Now let's turn back to the book
of 2 Peter, chapter 3. I wish I had that two-by-four
that that fellow used on that mule, because I'd show up to
get your attention right now. I think I've got an important
message I hope you'll hear it. Let me read the text again, 2
Peter 3, verse 18. But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ. Now, I'm going to divide this
congregation and those who hear this message later on on the
radio broadcast into two groups. There are some who will not be
very interested in what I say tonight. To the mere formal religionist,
this subject will be of no interest, for he already has his ticket
to heaven purchased. He's got it in his pocket. He's
already made his reservation He's made his decision. He's
got him a mansion next door to Jesus. He's fulfilling his religious
duties. And when the preacher talks about
growing in grace and growing in the knowledge of Christ, he's
not really interested in that subject. But now to the other
group, to the earnest believer, to the man who admits to doubts
and fears. to the man, to the woman whose
soul thirsteth for the living God, to that individual who can
say with Paul, I count not myself to have apprehended, I'm not
already perfect, I haven't arrived, to that man and to that woman
who knows that time is fast slipping away and this life will soon
be gone, to that individual here tonight and who will hear this
message later, who knows that the hour is daily drawing nearer
when the reality of our profession will be finally tested by the
Lord of Glory, then he's interested in this subject, vitally interested. Am I on the rock? Am I on the
sand? Am I in Christ Or am I among
those who will profess to have performed great and marvelous
religious duties only to hear the Master say, depart from me,
I never knew you. I never knew you. I want assurance,
I don't want presumption. I want confidence in Christ.
I do not want a false profession of religion. that gives me comfort
while I'm building on the shifting sand. You know, Paul exhorted
us to go through this personal examination frequently. He said,
examine yourselves, examine yourselves, whether you be in the faith.
It's not too far-fetched. One of the apostles didn't know
the Lord. One of Paul's companions didn't
know the Lord. This Bible is full of examples
of people who professed to know the Lord, who didn't. Examine
yourselves. Now, we can't examine anyone
else. I can't examine you. You can't examine me. It's impossible. Paul doesn't tell us to do that.
He says, examine yourselves, whether you be in the faith.
Know ye not your own self, how that Christ dwelleth in you,
except you be a reprobate? When we come to the Lord's table,
we're exhorted again to examine ourselves. Let a man examine
himself, and so let him eat. And tonight, while I'm preaching
this message, I want to go through some personal heart-searching.
I want to know the Lord, oh, that I might know him and the
power of his resurrection. I want to win Christ and be found
in him. I don't want to go to hell defending
a denomination or a doctrine. I don't want to perish defending
an empty religious decision. I don't want to have to go back
even five days to prove I'm saved. I get so unhappy with people
who have to go back 20, 25 years ago and tell you about an experience
they have to prove that they're saved. Something's wrong with
that. I don't need a birth certificate to prove that I'm alive, and
I don't need some kind of religious experience to prove that I know
the Lord. Now, I have three things in the
message tonight. Number one, I'm going to talk
about this. There is such a thing as growth
in grace. There is such a thing. Peter
talks about it here in our text. Grow in grace. Grow in the knowledge
of Christ. Secondly, there are marks by
which growth in grace can be recognized. And then thirdly,
there are means to be used by those who want to grow in grace. Now that's very simple, and yet
again it's not so simple. There is such a thing as growth
in grace. Secondly, there are marks, definite
marks, by which growth in grace can be recognized by me and by
others. And thirdly, God has given us
means by which we are to grow in grace, and if these means
are not employed, there's not going to be any growth. Now,
let's take the first point and look at it carefully. There is
such a thing as growing in grace. That's what it says right here
in the Scripture, grow in grace. We're commanded to grow in grace
and grow in the knowledge of Christ. Now, when I talk about
growing in grace, now get this carefully here. I don't mean
that our position in Christ grows. I don't mean that at all. Our
eternal election, our calling, and our position in Christ is
eternal. I am known of God, loved of God,
ordained of God, chosen of God, called of God, redeemed of God,
and seated in the heavenlies in Christ. I cannot be more seated
in the heavenlies than I am right now. My position in Christ is
certain and secure and unchanging if I belong to Christ. If I'm
a child of God, I am seated in Christ in the heavenlies, and
that position doesn't change. It doesn't change. And not some
believers ninety miles from the throne and a few forty miles
from the throne, moving closer, and some on the right hand Every
believer is in Christ at the right hand of the Father, accepted
in the Beloved. Secondly, I don't mean by growth
in grace that my justification grows. I am complete in Him. The very first day that a man
believes, sincerely believes in Christ, the very first moment
that a person believes in Christ, he's complete in Christ. He is
absolutely complete, like a baby that's born to a mother. If it's
born with two arms and two legs and two eyes and two ears and
a head and a mouth and a nose, that baby has all of those qualities
of manhood. If it's born without an arm,
it won't grow an arm. If it's born without a leg, it
won't grow a leg. But it's born with a baby's arm,
and when it grows up, it'll have a man's arm, but it'll still
have an arm. And when we are saved, we are
babes in Christ, but we have everything that is sufficient
for us to be saints in glory. We will grow and mature, but
our justification is complete. We are complete in Christ. Our
sins are pardoned, they are put away, our names are in glory,
we belong to him. That doesn't change. It doesn't
grow at all. God doesn't love some believers
more than other believers. God loves all believers with
an everlasting, infinite love. There are not some believers
who are partially justified, more who are halfway justified,
more who are completely justified, all of them in Christ through
his death. As Brother Edgell prayed a moment
ago, through his life and through his death, through his substitutionary
work, are freely and fully and completely pardoned and justified. That doesn't change. And then
this, I don't mean that our safety increases or grows, our security
doesn't grow. We are once for all accepted. The weakest believer is as secure
in Christ as the strongest believer. The weakest believer is as secure
and just as loved and just as accepted as the strongest believer
who ever lived. And I don't mean, now get this,
when I'm talking about growing in grace, I'm not talking about
our inheritance growing. I reject so strongly this idea
that we're sending up material to build mansions in heaven.
I resent that. That's a disgrace to Christ and
his blood and his mercy and his love. I reject this thing that
says I'm sending up materials to add stars to my crown. The Bible says the first shall
be last and the last shall be first. My inheritance in Christ
is secure. It's complete. It's purchased.
It's reserved. And all the crowns are going
to be laid at his feet. They're not going to be on my
head. I don't deserve any, and you don't either. We are never
more pardoned, we're never more justified, we're never more forgiven,
we're never more saved, we're never more at peace with God
than the first day we believe. Now, that's as certain as I'm
standing here, and this Bible is the Word of God, and Christ
is the only Savior. That doesn't change. Let me repeat
it. We are never more pardoned How
can you be more pardoned than completely pardoned? How can
you be more justified than completely justified? How can you be more
forgiven than totally forgiven? As God says, their sins will
I remember no more. How can you be more saved than
be seated in Christ? That doesn't change. Well, what
are you talking about, preacher, growing in grace? Here it is.
If you don't get anything else, be sure you get this. This is
the foundation. When I talk about growing in
grace, when God's word talks about growing in grace, it means
the increase in degree, in strength, in expression, and
in power of the graces which the Holy Spirit in conversion
plants in a believer. By growing in grace, we mean
this, that every one of these graces that the Holy Spirit plants
in the believer, the love of God is shed abroad by the Holy
Spirit in the heart of the believer. That love will grow in degree,
in strength, in expression, and in power. All of these graces,
repentance, a man never stops repenting, Hussain. Repentance
grows. Repentance is not an isolated
act that takes place in the dim past. I have repented, I am repenting,
I shall repent. And that repentance, genuine
repentance, grows. Faith is not an isolated act.
A man can't say, Well, I'm saved, I believed on Jesus. Don't you
believe on him more now than you did then? Well, I can't say
that I do. Then you didn't have saving faith,
because saving faith grows. We believe more on him. Now faith,
the Bible talks about weak faith and strong faith, little faith
and great faith, feeble faith and vigorous faith. The Bible
talks about us being babes in Christ, young men in Christ,
fathers in Christ. It certainly does. Love grows. There's only one love. There are degrees of love. humility,
it grows, kindness, generosity, These things may be little, they
may be great, they may be weak, they may be strong, but if these
graces are planted by the Spirit of God, they will increase, they
will grow. That's what it says, grow in
grace. Not in justification, not in
security, not in substitution, not in pardon, not in the remission
of sin, grow in grace. Knowledge grows. Now some of
you have got five-year-old children. Don't you hope they grow in knowledge?
You don't want the sweet, precious little things to stay like they
are right now, do you? Don't you hope they grow? Boy,
I'll tell you, it would be a terrible experience in our families if
our children stayed little babies like the members of the Church
stay little babies spiritually. If none of them ever grew up,
if we just had a bunch of great big old bodies running around
with two-year-old minds in them. And that's what growing is. We
grow. These graces of the Spirit, these fruits of the Spirit, repentance
and faith and love and humility and generosity and kindness and
gentleness and tenderness and patience and all these things,
they grow. A man who grows in grace, listen
to me, and he who grows not in grace knows not grace. His sense
of sin will become deeper. His faith will become stronger,
his love for others will become more fervent, his humility more
obvious, his kindness and gentleness more pronounced, his spiritual
mindedness more marked, and his patience more clearly seen. You
say, can you make good on that from God's Word? Well, let's
look at a few scriptures. Turn to 2 Thessalonians, chapter
1. 2 Thessalonians, chapter 1, verse
3. 2 Thessalonians 1, verse 3. Listen to this. We are bound
to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet. That's sufficient. We ought to
thank God for you, because your faith groweth exceedingly. I thank God your faith is growing. Is your faith growing? Turn back to 1 Thessalonians
4, just one page back. Listen to this. 1 Thessalonians
4, verse 9. Now listen carefully to it. As
touching brotherly love, you need not that I write unto you.
Wouldn't that be something to be able to stand before a church
and say, I don't need to speak on love, everybody loves each
other. That's what Paul's saying, touching brotherly love, there's
no need for me to even write to you. You yourselves are taught
of God to love one another. Read on, don't quit. And indeed
you do it toward all the brethren, which in all Macedonia we beseech
you, brethren, that ye increase more and more." That's talking
about growing in grace, isn't it? Look at 1 Thessalonians 3,
just back across the page there, 1 Thessalonians 3, verse 12.
And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward
another and toward all men, even as we do toward you. Let me just
quote you some scriptures. Colossians 1.10 says, Be fruitful
and increase in the knowledge of God. Philippians 1.9 says,
I pray that your love may abound more and more Ephesians 4.15
says, I pray God that you may grow up unto him in all things. I pray God that you may grow
up. 1 Peter 2, verse 2 says, Desire
the sincere milk of the word that you may be saved. That's not what it says. It says,
Desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow, that
you may grow. 2 Peter 3, verse 18, says, "...grow
in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ." Babes in Christ? There's no way, now you listen
to me, there's no way. I've seen these novices, I've
seen these fly-by-night professions of faith, I've seen a fellow
walk down and shake hands with a preacher and tell him all he's
got saved and teach Sunday school the next Sunday and be ordained
to preach a month later, but there's no way, there's no way
that a new believer can have the faith and love and humility
and knowledge and grace and repentance of an old established believer.
No way. There's something wrong with
mushrooms. They're hollow. And there's something
wrong with these folks that suddenly spring up, and they've got all
the answers. They've got all the love and
the faith and the knowledge, and they can teach the old established
believers some things. Watch them. Watch them, because
God's children grow just like your children grow. They're born,
they're babies, and they're little children, and they're young men,
and they're fathers, and they're elders in the faith. And I'll
tell you this, just as much as that mushroom is not of God,
no growth is not of God too. There's an orderly thing taught
in this scripture that I've just read to you. A man who's truly
saved, a woman who's truly born again, who's brought forth spiritually
by the power of God, who's saved, in whom the Holy Spirit puts
faith and love and kindness and gentleness and repentance and
all these fruits and graces of the Spirit. They're babes and
they must be handled gently and tenderly. They must be kept in
the warm incubator of spiritual care and love. And then they
begin to grow. And you begin to see these graces
as they develop and mature. And then they become little children
in Christ. And then they become young men.
Courageous, bold, impulsive young men and women. And then they
become fathers. Mature, strong. They become leaders. And they
become men who can be trusted and depended upon and leaned
upon. They don't need somebody running
around giving them a sugar tit to keep them happy. They don't
need the preacher running around patting them on the back to keep
them happy. They do those things for the little children themselves.
They're mature Christians. That's growing in grace. They
don't get mad every time somebody moves a piano bridge, every time
somebody does something they don't like. They don't get mad
and quit church. They are mature people, and they
expect a baby to do that. If you don't give him his toy,
he's going to scream and holler and carry on, but you don't expect
a man to do that. Now, secondly, there are marks
by which growth in grace can be known. There are marks, and
I'm going to give you about three or four. When there is sincere
faith in Christ, I'm talking about sincere faith now, I'm
talking about a growing soul, I'm talking about a person who
has been saved and the Spirit of God has put in his heart the
seeds of righteousness and faith and love and these fruits of
the Spirit, and he is growing. There's some marks that he can
recognize himself and other people can recognize, and here are three
or four. Number one, and I think It ought to be number one, it's
of primary importance, and that is increased humility. Now the person who is growing
in grace, that man or that woman, that young person, is going to
feel his own unworthiness and his own sinfulness more every
day. I've had people come to me and
say, Well, I go to some churches and the preacher makes me feel
good, and I come here to you and you make me feel bad. Good! That's exactly what I'm trying
to do. I did what I'm trying to do. Someone said, the riper, now
listen to this, this is good, the riper a man is for glory,
the riper a man is for glory, the more like the ripe corn he
hangs down his head. As you see that corn get ready
for picking, the stalk grows up there and it begins to bow
its head. The riper it is, the more it
bows its head. And the same thing is true of
the man who is riper for glory. Listen to Paul. Listen to him. He says this, and someone suggested
that this was a growth in grace. Paul said in Philippians 3.12,
I'm not perfect. I'm not perfect. I count not
myself to have arrived. I'm not already perfect. In 1
Corinthians 15 he says, I'm not worthy to be called an apostle.
I'm not even worthy to be called an apostle. A little later he
said, I am less than the least of all the saints. This was the
man that wrote fourteen books in the New Testament. This was
a man who was stoned and shipwrecked and scourged and beaten and imprisoned
for his faith. And he comes along and says,
Pick out the least saint in the kingdom of God, and I'm less
than that least saint. And then later on, shortly before
he died, when he was writing to Timothy, he said, I'm the
chief of sinners. Abraham said, I'm dust and ashes.
Jacob said, I'm not worthy of the least of thy mercies. I heard
somebody pray that this morning in the morning service. I love
that. I am not worthy of the least of thy mercies. That's
what Jacob said. You know, you read these men,
you don't hear this silly 20th century talk about, I'm living
above sin. I'm perfect. The Lord's baptized
me with the Holy Ghost and I don't sin." You don't hear that kind
of talk in God's Word. These men of God who walked with
God, who knew God, like Isaiah said, I'm a man of unclean lips. David said, I'm a worm. A mark of growth in grace is
a growth in humility. and the riper a man is for glory,
the more like the stalk of corn he hangs down his head." John
the Baptist said, He must increase, I must decrease. Another mark of growth in grace
is this, love for Christ. Love for Christ. Now, brethren,
this was the test that the Lord Jesus Christ put to the apostle
Peter after he had been with him three and a half years. Our Lord Jesus Christ, at the
beginning of his ministry, chose Peter to be an apostle. And after
Peter had walked with him, lived with him, talked with him, studied
under him, and all these things, three and a half years later
the Lord sat him down, and three times he asked him, Peter, do
you love me? Do you love me? I don't think there are many people
who genuinely, sincerely love Christ. I really don't. I think
they want to go to heaven. I think they want to shake hands
with Mother again. I don't think they want to go
to hell. I think they're sincere and energetic
in their religious efforts and zeal. But now when it comes down
to this thing, loving the Lord Jesus Christ, loving Christ,
I don't know. I do know that the longer a man
is with Christ, the more he loves Him. You can't know Him and not
love Him. You can't see Him and not love
Him. I think the more a man learns of Christ, the more he loves
Christ. I think you'll be able to say with David, the Lord is
my shepherd. The Lord is my refuge and my
strength. The Lord is my life. The Lord
is my rock. The Lord is my bread and my water. I love him. I love him more than
I love my family. I love him more than I love my
friends. I love him more than I love life itself. I love Christ. And if any man love not the Lord
Jesus Christ, let him be accursed when Jesus comes." That's what
that means. Anathema maranatha. If any man
love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed when Jesus
comes. Another mark of growth in grace
is this, and that is increased love for each other. I said a
moment ago, and I'll hold this till my dying day because I believe
it. I believe there's one kind of
love, and that's love, L-O-V-E. And you can fool around and try
to change it and talk about it, but I say this, love is measured
by degrees, not by kinds. It's by degrees. There are not
different kinds of love. Where have you ever read anything
like that? It's not in God's Word. I tell you what we're trying
to do when we talk about these kinds of love, we're trying to
get ourselves off the hook. We're trying to get ourselves
off the hook. We're trying to say we're supposed to love certain
people a certain way and we're not supposed to love other people.
But all we're trying to do is get ourselves off the hook. The
scripture tells us that we're to grow in love. the degrees
of love. And the man whose soul is growing
in love is growing in love every year, every day. His love will
show itself to him, it will show itself to others. He'll be kinder,
he'll be more considerate, he'll be more generous, he'll be more
tender-hearted, he'll be more good-natured, he'll think of
others instead of thinking of himself all the time. He'll take
the time to be of help and be of service to others, and there's
no surer mark of an absence of grace than an absence of love.
That's what Christ said. He said, "...by this shall all
men know ye are my disciples, if ye love one another. And he
that saith he loveth God, and hateth his brother, is a liar."
And Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 13, "...now about it faith, hope,
and love, the greatest of these is love." And he said in 1 Corinthians
13, now this is how important it is, and you can scoff at it,
mock at it, throw it off if you want to, but he says you can,
and he's been talking in chapter 12 about unknown tongues. I get
real amused at these people who are seeking the gift of tongues.
That's not the greatest gift. If I had my choice of the gifts
of the Spirit, tongues would be way down on the list. way
down on the list. Somebody talks about, boy, he
got baptized with the Holy Ghost and speaks in tongues, he must
be a special kind of believer. Not particularly. He may be the
bummiest one, because that's not the best gift. In verse 31,
watch it now, listen, 1 Corinthians 12, he talks about tongues, that's
other languages, that's not this gibberish that people speak,
nobody understands, they say the Spirit's talking, that's
not it. He's talking about languages, being able to speak the gospel
in another tongue. I'd love to preach the gospel
in Spanish, French, I'd love to preach it in English, I'd
have a rough time with that. I'd like to preach the gospel
in some other language, but look at verse 31, "...covered earnestly
the best gifts," gifts of the Spirit, faith, the gift of healing,
tongue, "...covered these best gifts. Yet I'll show you a more
excellent way." I'll show you something a lot better than speaking
in tongue, Paul said. I'll show you something a lot
better than the gift of healing. Somebody watches television and
some bird grabs a fellow by the head and shakes it real good
and says, You feel anything? Sure he can feel something. If
he's not riveted to the floor, you'll shake him off the floor.
Sure he feels something. But they say, Isn't that great?
Isn't that wonderful? Paul said, I'll show you something
better now. Now look at the next verse. The Bible wasn't written
in chapters when it was written originally. It was written in
paragraphs and books. These chapters were divided up
later on. Verse 31 of 1 Corinthians 12
goes right into 1 Corinthians 13. He's talking about these
gifts. He's going to say, I'm going to show you something a
lot better than speaking in other languages. I'll show you something
a lot better than being able to heal a fellow. I'll show you
something a lot better than these gifts. Though I speak with the
tongues, the languages of men and of angels, wouldn't you like
to talk like an angel, and have not love? I'm a sounding brass
and a tinkling cymbal." Now you start to think about that a little
while. Old Brother Mews said, you just drive a stake and camp
there a little while. I might be able to speak the
gospel with the tongue of an angel, to move the hearts of
men to thrill and the eyes of men to weep. and make the hair
stand up on the back of your head, and speak the gospel in
a half a dozen different languages, like old John Gill knew eleven
languages, and have not love. You might as well stand up in
front of those people and hit on a Chinese gong or ring one
of these little cymbals that the kids play with in kindergarten
for all it'll amount to. Read on. What about the gift
of prophecy? When you left the fort, a man
wrote me last week, been watching the television program two or
three weeks ago, and told me he was a prophet and he knew
when the Lord was coming. He said, four months from today,
the Battle of Armageddon is going to take place. Oh, I have the
gift of prophecy, and I understand all the mysteries. I've got a
word of prophecy, and I have all knowledge, and I have faith
so I can remove mountains and heal the sick. and have not love. I'm nothing. That's how important
it is. And though I have the gift of
bestowing all my goods to feed the poor, I've got a pretty good
bank account, so I just write all my, write the check and give
it to the church and say, feed the poor. That's something. Wouldn't that be something? That
would be something. And do I give my body to be burned? I'm a martyr,
and they say they pull my fingernails out, try to make me deny what
I believe, and drive hot wedges up under my fingernails, try
to make me deny what I believe, and twist my arm, and put me
on the rack, and hang me by my thumbs, and try to make me deny
my doctrines, and take me to the stake, and burn me! And I
refuse to deny what I believe. Watch it now, and have not love,
it profiteth me nothing." I couldn't ring a bell of more
importance here tonight. And yet people can say, well,
I don't love folks like I ought to, and just throw it off. Well, you better start trying.
Now that's all I got to say. You better start, you better
make a whale of an effort to try. Well, I believe the doctrine,
okay. You died for it lately. Well,
I believe in helping folks if you've sold out and given them
everything lately. Well, I believe in preaching
the Word and putting preachers on the field, missionaries. You
been able to speak like an angel lately? Well, no, you haven't
even come up to these folks here, and the Bible says they're just
tinkling cymbals and sounding brass and nothing, and prophets
nothing, so we're short of nothing, if I have not love. Another mark
of growth is this, look at it, a righteous attitude. In other
words, I'm saying this, I'm saying that a man who's growing in grace,
is more careful about his temper, he's more careful about his words,
he's more careful about his attitude, he's more careful about his conduct,
he learns to forgive, and he's less quick to condemn others.
He learns to be merciful. You know what the Bible says,
if a brother be overtaken in a Don't turn him over to those
babes in Christ. They'll nail him to a cross. Don't turn him over to those
little children. You which are mature, you which
are spiritual, you restore him. Turn him over to the man who's
grown in grace. That's the fellow to handle him.
Isn't that what it said? That's exactly what it said.
Find some men and women in the church who've grown in grace.
And they'll know how to deal with him. They'll deal with him
like the master would deal with him. They'll restore him. That
little bunch of children will kick him out. He learns, this
man learns to live with trial without murmuring. He learns
to live with misfortune without questioning God's providence.
Paul the apostle said, I have learned in whatsoever state I
am to be content. I didn't come on the scene knowing
that, I learned it. I wasn't born knowing it, I learned
it. I learned in whatsoever state
I am to be content. Now then, the third point. There is a growth in grace, and
there are marks by which it can be recognized. And if you haven't
seen it in yourself tonight, Come to Christ. Don't throw up
your hands and say, this is impossible. It is impossible with you, but
all things are possible with God. The new birth is what you
need. No, these marks don't come by
education, they come by revelation. They don't come by your striving
and trying and making yourself, they come by knowing the Lord.
An association with Christ brings these things to pass. Because
their means, now listen to this, their means to be used by those
who want to grow in grace. Growth in grace, like anything
else, is the gift of God. But God uses means. God has ordained
means by which his people grow in grace. And he who would grow
in grace must use the means. Growth in grace is always bound
up within the use of the means. And here they are. the word of
God. The scripture says plainly, desire
the sincere milk of the word that you may grow. Brethren,
and I'm talking about now, not only, we'll get to the preaching
of the word later, but this is the private use of the word.
This is private prayer and private meditation and private reading. This is private reading and study
in the Word of God. You grow by the Word of God. Wherewithal shall a young man
cleanse his way? By taking heed to the Word of
God. Sanctify them by thy Word. Thy Word is truth. You can't
be a stranger to the Word of God and go. You can't do it.
We're going to have to become acquainted with this book. Now,
the King James Version is not easy to read, and I'm not committing
a no-no here. Everybody knows it's not easy
to read. But keep your King James Bible
and get your Amplified Bible. That's a good, or Berkeley translation,
that's a good translation. Don't get this Living Bible.
Don't get these paraphrased Bibles. They are sly and slick in denying
some of the basic truths and doctrines of the Word of God.
Get you an Amplified Bible, or a Berkeley translation, or an
American Standard translation, or an English Revised version.
I could recommend it, and you who hear the message in other
places, your pastor could recommend one. But read those translations
together. Read the word of God, you'll
grow. And then secondly, the public means of worship. Now
I want to make a statement here, and this is not original, I found
it somewhere, think Bishop J.C. Ryle, but you listen to this.
It is a sign of bad health when a man loses his appetite for
food. Isn't that right? It's a sign
of bad health. It's a sign of spiritual illness when a man
loses his appetite for the preaching of the gospel. The public means of worship are
the way to grow. And I can live with empty pews. That's not too hard to live with.
I can preach to people who are interested. I'm looking for folks
that are interested. But I know this, when I lose
my appetite for food, something's wrong with me. There's something
physically wrong with my body when I'm not interested in coming
to the table and eating. And these people who are not
interested in coming to hear God's Word, and not interested
in sitting around the Lord's table, and are not interested
in the communion of the saints, the family of God at the meal,
feeding on the Word of God, Spiritually, they're sick. They're not well. And I'll tell you another way
we grow in grace, and that's by the company we keep. Nothing
affects a man's character more than the company he keeps. Nothing. The Scripture says in 1 Corinthians
15, 33, evil companions corrupt good manners. James 4, 4, the
Scripture says, friendship with the world is enmity with God. You can come down here on Sunday
and worship God with the people of God and the believers, and
then Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, you
run around with folks who take God's name in vain, who do not
love the gospel, who do not love Christ, who do not rejoice in
the things of God, and you expect to grow? In the first place,
the very desire to be with those people is an indication you don't
know the Lord. The second place, the very fact
that you can be content in their company is a good indication
you don't know the Lord. The third thing, the very fact
you can hear them blaspheme your God and question His birth and
His parentage proves you don't know the Lord. Now that's so. You can't be happy in the company
of people that hate your Lord. And the company you keep will
either increase you and strengthen you spiritually, or it will tear
you down spiritually. And then the fourth means of
grace is this, this way of growing grace. And brethren, I'm not
satisfied to be a spiritual moron. I'm not satisfied to be a spiritual
infant, an imbecile. I want to grow, I want to be
mature, don't you? And then the fourth means of
grace is communion with Christ. The man who walks and talks with
the Lord will grow more like the Lord. There's got to be communion
between the bridegroom and the bride. There's got to be communion
between the master and the servant. There's got to be communion between
the advocate and the client. There's got to be communion between
the physician and the patient. There's got to be communion between
the shepherd and the sheave. And the disciples, the scripture
says, the people took note of them that they had been with
Jesus. I like this song. It's in our
book, but I don't know about the tune, Ronnie. The words are
how sweet the name of Jesus sang.