God and Spiritual Maturity

God is constantly at work in our life, continually building faith in us and bringing us to spiritual maturity. And that's what I want to speak about today, friends, God and spiritual maturity. Because once you get a taste of the life of faith, you don't want anything more to do with a life of sin.

You just want to keep going deeper with God. If you've ever been around a real man of God, you know it. He stands out in 2 Kings 4.9. We have the account of the Shumanite woman's encounter with the prophet Elijah, where we read, And she said unto her husband, Behold now I perceive that this is a holy man of God, which passes by us continually.

This reminds me of a Dr. Olford was invited to preach at a Baptist church in Dallas, and the pastor of that church told a seminary intern to go and pick up Stephen Olford at the airport. The intern asked to see a photo of Dr. Olford so he would recognize him at the airport. The pastor replied, No need for that.

Just go to the airport terminal and wait for the passengers to get off the plane and then look for a man who has God all over him. Well, this young man went to the airport and did what the pastor told him to. And as soon as Stephen Olford passed by, he knew it was him.

Every time I was around Stephen Olford, it was a transformational experience because he made me more thirsty for Jesus. He made me long to be more holy for Christ. This whole matter of men on the move for God and men being used of God reminds me of what Adrian Rogers once told me.

Adrian Rogers always made me think of Jesus because when I was with him, I felt like I was with Jesus. But he said something to me that still sticks out in my memory. We were at the funeral of Stephen Olford, which was held at Bellevue Baptist Church and Dr. Rogers conducted the memorial service.

After the service was over, I was standing in the hallway with Adrian Rogers and he asked me a question. He stood there with his arms folded across his chest and a serious look on his face. And he said, Do you know what concerns me? I answered, No, Dr. Rogers.

What concerns you? In his deep, booming voice, he said, What concerns me is I see God calling up men like Sidlo Baxter and Stephen Olford, and I look around and I don't see any comeuppers. What he was saying was our churches don't lack educated men or professionals in the pulpit, but where, oh, where is the man of God endued with the Spirit of God who will take the book of God and go preach the Son of God to a perishing world? Adrian Rogers and Stephen Olford were men who had an excited and elevated air of anticipation about them, an expectation of what God was about to do through them. You could just sense that by being around them.

They were men on the move for God because they were men completely sold out to God. They had tasted something that most men had not, and they had experienced something that few men had, an intimate, vital walk with God. They had seen God at work in the life of His people.

They had tasted His goodness, and they wanted more of it. They longed to have more of God, and they longed for God to have more of them, and that was the key, friends. R. A. Torrey was teaching some Bible students at Moody Bible Institute, and he told them, If you want more of the Holy Spirit, then let the Holy Spirit have more of you.

Well, let me make one thing perfectly clear, friends. We have to long for more of God, to be used more of God. We have to be willing to undergo change and be emptied of self so Christ can rule and reign on the throne of our life, and we need to be aware that God is active in our life each day, working continually at work in us, building faith in us, and teaching us His truths in order to bless us and bring us to spiritual maturity.

God invites us to participate with Him in His work so we can experience Him in a deeper way. He will prepare us like He did Joseph. He will purge us like He did Jonah.

He will prune us like He did Peter to make us more fruitful and useful to Him. God will bring us to more and more spiritual maturity so we can enjoy Him more now, and when He calls us home, we can enjoy Him even more forever and ever.