Products

SHORT TOPICAL STUDIES             BLESSEDBIBLE.com
Home
Reading Room
Espanol
Korean
Links
Contact

 THOUGHTS TO GROW IN GRACE AND KNOWLEDGE

    "But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.            To him be glory both now and for ever."  2 Peter 3:18 (KJV)

Click to view a subject listed below to view past articles.

IF we are positive in our rejection of temptation it increases our strength of character, not only for that time, but also for subsequent temptations; and it disconcerts to some extent our adversary, who, noting our positiveness, knows well that it is useless to discuss the matter with persons of strong convictions and positive characters; whereas if the question were parleyed over, the result would surely be an advancing of further reasons and arguments on the adversary's part, and a danger on our part that we would be overmatched in argument, for, as the apostle declares, the Devil is a wily adversary, and "we are not ignorant of his devices." Prompt and positive obedience to the Word and Spirit of the Lord is the only safe course for any of the "brethren".

 

Because thou has kept the word of My patience, I also will keep thee from

the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them

that dwell upon the earth.  Revelation 3:10

THIS is special reward of those who are running the race with patient endurance in the present time, in the Laodicean period; while it was not our privilege to escape the hour of temptation, it is our privilege to have a counter-balancing special blessing as a result of hiving the of our Lord's parousia (presence).  We may have His fellowship, His instruction, His dispensing of spiritual food which is now "meat in due season," in a manner and to a degree in which none of the faithful of past periods enjoyed these.  But as we might expect, this greatest favor is correspondingly offset by the subtilty of  the trials and severity of the trials of this hour of temptation coming upon the whole world.  If ever patient endurance was necessary it is necessary now.

PRIZE-FIGHTING COMMENDED

“I keep my body under, and bring it into subjection: lest ...

I myself should be a castaway.”   1 Corinthians 9:27

THERE is a tendency for the body, the flesh, to arise from its condition of reckoned deadness, hence the new nature needs to be continually on the alert to maintain its ascendancy, to fight the good fight of faith and to gain the prize as an overcomer. These battlings of the new mind against the flesh are a good fight in the sense that they are fightings against sins and weaknesses that belong to the fallen nature. They are a fight of faith in the sense that the entire course of the New Creature is a course of faith, as the apostle says, "We walk by faith and not by sight." ... It is a fight of faith in the sense that no one could keep up this battle against his own flesh and its propensities and desires, except as he can exercise faith in the promises and in the Lord as his helper.

 

“Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.

For unto every one that hath shall be given and he shall have abundance; but from

him that hath not, shall be taken away even that which he hath.  Matthew 25:28,29

 

WHY is the one-talented man chosen as an illustration of these talent-burials?  It is to show the responsibility of those who have least-that the Lord expects even the least of His consecrated people to know of and to use the talents he has in his possession, and that He will not hold guiltless even those who have the smallest ability to serve Him and His brethren and His truth, and who neglect to use it. 

.

 

From his high standpoint of appreciation of the divine law, the advanced Christian sees that in the Lord's sight hatred is murder, slander is assassination, and the destruction of a neighbor's good name is robbery and rapine.  And any of these things done in the church, among the professed people of God, is doubly evil - the assassination and robbery of a brother.  The only exception to this rule, "Speak evil of no man", would come in where the relating of the evil would be contrary to our heart's wishes, and only mentioned because of necessity - because of love for others who, if not informed, might be injured.

LOVE IS THE PRINCIPAL THING

 

“Love....rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the Truth.”--1 Corinthians 13:6

 

ARE the principles of right and wrong so firmly fixed in my mind, and am I so thoroughly in accord

with the right and so opposed to the wrong that I would not encourage the wrong, but must

condemn it, even if it brought advantage to me? Am I so in accord with right, with truth, that

I could not avoid rejoicing in the Truth and in its prosperity, even to the upsetting of some of my preconceived opinions, or to the disadvantage of some of my earthly interests? The love of God,

which the apostle is here describing as the spirit of the Lord's people, is a love which is far above selfishness, and is based upon fixed principles which should, day by day, be more and more

distinctly discerned, and always firmly adhered to at any cost.

"BEHOLD THE GOODNESS AND SEVERITY OF GOD." 

 

“Be not deceived,... he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.” Galatians 6:7, 8

 

We sow to the flesh every time we allow the fleshly, selfish, unjust, unrighteous desires of the flesh to have sway in our hearts and lives, and each sowing makes easier the additional sowing and makes more sure the end of that way which is death–Second Death. On the contrary, each sowing to the Spirit, each resistance to the desires of the flesh toward selfishness, etc., and each exercise of the new mind, of the new will, in spiritual directions toward the things that are pure, the things that are noble, the things that are good, the things that are true, is a sowing to the Spirit, which will bring forth additional fruits of the Spirit, graces of the Spirit, and which, if persevered in, will ultimately bring us in accord with the Lord's gracious promises and arrangements–everlasting life and the Kingdom.

Page 2

 MARK THE PERFECT MAN! BEHOLD THE UPRIGHT!

 

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. ”--Matthew 4:25-5:12

 

The thought of "pure in heart is not perfection of conduct, nor of word, nor of thought, but perfection of intention as respects all of these.  Our desire and effort must be for perfection-in thought, word and deed.  The standard before us, to which our hearts, wills, must give assent, is the divine standard, "Be ye perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect."  (Matthew 5:8)  God has set no lower standard than this absolute perfection, but He has provided for us grace, mercy and peace through Christ, if we will walk in His footsteps,.-this purity of heart being one of the essential steps in the narrow way.

 

THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD 

 

“Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over.”--Psalm 23

 

The fullness of the cup, running over, has a double significance.  It is a cup of joy and a cup of sorrow, and in both respects it overflows. He who would partake of the joys of the Lord must also partake of His cup of suffering; we must suffer with Him if we would reign with Him. But we count the sufferings of this present time as not worthy to be compared with the glories that shall be revealed in us, and hence we are enabled to rejoice in tribulation, so that as the tribulations will overflow the rejoicing likewise overflows, and with apostle we can say, Rejoice, and again I say Rejoice.

 

Bilingual

GROW IN GRACE 

 

“Speaking the truth in love, ... grow up into Him in all things,

which is the head, even Christ. ”-- Ephesians 4:15

 

What is it to grow in grace?  It is to grow in favor with the Lord through an intimate personal acquaintance and fellowship of spirit with Him ... To grow thus in grace and not grow in knowledge is impossible; for the very object of such communiion is to build us up in a more perfect knowledge and acquaintance with the Lord -- to bring us into closer fellowship with the divine plan, and to give us the privilege of being "workers together with Him" in executing that plan.  If, therefore, we love and obey the Lord and desire to grow in His favor, His written Word is our daily meditation and study; and thus we grow in knowledge.