GROWTH IN GRACE

PART 2

2 Pet 3:18

Morning Meditation 9/2/2012

In this meditation I want to take the grace of which I spoke in the last lesson a step further. I made the statement that the saints, after their salvation, move almost immediately beyond the need of grace because of the perceived progress they are making in practical righteousness caused by repentance and spiritual growth.

First, the new believer is a babe in Christ. He starts at point zero spiritual growth. He begins to try to put together what has happened to him. He is complimented by his new family members because of the drastic change that has been made in his life. It is easy to feel like a hero at this point instead of a sinner that has just been pulled out of hell’s mouth by the grace of a loving and forgiving God. But he is not a hero. He is a rescued victim of sin. Jesus is the Hero and Grace is the means. He didn’t even slightly deserve what has just happened to him. His awful sin caused the Rescuer’s death. He not only broke God’s laws but his sins caused the death of God’s only begotten son. You do not make a hero out of this man. You do not kick him down either. You rejoice with him over his rescue and remind him that this is what happened to everyone of his new family members. We were all sinners and Jesus is the Hero who rescued us at the cost of His own life.

Second, the new believer needs to understand grace so he can grow in it. He adopted a new attitude in order to obtain forgiveness. It is called repentance. The word “repentance” (metanoeo) literally means a change of mind. It is a change of mind about what is right and wrong. It is a change of mind about how one is living in relation to God. It is a change of mind about his accountability to God concerning his sins. It is a change of mind about the destiny of one who is not reconciled to God before he meets him in the judgment. Every saved person was brought by the Holy Spirit and the Word to see his destiny without God, if he does not repent. He accepted this as truth. He did change his mind and responded to God’s offer of mercy through Jesus Christ. God saved him by grace. He did not merit this salvation. God saved him because God is God and he is who he is and does what he does because he has chosen to do it. It is beyond our understanding but not beyond the realization of our need to thank and worship him for it. We as fellow believers need to encourage him in his new life. We need to help him grow in grace. We do not help him at this point by making him a hero. He is not the hero, Jesus is.

The first step of growth in grace is to learn to repent. Repentance is the door to grace. No one has ever, or will ever, experience the grace of God without repentance. Repentance brings us back under the authority of the throne of God. It is a willingness to take the sinners place before God and confess it before men. Repentance is not done in secret. It is a public admission of guilt. I am not saying that we must give the public an itemized statement of sins committed. I am saying that we do not repent of sin and at the same time cover it up. It is embarrassing. It is humiliating. It is an open admission of wrongdoing. It is the admission of failure on the most important issue, i.e., our standing before our Creator. Jesus said in Matthew 10:32-34: “Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.” Just remember grace identifies me with Jesus. There is no grace apart from Jesus. When I confess him before men, I am confessing my unmerited rescue by him from the consequences of my sins. Repentance is seen and heard in this open confession. And it causes problems. Why did Jesus say, “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.” And then he goes on to identify the area of trouble that repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ brings: Matthew 10:35-39: “For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.”

Oh how many times I have seen the one who makes a profession of faith in Christ attacked and persecuted by family members. Do you think these family members were infuriated by this persons going to church or even joining the church? Absolutely not. It was the repentance and the work of grace in this persons life that change him from a cooperating member of their Sunday outings and their drinking parties and their dirty joke telling. Shall I go on? They just don’t want you admitting publicly that you are wrong. Because when you do that, you are saying the people that I did this with are wrong also. You cannot change your mind about a sin without telling people who are hearing you that it is a sin for them also. Have you discovered that you make people uncomfortable with that? You say, “My family hates me since I have become a Christian.” That is a good indication that you are right. It is not an indication that you are wrong.

Growing in grace is growing in the constant use of grace. The oft repeated failures in our lives after we are saved, send us back to the throne of grace for forgiveness all over again. This is not to say that we are saved again. That happens once-for-all. It never needs to be repeated. But daily forgiveness is needed. How many of us can live a day without the need to return to the throne and admit, “Lord, I have sinned again.” And then we can come away from that throne as cleansed as the blood of Christ can make a saved sinner. (And you can’t be more right with God than the blood of Christ makes you). Paul said, “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need (Heb 4:16). And he said that to saints (saved people).

If I am to grow in grace, I must learn how to repent. I must see that I am a failure. I do not just fail. I am a failure. As I take the place before the throne as a failure, I am constantly in great need of Christ. He becomes my constant Hero. He is my constant rescuer. He forgives and restores me over and over again as I come to him with my confession (1 John 1:9). Hallelujah!

“I want a principle within

Of jealous, godly fear;

A sensibility of sin,

A pain to feel it near.

O may the least omission pain

My well-instructed soul;

And drive me to the blood again,

That makes the wounded whole.”

--Charles Wesley.

May God bless these words to our hearts.

In Christ

Earl White