Personal Holiness Amidst Perverted Worldliness, Part 4a

Okay, if you got your Bible, 1st Peter chapter 2. 1st Peter chapter 2. We've been looking at the mandate for holy living and understanding that God has called us and commanded us to live holy lives. And then Peter gives us the the means by which that happens. He helps us understand that there are certain motivations that that keep us on the straight and narrow, for lack of a better phrase, that keep us seeking after our God to live a holy life in a world that's unholy. We talked about how we needed to concern ourselves with our future hope by by girding up our minds and keeping sober in spirit.

We learned about how we needed to conduct our walk on this earth in the fear of God, because of the personality of our Father and because of his impartiality as our judge. We went on to look at how we are to center our mind on the foreordained work of Christ that God had planned our deliverance in eternity past.

And as we remember that deliverance and reflect on his appearance, we can realize our confidence. Then we talked about how we need to cultivate our actions to fervently love one another, to reach out and to minister to one another, and give of ourselves to one another. And the only way that can happen is because Romans 5 says that the love of God has been shed abroad in our hearts. You know, the Bible talks about us loving one another, giving ourselves to one another, serving one another. It doesn't say, you know, you're supposed to do something that you can't possibly accomplish.

No, God's not going to ask you to do something or command you to do something that he won't, through his power, enable you to accomplish it. So when the Bible says that we are to fervently love one another, that we are to sacrificially give of ourselves to one another, the only way that can happen is if we understand what God has done in our lives.

And because of his work, Romans 5 says that that love has been shed abroad in our hearts. Our hearts are literally filled with the love of God. Our job now is to let that love flow to other people by reaching out to them and sacrificially giving ourselves away for their benefit. We come tonight to the fifth and sixth principle that will help us understand how to live holy lives. Chapter 2, verse number 1. Therefore, putting aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn babes long for the pure milk of the word, that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.

Those three verses give us two principles that help us understand, again, the motivation to live a holy life. And the fifth principle is this, that we need to covenant with ourselves to forego sinful attitudes. We need to make a covenant with ourselves that we are going to forego sinful attitudes. The Bible says, therefore, because you are to fervently love one another, because we have entered the same family, and because we eat the same food, the last few verses of chapter 1, what you need to do now is to is to put off something, get rid of something, put aside something.

It's a phrase used of discarding your clothes. You ever had your clothes on fire before? I hope not. But when they're on fire, you want to get them off, right? Because you don't want your skin to burn. It's literally a phrase that deals with soiled clothes. If you've soiled your clothes, then you want to get rid of them as quickly as possible. You don't want to continue to wear them. Well, Peter is saying there are certain attitudes in our lives that ruin our lives, and we need to get rid of them.

Notice he says this, he says, put aside all malice, all guile, all slander. It's a word of totality. It speaks of the intensity of putting something off. You know, we tend to want to, we tend to get rid of a few things, not all things. We like to hang on to a few things, because we can use them as ammunition in the future. But the Bible speaks about getting rid of those attitudes that really are destructive. Listen to what Paul says over in Colossians chapter 3, verse number 8, when he says this, but now you also put them all aside, anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth.

Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self, who is being renewed to a true knowledge, according to the image of the One who created Him. Paul says the same thing. There are things you need to put aside. Over in the book of Ephesians, Ephesians 4, verse number 22, in reference to your former manner of life, lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of truth.

Peter speaks the same way Paul speaks. There are certain things that we need to get rid of, and we do that through discipline. We do that through making a covenant with ourselves that we are not going to do this any longer. Why? Because if we're going to grow spiritually, if we're going to be able to do what Peter says, desire as babes the pure milk of the Word, we've got to get rid of certain attitudes. For if these attitudes are prevalent in our lives, it will tell you, listen carefully, it will tell you why you don't hunger for the Word of God.

People come to me all the time and say, man, you know, I don't desire the Word of God. I'm not hungry for the Word of God. I'm not eager to be in the Word of God. Then you've got to ask yourself the question, what kind of attitudes are prevalent in your life? Malice? Envy? Hypocrisy? Deceit? Guile? Because those things hinder us from longing for the pure milk of the Word. So Peter says if we're going to be holy people, our attitudes must be that which is completely different in the world. We need to live holy lives, separated lives.

And therefore, there are certain attitudes that need to be stripped away. Paul would, or excuse me, James said the exact same thing in James chapter 1. Listen to what he said. This is a recurring theme in the Scriptures. He says this in verse number 21. He says, therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness in humility, receive the Word implanted which is able to save your souls. Again, there is that getting rid of certain things that hinder me from receiving the Word of God.

Peter says, you need to make a covenant with yourself to forgo sinful attitudes. The writer of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 12, verse number 1. Lay aside every weight and sin which so easily ensnares us. Lay aside, put aside every sin that keeps you from running the race that will honor and glorify your God. And so Peter now gives us some of the things we are to discard. Number one, malice.

Now we're going to call this one wickedness. That's a kind of a nasty word, isn't it? Wickedness. Someone says, oh, you are just evil and wicked. You know, that's what malice is. Kakia is a word that that deals with baseness in general, wickedness in general. It speaks sometimes of deep-seated hatred for others. It even carries with it the idea of a desire to injure others and enjoy doing so. Think about that. You ever been like that? You ever had in your heart a desire to injure someone? If I could just do that, I'd get him.

I'd get him so good. That's malice. That's wickedness. And Peter says, this is one of the hindrances that keeps you from living a holy life, because the route to a holy life is to be in the Word of God, and this keeps you from being there. It hinders your spiritual growth. It hinders your testimony. Now, remember, these people are suffering greatly, right? They're suffering unjustly. They're dying because of their faith. And in them, there's this desire, you know what, of wickedness to get back at Nero for what he's doing to them.

A sense of, you know what, if I can get him alone one day, Nero's gonna get a piece of my mind that I can't afford to give away, but I'm gonna give it to him anyway. I'm gonna give him what he needs to have. You know, it's a sense of utter wickedness, because I want to injure you with my words or my actions. I'm gonna find a way to do it. That's malice. Peter says, you gotta get that away. Now, get rid of that. Remember when he cut off Malchus's ear in the garden, you know what I'm saying? John chapter 18.

He was wielding the sword, man, because he, inside, was not going to let them take his master. Now, you could say, well, that was some kind of righteous indignation, but it wasn't, because Christ told Peter to put a sword away, and he healed Malchus's ear. But there's another one. We're gonna call this one deceitfulness. It's what the Bible calls guile, all guile. If malice is wickedness, then guile is deceitfulness. It's a word that means clever or tricky practices. It means to deceive or to catch with a bait.

Guile is that clever manipulation of people to serve my own needs. We become guilty of this when we misquote someone in order to hurt them. We become guilty of this when we make misleading statements about someone or give some kind of underhanded comment that will bring harm to someone. Over in Acts chapter 13, Alemas was a sorcerer, a magician, whom Peter said was full of deceit and fraud, full of trickery, full of deceitfulness. Proverbs chapter 13, verse number 5, says this, a righteous man hates falsehood, but a wicked man or man acts disgustingly and shamefully.

The wicked man acts with deceit. The righteous man doesn't. He hates falsehood. He doesn't want anything untrue to come out of his mouth. But the wicked man, he loves to be deceitful. Put aside all malice, that's wickedness. Put aside all guile, that's deceitfulness. And thirdly, put aside all hypocrisy, that's phoniness.

Phoniness. You ever met a phony? You ever met a hypocrite? A hypocrite is one whose words or actions do not reflect his true self. It's the person who greets you with a smile on Sunday morning. How you doing? But inside, they hate you. They hate you with a smile, but they still hate you. On the outside, it looks like they're sweet and nice and innocent, but on the inside they're just waiting for a way to just to tear you down. They're hypocrites. You see, that's what Christ would always bring against the Pharisees.

They were hypocrites. Matthew chapter 15, he would quote Isaiah, that these are the people who honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Oh, on the outside, they look good, but I tell you, on the inside, they are so far from me. Over in Matthew chapter 15, verse number 27, Christ said, Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead man's bones and all uncleanliness. Even so, you too outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

You know, there are a lot of people who come to church, a lot of churchgoers who fall into this category. I mean, we come to church, you know, we put our Sunday best on, you know, we comb our hair just right, and we just look good when we come to church, because we don't want anybody to think that our home is in shambles. We don't want anybody to think that our lives are just wrecked. So we come, and we want to present ourselves a certain way, because we don't want anybody asking us questions. We don't want anybody examining our lives.

We don't want anybody to think we've got our act together. As soon as we leave this place on Sunday morning or Wednesday night, we just go out and live any way we want to live, and think there's no consequences for it. That's hypocrisy. That's living a life of a phony. You look one way on the outside, one way on the inside, and that's just not true. That's not who you are. And Peter says, you've got to get rid of all that. You've got to put that aside. So you get rid of your phoniness. You get rid of your deceitfulness.

You get rid of your wickedness. And fourthly, you need to get rid of envy. But before I talk to that, I want to tell you what one old preacher said when he said these words about hypocrisy. He said, be what you are and not what you ain't, because if you ain't what you are, then you are what you ain't. Isn't that good? Some of you are thinking, what is he saying up there? I didn't get it. But you know, it's still true. But fourthly, I'm going to call this one selfishness. That's envy. Put aside envy.

It's that feeling of discontent and jealousy that arises when we see another person who has greater talents, more possessions, or receives more honor than we. Envy, jealousy. The book of Proverbs, the 14th chapter, the 30th verse, turns it this way. Envy is rottenness of the bones. Envy is that mental cancer because it slowly and gradually eats away of those things that are in the inside. Maybe that's you. Maybe you're extremely jealous of someone else because they took your position in the church, or they're able to sing a solo and you're not, or they're able to teach and you're not, or they were recognized for a job well done when in reality, it was you who did the job and not them.

And inside, you're just seething because they receive the accolades and you got nothing. Maybe that's the way it is at work. Or maybe it's your girlfriend, you've been together for a long time, and she's getting married and you're not. And you're seething with jealousy and envy. Or maybe you've been waiting to get pregnant for years, and all of a sudden this couple gets married and she gets pregnant, first pop it out of the box, and you just are so envious of her because you want to be pregnant and you're not, and you become jealous that she is.

It raises its ugly head in all kinds of ways. Remember Joseph's brothers? They sold him into slavery. They were so envious of him. Father liked him best. You're with us, you know why he liked him best. It was because of his character and nature. He was drawn, Jacob was drawn to that. And his brothers yet were so envious of him. They sold him into slavery. They got rid of him. How about Aaron and Miriam, Numbers chapter 11, when they rebelled against the leadership of Moses. They were jealous because of his leadership ability.

The things he was able to do and the things they couldn't do. And after all, they were just, he was just the younger brother. So why does a younger brother get to lead Israel? And we get nothing compared to him. They became very jealous. The Bible speaks of how Matthew, or excuse me, how Pilate in the book of Matthew was well aware of the fact that the Jewish leaders were calling for the death of Christ because they envied him. They were jealous of him. James 3, listen to this, James 3 verse number 16, for where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing.

Think about that. If there is jealousy, if there is selfish ambition, there is disorder and every evil thing. Wow. That's a killer. It goes deep. And Peter says, you've got to get rid of that. You've got to stop that right now.

You can't continue on going down that path because it's going to kill you in the long run. It's going to eat away at your insides. It's going to keep you from being able to long for the pure milk of the word. So he says, wickedness, deceitfulness, foolishness, selfishness, and lastly, unkindness. Peter says, evil speaking, evil speaking, slander, gossip, speaking about others with the sole purpose of tearing them down. He uses that word over in chapter 2, verse number 12. He says, keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles so that in the thing in which they slander you or speak evil of you, they may on account of your good deeds as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.

There will be people who speak evil of you. They will gossip about you, slander your reputation, slander your leadership. It says over in chapter 3, verse number 16, these words, keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, same word, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. Peter says, listen, these things have got to be done away with because they're just going to eat away at you. You need to make sure that you covenant with yourself to forego every selfish, sinful attitude.

Number six, last point. Cause yourself to feed on God's word. This is point number six. Cause yourself to feed on God's word. Therefore, put it aside. All these things long for the pure milk of the word. Long for it. Go after it. Desire it. You know, God's word is living. We talked about it last week, back up in chapter 1, where it talks about how God's word is that living. It abides forever in verse number 25. It's like, it's not like the grass that fades away. Instead, it's that living and abiding word of God.

Verse number 23. In chapter 1, verse number 3, Peter says that we have a living hope. In chapter 1, verse number 23, there is a living word. In chapter 2, verse number 4, there is a living stone. Peter emphasizes that which is alive. And because Christ himself is the living stone, then he gives us a living word. The implications of that, the living and abiding word of God, is absolutely crucial. He says in verse number 23, back up to chapter 1, verse number 24, he says, 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 abides forever. The world is like one big cemetery. It's all dying. You see, we look at the world and think, man, they're living it up.

They're not living it up. The second law of thermodynamics proves they're not living it up. Even science proves that everything is deteriorating. Everything is decaying. Everything is getting worse, not getting better. In Peter, when he quotes Isaiah 40, verses 6 to 8, that's his basis for this statement. He doesn't quote it word for word, but that's his source here in 1 Peter chapter 1. He says, listen, the whole world is dying. But God's word never dies. It abides. It lives forever. That's why we've called our radio ministry, Living Word Radio.

Because God's word never dies. It's alive. Christ said in Matthew 24, verse number 35, as he talks in the Olivet Discourse about the destruction of the world. He says, you know what? Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. They never will. They'll never die. Everything you see is going to die. It's all going to be obliterated. But my words, they're going to live forever. It's almost as if he's saying, you know what? God's word is fresh. That's a good translation. It's fresh.

Now think about that. How fresh can something written some 2,000 years ago be? Have you ever eaten something that's 2,000 years old? You see, there's something fresh about the word of God. Remember King Josiah? Hilkiah, the high priest, when they were rebuilding the temple, according to 2 Chronicles 34, discovers the Pentateuch, the Torah, the law, the law of Moses, written some 1,000 years before the time of Josiah. They come and they read the book of the law to Josiah. And the Bible says, in verse 11, And it came about when the king heard the words of the book, of the law, that he tore his clothes.

Now here's a king who hears the word of the Lord, a word that was written 1,000 years earlier. But yet when he hears it, it's as if it was written for him on that very day. He tears his clothes. He repents of his sin. Listen, because God's word is fresh, it will sustain you every single day of your life.