Let's open our Bibles again to
2 Peter chapter 3. The title of the message is Proper
Manners for Believers. Peter asks here what manner of
persons ought ye to be. What's proper manners for believers?
In these last verses of this epistle, Peter gives us a description
of what kind of people Believers who are waiting on the return
of Christ should be. Now, he begins in verse 11, seeing
then that all these things should be dissolved, what manner of
persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness?
Now, we don't claim to know everything that there is to know about God.
We don't claim to know everything there is to know about the Scriptures.
But believers are not ignorant. Now, we're not ignorant. I know
we don't know everything. know very little, but believers
are not ignorant. There are some things that we
know. By God's grace, we know them. He's taught them to us.
We know this. We know we were chosen in Christ
before the foundation of the world. That's God's electing
love. We know something about that.
A believer knows this. We know Christ is our Savior. He laid down His life for His
sheep. In His death, He saved us from
our sin. He paid for our sin with His
own blood. Now, we know that. We know this. I know Christ is all my righteousness. He is my righteousness. We don't
have any righteousness of our own. We're made the righteousness
of God in Him. We know that we're accepted in
the blood. We're not accepted because of
something that we've done or something that we haven't done.
We're accepted in Christ and in him we cry Abba Father and
we're heard for his sake, for Christ's sake. We know that.
We know what we know. We understand what we understand
because God's given us an understanding that we may know Christ. We may
know him that's true. And we know this. We've been
looking at this last week and again this week. We know Christ
is coming back. And when Christ returns, we know
this, the world as it is now will be destroyed by fire. Unbelievers
will be judged for their sin and for their unbelief and will
be cast into hell eternally. Now, that's not something you
really want to think about, but that is reality, that Christ
is going to return and he's going to judge sin. Unbelievers will
be cast into hell eternally. Hell is a real place. Judgment
is a real, certain event. And at that time, Believers will
be made just like Christ, made just like Him, given a body just
like will be changed into a body just like the body of our Lord.
And we will be forever with Him to worship Him and to praise
Him eternally, dwelling with Christ. Now we know that. So what do you know about this
world? We're just pilgrims passing through it. passing through this
world of sin on our way home. This is not home. We know that.
Now, you know that, don't you? Well, shouldn't that affect our
behavior in some way? Shouldn't that affect our thinking
and our conduct? What kind of person ought we
to be if we know these things to be so? Everything that you
see in this earth, all of it, is going to be dissolved. In
short order, it's going to be dissolved. Now, you know that. Well, don't put too much effort
and emotion and energy into getting them because they're going to
be dissolved. Don't put your whole self into getting something
that you know that shortly is going to be burned up. Now, you heard what I said. I'm
not saying don't go to work in the morning, don't put any effort
into it. No, do. Go to work in the morning,
bathe, take care of yourself, take care of your house, cut
your grass. But don't get overly excited
and put an excessive amount of emotion and energy into these
things that are going to be burned up shortly. Well, what is proper
manners for a believer? What manner of life should we
live? Well, Peter says here he mentions a holy conversation. It's proper manners for a believer
to live a life of holiness. Now, we're holy in Christ. We're
made holy in Him. So here's what I'm saying, and
this is what Peter's saying. Live life like you have been
made holy. Now, you know your holiness is
in Christ. Well, live your life like you've been made holy. Live
a life that shows Christ has made a difference in you. Live
a life looking for Christ. Live a life waiting for Him to
return. And make every effort to be holy
right now. Don't just say, well, I know
I'll be holy when I wake in glory and wait until that time. No. I mean, that's true. But make
every effort to live a holy life now. I know you can't attain
it, but make every effort to do it. When I was preparing my
notes, I thought of this example. I think it's good to illustrate
my point. You know, I didn't start being
faithful to Janet the moment I said I do. You know, the moment
that that marriage was finalized and it was legalized and it was,
you know, I didn't begin to be faithful to her at that moment.
It started a long time before that marriage was legalized and
finalized. It's the same thing with the
believer. You're going to have a body that's holy one day, but
you can start living a life of holiness now. And I know we can't
be holy, we can't be like Christ now in this body, but that's
not going to stop us striving to be like Him. A believer is
to strive, not to be conformed to this sinful world, but to
be conformed to our Lord Jesus Christ. Don't be just like this
world. You know this world is going
to be shortly dissolved, don't you? Well, don't strive to be
like it, because soon it's going to be gone. Look back a few pages
at 1 Peter chapter 1. strive to be holy. 1 Peter 1,
verse 13. Wherefore, gird up the loins
of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that
is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former
lusts in your ignorance, but as he which hath called you is
holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation, in all your
conduct, because it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy. And
that's what we're to strive to do. Now, if you look over in
Mark chapter 6, I'll show you an example of this. This can
be done. To live a life of holiness. In
Mark chapter 6, verse 20, we have an example of this. A man
who lived a holy life. Mark 6, verse 20. For Herod feared
John, knowing that he was a just man and unholy. And he observed
him, and when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him
gladly. Herod knew John the Baptist was
a holy man. Now, how did he know that? How
did he know John was holy? How could he say that? Well,
what he could see was he's holy before men. You know, you're
not guilty of crimes against society. Generally speaking,
you're an honest, kind, sincere person. He knew John was holy
because he practiced what he preached. That's living a life
of holiness. Look in Philippians chapter 1. Here's just practicing what you
preach. Only let your conversation, your conduct, be as it becometh
the gospel of Christ. that whether I come and see you
or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand
fast in one spirit with one mind, striving together for the faith
of the gospel. Let your conversation be as it
becometh the gospel of Christ." That's a life of holiness. That's
good manners for a believer. It's good manners for a believer
to live a life of godliness. Peter mentions all holy conversation
in godliness. The word godliness means reverence.
and respect of God. Be reverent. Be reverent. Acknowledge God in all things. Acknowledge everything that happens,
happens according to His direct will. This is His will. Everything
I have, He gave me. This is all His. Live a life
acknowledging Him. Be reverent. Spend time in prayer. Spend time in thanksgiving. Be
thankful. Just spend time Praising God
for who He is. I'm afraid too often we thank
God and we praise Him just for what He's done for us. Try praising
Him just for who He is. Just be reverent. Acknowledge
Him and all of His attributes. The children of Israel when they
were in Egypt, you know how they showed everybody they believed
God? They were different than the Egyptians. Now God made a
difference between them and the Egyptians, but now they're different.
That night of the Passover, The Egyptians just did what they
always did, went to bed. Israel ate the Passover lamb
with their loins girt, their shoes on their feet, their staff
in their hand. Why'd they do that? They believed
God. God said, you're leaving this
place tonight. Well, they expected it. Lord
said he's returning. Maybe we ought to act like we
expect it and eat with our loins girt, our shoes on our feet and
our staff in our hand. We're leaving this place. That's
living a life of holiness and godliness, believing God. Which
is the next thing. It's good manners for a believer
to live a life of faith. Look at verse 12 in our text.
Looking for, and hasting unto the coming of the day of God,
wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and
the elements shall melt with fervent heat. Now, since we believe
Christ is coming back, don't you believe that? He said it.
Don't you believe that? Don't you think we ought to be
looking for him? expecting him to do what he said he'd do? Peter
said, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day. He
makes it sound like somehow we can make this day come faster.
Now, we can't. We can't change the day and the
hour that Christ will return. That time is fixed by the Lord. But you know we can earnestly
pray for it. Look at Revelations 22. We're taught to pray that
way. Roy mentioned in his prayer,
every day he gets up and says, Lord, maybe it's today. It would
be today. You come back. That's what Peter's
talking about here. We've been taught to pray this
way. Revelations 22, verse 20. He which testifies these things
saith, surely I come quickly. Amen. What's John's response
to that? Even so come Lord Jesus. He says
he's coming back. Even so come. Would it be today?
Could it be? We ought to be expecting him
to come back. That's faith. Believe in God. Expecting the
Lord to do exactly what he said he'd do. And praying Lord would
you do it soon? Would you do it soon? And even
though this day sounds frightening. You know the heavens being dissolved
by fire. The elements melting with the
fervent heat. I mean that sounds frightening. A believer can say,
even so come, Lord Jesus. Because there's no fear for the
believer in that day. We dealt with this last week.
There's no fear for someone who's in Christ. There's no fear in
that for someone who's looking to Christ because Christ has
taken away all the condemnation for us. Now read on in verse
13. Nevertheless, we, according to
his promise, look for new heavens and new earth wherein dwells
righteousness. Here's a good reason to want
the Lord to come quickly. The Lord said, look for him,
expect he's going to do what he said he'd do and he promised
to return. He'll do it. But don't we look forward to
that with just breathless excitement? I mean, just breathless. Can
you imagine? We really can't. But just try
to imagine for a moment how wonderful it will be to see the Lord Jesus
Christ face to face. My goodness. Well, how wonderful,
what a day that'll be. You imagine what the joy that
it will be to live in a body without sin. We just, we don't
know any different. Just imagine, try to imagine
how wonderful that'll be. Think what a joy it'll be to
live in a new creation, with new heavens and a new earth wherein
dwell the righteousness. There'll be no sin. Righteousness
dwells there. Righteous people will dwell there
and righteousness will dwell there. Creation won't be marred
by sin anymore. You just think how this world
is beautiful now. Think what that'll look like.
Creation not marred by sin. There'll be no more death, no
more sorrow, no more pain, no more tears. There won't be no
more snow stopping us from getting to worship service. No more.
I thought that their prediction of some snow coming this week.
They changed it when I first saw it. I mean, the top of my
head about come off. I told Jan, I said, I'm not canceling
service again. I mean, I was just. And she's
just, you know. That's coming from the Lord and
the Lord in control of that. She preached my message for me,
didn't he? All these things happen according to the Lord's will.
There'll be no more of that. No more error. We're talking
about getting to work Monday. Well, that was fun, wasn't it?
All that snow and ice. No more of that. Don't be marred
by that anymore. Next is good manners for a believer.
Or bad manners, excuse me, bad manners for a believer to be
indifferent to the things of God. Look at verse 14. Wherefore,
beloved, seeing that you look for such things, be diligent
that you may be found of him in peace without spot and blameless. It's bad manners for a believer
to be indifferent. Don't be indifferent. Don't be
lukewarm. Be diligent. Exert yourself a
little bit. Exert yourself in the Word. Exert
yourself in a life of holiness and godliness. Exert yourself
in faith. Exert yourself in prayer. You
know, I'm so thankful. This congregation, you all, you're
faithful. You're diligent to the worship
service. You're not indifferent about
the preaching of the gospel. These things are not... You're
not playing games here. This is serious business. And
I'm thankful for it. That's a blessing if you're not
lukewarm. That's the way it ought to be.
Shouldn't a servant be found faithful? Shouldn't a servant
be found diligent? Diligent about his service. Don't
be indifferent. And Peter mentions peace. It's
good manners for a believer to live a life of peace. Now certainly
this means be a peaceable person. As opposed to somebody who's
always out there picking a fight and stirring up trouble. Be a
peaceable person. You know, there are people who
love strife. They love contention. And if
they're hitting any, they stir it up. They just got to have
strife. I don't know. They feed off of it. It interests
them. They like it. I don't know what it is. Don't
be that guy. Be a peaceable person. Love peace.
But mostly this means this. Live a life of peace in believing. Peace in believing Christ. Live
your life like you have peace with God through the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Your sin is forgiven in the blood
of Christ. Your sin is paid. It's put away. Should that make you a happy
person? I don't think a happy person is a guy out here stirring
up trouble all the time. Knowing your sin is forgiven. That ought to make you happy.
Well, enjoy that peace and that will enable you to as much as
life within you to live peaceably with all men. Live a life of
peace. And Peter mentions here being
without spot and blameless. That just goes back to living
a life of holiness and godliness. Be diligent about this. To be
washed in the blood of Christ. Seek him, seek to be washed in
his blood. That's the only way you can be
without spot and blameless, is washed in the blood of Christ.
Be diligent to be found in Christ's righteousness, not your own righteousness,
which is of the law and it'll fall apart every time. Be diligent. Not to go backwards. We'll talk
about this more in a minute, but be diligent. Don't go backwards. Don't go backwards to what you
used to do and be entangled by the law anymore. Look to Christ. And in verse 15, I think the
good word for our manners in verse 15 is evangelical. Verse 15. And account that the
longsuffering of our Lord is salvation, even as our beloved
brother Paul, also according to the wisdom given unto him,
hath written unto you. Now, why is the Lord being longsuffering
and not destroying the world with fire right now? Why isn't
He? Is it because the world really
isn't all that bad? No, that's not it. It really is that bad.
Well, doesn't the Lord love his people? Doesn't he love us? Doesn't
he care we're suffering down here? Why is he waiting? Oh, he cares. He loves his people. He knows what his people are
going through. He cares. Well, then why is he delaying
his return? The Lord's delaying his return because he does love
his people. That's exactly why. He loves
all of his sheep, and they're not all in the fold yet. He still
has other sheep which are not of this fold, and they have to
be brought to him. Now, we know that's so, don't
we? Then let's be faithful to preach the gospel to him. Let's
be faithful to tell men and women, boys and girls, about Christ.
Be faithful. He's got sheep out there. Well,
let's be faithful to preach Christ to them. That's how they'll be
found, is through the preaching of Christ. That's good manners
for a believer. It's good manners, next, to live
a life of stability. Be stable. Be steadfast. Well,
now, how do you do that? Take God's Word and believe it. If you do that, you'll be steadfast. You'll be stable. Just take God's
Word and believe it. Now, don't try to take God's
Word and make it prove your point. Don't do that. You find the meaning
of a passage, and when God shows it to you, you just believe it.
Believe it. Ask God to let you believe it. Unstable people take
God's Word and try to make it prove their point. Look at verse
16. It's also in all his epistles,
speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard
to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable
rest, as they do also the other scriptures under their own destruction.
Now, we believe here that Peter is Talking about what Paul wrote
in 1 Corinthians 15, we read part of that to open the scripture,
where men ask, how are the dead raised up? In what body will
they be raised? And Peter says, what they're
doing is they're resting the scriptures. And what he's saying
about that scripture applies to all scriptures. These men
who are unstable, they rest the scriptures. The word rest, it
means to twist. It means to torture the scriptures.
like you put it on a rack and you're stretching it. They twist the Scriptures. They
rest, they put them on the rack and they stretch them until they
pull them out of proportion and they make the Scriptures say
what they don't mean. I bet people who used to be put
on that rack in the medieval days, I bet they said things
they didn't mean just to try to make it stop. They're torturing
the Scriptures to make them say something that they do not mean.
Now brethren, that's unlearned. That's ignorant. Don't you be
ignorant now. This is where ignorance comes
from. Not interpreting scripture with
scripture. And that twisting and that torturing makes men
unstable. They're unstable because they've
twisted. They've tortured and stretched out of proportion the
foundation of faith. Now, I'm no builder, but I know
this. If the foundation's not stable, the whole building's
going to be shaky. And that's a condemned building.
If the foundation is shaky, the building's shaky, that's a condemned
building. Men tear that down. Don't be
surprised when God does. That's unstable. And they've
made it unstable by twisting the foundation of faith. Next,
it's good manners for a believer to live a life of watchfulness.
Watchfulness over yourself. Be aware of yourself. Look at
verse 17. Ye therefore, beloved, seeing
ye know these things before, beware, lest ye also, being led
away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness."
Now beware, you've been warned these past weeks, you've been
warned about false prophets who'll be among the people, bringing
in damnable heresies. You've been warned about it,
now be watchful. You've been warned there'll be scoffers and
mockers saying, where's the promise of his coming? The Lord's not
coming back. Look back at chapter 2, verse 20. This is serious
warning. Be watchful. Verse 20, 2 Peter
chapter 2. For if after they have escaped,
or they seem to have escaped, the pollutions of the world,
through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
they are again entangled therein and overcome, 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, than after they
had known it to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto
them. But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb,
the dog is turned to his own vomit again, and the sow that
was washed to her wallowing in the mire." Now you be watchful
over yourself that that's not you. Don't go back to this business
of the law and become entangled in that. Be watchful over your
conduct. Be watchful over your doctrine. And I'll tell you how
to do that. Be well taught in God's Word.
God's Word will keep you focused on Christ and keep you away from
all that junk. That's exactly how you can be
watchful. It's with the Word. And lastly,
and I began to preach a whole message on this growing in grace,
but I got looking at these other things and they all fit together.
So I want to spend just a few minutes on this. It's good manners
for a believer to grow in grace. That's the kind of manner of
person you ought to be. Growing in grace. Here's talking to believers. If you're going to grow in grace,
God's already given you grace. If you're going to grow in it,
God already had to give it to you, right? Primarily here, people are talking
about saving grace, the grace that saved you. Isn't that grace
God gave you? You didn't grow into it, did
you? God gave it to you. You don't grow into it, but you
can grow in that grace and you ought to. Now, we talk about
growing in grace. You can't grow more saved. If
Christ saved you, you are eternally, perfectly saved. If Christ died
for you, you will never be more saved than you are at this very
moment. Moses and Abraham, Peter and Paul are in the presence
of Christ himself at this moment. And if Christ died for you, they're
no more saved than you are. You'd not be more saved than
you are right now if Christ died for you. You can't be more saved. But you can't grow in that grace,
can't you? We can't be more saved. We've
got a lot of room to grow. We know this. There are babes
in Christ. Scripture speaks of babes in Christ. But now that
babe is going to grow to a young man or a young woman. And then
they'll grow to an old man or an old woman. Look at Titus chapter
2. This manner of growing in grace,
there's all stages of life, age in Christ, young men, young women,
old men and old women in Christ. Titus 2 verse 1, But speak thou
the things which become sound doctrine, that the age of men
be sober, brave, temperate, sound in faith and charity and patience,
the age of women likewise, that they be in behaviors become of
holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers
of good that they may teach the young women to be sober, to love
their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste,
keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands. Let the
word of God be not blaspheme. Young men likewise, exhort them
to be sober-minded, in all things showing thyself a pattern of
good works." See, Paul here is speaking to old men and young
to old women and young women. He's not talking about chronologically
in age. He's talking about in faith.
A young person can be a mature believer. He's talking about
growing in faith, in grace. But now this growth from a babe
to a young man to an old man, that doesn't happen overnight.
Just like our children. It doesn't happen overnight that
they grow and mature. That growth almost always is
slow. So be patient. Be patient with
yourself. And be patient with others. You
know, our baby's here. We're patient with these babies.
You know, you expect a baby to do things you don't expect a
grown man to do. You know, some of these babies
do something and we think it's cute. Well, you know, if Mike
did it, we'd think, hmm, I don't know. You don't expect him to.
He's mature. He's been around long enough
to know better. But babies, they do things and you're patient
with them. Let's be patient with them. Be patient. It'll come. The growth will come, but now
it's going to be slow. But now you have to strive for
it. We're taught to strive. Now, growth is slow, but we're
taught to strive for it. When I was in seventh grade,
and there's a way, there's a proper way to strive for this. When
I was in seventh grade, I quit growing. All the time I've been
in school, I was the tallest guy in my class. In seventh grade,
I quit growing. Guys started getting taller than
me. I didn't like it. I didn't like
it at all. I had visions of being a power forward at the University
of Kentucky. I mean, I really did. And I thought, well, I'm
going to have to grow. I've got to at least get over six foot
if you have a chance. So I began to strive for growth. And you know what I did? I hung by my arms. I just hanged there. It seems
dumb now, but at the time it made a lot of sense. It didn't
work. It didn't even make my arms longer.
That's not the proper way to strive for growth. Scripture
says you cannot add one cubit to your stature. But can you
grow in grace? Yeah, you can. And there's a
way you can strive for it, too. Well, how do you grow in grace?
Before we look at how you grow in grace, What is growing in
grace? What is it exactly to grow in
grace? Well, growing in grace is growing
in the knowledge that God gave you grace. He gave it to you
in Christ as a free gift. You didn't do anything to deserve
it. You didn't do anything to earn it. You're not doing anything
to keep it. It's grace. It's not earned.
Grace can't be earned. It's grace. All you were when
God found you is a sinner. You're sinning, you're abound
against God, but God gave you as a free gift, his saving grace. And what are you now? A sinner
saved by grace, but it's by grace. And you grow in grace, look at
the first Peter chapter two, you grow in grace. By eating
a good spiritual diet, just like you do physically, you grow healthy
physically, you have a good diet. Well, you're going to grow in
grace if you have a good spiritual diet. 1 Peter 2, verse 2. As newborn babes, desire the
sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby. If so be
you've tasted, the Lord is gracious. That's growing in grace. How
you grow in grace is a good spiritual diet. The word of God. We must have the word to grow. We must have Christ to grow.
We don't need a plate loaded down with doctrine. Doctrine's
not what makes you grow. It's Christ. We need to be loaded
down with the person of Christ. That'll enable you to grow in
grace. That's a good diet. We grow in grace by being in
the worship service. If you want to know more of Christ,
doesn't it just make sense? Why don't you be where he is?
He said, I'll be where my people meet together. Well, if you want
to grow in knowledge of him, it'd be an awful good idea to
be where he is. We're going to grow when we hear
the grace of God preached. You grow in grace by being in
the company of other believers. Evil communications corrupt good
manners. Now, we're talking about what's
good manners for a believer. Well, evil communications are
going to corrupt it. You know, you attach all your
time and energy to being out in the world and conforming yourself
to the world, they're going to corrupt good manners. But now,
spend some time with believers. They'll encourage one another.
They'll exhort one another to love and to faith and to good
works. Be in the company of other believers. You grow in grace
by being in communion with the Lord. Now if you want to grow
in grace, you be in communion with the Lord. They took knowledge
that the disciples had been with Jesus. They'd been in communion
with the Lord and people took note. Something different. Be
in communion with the Lord if you want to grow in grace. It's
His grace. Be in communion with Him. Growing in grace. Here's how you can tell if you've
grown in grace. You've grown in simplicity of faith. In the
singleness of faith. Your focus is narrowed more,
more, more upon Christ alone. The more our faith looks to Christ,
the more we've grown in grace. The more we'll grow in knowledge
of Him. Growing in grace means I'm not trying to moan righteousness.
We have Christ who is our righteousness. I don't have to go out and earn
it. Christ is our righteousness. Well, growing in grace is resting
in that righteousness, knowing that we're accepted in Him, relying
upon Him. Growing in grace means we quit
trying to make up for our sin. Now, a believer knows than to
think I can atone for my sin, I can pay for my sin some way.
We know better than that. But we try to make up for it,
don't we? Well, I'll act better than normal for a while, you
know, I'll make up for it. Growing in grace quits that business
and looks to Christ for the forgiveness of all of our sins. It's all
in Him. Growing in grace means we quit trying to justify ourselves
and rest in Christ who's already justified His people. Growing
in grace is being more conscious of God. Knowing His grace is
sufficient. Every moment His grace is sufficient. Growing in grace is not becoming
more self-sufficient. Growing in grace is just the
opposite. It's becoming more dependent. More and more dependent
upon Christ. Growing in grace is seeing more
and more and more of my sin. And more and more and more of
the sufficiency of Christ to save me. The sufficiency of Christ
to keep me. The sufficiency of God saving
grace. Growing in grace and knowledge
is not growing to the point where I got all the answers and I don't
need anybody to teach me nothing. If you get to that point, you've
not grown in grace. Growing in grace is not getting
to the point where I have all the answers. Growing in knowledge
is learning I don't know much. I just don't know much other
than this. Christ is all. Maybe one of the greatest theologians
I've ever known is Cecil Roach. I can't tell you how many times
Cecil said, I don't know what that means. I don't know. It's
just the way he said it. I don't know. I mean, I heard
him come up with some doozies. I mean, wow! How did you ever
see that there? He never got to the point he
knew all the answers. He just, I don't know, I'm just
a big dummy. That's growing in grace. And
all the graces that God gives, they grow. Look at 2 Thessalonians
chapter 1. Every grace that God gives, it
grows. Faith grows. 2 Thessalonians 1 verse 3. We're bound to thank God always
for you, brethren, as it's meet. This is fit. It's right that
we do that because that your faith groweth exceedingly. And
the charity of every one of you all toward each other abounded.
Your faith grows. Paul says, I know your faith
is growing because your love is growing. Your love toward
each other is abounding. Look at 1 Thessalonians chapter
4 verse 9. But as touching brotherly love
You need not that I write unto you, for ye yourselves are taught
of God to love one another. Now don't quit, and indeed ye
do it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia, but
we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more." Faith
and love grow together. Faith grows and love grows. Now it must be important that
love grow. Love is the chief mark of a believer. Our Lord said, By this shall
all men know that ye are my disciples. You have love one to another.
And love makes us useful. You want to be useful in God's
church? Grow in love. Love enables us to minister to
each other. You cannot minister to people
you don't love. Can't do it. What our Lord asked
Peter. Peter, now I've taught you for
three years. You're an eyewitness of my transfiguration. You're an eyewitness of the crucifixion. You're an eyewitness of all my
suffering. Peter, you got all your points of doctrine straight
now? All right, go feed the machine. It's not what he said, is it?
Peter, do you love me? All right, now you can go feed
the machine. It's love that enables us to
minister to God's people that make you useful. This growing
in grace makes you useful. The grace of humility grows. It kind of adds and flows. The
moment you think, oh, my humility is growing, you're back down
to the bottom, you start back up. But humility grows. The Apostle Paul, I labored more
abundantly than they all, but I'm the least of all the saints.
I labored more abundantly than they all, but I'm not worthy
to be called an apostle. I was taken to the third heaven.
I've seen things human language cannot express. I can't knock
myself to that. I've been to the third heaven,
but I haven't arrived. John the Baptist, he showed some
growth and humility when he said he must increase and I must decrease. Scripture says God gives grace
to the humble. God gives grace so that we grow
in humility. The grace of joy that grows The
more we enjoy the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, the more your
joy will grow. I'm telling you. Our long-suffering
grows. Our long-suffering with one another
grows the more we understand how long-suffering the Lord's
been with us. Our generosity grows. The more we understand
how the Lord just loaded us with benefits. I mean, loaded us.
His grace, His mercy, His blood. He's revealed His person to us.
He's promised to be in our midst. He's promised to come and get
us to Him and gather us back to Himself. He loaded us with
benefits. How generous is that? He gave
back to sinners like us. Well, that'll enable us to be
more generous, won't it? We'll grow in generosity. Our
patience will grow. Patience with these babies? They'll
grow. The more we learn this, God works
all things after the counsel His own will. It's not an accident. It'll be all right. It'll happen
just according to His time. I'll be patient to wait for it
then. And if that growth happens, that growth in grace, here's
good manners for a believer. To Him be glory both now and
forever. Amen. If that growth happens,
it'll be Christ who gets all the glory for it. He gave the
grace to begin with. Yeah, we strive for growth. But
He gave it anyway. He gave that. I mean, He did
it all. So He gets all the glory. Amen. Alright, let's bow. Our Heavenly Father, how we do
thank You for Your promise that You're coming again. And cause
us to have all these manners of a believer that's waiting
and looking, expecting our Lord to come. And Lord, we do pray,
come quickly. Oh, how thankful, how delighted
we'd be if you'd come quickly. But we do pray for the patience
to understand the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation. We
beg of thee the faithfulness to continue to preach the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Keep us faithful to Christ. Keep
us looking to Him, depending upon Him. Singing His praises,
worshiping Him until He returns. Either until you return or you
call us home. But how we beg you to keep us
faithful and growing in the matchless, amazing grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ. How thankful we are for the grace
of God. There is no other explanation
for the salvation of sinners other than God's grace. And we're
thankful how we thank you. It's in the precious name of
our Lord Jesus Christ we give thanks. Ask a blessing on this
message. Cause it, Father, to take root
in our hearts. For your glory and the praise
of your matchless name. Amen.