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The ABC’s of Christian Character - Part 2 of 9
By Bro. Cheek | May 20, 2008
Table of contents for The ABCs of Christian Character
- The ABC’s of Christian Character - Part 1 of 9
- The ABC’s of Christian Character - Part 2 of 9
- The ABC’s of Christian Character - Part 3 of 9
- The ABC’s of Christian Character - Part 4 of 9
- The ABC’s of Christian Character - Part 5 of 9
- The ABC’s of Christian Character - Part 6 of 9
- The ABC’s of Christian Character - Part 7 of 9
- The ABC’s of Christian Character - Part 8 of 9
- The ABC’s of Christian Character - Part 9 of 9
The ABC’S of
Christian Character
1 Thessalonians 4:1-12
Part Two of Nine
By Pastor Robert L. Cheek Jr.
Victory Baptist Church
I want to bring you the second message in this series and build upon what we have already learned about the subject of character. If you remember, character is, “The peculiar qualities, impressed by nature or habit on a person, which distinguish him from others”. Character is the sum of the personality that makes you and I unique from others. As Christians we have an inbred desire from the Holy Ghost to be like our Saviour. To the degree that we are like Christ in our character is to the degree we are a peculiar treasure to God and to the degree we are usable in God’s service.
1 Thessalonians 4:1 Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more.
I have said already that our character can change. In the last message I gave you three steps to changing any part of character. We saw first of all that change of character requires a serious heart. Then we saw that a serious heart is not enough. We also need the Saviour’s help. Then lastly, we need to steadfastly heed God’s Word. In that last point, I introduced the principle of spiritual strongholds and carnal strongholds. Tonight I want to build (no pun intended) upon the concept of strongholds because this principle is very vital in our discussion of character.
In reality, strongholds are nothing more than developed habits. But for the sake of illustration let’s think of a stronghold as sort of like a medieval fortress, castle or keep. These fortified structures were designed to withstand attack and to keep the people inside safe. The very idea of a stronghold is that it is difficult to capture. It is literally a strong hold. Strongholds weren’t built over night. Some medieval castles took over 100 years to complete. If an enemy wanted to destroy that stronghold, it would take time to do that. We can use this as an illustration of the carnal and spritual strongholds (habits if you please) that make up our character. You see, our character is the sum total of both our spiritual and carnal strongholds.
Of course the two extreme characters would be (1) a character that has nothing but spiritual strongholds and no carnal strongholds and (2) a character that has nothing but carnal strongholds and no spiritual strongholds.
1 John 1:5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
Colossians 2:9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
God is the ultimate example of a character with absolutely no carnal strongholds. God has no sin and His character is complete holiness and righteousness. Satan of course is the ultimate example of a character with absolutely no spiritual strongholds. He is nothing but carnality and evil.
2 Thessalonians 2:9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
2 Thessalonians 2:10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
John 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
We are somewhere in the middle of these two extremes. To some degree or another, we have carnal and spiritual strongholds. For our character to change, the ratio of spiritual to carnal strongholds must change. That change can go in either direction. As more spiritual strongholds (habits) are built in our life, we become Christ-like. As more carnal strongholds (habits) are built in our life, we become less Christ-like.
Think of character as a piece of property measured out to a certain size. This property contains only enough building materials on it to build a certain number of strongholds. In order to build a new stronghold, an old stronghold must be dismantled, piece by piece. Now I want to show you a couple of very important passages of Scripture with regards to the building and tearing down of strongholds.
2 Corinthians 10:3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
2 Corinthians 10:4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
2 Corinthians 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
2 Corinthians 10:6 And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.
God’s Word, the Sword of the Spirit, is part of the spiritual armor that we use to cast down and pull down carnal strongholds and also to replace them with spiritual strongholds. This is known as the principle of replacement.
Ephesians 4:22 That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
Ephesians 4:23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
Ephesians 4:24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
To put off the old man is the process of tearing down carnal strongholds. To put on the new man is the process of building spiritual strongholds. Notice what the Bible tucked in between putting off and putting on.
Ephesians 4:23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
The process of renewing our mind is the process of receiving help from God and His Word to recognize the carnal strongholds in our life and being able to successfully tear down the carnal and build up the spiritual strongholds. In the next few verses Paul gave an examples of a carnal and a spiritual stronghold.
Ephesians 4:25 Wherefore putting away lying, (the habit of lying builds a carnal stronghold) speak every man truth with his neighbour: (the habit of telling the truth builds a spiritual stronghold) for we are members one of another.
Your character is the current state of the building process in your life. If you tell the truth 80% of the time but lie 20% of the time, you can think of that as having a spiritual stronghold that is 80% complete, but also a carnal stronghold that is 80% torn down with 20% left. To finish the spiritual stronghold, you need to tear down the remaining 20% carnal stronghold and add those pieces to the 80% spiritual stronghold. Developing a habit of telling the truth is developing the habitat of a spiritual stronghold. It’s easy to understand but the building process takes time and much work.
Ephesians 4:26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:
Ephesians 4:27 Neither give place to the devil.
I want you to notice verse 27. To give place means to make room for. In our illustration of strongholds, this verse means that we should not give the devil a place in our character (remember that piece of land) to build a carnal stronghold. Let’s notice another passage and relate it to our illustration of strongholds.
Colossians 3:8 But now ye also put off (think of putting off as tearing down a stronghold, moment by moment, or rather piece by piece) all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
All of these are carnal strongholds.
Colossians 3:9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;
Colossians 3:10 And have put on the new man, (think of putting on as the process of building up a stronghold, moment by moment, or rather piece by piece) which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
It is the Word of God that gives us the blueprints to recognize the carnal strongholds we need to attack and destroy and also the blueprints to know how to build the spiritual strongholds that will keep us safe from harm.
Colossians 3:11 Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.
Colossians 3:12 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, (here are some spiritual strongholds) bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;
Colossians 3:13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
Colossians 3:14 And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.
Colossians 3:15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.
We have talked a lot about building strongholds in our life. With what we have learned, let’s consider another important text.
Romans 6:16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
Consider this text within the context of strongholds. Every stronghold in our life has been built because we obeyed a certain master-builder. In order to build spiritual strongholds, we must be under the employment of the Lord. When we build carnal strongholds, we change master-builders and come under the influence and direction of Satan.
Romans 6:17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
Up until salvation, we only built carnal strongholds. Oh, some of them looked really nice, but in the end they were nothing more than carnal.
Isaiah 64:6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
But when we got saved, we came under the employ of the wise master-builder and through his direction we were able to build strong spiritual strongholds.
Romans 6:18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.
Romans 6:19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.
Verse 19 is simply and admonishment to give your new master-builder just as much zeal and effort that you gave to your old master builder. Now let’s consider another familiar text and think of it in the context of spiritual and carnal strongholds.
1 Corinthians 3:9 For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.
1 Corinthians 3:10 According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.
1 Corinthians 3:11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Salvation gives us the foundation for building spiritual strongholds. Now we need to take heed how we build. We shouldn’t spend one day building a spiritual stronghold and the next day tearing down and building a carnal one. That is why faithfulness is so important. The more faithful we are, the faster our spiritual strongholds will be built and the faster the carnal ones will be torn down.
Galatians 2:16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
Galatians 2:17 But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid.
This text is not about Christian service. It is about the differences in faith for salvation and law for salvation. However, through instruction in righteousness, I want to take verse 18 and apply it to the building of carnal strongholds.
Galatians 2:18 For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.
The idea is this: If I’m trying to build spiritual strongholds in my life by destroying the carnal strongholds, I make myself a transgressor every time I build again the carnal stronghold that I tried to destroy. See what I mean? I hope that you understand the principle of building strongholds. We all have them, but what kind are they and what kind are we building? Are we building carnal strongholds or are we building spiritual strongholds?
(If this series helps you, please post a comment.)
Topics: Studies |