We take our Bibles again and we'll turn again to that book of 1st or 2nd Peter. 2nd Peter in the chapter number 3 this time. 2nd Peter chapter 3. We want to begin our reading at the verse number 14 and we will read down to the end of the chapter. 2 Peter chapter 3, beginning to read the verse number 14 down to the end of the chapter. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye be found of him in peace without spot and blameless, and account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation, even as our beloved brother Paul, also according to the wisdom given unto him, hath written unto you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to be understood, which say that are unlearned and unstable rest, as they do also the other scriptures unto their own destruction. Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, Beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness. But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To Him be glory, both now and forever. Amen. Amen. It is that final verse there that I want to bring to your attention this morning. I will take as my text. But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever. Amen. Let's bow together in a word of prayer, and we'll ask that the Lord will bless the preaching of his precious word to our hearts. Our Father in heaven, Lord, how we acknowledge this morning that we need the help of the Spirit of God. Lord, we need the Spirit of the Lord to come upon, Lord, our doctrine and also our delivery. We need that help, O Lord, that will lift us up from the weakness and the frailty of the mind and the body, and, Lord, will bring us into that realm where we know true liberty, true unction, and true power. We pray that the words that we say today will come forth with authority and with power, that we might know the spirit of the Lord building up his church through the means of growth, that every one of us might have a rekindled burden in our hearts to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. So help us this morning. Be unto us all that we would need. We ask these things in your precious name. Amen. One of the most thrilling things to watch in life is when a new Christian comes to the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ, and they continue, and they start to grow in grace. It's encouraging to see God's work being taken place in their life. The Lord begins to sanctify them, to change them. And you can watch that young individual, and you can see God working in their lives, and you can see their desires for life changing. You can see their demeanor, their conduct beginning to change. You can see them then becoming active in God's work and beginning to serve the Lord. But on the other hand, it is equally as discouraging when you look and you see someone who professes the name of Jesus Christ, who for a while has grown in grace, but all of a sudden, something happens and they stop. They stopped growing. They're no longer steadfast in the work of Jesus Christ. They're now absent from the pyramiding. They've got caught up in the rat race of life. They're no longer contending for the faith, but rather they've become comfortable. Comfortable. Now, as I thought about my own Christian experience, I thought about the circle of friends that I had whenever I was a young Christian. There was a group of us, and we had got converted mostly around the same time or within a year and a half of each other. And in that circle of friends, there were those who were what you would call strong Christians. They were strong in their faith. They had high standards of living. They had strong convictions. They were in the work of God, and they were growing in the grace of Jesus Christ. There was others who you might term as weak Christians. You might say about them that they were a wee bit light, to use that phrase. There was things in their lives that you couldn't reconcile with their faith of Christ. They were saved. They were trying to grow, but they were weaker. They were weaker. They weren't as strong as what some other people were. You know, as a young Christian, I ignorantly thought that, you see, these strong Christians that I have around me, well, they're the ones that are going to abound in the faith. They're the ones that are going to keep going on with God and will be used mightily of God in the future. The weak Christians, well, if they continue on in the church, I'll be surprised. They might fall away. They might fall back. But, you know, the thing that I have come to learn is this, that it doesn't matter initially if you start out as a weak Christian or as a strong Christian, weak in the faith or strong in the faith, but the most essential thing is this. The most essential thing is growth, whether you grow or not, whether you're a weak Christian and you grow, or whether you're a strong Christian and you grow. Whatever you are, you need to grow. That's the only way that you can keep going for the Lord. And as I watched some of those Christian friends of my life, the weaker ones, they grew. They grew in the grace of Jesus Christ. They became strong then in the Lord, and they've abounded on the faith. Some of those stronger ones, they didn't grow. They had too much confidence in their own strength. They stopped growing. And what it says in verse number 17, they have fallen from their own steadfastness. That's their testimony at the minute. You know, if I could sum up in one sentence what I have learned over the years concerning Christian experience and Christian growth, it is that you keep going through growing. You keep going in the Christian life through growing. And as we were reading here this morning, we read an exhortation from the Apostle Peter. And his exhortation comes to us in verse number 18. And he wants the believers to grow in grace and in knowledge. You know, as I thought about my own experience, I can understand why Peter would give such an exhortation, why he would commend and exhort these believers to grow in their faith. because He knew what would happen if they didn't. Verse number 17 tells us, it's the testimony of someone who fails to grow. Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things, beware lest ye also, being led away from the air of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness. And how do you not fall away? How do you remain steadfast in the work of Jesus Christ? The answer's in verse 18. You grow. You grow. These last two verses, verses 17 and 18, are really a summary of the entire book of 2 Peter. Verse 17 for us is a summary of the chapters 2 and 3, warning against those men that come into the church to seek to pull away and to pull down those who are saved. And verse number 18 is a summary of chapter number 1 that tells us concerning how we can grow in grace. And I want today to take verse number 18, and I want to take this subject of growing in grace, and I want to examine the exhortation that the Apostle Peter gave us here, us even now, to grow in this grace. Before we get into our first point, I want to understand what is meant by grace. How do we understand this grace here in verse number 18? Well, the first way that we understand grace is this, as an attribute or as a characteristic of God. And as God's characteristic, we could describe it this way. It is the way in which God bestows or demonstrates His goodness to man. Now, God gives His grace to men in two ways. He, first of all, gives it to those men commonly, all men through common grace. And this common grace is given to every single man, and this common grace restrains the evil of his heart. And this common grace blesses that individual with health, with strength, with family. The second type of grace is special grace. And this special grace is given to some men, those who God would redeem from their sin. And this special grace enters into the sinner's life and completely transforms them. They become a new creature. The old things are passed away, and all things become new. But the second understanding of grace is that grace in the life of a believer is something that can be displayed or outworked. It is a characteristic, it is a quality, or it is a work that the believer can perform or can display within their lives. And I believe that's what we're dealing with here in verse number 18 today. We're dealing with characteristics, qualities, works that can be displayed within a believer's life. And the first thing that I want you to notice concerning this grace and growing in grace is the marks of growth. the marks of growth. You know, as a person grows spiritually, as they go on with the Lord, they will display graces within their lives. The formula is very simple. If someone is growing, then they will show these graces. If someone does not show these graces, then they are not growing. There's no buts. There's no exceptions to the rule. However, some Christians do believe that they are the exception to the rule. You look at their life. No progression in grace. No fruit in their life. No increasing of these graces. And yet, when you put the question to the believer, are you growing in grace? How is your spiritual life? Are you going on with God? What's their reply? Oh, I'm okay. I'm okay. In this case, either one of two things is happening. Either they are lying, flat-out lying, or else they are judging themselves by the wrong standard. They're judging themselves by the wrong standard. How often it is within the heart of man that we judge ourselves by ourselves. We set our own standard. We set the bar that we must meet in order to display or to say within our lives that we are growing as a Christian. But what we're reminded of this morning in the book of 1 Peter is that God sets the standard. God determines the marks of growth. God determines what is the bar and what is the standard that we have to meet in order if we are to say, yes, I am growing in Greece. As I said in my introduction, verse number 18 is a summary of chapter number 1. And if you'll turn with me, please, to chapter 1 of 2 Peter, chapter 1 lays out for us these graces, these qualities and characteristics that are to be displayed within the believer's life and that we must grow in. Notice what it says in verse number 5. And beside this, giving all diligence basically means fulfill your duty. Christian, you have a duty to do. And the duty that you have to do is you have to display these graces within your lives. These qualities must be exercised. These qualities must be growing within your Christian experience. From verses 5 to 7, we find these marks of growth. we find these marks of growth. Let's go through them this morning. Very quickly, we'll just pass a comment on each one. The first one is found in verse 5. And beside all this, giving all diligence, add to your faith. There's the first grace. And faith is the first grace from which all of these other graces will flow. It is through faith that we have been justified, declared righteous before God, but it is also through faith that we are sanctified, that God cleanses us, that God changes us and God increases these graces within our lives. Should you add to your faith virtue, that's the second grace. And virtue is a high standard of morality. And we as believers are to live a life of faith as pure men and women, holding to a high standard of godliness. Then the third is knowledge. In verse 5 and 6, Knowledge. And knowledge here is vital. We're going to deal with it a wee bit more later on. But this knowledge that is mentioned here is a grace because, in a sense, it is a gift from God. This knowledge is a knowledge of God, of His nature. And even more than that, it is a knowledge particularly of the person and of the work of Jesus Christ. Then it goes on to say, in verse number 6, to temperance, were to add to our knowledge temperance. Temperance is self-control, self-restraint. And within the Christian's life, we are not to live an uncontrolled, unrestrained life. If you're coming into the house of God on a Sunday and restraining your lusts and restraining your passions just here and now in front of other believers, but you'll go out tomorrow morning and live throughout the week uncontrolled, unrestrained, let me put it to you this morning, you're not a Christian. You're not a Christian. We, as Christians, are to curb and restrain the lusts of the flesh and the sinful appetites of our lives. There's patience, which is enduring God's trials and God's afflictions in this life. There's godliness, in verse number seven and six, which is a life that is characterized by consistent, holy living, day by day fellowship with God, And then there's brotherly kindness, a particular love, a love directed to a particular group of people, those who are our brothers and sisters in Christ. And then the last grace is charity, and it is a love to all, those in the church and those outside of the church. And now, having gone through these marks of growth and seeing that God has set the standard, He has set the bar, He has determined what the marks of growth are within a Christian's life, let me ask you this morning, are these graces being displayed within your life? Are these graces, not just are they being displayed within your life, but are they growing in your life? Can you look back to a point in the past and say, from that point until now, I have grown in grace. From that point until now, my faith is more. I have a higher virtue than before. I am more patient. I have a greater brotherly kindness to my brothers and sister in Christ. I have a better life of godliness now than what I was before. Are you growing in grace? Are these graces growing within your life? Remember, God has set the standard. You do not judge yourself by yourself, or else you'll just say, I'm okay. I'm okay. We are exhorted again in verse number 10 of chapter one, Wherefore, the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure. For if ye do these things, ye shall never fall. We are exhorted to self-examination. We are exhorted to make sure that we truly are in the faith. Now, that is the difference between what you could call apostolic Christianity and modern Christianity. Modern Christianity, you bring the sinner in, they say the sinner's prayer, you slap them on the back, you send them out the door, and you say, you're saved. That person comes back to you maybe a year later, oh, I've been living like the devil. Nothing changed in me since that very night that I said the sinner's prayer. You immediately call that person a backslider. That is not salvation. That is not true growing in grace. When a person is saved, God changes them, and they will grow, some at slower paces, some at faster paces, some more intensely or not as intensely, but there will be growth. If there's no growth, you're dead. If you had a plant sitting outside your house, you had a plant, you looked at that plant, you planted the seed, nothing happened. Would you say that plant's alive? If weeks passed and nothing happened, or perhaps you saw it start to grow, and then it stopped, and nothing happened after that, and then the leaves began to fade, and the stalk began to bend, you would say to yourself, there's no life there. It's not growing, it's dead. It's the same for us. It's the same for those people who profess the name of Christ. If there's no growth, if there's no growth, We are called to examine ourselves, to make our calling and election sure whether we are truly in the faith. The second thing I want you to notice this morning is the means of growth. We've looked at the marks of growth found in chapter number one that we are to grow in, but now the means of growth. Now, we cannot make ourselves grow. Only the Holy Spirit can produce the growth within our lives. But we can partake of things that enable us to grow. To give you an illustration of what I'm getting at, the Lord Jesus Christ in Scripture said that no man could add to his height one inch. You can't add to your stature. You can't add a centimeter. You can't add an inch or two inches. You cannot produce growth within your body. But you can partake of things that will enable you to grow. You can eat good food. You can drink water. And your body partakes of that, and then it produces growth within the life. It's exactly like the Christian experience. We cannot add to our own graces. We cannot add to them. It's only the Holy Spirit that produces the growth of these graces. But we can partake of means that will enable us to grow, that will enable these graces to grow in our lives. And I have categorized these means into three different categories. The first one we have in verse number 18 of chapter number 3. But grow in grace and in the knowledge. There's that word knowledge. It's key in this whole passage. And the first means of grace that we have that will help us to grow is the Scriptures. The Scriptures. Now, verse number 18 speaks of growing in knowledge. But what is this knowledge? What is the knowledge? Well, we go back then to chapter number 1 and the verse number 2, and it tells us what the knowledge is. Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and Jesus Christ, our Lord. So the knowledge here that we are to grow in and the knowledge that we are to have is the knowledge of God and His Son, Jesus Christ. Now, where do we get that knowledge? We do not get that knowledge by looking solely at creation. We need a special revelation. And in that special revelation, God gave us a special book that tells us about His nature and tells us about His person, and it tells us about the work that Jesus Christ done for us on the cross. You know, it is through reading the Scriptures that we will grow in our knowledge of God. And as we grow in our knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ, we begin to see even more the standard that we are to conform to. It is through knowing God and seeing what Jesus Christ has done for us that our hearts are broken down from oftentimes our hardness, that our hearts can be corrected that our hearts can be chastened and softened, and we can say, when we see the work that Christ has done, I ought to be living for Him. When we see what Jesus Christ had to endure so that I could experience sanctification, I ought to be endeavoring to live a holy life. We are to have the Scriptures if we are to grow. You know, one of the problems of modern Christianity is that the head has been cut off the Christian. the head has been cut off the Christian. I don't mean physically. You're not all sitting here as headless people or not headless people in churches, but spiritually. So much of preaching nowadays, it only seeks to go to the heart. It only seeks to produce an emotional response. Oh, if it can only get them to walk down an aisle, if it can only get them to raise a hand, and there's nothing wrong with those things, but that's all people are looking. It's just a numbers game. And people preach so much to the heart that they miss the head. They miss the mind. Christianity nowadays has become, as it is, the religion for those that are light, the religion for those that aren't thinkers. And in many cases, you have to hold up their hands and say, it's true. Broadly speaking about the church. So much of preaching is only emotional stories being told to provoke an emotional response within the heart. But what is true preaching? True preaching is knowledge. True preaching is preaching to the mind, that the gospel then can go to the mind, that the Spirit of the Lord then can take it from the mind of the individual and bring it down to the heart, do the work of grace within the life. The gospel must go through the mind and then to the heart. You cannot negate or neglect the mind. And so, we must grow in knowledge, reading the Scriptures, learning about our God. But the second means of growth are the sacraments. The sacraments. What are the sacraments? Well, we have baptism and the Lord's Supper. Now, whenever we say that these are a means of growth, we're not saying that somehow, that whenever we partake of the actual elements themselves, the bread, the wine, or the water, that whenever we partake of those elements, that somehow that infuses grace within us or gives to us grace. No, we're not saying that, but rather, it's whenever we're in the midst of taking those sacraments, whenever we're gathered around the Lord's table, whenever we've experienced the waters of baptism, it is during those experiences that the Spirit of God comes. And the Spirit of the Lord in those moments, believer, you know what I'm talking about, can often strengthen us, can renew a love in our hearts for God. can show us perhaps we've been treating a brother wrong and provoke brotherly kindness within us. We come into the Lord's table, and we're cast down, and we're discouraged, and yet at the Lord's table, our patience is renewed and strengthened. Let me ask you, do you partake of these means? Are you there, or are you absent? Have you been baptized? I once asked a young person one time, you know, have you been baptized? And they said to me, well, I'm just praying about it at the minute. And I told them, don't pray about it. You don't need to pray about it. God has commanded you in Scripture, and I could probably guess what God's answer is gonna be, go and be baptized. There's things in Scripture that we don't need to pray about. Should I be at the Lord's table if I'm a Christian? Yes. Should I be baptized if I am a Christian? Yes. Why? What's the purpose? Well, one of the purposes is that the means and these graces within your life will be strengthened, and you will grow as a Christian. We have the Scriptures. We have the sacraments. But then we also have supplication. Supplication. Prayer is a means. whereby the graces, these marks of growth, can be strengthened within our lives. Listen to what Spurgeon said concerning prayer. No man can progress in grace if he forsakes prayer. He plainly states it. No man can progress in grace if he forsakes prayer. He then goes on to say, as well, could you expect a plant to grow without air and water as to expect your heart to grow without prayer and faith? Dear believer, if there is no prayer, then there is no progression. And if you want there to be progression in your life, then you need to get back to prayer. Back to prayer. Prayer in private, prayer in public. Prayer in public. Now how is it that prayer causes us to grow? What happens when we're praying that increases and strengthens these graces within our lives? Well, in prayer, we're asking for God's grace, God's common grace, to restrain our souls from evil and to produce these good works within our lives. And God can enable us and give us opportunities to do this. But then also, as well, in prayer, how often it is that when we're praying for something and we're asking God for something, we then find ourselves stopping and we begin to meditate and we begin to think about our own lives and our own souls. We begin to think of our shortcomings and how we've sinned and let the Lord down that week. And the Lord begins to rebuke us through the Spirit. And there's things that he highlights to us that we can then put right. Let me ask you this morning, how is your prayer life? How is your prayer life? Is it increasing or is it decreasing? Is it dying or is it living? For I can tell you this, as your prayer life is, so you are as a Christian. Your prayer life is an exact representation of you as a Christian. I want you to notice with me, thirdly, thirdly, we've looked at the marks of growth. We've then looked at the means of growth. But I want you to notice with me, thirdly, the motive for growth, the motive for growth. Verse number 18. of 2 Peter 3. Verse number 18, it closes with this ending declaration. To Him be glory, both now and forever. Amen. And what Paul is doing here in his closing doxology, it's not just giving an ending for verse number 18 and 17, but he's giving an ending for the entirety of the book of 2 Peter. And he's saying, listen, the motive for your growth and the motive for you to not fall away, what should motivate you and what should drive you and what should cause you to pursue on after God is His glory. His glory. You know, motive is important. Motive is important. You know, as you read through the Gospels, you read about the Pharisees. And the Pharisees, they were trying to live righteously. They were trying to live godly and holy. Although they weren't doing it right, they were trying to live a righteous life. And the Lord Jesus Christ condemned them, not so much for the way that they were living, but the Lord Jesus Christ condemned them for their motives. condemned them for their motives. Oh, they were praying, but they were praying for men to see around them. Oh, they were giving in the money into the boxes, but they were giving in their money that they might have the pat on the back from those around them. They weren't doing any work on the Sabbath day, but again, it wasn't for the glory of God. Their motive was wrong. Their motive was sinful. You know, your motive this morning, your motive for growing, will either make you a Pharisee or a disciple. Your motive will either make you a Pharisee or a disciple. Perhaps you have been trying to grow. Perhaps you have been trying to show love, brotherly kindness. Perhaps you have been trying to show virtue, that high standard of living within your life, or a high standard of morality. but it hasn't been for God's glory. It hasn't been for God's praise. It's been so that someone else could see it. It's been so that someone else would come and give you the pat on the back and give you the well done. What is your motive? Motive matters. Motive matters. What is your motive this morning? You know, we can often examine other people's lives better than our own. We can often judge other people's motives better than what our own are. But yet, listen to what the hymn writer said. He said, "'Search me, O God, and know my heart today. "'Try me, O Savior, and know my thoughts, I pray. "'See if there be some wicked way in me. "'Cleanse me from every sin and set me free.'" Our motive and the examination of our own heart must be that we will live and that we will grow in grace and that we will partake of these means to grow for the glory of God, for the glory of God. I wonder this morning, though, are you like some of the people that I mentioned earlier, those friends that I had that stopped growing, stopped growing, They were once in God's service, but now they simply lie on the sofa. They once had convictions, but now they're just comfortable. You know, there's nothing wrong with just lying up on the sofa for a night, but it is wrong whenever you once used to be in the service of God. You once used to be out in the middle of the week, the children's meeting, the prayer meeting, the teenagers meeting. You once used to go out around the doors, out to the open airs, doing various things, but now you've packed it all in. You've given it all up. You've become comfortable. You're just lying up in the evenings on the sofa. But maybe you're out here this morning when the word has touched your heart and you want to grow. You don't want to be as it is in verse number 17. You don't want to fall from steadfastness. You want to keep growing in these graces within your lives. Well, let me point you again back to the means. Get into Scripture, partake of the sacraments, and pray. Let your supplications rise before the throne of grace. And if you do these things, then the marks of grace will come forth in your life. and you will be able to live a life with the glory and the honor of God. Oh, I give you the same exhortation as what Peter gave to those Christians. We don't want you to fall away. We don't want you to lose your steadfastness. But unless you keep growing, then you'll not keep going. Unless you keep growing, you'll not keep going. And so I exhort you this morning, look at the marks of grace, go for that standard, partake of the means of growth, and let your motive be that you're doing this for the glory and the honor of God. Let's bow our heads in a word of prayer. Our Father and our God in heaven, Lord, we preach a message, oh Lord, How, O Lord, that we cannot even live up to even ourselves at times. Lord, I fall so far short. Lord, when I lift up thy standard and I see the standard that God would have us live to, O Lord, how I feel and how I fall. But Lord, we come this morning and we ask as a congregation for fresh mercy. We ask for fresh grace. We pray, O Lord, that we would endeavor to grow we would endeavor to live for the glory and the honor of God. Father, I pray that you would undertake for us and bless us. I pray that there would be growth within this congregation, true spiritual growth. And I pray, O Lord, that everyone would live a life for the glory and the honor of God. For we ask this in Christ's precious name. Amen and amen.