Faith Baptist Church
4258 Botetourt Road
Fincastle, Virginia 24090
(540) 473-2325
I know that I may sound like a parrot sometimes; repeating the same things. But I hope you do not think of these sayings as being nothing more than clichés.
Paul told Timothy to give himself to the reading and study of the Scriptures for in doing so he would preserve his own life and testimony and for those who would not grow weary, and impatient in learning sound Bible doctrine, they too could secure their own spiritual preservation. Paul isn’t speaking about working to keep ones salvation in I Tim.4:12-16. He is speaking on the importance of Timothy, as a young pastor, in how to best shepherd his flock at Ephesus.
P/D Teaching you Bible doctrine is the only way I can prepare you to stand faithfully, in the day of your adversity as well as in the day of your prosperity since prosperity is often the pathway to many believer’s unfaithfulness to God and their church family, Deut.8:11-18.
Prov.24:10 “ If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small.”
Saints who have grown weary in learning God’s word also grow weary and fainthearted during adversity. Pastors today see this lack of interest in the word of God. They see this weariness among their people and they are tempted to become entertainers instead of teachers. Entertainment does not renew the minds of saints. They attempt to replace the Holy Spirit as this person’s comforter rather than teaching the word and letting the Holy Spirit use the word to comfort them, Ps.119:49-50,52. This is why expository churches find it hard to attract members. Believers have been brainwashed into thinking church is a place to perform and be entertained; and a place to go to hook up with friends. Trying to be cool isn’t becoming of a saint, but, trying to be faithful on the other hand is.
P/D Until Bible teaching has been [1] learned academically, II Pet.3:18 [2]then metabolized into the heart, Rom.12:2: the believer does not have the divine instinct to trust God during adversity. Instinct is developed through repetition of instruction. Hearing a doctrinal truth or precept one or two times is not enough for it to stick in the memory center of the soul. Inculcation can be boring and tiring some times, but here is where you are forced to concentrate so God’s truth will settle down deeper in your soul where God can get at the root of your spiritual transformation. Transformation of the believer’s life does not take place at the surface of your soul. It takes place at the root of your soul, the place where God sows the seeds that produce the fruits of righteousness in your life. Christianity today is attempting to sow the seeds of Christian character in the shallow ground of emotionalism and activism. Many ministries are designed to attract crowds which they know have short attention spans, and they appeal to a superficial interest in Jesus Christ, one that does not require mental concentration to biblical instruction. This is the Peter Pan saint; the one who does not want to grow up.
When adversity comes it affects us at the root of our soul, not just the surface. We need to be grounded in the Word of God for the days of testing will come to each of us.
Every circumstance we face whether adverse or favorable forces us to either consciously or subconsciously adjust in our faithfulness to Christ. Life is a series of adjustments and God’s word abiding in our hearts helps us adjust faithfully.
I hope and pray that all of us will experience great joy and great success for the Lord, but still, most all of us will face adversity of some kind.
Many of God’s people’s lives are destroyed for lack of knowledge as Hosea 4:6 says.
Paul said in Phil.4:11 “Not that I speak in respect of want; for I have learned, in whatever state I am, in this to be content.” Paul said “ he learned ” to be content.
People have a tendency to become restless at various time. They have a tendency to try to start over with new interests and new resolve.
As a believer in Jesus Christ we must be careful to watch out for distracting interests; things that distract us from our mission of pleasing God through reaching spiritual maturity and fulfilling our ambassadorial calling in Christ.
On the other hand saints who have not grown weary and impatient in coming to church and learning Bible doctrine from their pastor-teacher, let’s see what Isaiah says.
Isa.40:31 “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”
P/D God is maturing this saint as they are gaining spiritual endurance and godly patience. These two qualities are not indicative of the flash in the pan emotional “on fire for God” believer. Emotional centered saints are fickle and untrustworthy until they come to spiritual maturity. They are empirical by nature. They are not faith centered by nature, a nature based on thought, not feeling.
Heb.12:3 For consider him, ponder on him, that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest you grow weary and faint in your minds.
Jesus Christ did not let the taunts and abuses of his enemies deter him from his mission.
Studying the character and integrity of our Lord should inspire us to tap into the same sustaining power he tapped into. He said man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God, Matt.4:4.
The day of adversity awaits every one of us and God knows this. Our Lord said in the Gospel of John that we are as sheep lead to the slaughter, and that in this world we will have tribulation.
Paul told Timothy that those who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. The word adversity is another form of the word suffer, and this suffering is in the context of undeserved suffering.
It is said in Isa.30:20 that the Lord gave Israel the bread of adversity and the water of affliction. These twin sisters, adversity and affliction, served the Lord as they were guides in the lives of Israel. Most ignored these guides, but some learned, [ the remnant ]. Israel was in deep apostasy, and to top this off she was also in deep denial of her apostasy just like we in American churches are in deep denial of our biblical apostasy.
Israel was ignoring the word of God, and living as a law unto herself. They forgot how the Lord had chastened their forefathers in the wilderness because of unbelief and rebellious attitudes.
Reminding God’s people in how they should conduct their lives is what the pastor must do through the preaching and teaching of God’s word. But when it comes to steering the soul of God’s people, God will utilize those twin sisters of adversity and affliction. For saints I cannot over stress the Biblical mandate for us to take our Bible teaching seriously and to utilize the Christ ordained local church and pastor-teacher. We cannot afford to get so caught up with the details of life that we forsake our very souls. What should it profit a man if he should gain the whole world and lose his very soul. And what should it profit a saint to sit home when Bible doctrine is being taught in their very own local church. Their edification is stunted and so is their testimony and their eternal rewards. We must learn to play according to God’s rules, II Tim.2:5.
A true sign that a Christian is reaching toward spiritual maturity is that they come to church ready to study and learn God’s word.