Reason 9: Sanctification, Our Growth in Grace and Truth Depend on It

  In the words of the Bible:
  Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.
  Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.
  Jesus said, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
  Sanctification is the on-going process of salvation in a Christian's life:

• “Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. . . Contending as one man for the faith of the gospel.”
• “Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ . . .”
•  “God chose to give us birth through the word of truth . . . through the living and enduring word of God . . .  Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy (to sanctify), cleansing her by the washing with water through the word.”

  The Word, the Word, the Word – we read, in the Bible, of its importance equally to new birth and the new life.  God chose to use this same Word that saves as a key nutritional requirement to grow up in our salvation. 
  And, again, in the words of the Bible: “Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” And why are grace and knowledge (truth) so important?  Are grace and truth simply two of many gifts Jesus brought us, two of many favors He offers and are necessary?
  We are told, more than once: “the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”  This is why these two are so vital – this is what Jesus brought and what He offers today. 
  There are two, and only two, bases for seeking God:

• Find and live the law(s) of God (or some god) that we expect (wrongly!) will please Him.
• Find and live “the perfect law that gives freedom” – “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

The first is the way of the non-Christian, both the religious and just “spiritual,” while the second is God’s only model for the Christian.
  Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.  2Ti 2:15

“’The righteous will live by faith.’  The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, ‘The man who does these things will live by them” . . . “Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed.  So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith.  Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.” 
  In other words, if we see ourselves “in” (living by) the law (even the best of laws – God’s laws) we are not in Christ.  In the final analysis, those seeking and trying to follow God’s “old” law will, when they die, be no different (well, actually, maybe worse) than those seeking to find and live any other law including the most common, what they “cobble together” with little thought, that which suits them moment to moment.
  Reading the Bible regularly will help us “connect the dots” about what God is saying to us – we will begin to know more than isolated verses (that are easy to use wrongly) – we will begin to better understand the themes on which both the key and secondary verses “hang.”
  There are, however, two very subtle (seemingly good) common religious traps we must avoid to achieve ultimate success. From what we have said earlier, we may conclude our first priority should be in seeking God for direction for the specific good works He planned in advance for us to do and seek and find the specific graces required to grow to the point of being able to accomplish them.    
  While what we are to do and how we are to do this are vital, God's far greater goal is that we “become” more and better.  Doing is secondary to becoming. The hardest work of grace and truth (the greatest potential benefit and blessing of God) is in remaking us, giving and applying His grace so we become different.  Our works, planned in advance by God for us to do, are then a means of teaching and molding us into good and Godly “trees.”  Again, quoting Jesus:
 “Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit.”
Every day we are, through and by grace and truth, being made a better tree or (on our own, following the world – anything other than Jesus Christ) are declining and becoming a worse to bad “tree.”
  And there is yet another common related snare we are told and warned about repeatedly in the Bible, a natural inclination we all do sometimes – an error we need to repent of when we see it becoming our way: when our thoughts and focus becomes one of not sinning we are improperly focused and need to be refocused.  Sin (breaking God’s laws) is a sign we are not living by grace and truth, not the issue and essence itself – focusing on not sinning is simply the flip side of placing ourselves back under the law, a sign we have fallen away from grace and truth.
  God's view? Parents should know this because it is analogous to that of a parent’s desire for their children:
  Parents want to give their children the tools to learn, grow and develop in their aptitudes - what they are designed for. But they want this in the more important context that the child learns the lessons of being good and better and better.
  But how do best do this?  Of course the Bible tells us! In one great example Jesus reminds us:
  “Whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.”
With the ultimate promise of Jesus that:
  “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask . . .”
  A child (just like the Christian in life) must do the hard work of learning and practicing the associated truths to become Better – these truths, for the Christian, are found in the Bible.  We need to be frequently reminded (just like children need to be reminded by their parents) of what is possible, important and right and what is wrong and destructive. And just as it is necessary to have good parents if we are to hope to learn, as children, what we need to learn, we must have God’s presence and Word (the Bible) if we are to grow up (be sanctified) in life in God’s grace and truth!