Well, tonight we are continuing on a road that we began a couple of weeks ago through a portion of 1 Peter that I believe has incredible relevance for our lives. Of course, all of the Word of God has relevance to our lives, but there are some particular applications from 1 Peter that seem to resonate at least with my heart, and I hope with your heart, given the current state in which we find ourselves. The road that we're on ultimately is dealing with God's will for our life expressed in very simple terms in 1 Peter 1, verses 14-16. Peter says, As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance. But like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior, because it is written, You shall be holy, for I am holy. Everything that Peter is dealing with that we're covering in this series is coming back to that point. He's trying to show us how we can be holy as God is holy. How we can put off sins that are more characteristic of our former lives apart from Christ than they should be of our current lives in Christ. All of this is really about spiritual progress, spiritual growth. where you are on the day that the Lord saves you should not be where you stay. There should be a progression of growth in your life. While we're here on this earth, we're aliens and strangers. We live in the world. We're not supposed to be a part of the world, and yet we still are called to live out our lives here with all that's going on around us and to take seriously that our lives are to be holy. Our lives, every day that the Lord leaves us on the earth, should be increasingly obedient to His Word. I've already stated, but I reiterate, the reason this resonated so much with me started with my frustrations with myself and my reaction to what I see all the time on the news, particularly with the presidential election coming up. Commercial after commercial after commercial news article after news article bombarding us and that it's occurring in the midst of a global pandemic something we haven't seen in my lifetime and in the midst of Turmoil caused by every police involved shooting and everything that goes on people are in the streets things seem crazy crazier than I can recall and In my concern for me in the midst of this chaos, particularly the cacophony of things that are bombarding me with the senses every day that can outrage me, that can distract me, I don't want to lose sight of why God put me here and what my true focus is, and I don't want you to lose sight either. Certainly. We want to be good citizens. We want to fulfill our responsibilities. We want to be salt and light. So there's a sense in which we care what's going on, but if we get our priorities out of whack, we lose sight of what our true focus is to be. Regardless of everything else, we're supposed to be holy as God is holy. My concern, because I see the temptation in myself and I don't think I'm unique, is that the ups and downs and the ebb and flow and the crescendo of anger and frustration that is shown all around us in our society not consume us. I'm borrowing imagery from a verse in Ephesians 4.14. It's addressing something a little bit different, but the imagery is what I'm going to be talking about. Ephesians 4.14, as a result, we are no longer to be children tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness and deceitful scheming. Now there, I was just talking about false teaching, but that's that imagery just going back and forth. That's what I feel like our country's doing. Every day there's a new outrage. Every day there's something else that we can get frustrated about. More changes with the pandemic. Another poll about the election. Another police-involved shooting. On and on. Our society is angry right now. We're mad. We're frustrated. At any given moment, the emotions are all over the map. And if we're not careful, Even though we know better, we can get caught up in that. I've seen it in my own heart, and I'm sure you've seen it too. If we don't focus on Christ, if we don't focus on our calling, if we don't focus on what God's actually given us to do, we become just like those around us. There's no stability. There's no peace. We're just tossed about by our emotions as every new thing happens with us. Anger and indignation, despair, panic, depression. That shouldn't be the case for God's children. No matter how crazy things get. First Peter helps us here. The sovereign God of the universe isn't caught off guard by 2020. I think most of us are ready to write this one off the map. But God knew what was coming. God's the author of history. Everything that's occurring is within His sovereign control. Nothing escaped. Nothing slipped past Him. We don't have to worry about the election, the pandemic, anything else. Because at the end of the day, God is still on His throne. Even if we don't like the end result, even if we foolishly question God's wisdom and how He allows things to unfold, He's still in control. And as His children, We need to focus on Jesus. We need to focus on holiness. We need to live day by day trying to be holy as God is holy. Not getting paralyzed with fear about what might happen in three months, or in two months, or even one month. But remembering what Jesus said. Matthew 6.34, He said, Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. So Peter is helping us with practical theological instruction to be able to deal with that day-by-day battle with holiness. Be holy as God is holy. Now last week, we covered 1 Peter 1 verses 22 to 25. I'm going to read it again because it's foundational to what we're covering this week, which is going to be 1 Peter 2 verses 1 to 3. But last week we saw, based on our salvation and the great lengths to which God went to save us in eternity past with the ordained plan that He would send His Son to redeem sinners like us, God enabled us to be born again, to be regenerated, to be saved. And one of the primary foundations of that is that because of our salvation, we need to love one another fervently from the heart. You can't be holy without loving other Christians. Beginning at verse 22, since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart. 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 flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers and the flower falls off, but the Word of the Lord endures forever. And this is the Word which was preached to you." We see the centrality of the Word of God. That's what God uses through His Spirit to save us, to redeem us. And whereas the greatest accomplishments of men on this earth are nothing more than like grass that grows, maybe it flowers, then it dies, the Word of the Lord endures forever. Remember that foundation as we lead into where we are tonight. Because the journey that we're on towards holiness, towards being holy as God is holy, to not being conformed to those former lusts, is right in front of us tonight. He's going to get very practical, very quick, and He's going to press home the duty of holiness. And I believe His primary focus is in the context of believers interacting with one another. So let me encourage you as we walk through this text tonight, the big picture, remember, is we're talking about how we live so that we are holy as God is holy. But I want you to resist the temptation as we walk through this to think how important it is that you tell somebody else about this message. And I want us to look and do the painful work of self-examination where we hold up the mirror of God's Word, not to other people's lives, but to our own hearts. And if you find, as you're doing that, that you see in your own life that you are growing, you're doing well, then I praise the Lord. Peter's going to help you grow more. But if you find that you've become stagnant, that perhaps your preoccupation with all of the chaos around us has stunted your growth, then Peter's going to tell you how to get back on track. So as I normally do, I've prepared an outline. It's just a tool, teaching tool. But tonight we're going to see three essential principles for growing in holiness and love. Three essential principles for growing in holiness and love follow along as I read 1 Peter 2, verses 1 to 3. 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 in respect to salvation if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord." So the first essential principle for growing in holiness and love is found in verse 1, and it's this, if you tolerate sin, you will not grow in Christ. If you tolerate sin, you will not grow in Christ. Now remember, I've already read it, but Peter has just said that we should love one another. Fervently love one another. This is the love that we have for all other believers. Those of us in the church. When he says, therefore, he's connecting to all of that. Therefore, because of your salvation, because of the work of the living and enduring Word in your life, because God has caused you to be born again, because you're commanded to fervently love one another, therefore. Because you're called to be holy as God is holy, therefore. Therefore, putting aside all." Putting aside all. This really is telling us how to grow in holiness, but it's dealing with something that shouldn't be there. But this is critical if we want to be holy as God is holy, and it's critical if we want to fervently love one another, which I pray that we all do because God commanded it. We've been born again. by the Word of God, living and enduring, but we have to actually apply that Word in our lives. We have all the tools at our disposal. We have to use them. So when Peter says, therefore, putting aside all, he's talking about something comprehensive. He uses the word all three times in that sentence of Issues of verse 1. But the reality is it's comprehensive. It's talking about whatever is being put aside, it's comprehensive. Everything. All of it. Not some of it. Not one thing at a time. Every bit of it should be put aside. And at least initially to me, putting aside seems kind of bland. I could take something here and I'm just putting it aside over here. It doesn't seem to convey urgency. Other versions would say, put away or laying aside. Rid yourselves. I don't want us to think that this is talking about anything casual. First impressions could be deceiving, but the language Peter is using is actually strong. It has the force in its context of a command. It's emphatic. It's a picture of doing something and it's actually doing something aggressively. It's removing something from yourself that you don't want touching you. I read commentaries on things like this. Scholars say that it originally had to do with someone getting garments off of themselves, flinging clothes off of themselves. Imagine wearing something and realize that it's it's got something on it. It's badly stained. Perhaps it's infected with something Or you're wearing something and suddenly something spilled on you poured on you and you just immediately feel and as quickly as you can With propriety you're taking this off. I don't want this touching me That's the kind of imagery You're getting off of you because you know, this can't continue I As I was thinking through this, how your mind works, I remembered something from my childhood. When I was a kid, I would watch auto racing from time to time. And there was a type of fuel used in some cars that would burn, but you couldn't see it. I even pulled up a YouTube clip yesterday to make sure that I wasn't just imagining something from my childhood. Sometimes you think of things and you go, that didn't really happen. This did happen. I saw the clip again. But it was on him and you see the person, they're jumping around, they're ripping at their suit, they're in the pit crew because they're on fire. You can't see it, but it's deadly and they've got to get it off. He's trying to put aside. Now Peter lists five different vices, sins. Five different things that should be within this context of where you're aggressively trying to get it off of you. You don't want to be touched by this. You don't want to be contaminated by it. You realize this is dangerous. I can't have this on me. And again, it's comprehensive. All of this. It's not pick three and you're doing pretty good. No, you've got to do all five. The implication is, of course though, is that believers are still struggling with these things. He wouldn't be commanding us to get rid of this if He didn't know these are things that believers still struggle with. And what's interesting is that this is all in that context of fervently love one another. I read some excellent Bible teachers that really conveyed the idea that I think is here in the Scripture that what Peter is immediately doing is talking about all the things that hinder you from fervently loving one another. So as I go through these things, certainly I want you examining your life, but also understand the impact it has on other Christians if you're not putting everything aside. The first thing he lists there, therefore, putting aside all malice. In this context, it's a broad term. It could refer to all types of evil or wickedness. Again, I think based on all that Peter's saying, it's best understood as our attitudes and actions towards others that wish them harm. Ill will. Wishing or thinking bad about other believers. seems to be incredible. We don't like to think that we would do that, but if you've been in a church very long, you realize these things creep up. It's bothersome to think that Christians would want to wish bad upon other Christians, have ill will towards other Christians, and yet this is all of church history. You can imagine how disruptive it is to a church if members, even a few, are actively working against each other, trying to harm each other. As with all the other five, this is the very opposite of perfectly loving. Having ill will in your heart, you wish something bad to happen to other believers, you're excited when they suffer, you're happy that they get what's coming to them, Most of us think, well, I wouldn't do this, and yet it can creep in. You think about a myriad of ways that we talk about one another and we interact with one another. You see somebody getting a pat on the back and you want to take away the pat on the back. You downplay what they're doing. You ignore somebody. You ostracize them. You know they would love to be included in your group for a dinner or a coffee, and you purposely make sure nobody invites them. It's not fervently loving God's children. It's actually wishing God's children harm. It's evil. You can't be holy if you view other believers this way. And yet it happens quickly. And what you see with these sins, and I think they're representative because there are other lists like this in the Scriptures. You can find different words that all convey the same thing. But what you see is how all of these feed together. So you're supposed to put aside all malice, but also all deceit, deception, insincerity, conduct that would deceive other believers. Perhaps not an outright lie, but it's something that you would do to fool someone so that they don't know what's really going on. Again, it's a matter of not being completely forthright, intentionally trying to deceive other Christians. It's a close cousin to outright lying, but perhaps you can hide behind the fact that I just didn't give the full picture. Again, if you examine your heart, You have to look at how you interact and the little things that kind of shade the truth a little bit. Somebody's obviously angling to be included in your event and you say, well, we don't really have our plans finalized. You do, you just don't want to say it because they'll ask to come. Somebody asks information, you just twist it a little bit. You didn't really lie, but you don't want them to know what's really happening. We've all had it. We talk to somebody, they tell us something. I'm not talking about an accidental thing where they just misspeak. We all misspeak. But this is where they tell you something and later you find out, wait, that's not what was going on. What were they trying to do? It may have been that they were practicing deceit. If you ever do that, put it all aside. The third in this list, and again, these all play off each other. They build on each other. And hypocrisy. Saying one thing and doing another. Pretending to be one thing. And again, it's a form of deceit, but really something else. This word originally was associated with an actor who would wear a mask to portray someone else. In the church, we should not be wearing masks of hypocrisy. Hiding our true motives from what's going on. You intend evil. You intend to stick it to somebody, but you're pretending that you're being kind. Perhaps setting someone up to be hurt, to fail. You're appearing to do Christian things, but your heart's bent on something else. Jesus over and over condemned the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, who were the most religious people of their day, But their hearts were wicked. They were unbelievers. We're believers. We can't follow in their footsteps. Jesus described them, for example, in Matthew 23-25, Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgent. We all recognize hypocrisy because at one time or another we're all guilty of it. The difference is the people who engage in hypocrisy, when we recognize it, we should repent. We should be ashamed. We shouldn't become masters of it. And again, the interconnectedness becomes very clear. You're deceiving other believers. You're being a hypocrite. If you have ill will towards other believers, you can see how the next point, the next issue jumps in and envy. Again, your heart is distorted by this time. It's the idea of not wanting to see other Christians prosper. When other Christians have a positive event, they succeed, it doesn't bring you joy, You're angry. You're frustrated. You think they don't deserve it. It's not you, so it shouldn't be them. This can grip our hearts very quickly. Because God has different purposes for each of us. Some people seem to get everything they want. Some people seem to have one hurdle after another. God's in charge of everything. Envy is not the way to live a holy life. In fact, in Galatians 5, where there's a whole list of the deeds of the flesh, envy is prominent. Again, you think about your life. I deserve that. They should have invited me. I should have been the one being discipled. I should have been the one tapped to serve. I should have been the one given that opportunity. I should have gotten that job. I should have gotten that promotion. I should have gotten that relationship. I should have had the good marriage. I should have had the obedient kids. Envy can consume you. When other believers are prospering, rejoice with those who rejoice. If envy takes hold, we don't rejoice with those who rejoice. We stew in anger thinking we didn't get what we deserve. The final of the five is all slander. All slander. This really is the culmination of where all of the heart comes from. It pours out in our speech when we're speaking poorly of other Christians. If they do something good, we minimize the accomplishment. Well, they had help. If they're innocent in a controversy, we plant the seed that maybe they're guilty. Maybe they were at fault. It's words that run someone else down. Gossip. Defamation of character. You're saying things to people purposefully so that they'll think bad of another believer. A commentator I read had an illustration of this, and I thought it was perfect because I think we've seen it. Because it's easy to hide slander with hypocrisy and deceit. with malice in your heart, and this is what the commentator wrote, I mention this only for your prayer fellowship, but did you know that he, and then they lay it all out. There was no intent for prayer, there was an intent to reveal someone's failures so that people would think bad of them. Sadly, I think we understand these things happen all the time. This is the fourth church I've been a part of since I was saved in 1993, and I've seen slander of other Christians over and over and over again in all four churches. I've had to repent of my own slander of people. As a reminder, I haven't always been a pastor. I was 40 years old before I was a pastor. I saw slander before I was a pastor. I've seen slander as a pastor. I've seen it about church leadership. Not simply disagreeing with a decision. I've never been at a church where I've agreed with everyone. But making sure to portray every decision as evil or underhanded. Trying to stir other people up. to think badly. I've seen it time and time again in marriages. It pains me how spouses talk about one another. They get amongst friends, and I've seen it from the husband's side, I've seen it from the wife's side, where rather than building up their spouse, they're running them down. That is slander. Even if it's true, it doesn't mean you should be sharing everything. Not giving people the benefit of the doubt, but always assuming the worst. As one commentator noted, deceit is practice to someone's face. Slander happens behind their back. Now again, each of these sins, when it comes in the church, absolutely destroys love. It's the most unloving way we can be to act this way towards other Christians. So it makes sense that after Peter has just commanded us, fervently love one another, after all God's done for you, fervently love one another, why he would say you can't be treating one another this way. In Titus 3.3, Paul talks of what people used to be For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various loves and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another." That's how the world is. We can't be that way in the church if we want to be holy. Paul warned the Corinthians about something similar in their midst. 2 Corinthians 12 verse 20, For I am afraid that perhaps when I come I may find you to be not what I wish, and may be found by you to be not what you wish, that perhaps there will be strife, jealousy, angry tempers, disputes, slanders, gossip, arrogance, disturbances." It's sad, but we see throughout the New Testament these kind of exhortations that Peter is making to us. So tonight, let me encourage you, look in the mirror and be honest with yourself. Are you doing these things to other believers? Is that part of your life? Is that part of your dialogue with other people? Repent. Put it aside. Put it all aside. Don't say those things. Don't post those things. Don't even think those things. You have to recognize the destruction that it causes to the body of Christ. Ask for forgiveness. And then be holy. A great corrective, I believe, is in Ephesians 4, verses 29-32. Putting aside all those other things, here's what we should look like. This is what we would be loving in our relations with other believers. Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you along with all malice." Verse 32. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. Don't think about this issue. Do something about it starting tonight. If on the way out the door someone dumped on you a dirty bucket of moth water, You wouldn't hesitate. You'd have a single-minded focus. I've got to get out of these clothes. I've got to get this stuff off of me. Treat these sins with that type of urgency. Don't tolerate sin. You will not grow in Christ. There's a second essential principle for growing in holiness and love. First, if you tolerate sin, you will not grow in Christ. Second, if you neglect God's Word, you will starve your soul. If you neglect God's Word, you will starve your soul. Verse 2, we come to what many believe is really the heart of this verse. Like newborn babies long for the pure milk of the Word so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation. Peter said, put aside all these things. Get rid of them. You can't fervently love. You can't be holy with those things. But then he really tells us one of the means by which we do that. If we want to be holy, really God's given us one primary means of doing that. Peter refers to it as the pure milk of the Word. Now, I want to be clear here, because Peter is using an imagery, he's referring to Christians as newborn babies, And he's talking about the milk of the Word. And I don't want us to minimize or misunderstand the scope of the application of these words, because there are two prominent places in the New Testament where the writer uses the imagery of baby or infant and milk, but it's not in a positive context. It's a rebuke for immaturity. For example, in 1 Corinthians 3, verses 1 and 2, the Apostle Paul says, And I, brethren, could not speak to you as spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, for you were not able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able. I won't read the verse, but the exact same type of rebuke is contained in Hebrews 5, verses 12 to 13. In other words, believers are being rebuked because they're still infants. They should be able to go on to the solid food, but they're still at milk and it's considered a critique. And if Peter was doing something similar, we could look at this and say, okay, they're only talking to immature Christians. He's only talking to new believers perhaps. But the reality is Peter's doing something completely different. He's using the same imagery, but his point is not a rebuke, and his point applies to every believer. Even those who are walking strong and truly growing in their holiness. Peter's just using a well-known human condition like the other writers of Scripture. He's just using it to illustrate a point from a different direction. He refers to all believers as newborn babies. Again, he's not criticizing. He's not saying you should be something else. He's just saying like newborn babies. In other words, the picture is we should think about that. He borrows this because most human beings understand This experience, even if you haven't had a child, you've been around a baby. But given that the world is populated by babies, people understand newborns, they're a part of humanity. And a newborn baby has a limited focus. Verse 2, he says, like newborn babies long for the pure milk of the Word. So we're going to get to what that means for us, but the imagery is just of an infant. A newborn baby just wants milk. This is long before the days of formulas and everything else. A baby wants mother's milk. I'm hungry. Feed me. That's it. It's a single-minded focus. Nothing else matters. They cry. They keep you awake. But it's all part of their longing. They want this no matter what. I remember being stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic in L.A. with one of our children who was very, very hungry as a new baby. And you can't explain to them, well, this is L.A., there's no off-ramp. We're going to be here for a while. The law is on child car safety seats. You can't eat right now. And your mother is seat belted in. It didn't matter. Because the focus was there. And Peter is saying to believers, we need to have this type of focus for the Word of God. This type of longing. This type of desire. We need to be so consumed with wanting the Word of God that we'll let nothing stand in our way. We should crave it. We should desire it. We should take every opportunity to consume the pure milk of the Word because that's how we grow as believers. Psalm 119 in its entirety talks about the greatness of God's Word, but Psalm 119.130-131 addresses this. The unfolding of Your Word gives light. It gives understanding to the simple. I opened my mouth wide and panted, for I longed for Your commandments. Peter is saying the same thing. Believer, you must, just like that baby that knows nothing else, you must understand that your growth, your health can only come from the Word of God. And Peter's very clear to say the pure milk of the Word. Again, he's already been talking about the living and enduring Word. He's just coming back to the same thing that this is life. This is what you must have. The Word saved you, but the Word is also what's going to sustain you and grow you in holiness. There's never a case where you can say, you know what, I've had enough of the Bible. I'm full. I've got all I need. No. You must long for it. You must desire it. You must be convinced that without it, you're going to starve. But I'm really struck by that word pure. He's talking about unadulterated. Nothing added to the Word. Nothing taken away from the Word. This is it. Because we live in a day where countless pulpits and countless churches aren't preaching the pure Word of the God. They've modified it. They've changed it because the world has changed. Well, that might have been good then, but people won't stand for this. They're living out 2 Timothy 4 verses 3 and 4, For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths." That describes today. Countless believers, and I'm not saying they're not believers, they're just off base. They're seeking out churches, but they're not driven by a church that's preaching the pure milk of the Word. They may be looking for programs. They may be looking for other things. They may be looking to be entertained. They may be looking for all these things. But all those things, not all of them sinful, if you find them all, if you don't have the Word, you starve. And then you add to it people that are changing the Word and modifying it and saying it doesn't say this. That's Satan at work. For time's sake, I will just reference it, 2 Corinthians 11, 13-15. Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So do his workers. There's nothing new under the sun. And if Satan can't direct a believer to a church that ignores the Word of God, he would be happy to have them somewhere where the Word of God is distorted. He's a liar and the father of lies. And from the very beginning, when He interacted with God's Word, which He knows better than us, He twisted it. What happened to Eve in the garden? Did God really say? When Jesus was in the wilderness, Jesus the Word, Satan's trying to deceive Him about the Word, twisting it, taking it out of context. It's happening all around us. Did God really say divorce is wrong? Did God really condemn sexual immorality? Did God really say that homosexual behavior is contrary to His Word? Did God really say He created the male and female? The possibilities are endless and we're living it in our society. But if you attend Lakeside, you should stop now and praise the Lord. Because for almost 40 years, this church has been pastored by a faithful man who stands up in this pulpit week after week and he does one thing. Pastor Steet gives you the pure Word of God. Not his opinions. Not his thoughts on the world. He stands up here and he preaches the pure Word. The pure milk of the Word. The rest of us who step in at times in his place are trying to model his example. This is spiritual food that you're being fed by our pastor week after week. If you have a longing for the Word, you have a feast. But there aren't thousands of people here every Sunday. I'm not saying there are no other good churches. I'm sure there are. What I'm saying is that if you attend here, God's giving you a gift. And Pastor Steve, who's giving you the pure milk of the Word week after week. And the reason we get and long for the pure milk of the Word is so, according to Peter, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation. That just means that we'll mature. That we'll be more holy It's a lifelong process of growth, but we have to cultivate the desire. We live in a time where people grab all sorts of resources to help them, but not the Bible. They grab a book, they go to a conference, they do all these things, but the pure milk of the Word is the only thing that's going to really cause growth. I read books, don't misunderstand me. But the books aren't the truth, it's the Word of God. The final step that I'll cover briefly, I've run over time. The third essential principle for growing in holiness and love. If you tolerate sin, you will not grow in Christ. If you neglect God's Word, you will starve your soul. And finally, if you doubt God's goodness, you'll lose heart. This point is by implication, but if you doubt God's goodness, you'll lose heart. Peter caps this little phrase by saying, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord. He's not saying maybe some have, maybe some haven't. He's phrasing this in such a way that it applies to all believers because if you know Jesus Christ, you have tasted the kindness of the Lord. It's imagery from Psalm 34 8, O taste and see that the Lord is good. How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him. As a believer in Christ, you've experienced God's grace. You can write down as reference of what God did for us in Ephesians 2, 4, and 5. 1 John 5, 14, and 15 of how God gives us what we're requesting. All believers have experienced the kindness of the Lord, and Peter's just saying, remember that. He knows they're going through trials. He said in chapter 1, verse 6, that they're going through trials. It's difficult. The Bible recognizes that when we're going through hardships, we can get tired almost to the point of giving up. Hebrews 12, 3, For consider him who has endured such hostility by sinners against themselves, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. I think there's echoes of that type of thing in what Peter's saying. You have tasted the kindness of the Lord. He loves you. Peter's just recounted how He saved you. How He caused you to be born again. How He's given you the living, enduring Word. In fact, He's placed before you the pure milk of the Word so that you can grow. Long for it. And he said, just remember, you've tasted the kindness of the Lord. And there's more kindness coming for His children. If you are discouraged, if you doubt, if all of these events of life are getting you down, remind yourself that you've tasted the kindness of God. And every day that you're on this earth, indwelt by His Spirit, with the pure milk of the Word available to you for your nourishment, you're continuing to taste the kindness of the Lord. Let me encourage you. Thank the Lord for the opportunities he's given you to grow and grow. Lakeside's not a perfect church. As elders, we recognize that. We're constantly talking about ways we can improve, so don't misunderstand. Our facilities could be better. We'd love to have more opportunities for fellowship, all of those things. We want to have an improving and better church, but God's already given you everything you need to be holy as he and holy. The pure milk of the Word is preached here, it's taught here, and if you long to be holy as God is holy, if you long for the pure milk of the Word, God's given it to you. By being able to come to this church, every Sunday that you do, every sermon that you watch online, every sermon that you go back and watch, every live stream, every class you attend, you're tasting the kindness of the Lord over and over again. Let me encourage you, use what God's placed in front of you to be holy as he is holy. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for the opportunity we've had to study your word. Lord, create in each one of your children the longing for the pure milk of the word that we so desperately need. And Lord, help us not to live in sin, Help us to not harbor all of those ill feelings and actions towards other Christians, but Lord, let us love one another fervently. And Lord, we thank You that we have tasted Your kindness. Remind us of that when we're in a dry spell. Remind us of that when we're discouraged. Remind us of that when we start doubting You and Your love for us. And Lord, if there are those here who don't know You, or those who hear my voice that don't know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, everything I'm saying is foreign. They're not looking for the pure milk of the word yet. They think those other reactions of malice and envy and slander are just part of life. Lord, tonight, break through. Help them see themselves before you, a holy God, and help them to understand that you will judge sinners. The Word is the Word. It's pure. What it says is true, and no matter how many people pretend that things have changed, Your Word is living and enduring, and it doesn't change. And it's that Word that promises that all sinners who will repent and believe in Jesus Christ, that He died on the cross in the place of sinners, and that He was raised from the dead on the third day, they can be saved. I pray that you would do their work in their hearts. Lord, we love you. Thank you for being forgiving to us. Thank you for being patient with us. Lord, give us an urgency to be holy as you are holy. We ask all of this in Jesus name. Amen.