Welcome to a firm foundation presented by Princeton Ministries with Dr. Ken Smith. This is Carol Smith, Ken’s wife. Please enjoy.

Let us pray. Our God and our Father, we ask now that as we study your word, that the words of my mouth, the meditations of our hearts, would be acceptable in your sight, for we ask it in Jesus’s name. Amen. If there’s one thing that’s true, it’s that a baby brings a smile to the face of anybody who would look upon it. There’s probably nothing that gets a group of people in a greater frame of mind than to look over the crib. I see this beautiful little baby smiling, cooing little bubbles coming out of its mouth, and we even talk to it in a special way. Very endearing. With great love, we say, look at those little fingers and look at those feet. Boy, what a pretty baby.

But then a month passes, you go to see the same baby, but the baby hasn’t grown. And not wanting to frighten anyone, we say, what a precious baby. I guess she’s going to be a little girl. And then we leave. Then we return six months later, and there the same cute baby lies in its crib, but it hasn’t grown. And now someone asks, well, what is the formula that you’re feeding? And there is a slight concern. But if you were to return a year later and look upon that same lovely baby, and if that baby has not grown and matured and added its weight and developed according to the standards that everyone is familiar, and we come to the dreadful conclusion, something is wrong. Something is dreadfully wrong.

And if we as people can recognize in the physical world that there are natural steps to growth, physical growth that we expect to be normal, and that is part and parcel of the physical world in which we live. But many Christians do not realize that there is equally true spiritual growth principles that ought to be seen in the growth of a Christian. How many times have I met a person who says, well, I became a Christian five years ago, ten years ago, 40 years ago, I say, well, what has happened in the meantime? And they say, well, not a lot, but I know that I’m a Christian because 20 years ago I committed my life to Jesus Christ. Well, how has your spiritual growth gone in these 20 years?

And looking at them is like looking at the baby in the crib who ought to have grown but remained instead a spiritual dwarf, never growing properly. And arms that should have been helping others have developed a spiritual rickets and legs that have been used to walk and to speak the name of Jesus Christ have developed a spiritual polio and lungs that should have been proclaiming the messages of Christ and asking questions and learning about the faith that they have received. Instead, a spiritual tuberculosis has taken over, and the growth that should have occurred is not there. The book of Ephesians, chapter four, verse 15, introduces us to a very compelling truth about those who would be born anew by the spirit of God. And that truth is that we are to grow up in all things into him who is the head, Jesus Christ.

Spiritual growth is not an option in the Christian life. It is not a side view mirror on a new car where we decide, I think I’ll take that option or not. Built into the very teaching of the scripture is that if we would know Jesus Christ, that there will inevitably flow out of that relationship with him. Spiritual growth. Now, this growth is essential to an understanding of God’s word. In the book of Psalms, chapter one, we are told that a wise man is like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in due season, whose leaf shall not wither. You are called and likened to a tree that is to grow. We are also compared in the book of Ephesians, chapter two, verse 21, to a living temple.

The scriptures teach that Jesus Christ is the chief cornerstone of that temple in whom the whole building is joined together. But that building grows into the holy temple of God. And so we are pictured as a living temple that is growing, not static. In the book of two, Peter, we are told to grow in grace and the knowledge of our lord and savior, Jesus Christ. Growth is essential to our spiritual well being. I’d like to simply ask you, are you growing in Jesus Christ? In the physical world, there are three things that are essential for growth, and it should come as no surprise to us that which is required in the physical world for growth is also required in the spiritual world for growth. For in the physical world, in order for anything to grow, it must meet these three criteria.

Number one, first, it must be alive. That which is dead cannot grow, and so the seed has within it the power to grow. But if it remains in a jar and does not fulfil the second requirement for growth, and that is that it be nourished, that there be an adequate food supply to cause that spark of life to grow. And the third quality of physical life is that growth produces activity that reproduces its own kind. And those three qualities are found in all living organisms. Whether we go to the plant world or the animal world, all must first be alive. They must be nourished, and they will grow. And reproduce themselves. The same is true in the spiritual world. How are you doing in your spiritual growth?

The first requirement of that growth is first that we must know that we have within in us the seed of life. You say, well, where does that seed come from? How can I begin to grow in Christ? Well, we read in verse 13 of chapter four that we are called to come to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the son of God, Jesus Christ. Here begins true growth and true life, that we would first experience God’s work of taking that which is dead and giving it spiritual life. The scriptures talk about being born anew. It’s amazing, as you talk about being born again, how many people there are that think that this is a brand new teaching.

I was talking to a man recently who was referring to, well, there are Presbyterian Christians, and there are Baptist Christians and Lutheran Christians and Episcopalian Christians. And what about this new group, these born again Christians, as though it were a new sect, as though it were some strange teaching that had just fallen from the skies. And we had a new discovery when in actuality to be born anew was the very essence of the teaching of Jesus Christ. Jesus came that you and I who are dead in our sins might be given that spark of life as we would trust in him. Know that our sins have been forgiven, know that he has prepared a place for us in heaven, and that he has given his holy spirit that we might begin again and be born from above.

It was Jesus who said, verily, I say unto you, unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. And again he said, verily, I say unto you, unless a man is born again, he shall not enter the kingdom of God. And again he said, verily, I say unto you, unless you are born again by the water and the spirit, you shall never enter. It should come as no surprise that there is but one kind of Christian, and that is a born again, born from above, born anew Christian. And as he would express his faith, whether in a Presbyterian or a Baptist or a Lutheran church, he must first know Jesus Christ and have experienced that life changing quality of being given new life.

And so Paul wants us to know first that we must come to the knowledge of the Son of God, that we would experience in our own hearts and in our minds that new life, that seed that is planted by the Holy Spirit to begin a process in our life of spiritual growth to the end that we might grow into the fullness of Jesus Christ. But there is a second quality to growth. And that is found in verse 14, that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men and the cunning craftiness by which they lie in wait to deceive. But speaking the truth in love may grow up in all things. Into him who is the head, we are asked not to be children.

One thing about children is that they lack an ability to concentrate. Ever noticed a little toddler goes around? He plays with the crayons for a few minutes, then he eats half a banana. Then he runs to drink a half a glass of milk. Then he wants to go outside, and just as you’ve changed him, he wants to stay inside. A lack of ability to concentrate on any one task for a great period of time. We are asked not to be children, tossed to and fro with every new teaching that we hear. The book of First Corinthians, chapter 13 closes with this very familiar verse. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child. But when I became a man, I put away childish things. Within the Church of Jesus Christ.

At times, there is a great deal of childlike behavior as we run here and there to follow the newest fad, the newest teacher, the newest book, the newest seminar, when we are called upon not to be tossed to and fro with every new wind of doctrine that we hear, but to grow in maturity in Jesus Christ. And where will that knowledge of growth come from? It comes from but one source, and that is our study of God’s word. And that is why the reformers cried out, sola scriptura, the scripture alone, that we would study God’s word and that we would not be deterred from understanding his principles. To us. There are some, though, who are not very interested in knowing what the Bible teaches, as though the teaching of the Bible was from some antiquated time.

Charles Spurgeon in the last century faced this problem, and he said that there were those who wanted to burn the charts, and they asked the question, of what use are these maps and charts? What we want, they said, is a powerful engine. What we want is a captain who can lead us. What we want is an able bodied crew. But we have no need for these old charts, they say, destroy the charts that navigated our fathers across the seas. And so there are some, said Spurgeon, who have destroyed the charts. And as Spurgeon said, it should come as no surprise when we look upon that sea and there find their ships wrecked by an unseen reef.

We’re called upon as Christians not to throw out all that has occurred to bring us to the place where we’re able to worship the living God this day, to remember the charts, the maps. His word that has proved strong throughout all of these centuries. To grow in the knowledge of his word. I don’t believe that we can say that we love God unless we love his word. And where we do not love his word, we have in fact, denied him. RC Sproul, who is a well known Christian speaker as a young man, was asked to come to a college to teach the Bible. And they said, we want somebody who can make the Bible come alive. Sproul says that he answered that phone call this way. He said, make the Bible come alive. I didn’t know that it had died.

I didn’t even know it was sick. Who was the attending physician who signed the death certificate? I cannot make the Bible come alive. The Bible is already alive. And it makes me come alive. As Christians, we need to be nourished, to be fed. And we are fed as we study God’s word. There is no greater use of your time than the time that you spend reading and applying God’s word. And any Christian who would just simply wait for Sunday to come to the watering hole is going to find that their hearts become parched. And through that week, like the sun of the world that shines harshly upon a desert ground, your heart is going to become dry and arid. And you’re going to be unable to come to the oasis.

Because for you, the amount of feeding and nourishment that is required can never be accomplished in the course of an hour of worship. And that is why Jesus referred to himself as a spring of living water. And whoever will come to Christ, no matter how parched you might be this day, if you will come to Christ and refresh yourself at his word, he will restore you. And where once the rose of Sharon seemed to have grown and flourished, and you had neglected his word, until today, your heart has growing about it. Thorns and thistles. He promises that he will restore and nourish us again, that the rose of Sharon will flourish. But not only are we called upon first to know that we have been born from above, that we have the ability for new life through Christ.

And secondly, that we not be children tossed to and fro, but that we be stable in our understanding of God’s word. Finally, he tells us in verse 16 that from him the whole body joined and knit together by what every joint supplies according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself. In love. He wants us to know that we are called upon to service as Christians, service to one another and service to the world. And if we would simply be satisfied by knowing that we have been born anew and that we are being nourished by reading God’s word, that is not enough for spiritual growth. We must learn to serve one another, to serve our neighbor. How can you know if you are spiritually growing and simply answer this question.

Are you serving other people? If you are not serving others, then your growth in Christ will be dwarfed. Are you growing as a Christian? Then answer these questions first. Have you been born anew so that the spark for life is there? Are you growing in joy? Are you growing in your stability? Is your life more stable today than it was a year ago because of principles that you’ve learned from God’s word? Are you growing in faith? Are you seeing the promises of God’s word, which you never knew before and now are beginning to apply them into areas that you never had applied them before? Then you’re growing in faith. Are you growing in peace when trials and sufferings come? Have you learned long suffering and patience and perseverance and endurance? Then you’re growing in Christ. Are you growing in your knowledge of God’s word?

Do you know more of God’s word today than you did last year? Then you are growing in your knowledge of Jesus Christ. Let me ask this final question. Are you growing in seeing spiritual choices every day in your life? Are you seeing the activity around you as spiritual in nature? You say, I don’t understand. Well, let me ask this question. This evening on television will be 60 minutes. Will you spend your time watching 60 minutes knowing that in this community are Bible studies where you can go for an hour or two and study God’s word? There are spiritual choices that we make every day. Dawson Trotman finished high school and Trotman worked in a lumberyard. Dawson Trotman was the founder of the Navigators, which probably in the United States of America has been used more than any other organization to teach people God’s word.

Trotman had five children. One of them was a mongoloid. He loved that child. And in reflecting day after day about the improper growth that was so visible in this child that he loved, Trotman said this. This child of mine is a reminder to me of how an immature Christian must look to the Lord Jesus Christ. I never want to forget, and my job is to lead men and women to Christ and to the maturity in Jesus Christ. Bernard of Clairvaux said, we always grow to resemble that which we love. What are you growing into? Let us pray. Our God and our Father, we come before you and thank you for Jesus Christ. Jesus who gave his life that we might experience new life.

Jesus who became the word as we would study your word and nourish ourselves upon that we would grow in the knowledge of Christ and Jesus who called us to go into the world, to reproduce, to grow. And we would ask this day for your blessing upon us, that we would grow in the grace of Jesus Christ, for we ask it in his name. Amen.

Thank you for listening to a firm foundation presented by Princeton Ministries. This programming is supported by you, the listener. You may go to our website, princetonministries.org, or send your donation to Princeton Ministries Post Office box 21 71, Princeton, New Jersey 08543. That’s Princeton Ministries Post Office box 21 71, Princeton, New Jersey 08543. The Lord bless you and Doctor Smith looks forward to hearing from you.