Abounding In Grace I - Part 2 of 2

Welcome to today's edition of the Baptist Bible Hour, a daily program proclaiming the sovereign grace of God.

My name is James Kenneth. Thank you for joining us. Thank you for joining us for another edition of the Baptist Bible Hour. On today's program, we continue the sermon series titled Abounding in Grace. This short three-sermon series from Lesair Bradley Jr. is based in 2 Peter chapter 1.

Today we hear the second half of the first sermon in the series, and we will get started with that message right after this song. Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation. O my soul, praise Him for He is my health and salvation. All ye who fear, now to His temple draw near.

Join me in glad adoration. Praise to the Lord, who doth prosper thy work and defend thee. Surely His goodness and mercy, here daily attend thee.

Under a new, what the Almighty can do, if with His love He be friendly. Praise to the Lord, who let all that is in me adore Him. All that hath life and breath come now with praises before Him. Let the Amen sound from His people again.

Gladly, for aye, we adore Him. Then in 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 1, the apostle writing to this young man in the ministry saying, thou therefore my son, be strong in the grace that is in Jesus Christ. The grace is given you.

It is unmerited favor. It is an amazing demonstration of God's mercy. But he says to Timothy, be strong in this grace. You've been given grace, but you're to be strong in it.

This shows us some responsibility. Sometimes the person gets the idea, well I hear man preach salvation is by grace, I read of the scripture, salvation is by grace. So I just coast along.

I just await that happy day when it lasts. I'll enjoy the ultimate culmination of all of God's mercies and His abundant grace for me when I'm living in heaven. But Paul is writing to this young man saying right now, right here, I want you to be strong in the grace of God. You may say, well how am I going to do that? But you come back with a realization that if I'm going to be strong in God's grace, I've got to be dependent upon Him. I've got to be called upon Him. I've got to be in communion with Him.

I've got to be asking for His help. Hebrews chapter 4 verse 16 puts it this way, let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Alright, if this is a time of need and if we really understand our weakness, we know that that's not just some special unique day that all of a sudden we have a time of need.

We have it every day. Every day and everything that we do and every decision we make, it's a time of need. And so we turn to Him. Paul says be strong. How am I going to be strong?

I'm weak in myself, alright? You come boldly to the throne of grace and then you're seeking grace to help in time of need and God has promised to give it to you. John chapter 1 verse 16 says, and of His fullness have all we received and grace for grace. Every time I read that verse I just like to think about it as though it's the waves of the ocean.

You stand there by the seashore and the waves come in and as soon as one comes in there's another following. And so it is. So it is with this grace that God gives us. You've received grace for grace.

One wave comes in. One blessing of grace is there but there's another immediately following. And with this grace comes peace.

That's what He's telling us in our text. Grace and peace. Not much real peace in our world is there. Nations are always in conflict with one another. We see even on the streets of our cities so often somebody is gunned down.

Talk about the human race improving. Still haven't learned how to live together without killing each other. No real genuine peace. But there is a peace that passeth understanding. There is a peace that God gives and puts in the hearts of His people. Jesus said in John chapter 14 verse 27, Peace I leave with you.

My peace I give unto you. Now He was preparing the disciples for the fact that He was going to go away. He was going to the cross. He was going to die. They weren't going to see Him anymore. They'd been with Him for the three years of His ministry. He was feeling great anxiety by the fact that He had spoken to the fact He was going away.

In fact, He even tried to say that can't be. But Jesus made it clear that's why He came. He came here to go to the cross to die to redeem His people. But now He's speaking to them to give them words of comfort and peace to prepare them for His departure. My peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto you. Not as the world giveth give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled.

Neither let it be afraid. How often is your heart troubled? Troubled by some difficult circumstance that you can't immediately change. Troubled by some of your questions that you can't answer. Some of your doubts.

Some of your fears. Jesus Himself says, let not your heart be troubled. Sometimes a friend may send you a note when they know that you're going through a difficult time and you appreciate it. It means a lot.

It's such a comfort. But here's a note from Jesus. He says, let not your heart be troubled and don't be afraid. In the weakness of our humanity, we tend to be afraid. There's so many things that can disturb us. So many unanswered questions about the future. What's going to happen?

What's going to be down the road somewhere? And you can fear. But He says, don't be afraid.

Why? Because I'm going to give you an inward peace. Peace that comes because of My blessing upon you and My presence with you. A peace that you won't even at times understand yourself.

You can be in the midst of a great trial. And instead of falling apart, you feel peace. It's a peace that God gives you. Grace and peace are multiplied, the passage says, through knowledge. Multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. The greater your knowledge, the greater your understanding of God's sovereignty, of His power, His grace, His love, the greater is going to be your peace. If you forget about the fact that God's on the throne, God is ruling and reigning, no matter how troubled the situation may be at the moment, how dark the scene around you in this ungodly world, the Lord still reigns.

And if you focus on that and you have the knowledge of that, the result is going to be greater peace. Multiplied through the knowledge of God. Then the word that we emphasize in verse 3 is power. By His power He has given us what we need. It says, according to His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of Him that called us to glory and virtue. First we recognize it is by His power that we are called.

We are dead in trespasses and in sin. We have not the ability to get up and come to Him. He then brings us by His power. He calls us, His calling is effectual. It is by His power that we are given the new birth. John chapter 3 verse 8, The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth, so is every one that is born of the Spirit. Just as the wind blows as it pleases.

You don't see the wind, but you hear the sound of it. You can't tell from whence it cometh, whether it goeth, so it is of everyone that is born of the Spirit. The Spirit of God does that work. Bringing about the new birth.

So it is by His power. It is by His power that we are made a new creature in Christ Jesus. 2 Corinthians 5 17, Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, old things are passed away, behold all things are become new. He gives you a new heart. Sometimes people say, well I gave my heart to the Lord. Well, the message of grace is He gives you a new heart. He takes away that stony heart and gives you a heart of flesh. A heart that is made willing in the day of His power. What a blessing.

What an amazing display of His power. That He takes one who is a sinner. No love for God. Even no fear of God.

By nature, man doesn't genuinely fear God. And He transforms him. He brings about new life. This new birth with a new heart and new desires. And He says that when you are born into the family of God, you are complete. Colossians chapter 2 verse 10, And ye are complete in Him which is the head of all principality and power.

Complete in Him. You don't have to seek a second work of grace. I've talked to people in years gone by who were diligently looking for some kind of a second experience. A second work of grace. But He tells us in this passage that according to His divine power, He has given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness. You don't have to wish for more or seek for more information.

You might say sometime, well, I read the Bible but I wish I had more information. The Lord says He has given you everything you need. Everything that pertains to life and godliness. You don't need another line in the Bible to give you the instruction that is necessary. Or to give you the guidance that you need to know how to live to His glory. So He has given us that which is absolutely complete and adequate.

Provided all that you will ever need to live a life, the kind of life that He requires of you. Now sometimes a person may be reading the Bible and knowing that here's the information I need. This is God's book. But you may become a little troubled and exasperated at times and say well here's some of it I don't understand. We all face that challenge but we have to be prayerful that the Lord will open our eyes and give us understanding.

We need to read it regularly and we need to read it carefully. Sometimes a person will just take a passage here or a passage there and take it out of its context and setting and wind up being confused. When I was traveling to Tyler, Texas a few days ago, my plane leaving Cincinnati was delayed. So when I was going to change planes in Dallas I was fearful that I might miss my connection.

So when we land and I'm I think on the very back row, might have been one behind me, of this large plane. And as you know it takes time to unload that many passages. So I'm trying to not get too tense over it and remain calm. No I can't ask all these people to hurry or ask them to let me get by. I've got to wait my turn. So they finally unloaded and there was a representative there of the airlines and I said I had just taken out my ticket and looked at it.

So I just barely got enough time to make it. So I asked the representative, how do I get to my flight? Well you've got to go up the escalator, get on the train and go to such and such a gate and then you get off and then you go down the escalator again. So I go up the escalator, get on the train and I think surely the way I reasoned, mine ought to be the next stop but it wasn't. So we went to the next stop and then the next stop and then the next stop. I thought how far does this train go anyway? Finally get to the place that get off the train.

So then I've got to go down escalators again. And a lady with two children got right in front of me. I thought well you need to be nice to ladies and little children. So I want to be calm here and not act frustrated with her and once she got out of my way, an old man got in my way.

You really need to be nice to old people. So I'm rushing along very anxiously afraid that I'm going to miss the connection. I don't know what the difference is. Over at Cincinnati Airport everywhere you turn there's a screen up there to tell you about the flights and what gate they are. I looked everywhere I could and I didn't find one. So I had to go up to another representative at the airlines. I said can you tell me where, what the gate is?

I think I'm in the right section but I don't just where to, well I have to look it up on the computer. So he goes to the computer and he says I'm sorry it's taking so long, you know computers are slow. I say yes I understand that. Every time you're in a hurry the computer is slow. So he finally gets me the information and I go rushing and I'm out of breath this time and I get to the gate and they're not even loading the plane. I thought what on earth? So I took out my ticket and looked at it again.

In the big print it had on there the time they start loading the plane and in the little print it was down there the time it departs. I had read the wrong thing in my rush. So I had subjected myself to a lot of anxiety that was totally unnecessary because I wasn't careful in my reading. Now you need to be careful when you read God's Word.

You want to just jump at something and run off with it and maybe it cause you confusion because you haven't carefully read it. God has given us the adequate information that we need, given us everything that we need that pertains to life and Godliness and it's through the knowledge of Him that has called us. You're called to glory and virtue. 1 Peter 5 verse 10, But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, You see, it is to glory and grace. He's the God of all grace and He's called us unto eternal glory. And then 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 9 says, But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood and holy nation, a peculiar people that ye should show forth the praises.

And the Greek word from what that word praises comes also means virtues. So you want to show forth the praises of the virtues of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. He has called you to glory. Someday glory will be yours when you're at home with Him but He's called you also to virtue. This concerns how you are to live now. What it means for this grace to make a difference in your life, to have transformed you, to have changed your interests, your desires, your love.

So that you now love the things that you one time despised and despise the things that you one time loved. He has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. You're a chosen people, a chosen generation. You're a royal priesthood. You don't have to go through an earthly priesthood. You have the blessing to be able to go directly to Jesus Christ, our great high priest. You're a peculiar people, a people for a possession and the purpose that you might show forth His praises or His virtues.

But there might be something about you in your life that so resembles the fact that you are being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ that it can be seen in you. So we see the important role of knowledge. Verse 2 said, Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and our Savior Jesus Christ. So the more we grow in our knowledge and our understanding, the closer we'll be able to walk with Him and display that which will be to His praise. Verse 3 says, All things then that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to grace and glory. In both verses 2 and 3, emphasis is put upon knowledge. And then when Peter concludes this epistle, he says in chapter 3 and verse 18, But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever. Amen.

I would ask you the question, are you growing? It's not just a matter of embracing grace as a doctrine, but growing in grace. Growing in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So that grace is being displayed in the way we walk. That it's guiding us in the way we think.

In all of our interests and our attitudes in life. That we may be abounding in grace, abounding in it because we're drawing closer to our Savior Jesus Christ in the knowledge of Him. And therefore we thank God for His grace, we rejoice in grace, we love to preach His grace and then we want to live out His grace. Displaying the fact that He has changed us.

So the things then that are enumerated that we'll look at in the next message. Describe that which needs to be added to our faith. Faith is the gift and it's precious. But we then as recipients of grace have an obligation to add to that faith in our spiritual growth.

And if you do that, it says you will abound, you will abound in the grace of God and not be unfruitful. Yes, God's grace is a marvelous thing because by it we are given this faith of which we have spoken in this text. His grace is great because by it we are rescued and by the power that He has given us through the presence and anointing of His Holy Spirit.

We can now live with the praise and glory of His name. Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me! I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see. Was grace that taught my heart to fear and grace my fears relieved? How precious did that grace appear, the hour I first believed! Through many dangers, loiters and snares, I have already come.

Is grace that brought me safe thus far and grace will lead me home? When we've been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun, We've no less days to sing God's praise than when we first begun. Today in the Baptist Bible Hour we have listened to Abounding in Grace, the second half of the first message in this three sermon series from Lesair Bradley Jr. To hear all previously broadcast sermons, you may visit our website at BaptistBibleHour.org And please encourage others to visit the website as well and tell them about the resources and the ministry of the Baptist Bible Hour so that more people may be blessed by the teaching from Lesair Bradley Jr. and the sovereign grace of our God.

That is all the time that we have for today. Thank you so much for listening. I pray that the message has enriched your life. Be sure to listen again next time to another message of God's sovereign grace. And until then, may the Lord richly bless you and keep you and make His face shine upon you and give you peace. Praising my Savior! Praising my Savior! Amen.