Lecture XXII. Growth in Grace

Lecture XXII. Growth in Grace.

LECTURE XXII.

GROWTH IN GRACE.

Text—But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.—2 Pet. iii. 18.

I MUST conclude this Course of Lectures by giving converts instructions on the subject of growth in grace. I shall pursue the following method:

I. What is grace, as the term is here used?

II. What the injunction “to grow in grace” does not mean.

III. What it does mean.

IV. Conditions of growth in grace.

V. What is not proof of growth in grace.

VI. What is proof of growth in grace.

VII How to grow in grace.

I. What is grace, as the term is here used?

1. Grace is favor. It is often used in the Bible to signify a free gift. The grace of God is the favor of God, His free gifts.

II. What the injunction “to grow in grace” does not mean.

1. It does not enjoin the gradual giving up of sin. Strange to tell, it would seem that some have so understood it; but we are nowhere in the Bible commanded to give up sin gradually, we are everywhere commanded to give it up instantly and wholly.

III. What it does mean.

1. It enjoins upon us the duty of growing in the favor of God, of growing in his esteem, in a worthiness of his favor, and in his love of complacency in us.

IV. Conditions of growth in grace.

1. Growth or increase in anything implies a beginning. Growth in the favor of God implies that we have already found favor in his sight, and that we are already indebted for grace received, and that we are already in grace, in the sense of having a place among his favored ones.

2. Consequently, growth in grace implies that we have already repented of our sin, have actually and practically abandoned all known sin. It cannot be that we are in favor with 429God if we are still indulging in known sin against him. Being in favor with God implies, of course, that we are pardoned and favored by him, for the sake of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Pardon is favor, and implies the renunciation of rebellion against God. The conditions of the Divine favor, as revealed in the Bible, are repentance and abandonment of all known sin, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. I said, as a condition of growth in grace, we must have the commencement of grace; in other words, we must be already Christians, must be in a state of acceptance with God, must have accepted Christ, so far as be is understood, must be in a state of obedience to all the recognized will of God. Without this, we cannot be in a state of grace, or in the favor of God. But being in this state, there is room for everlasting growth. As we know more of God, we shall be capable of loving him more, of having a more universal and implicit confidence in him. And there can be no end to this while we have any being, either in this or any other world. Our love and confidence in him may be complete, so far as we know him. This love and confidence will secure his favor; but there will be no end to our growth in knowledge of him, and, consequently, there is room for eternal growth in grace. The more we love, the more we believe, the more we know of God, if we conform to all this knowledge, the more God must be pleased with us, the higher shall we stand in his favor, and more and greater gifts he will continue to bestow upon us.

3. Of course, growth in the knowledge of God is a condition of growth in his favor. We might grow in knowledge, without growing in his favor, because we might not love and trust him in accordance with this increased knowledge. But we cannot love and trust him more perfectly, unless we become more perfectly acquainted with him. If our love and faith keep pace with our growing knowledge, we must grow in his favor. But growth in knowledge must be a condition of growth in love and faith.

4. Growth in the knowledge of God, as revealed in Christ Jesus, must be a condition of growth in his favor. It is in and through Christ Jesus that God reveals himself to man. It is in Christ Jesus that we got the true idea of the personality of the infinite God. Hence, the text says, “Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.”

5. Growth in grace is conditioned on increased knowledge of what is involved in entire consecration to God.

True conversion to God involves the consecration of our, selves and of all that we have to him, so far as we understand what is implied in this. But, at first, converts are by no means aware of all that is involved in the highest forms of consecration. They will soon learn that there are certain things that they did not think of, and that they did not give up to God. At first, perhaps, all that was in their thought was, to lay their naked soul upon the altar, and give up their whole heart to God. But soon they may learn that they did not think of all their possessions and everything that was dear to them, they did not surrender all, and leave not a hoof behind. They surrendered all of which they thought at the time, but they were not fully enlightened, they did not think, nor could they think, at the time, of every appetite, passion, propensity, of every desire and affection, of everything they call their own, and which is dear to them, in the whole creation, to make a thorough surrender and delivery of them all to God. To gain such knowledge is a work of time; and growth in the favor of God is conditioned on making a full surrender and consecration to God of everything we are, and have, and desire, and love, as fast as these objects are presented to thought. As long as we exist, and knowledge increases, there is no doubt that we shall be called upon to grow in grace, by consecrating to God every new object of knowledge, of desire, and of affection, that we may come to know, and desire, and love, to all eternity. As you get new light, you must enlarge your consecration from day to day, and from hour to hour, or you will cease to grow in grace. Whenever you stop short, and do not lay and leave everything that you are, that you possess, or that you love, upon the altar of consecration, that moment you cease to grow in grace. I pray you let this saying sink deep into your hearts.

6. Another condition of growth in grace is intense earnestness and constancy in seeking increased religious light, by the illumination of the Holy Spirit. You will gain no effectual religious light except by the inward showing and teaching of the Holy Spirit, This you will not obtain unless you continue in the true attitude of a disciple of Christ. Remember, he says, “Except a man forsake all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.” He will not, by his Holy Spirit, be your Divine teacher unless you renounce self, and live in a state of continual consecration to him. To obtain and preserve the teachings of Christ, by his Holy Spirit, you must continually and earnestly pray for his Divine teaching, and watch against resisting and grieving him.

7. Another condition of growth in grace is a constant conformity to all the teachings of the Holy Spirit, keeping up with our convictions of duty, and with our growing knowledge of the will of God.

8. A more and more implicit faith in God is a condition of growth in grace. By implicit, I mean an unreasoning faith, a confidence in God’s character so profound that we trust him in the dark as well as in the light, as well when we do not understand the reasons of His dealings with us, or of His requirements, as when we do. A faith like that of Abraham, that staggered not at a promise, through unbelief, though the thing promised seemed most irrational and impossible. An implicit faith is an unwavering, unquestioning faith, a state of mind that will rest in God, in his promises, in his faithfulness, in his love, whatever appearances may be, and however trying and apparently unreasonable his commands or providential dealings may be. Abraham’s faith is often commended in the Bible. God had promised him a son, but did not give him the promised seed until he was a hundred years old, and Sarah was ninety. But notwithstanding Sarah was past age, and he as good as dead, he believed that God was able to fulfill his promise, and when he had received his beloved son, with the assurance that this was to be his heir, and that through him the promise was to be fulfilled through all generations, God tried his faith severely, by commanding him to offer his Isaac as a burnt sacrifice. He without the least hesitation obeyed, believing that God was able to raise him from the dead. He made all his arrangements to obey this trying command, with such calmness that neither Sarah nor Isaac suspected that any such thing was in contemplation. This was an instance of the exercise of implicit faith. Growth in grace, or in the favor of God, is conditioned upon growth in implicit confidence in Him.

9. A more thoroughly sanctified sensibility is a condition of growth in the favor of God. By the sensibility, I mean that department of our nature that feels, desires, and to which belongs all that we call desire, affection, emotion, feeling, appetite, passion, propensity, lust. The sensibility is an involuntary power, and moral actions and qualities cannot, with strict propriety, be predicated of it. The states of the sensibility have moral character only as they derive it directly or indirectly from the action of the will. The nature of man, as a whole, in his depraved condition, is in a very unlovely state, and although the will maybe given up to God, the sensibility may be in such a state as to be very unlovely in the sight of 432one that looks directly upon it, and knows perfectly every excited desire, passion, propensity, lust. It is through the sensibility, mainly, that we are assailed with temptations. It is through this that the Christian warfare is kept up. The Christian warfare consists in the battle of the will with these various appetites, passions, propensities and lusts, to keep them in subjection to the will of God. If the will maintains its integrity, and cleaves to the will of God, the soul does not sin in its battle with the excited states of the sensibility. But these rebellious propensities embarrass the will in the service it renders to God. To keep them under, occupies much time, and thought, and strength. Hence the soul cannot render to God so complete a service, while exerting the full strength of the will to subjugate these propensities, as it otherwise might and would render. These appetites, passions, and propensities, although not sinful in themselves, have been regarded and spoken of as indwelling sin. Strictly, they cannot be sin, because they are involuntary. But they are often a great hindrance to our growth in the favor of God. “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit lusteth against the flesh, and these are contrary, the one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.” This means that we cannot do for God what we otherwise would, because we have to battle so much with the states of the sensibility, to keep them under. As the sensibility becomes more and more subdued and in harmony with the will’s devotion to God, we are left free to render to God a more unembarrassed service. Therefore, the more thorough the sanctification of the sensibility, the more thoroughly we are in favor with God.

10. A growing thoroughness and universality of consecration, of spirit, soul, and body, is the condition of more and more growth in the favor of God. It is common, at first, for the steadfastness of the will’s devotion to God to be overcome by the clamor of the excited appetites, passions, and propensities, or by the various states of the sensibility. Whenever the will yields to these excited states, you sin. But, in such cases, the sin is not willful, in the sense of being deliberate and intentional; it is rather a slip, an inadvertency, a momentary yielding under the pressure of highly excited feeling. Nevertheless, this yielding is sin. However excited the states of the sensibility may be, if the will does not yield, there is strictly no sin. Still, while the will is steadfast, maintains its consecration, its obedience to God, the appetites originating in the body, and the various propensities of the soul, which inhere in the sensibility, may be so ajar, in such confusion, 433and in such a state of morbid development, that the soul may be unfitted for the employments and enjoyments of heaven.