Almost every created thing seems to have within it the principle of growth. The tree grows from a seed. The bird, fish, beast of field, all come to maturity by growth. The human body grows from feeblest infancy into the strength of manhood. And mind grows as well as matter. The reasoning faculty, the imagination, the memory, expand and strengthen. So, too, the moral and spiritual affections of the soul. Hence religion, which consists of love to God and man, may grow also.
I. Grace, in its strict sense, is the free favour of God to the unworthy. The grace of God toward men produces piety; grace is the cause, piety the effect.
1. To grow in grace is to grow in virtue, faith, meekness, gentleness, patience, a spirit of forgiveness, usefulness.
2. In this growth of all right principles there will be going on at the same time in the soul the weakening and decay of all wrong principles.
II. We may overlook too much the importance of religious growth. We may be in danger of feeling that when one is introduced into the kingdom by conversion and the joining of the Church, the great work is done. Not so our Saviour. How much He laboured to train His disciples.
III. Having life by union with the Saviour, we grow in grace by using the means of grace. There is a law of spiritual growth just as fixed as the law of natural growth. The means of grace, suited to advance us in the Divine life, are daily provided, not only in the house of God, but in every engagement of the world. Every human being you meet may offer you a means of grace, for there is a Christian feeling to be cherished toward all, and a Christian way of treating all.
IV. That we may grow in grace, we need to use the means of grace in their due proportion. Meditation is good, but where it becomes exclusive it is evil. So outward activity, in labouring for the salvation of men, is of the highest importance; but let this absorb the Christian, and the most fruitful piety will wither and die.
V. Nor are we to despise outward forms and symbols as helps in religious growth. It may be asked, What matters the form if I have the spirit? But will you have the spirit as fully without the aid of the form? We are not purely spiritual beings; we are body as well as spirit. And there is an action of the body that harmonises with and helps the spirit. Nor can devotion prosper well without set seasons; we need the aid of habit to assist in the formation of spiritual character.
VI. He who will grow in grace must be ready to suffer. The natural life in us dies not without some species of internal agony. For one Christian God has one form of trial; for another, another form.
VII. Growth demands earnestness. No one grows who does not mean to grow.
VIII. Growth demands exercise. As fast as we learn duty, we must apply it. “To him that hath shall be given.” Every act of faith increases the principle of faith; as every battle Washington fought for his country only increased his patriotism. (John MacLeod.)
Growth in grace
I. The meaning of the expression itself. “Grow in grace.” The Christian is not a lifeless machine. He is not to satisfy himself with going through a cold round of duties. Wherein are you improved?
II. The means of growing in grace.
1. Faith, to be strong, must be exercised. Commit your ways to God. Trust Him. Your faith will increase.
2. Another means which may be suggested is prayer. If you will only wrestle with God in prayer as Jacob did, you will succeed.
3. I may specify Scriptural reading.
4. A further and most important means for advancing in our heavenward journey ismeditation upon the promises of God.
5. I will only mention one other means of growth in grace, self-examination. Prevention is better than cure; when you know your deficiencies, then you may guard against them; thus mischief may be kept away.
III. We are not to suppose, however, that our course is to be one of continued success. There are many hindrances.
1. I may name, as the chief hindrance, the corruption of our hearts.
2. Connected with this hindrance is that which I may term the weakness of the flesh.
3. I pass on to that indifference to the truth of religious doctrines now so common amongst men. It leads men away from the contemplation of Christ. It makes them afraid to maintain theircause boldly before their fellows. Their minds become less affected with the sense of the preciousness of Jesus.
IV. I will not add any lengthened detail of the encouragements to seek this growth in grace. The certainty of success. Your Father which is in heaven will help you. (H. M. Villiers, M. A.)
Signs of growth in grace and motives inviting to it
I. By the grace of God we understand the favour or love of God; but in the Christian Scriptures it means that especial exertion of His love, which is applied to mankind as sinners, and to the recovery and final salvation of a guilty world.
II. what that is in which our growth in such grace may be discerned.
1. It may be in an especial manner discerned in humility. The virtue required of us is no abjectness of spirit. It is that heart which feels its own infirmities and sins.
2. An abjuration of ourfavourite sin.
3. A genuine love of virtue for the love of God, and a uniform preparation of heart against the various temptations which may assail us. “If the first sparks of evil were quenched, how should they ever break forth into a flame? How shall he kill, who dare not be angry? Be adulterous in act, who does not transgress in desire?
III. Permit me to remind you of the solemnity and grandeur of the doctrines which your knowledge of Jesus Christ comprises. Say, therefore, whether this knowledge of your Lord and Saviour lead you not to thosevirtues which we have now been discussing, as adapted to your state of grace. Say whether under such a God anything can be so indispensably requisite as humility; whether under such a Saviour anything can be so required as abjuration of sin; whether under such a Comforter anything can be so becoming as firmness of heart; whether under such promise of forgiveness and of glory anything can come so directly from the soul as sorrow for our sin. (G. Mathew, M. A.)
The Christian’s improvement
I. The several steps and stages of the christian’s progress.
II. The necessity and advantage of this growth and improvement.
1. That our sincerity in religion can no otherwise be well approved.
2. Our perseverance cannot be ensured whilst we are at a stand.
3. As grace is the seed of glory, that seed must rise by gradual advances to its full maturity.
III. Some of the means whereby we all may be thus built up.
1. Since those habits of virtue which are essential to our improvement are contracted by a frequent repetition of single acts, let us by all means cherish the opportunities of exerting those acts.
2. Therefore we should work up our minds to a full persuasion that religion is the most important business of our lives. (N. Marshall, D. D.)
Growth in grace
I. It will appear to be highly reasonable, yea necessary, that you grow in grace, and that bothin respect of yourselves and in respect of God. First, in respect of yourselves, and that upon this fivefold account.
1. Because your present condition which you are now in requireth it. It is true in the first creation of the world all creatures and species of things were made perfect. Trees and plants sprung up to their height at the first. But it is not so since either in nature or grace. Thus our state being imperfect here, and we coming not to a height at once, it is requisite that we increase our strength gradually; that is, that we be every day growing, and that we constantly make accessions to our feeble virtues and graces.
2. A continual growth in grace is very reasonable and necessary, because our duty is so large and comprehensive. “The commandments of God are exceeding broad.” Christianity especially is a vast work.
3. We cannot show the truth of grace in us unless we daily increase; for this is one great sign of it, and that an inseparable one. The true sons of Sion go from strength to strength (Psa_84:7). It is a sign of insincerity and unsoundness to sit down and rest satisfied with a mean degree of holiness. “He was never good indeed,” saith St. Bernard, “who endeavoureth not to be better.”
4. Growth in grace is necessary in order to joy and comfort.
But as growth and increase in grace are requisite in respect of ourselves, so, secondly, in respect of God, and that upon this fourfold account.
1. Because growth in grace is answerable to God’s expectation from us.
2. This is answerable to Christ’s design, as you read in Joh_15:5.
3. This is answerable to the means appointed by God and Christ, as praying, the Word read and preached, the blessed sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, the gifts and graces of others, holy conference, meditation, and the like.
4. By ourgrowth in grace God is most signally glorified.
II. How You may examine yourselves as to this weighty matter, that you may know you are of the number of those persons who really grow in grace.
1. He that truly grows in grace hath a greater sense of his defects and failings than ever he had before. First, a greater sense of the shallowness of his understanding. Secondly, of the sinfulness of his life. In the first place, he daily grows more apprehensive of the defect of his knowledge. Again, if we grow in grace, we shall have every day a greater sight and sense of our sins.
2. Profound humility is an undeniable mark of a man that increaseth with the increase of God.
3. If your desires of grace increase, it is an argument that your graces themselves do so. The sharpness of the appetite is some indication of bodily growth and nourishment. If you experience these fervent longings, you may conclude that the graces of the Holy Spirit grow in you.
4. The true growth of a Christian is proportionable and uniform; by which I mean that he is one who grows in all his parts. The new man is not monstrous in its accretion.
5. You may know your growth in grace by the easiness you find in religion. You will certainly perform all duties with facility and dexterity.
6. There will be uneasiness and pain as long as you are hindered from religious exercises and holy duties. Lastly, if your conversation be in heaven, if your thoughts, desires, and longings tend thither, if you ardently wish to depart and to be with Christ, this is a good evidence of your growing in grace and goodness. But yet here great caution is to be used, lest you be mistaken in this important point which I have been treating of.
You must therefore remember these four things--
1. When I say that every true believer grows in grace, it is not meant that he doth so every moment or every hour of his life. As it is in the natural body, there may be some disease or malady that will retard the growth for a time.
2. All Christians have not a like growth.
3. All graces grow not alike in the same person.
4. Remember this also, that grace may grow insensibly sometimes; it may increase, but you may not perceive it.
III. To direct you to the use of those means whereby you may most effectually grow in virtue and godliness. You will certainly make great progress in religion by an uninterrupted exercise of your graces and by a constant performing of your duties. Think not highly of yourselves by reason of any progress you have made. For this may stop you, but it will never promote your farther proceeding. Set before you the examples of the eminent saints and servants of God. It will not be amiss to observe the practices and examples of the wicked. They stand not still, they increase in vice; like crocodiles, they grow as long as they live. Every day adds to their hatred of God and goodness, to their love of sill and vice, and to their dextrous practice of it. Lastly, observe how in all other things men strive who shall make the greatest proficiency, and let this be one help to further your growth in grace. You will find theft Christians are compared in the gospel to merchants, bankers, stewards, who are persons that are busy to increase their own or others estates. This may teach the professors of Christianity what they are to do, viz., to improve what they have. Add to your attainments, be they never so great.
IV. To press this duty won you by some cogent motives. (J. Edwards, D. D.)
Soul education
I. Soul education is growth. This implies--
1. That the soul is a vital existent. That soul education is a growth, implies--
2. That the soul is a vital existent possessing developable powers. There are living things theft have not the power of growth. Some, perhaps, have been created with their nature fully developed. There is no power in them of coming to any higher point. And others have passed through all the stages of development, and are exhausted. It is not so with the soul. Its potentialities are unbounded. Omniscience only knows what greatness of intellect, grandeur of character, splendour of achievements, come within the power of every mind, however humble. That soul education is a growth, implies--
3. That the soul is a vital existent, possessing developable powers, requiring developable conditions. The seed may contain a germinant power capable of covering continents with fields of golden grain; yet if it remains shut up in the granary, or buried under a rock, it will never be anything more than dry dust. It is so with the soul. Soul education, then, is growth. Not the growth of anything imparted to it, but the growth of itself; not the growth of any of its particular faculties, but the growth of its entire self, simultaneously and symmetrically.
II. Soul education is growth in Christ. “Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” These two words represent the two great elements by which alone tile human soul can be educated. “Love and truth.”
1. Christ is the ideal after which the soul is to grow.
2. Christ’s character is the element in which alone the soul can grow. His “grace” and His “knowledge” furnish the only atmosphere in which the human soul can healthfully live, thrive, and grow. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
Growth in grace
I. What is meant by growing in grace? To grow in grace is to increase in a spirit of conformity to the will of God, and to govern our conduct more and more by the same principles that God does.
II. Some things that are not evidences of growth in grace although they are sometimes supposed to be such.
1. It is not certain evidence that an individual grows in grace because he grows in gifts. We naturally increase in that in which we exercise ourselves. We may pray ever so engagedly, and increase in fluency and apparent pathos, and yet have no grace.
2. Growing in knowledge is not evidence of a growth in grace. In hell no doubt they grow in knowledge, but never in grace.
3. It is not evidence that a person grows in grace because he thinks he is doing so. A person may be favourably impressed with regard to his progress in religion, when it is evident to others that he is in fact declining.
III. Some things that are evidences of a growth in grace.
1. When an individual finds he has more singleness of heart, and more purity of motive in his conduct, it is evidence that he is growing in grace.
2. An individual who grows in grace is more and more actuated by principle, and less and less by emotion or feeling. By principle, in contradistinction from feeling or emotion, I mean a controlling determination in the mind to do right.
3. Another important evidence of growth in grace is more love to God. By this I do not mean that there will be in all cases a conscious increase of emotions of love to God, but that there will be a strengthening of real attachment to God’s character and government. And this increased attachment will evince itself in a growing veneration for all the institutions of religion, and for all the commands of God.
4. Another evidence of growth in grace is when a person increases in love to men as well as love to God.
5. Those who grow in grace feel more and more self-loathing. This is the natural result of having a clear view of God. It makes a person sink down in self-abasement.
6. An increased abhorrence of sin is another mark of growth in grace. When a person feels, day by day, less and less disposed to compromise with any sin, in himself, or in others, it is a sign that he is growing in grace.
7. He who grows in grace has less relish for the world. He has less and less desire for its wealth, its honours, its pleasures.
8. Increasing delight in the fellowship of the saints is another evidence of growth in grace.
9. He who grows in grace finds it more and more easy to exercise a forgiving spirit, and to pray for his enemies.
10. Growing more charitable is an evidence of growth in grace. But he is mere ready to ascribe a person’s apparently wrong conduct to mistake, or misapprehension, or some other cause, than to direct evil intention.
11. Having less and less anxiety about worldly things is an evidence of growth in grace.
12. Becoming more ready to bestow property is a sign of growth in grace.
13. He feels less and less as if he had any separate interest. It is a great thing, in regard to growth in grace, to feel that all you have is Christ’s, and that you have absolutely no separate interest in living, or in dying, or in holding property, or children, or character.
14. It is an evidence of growth in grace when a person becomes more willing to confess faults to men.
15. Growing in grace raises a person more and more above the world. The growing saint regards less and less either the good or ill opinions of men. He feels that it is of little importance, only as it may affect his usefulness.
IV. How to grow in grace.
1. Watch against besetting sins.
(1) Levity.
(2) Censoriousness.
(3) Anger.
(4) Pride.
(5) Selfishness, in all its forms. Here is the great root of all the difficulty. This is the foundation, the fountain, the substance, and sum total, of all the iniquity under heaven. Watch here; look out constantly; see where self comes out in your conduct, and there set a guard.
(6) Sloth.
(7) Envy. If you see others going ahead of you in prosperity, in influence, or in talents, examine your feelings, and see whether you are pleased at it. If the sight give you pain, beware!
(8) Ambition. By this sin angels fell, and it is impossible to grow in grace without suppressing it.
(9) Impure thoughts. It is necessary to make a covenant with our eyes, and with our ears too, and all our senses, or they will prove the inlet of temptation and sin. If you find yourself in danger, turn your thoughts away instantly.
2. Another direction for growing in grace is, take care to exercise all the Christian graces. Exercise yourself especially in those things where you find yourself most deficient. If you are exposedto a particular sin, guard there. If you are deficient in a particular grace, exercise that.
(1) Suppose you are naturally worldly-minded, and in danger of being carried away by the love of the world. Shut down the gate, and determine that you will on no account add to your wealth, or lay field to field.
(2) Suppose you are in danger of being flattered and lifted up with pride. As a reasonable being you are bound to know this, and be on your guard.
(3) If you find that you are reluctant to confess your faults, break right over it, and confess to everybody that you have injured. Practise it on all occasions, till you get the victory.
3. Exercise decision of character. To walk with God a man must walk contrary to the course of this world. He must face public sentiment.
4. To grow in grace, a man must possess great meekness. If a man suffer himself to be fretted by opposition, and thrown into a passion by obstacles that are thrown in his way, he may rest assured that Satan will manage to keep him in such a state of mind that he will by no means grow in grace.
V. Some things that are evidences of declension.
1. The person who grows weary of being asked to give for promoting the kingdom of Christ is evidently declining.
2. Becoming backward to converse on the subject of religion, and particularly to converse on spiritual, and experimental, and heart-searching points, is evidence of declension.
3. When a person is less disposed to engage in the duties of devotion, public, social, or private, it is a sign of declension.
4. Taking more delight in public meetings than in private duties and secret communion with God, is another evidence of a declining state.
5. Feeling less delight in revivals of religion is a sad token of declension.
6. A person that becomes captious about measures used in promoting revivals is in a declining state.
VI. How to escape from a state of declension.
1. You must admit the conviction that you are in a state of declension.
2. Apply to yourself all that God says to backsliders, just as if you were the only individual in the world in that condition.
3. Find out the point where you began to decline. See what was the first cause of your backsliding, and give that up. You will often find this first cause where you did not expect it, in something which you called a little matter, or that you tried to make yourself believe was not a sin.
4. Give up your idols. If it be an article of property, dispose of it in some way; give it away, sell it, burn it, away with it, rather than have it stand between you and God.
5. Be careful to apply afresh to the Lord Jesus Christ for pardon and peace with God.
Remarks:
1. There is no such thing as standing still in religion.
2. The idea that persons grow in grace during seasons of declension is abominable. Their whole progress is the other way.
3. There are but few persons that do grow in grace. How many, instead of setting themselves resolutely to obey God, and setting their faces as a flint against all sin, passively commit themselves to the stream, and expect to be wafted home to glory in this lazy way, without the trouble of a conflict.
4. We see the great fault of ministers. How little pains they take to train up young converts.
5. Unless ministers grow in grace it is impossible for the Church to grow. “Like priest like people” is a maxim founded on principles of correct philosophy.
6. Great pains should be taken by young ministers to grow in grace.
7. It is just as indispensable in the promotion of a revival, to preach to the Church, and make them grow in grace, as it is to preach to sinners, and make them submit to God. (C. G. Finney.)
Soul culture
The words are suggestive of two thoughts: that growth implies life, and that life requires culture.
I. Life is characterised by receiving. There are four things indispensably requisite to the growth of plants. The elements essential to the growth of spiritual life are analogous.
1. There must be light. The Word of God is to the growth of a soul as necessary as light to vegetation.
2. There must be also heat. Knowledge without life- truth without love--resembles a frosty moonlight. Flowers open to the sun, and hearts open to Christ, when the constraining power of His love is felt as a burning heat. The soul must build its conservatory on the south side of the temple of truth. This will make the soul of the Christian a Divine sunflower.
3. Moisture is essential to the growth of plants. In rain and dew the tree receives those influences without which neither beauty nor fruitfulness can exist. What moisture is to vegetation the Spirit of God is to soul-growth.
4. To the growth and healthiness of vegetation there must be air. “Of all common things, air is the most common. No space or place is accessible to us that is not filled with it. It is, of all material wants, that which is most indispensable to our existence. The character of a tree, plant, or flower will be determined by the air of the neighbourhood where it is planted. Impure air will affect the vitality of a plant as truly as it does the lungs of an animal. “The life of God in the soul of man” cannot thrive save in an atmosphere somewhat congenial with its heavenly character. It must move in an air higher and purer than that of earth. We must know what it is to have “fellowship with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ,” and with His saints. To “grow in grace” we must surround our selves with the elements of a Divine life. The character and complexion of our daily life will be the natural result and outgrowth of the company we keep, the society in which we move, the religious atmosphere we breathe.
II. The second property of life is that of giving. The flower gives its fragrance and loveliness; the plant its nourishment and healing; the tree its shadow and fruit. The animal gives its strength of sinew, bone, and muscle. Man does the same, with the additional contribution of intellectual strength. Without this giving forth there would be no true or perfect development of life. The man that lives for self is a man of stunted growth. A Christian that lives for self is a spiritual dwarf. (A London Suburban Minister.)
A psalm for the New Year
I. A divine injunction with a special direction: “Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” “Grow in grace.” What is this? It must be in the outset implied that we have been quickened by grace. Dead things cannot grow. Growth shall prove your life. Grow in that root-grace, faith. Seek to believe the promises better than ye have done. Let your faith increase in extent, believing more truth; let it increase in firmness, getting a tighter grip of every truth; let it increase in constancy, not being feeble or wavering, nor always tossed about with every wind; let your faith daily increase in simplicity, resting more fully and more completely upon the finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ. See to it that your love also grows. If ye have loved with a spark, pray that the spark may become an all-consuming flame. Ask that your love may become more extended--that ye may have love unto all the saints; more practical, that it may move your every thought, your every word and deed; more intense, that ye may become as burning and shining lights whose flame is to love God and man. Pray that ye may grow in hope, that the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, ye may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints; that ye may by hope enter into the joys of heaven while ye are on earth; that hope may give you immortality while you are yet mortal--may give you resurrection before you die. Ask that you may grow in humility, till you can say, “I am less than the least of all the saints”; that ye may grow in consecration, till ye can cry, “For me to live is Christ: to die is gain”; that ye may grow in contentment till ye can feel, “In whatsoever state I am, I have learned therewith to be content.” Advance in likeness to the Lord Jesus, that your very enemies may take knowledge of you that ye have been with Jesus and have learned of Him. Pray that ye may grow downward; that ye may know more of your own vileness, more of your own nothingness; and so be rooted in humility. As ye root downward, seek to grow upward. Send out the topshoot of your love towards heaven. Then pray to grow on either side. Stretch out your branches; let the shadow of your holy influence extend as far as God has given you opportunities. But see to it also that ye grow in fruitfulness, for to increase the bough without adding to the fruit is to diminish the beauty of the tree. We are not compared to trees, but to children. Let us grow as babes do, nourished by unadulterated milk. Steadily, slowly, but surely and certainly. Little each day, but much in years. But do ye inquire why and wherefore we should thus grow in grace? Let us say that if we do not advance in grace it is a sorrowful sign. It is a mark of unhealthiness. It is an unhealthy child that grows not, a cankered tree that sends forth no fresh shoots. More; it may be not only a sign of unhealthiness, but of deformity. If a man’s shoulders have come to a certain breadth, and his lower limbs refuse to lift him aloft, we call him a dwarf, and we look upon him with some degree of pity. Now to grow may be, moreover, the sign of death. It may say to us, Inasmuch as thou growest not, thou livest not; inasmuch as thou dost not increase in faith, and love, and grace; and inasmuch as thou dost not ripen towards the harvest, fear and tremble lest thou shouldst only have a name to live and be destitute of life, lest thou shouldst be the painted counterfeit; a lovely flower-picture drawn by the painter’s skilful hand, but without reality, because without the life-power which should make it bud and germinate and blossom and bring forth fruit. Grow in grace, because to increase in grace is the only pathway to enduring nobility. Oh! would ye not wish to stand with that noble host who have served their Master well, and have entered into their eternal rest? But to grow is not only to be noble--it is to be happy. That man who stays growing refuses to be blessed. Forward is the sunlight! forward is victory! forward is heaven! But here, to stand still is danger; nay, it is death. O Lord, for our happiness’ sake, bid Thou us advance; and, for our usefulness’ sake, let us ascend. I have thus explained the Divine exhortation; but you perceive it contains a special injunction, “And in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” We must see to it that we ripen in the knowledge of Him--of Him in His Divine nature, and in His human relationship to us; in His finished work, in His death, in His resurrection, in His present glorious intercession, and in His future royal advent. We must study to know more of Christ also in His character--in that Divine compound of every perfection, faith, zeal, deference to His Father’s will, courage, meekness, and love. Above all, let us long to know Christ in His person. This year endeavour to get better acquaintance with the Crucified One. Grow in the knowledge of Christ, then. And do ye ask me why? Oh! if ye have ever known Him you will not ask thai question. He that longs not to know more of Christ, knows nothing of Him yet.
II. A grateful thanksgiving, with a mostsuggestive termination: “To Him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.” The apostles very frequently suspended their writing in order to lift up their hearts in praise. Praise is never out of season, and it is no interruption to interrupt any engagement in order to laud and magnify our God. “To Him be glory.” Yes, to Him, ye atheists, who deny Him; to Him, ye Socinians, who doubt His Deity; to Him, ye kings, who vaunt your splendour, and will not have this man to reign over you; to Him, ye people, who against Him stand up, and ye rulers who against Him take counsel; to Him, the King whom God hath set up upon His holy hill of Zion; to Him be glory. To Him be glory as the Lord: King of kings and Lord of lords; “Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.” To Him be glory as Saviour. He alone hath redeemed us unto God by His blood; He alone hath “trodden the wine-press,” and “cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah, glorious in His apparel, travelling in the greatness of His strength.” “To Him be glory.” Church of God respond! Let every pious heart say, “To Him be glory.” But the apostle adds “now”--“to Him be glory now.” Oh, postpone not the day of His triumph; put not off the hour of His coronation. Now, now; for now, to-day, He hath raised us up together, and made us sit in heavenly places with Christ Jesus. “And for ever.” Never shall we cease our praise. Time! thou shalt grow old and die. Eternity! thine unnumbered years shall speed their everlasting course; but for ever, for ever, for ever, “to Him be glory.” But, now, there is a conclusion to this of the most suggestive kind--“Amen.”
1. First, it is the desire of the heart, “Behold, I come quickly; Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” We say “Amen” at the end of the prayer to signify,” Lord, let it be so it is our heart’s desire.
2. But it signifies more than this; it means the affirmation of our faith. We only say amen to that which we really believe to be true. We add our affidavit, as it were, to God’s promise, that we believe Him to be faithful and true.
3. But there is yet a third meaning to this amen. It often expresses the joy of the heart. As you see King Jesus sitting upon Mount Zion with death and hell beneath His feet, as to-day you anticipate the glory of His Advent, as to-day you are expecting the time when you shall reign with Him for ever and ever, does not your heart say “Amen”?
4. But, lastly, amen is sometimes used in Scripture as an amen of resolution. It means, “I, in the name of God, solemnly pledge myself that, in His strength, I will seek to make it so; to Him be glory both now and for ever.” (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Of growth in grace
I. How many ways may a christian be said to grow in Grace?
1. He grows in the exercise of grace; his lamp is burning and shining.
2. He grows in the degree of grace (Psa_84:7).
II. What is the right manner of a Christian’s growth?
1. To grow less in one’s own eyes.
2. To grow proportionably--in one grace as well as another.
3. When a Christian has grace suitable to his several employments and occasions.
III. Whence is it that true grace cannot but grow?
1. It is proper for grace to grow; it is the seed of God.
2. Grace cannot but grow from the sweetness and excellency of it; he that hath grace is never weary of it, but still would have more.
3. Grace cannot but grow from a believer’s ingrafting into Christ; he who is a scion, ingrafted into this noble, generous stock, cannot but grow.
IV. What motives or incentives are there to make us grow in grace?
1. Growth is the end of the ordinances.
2. The growth of grace is the best evidence of the truth of it.
3. Growth in grace is the beauty of a Christian.
4. The more we grow in grace, the more glory we bring to God.
5. The more we grow in grace, the more will God love us.
6. What need have we to grow in grace? There is still something lacking in our faith. Grace is but in its infancy and minority, and we must still be adding a cubit to our spiritual stature.
7. The growth of grace will hinder the growth of corruption. As some plants have an antipathy, and will not thrive if they grow near together, as the vine and the bay tree: so, where grace grows, sin will not thrive so fast.
8. We cannot grow too much in grace; there is no excess there. The body may grow too great, as in the dropsy; but faith cannot grow too great: “your faith groweth exceedingly”; here was exceeding, yet not excess. As a man cannot have too much health, so not too much grace.
9. Such as do not grow in grace, decay in grace. “Not to advance in the path of life is to return.”
10. The more we grow in grace, the more we shall flourish in glory.
V. How shall we know whether we grow in grace?
1. The signs of our not growing in grace, but rather falling into a spiritual consumption.
(1) When we have lost our spiritual appetite.
(2) When we grow more worldly.
(3) When we are less troubled about sin.
2. The signs of our growing in grace.
(1) When we are got beyond ore” former measures of grace.
(2) When we are more firmly rooted in religion, rooted in Him, and established: the spreading of the root shows the growth of the tree.
(3) When we have a more spiritual frame of heart. More spiritual in our principles, affections, and performance of duty.
(4) When grace gets ground by opposition. The fire, by an antiperistasis, burns hottest in the coldest season. The martyrs’ zeal was increased by persecution. Here was grace of the first magnitude.
VI. What shall we do to grow in grace?
1. Take heed of that which will hinder its growth--the love of any sin.
2. Use all means for growth in grace. It is better to grow in grace than gifts; gifts are for ornament; grace is for nourishment, to edify others, to save ourselves.
VII. How may we comfort such as complain they do not grow in grace? They may mistake; they may grow when they think they do not. The sight Christians have of their defects in grace, and their thirst after greater measures of grace, makes them think they do not grow when they do. Let Christians be thankful for the least growth. If you do not grow so much in assurance, bless God if you grow in sincerity; if you do not grow so much in knowledge, bless God if you grow in humility. If a tree grows in the root, it is a true growth; if you grow in the root grace of humility, it is as needful for you as any other growth. (T. Watson.)
Christian growth
The command is that we enlarge ourselves; that we pass up by graduation from one class to another class in the great school of life, of action, of understanding. The injunction pre supposes that we are capable, that we have faculties susceptible of being disciplined and trained. It pre-supposes that we are intelligent and ambitious after good, and desirous of higher attaimnent. The germ idea contained in the word “education” is that of leading forth the natural capacity of the man. An educated person is a person who has been led forth, or brought out, or developed from what he was into something larger, and fuller, and more complete. Moral education is, there fore, the leading forth of the moral capacity of man. Human nature is a nature of capacity; it is susceptible of great development in any direction and toward any state of being. It can be led out toward the good or toward the bad; can be made to seek its affinities among the high or the low. It can be influenced toward heaven or it can be influenced toward hell. As far as we can see, there is no limit to this development of man’s capacity. The whole human machinery impresses one in its every part with the idea of motion, and the assertion that the mind and soul will ever come to a dead standstill, whether here or in the hereafter, is one repugnant to the very genius of their construction. Theendless activity of God, according to its capacity to receive it, seems to have been imparted to His last and finest creation, man. Now, this marvellous being, whose capacity of growth is endless, is located in the midst of a thousand incentives of growth. Regard him simply as an animal, and what that he needs does the earth and the air refuse him for food? Look at him, as a student, as an embodiment of mental faculties, and behold how multitudinous are the objects that elicit his inquisition. The earth on which he walks swells with problems that challenge’ solution; the air he breathes is charged with forces and combinations of elements which provoke him to analysis. Contemplate him as a social being, and see in the midst of what quickening and vital associations he lives. Love, sympathy, tenderness, mercy, pity--each through its own channel sends down its crystal stream to swell the tide of his ever-widening life. Or examine him in his spiritual connections. What capacity of moral discernment do we not find in him? What magnificent equipment of sensibilities is his; what profound depth of life he has; what energy to aspire, what power to feel, what force to execute, what ability to acquire impressions distinguish him? The education of such a being must be, to every thoughtful mind, one of the gravest subjects within the whole range of human inquiry. The worst thing that any man can do is to think of himself as a creature of little value. I care not how ordinary you may be in your own eyes; I care not how little gifted you may be as others might judge, still I beg you to remember that you are of the highest dignity in the eye of your Maker. It is safe to say that there is not a creation of God, there is not a combination permitted by Him, the object of which is not man’s education. You are to look upon the whole world in all its growths, in all its ever-revolving changes, as ordained for your instruction and assistance. There is not a tree, there is not a spire of grass, there is not even a daisy-head that you passed this summer in the fields, that was not created and put in growth and bloom for you. Wisdom as to these is wisdom as to God, and he is wisest as regards the Creator who comprehends most clearly all the use and relation of created things. Now, bearing these things which we have suggested in mind, we submit to you, if the appliances for the leading forth of your nature, in all manner of admirable ways, is not a matter of wonder and gratitude. If you will put yourself in connection with all these helps, so bounteously given; if you will only co-operate with the agents and agencies devised in your behalf, how can your natures fail to be daily enlarged by what is about you? Who can say what knowledge a babe gets out of its mother by feeling with its little hands about the mother’s face? This we must remember also, that we are not educated along one line or by a single contact with men, but along many lines and by means of association with many. Hence Godgroups us. Like stars, men areclustered in constellations, and move on in systems, mutually attracting, mutually repelling each other. There is no education equal to that which a man or woman can get in the sweet school of family life. It is the school in which love should be master and mistress. In it the only law known should be that of affection; the highest privilege, that of serving. This family life may be lived in humble circumstances, as men count surroundings; but its influence on your soul may be as precious, and the results as happy, as if you had lived within the sentinel-guarded doors of a palace. As Christianity enlarges the domain of its sovereignty over men, this family principle gets wider and wider application. The ties of blood cease to bound the limits of affectionate regard, and a spiritual brotherhood unites you to a larger circle. Ultimately the whole race will be kin to each member of it. In order that this education of human nature may go forward unto its complete triumph, it is necessary that every organisation, every form of government, and the entire social structure, should be of a pro, per kind. There is no pressure that can be brought to bear upon a man more potent than that of organisation. If the organisation of the family be wrong in its spirit, in its tone and temper, then will each member of the family be wrong in his or her tone and temper. A. family whose government rests on the principle of force, of authority that speaks only by the infliction of punishment, will make children in it cowardly, hypocritical, and brutal. A Church whose organisation rests on a bigoted foundation will make its members bigoted. The influence of its pulpit, and even of its prayers, will educate men and women into narrowness of thought and harshness of opinion. You cannot base a Church of Christ on anything less wide, less liberal, less sympathetic, than the heart of Christ. Education is thus for ever progressive, and the human mind at the dawn of each generation goes in search of the undiscovered as birds go forth from their groves with the coming of every morning to canvass the fields for their food, and feel in the movement of their flight the joy of a fresh experience. Thus you see that education includes the idea of growth. The educated man is the grown man. He has grown out of old forms of thought into new ones. He has left one plane of feeling and been lifted to a higher plane. That which was difficult for him to understand has become plain. He walks as those who walk in the light. Christianity, as measured byits effect on humanity, if properly interpreted and understood, is movement. It builds no permanent encampment for its followers. Its army is for ever on the march, and every night finds them in a new camp-ground. We must remember that we are all school-children in spiritual education. We are not far advanced--we are on the lower benches, and are sitting at the feet of the Master. We are not studying the high sciences of God. We are not able to fathom the “deep things” of His will. We are only being instructed in the first lessons of good manners. We are only being taught, here and now, how to behave. By and by, when we have learned how to behave, when we have become obedient, cheerful, patient, and good; by and by, when our spiritual senses have become organically so developed as to create a hunger for finer knowledge, and have begun to long to see the things that eye hath not seen, and to hear the things that ears have never heard, God will lift us and honour us with higher seats where the older scholars sit, and we shall begin to be wise as well as good. For this education of which I am talking, this leading out of man’s moral faculties, is a thing not of to-day, nor a movement of time as men count time; it is a thing of the ages. It is a movement which rolls itself on into eternity. As to extent, there is no end to it. I close with this word of cheer. The theme suggests it. Whatever your state spiritually may be, you need not remain in it. You can grow out of that state into a better one. You who have failed can grow out of your failure into success. You who are despondent can grow up into the condition of hopefulness. You who are sad God will lift into joy. You who are in the midst of sin can be redeemed out of that sin, and become upright. You who are weak in the structure of your virtue can be braced with the bandsof everlasting power. The heavens are full of attractions, and by their sweet might you can be lifted until you stand higher than the stars. (W. H. H. Murray.)
Growth in grace
I. What is it to grow in grace.
1. The Christian should be ambitious to increase in the number of his graces.
2. We should grow in the measure of our graces.
3. We should grow in the use of our graces.
II. Why growth in grace should be sought.
1. Because God has afforded a variety of helps to promote it.
2. As we are otherwise in continual danger of losing what we have already obtained.
3. Our advancement in glory will be in proportion to our present improvement in grace.
III. How growth in grace is to be attained.
1. Ascertain that the good work is really begun.
2. Cherish a lively sense of your imperfections.
3. Carefully avoid whatever would hinder your growing in grace.
4. As you must be diligent in the use of the means of grace, so you must take care not to place any confidence in them. (S. Lavington.)
Growth in grace
I. A sense of insufficiency is an indispensable prerequisite to growth in grace.
II. But a self-renouncing dependence on divine help must not be allowed to supersede or to slacken your own endeavours.
III. Growth in grace is a process which cannot go on without sooner or later manifesting itself by its fruits.
1. A growing reliance on Christ.
2. Increasing power over temptation.
3. The increasinginfluence of conscience.
4. Increasing disinterestedness of religious feeling.
5. Increased complacency in thinking of death and eternity. (J. M. McCulloch, D. D.)
Grow in grace
1. In growing better, the first thing is to become good; or rather this is preliminary to all improvement. The foundation must be laid before the building can rise. No digging about and enriching, no ever so auspicious alternation of sun and shower can bring forward a plant which has no life in it. Yet in morals this is what some are endeavouring to do; they would feed death and cultivate sterility. The sinner must pass from the state of nature to that of grace before he can grow in grace.
2. Then the soul being born again, the principle of spiritual life being communicated to it, it must have nourishment in order to grow; the principle of spiritual life is not independent of aliment any more than that of animal life. Now truth is the nutriment of the soul, and it must be taken, or the soul will not grow, and in a little while will cease to live. They say it is no matter what a man believes, or whether he believes anything, so he but practises aright, which is as if one would say, it is immaterial what a man eats or whether he eat at all, so he but lives. Can he live without eating, and eating wholesome food? If error is not injurious, poison is not; and if ignorance is not hurtful, starvation is harmless. The man who is indifferent to the interests of truth is also to those of virtue. It is impossible to love the one without loving the other. Truth is the principle and pabulum of virtue. The Word of God must be understood, believed and meditated on, and especially its testimony concerning Christ, otherwise there can be no growth in grace.
3. The exercise of the moral powers and gracious dispositions in you is essentially necessary to their growth and expansion. How can one grow in benevolence or in compassion unless he obeys its dictates? in temperance unless he habitually practises temperance? how increase in humility unless he frequently, humble himself? And as they cannot be exercised without trials and afflictions, hence the necessity of these to the growth of those virtues and the perfection of the human character. God is the author, upholder, and finisher of good in us. No use of means, and no making of exertion are of any avail without His secret, spiritual efficiency; hence a spirit of dependence on God must be cultivated and exercised, and hence is prayer an indispensable means of growth in grace. The Holy Spirit is promised only to them who ask Him.
5. Watchfulness is another important means of growth in grace. The plant of grace requires the most anxious attention and the most constant care. It has many enemies--some that grub the earth, andsome that infest the air--and it is exposed to many evil influences. It must be assiduously watched.
6. Christians are members of a mystical body of which Christ is the head, and from Him, in consequence of this connection, they derive strength, grace, nourishment, and every needed good. Now faith is the bond of this union, and the stronger the faith, the closer the bond, and the more free the communication. Hence, if one would grow in grace, he must habitually exercise faith in Christ, and increase in faith.
7. Striving against sin is all-important to growth in grace and holiness.
8. Sensual indulgence is a formidable foe to growth in grace; and, when carried far, is incompatible with its existence. Hence the necessity of abstinence and self-denial.
9. The love of the world is another enemy to holiness. There is a wonderful moral efficiency in the Cross of Christ to destroy this inordinate affection.
10. Finally, the promises exert a sanctifying influence when contemplated and applied (2Pe_1:4). (W. Nevins, D. D.)
Growth
I. There is such a thing as growth in grace. I do not for a moment mean that a believer’s interest in Christ can grow. I do not mean that he can grow in safety, acceptance with God, or security. I only mean increase in the degree, size, strength, vigour, and power of the graces which the Holy Spirit plants in a believer’s heart. I hold that every one of those graces admits of growth, progress, and increase. I hold that repentance, faith, hope, love, humility, zeal, courage, and the like, may be little or great, strong or weak, vigorous or feeble, and may vary greatly in the same man at different periods of his life. One principal ground on which I build this doctrine of “growth in grace,” is the plain language of Scripture. “Your faith groweth exceedingly” (2Th_1:3). “We beseech you that ye increase more and more” (1Th_4:10). “Increasing in the knowledge of God” (Col_1:10). “Having hope, when your faith is increased “(2Co_10:15). “The Lord make you to increase in love” (1Th_3:12). “That ye may grow up into Him in all things” (Eph_4:15). “I pray that your love may abound more and more” (Php_1:9). “We beseech you, as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more” (1Th_4:1.) “Desire the sincere milk of the Word, that ye may grow thereby” (1Pe_2:2.) “Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2Pe_3:18). The other ground on which I build the doctrine of “growth in grace,” is the ground of fact and experience. What true Christian would not confess that there is as much difference between the degree of his own faith and knowledge when he was first converted and his present attainments, as there is between a sapling and a full-grown tree? His graces are the same in principle; but they have grown. Let us turn away to a more practical view of the subject before us. I want men to look at “growth in grace” as a thing of infinite importance to the soul.
1. “Growth in grace” is the best evidence of spiritual health and prosperity. In a child, or a flower, or a tree, we are all aware that when there is no growth there is something wrong.
2. “Growth in grace “is one way to be happy in our religion. God has linked together our comfort and our increase in holiness. He has graciously made it our interest to press on and aim high in our Christianity.
3. “Growth in grace” is one secret of usefulness to others. Our influence on others for good depends greatly on what they see in us.
4. “Growth in grace” pleases God. The husbandman loves to see the plants on which he has bestowed labour flourishing and bearing fruit. It cannot but disappoint and grieve him to see them stunted and standing still (Joh_15:1; Joh_15:8). The Lord takes pleasure in all His people, but especially in those theft grow.
5. “Growth in grace” is not only a thing possible, but a thing for which believers are accountable.
II. There are marks by which growth in grace may be known.
1. One mark is increased humility.
2. Another mark is increased faith and love towards our Lord Jesus Christ.
3. Another mark is increased holiness of life and conversation.
4. Another mark is increased spirituality of taste and mind.
5. Another mark is increase of charity.
6. One more mark is increased zeal and diligence in trying to do good to souls.
III. The means that must be used by those who desire to grow in grace.
1. One thing essential to growth in grace is diligence in the use of private means of grace.
2. Another essential is carefulness in the use of public means of grace.
3. Another essential is watchfulness over our conduct in the little matters of every-day life.
4. Another essential is caution about the company we keep and the friendships we form.
5. There is one more thing which is absolutely essential to growth in grace, and that is regular and habitual communion with the Lord Jesus. (Bishop Ryle.)
Christian life a growth
I. The heart must become rooted in living, Christ-like principles.
II. The Christian religion is to be cultivated.
III. Due attention must be given to the law of spiritual development.
IV. The law of growth works its purpose through changing seasons.
V. The growing life will manifest itself. (W. Currrie.)
Growth the test of Christian life
The want of growth is the want, generally speaking, of organisation. Rocks do not grow, soil does not grow. Growth belongs to the higher stages of development, and as things grow, not by accretion, but by definite formation, by their growth we judge of their vitality. When anything ceases to grow its end is near. Any man that has ceased to grow is waiting for his undertaker, and the longer he has to wait the greater is the pity for everybody about him. There are, of course, in so compound a creature as man, several concentric circles of growth. There is bodily growth, but that usually takes care of itself, and needs no exercitation. Then there is physical culture, a growth not in dimensions alone, but in other ways. One may develop strength; it may be increased by his purpose. One may develop activity; one may develop skill of hand or alertness and quickness of foot. This is the lowest form of growth, and yet the lowest growth even of the body is a worthy one, and justifies our endeavour. A healthy and well-developed body is a chariot fit to carry a hero’s soul. To grow up in good sound health, without violation of the great canons of morality, and with the law of moderation fixed upon every appetite and passion, is itself no insignificant ideal for a young man or woman. But, then, we are familiar, in this land where education is almost an atmosphere and a byword, with growth in intelligence and knowledge. These two things are very different. Intelligence implies a certain condition of the knowing faculties. Knowledge is the fruit of intelligence. There is just as much difference between them as there is between skill and the product of skill, or between husbandry and the harvests that husbandry can produce. A man may have intelligence and scarcely any knowledge. A man may have a good deal of knowledge and hardly any intelligence. But where one has both intelligence and knowledge, and is growing in them both, that is a transcendently noble thing. It is the direct tendency of intelligence and knowledge to produce morality. I declare that education, or the development of the knowing parts of a man, gives him so large a view of the field of life that he is more likely to see that morality is safety than if he were ignorant; and that the general fact stands proved that intelligence and knowledge tend, on the whole, by immense measure, toward goodness, respectability, virtue, and morality. So if we grow in aptitude for intelligence and knowledge we shall make a long stride away from animalism, and from the dangers that beset the passions and appetites of human life. Now, while bodily growth, intellectual growth, and growth in knowledge are to be esteemed, and are not to be thrown into the shade by any misconception of the value of grace and religion, I affirm that the highest growth, because it is the one that carries all these others with it more or less, or blesses them, is growth in grace. Self-sacrifice, that is one element of it. Meekness and humility are other elements of it. Good nature, which is called kindness in the text of Scripture, is another element of it. Easiness to be entreated is one of the elements of growth. In regard to that manhood which springs from the activity of our highest spiritual and moral functions, in regard to this eminent spiritual-mindedness, I must say that it does not belong to the cave nor to the cloister. The serene wisdom of love, and the guidance of God’s presence with a man, will prosper him more, in the long run, in every relation of life, than the turbulent wisdom that springs from vanity, from pride, from avarice, from passion. Men adopt a lower form of power when they undertake to carry out the ends of life by the selfishness that prevails in human society. It requires more skill in the beginning to wield this higher power--to learn the trade, that is, of piety in its application to life. It also requires more time for reaping the fruit. Some harvests are sown in autumn, and the sun leaves them; but they come to ripeness next summer. Some things can be sown in spring and reaped before midsummer. In regard to moral and spiritual elements, it takes more time to develop them and procure their final results in secular wisdom than it does to take the lower and superficial forms and achieve success, but when once they are established they do not go back. A man that fears and loves God, and therefore stands intact under the temptations of life, men will give large premiums to get. It is ripening growth that is demanded. In other words, it is not enough for our religion that we have revivals of it; it is not enough that we have flashes of any or all of these spiritual feelings and experiences. What is wanted is, that they shall become steadily a part of us and abide in us, so that they constitute our character. Then growth in grace amounts indeed to a sure victory. The piety that comes and goes is better than nothing--scarcely more than that; but the higher spiritual qualities
