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The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist
Church in Easton, MA. You can find out more about us
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message from God's Word will be a blessing to you.
And with that being said, would you turn your Bibles, please, to
1st Corinthians chapter #3 it's a joy to preach.
It's a joy to preach to you and not sweat.
I'll tell you, it's just so great.
I got to admit, after having that AC get fixed today, I am so
glad to be able to be in the pulpit, not feel like everyone's
about to pass out the longer we go on during the service.
So, well, for the last couple of weeks, really even more than
that, as we've looked through First Corinthians, we've talked
about two different groups, those who are spiritual and
those who are natural. Really the way that we would
normally put it was this. Those who are saved and those
who are unsaved, those who are going to heaven and those who
are going to judgement. And remember, there's really
only two camps, isn't there? When we look at the issue of
being saved, when we look at the issue of eternity, it's really
like a light switch, isn't it? And I'm not talking about a
dimmer switch, I'm just talking about a light switch.
It's on, it's off, it's saved or unsaved, those two choices.
There really is nothing else in the middle.
There is no purgatory. There is no holding spot where
you go to for a little while. The Bible never teaches anything
like that. There is no wondering if you're
saying how your good works or anything like that.
There's the spiritual man, there is the natural man, there is the
save, there is the unsaved, There are those who are going to
heaven and those who will go to hell under judgment because they
did not accept Jesus Christ as their Savior.
And so Paul has been talking about these two groups
specifically in Chapter 2, we talked about this issue of
wisdom. And listen, all of this is true.
I'm not going back on anything that I've said tonight.
But there's also another group of people that we're going to
look at this evening because we have the unsaved, but then we
have the saved, right? Those are the two choices.
But within the group of people who were saved, there are also
two groups of people. Are we following with me
tonight? Are we tracking?
So there's only two types of people, saved and unsaved.
I think I did it this way, unsaved and saved.
All right. But then over here, there's
still two groups of people who are saved.
There are those who are spiritual and there are those
who are immature. There are those who are
spiritual and are saved and those who are immature and are
saved. There are people who the Word of
God calls this they're carnal. They are immature.
They are living for the flesh and not towards the spirit.
Being a carnal Christian is like being a walking, talking,
breathing paradox, because carnal and Christian don't
really go together. It's like saying dry water.
You know, it doesn't work that way, does it really?
You would think in some ways to be a carnal Christian, it really
shouldn't go together because one says to live for the flesh,
but Christian says to live like Christ, and they don't seem to
go together. And so Paul is going to point
out in chapter #3 the absurdity of living this type of life, and
then tells us more about how we can identify in our own life
whether we are living as carnal believers or whether we are
living as more mature believers for the cause of Christ.
So you remain seated, but let's read the first 3 verses tonight
of chapter #3 First Corinthians chapter 3.
And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but
as a carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
I have fed you with milk and not with meat, for hitherto ye were
not able to bear it either, yet now are ye able, for ye are yet
carnal. For whereas there is among you
envying and strife and divisions, are ye not carnal,
and walk as men. So you can see just in those
three verses we have a lot of talk about the carnal believer.
They carnal Christian. And you say, Well, how do we
know when it's talking about someone that's carnal, that
we're also talking about a believer?
You said, Pastor, that they're over here on this side, on the
side of the saved, and that there are those who are
spiritual and those that are carnal.
How do we know it's talking about those that are saved?
Well, it really comes down to the first 3 words of Chapter 3,
which are this and I brethren, who is he talking to?
The brethren. He's talking to the believers
who are the members of the church at Corinth.
And it's a reminder to us here tonight that yes, the brethren,
yes, the believers, brothers and sisters in Christ, that we could
end up walking in a way that is opposed to that which God has
called us to be as Christians. It's also a reminder that
there's a line of theology called sinless perfection, the
idea that once you get saved that you can never sin again.
I don't know about you, but once I got saved, I send a lot still.
I wish it wasn't that way, but I still do.
And I'm thankful that God still forgives and Scott still saves
and I don't get unsaved when I sin.
But I do know this, that he says this, that yes, there are
brethren, there are those who are believers that can still
live carnally. But really, before we get too
deep in this conversation tonight, it kind of begs this
question, doesn't it? What does it mean to be carnal?
OK, that's not really a word that we use a lot anymore, is
it? This word carnal.
So if we could be accused of being carnal believers, you
probably got a little bit of an idea already in your mind.
But what does it mean to be a carnal believer?
Well, that word carnal in the Greek is sarkicos.
The word sarkicos and the Greek word sarks, the root word sarks
is a primary noun and ancient Greek, and it refers to the
physical substance of the body in both humans and animals.
It appears in classical Greek text to denote the material
aspect of living beings, often in contrast with the soul and
spirit. So the root word sarks means of
the actual flesh. If you think of body, soul and
spirit, it's particularly talking about the body.
But then the adjective that makes the word sarkicos, that
adding the suffix ecos to the Sark's means pertaining to or
characterized by. So if we're to put this Greek
word together, it literally means to be characterized by the
flesh, to be characterized by the body, to live totally for
the needs of the body with no regards to the soul and the
spirit. Does that sound like a way
Christian's supposed to live, to live just for the body, to live
just for the needs of the body, without any type of regard for
the soul or the spirit, those places of which we connect with
the Lord? No, no, that's being carnal.
That is living in the way that is fleshly.
That's why we would say that that someone is living in the
flesh, that literally they are giving in to their own bodily
desires and urges. No regard for God, no regard for
his word, no regard for their soul, for their spirit.
It Does it look good? I'll do it.
Does it sound good? I'll do it.
Do I want it? I'll do it.
And there's no other thought than literally fulfilling the
primal urges of the body that is being carnal.
And yes, even believe believers can be carnal.
Why? And I, brethren, I want to talk
to you because you're carnal. And then he mentions it again
and again. He mentions again in verse 4 as
well. He hammers home this idea of
being carnal. So when we get the word carnal
and put it together with the word believer, it really is a
paradox, isn't it? It's an oxymoron.
It's an enigma. It whatever you want to say
about it. It's this idea that someone is a
believer, but they're carnal. It's meaning this.
I'm supposed to be walking in the spirit, but I'm really
walking in the flesh. That's a problem because God has
called us to be different. When you're saved, you're a new
creature. Amen.
All right, good. There's a few of you agree with
that tonight. All right, that's good.
It's not the old creature anymore.
You're a new creature. The Bible says old things passed
away. Behold, all things have become
new. You are new.
You are different. You've been reborn, it says.
Why? Because of the Spirit that now
lives inside of you. Romans chapter 8, verse 7 says
this. The carnal mind is enmity, which
means in opposition. The carnal mind is in opposition
against God, for it is not subject to the law of God.
Neither indeed can it be. You see, when we live carnally,
when we live just for the needs of the body or the desires of
the body, we're living in opposition to God because He's
created as a body, soul and spirit.
And we throw soul and spirit out and we only live for the body.
What we're doing is we're in opposition to God Himself.
Romans Chapter 7, the previous chapter, verse 18 for I know
that in me that is my flesh and that's another word that we
could use the flesh carnal that in me that is my flesh dwelleth
no good thing for to will is present with me how to perform
it. That which is good I find not
and that's in that chapter where Paul has that great discussion
about the things and we've mentioned it many times before.
The things I don't want to do, I end up doing the things I do
want to do I end up not doing well.
He says this, it's because of the flesh, because the flesh
always wants to do wrong and the Spirit wants to do, and I'm
giving into the flesh instead of listening the Spirit.
And that is the recipe for a carnal believer.
Now there's a chapter that talks about this at great length,
which will be a help to you, and I think you'll recognize some of
the verses. I think it's good for us to turn
there. So turn your Bibles to Galatians
chapter #5 how many happy to be in church tonight say Amen,
That's good. How many just happy not to be at
work anymore say Amen. All right, that's a few of you.
All right, good. Peyton, what are you saying Amen
about? All right, You're 8.
OK. So she doesn't.
Oh, she doesn't want to do chores.
All right. There you go.
Yeah. Wait till you're an adult kid.
All right. So it's funny as the girls get
older and they tell us about these things that happen.
Like, I was on the phone for two hours with the insurance
companies, like. Yeah, welcome to be in the Dome.
You know, it just gets more and more fun, doesn't it?
All right, Galatians chapter 5 has nothing to do with what
we're talking about here, but I just thought to throw that in
while you're changing, while you're turning your Bibles.
Galatians chapter 5, look at verse #1 it says this.
Stand fast. Therefore the liberty wherewith
Christ has made us free and be not entangled again with the
yoke of bondage. Aren't you glad you're free in
Christ? Amen.
We are free the day that we get saved.
So we are free to do whatever we want, right?
We are free, all right? I can do whatever I want.
I'm free in Christ. Well, you can.
Does that mean you should? Does that mean you should want
to drop down to thirst? 13 For, brethren, there's that
word again. Brethren, ye have been called
unto liberty. Only use not liberty for an
occasion to the What's that word?
Flesh, but by love serve one another.
Hey, hey, listen, we cannot use our liberty in Christ as a
reason to live carnally as believers.
Well, listen, I'm a Christian. You can't tell me what to do
anymore. Listen, I, I can't tell you what
to do, but I will tell you that the Bible says this is that I'm
only saying what the Bible says is that once you are saved, that
yes, you have freedom in Christ, but it's freedom to serve God,
not freedom to live apart from God in carnality.
It's an important distinction to make because there are times as
people say, well, you preach on sin to believers and you're a
legalist and you know, you're just, we're not talking about
being a legalist or trying to tell people they need to follow
the law to be saved. We're not saying anything like
that. We're just saying this is that
once we are saved, we are free to not live like we did before
we got saved. Let me run that by you one more
time. Once we are saved, we are free,
but we are free not to live like we did before we got saved.
Listen, that's why you want to get saved because you knew it
wasn't that good before you got saved.
That's what Jesus Christ saved you from.
And that's what's so mind blowing about the carnal
Christian is that Jesus Christ saves them from something that
they end up going right back to. There's the paradox.
Now drop down to verse #16 this I say then walk in the Spirit
and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
I have that underline in my Bible.
That's a good one for you to underline as well.
Walk in the Spirit, ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit
against the flesh. And these are contrary the one
to another that she cannot do the things that you would.
You see that there's a war that goes inside of you.
Now once you were born again. Because the Spirit always wants
to do right, but that flesh, it still wants to do wrong.
And even though we're saved and even though we're sanctified,
we're set apart for God, the flesh still wants to do wrong.
Know what you need to do? Walk in the Spirit so you don't
fulfill the lust of the flesh, meaning this, Hey, hey, don't
feed the flesh, feed the Spirit, don't feed the flesh, feed the
Spirit and it continues on. But if you be LED of the Spirit,
you're not under the law. And you say, you say, well, what
does that mean? Do you realize if you did what
the Spirit prompted you to do at every moment of your life, that
you wouldn't need the law because you wouldn't send the
law's our school master, it teaches us that we need Jesus
Christ. The law can't save anybody, but
the law does reveal to us the holiness of God.
It still reminds us who God is and how we should live, right?
But if you just follow the Spirit, you know you wouldn't
sin. Why?
Because he's a Holy Spirit. He won't steer you wrong.
And so that's what that means there, verse 19.
Now the works of the flesh are manifest.
They're these adultery, fornication, uncleanness,
lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance,
emulations, wrath, stripes, additions, heresies, envies,
murders, drunkenness, revellings and such like, of which I tell
you before, as I've told you in times past, that they would do
such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God.
If I was to take that list, I would call it this the fruit of
the flesh says this. When you walk in the flesh,
these are the things that you will accomplish.
And people that constantly walk in the flesh and never walk in
the Spirit, it's questionable whether they know Jesus Christ
their Savior. That's the word of God saying
this. They say, why would you call
those the fruit of the flesh? Well, because the next verse
gives us a contrast and we call these the fruit of the Spirit.
But the fruit of the Spirit is what?
Isn't this a much better list? Lovejoy, peace, long-suffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.
Against such. There is no law meaning this.
Hey, you can do these as much as you want.
You'll be OK with the Lord, right?
And so the Bible's telling us here that we are to do what?
That we are to walk in the Spirit so that we do not walk in
the flesh. We're to walk in the Spirit so
that we are not carnal as it is spoken of in First Corinthians,
rather Galatians chapter 5, but First Corinthians chapter #3 as
well. So here's the question.
How do you know if you are carnal or if you are spiritual?
How do you know if you are immature or you are mature as a
believer? And listen, we've all got
growing to do. I get nervous about people who
think they have arrived. You know when you'll arrive when
you get to heaven, that's when you know you arrive.
Until we get there, we still got work to do.
Now, that doesn't mean we just get to live carnally and just
live wickedly because, well, eventually when I get to heaven,
it all gets sorted out. You know, God desires a lot more
for you and your life than to be able to just live carnally and
just say, why punch my ticket to heaven?
Listen, Amen for heaven. But I will tell you this, He
wants you to live a victorious life in here and now.
You don't need to wait till heaven to enjoy the splendors of
a relationship with God. A salvation testimony in your
life ought to not just affect the future, it ought to affect
your present. So go back to First Corinthians
chapter #3 because I want us to look at some of the identifying
marks of the carnal Christian. So we're back in First
Corinthians chapter #3 and again, you could follow along on
the back of your prayer bulletin this evening.
And first of all we see the characteristics of a carnal
Christian, 3 characteristics of a carnal Christian that we find
in First Corinthians chapter #3 and these first 3 verses.
And the first is this. A carnal Christian is a baby.
A carnal Christian is a big old baby.
That's not me saying it. Look again it says, and I
brethren, could not speak unto you, is unto spiritual, but is
unto carnal even as unto what? Babes in Christ.
And again, this is a Christian because they are babes in who in
Christ. So this is someone who is saved,
but yet they're still living like a baby.
Now listen, when someone first comes to know Jesus Christ,
their savior, you know what they are?
They are a babe in Christ. They are new in Christ.
And I think sometimes we who are older in our faith, and again,
I'm not talking about the age of which you are, but I'm talking
about how old you are in the faith and I'm older than some of
you in the faith. Then you are older than me in
age because I got saved when I was 16 and I'm 42 now.
For some of you, you're still fairly new in your faith and
some of you are older in age, but you are younger in the faith
and vice versa. But here's what I do realize is
this is that baby Christians act like baby Christians.
And those of us who are a little elder in the faith, we ought not
to just get exasperated at babies acting like babies.
People who are new in Christ, they got a lot to learn.
Listen, could you imagine me taking a little baby and taking
that baby and putting a 1000 piece puzzle in front of that
baby and say get going on that And their response, this goo goo
Gaga because they can't even talk.
That's the first time I've ever said goo goo Gaga on the pulpit.
All right, that'll turn a great clip there, BJ, won't it?
On Facebook. So yeah, yeah, that'll light up
social media in no time. But listen, you expect a baby to
act like a baby, and a baby Christian is going to act like a
baby Christian. And we who are a little bit more
mature, we ought to help baby Christians to be able in their
discipleship process, to be able to learn what it is to be a
Christian. To be able to learn why you need
to take care of the things of the spirit and the things of the
soul and not just the things of the body.
To realize that God has created you in this way and to realize
that you were to honor God with your body, which is the
Tabernacle of the Holy Ghost, that it belongs to God and not
to you. Like these are things that young
people in the faith need to know.
First Peter chapter 2, verse 2. We were back there about a year
and a half ago in our study of first and Second Peter as
newborn babes. Desire the sincere milk of
listen that you may grow thereby.
The purpose is that when you are young in the faith, you are to
grow. I will say this, however, in
saying all of that, someone who has known Christ for a while
should have some depth in their Christian walk.
Sure, I would not expect a baby to be able to put together 1000
piece puzzle, but it is not unreasonable to expect that an
adult could if they had enough time.
Why? Because you would expect that
the adult would grow. And listen, just as we expect
children to grow, God expects you to grow in your Christian
life. That God does not want you,
desire you, or call you to be stagnant in your Christian life.
That you have been called to a life of growth.
You are in the process of your growth and your sanctification
all the way until you get to heaven.
But you shouldn't be dealing with the baby problems of the
Christian life for the rest of your life.
You know, you should be able to stack up some victories as time
goes on. Again, you don't arrive until
you get to heaven. But there are some things you
should be dealing with early on in your Christian life so that
as you grow, you're no longer a baby in in spiritual things.
Can I, can I give you some examples?
A mature believer shouldn't be struggling with cursing anymore.
A mature believer shouldn't be. Struggling with taking God's
name in vain anymore? That's usually one of the first
things you ought to really strike from your vocabulary.
Is it hard at first? Well, sure, it's hard.
I, I, you know, everyone looks you're a pastor.
You, you never cursed. Well, I wasn't always a pastor
and I wasn't always saved. And I thought the way to fit in
with all the other teenagers I was around was to be able to
talk like all the other teenagers that were around.
But when I got saved, you know, I didn't really even need
someone to tell me, you know, you probably should be talking
like that anymore. I knew, you know, I don't think
that this is the way that a Christian is supposed to talk.
And that was something that I learned.
Listen, you shouldn't be 20 years in the Christian
experience and still be having those words as a regular part of
your vocabulary. I would say it should be handled
a lot earlier than that. You know, when you grow, you
should start praying. When you grow, you should be
reading your Bible. When you grow, you should be
confessing your sin. So these are things that are
done very early. Now, again, do any of us
stumble? Yes.
Do any of us? Are we perfect at it?
No. I'm not expecting you to be
perfect in any of these areas because again, we won't be
perfect until we get to glory. We won't.
We're not talking about mastery, but I am saying this.
You ought to be growing. And I'm thankful that the things
I struggle with, even the Music Choice, the types of music that
I would listen to when I first got say were things that talked
about ungodly things and lewd things and, and things that a
Christian should not be a part of.
And, and I realize it's not the type of music I should be
listening to. And it was a struggle at first.
But I will tell you this now, being so far into my Christian
life that I don't struggle listening on the radio.
And if I come across one of those stations, I don't think,
hey, I should listen to this for a few minutes or I should pull
it up on Spotify. Why?
Because there's been some growth in my life, and every single one
of us should grow. And again, I'm not saying how
far you should grow. I'm just saying this grow.
You ought to grow. And if you're regressing, then
that's a problem. If you're stagnant, that's a
problem. That's what's happening with
these people. Paul says, I want to talk to you
like mature believers, but you're babies.
You're not getting what I'm trying to tell you.
So first of all, a mark of a characteristic, the mark of a
carnal Christian. One of their characteristics is
they're a baby #2 We also see that they drink milk.
Milk is perfect for a baby because it's easy to digest,
isn't it? It's what a baby needs.
Couple of weeks ago had a couple, we were in Missouri that
took us out to a steakhouse. I don't know about you, but I
like me a piece of cow. You know what I'm saying?
It's just, it is, it is delicious, delicious.
And, and I, I was, I was looking at some of these little
sirloins, you know, because he was paying for it and he said to
me, get the rib eye. And that's all I needed to hear
because I got a rib eye medium rare, because I love Jesus, all
right. And so I want to make sure that
I got it just the way that it needs to be.
So, you know, that wasn't overcooked or anything like
that. And it was delightful.
Why? Because you know, I'm a man.
I'm a full grown man, all right, And I'm not saying a woman
couldn't eat that either. I'm just saying I'm an adult.
I enjoy it. Some of you are looking at me
very strangely. All right, I'm going somewhere,
Michelle, I promise. All right, I'm an adult.
I could eat it. But could you imagine me taking
that same baby after I asked him to fill that, do that 1000 piece
puzzle, slap a 16 ounce rib eye in front of them and say all
right baby, go for it. And you know, after they slap it
a few times and you know, trying to play with it or do whatever,
you realize that they can maybe gum it, but that's about it.
They're not eating it. Why?
Because milk is what they need. They're babies.
But here's what Paul is saying. Look at verse #2 he says I have
fed you with milk and not with meat, for hitherto you were not
able to bear it, neither get now are you able.
Paul lamented to them that he had to keep feeding them with
milk with the very basics of the word of God because they could
not handle anything stronger. And just like as a child grows
older, they are able to handle more and different types of
foods. As we are Christians and we grow
older, we should be able to handle more and different types
of the word of God, that it's not just eating of the very
basics. And listen, when it comes the
word of God, it's all good, but there are some things that take
a little bit of effort and a little bit of work to draw out.
And as mature believers, we're able to start that process.
Hebrews 5 verses 12 through 14 for when you were oh, let's try
that again. I'm sorry for when, for when,
for the time. He ought to be teachers.
You had need that one teach you again, which be the first
principles of the oracles of God and are become such as have need
of milk and not of strong meat. For everyone that uses milk is
unskillful in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.
But strong meat belongeth to them that are a full age.
Even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to
discern both good and evil. Do you know why some Christians
prefer spiritual pep talks? You know why some Christians
really don't like getting into the Word of God?
That they would prefer something that's maybe more of a 5 or 10
minute rah rah type speech than actually digging into the Word
of God? It's because they're still in
the phase of milk. Do you know why there's a lot of
churches that really don't encourage people to open their
Bibles and to be able to follow along to write notes to mark
down why some pastors skip whole sections of the Word of God?
You know why? Because that's a church that's
remaining in the milk. And I would even argue some of
those churches are in even into the milk phase.
They're more in the cotton candy phase that it looks big and it
looks impressive, but it melts on contact and it doesn't
satisfy. There's a lot of that in
Christianity Today as well. You know, we try to do every
time that we're in the Word of God, I try to give you some meat
from the Word of God. It takes some digging.
It takes some work. Sometimes you could be there and
maybe you're new in Christ and you're maybe choking on a piece
of that rib eye a little bit. What is he talking about?
What is he saying? I don't understand.
What's that word enmity? What?
What does carnal mean? Why?
Why are we going over these things?
He keeps saying sanctification. I don't know what that means,
but listen, just hang in there and grow.
And as time goes on, you'll be surprised what the Lord will
teach you and you'll learn from the Word of God.
You should get a good, well-rounded, nutritious meal
from God's Word. You can't survive on milk and be
a mature believer. So what do we see?
We see that they are babes, that they drink milk.
We also see #3 they leave a mess and it's in their wake.
A Carl Christian leaves a mess in their wake.
Now, if you're a little squeamish and you're at home, I
push the mute button for about a minute.
And if you're squeamish in here, you're out of luck, OK?
Because you're going to have to hear this anyway.
When Bethany was very young, Kaylee wasn't even born yet.
We lived in our first apartment in Tampa, FL, and I remember it
was a very early on, a Saturday. I was up, Diane was not up, and
I heard Bethany playing in her crib, and she was just such a
calm baby. She was just such a happy baby.
I don't know what happened, but she was so calm and so happy.
That's a joke, all right? Honestly, that's a joke.
But I she was so calm. And I went in, but as I was
getting to the door of her bedroom, there was a whiff that
only a parent could understand. And I'm not talking about a
whiff of a filled diaper, like a level far above that.
And I walked into that room and there was a child who had had
problems far beyond description because this is a family show.
And this child was playing in it in the crib.
Now, if you're a parent, you know you.
My first thought was this. I got to wake up Diane.
You know, that's, I don't know what to do about this.
No, I knew. I mean, I, I had to take care of
it. I did.
I mean, I basically got a hose, you know, and, and hosed her
down, hosed everything down, got kerosene and burned the place
down. All right.
That's about all you can do at that point, but you don't
listen. She was a baby.
And by the way, if you're online, you can unmute it now.
All right? But you know, she was a baby and
she was oblivious to the absolute filth that she was in.
She was almost happy sitting there, but she was probably
about 9-10 months old somewhere around there.
She wasn't very old. But you know, a carnal Christian
creates a mess because babies create a mess.
And a lot of times they don't even realize what a mess they've
created. That's why sometimes when the
preacher starts preaching and talks about certain things,
instead of being grateful that the Holy Spirit has revealed
some things in their life, you know what they they do, they get
angry, they get upset. Well, why is he talking about
that? Was he following me online?
Unless I don't have enough time to follow you all online to
craft sermons about what you're doing.
OK, I don't want to do that. I don't need to do that.
All right, It could just be that I'm preaching the whole council
of God and the Holy Spirit has revealed something in your life
that could be what it is. But the carnal Christian is so
baby like that they end up creating a mess and they have to
sit in its wake. Look again at verse #3 for a
year yet carnal for whereas there is among you envying and
strife and divisions. You know what, we're going to
see this whole book of First Corinthians.
We got a taste of it in chapter 1, but this whole book of First
Corinthians is about carnal Christians behaving like babies,
and they're creating an absolute mess in their church.
He says right here there's envying, there's strife, there
divisions. He says, are you not carnal and
walk as men. Now that phrase at the end of
verse 3, I'll stick out to you, walk as men.
What does that remind you from Galatians chapter 5?
Don't walk in the flesh, but walk in the spirit.
He said we know what you're doing.
You're walking as men. You're walking in the flesh.
You need to walk in the spirit. The problem for babies is they
do the things that are easiest, don't they?
You know why? Because they they just don't
know any other way. They always do what's easiest.
The carnal Christian always finds the path of least
resistance. Listen, they don't read their
Bible, they don't pray, they don't grow.
They don't resist temptation. They don't confess their sin to
the Lord on a regular basis. You know why the carnal
Christian doesn't do those things?
Because it's so much easier not to do it.
But I would submit to you that life is so much harder in the
long run when you don't do the things you need to do now.
Because as adults, we understand this.
There's some things I don't like doing, but I know I need to do
them. There's some things I don't
enjoy, but I do it. And I realize when I'm done, I'm
glad I did that. That's part about being adult,
right? That's part about being mature.
And the mature believer says, you know what?
My body doesn't want this. My flesh.
My flesh doesn't want to do this, but I'm going to do it
anyway. I don't want to get up early and
read my Bible. Are you crazy?
I don't have time for that. And then you read it and go, so
glad I read my Bible today. Someone curses at you at work.
Someone gets upset at you. A situation comes up that you
didn't foresee. And you think, Lord, thank you
that I had time with you in this morning in prayer.
I don't know how I would have dealt with it if I hadn't prayed
first. Well, what does that mean?
That that's being mature? But a baby just makes a mess and
they sit in the middle of it and they were sitting in the middle
of strife and envying and divisions and they thought they
were doing OK. And Paul says this, you know, I
got to talk to you as carnal because you don't get.
So those are the three marks of the characteristics of the
carnal Christian. But if we were to take the
inverse of this, it would help us understand what a mature
believer ought to do. So as we look at this, let's
look at the characteristics of the spiritual Christian.
First of all, the spiritual Christian is mature.
So if the Arnold Christian is a baby, the spiritual Christian is
mature. God calls us to a mature walk
with him. Ephesians 413 through 15.
Till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge
of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of
the stature of the fullness of Christ, that we henceforth be no
more children tossed to and fro, and carried about with every
wind of doctrine by the sleight of men, in the cunning
craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive.
But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into Him in all
things, which is the head, even Christ mean.
This is that when you are a mature believer, you won't
necessarily fall for just anything.
Why? Because child is much more
easily deceived than an adult. And as mature believers, you
will not fall for false doctrine as easily when you are mature.
And Paul said it's my job to help you in this maturing
process until you get to glory. Colossians 128 whom we preach,
warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we
may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.
Do you know what my desire is tonight?
You know what my desire is Anytime I get up in the pulpit?
First of all, it's to see that every single person who is
within the sound of my voice come to trust Jesus Christ as
their Savior. That's my first goal.
Now, I can't create that. I can't make that happen, but it
is my desire that everyone who is hears me preach will someday
spend an eternity in heaven. I mean, if that isn't my goal,
then I'm I'm doing the wrong thing.
I need to probably go sell shoes for a living or something like
that because that is what a preacher ought to do.
But I will say this, my second goal that's right under the
first goal is this, if you are saved, I want to do everything I
can to help mature you so that you are ready to meet the Lord
at the judgment seat. That's my goal, to be able to
preach the entire counsel of God to you from cover to cover to
not avoid anything, do not hide from anything to not just, you
know, say I wonder what the church wants to hear about this
week. To say the audience that I
preached to does not sit here in these seats.
The audience that I preached to is literally in heaven.
And that's the Lord. And as much as I want you to
like me, I seek his approval and his alone.
Why? Because I want to make sure that
when you meet him, that whatever happened in this building help
prepare you to meet him, help prepare you to be mature.
God has called us to be mature believers, but not just that.
He's also called us to be letter B up.
I hit it a couple extra times. We'll just go with this, all
right? Letter BX eats meat, right?
That he's going to eat meat. Listen, what should we do as
believers? We should, well we should be
eating the meat. Milk is good, but you need to
get into the word of God for yourself, you say?
Well listen pastor, I already go to church 3 * a week.
I mean, how many more times you want me to go to church?
Listen, if you were to eat 3 meals a week, you'd starve.
You need to be able to eat on your own as well.
Again, I'm thankful to have the opportunity to be able to
present the Word of God to you during the week.
But I know this, that you also need the Word of God for
yourself as well. We had a church member here many
years ago who said something to this to me all the time.
He's a pastor. When I come to church, he says
I've already ought to be fed. This ought to be dessert, and I
like that thought process. The idea is that he's already
heard from the Lord himself during the week, every day, in
his daily Bible reading, and whatever he gets here is just a
little bit of extra exhortation, a little bit extra
encouragement. You got to eat some meat.
Meat. Get you a rib eye and chew it.
It'll change your life. Don't be a vegetarian man, all
right? Don't.
Don't just go for the milk. Don't even like soy milk.
You'd be really out of luck, wouldn't you?
No, we're talking about eating the meat of the Word of God.
Get to the place. Listen, where you read all of
the Bible Now, should a new believer necessarily read the
Bible from cover to cover? Not necessarily.
I would say a new believer ought to start with very small
portions of the Word of God. I'm working with someone right
now that we're literally reading half a chapter of the Bible a
day. You know why?
Because that's half a chapter more than he was reading not
that long ago. Praise the Lord, But as you
mature, you need to read a little bit more.
Hey, do you know what we're not reading right now?
Leviticus. Do you know we're not reading
right now, Haggy Eye? Shall I go on?
Am I saying that those are not blessed books?
Of course they are. They're in the biblical Canon.
But is that necessarily the place where you should start as
a babe in Christ? No.
But I will say this. You can't avoid Leviticus the
rest of your life. You can't avoid the minor
prophets the rest of your life. And by the way, once you get
into them with a little bit of maturity, you realize there's
some incredible stuff in here. You know how I know that because
the God who inspired them to be in there is pretty incredible.
So we ought to go through from cover to cover.
Hey, get some meat. You know what help you with
that? Make notes in your Bible.
Again, I encourage you all the time, write in your Bible, make
notes, underline things. There are types of highlighters
you can use that don't bleed through the page.
Do those types of things so that you can make Bible your Bible.
No, no, I'm not talking about changing the word of God, but
that when you struggle, you could open your Bible and
realize, hey, this verse helped me before God spoke to me
before. That's chewing meat.
Take notes, use notebooks, take sermon notes, ask questions, get
a study Bible. Not every study Bible that can
necessarily recommend, but there's the define.
King James Bible is a very good one.
There's others that are out there as well.
Rock of Ages has brought here a very good study Bible.
Whatever it is, just just get into the word of God and get
some meat and then let her see it's already right there
displays growth that baby just doesn't want to grow and the
baby sits and filth. But a mature baby, a mature
believer rather, is going to grow.
Remember for Peter 22, I read it a few minutes ago as newborn
babes desire the sincere milk of the word what that ye may grow
thereby. The whole point is you are
supposed to grow as a believer. Now listen, the problem with
this is because we don't see growth for a while.
We don't do the things we need to do to grow.
Now, if I want to start a habit tomorrow, let's say I want to
start running tomorrow, can I run a marathon the day after?
If I want to start lifting weights tomorrow, could I go and
lift a 200 LB weight the next day?
If I want to work on being an excellent cook, can I practice
my cooking skills on one day and then be a Michelin star chef the
next day? I mean, do I need to go on here?
I think we understand, don't we? But oftentimes there are things
that we need to do in our Christian life, and because we
don't get to the goal as quickly as we want, we just give up.
I'm never going to read my Bible.
Well, you're never going to read it in a day anyway.
Just read a little bit today and you know what will happen.
After a while you will have read it all.
But if you don't read your Bible today, you will never in many
tomorrow's get to the place where you have read your Bible.
Well, I'll never be mature in my faith.
The people who are mature in your faith, do you think they're
just so much better than you? Do you think they're so much
smarter? Do you think they're so much
intelligent? Or do they just go through a
process of slowly over time, applying themselves, walking in
the Spirit, listening to preaching, reading the Word of
God, praying, and God little bit by little bit brought them where
they needed to be. God can help you grow.
In fact, I would submit to you the only way to grow spiritually
is through the Spirit because the other ways to walk in the
flesh and that won't be a way to grow.
Won't be a way to growth at all. I read this today.
I love this quote. The carnal Christian is a child
of God, born again and on his way to heaven.
But he is traveling third class. Think about that for a second.
Carnal Christian's going to heaven, calls him brother, says
they're in Christ. Better go in 3rd class.
Well, God loves me just the way I am.
As I've told you before, God loves you just the way you are,
but He loves you far too much to stay that way.
He wants you to become more and more like Him.
That's His desire. You're a new creature, and new
creatures have new purposes. That's what God has called us to
be, right? A new creature.
You have a new purpose. We don't live like the old way.
We live in the way that God has called us to live.
Anything else would be a waste. I imagine someone gave you a
brand new iMac computer. I don't know if you've seen some
of these iMacs or desktop computers.
They can come thousands of dollars big 24 inch screen,
vivid HD processing power that is could run anything within the
drop of a hat and someone just gives this to you.
Could you imagine? And they got this beautiful big
box. It says iMac on the front.
It's probably about this big, it's going to be beautiful.
It's going to sit on your table and it's going to be everything
that you could possibly want it to be.
And again, probably a couple $1000 someone's giving us.
You say enjoy it, use it. You're going to love this.
And you take that box, you never open it.
You put it next to your bed and for the next couple years you
use it as a bedside table. I mean, I don't know about you,
but that sounds pretty foolish, doesn't it?
That computer has a real purpose, doesn't it?
To be used as a computer. Only a fool would take something
that cost so much, a gift that cost so much, and use it for
something so low that almost anything could fulfill that
purpose. But could I admit to you this
evening that the carnal Christian has taken a gift far
more precious than a computer of a couple, $1000.
They've taken the gift of salvation that was secured by
the blood of Jesus Christ, and they have taken it and used it
for something that is common, that is carnal and undignified
of that which is the price that was paid for in the 1st place.
The carnal Christian takes the gift of salvation and the gift
of the shed blood of Jesus Christ and puts it off to the
side and says this, I think I'll live my life the way that I
lived before I got saved. But thanks for heaven.
We'll talk more when I get there.
Now, your life as a carnal Christian, if that is where you
are tonight, may not be that graphic.
It may not be that extreme, but that's where it ends up because
it's a very, very slippery slope.
So what do you do? How do you avoid being a carnal
Christian? Galatians chapter 5 gives us the
answer. Walk in the Spirit so that you
do not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
What does it mean to walk in the Spirit?
It means make the right decision tomorrow.
No tomorrow. Make the right decision by the
help of the Spirit. Make one good decision tomorrow.
Don't yell when you're angry. Don't lust when you're tempted.
Show kindness in a radical way. Pray and spending your time
going mindlessly through social media.
Read your Bible instead of watching hours and hours of TV
or of YouTube. Make one good decision with the
power of the Spirit. And then make another one.
And make another one. Because if you're walking, are
you really concerned about what step #5276 on the journey is
going to be? No, you just want to make sure
Step 1 is in the right direction.
And then you need to make sure Step 2 is in the right
direction, and then Step 3 is in the right direction.
And eventually step 5200, whatever number I just said a
few minutes ago, couple seconds ago, will be in the right place.
Because every step before that was the right one.
Walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfill the lust of flesh.
Walk in the Spirit and you won't be a carnal Christian.
One step at a time, one day at a time, you'll be fulfilling the
purpose God called you to as a new creature instead of being
the ultimate paradox which is the carnal Christian.
Thank you for listening to the sermon from the pulpit of
Liberty Baptist Church. If this message was a blessing
to you, or if there's any way we can serve you, please let us
know by contacting us at info@mylibertybaptist.org.
Or you can visit us this Sunday at 800 Washington St. in Easton,
MA. May the Lord bless you as you
grow in His Word.