Good afternoon.
There are times as you’re studying scripture, at least if you’re me, where
start to think about a text and you suddenly realize that text after text after text
allude to a truth, in this case, a process.
I wanted to spend a little bit of time discussing the process for biblical success.
This is not a framework drawn out by any
any academics, any scientific analysis.
This is just simply an observation of what God has done and what those who have been
successful in Scripture, in certain tasks, some short-term, some longer-term, have done in
order to achieve that success.
And I believe there are some truths and some insights
in this for us as a congregation, for our work in evangelism, but just even in our daily
lives.
As you consider the idea of the process for biblical success, notice first that it begins
by seeing the vision.
It begins by understanding and having clarity as to where something needs to go.
Proverbs writer speaks concerning the things that occur when there is no vision.
And as you look at time and time again in the Old Testament and in the New Testament,
you’ll find that those who were successful, those who were obedient to God, those who
achieved the things that God set in front of them, they saw what God wanted them to do.
So as we consider this idea of one needing to see the vision, we’re not talking about some
miraculous vision, we’re not talking about an epiphany in the night, we’re talking about
the fact that they see the desired result on God’s behalf.
They see the will of God.
In Ephesians chapter three.
Paul, as he’s writing to the church at Ephesus, will write to them about what God was able
to do through them.
You’ll notice there in Ephesians chapter 3, and I wrote down the wrong verse references,
it’s verses 20 and 21.
We find in verses 20 and 21, now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all
that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,
to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever.
Amen.
Notice first that Paul points out that it is God who is doing the thing.
It is God who is achieving His will.
He is doing it through us.
If you turn over to Ephesians, just one page over, at least in my Bible, you’ll find in
Ephesians chapter 5, Paul will write to the church about
walking in the light.
will talk to them about walking in love, but he says down in verse 15 of chapter 5, he
says, then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time
because the days are evil.
Therefore, do not be unwise, but notice, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
Paul presented to the Ephesian brethren that they needed to instill in their hearts and
their minds and their lives the work of God, the nature of God, the heart of God, so that
when they understood the commandment of God, they would fulfill it.
They needed to see the vision that God had placed before them.
When you turn over to book of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 11, you have that hall of faith
there in that chapter.
And so many of those passages, so many of those accounts begin with that idea by faith.
But notice that the definition or the description of faith that originates in that passage
in Hebrews chapter 11 verse 1 is now
is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
The Hebrew writer tells us that faith is intended to be that which accepts the testimony
of God and sees the unseen by faith and belief and trust in God.
Scripture will speak to those who had never met the Messiah and will describe that those
who had never met the Messiah, those Gentiles, loved Him having never seen Him.
Why?
Because by faith they accepted the testimony of God.
Therefore they could love Christ
who they had never met.
But you consider in this text as well that you see in these passages a process again that
by faith in the example of Noah, in the example of Abraham, in the example of Sarah, in
the example of Moses, in the example of Enoch, in the example of uh Samson, you find there
is a trust
first.
A trust in God that what God has said He will do, He will accomplish.
Having that trust, there is a determination to obey the command.
Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 5, we read, by faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not
see death and was not found because God had taken him
for before he was taken he had this testimony that he pleased God.
There is not a chance in the world that Enoch received the testimony that he pleased God
because he stumbled into it by accident.
There’s not a chance in the world that Enoch received a testimony from God that he pleased
God because he just happenstance determined to do what God said.
No.
Much like you find in the Old Testament with Ezra, you can imagine that Enoch was one who
prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it.
There was trust, there was determination, and then there was clarity.
when God tells Noah to build an ark, God doesn’t just say, I want an ark.
God tells Noah exactly how to build the ark.
And as we consider our lives, as we consider the things that God would have us to do, we
need to trust God that we can accomplish them.
We need to determine that we’re going to obey, and then we need to clarify how we’re going
to obey.
Because if we don’t clarify the how, if we’re not on board with the process, we’re not
going to accomplish what God puts in front of us.
Every time you look at those New Testament examples from the Old Testament, you find those
three steps, either alluded to or brought out specifically.
But then turn over to Matthew chapter 9.
Matthew chapter 9, you see this point of seeing the vision just beautifully encapsulated
here in the life of Matthew.
In Matthew chapter 9 and in verse 9, as Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man named
Matthew sitting at the tax office.
Now here is a man who we have no prior knowledge of, but the general
perception that we get from the rest of scripture is that many of the apostles were those
who were already disciples of John.
We know that some of them were, we don’t know about all of them, but it’s a good
indication because what was John’s purpose?
He was sent to prepare the way for the Messiah.
He was sent to point out the Messiah.
He was sent to point people to the Messiah.
And so the likelihood is that many of these individuals were disciples of John before they
became the disciples of Jesus.
But as Matthew is sitting there at the tax office, Jesus said to him, follow me.
So he arose and followed him.
We’re not to get from this text that Matthew would have done this to any random stranger
that happened to walk by the tax office and say, follow me!
That Matthew was kind of like a little stray puppy.
Anybody who said follow me, he just went along.
No!
Matthew knew who was talking to him.
And Matthew did not know where he would end up going.
He just knew that he would follow Christ wherever he went.
We’re going to be successful from a biblical perspective.
We’re first going to share God’s vision for success.
We cannot substitute human success for God’s will.
We must understand what the will of the Lord is.
But then, as you look at these texts, as you examine the scope of Scripture,
You also find that the next step in biblical success is you have to build with patience.
Some of us, I won’t mention myself by name, but some of us like to just make decisions,
make it happen, be done.
And that’s just not exactly how life usually works.
If you turn over to 2 Peter, 2 Peter chapter one.
Peter will write to the Christians and he will speak to them concerning their actions,
their faith, their obedience, and what God has done for them.
In 2 Peter chapter 1, beginning in verse 5, he says, but also for this very reason, giving
all diligence add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to
self-control
perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly
kindness love.
As Peter writes to these Christians, he layers these things in on top of one another.
He says there is a process.
And if you will follow the process, if you will add this to this to this to this, and by
the way, if you really get the point of what Peter’s saying, you realize that when you
achieve that top tier, that level of charity, of love, of agape love, you’re going to
start all over.
And you’re going to continue the cycle.
You’re going to continue to grow and to achieve more.
But he goes on and he says here in verse 9, he says, for he who lacks these things is
short-sighted.
even to blindness.
Let me go back to verse 8.
For if these things are yours and abound…
Notice he doesn’t just say you need a little bit of this, you need a little bit of this,
you need a little bit this.
It’s not like a recipe put in a dash of this and a teaspoon of that.
No, he says these things be in you and abound.
You will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
For he who lacks these things is short-sighted even to blindness and has forgotten that he
was cleansed from his old sins.
Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you
do these things, you will never stumble.
as Peter writes these things to these Christians.
He tells them, you’ve got to add this, you’ve got to add this, you’ve got to add this,
you’ve got to add this, and when you’re done, you’ve got to go back and do it again
because you need to abound in these things.
And if you continue to take that diligence to do these things, give even more diligence to
continue to do these things, he says, you will not
fall.
Now Peter is not saying that you’ll never be tempted.
Peter is saying you’ll be ready.
Peter is saying you will have built a foundation to withstand what Satan brings against
you.
If turn over to Ephesians chapter 6, Paul as he writes to the church at Ephesus,
will share a similar concept as he speaks concerning the whole armor of God.
Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 10, finally my brethren be strong in the Lord and in the
power of his might.
Notice it is not your strength.
It is not your might.
It is you allocating to yourself God’s strength.
It is you utilizing God’s defenses.
Notice what he says.
He says, on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the
devil.
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers.
against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in
the heavenly places.
Therefore take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil
day, and having done all to stand.” As he goes on and enumerates those principles and
those concepts of the armor of God, his point is God has allocated these things for you.
You must put them on.
Now you don’t do that if you don’t see the vision.
You don’t do that if you don’t trust the Word of God.
You don’t do that if you haven’t made a determination to be obedient to God, and you don’t
do that if you haven’t clarified what it is God expects of you.
But having done those three things now, you can begin to build with patience.
Or as Peter says, with diligence.
Over in 1 Chronicles chapter 22,
There in that text you find a record of David preparing to build the temple.
David has been told that David was not allowed to build the temple.
That his son, Solomon, would build the temple, the one who would rule after him, because
David was a man of war, David was a bloody man as God said.
But God did allow David to prepare the things for the temple.
So you’ve noticed there in 1 Chronicles chapter 22 that David starts to gather the things
that Solomon would need.
He starts to gather the lumber, he starts to gather the timbers, he starts to gather the
skilled workmen, he brings all of it together.
He begins to build before the building begins.
because he knows the necessary components.
building of the temple was going to be quite a process in Solomon’s day.
It is going to allocate workers from all over the nation to come in cycles, to come and to
build that temple, but it began long before the first timber was ever laid because David
started to acquire the necessary materials before Solomon ever sat on the throne.
You see, if we don’t build with patience, if we build and expect it to just suddenly be
perfect, if we start and expect it to not take very long, if we expect sudden success and
overnight success, we’re fooling ourselves.
Because biblical success is always painted with patience, with endurance.
back in Hebrews chapter 11.
We find here in verse 7, by faith Noah being divinely warned of things not yet seen.
He got the vision.
moved with godly fear.
He had a determination.
He moved with godly fear, prepared an ark.
It was clarified exactly how to do it.
He prepared an ark for the saving of his house by which he condemned the world and became
heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.
And we know from Genesis chapter 6, 7, and 8 that he spent a hundred years doing it.
He wasn’t going to start building that arc and be done tomorrow.
And neither will we.
If we understand what the will of the Lord is, we will make a determination to begin
building and we will have the patience to endure.
One of the things that every congregation needs
if it is to achieve all the things that God has in mind for it, are strong, faithful
elders.
But you know what you can’t get in a day?
You can’t get in a week.
You can’t get in a month.
You can’t get in a year.
Men prepared to be elders.
It takes time.
It takes someone who sees the vision and sets their mind to being prepared to do the work
and puts in the time
and the sweat and the hours to be able to accomplish that, let alone the righteousness and
the qualifications.
So many things about a congregation requires this level of patience.
But then consider as well that you need adoption and resilience.
Now, some of the passages of Scripture, some of the events of Scripture show us success
stories.
and some of them show us failures.
Some of them are like Israel.
They started off determining to be obedient to God and they lasted a month or two and then
they turned back and then they’d rebel.
They didn’t have resilience.
Over in Joshua chapter 25 or 24, Joshua will say to the people,
choose you this day whom you will serve.
And he will point out to them that they have a choice.
They can either serve the gods who they served on the other side of the Jordan or they can
serve Jehovah.
They had to choose.
And they as a people said, we’ll serve the Lord.
And he warned them.
that God would pay attention to what they had said and that God would bring them into
judgment if they didn’t keep what they said.
In Acts chapter 5, you find in the early church some examples of people who saw the vision
and some examples of those who did not.
In Acts chapter 5 and verse 1, in the midst of a time where there were those who were in
need, there were those who had come to Jerusalem,
They had been converted while they were there on the day of Pentecost.
They had remained in Jerusalem.
They hadn’t gone home.
And now there were those who were in need of physical needs, physical possessions,
physical caretaking.
And we read in chapter 5 and verse 1, a certain man named Ananias with Sapphira, his wife,
sold a possession, and he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it,
and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to
keep back part of the price of the land for yourself?
While it remained, was it not your own?
And after it was sold, was it not in your own control?
Why have you conceived this thing in your heart?
You have not lied to men, but to God.” Notice that there was a vision
for what needed to be done.
you go back into the prior chapter, you will find men like Barnabas who sold their
property and they gave it so that it could be dispersed to those who had need.
They see an example.
What they didn’t do was adopt the motivation and the heart behind it.
They wanted the recognition.
They wanted to be seen doing the thing that Barnabas had done, but they needed to keep,
they had taxes to pay maybe.
They had another piece of property that needed to be paid off maybe.
Maybe they just needed some extra income for a few months.
We don’t know why.
By the way, as Peter points out, it’s also wouldn’t have been a problem had they kept back
a portion.
The problem was they wanted the success without adopting the obedience.
And so, Ananias and Sapphira will both fall down dead through a series of events before
Peter.
And notice what the text says if you go down to verse 9.
Then Peter said to her, Sapphira, as she is before him, How is it that you have agreed
together to test the Spirit of the Lord?
Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry
you out.
Then immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last.
and the young men came in and found her dead and carrying her out, buried her by her
husband.” So notice verse 11, so great fear came upon all the church and upon all those
who heard these things.
Suddenly there were a whole lot more people within the church who were adopting the right
mindset.
they finally saw the vision.
They finally understood the gravity of obedience.
You turn to Acts chapter 6 and just a few passages over you find the Grecian widows are
now being neglected in the daily uh provision.
And so what does the church do?
The church at the instruction of the apostles gathers out men from among themselves who
are able to faithfully
fulfill the need.
You go to chapter 6 and verse 12, “…then the twelve summoned the multitude of the
disciples, and said, It is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve
tables.
Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the
Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.”
They saw the need, they knew there was something that needed to be done, and they put it
in the hands of those who would be faithful to complete the process.
They wanted those who were willing to adopt the end goal.
They didn’t want people who were ready to be recognized.
They didn’t want people who were ready to be popular.
They didn’t say everybody find the person who you like best and nominate them.
They said here’s the qualification.
They had to have adopted the determination to obey God.
But notice what we read, verse 6, when they had set them before the apostles and when they
had prayed they laid hands on them, then the word of God spread and the number of the
disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem and a great many of the priests were obedient to
the faith.
Through the work of these seven men, they had an exponential growth in the church because
these men had adopted the vision and they performed with resilience.
They chose day in and day out to do what God told them to do.
But then consider as well, in order to actually achieve success, you must remain
in that state of being successful.
You must continue in these things and abound as the passage says, but at times when that
doesn’t happen you have to be determined to restart.
It is not enough to say, I came, I tried, I failed, too bad.
God says, no, that’s not going to work.
Not for me.
In Isaiah chapter 1, God will speak through Isaiah to a nation.
that had.
forgotten Him that had departed from Him.
We read in chapter 1 verse 1 the vision of uh Isaiah, the son of Amoz, which he saw
concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of
Judah.
Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken, I have nourished and
brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.
The ox knows its owner,
the donkey its master’s crib, but Israel does not know.
My people do not consider.
Alas, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a brood of evildoers, children who are
corruptors.
They have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked to anger the Holy One of Israel, they have
turned away backward.
Why should you be stricken again?
You will revolt more and more, the whole head is sick, the whole heart faints.
From the sole of the foot, even to the head, there is no soundness in it but wounds and
bruises and putrefying sores.
They have not been closed up or bound up or soothed with ointment.
Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire.
Strangers devour your land in your presence, and it is desolate as overthrown by
strangers.
So the daughter of Zion is left as a booth in a vineyard, as a hut in a garden of
cucumbers, as a besieged city.
God says because you won’t keep my word, because you won’t obey my command, because a
donkey could understand my and you won’t, you refuse.
you will not choose to adopt my commandments.
You will not choose to build what I have put before you.
He says, I have brought you up out of nothing.
I raised you from nothing.
And yet you will not even recognize me at all.
But verse nine says, unless the Lord of hosts had left us a very
small remnant.
We should have become like Sodom.
We would have been made like Gomorrah.
Isaiah looking forward to the judgment that was to come against Israel and against Judah
will tell them,
God’s going to bring His judgment.
God’s going to bring His condemnation against you as a nation.
And there’s going to be a sliver that’s left.
And had God not given you that, you would have been gone.
You would have been no more.
You would have been a thing of the history books like Sodom and Gomorrah.
That same passage is quoted by Paul in Romans chapter 9.
Romans chapter 9, Paul will write beginning in verse 29, and he will say this, and as
Isaiah said before, unless the Lord of Sabbath had left us a seed, we would have become
like Sodom, we would have been made like Gomorrah.
What shall we say then?
that Gentiles who do not pursue righteousness have attained to righteousness even the
righteousness of faith, but Israel pursuing the law of righteousness has not attained to
the law of righteousness.
Why?
Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were by the works of the law, for they
stumbled
at the stone of stumbling as is written, behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and a
rock of offense.
Whoever believes on him will not be put to shame.
Sometimes as we start building, sometimes as we start working, sometimes as we start
seeking to achieve the will of the Lord, we’re going to get down that path and something
is going to waylay many of the people who are on the path.
It’s happened to congregation after congregation after congregation through history.
It was happening even in the first century.
Turn to Revelation chapter 2.
In Revelation chapter 2, John, as he writes to the churches of Asia Minor, will begin his
letters addressing this book, and he will begin with the church at Ephesus.
To the angel of the church at Ephesus write, these things says he who holds the seven
stars in his right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands, I know
your works.
your labor, your patience that you cannot bear with those who are evil and you have tested
those who say they are apostles and are not and have found them liars and you have
persevered and have patience and have labored for my name’s sake and have not become
weary.” Notice what they’ve done.
They saw the vision, they trusted the Lord, they made a determination,
They started acting, they built with patience, they adopted his principles, they were
resilient, they were steadfast, they were testing, and then they lost the vision.
Notice what he says, nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first
love.
He says, remember therefore from where you have fallen, repent and do the first works or
else I will come to you quickly and remove your lamp stand from its place unless you
repent.
But this you have that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches, to him who
overcomes, I will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise
of God.
As Christ through John writes to the church at Ephesus, he tells them it’s time for you to
restart.
It’s time for you to go back and do the first works.
It’s time for you to go back and see why you’re doing these things, because right now
you’re just doing them.
as we consider being successful.
In the work of God, we should consider there’s a process.
We cannot start by doing our own will.
We must start by doing His.
We must see His vision and trust and determine and clarify what He would have us to do.
We must begin to build and we must build with patience.
We cannot get off halfway down the road.
We must build with patience.
We must adopt His methods, His actions, and how He would have us to complete the task.
And we must have resilience.
We must be willing to endure through the hard times, through the difficulties, through the
troubles and the trials, through the times where there is betrayal, through the times that
there is disappointment, through the times where there’s disruption.
Sometimes we’re going to have to look at what remains when something has come along and
decimated all the work that we’ve done.
And we’re going to have to be like Josiah was when Josiah was presented with the law as
they found the law in the temple and he read what they had been commanded to do and had
not been keeping.
And Josiah said, it’s time to do what the Lord said.
And we restart to once again be obedient to God.
This applies to congregations, but it also applies to individual Christians.
Sometimes we start with the vision of what we need to do and who we need to be and how we
can be faithful and sometimes we lose the vision.
Just like the church in Ephesus.
When we do, this is what the Lord has told us to do.
He says, repent and do the first works.
Go back to where you started and pick up at the beginning.
Because somewhere along the way, you started layering those principles from Peter into
your life and you left one of them out.
Go put it back and start again.
To the Christian who has not remained faithful.
We are grateful that the Lord has offered a way home, a way to return and be faithful once
again.
The opportunity to repent and have those who are faithful pray for you.
The text of Scripture is clear in the end of James.
It’s clear in the book of Acts.
It’s clear elsewhere in Scripture that when one has fallen from faithfulness,
They can pray and repent of those things and God is faithful and just to forgive them of
those things and that they can ask those who are faithful to pray on their behalf and they
will be forgiven as well.
If you’re outside the body of Christ this morning though, you’ve got to first be obedient.
You have to see the vision and determine to be obedient to God’s will.
If you have need of the invitation of Christ,
Knowing that it is those who are faithful until death who will receive a crown of life if
you have need of the invitation of Christ this very afternoon Why not ask questions?
Why not sit down and study with us?
Why not determine what you need to know in order to be biblically successful?
Jesus said, in my Father’s house are many mansions.
If it were not so, I would have told you.
I go to prepare a place for you.
If He’s gone to prepare a place, then we need to be ready when our time is over, when this
life is over.
If you have need of the invitation, why not come now as we stand?