Grace And Peace - 2 Peter 1:1-2

Last week, we considered the reality that Christians,

that Peter's writing to, and Christians who know

Christ, we considered the reality that all Christians

have the same kind of faith. Saving, justifying

faith. Faith of the same character, the same

nature. And some of the reasons that it's the

same is because true saving, justifying faith,

always shares the same object. It rests on the

same thing. It receives the same realities. That

faith that saves has the same object that it

believes upon, that it rests on. The Lord Jesus

Christ, His gospel, His work, the cross, the

atonement, the work of God in redemption. That's

the object of the Christian's faith. But it's

not just that we share the same object or that

this faith is the same kind of faith. We also

recognize that Christians who have justifying

faith all share and partake and receive the same

privileges, the same blessings, the same benefits

from that salvation. So every believer who has

true, genuine faith in Christ receives the forgiveness

of sins, the righteousness of Christ. They are

pardoned by the grace of God. They receive eternal

life. They are indwelt by the Spirit of God.

Every Christian receives these same privileges.

So I want to encourage every believer here today

based on those truths that we studied last week.

If you have true, justifying faith in Christ,

then you have all of Christ for all of time,

regardless of the condition of your heart this

morning. If you have true, justifying faith in

the Lord Jesus Christ, brothers and sisters,

you have all of Christ's righteousness. It's

all reckoned to your account. It's all yours.

You are justified. And made right in the sight

of God. Regardless of what you're struggling

with today. Regardless of what you're going through.

Regardless of what issues you face right now

at this moment in your faith. If you're in possession

of that faith, you have all of Christ's righteousness.

And that means that you're standing before God

is settled. It's established. You are right in

His sight. There is therefore now no condemnation

for those in Christ Jesus. If you're here today

and you have true, justifying faith, then that

means you have eternal life regardless of what

physical ailments or issues or physical trials.

you might face. Brothers and sisters, we share

in, we partake in these glorious, saving, gracious

realities regardless of the condition of our

hearts, the situation in our lives. They're realities

that we share and we partake in by faith as believers.

But, These realities evidence and show something

very, very clearly. That though Christians share

in these realities, though Christians have the

same kind of faith, we don't all have the exact

same experience in the Christian life of those

glorious realities that we partake of by faith.

There's a diversity of Christian experiences

that we undergo as believers in this life, as

those who have hearts that are deceitful, as

those who have unique situations and troubles

and trials. There's no uniform Christian experience

across the board. Though we take part in these

grand realities, It's clear and obvious that

some people have greater experiences of God's

grace and some people have lesser and more diminished

experiences of those grace in their souls. Why

is this? How is that? Some people enjoy greater

and lesser assurance in their lives. Some people

experience lesser and greater joy and peace in

their lives throughout different periods in their

life. Though we share a great deal in common

in this life, brothers and sisters, we're all

going to have unique Christian lives. Nobody's

going to be just like everybody else. Peter understands

this. This is why he writes to his recipients

as those who are in possession of this same like

faith, but he says, Grace and peace be multiplied

to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our

Lord. I want to consider two things this morning

with you brothers and sisters. I want to first

consider the blessings to be multiplied. Grace

and peace. But I also want to consider the means.

of these blessings being multiplied in the knowledge

of God and of Jesus our Lord. So first, consider

these two blessings which Peter longs for and

he desires and he wishes and he expects to be

multiplied in the life of his Christian recipients.

He first says, grace be multiplied to you in

the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. Peter

really, really likes the word grace. He has an

affinity for this word grace. I can't help but

think that one of the reasons that Peter loves

the word grace so much is because of how much

grace the Lord himself showed to him. I can't

help to think that his thinking of grace isn't

connected to his recollections and his memories

of the Lord Jesus Christ and how much grace and

mercy the Lord Jesus showed to him. We read in

1 Peter, Chapter 5, verse 10. He says, After

1 Peter 5:10

you have suffered for a little while, the God

of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory

in Christ, will himself perfect, confirm, strengthen,

and establish you. To him be dominion forever

and ever. Amen. Through Silvanus, our faithful

brother, for so I regard him. I've written to

you briefly, exhorting and testifying, listen

to this, that this is the true grace of God.

Stand firm in it. He reads, he writes in 1 Peter,

verse 1, or verse 3, he says, Blessed be the

God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who

according to his great mercy, has caused us to

be born again to a living hope through the resurrection

of Jesus Christ from the dead. He says in verse

2, May grace and peace be yours in the fullest

measure. Peter loves grace. What is he talking

about when he refers to grace? Well, I think

he has to be talking... about the whole system

of salvation, this whole gracious redemption

that has saved his soul from wrath, from sin,

and the effective working power of God by his

Spirit to change and transform those he has saved.

He's got to be referring to the whole system

of saving doctrine and truth of the gospel that

is revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's got

to be talking about that, but he's also got to

be talking about the fact that God works in him

to change him and transform him, that his grace

is effective in his life, like Paul talks about

in 1 Corinthians 15, for his grace did not prevail

toward me. Talking about the work of God in his

life, effectively working, effectively changing

him. He's got to be talking about the manifestations

of his grace in his life, such as peace and joy

and contentment, steadfastness, perseverance,

these different ways. That grace makes itself

known in the life of God's people. The different

ways that God's work makes itself known in the

life of God's people. He's got to be referring

to faith and repentance, those blessed evangelical

gospel graces that God has given to us, that

God has graciously bestowed in our lives so that

we can trust Him, that God has provided us with

faith. He's got to be talking about the reality

that God has given us repentance and godly sorrow

over our sin, brothers and sisters. And he has

to be talking about the reality that he wants

to have greater views and greater sights by faith

of that grace that God has bestowed on him. Peter's

got to be talking about all of these different

things. But he's not just talking about grace,

is he? He's also talking about, and he also desires

and longs for this other blessing to be known

in greater degree in the life of the believers

that he's writing to. What is that blessing?

It's peace. Grace and peace be multiplied. When

he speaks of peace, I think we should just take

that as The prosperity of soul and life that

comes as a result of God's grace working in our

life. So joy, satisfaction, fulfillment, all

the blessed things which flow from God's work

in our lives. Now it's almost as though Peter

is telling us that there's a relationship. between

grace and peace in the life of these believers.

He doesn't write, peace and grace be with you.

He writes, grace and peace be multiplied to you.

And it's always in that order. He wants both

of these blessings to increase and multiply and

grow and to be known and experienced in greater

ways in the lives of these believers. But it's

almost as though peace isn't going to grow and

multiply unless grace grows and multiplies in

the life of the believer. Can people enjoy peace

in their life if they've never experienced grace?

in their life? Brothers and sisters, can you

experience peace with God and peace in your soul?

Supernatural peace that surpasses knowledge and

understanding in your soul if you've never tasted

of the grace of God? No, sir, you cannot. You

have no peace in your life if there's no grace

in your life. So peace and grace are related.

They're connected. They move together. They work

together. They cooperate. As one increases, the

other will increase. There's a relationship.

But I think there's one other thing that Peter

wants us to be clear about in this text. And

that is that these are both in the realm of Christian

experience. These are both things that Christians,

by faith, enjoy and experience. So how does a

believer enjoy and experience grace in their

life? God, by His mighty, sovereign power working

through the Spirit of God, works in us. That's

His grace effectively working and changing in

us, brothers and sisters. Impacting us, influencing

us. transforming us. That's in the realm of Christian

experience. We must experience that in our souls

if we are true, born -again believers. His work

in our lives. There's nothing purely theoretical

about God's grace for the believer. It comes

into the realm of Christian experience. But what

about peace? This is the easy one, right? We

all know that... The peace he's speaking of is

peace that we need to be in possession of. Peace

that we need to know more of. Peace that we need

when things get hard. Peace that we need when

life is difficult. It's in the realm of Christian

experience. It's something that can be multiplied.

Something that can be diminished. It's something

that can change. Something that can fluctuate.

Peter wants it to grow. Peter wants it to expand.

He wants it to increase. He wants it to blossom.

And that's because it's in the realm of Christian

experience, brothers and sisters. Now knowing

this, there are certain things that are implicit

in this greeting by the Apostle Peter. It's implied

that all Christians True Christians have experienced

God's grace and enjoy peace to some degree and

some measure in their life. Every single one.

If a person is indwelt by the Spirit of God and

new life and new principles being implanted within

them and that rocky, stony heart, Has been taken

out. And the heart of flesh has been put in them.

A heart that loves the law of God. With the law

of God written on it. A heart that walks in the

precepts of the Lord. And his statutes. A heart

that responds to the gospel. A heart that has

its affection set on Christ. Brothers and sisters.

That heart. Has experienced and known grace.

And that's the reason it's the way that it is.

That's the reason that it does what it does.

That's the reason that it feels what it feels.

Because of God's grace in it, working in it and

upon it, changing the person. Every true Christian

has experienced God's grace. Brothers and sisters,

I don't want us to be fooled. Fooled. I don't

want us to have the wool pulled over our eyes.

You cannot be a Christian if the gospel has not

broken into the experience of your life. You

cannot be a Christian if Christ does not effect

your heart. You cannot be a Christian, brothers

and sisters, if you never feel compelled to holiness

and godliness, if it doesn't touch and affect

and change your desires and your longings, your

wants, your direction and your orientation in

life. The gospel always breaks into our experience,

into our souls, brothers and sisters. It changes

the very core and being of who we are. That's

the nature of the gospel. It's transformative.

Have you experienced the grace of God in your

life? Or is it just an idea that's far and distant

and far off? They're all ideas and thoughts.

It's all a part of tradition. It's all things

you've known about. It's like reading a book

about something. You know about it, but you don't

know the thing itself. Brothers and sisters,

that's not true Christianity. That's not the

gospel, brothers and sisters. The true gospel

and true Christianity always affects the person.

It affects our experience in life. It breaks

in to Christian experience. It must. I don't

tell you that to be harsh and mean. I tell you

that, brothers and sisters. Because if Christianity

and the gospel and Christ is purely theoretical,

it's purely a sense of the mind, it's purely

intellectual, then I fear for your soul. Christ

changes us. He changes the core of who we are.

It affects our daily living, our daily experience,

our daily life. So I don't say it to be harsh

and angry. I say it because I want you to be

saved and I want you to experience the grace

of God in your very soul so that you can be affected

by the living God, by His truth. This is implied

in Peter's greeting. But it's also implied, brothers

and sisters, that all Christians have varying

experiences of that grace. If this grace can

be multiplied and increased, then does that not

imply that every single reader and recipient

that he's writing to has a different experience

of that grace. There's not going to be a recipient

that Peter's writing to that has the exact same

experience of God's work in their life. You know

why? Because we're all born again at different

times. We're all going to be at different places,

points, stages, and times in our life. sanctification.

Nobody's the exact same. Everybody has a different

personality. Everybody has a different providential

situation. Brothers and sisters, everybody has

different temptations and different trials and

different struggles in their life. There's no

two similar Christian experiences. Peter's telling

us this in this. So that means that my Christian

experience is not going to look identical to

a brother or sister's Christian experience. And

that means that your Christian experience is

not going to look just like everybody else's

Christian experience. God did not make you just

like everybody else. He did not make me just

like everybody else. He did not make... another

person like the other person. We're all different.

Though His grace work in the life of believers

through a same kind, a like precious faith, brothers

and sisters, that work is going to produce varying

effects in our souls at different rates and in

different ways to varying degrees in our life.

Now, that encourages us. To be very cautious

about holding ourselves up as a standard for

the Christian life. That cautions us from holding

ourselves up as a standard for what somebody

else's Christian life ought to look like. No,

brothers and sisters. That's dependent on God's

work in them. In their situation. In their life,

are there universal truths? Yes. But brothers

and sisters, we have to be very cautious about

these things, but we also have to be very encouraged

by these things. My Christian life is not going

to look just like everybody else's Christian

life. You're not going to be in the same place

as everybody else, brothers and sisters, and

that doesn't mean there's something wrong with

you. We're different. God works in us by His

grace and by His mercy, by His Spirit and accompaniment

of His Word, brothers and sisters, but that work

is going to show itself in our lives in very

different ways. Don't compare yourself to other

Christians unless you're saying, I'm going to

follow after them as far as they follow after

Christ. We're all different. We're all going

to have varying degrees where we experience and

enjoy God's grace and his peace in our life.

It's also implied in this text that every single

Christian can in fact have a greater experience

of God's grace and enjoy peace in greater measures

in their life. If it can be expanded and multiplied

and grown, brothers and sisters, that means that

I always have room to grow into it. That means

that you always have room to grow in grace and

knowledge and the love of God. This is implicit

in the text. There's nobody, nobody, who's a

believer in Jesus Christ. There's nobody in this

room who has reached a point and a place in Christian

life where they are beyond growth. Every single

person has growth ahead of them in this life,

brothers and sisters. Grace and peace be multiplied

to you. Everybody can experience further degrees,

further manifestations of God's grace in our

life. Brothers and sisters, do you want to know

more of Christ? Do you want to know more of God's

Spirit? Do you want to know more of the fruit

of the Spirit? Do you want to know more of walking

with God and having a sense of His presence in

your life? Do you long for that in your very

souls? You can have it. Grace and peace be multiplied.

It's yours for the taking, brothers and sisters.

Peter is greeting the readers with this. He's

desiring, he's expecting, he's looking, he's

wanting this, he's longing this for his Christian

recipients. If you're a Christian, you can know

Christ in greater and further ways. If you are

a believer in Jesus Christ, you can know godliness

and holiness in further and greater ways in your

life. You can honor Christ in further and greater

ways in your life. There is more ahead of us.

Don't grow. settled and content with what you've

known in the past and what you're experiencing

by His grace now. Brothers and sisters, long

and seek and look for the work of God in our

souls more and more and more. Stir up hunger

and longing and desire in your soul more and

more and more for these things. There's more

of His grace to be known. By all of his people

who are in possession of saving faith. And this

ought to be the aim of every Christian. To grow

in grace and peace. Every single believer ought

to have This one grand design in their mind for

their life. To grow in the grace of God. Is that

not what Peter wants for his readers here? To

know more of grace, to know more of peace. That

is the longing of every true believer. Every

person. that has been regenerated, and that is

filled with the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit

of God, will have a desire and a longing for

more holiness in their life. Why? Because the

Spirit of God dwells within them. Because the

seed of God has been implanted within them. Regeneration,

brothers and sisters. Their very natures have

changed. And the Spirit of God dwells within

them. Their affections are now toward holy things.

Grace and peace. The work of God. His holiness

and His righteousness. There's no true Christian.

That does not desire to grow. Every true Christian

desires to grow in grace. That is a universal

experience. Do you want to know Christ more?

Are your affections on God? Is your life God

-worthy? Do you care about pleasing Him and honoring

Him because He is worthy of it? Have you tasted

and seen that the Lord is good and you want more?

Brothers and sisters, that's a definitive mark

of the true believer. To long for more grace

and mercy because they know how desperately they

need it. Christians are those who know they are

sinners. And they know their brothers and sisters

in Christ are sinners. And they know that they're

failures. They know that they're frail. They

know that they're weak. Christians are those

who know that they need the grace of God. They

know that God has been merciful to them because

of their sin. And they are those who know that

they must grow in grace and peace. They can't

do it on themselves. They know they need the

help of the Lord. So this all begs the question,

how does the believer grow in grace? You hear

all of this. How do you grow in grace and peace?

How do you come to enjoy the grace of God and

further in greater ways? How is grace and peace

multiplied in the life of the believer? How does

it grow? How does it thrive? How do we nourish?

that in our lives. How do we seek that out? There's

all kinds of wrong ways to do it. There's all

kinds of bad ways to do it. I think there's two

extremes that people go to. The one is complete

inactivity. I don't do anything. I just sit back

and throw my arms back and I pray that God deliver

me from this sin. God help me. I can't do anything.

God saved me from this. I can't do anything.

I can't make myself do it. All I have to do is

submit myself to God and he will take care of

the rest. Because any activity, any work on my

part would be carnal. So we just allot our inactivity

and our passivity and our complacency spiritually

to God. Why am I not growing? Because God hasn't

delivered me. Why am I not overcoming this besetting

sin that God is displeased with? Because He hasn't

brought me out of it. Why am I dishonoring Him?

Because He hasn't strengthened my faith. That's

one extreme. The other extreme is saying that

it's all about you. That I have to do everything.

This is what Paul is addressing in Galatians

Galatians 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2 and chapter 3. Where he talks about

rebuilding the law. Have we started by faith?

And now we're perfecting it by the law? By the

flesh? Brothers and sisters, we have to remember

that sanctification, just like justification,

is by faith. We don't do nothing. That's not

what the Bible teaches. And we don't do everything.

We go down this middle path. And what is that

path? Faith and obedience. We do everything that

we can and we obey what we can. We pray and we

ask for help. Brothers and sisters, if we are

going to be justified, it's by faith. If we are

going to be sanctified, listen brothers and sisters,

if you are going to be sanctified in your life,

if you are going to grow in the grace and peace

of God, it's only going to be by that God -given,

saving, justifying faith that He has given to

you. Peter actually tells us quite clearly in

the second half of this verse the means by which

we grow. He tells us how we can obey, His command

in 2 Peter 3, verse 18, where he says, You therefore,

2 Peter 3:18

beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your

guard so that you are not carried away by the

error of unprincipled men and fall from your

own steadfastness. But listen to what he says.

But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord

and Savior, Jesus Christ. That's a command, brothers

and sisters, for every believer. To grow in the

grace of Jesus Christ. So how do we do it? Peter

tells us, and this leads us to the second thing

that we have to consider. The means of the blessings

being multiplied. Peter says this. Grace and

peace be multiplied to you in... the knowledge

of God and of Jesus our Lord. That word in could

also be translated through, meaning in or through

the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. So

these blessings are multiplied in or through

the knowledge of God. Immediately, Peter introduces

us to this connection, this correlation, between

growth in grace and peace and growth in knowledge.

These two things that work together. This is

a regular theme throughout the epistles and especially

in Paul's writings. Consider a few verses with

me that correlate. Knowledge with growth in the

Christian life. We read in Ephesians chapter

Ephesians 1:17

1, verse 17, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ,

the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit

of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of

Him. So how does this spirit of wisdom and revelation

get cultivated? In the knowledge of God. We read

in Philippians chapter 1, verse 9. And this I

Philippians 1:9

pray, that your love may abound, may grow, may

increase, may be multiplied, brothers and sisters,

still more and more. In real what? Knowledge

in all things. Discernment. Again we find. This

love. Increasing. Growing. In what garden brothers

and sisters. In what grounds. The knowledge of

God. We read in Colossians. Chapter 1. Verses

Colossians 1 · chapter mention

9 through 10. For this reason. Also. Since the

day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray

for you and to ask that you may be filled with

the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom

and understanding, so that you will walk in a

manner worthy of the Lord to please Him in all

respects, bearing fruit in every good work and

increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened

with all power, according to His glorious might.

Growth, steadfastness, power, vitality in the

Christian life, health in the Christian life.

Where does it flourish? Where does it grow and

expand and multiply and go upward? Where does

it progress and mature and develop, brothers

and sisters? In the knowledge of God. Those are

the grounds. where it grows, where it blossoms.

It's a theme we see over and over and over. This

is where transformation, this is where Christian

growth and maturity grows. And knowing God as

He has revealed Himself in the Scriptures, and

in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

If we want to grow in grace, and we want to enjoy

peace in greater ways in our life, if we want

to see the work of God bolstered, then brothers

and sisters, we need to give ourselves to the

knowledge of God. To knowing Him as He has revealed

Himself. Is there a better topic? Listen, brothers

and sisters, is there a greater storehouse of

treasure and content that we can study, that

we can consider, that we can meditate on, that

we can dwell on in our lives, than the knowledge

of the living God who has saved us from our sin

in Christ? There's no better thing to place your

mind on. There's no better thing, brothers and

sisters, to set your mind on than the very things

of God. If you want to grow in your life, then

give yourself to knowing Him, to knowing Christ,

to knowing who He is and what He's done. Brothers

and sisters, read the book. Read the Bible. And

consider the great and the mighty works of God.

Consider what He has done. Have you considered

how He delivered His people from Egypt? And the

miracles and the mighty things that He worked

and accomplished and He did that He brought about?

Have you considered His provision for them in

the wilderness? The parting of the Red Sea? Have

you considered how the walls of Jericho fell

flat to the ground by His sovereign power. Have

you considered who He is and what He has done

in the person and work of Jesus Christ? Calvary?

Brothers and sisters, have you considered the

blood of Christ? Set your mind on these things.

Give yourself to these things. The knowledge

of God. Who He is. What He's done. And as he's

revealed in the person and the work of the Lord

Jesus Christ. So these blessings are multiplied

in or through the knowledge of God. Now it can't

be mere head knowledge. It can't purely be intellectual

content that Peter is talking about. Because

it's possible for people to have a knowledge

of the Bible as they have a knowledge of their

physics textbook. It's possible for people to

understand the things of God with their mind,

yet never really understand God with their hearts.

To have a true, deeper, spiritual, effective,

transforming knowledge of God. So it has to be

the knowledge of God that's deeper. There's something

different about this knowledge that Peter's talking

about. This knowledge does something to our very

souls that it transforms us and changes us. It's

not mere intellectual head knowledge. So what's

he talking about? Well, he helps us in the second

part of the verse. He says that these blessings

aren't just multiplied in the general knowledge

of God, but he says that these blessings are

multiplied in or through the knowledge of God

and of our Lord, Jesus Christ. And of Jesus,

our Lord. So he's not simply talking about Head

knowledge. He's talking about gospel knowledge.

He's talking about the reality that somebody

has to be in Christ and they have to be in possession

of that God -given faith so that they can look

to God and they can seek to know God in and by

and through faith. He's talking about the fact

of gospel. Knowledge. Believers need to seek

to know God. They need to give themselves to

the knowledge of God. But brothers and sisters,

the knowledge that we have and the knowledge

that we gain concerning God and His Son, the

knowledge we have from the Word of God, from

His revelation, do you know what we have to do

with it? We have to apply it to our lives. And

we have to submit to Jesus Christ as we submit

to His revelation as Lord. The knowledge we gain

from the Word of God is useless to us if we do

not submit to that knowledge. The knowledge that

we gain from studying the Bible, from reading

books, the knowledge that we gain about God and

who He is and what He's done, it's pointless

and vain if we don't give our lives to submitting

to it and living in accordance with that knowledge

and applying it to our situations and our lives

by faith. Head knowledge is useless, but head

knowledge is where it starts, and that knowledge

has to make its way to our hearts in obedience

and faith. I fear there are many, many people

who know a great deal about Christianity. I fear,

brothers and sisters, that there are many, many

people who have been raised in the church, who

have grown up in the church, and they know about

Christ, they know about God, they know about

the world. They could tell you all the Bible

quiz questions there are. But their hearts are

not in submission to Jesus Christ as Lord, and

their hearts are in rebellion. to His revelation.

Therefore, they will not grow in the grace and

peace of God. But if we give ourselves to the

knowledge of God, and we take that knowledge

and we apply it to our situations and our lives,

what we know about Him and who He is in every

situation, and we apply it, And we live by faith

according to what he's revealed. That knowledge,

brothers and sisters, will transform our souls.

That knowledge will affect us. The Spirit of

God will work in us and through us, transforming

us. And how do we do these things? By faith.

In 2 Corinthians chapter 3. If you recall, Paul

2 Corinthians 3 · chapter mention

is talking about Moses and the veil and glory

and the old covenant. And he's talking about

the new covenant. And then he talks about how

new covenant people who have the Spirit of God

are an unveiled people. He talks about the fact

that the veil has been removed when they turned

to the Lord. The veil has been taken away. And

then he talks about how they're transformed into

one image, the same image, Jesus Christ. But

they're transformed from glory to glory. How?

And by what? By beholding the Lord Jesus Christ.

By beholding him. What is the beholding? It's

faith. It's looking at Christ in the Gospel,

in the Scriptures. And as we gaze at Christ by

faith in the Scriptures, as He's made known,

do you know what happens? Do you know what God

does through His Spirit? Brothers and sisters,

He transforms us from glory to glory. In chapter

4, He talks about how we're renewed inwardly,

day by day. He transforms us. He changes us.

He sanctifies us. He renews us. He grows us in

grace and the enjoyment of peace in our lives.

So if you're here today and you're a true born

-again believer and you want to grow in grace,

and you want to enjoy peace in greater ways and

greater measures and greater degrees in your

life, do you know what you need to do? Do you

know what you need to do? You need to give yourself

to the knowledge of God and submit yourself to

Jesus Christ as Lord, and you need to apply the

knowledge you have gained, the knowledge you

have, to your life and your situation. That means...

Now you go to the Word of God. And if you want

to live by faith in your marriage, you know what

you do? You go to the Word of God. You ask God

for help. And you say, Lord, teach me. Help me

to understand what you teach about marriage.

You study the Scriptures. You see what this Scripture

says. And you see what this Scripture says. And

you find the principles. You take all of those

texts and you draw out the principles of it,

the teachings of it. And then what do you do?

You take that knowledge. And you apply it to

your life and you live in like manner. And whenever

the carnal and the fleshly desires pop up, whenever

the flesh seeks to rebel against God, you submit

to Christ because He's Lord. Do you know what

we call that? Living by faith. You apply what

you know about... God. Give yourselves to reading

your Bibles, brothers and sisters. We live and

die by the Word of God. Take time to be with

God. To seek Him out. Give yourself to good books.

Give yourself to discussions where the knowledge

of God is on display and actively at work. There's

a tendency. When people are talking about the

things of God. For certain individuals. All over

the place. To hear what's taking place. And to

remove themselves. To a more practical. More

pleasurable. Or an easier discussion. But brothers

and sisters listen. You know what's good for

your soul? You know what's good for your heart?

The knowledge of God. Give yourselves to learning

about who Christ is. About what God has done

for us. God has saved our sins. Saved us from

our sins. He saved us from His wrath. He saved

us from hell. He has given us everything that

God can give. He has been abundantly merciful.

He has given us every spiritual blessing in the

heavenly places. Learn about that God who has

been so gracious in Christ. Learn about that

God who has been so merciful to you and your

soul. The God who will guide you unto death and

even beyond the grave. The God who will raise

you in glory. Study and give yourself to that

God. Learn about Him. Praise Him and worship

Him as a result of That study. And obey and submit

to those glorious realities. Put down the flesh.

Mortify sin and the lust of the flesh. Love God

more than people you shouldn't be loving. Set

your affections on Him. Choose Him in every situation,

in every way, in everything. Brothers and sisters,

it's faith and obedience. There's a real danger.

We have to understand this. There's a real danger

in always learning and never applying and never

submitting. That's a real danger. Because that

says something about your heart. That says something

about your soul. Are you taking in information?

Are you learning about who God is? Yet you're

unwilling to submit to those glorious realities

in your heart. That's a dangerous place to be,

brothers and sisters. It's a scary place to be.

We must learn. and live by faith, and submit

to Christ as Lord. And don't ever forget that

our peace in life is bound up with our knowledge

of God and our submission to Him. It's not just

grace. Remember, it's the enjoyment of peace

in our life as well. I dare say, That those who

are bitter and angry and frustrated in life,

that those who have tumult in their soul, and

those who are discontent and angry in life, those

who are miserable in circumstances, brothers

and sisters, one of two things. They're not growing

in their knowledge of God. Or they're not submitting

to Christ as Lord in their life. But listen,

if we give ourselves to growing in the knowledge

of God, and we are actively submitting our lives,

our hearts, and our souls to the risen Lord Jesus

who died for us and gave Himself for us, then

brothers and sisters, the Spirit of God will

cause your soul to flourish. The Spirit of God

will cause your soul to grow and multiply in

grace and peace. And you will enjoy a greater

measure of peace in your life. You will enjoy

a greater degree of peace in your circumstances.

You will have more joy and more contentment and

more fulfillment and more satisfaction in Christ.

But brothers and sisters, we have to submit and

we have to grow in the knowledge of the Lord

Jesus. So we've considered the blessings that

are to be multiplied and we've considered the

means of these blessings being multiplied.