After the Lord miraculous converted Paul, the Lord told him to go into the city and he would be told what he was to do.
The apostle Peter's conversion was unusual as well. The Lord first met him by the sea of Galilee.
Look Matthew 4:18, “And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.”
The Lord must have made a big impression upon Peter on the sea of Galilee, because he became a very devout follower from that day forward.
This is the same Peter to whom the Lord said, "Feed my sheep."
In 1 & 2 Peter, he does just that. For almost two thousand years now, this great apostle has been feeding God's sheep.
Let us look at chapter two and digest some of this spiritual nutrition he provides for God's sheep. The first thing he tells them is-
I. WE MUST LAY ASIDE SOME THINGS
He lists some things to LAY ASIDE.
Look at verse 1, we read, "Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings."
Look at the word "ALL" before each of these:
• All malice
• All guile.
• All hypocrises and envies
• All evil speakings
God does not want one trace of these things in our lives. He says, ALL of these things in the life of the child of God must be laid aside.
Peter, by using the word ALL, wants to make it clear that there is NO ROOM in the life of a Christian for these things.
Notice, he did not say, IF YOU AGREE WITH HIM, OR THINK IT IS A GOOD IDEA TO DO THIS. He gives us this specific command to, “lay aside” these things.
The words, "laying aside", mean like a changing of clothes.
Paul had the same thing in mind in Ephesians 4:22, "That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts,"
Paul uses the words, "put off", which mean the same thing as Peter's, "laying aside."
Illus: I look across this congregation and see folks that have their clean Sunday clothes on. But suppose Bro. _____________ had been doing some mechanical work all week long, and he came to church with grease and dirt all over his clothes. If he did, I would have a hard time holding your attention, because you would all be looking at him.
Such clothing is unacceptable, and we would expect him to lay aside these dirty clothes to attend the Lord's house.
Peter recognized that we Christians have a DIVINE COMMAND to lay aside those dirty things in our lives that are unbecoming to us as Christians.
So that there won’t be any misunderstanding about what we are suppose to get rid of, he tells us:
(A) MALICE
Malice is badness, depravity, malignity, trouble, evil. Notice that malignity is a synonym with the word, malice.
Illus: We generally hear the word malignity used as a medical term. For example, when a person is tested for cancer, we want to know if it is malignant.
You can drive all over this country and see ministries that God once greatly used and that were blessed of God, but because they are not willing to lay aside malice, as God’s Word told them to do, those churches are dead and buried.
When a church is full of malice (Evil) , it is a matter of time before it will be dead and buried.
We are to lay aside MALICE and -
(B) GUILE
Guile is deception. We live in an age of deception. It seems that everywhere you turn these days, people are being deceived.
We are being deceived by:
• Lawyers
• Doctors
• Hollywood industry
• Merchants
• Advertisers
• Car Salesmen
• Real Estate Salesmen
• Carpenters
• Mechanics
• Church denominations
• Television Evangelists
• School Systems
It is a fact that we live in an age of deception. The reason we are being deceived most of the time can be traced back to people’s greed for the almighty dollar.
For example, we are deceive by television commercials every day.
Illus: If a foreigner was to come to America for the first time and watch TV for one day, he would think that all we Americans do is get excited about soap, tooth paste, and chewing gum, and we sit around each day squeezing toilet tissue.
Illus: Some people in this deceptive society remind us of the little boy who was in a large shopping center crying, "I want my Mommy! I want my mommy!" People passing by felt sorry for him, and gave him, nickels, dimes, and quarters. Finally one man came to him and said, "I know where your Mommy is." The little boy said, "I do too, but keep quiet because I am getting rich with all these nickels, dimes and quarters!"
We are to LAY ASIDE ALL MALICE, GUILE, and -
(C) HYPOCRISIES
Hypocrisy is no more than acting.
Illus: For example, in many of John Wayne’s movies, he acted like he was a cowboy. He was not a cowboy, he acted like he was a cowboy.
Many are not Christians, but they pretend to be Christians. Some of them are better actors than John Wayne.
• In this age of hypocrisy and role playing, we do not find it unusual to see an actor playing the role of a Christian in one movie, and the role of a crook in the next.
• We do not find it unusual to hear a popular singer performing in a city wide Crusade on television one night, and singing in one of the gambling casinos in Las Vegas the next night.
• We do not find it unusual to find a man teaching Sunday School and singing in the choir on Sunday, and then gambling, cursing, lying and cheating on Monday.
This is the age of hypocrisy, and Peter said Christians should be willing to lay aside all hypocrisies.
We are to LAY ASIDE ALL MALICE, GUILE, HYPOCRISIES and -
(D) ENVIES
Envying is Jealousy.
Illus: One of Dr. Seuss' children's books features "Grinch", who is a creature who can’t bear the sight of anyone enjoying himself, without getting so mad he bites himself.
Envy is a terrible thing among God's people. Something is wrong when we cannot rejoice with a brother who has something to rejoice about.
Illus: F.B. Meyes said, "It was easy to pray for the success of G. Campbell Morgan when he was in America. But when he came back to England and took a church near to mine, it was something different. The old Adam in me was inclined to jealousy, but I got my heel on his head, and whether I felt right toward my friend, I determined to act right.”
He said God moved on his heart to give a reception for him.
He said, he had on the one side of him the world famous, C. H. Spurgeon, and on the other side, the world famous G. Campbell Morgan, and once he got the victory over jealousy, the churches of G. Campbell Morgan and C.H. Spurgeon would not hold all the people, and he got the overflow from being between them.
We are to LAY ASIDE ALL MALICE, GUILE, HYPOCRISIES, ENVIES and -
(E) EVIL SPEAKINGS
If we can’t speak good of a person or an event, it is better to say nothing.
Illus: A lady heard some other people talking about a person who was deceased. She rebuked them sharply for talking about the dead who could not defend themselves. THIS WAS COMMENDABLE!
But this same lady, who thought it was wrong to talk about the dead because they were not there to defend themselves, thinks nothing of talking about someone behind their back when that person is not present to defend him/herself.
Peter said there is no place in the life of a Christian for these things. ALL MALICE, GUILE, HYPOCRISIES, ENVIES, AND EVIL SPEAKING MUST BE LAID ASIDE.
WE MUST LAY ASIDE SOME THINGS and -
II. WE MUST PUT ON SOME THINGS
Look at verse 2. We read, "As newborn babes,desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby.''
This metaphor is one of a hungry baby who wants to be fed. It is absolutely amazing how a new-born baby seems to be born with the desire to be fed.
Illus: It is almost as if the child is saying, "I am here now, and I am ready to be fed so that I can start growing.''
Have you ever noticed how small children love to play games and pretend they are adults?
The desire to grow seems to be built into a child. However a child will never grow if he does not eat.
Paul is saying that this same desire is instilled in God’s children. When they are first born into God's kingdom they have a desire to grow. They cannot grow if they do not eat. But before they eat meats and potatoes they have got to start off on the milk. God told Peter to feed His sheep, and Peter knew that some of God's flock were newborn babes, and all babes start off on milk. So he says to them, "...desire the sincere milk of the Word, that ye may grow thereby,"
Milk is the perfectly balanced food for the baby, and the Word of God is the perfect diet for newborn babes in Christ.
Milk produces growth in: flesh, bones, blood, muscles, and the brain. God's Word is the perfectly balanced diet for God’s children. It produces, love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance. (Galatians 5:22-23)
However, once we have partaken of the Lord's food, we will find that nothing else satisfies.
He says in (verse 3) “If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.”
Illus: In John 6, we find that many of the people began to forsake the Lord because they had followed him to get what they could get from Him.
Jesus turned to the twelve and said, "Will ye also go away?"
But look what Peter, who had tasted of the Lord, said in verse 68, “... Lord, to who shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life."
When a person is born-again, they soon discover that there is no other place they can go if they want the best that this life has to offer. Once we have tasted and found that the Lord is good, we then want to START BUILDING OUR LIVES ON CHRIST.
Look at 1 Peter 2:4-8. We read, “To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.”
These verses of Scripture tell us that He is not a dead Savior as some would imply by wearing the crucifix around their necks.
All false religions are built on dead leaders, but Christianity is built on a LIVING SAVIOR. These verses of Scripture tell us:
• How evil men treated Him
• How He was disallowed indeed of men
• How He was the despised, persecuted, rejected Son of God
The Bible says, "He came unto His own and His own received Him not."
This is how evil man treated Him, but the Bible also tells us how GOD TREATED HIM.
Look at verse 4, we read, “...Chosen of God..."
Notice, evil men pushed Him aside, but God chose Him.
Illus: The men of that day did not build as we do, with bricks that all are the same size and shape. They built with stones, some large and some small. As they built a wall, they had to fit these stones together, much like we do a puzzle.
For example, tradition has it that when they were building Solomon's Temple, the cornerstone had been quarried out according to the Master's plan, but the odd looking stone had been rolled over the hill when the foundation was being laid. They looked everywhere to find the right stone, not realizing that the odd stone they had rejected was the very stone that would fit. When they gave in and tried that stone, it fit perfectly in the corner.
Christ is that "Living Stone", and when evil men came to Him, they refused to give Him His place as the "Chief Cornerstone.”
In verse 7, the Scripture says "...The stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner,"
In verse 4 God spoke of His beloved Son as being PRECIOUS.
One of the ways we know that the Lord Jesus is precious is because He becomes PRECIOUS TO US.
This crowd that you have to beg to come to church, beg to witness, beg to give, beg to sing, and beg to pray, DOES NOT KNOW THE PRECIOUS LAMB OF GOD LIKE WE DO.
Illus: Years ago, the folks that made the best candy bar that has ever been made, Almond Joy, would advertise their product as, "indescribably delicious".
God the Father thought His Son was precious and so does every child of God. He is “indescribably precious”!
Conclusion:
In order for us to prove to the Lord Jesus that He is precious to us, there are some things we must be willing to do.
I. WE MUST LAY ASIDE SOME THINGS
II. WE MUST PUT ON SOME THINGS
