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Now, let's dive into today's teaching from Pastor Skip Heitzig. One of the most successful ad campaigns in America was A campaign from which I stole the title for this message. Got milk.
Some of you will remember The celebrities who had milk mustaches for many of the commercials. to bring awareness to the idea of milk. In 2002, this campaign was voted. One of the top 10 best advertisement campaigns in history. By USA Today.
It interestingly began as a response in California to plummeting. Milk sales. As the sale of milk went down about 3%, and they put the ad up and it increased milk sales. Seven percent. Got milk.
I went to their website this week, gotmilk.com, very flashy website with a nice cow on it. And little milk drops on it, and the website still going strong touts the benefits of drinking milk. Adding proteins to your body for strong muscles and bones and teeth and hair, as well as being a sleep aid. Drink a glass of milk. in the evening.
But I found some interesting facts about milk. that you may not know. The Roman Emperor Nero's second wife, Papea, kept 500 donkeys. to provide milk. for her bath.
An article I read noted: researchers in England, in the UK. Claim the cows with names. Make three to four percent more milk per year than cows without. Names.
Now come on, that's a little bit interesting, is it not?
So, you name your cow, and I don't know why they would produce more milk. Maybe there's a sense that you care for them. I don't know. But it's interesting. Name your cows.
The average cow produces 90 glasses of milk per day. Or 200,000 glasses of milk in a lifetime. That's one cow. It's a lot of milk. A cow's udd holds 25 to 50 pounds of milk.
Which is utterly amazing. And most cows will give more milk when they listen to music. They didn't say what kind of music, just music. An interesting experiment. I think humans probably produce more when they listen to music as well.
And here's something for us in New Mexico. Milk is better for cooling your mouth after spicy food than anything else. Because There's a protein. Called Casein That will take and cleanse the taste buds. more quickly.
So when you eat that chili or that jalapeno, it's like, man, that's like way too hot. Got milk? But I'm not here to talk about Bathing in milk or naming cows or even drinking. Cow's milk. That is not the point at all of the passage we're about to encounter in 1 Peter chapter 2, but rather, put simply, That just like a newborn baby.
desires milk for food.
So we should crave spiritual milk. Spiritual truth. That's the gist of the passage. Proper nutrition is required for physical growth. Proper nutrition is required for spiritual growth.
Verse one. Of chapter 2. Laying aside all malice, all deceit. hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking. As newborn babes desire The pure milk of the word.
That you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. I want you first of all to notice how the verse begins. How the chapter begins with the word therefore, that's a strange word to begin. a thought with. And that's because he's not beginning a thought.
And whoever decided to put in chapters and verses much later after the scripture was written. I don't think took this into account because Peter is still. Back on the thought in chapter one, and you can notice it just by looking in your Bibles. Peter has been speaking about the Word of God, the Word of truth. He says, You have been born again.
See it a few verses back? You have been born again, not by corruptible seed, but by incorruptible seed, which is the Word of God. And also he speaks of the Word of God, which lives and abides forever. And the last verse of chapter one: this is the word that was preached to you.
So, Peter is coming with a point based upon that truth that he has introduced. And he says, therefore, And he gives us the idea of the milk of the word.
Now, if you know anything at all about scripture, you know that. There's lots of encouragement within these pages. To be students and lovers, and those who delight in God's word, God's truth. Psalm 1. The blessed man is someone who delights in the law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates day and night.
Job cried out and he said, I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. Jeremiah said, Your words were found, O Lord, and I did eat them, and they were to me the joy and the rejoicing of my heart. Psalm 119. has one hundred and eighty four references in one psalm. To the Scripture, the Word of God, the testimonies of God.
And he says, your testimonies. Are also my delight. and my counselors. And Really, that is what is in Peter's mind, I believe, as he brings us to this point with the therefore and introduces this theme of delighting in and craving after and desiring the Word of God. It's simply, if I can sort of again catch us up to speed in 1 Peter.
He's been talking about the theme of salvation. and the results of salvation. And first of all, he would say the result of our salvation, our redemption, the first result toward God is that we be holy. He says that back in verse 16. of chapter one.
The second response To the salvation we have is toward others, and that is to love one another. We discussed that last week. And finally, the third response to our redemption, our salvation. Is toward ourselves. We would crave this food in order that we might grow.
That's the thought.
Now do you remember that old saying, you are what you eat?
So let me ask you, what do you eat a lot of? And you don't have to answer that. But I'm meaning that in a spiritual sense. What are you craving? What are you feasting on?
What are you feeding on? I saw a cartoon this week. It cracked me up. It was a little squirrel in a psychiatrist's office. Can you picture the little squirrel lying on the couch with his little furry arms behind his head, spilling his little squirrel guts?
I mean, figuratively. And he says the caption reads. When I learned that you are what you eat, it was then I realized I was nuts. I liked it.
So, I would like to give you three ways to enhance your spiritual appetite. Three ways to grow spiritually based on these three verses.
So here's what I'm going to do. Going to make it a little more fun, and simply by taking off this whole idea of craving food, I want to begin by taking you into a restaurant. and sitting you down at a table. And first will come out the appetizer. You're gonna taste that.
And if you've tasted it, it's so good you're going to want more. But then you're going to be tempted by junk food. You're going to want to push that aside. And finally, you want to make room, real room, real desirous room for the main course.
So we want to look at three ways to enhance your spiritual growth. And we'll put it to you this way: be mindful, be careful, be faithful. Be mindful of what you've tasted. That's the appetizer. Be careful to push away, avoid.
Junk food. Then be faithful. to feed on the truth. Those three things will enhance. Your spiritual appetite.
What I like to do is begin with verse three, not verse one. And you need to know why I'm doing this. Because it says in verse 3, look at it with your own eyes. If indeed It says in your Bible, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. The entire thought of these three verses is predicated on this supposition.
This subjunctive If. If this is true, then. This should be true. And it could even be translated and would be better translated since. Indeed, you have tasted.
That's the thrust behind the passage. Since you have tasted that God is gracious. Therefore, push aside the bad stuff, the junk food. and make room for the good stuffs, the real food.
So look at verse 3. if indeed or since because you have Tasted. That the Lord is gracious. When you taste something, you experience it. You've tasted that God is gracious.
You didn't read this in a book. You didn't hear it in a sermon. You yourself experienced the gracious goodness of God. You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig Weekend Edition. Every day, the generosity of friends like you helps reach more people with clear, practical Bible teaching, changing lives as they discover who God really is.
And this month, we wanna thank you with a powerful resource bundle designed to help you know God more deeply and walk in the freedom he offers. It features Skip's book, Biography of God, a thoughtful, approachable look at God's character, his attributes, and the hope we gain when we understand who he truly is. You'll also receive Skip's six-message CD series, Expound: Galatians, a verse-by-verse journey through Paul's call to spiritual freedom. freedom from legalism, shame, and striving. We'll send you both resources as our thanks when you give $50 or more to support Connect with Skip Heitzig.
Call 800-922-1888. or visit connectwithskiff.com slash offer.
Now, let's return to today's teaching. My mind goes back to Psalm 34 whenever I read this. Where David said, Oh, taste and see. That the Lord is good. Taste for yourself.
Try this out. Because once you taste it, You get hooked You've tasted that he is gracious. When you taste his graciousness, you figure this out. God tastes better than sin. God's graciousness tastes better than all of the earthly pleasures combined.
Once you've tasted Him, your heart.
Now you first tasted God's goodness when you first came to faith. You came to Christ. Think back to the day or the night you said yes to Jesus on a personal level. Remember how that fell? For me, it was like a burden being lifted.
I couldn't describe it. I didn't see a vision. I didn't hear a voice, but I felt. like a burden of guilt was immediately lifted off. I felt so free.
Because I tasted the graciousness of God. I remember somebody witnessing to me before I made that decision, and what he said was so good, I decided I got to use that when I share my faith later on. He said, Skip, this is what it's sort of like. It's sort of like if you have eaten hamburger helper your whole life. Or Canned soup or TV dinners.
That's all you had.
Now I could relate to that because that sort of was what I ate growing up. My mom could cook and she did cook, but we were very busy, and I ate a lot of that stuff.
So he said, it's like you ate that all your life. Then one day somebody invited you to a fine restaurant and they paid for you to have steak and lobster, a gourmet meal.
Now you're ruined.
Now your taste buds have a gourmet taste to them. And once you've tasted that, it's just. Hard to go back. to hamburger helper and ramen noodles and Canned soup. What God has to offer you once you taste what He has to offer.
you're not going to want to go back. I think it's good for believers to regularly survey A catalog of their blessings since they've come to know Christ. I believe we forget that a lot. And because we forget that a lot, we get grouchy and grumpy, and we're going to read about that in just a little bit. Isaiah 51 Says, look to the rock from which you were hewn and the whole of the pit from which you were dug.
Sometimes it's good to go back to the pit, not get in it. But look inside it and go, I came from that pit. That's the slop I used to feed on down there. I used to eat that stuff. But now I've tasted his goodness, his graciousness.
Think of how many prayers God answered. For you. Think of how many times he sent you a word of encouragement or some provision, just in the nick of time. You tasted that goodness and that graciousness from time to time. My wife's a great cook.
But she makes this dessert. She makes it about once a year. And I'm ready for it. It's a cherry cobbler with this graham cracker butter crust. There are so many calories in that thing that when I know she's going to make it, I'll just like fast all day long.
I'm going to save my calories for this. Because once you taste this cobbler, You will. Want more. Let's let that be our thought. Once you've tasted how gracious God is.
You're going to want more of that. It's going to change your reality forever. And that's the thought of the passage. Since You have indeed tasted. that the Lord is gracious.
So that's number one. Be mindful of what you've tasted. Remember as you get into this meal what the appetizer was like, and you went, oh man, that's good. Which takes us to the second step: be careful. Be careful to avoid junk food.
Now I take you back to verse 1. Laying aside all malice, all deceit, all hypocrisy, envy. And slander or evil speaking.
Now, this is the junk food. that comes to the table. These are the things that will ruin your appetite. They'll spoil your appetite. There are five areas of junk food that are mentioned.
You want to push them aside. I'm going to tell you a true story. It's going to gross you out. And I'm intending to do that. But it's a true story.
I was at a restaurant here in Albuquerque. I ordered a meal. Salad came first. I will not tell you what restaurant, long time ago, doesn't matter. I don't even think they're in business.
And as I tell you why, you'll understand. I had just flown back from India.
So for two, three weeks I survived all the meals in India.
Now I come back to America. It's safe here, right, to sit down in a restaurant and eat. It's safe.
So I dig in and I have a few bites of Lettuce and my salad. And as I do, My teeth stop on something hard. And large.
So that's odd for salad. I pull it out of my mouth and I look at it and I show it to my wife and I said, Is that what I think it is? And she looks at it and says, yep, that's a fingernail, all right. Pretty large one too. It was a woman's fingernail.
And I mean the fingernail. And uh A lot of thoughts went through my mind at that point, but The most important thought for our purpose is simply that I lost my appetite. I didn't want to eat anymore. I was sort of done with the meal after that bite of fingernail.
So here's what I want. It is disgusting, I know. That's exactly what I said. But I want you to look at these. Five things.
Like fingernails. They're so nasty to you that you'll want to spit them out. You'll lose your appetite if you eat anymore.
Now, these are relational sins. These deal with people. It's interesting here that he includes these things. Peter would say, Here's some things that come to the table that are so bad for your spiritual appetite that he says you need to lay them aside. You need to say no to these things.
These are horizontal sins. That will take away your appetite for vertical truth. And you and I, we must go vertical. These will choke out nourishment. I read an article this week on a heart-friendly website that said, Food needs to give you.
the nutrients that you need in order to grow. to repair damages, to prevent disease. Anything that you put in your mouth. Except for water. needs to provide nutrition.
It should not take away nutrition. If it does, It's a poison. It kills slowly. But it kills. I don't know where Cherry Cobbler fits into that article, but.
But let's look at these five junk foods. First of all, on the list, Verse one: malice. Laying aside all malice. It's a general word for ill will. It's an attitude.
That eventuates into words that are said and deeds that are done. It begins inside, but eventually you speak it out. Malice, ill will. You could even be looked at as a complaining, grouchy, grumpy person. I heard about a husband who sat down at breakfast.
And his wife cooked him like she did every day: two eggs, one fried, one. Scrambled. And he sat down and looked at the ages went. I knew it. You did it again.
You fried the wrong egg. I think she might have married the wrong egg. Shouldn't have said anything, just shut up, enjoyed the egg, dude. But Jesus said from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks And malice Among Christians. Will quickly cause you to lose your appetite.
So put that aside. That's junk food. Second on the list, deceit. The seed.
Now Peter was a fisherman and he understood this word. The word literally means to bait a hook. That's deceit, to bait a hook.
Now, if you are fishermen. My dad was a big fisherman. Essentially, that's what you're doing when you go fishing. You know that, right? You're deceiving fish.
It's all about the lie. You are lying to those little fish. I have no problem with that. What you do is you take the hook and you cover it up. With something that to the fish looks like a meal.
You're baiting a hook. It's deceit. That's where the word comes from. Peter understood this. Deceit among people is when you play a trick in order to get your way.
You're manipulating them, you're dishonest with them. whether it's an overt lie. Or you are Cleverly hiding an aspect of the truth to gain personal advantage. That's deceit.
Now, notice both of these are on the horizontal level in relationships. Malice? Deceit. I'll give it to you this way. When you eat deceit, you're in no mood to eat real food.
It's a growth stopper. It's an appetite quencher. It'll take away your appetite for the good stuff. Third on the list is hypocrisy. Everybody knows what a hypocrite is.
The word comes to us from the Greek plays. The Greeks would wear masks, often with a smile or a frown, and they would play a part. They would wear a mask in order to play a part. And the word given was hypocrite. A stage actor.
It has become a prominent word even in the English language.
So, a hypocrite is somebody who pretends to be something he or she is not.
So, if somebody pretends to be smarter than they are, or cooler and hipper than they really are, or more spiritual than they are, that person is a hypocrite. Thanks for joining us today on Connect with Skiff Heitzig. Before we go, remember, your generosity helps share God's word around the world, bringing truth and hope to people who need Jesus. And this month, we'd love to thank you for your support by sending you a special resource bundle, Skip's book, Biography of God, along with his six-message CD series, Expound Galatians. Together, these resources help you explore who God really is and how to live in the spiritual freedom he offers.
Give today at connectwithskiff.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888. We'll see you next time for more verse-by-verse teaching of God's Word here on Connect the Skip-Heitzig Weekend Edition. Make a connection now. I'm a fool. Of the crisis.
Connect with Skip Heitzik is a presentation of connection communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.
