Spiritual babies - understanding the Carnal Christian

[0:00] I thought you were laughing at me for a minute. That's a picture of me in my younger days. We're going to go to the Word of God.

[0:11] 1 Corinthians 2. 1 Corinthians 2. Talking about carnal or spiritual. Carnal or spiritual.

[0:23] And so we're going to go to 1 Corinthians 2. And then we're going to spend a bit of time. 1 Corinthians 3. Let's pray, shall we? Lord, we thank you for your Word again. As we come to it, let it feed our souls.

[0:35] Lord, let us be the people you want us to be. Filled with your Spirit. And walking in your Spirit. Alive by your Spirit. Quickened. Made alive from the dead.

[0:46] As living spiritual people. Saved by the blood of the Lamb. Pray, Lord, for these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Paul addresses the church at Corinth.

[0:57] And he talks about, really, you could say, it was really three kinds of men. And we could really think of that in any gathering of people as three kinds of people. Three kinds of people.

[1:08] We've got the natural man, the carnal man, and the spiritual man. The first man, the natural man, is dead. The second man, the carnal man, is defiled.

[1:22] And the third man, the spiritual man, is discerning. So we're going to go through that, through the Scriptures, and have a look at that. And so, the first Scripture we're looking at here is 1 Corinthians 2, verse 14.

[1:35] So we're going to look just briefly at the spiritual man here. And then we'll go back to him at the end. And it's talking, this verse, about the natural man.

[1:47] The first one we talked about. 1 Corinthians 2, verse 14. It reads, But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him.

[1:59] Neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. It's talking about the natural man. The natural man, first we have the natural man. He is dead.

[2:09] Dead in trespasses and sins. The natural man, we could understand that man to be the unregenerate man. That man is apart from God.

[2:20] He knows not the Saviour. He is helpless, hopeless, lost. And the natural man's mind is opposed to the things of God. The natural man is the lost, unsaved man.

[2:35] Then I put to you that second, we have the carnal man. The carnal man. And the carnal man, he is defiled. We're going to take a closer look at him through most of the message, really.

[2:47] The carnal man. And what does the Bible tell us about such a man? The carnal, carnal man. This man has the flesh nature.

[3:00] He has a disposition to sin. And we hear about him in 1 Corinthians 3. From verse 1 it reads, Paul writes, 1 Corinthians 3 verse 1. Verse 3.

[3:29] So the carnal man.

[3:42] We see him addressed here. Notice verse 1. Paul speaks to the Corinthians as brethren. As fellow believers. 1 Corinthians 3 verse 1.

[3:55] And I brethren. He's talking to brethren. So he's addressing fellow believers here. And he's saying that you're still carnal. There's a carnality.

[4:06] So the people he's talking to, they are brethren. They're brothers and sisters in Christ. They're saved. But Paul is chiding them really that there's a carnality in there.

[4:22] And to be carnal means to think and act on a fleshly level rather than a spiritual level. And as someone has described it, there's basically two kinds of saved people.

[4:32] Those who are mature and those who are immature. In understanding the man, it talks about their adult and their Christian walk. And there are those that are still like children, like babes.

[4:46] And he tells these Corinthians, you're carnal. As babes in Christ. And so these Corinthians, they're full of this immaturity. They were brethren.

[4:58] They were believers. They believed in the Saviour. They were saved. But their walk wasn't right. And Paul addresses this critical issue in the church. Spiritual immaturity.

[5:09] The danger of carnality. And those that are in the flesh, which is carnal. Carnal means flesh. Fleshly. Carnality means fleshly. The dangers of carnality.

[5:21] Those that are in the flesh cannot please God. So there's a big problem there. Big disconnect with where we're meant to be. There's still babes in Christ. Paul could not speak to the Corinthian believers as spiritual men.

[5:35] They were still babes in Christ. They had this stagnation in their spiritual growth. Now, babies are cute, aren't they? Babies are cute. We all love babies. Babies.

[5:46] But staying a baby is a problem, isn't it? And staying a baby is a problem. The Lord wants all believers to move from being babes, babies, spiritual babies, to being mature believers.

[5:57] And that's really the point here tonight of really Paul's urging is, I can't address you as spiritual as men.

[6:09] You're yet carnal. You're babes in Christ. So it was a big problem for the Corinthians here that they had this problem of immaturity.

[6:21] And really, when we learn about the Lord and seek to grow as believers in our faith, the Lord wants that for us. He wants us to grow. He wants us to produce spiritual fruit and growth.

[6:34] He wants us to grow in grace. He doesn't want us to stay in that babyhood, but rather to grow. Not to be stuck in that babyhood stage. Stuck spiritually, but to grow.

[6:46] And so the Corinthians, the Lord rebukes them through Paul. And he says that they were characterized, as we read in verse 3 there, I'll go back to that.

[7:00] That they had this envying and strife, divisions. They had this easily offended nature. They had this jealousy, these quarrels, these factions.

[7:11] They were acting fleshly. There was this strife there. They were acting on fleshly impulses rather than on the Holy Spirit's guidance. And so there was all this disunity instead of godly unity, this maturity.

[7:26] And so Paul rebukes them for this immature way that they were being. That there was a worldly way about them. They were acting as men, as in worldly men.

[7:38] They were acting worldly. And they'd lost their influence. They'd lost their witness, their impact. And when you think again of babies, we think of babies that they're by nature selfish, aren't they?

[7:51] When something is wrong in a baby's world, they cry, they whine and complain until someone does it their way. They cry when they don't immediately get what they want.

[8:02] And when you think of babies, they're always making a mess that someone else has to clean up. I noticed that when I walked into the church this evening, the nappy bucket.

[8:14] You know, babies make a bit of a stink, don't they? They make a mess that others have to clean up. And they constantly have to be watched over because they tend to self-destruct, don't they?

[8:25] You can't leave a baby unattended. We know what happens, don't we? And sadly, when they're left in cars and such, babies can't look after themselves. They need to be looked after.

[8:36] And when we think of that spiritually speaking, when we think how it can be when a person fails, it doesn't mean that they're not saved. It is possible for believers to be carnal.

[8:49] I know I was talking with a preacher lately, a well-respected man of God, and he was saying how we were talking about certain preachers that were used of God and did tremendous works for the Lord.

[9:03] But then we see another side of them where there's this cloud over them. They've done something wrong. They've fouled up. They've failed. They've gone into sin or error.

[9:15] And what a dilemma it is when you see that kind of thing happen. You think, what is that? And this preacher said to me, well, there's two men.

[9:26] There's two men. It's the old man and the new man. You know, God, they were saved people. They were used of God. God worked in their life. God did wonders and blessed their ministries.

[9:37] But then the old man reared up his ugly head and sin came. And they failed their witness. They failed. They've been a reproach to the name of the Lord.

[9:48] It's the old man and the new man, isn't it? It's the flesh and the spirit. It's carnality. Even in such men of God, as we could think of, you might think of examples yourself of people who know that they're saved.

[10:00] But then this carnality rears its ugly head. And so it is possible for believers to be carnal. It shouldn't be. We should not want it. We should not settle for it. But it is possible.

[10:11] And so Paul wanted for the Corinthians to move beyond this selfishness, this division, this worldly thinking, into that maturity that he wanted for them, that godly unity and maturity that he wanted.

[10:23] And the problem was that the Corinthians were still acting like infants. They had not grown and they were still on milk. And, of course, milk represents pictures, basic Christian teachings.

[10:34] Contrasted with meat, which symbolised more advanced doctrines. And so for these Corinthians, they were still on the milk. They weren't able to digest the deeper spiritual truths.

[10:46] And, of course, we need the basic spiritual teachings. We need the milk. But we want to progress and go to the meat. And that is the life of many believers. I'm quoting here of some.

[10:57] They make their pastors into spiritual nursemaids. And it's a serious matter when spiritual babies keep their pastor continuously occupied in nursing and feeding them and never help themselves.

[11:09] There's that sense where some are so dependent on the pastor or it's almost like that you've got to baby them and mind them like a child would have to be minded. You know, it's about getting a bit of maturity, isn't it?

[11:25] That you don't go to the pastor for every little thing that you need to organise this or that. To have some maturity about where you're going. And so here's what someone listed as kind of the features of the carnal Christian.

[11:41] The carnal Christian, it's really like a big spiritual baby. They do not know how to feed on Christ's word. The pastor must feed them. Now, some Christians, they scarcely open the Bible that they come to church and that's when they actually dust off their Bible and open it up.

[11:56] And then they wait till next Sunday to get something more. It's not enough people. We can't grow like that, can we? If that's the extent of your spiritual life, that you only dust off your Bible on a Sunday, that you're relying on just the pastor to feed you or some sermon or such, it's not enough for you to grow.

[12:16] But these, the carnal Christian, the carnal ones, don't know how to feed on the word. Rather, take the word, make it your daily food. They do not know what contact with God is.

[12:29] The pastor must pray for them. So rather than praying or praying for one another and praying themselves in their own prayer time, they're wanting to get prayer, fostering that dependency.

[12:42] There's nothing wrong with asking for prayer, but we should be mature enough to pray for ourselves and pray for others. They do not know what it is to live, as though those who have God to help them, they always want to be nursed.

[12:54] And that can be a problem, can't it? We're still in that babyhood stage. So they had a maturity problem. Apparently there's a message on a humorous birthday card that reads, you are only young once, but you can be immature forever.

[13:11] It's wrong to be immature, but rather to seek spiritual maturity. It involves putting away the childish things, doesn't it? As we read in 1 Corinthians 13, Paul says, when I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

[13:31] Now, I don't know about you, but I used to have all kinds of little collections. I used to have a stamp collection and a stone collection and a coin collection, and I had a boyhood book collection.

[13:44] I had the Biggles books. Who's a fan of Biggles books? Yeah. And I put away all those childish things. One day I just took it all down the op shop, and I thought, no, I'm going to put away the childish things.

[13:58] There's nothing wrong with those things, by the way, but for me it was sort of the childish things. I wanted to put them away. Mind you, I've still got my Boy Scout badges. I couldn't part with my Boy Scout badges.

[14:09] I've still got them in a treasured place, and one day I'll pass them on to my progeny to keep such treasured possessions. But no, really, there's things sometimes we can't part with, isn't there?

[14:23] But you think of that spiritually, though, the childish things, the childish ways, the childish attitudes, the childish way of thinking. We shouldn't be like that, should we?

[14:35] Spiritually speaking, we should want to mature and be grown up in our walk with God. We should be wanting to be a mature, growing believer, that we want to embrace a deeper understanding of faith and get beyond the immaturity, that we'll build on a solid biblical foundation, that we'll love the Word and we'll want to search it.

[14:54] We want to grow deeper and deeper in doctrine, in truth, in understanding. If we stay in babyhood, we're more vulnerable to doctrinal error and spiritual deception.

[15:06] I know even in our own context, there's some people that are tuning into all kinds of things. Some of the faith, prosperity, gospel preaching, there's various written materials from false cults, there's some that are entertaining talking to Mormons, there's some that are entertaining going to Seventh-day Adventist things, there's some that are entertaining the Revival Centre, and all of the false teachings of all of those things.

[15:39] That spiritual immaturity, that's a problem. It's a big problem. And we know Paul addresses that with the Ephesians. He says, Ephesians 4.14, he tells how that we henceforth be no more children.

[15:53] Don't be like those children, such that children are tossed to and fro, carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive.

[16:05] So the carnal haven't got this filter, they haven't got this discernment filter, this way of actually discerning, actually that's not in accord with the Word of God. They lack that ability to see things clearly, that that is error.

[16:25] And so they're easy prey for false teachers. And carnal ones have made little or no progress since they got saved. That can happen. You could be a saved man, but you could still be swept here and there by all of these things.

[16:38] We should not be any more children. We should be no longer like children. We should be moving from babyhood to spiritual adulthood. And so carnality, it is a real danger.

[16:50] It's a very present danger. And when you think about carnality, carnality, it speaks of the flesh. It's the old man. It's the old nature, isn't it? And we think of carnality, the flesh, it's self-centered.

[17:05] It lacks self-control. And that's what we see with the Corinthians. They were like these spiritual babies. They were stagnant. Their lives remained unchanged. We have to grow.

[17:15] That's God's will for us that we grow. A good example of a carnal believer is a man by the name of Lot. When we see Lot in Genesis 13 and 19, when you look at him, you'd assume he was a lost man.

[17:31] Moving to Sodom, of all places, that he pitched his tent towards it, then he moved into Sodom, then he's sitting at the gate of Sodom, like he's part of the administration of the city.

[17:44] His hook, line and sinker brought into Sodom and he's sitting at the gate, like he's part of the running of the place. Lot.

[17:56] We would look at him and think, that's not how a believer in God should live. A believer in God shouldn't even think of moving to Sodom, let alone being part of it.

[18:07] But then we read in 2 Peter 2 verse 7, Lot is called righteous. 2 Peter 2 verse 7. He was called righteous. He was called just. Righteous, Lot.

[18:19] 2 Peter 2 verse 7. Righteous, but carnal. He was righteous, but carnal. That's a problem, isn't it? We shouldn't excuse that. We shouldn't condone that.

[18:29] We shouldn't want to settle for that for ourselves. And Lot, despite his failings, he was a saved man, but he had some carnality there.

[18:41] He made some grievous mistakes. We see some of the things that he put forward was quite abhorrent, what he justified in his own mind, what he would do with his children and such.

[18:55] So we see the carnality of Lot, for one example, the carnal man. Think of carnality. Toss to and fro, every wind of doctrine. The carnal man is unteachable.

[19:08] Rather, the spiritual man wants to study the word. Search the scriptures, whether these things are so. Check it out. There's discernment there. But the carnal man is unteachable.

[19:19] And then we see the Bible lists a load of works of the flesh. In Galatians 5, it talks about, as you could put it, immorality, impurity. There's idolatry, hatred, jealousy.

[19:31] There's Galatians 5. There's a whole list there of sinful behaviours. And then we see the pride of life as another thing about the carnal man. Think of the Corinthians. They were swayed by worldly wisdom.

[19:44] Paul, through the book of 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, he rebukes the Corinthians because they had this worldly wisdom and they were settling for cultural norms that were really wrong.

[19:55] And we're all subject to that, aren't we? We've got a constant barrage of worldly thinking, of worldly so-called values. The culture of Australia is pretty bad, really, isn't it?

[20:09] That is the culture. That is where the world sets the values is really down here, isn't it? And in Corinth, the Corinthians were faced with this, this carnality, their worldly wisdom.

[20:22] And they had the focus on the world too, that they were acting just like the world around them. They were neglecting their spiritual life and growth. All of us need a consistent study of God's Word, solid spiritual food, to get the milk, yes, and the meat.

[20:37] But the problem we see in many churches today is this carnality. And it's in every quarter. It's in all of our churches. It's in this church. Excuse me. There's a degree of carnality.

[20:49] And it's in me sometimes. Let's be honest. There's an inclination to carnality that we all face. And it's a problem in many churches.

[21:00] There's this neglect of the spiritual, the neglect of the Word, the neglect of intimacy with God, the neglect of spiritual growth, the neglect of God's will and of godly principles.

[21:13] And we see Paul speaks to the Romans in Romans 8, verses 6 through 8. He talks about being carnally minded. He talks about being spiritually minded. Romans 8, verse 6, for to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

[21:30] Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. There's a real danger there.

[21:42] There's a real reproach there to stay in the flesh. If you stay in the flesh, you cannot please God. And really, when you think about it, when you get saved, we're meant to change cultures, aren't we?

[21:54] We're supposed to be different. We're supposed to change cultures. But yet it is possible for believers to still be subject to temptation, naturally, and sometimes to give way to sinful desires.

[22:12] And Paul knew that battle. Here's how someone's pictured it, the carnal mind, the spiritual mind. Paul knew that battle in Romans 7, 14. Romans 7, 14, he says that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin.

[22:26] So Paul says, I am carnal. Here's the man of God, Paul, the apostle, really one of the outstanding men of God of the faith.

[22:36] He says, I am carnal. And he says in the context, he talks about the struggle within, that the good that I should do, I don't, that the bad that I shouldn't do, I do.

[22:48] And there's this struggle between the old man, the flesh, the new man, the spirit. And so it's in all of us, it's in Paul, it's in all of us too. Carnality is a constant enemy of us, it's our constant enemy.

[23:02] And carnality in the life of God's children is the reason why the church lacks power. It's why the church is ineffective. Oft times when carnality overtakes, and really we know, scarcely different than the world around us.

[23:16] People would look at you like they would look at Lot and they would say, well, can't see much different about them. As much as Lot was grieved, he was bothered by the evil of the world, wasn't he?

[23:31] It grieved him, the way that Sodom was going. He was grieved about it, but yet he was still in it. And so the carnal do not have victory over the flesh.

[23:43] They follow after their selfish desires and it says that the carnal mind is at enmity against God. Here's another one, Galatians 5.16. Paul tells the Galatians, again, it's like his common theme through, as we say, 1 Corinthians, Ephesians, Romans, Galatians now.

[24:01] Paul says, walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. So here we see a way to counter that, to counter that lust of the flesh, to counter that desires of carnality, the passions of the flesh, they cannot satisfy.

[24:15] He says, don't walk in that, walk in the spirit. Rather, let's walk in the spirit so we can overcome the flesh. So we're being very, I hope I'm being clear enough here that it's in us, this battle, is a constant fight, the flesh and the spirit.

[24:31] God wants us to rather walk in the spirit. He wants us to take that pathway. He wants us to daily surrender to the Holy Spirit's work. He wants us to renew our mind as we immerse it in the word of God.

[24:46] And God's word shows how believers are to grow, to grow from that spiritual infancy to maturity. Sometimes it's a continuum, isn't it? Of course, we start right there, but some stay in babyhood.

[24:59] That's why discipleship is important. I know as a church, we're trying to work on that so that when someone gets saved, they don't stay there. They actually grow. There's a kind of building of their spiritual life.

[25:11] They learn, they grow, they feed their soul, they feed their spirit, they learn the word of God and sound doctrine such that they grow, they progress. But some do stay in that spiritual babyhood and they're an easy target for the enemy and his temptations.

[25:26] Rather, let's move away from the carnal to the spiritual. spiritual. And from that way of thinking of the world, of the lifestyle of the world, to rather a life that's focused on serving rather than being served.

[25:41] Here's how someone's quoted it as to some differences and there's various pictures here. I'm not sure you can see that clear enough but it's talking about, I suppose, the carnal way of living.

[25:53] So, and there's different ways of picturing this and explaining it and articulating it. And this is how someone has kind of pictured it that I've copied of, if you like, the life as being the circle here of the life of the person.

[26:10] And this is kind of picturing the carnal believer. So, the S is self on the throne. They're saved. There's Christ there represented by the cross.

[26:22] Christ is in their life but Christ is not really centred. He's not really honoured like he should be. Self is still on the throne. They're saved but the self is still on the throne.

[26:35] They haven't really surrendered to the lordship of our lord. There's still that lack there of spiritual growth of life. And we think how, you know, the carnal nature could be expressed in legalistic attitude, impure thoughts, jealousy, guilt, worry, discouragement, critical spirit, frustration, all of those things that you see listed there.

[26:56] That's just someone else's list that they came up with of all of these things that can fill our life, a poor prayer life, no desire for Bible study. They're still saved but they're carnal.

[27:06] There's a problem there. There's a disconnect in where God wants them to be. They're not there. So we think of the carnal man. They live to be served. They live by feelings. They live by what they see in the world.

[27:17] They live by pleasing self and avoiding the cross. They're spiritual babies. That's the point. Where they're not growing, they're missing out on God's best for them.

[27:28] They're like these spiritual babies that still need their naps and their dummies and their play pens. And they want their way on everything like a little baby does.

[27:38] And they won't be told or taught. They just want to, and if you do, they spit the dummy. There's people like that. It's a human nature thing, isn't it?

[27:49] That we can be carnal. And so this is the kind of picture of the carnal believer that they're missing out really on God's wisdom.

[28:00] They just want their worldly desires and their own worldly ways. They don't want to give up their own selfish, fleshly ways. And it's a very big tragedy that we see that can happen because God wants for believers rather to grow to a stronger faith, to have a deeper walk with God and a better relationship with Him.

[28:21] Our Lord wants us to apply godly wisdom and discernment and not to rely on human understanding or worldly knowledge, not just on that, but to apply God's wisdom and discernment.

[28:33] So again, there's this picture of the carnal believer here. It's just as someone has represented it. And so growing in God means to rather live by the word of God. So in contrast to this, the carnal believer, we see the spiritual believer here.

[28:47] In other words, the Christ-directed life. This is what God wants for you. What God wants for us. Notice the difference is that Christ is pictured there as pictured as it would picture the throne of the life, the throne of the heart, that Christ is seated on the throne of the heart.

[29:04] That's what God wants for us, isn't it? That Christ be seated, that Christ be enthroned, that Christ be centered, that Christ be central on the throne of our heart. Of course, this is just someone's reflection of it, someone's picture of it.

[29:18] I think there's a lot of truth to that. That's what God wants for us. He wants to be the center. He wants to be the foremost. He wants to be in the highest place. He wants to take the throne of our heart.

[29:30] And the Christ-directed life, we see the difference here. We see the fruit of the Spirit there. We see that this life is Christ-centered. We see that the Holy Spirit empowers this man, this woman. We see that this one introduces others to Christ.

[29:45] They're a witness. They've got an effective prayer life. They're growing as they understand God's word, as they're growing in faith, as they're obeying God. Think of the Christ-directed life, the spiritual maturity here that's pictured.

[29:58] We see that we ought to, rather than being carnal, that Christ is at the center, that he is at the highest throne of our life, that that spiritual maturity is such that we'll go stronger, we'll go further, we'll have that steadfastness to go through trials and challenges.

[30:16] And the mature Christian, the spiritual Christian, will learn to trust God. They'll learn to be more faithful, even when trials come. They'll keep that humility, that teachability, that mark of spiritual maturity.

[30:28] And the mature believer, the mature spiritual believer, will be open to correction. They'll want to grow. They'll want to learn.

[30:39] They'll come and study. They'll come and learn. They'll have that humility before God and others. And so that's really the ultimate, isn't it? Rather to be that man, that woman, that is a Christ-directed life.

[30:53] And as I say, there's the sense where the carnal one, they're still saved, but they're not where they should be. They haven't really fully surrendered and submitted their life.

[31:03] There's still this carnality that this self is on the throne. But then we see this one, that Christ is on the throne, that self is not seated on the throne, that Christ is Lord.

[31:18] And so it's our aspiration to be that one rather than that one. Amen? The thing is, we can flip-flop a little, which is a problem, all right? And so we can all think for ourselves, God says to Adam, Adam, where are you?

[31:32] Adam, where are you? He knows where we're at, doesn't he? He knows all about us. How are we? Do we have that half-hearted allegiance where we profess Christ, but there's something lacking?

[31:46] There's a carelessness, a carelessness about fellowship. We're conforming to the world's standards rather than God's word. Will we surrender our will to his will?

[31:56] Will we seek his kingdom above all else, that he be truly king, enthroned as king, in that authority over our lives, that our lives will be a living testimony of his grace and power, that we can be a triumphant, victorious Christian, that we can grow, that we can go from strength to strength, that the path of the just is going to go brighter and brighter unto that perfect day, amen, that we pursue Christ-likeness, that we urge ourselves and one another, that we grow in Bible study, in prayer, in fellowship.

[32:27] Let's commit to grow. Let's commit to be this one, the spiritual, rather than the carnal. And so when we think about growing, really, when you think back of yourself, our whole life is a growing process, isn't it?

[32:41] It's a growing. When you think back where I was 20, 30 years ago as a new Christian, you might think of yourself there and where you were. Hopefully there's been a growth. And spiritual growth is also, it's not always linear in the sense that we can have setbacks.

[32:57] Sometimes our growth is a bit like that, that we have ups and downs, we have setbacks, and we have challenges, and we have defeats on occasion. And it's just like as a child, doesn't become an adult overnight, our spiritual journey can take time and dedication.

[33:13] But one thing's for sure, and I want to leave you with these encouraging words, especially as Paul tells the Philippians, he says, being confident, confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.

[33:29] So when we know we're saved by his grace, it's all entirely of his work. It's not of our works. It's not of our own righteousnesses. It's nothing of our own credit or volition.

[33:40] It's nothing of our own intent or our own manifestation of our own works, of our own doing, of anything. But then there's that sense where those that are saved should maintain good works.

[33:55] There's a sense where we are his workmanship. We're created in Christ Jesus on two good works. So it's not negating that we should have good works, but the good work is the one that he's begun.

[34:06] He's begun a good work. Salvation is the one he's begun. Your salvation is the good work that he does. And he's going to perform it. He's going to help you grow, if you're willing to.

[34:16] So it's good for us to assess our spiritual growth. As the Corinthians were exhorted by Paul, the Lord wants us to examine ourselves. Examine yourselves, Paul says, whether you be in the faith, prove your own selves.

[34:29] Know not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except you be reprobates. So he's saying there, examine your faith. Is Christ in you? Have we got these childish behaviours?

[34:42] Are we easily put out? Are we quick to judge, to gossip? Let's make sure we feed our spirit, that we're growing in this faith, that the godliness will prevail.

[34:54] But we'll be like, as Peter exhorts the folk there, as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word, that you may grow thereby. So friends, tonight as we come to kind of put this all into a, I guess a closing challenge really, examine yourself.

[35:12] Are you in the faith? The main thing is that you're not a natural man. Remember there's three men. The natural is lost. Going to hell. We don't want to be that man.

[35:26] The spiritual man is the man saved by the glory of God, to the grace of God, by the blessed power of God, by the blood of Jesus shed for us with spiritual.

[35:37] But sometimes some of the spiritual, the saved can be carnal. And that's a problem. We want to step out of carnality and step out of being in the carnal man mode to be the spiritual man that will want God to work in our lives, that will yield to the power of the Holy Spirit, that will yield to God, that will have standards and convictions set by the word, that will set our mind on the things of God, that the love of Jesus will motivate us, that the love of his truth, that will want to study to show ourselves approved of God, that will be the one, the spiritual man, as we started off with that scripture there, the spiritual man.

[36:17] The natural man receives not the things of the spirit, but then it talks about the spiritually discerning. The spiritual man is that spiritual discernment. He can discern truth from error.

[36:28] He can say, well, that's false doctrine. That's works-based salvation. He can say that the truth is the truth, and he's got the spiritual discernment.

[36:39] And the spiritual man lives by faith, by the word of God. They live the crucified life. They live to please God. So, friends, I urge you tonight, as we think of these things, think of the wonder of it all.

[36:52] Here's how someone else has pictured it too. It's about what we're feeding on too. What are we feeding our mind on? Is it a carnal mind? The carnal mind would feed on the appetites of the carnal, of the flesh.

[37:08] The carnal mind feeds on, you know, what the world would feed us with. Again, this is someone else's work, they pictured it so. The carnal mind would feed on the entertainment, on the fashion, on the ways of the world, the thinking of the world, the love, lust of the flesh, the pride of life, the lust of the eyes.

[37:29] The carnal mind would feed on that, but the spiritual mind feeds on something different. Amen? The spiritual mind feeds on the word of God. The spiritual mind feeds on prayer, on holiness, fellowship, separation, good works, mission, stewardship.

[37:45] The spiritual mind feeds on that, which is good for the soul. And when you think about it, if we're going to grow, it depends what we're feeding, doesn't it? What are we feeding? Are we feeding the carnal appetites, or are we feeding the spiritual appetites?

[38:01] Let's pray. Lord, we thank you that you don't want us to be spiritual babies, you want us to be men and women of God, you want us to grow from babyhood to adulthood, that our faith would grow, be growing ever stronger, stronger and stronger, Lord, that we'd be more faithful, that by your Spirit's power, you'll help us.

[38:18] As we have that daily struggle, as Paul said, I am yet carnal, Lord, we know there's still that carnality, there's still the old man, that we've got to fight, and nail him down, die daily, we've got to crucify the flesh, and the afflictions, and lust thereof, Lord, help us to have the, rather those passions, that are spiritual, that we pray here tonight, that each one would know what it is, not to stay as a natural man, a lost man, but that each one would know that profession of faith, in you as our Saviour, and Lord, to trust you for our salvation, to know that you died on the cross for our sin, you rose again, you can be our Saviour, by faith as we trust you, and your forgiveness entirely, of our sin, because you've paid everything, for our sin to be forgiven, Lord, we thank you for that great grace, that took you to the cross, and held you there, that love, that sent you to earth, to be our Saviour, Lord, help us, as those that have trusted you, to not settle for carnality, in our walk, to not settle for that which is carnal, to not make the mistakes, like Lot did, like many others did, through the word, when they slipped, and slid it, into sin, but rather let us be, a spiritual people, you'll help us to grow, and as we have the right appetite, we know that you will, feed our soul, help us to, feed our spirit, that our spiritual growth, would be evident, that you are working, in every soul, as we grow in faith, as we grow in grace,

[39:55] Lord, in Jesus name we pray, Amen.