Have you trusted in the resurrected and living Christ? If so, God has revealed to you that, according to His Word, the Holy Scriptures, your faith is a gift of God. It is not earned or deserved, but freely bestowed upon you by the Lord of life.

This faith arrives when you perceive your true situation—a most hopeless condition. You realize that you, like all of us, are separated from God in our sins, caught in the progeny of Adam, and in desperate need of a Savior to live the life we cannot live and die the atoning death that should be ours.

That Savior is Jesus of Nazareth. He is fully God and fully Man. He came to die on the cross for our sins and to rise again for our new life. In a word, Jesus is God. He is the fullness of the triune God in bodily form. He came of miraculous birth. He performed miracles, and His powers over life and death, over the wind and the waves, validated His own self-identity. He was crucified for our sins. He rose from the dead on the third day, was seen in His resurrected state by over five hundred men at one time, and He ascended into heaven where He is seated, ever interceding for those who will believe and who have believed in Him. He is coming again in glory.

The faith summed up in the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, and historic Christian statements such as the Westminster Confession is the faith of the Bible. To receive this Christ by faith is to receive everlasting life and abundant life here and now. Yet, faith in Jesus Christ is merely the beginning of, literally, the journey of a lifetime.

Peter, the disciple and apostle who came to confess Jesus as the Christ, taught Christians that they must not remain static.

“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen” (2 Peter 3:18).

This transformation does not happen in one sermon, one reading, or one class. It is a lifetime of following the Lord.

I. Growing in Grace

As a new believer, you must understand that we are saved entirely by grace. We were not saved by what we “brought to the table,” but by what Christ did. Period. Christ plus nothing. As Dr. D. James Kennedy used to say, it is “G-R-A-C-E: God’s Riches at Christ’s Expense.”

We are saved by a “Great Exchange.” Christ lived the perfect life God requires in His Law, and He died the atoning death the Law demands for sin. He received your sin; you received His life. That is the divine plan of salvation.

But what is it to grow in grace? To grow in grace is to grow in thanksgiving. It is to recognize that God is due all the glory for our lives. It is to move closer to Him, not to earn favor through works, but to worship and enjoy Him forever. It is to grow into a state of spontaneous, doxological combustion: “To God Alone be Glory!”

Peter wrote this to the Church, not just to an isolated individual. We grow in grace through the ordinary means offered in the supernatural Body of Believers. As you come to love Christ more for His sovereign grace, you will begin to show that grace to others, becoming as patient with them as God was with you. Grace is on its way as the Kingdom of Jesus Christ continues to grow, one person at a time, just like you.

II. Growing in Knowledge

You are not saved by intellect alone, yet you must receive basic truths to be saved. You must hear the Gospel, which contains cogent ideas and divine revelation.

Knowledge of God’s Word is united by a “scarlet thread of redemption”—the covenant of grace. From the fall of mankind, God makes a sacred pledge to provide what He requires through His Messiah. The Bible is the story of that promise. We must continue to grow in this knowledge, or we will become spiritually malnourished, susceptible to “diseases of the soul” and the temptations of the enemy.

God wants you to be familiar with your own family history. He wants you to know the names of those who have gone before. The Bible is a mirror that shows us ourselves and God. We do not seek knowledge for knowledge’s sake, but for God’s sake—for His glory—and for your own enduring strength.

III. Growing in Christ

Ultimately, we grow in grace and knowledge in a Person: the Lord Jesus Christ. Christianity is not a philosophy; it is a relationship with the God-Man, our Mediator, our Hope, and our Sovereign.

He was prophesied over three hundred times in the Old Testament. He was born of a virgin named Mary, raised by an adoptive father, Joseph—a fact that seals the beauty of adoption. In the Bible, covenant and promise are more powerful than DNA. You, too, are adopted into God’s family, and He will never let you go.

If we love someone, we want to spend time with them. How do we spend time with Jesus? We do so through the “Means of Grace”—the supernatural ways God has appointed to strengthen us for this journey.

IV. The Means of Grace

When we look into God’s revelation, we find three ordinary means by which a believer grows: Word, Sacrament, and Prayer.

The Word

You cannot grow without God’s Word, the Bible. To grow is to be planted by the “river of life-giving water” mentioned in Psalm 1. This happens through private reading, but also within the community: hearing the Word preached, singing the Word, and reading the Word in family worship. Share this Word with others. There is no greater joy than sharing the story of Christ; share it, and leave the results to Him.

The Sacraments

A “Sacrament” is a sign. The Lord left us two visible signs to help us on our journey: Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

• Baptism: If you have not been baptized, the Lord commands it. It is a sign and seal, a kingly insignia representing the washing away of sins. It is not something we do for God; it is a gift of God to us. It marks us and our children as members of the covenant community.

• The Lord’s Supper: Also called Communion or the Eucharist (“thanksgiving”), this is for our lifelong nourishment. In the bread and the cup, we remember Christ’s death. We look again at the cross, the central act of liberation. It is a moment of awe, mystery, and holy communion with God and each other.

Prayer Ole Hallesby, the Norwegian pastor-scholar, wrote simply:

“To pray is to let Jesus come into our hearts.”

There is Biblical genius in this brevity. Prayer is the breath of the soul. We approach God using the A-C-T-S model: Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication.

We look to the Lord’s Prayer as our guide. It is truly the “Disciples’ Prayer.” We pray to Our Father, reminding us that our growth happens in the context of the Church. We pray for His Kingdom, for our daily bread, for forgiveness, and for deliverance. True prayer never really concludes; the connection between God and His creature is never to be broken.

The Road Ahead

Years ago, I thought I could go it alone. I thought I had enough knowledge to make it to heaven. But the Holy Spirit showed me that I was depending on self, not the Savior. When I received His free gift of eternal life, my life was changed.

Now, you are on that same journey. It winds through all the seasons of life. We do not arrive all at once. We grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ day in and day out, through Word, Sacrament, and Prayer.

But soon, we will be home. We will look back to see that He who called us was the same One who sustained us, preserved us, and was with us all the way. And we will come into His very presence and be able to say:

“Truly, Lord, thanks to You, this was a journey of a lifetime.”

Reflection & Discussion Guide

Faith is not merely a destination but a traversing of the soul. The following questions are designed to aid you in that traversing, whether in the quiet of your own room, in the context of a new believers’ class, or in the company of fellow travelers in a small group.

1. On the Gift of Faith (The Departure) The article describes our pre-Christ state as a “hopeless condition” and our faith as an unearned “gift.”

• Discussion: Can you identify a moment or a season when you realized that you could not fix your own condition? How does knowing that your faith is a gift—rather than a wage you earned—change how you feel about your future mistakes?

2. On the Great Exchange (Growing in Grace) We discussed the concept of the “Great Exchange”: He got your sin; you got His life.

• Discussion: It is often easy to believe Jesus died for our sins, but harder to believe we truly possess His righteousness. In your daily life, do you still feel the pressure to “bring something to the table” to make God love you? What would it look like this week to rest in “Christ plus nothing”?

3. On the Family History (Growing in Knowledge) The text suggests that the Bible is not just a rulebook, but our “family history” connected by a scarlet thread of redemption.

• Discussion: Why is it spiritually dangerous to view the Bible merely as a list of “dos and don’ts”? How does viewing Scripture as the story of God’s fidelity (rather than just human effort) change your motivation to read it?

4. On Adoption and Identity (Growing in Christ) We noted that in the Bible, “covenant and promise is more powerful than DNA,” and that, like Jesus was to Joseph, we are adopted by God.

• Discussion: An adopted child is chosen on purpose. How does the doctrine of adoption impact your sense of belonging, especially when you feel lonely or unworthy? What does it mean to you personally that God is now “Our Father”?

5. On Visual Theology (The Sacraments) The Sacraments (Baptism and the Lord’s Supper) are described as “visible signs” and “seals” because we are physical creatures who sometimes need more than just words.

• Discussion: How do these physical acts help anchor your faith when your emotions are wavering? If you have been baptized or taken Communion, how did those moments differ from simply praying or reading?

6. On Breath and Communion (Prayer) Ole Hallesby is quoted as saying, “To pray is to let Jesus come into our hearts.”

• Discussion: We often think of prayer as sending a list of requests up to heaven. How does Hallesby’s definition change your approach? If prayer is “letting Jesus in” rather than just “getting requests out,” how might that change the silence or the listening part of your prayer life?

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