If you would please turn your
Bibles to the letter of 2 Peter. You should find that just in
front of the three letters of John that lead us to the book
of Jude and then to the Revelation. So, 2 Peter chapter 3. We wish to start at the beginning
of the chapter and reading maybe down to verse 9 and then
we'll skip a little bit and pick up our text and we'll begin to
try to answer the question of what is it to grow in grace?
word is indeed before us in this chapter, 2nd Peter chapter 3. Now may we pray. Lord, thank you for letting us
gather in this place this morning. Thank you, O Lord, for teaching
us the truth of your grace and of your mercy and nary a one of us has ever
deserved it, but it becomes ours in and by and through the Lord
Jesus Christ, the only Savior of sinners this world has ever
seen. What a glorious Redeemer we have. Oh, that we might grow in this
knowledge and in this grace to the end that we might know our
Savior more fully, more definitively, that we can see things that we've
never seen before in regard to himself. Oh, the blessedness of this book,
of this testament, of this particular writer, and of the subject to
which he addresses these issues. We beg for your help and your
aid. We have nothing, are nothing,
and can do nothing. Only you can work in us and by
us and through us. And we bless and thank you in
Jesus name. Amen. This is Paul's second letter.
This second letter, beloved, I now write unto you in both
which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance, that you
may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy
prophets and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord
and Savior, knowing this first that there shall come in the
last days scoffers walking after their own lust, and saying, where
is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep,
all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willfully are ignorant
of, that by the word of God the heavens were made of old, and
the earth standing out of the water and in the street, whereby
the world that then was being overflowed with water perished. And only eight souls survived,
namely Noah and his wife and his three sons and their wives,
and that's it. What do you think is going to
happen the second time Christ comes? He's going to take his
bride off this earth into glory. But I'm telling you billions
and billions and whatever you call after you have billions
are going to wind up in hell. Now if our preaching must offend,
and it must, then it ain't gonna change. It's the same thing over and
over and over again. We have no control over what
God does, but we're bound by his blessed precious grace
in us, we're bound to please Him in all things. Not saying
that we succeed, for we certainly don't. But the heavens, am I down to
verse 7? But the heavens and the earth
which are now by the same word are kept in store, you know what
it is to put something in storage, reserved unto fire against the
day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But, beloved, be not ignorant
of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand
years, and a thousand years is one day. The Lord is not slack
concerning His promise, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering
too." Who? Who is that? Us word. Us word. Some of you too young to remember
this, but once upon a time we had people that would stand up
in this same auditorium when the preacher's up here preaching
and accuse him of a false gospel. And I ain't mentioning no names.
I'm not interested in pursuing it. I'm just telling you that
this book tells us that this is the case. This us word. Let's read the
statement as if it is universal. That's what most people declare
it is, but it ain't. Excuse the French. The Lord is not slack concerning
His promise, as some men count slackness. but is longsuffering
to us-ward. Now if you want to know the definition,
in 2 Peter chapter 3, you go back to chapter 1 verse 1 and
you'll find out what it is. It is the Jewish believers who
became followers of Christ in Jerusalem and the treatment and
murder of them and imprisoning of them drove them to other places. And Peter is writing in his first
and second letter in our Bibles, he's writing to those persons.
That doesn't mean that there aren't other persons elsewhere
in the same boat they are, that God has saved them and regenerated
them. But I'm telling you what's not
here. It does not say, to everyone. Peter could just as easily have
used that word. But he didn't. How come? Because God has a people whom
this world has no knowledge of and can despise and hate and
do whatever else they can do to unrail our lives. But this
word, usward, tells us that God has a people that He chose in
old eternity. He gave those people to Christ.
Christ has come and redeemed those people, and that's the
only ones that are going to be in heaven. So you might as well
get used to your new neighbor. The Lord is not slack concerning
His promise, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering
to usward, not willing that any should perish, Any of the usward
should perish. See what I'm saying? But that
all should come to repentance. Now, if you'll jump over to the
latter part of the chapter. Peter gives us this admonition. If I had time, I'd read all of
that, but I need you to look at verse 18 very carefully. 2 Peter 3, 18, the last verse in
his letter. But grow in grace and in the
knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. To Him, to Christ,
be glory both now and forever. Amen. That is a wonderful statement. It brings up the question, what
does it mean to grow in grace? How do you grow in grace? I'm going to try to answer that
question and maybe a few others along the way. This injunction that comes before
us in verse 18, grow in grace and in the knowledge
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Now this second prescribes grow in grace
and in the knowledge. That's the section that I want
to make this statement about. This second part of this statement
prescribes the means to accomplish the first. So what is the first
thing in our text? It is to grow and to grow in
grace and then to grow in the knowledge of God our Savior and
our Lord Jesus Christ. This growth in knowledge as well
as grace is progressive. It grows. If it's alive, it grows. Just like if we're alive, we
grow, and if we're not alive, we ain't growing no more. So
it is with plants and other animals. There are four ways to grow in
this knowledge And in this grace, four ways to grow in this knowledge. First of all, the extent of this
growth. Who would claim to be anywhere
near close to the end of this knowledge? Like a preacher, I
remember once upon a time that claimed to be a sovereign grace
preacher. And we had a big shin dig down the fellowship hall
and fed these not headed preachers. And, and this one guy got up
and said, you fellas won't believe how much I know. I put my pencil up, closed my
notebook and wished I had thrown him out. This man knows things up here
that he'll never know down here. This is heart knowledge. This
is genuine knowledge. This is God-given knowledge. And God doesn't make any mistakes,
and when he gives it, it is forever. It must bear the stamp of God
on it, and it'll say forever. No person in their right mind
would claim to be near the end of this knowledge. If we only knew how much there
is to go from now until whenever we leave this earth, it might
help us a bit to remember that. This knowledge of our precious
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is both infinite or if you like,
infinite and unsearchable. The manger, the cross, and the
throne are big with glories, yet unknown, the hymn writer
tells us. Second thing has to do, we just
finished the extent of this knowledge, and secondly, we come to the
certainty of this knowledge. This certainty of belief may
be strengthened by the confirmations of experience. The life of a
believer is a series of tests. And I don't know about you, but
I'm in the red wrong more often than not. God help me. a series of tests by which God
tries and proves the Word of God. Let me read you a statement
now that comes having a bearing on this. This is in the book of Colossians
but I'll be through reading by the time you get there. That
their hearts might be comforted being knit together in love and
to all riches, of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement
of the mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ. And
when it comes to Christ, it says in verse, the very next verse,
in whom in Christ are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. You can't learn anything unless
you learn it from Him. He is our wisdom, our righteousness,
our sanctification. He is everything there is. Another
statement comes out of Hebrews chapter 6. And we desire that
every one of you do show the same diligence to the full assurance
of hope to the end, that you be not slothful but followers
of them who, through faith and patience, inherit the promises. There, my friend, is how we must
grow. Never, ever put aside your thoughts
of yourself and of your life, of your speech, of your deeds,
of whatever there is, it is indeed our ground of condemnation from
which our precious Lord Jesus Christ leads us out. Number three, oh, by the way,
this whole page now is introduction, so I'm trying to just use certain
things. What about the influence of this
knowledge? Who does not know the difference
between knowing things in theory and knowing them in experience?
There is a world of difference, as you may also know. Who dares declare himself a stranger
to the words of Paul the Apostle in Romans chapter 7, especially
the last half of that chapter? And here's what the final two
verses have to say. O wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from this body, the body of this death? I thank
God through Jesus Christ our Lord. That's who can take you
out of that state and condition. I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord so then with the mind I myself serve the law of God
but with the flesh I serve the law of sin. This apostle by the
time he wrote Romans 7 or the letter to the Romans had been
over 20 years since he was first arrested on the road to Damascus
by the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ from glory. Blinding
the apostle, unable to see, had to be led by those that were
with him. What a statement that is. Oh,
wretched man that I am. How often do we come to this
confession? Oh, wretched man that I am. And then number four, there must
be an appropriation of these blessed things. I know you've
been itching to turn, so I'm going to give you an Old Testament
reference. It's a fairly thick book. One of the shortest words in
our Bibles. This fellow's name is Job. Now Job was a wealthy man, had
a lot of children, had a wife, had a great many people outside
of his family that greatly respected him. And the devil comes before
God and requests permission to do certain things to Job just
to see what it will take for him to leave off following God.
If you've never read this book, you ought to read it. But I'll
take you to some words that are full of meaning. In chapter 19,
did I give you the chapter? I doubt I did. Chapter 19, beginning at verse 25, Job 19.25,
For I know that my Redeemer lives, and that He shall stand at the
latter day upon the earth, and though after my skin, after my skin, worms destroy
this body, yet in my flesh, wow, this was 1520 BC, before Christ, yet in my flesh, Shall I see
God? Oh my goodness, what a statement
indeed. One more verse, verse 28. These people that came to comfort
Job pretty much have turned into people that want to accuse him
and make him feel worse instead of better. Verse 28. He says
to these people that know everything, you should say, why persecute
we him? The root of the matter is found
in me. And what is that root and that
matter? None other than the blessed Lord
Jesus Christ. God saved people in the Old Testament
exactly like He does in the New. And he saves people now exactly
like he did then. He's not playing games. Who dares to declare himself
a stranger to the words of Paul the apostle? Let me read it to
you. Verse 24 says, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver
me from this body of death? The next verse says, verse 25,
I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Who's going to deliver
me? Christ Jesus our Lord. So then,
with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but I confess
to you that with the flesh I still serve the law of sin. Now that's
a holy man. That's an apostle of our Lord
Jesus Christ. That's the man that by divine
inspiration penned over half of the New Testament. And he
calls himself vile. If it weren't in this book, I
could not believe that. But it's in here, and I best
believe it. David said, God is the strength
of my heart and my portion forever. Psalm 73, 26. One other statement, this time
out of John 5, 20. And we know that the Son of God
has come and has given us an understanding. that we may know
Him that is true, and we are in Him that is true, even in
His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal
life. Now we move on more quickly,
I hope, than previously to deal with a few other things.
Alright, we go back to our text, which is 2 Peter. Chapter 3. We come back to our original
question, what is it to grow in grace? And just what is growing
in grace? We make this assessment. Dead things cannot grow. Dead sinners may be alive physically,
but they're dead spiritually. Why don't you turn the TV or
the radio on once in a while and listen at some of these turkeys
and what they're saying. The bottom line is, send us your
money. They say they're interested in
you, but they aren't. The only people who grow in grace
are people who are spiritually alive to God. It's not this voice, it's the
voice of the heart. Not growing is a sign of being
unhealthy or worse, a sign of death. And we're all moving in
that direction. Third statement under this divine
injunction of growing grace is how are believers to actually
grow in grace? Here's a statement I'd like for
you to consider. How are believers to grow in
grace? The God who gives us grace must
give us more grace or we ain't gonna grow. We sometimes see people that
don't reach an average height and we say, well, you know, why
didn't your parents feed you or something like that? But this
is totally spiritual and out of sight and cannot be measured
by the means that man measures everything else. God must speak with the voice
that wakes the dead and make thy people hear. It's not what I do, it's not
what you do, it's what He does. That's what it's all about. And
from start to finish, it's about Christ and Christ crucified. What is it? To know more of Christ. You remember we sung that little
chorus from Philippians 3.10, that I may know him and the power
of his resurrection, the fellowship of his sufferings being made
conformable unto his death. That's it in a nutshell. or this
statement in John chapter 17 in verse 3, and this is life
eternal, that they might know you the only true God and Jesus
Christ whom you sent. Now who's speaking those words?
They are the words of Christ in his intercessory prayer to
God in heaven, God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. So God must speak as he did at
the creation of this globe that we call the earth. Scripture
puts it this way. He said, light be and light was. If you want it shorter than that,
I'll give you the Latin. Dictum, that means it's a fact. Oh, what's the second one? Huh? dictum factum, spoken, done. I didn't think I could even forget
that. I wish somebody would come up
with a remedy for me, but I'd be scared to take it. Second thing about this special
injunction in regard to the knowledge of Christ, because the Bible
teaches us And I've got that one printed out, I think. Yes,
there it is right in front of my eyes. It comes from John 17. Verse 3. And this is life eternal,
that they might know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ,
whom you have sent. Those are the precious intercessory
words of our Lord Jesus Christ. So growing in the knowledge of
Christ is because if we truly know Him, we're born again, regenerated,
redeemed by His blood. We're His. And we're His forever, whether
on this globe or in glory. If we're His, we're His forever. Whoever does not long to know
more of Christ, only one thing can be said, he does not yet
know Him. Doesn't know Him. Thinks he does, tells people
he does, but he doesn't know Him. You remember that hymn that we
sing, nearer still nearer. All that might be a good one
to read this afternoon. The fourth reason we grow in
knowledge in the knowledge of Christ is because to be absent
from Christ is to be hell on earth and hell for all eternity. To be present with Christ is
heaven. Even here on this earth it is
heaven in. Oh my goodness a lot. Well I've covered on your brain
can only take so much in mind takes even less than that so. Craig you wanna. We want him
songs real long or something. wouldn't do for y'all to get
to the restaurant before everybody else does.