SPEAKER_00: Well, I have the privilege this morning of taking us to the Word of God, and I encourage you to go to 1 Peter chapter 2 with me as we return to Peter's letter.
SPEAKER_00: Open your Bible or turn on your device, whatever you use.
SPEAKER_00: Last Sunday morning we were in Psalm 34 as a prelude to this passage.
SPEAKER_00: Peter references Psalm 34 many times, and in this particular passage this morning, he quotes it directly.
SPEAKER_00: So I'd like to look this morning at chapter 2 of 1 Peter in the first three verses, and this is what Peter records for us under the inspiration of God's Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.
SPEAKER_00: Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: Our Lord Jesus, we long to come before you this morning and taste your goodness.
SPEAKER_00: We we come this morning to gather before you to hear you speak to us after many different kinds of trials of difficulties of exciting and good times this last week.
SPEAKER_00: Some have have had a good week, others have had a real struggle.
SPEAKER_00: But you call all of us to come this morning to hear you speak to us.
SPEAKER_00: And I ask that by your Spirit we would be able to not be distracted by those things.
SPEAKER_00: But to come with open hearts, with clear minds to listen to you and to truly taste that you are good.
SPEAKER_00: Please do that for us, we ask.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: I recently read an article about immaturity that addressed what is called the Peter Pan syndrome.
SPEAKER_00: Have any of you ever heard of the Peter Pan syndrome?
SPEAKER_00: Well, I hadn't heard of it either.
SPEAKER_00: That's okay.
SPEAKER_00: It's not an officially recognized diagnosis.
SPEAKER_00: However, it is a common affliction that is found in increasing numbers of people.
SPEAKER_00: The Peter Pan syndrome is generally considered to be present when a grown man or woman is childish and immature, despite their age.
SPEAKER_00: So we look at them and we anticipate that they are going to be a mature human being, and instead we see children.
SPEAKER_00: In some Asian cultures, it is known as the emperor syndrome, primarily referring to little boys with no siblings who behave like tyrants.
SPEAKER_00: Now, these kinds of people are often narcissistic, irresponsible, they act entitled, they resist commitment, choosing instead to pursue what they consider to be fun.
SPEAKER_00: One particular expert says that certain characteristics are often seen in these childish, immature people.
SPEAKER_00: These characteristics that kind of go throughout this syndrome are they cannot form real and meaningful relationships, and they struggle to communicate and nurture whatever relationships already exist.
SPEAKER_00: Often they haven't severed parental bonds.
SPEAKER_00: Many have families of their own, but they run from the responsibility of parenting.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes they have an inability to focus on solutions to problems in their world.
SPEAKER_00: And many of them move through life in a lost and confused state.
SPEAKER_00: Now we have all encountered both adults and children who display some or all of those characteristics.
SPEAKER_00: And they may be irritating.
SPEAKER_00: But the base issue is not irritating actions.
SPEAKER_00: The base issue is immaturity.
SPEAKER_00: They've not grown up.
SPEAKER_00: And perhaps they are not even in the process of growing up.
SPEAKER_00: They've reached a stasis, a place of normal, of equilibrium within their immaturity.
SPEAKER_00: And unfortunately, their immaturity can make them oblivious to areas of life in which they need to grow.
SPEAKER_00: In their oblivion, they remain the same, even if their actions and attitudes are negatively impacting those around them.
SPEAKER_00: And the sad and sometimes painful reality is that the Peter Pan syndrome is found in the Lord's church.
SPEAKER_00: We have churches full of people who cannot or do not form real relationships, who are unable to communicate well, who are irresponsible or act entitled even within the church, and they always end up hurting others within the body of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: They believe that they are mature, fully they believe it, but by their actions they demonstrate a need for growth.
SPEAKER_00: That's one reason why humility is so necessary in the Lord's church.
SPEAKER_00: We need a humility that understands that we never arrive.
SPEAKER_00: We never cease growing.
SPEAKER_00: We keep on growing, ever maturing, all the way until Christ returns to take us home.
SPEAKER_00: That means that if you are a new or newer Christian, you have much growth and Christian maturity ahead of you.
SPEAKER_00: That's a good thing.
SPEAKER_00: Even if you are 80 years old and you are a new Christian, you have much growth ahead of you.
SPEAKER_00: That's something to anticipate.
SPEAKER_00: But that also means that even if you are 90 years old and you have 80 years of walking with Jesus, you still have room to grow.
SPEAKER_00: We must never stop growing in our walk with Christ.
SPEAKER_00: We are all in the same boat, all seeking more and more maturity to keep on growing no matter what is in front of us, because God expects us to keep growing.
SPEAKER_00: That's what he says here.
SPEAKER_00: Grow up into salvation.
SPEAKER_00: But there's an indispensable ingredient to growing in maturity, and that is experiencing the goodness of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Experiencing the goodness of Christ is essential to Christian maturity.
SPEAKER_00: Now, Peter quotes here in verse 3 from Psalm 34 to remind us of the goodness or the kindness, your translation may say, of God.
SPEAKER_00: He says, so put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.
SPEAKER_00: Put them away.
SPEAKER_00: Put away is a term used of taking off one's clothes to set them aside or to be rid of them.
SPEAKER_00: It's a visual image of taking off your clothes and changing them.
SPEAKER_00: And in that way, Peter subtly asks us a question about our growth and maturity.
SPEAKER_00: Have you changed your clothes?
SPEAKER_00: I have a confession to make.
SPEAKER_00: I have a tendency to not change my clothes as often as Allison thinks I should.
SPEAKER_00: But she has a reason for thinking that way.
SPEAKER_00: It's because, you know, when I come home from the office or whatever and I'm wearing some nicer clothes, I have a tendency to just keep on doing whatever needs to be done without changing my clothes.
SPEAKER_00: And often that involves doing something that involves dirt or grease or whatever.
SPEAKER_00: You wives know exactly what I'm talking about, don't you?
SPEAKER_00: And then Allison ends up spending time and effort to try to get the stains out of my clothes because I haven't changed my clothes.
SPEAKER_00: That's a bit of immaturity in me.
SPEAKER_00: The sad truth, though, is that many of us have the same habit in the church, just from the opposite direction.
SPEAKER_00: We come together, gathering together, fellowshipping together, learning together, walking together while still having on our grubby, sinful clothes.
SPEAKER_00: We walk together with clothes that are stained with our sinful tendencies, and those tendencies end up impacting other people in the body of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Now the sins that Peter has in mind here are those that are often seen in the heart, in the mind, and in the mouth.
SPEAKER_00: The last command we were given is in chapter 1, verses 22.
SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry, verse 22, where he says, love one another earnestly.
SPEAKER_00: That's the last command he gave us.
SPEAKER_00: But the sins in chapter 2, verse 1 are social sins.
SPEAKER_00: They are sins that come out of our hearts, out of our minds, and out of our mouths against one another in the body of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Meaning they are sinful roadblocks to loving one another earnestly.
SPEAKER_00: We cannot love one another if we are full of malice.
SPEAKER_00: It is impossible to love one another earnestly if we are overcome with deceit and hypocrisy and envy, and if we're slandering one another, that cannot lead to love.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if you're thinking that you're glad these aren't in you, that you don't wear these particular clothes, take a minute and pinch yourself or smack yourself upside the head.
SPEAKER_00: Because we all wear these clothes from time to time.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe not continually, maybe not every day, maybe even not every Sunday, but we all wear these clothes.
SPEAKER_00: But we are told to put them away.
SPEAKER_00: We are told to change our clothes.
SPEAKER_00: Being born again to a living hope through faith in Christ necessitates a change in spiritual clothes.
SPEAKER_00: You were not holy before Christ.
SPEAKER_00: It was expected that you wore grubby clothes.
SPEAKER_00: But when we come to Christ, we put them off.
SPEAKER_00: We put them off.
SPEAKER_00: Now you are children of obedience who are holy as your Father is holy.
SPEAKER_00: So on the one hand, there is the assumption that we have changed clothes, that it's already happened.
SPEAKER_00: We are no longer clothed in malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander.
SPEAKER_00: Because when we came to Christ, we put off malice.
SPEAKER_00: Malice is a moral evil, especially seen in ill will towards others.
SPEAKER_00: It's the kind of feeling that wants injury to come to another person.
SPEAKER_00: So instead of feeling the uh the command do unto others as you would have them do unto you, instead of having that in your heart and your soul and mind, what instead comes out is I hope you get what's coming.
SPEAKER_00: And it doesn't mind if I can help that come along quickly.
SPEAKER_00: Malice says, you hurt me.
SPEAKER_00: I hope you get hurt.
SPEAKER_00: Malice says, go fly a kite and jump off a cliff at the same time.
SPEAKER_00: Malice feels good when someone hurts us and then their car breaks down.
SPEAKER_00: Or their water pipes break or they get sick.
SPEAKER_00: Malice feels justified when something bad happens to those to whom we are opposed.
SPEAKER_00: That is not loving one another earnestly, is it?
SPEAKER_00: When we come to Christ, we put off deceit and hypocrisy and envy.
SPEAKER_00: You'll notice that Peter attaches all three of those to one all, sort of lumping them together.
SPEAKER_00: Deceit is taking advantage of another through underhanded means.
SPEAKER_00: It's putting on a good face in front of them, coming up to a brother or sister in Christ and giving them a great big ol' hug and acting like a friend when in fact you can't stand them and you're talking about them behind their back.
SPEAKER_00: Deceit seeks to get the better of another through cunning and underhanded means, through craftiness and deception.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, some think that this term originally referred to bait on a hook for fish.
SPEAKER_00: You know, it looks good, but there's a hook in there.
SPEAKER_00: And I get to benefit from it.
SPEAKER_00: Deceit doesn't care about hurting others for personal benefit.
SPEAKER_00: Deceit doesn't speak the truth in love, in fact, has a hard time speaking the truth at all.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe that's why it's connected to hypocrisy.
SPEAKER_00: Hypocrisy shows one thing while concealing another.
SPEAKER_00: It displays love outwardly while concealing disgust on the inside.
SPEAKER_00: Hypocrisy shows care and concern while turning around to someone else and saying, Can you believe what so-and-so did?
SPEAKER_00: Hypocrisy shows love to fellow believers while at church but tears them down before co-workers during the rest of the week.
SPEAKER_00: We put off envy as well when we come to Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Envy is that that feeling that you get when you see others benefiting or prospering and you desire to have what they are receiving.
SPEAKER_00: But it goes even further than that.
SPEAKER_00: It not only wants what others receive, but it also says, if I can't have it, then they shouldn't either.
SPEAKER_00: Sort of like Christian socialism.
SPEAKER_00: How does that work to love one another earnestly?
SPEAKER_00: They don't go together, do they?
SPEAKER_00: But we also put off all slander, every bit of it, every form of it, every kind of it.
SPEAKER_00: Slander is speech that puts down another, disparaging them.
SPEAKER_00: It attacks the character of another person either by squashing their positive, good, holy qualities, or by highlighting their poor qualities, or maybe even suggesting that there are sinful qualities when there may not be.
SPEAKER_00: It's a deliberate attack behind another's back where you attribute sinful motives, sinful qualities, sinful characteristics to another person.
SPEAKER_00: That undermines Christian love.
SPEAKER_00: These are dirty, sinful clothes.
SPEAKER_00: So there is the assumption that we have changed our clothes and we no longer wear those.
SPEAKER_00: But there's also a command inherent in this.
SPEAKER_00: We are commanded to continually, over and over again, obey, to continually be changing our clothes because we live with the continual struggle to love one another.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know why?
SPEAKER_00: It's because the old grubby clothes are the most comfortable.
SPEAKER_00: We like to wear those clothes that have the holes in them that are stained.
SPEAKER_00: That's a place of comfort and safety and that's the right place.
SPEAKER_00: And even though in Christ we have come to him and we've put those off, it feels good to go back to those clothes every once in a while.
SPEAKER_00: And we struggle to stay away from them.
SPEAKER_00: That's the way we are.
SPEAKER_00: That's why there's a command implicit here to keep on changing your clothes.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, as Christians, we've even perfected sinning in these ways.
SPEAKER_00: Now here's what I mean.
SPEAKER_00: We share with our Bible study group or our Christian friends a personal struggle that someone else is having.
SPEAKER_00: And we do it under the guise of prayer.
SPEAKER_00: You know, we we need to pray for we need to pray for so-and-so because did you know what they're doing?
SPEAKER_00: We need to pray for them.
SPEAKER_00: We slander others in the body of Christ by speaking disparagingly of them before others out of a out of a concern for safety or or or or truth or for prayer for them.
SPEAKER_00: These sins are prevalent in the church, and sadly, we disguise them by surrounding them with righteous concerns and godly language.
SPEAKER_00: See, we're trying to cover up the stains in our clothes instead of actually changing our clothes.
SPEAKER_00: But it's the goodness of Christ that changes us.
SPEAKER_00: And when we taste the goodness of Christ, we change our clothes.
SPEAKER_00: When we taste the goodness of Christ, we long to display that goodness in our interactions with others.
SPEAKER_00: That is the heart of one who has tasted the goodness of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: We cannot be holy without first experiencing the goodness of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: People who have experienced the great mercy of God ought to want to change their clothes in order to love one another as Christ has loved us.
SPEAKER_00: In that way, experiencing the goodness of Christ leads to greater and greater maturity.
SPEAKER_00: But how?
SPEAKER_00: We experience his goodness through his word.
SPEAKER_00: Christ grows us through his word.
SPEAKER_00: And so Peter challenges us again by asking, are you cultivating a craving for the word of God?
SPEAKER_00: Experiencing Christ's goodness, he says, makes us in verse 2 like children.
SPEAKER_00: Not in a bad way, not in a derogatory way, because then he would be sinning like in verse 1, right?
SPEAKER_00: This has to be good.
SPEAKER_00: This has to be positive.
SPEAKER_00: No, he means what Jesus meant when Jesus said in Matthew 18, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_00: But whoever humbles himself like a child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_00: That's the kind of meaning that Peter intends here.
SPEAKER_00: It's a positive sense of saying we are to be like infants.
SPEAKER_00: Specifically, we experience Christ's goodness when we come to faith in him.
SPEAKER_00: And when we experience his goodness, we ought to begin to crave the spiritual food that he gives us just like an infant craves milk.
SPEAKER_00: Now, an infant craves milk out of need.
SPEAKER_00: And so the Christian who knows Christ's goodness ought to crave the milk of the Word of God.
SPEAKER_00: This isn't an occasional craving.
SPEAKER_00: I have a fairly regular craving for good barbecue.
SPEAKER_00: Every once in a while I get a craving for that elk chop that I had in Jackson, Wyoming a few years ago.
SPEAKER_00: That's not the kind of craving that Peter's speaking of.
SPEAKER_00: This isn't even the occasional need.
SPEAKER_00: My grandfather had a lack of B12, and he always said he craved meat because of his lack of B12.
SPEAKER_00: So when he lacked B12, he craved meat.
SPEAKER_00: That's not what he's talking about.
SPEAKER_00: This isn't the craving for a guilty pleasure.
SPEAKER_00: This is a craving for what is essential to your survival and growth as a follower of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Now, in other places in Scripture, we are encouraged to move on from the milk of the Word to the meat of the Word.
SPEAKER_00: But that's not how Peter is using this illustration.
SPEAKER_00: Don't confuse the way they're using it.
SPEAKER_00: Here, Peter refers to milk as something that is always and constantly necessary to your life.
SPEAKER_00: Due to its infancy, a baby craves milk.
SPEAKER_00: In the same way, God's children, that's who we are, who have tasted of his goodness, are to crave that which is true or essential to their new nature.
SPEAKER_00: That is, we are.
SPEAKER_00: Are now new children, children of the Father, therefore we are to crave the milk that He gives us.
SPEAKER_00: What is that milk?
SPEAKER_00: If we go back to the end of chapter one, it is the abiding and living word of God that remains forever.
SPEAKER_00: Now, an infant will outgrow its need for milk.
SPEAKER_00: But the way Peter uses this illustration is such that we will always be infants.
SPEAKER_00: We are to always crack.
SPEAKER_00: We will never outgrow our need for this craving.
SPEAKER_00: Thus the need to constantly cultivate a craving for Scripture.
SPEAKER_00: It is vital to our very life.
SPEAKER_00: The milk, Scripture, causes us to grow up into salvation.
SPEAKER_00: The effective agent in our spiritual growth is the Word of God.
SPEAKER_00: It gives us spiritual life in chapter 1, verse 23, and here it causes us to grow into maturity.
SPEAKER_00: It causes us to grow in grace and knowledge and wisdom until the Lord calls us home.
SPEAKER_00: Are you cultivating a craving for the Word of God?
SPEAKER_00: I have many cravings.
SPEAKER_00: Coffee, Dr.
SPEAKER_00: Pepper, and barbecue.
SPEAKER_00: I could go on, but those cravings are not necessary to life.
SPEAKER_00: Well, okay, maybe coffee is.
SPEAKER_00: And barbecue.
SPEAKER_00: But I can survive without those for quite a while, if necessary.
SPEAKER_00: And that's exactly how we approach God's word, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we crave God's word like we crave that greasy hamburger.
SPEAKER_00: Our craving is satisfied if we have it fulfilled once a month, maybe once every couple of months, we're okay.
SPEAKER_00: We don't need it all the time.
SPEAKER_00: Just once the craving is satisfied, we're good.
SPEAKER_00: We treat Scripture like our cars.
SPEAKER_00: It's okay if our cars get fueled up, yeah, once a week.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe for some of us once every two weeks, maybe some of us once a month.
SPEAKER_00: That's okay.
SPEAKER_00: Our cars run fine in our world and our way of living if we just fill them up every once in a while.
SPEAKER_00: But God doesn't approve of that pattern, does he?
SPEAKER_00: He says we are to crave his word like an infant craves milk.
SPEAKER_00: How long can an infant go without craving milk?
SPEAKER_00: Is that how much you crave the life-sustaining word of God that causes you to grow?
SPEAKER_00: If you have experienced Christ's goodness, then with the Holy Spirit's help, you will work to develop a craving for His word.
SPEAKER_00: Just as an infant craves milk first thing in the morning, and then halfway through the morning, and then at noon, and then in the afternoon, and in the evening, and in the middle of the night, so too will God's goodness move you to long for more of it.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, there are obstacles and failures.
SPEAKER_00: It's part of life, that's part of maturity, that's part of growing up.
SPEAKER_00: But when you face those obstacles, do you seek to overcome them?
SPEAKER_00: Do you seek to endure through them, to persevere through them because of the Lord's great goodness?
SPEAKER_00: Have you become overcome by the Lord's goodness so that you persevere in your craving?
SPEAKER_00: Experiencing Christ's goodness is essential to the Christian life.
SPEAKER_00: And if you cannot desire him and his word, then you probably haven't tasted his goodness.
SPEAKER_00: It is his goodness that motivates us.
SPEAKER_00: That's why Peter calls on us to remember the taste of God's goodness.
SPEAKER_00: And we can ask it in a question: are you remembering what God's goodness tastes like?
SPEAKER_00: Is that part of your memory and your motivation?
SPEAKER_00: Peter here in verse 3 says, if indeed you have tasted, and it's a type of condition here that assumes the truth of something.
SPEAKER_00: That's why some translations use the word since instead of if.
SPEAKER_00: Peter assumes that we have indeed tasted the goodness of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Now, the most obvious truth here is that remembering requires having tasted it in the first place.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: You can't remember something that you haven't experienced.
SPEAKER_00: Peter assumes that we have through faith in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: He assumes that we agree with his adjectives because of our shared experience.
SPEAKER_00: Now, what does that mean?
SPEAKER_00: Well, Peter uses all kinds of adjectives in his book.
SPEAKER_00: For example, go back to chapter 1 and verse 1.
SPEAKER_00: To those who are exiles of the dispersion.
SPEAKER_00: No, he doesn't just say to those who are exiles, he says to those who are elect exiles or chosen by God.
SPEAKER_00: He assumes that we have experienced that choosing, that we have shared that adjective.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 3 of chapter 1, he assumes that we know what he's talking about when he says, according to his great mercy.
SPEAKER_00: He assumes that we have experienced God's mercy and not just experienced his mercy, but have come to understand, to have tasted its greatness.
SPEAKER_00: Peter assumes that we know and have experienced what he's talking about in verse 7 when he says our faith is precious.
SPEAKER_00: Peter assumes that we have experienced the inexpressible and filled with glory type of joy in verse 8.
SPEAKER_00: Peter assumes that we have experienced in verse 18 the preciousness of the blood of Christ, that it is not something that perishes, but it is imperishable.
SPEAKER_00: And in verse 19, that it is without spot and without blemish, he expects us to have understood that, to have experienced it, to have tasted those adjectives and know what he's talking about and saying, Yes, Peter, I get it, I've tasted it.
SPEAKER_00: Now, in the text that Peter quotes from Psalm 34, we saw last time that we primarily taste the goodness of Christ in our redemption, in our salvation, and in our eternal rescue that comes through Christ.
SPEAKER_00: David's rescue in his Psalm from human enemies is a picture of the goodness of God in rescuing us from our sin and the death and condemnation that comes with it.
SPEAKER_00: Peter assumes that you and I have tasted that goodness.
SPEAKER_00: And that is the very first step, if none of this makes sense to you.
SPEAKER_00: If you don't understand these adjectives, if it doesn't resonate with you, if you have never tasted that Christ is good, then you must begin here.
SPEAKER_00: Come to Jesus in recognition of your sin and your inability to rescue yourself from that sin and believe in his payment for you.
SPEAKER_00: Rest in what he has done, not in what you have done, and that will be the first tasting of his goodness for you.
SPEAKER_00: If you have not tasted the goodness of Christ, then it is very likely that you have never come to him in genuine faith in the first place.
SPEAKER_00: Because that is where we begin to taste the goodness of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Come to him.
SPEAKER_00: Taste his goodness.
SPEAKER_00: But Peter here assumes that the majority of his readers have already tasted and have already arrived at the conclusion that yes, Christ is good.
SPEAKER_00: So he says to you, remember the taste of the goodness of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Remember it so that you are drawn to it again and again and again, and you cultivate a craving for his food, for his goodness, for that taste, for that flavor.
SPEAKER_00: Remember his kindness to you.
SPEAKER_00: Remember his deliverance of your soul from condemnation.
SPEAKER_00: Remember how you ran to him for refuge.
SPEAKER_00: Remember his promise of future grace and how he has given a taste of that already in this life.
SPEAKER_00: Most of you know and can quote Psalm 23.
SPEAKER_00: At the end of that Psalm, the sheep, David, says, Surely the goodness and mercy of the shepherd shall follow me all the days of my life.
SPEAKER_00: You know that, right?
SPEAKER_00: It's an unfortunate translation.
SPEAKER_00: Because there's more strength and emphasis there that doesn't come through in our English.
SPEAKER_00: Perhaps a better term than than follow is pursue.
SPEAKER_00: Surely the goodness of my shepherd will pursue me all the days of my life.
SPEAKER_00: If his goodness has pursued you, remember his gentleness.
SPEAKER_00: Remember his forgiveness, remember his power, remember his strength on your behalf, remember his sustaining work in your life.
SPEAKER_00: And if you cannot remember, then you have either not really tasted his goodness, or you have so filled yourself with other things that the memory of his kindness, his grace, his mercy, and his goodness has faded away like an old photograph.
SPEAKER_00: There's an important progressive movement here in this passage.
SPEAKER_00: Tasting the goodness is actually first.
SPEAKER_00: We cannot change clothes without first having tasted the goodness of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: We cannot properly crave his word until we have tasted his goodness and changed our clothes.
SPEAKER_00: But when we have tasted his goodness and we have changed our clothes, we will begin to crave his word more and more and then begin to see and taste more of his goodness.
SPEAKER_00: And that will then motivate us and move us to love one another earnestly with a pure heart and so prove that we are his disciples.
SPEAKER_00: Craving is essential to growth as a Christian.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, it leads to perseverance and endurance in following Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Like David in Psalm 34, we begin to see God's goodness even in the trials of life, even in the pain of life.
SPEAKER_00: Peter wanted his followers, his readers, to see the goodness of Christ and to taste the goodness of Christ in their exile.
SPEAKER_00: But it's difficult to taste his goodness in difficult and rough times if we're still living in those old clothes.
SPEAKER_00: And if we're not craving his word.
SPEAKER_00: See, craving leads to Christ-likeness because we become what we consume.
SPEAKER_00: Let's be people who crave the Lord of life, who crave the word of God and become transformed by this word of life into the image of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: First, we taste his goodness in belief.
SPEAKER_00: Tasting leads to changing clothes.
SPEAKER_00: Changing clothes leads to craving God's word, and craving God's word leads to tasting his goodness again and again and again, and by it we grow up into salvation.