Two Wednesday nights ago, Brother John Chapman brought the message to you. And he ended that message by saying that his desire for himself and for the congregation in Spring Lake and for this congregation and for all believers everywhere. is that we would grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. That statement stuck with me. I agree with him. I very much agree with him. I desire the same thing. I truly do desire the same thing. So that's what we're gonna look at this morning. We're gonna look at what it is to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Verse 18, 2 Peter 3, verse 18 says, but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. To Him be glory. both now and forever, amen. I have titled this message, Growing in Grace. Growing in Grace. And before we get into the details of this, I just wanna simply point out, I hope this is not confusing, I hope this is clarifying, I hope this makes things clear. But before we start in, I want to point out that growing in grace is growing in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And growing in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, is growing in grace. One is the definition of the other. Does that make sense? Growing in grace is growing in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And growing in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, is growing in grace. And when we grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, This is the result that that growth brings. This is the ending result of that knowledge. Okay. The end of verse 18, we say to him, be glory both now and forever. Amen. That's, that's what it brings us to. That's the end result of this growth and this knowledge. Now let's see if we can look into this and really understand what this means. Peter said, grow in grace. First, what is grace? If we are going to grow in grace, we need to know what grace is. And I believe the best place to start is the very first time that it was mentioned in the scripture. Turn over to Genesis chapter 6. Genesis 6 verse 1 says, And it came to pass when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were fair, and they took them wives of all which they chose. And the Lord said, my spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh. Yet his days shall be in 120 years. There were giants in the earth in those days. And also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men, which were of old, men of renown. Verse five says, and God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast and the creeping thing and the fowls of the air, for it repenteth me that I have made them. Verse eight says, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. God said, I'm going to destroy the whole world. I'm going to destroy this whole world. But this one man, Noah, found grace in the eyes of the Lord. What does that mean? What is the definition of grace? What did Noah find? This is what he found. This is what grace is. It means unearned favor from God. A generous outpouring of love and kindness and acceptance with God. Noah found a gift. That's what he found. An undeserved graciousness, mercy, forgiveness. With God. Only because it pleased God to do so. Noah found goodwill from the heart of God just because it pleased God to give it to him. That's what grace is. That's what Noah found when he found grace. Now, had Noah earned favor from God? Had he done something to earn God's favor? Had he earned that generous outpouring of kindness and acceptance? Had he done something to deserve that goodwill from the heart of God that provided a deliverance? Noah found a deliverance. A salvation had he earned that he would not have found grace. He would have found works. Grace. Is the opposite of works. And that's the first thing we need to understand if we are going to grow in grace. That's the first thing we need to understand in order to grow in grace. We have to shrink in works. That's just so. We have to shrink in our works, the works of the flesh, the deeds of man. Grace has everything to do with Christ doing the work for us. Not us doing the work for ourselves. So if we're going to grow in grace, We must shrink in our own works. We must shrink in the knowledge of our own works. We must shrink in the deeds of our own works. If grace is going to increase, then works must decrease. Go with me to Romans 11. Romans 11 verse 5 says, even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then it is no more of works. Otherwise grace is no more grace, but if it be of works, then it is no more grace. Otherwise work is no more work. What he's saying is salvation, deliverance from God, deliverance by God. It comes one way or the other, but it doesn't come both. That's what he's saying. You cannot mix the two. We are either saved by grace or works, but we're not saved by grace and works. It's one or the other. And in verse five, he said, it's grace. It's not works. It's grace. There's a remnant according to the election of grace, grace, grace, God's grace, amazing grace, wonderful grace. Salvation is by grace. It's by grace. Now let's see if the Lord will allow us to grow in grace a little bit, okay? I have five things concerning grace that I'd like for us to see. And if the Lord allows us to get ahold of these five things, it'll cause us to grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The first thing I want us to see about God's grace is this. It is sovereign. It is sovereign grace. Romans 11 verse 5 says, even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. What that means is God gives his grace to whoever He chooses to give His grace to. Here's the point. It's His grace. It's His grace. It's His to give. It is in His hand to give to whoever He's pleased to give it to. Hold your place right here in Romans and go over to Exodus 33. Exodus 33 verse 18. And Moses said, I beseech thee, show me thy glory. And the Lord said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee. And I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. He said, I will show grace and mercy to whoever I want to show grace and mercy to. That's his sovereign right as God. That's his sovereign right as God. The name Lord means sovereign. That's what the name means. And the word sovereign means Soul reign. Not a cabinet with a board of advisors and a council that has to approve and such on and so forth. Soul reign. Absolute authority. If it's said, it's done. He has the power and the right to do what he wants with whom he wants. If we ever learn this concerning Him, we will grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Everything He does is sovereign. Everything He does is sovereign. Do we want to learn something about the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, everything He does is sovereign, starting with His grace. He reigns over His grace. He does with it whatever He's pleased to do with it. Go to Romans, back to Romans now, this time chapter 9. Verse 11 says, For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth. It was said unto her, the elder shall serve the younger, as it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. So the first thing we can grow in the knowledge of concerning God's grace is this. It's sovereign. It's sovereign grace. All right, here's the second thing. Look at Romans 11 again. Verse six. And if by grace, then it is no more of works. Otherwise grace is no more grace. You know what that means? That means it's free. That's what it means. It's free. If we don't have to work for it, it's free. One man made the statement, I don't know who said this first, I heard a man quote this recently and this is so good, this blessed me so much. You may have heard this, but one man made the statement, we cannot preach God high enough, man low enough, or grace free enough. That's true. We just cannot do it. God's grace to every sinner that He has sovereignly chosen to give it to is free. It's free. Look with me at Romans 6. Verse 14 says, For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law, but under grace. That means God's favor is not conditional. That's what it means. It's not conditional. Well now, God will be gracious to you as long as you obey this law, but the moment you disobey this law, no more grace for you. Not so. That is not so. Thank God that's not so. Grace is not conditional. It's not conditional on man keeping the law or keeping himself from sin. It's not conditional on anything. It's free. It's free. Look at Romans 4. Verse 1. What shall we say then that Abraham, our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof the glory, but not before God. For what saith the Scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now unto him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. What that means is you go to your job, you work for a company, you put in eight hours a day for five days. At the end of that week, their paycheck is not a gift. They're indebted to you. They owe it to you. Verse four, to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. but to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly. That means if for every soul who sees the fact that Christ did the work, his faith is counted for righteousness. Look at verse 6. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works. What a blessed man. I love that so much. You know what that means? It's free. It is free. Verse seven, saying, blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Freely. Look at Romans three, verse 23. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace. Through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation, through faith in His blood to declare His righteousness, His work, for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God. His obedience, verse 26, to declare, I say at this time, His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It's excluded. By what law? Of works? Nay, but by the law of faith. Therefore, we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. That means mercy with God is great. Grace is free. The grace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, is sovereign and is free. All right, turn with me to 2 Corinthians 8. 2 Corinthians 8 verse 9. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might be rich. The grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is sacrificial grace. Again, grace means gift. It was a sovereign gift, it was a free gift, and it was a completely, totally sacrificial gift. That means He did not give some, He gave all. He gave all of His grace. He didn't give out of His riches, which is what men do. They give out of their riches. He didn't give out of His riches. He didn't give some of His riches. He gave His riches. He gave all of His riches to the point that though He was rich, He became poor. to give all that he had and all that he was to and for his people. He gave himself. He gave himself until there was nothing left to give. There was nothing left for the Lord Jesus Christ to give to us. Grace means gift. There was nothing left that could be called grace. Everything that could be called grace was given. He had to sacrifice all. in order to show grace to his people. We're just saying, oh, the love that sought me. Oh, the blood that bought me. Oh, the grace that brought me to the fold. Wondrous grace that brought me to the fold. The grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was sovereign, free, sacrificial, and saving. saving. Turn to Romans 5. Romans 5 verse 20 says, Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign." There's sovereign grace again. Even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. God Almighty purposed to be gracious to his sinful people by saving them from their sins. He purposed to be gracious by sending a substitute for them. a substitute of blood, a substitute of mercy, a gift of a payment in full. And Christ was the gift. He was the gift. Christ was the grace that was given to save, and that's what he did. By grace, you are saved. By grace, you are saved. It's finished. It's complete. It's over. It's done. The grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ provided a complete salvation. And because of that, we can rest. We can rest in Him. So, the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was sovereign grace, free grace, sacrificial grace, saving grace, and therefore, here's the last one, sufficient It is sufficient grace. The grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is sufficient grace. Turn with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 12. 2 Corinthians 12 verse 7. The Apostle Paul said, lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing, I besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee. For my strength is made perfect in weakness." The Lord said, my strength is made perfect in your weakness. My strength is most clearly seen in your weakness. Verse nine, he went on to say, most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. The grace that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has given to us is all that we need. It is all that we need. 2 Corinthians 4 says it's abundant grace. 2 Corinthians 9 says it is exceeding grace, far exceeding, all we could ever need. If we have his grace, we don't need our works. Isn't that good news? If we have his grace, we don't need our works. If we have his abundant, exceeding gift to us, his unspeakable gift to us, we don't need anything else in this world. What else could we possibly need? If we keep our eyes on that, we will see more, we will grow more, we will learn more of His all-sufficient grace. And we'll find peace. Grace and peace be to you. Grace brings peace, it brings rest, it brings hope in Him. In the One who is the grace of God. in our Lord and our Savior. I pray that the Lord will give us that. I pray he'll teach us that. I pray he will teach us to stop looking to this flesh. Do you realize we're going to look to the flesh till the day we leave the flesh? I wish we would stop doing that. We're not going to. Like the Apostle Paul, we're just going to keep saying, oh wretched man that I am. Such a sinner against God. Only a sinner saved by grace. But I pray that He will more so, I pray will grow, I pray He will more so teach us to stop looking to this flesh and stop looking to the works of this flesh and only look to the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory, both now and forever. Amen.