DATE
THE SECRET TO CHRISTIAN SUCCESS
Mark 4:34.
Mr 4:34 But without a parable spake he not unto them: and when they were alone, he expounded all things to his disciples. (KJV)
INTRODUCTION: I recently preached this sermon at the church I pastor and I presented to them as a matter of desparation. A matter of life or death. I truly believe that this is a matter of Christian success. The reason we see so much failure in Christians lives is they do not adhere to these principles I am going to present.
The American lifestyle is designed to suffocate the successful Christian life. Everyone is totally occupied from day break until bedtime. In the last 60 years the average time for going to bed has gone from 8:00 PM to 11:00 PM. When I was a boy we were in bed every night no later than 8:30. We got up at 5:30 AM. Everyone did. We had morning chores to do before breakfast and before going to school. That same schedule was in effect the year around. After supper we began preparing for bed. There was baths to take. The old fashioned bath taking. A #2 galvanized wash tub. Which also served as a watering tub for the livestock, and mom washed clothes in it. I took care of the outside chores and my sisters took care of the inside. We had no outside influence that took our interest or attention away from doing what was needed. What I am saying is – there is so much going on in the average household that there is no time for God.
Today only a few are disciplined enough to make time everyday for private time with the Lord. You won’t have time alone with the Lord unless you make that time. The one main reason our churches are anemic is that the membership is anemic. The reason the membership is anemic is because so few are participating in Mark 4:34.
America will not see, neither will Baptist churches see, nor individual Christians see a moving of the hand of God until the observance of Vs. 34 is once again obtained. New, books, new seminars, new programs will change nothing unless each Christian places himself under the private time with the Lord.
Gone are days when the average Christian spent an hour a day in prayer.
Gone are the days when the homes spend time memorizing scripture as a family.
Gone are the days when family devotion takes precedence over soccer or B/B practice.
There are three things that I want to dwell on that will happen if we could get the majority of our membership to spend much time alone with the Lord. What I am talking about must become a lifestyle. Something that we do all the time. It is not just a Sunday Morning thing. Three days a week will not suffice. Neither will five minutes a day be sufficient. It must be full time. It must become the way in which we, as Christians, live everyday of our lives.
I. DEVELOP MORE PERSONAL HOLINESS.
A. Personal Holiness Is Absent In Most Christians. God doesn’t mean much to most.
1. Their conversation. They never talk about the Lord.
Bro. James Gardner – Amazing grace missions – gives a gospel tract to everyone he sees. He was with us recently and when we went to lunch he gave out 20 or 30 tracts to people he would see.
2. Hobbies. Lead them away from the house of God and the work of God. They go to gun shows or boat shows on the weekend. Some will go to their lake property for the week-end. When people talk about going to the lake it frightens me. The Bible talks about a lake of fire in Revelation. I hope that is not the lake they talk about.
3. Clothes they wear. Long baggy pants on the young men.
4. Habits. Habits are good if they are the right kind of habits.
5. Entertainment. Recently in the surgery waiting of one of the hospitals some of the family that was waiting there also ask me if I had seen a certain movie. I told them I had not been to see a movie since 1961. They didn’t bring the matter up again..
We can see holiness in Moses life.
B. Moses And The Burning Bush. Ex. 3:1-6.
1. Observe Moses’ action when he is alone with the Lord.
a. He turned aside. Ex 3:3 And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. (KJV) He realized that God was present.
b. This speaks of separation. “turning aside from the things that was going on around him.” Closing out those things that would keep him from God.
c. Personal holiness brings separation. We won’t have to worry about purity in the church if the membership has personal holiness.
d. Rom. 8:29; “. . . conformed to His image.”
People in the days of John the Baptist got him mixed up with Jesus.
R.A. Torrey said, “The secret of becoming like God is to remain long alone with Him.” You and I won’t be much like Him if we don’t stay with Him. Linger with Him – spend time with Him alone.
Spending time in the Bible – time in memorizing scripture – time in prayer – time in meditation. These must become first place.
e. I’m not talking about rules or standards.
f. Keeping rules and standards does not guarantee holiness in an individual. Football teams have rules and standards. Corporations have rules and standards.
g. Rules only make the organization stronger that made the rules.
Standards and rules do not produce Christ likeness.
h. I’m talking about holiness - a likeness of Christ. Looking like Christ – acting like Christ – talking like Him.
i. It comes from being alone with the Lord. When the Lord Jesus is in control then we each will live a life of holiness. Our standards will be biblical and holy. Holiness will produce standards.
My father-in-law and mother-in-law was married 65 years. They did many things alike. Why? Because they had been in each others presence for 65 years. They knew how each other thought – their dislikes and likes. They thought alike.
2. Moses removed his shoes. Ex 3:5 And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. (KJV)
This is so different from the Christian today.
a. He obeyed God. He didn’t argue with God.
Most 20th Century Christians would not qualify for this scene. Most wouldn’t make it past the first scene.
b. Average Christian would question the reason for taking off shoes.
c. “What’s wrong with shoes? You mean to tell me I can’t be saved and wear a pair of shoes?” That’s not what God was saying. It wasn’t wrong to wear shoes. But it was right to realize that the presence of God demands an action on our part, and the removal of shoes was an enactment of obedience.
d. Most Baptists would respond, “Everyone wears shoes.”
e. “Why can’t I wear shoes? Everyone else does?
They then would carry the argument over into other items of clothing and habits.
C. You Won’t Have To Announce That You Have Been Alone With The Lord. Ex. 34:29.
Turn to: Ex 34:29 And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses’ hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him. (KJV)
1. Moses’ face shone with holiness from God.
2. He had been alone 40 days and 40 nights with God. The glory of God shows through when a person has been alone with God for 40 days.
3. Don’t come bragging about reading the Bible through in one year.
4. Don’t come boasting of praying everyday for the missionaries. That’s not the method of measure. Is your face shining?
5. If you have been alone with God, brother, your face will show it.
C. We Must Expect Holiness More From Our Members. If the Bible teaches a certain pricipal then the membership should be held to that teaching.
Maybe we should have some “holiness” check-ups – to see how we are doing in this matter of holiness.
Holiness is when a Christian will conduct himself godly when no one is around – whether it is a thousand miles from home or around the block from the church house.
Personal holiness is a commandment. “Be ye holy, for I am holy.” Lev 11:45. It’s not a conviction.
It’s not just good advice it is a commandment.
The responsibility for being holy belongs to the individual.
An employer tells his employees to be at work at 8:00. The responsibility is up to the individual employee to be at work on time. The boss doesn’t send a limo by every morning to pick you up and take you to work. It is your responsibility to get there on time. Becoming holy is our responsibility. God will not take sin our of our lives unless we want Him. Everyone is a holy as they want to be.
We become holy by being alone with Jesus.
My dad would tell me as a boy, “Son, if you are going to stamp the name ‘Casteel’ on it, be sure it is right.”
II Tim. 2:19, “Let everyone that names the name of Christ depart from iniquity. That’s personal holiness. Who is that speaking about? Every person that professes Christ as Savior. Is that possible? Is it possible for a Christian to depart from iniquity? It must be or why would we be told to do it?
Let me ask you, “Are you living a holy life?
Develop personal holiness.
The Second Secret is:
II. WALK DAILY IN THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT OF GOD
Ac 1:8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
Ac 2:4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Ac 4:31 And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness. (KJV)
Ac 4:13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus. (KJV)
A. God Will Not Fill A Dirty Vessel. A person will not be filled with the Holy Spirit of God who does not have personal holiness.
Isa 59:2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. (KJV)
1Jo 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (KJV)
How do we enact 1 John 1:7 in our daily lives? The “light” here is the “light of His Word.” You won’t be in daily fellowship with Him if you do not daily read and meditate on and in His word.
B. We Are Commanded To Be Filled With The Holy Spirit. Eph 5:18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; (KJV)
No one in this room has seen the power of God at work in the manner in which He can work if we will meet the conditions required. God can still heal the sick. He can still raise the dead. He can still perform miracles just as He did in the Gospels and in the Book of Acts. The problem is He doesn’t have very many with whom He can work through like He would want to.
The only way any of this can happen to a Christian today is to get alone with the Lord and let Him rub off on us. When a person spends much time with Jesus Christ, he/she will become like Him. Ac 4:13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus. (KJV)
They walked with him.
They ate with him.
The stayed with him.
The thought upon him.
They never left his side.
They became like Him.
Do we really understand that to not be filled is a direct disobedience to His command?
C. How Are We To Be Filled?
Lu 11:13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? (KJV) It takes no longer to fill the vessel than it takes to empty it of self and sin.
Ac 4:31 And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness. (KJV)
Vs. 31 didn’t take place with just a quick bedtime type prayer. “Now I lay me down to sleep….” This was the result of consistent prayer. Much time given to prayer and holiness. God won’t use any of us unless we are totally sold out to Him in prayer and holiness.
Ac 2:4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. This was immediately following the ten days of prayer in the upper room. They were all in one accord, for one purpose, with one mission in mind – to obtain the fullness of the Spirit of God.
The Lord Jesus had told them in Luke 24:49, “….tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.” Jesus had taught them how to obtain that. They were not to go back to town and spent their time playing video games, or basking in the Sun. They went to the upper room and began praying, and in Acts 2:4 we see the answering of their prayers. Ac 2:4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost,…….”
Observance of the first two – Develop Personal Holiness – Daily Walking In the Power Of God - will bring the third part of the secret.
III. GROWTH IN OUR CHURCH.
I am very concerned about this matter of growing. Nothing can stay stagnant. We either grow or we decline.
Listen to what E.M. Bounds says about prayer in the church:
The Church is looking for better methods; God is looking for better men.
What the Church needs to-day is not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more and novel methods, but men whom the Holy Ghost can use -- men of prayer, men mighty in prayer. The Holy Ghost does not flow through methods, but through men. He does not come on machinery, but on men. He does not anoint plans, but men -- men of prayer.
E.M Bounds died in 1913 – 91 years ago - therefore this admonition was given around the turn of the 20th Century. Do you suppose the need has changed much in the last one-hundred years? Probably not. We still need prayer in the church. We still need men who will give themselves to the total purpose of God. Men who will forget about trying to make a lot of money and let God use them.
A. Growth Is A Natural Happening If The Organism Is Healthy.
Look with me at these Scriptures:
Turn to: Listen closely – this is the whole context of the sermon.
Ac 2:46 And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,
Ac 2:47 Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.
What was taking place in Vs. 46 and 47? What were the people doing? They were just living the ordinary, daily Christian life. They were doing the things that happy – healthy Christians do. What happened as a result of that? The church grew rapidly.
That is what is supposed to happen in any N.T. Baptist Church. The growth will be different depending on the location and the population of the area. What I am saying is – true Christianity produces new Christians.
Look at Acts 4:4.
Ac 4:4 Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand. (KJV)
This wasn’t a big city wide crusade where all the churches in town got together or had a big combined meeting. It was the local members of that church doing what God intended for Christians to do. The Christians being filled with the Spirit of God and the overflow of God in them produced more Christians.
B. What Needs To Be Done?
1. Develop Personal Holiness.
2. Obtain And Walk In The Fullness Of The Spirit.
Both of these will be obtained if each of us will spend much time “alone” with the Lord Jesus.
The leaders of the Jerusalem Church didn’t meet and plan on how to reach their community. The people did that. They lived like the Lord Jesus had taught them to live and Christianity spread across the whole Continent of Asia.
Look at Acts 19:10 - Ac 19:10 And this continued by the space of two years; so that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks. (KJV) God intended every generation there after to reach their own generation – we have failed.
I want to challenge each of you to vow to God to make this a reality in your own life. If you will make your time personal with the Lord He will change your life. I am not talking about 5 minutes, but an hour or two everyday. If each of us will do that our churches will take off. Our community will see what the Lord Jesus Christ can do in the lives of true followers.
Will you do it?
Develop personal holiness.
Obtain and walk in the fulness of the Spirit of God.
Let God do what He wants to do in each of our lives. Growth will happen. …. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.”
INVITATION
BETH HAVEN BAPTIST CHURCH
PO BOX 891523
OKC OK 73189-1523
405-691-8701
www.bhbc.net
This sermon and thousands of others are available on a CD Disk that may be purchased for $75.
If interested contact the above address.
