, serving the Lord. Battle your pride with submission to the things of God. Lastly, be faithfully involved in everything here. You need the word of God. You need the people of God. You need God to sanctify you. This is how he does it. The services, small groups, sunny school, evangelism. Look at Ephesians chapter four. Ephesians chapter four. Hope you guys brought a lunch. Ephesians chapter four. And look at verse, look at verse 11. Ephesians chapter four, verse 11. We'll move along here. Here, Paul says, and he gave himself some. This is Ephesians chapter four, verse 11. He gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. What are we doing here? What are we doing here? We're equipping the body. We're edifying the body for the work of the ministry. Look at what it says in verse 13. Till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. You say to yourself, I'm not growing. You're not growing because you're not doing this right here. Or the spirit of God isn't in you. I'm not moving on to maturity in Christ. This is how it's done. Be edified, be equipped, be sharpened by your brothers and sisters. Allow the body of Christ with the spirit of God to go to work on your life. Why? Why is that so important, verse 14? That we should no longer be what? Children, listen, childishness is annoying in an adult. Move on in faith, move on in maturity in Christ. That child, it says, is tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men. Listen, if you are spiritually immature, you will be swept away. There is danger here. You will be deceived and you'll be pulled out by some offense, by some division, by some discord, by some other device of Satan and you'll be pulled apart from the body. Because you won't grow. Because you won't do what God says. Here, it's clear in scripture, will you obey Him? Will you rouse yourself out, stir yourself up out of that lethargy that you're caught in and do what the Lord says so that you will be safe? The trickery of men in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting. But here's what's supposed to happen, verse 15. But speaking the truth in love may grow up in all things into Him who is the head Christ from whom the whole body is joined and knit together. That's what we're here doing. According to the effective working by which every part does its share causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. Some people, however, do not grow. And the second condition we wanna look at here is partly what we've been looking at, remaining the novice, remaining up. There is a danger of not progressing. And this is a terribly dangerous, a terribly deceptive position to be in. This is deadly. Year after year after year after year, no spiritual growth. Still dealing with the same kinds of problems. Still dealing with the same foolishness. Still no increase, really, in the knowledge of God's Word, how to apply it, how to use it wisely. This is the purile adult. This is one who is not being sanctified. How long, how long, how long can you persist in this condition before you must accept the tragic reality that you are lost? Why is there no progression? The Spirit of God is in you. This is sanctification divorced from justification. And this is what predominantly evangelicals and teachers. You can be saved by a simple act. Just pray this prayer, just make this decision, and God will save you with a simple act. Just make you right with him, just forgive all your sin. And that is the essence of the Christian life? No, that is justification divorced from your sanctification. When Christ paid your ransom in His own blood on the cross, He purchased your sanctification. He purchased your obedience. He purchased your future glorification. You're owned by Him. You're purchased by His blood, you are not your own. Therefore, glorify God. First Kings 18, 21 says this, how long, how long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, then follow Him. If Baal be God, then follow Him. If your pleasure be your God, then follow that. If your money be your God, then follow that. If your leisure be your God, then follow that. If the sports are your God, then follow that. If your TV is your God, then follow that. If your kids are your God, then follow that. If that guy is your God, then follow that. If work is your God, then follow that. But if the Lord is God, then follow Him. Let's take a look at a couple of diagnostic tools for this. First Corinthians chapter 3. I'll read it. You don't have to turn there. And I, brethren, Paul says, could not speak to you as to spiritual people, but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not with solid food, for until now you were not able to receive it. And even now you're still not able. Babies are completely preoccupied with themselves, right? Their needs, their desires. They can't, and they don't, serve anyone else. They're babies. They don't give anything. They can only receive. Many in the church today are only concerned for themselves. They're just receptacles. Spiritual growth is halted, and they stay in a selfish helplessness. Hebrews chapter 5 verse 12 says this, for though by this time you ought to be teachers. Listen, you've been around here long enough that by now you ought to be teaching. But you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. Man, you've got to understand, the price that was paid for your redemption, the price that was paid for your sanctification, the price that was paid by brothers and sisters throughout history with their own lives so that you can have a Bible in your hand, do you see that it is wicked sin not to progress in Christ? Not to become more mature. This is sin. This is a rebuke in chapter 5 verse 12. Everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. And by now you ought to be a teacher. But solid food, it goes on to say, belongs to those who are of full age. That is, those who, by reason of use, have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. He's saying you're still babies. We have to keep giving you elementary things because you can't handle meat. A spiritual infancy, a perpetual spiritual infancy results in a lack of discernment. You all see this in babies, right? A baby will crawl around and put just about anything in their mouth, right? Doesn't matter where it's come from. Where it's been, they'll put it in their mouth. That's this person. They have no discernment. Anything that comes along, they'll put it in their mouth. Somebody comes along and speaks a little doubt provoking and ticing little words in your ear and you just put it in your mouth. Waddle that around. What sounds right to me? And you fall into the condemnation of the devil. Somebody comes along and says, you know what, I don't think it should be that way. I don't think they're doing that right. You know what, I don't think they love you. I don't think they love the Lord. I don't think that church is all it's cracked up to be. I don't think that person's all they're cracked up to be. I don't think they have your best interest in heart. You know what, I think they did that wrong. Just devices of Satan whispering, whispering little drops of honey in your ear. And you, like a baby, just put that in your mouth. No concern for where it's been. Why is it that those who know the Word of God just stay steadfast and you see them. They know the Word of God. They practically apply the Word of God. They walk around here with wisdom. And they make every attempt to exhort you with wisdom. Why is it that they're so stable? Why is it that their roots are deep? Why is it that when someone comes along with those enticing droplets, that they are absolutely of no effect on them, spiritual maturity? The word senses here, by reason of use, have their senses exercised. That doesn't mean sensory. It doesn't mean feeling. It doesn't mean emotion. It doesn't mean sensory in that sense. It's not about feelings. It's not about a mystical gift. Somebody who says, why I've got discernment? Because they can look at somebody and say, you know what, there's something not right about that guy. And that guy does something. They say, you know what, I knew it. And they think they have discernment. That's not discernment, folks. They're lost people out of the place that have that kind of discernment. But here, this word for senses is to use your mind. This having their senses exercised, having their mind exercised. Their mind exercised here, specifically in the word of God, so that they have wisdom and they apply it. So that whenever it comes along, they're not swept away in that. They discern it as evil and they stand strong. Because they're standing on the bedrock of God's word. Discernment isn't charismatic. Discernment is a biblically informed mind. And you must study deeply the meat of Scripture. And you must know the meat of Scripture to have this kind of discernment. Proverbs chapter two says this, incline your ear to wisdom and apply your heart to understanding. Yes. And Christian, this should be an encouragement to you. If you cry out for discernment and lift up your voice for understanding, if you seek her as silver, and what does that entail? That entails hard work. That entails getting out there and digging. Like, you're looking for silver, you've got to get out and dig for it. It's not just going to, you can't put it under your pillow and just hope that it leeches in. You've got to seek it like silver. Search for her as for hidden treasures. Then, what the Lord says, you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God for the Lord gives wisdom from his mouth. It says, come knowledge and understanding. And in your hands, you have the very words of God from his mouth, in your Bible. It's amazing to me, amazing to me how often someone who is stunted in their spiritual growth, they've not moved on to maturity in Christ, are so prideful, prideful, chronic about thinking of themselves more highly than they ought. And often those who are immature because of this pride, it connects with 1st Timothy chapter 3 verse 6, they're swept away in the same condemnation of the devil. Swept away by difficulty, swept away by offenses that should be covered by love. Because they are not solid, they're not grounded, they're not mature with the application of God's word. They're just like a baby who'll put anything in their mouth. Grounded mature men, grounded mature women simply hold fast, they're not shaken. We are to grow. And as Ephesians 4 said, not to be like children tossed to and fro. Let me give you some directions. Let me turn here 1st Peter chapter 5 quickly. 1st Peter chapter 5 and beginning in verse 5, 1st Peter chapter 5 verse 5. Here's some directions for you. Likewise Peter says here, 1st Peter 5, 5, you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another and be clothed with humility. For God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you in due time. It's interesting here that the foundational attitude to begin with for moving on to spiritual maturity and growth is submissiveness and humility, submissiveness and humility. The exhortation here to submit yourselves and to be clothed with humility would apply to all. It applies to every Christian, right? But here God, the Holy Spirit singles out younger people. Likewise you younger people. It applies to everybody, but younger people are centered around here. As we've seen in 1st Timothy, pride is tied to them. You're young in the faith, new in the faith, there's a propensity for pride. Pride is tied to the neophyte. Connect the dots here. Submissiveness and humility are more apt to be present in those older, and therefore those more mature in the faith. But notice also, submissiveness and humility go together. Unsubmissiveness and pride go together, right? It goes on to say in verse 7, casting all your care upon Him for He cares for you. Believers humbly and submissively trust God in all things. Don't be anxious for anything. Don't be anxious about difficulties. Don't be anxious about an offense. Do not despair. Do not be discouraged. Do not be discontent. Follow Him in every trial. And it says, be sober. Be vigilant because your adversary, the devil, walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, resist Him steadfast in the faith. Knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world, may God of all grace who called us to His eternal glory by Jesus Christ, after you have suffered a while, and that's necessary, it's that trial that produces perseverance. After you've suffered a while, God will perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. He'll plant your roots deep. You just got to keep passing the tests. You got to keep enduring the trial. Keep obeying the Lord. Keep doing what you know yours. Listen, if you don't pass the test, you're faltering, you're in a pattern of indifference, you're in a slump, you're in apathy, you can't isolate yourself from God, you can't isolate yourself from His word, isolate yourself from His people. When that lamb is on the outside of the flock, and there is a devil prowling, a lion prowling seeking whom he may devour, the wrong thing to do is to go hang out on the outside of the flock, cling to the flock. Put yourself in the middle of the flock. You must pass these tests if you are to grow. Maturity looks like this. Looks like a hungry and thirsty appetite for meat. A hungry and thirsty appetite for meat. It looks like an informed conscience, a humble attitude, a scriptural mindset, holy conduct informed by the Bible and all of that leading to trust in Christ, steadfast and unshaken. It is submissive and humble. It is difficult to offend and easy to entreat. And lastly, it is faithfully involved in everything. Involved wherever God's people meet, wherever God's word is being taught. Is this you? How long? How long have you been professing Christ? Are you making progress? Back in 1 Timothy 3 verse 6, if you are in one of these two conditions and you succumb to your pride, you will fall into the same condemnation as the devil. Condemnation there refers to that judgment that is incurred by the devil for his own pride. And that judgment is passed on to those who similarly fall. And certainly there is just too great a risk of this taking place if a novice is put into a position of leadership. Those who would be elders and every Christian must move on to spiritual maturity. Lastly, with all of that, this paragraph, the glorious paragraph, for those who would be bishop and for those who would be Christian, glorious instruction from God's word. He says, moreover, in verse 7, he must have a good testimony. You must have a good testimony. Your good testimony is with those who are outside, the Bible says, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. Must mean that it's under this divine necessity. You must have a good testimony. Is this good testimony that others will speak well of you? Maybe maybe not. There will be those that maybe say that they can't stand your guts because you're always speaking about Christ. But they have to admit that you stand steadfast on your convictions and your commitment to the Lord. That guy, he angers me, but he's committed to the Lord. If not, you think about it, it's not just for those who are outside. He must have a good testimony lest he fall into the reproach and the snare of the devil. This is for his own good. The word for snare there is a word used as a trap for catching birds. That is the trap, the snare, the metaphor for the dangers of temptation, so that you are not snared. Those in leadership invite Satan's attack. Satan just lays snares because he would like nothing more than to have leaders of God's people fall into grievous sin that just mar and corrupt and taint the image of the body of Christ. What about you? What snares are you in today? What has snared you to prevent you from pushing on in maturity in Christ? What snares have stunted your spiritual growth? You're walking, you believe you're living the Christian life, and a bear trap snaps around your ankle, and you just stop progressing, you stop moving. You believe that you're in Christ, and yet you're encaged by something. What is it? What is it? Dig that out of your life, repent of your sin, and follow Christ, and He will grow you up in Him. He's preparing you for heaven, preparing you for glory. Turn from your sin. Don't sit there with the bear trap around your ankle, or sit there in the cage and just, I don't know, just sit in here. Weather's nice. You've got to get out of that trap and get out of the snare. There is one key, there's one key that will unlock the trap, one key that will release you from the cage, release you from the snare of the devil. That one key is repentant faith in Christ. See it of that. See it as sin. Turn from that and trust the Lord. That trust in the Lord is a commitment of all that you are. Not part of who you are, all of you are of who you are, to all that He is. Give your life, abandon yourself to Christ, and those that are humble, the Lord will exalt and you'll move on in maturity in Christ and praise Him. That's the Christian life. It's the Christian life, repent and turn to Christ. Let's pray. Father Heaven, God, we see from Scripture just the many pleadings, the labor, the toil, the tears poured out by the authors of Scripture in writing these passages that pertain to the dangers of remaining spiritually stunted, of not fervently following, of not moving on in maturity in Christ. God, please protect us from these dangers. There's anyone here that just is, they're in the snare, they're in the tar pit, the mud. They just can't seem to move. The quicksand is closing in around them day by day. They're not moving on in joy, love for you, service to you, and every day they just sink deeper and deeper into that that will eventually suffocate them. God, I pray that by your spirit you would crack open the dead, concrete filth around their heart and by your spirit, God, empower them to climb out to live for you, to live that Christian life that you have called us to, God, to labor for you, to work for you, those works that you ordained beforehand that we should walk in them and to love you or that you would crack the shell of that cold, dead, indifferent, apathetic heart and that you would make them all about Christ. You would be on their heart, on their mind and on their lips for your glory, God. You are worthy of that worship, you're worthy of that life. May we walk worthy of the calling with which you've called us because, God, you are worthy. We love you, Lord. All these things, we pray, God, trusting you and you alone, you are the source of life. We praise you for it in Jesus' name, amen.