Thank you, Alan. What a privilege it is to pray together as God's people. And if you would, take the text of Scripture and open to Philippians chapter 1. Philippians chapter 1 will be our chapter this morning. And we are going to read together here in just a moment verses 9 through 11. Philippians chapter 1, verses 9, 10, and 11. And once you arrive there in Philippians 1 verse 9, would you please, because you are the people of God and this is the word of God, would you stand eager to receive God's word this Lord's day morning? Philippians 1, beginning in verse 9, the apostle Paul writes as he's carried along by the spirit of God, and it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God. Church family, by way of reminder, the grass withers, the flowers will fade, but the word of our God will stand forever. Amen. You may be seated. Some of the most fruitful activities in my Christian walk, in my Christian life have consisted of praying with other brothers and sisters. And in particular, times when I have had the privilege of praying with brothers and sisters who are more mature in their faith. And so perhaps we could call them mothers in the faith or fathers in the faith and so forth. Praying with other Christians throughout the 21 years or so, I've been a Christian. has proven to be effective to shape me, I think, more and more so into the image of Jesus Christ. And these are, keep in mind, these are brothers and sisters that I'm praying with and have prayed with and of course will continue to pray with who are sound doctrinally and zealous spiritually. These are brothers and sisters who are passionate about serving Jesus Christ. They've all contributed in so many ways to the development of my faith as a follower of Jesus, especially when I have prayed with them. And I think, I think this time of prayer contributes to me spiritually in a couple of ways. And I want to point out those ways briefly. On the one hand, when I have prayed with more mature saints in the Lord, I have learned how to pray. One of the ways you learn how to pray as a young Christian is you listen. I don't actually remember. Early in my Christian walk, it happened a bit later, I don't remember ever having sat down for a formal lesson on prayer. I don't remember taking a class on how to pray. Perhaps I did, I just don't remember it. It did happen later in my Christian walk, but early on I simply learned how to pray by listening to other brothers and sisters pray. That's how I learned to pray. We would have a prayer meeting, for example. I remember in the church, I was a part of, early on in my Christian walk, we would have a Wednesday night prayer meeting and I would go to Wednesday night prayer meeting and sometimes I would pray, sometimes I wouldn't, especially being a young Christian, I was a bit intimidated by the idea, the concept of praying out loud in front of other brothers and sisters, but I would just sit down and I remember hearing men and women share their heart before the Lord and just imbibing, by being present with them, how to pray. However, in addition, I should say, to this lesson of how to pray, when I would listen to brothers and sisters pray, I would actually begin to learn what to believe as well. Now this is important to mention. So praying with other brothers and sisters taught me how to pray on the one hand. On the other hand, it actually began to instruct me vividly regarding what to believe. And there's actually an ancient saying that communicates this concept. And I'll mention it to you because it makes me feel intelligent when I say it this way, okay? Then we'll translate it. But it's Lex Orandi Lex Credendi. And if you have taken any Latin, some of those terms may be familiar to you. If you haven't, that is okay. It's okay, you don't have to know Latin to be spiritual. But what does it mean? It means, I guess quite literally, the law of prayer is the law of faith. But the concept is this. The way we pray informs what we believe. We oftentimes think of prayer in this way. We think of prayer as expressive. And so, when I pray, I am expressing what I already believe. And that, in fact, is true. In fact, that phrase, lex orandi, lex codendi, could be understood in that way. It could be, for example, that what we believe is actually expressed in the way we pray. And that, in fact, is true. But I think the thrust of the saying actually is inverted. I think the idea is that what we pray isn't merely an expression of what we believe, it actually is informative concerning what we believe. It transforms what we believe. And so I've said this from time to time. You know, we pray in various ways. We were praying a moment ago in song. We didn't begin to pray, for example, when Alan came up and led us in prayer. We were praying as we were singing. It just took the form of song. And one of the things, of course, that Brett says from time to time, I think it's something along the lines of, Brett, you can correct me if I'm wrong. Where are you? You're back there somewhere. There you are. You look great, brother. Good to see you. Brett says something along the lines of, let's sing our faith. Is that right, brother? Something like that? Let's sing our faith. And that's true. That's true, but let's add to that as well. Just conceptually, let's think through this. When we are praying, we're not just singing what we already believe, we're singing what we aspire to believe. It may be that I walk in the door not feeling like God is good. It may be that I actually in that moment am battling with unbelief concerning the benevolence of God. When I sing, am I being hypocritical? Perhaps. But maybe I'm being hopeful. Maybe the words that I sing communicate truths I aspire by God's grace to affirm and to feel, to believe. And so I sing, we believe. as if to imply perhaps someday more passionately. Well, this concept that prayer actually informs what we believe, I think is appropriate for us as we approach Philippians chapter one, verses nine through 11, because what do we have in these few verses? We have a prayer, don't we? The Apostle Paul just prays. That's what we have in these three verses. The Apostle Paul begins, look at verse nine with me. He says, and it is my prayer that. And there it goes. He begins to share with us precisely what he is praying for concerning these believers in Jesus Christ. And so it's a privilege for us to begin this morning studying one of the Apostle's prayers. And I think this prayer is instructive for us in the two ways I've just mentioned. On the one hand, we learn how to pray. And we'll make mention of that. That won't be the thrust of the morning, but we'll make mention of that again. We learn how to pray by walking through the apostle's prayer. But in addition to this, we learn what to believe. And in particular, we learn a bit about what to believe concerning the process of spiritual growth. Because that's what he prays about here. He's concerned primarily with the process of maturing in Christ Jesus. How is it, for example, that Christians mature in Christ? What is spiritual maturity or spiritual growth? All of these questions get answered in the Apostle Paul's prayer. And so, what we're going to begin doing this morning, and this is going to carry us into next Lord's Day. I didn't anticipate this earlier in the week, but as we moved on later in the week, I realized, you know, if I tried to preach this sermon in one sermon, we're gonna be here till three. And so I better start dividing this thing. Next Lord's Day, we're gonna revisit this prayer. So these three verses will be our text for the next two Lord's Days. And over those two Lord's Days, if you're taking notes, we're going to identify six aspects of spiritual growth from the Apostle's Prayer. Six aspects of spiritual growth. This morning, we're going to look at three aspects. Excuse me. Next Sunday, next Lord's Day, we're going to look at the final three aspects of spiritual growth, okay? So that's the roadmap for us, that's the direction. Let's begin by looking together at verse nine, part A, just the first part of verse nine. So your Bibles are open, I hope, or you've got your device out with the Bible app opened or something like that, and you're looking down at the text with me. Verse nine, part A, and it is my prayer, or we could translate this something like, and I pray that, Your love may abound more and more. Here's the first aspect, and we're going to just kind of give it a title, and then we'll identify it. The first aspect of spiritual growth that we find in the text is what I would call the nature of spiritual growth. The nature of spiritual growth. And in some ways, we're asking and answering this question, what is spiritual growth? What is it? What does it mean to grow spiritually? What does it mean to mature in Christ Jesus? Now, before we unpack this, I said to you that the Apostle Paul's prayer also teaches us how to pray, and I want to mention this. We will revisit this in the weeks, months, years ahead as we unpack God's word together throughout this journey and this life. But I want you to notice what it is that forms the center of the Apostle's prayer. The priority of Paul's prayer is spiritual growth. or we could say spiritual maturation, developing in Christ Jesus. He is not consumed, don't miss this, he is not consumed, doesn't mean he's unconcerned, but he's not centered on their physical well-being or comfort in this life. That's not here in the text, is it? Don't misunderstand what I'm suggesting. For example, in 3 John verse two, John actually communicates a desire to see that these brothers and sisters are doing well physically. And so God is concerned about our physical well-being. How do we know that, by the way? How do we know that God is concerned about our physical well-being in addition to He says so? What is He going to do someday when Jesus Christ comes back with the dead bodies? that are in the tombs. He's going to raise them to new life, isn't he? At the center of God's plan is redemption, not merely of the physical, rather spiritual realm, but also of the physical realm. God is concerned about these bodies. He will raise these bodies that are now corruptible and mortal to incorruptibility and immortality. But in this prayer, notice that is not the Apostle Paul's concern in this life. His concern in this life is with their growth spiritually in Christ Jesus. And so we learn that spiritual growth in this life in our prayers actually takes precedence over concern about physical comforts. Just as an aside, I think we should say this. My tendency is when someone asks for a prayer request, you know where my mind goes almost by default? What are the physical sufferings or ailments that I know about currently? And so I will ask for prayer, for example. You know, so-and-so is sick or so-and-so is struggling with this particular illness or they've broken this bone or something like that. And are those appropriate prayer requests? Please do this. Yes, absolutely. God is concerned with all of those things. But if we're going to pray like the Apostle Paul prays, we've got to look through those things to what God potentially might be doing in the midst of such suffering. And so perhaps, and then I should move on because this isn't the primary point of the sermon this morning. But perhaps when I share a prayer request, for example, about, you know, I'm struggling with X sickness or whatever. You know, I've got a family member that is battling cancer and pray that the Lord would heal them. That's an appropriate prayer request. God indeed does heal. Believe that. Perhaps I should also share that God would not waste the illness. Of course he doesn't, does he? He's sovereign enough to harness every modicum of suffering in this life for the good of His people and the glory of His name. And may it be that He does so through this sickness. May it be that every cold I contract draws me ever closer to Jesus Christ. And if there is no other way for me to draw closer to Jesus Christ, then by means of this suffering, then may God be so gracious as to grant it. I think, I think that's closer to how the Apostle Paul would be praying about these illnesses. Okay, well, so as we learn how to pray, as I mentioned, we learn what to believe concerning spiritual growth, and here we find the nature of spiritual growth Allow me to draw your attention to a couple of facets of this aspect of spiritual growth. First of all, I want you to notice that spiritual growth is a process. Let me say that again. Spiritual growth is a process. It's not immediate. It's not instantaneous. It's not as if we come to know Jesus Christ and then poof, magically, we're perfect. At least that wasn't my experience. It may have been Pastor Tim's, I don't know. But it wasn't mine. Probably ask his family and find out otherwise. So Paul's desire, notice, is for our love to, and the translation, I think the ESV reads, abound, increase, our love to increase more and more. This is gradual. This is a process. This is step by step. One could argue that it's often slow. It demands patience. Moreover, it cultivates patience. The process itself actually cultivates patience in us. There's one way to get patience. One way. By waiting. No one ever received patience by receiving immediately. It's not the way it works. And so the process itself actually cultivates us There are aspects of the Christian life, I think, that are instantaneous, by the way. I think there are, and we talk about this from time to time as evangelical Christians. We talk about the moment we got saved, you know, and some people even know their, quote, spiritual birthday. That's okay. Some of us don't know that, by the way, and that's okay as well. It's not any less miraculous or supernatural. especially for those people who were raised and reared in Christian homes, they may never remember a time when the Lord was not near to them in favor. Does that mean they have not actually been raised, as it were, out of spiritual death into spiritual life? No, it just means that by God's mercy that they don't remember the moment it happened. But there was a moment, okay? There was a moment when we were raised out of death into life. We've been brought out of spiritual darkness into spiritual light. There was a moment when we were, as it were, naked and ashamed, and we've been clothed and given confidence through the righteousness of Jesus Christ. However, most of the Christian life isn't characterized by these moments. Most of the Christian life is characterized by processes. So for example, there's a distinction that we make in our circles, and I think it's a faithful, biblical, theological distinction between two terms. We talk about justification. Do you know these terms? And Sanctification, excellent. Yeah, I was curious. Justification and sanctification. And we talk about these terms because I think it's helpful for us to distinguish these concepts that we find in scripture. What is justification? Justification is the act of God whereby he declares the sinner righteous on the basis of Christ received through faith. That's justification. It's the act of God. In other words, it's that moment whereby God actually declares the sinner righteous, not on the basis of anything he finds in the sinner, but on the basis of Christ's righteousness. And Christ, of course, is received through faith alone. That's justification. That's a moment in time, as it were. And then there's sanctification. Now, sanctification is the process whereby the believer becomes more and more like Christ by God's grace. So justification is that act of God, that moment, and sanctification then characterizes the remainder of the Christian life. We spend a great deal of time, of course, in sanctification oftentimes. There are others that, you know, didn't spend a great deal of time in sanctification. So, for example, the thief on the cross, you know, he received a kind of spiritual promotion. Like that. Not long in sanctification before glorification. But for most of us, we spend the majority of our time in this process of growth we call sanctification. And so the Apostle Paul doesn't actually pray here for a fresh infusion and an instantaneous moment. It's not what he prays for. He prays that their love would increase more and more and more. Not a romantic notion, is it? It implies Time. And we're Americans. We don't like that. You know, I was thinking about this last night. My wife and I were talking about COVID-19. I know we're all sick and tired of talking about it. I get it. I'm so tired of talking about it. I can't wait until it's no longer on my lips. Can't wait until I can pull a mask off and breathe normally from time to time. I told someone I love preaching in part because I get to see your faces. It's a wonderful thing, especially for a new pastor. But I was talking to Tana and then others as well, and I was amazed, I was taken by the reality that COVID-19 really has only been a part of our lives for about, what, five months or so, six months maybe? Does anyone feel like it's been 30 years? And I thought to myself, I don't remember what life was like before COVID. And then I thought, boy, you are so impatient. I mean, five months in and I'm thinking, Lord, this is over. I've had enough of this, you know? Perhaps, perhaps the God who is sovereign over every blade of grass actually is using COVID to cultivate patience among his people. Perhaps we ought to spend more time instead of criticizing decisions that are made. I'm guilty. Criticism is okay from time to time, don't get me wrong, but spend less time criticizing those decisions and more time resting in the promises of our God that will not be thwarted through COVID and in fact are actually being accomplished by means of COVID. I know that's not exciting. I know it's not. Or is it? Spiritual growth is a lot like physical growth. Do you remember when you were children? Some of you are children. You know, if you're like five or six years old, you know, currently, do you ever think, man, I can't wait until I'm 12. And that is cool. I can't wait until I'm 12 years old. Or maybe if you're 11 or 12, or you ever think, I can't wait until I'm 16. Life really begins when you turn 16. and you think in your mind, this is taking forever? I mean, when is this going to actually materialize in my life? I've been waiting my whole life for this. Some of us who are older maybe can remember being children and just thinking, it is taking so long before I can see the top of the refrigerator. Some of you are still waiting for that. And I said no names, there wasn't a single name there. So if you insert names, that's on you. It's not on me. Spiritual growth is a lot like physical growth. It just takes time. And so dear Christian, as we move on here, dear Christian, there is likely no quick fix for your spiritual immaturities. There is a fix. but it's the grace of God in the promises of God manifested in the gospel taking root slowly but surely in your life. There is change, don't misunderstand me, but it's oftentimes slower than we would prefer. So secondly, we're still under the first aspect. Okay, these are two points under the first aspect. Secondly, I want you to notice concerning the nature of spiritual growth. Notice that spiritual growth is growth with respect to love. So what is spiritual growth? It's growth with respect to love. That's what it is. Matthew 22, verses 36 to 38, we receive a little more detail about the nature of this love, an expert in God's law, a lawyer, which is another way of saying this is an expert in the Torah, God's law, asks Jesus' teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law, which of course is a common question among Jews at the time. Jesus answered him, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, This is the great first commandment, and the second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. So the kind of love that we read about in scripture and the kind of love for which Paul prays in the text has a particular object. That is, this is a love for God and as a result, a love for others. Summarize the entire Christian life, it's love of God, love of others. And summarize Christian growth, it's growing with respect to love for God and love for others. And so I think it's faithful to say that we could at times measure our own spiritual growth by the degree to which we're loving God and loving others. You may recall this, the Apostle Paul exemplifies this love, and in particular, this love for the church. Verse eight, we looked at this, was it last Lord's Day, I think? Verse eight, for God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ. That's the kind of love the Apostle Paul is talking about here. His love finds an object in the church. And it finds an object in the church because it's found an object in the God. who presides over the church in the Christ, who is the head of the church. 1 Timothy 1 verse 5 is a great summary of the aim that we have as Christians, the aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. That's the aim of our charge. St. Augustine, have you heard of Augustine? If you've never read Augustine, I'd encourage you to do that. It's not easy reading, but if you can work your way and plod your way through Augustine, there's tremendous payoff. But Augustine wrote a little book, and it's entitled On Christian Doctrine, and it's a little bit confusing because the book is actually on how to study the Bible. You know, we have early church books on how to study the Bible? It's just fantastic. And so this little book called On Christian Doctrine, How to Study the Bible, and then it also has a second part on how to teach the Bible. But in How to Study the Bible, the Christian, I was gonna say the Saint Augustine, but the saint, of course, used broadly concerning all Christians. Augustine actually says that anyone who approaches the text of Scripture without the aim to more passionately love God and others approaches Scripture inappropriately. That's the aim of all biblical interpretation. That's the aim of all theology. It's the aim of all of our lives, that is to more passionately love the God who has redeemed us, and as a result, more passionately love one another. To such an extent that Jesus can say, of course, this is how the world will recognize you. How is it that the world around you will be able to detect my disciples? Is it doctrine? Well, on the one hand, yes. but not exclusively and not even fundamentally, it's that that proper doctrine actually manifests itself in love for God and love for others, and in particular in John 13, love for one another. So, as we've mentioned, spiritual growth is the process of growing with respect to love for God and others. That's what spiritual growth is. The process, emphasized process, of growing with respect to love for God and others. Secondly, second aspect of spiritual growth we find in the text is what I would call the instruments of spiritual growth. So we have the nature of spiritual growth, what is it, and we have the instruments of spiritual growth. How do you do it? How does it happen? Look with me at verse 9 again. It is my prayer that your love may abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment. Do you see that? Now that's fascinating to me because we don't typically think of love as related to knowledge and discernment. In fact, I think there's a narrative that has influenced so many Christians that suggests that knowledge is often contrary to love. There's this anti-intellectual spirit that really does permeate so much the ways in which we function as evangelicals. I was warned, for example, before I went to seminary, I was warned, don't allow seminary to steal your love for Christ. On the one hand, I understand the warning because we know stories of people who have gone off to study and of course they've lost their faith. Of course, by the way, if they've lost their faith, they never actually had it. But it may be that they weren't actually pursuing God himself. And so here we find a relationship. between the growth with respect to love and knowledge. Growth with respect to love and discernment. And so, for example, I thought about this. You know, what is a common definition of love in our broader cultural climate? I think it goes something like this. Love is unconditional acceptance of anyone regardless of what they choose to do with their lives. Let's take it a step farther. Love is unconditional agreement with others, regardless of what they choose to do with their own lives. I think that is really the functional definition of love in our broader culture. Is that fair? I think it is. To such an extent, for example, that if I have a friend who is making some decisions that I believe to be against Scripture, of course, that is very clearly against Scripture, and I go to that friend and I tell that friend, this is what the Word of God says, dear brother, I would be perceived by some to be unloving." And the dilemma here, of course, is that is precisely love in the text of Scripture. And here we find, here we find that discernment actually is an instrument for producing spiritual growth. That is deciding truth from error. That actually supports our spiritual growth and the development of our love as Christians. I'm loving you and you're loving me when we learn to discern. I think to say it another way, here for the Apostle Paul, head knowledge and heart knowledge are not finally separable. They're inseparable. Head knowledge and heart knowledge go hand in hand. In fact, the Apostle Paul considers it knowledge. Now remember, remember that the Apostle Paul is concerned with a particular kind of love that is indicative of spiritual growth. That is, love for God and love for others, or more precisely, love for Christ and love for his people. So, this love increases by increased knowledge of Christ. You see, my love for Christ grows as I learn more about Christ. But even more than that, as I come to know Christ more deeply. Christ is the object, both of our knowing and our loving, is another way of saying this. Now what does this assume? This assumes, this assumes that we've met him, by the way, friends. This means that we don't merely know about Jesus, we know Jesus. This means we've come to the point at which we recognize that we are sinners, broken, impoverished, because of our depravity, and we've embraced and treasured Jesus Christ above life itself. Do you know him this morning? I mean know him. We're in the Bible Belt. I know you know about him. For many of you, you've been taught about Jesus your entire life. You may not ever remember a time when you weren't in church, or you weren't being instructed in Sunday school, or you weren't in VBS, what have you, various programs. You know all about Jesus potentially, but do you know Jesus? Another way to ask the question is that you treasure Jesus, because to know him is to treasure him. If you don't treasure him, I think it's fair to say you do not know him. Remember what the psalmist says in Psalm 34, taste and see that the Lord is good. As if to imply, if you taste, this isn't a taste test. Okay, this isn't a, I'm gonna try a little Jesus and then if I don't like it, I'll spit it out. Move on to something else. No, it's taste and see that the Lord is good. You see? If you taste, you will invariably determine the Lord is good. Blessed are all who find refuge in him. Do you know him, church? Do you know him, friend? Have you surrendered to Jesus Christ? There is such a danger, isn't there? And I pray this for my children in being reared and raised in a context that is Christian. There are benefits as well. But I mean Christian, where the assumption is everybody knows Jesus. When you ask the question, do you know Jesus, and they look at you like you're from outer space. I'm from Tennessee, what do you mean do I know Jesus? Or I'm from Texas, what do you mean do I know Jesus? Same problem. Have you actually tasted and seen that the Lord is good? Jonathan Edwards, by the way, talks about the difference between two kinds of knowledge. You can know honey is sweet, and then you can know honey is sweet. What's the difference? On the one hand, the one who knows honey is sweet has been told that honey is sweet, and so they determine potentially that honey is sweet. The other person has actually tasted. There is an experiential knowledge Edwards goes on to discuss. And this is the kind of knowledge the apostle Paul is talking about in the text. He's not talking about knowing about God or about Jesus. That's a distant knowledge. He's talking about a kind of intimate knowledge. For example, Genesis chapter four, I'm getting off on things I didn't anticipate I would say. What do you do? Maybe the Spirit will use all of this for his glory. Genesis chapter four, Adam knew his wife and she conceived. Now, I'm not going to define that for you. I think you can define it yourself. Adam knew his wife and she conceived. There's an intimacy to the kind of knowledge the Bible holds forth for the Christian, and especially for the kind that really does promote spiritual growth. Husbands, I want you to try something. Let me say this, I'm joking. Don't try this. I was going to receive a lot of phone calls and emails, potentially. But hypothetically, I want you to try to love your wife without learning anything about her. without knowing her, you know? Give you an example, I love, I mentioned Augustine a moment ago, I love studying the early church, love it. I love studying the people oftentimes referred to as the early church fathers, first few centuries of the church, I love it. I love translating things in the early church. I love, you know, making use of some of the various languages in which those things were written and really diving in. Love it, okay? Doesn't make me more spiritual necessarily. I do think it's one expression of giftedness in Christ Jesus. Others of you may have no desire at all to translate Tertullian. That's okay. Well, if my wife's birthday rolls around, my wife loves the Lord, by the way. She loves Jesus. My wife, her birthday rolls around in December, and I come up to my wife and I tell her, look, maybe I've purchased something for you. I know you're going to love it. And it's an entire set of early church fathers. And I say to her something like this, you know, I've even got the various lexicons that will help you translate these early church fathers. What would she say to me? Well, I don't know exactly. But let me suggest to you, she could respond with something like this. Do you even know me? Why? Because loving her is intimately related to knowing her and vice versa. So it is with Christ. I've got a quote there in your notes. If you got those notes from J.I. Packer, it's a great quote. I'm not going to use it. We're going to keep going here and skip some things. To summarize this aspect, spiritual growth takes place with increased knowledge and discernment in Christ. Spiritual growth, that is the process of growing with respect to love, takes place with increased knowledge of Christ and discernment in Christ. Third, third aspect of spiritual growth, and we're going to be here for just a moment before we wrap up. Finally, we discover the evidence of spiritual growth. The evidence of spiritual growth. Look with me at verse 10 in the text. This is a kind of purpose or result, so that you may approve what is excellent and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ. Nothing is ever really known and discerned until it passes into obedience. What this means is if I were living a life of immorality, and Brad were to come up to me and look at me and say, dear brother, I love you, but you've got to stop doing what is inconsistent with the Christian faith and what dishonors the Savior who bought you. And if I were to respond to Brad as he was sharing the gospel with me anew, as he was sharing the Word of God with me anew, if I were to respond to him with something like this, oh, I know those things, he could justifiably respond with, no, you don't, apparently. Because true knowledge in the Word of God always passes into obedience. It always manifests itself in obedience. This is why the Apostle Paul, when he begins the letter to the Corinthians, and the Corinthians have a whole host of problems, by the way. You know, there's a lot of talk about wanting to be a New Testament church. Well, what New Testament church? I don't want to become the church of Corinth. And early in his letter to the Corinthians, you know, this is a church that struggles with immorality. They struggle with suing one another, their gluttonous at the Lord's table. I mean, they're doing all kinds of things. They're abusing the spiritual gifts and so forth. They're boasting about a kind of pagan knowledge and a pagan practice. What does the Apostle Paul do early in 1 Corinthians? He goes back to the gospel. Why? Because apparently they don't know it. How does he know this? Because the evidence of spiritual growth is found in a transformed life. We could say it this way, spiritual growth is evidenced by a changed life. Our lives are changed as we're growing in our love with respect to God and others through increased knowledge of Christ and discernment in Christ. Now notice I am not talking about perfection. Don't misunderstand me. We oftentimes will hear that when we're talking about growth or holiness. We will get to perfection next Lord's Day. We will talk about perfection. Perfection is in the text. Blamelessness is in the text, but we're not there yet. That's next week. I am talking here about the process of change and spiritual transformation. This means that spiritual maturity, although it is related to increased knowledge, is not merely, is not reduced, as it were, to increased knowledge. It's more robust than this. It's not simply reading Wayne Grudem's systematic theology book. It may be a part of the process. depending on whether or not you're reading the book in order to know God or reading the book in order to master a subject about God. Big difference. Maybe a part of that process, but it is not the sum total of the process. In fact, I think we could say this, all theological reading, can I say it this way? I love theological reading. It forms a part of my spiritual maturity and process. But all theological reading in the world is as worthless as a catcher in t-ball if it doesn't actually propel us to live according to the gospel. You know? There isn't much use for a catcher in t-ball, you know this. So, what is spiritual growth? Let's say this and then I wanna close with a caution. Spiritual growth is the process of growth. We've said this, putting it all together now, the process of growth with respect to love for Christ, by increased knowledge and discernment, evidenced in a changed life. Let me say that one more time. Spiritual growth is the process of growth with respect to love for Christ by increased knowledge and discernment evidenced always in a changed life. Well, time is short, but I have to give this warning before we conclude. And I thought about that this morning actually. Church, please don't confuse the fruit of spiritual growth with the root of spiritual growth. There is a damning error potentially here. You cannot, you cannot experience any of this You cannot begin to experience spiritual growth if you aren't already alive in Christ. What good does it do to take a corpse, bring the corpse as it were, carry the corpse to the dinner table, place before the corpse? I hate to be morbid, I know. But this is the reality of death and sin. Placed before the corpse, a wonderful, nutritious meal. How will the meal benefit the corpse? What good does it do to take a corpse and carry the corpse as it were to the gym? Move the corpse's arms and legs. Maybe even place some weights in the corpse's hands. and move the arms around. You know this is nonsense and this is the kind of thing we are tempted to do when we hear these kinds of messages and we walk out the door not treasuring Christ. If you are not alive in Jesus Christ, dear friend, I promise you, it's futile. You're dead in sin. You're not alone in this. All of us who are now alive in Christ were once dead in sin. You're in good company, or maybe bad company, depending on how you look at it. Matthew 12, 33 says, either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. The tree doesn't become by its fruit. An apple tree produces apples because it is an apple tree. It doesn't become an apple tree because it produces apples, you see? And if we invert this in the Bible Belt, there's a temptation. If we invert this with the assumption that we actually do know Jesus Christ, we will do what Paul David Tripp actually calls nail apples onto a dead tree. Paul David Tripp actually gives the analogy of a tree that produces rots and apples year after year after year. and deciding to resolve the problem of the apple tree that produces rotten apples by going to the store and buying a basket of plump, red, juicy apples. And taking the apples home and grabbing the apples and nailing them to the tree. And then walking back inside to his wife and saying to his wife, look here, I have fixed the problem. That's precisely what we're doing. If we try to take this process and manufacture it, and concocted without ever having come alive by the power of the Spirit of God in the gospel of Jesus Christ. And this is one of the most frustrating things you can do this morning. This process, we'll get back to it next week, this process begins with your first spiritual breath. And the reality is you can't produce that first spiritual breath. You must be born again. And only God the Spirit can do such a miraculous, monergistic, that's a big term, unilateral work. It takes God himself working in the gospel of his Son. And so all of this is predicated upon what we said a moment ago. Do you really know Christ? You've gotta start there. And then, then if you've taken that first spiritual breath through faith in Christ, now let's grow together. Would you bow in prayer with me? Our Father in heaven, there are so many things we could have said, things we've left unsaid, perhaps other things we've said in ways that are definitely imperfect. Would you be pleased to use all that has been said for the glory of your name and the good of first Baptist pal, oh God. For those here this morning who may not know you, would you grant them life in Christ? Would you raise the dead through Christ Jesus? And would you begin the process of spiritual growth? Would you transform us who do know you progressively with respect to love for your son and for others? by increased knowledge of Christ and discernment, evidenced, oh God, for your glory in a changed life. We pray these things in the name of Christ and in hope of his return. And all God's people said.