TORREY BIBLE CONFERENCE MESSAGE
I n o n e o f ou r discussions we have talked about the various aspects to be ing sons of God. Frequently, those who are awakened to their need of the Sav iour may rightly ask, “How may I tru ly become a son of God?” I enjoy good illustrations, but actually the best il lustration is the Word of God itself. Peter tells us that once we have re ceived salvation we are to “grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (II Peter 3:18). Growth is always tied into a living act. A snowball doesn’t grow. It may get larger as children roll it. Growth symbolizes that which truly has life within it. Before we can grow spiritually, therefore, we must first of all have the relationship of the new birth and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Then see the next step in develop ment. “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: If so be that ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious” (I Peter 2:2, 3). Peter begins at the very alphabet of our Christian life. He re gards us as babes newly delivered. Just as an infant needs to grow phy sically, so a spiritual infant needs to grow! One important part of a baby’s diet is milk. Eager mothers and fa thers watch their children grow daily
thereby. The muscles develop, legs be come strong, and each day seems to bring some new achievement. We, too, must grow through spiritual milk. We are living in a day of substitutes. Con sequently there are formulas for al most everything. Even in Christian circles we are in the days of substi tutes. Yet, Peter reminds us that we should be interested primarily in the Word of God for true growth. Permit me to digress a moment again to an swer the question, “How does one be come a spiritual infant?” Very simply, this happens by being bom again, not by joining a church, or by being bap tized, or by reciting a creed. You be come a child of God through personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. One of the first evidences of spiritual growth is through the experience, in the power of the Holy Spirit, of over coming sin. “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (I John 2:1). Sin, of course, will be in our lives until the time the Lord calls us to be with Him self. But thank God it need not possess or overcome us, and it will not, if we are truly growing in grace. When sin does come, we can turn to our Attor- (continued on n ex t page) 19
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