If you would please turn your Bibles to the letter of 2 Peter. You should find that just in front of the three letters of John that lead us to the book of Jude and then to the Revelation. So, 2 Peter chapter 3. We wish to start at the beginning of the chapter and reading maybe down to verse 9 and then we'll skip a little bit and pick up our text and we'll begin to try to answer the question of what is it to grow in grace? word is indeed before us in this chapter, 2nd Peter chapter 3. Now may we pray. Lord, thank you for letting us gather in this place this morning. Thank you, O Lord, for teaching us the truth of your grace and of your mercy and nary a one of us has ever deserved it, but it becomes ours in and by and through the Lord Jesus Christ, the only Savior of sinners this world has ever seen. What a glorious Redeemer we have. Oh, that we might grow in this knowledge and in this grace to the end that we might know our Savior more fully, more definitively, that we can see things that we've never seen before in regard to himself. Oh, the blessedness of this book, of this testament, of this particular writer, and of the subject to which he addresses these issues. We beg for your help and your aid. We have nothing, are nothing, and can do nothing. Only you can work in us and by us and through us. And we bless and thank you in Jesus name. Amen. This is Paul's second letter. This second letter, beloved, I now write unto you in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance, that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Savior, knowing this first that there shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lust, and saying, where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willfully are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were made of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the street, whereby the world that then was being overflowed with water perished. And only eight souls survived, namely Noah and his wife and his three sons and their wives, and that's it. What do you think is going to happen the second time Christ comes? He's going to take his bride off this earth into glory. But I'm telling you billions and billions and whatever you call after you have billions are going to wind up in hell. Now if our preaching must offend, and it must, then it ain't gonna change. It's the same thing over and over and over again. We have no control over what God does, but we're bound by his blessed precious grace in us, we're bound to please Him in all things. Not saying that we succeed, for we certainly don't. But the heavens, am I down to verse 7? But the heavens and the earth which are now by the same word are kept in store, you know what it is to put something in storage, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years is one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering too." Who? Who is that? Us word. Us word. Some of you too young to remember this, but once upon a time we had people that would stand up in this same auditorium when the preacher's up here preaching and accuse him of a false gospel. And I ain't mentioning no names. I'm not interested in pursuing it. I'm just telling you that this book tells us that this is the case. This us word. Let's read the statement as if it is universal. That's what most people declare it is, but it ain't. Excuse the French. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness. but is longsuffering to us-ward. Now if you want to know the definition, in 2 Peter chapter 3, you go back to chapter 1 verse 1 and you'll find out what it is. It is the Jewish believers who became followers of Christ in Jerusalem and the treatment and murder of them and imprisoning of them drove them to other places. And Peter is writing in his first and second letter in our Bibles, he's writing to those persons. That doesn't mean that there aren't other persons elsewhere in the same boat they are, that God has saved them and regenerated them. But I'm telling you what's not here. It does not say, to everyone. Peter could just as easily have used that word. But he didn't. How come? Because God has a people whom this world has no knowledge of and can despise and hate and do whatever else they can do to unrail our lives. But this word, usward, tells us that God has a people that He chose in old eternity. He gave those people to Christ. Christ has come and redeemed those people, and that's the only ones that are going to be in heaven. So you might as well get used to your new neighbor. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, Any of the usward should perish. See what I'm saying? But that all should come to repentance. Now, if you'll jump over to the latter part of the chapter. Peter gives us this admonition. If I had time, I'd read all of that, but I need you to look at verse 18 very carefully. 2 Peter 3, 18, the last verse in his letter. But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. To Him, to Christ, be glory both now and forever. Amen. That is a wonderful statement. It brings up the question, what does it mean to grow in grace? How do you grow in grace? I'm going to try to answer that question and maybe a few others along the way. This injunction that comes before us in verse 18, grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Now this second prescribes grow in grace and in the knowledge. That's the section that I want to make this statement about. This second part of this statement prescribes the means to accomplish the first. So what is the first thing in our text? It is to grow and to grow in grace and then to grow in the knowledge of God our Savior and our Lord Jesus Christ. This growth in knowledge as well as grace is progressive. It grows. If it's alive, it grows. Just like if we're alive, we grow, and if we're not alive, we ain't growing no more. So it is with plants and other animals. There are four ways to grow in this knowledge And in this grace, four ways to grow in this knowledge. First of all, the extent of this growth. Who would claim to be anywhere near close to the end of this knowledge? Like a preacher, I remember once upon a time that claimed to be a sovereign grace preacher. And we had a big shin dig down the fellowship hall and fed these not headed preachers. And, and this one guy got up and said, you fellas won't believe how much I know. I put my pencil up, closed my notebook and wished I had thrown him out. This man knows things up here that he'll never know down here. This is heart knowledge. This is genuine knowledge. This is God-given knowledge. And God doesn't make any mistakes, and when he gives it, it is forever. It must bear the stamp of God on it, and it'll say forever. No person in their right mind would claim to be near the end of this knowledge. If we only knew how much there is to go from now until whenever we leave this earth, it might help us a bit to remember that. This knowledge of our precious Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is both infinite or if you like, infinite and unsearchable. The manger, the cross, and the throne are big with glories, yet unknown, the hymn writer tells us. Second thing has to do, we just finished the extent of this knowledge, and secondly, we come to the certainty of this knowledge. This certainty of belief may be strengthened by the confirmations of experience. The life of a believer is a series of tests. And I don't know about you, but I'm in the red wrong more often than not. God help me. a series of tests by which God tries and proves the Word of God. Let me read you a statement now that comes having a bearing on this. This is in the book of Colossians but I'll be through reading by the time you get there. That their hearts might be comforted being knit together in love and to all riches, of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ. And when it comes to Christ, it says in verse, the very next verse, in whom in Christ are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. You can't learn anything unless you learn it from Him. He is our wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification. He is everything there is. Another statement comes out of Hebrews chapter 6. And we desire that every one of you do show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope to the end, that you be not slothful but followers of them who, through faith and patience, inherit the promises. There, my friend, is how we must grow. Never, ever put aside your thoughts of yourself and of your life, of your speech, of your deeds, of whatever there is, it is indeed our ground of condemnation from which our precious Lord Jesus Christ leads us out. Number three, oh, by the way, this whole page now is introduction, so I'm trying to just use certain things. What about the influence of this knowledge? Who does not know the difference between knowing things in theory and knowing them in experience? There is a world of difference, as you may also know. Who dares declare himself a stranger to the words of Paul the Apostle in Romans chapter 7, especially the last half of that chapter? And here's what the final two verses have to say. O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body, the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. That's who can take you out of that state and condition. I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord so then with the mind I myself serve the law of God but with the flesh I serve the law of sin. This apostle by the time he wrote Romans 7 or the letter to the Romans had been over 20 years since he was first arrested on the road to Damascus by the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ from glory. Blinding the apostle, unable to see, had to be led by those that were with him. What a statement that is. Oh, wretched man that I am. How often do we come to this confession? Oh, wretched man that I am. And then number four, there must be an appropriation of these blessed things. I know you've been itching to turn, so I'm going to give you an Old Testament reference. It's a fairly thick book. One of the shortest words in our Bibles. This fellow's name is Job. Now Job was a wealthy man, had a lot of children, had a wife, had a great many people outside of his family that greatly respected him. And the devil comes before God and requests permission to do certain things to Job just to see what it will take for him to leave off following God. If you've never read this book, you ought to read it. But I'll take you to some words that are full of meaning. In chapter 19, did I give you the chapter? I doubt I did. Chapter 19, beginning at verse 25, Job 19.25, For I know that my Redeemer lives, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth, and though after my skin, after my skin, worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh, wow, this was 1520 BC, before Christ, yet in my flesh, Shall I see God? Oh my goodness, what a statement indeed. One more verse, verse 28. These people that came to comfort Job pretty much have turned into people that want to accuse him and make him feel worse instead of better. Verse 28. He says to these people that know everything, you should say, why persecute we him? The root of the matter is found in me. And what is that root and that matter? None other than the blessed Lord Jesus Christ. God saved people in the Old Testament exactly like He does in the New. And he saves people now exactly like he did then. He's not playing games. Who dares to declare himself a stranger to the words of Paul the apostle? Let me read it to you. Verse 24 says, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? The next verse says, verse 25, I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Who's going to deliver me? Christ Jesus our Lord. So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but I confess to you that with the flesh I still serve the law of sin. Now that's a holy man. That's an apostle of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's the man that by divine inspiration penned over half of the New Testament. And he calls himself vile. If it weren't in this book, I could not believe that. But it's in here, and I best believe it. David said, God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Psalm 73, 26. One other statement, this time out of John 5, 20. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding. that we may know Him that is true, and we are in Him that is true, even in His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. Now we move on more quickly, I hope, than previously to deal with a few other things. Alright, we go back to our text, which is 2 Peter. Chapter 3. We come back to our original question, what is it to grow in grace? And just what is growing in grace? We make this assessment. Dead things cannot grow. Dead sinners may be alive physically, but they're dead spiritually. Why don't you turn the TV or the radio on once in a while and listen at some of these turkeys and what they're saying. The bottom line is, send us your money. They say they're interested in you, but they aren't. The only people who grow in grace are people who are spiritually alive to God. It's not this voice, it's the voice of the heart. Not growing is a sign of being unhealthy or worse, a sign of death. And we're all moving in that direction. Third statement under this divine injunction of growing grace is how are believers to actually grow in grace? Here's a statement I'd like for you to consider. How are believers to grow in grace? The God who gives us grace must give us more grace or we ain't gonna grow. We sometimes see people that don't reach an average height and we say, well, you know, why didn't your parents feed you or something like that? But this is totally spiritual and out of sight and cannot be measured by the means that man measures everything else. God must speak with the voice that wakes the dead and make thy people hear. It's not what I do, it's not what you do, it's what He does. That's what it's all about. And from start to finish, it's about Christ and Christ crucified. What is it? To know more of Christ. You remember we sung that little chorus from Philippians 3.10, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death. That's it in a nutshell. or this statement in John chapter 17 in verse 3, and this is life eternal, that they might know you the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you sent. Now who's speaking those words? They are the words of Christ in his intercessory prayer to God in heaven, God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. So God must speak as he did at the creation of this globe that we call the earth. Scripture puts it this way. He said, light be and light was. If you want it shorter than that, I'll give you the Latin. Dictum, that means it's a fact. Oh, what's the second one? Huh? dictum factum, spoken, done. I didn't think I could even forget that. I wish somebody would come up with a remedy for me, but I'd be scared to take it. Second thing about this special injunction in regard to the knowledge of Christ, because the Bible teaches us And I've got that one printed out, I think. Yes, there it is right in front of my eyes. It comes from John 17. Verse 3. And this is life eternal, that they might know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. Those are the precious intercessory words of our Lord Jesus Christ. So growing in the knowledge of Christ is because if we truly know Him, we're born again, regenerated, redeemed by His blood. We're His. And we're His forever, whether on this globe or in glory. If we're His, we're His forever. Whoever does not long to know more of Christ, only one thing can be said, he does not yet know Him. Doesn't know Him. Thinks he does, tells people he does, but he doesn't know Him. You remember that hymn that we sing, nearer still nearer. All that might be a good one to read this afternoon. The fourth reason we grow in knowledge in the knowledge of Christ is because to be absent from Christ is to be hell on earth and hell for all eternity. To be present with Christ is heaven. Even here on this earth it is heaven in. Oh my goodness a lot. Well I've covered on your brain can only take so much in mind takes even less than that so. Craig you wanna. We want him songs real long or something. wouldn't do for y'all to get to the restaurant before everybody else does.