What Kind Of Christian Are You? Dws#1 Series

What Kind of Christian Are You?...

I. Carnal Christians...

a) Different Levels of Maturity...

1Co 3:1 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.

1Co 3:2 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.

1Co 3:3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?

1Co 3:4 For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?

How many know that when you were saved,

The very minute you accepted Christ as your savior,

That you became a part of God’s family?

You received a Spirit of adoption,

and became joint heirs with Christ Jesus.

At that instant we became sons and

daughters of God. Amen?

You received salvation as a free gift from God,

We weren’t saved by our good works.

It wasn’t because we deserved it.

It was only because God loved us. Amen?

And it’s because of Jesus’ finished work on the cross,

That we are or were able to claim

salvation through faith in Him,

And be baptized into the body of Christ. Amen?

1Co 12:13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free;

But how many in here tonight know that

even though we may have all been

baptized or placed into the body of Christ,

That doesn’t mean that we are all equally

mature as Christians.

Just because we’re Christians doesn’t

mean that we’re a finished work. Amen?

We’ve all still got some growing up to do. Amen?

If we look back in 1Corinthians 3:1 we see

that Paul recognized that many of the

believers in the Church of Corinth,

Many of the Christians there weren’t growing up.

They weren’t maturing.

So what did Paul do?

He labeled them carnal Christians. Amen?

1Co 3:1 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.

He didn’t refer to them as goats.

He didn’t call them unbelievers.

Or the tares sown in with the wheat.

He said that they were babes in Christ. Amen?

b) Baby Christians...

And as "babes in Christ", these carnal

Christians are Christians,

They are members of the body of Christ. Amen?

They have experienced the new birth,

But they’re still new borns.

They’re carnal because they haven’t grown

in spiritual things.

And because they’re still baby Christians,

Because they’re still teething 1Corinthians

3:2 says they need to

be fed milk instead of meat. Amen?

They aren’t ready for the meat yet!

How many in here tonight have children?

When your baby was born you didn’t take

him or her out for a steak to celebrate did you?

No! You fed them milk. Amen?

And even as they grew older you still fed

them milk and cereal,

And formula and all types of different baby food. Amen?

Peaches and pears and apricots and

whatever else Gerber couldsqueeze into a

jar because you knew that your baby

wasn’t ready for steak and potatoes. Amen?

Well that’s what Paul was saying about the

Christians at Corinth.

He said I’ll feed you baby food because

spiritually you aren’t ready to feast on

meat and potatoes.

Smith Wigglesworth, when speaking to the

Plymouth Brethren about the baptism of

the Holy Spirit, said that they had no

Business quoting the Pauline letters to try

and refute the Baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost.

He said that because they were distorting

the scriptures to prove their belief instead

of being taught and led by the Spirit.

Jesus said the spirit would lead us and teach us. Amen

Jn:14:26:

But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance...

Smith Wigglesworth was telling them that

they needed to grow some spiritual teeth

before they could chew on the spiritual meat.

He told them they didn’t have any business

past the book of Acts.

And how many know that he was right?

He realized that they needed to go back to

the book of Acts and recieve that Acts 2:4

experience before they could grow spiritually.

He identified them as carnal christians

because they had not grown up in spiritual things.

He was saying go back and eat some baby

food so you can grow up big and strong. Amen?

1. Baby Food...

See, milk is good when you’re a baby Christian.

A little bit of milk with your meat can be good too. Amen.