"But grow in the grace and knowledge
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
To Him be glory both now and forever.
Amen."
2 Peter 3:18
Now, one of the great goals of this conference
is expressed by Peter in these words,
that we grow in the grace and knowledge
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Many benefits come from conference -
the renewal of friendships,
moments of inspiration from speakers,
and meeting someone special perhaps,
but unless we grow
from our time here -
grow in graciousness,
grow in our knowledge of the Savior,
then there will be major failure
in our gathering together.
Some of you know Don Whitney's
helpful little book: "Praying the Bible."
And we gather to pray this Scripture.
Lord, help me to grow in graciousness.
Lord, help me to grow in knowledge
of the Savior.
And who needs to pray that?
Well, the baby Christians here -
they need to pray it.
And then, the man who is the most holy
and most mature
and has followed the Lord for many years -
he needs to still pray this prayer.
So what are we asking
when we are asking that we may grow
in grace and in the knowledge
of the Lord Jesus Christ?
Well, firstly, we are asking for genuine,
progressive concern for the needs of others.
The second commandment,
after to love God with all our hearts
is to love our neighbor as ourselves.
And that's the impact that we are to make
on one another.
A real concern for other people.
How is it with you?
Do we know where
the members of the congregation are?
Do we know where there are doubts?
Do we know where people are close to giving up?
Do we know where the troubles
and the problems are?
And you'll say, well, the elders know.
Well, perhaps they do.
But perhaps with some people,
you know more.
I'm not talking about inquisitive prying
into the lives of other people,
but I'm speaking about a concern for them.
Do they have some fear? Do they have some worry?
How can I help them?
So, that's going to be our lives from now on.
We're going to be corns of wheat
that fall into the ground and die,
or we'll abide alone.
We're going to be concerned
that there be fruit in the lives of others
and fruit in our own lives.
The Savior, then, He didn't come
to be served,
but He came to serve.
So He calls us also
that we're better servants of one another;
more concerned;
more aware of the needs.
How is it with you? How is it at meal times?
Do you look to see if everyone's got what they want?
And you're concerned about them?
You just don't look at the food in front of you?
The nicer seats - are you anxious
to help other people?
When you drive a car,
do you let other people cut in?
When there are family choices,
do you ask your wife:
what do you want to do?
Do you ask children
what their concerns are?
It's a very sad life
if it's just centered on you.
An egotistical life.
And so growing in grace,
growing in graciousness then
shows itself in a progressive concern
for the needs of others.
That's the first thing that we're praying for.
And the second thing we are praying for
is that we are growing in knowledge
of the gospel, of the Christian faith,
and growing especially
in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
A literal, mental grasp with our minds
of the teaching of Holy Scripture.
It may seem to you very elementary
and very basic.
But the first thing that a believer puts on
is the girdle of truth.
And the first thing that he must attend to
in terms of spiritual knowledge
and spiritual growth is familiarity
with the truth;
with the teaching of Scripture;
with the system of Christian doctrine.
It's all very well for us to speak
of the perils of a dead orthodoxy,
and I guess it's a real peril.
There are people and their concern
is not interest in the great foundational doctrines,
but they're interested in the conundrum of theology.
And let's avoid that.
And there are other people
and they're only interested in the doctrines
that have given rise to controversies
amongst Christians.
Doctrines that men fight about.
Doctrines that men disagree with.
Let's mortify that spirit too.
But we are bound as Christians
to make conscience of growing
in our grasp of Genesis, Exodus,
Leviticus, Numbers, and so on
to Revelation.
And to that life of Adam, and Noah,
and Abraham, and the Patriarchs,
and Moses,
and the deliverance from Egypt,
and then the time of the entry
and Joshua and Judges,
and Samuel,
and the rise of Saul,
and the rise of David,
and Solomon - the great division
that took place under him,
and then the destruction
of the Northern kingdom of Israel,
and then the temporary Babylonian captivity
of Judah and their return,
and the coming of Christ
as promised.
So, we ought to know those things.
And know the letters.
And so when the Jehovah's Witness
comes to your house,
then you say, "Do you know the Bible?"
"Yes." "Well, what..." you say to him,
"What is the main theme
of the letter to the Romans?"
And that's a good question to ask him
because he won't know.
He'll know his stuff,
but he won't know a question as important as that.
"Well, Ephesians is shorter," you say,
"six chapters - tell me,
what is the main teaching of Ephesians?"
And then he'll get a bit frustrated
and angry with you.
"Well now, come back and let me know."
Because you're driving him to the Word.
Aren't you? To read the Word.
And that is the only chance of him changing.
And so I'm saying to you
we have to soak ourselves
in the Word;
marinate ourselves in the Word of God,
because if we're going to ask then
a Jehovah's Witness to tell us
what the main theme of Romans is,
we better know it ourselves.
We better know it ourselves.
So, we ought to know about the Person of Christ.
His deity, His humanity,
His incarnation,
His states as pre-existent,
humiliated, exalted;
His offices of Prophet, Priest, and King.
We ought to know the great doctrines
of God's sovereignty,
of justification by grace through faith,
of adoption,
of union with Christ,
of sanctification.
These teachings are not simply for theologians,
but they are the stuff of believing meditation.
They are the stuff of doxology.
The great hymns are about those themes.
And if we're to be growing Christians,
we are to be growing intellectually.
We are to be growing theologically.
We are to grow in our grasp of it,
and we are to grow
in the emotional impact that they make
upon our lives.
That the Word of God lives in us.
Because the Psalms begin by a man -
his delight was in the law of the Lord,
and in that law,
he meditated day and night.
Thirdly, if we are praying this prayer
that we might grow in graciousness,
in grace, we are praying that we might
progress in conscientiousness.
That is, in responsiveness
and obedience to our own consciences.
Because God has placed that monitor
in our minds,
and it reproves us when we do wrong,
and it encourages us when we do right.
How is it with your conscience and you tonight?
How are things between you
and that monitor, that voice of God?
You know, there are many consciences,
and in Thomas Boston's words,
they are too persnickety.
They condemn what God's Word doesn't condemn.
We must educate that conscience.
Does the Bible condemn blood transfusions,
for example?
And there are other consciences
and they let anything pass.
They let pass what God's Word condemns.
They are less sensitive than they should be.
They are much too broad,
much too open.
So, we must always bring our conscience
under the light of the Word of God.
You know the Puritan illustration then
of the sundial.
And the sundial will work
if it's at the right angle
and in regards to the light of the sun.
But on a bright moonlight night,
you can go out to your garden,
and you can look at a sundial.
And there will be a shadow -
a moon shadow.
And it will give you the totally wrong reading,
because it's not a moondial,
it's a sundial.
And so there is the conscience
of the cannibal.
And there the conscience
of the abortionist.
And they are not living in accord
with what the Word of God
who created the conscience gives to us.
Now, let's supposed that you have
an enlightened conscience.
Let's suppose that you have the full light
of God's Word on your conscience then.
Are you carefully obeying it
when you are emotionally disinclined?
When you're lying on the floor
in despondency and sulking
and unhappy because your worst fears
have been realized?
When you're in the depth of depression
and self-pity,
and there's a duty that you have to attend to -
it's a duty, it's very unpleasant;
it's very demanding.
Do you do what your conscience tells you
that you should do?
Do you have the maturity to stand on your emotions
and reject them in the face
of their reluctance and aversion
to attend what God commands us?
There's no greater peril in the Christian life
than to make our emotions the touchstone
of our duties.
And time and again, we have to pick ourselves up
off the floor of discouragement and say,
I have a duty,
and I know this is right,
and I'm going to do it.
Or again, let me ask you,
are you conscientious about small things?
Because there most of all
Christians are tested.
We don't have huge sacrifices to make,
but every day, there are
many little duties that you know have to be done.
And we have to pay careful attention
to matters of detail,
because our Lord, He commends people
who are faithful in little things.
And so often we are losing the battle
in little things.
It might seem to you
not a big issue to be in prayer meeting
on a Wednesday night there.
It might not seem a big issue
to be in Sunday nights at church.
It's a small thing.
It might seem just a little thing
to ignore writing a letter to someone
to say thanks for your kindness to me.
Certain things.
But we must make conscience then
if we are going to grow in graciousness
our conscience - we respect it.
Whatsoever is not of faith is sin.
And then fourthly, we must
make progress in victory over besetting sins.
And that's a great reality in the Christian life.
There's just some sin that you know
it's a problem for you, isn't it?
And you know you're not going to grow
unless you deal with that particular sin.
It's perfectly possible to be normal
in every part of the Christian life
in your emotions and your affections
and will and so on.
Everything seems to be in order
except at one point.
You're in the grip of one temptation.
You are dominated by one lust.
You are entangled in the meshes
of one particular sin.
And you see it in the world around you.
It's called monomania.
One man - in 99 out of 100 areas of his life
he's straight down the line.
But there's one area of his life
where he's walked,
and he's grasped by one sin.
And when you say,
well, it may be a mysterious thing
that I'm not growing as I should be
as a Christian.
Is it so mysterious?
Is the reason why I'm not growing
as I should be because my spiritual life
is diseased in one area.
Unless it's dealt with,
it's going to - just like a bug,
a virus is just in one part of you
and it affects the rest of you.
You're weak and listless and so on.
You must deal with that besetting sin.
Worldliness, prayerlessness,
irritability, impatience,
aggressiveness, what have you...
So, those are four,
and then one more point
in which when we are praying for
growing in grace,
we are praying that we should grow
in evangelistic earnestness.
Now, you know, when you first knew the Lord,
you see it in the young convert -
it's lovely to see - how bold he is.
You tremble at times
because he'll blurt out things
that you might have said rather more sweetly.
But he just sees the world's need
and he sees Christ as a great Savior.
And he speaks a word
in and out of season.
And the mature amongst us, we smile
and we may sneer even,
because much of it was immature.
The witness was unwise and indiscreet
and ineffectual.
But that does not justify that fact
that many Christians as they grow older,
they grow more reticent and quieter
and share their faith less and less.
The vision of the world's lostness just disappears.
And that's a maturity that our churches
need to do without.
It's expected sometimes -
it's only the young people
who go out on missions and work
and go to Mexico for a week and so on.
And they haven't the equipment;
they haven't the wisdom.
They're great helpers, but they're not great leaders.
So, as we've been coming now,
we've been Christians many years.
How is it with you
and your evangelistic concern?
Are you prepared to get involved
in every true evangelistic cause?
Are you prepared to support it
and pray and give and cooperate?
I know there's a lot of misplaced evangelism.
I can give statistics for evangelistic failure,
and you know all that.
And that won't help us at all.
We must stand back
from simply criticizing.
And we have to be involved in every form
of biblical evangelism.
We have to do that.
And it's a sad thing for any Christian
if that vision is gone.
So, I'm saying, those are the sorts of things
we are praying for when we hear
the exhortation - the last words of Peter -
but grow in grace;
grow in graciousness.
And we're talking about making
progress in being concerned for other people.
And growing in our knowledge of the Bible
and what the Bible teaches.
And growing in conscientiousness.
And growing in victory over besetting sins.
And growing in evangelistic earnestness.
And then, very briefly, as a postscript.
How is this to be achieved?
How are we as Christians going to grow?
And the first answer is
that it must be a priority in our lives.
These are Peter's last words, aren't they?
Think of the life he lived.
He preached at Pentecost
and 3,000 were converted.
Do you think he would sort of float along
in the glow of that for the rest of his life?
But he doesn't. He's here and there,
and he's going to Cornelius' household,
and he's traveling and he's speaking everywhere.
And his last words to people are:
grow now; grow in the grace
and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's the greatest thing in our lives.
There's nothing more important for us.
What's more important than this?
In the midst of all the other engagements
and preoccupations and concerns,
a Christian's relationship with God
controls his life.
It's what his life is built around.
And his greatest longing is to be more fit
for the Master's use.
This one thing I do - one thing,
the apostle says,
a single eye Jesus speaks about.
I look at my own life and I wonder
as the years have gone by,
have I changed that scale of values
and my sense of priorities?
I know it's easy to react against
extreme religionism.
A person just talks about religion
and isn't interested in anything else.
That's unbiblical too,
because in the Bible,
they talk about all that's in God's creation.
But there's a far greater peril
than that sort of extreme.
And that's a reduction
of religious aspiration;
of religious vision;
of a relegation of my relationship to Christ
to not be the first thing
and the greatest thing in my life.
And at times I think it's happened to me.
And it's happened to other people.
That things that should be primary
have become secondary in my priorities.
And I think as I look at my old church,
and at evangelicalism as I meet it,
I see slackness and sloppiness
coming into so many areas of church life.
For to me, to live is Christ.
That's what he says, isn't it?
If our chief end in life is not that,
we are facing the most appalling
and unhappy futures.
And then secondly,
it must be a priority -
secondly, our religious lives
are not going to take care of themselves.
We can't simply expect our soul
to nourish and fend for itself;
to provide for itself.
You have to see for it.
I have all the weight of an apostle's command
to say you have to grow.
You have to make sure you are growing,
and that applies to every form of life.
We're concerned for our plants.
We give our key to our neighbor
and we say I'm going to Florida now
for two weeks, can you feed the plants?
When I'm away, we're concerned
about the bushes and the flowers.
We're concerned about our animals -
how they'll be fed.
And our minds
and our intellects -
what stuff we are feeding our minds with.
They won't look after themselves.
And so our souls -
our souls won't look after themselves.
We have to feed our souls,
as a program of provision for them.
Peter speaks in the 17th verse
about being led away
with the error of the wicked,
and we all know people who've been led away
because they didn't look after
their own souls.
There are people -
and Paul tells Timothy about them -
they have a form of godliness.
And they go to church and so on.
But it's just a form.
It's formalistic.
That's it.
There's nothing under it.
Nothing beneath it at all.
So, let's be so careful about this.
You know, not to prove
I'm not a Puritan.
Not to prove to people
that I'm not narrow-minded;
that I believe in Christian liberty
and the freedom of conscience.
To show people I know about politics
and I can speak about all these things.
I wonder if some of the energy
that we pour into that,
can be poured into
my relationship with Jesus Christ.
And that I'm growing.
I'm growing in the knowledge of Him.
My Savior.
And that I'm feeding my soul.
So, how do we do this?
Well, it must be a priority in our lives.
And then, we must be aware
that we've got a duty to feed our souls;
that they won't look after themselves.
And then Peter tells us in this 14th verse:
"To make every effort
to be diligent..." he says.
Be diligent.
And in what direction?
Well, you've got to seek food for your souls.
You've got to get away to a conference.
Travel a long distance to be here.
Drive 15 hours.
Drive through the night.
Drive just to be here.
And search for things that can nourish you
and build up your knowledge
and your graciousness;
that you don't want to be unfruitful
and static,
but there's a dynamism,
and a maturing,
and a beauty, and a fragrance,
and a loveliness about your life.
You're seeking for truths that will do that.
That will produce love,
and joy, and peace,
and longsuffering, and gentleness,
and goodness, and faithfulness,
and meekness, and self-control.
You've got to fall in love with the Bible.
You've got to search it.
You've got to ransack it.
You've got to sit under the best ministry you can
on a Sunday.
You've got to read the best books.
You've got to sit and listen
to older Christians as they talk together
and they reminisce about how God
has dealt with them over the years,
and learn from them
the mysterious influence
that one Christian can have over another.
You seek good fellowship
with other Christians.
And you hunger for truth -
you want the Word of God to come
not in word only,
but power and the Holy Spirit
and much assurance.
Fall with love.
Meditating upon Scripture.
Praying Scripture.
So, you read a verse like this:
"But grow in the grace and knowledge
of our Lord and Savior..."
And you say, "Lord, me too.
I want to grow.
This week, I've got a special time here;
special privileges.
Help me to grow
in the grace and knowledge of my Savior
Jesus Christ."
Because your souls won't grow without food.
And there's no food for the soul
like the Word of God.
There's no place to be better
than before the face of Jesus Christ.
You need that.
Let's pray together.
Heavenly Father,
we've heard these searching exhortations,
and so now we just roll them out before Thee,
and oh, we wish we were much stronger,
and maturer, and wiser, and more loving,
and more patient, and gentle,
and longsuffering.
Oh, we wish there was more purity
and love for what is good and holy.
Oh Lord, give us a nudge.
Give us a little push -
a big push as we go.
Speak to us.
Humble us.
Encourage us in the Christian life this week.
That as a result of being in the conference,
we'll grow in the grace
and knowledge of our Savior Jesus Christ
to whom be glory forever and ever,
Amen.