Grow in grace, and in
the knowledge
of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ.
2 Peter 3: 18
Yes, the
opening Scripture is short, and yet this subject not omitted as we continue to
study the various books in our Bible.
It is a subject that many Christians speak of and yet have not much
understanding of it. And, this is,
holiness, and as we study the various books written by the apostles, and
others, that make up the canon of our Bible, I feel we must begin at this point
to inquire about holiness. This will help
us to continue to understand what the Bible writers were attempting to do as
they wrote and taught the Gospel. All
the Bible writers speak as did Peter that we are to grow in grace and in the
knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ so it is important that we turn
our attention to the subject before we move on to the other epistles and
letters. For some Christians in this
inquiry may not seem worth attention, but, I'm afraid that this kind of
Christian falls under the category of a Sunday Christian, having a Sunday
religion, who comes once a week and then lays aside what has been taught to him
or her. Such a man as this, cannot be
expected to care about growth in grace and as Paul said in his first letter: "But the natural man does not receive
the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he
know them, because they are spiritually discerned" (1 Corinthians 2: 14). Are you earnest about your soul, and do you
hunger and thirst after spiritual things?
Those questions ought to drive home to you a searching power and then to
ask ourselves, is it true that we can make progress in our religion, can we
grow in our religion? These questions
are always useful, especially at certain times making us think and look within
ourselves. Think about this: our time
on this earth is quickly flying by, life is ebbing away, the hour is drawing
nearer when our Christianity will be tested, and we will come to know whether
our Christianity was built on the rock, or on the sand. Mentioned many times in these blogs that we
are to examine ourselves and to take account of our souls and these two
questions will aid us in our examination: we get on in our spiritual
things? Do we grow?
These
questions are of special importance in our present day. Why?
There are crude and strange opinions being purported, those strange
opinions that are presented to men's minds on some points of doctrine, and even
in regards to the growth of grace as being whether or not it is an essential
part of true holiness. For some they
totally denied this. What the strange
and crude opinions are doing is to an indurate the minds of those hearing the
crude and strange doctrines and they will not listen to any other point that is
given to them from Scripture and all they do is explain it away and pare it
down to nothing. Many, many, Christians
have a misunderstanding of growing and grace and holiness. These questions are consequently, neglected. It is important to know that it is useful to
look square into the face of this subject of Christian growth. There is a reality of religious growth and
such a thing as growth in grace. There
are marks of religious growth, and there are marks by which growth in grace may
be known. There is a means of religious
growth and those means must be used for anyone who desires to grow in
grace. Before I move forward we must
understand we never put the means ahead of the agent and our agent, our
foundation, is Jesus Christ. This
subject that we are entering into is not a mere matter of speculation and
non-controversy. This is a most
important practical subject, if there is any such in religion. The subject is intimately and inseparably
connected with the whole question of sanctification. The leading mark, that which we can know to be true about anyone
is that the saints in Jesus Christ continued to grow. In this growth is in the virtual health and prosperity, for the
spiritual happiness and comfort of every person who has the true heart for
Jesus Christ and holy Christianity they are intimately connected with this
subject of spiritual growth.
Let's
establish this in the first place: there is such a thing as growth in
grace. No Christian can ever deny this
proposition as being strange and a melancholy thing, we also must remember that
man is fallen and also his will is fallen.
There will be disagreements about doctrines and often they are nothing
more than disagreements about nonessentials, or over the meaning of words. So that when we speak of growth in grace I
may mean one thing while others may deny it to mean quite another thing to let
me clear the way to explain what I mean.
When I speak of growth in grace I do not mean that a believer's interest
in Christ can grow. I further do not
mean that he can grow in safety, acceptance with God or security. I do not mean that he can ever be more
justified, more pardon, more forgiven, more at peace with God, then he is at
the first moment that he comes to believe.
We must and I do, hold firm that the justification of any Christian is
finished, perfect, and a complete work.
Even the weakest saint, though you may not know and feel it, is
completely justified as the strongest of any Christian. Furthermore, I hold firmly that our election
in Jesus Christ, our calling, and standing in Christ, a admits of no degrees,
no increase or diminution. Do not
mistake this, that our growth in grace means that we grow in justification. If you do you're off the mark, and your
utterly mistaken. The matter of
justification before God for every believer is complete in Jesus Christ: "and you are complete in Him, who is
the head of all principality and power" (Colossians 2: 10). Nothing can be added to our justification
from the moment we believe, and nothing is ever taken away from our
justification. Praise God for this for
all this is due to Him, and the death of our Savior Jesus Christ upon the cross
that paid for sin, even our sins.
For as the Earth brings forth its bud,
as the
garden causes the things
that are sown in it to spring forth,
so the Lord
God will cause righteousness
and praise to spring forth before all the nations.
Isaiah
61: 11
May your righteousness be seen by all
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