Good morning, saints.
Before I get into what I wanted to share, I want to give you all an update. Many of you prayed for the Gideons and the distribution that we did at VCU this week. We had close to two thousand of these little Testaments, and I had asked you all to pray. A couple of churches in the Richmond area were praying as well, and the student groups on campus were also contacted—Kai Alpha and Cru. I found there is a Fellowship of Christian Athletes down there that I had missed, but I met one of those students on campus.
But anyway, thank you for your prayers. The first day, we gave out fourteen hundred of these little Bibles. I personally did not encounter hostility, and the others basically reported the same thing. In past years, we have had some hostility, with people saying, “I don’t need that. I’m a Muslim,” or, “I’m an atheist.” There would be two young ladies holding hands who would walk by and say, “You Christians hate us. Don’t speak to me.”
We did not have any of that this time. Thank the Lord. I believe the Lord covered our presence there in a very special way. The next day, before eleven a.m., they had all been given out. Again, the Lord was merciful.
We not only gave Bibles to students. There are all kinds of vendors down there, because VCU is full of city sidewalks. There were vendor stands with hot tamales and subs, and the lady next to me had a beautiful display of flowers, potted plants, and so on. She was the flower lady.
She said, “Well, I’ve kind of heard you talking to people. What have you got?” I thought, “Praise the Lord, there’s an opening.” So I walked up to her with one of these little Bibles and showed her that it was a Bible we were giving to students. But I said, “You don’t have to be a student to get one. Are you a Christian? Would you like a Bible?”
She said, “Well, I kind of think I’m a Christian. I’m a Catholic.” I said, “Okay, well, answer me this: if on the way home today you got in a car wreck and died, where would you be?” She just kind of stopped. She said, “Well, I’ve done the catechism, and I’ve been—whatever else starts with the C in the Catholic Church.” Someone said, “Confirmed.” She said, “I don’t really know.”
So, praise the Lord, I had a chance to witness to her and give her a Bible as well. Another Gideon had the opportunity to pray with a young lady walking by. She saw that we were believers and came up to him. She said, “Sir, I see you’re handing out Bibles. Can I get you to pray for me? I have a test right now, and I am so nervous. I don’t know what to do.” So he laid hands on her and prayed right there. The Lord gave opportunities for witness. So precious—so grateful to be able to do that.
These little Bibles are wonderful. I had kids walking by, and one of them said, “I really don’t need one of those. I’ve got a big one in my room.” I said, “Well, that’s fine. But you know what? This will fit right in your backpack.” She walked past, turned around, took it, and went back. So thank the Lord. He is wonderful to serve.
Well, this morning, a matter that has been on my heart is that we grow in grace. Second Peter 3:18 basically tells us to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ—those two things: to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Savior.
For years, what the Lord had made me aware of was Ephesians 2, where it says:
For by grace ye are saved through faith;
and that not of yourselves:
it is the gift of God.
So salvation and grace are linked together. For many of us, probably as we came to the Lord, that was the first time we heard the word grace. Maybe we did not know quite what it meant. But that is what I wanted to share about a little bit this morning.
One final scripture before I get started is John 16:15. These are among the Lord’s last words:
All things that the Father hath are Mine:
therefore said I, that He shall take of Mine,
and shall show it unto you.
The Amplified uses that word show a little differently: “He shall take of Mine and shall transmit it to you.” So we thank the Lord for His Word.
Lord, how we thank You so much for a time of worship this morning. We thank You for Your love for us. We thank You for Your grace and mercy that You show us each and every day.
Lord, we pray that You would cover our time now. May the words that are shared, Lord, only be You—nothing of me. I pray that You would be glorified in this time and that You would be pleased with all that is said. We offer this to You and thank You, Lord, in Thy precious name. Amen.
Coming to the Lord, this scripture—“For by grace ye are saved through faith”—made me think, what more could there be about God’s grace other than salvation? Look what He did to accomplish that. He suffered a horrible, cruel death for me. He died to save me from my sins. He died so that I would have life evermore with Him. What more could He do? How glorious! How much grace was shown in that?
But thank the Lord, as we go on with Him, we see that beyond grace for salvation—justification—there is grace to continue on in our walk with Him, in sanctification. There is grace to be transformed into His image.
And what does that take, saints? To be transformed into His image—think about the Lord, think about ourselves, think about our flesh. Holy mackerel! So much of us has to die so that the Lord may come through. Being transformed, being conformed to the image of Christ, is my burden to share a little more about this morning.
As I was meditating on this word, other brothers’ ministries quickly came to mind. Max shared about grace, the Lord Jesus being the personification of grace. Our brother Jim recently talked about being obedient to the things that the Lord has told us. How can we be obedient? By His grace.
Our brother Madhu last week talked to us about the importance of repentance, particularly at the table. We cannot be obedient to what the Lord says in ourselves. We need to realize that grace is not just undeserved favor that brought us to the Lord; it is a working of power in our lives to follow His leading and become more like Him. That power working in us is also the Lord’s grace. Praise the Lord for that.
When we think about coming to the Lord, we think about examples in Scripture of the Lord’s grace. We all know the parable the Lord gave about the prodigal son. Bear with me—it is long, but familiar. In Luke 15, I would like to review it as a way of getting started.
The father in this parable is presented as the Lord, and the prodigal son is presented as the sinner—as any one of us. Beginning with Luke 15:11:
And He said, A certain man had two sons:
And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me.
And he divided unto them his living.And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country,
and there wasted his substance with riotous living.And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land;
and he began to be in want.
And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country;
and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.
And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat:
and no man gave unto him.And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare,
and I perish with hunger!
I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee,
And am no more worthy to be called thy son:
make me as one of thy hired servants.And he arose, and came to his father.
But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion,
and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.
And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight,
and am no more worthy to be called thy son.But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him;
and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:
And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it;
and let us eat, and be merry:
For this my son was dead, and is alive again;
he was lost, and is found.
And they began to be merry.Now his elder son was in the field:
and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing.
And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant.
And he said unto him, Thy brother is come;
and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound.And he was angry, and would not go in:
therefore came his father out, and entreated him.
And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee,
neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment:
and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends:
But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots,
thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.
It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad:
for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again;
and was lost, and is found.
What a wonderful picture of the Father’s love and forgiveness. The younger brother squandered what his father gave him. He did not earn it or work for it; it was a free gift, and he squandered it in riotous living. He went against what he was no doubt told by his father and lived in sin.
Consider the timing of the father’s approach to the son. He saw him from a great way off. No doubt the father had been watching, waiting, and praying for that son to return. When he saw him, what did he do? He ran to him. He fell on him and kissed his neck. He told the servants to bring the robe, the sandals, and the ring. He would not let him go into the house until he was dressed as his son again. What love! What forgiveness!
Killing the fatted calf was for special guests. “Let’s kill the fatted calf and be merry.” Then we see the older brother. He basically would not go in. Talk about refusing the grace of the Father. The father went out and entreated him. He did not get mad at that son for his stubbornness; he entreated him to come. But that elder son was very hard-hearted. We do not know how he ended up, but we see that he refused the father’s love and the grace the father was extending to the younger son.
The customs of the time show a little more of the father’s love. Our brother Enoch shared on this a while back. In that custom, when a son had been that rebellious, he would not be reinstated to the family. He would be brought before the elders at the gate, publicly shamed, and maybe even stoned.
A nobleman, as this father was, did not run. Children ran; noblemen did not. But this father, when he saw his son coming, praise God, probably hiked up that robe and ran to him. He fell on him and kissed his neck, not regarding how he was being perceived. That did not bother him. All that mattered was the love he had for that son and that he was able to display it.
The ring, the robe, and the sandals showed true sonship. The father forgave all of that, brought him into the house, and made joy and merriment, thanking the Lord, no doubt, for his return. Clearly, the favor the younger son received was undeserved. But the grace and mercy of the Father were shown to him.
That is the picture: unbounding love, never-ending grace, and mercy are what our Father shows us. The son was really and truly overwhelmed by the Father’s love. The grace he received was undeserved, and the father showed delight in giving it to his son. Praise the Lord for that wonderful picture.
That is a wonderful picture of us when we come to the Lord for salvation. We did not earn anything. By His grace, He brought us to Himself. But remember, grace is that working power in our lives. It is power seen in our walk with the Lord and also in our service to Him.
We cannot serve the Lord in our own strength, but the Lord gives grace. He gives us power and ability to serve Him. When we yield to that and acknowledge that we cannot do it ourselves, that is when we receive the Lord’s grace. Praise the Lord.
The realization that I cannot, but the Lord can is growing in grace. That realization is oftentimes the first step in being able to receive more grace: “Father, I can’t do it. Lord Jesus, help me. I cannot do this in my own strength.” When we ask with a sincere heart, the Lord gives more grace. He enables us to work.
Sanctification—growing in grace and becoming more like Him—enters into a different element than simply thinking, “I am saved, everything is fine, and lo and behold, I am going to be in heaven singing songs forever.” No, there is more. The Lord expects us to be transformed into His image. He wants us to crucify ourselves, as it were, and become more like Him. The only way we can do that is to put the old man to death.
We need the Lord’s grace continually to be transformed into His image. As we serve Him, we will come across situations in life that are beyond us. But thank the Lord, what does Scripture say? The Lord is at hand. He will be right with us.
Matthew 26 says, “The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Here again, the Lord is showing us that we cannot do it in ourselves. The Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. When we are beyond ourselves, we cannot do it. Thank the Lord, He can. That is the first step in growing in grace.
Our brother Sparks wrote about it this way:
Grace is a working power to make us correspond to the position into which we have been brought.
Thank the Lord for that. Yet when we think about free salvation, and doing nothing to receive that grace other than asking for it, the doctrine of grace can be abused.
How many of us have had friends, maybe when we first came to the Lord, who said something like this: “Well, I can do that because I’m saved by grace. I can go on living as I have been living because God saved me already.”
That kind of grace, Dietrich Bonhoeffer called cheap grace. Grace that costs nothing becomes an excuse for people who do not know the Word of God to go on sinning. Grace is abused in that way.
Bonhoeffer also said that we use the doctrine of grace for shallow discipleship and acceptance of sin in the body of Christ. Think about that. We say, “I’m a sinner saved by grace, but I can sin because of grace.” May the Lord never allow us to think that way. “I’m saved. Jesus loves me.” Then we do the minimum to appear Christian. We go to meetings on Sunday, follow certain rules, but do not really allow our lives to be changed.
Saints, what a mistake that is. Bonhoeffer said that with cheap grace, forgiveness comes without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, and communion without confession. It is discipleship without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ living and incarnate. It denies the Word of God. That is what cheap grace is.
Our brother Stephen basically said this: today is the day of grace, but people do not understand grace. They abuse it. They think that because we are under grace, there will be no judgment. Now, if there is no judgment, God is not just.
Think about how distorted that thinking is. I want to contrast costly grace now—the grace that we enter into, the power the Lord gives us to be transformed into His image.
Jim recently shared about obedience. When the Lord tells us something, we need to do it, right? Madhu shared last week about taking communion carelessly. May we examine ourselves.
Saints, do not take those ten minutes before the meeting just to kind of sit. Let us use that time to prepare our hearts for the table. Maybe we should come earlier; I do not know. Fellowship is wonderful, and I enjoy connecting with brothers and sisters then. But if we have not prepared our hearts already, when we come to the table, we can do it then. That is why we encourage folks to come early to table time.
Remember what Jim said about obedience: there are consequences. The Lord has told us to do things, and when we do not, consequences follow. Cheap grace is dangerous. It is a downward spiral. We enter into cheap grace and think it is free, so we can do what we want to do. It is a trap—definitely a trap—that leads us into sin and more sin.
To grow in grace, we need to make sacrifices against our natural tendency simply to be comfortable. Crucifying self is not easy. Giving up things we like, stopping certain things, is grievous. We miss those things and chafe under that. But sometimes we simply have to fight against being so comfortable in our lives. Sometimes it takes the sacrifice the Lord is asking us to make.
Certain elements of cheap grace—“You can do what you want to do. You do not have to make any extra effort”—have drifted into our culture. Think about that for a second. What do I mean by that?
I am a boomer. I was brought up by parents who went through the Great Depression. Life was not easy; life was hard. That generation won World War II and lived through the Depression. After the war, us boomers were born, and parents looked at us and said, “My kids are going to have it better than I did.”
Saints, that is the trap. It became a national mentality: “Let’s not overexert. We do not need to. Mom and Dad are going to give me that.” Parenting often consisted of overindulging the kids. Parents gave freely because they wanted their children to have it better than they did.
Think what a lifetime of that leads to when we need to make personal sacrifices that crucify our flesh. We do not want to do it. That is not the way we have been brought up. It is contrary to our old nature. But praise God, He lets us realize that it must be done.
Think about children in school these days. Now, I am a career educator; I am not going to break bad on education per se. But folks, over the years, kids have had it easier than we did. One of my students said it well last term: “What do I need to learn this stuff when I can just look it up?”
Where is the discipline we need for Bible study, meditation, considering God’s Word, and applying it to ourselves, when all we have to do is push a button? Folks, that is wrong thinking. We need to pray for this generation, that they would not be so prone to being comfortable with learning. Learning takes effort. Bible reading takes effort.
We did not have computers. We had to learn things the hard way. Reading, writing, and arithmetic aside, it taught us discipline. That discipline is something we need to make sure our children have. Bearing the fruit of that discipline is growing in grace.
Our brother Lenny talked about getting up an hour and a half early and devoting that time to the Lord. Praise God for that. It shows the fruit of a desire to serve the Lord and not be so comfortable with our lives.
The idea of personal accountability is important. Artificial intelligence is a scary thing. I had a student a couple semesters ago. I required term papers, and I made the requirement such that they had to bring together elements of the course, interview people, and basically work. I was the only professor that required that.
One young man decided he was going to put one over on this old man, and he clicked something in AI. Folks, it was absurd. He was offended when I pointed out that it was not acceptable. But he thought he could get by with a push of a button.
How many of us think we can get by with doing less because that is the way we were brought up? By the way culture has developed, we have been lulled into the thinking that you do not have to work that hard for it. Do you see what I am saying?
Praise the Lord for teachers who require kids to work these days. Again, I am not badmouthing education. But, Jim, I taught one of your students. I said, “You had Mr. B?” The student said, “Yeah, you know what? He made me think.” I praise the Lord for that. “He made me work.” How strange!
Probably that child had been spoon-fed a great deal of his life. I taught one of Bob’s kids as well. He said, “Yeah, I had Mr. Dardich in middle school. He was my English teacher. And do you know what? He made me speak correctly. None of this slang stuff.”
But the point is, folks, the kids had to get out of their comfort zone, and that was not normal for them. They remembered it as different in their school career. What a shame that is. It transfers to us being soft with ourselves: “I did not have to work in school. Things were given to me as a child, so why should I have to work now? The Lord has done all and given me all.” Boom—cheap grace. It is dangerous when we think about its implications.
Think about societal changes and how much they have transformed our thinking about having to work for things. In the early 1950s, there were TV dinners. Pop them in the oven, pop them out—do not have to work that much. Transistor radios were cool. You could carry one with you, with batteries, and have music wherever and whenever you wanted it.
Microwave ovens have been around since the late 1940s. They were not commercially available for kitchen use at first, but they have become part of our makeup—to do things easily, quickly, and with little cost. Think about the implications that has on us as believers.
Push-button telephones were great. My first phone growing up just had four digits: 3860. That was all. You had to dial, and there was a party line. You had to wait. But as we grew older, things became easier. All we had to do was push a button.
The first home computers became available in the 1970s. Then came internet access for the general public in the 1990s. Think how much that has eased the burden on students to have to work hard for things. Does that translate into working hard for us to be transformed into the Lord’s image? It is a dangerous trap that we can fall into.
Smartphones came along. Then Siri and Alexa: “If you do not know something, just ask Siri. You do not have to do research or cause yourself grief.” I have already mentioned AI; that is certainly not one of my favorites.
How many remember going on vacation somewhere you had never been, with a road map? You had to look at that road map. It was impossible to look at it while driving, because once you unfolded it, it covered the whole windshield. But now we have Siri and the screen in our car.
Again, what I am pointing out is the ease our society has brought to our lives. It makes us, in the flesh, reluctant to be uncomfortable. But being uncomfortable is what we need if we are really and truly being transformed into the image of Christ.
Thank God, this truth of growing in grace has been revealed to many. We have had teachings about it. We have learned that costly grace, if you will, is the true way to full salvation.
Think about Paul. Think about his life and how he was rescued from being a persecutor of the church on the Damascus road. Did it cost him? He was blind for three days; then his sight was restored. He went on to serve the Lord. We know that he suffered—being in the deep, beaten with rods, and so on. But we know the fruit: he was transformed more and more by the things he suffered.
Look at Peter. He was a fisherman and unlearned, but he received great grace from the Lord. He walked on water. He saw the Lord at the Mount of Transfiguration. He saw the glory present in the Lord. Was he willing to make sacrifices? He was imprisoned. But the Lord used that to bring fruit in his life.
Was Peter transformed into the image of Christ? Little by little, was he becoming more like Christ? Was Paul becoming more like Christ? Yes. The things they suffered, the Lord used to bring them to Himself.
Romans 6 says:
What shall we say then?
Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
God forbid.
How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
The fruit of what Paul went through is seen in his writings. He talked about the grace of God being lavishly bestowed on him. Thank God for that. Thank the Lord for his testimony.
May the Lord help us to know Him more and to become more comfortable with His dealings with us. That is growing in grace as well. May the Lord help us not to get angry with Him when things do not go our way.
Think about abandoning things we love so much: sleeping late, the recliner, and all the things we have been conditioned to use to make ourselves comfortable. Saints, we can make some sacrifice. We can spend more time with the Lord rather than sitting in the recliner watching television or scrolling through our cell phones. Blah, blah, blah—it is a terrible waste of time. May the Lord discipline us in that way.
What is wonderful is when we are able to break through our flesh, come to the Lord, and see change in our life. How many have had the experience of saying, “Last year, I would not have responded that way. Thank the Lord, this year I did not blow up at so-and-so. I did not yell at the child when he broke a vase.”
I had a friend tell a story about God’s working in a man’s life. Before this particular gentleman came to the Lord, he cursed horribly. He would embarrass not only a sailor but an Army drill instructor. That is what he was known for.
After he came to the Lord, he had a car with a metal dashboard. Those old dashboards had seams where two pieces of metal came together. He had a new car, and one section of the dashboard rattled. It drove him crazy. He had spent all that money for this car, and the dashboard rattled.
He chewed toothpicks because he was trying to stop smoking. He figured out that when the dashboard started to rattle, he could take the toothpick from his mouth and stick it in the little crack. Bingo—problem solved.
One day, he was going down the road, the dashboard started rattling, and he impaled his hand on that toothpick. You know what came out of his mouth? “Praise the Lord.” Before, it would have taken reams and reams of paper to write all the curse words that would have come out. But that became part of his testimony. God allowed him to see grace at work: “I’ve changed. I don’t need to curse anymore.”
Many times, the Lord lets us see things in our lives that have been changed as a result of His grace, and that is an encouragement.
James 4:6 says:
But He giveth more grace.
When we need it, He gives more grace. That gentleman did not run out of grace when he injured himself. The Lord gave him grace and more grace, just like He does for us.
Spurgeon said, “Every virtue should be traced to grace.” And if we fail anywhere, it will be our wisdom to ask for more grace. We cannot do it in our own strength. See the bounty of God—ever giving and ever ready to give more. Praise the Lord. We cannot run out of the Lord’s grace.
First Peter 5:5 says that He gives grace to the humble. When we are in the midst of change, we have to be careful not to say, “Oh, look what I did.” We cannot take the credit for ourselves. He gives grace to the humble. We need humility. We need to admit to the Lord, “You got me out of that trouble once, Lord. You can get me out again. I cannot do it on my own.”
God also gives us grace to witness. How many of us are generally shy and have difficulty approaching people or witnessing to others? May it not be that we are so comfortable that we cannot witness our faith to others.
I have a dear friend who does this. I was with him at a restaurant. Picture this guy who is older than I am, from Alabama, with a nice Southern drawl. The waitress came to take our order, and he said, “Ma’am, we’re fixing to pray for our food. How might we pray for you?”
Think about that—asking a waitress that. It has opened so many doors, just that simple request. He is willing to die to self, perhaps to be embarrassed. We have prayed for waitresses who just found out they were pregnant and for waitresses who had just gotten married. What a special opportunity the Lord will give if we overcome fear and embarrassment, obey the Lord, and venture out.
I am thankful for the network our college folks have, in terms of holding one another accountable and checking in with each other about Bible reading and so on. That is a discipline that will yield fruit.
In terms of being ever ready to speak the Word, I will never forget the first time I heard Ed Miller. I was in awe of Ed. He gave one of those messages on a Friday night at a weekend gathering, then on Sunday, and at the old men’s retreats we used to have somewhere up in Maryland.
Ed gave a message that left my spine tingling. I was so convicted by what our brother had said. Then lunchtime came, and he sat down beside me. He did not know me from Adam. He looked at my name tag and said, “Glenn Miller, tell me what the Lord’s been showing you.”
I thought, “Well, what can I say to this man?” But he was ever ready, ever willing to share testimony, and he expected others to be in the Word enough to share. Death to self, sacrifice of time, laboring in the Word—how it will bear fruit. Ed brought that to my attention, and I thank the Lord for that.
We need to guard against being offended when people ask us things like that.
We pray about a matter and do not get an answer. My brother Enoch shared about that this morning—how he prayed and needed to pray again, and then the Lord, in His wisdom, brought forth what He did.
When we pray and do not get an answer, we grow in grace when we do not get offended at the Lord. We persevere in prayer. Think about the examples of those who prayed for a long time.
When I think of saints persevering in prayer, I think about the sisters who were here and prayed for years for an assembly to come in Richmond. They prayed for years without seeing anything. But God gave them grace—grace to persevere in prayer.
When we are enabled not to be offended at the Lord but to push on in Him, knowing He hears our prayers, that is another sign of growing in grace. We continue to pray and do not give up. That is an important part of living this life.
The Lord is not going to give us things merely when we think we need them. We have been socialized to expect things at the push of a button. But waiting on the Lord, being patient with the Lord, and loving the Lord more are all part of growing in grace.
Recently, many have spoken about not letting sorrows be wasted. There is a book by that title. When we go through a rough spot, we need to realize that God is sovereign. There are things going on that we do not need to know about. There are things He may be working in others or in our own lives.
God gives us grace to persevere in prayer, even though we may be used to having something at the snap of a finger or the push of a button. That is not the way the Lord always works. It is fine for us to persevere in prayer. It is death to self. It is crucifying the old man. That is costly grace.
Let us look at 1 Peter 5:10-11:
But the God of all grace,
Who hath called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus,
after that ye have suffered a while,
make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.
To Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
He has called us into eternal glory after we have suffered a while. The Lord knows our sufferings, but He will give us grace. He will enable us to come through that, as long as our hearts are right before Him. It is not easy if we are used to cheap grace. We want it right away. But thank the Lord, He is faithful.
God is more forgiving than we can imagine. His continuing grace can take people like Paul, people like Peter, and people like us, and transform us into His image.
Sometimes a prayer is not answered because the Lord is teaching us something that will not be revealed until later. We need to be patient with Him. Our brother Stephen said, “When God’s hand of discipline comes upon us, it is for restoration and not destruction.”
We might think it is destruction. We may not want to be destroyed, so we revert to the old way of thinking: “I can go on the way I used to go.” That is cheap grace. It is a trap. But when God’s hand of discipline comes upon us, it is for restoration and not destruction.
Hebrews 12 basically says that chastening conforms us to the image of His Son. His discipline is to perfect you and mature you. When we are put in a situation that is not very pleasant, how do we respond?
We grow in grace when we say, “Lord, what would You have me learn?” rather than, “Why did You do this to me, Lord?” That is a different heart attitude. When we are able to do that in the midst of difficulty, praise God, He has given us more grace, and we can respond in love.
Hebrews 4:16 is a real treasure:
Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace,
that we may obtain mercy,
and find grace to help in time of need.
Thank the Lord. He will give us grace when we need it.
Another way we grow in grace, as Jim spoke about, is when we listen to the words of a friend that are not pleasant for us to hear, and we change. The Lord can bear much fruit in our lives. We can receive much joy from listening to the Lord through a friend. What are they doing? They are showing our blind spots—something for us to pray about.
Jim spoke about Proverbs 27:6:
Faithful are the wounds of a friend;
but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.
Another part of Proverbs says:
Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart:
so doth the sweetness of a man’s friend by hearty counsel.
Pray for me. Hearty counsel.
When I was a little kid—it is hard to imagine—I was a skinny little kid with a big mouth. That often got me into trouble. But the Lord’s provision was that I had a big brother who was a moose. He was a football player and a wrestler. My dad was six foot four, and my brother could pick him up and carry him across the front yard.
He got me out of many a scrap because I was Eddie’s little brother. One particular time, we had been fighting, and my mother separated us. Eddie stayed in the house, and I went out in the front yard feeling sorry for myself.
The neighborhood bully came by on his bike. I honestly do not know who said something first, whether it was me or him. But words were exchanged. The next thing I knew, I saw him get off his bike, throw it down, come up to me, grab me by my shirt, and throw me on the ground. He had his knees on my shoulders, getting ready to clean my clock.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my brother. He came flying down the steps—three steps, he cleared them in one jump. Boom. He was on that guy, picked him up by the shirt collar, yanked him off me, and gave him a good thrashing. He never bothered me again.
That was the kind of brother I had. He would pay for me to go to movies with him. Who would have thought? He had a paper route; I just cut lawns for money. But he would do that for his little brother. He was not ashamed to be seen with me.
We lived here when I was a kid, then moved to Virginia Beach when I was twelve. My brother was sixteen. As I said, he was a football player, a big moose.
He came home from football practice one day with a pain in his side. They took him to the hospital. The doctor said, “We’ve got to get that appendix out. It’s going to burst. It is going to be bad if that happens.” They wheeled him into surgery, and folks, he died.
There was an automobile accident. A pedestrian had been hit by a car. They came to that little hospital, and there was one doctor there. I do not know what happened, but I believe my brother was left. They got the appendix out. It had not ruptured. The operation was a success. But he died.
The pedestrian was also a friend of our family. He had been standing on the island in Pacific Avenue, waiting to cross, when a tractor-trailer went by. The draft from that truck blew him into the street, and he was hit by a car. He was taken to the hospital, which was only about three blocks away.
I do not know what happened. Maybe the appendix was out and my brother was not stitched up. Maybe they had to give him more drugs to keep him through the time the doctor could attend to the other person. We will never know what happened.
But I know that after that night, I was so hurt. I was so bitter. Thank the Lord, He healed my relationship with Him. But saints, I could not forgive the doctor. For years, I held that in my heart.
The Lord convicted me as an adult after I came to the Lord: “How is your heart toward Dr. so-and-so?” Praise God, He enabled me to forgive him. When I did that, folks, it was a sign of God’s grace. I felt like I had just come out from a horrible burden.
Thank the Lord. At that point, I was obedient. I obeyed the Lord. The result was that I grew in His grace. I understood more about it.
Think about other things we are told to do and prefer not to do. When something gets in the way of our walk with the Lord, we need to pray and ask Him to give us grace to overcome our reluctance. What about fasting? Fasting is not fun.
Praise the Lord, our brother Kumar has mentioned it. We need to realize what fasting does. It is death to self. May we take advantage of opportunities to fast.
Matthew 6:16 says:
Moreover when ye fast,
be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance:
for they disfigure their faces,
that they may appear unto men to fast.
Not if you fast, saints, but when you fast. It is the discipline of putting flesh to death. Many times the Lord can use fasting as a way of reminding us not only of the need to obey His Word, but also that it is, in a sense, dying to the pleasure of eating and making that sacrifice for the Lord.
Matthew 9:15 says:
Can the children of the bridechamber mourn,
as long as the bridegroom is with them?
But the days will come,
when the bridegroom shall be taken from them,
and then shall they fast.
May the Lord help us. It is not merely a suggestion from Him; it is, “When ye fast.” Personal fasting, prayer, and fasting disciplines are ways in which we can grow in grace when we resolve to do what the Lord tells us to do.
Finally, growing in grace is not the practice of developing routine, thoughtless religious habits. We grow by appropriating Christ by faith to be our wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification, our redemption, our High Priest, our King, our hiding place, our shield, our Defender, and our exceeding great reward.
Praise God. When we appropriate Christ in these ways, when we realize and speak to the Lord about these things in our lives, we see Him as so much more all-encompassing. It is a wonderful perception of the Lord to have. We cannot see enough of Him. Those are just some examples.
Let us turn to Titus 2:11:
For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts,
we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
Looking for that blessed hope,
and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ;
Who gave Himself for us,
that He might redeem us from all iniquity,
and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority.
Let no man despise thee.
Again, folks, praise God, we cannot expect the Lord to run out of grace. His supply is limitless. He delights to give us grace when we are in need. God will give the grace. We need to ask and not be proud. God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble.
I want to end with John 16:15:
All things that the Father hath are Mine:
therefore said I, that He shall take of Mine,
and shall transmit it unto you.
His love and His mercy are everlasting. Thank the Lord.
Lord, we thank You so much for Your grace. We thank You so much, Lord, that You love us with an everlasting love. Lord, we pray that You would strengthen us in Your ways, that we would desire with all of our hearts to be transformed into Your image and would not shrink back from making those sacrifices.
Lord, what could we sacrifice when You have sacrificed all? How we love You. We praise You. We thank You for Your great love. In Thy precious name, amen.