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Dr. Tony Evans is the founder and senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, founder and president of The Urban Alternative and author of over 100 books, booklets and Bible studies. The first African American to earn a doctorate of theology from Dallas Theological Seminary, he has been named one of the 12 Most Effective Preachers in the English-Speaking World by Baylor University. Dr. Evans holds the honor of writing and publishing the first full-Bible commentary and study Bible by an African American. His radio broadcast, The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans, can be heard on over 1,400 radio outlets daily and in more than 130 countries. Dr. Evans’ sermons are also streamed and downloaded over 20,000,000 times annually. #tonyevans #tonyevanssermon #SpiritualGrowth
the cross is to be the central point of
reference for all of life may it never
be that I boast in anything other than
the Cross of Christ why should the cross
be the point of reference for all of
life he who knew no sin became sin for
us that we might become the
righteousness of God in him
[Applause]
[Music]
I regularly tell
couples that your first year of marriage
is going to be
tumultuous because after you make the
legal declaration and start living
together and all that stuff that was
hidden while dating begins to manifest
itself you will now have to face the
reality of life together
the both the pleasures and the pain of
that
reality and that to grow the
relationship is going to take some
work the I do was
easy the work
afterwards it’s going to take some
effort because things are going to be
manifested things that were unseen
unknown
unanticipated as there is the goal of
growing the relationship
when you and I said I do to Jesus Christ
a legal event occurred in
heaven the formal term for it in
scripture is
justification where God declares the
believing sinner as righteous before his
throne it is where when you trust Christ
as
Savior the heavenly father says not
guilty and in that moment you become a
child child of God a son or daughter of
the Living
God but then there’s life after
salvation that can be a little bit
traumatic
tumultuous yes I am forgiven in heaven
but how am I going to make it on
Earth that’s what Peter wants to talk to
us
about the experience of Life In Christ
now that you’ve gotten the legal
situated in heaven
justification this process of Spiritual
Development or
growth to
experience the
relationship that’s why we saw last time
in verse 8 of chapter 1 that if we are
growing you become useful and fruitful
in the true knowledge of Jesus
Christ you become useful to God and
fruit truthful for God you become
productive and
reproductive for God because you’re
growing every Christian has had
deposited in their soul the seed called
the divine nature verse four this divine
nature the seed of God has been planted
in the soil of the soul of every person
who comes to Christ for
salvation the goal or responsibility of
the Christian is to grow the seed in the
soil
if the seed does not grow then the
experience of the reality of Christ is
not
being
manifested and so Jesus still stays a
concept of reality that you believe in
but not an experiential relationship
that you
have so the purpose of growth is to make
Christ real in you the true knowledge of
Jesus Christ or the experiential
knowledge of Jesus Christ
so that he’s not just a
seed but now that seed begins to sprout
life well God wants to sprout his
reality in your soul but that only
happens through growth it doesn’t just
happen it’s guaranteed but it’s not
automatic and so you must participate in
the growth process just as a baby must
suck milk in order to particip ipate in
the life that it
possesses and so God wants you to
grow now this growth starts off as a
choice there must be the decision to
grow or there will be no
growth growth doesn’t just pop out of
nowhere there must be the decision to
grow that’s why he spent these first
eight verses telling you to grow grow in
your personal experiential
relationship with Jesus Christ it starts
with the
decision it is unfortunate today that
many Christians are satisfied with
spiritual
pacifiers a pacifier is designed to
trick a
baby it’s designed to fool a
baby you pretend like the baby is
getting something the baby thinks when
you put it in its mouth it’s going to
get
something until it discovers mama you
messing with
me you’re giving me a
form of
feeding with no
substance you’re giving me something to
suck
on but I’m not getting any
milk cuz you can suck on
church you can come in
think you done done something cuz you
didn’t come to the ecclesiastical
pacifier when there’s no feeding really
going
on so there must be the decision not to
be satisfied to be
pacified you don’t just want to feel
something good under your tongue or in
your mouth you want some something
that’s going to digest inside your soul
so that the new nature can expand and
grow in your belly so you can Get
Swole
spiritually so that doesn’t just
happen it is possible watch this to be a
Christian and not experientially know
the
Lord he is a cognitive reality in your
head not an exp iial reality in your
life and the goal of growth is to make
him real in your experience not merely
in your in your
brain Phillip the disciple Phillip had
been with the Lord a number of years and
in John chapter
14:9 he says Jesus we hav been with you
we like hanging with you but when are we
going to see the father am cuz we want
to see the big mahath you nice but when
we going to see the Big Daddy
Jesus said to him have I been with you
this long and you still do not know me
amen
amen when you’ve seen me you’ve seen the
father
am in other words he had been with Jesus
but he still didn’t know
him so you can hang out with
Jesus hang out with jesus’ people hang
out in jesus’ buildings carry a jesus’
book
use Jesus
language and still not know
Jesus even though Phillip was saved he
was a Believer but he didn’t get it
yet God wants us to get it but to get it
you’ve got to grow
it and growth must be an intentional
decision that you
make the second law of
Thermodynamics
says things left unto themselves will
tend toward
deterioration so it is with your
spiritual experience with experiencing
the reality of
God there must be the decision that I
want to prioritize my Spiritual
Development or it will not happen God
has already put in you all that you need
to grow because the new nature contains
all of the new life of
God but it must be fed properly in order
for that life to expand within your
soul I’ve said it before let me say it
again there are a lot of
Christians who have great wishes and
desires I want to grow they’ll take in a
minute that’s like somebody saying I
want to lose
weight you can go to your grave wanting
to lose
weight because wanting to and deciding
to aren’t the same
thing one is an emotion the other is a
decision so there must be the decision
he is saying in these first 11 verses of
second Peter chapter 1 I want to grow to
experience the reality of Jesus Christ
alive in me I don’t want to live off of
everybody else’s testimony about how
really he is I want him to grow in my
soul verse
nine for He Who lacks these qualities is
blind or shortsighted
having forgotten his purification from
his former sins let me read it again
that’s all we’ll talk about for the rest
of the time today verse n for He Who
lacks these qualities is
blinded or
shortsighted having forgotten his
purification from his
sins if you’re not growing lack these
qualities you’re not growing spiritually
it is because you can’t see
straight he says you’re blind which
means you can’t see at all or you’re
shortsighted in other words you’re only
looking at what’s in front of you close
up he says the reason why people don’t
grow is they’re Soul focused on
Earth what they can see with their five
senses that they missed an Eternal
perspective unless you possess an
eternal
perspective then you will not experience
the Life of Christ in
history if all you’re thinking
about is this world order now you got to
live in the world you got to function in
the world but he’s talking about your
perspective about prioritizing
growth if all you are living for is time
and you have very little little or no
blind spiritual Eternal perspective if
all your life is about
now then spiritual growth will not be a
priority therefore it will not be an
experience therefore you’ll be useless
not useful therefore you’ll be fruitless
not fruitful therefore you will not have
an abundant entrance in
heaven that’s yet to be explained
but God say saved you because he wanted
to use you but God saved you because he
had a use of you and he had some fruit
he wanted to be produced by you for him
that benefited others that advanced his
kingdom that’s your calling and
election so if you live all of your life
for time very little of your life to
grow spiritually for for the purposes of
Eternity you will be useless and
fruitless he says in verse eight but he
says you don’t have to be useless and
fruitless because in verse n he says all
you got to do
is get some
glasses see because he says you you have
a seeing
problem he wants you to look further
than you can
see and he wants you to rob from
eternity bring it into time so that you
get
both so that you grow so that you get to
experience
this Hebrews chapter
2:3 says how should we escape if we
neglect so great a
Salvation
neglect complacent about this salvation
that we have it is to be pursued once
you accept Christ it is to be pursued
for your grow
I love how Hebrews 6 says it let me read
Hebrews
6 verse one says therefore leaving the
elementary principles get out of
Elementary
School therefore leaving the elementary
teachings about the Christ let us press
on to
maturity you see that let us go forward
so go deeper let us graduate from
kindergarten and graduate from
elementary and graduate from Junior High
notice what he says in verse 8 but
beloved fellow Christians we are
convinced of better things concerning
you you can do better than this things
that accompany salvation now that you’ve
been born again you got to get the other
stuff that comes with it though we are
speaking this way for God is Not unjust
so as to forget your work or the love
which you’ve shown toward his name and
having ministered and is still
ministering to the Saints and we desire
that each of you show the same Dil Ence
diligence commitment to it so as to
realize the full insurance of Hope until
the end so that you will not be
sluggish but imitators of those who
through faith and practice inherit the
promises go for it go for
it don’t be sluggish be
diligent and say Jesus I want all of you
that I can
get not not knowledge about you but
experience with you
that decision has to be made and that
has to go Beyond Desire that’s got to be
a
decision because if you lack these
things you will not experience it and
you have a short-term
view now I’m sure that there some were
saying
um wow because these people in the
Hebrews some of them were saved for 30
years and he tells him in Hebrews
chapter chapter 5: 11- 14 he said you
still babies you 30 year old
babies so there must be the decision to
go for it with an eternal
perspective applied in history
prioritizing my goal to know him not
just to go to church not just to read
the Bible all of those are factors but
the goal of it is always to know
him Paul said it in Philippians 3 that I
might know
him Spiritual Development must be the
goal so why isn’t it the
goal I mean we say it’s the goal we mean
it to be the goal we make promises it’s
going to be the goal and then you know
you have you ever noticed how all your
spiritual commitments keep getting
interrupted you say you GNA pray more
you going to read the Bible more you
going to do this more you going to do
that more and you really meant it when
you said it amen you you weren’t you
weren’t you weren’t you weren’t shucking
and Jing you were you meant it but you
ever know how Stuff keep popping up that
wasn’t
chance that was the enemy’s attempt to
keep you from being diligent to go after
it because he knows if you get swoll yes
sir you can do one of them numbers one
of them numbers
spiritually that he loses his authority
in your
life he tells us
why or the biggest hindrance toward our
spiritual development in verse
9 he says at the end of the
verse having forgotten the purification
from his former
sins he there it is the
reason I don’t grow like I should you
don’t grow like you should we don’t grow
like we should is we forgot what
happened at Calvary that’s what he
says the
cross is to be the central point of
reference for all of
life that’s why Paul could say in
Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with
Christ neverthe L I live yet not I as
Christ who lives in me the life which I
now live I live by faith in the Son of
God who loved me and gave himself for me
in other words I my whole identity is
the
cross he says in Galatians chapter 6
verse4 May it never be that I boast in
anything other than the Cross of
Christ and Jesus had died already many
years earlier he says but when I brag
I’m going to brag only about the
cross what is it about this
cross why should the cross be the point
of reference for all of
life because on the cross 2 Corinthians
5:21
says he who knew no sin became sin for
us that we might become the
righteousness of God in him
acts
10:43 says it is because of his death we
have the Forgiveness of
sins you have to understand I have to be
reminded we have to be reminded of what
took place on the
[Music]
cross on the cross you remember Jesus
was on the cross hanging on the cross
and he uttered a statement he says my
God my God why hast Thou forsaken me
it’s one of his seven sayings on the
cross my God my God why hast Thou
forsaken me there is a breach in the
Trinity and in some way that I don’t
understand God’s got to explain this to
us when we get to heaven God stopped
being god without stopping to be God so
God could continue to be God for us
I I don’t know how he could do that and
it was all because God so loved the
world that he gave his only begotten son
that whosoever believeth in him should
not perish but have everlasting life God
interrupt being God because of our
sin our sin drove him to the Cross
because he could not compromise his
character he could not dumb down his
standard he could not grave on the curve
so on the cross God took the penalty so
he could satisfy his just wrath against
sin while simultaneously expressing his
love without compromising his
Justice and so when Jesus hangs his head
and dies he utters three
words that’s one word in Greek to
tellest thy it is
finished that means paid in full to
which the father says I am now
satisfied propitiation the father is
satisfied with the death of his son so
that whoever comes to his son is given
by his son eternal
life at no cost to us let me ask you a
question if somebody came to you and you
knew they were real they had the
capacity and they had the love for you
and they said here’s what I want to
do I will not only pay for all you have
accumulated I’m going tell you in
advance I’m going to pay for all you
will accumulate so for the rest of your
life there will be no
bills now I don’t know about you but
that’s worth a worship
service every time I see that
person I don’t even have to see them
every time I think about
them every time they come come to
mine I’m going I’m going to make a big
deal about that because because that
that they took all of my past debt and
love me so much they going to take care
of all of my future
[Applause]
debt and you telling me I ain’t going to
have time if they want to see me I ain’t
going to have time if they call me I
ain’t gonna have time if they want to
talk to me and they paid my past present
and future debt you got to be out of
your
mind and so what God is saying in verse
n is appreciate the
cross value
Calvary value what was done so it can be
said to you like he said in 2
Thessalonians verse 1 verse3 he said you
Christians are growing in your faith and
you’re loving the family of God and it’s
making God happy
[Applause]
oh by the
way when Jesus Paid your
bills he took care of any acrude
interest that it covers it all what’s
this point in verse 9 that Christians
remain spiritually underdeveloped by
losing sight of the greatness of their
salvation and I will confess it’s easy
to
do because we are bombarded by this
world it’s easy to
do but this world ain’t paying your
bills not not your spiritual
bills not paying those
bills
listen when you get to
heaven you will have a glorified
body you will be the perfect you you
were meant to
be every believer gets a glorified body
all scars will be
removed you will be the perfect age the
age of Adam and Eve whatever age they
were the perfect adult
age you will not have human limitations
that you have now you’ll be the same
race you’ll see be the same
gender but in perfect
form because of the new glorified body
you will be the perfect
you
however when you get to
Heaven There Will Be One scarred
person there will be one
person who will have scars because when
Jesus arose from the dead in his
glorified body he retained the nail
prints in his hands he retained the nail
prints in his feet and he retained the
scar in his side that’s where I could
tell doubting Thomas after he rose from
the dead he says I won’t believe it
until I see him Jesus came to him and
said see these scars in my hand touch
them see these scars in my feet touch
them see the scar my side touch
it he was in his glorified body but he
still bore the scars why will Jesus
Christ in heaven still bear scars when
you are in your perfect glorified body
so that 100 quillion years from now
there will be the Eternal reminder every
time you meet him at Gold Street and
silver Boulevard there will be the
Eternal reminder that your Redemption
came because Jesus the Christ had Nails
in his hand Nails in his feet a spear in
his side crowns on his head because he
loved you with an everlasting love and
all he’s asking in the meantime is that
you give him a little of your time you
give him a little of your attention that
you grow in him because he just wants to
get to know
you I want to invite all of you to join
me and our Urban alternative family for
the cruise of a lifetime it’s going to
be a memorable experience on the Mexican
Riviera November 9th through 16th we
want you to be there for a great time of
fun food fellowship and strengthening
our Faith we’re going to go to Cabo St
Lucas and we are going to have a great
time it’s filling up you don’t want to
miss your spot so come and join us on
the Mexican Riviera for a great time
with God and one another
[Music]
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