III. The means that must be used by those who desire to grown in grace
- God is pleased to work by means.
- God has ordained means as well as ends.
- He that would grow in grace must use the means of growth.
- That growth in grace is bound up with the use of means within the reach of all believers.
- “The sould of the diligent shall be made fat” (Proverbs 13:4).
Essential to Growth
(a) diligence in the use of private means of grace (private prayer, private reading of the Scriptures, private meditation and self examination)
- Few appear to remember the absolute necessity of making time to “commune with our hearts, and be still” (Psalm 4:4).
- Private religion must receive our first attention, if we wish our souls to grow.
(b) craefulness in the use of public means of grace (ordinances of regular Sunday worship, the uniting with God’s people in common prayer and praise, the preaching of the Word, the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper)
- here is a matter in whichthe Spirit is often grieved and saints take great damage.
- let us strive to use the old preayers and sing the old hymns, and kneel at the old communion-rail, and hear the old truths preached, with as much freshness and appetite as in the year we first believed.
- It is a sign of bad health when a person loses relish for his food;
- It is a sign of spiritual decline when we lose our appetite for means of grace
(c) watchfulness over our conduct in the little matters of everyday life
- When a tree begins to decay at root or heart, the mischief is first seen at the extreme end of the little branches
- We must aim to have a Christianity which, like the sap of a tree, runs through every twig and leaf of our character, and sanctifies all.
(d) caution about the company we keep and the friendships we form
- Nothing perhaps affects a man’s character more than the company he keeps
- Mistakes in friendship or marriage-engagements are the whole reason why some have entirely ceased to grow
- “Evil communications corrupt good manners” (I Corinthians 15:33)
- “The friendship of the world is enmity God” (James 4:4)
- Let us seek friends that will stir us up about our prayers, our Bible-reading, and our employment of time - about our souls, our salvation, and a world to come.
(e) regular and habitual communion wit the Lord Jesus
- I mean that daily habit of intercourse between the believer and his Saviour
- It is getting close to Him, and laying hold on Him with confidence, as a loving, personal Friend.
- We must seek to have personal intimacy with the Lord Jesus, and to deal with Him as a man deals with a loving friend.
- We must realize what it is turn to Him first in every need, to talk to Him about every difficulty, to consult Him about every step, to spread before Him all our sorrows, to get Him to share in all our joys, to do all as in His sight, and to go through every day leaning on and looking to Him.
- Galatians 2:20; Philippians 1:21)
Practical Application
(1) for those who may know nothing whatever about growth in grace:
- Seek Him at once; seek Christ, if you would not be lost for ever
- Do not stand still talking, and meaning, and intending, and wishing, and hoping
- Seek Christ that you may live, and that living you may grow
(2) for those who may ought to know something of gwoth in grace:
- It is high time to examine yourself
- It cannot be for your own happiness or usefulness that your soul should stand still.
- Without growth you will never rejoice in the Lord.
- Without growth you will never do good to others.
- Resolve this very day that you will find out the reason of your standstill condition.
- Begin with an application to the Lord Jesus Christ, ask Him to heal the secret ailment within you.
- Begin as if you had never applied to Him before, ask for grace to cut off the right hand.
- But never, never be content, if your soul does not grow. Reslove to find out the reason why.
(3) for those who are really growing in grace
- continual increase in humility prevents them feeling that they get on
- the sum and substance of all that I can say is to be found in two sentencess: “Go forward!” “Go on!“
- then let us be continually forgetting the things behind, and reaching forth unto the things before (Philippians 3:13)
- let us never measure our religion by that of others, and think we are doing enough if we have gone beyond our neighbors
- “Follow thou Me” (John 21:22)
- Let us follow on, aiming at nothing short of perfection.
- Let us follow on, making Christ’s life and character our only pattern and example.
- Let us follow on, remembering daily that at our best we are miserable sinners.
- Let us follow on, and never forget that it signifies nothing whether we are better than others or not.
- We shall be debtors to Christ’s mercy and grace to the very last.
- Let us not be surprised if we have to go through much trial and affliction in this world.
It is a melancholy fact, that constant temporal prosperity, as a general rule, is injurious to a believer’s soul. Sickness, and losses, and crosses, and anxieties, and disappointments seem absolutely needful to keep us humble, watchful, and spiritual-minded.
We shall find that all worked for our good when we reach heaven.
Let us say to ourselves, “This is also for my profit, that I may be a partaker of God’s holiness. It is sent in love. I am in God’s best school. Correction is instruction. This is meant to make me grow.”
Now would it not be well to look within, and put to our souls a simple question? In religion, in the things that concern our peace, in the great matter of personal holiness, are we getting on? DO WE GROW?