20
THE KING’S BUSINESS
Jesus then means to take Him to be our sin bearer, the One who died in our place, and to trust God to forgive our sins because the Lord Jesus died in our place. In the second place, God offers Jesus to be our risen ^Saviour who has power to save us to the uttermost, to deliver us from the power o f sin day by day. As we read in Hebrews 7 :25, “ He is able to save to the uttermost them that draw near unto God through him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.” To receive Jesus then means to take Him to be our risen Saviour, who has all power in heaven and on earth, and therefore has power to give us victory over sin day by day, and just to trust Him to do it. In the third place God offers Jesus to be to us our Lord and King, as Peter puts it in Acts 2 :36. “There fore let all the house o f Israel know assuredly, .that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.” To receive Jesus then means to take Him as our Lord and our Christ, that is, as our Divine Master, to whom we surrender the entire control o f our thoughts, and our King, to whom we sur render th e. entire control o f our lives. When one does thus receive Jesus he is born again and he has entered into grace, and theerfore has taken his first step, the all-essential step, toward growing in grace. II. To Grow in Grace We Must Openly Confess Christ Before the World. In the second place, in order to grow in grace we must make an open confession before the world o f Jesus, whom we have received as our Lord. He Himself says in Matt. 10:32, 33, “Whosoever therefore shall confess me before‘men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall depy me before men, him will I also deny, before my Father which, is in heaven.” There is no possibil ity o f growth in grace without the open confession o f Christ before the world. If we really accept Him we will confess Him. As God says in Rom. 10:9, 10, “ I f thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and shalt believe in thy heart that
God raised Him from, the dead, thou shalt be saved; for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confessioh is made unto salvation.” Out o f the abundance o f the heart the mouth speaketh, and if we believe in Him with the heart we shall confess Him with the mouth. If we are to grow in grace it is necessary not merely that we confess the Lord Jesus when we join the church, we must constantly confess Him, every oppor tunity we have. There are few things that promote growth in grace more than the frequent confession o f Christ. I once heard a very wise old minister say to some young converts, “I f you make a good deal of Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ will make a good deal o f you, but if you do not make much o f Jesus Christ, He will not make much o f you.” Here is where many are stunted, just little spiritual “ sawed-offs” : they do not make a practice o f confessing Christ. And here is where many young converts go forward by leaps and bounds, because they are making a constant practice o f the con fession o f Christ. III. Must Eat the Right Kind of Food. In the third place, if we are to grow in grace there must be the right kind o f food. W e grow by what we eat. You might have a baby physically the best born in the world, but if you did not feed it the right kind o f food, and plenty o f it, it would not grow. The' baby o f John Sullivan would not grow as fast as the baby o f Tom Thumb, if we gave the baby o f Tom Thumb plenty o f good, nourishing milk, and did hot give the baby o f John Sullivan any food at all; so a man or woman or boy or girl may be born again, but if you do not give them the right food regularly they won’t grow. What the right kind of food is the Bible tells us' in 1 Peter 2:2: “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk o f the word, that ye may grow thereby.” The Word o f God is the food o f the mighty. Nothing will take the place of Bible study to promote growth. No amount o f listening to Sunday or any other preacher will take the place o f personal
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs