Well, let us turn to God's Word,
and I want to direct you for a while this evening to the final
verse in Peter's second epistle. In 2 Peter chapter 3 and verse
18. 2 Peter 3.18, But grow in grace
and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, To Him
be glory both now and forever. Amen. But grow in grace and in
the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To Him
be glory both now and forever. Amen. I recently re-read that famous
sermon of J.C. Philpott entitled, harvest and
it bears the subtitle of the soul's growth in grace and of
course it's not based on this particular verse although in
the course of the sermon some reference is made to this scripture
but having read that sermon once again I thought it might be profitable
for us to address the same theme we've looked at it on previous
occasions but it is a truth that stands before us not only here
but in many other parts of the word of God and so looking at
these words here in this particular verse for a short while tonight
we're going to look at the soul's growth in grace the soul's growth
in grace i'm sure that you're You're not unaware that there
is a deal of confusion in many circles with regards to the subject
matter. There are those who like to speak
of sanctification and it is another great biblical doctrine of course. We often take up the subject
of justification and that's another great doctrine. But I think in
many ways it's far easier to preach on justification than
it is to attempt to preach on sanctification. And yet here
we are, we're considering the theme of the soul's growth in
grace, and isn't that bound up with the sanctification of the
child of God? But as I was saying, there is
a great deal of confusion. with regards to what sanctification
is. There are those who like to speak
of what they term progressive sanctification. What they say
is that by degrees the believer grows better and more holy. Your nature improves. Your nature becomes somewhat
holier. Begetting or rather besetting
sins I should say are weakened in the believer and lost is not
so powerful as once it was but really I think it would be very
contrary to the teaching of scripture if we thought of progressive
sanctification in that sense because we know that the old
nature never changes. We're told, aren't we, in Romans
8-7 that the carnal mind is enmity against God. It is not subject
to the law of God, neither indeed can be. That's a very strong
statement that the apostle is making with regards to the carnal
nature, and the carnal nature is but what we are by nature. It's our natural mind that he's
speaking of there. And the Lord Jesus himself tells
us in John chapter 3 that that which is born of the flesh is
flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. And there of course the Lord
is teaching the truth of regeneration, the necessity of the new birth. In order to be saved, a person
must have a new nature, he must be born again, because that which
is born of the flesh is flesh. It's never anything but that
that is enmity against God. And so, believers are those who
in the new birth are made partakers of the divine nature. And remember
how Peter speaks of that. Here in chapter 1 verse 40 says,
whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises,
that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having
escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. There
is a divine nature then that is the consequence of the sinner
being born again. And so John tells us in his his
first general epistle there in chapter 3 and verse 9, "...whosoever
is born of God doth not commit sin, because his seed remaineth
in him." And he cannot sin because he is born of God. And John isn't
teaching that the believer has attained sinless perfection,
he is simply speaking there of that divine nature which cannot
sin. But there's the old nature also.
and Paul says, doesn't he, that 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 and
so because there is in the child of God that divine nature, that
new nature there is a continual sense of conflict with himself
and Paul goes into great detail concerning that experience in
the seventh chapter of the epistle to the Romans. The good that
I would, he says, I do not. The evil that I would not, that
I do. And he feels it. O wretched man
that I am, you shall deliver me from the body of this death. And he goes on, I thank God through
Jesus Christ. All the conflict teaches the
complete and utter dependence upon the Lord Jesus Christ. But
there is such a truth as growth in grace. There is progression
to be made in the life of the believer, and it's that particular
aspect of sanctification, the soul's growing in grace, that
I want us to consider for a little while then this evening and just
two things I want to deal with first of all to say something
with regards to the necessity of growth in grace and then secondly
to look at the parts of growth in grace first of all the necessity
of growth growth is the property of grace
really if there's grace If we know anything of the grace of
God, there will be that growing in grace, and that growth is
indicative of the healthy state of the soul of the believer. And what do we see in Scripture?
Well, we see the very fact of growth. How does the Christian
life begin? Well, it begins with the birth.
It begins with the new birth. we've already referred to the
third chapter of John and there the Lord is speaking of course
to the most religious man Nicodemus and Nicodemus doesn't understand
what the Lord is saying but the Lord presses home the truth of
the doctrine of regeneration the necessity of a new birth
Verily, verily, says Christ, except a man be born again, he
cannot see the kingdom of heaven. And then that great statement,
ye must be born again. And of course, it was a truth
very much emphasized back in the 18th century in the ministry
of the great evangelist George Whitfield, how he declared time
and again that great truth of the new birth, ye must. be born
again it was almost a watchword of Whitefields and as believers
are born so they will grow back in the opening epistle the first
epistle of Peter there in chapter 2 and verse 2 he says as newborn
babes desire the sincere milk of the word that she may grow
thereby there is spiritual growth just as in nature a healthy baby
will grow and develop won't always be a babe but will become a little
toddler and then a child and then grow up into youth and eventually
into adulthood This is the fact, isn't it? With regards to grace,
the spiritual life, as with the natural life, there will be some
growing. And as newborn babes, we are
to be feeding upon the sincere milk of the Word of God that
we may grow thereby. And when Paul writes to these
various churches that he was so instrumental in establishing,
he oftentimes encourages them. He reminds the Thessalonians,
he says to them, your faith groweth exceedingly. They were not those
who were stunted, they were developing in their spiritual lives. And
so we see in Scripture that there are these different degrees of
faith. The Lord Jesus, in the Sermon
on the Mount, there in chapter 6 and verse 30, he speaks of
little faith, some have little faith. Now the Lord on an occasion
rebukes Peter really because he was so full of doubts. Remember
when Peter comes out of the boat and he's walking on the water
towards the Lord Jesus and then suddenly he seems to be aware
of the the situation, the elements, the winds and the waves, and
it begins to sink. And the Lord says to him, O thou
of little faith, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? There is little faith. And thank
God it's not the measure of our faith that saves us. It's the
object of our faith that's always important. The object is the
Lord Jesus Christ, the great rock, of salvation. And some might have faith as
a grain of mustard seed. And yet, though the mustard seed,
Christ says, is the least of all seeds, the least, the smallest
of all seeds, and you have just a grain of that little seed,
you can say to this mountain, remove tree under place, and
it will obey you. Or even little faith, you see.
because that faith is centering in Him who is the Sovereign Lord
of all. There is in little faith, a small measure
of faith, there are those who might be said to be weak in the
faith. Again the Apostle writing there
to the Church at Rome in chapter 14 says, him that is weak in
the faith receive you but not to doubtful disputations or be
aware that there are some who are weak in the faith and disputings
and arguings and contendings are not going to be helpful to
such characters they need to be nurtured in their faith but
then there are those who are strong in faith Abraham who is
the father of believers there in that fourth chapter of Romans
he was strung in faith it says giving glory to God we might
say well how can I be compared to a man like Abraham if he's
the father of believers he's the great example of faith but
remember how the Lord speaks of that poor Canaanitish woman
in the gospel who would not be denied, and he says, O woman,
great is thy faith. Yes, she was like Abraham, he
was strong in faith, she had great faith. And when we read
of Stephen, the first Christian martyr, we're told, aren't we,
there in Acts chapter 6, how Stephen was full of faith. There
are there these various degrees of faith. And we're not to be
satisfied with little faith. We should desire that we might
be brought to what Paul calls the full assurance of faith.
There are some who seem to think that it's good to have a doubting
faith. It's not. The Lord rebuked Peter. Wherefore didst thou doubt? He
says. We should desire that we might have that full assurance
of faith. There is such a thing as growth
there. If faith is small and weak, it can become stronger
and greater. It can grow. But then, besides
the fact of growth, we also see in Scripture the figure that
is used with regards to this idea of growing in grace. as we've said we have mention
of babes newborn babes desiring the sincere milk of the word
but several times we read of babes but we also have those
verses in 1 John 2 verse 12 following where the Apostle John speaks
of little children and young men and fathers there's obviously
Those are at different stages of growth. Some might be babes,
but others are now little children, and some have grown and they're
young men, they're youths. And then there are fathers, but
there are also those who are mothers in Israel. Here's a figure then from humankind,
when we look at men and women, we see them in the various stages
of their natural life. We all begin as babes and we
all, in the good providence of God, grow into adulthood. But then there's also that figure
that's taken from the seed. I read that passage in Mark chapter
4 and we finished there at what the Lord is saying with regards
to the seed that's sown in the ground like in the kingdom of
God to the man who cast seed into the ground and sleeps and
then amazingly the seed sown begins to spring up and grow
and the Lord says the earth bring the fourth fruit of herself first
the blade then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. There is a growth with regards
to that seed that is first cast into the ground and in due course
there is a harvest to be gathered in. And of course when we think
of that figure of the seed in the various stages
of its development we know how necessary for growth the seasons
of the year are. God in his wisdom has appointed
the seasons as long as the earth remaineth. After the flood we
have that blessed assurance as long as the earth remaineth.
Seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day
and night, shall not cease. And there's a necessity for those
seasons, the spring and the summer, And then we come to the autumn
of the year, the time of the gathering in of the harvest,
and then the winter follows, and through the cold, short winter
days we look and yearn for the springing of the new year. But of course in that sermon
that I referred to at the outset, that quite remarkable exposition
of J.C. Philpotter, It's a remarkable
sermon and yet it's flawed because the passage he's preaching from
is completely misinterpreted. His exegesis is nowhere really. But the content of what he has
to say is good and sound and he strangely speaks of how in
the spiritual realm he says there isn't the summer before the harvest. But there's another
little season of winter that comes in. So he calls the sermon
winter for harvest. It's the way God deals with these
people in order to encourage their growth. And what is that
growth in grace? It's a felt dependence that increases. Felt dependence upon the Lord
Jesus. We see it really in the text. It's growing grace and
in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Aren't
these clauses really parallel one to the other? If we're growing
in grace, we'll have a greater knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And what will that greater knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ mean?
It will mean that we'll feel more and more our complete and
utter dependence upon Him. We'll feel that we need a greater
salvation today that we needed when we first believed it's that
sort of growth really and how does the Lord bring his people
to that? well he brings them to that when
they come into trials and troubles when they find there are many
reverses there are tribulations Spiritually, winter is such a
barren period. And there's that hymn of Joseph
Hartz in which he laments what he feels in his own soul, he
feels it's winter. The hymn 875, But I from month
to month complain, I feel no warmth, no fruit I see, I look
for life, but dead remain. It is winter, all the year with
me. and are we made to long for the
end of that that gloominess that the winter might be past and
the winter does pass and the Lord shows himself and we find
how good and gracious the Lord is we have that language don't
we back in the in the song of Solomon and there in the second
chapter of the song at verse 11 low it says 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 and the voice of the
turtle dove is heard in our land the fig tree put it forth her
green figs and the vines with the tender grape give a good
smell arise my love my fair one and come away or do we know what
it is to ever come into that blessed experience there's been
a barrenness as it were in the soul it was winter and then all
of a sudden the winter's gone and the Lord appears in those
gracious words when he says arise my love my fair one come away
when he shows himself again and establishes us more firmly in
his grace there is then a way in which the Lord brings his
people on in this growth. They learn more and more their
complete and utter dependence upon him and they yearn more
and more after him. But then again with regards to
this growth in grace we have to mark how it's always proportionate. The head doesn't swell with doctrinal
knowledge while the heart is small and cramped in its experiences,
and the feet stunted and crippled so there's no walking in the
ways of practical holiness. No, the grace is proportionate. As the head grows, as it were,
in the knowledge of the truth, so the heart also expands the
truth is known and found and as the truth is experienced in
that manner in the soul, so the life is also reformed and the
child of God walks in the path of obedience, delighting in all
the precepts of the gospel as well as embracing all those exceeding
great and precious promises. So what is this growth? It is growing up into Him in
all things, which is the head, even Christ. That's what growth
in grace is. It's growing up more and more
into the Lord Jesus Christ. Grow in grace and in the knowledge
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both
now and forever. Amen. The glory is His. And we
love to have it so. We see then something of the
necessity of growth. But let us briefly in the second
place say something with regards to the parts of this growth in
grace where we see something of its nature. When Israel is to be restored
after the years of exile, the captivity in Babylon, We read
in Isaiah 37, 31, The remnant that is escaped of the house
of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward. Well that's how fruit is produced
is the root going downward and there's the fruit appearing upwards. But as we come to think of the
various parts of growth in grace, I really want to mention four
things in total. First of all, there is that downward
growth. There is a descending more and
more into that humility of soul. God says through Hosea the prophet,
I will be like the Jew unto Israel, he shall grow as a lily and cast
forth his roots as Lebanon. And the reference there of course
is to the mighty cedars of Lebanon. Those great trees and now their
roots strike deep into the earth, deep into the ground. As God
is the Jew So his people grow as a little, a little flower
really, but what roots? Roots like Lebanon. And that's part and parcel of
growing in grace, to grow downward. And we see it in the Apostle
Paul. In many ways I suppose, one of
the greatest men that ever lived on the face of the earth, the
Apostle Paul. And yet, how does he speak of
himself? He calls himself the chief of
sinners. There in 1 Timothy 1.15, you make a list of all the sinners,
says Paul, and I'm there at the top of that list of sinners.
I persecuted the church of God. He felt the awfulness of his
sin. But when he writes to the Ephesians,
He calls himself less than the least of all saints. He's the
chief of sinners and he's less than the least of all saints. He really coins a word, doesn't
he? Because you can't get less than the least. The least is
the lowest you can get. But he's less than the least.
The leaster. The leaster of all saints. That
was his humility. And he felt it. When he had that
thorn in the flesh, how he recognised the Lord was dealing with him,
he'd been favoured, he'd been caught up to the third heaven,
he'd seen things that were unmentionable, you couldn't speak of, but the
Lord then, because he'd been so favoured, points the thorn
in the flesh, and he's brought so very low, though I be nothing,
he says. Though I be nothing. We see it
time and again with these biblical saints, Job, after all his experiences,
after the great trials of his faith, what does he say in the
last chapter? I abhor myself. He was abhorrent
to himself. I abhor myself and repent in
dust and ashes. Daniel. Daniel says how seeing
that remarkable sight of the glorified man, the man Christ
Jesus, there in Daniel 10 he says my comeliness was turned
in me into corruption there was nothing comely about it it was
all sin or corruption how these men you see who are growing in
grace they grow downwards they have very low views of themselves
and yet at the same time there is an upward growth not just
that there's a descending, as it were. There's also an uprising,
if ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above,
where Christ sitth at the right hand of God. Set your affections
on things above and not on things on the earth. Well, that's the
calling of the Christian. Our conversation is in heaven,
says the Apostle, our citizenship. our citizenship is not of this
world we belong to another world we're not to be conformed to
this world, we're to be transformed by the renewing of our minds we're to understand what the
will of the Lord is, we're to walk in accordance with His holy
laws this is the Christians calling there's a rising above the things
of time and of sensing, there's that looking to God and coming to God, praying to
God calling upon his name seeking his face or Israel or Judah it says there
in Isaiah 37 is to take root downward but bear fruit upward
but then also I said four things there's also in the third place
Surely there's an inward growth in grace. There's that increased
knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're to grow up into Him in
all things. We're to grow up into Him in
all things. And I like the way growth in
grace is defined in the Gospel Standard article, our article
number 20. which says, not a growth in conscious
goodness, but in felt necessity and the knowledge of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ. We're growing in grace, we won't
think, well, I'm better today than I was yesterday. I won't
feel that. But I will feel more and more
my need of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's growth in grace. And that's
how it's set before us, surely, in this particular verse. Growing
grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Who is to have the glory? It's
not that we think ourselves to be somewhat better than we were. No, it's to Him be glory. The glory is His and not ours.
Of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom. righteousness and sanctification
and redemption that as it is written he that glorieth let
him glory in the Lord or were to give him all the glory there's
an inward growing and experience in the soul but there is also
that outward growth there's fruit to be seen Remember how the Lord speaks
of the vine and the branches there in that 15th chapter of
the Gospel according to St. John and he says, 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. Again we have that word in Hosea
14, from me, says the Lord God, from me is thy fruit found. men are to see our good works
then and they are to glorify our Father which is in heaven
the glory belongs to him and how he makes his people ever
more fruitful and how does he do it? well remember what the
Lord says here in this 15th of John every branch that bear a fruit
he purges it that it may bring forth more fruit So the Lord
has his strange ways in making his people a fruitful people. And we'll see it just now as
we come to sing our second hymn. We're going to sing that remarkable
hymn of John Newton's. We'll turn to it. It's number
295. We're going to sing it to the
tune Holly, 348. I'll read the first two verses. I often
wonder whether this hymn is suitable for public worship or whether
it's a hymn that's better suited to use in our private meditations and prayers. But
it seems so apt, considering the theme we've tried to address
tonight. 295, I'll read the first two verses, we'll sing from verse
three. 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. To a see you taught me thus to
pray, and thee I trust as answered prayer. But it has been in such
a way, as almost drove me to despair to hymn 295 singing from
verse 3 to tune 348