Built Well. Pt.2

Built Well. Pt.2

Romans 8:1-2, 5-6TPT

Reverend Charles Spurgeon, one of the greatest orators of all time, (1834–1892). He preached to approximately 10 million people in his lifetime, often speaking ten times a week. He Lived with some brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death. Charles battled continually with depression.

Like the apostle Paul, the often jovial Spurgeon was “Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing” (2 Cor, 6:10). Spurgeon would say, “Glory be to God for the furnace, the hammer and the file. Heaven shall be all the fuller of bliss because we have been filled with anguish here below; and earth shall be better tilled because of our training in the school of adversity.”

-Just listen as Spurgeon writes, “No star gleam as brightly as those which glisten in the polar sky. No water tastes so sweet as that which springs amid the desert sand. And no Faith is so precious as that which lives and triumphs through adversity, tested faith brings experience. You would never have believed your own weakness had you not needed to pass through trials. And you would never have known Gods strength had his strength not been needed to carry you through.”

Remember this, it is character that makes a man or a woman of God, not anointing.

Moreover Spurgeon would preach, It’s in the wilderness, when the pressure comes, when the disappointments mount, when the dream seems to be unattainable, that necessary refining- character shaping – takes place.

This is one reason the wilderness– as tough as it can be–is so valuable, and, ultimately, even leads to great joy.

You’ve heard people use the expression, body by Ford, or body by Chevy. -How about body by Holy Spirit. -Being built well.

Listen to the apostles Pauls announcement of a forgiving, loving Savior:

Romans 8:1-2, 5-6NIV Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.

5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.

Again, -God will build you well!

A.W. Tozer attempted to reconcile these seemingly contradictory ideas of God choosing or calling us and our choosing God with this illustration:

"An ocean liner leaves New York bound for Liverpool. Its destination has been determined by proper authorities. Nothing can change it. This is at least a faint picture of sovereignty. "On board the liner are scores of passengers. These are not in chains, neither are their activities determined for them by decree. They are completely free to move about as they will. They eat, sleep, play, lounge about on the deck, read, talk, altogether as they please; but all the while the great liner is carrying them steadily onward toward a predetermined port (which they have accepted as their destination).

Tozer would say, “Both freedom and sovereignty are present here, and they do not contradict. So it is, I believe, with man’s freedom and the sovereignty of God. The mighty liner of God’s sovereign design keeps its steady course over the sea of history."

No condemnation in Christ Jesus...Jesus Christ gives life. The true believer set their mind on the spirit. The mind governed by the spirit is life and peace!

1 Peter 4:1NKJV “Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin,”

These testing via temptation, this conquering of sin, and other issues in the wilderness, is to help build up our spiritual muscle, and become increasingly mature.

In this verse, the key words are arm yourselves.

Can you imagine a military unit going into battle without being armed? No gunships, no tanks, no rifles, no ammunition – no arms at all? That would be a disaster.

Listen, That is the same kind of disaster a Christ follower faces when they are not armed to suffer, when they are not armed for trials.

Luke 1:80NKJV “So the child grew and became strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his manifestation to Israel.”

Notice John the Baptist choose to live in the wilderness.

“I believe it was because John knew his assignment of being the fore-runner of Jesus, would be his 6 month Ministry, and he was determined to make the best of it.” P.H

John’s cry for repentance would produce a cry throughout the land for change. Life change; Eternal change. Messiah. Redemption.

There are more than a few OT verses that brought this great prophecy forth.