Grace for Grace

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John 1:16

And of his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace.

I. GRACE BY DEGREES; grace upon grace; a little grace to begin with, but more grace afterwards. "He giveth more grace," grace following in grace, and further in superabounding grace, when grace turns into glory.

II. GRACE TO PREPARE FOR FURTHER GRACE — the grace of a broken heart — to make room for repentance; the grace of hatred of sin to make way for the grace of holy and careful walking; the grace of careful walking to make room for the grace of close communion with Christ; the grace of close communion with the Lord Jesus Christ to make room for the grace of full conformity to His image; perhaps the grace of confortuity to His image to make room for the higher grace of brighter views of Himself, and still closer incomings into the very heart of the Lord Jesus. It is grace that helps us on in grace. When a begger asks you for a penny, and you give him one, he does not ask you for a sixpence; or if you give him a shilling, he would not consider that an argument why you should give him a sovereign. But you may deal thus with God. The grace you have expands your heart, and gives you capacity for receiving yet more grace. You send your child to school to learn A B C, the grace of learning his alphabet. But it is preparatory to the spelling book, a preparation for further acquisition of knowledge.

III. GRACE ANSWERABLE TO GRACE. Let God give me grace to be a preacher, and He will give me grace to discharge the office. If you have the grace of resignation you may need the grace of patience. Or grace received by us answerable to the grace that is in Christ. A young heir to a large estate, though not of full age, generally gets an allowance suitable to the position he is to occupy. If he has £100,000 a year in prospect, he would hardly be limited to a penny a week. When I see one child of God always mourning, another always doubting, and yet another always scheming, I see they are living below their privileges. They do not seem to have grace in possession answerable to the grace they have in reversion. We always inculcate the propriety, on the part of all our people, of living within their incomes; but the child of God cannot live beyond his income in a spiritual sense.

IV. GRACE IN ABUNDANCE. Like the waves of the sea, where one comes there is another close behind it.

V. GRACE FROM HIM TO PRODUCE GRACE IN US. The grace of gratitude should be produced in us by the grace of generosity from God.

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