Feeding on His Goodness, Part 1

Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. 1 Peter 2.1 calls us to rid ourselves of five sins from our former lives. These are destructive to others and dead weight in our own lives. But how do we cast off sinful patterns that come so easily to us? Peter answers that question in the next two verses by feasting on the goodness of the Lord. Today's sermon, Feeding on His Goodness, is an encouraging reminder in the battle against sin and the flesh.

Let's listen in. Today we begin a third series in the exposition of 1 Peter. The first series was the identity of a free people because the overall title for this series of 1 Peter is Live as People Who Are Free.

That's a quote from 1 Peter 2 verse 16. Live as people who are free. So beginning in the first chapter, we looked at the identity of a free people. Who are these free people? We are elect exiles according to the foreknowledge of God. Who have an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. Who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

That's who we are, the free people. And then we continued by looking at the fact that living by faith is liberating. We looked at the basis of our faith which is the abiding word of God. We looked at the object of our faith who is Jesus Christ himself. We looked at the attitude of faith. We looked at the conduct of faith last Sunday. Today we begin a third series.

This one has 12 parts. Not all today, relax. 12 characteristics of people who are free.

We're going to look at one of them today. 12 characteristics of people who are free. And the first one is people who are free are feeding on God's goodness. People who are free are feeding on his goodness. If you are not free in Christ, you cannot do that. Now God is gracious and he's good and he gives reign to the wicked and to the righteous. So there is a common grace upon humanity. But only the one who is free in Christ can actually feed on his goodness.

That's what free people do. Have you got a taste? Have you tasted his goodness? Have you actually tasted, have I actually tasted the goodness of God or do I just know about him?

Do you have knowledge of God or do you truly know God? Genuine taste. When there is a genuine taste of God, when you experience God in all of his unfailing goodness and his excellencies, then you want more.

That's how grace works. Picture yourself walking through a shopping mall and you're looking at people and window displays and suddenly a whiff of cinnamon hits your nose. You weren't even hungry but now you really crave that cinnamon roll. You've been there haven't you? I know I have. This craving isn't something that's made up. There you were minding your own business when some drifting molecules of sugar, butter and spice collided with the susceptible patch inside your nose and you had a real encounter with cinnamon. Not a mental delusion, not an emotional projection, but the real thing.

And what was the effect? You want more now. And if you hunger to know the presence of God, if you hunger to know the presence of God, you have already begun to scent God's compelling delight. Psalm 34 says it well. Taste and see that the Lord is good.

Let's read this together. O taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who takes refuge. You have no lack. The young lions suffer want and hunger, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.

It's an amazing truth, isn't it? The unfailing goodness of God, the grace of God that he lavishes upon us. And when we desire God, we've tasted God and we desire God, the word of the Lord leads us to the Lord of the word. The Lord is good. He is excellent in all his ways, in everything he does, in his absolute goodness and character.

He is excellent in the sense that he is gracious and kind. God is gracious and kind. How do we know? Look at the cross. That's how you know.

If you ever question, if you ever wonder, if you ever doubt, look at the cross. That's how you know God is gracious and kind. That's how you know how much he loves you.

That's how you know how much he loves you. His faithfulness is just that he is unfailingly good. He is always, always acting according to two things.

Number one, his perfect character and his perfect plan. That's his faithfulness. He is your highest good and your deepest satisfaction. This is our God. And when you have truly tasted him, there's no going back. So this is why Peter says this in verse three. We're just looking at the first three verses of 1 Peter 2. If indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. Have you tasted that the Lord is good? Listen, you don't come to God on a probationary basis. He doesn't hand out samples. We've all seen those, haven't we? You go to Sam's, some large grocery store, Costco, and they have these sample tables.

Here, try a little bit of this and see if you like it. That's not how God operates. The sovereign of the universe did not create you. And then in your rebellion, he sent his son to die for you, to redeem you back and reconcile you back to himself so that you might try him.

You don't negotiate terms of surrender with the sovereign one. He requires nothing short of your absolute surrender. Then and only then will you taste and see that the Lord is good. If you don't think God is good, it's for one reason alone, you have not surrendered to him. Taste if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. If that is the case, if you have truly tasted him. He's talking a lot about eating in these first three verses, so I really appreciate this because I love to eat.

I love good food, that which is nourishing, that which is tasteful. But if I eat too much of the wrong thing, I'm going to create a lot of unnecessary weight. And here's we who are in Christ, we have as new creations, we have this dead weight, dead weight, that's weighing us down and holding us back.

And that dead weight needs to get shed. He says here, look at verse 1, chapter 2, 1 Peter 2, 1, so put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and slander. And some of you are sitting here thinking, I know right, context is king, what's the first word in this verse, in this chapter, so.

We're going to get there, all right, context is king. So is like a therefore, right? Put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and slander, like newborn infants long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. Here's the truth of the matter, you were born into bondage. And before you were in Christ, and today if you are sitting here listening to me, and you are not in Christ, here is the fact of the matter, you are in bondage. Everyone is slave to someone or something. The question is, is your master the benevolent sovereign one? Or are you in bondage to something else?

Because Peter says, put away all malice, and that word put away is like, take it off, take the robe off, these dirty clothes, take the amazing grace, my chains are gone, I've been set free, right? My chains are gone. Your chains are broken, so pull them off. Some of those chains might be wrapped around you. Christ in his goodness, in his death on the cross, and his resurrection from the dead, broke those chains that held me in bondage. Now I need to make sure I have shed those chains. Because here's the fact, here's the reality for us, I am so used to those chains, they were so much a part of me, that even as I am new in Christ, I might yet pick up those chains and still carry them with me.

It doesn't make any sense, does it? But this is exactly why Peter says here, put away all malice and deceit and hypocrisy and envy and slander. All of these are actions that are coming from our attitudes, these chains that are broken, I need to pull these chains off and let them go. They should not be a part of my life.

Slander. I don't need to spend a lot of time on these because you're all very familiar with them by experience. And I am too. We don't have to be taught these things. These are things that come very natural to us.

But these are the things for which Christ died. We're so glad you've joined us for Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. You can hear this message and others anytime by visiting our website, www.delightingrace.com. You can also check out Pastor Rich's book, Seven Words That Can Change Your Life, where he unpacks from God's word, the very purpose for which you were designed. Seven Words That Can Change Your Life is available wherever books are sold. As always, tune in to Delight in Grace weekdays at 10 AM.