I hope I've got a message to
start the New Year with. First Sunday of the New Year,
I hope I've got a message that will speak to us and encourage
us for the next year and give us some direction. But look here
in verse 18. This is my subject. But grow in grace. and in the
knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and
forever. Amen. Now that's something that
we can start and pray, God please, please help me grow in grace. Help me grow in the knowledge
of the Lord Jesus Christ. There are certain times in our
lives that we may make an inquiry and examine ourselves. Say, at
the end of a year, at the end of a year, what's happened
the last year? Have I honored God? Have I magnified
His grace? Sometimes maybe it's a birthday.
I need to look back and look forward. What will my next year
bring? How did I live and honor God
the last year? Whether it's your spiritual birthday
or your natural birthday. And on the days when we take
the Lord's Supper, you see times flying by. Oh, it's flying by. It's just absolutely flying by. And our lives will soon be as
a tale that's been told. And soon, very, very soon, the
reality, the reality of our profession of faith will be tested. Then we'll see whether we've
built on the rock or we've built on the sand. Are we growing in
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ? And I'll tell you, the apostle
here, gives us many warnings. Many warnings as to why we need
to grow in grace. Look back over in chapter 2,
in verse 1. Let me show you something here. And I can't help but wonder about
myself. Am I growing? Am I growing in
the grace of God? Am I growing in the grace of
God? You see, He gives us this warning. He says, But there were
false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be
false teachers among you, who privately shall bring in damnable
heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon
themselves swift destruction. Oh, He gives us this warning.
So grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ. And look down here
in verse 20 of chapter 2. Oh, what a warning this is. why we should grow in the grace
and knowledge of Christ. For if after they have escaped
the pollutions of the world, through the knowledge of the
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled, therein,
in that world and its pollutions, the latter end is worse with
them than the beginning. For it had been better for them
not to have known the way of righteousness, then after they
have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto
them. But it is happened unto them
according to the true proper. The dog is turned to his own
vomit again, and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in
the mire." Oh my, these folks didn't grow in the grace and
knowledge of Christ. These people heard about grace,
they heard about Christ, And then for a while they escaped
the world and its pollutions, but went right back. Went right
back. Oh, in the grace and knowledge
of Christ. And then he's told them to look
to the scriptures. How in the world are we going
to escape these things? How are we going to grow? And then the
apostle said in 2nd, in chapter 3, in verse 1, I'm writing this
second epistle now to write unto you in both which I stir up your
pure minds by way of remembrance. He just says, remember now, there's
false prophets in this world. People have turned to the, like
a dog to its vomit in the South, to Rwanda. And I want you to
be mindful of the words, the words which were spoken before
by the Holy of Prophets, by Moses and Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel
and Zechariah. He said, you listen to what those
fellows said of the commandment of us, the apostles, of the Lord
and Savior. And he says, you know, this is
what's going to happen. The last day, scoffers are going
to come. They're going to scoff at your religion. They're going
to scoff at the coming of Christ. They're going to scoff at the
grace of God. They're going to scoff at the blessed hope you
have. They're going to scoff at the fact of the way you deplore
yourself and abhor yourself and see Christ to be all in all.
And you need Him desperately. Go scoff at that. Go to scoff
at election. Go to scoff at God's sovereignty.
Go to scoff at God's blessed sovereign grace. And they'll
walk after their own lust. And they'll say, oh, you've been
telling us all these years. The Lord's coming since our fathers
fell asleep, and everything's going on just like it was from
the creation. Nothing's changed. And he says,
for this, they're willingly ignorant of it. Willingly ignorant. That the same word that God used
to create the heavens and the earth, and by the same word that
He destroyed the old world with the flood, the same word right
now that He keeps in store the heavens and earth, in judgment
and tradition, the same word. So you pay attention to the words,
what He's telling us. And He exhorts us to diligence.
Look what He says down in verse 14 here. Exhorts us to diligence. Chapter 3 now. Wherefore, beloved,
seeing that you look for such things, this new heaven and this
new earth, you may be diligent. But be diligent about what? That
you may be found in Him. Not only in Him, but in peace
in Him, without spotting blameless in Him, an account that the long-suffering
of our Lord is salvation. Why he's waiting is to save his
people. Even as our beloved brother Paul,
according to the wisdom given unto him, is written to you,
and his apostles speaking to them of these things which in
some things are hard to be understood, listen to this now, which they
that are unlearned and unstable, they twist the Scriptures to
their own destruction. And he exhorts us, don't rest
the Scriptures, don't twist the Scriptures, don't make them say
what you want them to say, to justify yourself in your sin.
Now, beloved, since you know these things, since you know
these things, you know these things, ye therefore,
in verse 17, beloved, seeing you know these things, Before,
beware, lest you also, being led away with the error of the
wicked, fall from your own step that night." Now, what's the
remedy against you? But grow in the grace and the
knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Now, let me say
this is the first thing I want to say about grace. You can't
grow in grace until you're given grace. Can you? You can't grow in something you
don't have. And you know you can't get grace unless God gives
it to you. Grace is not a light switch you
turn off and on. And that's why you must have
a new life where grace is. Our Lord said, except a man be
born again, he can't see the kingdom of God. Except a man
be born again, he can't enter the kingdom of God. And the Spirit
blows where it will, and you hear the sound thereof. And you
see the effects of it, but you don't know where it's coming
from. And beloved, so is he that's born of the Spirit. And he says
in 2 Peter 1.4, says, you know, we must be made partakers of
the divine nature. And we must be born again. That's
why James says, by his own will begat he us. Give us this new
life. Begat he us with the word of
the gospel, with the word of truth that's preached unto us,
this incorruptible seed. He begats us again unto a new
life by his own will. He begats us again unto new creatures. So you've got to have new life. And only grace can bring that
new life to you. Men don't grow into grace. There's
people that believe that you're converted and under a false gospel. And then when you hear a little
bit about grace, you grow, you know, it's a higher plane, it's
a higher doctrine. And that you can grow into it.
No, men don't grow into grace. You don't arrive at grace. You
don't come to grace. Grace comes to you. Grace comes
to you in power. Grace comes to you in freeness. Grace comes to you undeserving. Grace comes to you when you have
no worth. Grace comes to you when you have
no merit. Grace comes to you when you have
no strength. And grace comes when you least
expect it. Oh, I tell you, look over...
Did you keep this, 1 Peter? Look over 2 Timothy. I'll show
you where grace is and what grace is. Let's go back to your left
a couple of places. Grace comes to us in this new
birth. We can't give ourselves life.
Grace comes in this new birth. Grace comes when God comes and
gives us life. It's the grace of God that brings
that life. It's the grace of God that works
in us to produce that life. So folks cannot grow in something
that they do not have. That's the first thing I want
people to understand. You cannot grow in grace if you
don't have grace, if you don't have life. You know, people talk about their
Armenian brethren, and that these people, you know, they're saved
back there. They just need to come to an understanding of grace.
You don't come to an understanding of grace. Grace comes to you
and gives you the understanding. The understanding is darkened,
and grace comes and turns on the light. The heart is stoned. Grace comes and takes out the
stony heart and puts in the heart of flesh. The sinner is dead,
and grace comes and gives life to that dead sinner. And where grace comes, beloved,
I'll tell you something, it makes a person need Christ more than
anything they need in this world. It makes them understand that
God owes them nothing, and if they get anything from God, it's
God that must give it. And I'll tell you, that's what
he said over here in 2 Timothy 1, verse 9. I can quote this
to you, and all of you know it, but listen to this. Talking about
grace. Now God, it says here, God who
has saved us. The power of God who has saved
us. hath saved us." Salvation's always in the past tense. When you look at it in the Scriptures,
it's always in the past tense. People say, well, I got saved.
Well, I didn't. God saved me! "...who hath saved
us, and called us with the holy calling, not according to our
works, but according to his own purpose and grace." Now, when
was this purpose and grace given us? In Christ Jesus before the
world began. So it can't be have anything
to do with us. It has to be everything to do with God's purpose and
grace that was in Christ before the world ever began. Ain't that
right? Now, let me tell you something
about where there's life. And we're talking about, you
know, grace. You've got to have grace before you can grow it.
You must have life to have grace. And where there's life, there's
growth. It's impossible to have Christ, and not have life, and
not grow in that life. It's impossible to. It's just
like a seed in a woman's womb, and she had that seed sown, and
then a life began to form. And that life forms. The seed
is the Word of God. And that seed is planted in a
man's heart. And when that seed's planted
in there, it begins to sprout. It begins to grow. It begins
to produce life in that soul, just like that baby in the womb. As it's from that seed, it grows
and grows and grows and grows. The next thing you know, it's
got ears, eyes, a head, and you can see it plainly. And that's
the way it is. You can't have Christ without having growth
in life. If Christ is in you, That's why
the Lord said, He said, I'm the vine. I'm the vine. You're the branches. You're the branches. And every
branch severed from me, He said, it'll die. And He says, you know
that you cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the
vine. And He says, without me, you can't do nothing. You can't
do nothing. Now, let me tell you something
about Groza. About growth and life, now there's a process in
growth. It doesn't take place all at once. A baby when it's born, all it
knows is it's got life. It's moving, it's crying, it's
got life and it's crying and it has great needs. It can't
take care of itself. And growth doesn't happen all
at once, just like a newborn baby. And that's why Paul says, you
know, the scripture said, as newborn babes desire the sincere
milk of the word, that you may grow thereby. And then as you
grow thereby, then you start eating a little bit more substance,
food. And a one year old has grown. And then you got a five year
old, then you got a 10 year old and a 15 year old, a 20 year
old. Next thing you know, you're 60
years old. But you never stay stagnant. You never stay stagnant.
Life is always growing. And that's the way it is. That's
why Paul, John wrote to him, he said, I write to you, young
men, because you've overcome that. I write to you, little
children, because you know. I write unto you, fathers, because
you're mature. He wrote unto children, little
children, young men and fathers. And growth, beloved, and this
is mysterious. You've got to see this. Look
in Mark chapter 4. Look in Mark chapter 4. Growth
is progressive, and it's gradual. When somebody's not growing,
not learning, not seeing, not perceiving, not having any perception,
you know that there's something wrong with them. But life is
very, very mysterious. Growth is progressive, and it's
gradual. It's not mechanical. Look what
it says here in Mark chapter 4 and verse 26. The psalmist
is speaking now. He's talking to us. And he says,
so is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into
the ground. Remember about the soils, the
good ground, the stony ground, and should sleep and rise night
and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, and he don't
know how. For the earth bringeth forth
fruit of herself, first the blade. When that seed brings up, you've
got just a little old bitty green sprout. Just a blade. And then it grows on up, and
next thing you know, you've got an ear. Like corn. And after that, the full corn
in the ear. It matures. That's the way life is. And,
oh, beloved, you know, growth is progressive and gradual. It's
not mechanical. Now, you can pile gravel up,
rock up, and cause the pile to get bigger and bigger and bigger.
But one thing about it, it cannot grow because it doesn't have
life. It may get bigger. And that's the way some people
are in religion. You can pile doctrine on them. And they think that's enough.
You can pile mannerisms on them. They pick up the mannerisms and
the speech and the words that they hear other people say. They
can even have acceptance from others. But it doesn't mean that
you have life and that you're growing. Doctrine doesn't give life. Christ
gives life. Mannerisms and learning the speech
of somebody, that's not what gives you life. Christ is the
one that gives you life. Having somebody else accept you
as a believer doesn't mean that you are a believer, and doesn't
mean you have life. Christ is the only one that can
give you life. Christ is the only one that you
need to be worried about being accepted by. Huh? And oh, they have these confirmations.
I remember one time at a Presbyterian church years ago, we was there
in a meeting, and they brought all the kids out to show us how
they were learning the Catechism. They brought all these kids out
in the catechism. Well, what do you know about
God? What do you know about the Holy Spirit? And those little
old kids just rattled it off. And the person talking to them,
if she's standing there, she's so proud about it. And I don't want to sound awful
here, but I got up to preach, and I used that as an illustration.
Now, you had all these kids out here. They was all saying the
right things, and you've taught them. And they know the words
to say. They know the catechism. I said that if God and grace
don't do something for them and get past that catechism and get
to their hearts, it'll be the worst thing that could possibly
happen to them. And God saved that woman who was teaching them
kids that catechism, and she left that church. She goes where
Moose Parks was. She said, I'm just... Paul Perry,
teaching his kids Paul Perry religion? Huh? You see, the perception, you
know, and if you know certain things, and you answer the right
kind of questions, you get to come into the church. But the
perception and the reality is two different things. You know, just like the Pharisees,
in their perception, they and everybody else was wrong. And
their perception, everybody else was sinners. They said, why does
your master eat with sinners and publicans? And that Pharisee
said, if this man knew what kind of woman this was, he wouldn't
let her touch him when talking about Christ. Their perception,
everybody else was sinners, and they was holy and going to go
to glory. But the reality was that the
sinners was the ones who Christ was saving, and the Pharisee
had anorexic religion. They didn't have none at all. So it's what you perceive in
the reality is two different things. And oh, beloved, and I tell you,
not only is the process in growth, but growth is never, never sudden. It's never sudden. It's so, so
slow. Look over, Titus is the first
book before Hebrews. Look at that with me just a moment.
Here's a perfect illustration of it. Now, what I'm trying to
say is this, that you cannot grow in grace until you've been
given grace. But if you've been given grace,
and God's given you the life of Christ, if you've been born
again by the Spirit of God, if the Word of God has begotten
you again, and God has given you life, then if you have that
life, then you will grow. You cannot have life and not
grow. You cannot have the spiritual
life and not grow in that spiritual life. And look what he said here,
and I'm going to show you three things here about people. He
says in verse chapter two and verse one, speak down the things
which become sound doctrine. First of all, he talks about
the aged men. You be sober, be grave, be temperate,
be sound in charity and patience and faith. Then secondly, look
at this group, the aged women, people that are older, that they
be in behaviors becoming holiness. And here's the third group, down
in verse 4, that they may teach the younger women. Younger women. Let the older women teach the
younger women. And then look what goes on down there in verse
6. Young men likewise exhort to be sober-minded. So you have
old and young. The old teach the young. But
you see the different responsibilities. The older people had a greater
responsibility than the younger people. The older folks had a
responsibility to teach the younger people. So as age comes along,
you see, growth and maturity comes responsibility with it.
But now let's go back to our text just for a moment. I hope
you understand that. You can't grow in grace without
grace, but if you got it, you're going to grow with it. You can't
have life without growth. And look what he said here, but
grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. What
does it mean to grow in the grace of our Lord Jesus? Well, it doesn't
mean that I'm to grow in graciousness, though it includes that. We will
grow in graciousness. It doesn't mean that I should
grow in my possession of the graces that God gives me as a
believer. He gives us the graces of humility. Faith, love, generosity, and
hope, and growing in grace includes all that because you're growing
those things. But what it does mean, it means that we are in
the realm of grace and the glorious realm of grace. That means that
we're either under law or we're under grace. We're either going
to be saved by works or we're going to be saved by grace. And
to grow in grace tells us that we're under grace. Ain't that
what he says? He says, you know, sin no longer
has dominion over us. Why don't it? Because we're not
under law, we're under grace. Now, wherever law is, it makes
you, puts you under bondage, puts you under dominion of sin.
All you've got to do, and that's why this government, this one
law after another, aggravates us to death. We don't want it.
We want to be freed from it. It aggravates us, makes us angry.
And when you lay down the law to somebody, the first thing
they're going to do is they're going to fight back at that law.
And that's why sin rises up against that law. Sin rises up against
the law, telling me why I can't go, and what I can't do, and
what I can't wear, and who I can't run around with, and where I
can't go, and who I can marry, and who I can't marry. And it
gets angry. And it rises up. But, beloved,
so sin then rules over you and reigns over you. As long as there's
law, they'll always reign over you. But when grace comes, you're
no longer under that law. So where in the world's sin's
dominion at? We're not under law anymore. Huh? Oh, sin doesn't have dominion
over us. Why? Because we're dead to the law.
Where'd we die? Christ died under sin once, and
we died with Him. And that law can't come and do
anything to me because I'm dead to it. Where'd I die to it at?
On the cross, in the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm dead to its guilt. I tell you how you know whether
you're being saved by works or by grace. If you're being saved
by works and by law, you feel guilty every time you do something
wrong. I mean, you feel real guilty.
You're always feeling guilty. You can't never live good enough.
But when you're under grace, you know somebody else lived
your life for you. Somebody else has given you his holiness. Somebody
else has given you his righteousness. So you're not trying to attain
a righteousness. You're not trying to attain perfection. You're
not trying to be accepted with God. You're already accepted
with God. Do you understand what I'm saying?
And so we're dead to his guilt. What have I got to be guilty
for? I ain't got no sin. I ain't got no sin. You say, Ray, you surely don't
live perfect. No, I don't, but Christ did. You sure get ugly sometimes.
I know I do, but Christ don't. And that's my point, my place,
my plea. I do not look to anything I've
said, done, or ever going to do. I have no place to look with
Christ, and that's why I don't have any guilt. And I know that
if I ever start feeling guilty, it's because I'm trying to do
something by my flesh. Trying to do something to please
God by something I do, and then I'll feel guilty. But I do know
this, that when I do things that I know I'm not supposed to do,
you know what I'll say? Lord, I'm sorry, and please forgive
me. And I'll tell you what I've done wrong. If I've done something
I shouldn't have done, I'll name it, and I'll say, Lord, I'm sorry,
forgive me of that. I don't try to justify and say,
Lord, it was my flesh, it was my own nature. I just say, Lord,
it was me that did it. Oh, we're dead to sin, dead to
the law, dead to its guilt, dead to its curse, dead to it as a
covenant. And we're not under a covenant of worse, but under
a covenant of grace. And if there's nothing else you
see today, you need to see this in Galatians chapter 5. First
of all, if you don't get nothing else I say today, please, please
get this. So we're in the realm of grace.
We're not under works or laws. And look what he said here in
Galatians chapter 5 and verse 4. Christ is become of no effect
unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law. Oh, my. Christ, His death, His blood,
His righteousness, His work, His person, His acceptance, His
grace, His justification, His forgiveness, anything concerning
Christ will have no effect to you whatsoever. If you go to
the law and say, well, I'm justified because I'm doing this particular
thing. I'm justified because I quit
that particular sin. I'm justified because I'm keeping
the law. I'm justified because I got the
Ten Commandments and I'm doing the best. And they say that Christ
will become no effect. And he says, you know what you've
really done when you're doing that? You've fallen from grace. Anytime
you leave Christ, you've fallen from grace. Anytime you look
to flesh, you've fallen from grace. Anytime you look to yourself,
you've fallen from grace. People think falling from grace
is going back to the world. No, no, you never had grace if
you went back to the world. You're just doing like a dog
does, back to its vomit. You're doing like a hog going
back to its wallet. And that's just the way it is. If I can
go back, I will. If you can go back, you will.
If I can quit, I will. And if you can quit, you will.
Ain't that right? That's what it is. But there's some folks you couldn't
run them off. You can't run them off. You see, and then when Paul,
Peter's talking about this growing in grace, he's talking about
growing in this realm of grace. We're in the realm of grace.
Grow in this realm of grace in which we live. Grow in your understanding
of God's grace that was brought to us by the Lord Jesus Christ. Brought to us by His death. Because
He lives to give it to us. Grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ. So grow in your understanding.
Oh, God lets us grow in our understanding of His grace. He brought this
grace to us by His death. He lives to give it to us. Live
to give us an abundance of it. You see, we're the object of
God's grace. We're the object of God's favor.
When were we the object of God's favor? Before the world ever
began. Chosen in Christ before the world
began. Why? Because it pleased the Lord
to make you His people. Where? He gave us this grace
in Christ. Who did it? God did it. And how
much do we know of grace? How much do we know of grace?
If we know so much about it, why do we always say, Lord, give
me grace? Lord, I need grace. How much is there to learn about
grace? Our Lord Jesus said, he said in Ephesians 2.7, he says
that in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches
of his grace and kindness towards us through Jesus. In the ages
to come is what we're going to learn. And how much is there
to learn? How much is there to learn? How
much about grace is there to learn? How much do you think
you know? Oh, I'll tell you what growing
in grace is. It's being more conscious of God. Being more
conscious of God. Oh, God, how great Thou art.
When we thank God, His Son, not sparing, send Him to die, I scarce
can take it in that there on that cross, gladly, gladly buried,
my sin, my sin. No wonder we say, my soul, sings
how great Thou art. How great Thou art. And when
Christ shall come, To take me home. Take me home. I'm coming to get
you. Oh, to be more conscious of God. To be more conscious of God.
There's people that God's never in their thoughts, but to be
more conscious of God. Oh, God. How can I, how can I
know you? What can I know about you? Oh,
to be more conscious of God. To be more conscious of the Lord
Jesus Christ. to experience more of His grace,
experience more of His love, of His patience, His faithfulness.
Oh, to grow in grace. Please, please, Lord Jesus, make
me more conscious of You. Let me experience more of Your
grace. Let me experience more of Your love. Please let me have
some more of Your patience. Oh, Lord, let me understand and
know more about Your faithfulness. experiencing more of His grace. And oh, how does that happen?
Oh, the Word. The Word being made alive to
us as you hear the Word preached. And it becomes living Word to
you. That while you're hearing it,
it produces life and energy and movement and grace and touches
your heart and soul. That's why our Lord Jesus He
told Paul, he says, my grace is sufficient for you, Paul.
I don't want to carry this burden anymore. He said, well, listen,
you're going to have to carry it. He said, you're going to
have to carry it. I'm not taking it away. He said,
I'll tell you what I'll do with it. I'll give you grace to bear. He said over in Deuteronomy 33,
25, and this is one of my all time favorite verses. And I'll
tell you, I cling to this and believe it. I mean, it's an anchor
in the storm. It's an anchor when you're out
in the middle of the ocean. God's billows and they're running over
you. He said, Thy shoe shall be as iron, and that's brass. That means whatever you're going
through, it ain't going to wear you out. It ain't going to hurt
your feet. You're going to be able to keep on through. And as your
days, as your days, so shall your strength be. You know, I don't need tomorrow's
strength until tomorrow comes. I don't need next Thursday's
strength this Thursday. But as your days are, I'm going
to give you strength for that day. Has he ever fed us? There's been days when we said,
Lord, I'm just absolutely too weak. I cannot make it. But you
always do. Always do. Oh, my. And I tell you, enjoying God
more, enjoying Christ more, needing Him more, oh, to have less of
self and more of Him. Oh, less of self, less of self.
Be like John said, he must increase, I must decrease. And then grow
not only in grace, but he says, grow in the knowledge of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Grace and the Lord Jesus go together. Wherever there's Christ, there's
grace, and wherever there's grace, there's Christ. And growth and
knowledge go together. As you grow in this grace, you're
also growing in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Grow
in the understanding of the truth as it's in Him. I want you to
look with me in Ephesians 4. I hope this will express what
I'm trying to say. grow in my understanding of the
truth as it is in me. For I want to understand the
truth that's in Christ, the truth about Christ. Ephesians 4.17, look what it
says, This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that
ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk in the emptiness,
nothingness of their mind. Those Gentiles who have the understanding
darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance
that's in them, through the blindness of the heart, who being past
feeling, feeling grace, feeling natural affection, had given
themselves over unto lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with
greediness. But now listen, but ye had not
so learned Christ." That's not what you learned about Christ.
Now listen to this now, it shall be that you have heard him, not
heard about him, heard him. My sheep hear my voice. I know
them and they shall follow me. And it says that all thy children
shall be taught of God as you have heard him and have been
taught by him. What are you taught by him? The
truth that's in him. He teaches the truth that's in
Himself. Do you see that? Do you see that? Grow in the knowledge concerning Him. Grow in the knowledge
of who He is. Have you ever gone over the fact
that He is God? God, that that infant born of
that virgin? that a virgin could have a son,
and that son was the son of God, that the Holy Ghost overshadowed
that woman, and God Himself put Himself in that womb, and that
infant was the same one that Daniel saw sitting on his throne,
who was the Ancient of Days? That He who made a woman an upholser
by the word of His power is the very one that was born of a woman? What do we know about what He
did? How many times he manifested
himself in the Old Testament and the New Testament. And oh,
listen, grow. May God cause us to grow in our
knowledge of Him personally. Personally. I can't grow in my knowledge
of Him for you or you for me. But to grow in my knowledge of
Him personally. My Master, my Lord, my Savior,
my Redeemer. My, my, my Lord, my God. Someone that I can sit down and
talk to and know Him intimately. Speak to Him as a friend speaks
to a friend. Paul said, I want to know Him.
I want to know Him. Now let me tell you something.
Paul knew he was forgiven. He knew he was justified. He
knew he was sanctified. He knew he was saved by the grace
of God. He knew he was called from darkness
to light. Knew that God gave him an abundance
of grace in the beloved. But he said, I want to know Him. I want to win Him. I want to
be found in Him. He said, I want to know more
about Him. And oh, to know Him, to converse
with Him, to learn of Him. More about Jesus would I know? More of His love to others show? More of His saving fullness see? More of His love? Who died for
me? If we sing that song, how can
it be? How can it be? That thou, my
God, should die for me? For me, whom Him to death pursued? Did ever such love have such
a crown? Oh, oh, God, help me. Mary turned 61 years old today,
and God helped me and her in the tomorrow to seek grace, to
know more about grace. To seek Christ and know more
about Christ. To seek Christ and know more
about His strength. To seek Christ and know more
about His love. And if He lets us live another
week, let's do it again. Do it every day. Get a good devotional
and read it. Pick up your Bible and read it
and say, Lord, this is your word. I don't understand it unless
you bless me with it. And while the apostle won't exhort
believers to grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ,
he says that they might be established in the present truth. In the
present truth. And all beloved, to be established
in the present truth. And that's the only way in the
world, listen to me, growing in grace and growing in the knowledge
of Christ is the only way we can face the contradictions of
life, of this life we live in and the world that you and I
live in. And the greatest contradiction that we have to face, and the
only thing that will help us face it, of growing in grace
and knowledge of the Lord Jesus, is the greatest contradiction
is our sins. How can we who profess to be
the Lord Jesus Christ sometimes be so disinterested? How can
we who profess to know and love Christ act so contrary to truth? How can we who profess to know
Christ be so jealous, be so hateful? Grow in the grace and knowledge,
or you'll never be able to face life like that. You're going
to be able to face yourself and deal with yourself. How can I
be the way that I am? Grow in the grace and knowledge
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Without it, we can't face the
world. Without it, we couldn't face one another. Without it,
we certainly couldn't face ourselves. And that's why Paul said, I'm
persuaded. I'm persuaded that neither death,
nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers shall be able to separate
us from the love of God that's in Christ. And I'm telling you
something, that's the only way in the world we can live in this
world with any semblance of peace, with all the contradictions,
grown in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
what's our motive to grow? Is it so we can be better than
others, be more spiritual than others, be stronger than others,
wiser than others? No, the apostles said, but grow
in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ. Listen to this. To whom be glory, both now and
forever. Do it for His glory. Do it for
His glory. Because he's the only one, he's
got it all. That's a pretty good way to start
out the year, I think, by seeking to grow in grace, and want to
grow in grace. Our blessed, blessed Savior,
gracious God in heaven. Oh, thank you for the day, thank
you for your gospel, thank you for the truth, thank you for
your precious grace. Free grace, free grace. And Lord,
help us to grow in that grace, grow in that knowledge. Lord,
never let us become complacent, think we've arrived, that we've
apprehended, that we've become perfect in this flesh and in
any way at all in this world. Lord, please cause us to learn.
Don't let us be like the people who's ever learning and never
able to come to a knowledge of the truth. Please bring glory
to yourself and cause us to grow. Cause us to grow. In thy Lord
Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Amen.