 Today, we're in 1 Peter chapter 2. We're going to look at verses 1 through 3. So let's begin by reading in 1 Peter chapter 2. At verse 1, we'll read verses 1 through 3 and we'll get into our study. 1 Peter chapter 2 verses 1 through 3. The Apostle Peter writes, therefore, laying aside all malice, all guile, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil-speaking, as newborn babes desire the pure milk of the word that you may grow thereby. If indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. Now as we look at this, we need to remember something from verses 15 to the conclusion of chapter 1 at verse 25. The Apostle Peter has been writing concerning the characteristics of a believer in Jesus Christ. He's been writing concerning the character traits of a Christian and things that Christians will pursue and what Christians are to be known by. We realize that in our day Christianity being 2,000 years old, that there are many who have a misunderstanding of what it means to be a Christian. Many times they in their mentality of Christianity think in terms of certain rituals or certain church denominations and things of that nature, but in reality Christianity is much deeper than the outer appearances of religiosity. It's a transformed life. It's the power of the Holy Spirit working within somebody who at one time had been estranged from God, cut off from God due to their sin, who has been reconciled to God through faith in Jesus Christ and who has now been born again, born from above, by the Word of God which lives and abides through the Holy Spirit's work. They become the temple of the Spirit of God and they now have certain characteristics. They have certain attributes, if you will, and that's what we've been looking at in chapter 1. So from verses 15 to 25, the Apostle Peter was basically describing the character traits or characteristics of a Christian. He had said that believers in Jesus Christ are going to be earmarked by a holy life. He said believers understand that they're sojourners and they're not attached to the things of this world that they have a reverential fear of the Lord, that they understand the cost of salvation, which was the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Believers no longer live aimless lives, but that they actually have faith and hope in God through Jesus Christ and believers have received the gospel and have obeyed and this has produced sincere and fervent and a pure love for one another and we've been looking at that in chapter 1 and then we noted that he concluded by contrasting man's glory with the Word of God and he had pointed out that the glory of man fades away, but the Word of the Lord, he said, that endures forever. In other words, God's Word can never be rendered ineffective and it is this Word that we have heard that has been revealed in the gospel of Jesus Christ that produces spiritual life in believers. Now because of that, because of these things, he begins this section with the word therefore. In other words, taking into consideration everything that he has said from verse 15 to verse 25, he can begin this section by simply saying therefore. In other words, seeing that all these things are true. This is what you're supposed to do and he says therefore laying aside all malice, all guile, hypocrisy, envy, and evil speaking, all evil speaking. Therefore, because you're born again, therefore because you understand who God is through Jesus Christ, therefore because you have a fear of God and live a holy life, because those things are true and the Word of God abides forever, because all of those things are true. There's something you need to do and that is you need to lay aside certain things. So what he's speaking about is the lifestyle of a believer, how Christians actually act and what we put away and he speaks concerning laying aside these things. Now when he uses the word laying aside, he's speaking to the fact that there are things that we are going to remove from ourselves. The way that you might remove some soiled clothing, there are certain things that you remove from yourself. You lay aside malice, you lay aside all guile and hypocrisy, you lay aside envy and you lay aside evil speaking. In other words, we've received the Word of God and that's going to be evidenced through a new way of life. That life that we live is going to be earmarked not by malice and things, but that life that we're going to be living now in faith in Christ will be earmarked by love, love for God and love for the people of God. It's like what it says in 1 John chapter 4 verses 10 and 11, in this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. Now I'm assuming that most of us in this room didn't use the word propitiation this week in common conversation. The word propitiation means to satisfy the righteous anger of God, that Jesus Christ came to satisfy the anger of his father because his father is portrayed in Scripture as being angry over sin. So what did God do? Well the Bible says Jesus came and satisfied the anger of his father and he did so by laying his life down voluntarily. And so he is the propitiation for our sins, but he goes on to say, beloved, if God so loved us we also ought to love one another. If God loved us in that dramatic fashion, in that powerful a fashion, that he actually gave his son in order that we might be reconciled to him, that he gave his son because anger had made a separation through the sin that we've practiced and the sin that we are by nature carriers of and producers of, if God so loved the world that he gave his son then obviously we ought to love one another and we've been seeing that love does no harm to a neighbor. Love is a fulfillment of the law, therefore we're to love one another. In 1 John 4 21 he said this commandment we have from him, that he who loves God must love his brother also. And so if we've been born again and we're becoming an entirely new person, well Peter now instructs and commands them about what it means to be born again. It's interesting when you look at these sins and these vices that these are the things that destroy community. These kinds of sins when practiced and found in the body of Christ actually divide churches. And he's saying in verse 1 that these are the sins that are to be laid aside. Now when he speaks of laying these things aside you might want to note something with me. He's speaking of personal decisions and the discipline that we must have as people of Christ. These sins are not automatically eliminated when you're saved, but they are forsaken voluntarily. They're things that you actually will lay aside with a mind to. I don't want this in my life anymore. The soil clothing of my life needs to be taken off. I need to remove those things. So that calls for a decision and that calls for discipline. It's the same kind of thing that the apostle Paul speaks about when you read the book of Ephesians in chapter 4 verses 22 and 23 when he says you were taught with regard to your former way of life to put off your old self which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires to be made new in the attitude of your mind. So you put off that old self. It's the same thing found in Colossians chapter 3 verse 8 when he says put off all these anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Put those things off. Now what are the things that the apostle Peter speaks about on one? He speaks of malice. Again, malice isn't a word that we normally use in everyday conversations simply because it's not a typical word that we as Americans will use. And so sometimes we don't know what the word actually means. The word malice is really something that's a very strong word. It speaks of ill will. It's the desire to injure. Malice is this attitude of wanting somebody to hurt. It's that attitude that somebody has done you wrong so every day you read the obituaries hoping to see their name there. I mean that's malice man. I mean I want something bad to happen to them. And he's saying you put that off. You're not to have that. You're not to yield to this desire to get even and this malicious desire to see evil done to somebody else. Because if you have malice then love for others is going to be quenched. Paul said the same thing in Ephesians 4.31 where he said, let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. Now why would he have that bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, evil speaking, malice? Why would he have that in such an order? When you look at it you see it actually progresses. Malice actually is the result of bitterness. Bitterness gives way to wrath which gives way to anger which gives way to clamor which gives way to evil speaking speaking of other people which gives way to malice. And he's saying you need to be careful because these things progress and get even worse over time. So we're not to be harboring malice for other people. Now that runs consistent with what Jesus said. Jesus in Matthew chapter 5 verse 44 said it like this. He said, I say unto you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, pray for those who despitefully use you and persecute you. Instead of rendering evil for evil Jesus said learn to pray for those who hate you because in doing so you actually become a child of God. You actually begin to demonstrate heavenly parentage. So like filthy clothing Peter says lay aside malice because malice destroys. He speaks of guile and he speaks of hypocrisy. Guile in hypocrisy. Guile speaks of that insincerity. Hypocrisy is putting on a mask. You're pretending to be one thing when in reality you're something else. He says put these things away, put away this insincerity, put away this deceit with an appearance of truth, this pretense. He says put it away because this is not something that the Lord would have us to have. Insincerity and hypocrisy can actually destroy churches. These sins are especially ugly when performed by those who profess to be believers. Jesus in Matthew 15 verse 8 said these people draw near to me with their mouths. They honor me with their lips but their heart is far from me. And so he says put those things away. Then he speaks of envy. Lay aside envy. Envy. Envy is that discontent, that resentment that is aroused by a desire for the possessions of someone else. Envy is that longing to have what somebody else has. Wishing that you had it and they didn't. It's what can come up in your heart when somebody across the street that pulls into their driveway with a new car and they say hey look what I got. Look how the Lord has blessed me and you're out there watering your lawn and you turning you look at your car that just really is a hoopy. I mean it's not something that you really like. And you're looking at this piece of junk that actually has smoke signals pouring out of the exhaust pipe when you're driving down the road. It won't even start when you want to start it. It's the car that you don't care if people bang with their doors when they swing the door open. You don't care anymore. And you're looking at this guy. He's got all this everything that you wish you could have and you're smiling at him saying oh praise the Lord brother. And then you go in and you give an Old Testament prayer. Oh Lord may his four tires fall off while he's on the freeway in Jesus's name amen. Envy. People have envy and don't even realize it. It's desiring what somebody else has. Wishing you had it and it can go even deeper. Jealousy is the desire of somebody else's possessions. Envy goes a little deeper. It's more like desiring what they have and you're wishing they didn't have it themselves. It's really a deep thing. And by the way envy sells very well today in the United States because there are many people in a society that gives trophies for showing up to a game instead of winning the championship. We're all winners aren't we? And one way or another we at least been told that all of our lives. We get to the point where we actually believe that we should have anything that we really want. And that person has a nice car. I really want that. That person has a lot of money. I really want that. I deserve that. Envy is that mentality that they don't deserve it and I do. And I don't want them to have it. I should have it. Envy. Envy can be used as a tool. And it is used today as a tool. Definitely. We know that don't we? I mean you've got this fictitious battle going on that's been created between the one percenters and the 99 percenters. What is that? If that's not envious what is it? But that's what it is. You have sincere people on both sides but I have to be honest with you. It's really finding itself being fueled by envy. And that's a sin. And for us to wish that other people didn't have something because I wanted it. Well he says put that aside. In James chapter 3 verse 16 James said where you have envy and selfish ambition there you find disorder in every evil practice. Well envy gives rise to evil speaking. Evil speaking is slandering. It's backbiting. It's defaming people. It's been said the tongue is a ready and willing instrument to talk about our neighbor behind their back. Leviticus 19 verse 16 says do not go about spreading slander among your people. DeSalmos in Psalm 15 verses 1 through 3 said it like this. He said Lord who may dwell in your sanctuary, who may live on your holy hill and then he answers his own questions. He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from his heart and has no slander on his tongue, who does his neighbor no wrong and casts no slur on his fellow man. People today seem to and I think it's been true pretty much always but it's more acceptable at least it appears more acceptable today are very prone to slander people. They're very prone to speak evil of them. You can see it in Facebook all the time. People just griping about this and griping about that and just putting it down and all of these social medias that we have you find a whole lot of people complaining quite often and sometimes talking about others and they have no problem doing that and when confronted when told you know that's really called gossip that's really evil speaking that's really not not right they'll say hey who are you to judge me I can say what it's on my heart and I'm being transparent and real and so they actually make a virtue out of a vice and so the Bible says you don't do that you don't slander people you don't speak ill of people it's not right. Now it's interesting Peter doesn't tell his readers to fight against these evils notice that what he says is lay them aside now how is that possible how can I lay these things aside well he's already been saying that we put off our old nature and we put on the new our new life in Christ we begin to recognize these things as sin and as we recognize this as sin and recognize that we can be guilty of them we confess and forsake them that's how you get rid of them and the way to do that by the way is just spend some time in the word the more you're reading the Bible and seeing the way that God is and what God wants from us and how we can live to please him well the more prone you are if you're a believer in Christ to want to do those things that please him to draw closer to Christ and and if I've got something in my life that keeps me from him then I need to forsake that I need to confess it if it's a sin and I need to move on to pursue him so he's saying we need to confess and forsake these things that's how you put them off that's how you lay these things aside but he goes on to say in verse 2 as newborn babes desire the pure milk of the word that you may grow thereby desire the sincere the pure milk of the word if these vices are to be destroyed it occurs when you hunger for the milk of God's word if you want to grow up in the things of the Lord a sincere desire for his word will accomplish this Peter's already stated that they're born again by the word of God he now speaks to them as believers he's referring now to changed lives so as Christians they're the desire food that is suited to their new nature spiritual food is required for spiritual maturity that he refers to as a pure milk of the word now what he's asking them to do is actually exhorting them to depend on God you see babies depend on their mother's milk believers are nourished by God's word the fact is hunger for God's word is a real good indicator of a person's spiritual life hunger for the word of God indicates that you have a relationship with God you see dead people don't eat I've never seen a hearse in front of a jack-in-the-box they may be in one because they ate a jack-in-the-box but that's something else but have you ever seen a hearse roll up in the coffin open up and the guy asks for a taco it doesn't happen does it why not because dead people don't eat a living person does one of the ways that you can determine your walk with God is your hunger for his word it's very simple do you have a hunger for the word of God if you do that indicates life if you don't it may indicate that you don't have life it may indicate that because living people are hungry people that's just the way it is I've shared this with you before it bears repetition as an illustration at this point when Marie gave birth to our firstborn Corinne Marie wanted to be a nursing mama and indeed she she became a nursing mother and Corinne well my daughter Corinne was a demanding baby I can still remember walking up to Marie while she was nursing our baby who was maybe three months at or four months old at the time and I walked close to Marie because I was telling her something as she was nursing and Corinne released herself from her mother long enough to turn and growl at me with that toothless angry little face I mean I still remember it she turned it she goes like that the toothless little thing and and and I got quiet and then she went back to nursing and so I said Marie and she turns away again and and and Corinne looks at me again like that I discovered oh my this little girl's got a temper and so that was just true with her and so I remember one day I was going to work and I worked only 10 minutes 15 minutes away from where I lived and Marie was downstairs and she was she was nursing the baby it was like 745 and I'm about to leave and I walk up to Marie to kiss her goodbye Corinne turns and growls goodbye to me and and I tell Marie I'll I'll see you later baby and I walk out I go to work now I lived close enough to come home for lunch and so I did I drove in and I walk into our apartment and Marie is in the same place that she was when I left and it's like 1130 or something she's been there for over three hours laying there and she goes she won't let go she won't let go I said really she says watch and she grabs her head and pulls her away and all of a sudden you hear ah she starts screaming she lets go boom she reattaches and I said I'll be back I went I made a sandwich I ate I went to work I came back around 4 4 30 whenever I got off work I walked in and I found Marie she looked like a giant spider had just taken all her juices she's just all sucked dry that baby was still nursing she wouldn't let go for eight hours she was attached so she's getting counseling now but so if there's anything that indicated beyond several other things is that she was alive and she wanted to nurse she was attached and wouldn't let go and a baby desires the sincere or the pure milk and so he's saying even as a nursing baby nurses receives nourishment from the mama through the breast milk even so you as one who's alive in Christ are to receive your nourishment from God's word God's word is sufficient to save you that's how you got saved you heard the gospel you realized that you needed Jesus you committed yourself to him you confessed your sin forsook them received Christ's Lord and Savior that's how you were saved but you now hunger for the word of God too it is something that you need to have in your life it's like Jeremiah 15 verse 16 your words were found and I ate them and your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart for I am called by your name oh Lord God of hosts the word of God's value is without estimate the psalmist in Psalm 19 verse 10 speaking of the word of God and God's commands says it this way they are more precious than gold than much pure gold they are sweeter than honey than honey from the honeycomb the psalmist in Psalm 119 verse 97 said oh how I love your law I meditate on it all day long or Psalm 119 verses 101 verse 101 I have kept my feet from every evil path so that I might obey your word Psalm 119 103 how sweet are your words to my taste sweeter than honey to my mouth this this indicator that God's word is sweet and God's word orders your life and God's word produces blessing is something you find in the old as well as the New Testament and it indicates that you have a relationship with Jesus Christ you're a hunger for God's word and your desire to obey him interestingly enough though the apostle Paul writing concerning the times that would exist that are called the last days made it very clear that a lack of hunger for God's word would be typical he said in 2nd Timothy 4 verses 2 through 4 he said preach the word be prepared in season and out of season correct rebuke and encourage with great patience and careful instruction for the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine instead to suit their own desires they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear they will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths they will heap into themselves teachers having itching ears and will voluntarily turn away from truth that's the sign of the last days we are living in those days we know that don't we we are living in a day when people no longer put up with healthy doctrine they don't want to hear healthy doctrine they want to hear things that make them feel better about themselves they read their materials and they're not you know when we have a bookstore it's not the theological books that sell it's usually the self-help books that sell or how to have your best day-to-day kinds of books and that that's what that's what happened that's what people want they want to be victorious today they want to be blessed today they don't understand that that part of blessing is blessing is going to come when you get the whole council of god but they don't want the whole council of god paul said in the last days so they're open to be deceived because they're going to heap into themselves teachers that tell them exactly what they want to hear question has to be asked why listen to the word of god why should i hunger to read his word why should i meditate on the word of god memorize and why should i practice it well as that you may grow spiritually as a mother looks to see her child grow god desires to see his children grow you see birth is not the ultimate level of growth and salvation is something that you grow into marriage can be used as an illustration here you got saved some people think well salvation's just all i need so you get saved and you continue in the way that you lived before at least you went forward at least you raised your hand at least you prayed or whatever and so you think of yourself as being a saved individual and you think well that's it now that i'm saved i can go on with my life it's like marriage somebody's getting married here we are in the church there is the bride standing in the back there the doors have opened up the music is playing she's standing there in her beautiful gown and here i am standing with the groomsmen and the victim and as we're here together and she's walking up and that music is playing and all of that we're having a wedding it's a wedding celebration and everybody's excited about it but i wouldn't expect them to leave here go to the reception and have them stand up and give a lecture on what marriage is how marriage can be successful what god has done to demonstrate in their life so the marriage really is because what do they know they just got married they don't have any idea what marriage is they're now just excited because they went through a wedding ceremony and as they went through the wedding ceremony and all their guests are there they're very happy and they're moving on to their honeymoon and honeymoon's normally are a lot of fun and they spend time together and they're going to go places they normally wouldn't go and will never go again ladies am i wrong and they and they enjoy that i mean for them it's just a great thing see it's just the wonder of getting married but they don't have any advice to give how could they give it now five years from now 10 years from now 20 years from now 30 years from now they know misery i mean they know marriage they're able they're able to share they're able to say these are the things we learned in the first few years these are the things we learned in the first 10 years this is what we learned when we had our children should they have kids this is what we've learned as they've gone through the teen years these now you've got experience now you can talk about it but you can't talk with authority concerning those things not on your wedding day you have to live as a married person for a while to gain experience so a lot of people think well i got saved that's the end of the road that is not the end of the road that's the beginning of the road and that's why you hunger for the word of God that's why you stay close to the Lord Jesus Christ because getting saved isn't the whole journey it's the beginning in 2nd Peter 3 18 the apostle says grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Ephesians 4 15 says speaking the truth in love we will in all things grow up into him who as they had that is Christ so getting saved isn't the whole journey it's just the beginning but it goes on to say if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious again using marriage as an analogy many of you have done this you're going to have a reception you're planning on feeding a few people you're looking for a caterer you find somebody that sounds reasonable they have what is called a tasting so you go and you sit down with these people and they will bring a small portion maybe they'll bring a portion of fish they'll bring some chicken they'll bring some beef it's a small portion and then you'll taste those things then they'll bring in a salad and you taste the salad they'll bring in the desserts and they're all small portions and that's how you select what you want to serve to your guests right that's what you do so you'll taste the fish and maybe you like fish and you'll say this is great this is very very good or the chicken or the beef whatever it may be but the taste sometimes you'll say that's so good i'd like to try that again as a matter of fact i'd like to eat a eat a whole plate of that this is so good and that salad is so great and that desserts too much and that's what happens you see what what god wants us to do is not just take a sample he wants us to consume he wants us to to be filled with it if you've tasted that the lord is good is what he's talking about not sampled god the lord doesn't call me to give him a chance let me show you how good i am he says i want you to be complete in me i want you to have all of me i want to be in your life completely don't just taste of me in a sampling way but consume the reality of what it means to walk with god if you've experienced salvation you're going to experience a desire for more and more of the lord even as you enjoy a wonderful meal he's saying you need to enjoy the tasting and the goodness of the lord it's like what it says in psalm 348 taste and see that the lord is good blessed is the man who takes refuge in him taste and see that's an imitation by the way if you have tasted but if you haven't you need to you need to take of the lord and see that he's good you need to get away from any ritual that you're trusting in you need to get away from this concept that i can work my way into heaven by being a good person or at least better than the person next to me you need to understand as i have had to understand and we were believers have had to understand i'm a sinner cut off from god by my sin but god sent jesus who's the propitiation for my sin and jesus satisfied the righteous demands and the anger of his of his father by taking upon himself my sin and it's not that i just feel guilty about what i've done it's not that i have remorse over what i've done yes i have guilt and yes i feel bad but that's not repentance repentance is a radical change of mind i was going in one direction and i'm turning around and i'm going in a different one repentance is a mentality of seeing god for who he is and seeing myself for who i am and turning from who i am so that i might turn to who he is turn to him that's repentance it's not giving god a try it's not taking a sample it's committing myself completely and so if i have tasted and seen that the lord is good if i have if i have hungered for his word and i'm putting off these things like like malice and all that demonstrates that i understand that the word of the lord endures forever it demonstrates that i understand that i need to be born again by the word of god that lives and abides forever it demonstrates that i understand that my god is holy and therefore i'm to walk in a holy a separated life from the things that god has saved me from which demonstrates the reality of the saving knowledge of jesus christ transformed lives that's how it works so when somebody says oh i'm a christian i'm walking with jesus and they're telling you that while they're drunk you have a good reason to wonder whether they understand what jesus is all about because they haven't walked away from their old life at all they're living in it and they're probably deceiving themselves to think that they're right with god because they may have sampled something by hearing an invitation but they haven't consumed the reality of who god is through a transformed life and that's what peter is talking about he said lay these things aside because as a newborn baby desires the milk of the word you need to desire god's word if indeed you have tasted that the lord is good and if you've encountered his grace your life is going to change that's how the apostle is putting it here in first peter chapter two verses one through three