Crave the Word
Notes
Transcript
Two Enduring Realities
Two Enduring Realities
Our Salvation
Purified souls
Born again
Not of seed that is perishing
But imperishable
The Word of God
Through the living and enduring Word of God
Other things will perish
But the Word of the Lord endures forever.
This doesn’t guarantee a perfect translation, but despite human failures of translation God has preserved exactly everything He desired to in the variety of translations we have.
Five Things We Must Lay Aside
Five Things We Must Lay Aside
Malice - the desire to do harm to someone; ill will.
These are all things antithetical to loving one another which was a major point of v. 22.
Note that all these sins are others orientated in some fashion.
Your immediate thought might be, well that is not me, I have never wished harm on anyone. However, have you ever:
Derived any satisfaction by the misfortune of another?
Have you ever said “they finally got what they deserved.”
We as believers should be the last people to derive satisfaction from someone getting what they deserve because in Christ we will never get what we deserve.
According to Peter here, how much malice are we to put aside? - ALL
Deceit - deliberately cause (someone) to believe something that is not true.
According to Peter how much deceit are to to put aside? - ALL
We tend to think that our little deceptions don’t really matter. We even call them little white lies.
Is God still holy?
Hypocrisy - the practice of claiming to have higher standards or more laudable beliefs than is the case. (to make someone believe something about yourself that is not true.)
A type of deceit.
We are all guilty of it.
Envy - discontented or resentful longing aroused by another’s possessions, qualities, or luck.
If I had that persons wealth I certainly wouldn’t act that way.
It is not just a longing it is a resentful longing.
We often pair envy and jealousy together. However, while there is a form of godly jealousy the Bible never speaks of envy in a positive light.
Anyone, no matter how attractive, accomplished, respected, and successful, can feel envy. I’ve heard people I envied confessing their envy of other people. There’s always someone who has what we don’t or is better than we are at what we do. Envy is earthly, unspiritual, and demonic, and is often accompanied by other sins (James 3:14–16).
Slander - the action or crime of making a false spoken statement damaging to a person’s reputation
One Thing We Are to Crave
One Thing We Are to Crave
Illustration
A baby longing for milk
How loud is a hungry baby?
While Coda is pretty much weened off of the bottle it was not that long ago that he would rip a bottle right out of your hands.
I could look at him and think, I don’t know that I have ever wanted anything as much as he wants that bottle.
Principle
As a baby craves milk so a believer should crave the Word of God.
Caution:
Don’t mix your metaphors
Paul uses the milk and meat illustration to rebuke the Corinthian church for being immature. He said that they are like babies on milk rather than mature Christians on solid food.
Peter is not using the infants desire for milk in a negative sense.
A baby craves physical milk the believer should crave that pure spiritual milk that is the Word of God.
Translation issue
I only bring this up because you might notice a difference between what I read and what you have depending on the translation you brought with you this morning.
Some translations say “pure milk of the word” while others say “pure spiritual milk”. So which is it? Truthfully, the answer is both.
“pure spiritual milk” is probably a more literal translation
“pure milk of the word” is probably more reflective of the authors original intent.
Regardless of the translation the context of the passage makes it clear that the pure spiritual milk that Peter has in mind is the Word of God.
How easy is it for your to ignore the craving for God’s Word?
I can’t do my devotions I’m too tired.
Sunday School is too early.
Why should I go to church twice in one day?
Can you genuinely say that you do crave the truth of God’s Word? Or have you quenched the Spirit’s conviction?
Result:
Growth
Built upon the illustration: what do babies need to grow?
Specifically, Peter says that you will grow in respect to your salvation.
What does that mean? I thought I was either saved or not saved?
That is certainly true, no one is partially saved, but never forget that you are both saved and are being saved by Jesus.
We are growing into our salvation. Paul elsewhere has said to “work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” He didn’t “work out” in terms of figuring out, but rather having an outworking of your salvation.
When we read the Word of God and apply it we grow into the outworking of our salvation in Jesus Christ.
The Point:
You are not a mature Christian if you are not regularly in the Word.
You are not a growing Christian if you are not regularly in the Word.
You are not a mature & growing Christian if you do not crave the truth of God’s Word.
The Goodness of God
Why do we crave the Word of God?
Because when we read it, memorize it and meditate on it we find more and more of the goodness of God.
Not just in a academic way. We can taste it!
Like a baby can taste the milk given to them for their growth the believer when they taste the pure spiritual milk of God’s Word we find that God is good.
When find His goodness we find also that He is:
Kind
Merciful
Righteous
Loving
Gracious
Sovereign
Omnipotent
Omniscient
There have been so many people I have known through the years that I wish could just get a taste for the goodness of God, then they would never go back to those things they have substituted for the love of God.
This is why a believer puts off those other things, because in the face of God’s goodness malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander have lost their flavor. We thought we needed those things, but as soon as we taste the goodness of God we suddenly know that our pies have been made of mud all along.