Plateaus require resistance, not laurels

In II Chronicles 17, Jehoshaphat King of Judah is commended for his zeal in suppressing idolatrous worship.

The famous passage testifies, [6] And his heart was lifted up in the ways of the LORD: moreover he took away the high places and groves out of Judah.
[7] Also in the third year of his reign he sent to his princes, even to Ben-hail, and to Obadiah, and to Zechariah, and to Nethaneel, and to Michaiah, to teach in the cities of Judah.
[9] And they taught in Judah, and had the book of the law of the LORD with them, and went about throughout all the cities of Judah, and taught the people.

Jordan explains, “They had their Bibles and when they got through with Bible school, they went out and started teaching. You see, what we’re doing isn’t that strange.

“You go on down in that passage and you see there was tremendous victory. Nobody made any war against them. Everybody sent them presents, peace and prosperity.

“II Chronicles 17: 10-11 says, [10] And the fear of the LORD fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands that were round about Judah, so that they made no war against Jehoshaphat.
[11] Also some of the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat presents, and tribute silver; and the Arabians brought him flocks, seven thousand and seven hundred rams, and seven thousand and seven hundred he goats.

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“Now, if you want to see one of the blackest verses in all of the Word of God, it’s in the first verse of the very next chapter, II Chronicles 18: [1] Now Jehoshaphat had riches and honour in abundance, and joined affinity with Ahab.

“You know what he did? He went over to the side of a Baal-worshipping king who didn’t care anything about God’s Word or people and was married to Jezebel, the priestess of Baal.

“From that point on, Jehoshaphat went in the tank. The lesson is you don’t want to compromise what God’s Word says. You can have it, and even having it, if you compromise it, you wind up in a mess.

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“You look at all those dear saints reading Paul’s epistles and it ought not surprise you because God’s design has always been to preserve His Word through a multiplicity of copies that just go everywhere and make everybody a ‘People of the Book.’ The Book is the key.

Paul writes in I Corinthians 3 [1] And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.

[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.

“Carnality is minding the things of the flesh; human viewpoint. It’s having this mindset where you’re not functioning on the basis of the sound doctrine, the grace doctrine, the identification truths Paul’s given you in his epistles about who you really are.

“The carnal man doesn’t have the sound doctrine very well established in his heart. Maybe he’s gone a little bit further than a babe, but he still needs to use milk. He’s not equipped at living in the house and using the doctrine because he’s not walking by faith in it.

“He’s built this blind spot. He’s like Ephesians 4:18-19 describe him: [18] Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:
[19] Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.

“There’s just a blackout in his soul as far as the doctrine’s concerned. No matter how much head knowledge he has, he’s not walking by faith on it.

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“The spiritual man makes mistakes—he has failures, faults and faithless times—but how does he handle them? When he’s in them, he’s walking by the flesh, but see there comes a point where he begins to deal with that thing on a proper basis and there’s a mindset and a process.

“Spirituality is a growing process that is a product of a relationship. It’s not the process of the application of a formula, where you jump from one level to another. There’s this relationship that produces a conformity to Christlikeness.

“Spirituality is Christ being FORMED in you, living His life through you. The only way that comes is by a walk with the Lord through a lifetime of intimate association, where the character of the Lord Jesus Christ is developed and manifest over a lifetime of spiritual growth.

“When you cease the going on and up with the growth structure—that constant, never-ending growth—when you stop that, that’s when you’re in Ephesians 4:17: [17] This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind. You’ve stopped the growing process.

“Look, folks, God uses the problems, the failures, the faithlessness, the stumbles along the way . . .  when we’re growing up to adulthood, as we make faltering steps, the process of overcoming that, of recognizing it and getting it straight and going on, that’s all part of growth.

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“The whole process of growth requires NEED. If there’s not something to struggle against . . . You know that in physical exercise you have to produce more and more resistance to get stronger and stronger?

"You reach a plateau and then add more resistance. That’s what the 'bearing' is about and it’s the very process itself of dealing with things on the basis of the doctrine and not knowing what to do and, yes, failing sometimes.

“That’s why God doesn’t map everything out for you so that every decision you make is perfect. He leaves you here as a human to take the Word of God and by faith to apply it so you learn from the process of making the decisions themselves.

“When you come up against a bad decision, you learn how to correct the decision and function under grace that way. Rather than thinking God has condemned you, recognize that that’s the thing Christ died to get out of your life and here’s the right way; walk in it.

“You become stronger by that, and you learn from that, and that process teaches you real wisdom, but it also teaches you real commitment; something about getting the job done. Mature people, grown people finish the job.

“Have you noticed that children have short attention spans? You take a boy down to the store and he goes in and says, ‘Wow, I want that!’ He sees that toy. ‘Why, if you buy me that, you won’t have to buy me anything until next Christmas. Forget this year’s birthday, too! I mean, this will be so good I’ll be happy until next year!’

“The kid gets it home, uses it for a week or so and looks at it and says, ‘Woo, did I make a mistake,’ and he gets tired of it. Do you know that’s why there’s so many different toys in the nursery? They use it a little while, put it down and go get something else. But an adult learns to pay attention to things and see it through ’til the job gets done.

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“In John 10:17-18, Jesus Christ says on the Cross, [17] Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.
[18] No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.

“He says, ‘When I go die, I’M going to have to go lay down my life.’ Do you realize that when Jesus Christ hung on the Cross, they could have cut His heart out of His body and He would have still lived?

"They could have cut His jugular vein, or cut His legs off at the ankles, and let all the blood that was in His body just pour out on the ground, and He still wouldn’t of died!

“He says, ‘No man takes my life from me; I lay it down.’ And when it says He bowed His head and ‘gave up the ghost,’ except that He willingly chose to die at that moment, and dismissed His Spirit, He’d still be alive, physically hanging there.

“When He says ‘the Father’s greater than me,’ He’s saying, ‘The Father’s got this plan and I’ve submitted myself to the will of the plan.’

“All those verses where He says, ‘I’m being obedient to the Father’s will,’ or, ‘Without the Father the son can do nothing,’ in essence and person the two were equal, but the Son made Himself of no reputation and humbled Himself and became obedient in the form of a servant.”