Four Truths About Babes In Christ

Let's turn over to First Corinthians chapter three, First Corinthians three.

You know, the Bible says it's good to give thanks unto the Lord and we need to stop sometimes and just reflect upon how good he has been to us. First Corinthians three. This passage has been on my heart and I just thought I just had some some basic truths as we enter the year that would like to highlight some of the things that we're going to talk about.

Highlight. So First Corinthians three. I want to read just the first four verses there as we stand in honor of God's word tonight. Bible says in First Corinthians chapter three, verse one. And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnally, but as unto babes in Christ.

I have fed you with milk and not with meat for hitherto you were not able to bear it. Neither yet are ye able for ye are yet carnal for whereas there is among you, envying and strife and division. Are you not carnal and walk as men for while one saith I am of Paul and another I am of Apollos.

Are ye not carnal? Father, we thank you for your word tonight. I pray that as we study this portion of scripture that we would all have a passion to grow in the word of God and the joy of God in the in the word of God. I thank you for the growth that Lighthouse has seen and it all is attributed to you.

Lord, we are not sufficient to think anything is of ourself. God and and you're the one who makes us able ministers to do whatever we do and we give you all the praise we it is good to give praise unto you Lord and and give thanks and we want to be cautious to do that and thank you that as the world's getting darker Lord we can be shining the gospel even brighter and I pray that we would stand firm in that. Thank you for the boldness of the men and women here. Thank you for their faithfulness and devotion. Thank you for those who've had long weeks already who've chosen to come and take time around the word of God. We pray that your word would just be our wisdom tonight. Give us understanding clarity help us to apply it to our lives and may your will be done through your word.

We ask it in Christ's name and God's people said and you may be seated tonight. I'm 13 and and eleven and so and they're all girls and I'm going gray. You know, it's like it all works like a big wave. You know, it just flows so but it's a it's a joy but as I was reflecting on my second oldest just how fast they go from being that little little precious baby in your arms to going off and driving and becoming independent.

You know, I mean, you know, I mean, you know, all this is a very independent. I mean, she was, you know, when she was like five years old, she was like a little adult, you know, she she already wanted to to we would have older ladies in the church. Like, hey, can I can I take your daughter out to lunch or something? I'm like my six year old daughter.

Yeah, she just have adult conversation. You know, she's a you know, you know, and she's just grown up real fast and but you know, babies babies are so precious. We had eight babies dedicated just a couple weeks ago on a Sunday and just the joy of bringing life into the world. It's great to hold and feed a baby but you don't want to do it your whole life, right? And I think the older you get you realize your patience isn't what it used to probably be when you were a young parent and and you also want a baby to grow up to learn and to develop the skills that they can begin to take care of themselves.

I realized as a young dad that my wife was much more skilled and equipped to do the things that needed to be done with that that little precious baby than I was. I I remember when she went to eating baby food and stuff and I I just I thought, you know, it's just this little container of this this gross looking stuff, but this little spoon. I just could not effectively get it in the baby's mouth and keep it there. I'm like, listen, child. If you don't want it, then don't eat it. But you know, you're you're making a mess here and I got it. I got all in my hair. You know, it's all over me. I got more baby food on me than the child's got on it, but you know, and and and you know, you try to clean it off its mouth and put it back in and and my wife would just do. I mean, it's just like, boom, you know, baby's eating the whole thing.

It's just down. If I know what I'm talking about, like men, just we struggle with this. And there's always that guy out there.

Well, I never had any problems with it. Well, la dee da. Good for you, you know, but but I was not that guy. I was like, man, I got this is all over me.

I just not not effective, not efficient. And I always thought, man, it's going to be nice. I used to say it's going to be nice when they can feed themselves. You know, it's going to be nice when they can feed themselves.

You know, it's not not effective, not efficient, and I always thought, man, it's going to be nice. I used to say it's going to be nice when they can feed themselves. You know, you know, they they began to do this himself and and and and and so really, it became a reflection to me on on on raising raising people in the Lord is is the joy in the ministry is so wonderful to see people come to Christ. There's just it's hard to match the joy of seeing somebody come to know the Lord. But in essence, I have as much joy in seeing people growing in their faith as I do, seeing people come to Christ is is the New Testament says and no greater joy. John says, Do I have been to see my children walking in the truth?

I believe Paul wrote that. And so we we have joy in and seeing growth, you know, in a baby is precious. But you have certain expectations for babies. You have certain graces for babies. You know, they're allowed to do things that no other human being is allowed to do.

They can squeal. They can act in ways that are just unbecoming of a normal human being because there's there's grace for their their lack of understanding and what they're able to do. But but it's a tragedy to see a 20 year old acting like a baby, isn't it? That becomes very heartbreaking.

And sometimes you can see that and some of the deficiencies that can come. And so as a Christian, we also don't want to see somebody who's 20 years old in the Lord not having grown. And so tonight is is not so much.

I don't think it may be a message for a Wednesday night crowd individually, though. I think we all need to grow in areas for sure. But as we're reaching people with the gospel, as we're leading people to Christ. We also have a responsibility to grow them up in the Lord, and we can't make them grow, but we can give them our time, our love, our attention, encouragement, edifications, rebukes when necessary. Ephesians four thirteen says till we all come into the unity of the faith of the knowledge of the Son of God into a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. And today I want to look at Paul, who addresses the believers at Corinth. Paul speaks to people in this church that are still acting as babes in Christ that need to grow up. And so maybe there are some areas that you're showing some signs of Christian infancy.

We're going to look at four areas tonight and asking yourself, am I still reflecting an attitude of a babe in Christ, or is this also something that I need to invest more into those that I've led to Christ and help them grow? You know, it's it's we really push against easy believers in that lighthouse. We don't want to just get somebody to say a prayer. We really want to make sure they understand the gospel.

That's why we do foundations class. We slow down. We make sure because because their soul matters.

It's not just a number to us. We want to know, do they understand what they're doing? That's what Jesus did. I mean, he slowed down and really preached a strong, hard gospel message, and they needed to know that. And so we're going to be looking at some things over the next couple of weeks on Sundays that I pray that will be challenging and edifying to all of us. So in First Corinthians three, Paul is not talking to those who were just recently saved. He's talking to people who really should have known by now that they should have grown up. And and he gives four different truths about babes in Christ. And we're going to look at those tonight. So this could be an encouragement to you. This could be like, hey, I'm I'm glad because this is pointing some things out to me.

But it could also be convicting because it could show some areas that need growth. So the first thing he says is in verse number one, he says, and I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. Now, now the church at Corinth is is the church Paul started and and they had some solid pastors there.

I mean, Paul, Apollos, they had Peter, they had some some great preachers. And before Paul points out their carnality, he reminds them that they are brethren. And he says, and I, brethren.

And as we said, babies are precious and sometimes a youthful child will need disciplined, as we all have. But these immature believers at Corinth needed rebuked for their immaturity. But Paul loved them and he and he calls them his brethren. They were his children in the faith. And he spoke to them as brothers in Christ and not as a severe judge over them. But because he loved them, he confronted them as Romans three.

Nineteen tells us to rebuke those that we love. Now, what does it mean to be spiritual? Because he says, I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual. Well, the word spiritual can be used a number of ways in the Bible. In a neutral sense, it speaks of things spiritual in contrast to things that are in the physical, tangible world when applied to people.

It's used in regards to their relationship to God in one of two ways. So spiritually, you can be spiritual in a positional sense and also in a practical sense. Positionally being spiritual means that you're saved.

Unbelievers are unspiritual in both respects. They are positionally dead in Christ. They're spiritually dead and practically they produce no good works that are no spiritual works. So to be spiritual could be speaking of your spiritual salvation, but it also could mean you're walking in the spirit, not in the flesh. So there's a positional spirituality and then there's a practical living out spirituality. You could call it justification and sanctification. But unbelievers, again, are unspiritual in both.

They're spiritually dead, but practically they only produce dead works. Now, if I were to ask you the question, can unbelievers please God? Are unbelievers able to please God?

How would you respond to that? And you don't need to answer out loud, but just consider that. Romans eight, verse seven and eight, Paul clarifies the truth. He says, because the carnal mind is enmity and that just means an enemy against God. It is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be so that they that are in the flesh cannot what? So can those that are unsaved please God? No, because they're unspiritual.

Well, they'll do nice things. But what is the motivation to do those things? Is it to glorify God or to please themself? Right. It's not to honor the Lord with.

It's to promote some kind of physical thing. And again, we appreciate the kindness that there is a general goodness that God can put inside of man. And we appreciate those things as he writes his laws on man's hearts, according to Romans chapter number two, verse fourteen and fifteen, which says for the Gentiles, which have not the law, show the works of law written in their heart and their conscience, bearing them witness. So believers, on the other hand, are totally spiritual in the positional sense. When you get saved, you get all of the Holy Spirit you'll ever get. It's called the baptism of the Holy Spirit. You're baptized at salvation.

It means that you're placed in Christ. There is a universal sense of the body of Christ. When the rapture happens, the totality of the church will be raptured up. But that's the church in whole. But in practice, there are local churches and water baptism is a picture of really the spiritual baptism. And it places you into a local church, into that membership.

But it's a picture of the death, burial, resurrection, the physical baptism. But the spiritual baptism happens at salvation. And if you're saved, you have the Holy Spirit dwelling in you. Romans eight, verse nine says, Ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.

Now, if any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is what? So if you don't have the Holy Spirit, you're not saved. So you get saved, the Holy Spirit, and you say, well, what does that mean, the filling of the Spirit? Well, the filling of the Spirit is different than the baptism of the Spirit.

The baptism of the Spirit happens once at salvation. The filling of the Spirit happens repeatedly. And the filling of the Spirit, you could say, is the control of the Spirit.

And Ephesians 5, 18 says, Be not drunk with wine, where in his excess, but be he filled with the Spirit. And that's referring to surrendering your life to the Spirit's control. But you've heard me say it's letting the Lord in the driver's seat of your life. You do that at salvation, but sanctification also requires that continual surrender to God.

It's saying, God, your will be done, not mine, but yours. And so there is the believer is spiritual, totally spiritual in the positional sense. However, in the practical sense, the believer can be spiritual or carnal. Now, he says here, And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal. Now, what does the word carnal mean? Sarginos is the Greek word.

It means fleshly ones. It speaks of man's fallen, Adamic nature, the human body with its sinful desires that are manifested in its rebellion against God. At salvation, we are justified.

Our inner man is born again. But at salvation, sin is not totally eradicated from our lives. And that happens at glorification. There's three parts to our salvation total. There's justification is the deliverance from the penalty of sin. Sanctification is deliverance from the power of sin.

And glorification happens at our death or at the rapture for those who will be alive. That that will deliver us from the presence of sin. Isn't that going to be a great day when sin is totally removed from ability? Like you imagine the moment you're in heaven, you're like, I could never sin again. Not only am I sinless, but I cannot sin. That's going to be a joy of joys.

And then to know the totality of that is going to be wonderful. And so for a believer to be carnal is to live in the fallen sinful nature of the old man instead of the new nature of the spiritual man. Now, let me go back to that for just a moment, because I had a guy ask me a question one time like this. He said, if you cannot sin, does that remove then your freedom? Well, the Bible does say in Romans five, for you're no longer a slave to sin, but you're a slave to righteousness.

But my response was this. The being able to sin is not freedom. Being able to sin is bondage.

You all with me? That is a slavery, isn't it? Isn't going to be freeing when you cannot sin? When your thoughts can't be wrong, your words can't be wrong, your attitudes, your actions, boy, that's liberty. So freedom isn't the ability to sin. Freedom is not being able to sin.

What a joy that's going to be. And so for a believer to be carnal is to live in the fallen old man in the old nature. Paul here addresses the Corinthians as believing believers, but they're carnal.

They're saved, but they're behaving like unbelievers. And God calls believers saints. And the word saint among some, they believe it like you got to do a couple miracles.

You got to you know, there's a process of you know, they declared that person a saint. And I know in Saudi Catholicism, they will do that. That is totally unbiblical.

That is that is totally false. Paul calls the believers at Corinth, which were a very carnal group. He called them saints. What's interesting is the word saints comes from the Greek word Hagias, which the word Hagias is from a root word that means holy.

Hagias means the holy ones. And so he calls believers the holy ones. That's why 1 Peter 1 15 says this. But as he which has called you is holy, so be holy in all manner of conversation, because it's written be holy for I am holy. So so you are a saint. If you're saved, you say, well, I don't always feel like I'm a saint. That's why I praise God. Salvation is not a feeling. It's a fact.

Anybody thankful for that? I had somebody I talked to recently. They said, you know, I didn't have the fluttery feeling when I called out to Christ for salvation. I was like, you don't need a feeling when you have a verse.

Let me ask you, what is your faith built on? It's not built on feelings. Do we come in here and preach feelings this week? Next week? Anybody glad we're not basing our faith on feeling standing on the feelings of Josh? Stand. I mean, we do we sing that tonight? Standing on the promises, right?

Yeah, we're standing on the promises. So so so let me ask you, if the guy the thief on the cross is dying next to Jesus, Lord, remember me in your kingdom. He says today you'll be with me in paradise. He's like, Well, I don't feel like I'm going to paradise. Jesus could say it doesn't matter how you feel.

What I've said, I've said. So faith is not wishful thinking. Faith is not built on some kind of hope.

I hope this happens. We think about faith that way in a general sense in America's world. But but in the Bible, faith is connected, like the foundation is the word of God and faith is built like a rock on top of that rock. So it's faith is faith is attached to the foundation of God's word. So so everything we believe has a verse holding it up. Like, why do you believe that? Because God says, dah, dah, dah, as it is written, what sayeth the scripture?

We just keep going back to that. So it's important to understand what being carnal does to your spiritual life. Being carnal, living the flesh, allow sin into our life. And it stunts your spiritual growth. Those Christians who allow sin in their life, push the pause button on their spiritual growth.

You are justified. One day you'll be glorified. But right now, your your obedience to the Lord is is is being hindered by your acceptance of sin.

And and you're not growing. And the goal of salvation is to be conformed into the image of Christ. It's not just to get you to heaven. It's that we might reflect Christ in our life.

The Bible says in Ephesians four thirty till we all come into unity, the faith of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. We are being conformed to his image. And Romans eight twenty eight says twenty nine says for whom he did for no, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son.

He predestinated us that we might be conformed to the image of Christ. You will ultimately one day forever reflect Christ in your life. Like in a thousand years, people would look at us and say, you look like Jesus.

You you you sound like him. You the Bible says when we see him, we will be like him for we shall see him as he is. We will be perfected in Christ. We're not little Christ and we're not little gods, but the Bible tells us that we partake in the divine nature. You understand you possess immortality.

You the only thing holding you back is this. This chrysalis of flesh. That one day will put off in the reality of what we have been created to be, will be and the joy, friends, the joy for us is heaven. I, I understand the sorrow of losing our, you know, our health and losing loved ones. And we need to cry. We need to be sorrowful.

There there is pain and death. But there's also almost a jealousy for those who get to go on to paradise first. I mean, if we could see everyone in heaven, we'd be like, man. Turkeys like I was I was I was crying over grandma, you know, so and so or grandpa, so and so or mom or dad, but man, they're having a blast or not even, you know, and just the glory of heaven.

It would bring us joy beyond joy. You know, I'd always say if our loved ones can't be here, where else would we want them to be than there? And so on this side of heaven, what should we be busy doing? Sharing the gospel, making sure our loved ones know Christ.

Is that important? Have you made up your list this year of who in your world doesn't know Christ? Your family members, your I hope you had some resolutions this year, you sat down and said, I'm resolved. I'm resolved to make sure that all the loved ones of my life know the gospel, because if they don't, where else are they going to get it? You think they're going to turn Fox News, MSNBC, CNN, local ABC and you think they're going to find the gospel somewhere? They're not airing Billy Graham messages like that anymore on our broadcast, right? I mean, this is for people to get the gospel in this world.

You've got to be very intentional. Because even even a lot of the churches don't know the gospel and how tragic that is. So so as a Christian, you can be either carnal or spiritual. You walk in the flesh or the spirit. Galatians 5 16 says, walk in the spirit and you won't fulfill the lust of the flesh for the flesh lust against the spirit. The spirit against the flesh.

There is a real battle that goes on. And every day we have a choice. Am I going to be fleshly or spiritual?

And God has created us to be spiritual. Secondly, babes in Christ are known by their diet. Look at verse two. He said, I fed you with milk and not with meat for hitherto you were not able to bear it.

Neither yet now are you able. You know, babies love the food they get. They can eat it as though it's amazing. I mean, they slurp it up. And I had to taste baby food because I was like, how are they eating this? I got so bad. And I'll be honest with you, like I felt guilty.

I'd be sitting there eating like a nice piece of like a steak or a piece of chicken or like grilled out. Like I'm like, man, you know, slopping down that, you know, I don't even feed that to my enemy right there. I mean, that's just in this child just kind of feel bad. It's like, well, that's what they that's all they can handle.

And they don't know what they're missing. So more for daddy. All I know now is my kids eat me out of house and home, man.

These kids and I have girls and they don't even eat that much. Like compared to when I grew up, I couldn't even imagine my brother. I have an older brother.

He had seven kids. And he said he's like, man, my bills are a thousand a week in groceries. Like it's just these boys, man. He's got these big old boys. I have a sophomore nephew. He's like 15 years old, benching 315 pounds.

He's a big old kid. These guys just just protein animals, you know, bring bring home a kill a cow, you know, they just eat it all. And I remember that, you know, growing up, my dad had come home. You hid the leftovers. Does anybody do this? Oh, yes.

Yes. Yeah, you hide that stuff. Well, my dad wouldn't give us a whole lot that's worth hiding. You know, bran flakes. We didn't have like the frosted flakes, shredded wheat. Now they have frosted, shredded wheat. You all know what I'm talking about. We didn't get any of that sugary stuff.

Yeah, we got our ration. You know, we had to walk barefooted up, you know, back in my day. We was talking at staff meeting today, the old rotary phones. You know, you'd have to, you know, by the time you got to the ninth digit, you're like, boy, I hope I got that right.

Ah, you know, I have to start all the way over again. And I asked a couple of staff guys like, you remember that? And there's like, I've looked at, I've seen one of those before. I'm like, yeah, you don't even know what I'm talking about.

I remember seeing things with cords on them. Yeah. And so babies love the food they get, but it just makes me look at sometimes Christians who are on the surface of it. You know, maybe they love church.

They love teaching, preaching. They love being fed. But boy, there's a joy of feeding yourself, isn't there?

When you be able to get into the word of God and you begin to pray over scripture, pray through scripture, read scripture, study scripture, memorize scripture, share scripture, feed it to somebody else, see someone safe, see them growing, begin to mentor, counsel, disciple, begin to pour out your life. I tell you what, there is a meaty joy that people who only come and get fed without feeding, they just miss it. And I always say we all get fed. There is a feeding time when we come and the pastor is to feed the flock of God, which is among them. First Peter, Chapter five, Acts 20.

But we also need to understand there is a time to grow to where we feed ourselves. God's word spoken of as the believers food. First Peter two two says as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word that you may what? Rather by we grow through the word.

It's it's called milk there. Matthew four four refers to it as bread. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord, it's compared to bread. Hebrews five twelve says when you times you have to be teachers, you have one that teach you again, which be the first principles of the oracles of God in our has become such as have need of milk and not of strong meat. The Bible is referred to as not only milk, but also strong meat.

Someone nineteen one or three refers to the word even as honey, like sweeter than honey to my taste. David says it is not hard to know a believer's maturity level. All you do is have to look at what kind of diet they have.

Just examine their diet. We all start on the milk of the word and the word is what grows the believer. But Paul is not talking to people who just got saved at Corinth.

He spent 18 months with them. They had a highly gifted pastor named Apollos who taught them and they had no excuse for still being babes in Christ. But that's where they were.

You know, again, we all start as babes and we're patient with babes in Christ, but there should be a longing for the deeper truths of God's word. Corinthian believers were spiritually ignorant. Their problem was not that they were unintelligent.

They didn't have a low IQ or lack of teachers. They were ignorant because they were fleshly. God reveals his truth to those who want it and those who seek it with humility and purity of heart. Sometimes people say, why are there so many denominations? Who's ever asked that question before?

You know why? One reason is because there's some groups that have spiritual babes in Christ that were leading them. And they came up with babe in Christ doctrines and they can't understand the simplicity of truth. Transubstantiation ism.

You all know what I'm talking about? Can I just break that down for just a minute? So transubstantiation ism, which is a doctrine that's taught by like the Catholic Church as well as some Orthodox churches, is that at the Lord's table, the elements become the actual body and blood of Jesus Christ. Who's ever said under that teaching? OK, so so they they literally become the body and blood of Jesus Christ. They say, well, where do they get that? Well, they get that from John Chapter number six.

Right. So John Chapter six, Jesus said this. Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no part in me. Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, they're like, well, that's what he said, so that must be it. So they to be saved, you have to eat his flesh and drink his blood.

So the elements during the priest prayer become the actual body and blood of Jesus Christ. OK, really? So let's see the context there for just a moment.

May I? This is this is how you separate spiritually mature understanding believers from those who don't you get it. Don't you see? John three, Jesus said, you must you cannot enter in the kingdom heaven unless you're born again. You must be born again. What did Nicodemus say? Can I do I need to enter into your mother's womb? Mother's womb? Yeah, because that's what a fleshly minded person thinks.

That's how that that's how that denomination starts with the Nicodemus group. Now, the only way you get to have you got to figure out a way to get back into Mama's belly. Because Jesus said, unless you're born again, you can't enter the kingdom of God. So that's what he literally said. So you've got to get back into Mama's belly.

Really? Somebody's talking about there's a spiritual birth and then there's a physical birth. He said that which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit of spirit.

People say, well, water baptism saved you. John chapter says, unless you're born of the water and enter the spirit. That's why the next verse he says that which is born of the flesh is flesh. Right. What breaks when a baby is born, the water breaks.

Right. And that which is born of the spirit of spirit. There's a water birth and there's spiritual birth. So so what happens in John four?

John Chapter four. You have the woman at the well. Jesus told her, I am the living water. If you drink of this water, you'll never thirst again. Jesus is literal water. We need to make sure we drink that water because he becomes literal water.

If we drink that water, we'll live forever. Is that what he's saying? John Chapter six. You know what happens? Jesus turned five loaves and two fishes to feed 15 to 20,000 people.

Is that right? And then then what's he do? He he tells them the message and you know what they keep doing, they keep rejecting it. They keep rejecting it. They keep rejecting it.

Let me ask you a question. What does Jesus do to people who keep rejecting his truth? Does he reveal it or hide it? He hides. Does he hide it?

Doesn't he? What's Matthew 13 tell us? Matthew 13 tells us the disciples said, Jesus, why do you speak to them in parables? You know what he said? Because it is given to you to know the mystery of the kingdom, but to them is what? It's not given. It's to you to be given the mystery of the kingdom, but to them it's not given for they seeing, see not in hearing, they hear not.

So fast forward. Now let's go to John six. He just feeds the 5000, which is just men plus women and children.

You have all these people. They keep rejecting Christ, rejecting Christ, rejecting Christ. You think he's going to unload on them some, some new truth after they've all rejected him. Now I'm going to tell you about the Lord's supper. He's not even talking about the Lord's supper in John six. He doesn't institute that till the day before he dies, but you have some denominations who think that he's instituting the Lord's supper in John six. It's like, what are you talking about? You think he's going to tell a bunch of unbelievers who are leaving him for the first time about the ordinance of the church? Don't you get it?

Are you so blind to reality? They get on the boat to cross the, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. Oh, we forgot to take bread.

He's like, have you hardened your heart? You think I'm talking about bread? Beware of the teaching of the Pharisees.

Not their food. What do you talk? What's he say in John 10? I am the door of the sheep. You know, Jesus' door. We've got to actually open a door. We're going to be open door church. You know, we're going to have a door called Jesus and you're going to go in that door.

You're going to drink water because he's also the water you're going to, do you see how you see this? How many pictures does Jesus have to show of a physical item to show a spiritual reality? People get this all confused and it's like, it's just so clear in the Bible. I could keep going on about this, but I'm just, I didn't plan on talking about this, but this, those are the kind of reasons like, why do you have these? Why do you have so many denominators? Just one Bible.

Yeah. Cause they don't, they don't understand it. They're reading it. The Bible tells us, the Bible tells us the things in the Bible are spiritually discerned and the Holy Spirit is the one who opens your eyes up to the truth. Anybody ever came to lighthouse and said, man, it just, I began understanding the scriptures.

I began to like my eyes were opened. It's not the talent of me. Believe me, that is a Holy Spirit of God that opens the eyes when his word is clearly taught. I am a pastor that leans on the scriptures. I don't ever come and think, you know, what's a cool story that they would really enjoy. What's a, I don't do that. Like whatever I tell just, it wasn't planned.

It just happens. So it, but, but it's the scripture that needs to be unveiled and released and you begin to, you begin to long for it and you desire it and, and if the pastor doesn't long for the word, why would the people, right? I want you to study the Bible as I would study the Bible. I like, like preacher, like, like the people should follow that do is follow Christ. Follow me as I follow Christ, as Paul said, and that's a heavy weight, but that should be every father and mother's desire. Every husband to their wife, wife to their husband, that they would set that example of one for another as well.

And so, so we all started babes in Christ, but we all need to grow up in the Lord. Um, and, and, and, and you'll know people by their diet. You will know them by their diet. What?

What are they eating? Um, you know, I, you, you, you read the Bible much, you know, I, I, I don't. Have you read this week? Well, I just, I go to church, I really enjoy the sermons. That's good. That's, that's a good first step. Um, but you need to pick up the fork.

You need to eat because I can tell you, we're all doing this. I won't ask you to raise your hand. Who checked their phones since we've been in church? Don't raise your hand. They'll be like, well, no, this is the Baptist hand raiser right here. It's a lighthouse, lighthouse family church hand raiser here or they'll, they'll like pull, they'll put it up in front of their neighbor, you know, so let me give you two, two more things. Babes in Christ are known by their discernment, discernment.

Um, uh, if you got your Bible's, you can flip over to Hebrews five 13. You know, one thing that babies don't always don't always have is they don't have discernment, young children, young babes, and they don't, they don't have discernment. They don't know how they're supposed to act. I mean, they, they just, uh, they, they can behave in ways that are just not the correct way to behave. You know, I was, I remember being critical as like a young 20 year old. I was like, why doesn't that parent get their child in line, man? You know, we're in the middle of Walmart.

It's ridiculous. You know, when I have kids, my kids will never act that way. I'm like, Lord, did you hear me?

Cause I want to make sure you bring full judgment upon me when this happens. You know, I remember being in line, I remember one of my daughters, my first oldest, like just, uh, you know, grabbing the, and they do these wicked things in stores. Like they will put these items like right there, like eye level to the kids and they're like, mom, you know, dad, no, grab it.

You turn around like, put it back on it, no, no, no. You don't want to be that parent. It's like the screaming parent in the, in the store. I just don't want to ever do that. But you're like, in your mind, you're just like livid, put that back, honey.

And they're like mine, no. And there's a whole line of people behind them. The cash ladies are waiting right there and you're just like, I'm going to light you up when you get out in the car and they're like, it don't matter. I got the gift right now.

I'm gonna eat it on the cart before we even leave the store. You know what I mean? They just, they'll just abuse you and you just, you're, you're some, and then they'll just start screaming like a maniac sometimes you're just like this, you know, I can't wait till my oldest child has children and uh, she's so good after like the terrible like nines after the, uh, but uh, after she got through those stages of toddlerhood and all that stuff like, but man, those, those early days, patience, man. But Hebrews five, 13, um, says this for everyone that use of milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness for he is a babe that they don't have the skill in the word, but strong meat belongeth to them that are a full age. Even those who by reason of use have their senses exercise to discern both good and evil. They can navigate what is acceptable, what's not acceptable, what's okay, what's not okay I remember, um, uh, he probably wouldn't be care of me sharing it, but I remember Eric when he got saved, um, he was an atheist who got saved. So like his standard of like morality was like so off, like he just had no, I said, what do you know about the Bible? He says, the only thing I know about the Bible is what I saw in Homer's like, like on the Simpsons. He's like, that's, he's, I know nothing. So um, praise God he's on the mission field now preaching, but I remember when he got saved, uh, he, I, I said, man, you can't be, you know, staying at your girlfriend's house at night. And he's like, why not? We ain't doing nothing. Let's have a little conversation here, man. Let's go back to ground level.

Um, you can't stay there. I said, because if you leave her apartment room and then, then what do you think your neighbors will be thinking? He's like, well, why does that matter?

I said, because it does. The Bible says abstain from all the parents of evil, but as a baby in Christ, they're like, I don't get that. Like, like, yeah, you, you need to learn that.

You believer, like if you're, if you're saved, you shouldn't be living with somebody that you're not married to. I've had multiple conversations with people who've come to lighthouse over the years who said why there's nothing wrong with that. Is there like, w w we're just, yeah, they're, they're the, uh, it's, and now I have to have it with 70 year old people.

Is that sad? I've had people come up to me and, uh, I said, Hey, how long you guys been married? They're like, we're not. I'm like, really?

Oh, that's a shocker. Hmm. How long you guys been living together for the last 15 years?

When are you able to meet this week? And uh, well, we're not doing any, you know, we're, um, I said, would you have a problem if your pastor was living with the woman? Would anybody here think you would have a problem that it's not my wife? Let's clarify that. Living with a woman that wasn't my wife, say I was a single guy and it's like, well, I think pastors living with her, you know, they're not married.

Now, just so you know, I am married, I have four kids. I would be killed tomorrow if you know, I crossed that line. So uh, everybody should have a problem with that. You must raise your hand on stuff like that, right? Because those are biblical truths. You don't commit fornication.

You don't even, you stain from the appearance of that. Why? Because the name of Jesus Christ is on the line. We bear his name.

We don't want to look like the world. Well that's being judgmental. No, that's actually being loving. Eric would tell you today. He said, oh, you know, that was just, I can't even believe like there were so many things he would say that he's like, I just can't believe I even thought that way. But as you grow, you begin to have discernment. You have your senses. It says exercise to know good and evil.

You can discern the difference. You ever, you ever have a new believer? They just kind of get, you know, I've been reading about this new thing and they get pulled into some crazy doctrine. It's like, did you watch a YouTube video? I do that now with people.

I have people who come to me and they'll like, they'll like share something, some, some weird teaching. And I'm like, who did you watch? And they're like, what do you mean? I'm like, well, I said, you got that off of some YouTube weird thing, didn't you? And they're like, yeah. And I'm like, and then they'll sit like, can you watch this four hour long video and like break down what you think about you think I'm going to watch for four hours?

No. So Ephesians four, let me, let me go through this. This ought to be enjoyable.

Pull all my hair out at one setting. But Ephesians four, 14 says this, that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carry about with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men in cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to the sea. One thing children do is they get tossed to and fro. They don't know what to believe. Do you know how they, how they determine what, like when they, the US department, when they, when they have people that are trained to identify false dollar bills, they'd never studied the false dollar bills. They study the true one.

So when a false one comes along, they can easily identify it. So when people get saved, they're like, you know, I want to start studying all these other religions. Why study the truth? Because I can tell you, you don't know all of this yet. And the more you study, the more you'll realize your cup is, needs filled. And so study this.

And then when air comes along, you'll be like, I get, I see it, boy, I see that. I get that. I understand that. I sat down with somebody who is, who is inside of a Orthodox church and Catholicism and Orthodoxy, they hold tradition to be on equal level, if not superior than the word of God. Sola Scriptura is rejected. So they said, you know, over, over the history of the church, you know, church, you know, inside of Catholicism, Orthodox church, Orthodox broke off around 1000 AD and went off. So I said, well, let's, let's study that out. I said, you know, the word, and I wouldn't have planned on talking about this, but I just, this is extra stuff. The word traditions used in the New Testament, I believe it was around 16 or 17 times. Basically every time Jesus used the word, he uses it in a negative sense.

Beware of the tradition of men. Full well you reject the word of God by your tradition. I said, you know, you know, the Jews had tradition. I said, you're looking at the last couple thousand years for church history.

I said, let me take you a couple thousand years before that. I said, let's jump into Jewish history because that book's written by Jews, right? So so you know what they had? They had the oral law and they had the written law.

They had the, um, the, the, the, the oral law was what they, they passed down, uh, different traditions and so forth. Do you know how many times they're, they're traditions are quoted? Like how many times the Old Testament, let me say it this way. Do you know how many times the New Testament quotes the Old Testament directly is at least the 300 different references, direct quotations from the Old Testament, the new, and there's over a thousand references of the Old Testament in the new. And so the, the Old Testament, the New Testament never one time quotes their body of literature of their, of the Jewish tradition. And for some reason it's escaped me that it's the Gomorrah and the, um, Mishnah. Yes, thank you, Mishnah. So the Jewish Mishnah, which is their, their, their traditions, the mission is never once quoted by Christ.

Never once. He always quotes the scripture. So if no one in the New Testament, no one in the gospels quotes the Jewish Mishnah, when there's never been a religion built bigger on tradition than Judaism, you won't find it. Judaism was built on tradition. And what did Jesus do? He kept annihilating their traditions, didn't he? He's like, he would heal people and say, I want you to take your bed up and now I want you to walk. Just violated like 500 traditions right there.

He just, he broke all their sensibilities. So, so when we come, do we, do we then base tradition into, do you think now in the, in the New Testament, we're supposed to, after the conclusion of revelation, now we're to begin to add more tradition on top of the scripture. And now this is new information. So do you know why they like put images up on their wall and pray to those images and believe like there's different, all these traditions, you know, we're like purgatory basically was created by the Catholic church and that didn't exist for like the first 1800 years of the church. Those things, you don't find them in the Bible and it's not in the Apocrypha either. They get that actually out, I think it's first Corinthians chapter three, where it later talks about the wood hay and stubble.

That's the only place they, they get purgatory. It's not even, it's so, so you, but you build it on church. So the church, they use the first Timothy passage where it's the pillar and ground of the truth, but it doesn't create truth. It dispenses the word of God. So what I'm trying to say is babes in Christ, they don't, they, they, they, they get tossed to and fro with these false doctrines.

They don't understand the truth and they get pulled into error and, and, and, and the way you keep yourself from that is by knowing the word of God. Every, everything has to be tested against the word of God. So when, let me, let me put it like this, when, when Paul went to the church at Berea, he said they were more noble because they searched the traditions.

Is that what it says? They searched the what? Churches to see if as a chief apostle, they tested the chief apostles word while he was still alive with the word of God. And if they did it then, and he said they're more noble because they did that, there was no tradition they tested that against. It was only the word of God.

What else do we build upon? Yet when I sit down and I talk to people, they get sucked into these false teachings and they believe it. I had a conversation for about two hours with somebody just a couple of months ago and it's like their eyes were glazed over with these false teachings and I'm like, how do you not get it? It just saddens me and I'm thinking, I've just shown you the New Testament doesn't elevate tradition. They didn't do it in the Jewish culture. The New Testament doesn't do it. So now you're going to believe it because some father told you that?

How sad, how utterly sad. Number four, before I get my blood pressure up, babes in Christ are known by their divisiveness. Verse three and four, he says, for ye are yet carnal for whereas there is among you envying and strife and divisions, are ye not carnal and walk as men for while one saith I'm of Paul and other I'm of Apollos, are ye not carnal? One thing kids are good at is being divisive, right? You put a bunch of kids together, somebody's getting pinched, hair pulled, scratched, and you know one thing kids are good at, they're good at identifying themselves with superheroes.

The Avengers, and this spirit comes along on the playground, my dad, better than your dad. He can whip your dad and we begin to have these competitions and you see that childish spirit in this church at Corinth. We're more spiritual because I was baptized by Paul while I was baptized by Apollos. And they're debating over this through this identification of who baptized them.

They thought that made them more spiritual. He says here in verse number three, there is envying, this jealous attitude, this wrong attitude, it creates strife among you. Jealousy is on the inside, strife is what comes on the outside. The visions, this is a result of strife, it creates separation. Show me a jealous person, you will soon find strife that will lead to division.

Children get jealous, they get into it with other people. The sign of spiritual maturity on the other hand is people don't get jealous because of Philippians two, three, it says they esteem others better than themselves. And so babes in Christ, I'm not talking about new believers, I'm talking about people who should know better, are known by their direction, they're carnal instead of spiritual. They're known by their diet, milk instead of meat.

They're known by their discernment right for a moment, they're known by their divisiveness. And so some keys to spiritual growth, you need to recognize where you are. Are you a babe in Christ or there's some areas you need to grow in? Have a humble spirit, humility is the soil of growth. Study the word of God, read it, listen to it, memorize it, share it.

That's why if you're not doing here journals, we're going to be launching those back up in April, new ones, you need to be involved in those. Make sure your heart's clean, sin will stunt your growth. And then recognize a responsibility to others. One thing that will help you grow is when you have a accountability group that you meet with, that's why the D groups are so beneficial, that if you're holding somebody accountable, it creates accountability to you. Like if you're like, hey, you know, I'm going to meet up with this, this friend of mine and you know, our goal is to read five chapters this week and do this journal entry. Well, you know, if you're a mentor to them, you have to do it.

It doesn't matter what happens that week, how many hours you work, you got to get it done because you're holding them accountable and them to you. And so create those kinds of accountabilities in your life. That's why people who isolate themselves just stunt their growth and they do nothing to minister to other people. And so tonight let us be a growing church, a healthy church, lead people to Christ, but don't leave them there.

You need to help them to grow, plug them into foundations, go through foundations with them. You know, our goal should be this. Every one of us should set the goal to duplicate your life into someone else this year. If every person at lighthouse brought one person to Christ and disciple them, saw them baptize and growing, this church would double in a year. Just one person.

So just set the goal. God, give me one soul. If you're a man, give me a man. If you're a lady, give me a lady.

Give me somebody I could pour my life into. Amen. So I'll stand this evening. Father, we thank you for your word tonight. Again, it's our joy to gather around and just reflect upon your truths. Thank you for the men and women that are here tonight. God help us to be a faithful church, a humble and growing church. Help us to faithfully teach and preach the word of God, to do it faithfully for your glory built up the body of Christ. I pray that you would bless this time as we, we just reflect upon the message. God, if there's any decisions that need to be made, if there's anyone in this building tonight that needs to come surrender their life to Jesus Christ, it's a night would be that time if they need to make some commitments and resolutions, maybe somebody to pray for that sick or needs to be in their life that they need to share the gospel with whatever Lord that we need to cast upon you, that would be done tonight. God bless this invitation in Christ's name.