Let us turn once more to God's
Word, and I want this evening to direct your attention for
a while to the last verse that we find in the second epistle
of Peter. In the second epistle of Peter,
chapter 3 and verse 18, but grow in grace, and in the
knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To Him be glory,
both now and forever. Amen." 2 Peter 3.18 And the subject
matter, of course, is quite evident. It is that of growth in grace,
but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ. To Him be glory, both now and
forever. Amen. And I'm sure you're aware
that there is, in many evangelical circles, a great deal of confusion
over the whole matter of what this growth in grace is all about. There are those who like to speak
of what they term progressive sanctification. And what they
seem to mean by that is that their belief is that the old
nature is something that by the grace of God becomes holier. The old nature grows holier. Besetting sins become weaker
and weaker. The lust of the flesh lose their
power. However, such a view is certainly
not that that we see in Holy Scripture, and it certainly doesn't
square with the experience of the godly. The whole notion of
that progressive sanctification appears to be foolishness and
is that that only brings confusion into the hearts of so many of
the lives of believers. We sang just now in that hymn
of Kent, Sinless Perfection, we deny the chief of Satan's
wiles, do thou, my soul, to Calvary fly, as oft as sin defiles. We remember the words of the
Lord Jesus Christ himself in John chapter 3, where he's speaking,
of course, of the new birth, the great doctrine of regeneration,
the necessity of that new birth, and he says, that which is born
of the flesh is flesh. and that which is born of the
spirit is spirit. In other words, flesh is flesh,
and spirit is spirit, and the flesh, the old nature, can never
become the spirit. In fact, Paul tells us in those
words of Romans 8, 7, that the carnal mind, the natural mind,
is enmity against God. It is not subject to the law
of God, neither, indeed, There's no possibility that that carnal
mind, that natural mind, will be brought into subjection to
the words of God. Though that whole notion of progressive
sanctification is contrary to God's words, and contrary to
the experience of believers. Believer is one, of course, who
has received a new nature. And here, in this epistle, in
chapter 1, at verse 4, Peter speaks of these Christians that
he's writing to as those who are partakers of the divine nature. That divine nature, that's the
new nature. that has come as a result of that spiritual birth,
that new birth. Again, John, as he writes there
in his first general epistle, in chapter 3 verse 9 says, Whosoever
is born of God doth not commit sin. He cannot sin, because God's
seed remaineth in him. and it is that new seed, that
divine seed, that divine nature that John is speaking of in that
particular verse. Whosoever is born of God doth
not commit sin for his seed remaineth in him. And he cannot sin, says
John, because he is born of God. But as there is that new nature
that doesn't sin, so there is the old nature that he's ever
bent on sinning, and therefore we have that that conflict that
the Apostle Paul says so much about in his epistles. How the
flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh
and these are contrary one to the other and he cannot do the
thing that she would. Here is the believer having that
new nature having that desire to conform to the image of the
Lord Jesus Christ and yet always having to contend with that that
is in his old nature. And so Paul in Romans 7 says,
The good that I would I do not, the evil that I would not, that
I do. And he cries out there at the
end of that chapter, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver
me from the body of this death? And he sees that his only hope
is in Christ, thanks be unto God, which giveth us the victory
through our Lord Jesus Christ. Well, this, that Peter is speaking
of, this growth in grace, is not to be confused with that
notion of any sort of progressive sanctification, in which the
old nature, some way or other, is transformed and changed and
becomes a holy nature. But I want us to consider this
subject tonight with the Lord's help. But grow in grace and in
the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be
glory both now and forever. Amen. And first of all to observe
how that growth is really the property of grace. Where there
is grace there will also be growth. That is a fact. The Christian
life, as we've already intimated, begins with the new birth. As the Lord says to Nicodemus,
that religious man, in John 3.3, verily, verily, except a man
be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Here is the
beginning of the Christian life. it begins with a birth just as
our natural life begins with a birth and as there is the birth
so subsequent to the birth there is the growth it is true in the
natural realm the newborn baby begins to grow and to develop
and soon becomes a toddler and then a child and then a youth,
and then grows up into manhood or womanhood, where there is
that new birth. So, there will also be spiritual
growth. And so, not surprisingly, in
Scripture, with regards to the fruit of the new birth, that
faith, and there can be no saving faith until there is first of
all that great work of regeneration. but we see in Scripture that
there are different degrees of faith. The Lord Jesus himself
speaks of little faith. In Matthew 6 and verse 30 in
the Sermon on the Mount he makes mention of little faith. And
he speaks of faith as a grain of mustard seed in that portion
of scripture that we read in Mark chapter 4. Remember how
he says of a grain of mustard seed, and he's speaking of that seed
which he says is the least of all seeds, the smallest of all
seeds, and yet it grows into the greatest of all herbs. And
the Lord speaks of a person who has faith that is comparable
not to the mustard seed, but just a grain. If you have faith
as a grain of mustard seed, says the Lord Jesus, you say to this
mountain, remove, to yonder place, and it obeys you. And that's
a very small faith. that the Lord is speaking of.
Christ often speaks then of faith that is little or faith that
is small. Again in Romans 14 we read him
that is weak in the faith. There are some who are weak in
the faith. Time and again in scripture We
have in the Gospel that man who comes to the Lord Jesus and acknowledges,
I believe, help thou mine unbelief. There are these different degrees
of faith. As there is this weak faith and
this small faith, so when we come to consider Abraham, who
is spoken of, of course, as the father of all them that believe.
In Scripture, Abraham is the great pattern of faith. And what
do we read in Romans chapter 4 concerning the faith of Abram? Abram was strong in faith, giving
glory to God. He believed that what God had
promised, God was able also to perform. Oh, Abraham was strong
in faith. That woman of Canaan that we
read of in the Gospel, who comes to the Lord Jesus with her daughter,
and the disciples initially rebuke her, the Lord ignores her. But
she will not be denied, even when the disciples want the Lord
to send her away. Now eventually the Lord owns
and acknowledges her. Oh woman, He says, great is thy
faith. There are these different degrees
of faith. When we come to Acts chapter
6, we read of Stephen, the first martyr, and there we are told
that he was full of faith. Stephen, full of faith. The guy went for rides to the
Thessalonians, he speaks of their faith, your faith, he says, groweth
exceedingly. Oh, there is such a thing as
growth in grace. There is such a thing then as
faith growing. It's not always small, it's not
always weak. It can become strong, it can
become great. In fact, surely we should desire
what Paul speaks of in Hebrews 10.22, the full assurance of
faith. We're not to be satisfied with
small faith. But remember always, it's not
the measure of our faith that saves us. The vital thing always
is the blessed object of faith. It's the one that faith has to
do with. And it's that that Paul speaks of in Hebrews 12 and verse
2, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Oh, it's that blessed object.
Though our faith at times might be such a weak faith, such a
small faith, yet the Lord Jesus Christ is that One who is mighty
to save, able to save to the uttermost all that come to God
by Him. But we should desire that our
faith might be strengthened. We should come surely with that
man that we spoke of just now in the Gospel who cries out in
all the agony of his soul, Lord I believe, help thou mine unbelief. Hear then As we come to the end
of this epistle, what we have in the text is really an exhortation
by Peter. He says, but grow in grace, and
in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Oh, it's a word of exhortation,
a word of encouragement. We should be those who desire
to grow in grace. Because as I said just now, growth
is the very property of grace. If we have grace at all, there
will be the fact of this growing. But look at the various figures
that are used with regards to this growth. We have, as I said
just now, the new birth. Here is the beginning
of grace, when the sinner, dead in his trespasses and his sins,
is born again, there is the communication then of spiritual life and the
life of grace now begins. And so initially what do we have?
We have one who is a newborn child, a babe in grace. But then remember how John in
this epistle that follows 2 Peter in the first general epistle
of John see how there in chapter 2 John speaks of little children
and young men and fathers I write unto you little children he says
because your sins are forgiven you for his namesake I write
unto you fathers because you have known him that is from the
beginning I write unto you young men because you have overcome
the wicked one I write unto you little children, because you
have known the Father. I have written unto you fathers,
because you have known Him that is from the beginning. I have
written unto you young men, because you are strong. The Word of God
abides within you, and you have overcome the wicked one. He speaks
then of these people who are obviously at different stages
in their growth. They are no longer babes, they
are not newborn, but some are little children, and Others are
young men, and there are those who are fathers. And we also
read in Scripture of those who are mothers, mothers in Israel. And again, when Peter writes
in his first epistle, he addresses those who are newborn and says,
as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the Word, that she may
grow thereby. How do these babes grow and develop
into little children? How do they develop further into
young men and so forth? Why, they are fed, just as in
the natural realm we have to feed in order that our bodies
might grow. And so there in 1 Peter 2, 2,
as newborn babes, he says, desire the sincere milk of the world
that she may grow thereby. We need to be those then who
would be feeding upon the word of God. This is why we need to
familiarize ourselves, to search the scriptures, to study the
scriptures. Because this is the spiritual sustenance that God
has given to us that our souls might grow in grace. And of course
we know how that the inscripturated words constantly directs us to
Him who is the Incarnate Word, even the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. And how Christ speaks of Himself
here as that One who is the Bread of Life. Remember the language
of the Lord There, in John chapter 6, verse 53, Verily, verily, I say
unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink
his blood, ye have no life in you. So eateth my flesh, and
drinketh my blood, hath eternal life. and I will raise him up
at the last day for my flesh is meat indeed and my blood is
drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh
my blood dwelleth in me and I in him. This has nothing to do,
as we've said so many times, with the blasphemous doctrine
of the mass and the doctrine of transubstantiation where the
poor papist imagines that he is eating the very body and blood
of the Lord Jesus, when the priest has said the appropriate words
at the Mass, and how the wafer has been changed into Christ's
body and Christ's divinity. It's not that at all, no superstition
here. What is it to eat the flesh and
drink the blood of the Lord Jesus? It's to be those who are familiar
with the doctrine of Christ, or with those who delight to
consider him and to meditate upon that that is revealed to
us in scripture this great mystery the mystery of godliness as a
God was manifest in the flesh and justified in the spirit and
seen of angels and preached unto the Gentiles and believed on
in the world or to be those who would consider then Christ, Christ
in his person, and Christ in his work, that we might be those
who would grow. Here, this growth you see in
the text is associated with an increased knowledge of the Lord
Jesus. Grow in grace, it says, and in
the knowledge. of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ. We should be those who desire
to know more and more of Him, to feel increasingly our need
of Him, as that One in whom is found all the fullness of salvation. Here is a figure then that shows
with regards to this growth in grace, with the thing in terms
of the natural realm of birth, abate, and then a child, and
then a youth, and then fathers and mothers. But then also there's
another figure that is used in his first epistle. There in 1
Peter 1 and verse 23, Peter says of these believers that they're
born again not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by
the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever." Here we
have mentioned then of a seed. They're born again of this incorruptible
seed by the Word of God. And again, those words that we
have, we've referred to them previously in 1 John 3, 9, "...whosoever
is born of God doth not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in
him." and he cannot sin because he is born of God, that seed,
the seed of the new birth, the divine nature remains in him. But then there's another seed
that he's spoken of, and we have it in that portion that we read,
that fourth chapter of Mark, where we see the parabolic nature
of the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's interesting
to observe why it was that the Lord used that form of teaching. The parables are so often misunderstood. Some imagine that they're just
earthly stories portraying some heavenly truth, as if the Lord
is using these parables simply by way of illustration to help
people to understand but it's the direct opposite of that from
what the Lord himself says there in that portion in Mark Mark
4 11 he says to the disciples unto you it is given to know
the mystery of the kingdom of God but unto them that are without
all these things are done in parables that seeing they may
see and not perceive and hearing they may hear and not understand
that at any time they should be converted and their sin should
be forgiven them. In other words, these parables,
they conceal the truth, the great mystery, you see, of
God. How His word comes, the savour of life unto life to some,
but alas, the savour of death unto death to others. And then
the Lord In the following verse he begins to explain to the disciples
that parable that he had spoken, the parable of the sower and
his seed. But later we have that other
parable that the Lord speaks. At verse 26 he said, So is the
kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground. He's
another seed. that that we use when we would
seek to to grow a crop or to grow a flower so is the kingdom
of God as if a man should cast seed into the ground and should
sleep and rise night and day and this dead seed sown in the
ground what does it do it should spring and grow up he knoweth
not how for the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself First
the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. But when the fruit is brought
forth immediately it's put in the sickle because the harvest
is come. But what we witness here again
is growth and development. The seed is sown, the seed dies
in the ground and then it springs to life First the blades, then
the ear, then the full corn in the ear. And isn't this also
another demonstration to us of that truth of growth in grace? There is growth in grace. And with regards to that seed,
the various seasons of the year, of course, are so necessary.
and so there are also those seasons in the souls of God's children
when that precious seed of the gospel is implanted when they
become partakers of the new nature and they're going to grow there
must be that exercise there must be those seasons I am sure that
some of you are familiar with that remarkable sermon of Mr. Philpott entitled, Winter for
Harvest. And it bears the subtitle, The
Soul's Growth in Grace. It's a remarkable sermon. I can't
remember how many times I've read that sermon. I must have
read it probably a dozen times over the years. and I've never
read it, but I've always found something profitable on each
reading of it. It is, I suppose, one of the most famous
of all his sermons. I know that it's argued that
his exegesis of the passage that he bases the sermon upon is a
false exegesis. It's a sermon on words that you
find in Isaiah 8 and verses 5 and 6. But whilst the exegesis might
not be right, the actual truth that he is setting forth in the
course of the sermon is quite profound as he deals with the
whole matter of the way in which God causes the soul to grow and
he speaks of a period of of winter before harvest he says he's quite
different in that sense to the way in which God deals with matters
in in the natural realm because of course in nature summer comes
before the harvest but in the soul he says often there is that
period of of winter before there is a rich harvest and a real
growth. And we have it in some of the
hymns. I think of that hymn of Joseph
Hart, 875. He says, But I from month to
month complain, I feel no warmth, no fruits I see, I look for life,
but dead remain. It is winter all the year with
me, and of course just now in our opening praise we sang that
hymn of John Newton's, that prayer for spring to come into our souls,
as we witness life bursting out all around us, and we've certainly
seen it these last couple of days, the beauty of the weather,
and now suddenly everything seems to be budding into life. Oh,
are we not those who should desire that we might know that reviving
of spiritual life in our own souls. Let me direct you to those
words that we find in the Old Testament, in Solomon's Song,
there in the second chapter. At verse 11, we read these words,
For lo, the winter is past, The rain is over and gone. The flowers
appear on the earth. The time of the singing of birds
is come. The voice of the turtle, that
is the turtle dove, is heard in our land. The fig tree put
forth her green figs. And the vines with their tender
grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one,
and come away. Witnessing all that that is taking
place as winter has gone, here is a desire of the bride of the
Lord Jesus. Arise, my love, my fair one,
come away. For we're to be those friends
who would desire that we might grow, grow in grace and in the
knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Now this growth,
this growth in grace, it's to be a regular growth. It's to
be a proportionate growth. This is what we want to see in
our children. We want to see them to develop
in every sense of the word. We want to see something consistent.
And so too, with regards to the Christians, Ephesians 4.15 it
says grow up into him in all things which is the head even
Christ. We are to grow up into Christ
and he says there in all things in every part of our Christian
life. In other words, the head is not
to begin to swell with doctrinal truth and that knowledge of the
Lord and Savior, whilst the heart is still so small and so cramped
in experience, and the feet are so stunted because we're not
walking in the ways of God's holy precepts. No, there's to
be a proportionate growth. We're to grow in doctrine, but
we're also to grow in experience. How often are we those who have
to confess that we're so straightened in our own hearts because of
unbelief? We might have a greater intellectual
awareness of the scriptures, a greater knowledge of the doctrine
of the Word of God, But are we those who as that knowledge in
our heads is increasing are also more confident in our God? Is
there really that growth in faith? Or is our faith
always a small faith? Are we desirous that we might
increase in faith? And of course it's important
that we're those who also desire to be walking in the way of God's
commandments. We're to delight as much in the
practical parts of the Word of God as we do in the doctrinal
parts of the Word of God. Our growth is to be regular.
And to be proportionate, we grow up into the Lord Jesus Christ
in all things, in our doctrine, in our experience, and in our
practice. Grow in grace and in the knowledge
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. But let me also here
say something with regards to the various parts of this growth
in grace. the parts of growth in Christ.
Now back in Isaiah, Isaiah 37-31, we read of that remnant. Remember
how Isaiah speaks, he's ministering probably about a hundred years
before the Babylonian exile, and he does speak of that terrible
episode in Israel's history when God visited his judgment upon
them and removed them into exile, into Babylon. But he also speaks
of the remnants that would be preserved there in the captivity
and brought out because God would not altogether cast off his ancient
people. And there in Isaiah 37-31 we
read the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again
take root downward and bear fruit upward. And so with this with
this growth in grace there is the root going downward and the
fruit appearing upward. Well, what is this downward growth? This downward growth in grace?
Well, a guy I direct you to the language of the Prophet but this
time in the prophecy of Hosea in chapter 14 and verse 5 and
the following verses he says, I will be as the Jew unto Israel
he shall grow as the lily and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. What a contrast! Here is God,
the Lord God Himself, and He is the Jew. Or when that doctrine
drops as a rind, distills as the Jew, when He comes and nourishes
the soul, as it were, God says He will be the Jew unto Israel,
and Israel will then grow. And what will be the growth,
the upward growth? It will grow as a lily, a very
beautiful flower, but not a particularly large plant. And yet, the downward
growth is to cast forth his roots as Lebanon. And the reference,
of course, is to the cedars of Lebanon. Even to this day, the
national flag of the Lebanon has the image of the cedar tree,
those great trees and those deep roots. And this is how God's
children grow. They They strike their roots
downward deep, like the cedars of Lebanon, though they only
grow upward like the lily, the lily of the valley. All there is to be that downward
growth. And where do we see it? We see it, of course, it's a
growth in humility. God's children are to be those
who are humbled. think of the words of the Apostle
when he writes in Philippians chapter 2 it's a great chapter and it speaks
of course so much of the Lord Jesus Christ and we're to grow
in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and here
we see something of the person and the work of Christ but the
context is one in Philippians 2 where the Apostle is very much
speaking of the importance of humility, lowliness. Let nothing
be done through strife or vainglory but in lowliness of mind. Let
each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man
on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which
was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God thought
it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation,
and took upon him the form of a servant. You know the passage.
This is that growth then, there is to be a downward growth, a
growth in humility and we see it, we see it in Paul, that man
who was once such a the proud Pharisee, a self-righteous man,
imagining that he was blameless before the holy law of God, and
yet he is brought to acknowledge writing in 1 Timothy 1.15 that
he is the chief of sinners. Oh, he says, you make a list
of sinners, and who stands at the head of that list? Why, I
do. I am the chief of sinners, and
in Ephesians Chapter 3 and verse 8, he says, make a list of the
saints. And who stands at the bottom
of that list? I do. There he refers to himself
as less than the least of all saints. You can't get lower than
the least. And yet Paul, in a sense, coins
a word. He says he's the leaster. He's
below the least, less than the least of all saints and the chief
of sinners. That was downward growth. That's
not just words. This man felt these things. When
he writes in 2 Corinthians 12, 11, he says, Though I be nothing. How the Lord humbled him and
made him feel that. He was a zero, a cipher, a nothing. Though I be Nothing. And it's not just peculiar to
the apostle, we see it time and again in the testimony of the
saints here in the scriptures. What does Job say when he comes
to the end of the book after all the mysterious dealings of
God with him? And what trials Job knew, but
they were not without fruit, he grew. And how he grew downward. I abhor myself, he says. He was
abhorrent in his own sight. I abhor myself and repent in
dust and ashes. He was nothing of himself. He
was altogether one who was dependent upon the Lord his God. The same
in Daniel. Daniel 10.8 My comeliness was
turned in me into corruption, he says. Here is that growth
in grace. There's a downward growth. And
it's the very opposite of pride. That pride which comes in with
the fall into sin. The language of the serpent there
to Eve in the garden, ye shall be as gods. Ye shall be as God says. So much
pride bound up with the unbelief that we see in the fall of Adam
and Eve. All that pride, it's an accursing. As the Hymn writer says, Tis
pride accursed, pride that spirit by God abhorred. Do what we will. It haunts us still and keeps
us from the Lord. We have to be brought to the
end of ourselves. We have to grow We have to grow in grace
and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The
more we know of Christ, surely the less we will be in our own
eyes. We will be, as Paul says, we'll
be a nothing, a zero, a cipher. But there's not only downward
growth, there's also an upward growth. we are to grow upward, we are
to grow into the Lord Jesus Christ the language of Paul there in
Colossians 3 it says if ye then be risen with Christ seek those
things which are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand
of God set your affections on things above and not on things
on the earth this is an upward growing is it not or when we're
those who are looking to the Lord Jesus. Our conversation,
says Paul, is in heaven. Or we're not those who want to
follow the fashions of this world, but we're to be those who would
desire to be conforming more and more to the image of the
Lord Jesus. when we come to the practical
part of the epistle to the Romans. After all those great doctrinal
truths that we find in the first 11 chapters, the practical outworking of these
things begins there in chapter 12. I beseech you, therefore,
and the therefore of course indicates that he is making certain deductions
from what he has said previously in the light of all these great
truths and particularly that great doctrine of justification
by faith which runs throughout the epistle I beseech you therefore
brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies
a living sacrifice holy acceptable unto God which is your reasonable
service and be not conformed to this world but be ye transformed
by the renewing of your mind that ye may prove what is that
good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Oh are we those
friends who want to grow up, who want
to grow more and more into the Lord Jesus Christ Yes, there's
downward growth. But that downward growth is also
bound up with an upward growth into the Lord Jesus. There's
an inward growth. Because it's a spiritual growth,
really, that we have here. When we read of this knowledge
of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, isn't this really that
experimental knowledge? It is life eternal. This is the
words of the Lord Jesus in his great prayer in John 17. He says
to the Father, It is life eternal to know Thee, the only true God
and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. Always to be those who
would want to experience more and more of Christ. I like the language of the article,
the Gospel Standard article number 20. Speaking of growth in grace,
we have this statement, not a growth in conscious goodness, but in
felt necessity and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ. As we grow, more and more we
feel our need of Him. But growing grace and in the
knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, to Him be glory
both now and forever. Amen. All, all of salvation is
in Christ. Of Him are ye in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption. He's not only our justification,
He's our sanctification. It's all in Christ. Now we need
that constant revealing to our souls, or when it pleases God
to come and to reveal His Son in us, and to grant to us such
a knowledge of the Saviour. It's a spiritual growth. It's
inward, it's that that is in the soul. But there's also Besides
the experience, there's that practical aspect, there's an
outward growth. We're to abide in Christ that we might be those
who are a fruitful people. In the 15th chapter of John,
Christ declares himself to be the vine, one of the great I
Am's. I am the true vine, he says, and my father is the husbandman. Verse 4, Abide in me, and I in
you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide
in the vine. No more can ye, except ye abide
in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I
in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For without me ye
can do nothing. Or we can do nothing at all without
the Lord Jesus. As he says back in Hosea 14.18,
from me is thy fruit found. All our fruits, all our sanctification,
you see, it comes from the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not that the
old nature is changed. It's not that at all. But there
is to be that growth. There is that that begins with
the new birth. Or that by the grace of God we
might be those who are growing into little children, into youth,
growing even into men and women of grace. And those who desire
that it is Christ himself who is to receive all the praise,
all the honor, and all the glory, but grow in grace and in the
knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory
both now and forever. Amen. May the Lord grant His
blessing upon His Word. Let us now sing the hymn 295 And the tune is Whitburn, 435.
Hymn 295, I ask the Lord, that I might grow in faith and love
and every grace, might more of His salvation know, and seek
more earnestly His face. It was He who taught me thus
to pray, and He I trust has answered prayer, but it has been in such
a way as almost drove me to despair. The hymn 295.