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THE KING’S BUSINESS
I. To Grow in Grace We Must First of AH be in Grace. First o f all, to grow in grace we must be in grace. One o f the greatest mistakes men and women are making is in trying to grow in grace before they are in grace. One o f the greatest mistakes we preachers are making is trying to build people up in the Christian life before they are in it. If a baby is to grow satisfactorily it must be well born, and if we are to grow in grace we must be born again. There was a baby in New York that) was fed on elephant’s milk and it grew one hundred pounds in a few weeks, but then it was a baby elephant to begin with. A human baby would not have grown the same, even if it were fed on elephant’s milk, and just so you can feed a man, woman or child on the best food for a child o f God, but he will not grow like a child o f God unless he is a child o f God to begin with. So to grow in grace we must first be in grace, we must be born again to start with. That brings us to the, question, how is one born again, or how do we come into grace. John 1 :12 answers the question, “As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons o f God, even to them that believe on his name.” T o become a child o f God we must simply receive Jesus. It is not enough to turn ov er'a new leaf; it is not enough to merely quit our meanness, it is not enough to “hit the trail;” it is not enough to join the church: we must; RECEIVE JESUS. What does it mean to receive Jesus? It means to take the Lord Jesus to be to ourselves what God offers Him to be to everybody. What does God offer Jesus to be? First o f all He offers Him to be our sin bearer, the one who bore our sins in his own body on the cross, Isa. S3:6 : “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity o f us all.” 1 Peter 2 :24: “Who his own self bare our sins in his body on the tree, that we, being dead to sin, should live unto righteousness; by whose stripes ye are healed.” To receive
There have been men who were both phys ical giants and intellectual giants who were moral and spiritual dwarfs. We' see a striking example o f this in Germany'today. It has been quite generally admitted that many o f the greatest thinkers in all branches o f sceince and philosophy .were to be found among the Germans, but many o f these German intellectual giants are the defenders o f the most appalling atrocities o f which the Germans have been guilty. I would rather be both a physical and intel lectual dwarf and a moral giant than to be a physical and intellectual giant and a moral dwarf. Many, o f those o f very small stature intellectually have been moral and spiritual giants. Paul says in Cor. 1 :26- 29, “ For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things o f the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things o f the world to confound the things which are mighty ; and base things o f the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence.” The church today is full o f dwarfs, men and women who were converted five, ten, twenty years ago, and who have never advanced beyond their, starting point. A great multitude are being born again in these days in the Sunday meetings, and the grave question confronts us, will they stay just where they are, spiritual babes, or will they grow? It is for them to say, and it is for us to say by helping them or hin dering them, so we come to the subject, How to Grow. The Bible makes this very plain. It makes (it so simple that any one can understand it. I f we will take the steps to promote the growth which the Bible clearly sets forth, then we shall grow. If we do not take those steps we shall not grow, we shall remain spiritual dwarfs and monstrosities, and there will be no one to blame but ourselves.
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