Spiritual Growth 101

We will go ahead and take your Bibles and turn to one Peter. And ever since we started our study of this practical, powerful little book, there's been certain passages that I've been looking forward to getting to and preaching from, and today we are arriving at that first text that I saw coming and I was really excited to get there and again in the providence of God, it is a perfect passage for the first Sunday of the New Year one Peter chapter two, making the transition from chapter one to chapter two, just wanting you to note that, that we are making progress slowly but surely, but let's read together verses one through three, familiar passage, I'm sure to most if not all of us.

Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word so that by it you may grow and respect to salvation if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord. Lord, we have tasted your kindness. All of us who are here this morning who you have saved, you have rescued from sin and death and hell, we have experienced your kindness and has created this connection between us and you, our heart, your heart, our lives, your word, because we know that ultimately we find you in your word. And so we come to this text that is all about the role your word plays in our lives as Christians. I pray that it would fall on ready hearts that while this may be a familiar text that we've read and maybe even memorized in the past, that it would come to us in a fresh new way at the beginning of this new year and would provide the motivation, the resolve that we all need to be more saturated in your word every day of our lives. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Well, every one of us here today has one thing in common. Doesn't matter how or old we are or how rich or poor we are or how educated or uneducated we are or how intelligent or ignorant we are. All of our lives started in the same exact way we were all babies at one time and we all learn to sit up, good job to crawl, to stand up, to walk, climb, talk, feed and dress ourselves. Use the toilet draw, ride a bike. You fill in the blanks and except for those with special needs, it's normal and natural to assume that every baby will grow and develop physically and cognitively and conversationally and socially and eventually mature from infants to adults. The same is true of Christians in regards to spiritual growth. It's normal. It's natural to assume that every new believer or baby Christian, as we often refer to them as will grow and develop spiritually and eventually become a fully mature follower of Christ.

But there's nothing more tragic than when a person who comes to Christ never really grows in Christ. Perhaps that's your testimony. I've heard a number of you share that as your spiritual journey and how things really turned around or started to change ever since you came to this church and were exposed to the word of God in a way you've never been exposed to it before you became a Christian years ago, but you didn't get plugged into a healthy bible-based church where you were well taught, you were well shepherded and you weren't discipled or mentored by an older, more mature Christian. And so you never experienced the spiritual growth that God intends for every Christian according to God's words. Spiritual growth is more than just assumed it's expected. In fact, it's even commanded in Ephesians chapter four verse 11, a classic text about how God gave pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints, for the growth of the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ as a result.

This is Ephesians four 14. We are to no longer be children tossed here and thereby waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trick of men, by craftiness and deceitful, scheming. But speaking of the truth and love, we are to grow up in all aspects unto him, who is the head even Christ. So Paul expected us to grow, he exhorted us to grow. Even Peter at the end of his second letter, he ends second Peter in chapter three verse 18 with these words, 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. In other words, it glorifies God when we grow spiritually because God is the one who ultimately causes us to grow. First Corinthians chapter three, verse six, Paul said, I planted Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth so then neither the one who plants or the one who waters is anything but God who causes the growth.

In other words, I'm nothing young people, Kyle's nothing. Those who are being counseled Kris, Stire is nothing. It's God who is the one causing the growth. In fact, Paul gave glory to God for his growth in grace. One Corinthians chapter 10, or excuse me, one Corinthians chapter 15, verse 10, he says, but by the grace of God, I am what I am and his grace toward me did not prove vain, but I labored even more than all men, yet not I but the grace of God with me. So God gets all the glory for any growth that takes place in our spiritual lives. The question is how does God cause us to grow spiritually? If he's the one doing the work, what tool does he use to accomplish that work? Well, we know the primary tool that the spirit of God uses to grow and change us into the likeness of the Son of God is the word of God.

And we learned in our study of the last four verses, the first Peter chapter one, that the Holy Spirit uses the Bible to both save us and to sanctify us. And two Timothy chapter three, I quoted from last week when we talked about the prized possession of every pilgrim, right, the scriptures, this is what Paul said to Timothy that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scriptures inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training and righteousness so that the man of God may be adequate equipped for every good work. So the word of God is a tool that God uses to evangelize the lost and to equip the saints.

And again, one Thessalonians chapter two, verse 13, Paul commending the Thessalonians of how they receive the word not as a word of man, but as it actually is the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe it's the word that does the work. It reminds me of Martin Luther who when asked about what was the secret to the great transformation that took place in the church in his day and somebody asking him because he was the one at the center of all this reformation, this is what he said, I simply taught, preached, wrote God's word, otherwise I did nothing. And while I slept or drank or drunk Wittenberg beer with my friends, the word did the work. It was the word that did the work.

And again, his words about sleeping while he was sleeping, the word was doing the work. Reminds me of Mark chapter four, the parable of the seed. The kingdom of God is like a man who cast seed upon the soil and he goes to bed at night and gets up by day and the seed sprouts and grows. How he himself does not know. The soil produces crops by itself. First the blade and then the head, then the mature grain in the head, and then if the crop permits, he immediately puts it to sickle and harvest. The idea is the pastor or the preacher, he casts out the seed of the word of God and then goes home and takes a nap and goes to bed and comes back the next Sunday and sees changes and sees people growing and people are different. How is that happening? Is it because of him? No, it's because of the word the word is doing. Its work in people's lives. Isaiah chapter 55, verse 10, for as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there without watering the earth and making it bear and sprout and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so will my word be which goes forth from my mouth. It will not return to me empty without accomplishing what I desire and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.

Did you got your Bibles here this morning? Hold 'em up good. Grab it and hold it up. What you have in your hand is the key to your spiritual growth and development as a Christian. This is it right here, no secret. And in today's passage, Peter wanted us as believers to know that God not only uses his word to grant a spiritual birth, but he also uses his word to grant a spiritual growth. And Peter didn't exhort us to grow in grace in two Peter three 18, but he also explained how growth occurs practically in our lives. If spiritual growth is a high priority for you, which if you're a Christian it should be, it should be your highest priority to grow spiritually, then you need to understand what Peter said in these three verses and the way we're going to break 'em down this morning is simply three essential elements involved in our spiritual growth.

Peter explains here three essential elements that are involved in our spiritual growth. First of all, he begins with the impediments of spiritual growth, the impediments of spiritual growth. Notice verse one, he says, therefore putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy in all slander that word. Therefore, again, Peter used to connect what he just said or maybe what he's about to say to what he has just said. And so these three verses naturally and logically flow out of the last three verses of the previous chapter in which Peter explained the enduring nature of God's word and the life-changing role that it plays in our regeneration. Remember verse 23, for you have been born again not of seed, which is perishable, but imperishable that is through the living and enduring word of God for all fleshes like grass and all it's glory like the flower of grass and the grass withers and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord endures forever, and this is the word which was preached to you.

Therefore, in other words, now that you've been born again, you shouldn't live your life the way you used to. You should live your life now to please the Lord your savior, Jesus Christ, which means there are certain sins that we should no longer commit. And so Peter wrote out a list of sins that were to put aside or to get rid of in our lives. That expression, putting aside, may seem like a command, an imperative when actually it's a parable that supports the main verb. There's only one verb. There's only one action here in these three verses, and that's in verse two, long, long, that's the main verb of this portion of scripture. But this putting aside here is a partisan that supports that main verb and it has the force of an imperative or a command. It sounds like a command rid yourself or be done with or put away for good is what he's saying there.

And the image here is of removing a stained or infected garment that you just want to tear it off and throw it away, burn it. Don't ever want that again, which is again, familiar language and imagery that's used to describe the process of sanctification. Paul, in Ephesians chapter five verse 22 says, in reference to your former manner of life, he says, you need to lay aside the old self which is being corrupted in accordance with the lust of deceit In in verse 31, let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you along with all malice. Very similar list that Paul gives there. Colossians chapter three, verse eight. But now you also put them all aside, anger, wrath, malice, slander and abusive speech from your mouth, and then even right there in the same neighborhood of one Peter James chapter one, verse 21, therefore putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness and humility receive the word implanted which is able to save your souls. Interesting that word filthiness is the word for ear wax. So in other words, if you want to hear the word of God and be able to respond to the word of God, you got to clean out your ears. He likens that to repenting of your sin so that you could receive the word implanted.

And in a similar way, Peter listed specific sins here that hinder or impede the influence and the impact of God's word to grow us spiritually. These sins that are listed here in verse one are obstacles or stumbling blocks that stand in the way of our spiritual growth or slow down our spiritual growth and then maybe even stop our spiritual growth altogether. Again, right there in the same neighborhood, just a few pages back in Hebrews chapter 12 verse one, you remember the writer of Hebrews said, therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.

And if you notice as you look through this list, these are not the gross vices of the pagans that Paul mentioned in his letters in Romans chapter one and Galatians chapter five and in Colossians chapter three talking about immorality and homosexuality and all these gross abuses of worldly people. What he listed here were five relational destroying sins which are often tolerated in the church even though they have a negative effect on the body of Christ. These sins that he listed here all violate God's fundamental command to love our neighbor as ourselves. In fact, they are the antithesis of the sincere fervent love that Peter just exhorted us to have for one another. In verse 22, remember he said, since you have an obedience of the truth, purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart and all of these things he mentions here now in chapter two, verse one are the exact opposite of that.

So let's look at each of these in a little bit closer view's. He says, therefore putting aside all malice, malice a word we don't often hear or use, but it simply means to have ill will towards someone to harbor evil or vengeful thoughts against someone to hold a grudge, to want to get revenge by inflicting pain or injury on others. It's secretly wishing that bad things will happen to someone hoping that they'll experience some kind of a harm or tragedy. It's just another word for bad blood, man, you've got some bad blood with someone between you and someone else. He says, get rid of that. Cast it aside. Get it out of your life. Be done with it along with all deceit.

Deceit is being deliberately dishonest or intentionally trying to trick someone. In fact, this is a fishing term originally meaning to catch with bait or to bait the hook. So those of you that are fishermen in here, you like the fish, I dunno how to break this to you, but fishing is essentially tricking fish. That's really what it comes down to, right? You're offering them a meal when you really want them to be your meal. It's the height of deception, so all you fishermen need to repent and stop fishing. No, just kidding. Seriously, we should never try to trick or deceive anyone by concealing the truth or misrepresenting the truth. We can do this in all sorts of ways like falsifying our income tax returns, doing shady business deals, lying about our age, cheating on exams, bribing officials saying or doing something with ulterior motives. Dia Van Hebert described this trait deceit as the selfish two-faced attitude that deceives and hurts others for personal gain.

Peter says, get rid of it, laid aside, tear it off, throw it away along with hypocrisy, literally hypocrisies. This is a plural. In other words, hypocrisy takes all sorts of different shapes and forms. This is the idea of insincerity or inconsistency that you pretend to be someone. You're not like an actor playing a role while wearing a mask. You pretend to be happily married when your home is actually a battleground. You appear to be spiritual on Sunday mornings when your life is carnal. The rest of the week I think involved in this is also not practicing what you say you believe. This is why this book I think is going to be so good for all of us men to go through. We say we believe certain things, but if we're not living them, can we actually say that we believe them? There's hypocrisy there not living by the same standards that you hold others to acting like you really care about others when you really don't.

These are the hypocrisies that we need to be done with that we need to put aside along with envy or envys, literally envys. Again, there's lots of ways that we are envious of others and this sin is as old as the first two siblings, Cain and Abel. In fact, it led Cain to murder his brother because of jealousy which rises in all of our hearts at times when someone has something or gets something that we wish we had or think that we deserve, it's being resentful of other people's possessions or position or promotions and it's not just wanting their stuff or their success but not wanting them to have it either.

This even reared its ugly head amongst the disciples. When James and John requested that when Christ set up his kingdom in Jerusalem that they would have the privilege of sitting on his right and left hand and all the other disciples got what got mad. Well, why would you think you deserve to be that? Why wouldn't I deserve to be in there? It's not that they wanted to be there, they just didn't James and John to be there either, so we're to put aside envy and then finally we're to put aside slander or literally all slanders.

I think we're a little more familiar with this sin. It's speaking about someone in a way that damages or destroys their reputation. We talk about it or the term we use in our day as character assassination, running others down by talking behind their backs to make them look bad in the eyes of others. It it's gossiping or sharing rumors or even true facts, things that are verified about other people when they aren't there to defend themselves or to set the record straight or just ask the question, is it really necessary? Did you really have to say that about that person? How was anyone benefited from you? Letting us know about that detail of their life?

I think a good rule of thumb is to never say anything about anyone that you wouldn't say in their presence or through their face. That's a safe way to live because there's no chance of anything getting back to that person that you said this or you said that. So make that your commitment to never say anything about anyone that you wouldn't say in their presence or to their face. Now, before we leave this list, notice he used one word, the same word three times. What is it? All three times he used all to leave no room for exceptions. In other words, he wasn't saying, Hey, just get rid of some of those sins except for that little pet sin, your favorite sin that you take out and you feed and you pet and you play with and no, this is all sin. And I think what Peter was calling his readers to was confession and repentance like David modeled in Psalm 32 and Psalm 51 where at the end of the day it came down to David said, there's no greater joy, there's no greater blessing than living your life with no secrets. You have nothing to hide.

And so it's interesting before he says what he wants to say in verse two, which is the main verb, the main point longing for the pure milk of the word. He says what he says in verse one, which is really a prerequisite for experiencing what he's going to talk about in verse two. In other words, we'll never make any real progress in the Christian life until we repent of these sins and remove them from our lives. We will never long for the pure milk of the word the way he's calling us to in this next verse until we decisively deal with these sins that keep us from growing spiritually.

We've all experienced how sin blunts our spiritual desire, does it not? It just kind of blunts your desires for the Lord and it stunts our spiritual development because when we try to satisfy ourselves by sampling the smorgasbord of sin that Satan puts out for us in the world, it causes us to lose our appetite for God and his word, and that's why he does that. He just kind of lays out that smorgasbord. It's just out there for us to look at all day every day and be tempted to take something and sample a little bit of this and taste a little bit of that. And the more we do that, the less we long for the word of God.

When we fill ourselves up trying to satisfy ourselves with the things of the world, we are not hungry anymore for what we should be hungry for and that's God and his word. I shared the statement or the little phrase last week that I did a little more study on and found that it was attributed to John Bunion, the one who wrote Pilgrim's Progress and it was found in the cover of one of his bibles. This statement, this book will keep you from sin or sin will keep you from this book. By the way, does anybody write that in the front cover of their Bible after last week's sermon? Okay, we got one person that did that. You can do it right now. I don't mind you doing that while I'm preaching the next couple of points. You write that in your Bible, the front cover of your Bible kids, especially young people, especially you write that in the front of your Bible. This book will keep you from sin or sin will keep you from this book or even maybe you want to personalize it. This book will keep me from sin or sin will keep me from this book. Maybe that's the better thing to write again, just as a constant reminder of the connection between sin and the scriptures and scriptures and sin.

And so as writing that in the front cover of your Bible, let me ask you this question, are there any unconfessed sins in your life that are keeping you from getting into God's word or getting the most out of God's word? Are there sins that are hindering, impeding your spiritual growth that you need to deal with decisively, especially as we begin this new year together? So the first essential element of our spiritual growth is the impediments of spiritual growth, but now let's look at the imperative two, spiritual growth, the imperative, two, spiritual growth. And in verse two, Peter employed a brilliant analogy to describe the vital role scripture plays in our spiritual nourishment and development As Christians notice he says like newborn babies. I mean this analogy fits perfectly with what he just got done describing in chapter one about us being born again, verse three, that we have been caused by God to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

Verse 23 for you have been born again. So he's talking about newborn babies and we know that the Bible likens newborn believers to newborn babies and compares the process of spiritual growth to maturing from infancy to adulthood. I want you to look at a couple passages with me and just keep your finger there and one Peter, we'll be back. One Corinthians chapter three, one Corinthians chapter three, Paul was riding to the church in Corinth that had all sorts of problems and it was mainly because they were baby Christians, they were babes in Christ, they were new believers, they were recent converts. And so this is what he says in one Corinthians chapter three, verse one, and I brethren could not speak to you as to spiritual men but as to men of flesh as to infants in Christ. In other words, I wanted to talk to you on a more adult level spiritually speaking, but I couldn't do that because you're just infants in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food for you are not able to receive it. Indeed, even now you're not yet able for. You are still fleshly for since there is jealousy and strife among you. Are you not fleshly and are you not walking like mere men?

So he compares milk to solid food. He said, I really wanted to feed you a nice steak dinner, something solid, but I couldn't because you were still drinking milk from a bottle. In other words, the point was, Hey, quit drinking milk, start eating steak. The writer of Hebrews said the same thing in Hebrews chapter five. Turn there. Hebrews chapter five. We're getting back close to one Peter Hebrews five 11 concerning Melek, we have much to say Melek was a high priest from the Old Testament that was a type of Christ and the author of Hebrews wanted to help his readers understand the typology and the imagery of melek. It's hard to explain, but the reason why it's hard to explain is because you've become dull of hearing. In other words, you're lazy listeners literally is what he's saying there for though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the Oracles of God. In other words, you should be teaching this stuff, but you're still learning your ABCs spiritually and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the words of righteous, for he is an infant, but solid food is for the mature who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.

So again, we see this comparison between drinking milk and eating meat in the context of both of these passages. One Corinthians three, Hebrews five are negative and childish und discerning believers are being rebuked for their immaturity and exhorted to grow up and move on from milk to meat, from the basic truths of scripture to the deeper meatier truths of scripture. Now, back here in one Peter, Peter wasn't implying that his readers were new converts or baby Christians by calling them or likening them to newborn babies, nor was he confronting them for acting childishly or immaturely. In other words, the context here is positive. He was encouraging them to be like babies. In other words, being compared to a baby in this context is a good thing, bad thing in the other two passages we just read, right? This is a good thing, and his point was simply that no matter how long it's been since we were born again, we should never lose that baby like longing for the spiritual nourishment of God's word. He said like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word. This is the imperative here, that word long. This is the main point of this text. If you don't get anything else out of today's message, this is the word long for or desire or maybe my favorite way to say it would be to crave that made you all think of a cupcake, didn't it? If you hadn't had craved cupcakes, you're missing out, right? But they nailed the title, right? Crave.

If you have an NIV, I think it uses the word crave, doesn't it crave the pure spiritual milk of the word of God? Again, this is a brilliant analogy because we all know from the moment a baby comes out of their mother's womb, they have an instant instinctive, intense, incessant, insatiable desire to drink their mother's milk. Think about the words there chosen very carefully and specifically babies have an instant instinctive, intense, incessant, insatiable desire to drink their mother's milk. Do any of those terms apply to your craving, your desire, your longing for the word of God? Is it instant? Is it instinctive? Is it intense? Is it incessant? Is it insatiable? I say that because I think the same should be true of us because God uses his word to save us and we are born again through the womb of his word, so to speak, and so from the moment we get saved, there should be an instant instinctive connection to the word which makes us crave it.

In other words, it's how we were born again and it's how we're going to grow. You can't separate the two. Now, if you've had a baby, I've not had a baby, I've had babies in our house. Let me clarify that, but if you've had a baby or nursed a baby or even observed a baby drinking a bottle that newborn's hunger for milk is vigorous, it's relentless and it's all consuming. I mean, it wakes them up in the middle of the night and it wakes you up in the middle of the night because it's all they want and they'll do whatever it takes to get it. It's like they're a milk addict.

We understand a drug addict, somebody that has this compulsive obsessive dependency on some kind of illegal drug. Well, babies have this compulsive obsessive dependency on milk. They're little milky little junkies, right? Milk junkies, and I think it's so cool that God created that compulsive impatient, even desperate desire for milk in a newborn to correspond with their greatest need, which is essential nourishment to help them grow and develop, which they cannot do without their mother's milk. I mean, I don't know about you. I can't think of a better illustration of how we as believers should desire and delight in God's word and we know that he's talking about it even though he doesn't mention the word in the Greek. Literally the word word is not there, a form of it is, but we know he is talking about the Bible because of what he just said in verse 25, right?

The word of the Lord endures forever, and this is the word which was preached to you. He has the word on his mind, so he's obviously talking about the not baby's milk or mother's milk. He's talking about the milk of the word of God. He's likening the word of God to milk, and God's word is the spiritual milk that nourishes our souls and provides the food that we need in order to grow strong and healthy in our relationship with Christ, and we access and we absorb this necessary all important sustenance by reading the Bible and reading books based on the Bible and listening to the preaching, listening to preaching from the Bible.

And when it comes to those two latter ways of feeding on God's word, reading books and listening to sermons, we need to be very discerning in regards to what authors we read and what preachers we listen to and what should tip us off to that is the little word pure, like newborn babies, long for He doesn't just say the milk of the word, he says the what? The pure milk of the word, which is the word from which we get our word unadulterated Again, I think one of the translations, the NIV perhaps actually says that the unadulterated word of God, this word was used by merchants back in Peter's day to describe products that were uncontaminated or unaltered or unmixed or undiluted. It was a common practice in those days for dishonest vendors to dilute wine with water or to mix other things into their goods so that they would make them go further and last longer so they can make more money.

This is what Paul had in mind when he said in two Corinthians two 17, for we are not like many peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the side of God, and I know you'll agree with me that there's lots of so-called preachers today who would be more accurate if they were called peddlers rather than preachers because it seems like they're messages, or I won't even call 'em sermons, maybe talks are filled with more stories and jokes and their own experiences and opinions than actually the scriptures and they water down the truth of God's word to make it more palatable, and they use all sorts of theatrics and stage props to make the Bible more entertaining and engaging, which whenever I see that, I think why does that guy not have the confidence to just get up and preach the word as if the word is not powerful enough to do its work without having to do a skit or a show or to have some backdrop or have somebody climbing up some rope and swinging out over the crowd and some crazy things that people are doing, preachers, pastors are doing to get people's attention and help 'em realize the word of God is so relevant to their life.

I mean, if I ever get on a rope and swing out over you guys, just shoot me. Just somebody, just shoot me, okay? It is not necessary. The word does not need to be surrounded and supplemented with all sorts of other stuff to accomplish this work. I find it interesting that in a day and age where so many of us look for products with no additives or preservatives, no sweeteners or fillers, we want a hundred percent organic grass fed beef and milk cage-free chicken and eggs. We're very particular about making sure that we are eating healthy unprocessed whole foods, and I would just say that's fine if that's you, that's great. My question is, are you as choosy and cautious when it comes to the spiritual food you're eating, the spiritual food you're putting into your body?

See, the kind of teaching that we should crave is what the Bible calls sound doctrine, one of the recurring themes that's we throughout the pastoral epistles, that's first and second Timothy and Titus is the importance of sound doctrine. And Paul kept exhorting Timothy and Titus man that sound doctrine is everything and the word sound means who gyno or in the Greek is Hugo, which means something that's correct or healthy or wholesome. It's that which produces or stimulates spiritual life or growth or health. In fact, this word is where we derive the word hygiene, which means something is clean, it's safe, it's nourishing to the soul. Sound doctrine, teaching the truths and principles taught in the Bible, the content is God's word. It's biblical instruction, not just human opinion.

The opposite of sound doctrine is false doctrine, or as Paul referred to it as strange doctrine. It's teaching that dilutes or distorts or misrepresents the truth. It has error in it. There's deception, there's lies another term for it, just it's heresy and it's dangerous stuff that is deadly to our souls and it creates all sorts of health problems in our lives and in the lives of churches. One of the classic books that I read years ago about the importance of biblical preaching was written by a man named Walt Kaiser, and this is what he wrote. It is no secret that Christ Church is not at all in good health. She has been languishing because she has been fed junk food, all kinds of artificial preservatives and all sorts of unnatural substitutes have been served up to her. As a result, theological and biblical malnutrition has afflicted the very generation that has taken such giant steps to make sure its physical health is not damaged by using foods or products that are harmful to their physical bodies.

So we talk about what are the keys to good health, right eat, right exercise and get adequate rest, the three stools or three legs of the stool. But if there was one more important than the rest, it would have to be eating the right kinds of things, right? And it's been said that we are what we eat, which can be applied to our spiritual lives as well. That's why I think the church is in such poor health today because we've eng gorging ourselves on junk food and moon pies and Mountain Dew may feel good, taste good going down, but they provide no lasting nourishment for our bodies. And likewise, stories and jokes and visual aids taste good going down, but they provide no lasting nourishment for our souls. We need the pure, unadulterated, unmixed, undiluted milk of God's word, which is vital to our spiritual growth and health.

Notice that's where he goes with this. He says, long for the pure milk of the word like a newborn baby, so that by by the milk of the word, you may grow in respect to salvation by the word. This is in the passive tense here, which means it's literally that it may grow you so that the word of God may grow you in respect to your salvation. What does this mean growing in respect to our salvation? Well, again, growing in Christ means becoming like Christ. The goal of our salvation was not just to keep us from going to hell, but to help us to become like Jesus Christ, to grow more and more conformed to his image, which will not happen and cannot happen unless we're regularly exposed to the word of Christ. You can't become like Christ unless you're exposed to the word of Christ and not just reading it or hearing it, but doing it.

And so this is really a basic principle of life. If you stop eating, you stop growing. And if we stop feeding on God's word, we will stop growing as a Christian. And it's no wonder why so many of God's people liken God's word to food in the scriptures. Job 2312, I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. The psalmist in Psalm 1 19, 1 0 3, how sweet are your words to my taste? Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth. Jeremiah, the prophet in Jeremiah 1516, your words were found and I ate them, and your words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart. And then Jesus himself quoted Moses in Matthew chapter four, verse four is written, man shall not live by what bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

It seems like we are very careful not to miss a meal or our morning coffee, but we might miss our quiet time, our time in the word our time prayer. This is an easy question to ask because I'm not a coffee drinker, but are you as dependent on your quiet time as you are in your coffee? And there's a lot of people, man, it's like coffee. They got to have that kickstart right every morning. You got to have that kickstart. They need that. Pick me up somewhere in the afternoon to get 'em over the hump there three or four o'clock in the afternoon, and you're dependent on that. I need that. I can't survive without that.

Do you think the same way about your time in God's word, trust me, I have plenty of other things I can apply to my life on that. Things I'm dependent on that I'll make sure I don't miss or that I have. See, the level of our spiritual maturity as a Christian will be in direct proportion to the amount of time that we spend studying God's word and applying it to our lives. This is the bottom line of spiritual growth. It says spiritual growth 1 0 1. How much you want to grow as a Christian all comes down to how much time you spend in this book.

So we have the impediments to spiritual growth. We have the imperative to spiritual growth and then quickly, and lastly here, the impetus for spiritual growth, the impetus for spiritual growth or the motivation, the incentive for spiritual growth. Notice the last verse. He says, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord, a better way to translate if is since or now out since you have tasted the kindness of the Lord or now that you have tasted the kindness of the Lord. That's the sense that Peter had here, and he was simply echoing the words of the psalmist David in Psalm 34, verse eight, oh, taste and see that the Lord is what good it.

Peter was assuming that his readers had tasted and experienced that God is kind beginning with their salvation. Romans two, four. It's the kindness of the Lord that leads us to repentance. Titus chapter three talks about when the kindness of God, of God, our savior and his love for mankind appeared, he saved us. So at our conversion, we were given a taste of the kindness of God in leading us to repentance and not giving us what we deserve, but instead of giving us what we don't deserve. And that initial taste that God gave us of himself when we got saved was to wet our appetite for more of him. And it is what should inspire and motivate and compel us to pursue him more and more in his work.

My favorite thing about going to Costco or HEB, you know where I'm going with this because you do it too. It's your favorite reason why you go to those places too. That's why your wife's has to call you on your phone. Guys like, Hey, where are you? I'm over here sampling things, right? Well, you're supposed to help me shop. No, I'm sampling. That's why I came today. I'm sampling this stuff. Why do they do that? That's a brilliant concept. The samples, they give us a sample knowing that if we like how something tastes, we'll, want to what? Want to buy it. And if we really like it, we're going to keep on coming back to the store to buy it.

And the fact that we've been provided a sample of how kind and good and gracious God is should make us want more of him, which keeps us going back to his word over and over and over again. And as I said last week, quoting from our man camp speaker, the Bible is the portal into God's presence. This is how we gain access to the presence of God. Whenever we open up God's word and spend time reading and hearing it, we are encountering God himself or maybe more specifically Christ himself. Faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of Christ. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you. D in Hebrew, one of my favorite commentators said this, the indicated experience, what Peter is talking about here, the tasting, the kindness of the Lord experience relates to the Lord himself. Their eager appropriation of the milk of the word has brought them into direct contact with the Lord who gave the word.

And just so no one can accuse me or lakeside Bible church of biblio tree, which is worshiping the Bible, listen to what Hebrew says. The true aim of Bible study is never a mere mastery of its contents, but a transforming experience with the Lord who reveals himself in his word. Amen. This is ultimately a means to an end. This is how we get to God. This is how we get to know God, how we become more like Christ. In other words, because this is the word of the Lord, it shows us what the Lord is like, and it's him that makes the word sweeter than honey, because we're ultimately seeing and savoring our savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, when we're in the scriptures and amen.

So we're not just spending time in the Bible, we're spending time with Jesus. That's what we're doing, and that's why it's so sweet. Christ has revealed himself to us In the pages of scripture, one of the greatest blessings of being a pastor is seeing how God uses his word to help people grow and change into the likeness of his son Jesus. And this past year I received two what are referred to as premium bibles. Bibles that smell awesome, high grain leather, goat skin, just the way they're bound. They're beautiful embossed, just these are made in one of these I know for sure was made in Europe, just made it the finest. Basically, the thought process, the logic is the most important book in the world deserves to be printed with the finest ingredients on planet earth. That's the whole philosophy of a premium Bible. So a couple young men as a way of expressing their appreciation for how the ministry of the word here at Lakeside has impacted their lives, wanted me to have a premium Bible.

And what meant the most to me wasn't the Bibles themselves, but the hearts behind these treasured gifts. One of these young men grew up at Lakeside, got saved, baptized here is now living in another state, faithfully serving the Lord in another local church. And this is what he wrote, a little card along with this Bible. He said, pastor Amy, outside my dad, you've been the biggest influence of my life. Not only have you diligently exposited God's word all these years, you have also been a terrific shepherd, always down to earth and approachable. Back in December, 2010, you preached Acts 27 to 28 15. When finishing up acts up to that point in my life, I'd always professed to be a Christian, but was too timid to publicly give my testimony and get baptized. That sermon convicted me as a Christian. I'm a leader and I need to be brave to publicly profess my faith. I wrote down these 13 leadership qualities on a note card and have carried it with me the past 11 years. It has been one of my most important blessings through college, two jobs in three states. I've always kept it with me, either on my desk or in my car. I share this with you as an encouragement of how growing up at Lakeside has directed an impact in my life. Got his little card, one of his most treasured possessions. He gave it to me along with this Bible.

I told him, I keep that in the front of the Bible for as long as I live. The other young man didn't grow up at Lakeside, but found our church after God radically saved him out of a wild, crazy life of sin. And he was baptized a few years back. And in fact, just recently he texted me a question that I didn't realize he was texting other guys in the church, the same question I thought he just asked me. But anyway, this was the question. He said, if you were only allowed to have one book of the Bible to read and study for the rest of your life, what would it be?

I was like, well, that's not a hard question, right? I mean, it is a hard question. That's my point. It's like, whoa, how would you just pick one book of the Bible? And again, this is a guy who wakes up very early every morning so he can spend time studying God's word before he goes to work. In fact, his boss noticed that he was coming to his workplace early, and he asked him why, and he told him he was studying God's word. And so he actually gave him permission to build a little desk in a little office where he could study God's word at his place of work.

And so I was thinking about this and I thought, well, what would it be? And all sorts of books of the Bible went through my mind and I finally had to land on one. I said the Psalms, I said, the Psalms because it's the longest book in the Bible. So I would have the most to study, to most to read and meditate on and think about. And more importantly, I think it's through the Psalms that we understand who God is. It's all about his character. It's all about his attributes and what does it mean to have a real face-to-face relationship with the God of the universe? And that's why we love the Psalmist.

So I responded, and this is how he responded back. And again, mind you, this is just a text, just one of those texts you just send without even thinking. That's how we use text. That's how I don't know. I don't think about something this deep in a text. I usually use text to let my wife know I'll be home in a few minutes or something like that. He says, since you said the Psalms, I got to share something with you, bro. First off, Psalms wasn't my answer, but after I narrowed it down and made a choice, I meditated on this question a bit. Here's what I came up with so far. I started thinking about Psalms and I was like, how could I live without Psalms? I can't imagine not having that book anymore. Then I started thinking, what about Genesis? What about Ephesians, Colossians, et cetera?

I can't imagine not having the fullness of scripture. What would that be like? And sadly, we have so many brothers and sisters who have no access to this or have to hide it. We take it for granted so much. Then I kept thinking to the world, this is just a book. Some have it in their houses, maybe on a bookshelf somewhere. It's just another book that means nothing. But to us, it's so much more than that, isn't it? It's holy, perfect, and infallible word. It's anything but just a book to us. So much so that if the unbelieving world asks, so would you die for a book? I would smile and answer absolutely as I couldn't see living without it. There are so many saints who have given their blood for this book, but this is how he ends. I love this. They saw the same thing we see in it. Christ our Lord, to him be the glory forever.

I hope that inspires you to have a greater hunger and thirst and craving for the pure milk of God's word. Let's pray. Father, thank you for this simple text, this really unforgettable illustration of a newborn baby longing, craving milk. Lord, I pray that you would grant us that same desire for your word. We can't work this desire up in ourselves through our sheer willpower. This has got to be something that you do. And so we ask you that by your spirit, through your word, that you would give us this hunger, this thirst, this passion to read your word, to study your word, to hear your Word, to live out your word. And the whole time I pray that we'd never forget God, that it's not so much about your word that is about Christ, whose word it is and who is revealed in the page of scripture, and that ultimately it would not be about a book, but about a person, and that is the person of Christ. We pray this in His name, amen.