Examining Christian growth. Hindrances to growing into the image of Christ
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0:00 [Music] all the glory must be to the lord 0:07 [Music] 0:16 no one on earth 0:21 [Music] [Applause] 0:28 [Music] 0:33 praise ye the lord praise ye the lord 0:39 hallelujah all the glory must be 0:45 to the lord blessings beloved this is brother josh 0:51 here again before we continue letters let us pray 0:58 father we thank you for this privilege again the idea of life 1:05 of being able to share with my brothers and sisters 1:10 that which you are sharing with me but i will pray that you give us 1:16 understanding father we pray that you 1:21 give us a grace to apprehend that which you are trying to say to us 1:26 and it will be profitable for us we pray in jesus name 1:32 amen praise the lord brothers and sisters 1:37 god bless you all richly we have been speaking 1:43 on the topic of christian growth 1:49 we've done a few episodes and i 1:54 want to say that this builds 2:01 up so if you're listening [Music] to number eight i hope you listen to 2:08 number seven before you listen to number eight and i hope you listen to number six before you listen to number seven 2:15 you know it builds up like that uh because it's line up online precept 2:22 upon precept today we're going to start looking at 2:29 some hindrances to christian growth 2:34 some hindrances to christian growth 2:42 by the mercies of god there are some things that 2:49 god shows us that hinder us from growing 2:55 in christ there's some there's some things that god shows us 3:02 that lets us know if we didn't know that indeed he's concerned about uh 3:09 growth uh welfare uh progression 3:15 one of those things that god has mercifully showed 3:23 to his church that fights against 3:29 that wars against uh growth in christ 3:37 is the doctrine of balum 3:42 the doctrine of balaam you can call it balaam 3:49 b-a-l-a-m the doctrine of balum 3:54 and again uh discussions here are centered on the 4:00 word uh it's not based on 4:07 philosophers or jewish or gentile theologians 4:14 or what jewish or gentile scholars believe i'm not knocking anybody i'm just saying 4:23 we discuss based on god's word so i implore you 4:29 to get your bibles out let us reason the scriptures together 4:35 get your bibles out the doctrine of balaam 4:41 revelation chapter 2 verse 14. the bible says 4:48 jesus says but i have a few things against thee 4:53 because thou has there them 4:59 that hold the doctrine of balaam who taught 5:06 balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of israel 5:14 to eat things sacrificed onto idols and to 5:20 commit fornication [Music] 5:29 the lord says that some believers are holding 5:34 the doctrine of balaam this doctrine causes defilement of god's 5:42 children let me read that again revelations 2 14. 5:49 i have a few things against thee because thou has there them 5:55 that hold the doctrine of balaam 6:00 who taught balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of israel 6:06 to eat things sacrificed onto idols and to commit fornication 6:13 what is a stumbling block the definition in strong's concordance 6:20 is that it is a snare it is a trap stick 6:27 figuratively it is to cause displeasure of sin 6:35 it's an occasion to fall it's an offense is something that 6:40 offends a stumbling block also the dictionary defines a stumbling 6:47 block as a difficulty that prevents 6:52 progress obviously if somebody 7:00 falls in a snare or he stumbles and he falls 7:07 he can't progress because he was going somewhere when he stumbled and he fell 7:14 so a stumbling block 7:19 prevents progress 7:27 now who is balum balaam was a 7:33 prophet of god who walked with the enemy against the 7:40 people of god 7:47 [Music] balaam was a prophet of god 7:52 who worked with the enemy against the people of god 7:58 he was a real prophet turned false or mad prophet 8:04 because in his case because of 8:10 money second peter chapter 2 second peter chapter 2 verse 8:17 12 to 16 says this but these 8:23 as natural brute beasts made to be taken and destroyed speak evil of the things that 8:30 they understand not and shall utterly perish in their own corruption 8:38 and shall receive the reward of unrighteousness as they that counted 8:43 pleasure to riot in the daytime spots they are 8:48 and blemishes spotting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you 8:56 having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin 9:02 beguiling unstable souls and hearts they have exercise with 9:08 covetous practices cursed children beloved these are very strong words 9:17 verse 15 which pay attention now 9:23 have forsaken the right way and are gone astray 9:29 following the way of balaam the son of boso 9:35 who loved the wages of unrighteousness and was rebuked for his iniquity 9:43 the dumb ass speaking with man's voice forbade 9:48 the madness of the prophet 9:57 balaam's story is in the old testament but peter is speaking about it 10:05 and he gives us these very strong words 10:10 we see the origins of balaam in numbers chapter 22 10:16 verse 1 to 6. don't forget now we're talking about hindrances 10:23 to christian growth hindrances 10:29 numbers chapter 2 verse 1 to 6 says and the children of israel 10:35 set forward and pitched in the plains of moab on this side jordan by jericho 10:42 and balak the son of zepor saw all that israel had done to the amorite 10:49 and moab was so afraid of the people because there were many and moab was distressed because of the 10:57 children of israel i'm more upset unto the eldest of median 11:02 now shall this company leak up all that around about us 11:08 as the ox licket up the grass of the field and balak the son of zippo 11:16 was king of the moabites at that time 11:23 the enemy is afraid of the israelites i want us to get that 11:30 the enemy is afraid of the israelites 11:38 what does he do verse 5 he sent messengers before therefore unto balaam 11:46 the son of beo to pito which is by the river of the 11:52 land of the children of his people to call him saying behold 11:57 there is a people come out of egypt behold they cover the face of the earth 12:04 and they abide over against me [Music] the enemy says the children of israel 12:12 which the scriptures declare are a small people 12:19 god didn't choose them because there were many they are still small compared to those 12:25 around them but in the eyes 12:31 of the enemy they cover the face of the earth 12:38 hmm verse 6 numbers 22 6 12:43 come now therefore i pray thee curse me this people for they are too mighty for me 12:51 paraventure i shall prevail that we may smite them and that i may drive them out 12:56 of the land for what not rather for i what 13:03 that he whom thou blessest is blessed and he whom thou cursest 13:10 is curse before 13:18 the enemy wanted to attack god's people 13:24 he wanted to take care of the spiritual side mm-hmm 13:32 [Music] he wanted to take care of the spiritual 13:37 side 13:44 satan came after adam and eve but he did not attacked him 13:52 physically he dealt with the spiritual side 14:01 he wanted them to disobey god because 14:07 disobedience brings an uncovering 14:12 or if i may say obedience is critical 14:20 when it comes to spiritual battles because 14:26 for example the bible says in the book 14:31 of second corinthians chapter 10 14:38 for example the often quoted section of scripture that talks about 14:44 spiritual warfare the bible says from verse 3 14:50 for though we walk in the flesh we do not war after the flesh 14:56 for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty true god to the pulling down 15:04 of strongholds verse 5 casting down imaginations 15:10 and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of god and bringing into captivity 15:18 every thought to the obedience of christ 15:24 that's where i've heard most messages stop 15:30 on that verse four and five for the weapons of our friend o'connell but verse six says 15:36 and having in a readiness talking about god now to revenge all 15:42 disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled 15:48 spiritual warfare is not complete until obedience is complete 15:55 or spiritual warfare is weakened in the presence of disobedience 16:02 so the enemy wanted to in the case of eve 16:08 breach adam and eve's spiritual defense 16:14 by luring them into disobedience to god 16:20 in that disobedience we have a problem so let's come back 16:26 to balak balak wanted to take care of a spiritual 16:32 angle before he attacked the people physically 16:37 and the spiritual angle in this case was 16:43 for a prophet to curse them because he knew that they were blessed 16:51 now numbers 22 let's pick up on verse 7 16:58 and the elders of moab and the eldest of median departed with the rewards of divination 17:05 in their hand and they came onto balaam and spake unto him the words of balak 17:12 and he said unto them lord hear this night and i'll bring you word again as the 17:18 lord shall speak unto me and the princes of moab are bold with balam 17:25 now this is a regular prophet um you guys came to me for something 17:34 well i need to confess with my boss okay god is my boss 17:40 and whatever he tells me yeah i'll let you guys know that seems fair enough 17:47 verse 9 and god came to balaam and said what men are these with thee and balaam 17:53 said unto god balak the son of zippo king of moab has sent unto me saying 17:58 behold there come a people out of egypt which covered the face of the earth come now cost me them paraventure i shall be 18:06 able to overcome them and drive them out and god said to balaam 18:11 thou shalt not go with them thou shalt not curse his people 18:16 for they are blessed hallelujah these are very clear and specific 18:23 instructions from the lord let's fast forward 18:31 to numbers 23 verse 20 and 21 18:39 verse 20 behold i have received commandment to bless and he has blessed 18:44 and i cannot reverse it he has not beheld 18:50 listen now guys he talking about god has not be beheld iniquity in jacob 18:57 neither has he seen perverseness in israel 19:03 the lord his god is with him and the shout of a king 19:10 is among them what is he saying here what is happening 19:17 i skipped the beginning part of chapter 23 19:22 but that was when balaam built his altars 19:29 and went to get a word from god despite the specific instructions you 19:34 know it was thinking god would change his mind or something i don't know 19:41 for gain for money's sake so that balak would 19:47 enrich him with some money 19:52 despite the attempts it was blessings that came from his mouth when he opened his mouth to 19:58 prophesy so there's this summation here we just read 20:04 verse 21 verse 20 god balak is saying that god 20:11 has given him commandment to bless and god has blessed and he 20:17 balaam cannot reverse it that was verse 20. then verse 21 he that is god 20:24 has not beheld iniquity in jacob 20:30 neither has he seen perverseness in israel 20:38 balaam is saying god is saying 20:44 that he has not seen any perverseness 20:49 or iniquity in jacob so his blessings on them remain 20:58 now the enemy was not able 21:05 to attack israel externally 21:10 from the outside let me curse them then i can go fight them and kill them 21:20 i got to do the spiritual first then come with the physical 21:26 and wipe them out but they failed 21:31 because god has blessed them and his blessings because he did not 21:37 behold iniquity or perversion in israel 21:45 so what did the enemy do he switched tactics 21:53 and attacked them from the inside out he attacked israel internally 22:02 [Music] he attacked 22:09 israel internally internally from the inside 22:14 out uh 22:21 you know and i know we all we all love the scripture 22:29 in romans 8 verse 38 and 39 22:39 [Music] the bible says for i am persuaded 22:45 that neither death nor life nor angels 22:51 nor principalities nor powers nor things present 22:57 nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature 23:04 shall be able to separate us from the love of god which is in christ jesus 23:11 our lord [Music] 23:17 i don't know i may offend some of you now but thankfully thankfully 23:24 you can't hit me if you wanted to that is i'm just kidding 23:32 we love that scripture but beloved did you notice that in that 23:39 scripture every person 23:46 every item listed there 23:51 our third parties every person on that list 23:59 every entity on that list every last one of them 24:05 they are third parties 24:12 because the bible says in isaiah 59 verse 2 24:19 he says but your iniquities have separated between you 24:26 and your god and your sins have heed his face from you that he will not hear 24:36 beloved you and i are not in romans 8 38-39 24:47 hmm beloved 24:56 the enemy cannot cannot 25:03 sneak in and 25:10 cause god 25:16 and us to be separated 25:21 because the enemy is in romans 8 38. 25:29 but isaiah 59 2 25:35 says we can separate us in god the enemy can bring separation 25:43 between us and god the devil could not separate adam and eve from god 25:53 no he made adam and eve separate themselves from god 25:59 by their sin 26:05 mm-hmm [Music] 26:12 the enemy wanted to bring a curse upon israel 26:22 meaning they are separated from god 26:28 but he couldn't so he switched tactics to make the children of israel 26:37 via a stumbling block to separate themselves from god 26:50 um remember the definition of a stumbling block 26:56 yeah it's it's something that is a snare something uh an occasion to fall 27:04 an offense something a difficulty that prevents progress remember that 27:12 beloved if we are stumbling or our progress is being prevented 27:20 it means that we were heading somewhere 27:29 brother if you're sitting on your couch you can't stumble and fall i'm sorry 27:35 it doesn't work like that if you're lying on your bed you won't stumble and fall 27:41 no no no no no if you are going somewhere 27:47 you see nobody can put a stumbling block in front of you while you're sitting on your couch 27:54 nobody can put a stumbling block in front of you while you're lying on your bed 28:02 but if you're going somewhere or let me put it better 28:07 if you are supposed to be going somewhere aha 28:13 then someone may try and put a stumbling block in 28:19 front of you 28:25 we in fact to stumble is defined as 28:33 to miss one step in walking or running 28:38 to stumble means to trip and almost fall so 28:44 that reveals something that if 28:51 the lord said that [Music] 28:56 balaam taught balak to cast a stumbling block 29:04 in front of the israelites it means that the lord had a 29:10 destination for the israelites 29:16 it means he wanted them to go somewhere to be somewhere 29:23 i i hope you are catching on beloved it means they were supposed to progress 29:29 some way it means they are supposed to 29:35 move in a certain direction 29:40 so the question is what was god's goal and destination for the israelites 29:48 i'm glad i'm glad yes 29:54 beloved salvation 29:59 for the israelites and similarly for us today 30:05 is a day's job yeah yeah yeah salvation is a day's job 30:13 what does that mean it means it's immediate salvation is 30:18 snap out of the finger you save like right now you're safe 30:27 [Music] let's let's let's let's look at that real quickly 30:37 the jews were translated from egypt in one day 30:44 it wasn't ten months or five years no no no they were saved from egypt in one day 30:52 exodus chapter 12 verse 41 to 42 and verse 45 the bible says and he came 30:59 to pass verse 41 at the end of the 430 years even the what 31:07 self same day it came to pass that all the host of the lord 31:14 went out from the land of egypt verse 42 it is a night to be much 31:20 observed unto the lord for bringing them out from the land of egypt 31:26 this is that night of the lord to be observed of all the children of 31:33 israel in their generations verse 51 and it came to pass 31:41 the self same day that the law did bring the children of 31:47 israel out of the land of egypt by their armies beloved salvation is a day's job 31:56 [Music] but it doesn't end 32:01 on that day 32:06 what is the it the purpose of god does not end on that day 32:16 god has a road map for us to grow 32:22 to move to proceed 32:28 a target to go to 32:33 let's see the road map he mapped for the israelites 32:41 don't forget now in exodus 12 they were out just like that one day 32:47 they were out exodus 12 they were out exodus 19. 32:54 let's hear what the lord said exodus 19 verse 3 33:00 to verse 6 and moses went up unto god and the lord called unto him 33:07 out of the mountains saying those shall thus say to the house of jacob and tell the children of israel 33:13 verse 4 you have seen what i did unto the egyptians and how i bear you on eagle's 33:19 wings and brought you unto myself now observe 33:25 how i bur you on eagle's wings and brought you out onto myself i did it 33:34 you didn't do nothing is by grace guys it's by grace 33:41 verse 5. now therefore 33:46 [Music] if you will obey my voice indeed hold on hold 33:53 on hold on why are you bringing me into it a yeah uh i did my part in verse four 33:59 [Laughter] yeah yeah yeah god is saying exodus 19 4 34:04 i did my part in verse 4 i brought you up by grace verse 5 34:09 aha now it's time for you to listen and do what i tell you to do 34:17 if you will obey my voice indeed and keep my covenant 34:22 then you shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people for all the earth is 34:29 mine i thought i was a treasure already uh yeah 34:37 but if you obey my voice indeed and keep my covenant then you shall be a 34:43 peculiar treasure unto me but jesus i'm already your disciple what you 34:50 talking about uh-huh yeah if you obey my commandments 34:56 if you keep my words then are you my disciples indeed what yep 35:02 same lord same lord 35:08 he's the same yesterday today and forevermore 35:13 ah i hope you get it beloved exodus 19 we're in verse 5. now 35:19 therefore if you obey my voice indeed and keep my commandments then you shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all 35:25 people for all the earth is mine verse 6 and you shall be unto me 35:32 i thought i was already uh is a progression guys [Laughter] 35:39 yeah i translated you that day i'm giving you the roadmap now 35:44 verse six and you shall be unto me a kingdom of priests 35:50 and an holy nation uh i thought they were sanctified 35:55 at the passover in egypt when they killed the lamb i thought it been that 36:02 done that what is he talking about now let me read that again 36:07 and you shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and unholy nation 36:13 these are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of israel 36:18 let's recap that the lord saved them from egypt in one day 36:24 salvation boom done finished 36:29 but he now gave them a road map you guys need to listen to me the lord 36:35 is saying you guys need to obey my voice you need to keep my covenant 36:41 and you'll be a peculiar treasure unto me you will be a kingdom of priests 36:48 you'll be a holy nation but what happened afterwards 36:55 the lord tells us in revelations 2 14 which we read balaam 37:01 taught balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of israel to eat things 37:08 sacrificed onto idols and to commit fornicate fornication 37:15 moses summarized it in numbers 31 15-16 [Music] 37:20 verse 15 says moses said unto them have you saved all the women alive verse 16 37:26 behold they caused the children of israel through the council of balaam to commit trespass against the lord in 37:33 the matter of peo and there was a plague among the congressional of the lord 37:39 and we see it play out in numbers 25 37:44 verse 1 to 3 and israel abode in shittim 37:50 and the people began to commit whoredoms with the daughters of moab 37:55 and they called the people onto the sacrifices of their gods and the people 38:00 did eat and bowed down to their gods and israel joined himself onto bar pio 38:07 and the anger of the lord was kindled against israel 38:12 ah beloved my time is up my time is up my time is up 38:18 beloved the lord bless you and keep you make his face shine upon you my gracious unto you 38:24 lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace we would have to take it up 38:30 and continue next time until then god bless 38:36 [Music] 38:45 only he is worthy [Music] 38:56 should give glory to himself 39:02 glory must be [Music]