Turn with me to 2 Peter chapter
3. 2 Peter chapter 3. I'd like to read the last verse
of 2 Peter chapter 3. But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ. To Him be glory, both now and
forever. Amen. What is growth in grace? You ever wondered that? What
does it mean to grow in grace? What is growth in grace? Let's back up to verse 15 of
1 Peter chapter 3. Peter says, an account that the
longsuffering of our Lord is salvation. If the Lord is longsuffering
toward you, You're saved. Look in verse 9 of this chapter. The Lord is not slack concerning
His promises. Some men count slackness, but
His longsuffering to us worth it. Not willing that any should
perish, but that all should come to repentance. I think it's interesting
that that verse is used to say that God wants to save everybody
and desires the salvation of all men, but it doesn't say that
at all, does it? It says he's long-suffering to us-ward, the
elect, those who believe, not willing. And if God's not willing
for something to happen, it's not going to happen, is it? Not
willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. And he says, even as our beloved
brother Paul, also according to the wisdom given unto him,
hath written unto you. He's written unto you of these
things. Peter is acknowledging Paul. Look what he says in verse
16, as also in all his epistles, speaking unto him of these things,
in which are some things hard to be understood. Now just because
they're hard to be understood is no excuse for them not to
be believed. Do you understand the Trinity?
Do you understand how God is one God revealed in three distinct
persons? God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit. Of course you don't understand
that. You believe it. Just because something's hard
to understand is no excuse for it not to be believed. You see,
God has given us this written revelation. Everybody knows that
somebody made all this and nobody made him. Everybody knows God
is ultimately. They know somebody made this.
You look at this creation and you know somebody made this and
nobody made him. He's eternal. You can see his
eternal power and Godhead. Now this God who is able to create
the universe is able to reveal himself in a book called the
Bible. and keep it preserved from error.
If he can create the universe, he can do that, then the only
way we can know God is through the scriptures. We can't know
him according to our own natural inclinations and thoughts. Well,
here's what I think about God. It doesn't matter what you think
about God. What does he reveal concerning himself? Now, Peter
is acknowledging the Lord's use of Paul. Look what he says about
him. has also in all his epistles speaking in them of these things,
in which are some things hard to be understood." You know,
Peter said, I don't understand them. I just believe them. I
don't understand how God is absolutely sovereign and men are responsible. I don't understand that. I just
believe it. I just believe it. I don't understand how God can
be one God in three persons. I just believe it. I don't understand
how the elect have always been united to Christ even before
time began. I just believe it. I don't understand
it. I don't understand how God never had a beginning. I just
believe it. He writes in the end of these
things of something hard to be understood which they that are
unlearned and unstable rest or twist as they do also other scriptures. You see that he acknowledged
Paul's writing of scriptures, didn't he? do this to their own
destruction when they twist what Paul has said, just making it
something that it's not. And look at verse 17, this is
a very scary scripture. Ye therefore, beloved, seeing
ye know these things before, beware, beware, lest you also,
being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your
own steadfastness. And this is something that you
and I should be concerned of. Now, I've been pastoring this
church that I'm pastoring for 35 years, and you would not believe
how many people I've seen leave the gospel, who I never dreamed
it would happen. I thought these are faithful
people, and now they're no longer there. And Peter says, beware
lest you be one of those people. Doesn't that strike you? I don't want to be one of those
people. Now how can this be prevented? How can I be kept from falling
from my own steadfastness? Here's how. Verse 18. But grow in grace. Living things grow. Grow in grace and in the knowledge
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory. both
now and forever. Now here's what will prevent
this from happening for me and you to grow in grace. Letting things grow. What about
what's said about the Lord Jesus Christ? It was said regarding
him that he grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God
and men. I don't know what to say about
that other than the Bible says it. He grew in wisdom and stature
and in favor with God and men. And I don't want to be static,
do you? I don't want to be like the church of Ephesus and lose
my first love. I don't want to be like the church
at Sardis where the scripture says, where the Lord said concerning
him, you have a name that you live and you're dead. You're
living in the past. You're living all past experiences.
I don't want to be like that. I don't want to be like the church
at Laodicea where he said you're lukewarm. You're neither warm
nor cold. You're lukewarm and because of
that I'm going to spit you out of my mouth. You say I'm rich
and increased with goods and have need of nothing and you
don't know that you're wretched and miserable and blind and naked
and poor. I want to grow in grace. and in the knowledge of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ. Now what is this thing of growing
in grace? Don't you want to know? I want
to know. What does it mean to grow in
grace? The only way I'm not going to fall from my own steadfastness
is if I grow in grace. This is something every believer
is called upon to do, to grow in grace. Now to speak of growing
in grace without defining grace, is an exercise of futility. It
won't do us any good to know anything about growing in grace
until we first know what grace is. So what does the Bible mean
by grace? Wouldn't that be something if
you and I could understand that? What does the Bible mean by this word
called grace? Growing grace and the knowledge
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Well let me save myself
and you some time cut through the chase and go to the fountain
of grace. What's the fountain of grace?
Election. God's electing grace. It's called in Romans chapter
11 verse 5, the election of grace. I love the way that sounds. The
election of grace. Now what is meant by that? Turn
with me for a moment to Romans chapter 9. And if the Lord makes
Himself known, we're going to understand what grace means.
Romans chapter 9, verse 11. For the children, talking about
Jacob and Esau, had the same mom and dad, came out of the
same womb, for the children being not yet born. They hadn't had a chance to do
anything good or bad, had they? Not yet born, neither having
done any good or evil. They didn't have any good works
to recommend them. They didn't have any evil works
to disqualify them. They had done neither. With the
children being not yet born, never having done any good or
evil, but the purpose of God according to election might stand. Not of works. That's what God's
purpose according to election is. That salvation might have
nothing to do with works, but of him that Now, Jacob and Esau hadn't been
born. They didn't have any good works
to recommend them. They didn't have any bad works to disqualify
them. The only reason that Jacob was saved and Esau was rejected
was not found in their works, but in the will of God. That's the only reason. No other
reasons. Look in verse 14 of Romans chapter
9. What should we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? Is God unfair in electing Jacob
and passing by Esau and loving Jacob and hating Esau? Is God
unfair? God forbid. For He saith to Moses,
I'll have mercy on whom I will have mercy. And I'll have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. So then, it's not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. For the Scripture saith unto
Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I
might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared
throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom
he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardens." Now here's
the point. Grace. Grace is the only reason for
the difference between one and the other. It doesn't have anything
to do with their works. The only reason is grace. God
made a difference. That's what grace means. God
makes a difference. Now, if you present any doctrine where you
make the difference, where it's up to you to do something, it's
no longer grace. The only kind of grace there
is is where God makes The difference. There's so many scriptures that
would illustrate this Old Testament and New Testament. The first
thing I think of is in Genesis chapter 6, verse 5. Listen to
this first scripture. And God saw, this is before the
flood, and God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth,
and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was
only evil continually. When God looks in my mind and
heart, when He looks in your mind and your heart, this is
what He sees. He says, your wickedness is great
and that every imagination of the thoughts of our heart is
only evil, non-stop, continually. That's God's testimony. Go on
reading a couple of verses down later, it says, but Noah found
grace. God did something for him. Noah
found grace in the eyes of the Lord. You go into Exodus chapter
11. I love this verse of scripture.
In Exodus chapter 11, when God said he was going to pass through
the land of Egypt and destroy the firstborn, he said in Exodus
chapter 11 verse 7, but against any of the children of Israel
shall not a dog move his tongue. against man or beast so that
you may know how that the Lord doth put a difference between
the Egyptians and Israel." Now here's a word I like, discriminating
race. I know that that's looked upon
as an evil word and indeed discrimination among men is evil. There's no
doubt about it. Discrimination among men is evil.
But the only hope me and you have is that God discriminates
with us. And that He makes a difference
for us that perhaps He didn't make for everybody else. That's
the only hope we have. Discriminating. Paul said, Who makes you to differ
from another? And what do you have that you
didn't receive? The Lord Jesus said, I thank
Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden
these things. from the wise and prudent, and
revealed them unto babes, even so, Father, for so it seemed
good in thy sight." Now that's what grace is. Grace is where
God alone makes the difference. If you put man in the equation
anywhere where there's something you have to do to make the difference,
it is no longer grace. Now let me tell you what growth
in grace does not mean. It does not mean grace grows. That's a simple concept. It does
not mean grace grows. I don't grow in election. I don't
become more elect. I don't grow in justification.
I don't grow more justified. I don't grow in sanctification.
I don't grow more holy. Now listen to this. This is so. I'm as holy right now as I'll
be in heaven. I'm not going to become holier or more holy. Do I feel this? No. Do I believe
it? Yes. Wherefore, holy brethren,
partakers of the heaven calling. As a matter of fact, the only
time the word holier is used as if they're comparisons in
holiness is when God speaks to those in Isaiah who say, stand
back from me, I'm holier than thou. And God says, these are
a smoke in my nostrils. There is no growth in acceptance. There's no growth in anything
in that sense. Grace does not grow. In him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead in a body, and you are complete. Think about that. You lack nothing. You're complete. There's no admittance
of growth in this. You're complete. Hebrews 10.11
says, By the which will we are sanctified once for all. Now that is in the perfect tense
in the Greek. Perfectly completed, never to
be repeated. You can't grow in that, can you?
We are sanctified once for all through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ. Listen to this scripture. As
a matter of fact, turn to this one. I just want you to read it so
you can see the beauty of this. 1 John chapter 4, verse 17. Herein is our love made perfect
that we may have boldness, confidence, not shrinking back in fear, but
boldness in the day of judgment. Now, can you imagine standing
before God in judgment and having boldness? Not being afraid, thinking
everything's okay, I'm in good shape. How could that be? Well, here's how that could be.
As He is, so are we. this world. Is He holy? So are we. Is He perfect? So are we. Is He perfectly beautiful to
the Father? So are we. Is He without sin? So are we. You see, this standing that the
believer has, you can't grow in. Whatever Christ is to the
Father, I am, because I am united to Him. And in this thing you
cannot grow. Now if anything is dependent
upon me or you, remember we're asking what is grace? Before
we can understand what growing in grace is. If anything, if
any aspect of salvation, I don't care what you're talking about.
If you put works in the beginning of salvation, your will. If you
put works in the middle of salvation, You become more holy and more
accepted and more pleasing to God by what you do. If you put
works in the end of salvation, you end up winning some kind
of higher reward in heaven because of what you've done. If you do
that, you've made it all of works. And let me tell you something
about works. If any aspect of salvation is dependent upon my
works, it's no longer grace. You believe that? It's no longer
grace, and it's doomed for failure. Because if anything is dependent
upon me or you, it will not work. It's doomed for failure. So what
is this thing of growing in grace? I see that grace doesn't grow,
don't you? I can't grow and I can't become the leftier. I can't become
more regenerate or more sanctified. Grace doesn't grow in that sense. So what is meant by growing in
grace? Let's read this verse again.
Second Peter chapter 3, turn back there. Verse 18. But grow in grace and in the
knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Now here is what
cannot be separated. Growing in grace and in the knowledge
of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. To Him be glory, both
now and forever. Amen. This growth is inseparably
connected with the knowledge of this person. Grow in grace
and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Paul put it this way, I know
whom I have believed. Not what I believed. Not what
I believed. You see, what I believe is entirely
contingent upon who I believe. If I believe him, the doctrine
will become obvious. I know whom I have believed. And there's no growth in grace
apart from growth in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
Paul put it this way. In Philippians chapter 3, he
said, I count all things but loss for the excellency of the
knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord. I count all things but
garbage in comparison to the excellency of the knowledge of
Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all things
and do count it but done. It's not like I'm weeping over
what I lost. I counted but done, that I may
win Christ and be found in him, not having my own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faithfulness
of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, that
I might know him. Now notice Paul says that I might
know him. Now this I know. If I know Christ,
I know I know him just a little bit. He's so glorious, He's so
infinite in the glory of His person. And what knowledge I
have of Him is kind of like the knowledge my dog has of me. I
know Him, but I know Him just a little bit. And oh, I want
to know Him. I want to know Him. He's so immense, He's so infinite,
He's so altogether glorious. I know Him just a little bit,
but I want to know Him. Now listen to this scripture.
The Lord said, in Matthew chapter 11, take my yoke upon you and
learn of me. He didn't say learn about me,
he said learn of me. For I am meek and lowly in heart. The creator
of the universe, the sovereign of the universe is meek and he's
humble. Isn't that glorious? You know,
he's the only one that you can come into his presence and not
be judged. If you let me know about what
you really like, I'll judge you. I'll judge you. If I let you
know what I'm really like, if you knew my heart, you'd say,
I don't want to have anything to do with that guy anymore.
You judge me. Regrettably, that's the way we
are. We still have this thing called
the flesh. It's not right. The Lord said, judge not that
you be not judged. But we still have this thing
called the flesh. And we're going to have a tendency to judge everybody. It's self-righteousness. Oh,
yeah, that's all it is. Anytime I judge somebody, it's
hypocrisy. Because whatever it is I'm judging
them for, I'm doing it. And you're the same way. Therefore
thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judges,
for thou that judges doest the same things." I can't look down
my nose upon anybody, but I do. I do. I wish I wasn't like that.
One of the things I'm looking forward to in dying is not being
that way anymore. Just being delivered from that.
But you know the Lord Jesus Christ is the only being there is who
you can come into his presence and won't feel judged. He's meek
and lonely in heart, and you'll find rest for your souls. There's nobody like him. He says, learn of me. Now, the point is, growth in grace
is inseparably connected with growth in the knowledge of our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. You see more of His beauty. You
see more of His excellency. You see more of His graciousness.
When you grow in grace, Christ becomes bigger in your eyes. Growth in grace is growth in
love to Him. That's what growth and grace
is. Now forget about yourself for a second. Because the moment
we start thinking about love to Him, we start thinking about
the strength of our love. Well, I don't know what my love
is. Just forget yourself for a minute. Do you love the fact
that He's sovereign? That He's in control? Do you
love the fact that He is all in salvation? Do you love the
fact that He's God? Do you love the fact that He's
man? Do you love the way He's saved by grace? Do you love having
His righteousness? I'm not asking you about your
love. I'm saying, do you love His grace? That's what love to
Him is. Just forget about how strong
your love is, because you know as well as I do that it's not
strong enough. But growth in grace is growth
in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And
you grow to love Him more. I love that word by Peter in
1 Peter 2, verse 7. To you that believe, He is. He's precious. He's precious
in His person. He's precious in His righteousness. His righteousness is my only
righteousness before God. He's precious in His blood. Oh,
my only hope is that He died for me. That He put away my sins. My only hope is His precious
blood. He's precious in His intercession
that He represents me before the Father. He's precious in
His returning Knowing that when he returns, I'll see him as he
is, and I'll be just like him because of that. He's precious. This is growth in grace, growth
in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And
this word knowledge is not just talking about cognitive knowledge.
Adam knew his wife Eve. That's talking about an intimate
relationship. Joseph knew not Mary. He had not entered this relationship
of love. So, growing in grace is growing
in love to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, do you know how I can tell
that someone is growing in their love to Christ? It's not by them telling me.
I'm loving Him more. I love Him more than I ever did.
As soon as you say something like that, I'm not going to believe
you. As a matter of fact, I'm going to think it's the opposite. Growing in
love to Christ is seen in growing in humility. Now this is the
key about Christian growth. It's like no other growth. In
all other kinds of growth, you get bigger. In Christian growth,
you become smarter. You grow in humility. You see more and more of your
own sinfulness and your own need of His grace. Now, I touched on this last hour. The Lord called this the greatest
faith. He marveled at this man's faith. And he said, I've not
found so great a faith, no, not in Israel. Now let me tell you
something about this man. This man didn't think himself worthy
to come to Christ, so he sent his servant to come. And he said,
I don't think myself worthy. for you to come to my house and
heal him. I don't want you coming here.
I'm not worthy. Speak the word only. I don't need any experience.
Speak the word only. That's all that has to take place.
And my servant shall be healed. I understand authority. I say
to one go and he goes and another come and he comes and another
do this and do that. I know that all you've got to do is speak
the word and it happens. And the Lord marveled at his faith. We would have sent him to a counselor
to get his self-esteem pumped up. What a weak man. But Christ marveled and said,
I'm telling you, I've not found so great a thing. No, not in
Israel. Now, you see, any knowledge of
him is always accompanied with humility. You can't know him
and not be humbled about yourself. If you become proud, you've not
seen Him. If you become bigger in your
own eyes, you've not grown in grace, you're shrunk. Growing
in grace and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ is growing
in this thing called humility. What is humility? You know, there's
a lot of phony humility. Have you ever acted humble? I've
acted humble. I've tried to show people how
humble I am. It's just an act, nothing more. I can't stand it
when I'm around somebody acting humble. You know what I mean. What is humility? Humility is
a just estimate of yourself. When the publican beat on his
breast, and cried, God, be merciful to me, the sinner, the worst
man to ever live. You know what that was? That
was a just estimate of himself. When that Syro-Phoenician woman,
she comes to the Lord, have mercy on me, and the Lord doesn't answer
a word, but she continues. That's not going to hold her
back. She continues, Lord, help me. And he said, I'm not sick,
but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Then she came
and worshipped him, saying, Lord, Help me! If you don't help me,
I won't be helped." And he said, I'm not sinned. But to the lost
sheep, when she continued, she said, it's not right to take
the children's bread and cast it to dogs. It's not right for
me to take my grace and cast it to a dog like you. And you
know how she answered? That's the truth! That's a just
estimate of herself. That's the truth. When Peter
finally found out who the Lord really was in Luke chapter 5,
He said, depart from me, Lord. You don't want to have anything
to do with somebody like me. I'm a sinful man. Now, that is
humility. It's a just estimate of yourself. Growth and grace, you become
lower in your own eyes. You know, when you become lower
in your own eyes, you're not so easily offended. I like what
Henry Mayhem said, you can't defend the chief of centers.
You're not so easily offended. You know what you are, you're
not going to not speak to people and always be ready to correct
others. When others are around you, you're not going to have
to feel judged and condemned and threatened when you're lonely.
Growth is shrinking. growth in grace is being lower
in your own eyes. You know, in maturity, we love
babies. We love these babies back here,
don't we? We love them. Love babies. What if they were
40 years old and conducted themselves like that? Now, we got some problems,
don't we? What if they're 80 years old
and conduct themselves like that? We got some real problems. We
want spiritual maturity, don't we? growth in grace. Now when Paul said, listen to
these words real carefully, you're familiar with this passage of
scripture in Romans chapter 12 where it says, I beseech you
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 you may prove what is that
good and acceptable and perfect will of God." What's the first
thing he said after that? He said, I say through the grace
of God given to me to every man among you, not to think of himself
more highly than he ought to think. Now that is maturity. to think of yourself more highly
than you ought to think. Now how many times have you heard
the phrase, living the Christian life? A lot, haven't you? I want to live the Christian
life. I have come to hate that phrase.
I despise it. I want to live the Christian
life. And what they mean by that is how do you act if you act like
a Christian? What do you look like? What's it like to live
the Christian life? And when you're given a message
on growth and grace, it's something like this. If you want to grow,
you need to read the Bible more. You need to spend more time in
private prayer. You need to seek to suppress
your sin more. You need to seek to witness more. You need to myriad things that
will help you in this thing of growth. Peter said this. I'm going to get to what I'm
saying in a minute. Peter said this. He said, as newborn babes desire
the sincere, and that word sincere simply means pure, the pure milk
of the word that you may grow thereby. The only way you're
going to grow is by the pure milk of the Word, an appetite
for the Word. But let's say, just for a moment,
that there is a good in talking about living the Christian life.
Well, what does the Christian life look like? I can give you the answer from
Scripture. Here's what it looks like. The Lord said, blessed
are the poor in spirit. That's what it looks like. Poverty. I don't have anything to recommend
me to God. I have nothing! And I have great
needs. Poor in spirit. Blessed are they that mourn,
for they shall be comforted. And I don't want to get technical,
but that word mourn is a verb, participle, in the present tense. And a participle is something
that acts both as an adjective describing what you are and as
a verb that describes what you do. And it's in the present tense.
You're not mourning over yesterday's sin so much as what you are right
now. You mourn over sin. You know
when you mourn when somebody is dying, oh, you're praying
that The Lord will heal them and the Lord will bring them
back to life. But when they're dead and there's nothing you
can do about it, you mourn. When you see there's nothing
you can do about your sin, you mourn. You mourn over your sin. It's something you're doing right
now. You mourn over your sin. That's what a Christian is. You
certainly have plenty of reason to mourn, don't you? A Christian
is someone who's made Blessed are the meek. They're meek before
God. Whatever He brings their way
is right because He's God. They're meek. A Christian is
someone who hungers and thirsts after righteousness. Blessed
are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness. Now when
you're hungry, how come you're hungry? You don't have anything
in your stomach. You don't have anything to eat
today. My stomach's empty and I'm hungry. I'm thirsty, too. I haven't had enough to drink.
I've had two or three cups of coffee. I probably should have
more. But the point is, when you hunger and thirst, you're
hungering and thirsting after something that you feel like
you don't have and you need. I hunger and thirst after righteousness,
His righteousness. I know I don't have any of my
own, and I hunger after His. Blessed are the pure in heart.
What's that? Pure in heart. The pure heart
is the new heart that God gives in the new birth. You know, if
you're a believer, you know you have two separate natures. One
that's totally and completely evil, and it's only the pure
heart that sees that. If you didn't have a pure heart,
you wouldn't even see that. It wouldn't mean anything to
you. Blessed are the pure in heart. Blessed are the merciful.
Have you experienced God's mercy? You're merciful. You're forgiving. You know the way the Lord has
dealt with you, and you want to deal with others that way.
Blessed are the merciful. Blessed are the peacemakers.
You're not trying to start a fight. You're not trying to create contention.
You want the peace of the gospel. Blessed are they who are persecuted
for righteousness. And that's not talking about
somebody who's persecuted for the good they do. They'll award
you for the good you do. You give a million dollars to
a hospital, nobody's going to persecute you for it. You're
going to get your name in the paper, and they're going to show
you this big giant check that you're handing everybody, and you're
going to get all kinds of glory. You're not going to get persecuted for that. You
help feed the poor and clothe the naked, you're going to be
acknowledged, and people are going to like you for that. Boy,
what a great guy. He's talking about being persecuted for standing
for the righteousness of Christ as the only righteousness there
is, and the only righteousness you have. Can you stand for that?
You're going to be persecuted for it. You're saying all the
stuff I do counts for nothing. Yeah, that's exactly what I'm
saying. Christ's righteousness is the only righteousness there
is. Now what does growth look like?
You become more poor. You see it more clearly than
you've ever seen it. You mourn more. You're more meek before
God. Whatever he does is right. You
hunger and thirst more for his righteousness. You see more clearly
the two natures. That purity in heart makes you
see more of the sinfulness of everything about you. You're
merciful. You're more forgiving, seeing
how He has forgiven you. You're a peacemaker. No, you
grow in being a peacemaker and not a troublemaker. You grow
in being persecuted for His righteousness because you understand it and
preach it more clearly. That is growth in grace. Now, when I grow in grace, I
grow in my need of grace. How about you? I grow in my need
of grace. I grow in my understanding of
salvation by grace. I grow in my love for grace.
Or don't you love the fact that salvation is completely of grace?
That it's always sovereign. It's always free. It's always
free. How free? Free. It's always saving. Don't you love that? Growing
grace. growing the knowledge of our
Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Now, there are two things needed
for growth and grace. Number one, grace. It takes grace
to grow grace. You can't work this up. You can't
make yourself grow. I have a friend that he was not
very tall and it always grieved him. And he did everything he
could to grow. He got it once, he thought if
he ate, he ran somewhere, if he ate a lot of raisins, he'd
grow, and he ate so many raisins, it made him sick, and he was
in trouble. And then he started hanging upside down, thinking
that would make him grow. The only way you grow is by the
power of God. It takes grace to grow in grace. You can't work it up. Doesn't
that take all the pressure off? It takes grace to grow in grace.
Lord, give me grace to grow in grace. But the next thing it
takes, as newborn babes, desire, crave, lust after is the word. The pure milk of the word that
you may grow thereby. Now there's real problems when
somebody loses their appetite for the word. I don't want that
to happen to me. Growing grace comes through craving
the sincere milk of the Word that you may grow thereby. Now,
when somebody loses their appetite, what does that mean? They're
sick. Something is wrong with them. Lord, give me an appetite for
Your Word, for the Gospel. of Christ, that I might grow
in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ. Let's pray. Lord, we come into your presence
in Christ's name, and Lord, we're so aware of our own sinfulness
and unworthiness self-justifications and self-indications. Lord, we
ask that You would strip us of everything that keeps us from
looking to You only. And Lord, we ask in Christ's
name that You will cause us to have an appetite for Your Word. Lord, we ask that You would give
us grace to grow in grace, that we might become more poor. more
and more, be more meek, hunger more. Lord, do this for us. And Lord, we would pray in Christ's
name that you would pour your blessing upon this assembly,
that according to your will, that you would provide them with
a pastor after your own heart for your glory. And Lord, we
ask that you would cause many people in this place to come
to bow the knee to thy son. continue your blessings upon
these saints of yours. We thank you for this time together.
We pray that you bless us for your glory and our good, that
we might truly grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ. In his blessed name, we pray.
Amen.