Turn back to 2 Peter chapter
3. 2 Peter chapter 3 verse 18, But grow in grace and in the
knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. If something has life, then it must grow. That's a part
of it. It must grow. Growing is a part
of being alive. We come into this world as babes,
but we don't stay that way. We grow. We grow into being a
young person. We grow into being adults. We grow mentally. Our minds grow in the way we
think. I don't think like I used to.
I know I don't. Paul said this, when I was a
child, I thought as a child. But when I became a man, I put
away those childish things. I put them away. are something that can grow all
our lifetime through learning and should, should. But the most important growth,
I don't know if I can get this across tonight as I see it, but
the most important growth is spiritual. It's growing in grace and in
the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what we need. That's what
we need the most is to grow in grace and in knowledge of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And if we do that, if we are
able to do that, And if you're God's child, you
will do that to some degree. We all may do it to some more
or lesser degree, but we will grow in Christ. But if we do
that, it will help keep us from being led astray. That's what
he says there in chapter 17. He therefore, beloved, seeing
you know these things, God's going to destroy this world.
There'll be a new heaven, new earth, the Lord's coming. Seeing
you know these things, beware, lest ye also be led away with
the error of the wicked. You fall from your own steadfastness,
but here's how you keep from doing that. Here's how you keep
from falling away from your own steadfastness. Grow. Grow in
grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, first
of all, The thing that caught my attention as I was reading
this week in verse 18 was these first few words, but grow in
grace. Now we know this, grace is the
unmerited favor of God. So I know that he's not talking
about growing in the favor of God. God cannot love me any more
than he loves me. God cannot favor me any more
than He favors me. It's a perfect love. It's a perfect
favor. But what He is talking about
here is that we grow in the fruit of the Spirit. And we can grow
in every one of them. And I mean we have plenty of
room to grow. Even the most mature person that you know in the faith
has plenty of room to grow. Plenty of room to grow. We can
grow in love. Can we grow in love? Can we grow
in love to one another? Can we grow in love to God? Love
to Christ? I know this. If God enables me
to grow in love toward Him, toward Christ, I will grow in love towards
you." My love towards you is a reflection of my love to Him. Do you love to be gathered together
with one another? If a person really does not love
the assembly of the saints, if you really do not love to be
gathered with God's people, that is a reflection on your love
toward Him. You really don't love Him. You
really don't love Him. So we can grow in love. We can
love Christ more. We can love one another more.
Can't we? Yes, we can. Then we can grow
in peace. I want more of this. I want to
grow in this. Now that peace that we have with God is a perfect
peace. Christ is our peace. That doesn't grow. That's a perfect
peace. But the enjoyment of that peace,
the real enjoyment of that peace that I have with God in Christ
can grow. The knowledge of it, the comfort
of it, the joy of it can grow. That's why he said grow in these
things. In the grace of love, in the grace of peace and joy. Paul says in one place, rejoice
in the Lord always. Always. The joy that we have
in Christ is to grow. It is to grow to the point to
where we can rejoice and find real joy in Christ. no matter what comes our way. Even when we are weeping, even
when we are weeping, there is a deep, abiding joy in the Lord. You can't explain it. There's
a rest that you cannot explain. There's a joy you can't explain.
There's a peace that you cannot put into words, but it's there. It is there. It's rooted in you. It's rooted in you by the work
of God's Spirit. We can grow in long-suffering
patience. Patience. I tell you what, there
is no way you're going to grow in patience until you first grow
in love. I think patience is a fruit of
love. When you really have patience,
you're more patient with your kids than you are mine. And I'm
more patient with mine than I am yours. I tell you, when you really love
somebody, God's long-suffering and patience is a perfect example,
isn't it? He's long-suffering to us, we're
not willing that any should perish. Why is that? Because He loves
us. He loves us with a perfect love.
And because of that, He's long-suffering with us. And he puts up with
this world because he has a people in this world that he loves.
And he's long-suffering because of it. Forbearing. Forgiving. We can grow in those
things. Faith. Faith. They said, Lord, increase our
faith. He told them about loving. You
know, your brother sinned against you or offend you 70 times in
a day. And the Lord said, forgive him.
He said, forgive him. And they said, Lord, increase
our faith. Increase our faith. We can grow in this. Enable me
to walk by faith more perfectly every day. Every day. This day's gone. I can't do anything
about it, you know. I stand here in the presence.
But I tell you what, it's by God's purpose and grace that
tomorrow comes and you and I are still alive. Lord, help me to
walk more perfectly than I did yesterday. Help me to believe
you more perfectly than I did yesterday. The more we grow in faith, the
more we grow in love, I'm telling you, the less we'll murmur. the
less we will murmur against God. This is why spiritual growth
is so important. This is why Peter says, but grow
in grace. If you grow in grace, you will
not grow in error. You can mark that down. If you
grow in grace and knowledge of Christ, you will not grow in
error. You will not grow in anger. You will not grow in envy. Not if you grow in grace and
knowledge in Him. That roots those things out. Grow in temperance. Lord, help me to be more temperate,
moderate, moderation. Help me to do that. Goodness. Kindness. When our Lord walked on this
earth, It says, when he was reviled, he what? Reviled not again. When they slapped him, he did
not slap back. I tell you what, that's spiritual
growth. Believe in an election more.
How can you believe it more? I mean, it is what it is. Really. But
you can love your neighbor more. And I can love my neighbor more. Forgive more. Love more. As Henry
said one time, those are the deep things of God. These are the fruit of the Spirit.
And fruit is what? A sign of life. A dead tree does not produce
fruit. If you're dead in trespasses
and sins, you're not going to grow in what I just talked about. But if you're able to grow and
the fruit of the Spirit, it's a sign of life and it's a sign
of health. You go up to a tree, you go up
to an apple tree that's got big apples on it, I mean they're
just all over it, it's hanging down. You know, I look at that
tree, that is one healthy apple tree. That is one healthy tree. And when the fruit of love, joy,
peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, meekness. When that
fruit is hanging off from you, you know that tree is healthy. Spiritually healthy. Now, how is growth in grace promoted? How do we grow in grace with
the knowledge of Him? This is a good start right here.
You attend the gospel preaching. You sit under the preaching of
the gospel. There is a special blessing that God puts on this
that you can't get on tape. I mean, there's some tapes, I
listen to them. I pretty much listen to them
about every day. But this is it. This is the Lord walking
among His people. And then here's another way that
grace is promoted, a growth in grace, is being in and studying
the Word of God. Look over in 1 Peter 2. He said in 1 Peter 2 verse 1, laying aside all malice, all
guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, as newborn
babes desire the sincere milk of the Word, that you may what? Grow thereby." You cannot grow
in grace and in the knowledge of Christ apart from the Word
of God. This is the seed, but it's also
the fertilizer. It's like Vicki puts that Miracle-Gro
on her bushes out front. You ought to see our bushes in
front of our house. They're called fire bushes. They're
supposed to get about four or five feet tall. They're like
ten feet tall now. I mean, you talk about a privacy
fence around our front yard, you can't see the neighbor's
house. They are that tall. She puts that miracle grow on. If you're going to grow in grace
and in knowledge of Christ, if you really desire to do it, bear
yourself, saturate yourself in the Word of God. The Word of God is like fertilizer. It gives nutrients to grow by,
spiritual nutrients to grow by. And apart from His Word, you
cannot grow spiritually. It's not impossible. Not impossible. And then you cultivate. These
words just came to my mind as I was thinking of this today
as I was putting these notes together. I looked up the word
or the meaning of the word cultivate. It means to nurture something. Nurture something. It means to improve or develop
something, usually by study or education. You cultivate. You get in the Word of God and
you plow in it. You cultivate in it. You study
it. You get your spiritual education
out of here. And then here's another one that's
good. Cultivate a relationship or intimacy with somebody. You notice that Peter, When he
says grow in grace, he doesn't stop there. And in the knowledge
of Christ, because our growth in grace is directly connected
to our knowledge of Christ, to our knowing Christ. It's not
knowledge of the facts now. It's absolutely knowing a living
person. It's a real union, just like
a husband and wife have. It's an intimate relationship. A great marriage must be cultivated. I'm telling you, if the Lord
gives us a great marriage, it has to be cultivated. It has
to be. After the honeymoon is over,
the real you shows up. I'm telling you, the real you
shows up. And then you've got to work on it. And the best thing
to work on is yourself. It's yourself. If you want to be married to
a great person, be a great person. Work on yourself, and things
will take care of themselves if the Lord's hand is in it.
If His hand is in it. And then attention. Growing grace
and knowledge of Him. Give attention to it. That's
what cultivating is, but it's giving attention to it. You know,
I gave some attention to myself before coming over here. You notice that? I put a suit on. I mean, I don't
wear a suit normally around, you know, I'm not one of those
suit and tie guys. I don't have that kind of a job. But I gave some attention to
myself. Give more attention to that inner
man. We must give more attention to
that inner man that's born of God. If we grow in anything, if you
grow in knowledge, you know, if you're going to college, you
go to school, if you're going to really grow, you've got to
do what? You've got to give attention to your lessons. You've got to
give attention to your studies. You've got to give attention
to what you're trying to learn. Or are you going to come out just
as dumb as you went in? Some of you have gardens. We, I grew up on a farm, about
a 90, 100 acre farm. And I mean, we farmed it. It
was not a general farm. It was, it was get after type
of farming. And we had to weed the garden. We didn't have all the stuff
we've got now. We had to weed it. You go down through there
and you just weed, take it out and hoe it and give attention
to it. Or if your body, if you're going
to have a healthy body, you've got to give attention to it,
don't you, to what you eat? You know, it's through the spiritual
exercise of love, kindness, joy in the Lord, that they grow.
They grow through the exercise of them. Hebrews chapter 5. Hebrews chapter 5, let's see
here. Look in verse 13. For everyone that useth milk
is unskillful in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.
But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age. Even those who by reason of use
have their what? Senses exercised. Talk about your spiritual senses
exercised to discern both good and evil. It's through the exercise
of love. Love's not for me. My love is
not for me at all. It's for you. My kindness is
not for me. It's for you. And yours is for
me. It's for one another. And this growth can only happen
in good ground, and that good ground is Christ. In this situation,
that good ground is Christ. Peter says, grow in grace and
in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Spiritual growth happens only
through our union to Him. And no other way. Turn over in
John 15. John chapter 15. I am the true vine, and my Father
is the husbandman. Every branch in me that bears
not fruit he takes away, and every branch that beareth fruit
he purges it, that it may bring forth more fruit. He tries it,
he prunes it, trials, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now
are you clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
Abide in me, and I in you. as the branch cannot bear fruit
of itself, and it can't grow of itself. It grows out of the
vine. Except it abide in me, except
it abide in the vine, no more can ye except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I
in him, the same bringeth forth Much fruit, much love, much peace,
much kindness, much goodness, much longsuffering. For without
me, you can do nothing. Without me, you can't grow at
all. You can't grow at all. Turn over
to Matthew chapter 11. Verse 27, All things are delivered
unto me of my Father. And no man knoweth the Son, but
the Father, neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son.
And he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. Come unto me,
all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me." Learn of me. Study me. You ever
just read the Gospels and just study? It's just like watching
him move through the crowd. Watching him, the way he handles
a sinner, a leper. Lord, if you will, if you can
make me whole. Study me. Know me. You know God. You know God. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me, for I am meek and lowly of heart. Before you heard the gospel,
did you ever think of God that way? Did you ever think of God
as being meek and lowly of heart? People mistake meekness for weakness. It's not. This one who is meek
and lowly of heart is the same one that's going to say, depart
from me, I never knew you. This one who is meek and lowly
of heart, approachable, sinners will come to him. This man receives
sinners and he eats with them. It's the same one who is the
judge of all the earth. Don't mistake meekness for weakness.
You'll be sorry. You'll be sorry. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me. To learn of Christ is to learn
of God. If you want to study God, you
want to study theology, study Christ. He's your lesson. He's the lesson. Learn more of
His person. He's the wisdom of God. Can we exhaust the wisdom of
God, that infinite wisdom? No. All the riches of God are in
Him. All the fullness of God is in
Christ. You can study me and it'll take
you about A few minutes and you got it. He's a lifelong lesson. I'm telling
you, he's a lifelong lesson throughout eternity. We will spend eternity
learning of God through him. We will never be able to exhaust
knowing him. Jeremy was telling me once about
when he was in college, You know, he had, tell him about his math
class. And he said, you know, you get
a problem, once you go so far in math, you kind of break off,
you get into just studying one part of math. And he said, you
can get a problem, then you solve that problem, but then you open
up a whole new room of other problems. You solve one, then
you open up this whole room of other possibilities. You know,
when we learn of God and we know God, and then all of a sudden
you realize, wow, I haven't even scratched the surface. Not even
scratched the surface of knowing Him. Learn more of His person. If you and I learn more of His
person, We'll fall in love with Him even more. And we will begin to say with
the woman in the Song of Solomons, have you seen Him whom my soul
loves? Have you seen Him? Those other ladies said, what
is your beloved more than the others? You ought to see mine.
I've got a good looking one. I've got a nice one. Oh, she
goes to describing Him. He's altogether lovely. There's
not a blemish in Him. There are blemishes in us. There's
not a blemish in Him. He's altogether lovely. Then learn more of His work,
my soul. Learn more of that substitutionary
work. Dive into it. Drink of it. Saturate yourself in it. It will
keep you from falling. And learn more, grow more in
your relationship to Him. Intimately. I was thinking of this today.
If we grow spiritually, properly, in Christ as we ought to. If
we grow in Him, grow in grace and knowledge of Him, when we see Him, we're going
to admire Him. It says He will be admired of
His saints. When we see Him, we will stand in awe of Him. But we shouldn't be surprised.
Not if you know Him. That's just like Him. That's just like Him. We should stand in awe of Him. But when He comes, He's going
to be admired by His saints, but we shouldn't be surprised
if we know Him. It's written over in the book
of Job, they were confounded Because they had hope. They hoped
in the wrong thing. Their hope was in the wrong thing
and the wrong one. And then when it was over with,
they were surprised. They were confounded. But you're not going to be that
way, not if you know Him. And especially if you grow in
Him. Grow in grace and in knowledge of Him. There cannot be any growth in
grace apart from growth in Christ. who is the God of all grace. And then last of all, growing
in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ keeps us from being led away with the error of the wicked. It keeps you. Knowledge, someone
said, is power. And they're right. Paul said
he counted everything lost before the excellency of the knowledge
of knowing Christ. You can deceive, I tell you this,
you can deceive an ignorant man. It's hard to deceive someone
that knows what you're talking about, that's been educated,
taught. It's hard to deceive that man. Grow in grace and in knowledge
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Grow in Him like a tree. The tree grows up, and those
roots grow downward. Turn over to Colossians chapter
2, and I'll wind this up. Colossians chapter 2. Look in
verse 6, 7. As ye have therefore received
Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him rooted. Rooted. I heard somewhere that
the roots of a tree are as long and deep in the ground as it
is tall. Rooted. rooted and built up in Him, established
in the faith, rooted in Christ, established in Christ. And the
only way to be really rooted in Him is to grow in grace and
in knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray, I pray that God
would enable us, this church here, what time we have together,
that there will be real spiritual growth in Christ. That comes through the preaching
of the Word, the study of the Word, and trials. That's how
it's going to come, and it's not going to come any other way.
But if we grow in grace, listen, His grace is sufficient.