Listen to this Sermon: 05202012FirstPe2.1-3DonRuhl

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A Picture of Your New Life in Christ

If you have been born again, how should you live?

First Peter 2.1–3

Don Ruhl • Savage Street, Grants Pass, Oregon • May 20, AD 2012

Prelude: 

  1. Let us: 
    1. rest our hope on the grace that is coming with the revelation of Christ (1.13);
    2. be holy as the Lord is holy (1.14–17);
    3. conduct ourselves in fear (1.17); and
    4. love one another (1.22).
  2. Peter steers us in the right direction, 
    1. which will help us to deal with something in life,
    2. that something he has only touched upon briefly in 1.6, 7, and
      1. I will not get into now, but
      2. I will show it to you more fully later when Peter discusses it later.

Persuasion: 

  1. First Peter 2.1 – Lay Aside All Malice

    1 Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking… (1Pe 2.1).

    1. Peter makes a conclusion or application of something that he had just said.
      1. Since we have purified our souls in obeying the truth (1.22),
      2. since we have been redeemed with the blood of Christ (1.19),
      3. since we do not live according to our former lusts (1.14),
        1. we must love the brethren sincerely,
          1. loving them fervently and
          2. with a pure heart, because
            1. we have been born again of the incorruptible word (1.23), and
            2. that leads to incorruptible living.
      4. He thus shows us how to live incorruptibly,
        1. laying aside our former conduct
          1. when we lived in our lusts
          2. during the time of our ignorance, but
        2. the word of God gives us knowledge
          1. that we might live in holiness
          2. even as our God is holy (1.14, 15).
      5. Retaining
        1. any form of malice,
        2. any form of
          1. deceit,
          2. hypocrisy,
          3. envy, and
        3. any form of evil speaking
          1. disrupts our ability to love one another.
          2. Remember, we became Christians to love one another.
    2. Do not keep wearing the old clothes of your former life, so to speak.
      1. It is time to take those things off and
      2. put on the new clothing of Christianity.
    3. Peter specified five things to lay aside.
      1. All malice
      2. All
        1. Deceit
        2. Hypocrisy
        3. Envy
      3. All evil speaking
    4. These things are like germs in the body,
      1. though starting out small,
      2. they grow and ruin a person.
        1. Do not let these five spiritual germs enter your life, or
        2. they will destroy your relationships.
    5. Compare that with what he taught in 1.22,

      22 Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart… (1Pe 1.22).

      1. If I have been born again
        1. that I might love the brethren sincerely, fervently, and with a pure heart,
        2. how can malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and evil speaking reside in me?
      2. These sins have to do with how we treat people,
        1. so it makes sense for Peter to add this
        2. after having spoken about loving one another.
  2. First Peter 2.2 – Desire the Milk of the Word

    2 …as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby… (1Pe 2.2).

    1. Who has not seen a newborn baby desire its milk?
    2. As a newborn so desires its milk, so are we to desire the pure milk of the word.
      1. Remember Peter ended the last three verses of chapter 1
        1. speaking of the incorruptible nature of the word of God,
        2. which is equivalent to saying it is pure.
      2. Nehemiah 8 shows the Jews desiring the pure milk of the word,

        1 Now all the people gathered together as one man in the open square that was in front of the Water Gate; and they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded Israel (Neh 8.1).
      3. “Pinch Me” 
      4. John 12 shows hungering Greeks for the Word Himself,

        20 Now there were certain Greeks among those who came up to worship at the feast. 21 Then they came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus” (John 12.20, 21).

        1. I heard of a preacher who was not preaching the word of God.
        2. So, someone put a note on the pulpit for him to see when he got up to speak, saying, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”
    3. Desiring the pure milk of the word causes growth.
      1. Therefore, if we do not spend time in the word,
        1. reading it,
        2. listening to teaching and preaching from it,
      2. we will not grow, and
        1. we will experience the problems of which he told us to lay aside,
        2. as well as other spiritual problems.
    4. People who do not feed on the pure milk of the word
      1. have serious spiritual health issues,
      2. malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and evil speaking.
  3. First Peter 2.3 – Taste the Lord

    3 …if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious (1Pe 2.3).

    1. Peter quoted Psalm 34.8, keeping the eating imagery.
    2. Peter speaks of having tasted the Lord, and
      1. discovering that He is good,
      2. contrary to the bitterness of
        1. all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking.
        2. When you taste that the Lord is good,
          1. you will spit out those bitter tasting things, and
          2. you will desire to taste of the goodness of the Lord even more.
      3. This happens when we open the word, and
        1. it happens in prayer, worship, fellowship with the saints and so on, but
        2. none of those things can substitute from taking in the milk of the word.
      4. It also happens in what Peter has mentioned since 1.2:
        1. The Lord has elected us according to His foreknowledge (1.2).
        2. The Lord has sanctified us in or by the Spirit (1.2).
        3. The Lord has sprinkled us with the blood of Christ (1.2).
        4. The Lord has begotten us to an incorruptible inheritance (1.3, 4).
        5. The Lord guards us in His power (1.5).
        6. The Lord purifies our faith (1.6–9).
        7. The Lord has delivered the greatest gift in heaven or on earth (1.10–12).
        8. The Lord has promised us grace at the Second Coming (v. 13).
        9. The Lord has redeemed us with blood of Christ (1.17–19).
    3. Here in 2.3, Peter quotes or alludes to Psalm 34, and
      1. he will do it again later in First Peter,
      2. making us think that he has the whole Psalm in mind.
        1. When you read Psalm 34,
        2. you get the idea of David’s euphoria at having escaped some great danger.
    4. Here is an interesting note about Peter’s use of Psalm 34.
      1. Look at Psalm 34.8 as we have in our Old Testaments,

        8 Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good;
        Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!
        (Psa 34.8)

        1. Notice the capitalization of “Lord,” meaning the Tetragrammaton,
        2. indicating the name of God, variously translated as Jehovah or Yahweh.
      2. Yet, when you go back to First Peter,
        1. it is quite obvious that Peter has Jesus in mind,
        2. so that David had the Messiah in mind,
          1. meaning that the Messiah, Jesus,
          2. is Jehovah or Yahweh.
    5. See why David said in Psalm 34 to taste the Lord and see that He is good.
      1. Verse 4 – When David sought the Lord, He
        1. heard David and
        2. delivered Him from all his fears.
      2. Verse 5 – Says that looking at the Lord makes our faces radiant.
      3. Verse 6 – indicates that although poor, the Lord will hear and save us out of all our troubles.
      4. Verse 7 – Declares that the angel of the Lord surrounds those who fear Him, and He delivers them.
      5. Okay, I think I can see why I should taste the Lord and ingest His goodness.
    6. Since we have had a wonderful experience with the Lord
      1. continue to crave experiences with Him.

Exhortation: 

  1. If you are not into the word, what are you into? 
    1. After what do you cry like a baby?
    2. What tastes good to you?
  2. Depending upon your answer, 
    1. you may need to be converted or rededicated.
    2. Let us pray for you, or
      1. go home into your prayer closet,
      2. fall on your knees and
        1. beg for God’s pardon,
        2. renew yourself, and
        3. start digesting the pure milk of the word daily.
  3. What happens if you do not feed a newborn baby with pure milk? 
    1. The baby dies, exhibiting serious health problems before death.
    2. Are you exhibiting serious spiritual health problems?
      1. Remedy those things immediately.