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CLIMBING UP THE STAIRS
Text: “Grow in grace and. in the knowledge of
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.’’ 2 Peter 3:18.
ANY people are confounding growth in
grace with salvation. They are repre
senting that to be saved one must grow
up into a certain degree of spiritual and
ethical respectability and then be saved.
Some of the rest of us claim that salva
tion is the starting point and growth
in grace is that which results from hav
ing been saved. I suppose there have
I
been more sermons preached on it than any other
one thing in the Bible unless it is salvation itself.
And yet I am free to say that after all that has
been said and all that has been written about it,
there are very few people that I have found that
have actually experienced it. There are very few
people that have ever made any growth in grace,
certainly since a short while after they -were con
verted. If you will look at this from your expe
rience with Christian people, I expect you would
say; the same thing. Just look at the great crowd
of Christian people that you know, and how many
have ever made any progress in grace? For the
most part, we are just as selfish, just as greedy for
gain, just as unfair in our judgments, just as un
fair in our business dealings, and just as irritable
and fractious, just as indifferent about religion,
just as little disposed to give ourselves to the great
work of Jesus Christ as we were the day when we
were saved, and more so, for there was a certain
sort of spiritual ectasy that we had at that time
which led us out into active "work of the Lord Jesus
Christ that we have not got now. I will venture
to say that some of us are saying to ourselves at
this time, °I am not as far in grace today as when
I was converted/’
Some of us, of course, have made progress, but
is not so with the vast majority. Now if you think
that there is any doubt about it, suppose you have
an inventory made of yourself this morning, and
ask the Holy Spirit to help you in this inventory
that you may be honest and square! To begin with,
ask yourself this question: “Do I enjoy my Bible
any more than I used to?” “Do I enjoy prayer
any more than I used to?” “Do I find pleasure in
Christian work any more than I used to?” “Do I
give myself to meditation that I may know the will
of God and do it, any more than I used to?”
“Am I any more inclined to turn loose my money
to missions, to the support of the church, to the
salvation of men than I used to be?” After such an.
inventory, then be frank enough to say to the Holy
Spirit who helps you in that inventory exactly how
you feel, and if you feel, after this inventory, that
there has been no progress made in your spiritual
life, and you are a Christian at all, you are greatly
disturbed.
Now why is it that men do not grow in grace, as
they are commanded in this text, for this is a spe
ific command. I cannot believe that it is because
they do not want to grow in grace, for certainly
if one has ever been saved he wants to grow in
grace. Any man having gotten a taste of salvation
cannot exist without longing for more. But why
is it that we make such poor progress ? I think the
answer is largely this. We have somehow failed
to comprehend the proper method of growth; and
it is this largely that I wish to speak upon, the
method of growth in grace.
SALVATION TO BEGIN WITH.
First of all, let me say that growth in grace must
be the outcome of salvation. I need not now stop
to argue this. No man will ever grow in grace
until he has grace to begin with.
Then, again, growth in grace must be the out
come of definite dedication of one’s self to God.
Now, understand that I say “definite dedication.”
I do not say a definite consecration, for consecra
tion and dedication are separate and distinct from
each other; just as separate and distinct from
i-acn other as light is from darkness, Congecra-
The Golden Age for November 29, 1906.
Tabernacle Sermon by Rev. Len. G. Broughton.
lion is God’s side, dedication is man’s side. Man
dedicates and God consecrates. We sometimes
speak of full consecration of ourselves. There is
iio thing as a man consecrating himself.
We sometimes hear people talk about consecrating
this or that thing that they have to God. We can
never consecrate anything that we have. We can
dedicate but we can go no further. The idea is fully
seen in connection with the (Offerings of the people
of Israel. Take the first eight chapters of the Book
of Leviticus, and you will find the idea that I am
trying to impress very clearly brought out in the
five offerings that were made. For example, there
was -the burnt offering. This had to do with one’s
personal dedication. Then there was the meal offer
ing, which had to do with the product of one’s
labor. Then there was the peace offering, the peace
offering had to do with the dedication of one’s
will, for it is one’s will which is at variance with
God, and the will must be dedicated to God before
one can get on pleading terms with God. Then
there was the sin offering. The sin offering had to
do with the sins of one’s life which to him were
not discovered at the time they were committed,
and hence this sin offering was made for unknown
sins, sins which afterwards might become known,
or which might not become known. There was the
trespass offering, which had to do with the sins
that were known, which were openly and flagrantly
committed. Now, these five offerings embraced
the whole of man. First, the man himself in the
burnt offering, then the product of the man in the
meal offering, then the will of the man in the peace
offering, then unknown sin in the sin offering,
and finally the sins that were known in the trespass
offering.
So you see this is the requirement of God for us,
that we shall dedicate ourselves to God to be wholly
and forever sealed with his consecration. Now
there can be no growth in grace until that is done.
There may be growth in some of the graces of
grace, but there can be no growth in the divine like
ness until one has dedicated himself, everything
that he has, his will and all, to be sealed with the
sacred seal of divine consecration. It is more se
rious than we ofttimes think.
I have seen consecration meetings held when peo
ple by the hundreds would come pouring to the
front, saying as they came, “I wholly consecrate
myself to God.” They do no such thing. They can
do but one thing, and that is to wholly dedicate
themselves to God, but often that they fail to do.
Think of it, how few people actually wholly dedi
cate themselves to God—themselves, their property,
their homes, their business, their intellects, their
eyes, their feet, their hands, their all. How few
of us ever do that, and yet that is the requirement.
And, then, we act so carelessl yabout our future
lives after we have made that dedication. We go
up and take our stand, saying, “All is on the
altar, everything,” and then we go right out of the
church building, where we said that, and take it
right off the altar and appropriate it to ourselves.
It is an awful thing to do that. I shall never for
get an address on consecration that I heard deliv
ered in New York by C. H. J. McGregor, the great
Scotch preacher, who died shortly after that, in
which he said: “I never see a man wholly dedi
cate himself to God that I do not tremble.” It
is equivalent to saying to God, “Here 1 am and
everything I have, take it and put the stamp of
consecration upon it,” and then for that man to
come back and take from God what he has given
to Him is an awful thing. It is robbing God of
that which He has stamped with the blood of His
Son, and everything taken back from God under
such circumstances has the blood of Jesus Christ
upon it. Oh, how would we feel going around trad
ing with money that has the blood marks of Jesus
on it? How would we feel going around engaging
in business that has the blood marks of Jesus on
it. unless we were doing it "as unto God?” Oh,
my brethren, if we make a dedication of ourselves
to God, let it be once for all! If we give God
our heads, our hearts, our hands, our feet, let
that be once forever. Never go to God and try to
take it away from Him again. It is His and you
can be His steward only in the exercise of it. I
was talking to a business man in Atlanta recently
who has a great business. He is a man of wealth.
He said, “I have a new conception of my relation
to God as a business man. I feel today as if I
do not own one thing in the world.” And yet, to
day he is one of the wealthiest men in this town.
“I feel, somehow, like everything that I have has
been stamped by Jesus Christ and I am only His
servant to do business for Him.” I tell you a
Christian business man cannot do business upon
any other principle and that is why I say it is no
little thing for a man to profess to be a child
of God. It is a great big thing. It is a thing that
we are not to lightly look upon. It is an awful
thing in its seriousness and in its solemn require
ments. Now, beloved, are we desirous of growing
in grace? Then are we willing to pay the price of
absolute dedication once and forever?
THE FILLING OF THE SPIRIT.
Then, the next step of growth in grace is the
filling of the Spirit. There can be no spiritual life,
to say nothing of progress, without the filling of
the Holy Spirit. The man who tries to grow in
grace by any other means will find that he will
soon come to the end of his strength. It is through
and by the inward working of the Holy Ghost that
a man is to grow at all. The Apostle Paul, in writ
ing to the Galatians, very clearly outlines that when
he says: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy,
peace, long suffering, goodness, gentleness,” etc.
That is to say the fruit of the Spirit is growth in
grace, growth in the divine character. These very
elements of grace mentioned by the apostle in this
verse that I have quoted are the things that we
all want, and they are the things which go to
make up growth in grace. You will observe that it
is not “fruits.” We are oftentimes disposed to
quote it that way. but that is incorrect. It is
“fruit of the Spirit.” What are we to understand
by that ? That it is one great luscious fruit with
these different parts. When the Holy Spirit takes
possession of a man’s heart and life, He does not
simply give a man love and joy and peace, but he
makes him long suffering and meek. There is no
more disposition to parade oneself before the public.
There is no more of that spirit of, “Oh, I am not
getting my rights! ’ ’
If the spirit bears fruit, it will be of love
and joy and peace and long suffering and meekness
and temperance, and everything that goes to make
up the perfect, rounded character of Jesus Christ.
And, then, you will realize that this fruit is the
natural outcome of the indwelling Spirit. It is not
by strained effort that one gets this fruit. It is
not resolving to do this or that, or leave undone
this or that that brings forth the fruit of the
Spirit. but it is by the Holy Spirit
in him, and when once that surrender is
made, based upon perfect, complete dedication of
man to God. then the work of bearing fruit begins,
and more and more it ripens as the years come and
go. It is just as natural as it is for an apple
tree to bear apples. The tree does not have to
strain to bring forth that fruit, nor do you have to
strain the tree to bring forth that fruit. The nat
ural result of that tree, if kept in a healthy and
normal condition, is to bear fruit. So the natural
outcome of the indwelling Spirit is to bear the
fruit of the Christ character.
PRAYER.
Then the next step in growth in grace is prayer.
I said a moment ago that no man can grow in
grace without the Spirit. No man can maintain
a growth in grace without prayer. We may have
away of saying our prayers at night and in the
morning, but that is not what I mean by prayer.
In order for one to grow in grace there must be
the prayer life, thq is eyer in tune with