In your scriptures to 2 Peter chapter 3, we're going to be focusing upon verse 18 primarily. The title of my sermon today is Growing in Grace and using the means of grace by which to grow. Paul gives us a command in 2 Peter 3. He tells us that we are to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. We live in a day and a time when rugged individualism and self-dependence are appreciated as virtues. People in our society applaud those who have made their own fortunes in this way. We admire those who are resourceful and who are doggedly determined to achieve their goals. We make heroes of explorers, pioneers, and winners of all sorts who by their strength and uncommon effort have performed incredible feats. Who hasn't heard of Davy Crockett or, um, other legends of our Jim Bowie and people that died in the Alamo. They were pioneers. They were legends. And we tend to elevate them in this country to almost stardom. We have athletic heroes that we think of who have, you know, excelled in their particular venues. And we almost worship and idolize those sorts of people. Millions of others have seen the great prosperity that have been exercised by these seeming virtues of self-dependence and self-reliance. I dare say that many of us, many of you, have been prosperous as a result of your self-dependence. Most of us hope that our own hard work will gain us some reward at some point. While there is virtue in working hard, bearing your own load, it is a mistake to think that our working is the means by which we prosper. Working is essential, but many Christians in our day who think that the individual effort brings success materially Also, assume that their individual effort in reading, studying, and praying will bring them into close fellowship with God. Today's message is not to be found entirely by looking at the scripture that's before us, but rather looking at scripture in greater entirety. to arrive at the whole picture that Scripture gives with regard to the means of grace, which really is the topic of my message today. So we were looking at a couple of passages to tie together the various threads that are woven into the Scriptures. I intend to use James, or 2 Peter, as a jumping off point. So we examined these passages. My prayer is that God would press these truths in your souls. And that you would labor with all your strength to put them into practice to the end that you would know Christ more fully. Love Christ more deeply and serve Christ more faithfully. Notice that from Peter, we are commanded to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. What is the apostle meaning when he says we are to grow in grace? Christian grace is the undeserved favor of God. The graces about which he is speaking are rather general in their meaning. It embodies all of those things that we call Christian grace says. This grace that he gives to individual Christians that is to be exercised and demonstrated individually and corporately. Faith is the first grace that God gives. Some may say, well, repentance may be the first, but you can't have one without the other. So I would tend to think that the first grace that God gives us is repentance and faith together. One doesn't come without the other. It is one of the graces that are called that which are called the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 522. You might want to take a look at that passage at some point to meditate upon. Love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, meekness, and self-control. Those are the things that are listed in Galatians 522. Notice that these graces are called fruit, not fruits. It's singular. The indication is that every Christian has all of these graces in some measure, and they are observable by others. We are commanded here in 2 Peter to work on improving and perfecting these graces by the enabling power of the Holy Spirit, which is at work in us by virtue of our union with Jesus Christ. And that is what is meant by grow. It is the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit's sovereign power that enables the work that we are to bear the fruit of righteousness in our hearts, our minds, and our actions. It is an inward work that has an obvious outward sign. It is the seeming contradiction of God's sovereignty and man's responsibility. The two go hand in hand. They are both scriptural truths, and it is very, very difficult to see how they fit together. But yet the scripture calls us to recognize and to believe that these things are true. We are to work, but our work is a result of what God is doing. But we are to work. We are also commanded to grow in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is instrumental if we are to grow in the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. The only place that we can go to gain knowledge is God's written word. That is the only place where knowledge of Christ is revealed. We can't look to our hearts. We can't look to some self-proclaimed prophet of modern day. We must go to his holy word. That word is indispensable if we are to learn more of Christ. I did not say learn about Christ, but to learn of him, to know him deeply, intimately, adoringly. That is not knowing about Christ, it is knowing Christ. His word is a love letter to his bride, the church. Though we may find it necessary and profitable to study on our own, it is the preaching of the word by faithful ministers in a corporate setting that will cause us to grow best. Because that is where Christ is promised to be. And where Christ is promised to bless His people by meeting with Him there. And I will say a little more about this later. But for now, I want you to understand that this command to grow is meant for our good. The Scripture promises us that if we will delight ourselves in the Lord, He will give us the desire of our hearts. Is there anything more precious to you than the Lord Jesus Christ? Jesus is the author and perfecter of our faith. To know him and to be united to him is the greatest good of our souls. To be like him in our character is inestimably good, for it draws us into deeper and everlasting fellowship with him. Growing in grace and knowledge separates us from the world and its cares, because it enables us to see ourselves as pilgrims and strangers on the earth. It also shows us that we are sinners in need of repentance. It takes our hearts and minds off the things of the earth that perish and fade and sets them upon Christ and things that will never fade. Growth in grace enables others to see more clearly Christ in us. Our children will be drawn to the Savior that we love. The mouths of the wicked will be stopped when they see our godly and upright life. and our prayers will be fervent and effectual. Thirdly, growth in grace brings glory to God, for it stirs up the heart to reverence, praise, and thanksgiving to the God of grace and his Son whom he sent, to pour out his life's blood and to make peace between him and us. It brings us into an increasing and better relationship with our Creator, by which we are joyfully drawn to exalt him for his goodness, his justice, his mercy, his love, his patience, his tenderness, and to reverence his sovereign power, his glorious majesty, his spotless purity, and his wondrous wisdom. Do you think about God in these ways? When you have a measure of grace, you begin to think about God in these ways. The last point I want to make about growth and grace is that we learn more and more to grow in grace as we become more fit for heaven. It is the sanctifying work of the Spirit in us. We become more like our Savior in our conduct. Heaven is a place where sin has no place. Let me say that again. Heaven is no place where sin has a place. Don't you long for sin to be gone from your experience? Then you ought to long for heaven. Scripture says that in heaven righteousness dwells. That's where it lives. That's where its abode is. Because that's where Christ is. That's where God, our Heavenly Father, is. So then, we become more fit for heaven as we set ourselves apart in obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what the Apostle had in mind in Philippians 2, 12-15, which I'm sure many of you are aware, which says, Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, now not only as in my presence, but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you both to do and will and to do work for his good pleasure. Do all things without grumbling or questioning that you may be blameless and innocent children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation among whom you shine as lights in the world. The goal then is to labor to be more like Christ in godly and upright living which is a demonstration of our union with Jesus Christ. At this point, I've been laying the groundwork so that you may all understand how important it is that we grow by working out our salvation, depending upon God to work in us as we work. But you may well ask, how am I supposed to grow in grace and knowledge? I've given you some indication already. The Westminster Catechism answers this question by defining what is called the means of grace and says this about the means of grace. The outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicates to his church the benefits of his mediation. Although the term means grace, although the term the means of grace is not found in the scripture, The principles conveyed are warranted by the scriptures themselves in much the same way that the words triune God, penal substitutionary atonement, or total depravity describe scriptural principles. To illustrate what is meant by the means, think about the weights of exercise equipment that we use to get strong or to add or lose weight. Most of us need to lose a little bit. Some people actually have to lift weights to add weight. I envy them. These machines don't do anything themselves. They just sit there. They don't magically make you stronger or lighter. In using the machines, exercising your muscle makes you stronger or reduces your waistline. So it is with the means of grace. By using these means, God imparts peace, comfort, joy, instruction, direction, correction, rebuke, and many other things that are needed for the Christian life. There are basically two aspects to the means of grace. They have similarities, but they may be described as public and private means. One of the private means of grace is reading the Word of God. God has given us a book by which He speaks to us. He no longer speaks to us in an audible voice. He speaks to us through His Son, His Word. The Word speaks to us through the Holy Scriptures. It is in the Bible that Christ speaks to us with the kind of power that can awaken dead sinners to life. We believe that the Scriptures have that kind of power to awaken dead sinners to life in Christ. You are all testimonies to the fact that that is true. Jesus said, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. We should make it our habit to daily read God's word and to meditate upon it. We should read it in an orderly manner and with a determination to obey its precepts. We should rest in its promises and act on its commands. In short, we should order our lives by what we find, applying it in very personal and meaningful ways in our own daily living. Some people would think that this private devotion is enough to commend themselves to God. I would caution you that light does not come through only one window. God's appointed the corporate worship service and the reading of the word in a corporate setting as a means of grace, as a means to help Christians grow in the fruit of the spirit that I mentioned earlier. The second private means of grace is prayer. Prayer cultivates a personal and living relationship with the living God. It involves talking to God, asking him for the things that he has promised in his word, and offering up our heartfelt desires. It is praising him, expressing the gratitude of our hearts. And it is pouring out the deepest longing of our souls to him. In our praying, we surrender our wills to God. Trusting that whatever he brings into our life, whether joyful or difficult, is for our good and his glory. And it is his glory not to be our chief delight. The third area of private means is meditating upon God's word. We commit this word to our memory. We contemplate God's ways. We think about how to apply his precepts. We apply what he says to our daily living. Read Psalm 119 and see what David thought about meditating in God's Word over 2,800 years ago. Those truths haven't changed. Can you say with David, oh, how love I thy law. It is my meditation all the day. Although the private means of grace are indispensable to our growth in grace, they are not the most important means. They will fail to bring maturity and knowledge to those who do not avail themselves to the public means of grace. When they do attend a corporate assembly, it is not really worship that they are engaging in. But be that as it may, Christians are commanded to assemble themselves and worship together. And we can read that in Hebrews 10, 22. Do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some is, but so much the more as you see the day approaching. After Christ's ascension, the apostles went everywhere, starting churches and appointing elders and pastors. Acts says that as a result, new converts were strengthened and encouraged. It is God's command, not man's, that calls us together to worship him corporately. Failure to regularly attend the public worship of God is a willful violation of the commandment of Christ, who said, if you love me, obey my words. The public means of grace include public reading of the scriptures, preaching and teaching, the giving of gifts in the form of tithes and offerings, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Also included are the ordinance of baptism, observance of the Lord's Supper, and the fellowship of the saints. These are all the means of grace that God uses in the corporate realm to cause us to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the regulative principle at work. It is the way in which God desires to be worshipped. All other means and methods are displeasing to God. Even if we have the right method and we do not avail ourselves to the occasion of corporate We will deny ourselves of opportunities to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how important corporate worship is. I've not always completely understood that. I've always valued corporate worship. I did not always understand why I should. Preaching is the most important element of the public means of grace. Even if the preacher isn't the best of preachers. Christ has promised that through the foolishness of preaching, that sinners will be saved. 1 Corinthians 1.21. Timothy is commanded to preach the word at all times. Do you trust the mighty power of God to use the means that he has appointed for the good of your soul? Do you think that you know better than God what is good for your soul? Some say that they can't absorb all that their minds are bombarded with in heavy servants. Some say that their children object to preaching because they can't get anything out of it. To be sure, it does take work and sustained effort to grow. Do you wish to grow without making any effort? It will never happen. It's been my observation that those who become most like Christ are those who are most faithful in attending corporate worship services of the church. I ask you, is attendance at the assembly of the church one of your highest priorities? Or almost any reason serve as an excuse for you to skip the worship of the Lord who saved you? Do you participate sacrificially in the ministry of the church by giving of your time and your money to sustain its purity and growth? In our own assembly, we have an expressed desire to see our church grow. Is that your desire? Failure to give regularly and sacrificially is in part an abandonment of the regulative principle of worship. God desires the first fruits of the labors of the Israelites, and it is not unreasonable that we should, as a means of demonstrating our love to Him who redeemed our souls from death, to give Him the first fruits of our own labor. Do you consider your giving an act of worship? It is commanded. that we do so. Not that any of you aren't giving freely, but I use that to encourage you. There are many other hindrances that lead us to think and act as if corporate worship is not so instrumental in our growth and grace. We tend to think that we do not need some preacher to rant in our ears, and that's pride that keeps us from paying attention to such a person. That family time, leisure, and our own enjoyments are just as necessary to make us well in body and soul. Do you think that? My dear friends, I hope you have not forgotten that you are the bride of Christ. Because you are the bride of Christ, it draws out my own heart and love for you. These words that I speak to you today are spoken with a heart of love for you and desire to see you come into an intimate, personal and growing relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ so that you may rejoice continually in his goodness and his grace. What bride, seeing that we are his bride, does not want to be with the groom? The bridegroom is the one that we love. We have no promise that we will find him in our quiet time, or in our leisure time, or entertainments, or anywhere else. But he has promised to meet with us when we come together corporately. Where one or two are gathered in the name, he says, there am I in the midst of them. Not your love for Christ constraining you not to neglect the attention to the means of grace that God has appointed? Being the bride of Christ, you have already received much grace. But Christ beckons you with wide-open arms to come to Him for greater measure of grace, seeing that we all have a need for more grace. The groom loves his bride with an everlasting love. He drew her by that love. He died to make her pure and blameless. He brought her out of darkness and death to light and life forevermore. He took away her filthy rags and gave her glorious dress. By that same gracious love our Savior has given to us, to you, and to me. The grace of repentance, of faith, of love, of patience, of meekness. of joy, of peace, of goodness, of kindness, of gentleness, and of self-control. Do you not want these graces in increasing measure? Do you not desire more of the grace of Christ? And do not neglect the means of grace which God uses to bestow these great gifts upon you and upon your fellow believers. For if you do, you will store up for yourselves treasure in heaven which will last through all eternity. What great joy and delight attends us when we meet with God's people to worship our God and Savior whom we adore? Does it delight you to meet with God's people? What benefits accrue to our own souls and to the souls of our children when we avail ourselves to the constant and continual engagement of corporate worship. Growth and grace and knowledge is promised, but only when we avail ourselves to the means. Our obedience in Christ is a gold of heaven that will never perish or fade away. Do we have... I want to be clear that it is not by our working that we can accomplish these things. We do have a responsibility as Christians to work out our own salvation. And so I encourage you to take God's word seriously. I presuppose in this message that you collectively delight in the worship of God and that you are united to him by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But if that is not your condition, if you have not repented of your sins, Then I implore that you turn to Christ for forgiveness of your sins and depend upon him to cancel your debt for your sin and rebellion against God and give you his righteousness and give you peace with God. May the Lord Jesus grant us the grace to perform these things. Amen. And you bow with me in prayer. Heavenly Father, you are the God of all grace, mercy, goodness and kindness, and you have condescended to bestow such gifts upon us who were once dead in trespasses and sins. We thank you for the amazing grace of Christ that lifts us up from such debts. We thank you for your word of truth that encourages our hearts and causes us to think about the Lord Jesus Christ in ways that extol his great name and his virtues. We confess that we love our Savior and long to be like him in obedience to you. Especially because of all that he's done for us. We ask that you give us the grace and the desire to live and to use the means that you have given to us. Make it a joy to our hearts. We ask for Jesus' sake. Amen.