Love Worth Finding

Adrian Rogers: What does maturity in your faith look like? Now don't get the idea that a Christian is like a tadpole who becomes a frog. You see, there is a frog in every tadpole and if he just keeps maturing he'll become a frog. Now that's the kind of Christianity some people believe in. They think well I'll go to church and learn to do better, I'll grow up and be the frog I ought to be. A Christian is not like a tadpole who has become a frog. A Christian is like a frog who has become a prince by the kiss of grace.

Host (Male): Welcome to Love Worth Finding featuring the profound truth of the gospel presented in the practical messages of Pastor Adrian Rogers. It's important to know where we are in our spiritual maturity in order to grow into what we could be. In part one of today's message, we learned that the Bible places men and women in three different categories: natural, spiritual, or carnal. A Christian is not a natural person who decides to do better. He is someone who has been radically and supernaturally changed and put on the path of spiritual growth. If you have your Bible, turn to 1 Corinthians chapter two as Adrian Rogers shares part two of the Roadmap to Maturity.

Adrian Rogers: Now we divide people into different categories. We say there's upper class, middle class, lower class. There's this or that. But it's not the blue book of society or the bank book of finance, but it is God's book, the Bible, that puts us into these categories of persons. There is the natural man. There is the spiritual man. There is the carnal man. Either you're a natural man, a spiritual man, or a carnal man. You're a natural woman, a spiritual woman, or a carnal woman.

Now you say why do you want me to categorize myself? Well obviously, I want you to be a spiritual person. But you see, the Bible is like a roadmap to guide you to get to where you need to be. And there's one thing important about any map, no matter what map it is. A map is not of much value to you unless you know one thing: where you are now. Now if you don't know where you are now, what good is the map? But if you know where you are now, you can say I'm here and this is where I need to get to.

Here's what I want us to do. I want us to ask three questions. The first question I want to ask and I want you to answer it: Are you a natural man, doing what comes naturally? Well you say yes, that sounds pretty good to me to do what comes naturally. Well the Bible says in Ephesians chapter two and verse three, you are by nature the children of wrath. The Bible says in our own nature there is nothing good. We are by nature children of wrath.

The natural man is born into the natural world and therefore he is blind to the spiritual world. Look in verse 14. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him. Now watch this. Neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. That is, they're spiritually understood. Now look at the word receive. Do you see it there in verse 14? The natural man receiveth not. That word receive literally means to welcome. He does not welcome spiritual things. He has no appreciation for spiritual things.

Now go back to chapter one and look in verse 18. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. Do you see that? It's foolishness. Look again in verse 14. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. They're foolishness unto him. You see, he's born in the natural world. He is blind to the spiritual world. He doesn't enjoy the true things of God. The Bible says he does not welcome the things of God and neither can he know them for they are spiritually discerned. They are spiritually understood.

When you talk to an unsaved man about Jesus and he may remonstrate with you and he may say I just don't see it, don't argue with him. Friend, he doesn't see it. He is telling the truth. He just doesn't see it. He is born to the natural world. He is blind to the spiritual world and therefore he is bound to the material world. This world is the only world that he knows. He is a materialist pure and simple. He has no capacity for spiritual things. Now that's the first category.

Let's move to the second category of persons. The first category is the natural man. Now the second category. There's the spiritual man. Verse 15. But he that is spiritual. Now the natural man does what is natural. He does what comes naturally. The spiritual man does what comes supernaturally. The spiritual man has not been born only once. He has been born twice.

Look if you will in verses 11 and 12. For what man knows the things of a man save or except the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God. Now notice verse 12. Now we have received not the spirit of the world but the Spirit which is of God. Now let me give you the three marks of the spiritual man. The spiritual man lives by the Spirit. He lives by the Spirit.

Verse 12 says he has received the Spirit of God. He has received the Spirit of God. That is, this man has been born twice. He's been born of the Spirit. What is salvation? Salvation is not merely getting man out of earth into heaven. It is getting God out of heaven into man. He receives the Spirit of God. He has been born again. Learn this about Christians. Christians are not just natural people who decide to do better. Christians have been radically, dramatically, supernaturally changed by something called a new birth.

He receives the Spirit of God. God moves into him. God inhabits his humanity. Now don't get the idea that a Christian therefore is like a tadpole who becomes a frog. You see, there's a frog in every tadpole and if he just keeps maturing he'll become a frog. Now that's the kind of Christianity some people believe in. They think well I'll go to church and learn to do better, I'll grow up and be the frog I ought to be. A Christian is not like a tadpole who has become a frog. A Christian is like a frog who has become a prince by the kiss of grace.

It is a miracle. It is a miracle. It is not just simply a change, a gradual change becoming more what we are by nature. It is becoming what we could never be by nature. He is a person number one who lives by the Spirit. He has received a new life and because he lives by the Spirit, he learns from the Spirit. Now look in verse 12. Now we have received not the spirit of the world but the Spirit which is of God. Now watch it. That we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

When you receive the Spirit, you receive the organ of spiritual knowledge that you might know God. Now remember the natural man verse 14. He doesn't receive the things of the Spirit of God for they're foolishness unto him. He can't know them because they're spiritually discerned. They're spiritually understood. So when a man receives God, he receives when he's born again, he receives life from the Spirit. He lives by the Spirit and he learns by the Spirit.

When you get saved, even if you're a little child, God turns the light on in your soul. The Bible says the spirit of man is the candle of the Lord. What does that mean? When God wants to illuminate you, he takes your human spirit, he puts the oil of his Holy Spirit in that human lamp and God illuminates you. The spiritual man lives by the Spirit. He learns from the Spirit and he is liberated through the Spirit. Let me show you this. Look now in verse 15. Look at it verse 15. But he that is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.

Now what does that mean judges all things? Does that mean he sits on a bench and he says this is right and this is wrong? No, no, no. It's talking about inward discernment. Actually, some translations give it this way. The spiritual man discerns all things. He has a different value system. He sees things through a different lens. Actually, this word discern is a legal word. And what it means is this. It means to make an examination and on the basis of that examination make moral and spiritual judgment.

He that is spiritual makes an examination and on the basis of that examination he makes a moral and spiritual judgment. But what is the difference between the natural man who tries to do that and the spiritual man? Well the spiritual man, he sees with the mind of Christ. When a man receives the Spirit of God, he learns through the Spirit. He lives through the Spirit. He is liberated through the Spirit because this world system doesn't squeeze him into its mold. He sees through things.

He sees what is happening in today's world. He's not like the marching millions that are going on to oblivion and going on to hell. He has a value system that is completely different. He sees things from God's viewpoint. He has the mind of Christ and he sees through this world. He's not bound to the material world. He is liberated. He is liberated by the Spirit of God. He sees through things. Now the Bible says he discerns all things. He judges all things, but no man judges him.

What does that mean? It means he understands the unsaved man but the unsaved man doesn't understand him. They say what makes him tick? Boy is he weird. Hey folks, might as well face it. Those folks out there think we are looney tunes. They really do. I mean they think that somehow we have jumped the track. The Bible says they think it strange that we don't run with them in their excessive riot. They think that we are the funny ones.

Like that woman went to the psychiatrist, had a fried egg on her head and two strips of bacon over each ear. She said I came to see you about my brother. They really think that we are the funny ones. He who is spiritual discerns all things. He judges all things but no man judges him. They don't understand him. They don't know what makes him tick. I had a preacher friend down in Florida. He was a drummer in a nightclub, nightclub band and the Spirit of God got hold of Hugh Beasley and he got saved.

He knew he was in the wrong place. He knew he was doing the wrong thing. He became a mighty pastor and an evangelist. But he took his drumsticks on one night and just rammed them through his drum. Somebody said to him Hugh, what's wrong with you? You sick? He said no, I just got well. I just got well. Now everybody else thought he was crazy. You see, he discerns all things but he cannot be understood. No one understands him.

So what are the marks of a spiritual man? He lives by the Spirit. He learns from the Spirit. He is liberated through the Spirit. Now let's move on to the third category. Have you found yourself yet? Maybe you have, maybe you haven't. Maybe you're a natural man, born into the natural world, blind to the spiritual world, bound to the material world. Maybe you're a spiritual man. You live by the Spirit. You learn from the Spirit. You're liberated through the Spirit.

Or maybe, maybe you're a carnal man. Now the natural man does what comes naturally. The spiritual man does what comes supernaturally. The carnal man does what comes unnaturally. The carnal man is sort of a spiritual monstrosity. He's neither fish nor fowl. He's one of these persons who has been saved but yet he is a very strange person. Look if you will in verse three. And I brethren could not speak unto you as unto spiritual. Now he calls them brethren. They were in the church.

But as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. And I have fed you with milk and not with meat. For hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. Let me give you the three marks of a carnal man. First of all, the carnal man is a Christian but he is defeated. You know any defeated Christians? He is defeated. He doesn't have victory. He doesn't have the ability to do a thing that a mature man ought to do. He cannot walk spiritually. He cannot war spiritually. He cannot work spiritually. He just is marked by his inability.

He is a baby. And he says and I brethren could not speak unto you as unto spiritual but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. Now he's not talking about little physical babies. He's talking about spiritual babies. Did you know that in this church we've got a lot of spiritual babies and some of them have been babies for 40 years? Babies for 40 years. Now there is a legitimate childhood. We've had babies in our home and we love them.

My sons are grown now. It was a thrill the first time one of my sons said to me dada. But one of them were to say to me dada today, I think I'd swat him. Now it's alright for a baby to be a baby. But the problem is that we have folks who have never grown up. Paul said I couldn't speak unto you as spiritual. You haven't been liberated through the Spirit. I had to speak to you like little babies. You are defeated. A carnal Christian is really kind of a contradiction in terms. It's like speaking of a heavenly devil.

Now I want to say this, that I believe in the Christian world today, the average Christian is carnal. I didn't say the normal Christian because the average Christian is not normal. I think it was Dr. Vance Havner who said that the church today is so subnormal that when a person becomes normal, to the rest of the people, he seems abnormal. You see, when I talk about a carnal Christian, I must say I believe that the average Christian is carnal.

But not a normal Christian. A normal Christian is a spiritual Christian. That's normal. Don't think that you have attained if you've become a spiritual Christian like oh you've done something wonderful. Everybody ought to be a spiritual Christian. It is the carnal Christian who is doing that which is unnatural. He is defeated and he is dependent. Look if you will in verse two. Paul said I have fed you with milk and not with meat. For hitherto you were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye.

And Paul is saying I have become to you a spiritual nursemaid. You come to hear me preach and I give you a bottle. Did you know that carnal Christians, if they grow at all, they're dependent upon spoon-fed sermons? They're dependent upon some teacher, some pastor to teach them. They want to come to church on Sunday, let the pastor give them a bottle and burp them on the way out. I mean that's it.

And I'll tell you the third mark of a carnal person. Not only is he defeated and not only is he dependent, but he is divisive. He is divisive. Continue to read here. He says in verse three. For ye are yet carnal. For whereas there is among you envying and strife and divisions, are ye not carnal and walk as men? That is as other men. For while one saith I am of Paul, oh I love brother Paul, he's my favorite teacher and preacher, he's so full of doctrine.

Another says I am of Apollos. Oh I love brother Apollos. He's such a wonderful orator. Paul says are you not carnal? Who then is Paul and who is Apollos but ministers by whom ye believed even as the Lord gave to every man? I planted, Apollos watered, God gave the increase. What happened to this church? They were dividing up over trifles like little babies. Paul said you're like little babies. Have you ever noticed how babies and children get upset over trifles?

I took the family fortune, our family fortune, about all $150 of it and decided we were going in 1962 to San Francisco to a Southern Baptist Convention. We rented a travel trailer so we could take our children with us. We went all the way out to San Francisco. I'd never been anywhere that far from home. This was our big trip. Then we got there to Fisherman's Wharf. I'd always heard of Fisherman's Wharf and there were the restaurants. I mean pricey restaurants.

I mean back then I think a meal was maybe $7 and that was a lot. And I said Joyce, let's eat on Fisherman's Wharf. She said alright. Let's bring our family in there. We got a table by the window. They brought that food in there. I thought man, here we are, San Francisco, Fisherman's Wharf, nice restaurant. Let my son order from the menu. We were getting ready to have a big time and I looked over there. His chin's quivering. Big old tears coming down his cheeks. I mean this was our big moment.

And there's that ankle biter. I said to him son, what's wrong? He said they got beet juice on my food. He'd ordered beets and the beet juice had run across the plate. And I want to tell you folks, I mean here we are and some beet juice. It's a wonder I didn't beat the juice out of him. Babies. Children. Immature.

You watch them in the churches. These are the people who are divisive. It is carnal people who can't get along. They have their favorite preachers. They have their favorite teachers. They have this, they have that and they will split a church over the difference between Tweedledee and Tweedledum. They will. I've had far more difficulty in churches with carnal, so-called carnal people than I have with drunkards or anything else. Just carnal people. They're babies. They are defeated. They are dependent and they are divisive.

Everybody here is in one of those three categories. Either you're a natural man lost and on the road to hell, or you're a spiritual man living in victory, or you are a carnal person. You're saved, but no one would ever know it. You're like the little boy, somebody asked him what kind of dog is your dog? Said he's a police dog. He was just a mongrel and they said well he doesn't look like a police dog. He said he's in the secret service.

I know a lot of folks, I mean if you were to look at them outwardly, you'd never know they're saved. They really are saved. I mean they have given themselves to Christ. They have been saved. They have been born again. But they're defeated. They're dependent. They're divisive. Three categories of persons. The natural man. He does what comes naturally. The spiritual man. He does what comes supernaturally. The carnal man. He does what comes unnaturally.

Host (Male): Do you have the markings of a natural man, a spiritual man, or a carnal man? Take time today to prayerfully figure out where you are in your relationship with Christ. And if you have questions about who Jesus is or what he means to you, how to begin a relationship with God through Christ, go to our Find God's Love page on the website. You'll find resources and materials that can answer questions you may have about your faith right there. Go to lwf.org/radio and click the tab that says Find God's Love.

Now if you'd like to order a copy of today's message in its entirety, you can call us at 1-877-LOVEGOD. Mention the title The Roadmap to Maturity. This message is also part of the insightful Back to the Basics series. For that complete 18-message collection, call that number 877-LOVEGOD or you can order online at lwf.org/radio or write us at Love Worth Finding, Box 38600, Memphis, Tennessee 38183. Many of the messages in this series are also featured in our new resource, the What Every Christian Ought to Know study. You can find out more at lwf.org/radio.

Well thanks for joining us for our study in God's Word today. While this was such a convicting message, I think one of the most powerful statements was a Christian is not like a tadpole who has become a frog. A Christian is like a frog who has become a prince by the kiss of grace. Don't you love that? We hope you'll join us next time for more profound truth simply stated right here on Love Worth Finding.

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