here at the two-minute warning. Good to have all you guys here. I'm so glad that God gave you traveling mercies as you traveled here. So glad that you were able to make it. Here we are on a Friday. We're at the end of the week, and I realize some of you might feel like two brothers I heard about who live here in California, and they came up with a get-rich scheme. Let's introduce bungee jumping to the Mexicans. So they got all the material together, went across the border and built this huge tower and said, 75 bucks, bungee jumping, bungee, and nobody would buy it, they didn't know what it was. So one of the brothers said, we need to demo it, we need to demonstrate it. So he tied himself up and he jumped off the tower, came back up, he was all cut up, went down again, came back up, he's all bloody cut up. His brother reached out, pulled him back on the tower and said, what's the problem? Did we make the rope too long? His brother said, no, but what in the world is a pinata? How many of you here this afternoon feel like a piñata here at the end of the week? I'm so glad you're here. And we sure hope and pray that this whole weekend is a very, very restorative type time for you. Good to have you all here. And I'd like to take time here this morning and since this afternoon to just take you to the Word of God. Brother Nathan, thank you for that message. Touched my heart. Great preaching. Love it. And all preachers from South Carolina can preach like that. And South Carolina, you know, that's the belt buckle, the Bible belt, they say. But anyway, can I invite you to grab your Bible and turn with me to 1 Peter. Could you do that, please, 1 Peter? And while you're turning there, let me share with you a story that is absolutely true that I think will astound you. Many years ago, there was a young man. He was 15 years old. This is a true story. He was 15 years old, and he was wrestling with this whole idea of a Bible, heaven, hell, Jesus Christ. Wasn't quite sure he believed in any of that. It was always his family's tradition that they would go every Sunday morning to a Methodist church not far from where they lived. Well, one Sunday morning, they got up to go to church, and there had been a bad snowstorm in that area, and they were unable to make church. But this 15-year-old who was pretty sharp, had a lot of initiative, had always been kind of curious about this little Baptist church just up the street from him. So he got on his snow gear by himself, went to that church, slipped into the back door, sat down in the back pew. There were literally only a handful of people there. The pastor of that church himself was unable to make it because of the snowstorm. So the morning message consisted of a deacon getting up and sharing his testimony in one of his favorite verses in Isaiah, and he worked into his testimony the plan of salvation. That deacon had seen that 15-year-old sitting in the back. That deacon, bless his heart, gave an invitation. And ladies and gentlemen, don't you know that that simple, unprepared message rang the bell of that 15-year-old? And he walked the aisle, and that deacon took him to a side room, and he introduced him to the Lord Jesus Christ. He got saved. Now, gentlemen, when I say he got saved, you need to understand, no, he really got saved. They tell me that here in America, a typical teenager spends on average seven hours in front of some kind of screen, whether that be a cell phone, an iPad, a television, a computer. Can you imagine, men, what you and I would be like if we spent that kind of time in the Bible? That's the way this teenager was. He could not get enough Bible. He read it. He talked about it. He read other books about it. He loved to meditate on it. He absolutely loved the Word of God. And as you can imagine, he grew and he grew quickly. In fact, he grew so quickly, I kid you not, one year after his conversion, that little Baptist church invited him to be their pastor. And at the age of 16, Charles Spurgeon started pastoring that small Baptist church. He put great, great study and lots of time into his messages, brought great messages, and his reputation got out. And the largest Baptist church of a huge city not far away called London came to him and said, Charles, would you please be our pastor? And at the age of 19, Charles Spurgeon started pastoring the largest Baptist church in London, and it grew, doubled in size within the first five years of his ministry. He was a phenomenal preacher. But I'm sharing this with you, man, Because five years into his ministry, at the age of 24, Charles Spurgeon got burdened to see young men go into ministry, and they started a college, a three-year college where men and only men could come and study for the ministry. Not one of those students ever paid a penny in room, board, or tuition. The church paid for everything. They were so burdened to see young men go into ministry. By the way, gentlemen, I hope you share that same burden. In our Christian colleges, we're seeing the preacher boy class get smaller and smaller. There are gobs of churches out there looking for pastors and nobody to fill the pulpit. We are having a famine when it comes to pastors, and I wish you'd pray about that. I would encourage you to make that a matter of prayer in your life, that God would call some of these young men. That world out there is so attractive, and money is so powerful, and a lot of young men are getting distracted. Make that a matter of prayer. But anyway, Charles and this church were very burdened to see young men go in the ministry. So they had this college and were told that Charles, who was very busy, as you can imagine, he had a church of about 20,000. He was very busy, but he used to love to, on Fridays, come in and visit with that student body. They were his pride and joy. And he would stand in front of them. He was a very dynamic preacher, very, very powerful preacher. And he would stand in front of that student body, and one of the things he would tell these men all the time is he'd say, guys, listen, men, Whenever you're preparing a message, always make sure, men, to insert into your message, insert into your stories, stories, pictures, illustrations, because, guys, they're like the windows of the auditorium. This was before electric light. They're like the windows of the auditorium. They let the light in. Gentlemen, that is so true. Theology and doctrine can be hard to grasp sometimes, hard to understand. But when you liken it to an object lesson, when you liken it to a story, when you liken it to a picture, it's like, oh, oh, I get it now. I understand. Now, lest you be tempted to debate that, may I remind you that the world's greatest preacher did that all the time. His name is Jesus. We call them parables, but what I think a lot of Christians don't understand is that just about every writer used to compose this miraculous book used that technique. There are about 40 of them, 40 writers in this book. They all use it, most of them use that technique where they liken doctrine, they liken theology to some kind of picture or story. It's fascinating to read Ezekiel and Jeremiah and Isaiah and all the object lessons these guys bring in to help us understand doctrine. Fascinating. And what I would like to do in this first session I'd like for you to look at a picture with me. It's found here in First Peter. It's a picture, gentlemen, about your attitude. Hear me carefully now. Come here, come here, come here. It's a picture of your attitude towards the Bible. It is a picture that was intended for Christians. for believers. And it's all about your attitude, young man, your attitude, sir, and my attitude towards that book. That is an issue that needs to be confronted in all of our lives almost on a daily basis. What is your mindset, your attitude towards the Word of God? And so God, through Peter, gave us this picture. It's a picture that all of you are going to understand, even children. It's a picture that if you brought your sense of humor to this service, and that's legal, it may make you snicker. It's a very vivid, very understandable picture, and I'd like you to see it, please. 1 Peter 2, would you look with me, please? 1 Peter 2, and look with me, please, gentlemen, at verse number two where you see the picture. Verse number 2 of 1 Peter chapter 2, the Bible tells us, as, which means like, as newborn babes, there's the picture, as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word that ye may grow thereby. Now before we go a step further, would you look at me? I have heard a lot of preachers, especially on the radio, who have come to this verse and they've said, oh, that newborn babe thing. This is talking about new converts. No, it's not. This is not about new converts, people. This is the most important word, hear me carefully, the most important word in verse number two is the word desire. This is a verse about your desire and my desire for the Bible. And what God is saying through Peter is, may your desire, sir, may my desire for the Bible be just like a baby's desire for milk. My wife is a nurse. She worked for about four years for a large hospital in Chicago in the delivery area. And let me show you something. I'm going to do you a little skit here. Let me show you something she never saw. She never saw a brand new mama holding her just-been-born baby and doing this. Oh, I'm so glad to see you face to face. I'm so glad that you look like me and not your father. I am your mother, and there's something we need to get straight. As long as you're in my crib, as long as you're in my home, as long as you're under my roof, you will like milk. I know you're a California baby, you'd rather have Starbucks. I know you're an American baby, you'd rather have Mountain Dew. But you are my baby, and as long as what I say is law, can I get a yes ma'am? Thank you for nobody laughing. How ridiculous. What a silly, silly notion. Would you agree? Can I share with you something equally as silly? Never, never does God's man need to stand behind that sacred desk and say, oh Christians, oh gentlemen, you should love the Bible. You should want to read the Bible. You should long for the Bible. My friend, can I remind you here this afternoon that if indeed you're a believer, God gave you an appetite just like he gave a newborn baby an appetite for milk. You show me a genuine Christian and I'll show you somebody who got born again and immediately They wanted to know what the Bible said. There was a lust there. The word desire, what a strong word, folks. Gentlemen, let me make sure you understand something. The word desire, that word desire there is translated elsewhere in your King James Bible with the word lust. Now I've done a lot of preaching on the wrong kinds of lusts, and that's good preaching because the Bible says the flesh lusteth against the spirit. That's good preaching. But are you aware, Christian, that there are good lusts? There are lusts that you ought to be cultivating. There are lusts that you ought to be protecting, and one of those lusts is for that book called the Bible. There ought to be a lust in your life, young man. There ought to be a lust in your heart, gentlemen, for that book. You should want it. I want it, but here's the problem. Here's a problem. Well, let me share with you something first before I share the problem. Do you know what the word lust means? Sure you do, but let me have some fun. Many years ago, when I was graduating from college, I was dating a young lady from Bakersfield, California. I was dating a young lady who would eventually become my wife, but she was a couple years behind me, and we were in love, and we were talking about marriage, but every time, she was a couple years behind me, and her daddy said, don't marry anything until you're done with your education. I tried to talk her out of it, man, and she would always say, Michael, I love you, I look forward to being married to you someday, but right now I belong to my daddy, I need to obey him. I got a good one. But that meant that I graduated a couple years before she did and I had to wait. In that process of waiting, I took a position of a large ministry up in Chicago and started making a decent salary, not minimum wage, a very decent salary. And I started having to live as a 23-year-old, I started having to live as a bachelor. And as a bachelor, I started having to cook for myself. I'm gonna confess something to you, man. I hate, to this day, cooking. I hate it. But I knew the routine. One of the first things I did when I got up there is I bought a Mustang Cobra, and I remember hopping into my Mustang and going to the grocery store, and anybody who's ever been in a grocery store knows the first aisle is always a produce aisle. I remember grabbing one of those grocery carts, and for the first time in my life, I'm gonna use it for the right reason. It's not a go cart. And I went down that produce aisle, and I'm not ashamed to admit, as a 23-year-old bachelor, not one thing from that entire aisle ended up in my cart. I remember thinking, boring. I turned the corner to go up aisle two, it got worse. Baby food and paper goods, who in the world needs that stuff? Aisle three, canned beans, canned corn, canned whatever, yuck, yuck, yuck. Three aisles and that grocery store, nothing's in my cart. I'm starting to get worried. I turned the corner to go up aisle four. The cookie candy aisle. All kinds of stuff in my cart. Aisle 5, 6, 7. Boring, boring, boring. Aisle 8, ice cream pie aisle. All kinds of stuff in my cart. Aisle 8, 9, 10, 11. Boring, boring, boring. Aisle 12, the soda chip aisle. My cart's full. I went up to the cashier to pay for this. She kind of had a smile on her face. She's ringing all this stuff up. I bought all this groceries and remember I'm making a nice salary so I can afford this. I took it, I loaded it all into my car, went back to my apartment, loaded my cupboard, loaded my freezer, and loaded my refrigerator and began to eat like some of you young guys can only dream about because you got a mama that loves you. My mama was 2,000 miles away and I could eat any way I wanted to and I did. I don't know, men, how well you know the human body, but I can tell you from experience, if you eat that way for a week, it'll mess you up. I'm gonna get a little stronger, okay? I'm gonna use a little stronger term. It will gunk you up. And I remember getting all gunked up and developing a craving. It was so strong, I could feel it in my jaw. I could feel it in my teeth. I could feel it in my mouth just biting into a crisp, cold, juicy salad, cow food. There was a steakhouse not far from where I worked. Excuse me, cigarettes. There was a salad bar there and I remember going in there and satisfying that craving. Gentlemen, that's what God wants you to be towards his word. Just a craving. I want the Bible. When I go to church, pastor, preach it to me. I want the Bible. Folks, that's a lust. And God is saying, may your appetite here be just like a baby's appetite for milk. But here's the problem. Here's the problem. I wonder how many systems I'm looking at that are gunked up. Folks, I'm not questioning whether or not you're saved. That's not the issue. But I wonder how many of you men are so gunked up. There's a reason, gentlemen, that verse number two is verse number two. There's a verse that precedes it. And what I would like to do here in this session is I'd like to preach verse number one. It's kind of ugly. You're gonna see verse one and you're gonna be tempted to think, yuck, that sounds like somebody unsaved. You're right, it sounds like it, but it's not. Verse number one, gentlemen, was written to Christians. Verse number one was written to you, and it's a warning, a warning of how your system can be gunked up. So let's start looking at verse number one. Could we please watch it carefully in your Bible? And if you've got a King James Bible here this afternoon, would you do me a favor? When I count to three, would you give me the very first word out loud? Just give me the very first word of verse number one. Can you do that? You ready? One, two, three. All right, very good. Now let me stand right here. I'm gonna stand right here. I want where I'm standing to represent wherefore. This is no doubt in this auditorium a key spot. There probably have been many a bride, many a groom that have stood right here, many a coffin, kind of a key spot. But I'd like to let this spot right where I'm standing right now represent wherefore. What wherefore is, Bible students, is what we call a literary bridge. Paul and Peter both adore this technique. And when you have the word wherefore, what is happening is that the writer is connecting material that is just written with material he's about to write. You could say it this way. Peter's saying, because of this, that. This will be a result of that. So very quickly here, gentlemen, let's take a look and step over here and look at the end of chapter one and see why Peter put in there wherefore. He is taking you back to what he has just said and I'd like to start reading in verse 23 of chapter 1 and Gentlemen, what he's going to do is he's going to be quoting Isaiah He's going to be quoting Isaiah and he's going to brag about the Bible. He's going to brag about the Word of God I think this will be a blessing to you. Why look what he says? Verse 23 Being born again, so we know he's talking to Christians. Being born again, not of corruptible seed, the word corruptible means to die, but of incorruptible, it doesn't die. What are you talking about, Peter? By the word of God. And I love these next five words. Which liveth and abideth forever. Would you look at me, please? What you've just been told, gentlemen, is there's something alive about that book. This is a most unique, miraculous book. It's like no other book in the Library of Congress, people, there's something alive about these words. There's something alive about these pages. And some of you experienced that this morning when you had the discipline to have devotions and you got into that word and everything hit you like it had just been penned this morning. There's something alive about that book. It's most unique. It's like no other book you've ever had. It's like no other book you've ever read. It's like no other book you've ever known. It is a most unusual book. There's something alive about that book. But in order to help you understand that, and in order to help me to understand that, Peter's about to do in the next verse something kind of mean. He's going to compare the Bible to you. And his whole premise is gonna be the Bible is nothing like you, nothing like you. Look what it says, verse 24. For all flesh, there we are, is as grass. I played high school football. I played college soccer. I can tell you from experience, grass tastes bad. It's kind of useless. It's not very flattering. Peter is a Jew. You know what Jews would do with grass? They would let it get nice and long and dried out. They would then cut it off and they would use it for kindling to start their fires. That's the only use it had. And isn't it rather unflattering? That God through Peter says, you're nothing but grass. All flesh is as grass. We really are useless outside of Jesus Christ. We're all grass, okay, and it gets worse. Let's read on. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man is the flower or the dandelion of the grass. What's your point, Peter? The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away. Would you look at me, please? What is this glory of man he's talking about? What's this glory of man? What's your glory? Oh, let me illustrate. I love tennis. I love tennis, and I was, Living in New England at the time, I now live in South Carolina, but I was living in New England at the time, and I found a partner who is 17 years younger than I am, and very competitive, and so am I, but we would often, when I was now preaching somewhere, we would often shovel the court off to play tennis. Southerners always look at me at that point and ask, well, how did sand get on your court? I'm not talking sand, I'm talking snow. We would play outside year round. We were tough up there. And one cold November night, he and I were going at it, we were playing singles under the lights, and he hit a good shot to my corner, and I saw it coming, and I took my racket, and I did a lunge, and I went, ah, ah, just like that. It kind of helps to go, ah, it gives you a little extra power, I think. Anyway, ah, and I got the head of my racket, and just as I did that, I felt something right here. Go doink. And I came up, kind of hobbled. Oh, ouch, ouch, ouch. Time out, jerk. Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow. That, folks, that thing bothered me for months. Now, I hope you can appreciate how transparent I'm being with you right now. I doinked a muscle playing tennis. Tennis, can I show you what tennis looks like? Here's how you play. Wee. We, there's no fouling, there's no tackling, there's no contact. It's a wimpy sport. It's a manby, it's an old man sport. And I going to muscle playing tennis. How embarrassing is that? What's my problem? Guys, what's going on? I am getting old. That is a phrase, young people, that I guarantee will come out of your mouth someday. Every one of you have said that or will say it. I guarantee it. I am getting old. In fact, say it. Go ahead and say it. Ready? Now what does that mean? When we use that phrase, when we say that sentence, what are we really saying? I am in the process of dying. I am fading. Gentlemen, everything about you, everything about me says dying. Those clothes that you looked so good in this afternoon, you wouldn't be caught dead in them 30 years from now. That car that you adore, I don't care how well you care for it, sooner or later, it's not gonna be running. That house that you spent so much time upkeeping, I'm sorry, but sooner or later, it won't be standing. Everything about us, everything, absolutely everything about us says dying and fading. That's your glory, except for one thing, and that's your faith and trust in a living book. Now, what's the very first word of verse 25? You ready? When I count to three, give me the very first word of 25. You ready? One, two, three. You know what that means? On the other hand, in other words, unlike you, unlike you, gentlemen, unlike me, let me read on, verse 25. But the word of the Lord endureth forever. Would you look at me, please? It's not fading. California Christians, Oregon Christians, let me remind you, it's not fading. It's not losing any ability. It's as powerful today as the moment it was penned. It hasn't lost any ability. It hasn't lost any strength. You don't need to marry it to rock and roll. You don't need to marry it to a celebrity. It does fine all by itself. You and I just need to be faithful, giving it and teaching it and preaching it. losing any power, gentlemen. It's as strong tonight, it's as strong this afternoon as it's ever been. Just be faithful with it. Could I get an amen? Just be faithful with it. So then Peter says, wherefore, chapter two, verse one, wherefore, now watch this, because we do believe in a living book, here's what's gonna happen. Verse number one, chapter two. Wherefore, laying aside all malice, would you look at me please, what a mouthful, what a truckload of information, gentlemen. Wherefore, laying aside, let me tell you what that word laying aside means. Many, many years ago when my wife and I were newlyweds, we moved to Boston, neither one of us had ever lived anywhere near New England. But we went to Boston because I was gonna get a master's degree up there to college, and we moved up there, and I was very active in a tiny little Baptist church, but it didn't afford a whole lot of fellowship. We were kinda lonely. And I remember one cold January night, my father-in-law, who was way down in Greenville, South Carolina, he started the journalism program for Bob Jones University. He called me. 700 miles away, he called me. He said, Michael, this is your father-in-law. He said, would it be okay if your mother-in-law and I came up there to visit the two of you Could you handle us? I said, Dad, we'd love to see you. We're lonely, yes, please come. Yeah, oh, when are you gonna come? Next week, in a couple weeks, a month? He said, Michael, we can't come up until April. That's when I have time off from the university, so it's about four months away. I said, oh, rats, but it'll be good to see you. He said, I got another question for you. He said, while I'm up there, would it be okay with you if I ran the Boston Marathon? I said, Dad, run your little race. Sure, we'll get you out there. No big deal. Gentlemen, I had no idea how big the Boston Marathon is to Massachusetts, nor do you. Let me help you. Both Massachusetts and Maine have a holiday in April that you don't have in California or Oregon. It's called Patriots Day, and it's always a Monday in April. And they always run the Granddaddy of them all, the Boston Marathon, on Patriots Day. And let me tell you what happens. These guys, over 20,000 runners from all over the world, will run 26 miles, 385 yards. It's always finished at the base of the Prudential skyscraper. There's a permanent yellow line painted in the four-lane highway. It's a tourist attraction where it's the finish line of the Boston Marathon. I didn't know any of this. And as that day got closer and closer, I learned that there would be no school, no work, I liked it already. And that morning we got up, it was a nice, cool morning, which is what you want when you do a marathon. It was a nice, cool morning. We hopped into our little Datsun Nissan, and I drove my father-in-law and my mother-in-law and my wife, the four of us, drove way out here to Hopkinton, Massachusetts, where they always start the Boston Marathon at eight in the morning, and these runners from all over the world were getting ready. So I drove out to Hopkinton, and I remember getting there thinking, hey, This is kind of a big deal. I'm having a hard time finding a parking spot. I finally found one and I opened the door and immediately I was hit with this festive air. I mean, there were pep bands and all kinds of circus tents all over the place. I mean, there were just gobs and gobs and gobs of people everywhere. And something was going on that was so unusual for New England. They were runners, they were running, and they were warming up. They had sweatsuits on and stocking caps and gloves on, and they were running by each other, and they were being friendly. That's so not New England. And I heard him saying things like, hey, where you from? Well, I'm from Kenya. Good luck, you'll probably win. Where are you from? I'm from Poland. Oh, make sure you run the right direction. Where are you, where are you? Yeah, oh, shut up. Well, I heard the public adjust announcer say, 45 minutes until race time. They had speakers all over the telephone poles and trees. I mean, just for miles. All these runners from all over the world started to congregate behind the starting line. Each runner has a computer chip in their shoelace so the computer We'll keep track of when they cross the starting line and when they cross the finish line because it's going to take 45 minutes to an hour for everybody to get across the starting line when the race starts. Well, I got the bright idea. I just happened to have a camera. I walked a couple of about 100 yards down the race course and got a good spot. I wanted to get a picture of my father-in-law as he ran by. I got a good spot on the curb, fought off a couple women, and I got a good spot, and I waited, and I heard the starting gun go off, bang! And they're just, they started yelling and cheering, they're so happy to finally get it on, and they started running toward me, I see heads, the guys up front, man, were they fast. And I started looking for my father, and at that precise moment, something happened that shocked me. The air above me started getting filled with clothing. sweatshirts, gloves, hats, pants, coats, fling, fling, fling. There were New England women ready for this. They were running around with shopping bags, collecting all this free clothing for their families evidently. And I remember turning around watching them thinking, you losers, get some class. Goodness gracious. But I must confess, I got a beautiful red windbreaker that way. Fell right here at my feet, wore that thing for years. But gentlemen, let me explain to you what's happening because I myself ran a marathon a couple years later. Let me tell you what's happening. When you run a marathon, you'll warm up. If it's good weather for a marathon, it's gonna be nice and cool, probably in the 40s. And you'll warm up, and you know the race starts at eight o'clock, so you step up to the starting line, but sometimes it takes a while for the race organizers to get their act together, and they might be five, 10, 15 minutes late. And there you are, covered with a light coat of Presbyterian perspiration, and you're waiting for the race to start, and there might be a breeze, and ooh, it is big time uncomfortable. So a little trick to the trade is you wear some extra gear, but you know from your training, you know from your experience that should you keep that extra gear on, once the race starts, you're gonna overheat, you're probably not gonna finish, or at least you're not gonna have a good race time. So you purposely wear stuff that once the race starts, you, I'm gonna throw a byboard at you, gentlemen, Once the race starts, you purposely wear gear that you lay aside. You lay aside. You have to, or it's going to hurt your race. Gentlemen, that is exactly what God is telling you through Peter. Now that you're a Christian, now that you're saved, there's stuff that you've got to take off. There's stuff that you need to lay aside, to take off like a coat, and if you don't, it's going to hurt your Christianity. It's going to hurt your life. So we gotta learn how to, and gentlemen, may I quickly add, nobody does this for you. It's all your job. God doesn't do it for you. Oh, he gives you the desire to do it. He might give you the ability to do it, but it's your job. It's all you, gentlemen, to lay aside, and what Peter's about to do in verse number one is give you five different garments that you are now that you're safe if you're going to lust for the Bible. If you're going to lust for the Bible, you've got to learn how to dress yourself in your mind. And he's about to give you five garments, and these five garments are what we call in theology sequential, which means garment number one will lead to two, will lead to three, will lead to four, will lead to five. And now that you're saved, if you want to have a lust for the Bible, oh, and by the way, if you and I are a real Christian, you're sitting there going, yeah, sign me up. Yeah, I want a lust for the Bible. Yeah, I want to crave the Bible. Yeah, I'd love to get more Bible in my life. Folks, that is one of the fingerprints of a real Christian. We want more Bible. One of the ways you can tell if you're really saved is way down deep in your heart, there is a desire for the Bible in your life. That's one of the ways you know you're saved. And so the Bible's telling us, Peter's telling us, under the inspiration of heaven, now that you're saved, now that you're a runner for Jesus Christ, now that he's called you to his side, now that you're running for Christ, you gotta learn how to take off these five garments. And let's look at them real quickly, could we please? Look what it says there in verse number one. Garment number one, wherefore, laying aside all malice. Let me tell you about malice. If you look at it this way, every one of you have a problem with that. Let me tell you what malice is. The same Greek word for malice here is translated back in the book of James for the word naughty. Naughty. Now gentlemen, I am not talking down to you. I'm just quoting God. But I want you to realize that you never grow out of your ability, nor do I, of our ability to be naughty. You know, we hear the word naughty and we think of a two-year-old. That's not fair. Some of the naughtiest people I've ever met in my life are in churches that are retired. You never grow out of your ability, sir, to be naughty. Whoever coined that phrase, and I believe it was a missionary, who said, this book will keep you from sin. or sin will keep you from this book. That's the word naughty. The word naughty, you remember what it means, gentlemen? You know what it means? It means to deliberately do what the Bible says don't, or deliberately not do what the Bible says do. We've all got this problem. We all have sin. That's another word for malice. We're all sinners, and gentlemen, I need to remind you here this afternoon that your sin will always rob you of your desire for the Bible. If it's been months since you've had devotions, I'll tell you why. There's sin in your life. You're not having victory. You're not laying it aside. God, you have no desire to go to church, I'll tell you why. There's kind of sins having its way in your life. You've got issues. And gentlemen, you're not weird. We're all in that boat together. We've all got issues. But the Bible says that when I start having victory over my sin, I'm going to start getting my appetite for the word of God again. And again, I repeat, if you're really saved, you want that. But when I don't have victory over sin, I always have a problem with its sister. Its sister, garment number two, did you see it there in verse number one? Wherefore laying aside all malice and all guile. Oh, what a huge issue. Let me tell you what guile is. Gentlemen, guile is your ability and my ability, I'm no better than anybody in this room. Guile is your ability and my ability to act like a forefather. His name was Adam. He had a wife called Eve. And Adam was living in a condition that was absolutely pristine. Adam had it good. Adam had an environment that was absolutely perfect. I mean, Adam had it way better than any of you, which tells you, gentlemen, that your environment really does not have any effect on whether or not you live right or you live wrong. but he was in an environment that was absolutely wonderful. And one day, you know the story, don't you? But let's review. One day, Adam was naughty. Adam deliberately did what God said, Adam, don't. And when he did that, the Bible tells us that later that day, God came down in flesh, that would be a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus Christ, right? Came down in flesh to fellowship with Adam, and the Bible tells us that Adam, this fascinates me, Adam, was hiding. Oh, good, Adam, good. Hiding from God. Gentlemen, can you do that? No, what a moron. Hiding from God. The Bible tells us that God confronted Adam in the flesh, and here's what God said. Adam, did you sin? Gentlemen, what should his answer have been? Lord, yes, I did. I blew it. Please have mercy. Please forgive me. I was wrong. I blew it. Is that what he did? No. Adam had guile. Let me tell you what he did. And we're all good at this. We all act like him. Here's what Adam did. Can I do another little skit for you? Here's what I think it looked like. Adam immediately went, gone. I took a nap and I woke up married. And God, you could have given me any woman you wanted to, but you gave me that one. God, you created her. God, it's kind of your fault. Have you ever heard this before, gentlemen? I am a victim. I'm a victim. I couldn't help it. Oh, Adam, shut up. Oh, shut up. No, no, no, no. And by the way, gentlemen, Eve did the same thing. Eve was just following the example of her husband. Some of you crybaby husbands need to realize that God's called you to be an example to your wife. They follow your example, your family does. She followed the example of her husband, oh no. Folks, that's guile. Guile is your ability to not deal with your sin, to hide it and think you're okay. And when you do that, you always become garment number three in verse number one. Wherefore, laying aside all malice and guile and all hypocrisies, you become a hypocrite. Folks, again, may I remind you, we're talking about Christians. We're talking about Christians. Every one of you has a problem of being a hypocrite. What does the word hypocrite mean? Are you aware of the fact that the word hypocrite is not necessarily a bad word? Every one of you have favorite hypocrites. Let me tell you about one of my favorite hypocrites. One of my favorite movies is a movie called Sheffy. I highly recommend it to you. It's a true story about an evangelist that lived down south back in the late 1800s, Robert Sheffy. It's a movie about his life. It's a wonderful, wonderful movie. I'm one of the trumpet players, by the way, in the soundtrack, but watch it anyway. And in that movie, Sheffy is ministering to a woman who's reached out to him, whose husband would come home every night absolutely drunk with moonshine. And he would beat her and then pass out. The guy that plays that wino in that movie does a great job. He's a friend of mine. And when he played that part in that movie, he was the pastor of Solid Rock Baptist Church in Henderson, North Carolina. He's a good friend of mine. And he has never in his life ever touched a drop of alcohol. But in that movie, He makes a great drunk. He makes a great wino. He's not really. He's a hypocrite, a good hypocrite. The word hypocrite just means actor. And gentlemen, may I remind you that when it comes to your Christianity, God had his most scathing remarks in the flesh against hypocrites. What is a hypocrite? A hypocrite is you and me. When we come to a service like this, we sing these great hymns, and yet we know that there's all kinds of gunk in our lives that's unconfessed. We go to church, and we know how to look the look. We know how to talk the talk. We know how to play the part. But yet, way down in our hearts, the stuff we've done all week that's unconfessed, the stuff that's going on in our hearts, the stuff that's going on in our minds. By the way, let me tell you what I've heard recently. I heard just a week ago that 70% of you Baptist men have dabbled in pornography in the last couple weeks. You're a hypocrite. You've not had victory. And yet you come and you sing these songs and you know how to say amen, you know how to look the look, you know how to play the part. And the Bible says, God says, I hate hypocrites. What's the opposite of being a hypocrite? Somebody who is genuine. You really are having victory over sin. You really are having victory over malice. You really are having victory over guile. But when you don't, it makes you and me a hypocrite. And God said every hypocrite is always somebody who's big time gunked up. And when they're big time gunked up, they have a problem with garment number four. Your Bible calls it envy. Would you look at me, men? Every one of us have a problem with envy. Let me tell you what it is. Envy is not jealousy. Envy is jealousy with a knife edge. Let me illustrate. I can look, I can look at Brother Tim, Evangelist Tim, and I can look at Tim and I can say in my heart, hmm, I didn't mean it to be out loud, gentlemen, I can think in my heart, hmm, I wish I had hair like that. I wish I had hair. By the way, before I go a step further with this illustration, let me share with you men something. I love what God has done. I have so much fun with this. I know some of you jerks try to get under my skin and tell me, well, Schrock, at least I got hair on top. Ooh, so does the Q-tip. What are you telling me? But I like to tell people, Pastor, that David said, which one of us is in better shape, huh? But I can look at, back to my illustration, I can look at Brother Tim and I can say, hmm, I wish I had hair like that. I mean, and there was a time when I did. And I can say in my heart, oh, I wish I had hair. It can become idolatry, gentlemen, like a car or a house or whatever, income, whatever it might be. And you look at somebody like Tim and you think, I wish I had, I wish I had that too. And folks, that's a big problem. That is jealousy. Now let me show you envy. I can look at Tim and I can say, ooh, I wish I had that hair, and he didn't. You hear how there's ill will attached? And gentlemen, we're all guilty of that. How often do we do something like this? Look at him, my neighbor. He claims to know the Lord, claims to be living for the Lord, hardly ever goes to church, never passes out a track, does nothing. Here I am, a man, enjoying, I'm living for the Lord, I teach a Sunday school class, I give out tracks all the time, he's got great health, and I just got diagnosed with cancer. It's not fair. That's envy. Look at him. He's got a wife that loves him, does nothing for Jesus Christ, claims to be a Christian. And here I am, I got stuck with a woman who left me for another man. Happens all the time. It's not fair. Look at him. He's got a great income, does nothing for Jesus Christ, claims to be saved. Here I am living for the Lord, and I just got laid off, and I've got financial hardship. It's not fair. Gentlemen, that's envy. And every one of us have a problem with that. You know what the opposite of envy is, men? In whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. Or in Ephesians chapter five it says, giving thanks for all things in the name of God, in the name of Jesus Christ. Ephesians chapter five, giving thanks for all. Can you imagine, men? Can you imagine praying this? Lord, thank you for my cancer. I'm learning something from this I'd learn no other way. I know you're in control, Lord. Thank you, thank you. Are you serious? Lord, thank you for my divorce. I'm learning something through this experience I'd learn no other way. Lord, thank you, you're in control, thank you. Lord, thank you for my layoff. Thank you for the fact that I don't know how I'm gonna pay my mortgage next month. Lord, thank you, I'm learning from this, I'd learn no other way. You can't be serious. Oh yeah, I am. That, gentlemen, is necessary to have the kind of heart if you're gonna love the Word of God. That is what God wants. My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations or texting, knowing this, that the testing of your faith worketh endurance. That's the opposite of envy, Lord being thankful. But then, gentlemen, as one commentarian says, there's a flag that flies on the castle of your life that tells everybody who's in control in your life. And that flag is your tongue. He uses the word evil speakings at the end of verse number one. Would you look at it? Let me read the entire verse, verse number one. Wherefore, laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings. Gentlemen, can I remind you? Teenagers, could I remind you? Your tongue is incredibly powerful. My tongue is incredibly powerful. Solomon said back in Ecclesiastes, be careful what you say, even in the privacy of your own bedroom, because you can make your own heart sick. Paul said in Ephesians chapter five, speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord, you can make your own heart healthy, you can make your own heart sick by what you allow your mouth to do. Your tongue is incredibly powerful. You've got a very powerful deal, but yet many of you need to understand that there have been church splits caused because two women couldn't shut up. Our tongues are incredibly powerful. I'll never forget hearing the story about a young man who told his dad to pick him up late from high school. He was gonna try out for the school play. And later that day, the father came to the school and his son came running out to the car and said, Dad, Dad, I got a part, I got a part. His dad said, son, that's great, what are you gonna be doing? He said, I'm gonna be playing the part of a man who's been married for 20 years. His dad furrowed his eyebrows and said, son, do your best and maybe next year they'll give you a speaking part. Our tongues are incredibly powerful, but let me have a little fun with you, could I please? Let me tell you about the word evil speaking. As many of you men know, the New Testament was written in Greek. Greek has a lot of what we call onomatopoeias. An onomatopoeia, in case you're not familiar with that term, and I know some of you aren't. An onomatopoeia is a phenomenon that when you have a word in a given language, that when you speak it, when you articulate it, and it rolls out, it sounds like what it's describing. A classic example in English is when you shoot a basketball, and it goes through the iron hoop, but doesn't touch the iron, only touches strings, what kind of sound does it make? That's onomatopoeic. What kind of sound does a gun make? Bang or pow, those are onomatopoeias. Greek is full of onomatopoeias. My favorite is the word barbarian. In Colossians 3, it talks about barbarians. That was a word that the Greeks thought you sounded like if you didn't speak Greek. They would imitate you by going, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh. They're imitating you in English. It's onomatopoeia. The word here for evil speaking is onomatopoetic, and it sounds like this. It's made up of two part, kata, which you get our word evil from, and the word for tongue is lalia. And when a Greek would say that word, he'd go, ka-la-la-la, bla-la-la-la, bla-la-la-la. And it's imitating what the word is actually describing. And it's our ability to give our two cents about everything. Well, I think pastors should blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I think my wife should blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I think the church should blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. We are also very, very good at running our mouths. And gentlemen, what we need to realize, he that saith, he that claimeth to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, James says, this man's religion is in vain. That word vain means useless. You don't control your tongue, your testimony is absolutely destroyed. And your tongue can make your own heart sick and everybody that hears you. And so Paul, Peter is saying, you've gotta get control over your sin, you confess it, there's no guile, you be genuine, you're not a hypocrite, you're thankful for everything that's in your life, and you've learned how to control your mouth. And when you start getting control over those five garments, gentlemen, when you learn how to lay them aside, and let me tell you about laying them aside, they're magnetic, they're gonna chase you. So you gotta constantly keep taking them off, take them off. No, I'm not gonna wear you. No, I'm not gonna wear you. But now that you belong to Jesus Christ and you're a runner for him as Paul describes it, now that you're a marathoner called the Christian life, you've gotta learn how to take this stuff off or it's going to ruin your desire for the Bible. It's gonna ruin your desire to have personal devotions. It's gonna ruin your desire to memorize the word of God. And gentlemen, if you're really saved, that bothers you, that bugs you. You don't want that. And when I start having victory over those five garments, then and only then, am I gonna start lusting for the Bible like a newborn babe? And let me close with this, could I please? Newborn babe. The Bible uses the term King James, newborn babes. Can you say that out loud, please? Doesn't that sound repetitive? Aren't all newborns babes? And aren't all babies newborns? Yeah, let me tell you what's going on here. The King James translators didn't have a good word in English. to translate the Greek word brephos. And what's being described there by that newborn babe thing is a delivery room baby, a delivery room baby. God is saying through Peter, Christian man, be like a delivery room baby. Have you ever seen one of those? They come into the world and the first thing out of their mouth is give me milk. I don't care how the Raiders are doing. I don't care how the 49ers are doing. I don't care what color you paint in my room. Give me milk. In fact, I don't know if you know this, but every newborn baby that's born, if it's healthy, is born with what is called, the medical people call a rooting reflex. And what that means is if that baby's three months old or younger, and that's what this is talking about, if a baby's three months old or younger, it has a reflex that if it's healthy, and it's awake, and it's alert, and you touch it on its little face, it's gonna turn towards that touch with a pucker. Because, gentlemen, that baby, and here's the whole point of verse number two, that baby has one thing on its mind. That baby is single-minded. Single-minded. That's why you have to be careful what you put in their little hands, because it's going directly to their mouth. Why? Because they've got one thing on their mind, and that's milk. I want milk. I don't care who's trying to sleep in this house. Give me my milk. I don't care who's trying to sleep on this airplane. Give me my milk. Gentlemen, what an attitude that you ought to be developing in your life. There ought to be an attitude. I don't care what anybody else is doing. As for me and my house, we're going to serve the Lord. I want the Bible. Give me the Bible. I love the Bible. You've got a rooting reflex, gentlemen, if you're the right kind of Christian. And everything that touches your life, there's a pucker. Oh, a new music style. What does the Bible say? Oh, a new fashion. What does the Bible say? Oh, a new opportunity that's gonna take me out of church every Sunday. What does the Bible say? Oh, a new attitude, a new thought life in my heart. Oh, going to a wrong kind of internet site. What does the Bible say? What does the Bible say? Gentlemen, every healthy Christian here is very much very sensitive to what the Bible says about every area of your life. There's a pucker there. I want to obey the Bible. I want the Bible. And the Bible is telling us here in verse number two, may that, may that rooting reflex, may that pucker be just like a newborn baby's pucker for milk. What do you like, gentlemen? When's the last time you craved, you lusted for the word of God? If there's never been one, maybe you're not a Christian. You can be a church member and not a Christian. You can be an American and not a Christian. One of the ways you and I know that we're really saved is way down deep in our heart of hearts. I want the Bible. Would you bow your heads, please, and close your eyes? Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for these men. Thank you for the safety that you've given them to be here. But Lord, more importantly, thank you for the way that the Holy Spirit moves in our hearts. And Lord, I do pray for these men. Lord, what a great theme to preach on start a men's conference like this. What is our attitude towards the Bible? God, I pray that we would be hungry for it, like a baby is for milk. Lord, may we want it, may we lust for it. And Lord, I realize that there are a whole lot of men here who are gunked up. Lord, it's hard for them to appreciate the word of God, to want it in their own lives, to discipline themselves, to spend time in it because of the gunk that's in their life. And Lord, here in these next few moments, I pray that you would get a hold of their hearts. May they meet you where you need to be met. Heads are bowed and eyes are closed, gentlemen.