Welcome to the preaching ministry of Tri-City Baptist Church in Chandler, Arizona. Our desire is that God would be magnified through the preaching of His Word, and that Christians would be challenged, strengthened, and edified in their personal walk with Christ. I want to begin this evening a brief series on looking at some passages and principles that really apply and help us in Christ-like living. I appreciated the messages that my son did on the Holy Spirit's Christ-exalting ministry. He gave us a lot of meat, as well as good application. He noted that the Spirit's working both to equip us to discern and to equip us for daily living. And he emphasized the Spirit's working through the Word. I'd like to take a couple of Sunday evenings and look at some of the passages that I think are very valuable in Christlikeness. These are what I consider key passages in the process of sanctification. These are not exhaustive. There are many others that could be added that are valuable, that are really priority passages. But I want to share some that I view as kind of a grid that in my thinking, both for personal growth and then for helping others. I just completed, in our first Summer Growth Series session, a class in basic biblical counseling. If I had had a few more weeks, these would be passages that I would lay out that are kind of the foundation that I often try to keep in mind in dealing with situations and what can be helpful. But the truth is that they're valuable for all of us. And I thought it would be a good addendum, really, to our study of the Holy Spirit. I think it's important that we understand we can't compartmentalize our lives. That we can't divide, well this is my work part, this is my family part. We have to be growing in Christlikeness in all areas of life. That it's an ongoing process. And so I hope that it will encourage us both to have confidence in God's Word and then be striving to grow. As we had concluded a while back our study of 1 Corinthians 10 with the verse, there's no temptation taken you but such as is common to man. that these are the problems we all face. God is faithful. He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able to bear in His strength. But we'll make that way of escape so that we can bear it. So Jesus told His disciples that He would not leave them as orphans, but He would send the Comforter, the Holy Spirit. And the Spirit then equips us with the sword of the Spirit. I think one of the challenges and one of the emphases that we have to have as a church is on the priority of Scripture. I shared with my summer growth series that when I was at the Foundations Baptist Fellowship International meeting in Tri-City Baptist Church in Westminster, Colorado a couple weeks ago. One of those that was there was Dr. Ed Balkley. He is a member of the church there. He has a biblical counseling center there. It's the Sufficiency of Scripture, SOS, Biblical Counseling. And I had read one of his books years ago. He had another book there that I picked up and I've read since then. But I thought, you know, I want to meet him. And so after, there was a prayer time they'd had, and after that, I went up to him, introduced myself, started talking with him, and I told him I was doing a class here, just a four-week class on basic biblical counseling, and I asked him, I said, what would be the big rocks, what would be the important points that you would encourage me to stress? You know, in laying it out for him, I thought, this man's been doing counseling for years, and has done it in many situations, and so, and the first thing he said is encourage people in the sufficiency of Scripture. Talk about the sufficiency of Scripture. And then he expressed his concern and frustration with churches, colleges, seminaries, and Christians that he said are abandoning that confidence. He told me, and he named the seminary, he told me that he had asked to meet with the president of that seminary, with one of their administrators, and with a former president. And he sat down with all three of them. And he asked them a series of questions. His first question was, do you believe in the inspiration, infallibility, and inerrancy of Scripture? And they said, yes. Then he said, do you believe in the sufficiency of Scripture? And he said at that point he could sense they weren't quite as comfortable. And the president of that seminary said, yes for salvation. And he said, do you believe in the sufficiency of scripture for sanctification? And he said that president looked down, turned red, and said, no. He said, you need psychology. And as Dr. Buckley was talking with me, he was frustrated. He said, I had to write off that seminary. But as I thought about that answer, I said, so what did believers do before the 1800s? Could they not be sanctified? And his concern was that there was a moving away from Scripture. Now again, we've taken time in our class and talked about organic issues and all of that and not going into that. But I thought, isn't it interesting that even for the issue of sanctification, that a seminary president wasn't comfortable saying that we believe that the Bible is sufficient for sanctification. And yet when we understand what the Scripture says, we realize that God has given us what we need. In 2 Peter 1, verses 2 through 4, it says, Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ as His divine power has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him. who has called us by glory and virtue, by which we have been given to us exceeding great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption or the depravity that is in the world through lust. I think these verses tell us that scripture is sufficient for sanctification too. That God has given us what we need. That godly change comes from that change of heart. We considered that this morning as we talked about the righteous action comes from within. But do we have confidence in God's Word? That hope comes from believing God's promises. That Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners and Scripture presents God as the center in Scripture, not man as the center. And so to develop that right view, to understand that there really is a confidence that comes when we grow in the knowledge of Him. You know, Job's stability was proportionate to his belief in what was true about God. And even in the midst of trials. And so we've seen that aspect of a living faith. So I want to invite you to turn with me this evening to 2 Timothy. chapter 3, and I want to just briefly survey, we're not going to dig into each of these passages, but Lord willing, look at a couple of them this evening, and then next week we have our fifth Sunday, so we will not be having an evening service. We encourage, get together for fellowship, but then the following week to conclude in looking at really a total of five passages that I think are valuable in this area. But looking at 2 Timothy chapter three, Paul is admonishing Timothy, he's really He's told him that in the last days things are going to go from bad to worse. There's going to be these problems. And yet He's admonished him, continue in what you've learned. What you are confident of and from whom you've learned them. That's verse 14. I've put verse 15 up here that says, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures which are able to make you wise. for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. And in these verses, we find that really there are two purposes stated for Scripture. The Scripture is given to make wise for salvation through faith that is in Christ Jesus. That there is a certain kind of wisdom that leads to salvation. It's not the worldly wisdom, it's not the things of this world, but it's the work of the Holy Spirit. It's, as Dr. Endian said, the illumination, the Holy Spirit turning on that light. And so our desire, our job, our responsibility is to give the gospel, to seek to make it understandable. But it's the Holy Spirit that makes it understood. And the scripture is able to make wise for salvation through faith in Christ. And so we seek to tell people who God is. Again, I've shared with you the basic outline in my mind in giving the gospel is they need to know who God is. That He is holy. That He is the Creator. That His holiness is what sets the standard because then they need to know what sin is. And all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Well, if they don't know what God's glory is, they don't know who God is, then they don't really understand what sin is. And we looked at that this morning, that sin is lawlessness, missing the mark, we considered that. But that's necessary for salvation. Then they need to know who Christ is and why he came. The person and work, the cross work of Jesus Christ. That this is vital in the gospel, and then they need to know what faith is. And explaining these aspects. And so that salvation comes through faith in Christ Jesus through the Word. And so we make that clear that Scripture is able to make wise to salvation. And then the second thing that's mentioned in these verses is that Scripture matures the believer to Christian perfection and good works. That there's a completeness. That perfection is complete. Not sinless perfection, we discussed that. But that they're complete. And so it adequately prepares us, God's word adequately prepares us for life and godliness that we can serve. So in looking at these, in this passage, the principle that we would find is the Bible is completely sufficient for salvation and for the development of the believer into maturity. Paul is telling Timothy, times are changing. People are changing. God's Word stands. And I think that he's tying this back. It could be he's told him in verse 14, remember what you've learned. And not only the message, but the messengers from whom you've learned. Well, who did Timothy learn from? Well, in verse 15 he said, you've learned from being a child. And so the ministry to our children, teaching them the gospel, from his grandmother and his mother. It would appear from reading the letters to Timothy and Acts that Timothy's father, he was a Gentile, he was probably not a believer. But even in that home, Timothy had that teaching of his mother and his grandmother. And so Paul is pointing Timothy to both the message, to the messengers, and saying you have godly examples. Follow them. The Bible is profitable because of its source. It is God-breathed. It is God-breathed out. It's given by inspiration of God. Do we have confidence that it is infallible and inerrant? And then he lays out the four-fold work of the Scripture, the aspects. There really are four prepositional phrases in this passage that form two groups that deal with the doctrine and the behavior. We refer to the orthodoxy, the right belief, and orthopraxy, the right practice. And so this is the charge that is given to Timothy in these, that the scripture is given for doctrine. That's for teaching. This word is used 15 times in the pastoral epistles. It's the source of Timothy's, what he's to be teaching and what he's been taught. Preaching the word, chapter four, verse two, with teaching. There's the positive source. What does the Bible say? That ought to be what is running in the background. That app ought to always be open in our minds. What does the Bible say? It needs to go through that app. We don't compartmentalize. That positive source, it tells us what's right. Reproof, that's the aspect of conviction. That's really the word that's being brought out here, to convince, to rebuke. to reprove. And again, chapter 4, verse 2. Preach the word, be ready in season and out of season. Convince. Rebuke, exhort with all patience, long-suffering, and teaching. And so he's saying, Timothy, you need to understand God's word rebukes. As sinners, we don't like rebuke. We don't want to be told that. But for a person to get right, they also have to realize what is wrong. There has to be that correction. So when we read the Bible, when you read it for your personal study, are you looking for what will correct you? Do we allow it to bring that conviction on us? Or do we just want inspirational, uplifting reading? We all have favorite passages, but we have to be reading, okay, where do I need to change and grow? Because without being reproved, we're not going to reach maturity. What do our children usually do when they're reproved? When they're corrected? There's often excuses. There's reasons. Some of them are good. Some of the kids are really good because they get it to the point where it's actually your fault. They've got their excuses so good that their problem is your fault. And it's not theirs. Well, as sinners, we do the same thing. That's what Adam did. So well, the woman you gave me, and so basically God, it was your fault. And so we have to allow our consciences to be convicted by the Word. Because without conviction, we won't repent, and without repentance, we won't change. And there's a difference between regret and remorse and genuine biblical repentance. So the Bible shows us what's right, what's wrong, how to get it right. That's the correction. That's the third thing that's mentioned in this passage. It's a positive term. It speaks of restoration, of how to fix it. Not only does the Bible rebuke us when we're wrong, it instructs us in how to correct it. Have you ever been in a situation where you've done something wrong, or maybe you don't know how to do something, and they don't tell you how to fix it? Well, that's frustrating. God's Word doesn't just tell us what's wrong, it tells us how to get it right. And then the instruction in righteousness, training in righteous living, that Scripture provides the training. And the idea here is actually that of mentoring. It's that discipleship that it teaches and educates us in the way of righteousness. So where can you learn the way of righteousness in this wicked world? We have to learn it from God's Word. Titus 2 verses 11 and 12, For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age. In the way of life, of righteousness, that's where there is life. Proverbs 12, 28. So when it comes to the way of righteousness, Do you feel like, well, how can I know that way? That's what God's Word gives us. That's where Christ likeness, because Christ said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. So scripture is able to make us wise for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, and then teaches us what's right, what's wrong, how to get it right, how to keep it right, so that we would be thoroughly equipped. The purpose of Scripture is transformational. That it's not simply for information. And when we're teaching our children, our young people, when we're reading God's Word, that ought to be our desire. That knowing what is right doesn't guarantee that we're going to do right. I mean, I think we've probably all known something is right and not done it. Or maybe known something was wrong and done it anyway. It's not enough to have knowledge. There has to be that change of life. And so 1 Peter 1, verse 3 says, His divine power has given us all that pertains to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him. And then it goes on and it speaks of how to grow that for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue. To virtue, knowledge. To knowledge, self-control. Self-control, perseverance. Perseverance, godliness. To godliness, brotherly kindness. To brotherly kindness, love. that the right moral character will make right moral choices, that we're to be growing, and we're to be growing in all of these areas. I think there is a hierarchy, but it's not like, well, I don't have to worry about brotherly kindness, because I'm still way back here. No, all of these ought to be developing, and we'll see that in one of the other passages. But recognizing that we need to be growing, because sin breeds irresponsibility. And irresponsibility is then going to increase anxiety and there's going to be all sorts of problems. So the principle is that we have to understand the sufficiency of scripture for both salvation and the development into spiritual maturity. Let me have you turn now to another passage in James chapter 1. I haven't put the verses up there but James chapter 1. We're going to see another principle that's developed from these verses. James 1, James is dealing with people who are in the midst of problems. He gives a very brief introduction. He identifies himself, the bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's writing to the 12 tribes scattered abroad. Greetings, that's verse 1. And then he says, my brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials. There's not a long introduction because they're facing difficulties. So he kind of cuts to the chase. But I want to draw your attention to verse 12. He's dealing with that. He talks about the purpose of that. And then he says in verse 12, Let no man say when he's tempted, I am tempted of God. For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he's drawn away of his own desires and enticed. And when the desire is conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is full grown, brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. Of His own will, He brought us forth by the word of truth that we might be a kind of firstfruits among His creatures. Now in this passage, and the principle we're going to see is that personal sin originates within a person as he allows himself to be controlled by desires which are contrary to God's will. But before getting to that aspect, James is defending God's purity and integrity. He says, God cannot be tempted with evil, nor does he tempt anyone. God's character and conduct are without question. This is what James is saying. He can't be tempted and he does not tempt with evil. So the problem of evil then is from within. And it's a universal problem. Let no one say that everyone is tempted when they're drawn away. We all face this. It's not the problem outside of us. The problem is inside of us. Have you ever noticed the difference of going to the grocery store when you're hungry and when you've just eaten? What makes the difference? Now, I don't usually do grocery shopping, but if my wife gives me a list and sends me to the store and I'm hungry, I see a lot of things that could be added to that list. Oh, this looks good. Oh, and that looks good. And if I'm hungry, and then some of the smells, it's like, oh, that would really be good. You know, we probably need that too. And it's really easy to think that way and say, you know, what do you mean I can't go in the 12 or less line anymore? I got too many items. And then if you go when you've just eaten, That's the time to send me to the store. Yeah, here's my list, get the things on the list, get them, get out. What's the difference? The internal desire. Now we can say, well, you have to understand the placement of things on shelves and at the ends of aisles, there's a science to this, and all of that is true, but the real thing that draws us out is our inner desire. Because some of the things that are put in those prominent positions to sell, I have no interest in. I have no problem walking by those. The point is that it's our inner desire that draws us out. And that's the principle then in this passage. That sin originates within us, within a person as he or she, himself or herself, is controlled by desires. So let no one say when they're tempted, I'm tempted of God. No, God doesn't tempt, and He can't be tempted. His character is impeccable. And then James gives us the sequence of temptation. There's the desire, there's the deception, there's the disobedience, and then ultimately there's death. And all of these are taking place That He's laying out how this happens. And developing this. As He says, understand that every man is drawn away from his own desire. We have that tendency to entertain the sin. We don't want to end up at death. But sometimes it's easy to entertain it in our minds. Say, well, I don't want to do the action, but then we think about it. And that's where it begins. That desire is conceived. We think about it. And then that conception, as it comes to term, gives birth to sin. And sin, when it grows up, brings forth death. And this is the pattern that is laid out there. The immorality in the heart is the idea here. And then that conception, that contemplation to carry out the sin that gives birth to the sinful acts that we've thought about that originated in our heart. And now there's that outward transaction, that transgression, that action. And when that comes to full age, it brings forth death. So the solution to temptation then is found back in verse 12. We began our reading there, but in verse 12 it says, blessed is the man who endures temptation. For when he is approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who endure temptation, right? No, it says to those who love him. That it's our love for the Lord, it's the love for God that stands in opposition of the lust in the heart. That whatever our heart desires, we have to love the Lord more. And so when we love Christ, our love for Christ versus our love for self, everyone is drawn away of their own desires. Say, I want that. I have to resist that. So how do we apply this principle then in growing in Christlikeness? What are the things that help us in Christlikeness? Well, I think there's some practical applications. Number one, make it difficult to sin. What are the things that we need to do to make it hard to sin? In Romans 13, 14 it says, and put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts. That we want to put obstacles in the way so that it's not easy to sin. If we've developed the wrong habits, we need to unlearn those. So we look at things and find out, okay, what do I need to do? You know, if somebody's going to the wrong website, so then put a filtering system. Have a checks and balance. Need that in this day. Now that's not going to stop somebody whose heart is bent on sinning. but it's gonna make it harder. Years ago I was talking with one of our college students and he was struggling in the area of pornography and he said, you know, we need better filtering system here. I said to him, I said, we have a very good filtering system. At that time, I could hardly get to a number of church websites because they were uncategorized, so they just got blocked. And I'd send it, okay, unblock this, this is a church website. But I said to him, I said, you know what, we have a very good filtering system, but if your heart wants to go to the wrong places, you will find a way. The filters are not the solution. Your heart changes the issue. And sometimes, again, we like to say, well, it's not really my fault. Yes, it is. I'm drawing away on my own desires. Do I love the Lord more? And so that we will make the changes and then also increase our sensitivity to sin. And whether that's accountability, whether it's getting others to pray for us, whatever we need to do, but again, as we're in God's word and we're being told what's right, what's wrong, how to get it right, and how to keep it right, we ought to be growing in sensitivity. Make it difficult to sin. Secondly, increase resistance through the word. That as we're in God's Word, that says in Psalm 119.11, a verse that many of us have memorized. Your Word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against you. That we're hiding it in our hearts. It's not enough to just learn it, to have an intellectual knowledge. But we're seeking to apply it. Ephesians 6.17, take the helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. The Holy Spirit uses the sword of the Spirit. The Romans had two different types of swords. One was a long, broad sword that would be swung with two hands in battle. If they were on horseback, they would just swing this as they're going in. The other was a short sword. It was a dagger. About 18 inches long. It would be used for close fighting. That would be worn on the belt. It's interesting because there are two Greek words for word. There's the word Logos that most of us are familiar with. My Bible program is called Logos. That speaks of the whole Bible or of a whole book. So the book of James is a Logos. The Bible is a Logos. The other word is Rhema. And that speaks of specific verses or passages. And when the Bible tells us, when it says that we're to take the sword of the Spirit in Ephesians 6-17, it uses the word rhema. That when we're dealing with specific areas, that we need specific verses. That if you're dealing with specific temptations, fear, anxiety, I will trust and not be afraid. Casting all your care upon Him because He cares for you. What time I am afraid, I will trust in you. That we have those. Anger, that there are specific verses that deal with that. You know, if you're dealing with anger, probably starting in Genesis 1 and beginning to read is not the best way to deal with it. We need to go to specific passages. Proverbs have many, many verses. Ephesians has verses. But we need that which we can deal with quickly. So resist through the Word. And then understand as well that we need to deal quickly and biblically with sin. That 1 John 1, 9, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just, righteous to forgive us and to cleanse us. That we do that quickly. When we're convicted, we confess. And then we strive to grow. In Galatians 5, 16 and following, it says, walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh. These are contrary to one another so that you can't do the things you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. So what we're seeking to do, the principle here in James is to break that chain at the earliest possible spot. That we don't allow that lust to conceive and bring forth sin. No, when we realize these thoughts are wrong, we confess it. Because personal sin originates within the person as we allow ourselves to be controlled by the desires that are contrary to God's will. And so we try to make it difficult. We find ways to do that. We deal with sin correctly by confessing to God and the appropriate people. If we've sinned against others, we have to ask their forgiveness. Because our love for the Lord is so important, our love for Christ, that we're willing to deny ourselves because we want to honor Him. And the crown of life is for those who love Him. That is promised to those who love Him. It's seen in how we make these choices. So why is this so important? Because I need to be growing in my knowledge of the Lord. My question that all of us have to ask is, is my commitment to God higher than my value for pleasure? My commitment to myself? Or even my self-preservation? That's the principle that we find here. Let me give you a third one that we can look at and have you turn with me to Galatians. We're not going to expand on this this evening for sake of time, but I want to put it out there that we can kind of have it on our radar. The third one is in Galatians chapter 5. The principle that believers develop in Christlikeness by walking in the Spirit as He counters the works of the flesh and cultivates the fruit of godliness. That godly virtue. And this is what is brought out in this passage of walking in the Spirit. In Galatians 5, verse 16, I say then, walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, the Spirit against the flesh. These are contrary to one another so that you do not do the things you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now if you walk in the flesh, it's evident, and then it gives a whole list of things, and it goes on through the rest of this chapter. But what we have to understand is that the moment of temptation, we can be sure that the Holy Spirit is working against the lust of the flesh. And I say that because often when we're tempted, our struggle is we focus on the temptation. and it's so strong, or I've fallen before, or again, and we focus there rather than realizing at that very moment, as believers, the work of the Spirit is going on to counteract our desires of the flesh. And so we have to yield obedience to the conviction and promptings of the Holy Spirit. And what we see in this passage, and just kind of drop this out there, is the promise of victory is given. That this is what is stated, that if we walk in the Spirit, we don't have to fulfill the lust of the flesh. Yes, there's a battle going on. The flesh lusts against the Spirit, the Spirit against the flesh. They're contrary, but, verse 18, if you are led by the Spirit, you're not under the law. We can have spiritual victory. We can have victory over sin. But we have to realize, at that moment, the Spirit is working against the desires of the flesh. So are we yielding obedience to the promptings of God? Lord willing, we'll pick it up here. I want to develop this one a little bit more because we also see in this passage the obstacles to victory, the power for victory, the path for victory. But with the time we have, I don't want to rush through that because I think these are practical passages for our development in Christlikeness. And as you will ponder these principles, study these passages, We can understand God has given us all that we need for spiritual life and godliness. The Holy Spirit empowers us and is working that we can be victorious in whatever point it is that you're tempted, where I'm tempted, that God is at work and God wants us to be victorious. We are victorious as we ponder and practice biblical principles on a daily basis and as our choices are informed by the Word of God because of our love for the Lord. So how are we doing in our relationship with Him this evening? Let's close in prayer.