Feasting on His Goodness, Part 3

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. This is the third and final part of this message, first preached on September 4th, 2022. God's self-disclosure in word and in person.

You need that like an infant needs milk and that never changes. And this is why Paul said very clearly, Colossians 3 16, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. Notice he doesn't say you need to know the word of God. Now that's assumed. You can't let it dwell in you unless you know it. But listen to me.

It's not enough just to know it. It's like we were at men's breakfast yesterday morning, a couple of guys got these nice big tall glasses of orange juice. Man, that looks good.

That looks refreshing. And I could come away and say, so-and-so had orange juice for men's breakfast. Now, if it's just sitting there on the table, it's not doing them a whole lot of good, is it? For that orange juice to be refreshing and nourishing for them, they have to consume it. It has to become a part of them. So Jesus said, he who feeds on me will live because of me.

Are you getting the picture? Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. And he says in verse 2, like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk. Undiluted and unadulterated.

Don't water it down and don't add anything to it. The word of God. Because the word of the Lord takes us to the Lord of the word. And my prayer for you, every one of you, as I pray for you throughout the course of the year, my prayer for you, without exception, is that God would lead you to a delight in his word that will lead you to a delight in him.

This is where transformation happens. This is how we become like Christ. I'll never forget, as I was first preaching as a lead pastor in a church, I was up in Michigan, the first senior pastor that I had. Before that, I was an associate pastor for all things Christian education and music. I was a senior pastor in the church. I was a senior pastor for all things Christian education and music in a fairly large church in Virginia.

Then we moved to Michigan and I became the lead pastor of a smaller church. In the 90s, that was in the time when the whole idol of relevance was really taking grip over evangelicalism. It's like we have to make the word of God relevant. Listen, let me make something the gospel is inherently relevant.

We don't need to make it relevant. And so I was talking with this other pastor who was really struggling with some of these things and he says, so Rich, he says, so what do you choose to preach on Sunday morning? I says, well, Saturday night, you know, I download a sermon and Andrea edits. No, I just, what do you choose to preach on? Because you know, the image that's portrayed in all the movies in Hollywood, you know, Saturday night, the preacher's sweating. What am I going to preach on tomorrow?

You better be glad I don't do that. Okay. Monday morning, I'm right into it. Getting ready for next Sunday. This is the word of God, folks. This is to be brought to bear upon our lives. We are stewards of God's self-disclosure. And this pastor said to me, Rich, how do you choose what you're going to preach on? I says, well, I just preach expositionally through the text, book by book, chapter by chapter, verse by verse. And he said this, so you give them broccoli, even though you don't like broccoli.

The idol of relevance. The good news is, though at first it might seem like a taste that you need to acquire, the more you eat it, the more you're going to want it. The more you eat it, the more you're going to want it.

You develop an appetite for what you regularly eat. And so the statement I want you to remember today is, in Christ, you are free to feast at the banquet of God's goodness. You are free, in Christ, you are free to feast at the banquet of God's goodness.

Why would you rummage in the dumpster of comparisons and hang on to your broken chains? He speaks that this appetite, this transformed appetite leads us to a growing and flourishing life. A growing and flourishing, I think I left one out there, I'm sorry about that. A growing and flourishing life. He says, verse 2, again, like newborn infants, desire long for the pure spiritual milk that by it you may grow up into salvation. You may grow up into salvation. Salvation is something that God does. In my surrendered faith to Him, He reconciles me to Himself. He justifies me, He reconciles me to Himself.

But that's all God's doing. But then growing up into salvation, growing up into the faith, He says that you may grow up into the faith. He says that you may grow up into salvation. In other words, what He's saying, listen, don't stay in spiritual kindergarten. Don't stay in spiritual kindergarten.

Where you continue to carry those weights around. There's still that precious little bundle who tends to be very self-centered and self-serving and self-preeminent. And when somebody takes something away from you, you get all mad and huffy. Or when somebody does something that you don't like, you get all mad and huffy. Or you see a toy that somebody else wants and there's all these other toys, but what toy do you want?

The one the other kid has. You know adults can act that way too. This is exactly why they have commercials on TV. That you may grow up into salvation. That word salvation is the word deliverance. Grow up into this deliverance, this freedom for which Christ has set you free. What is this freedom? It is freedom from the bondage of sin. The bondage and the penalty of sin. You are free from that, but you're not just free from, you are also free to know God, to walk with Him, to delight in Him, to love Him.

You see a person who is not in Christ cannot do that. But as you walk with God, as you feed on Him, the more you do that, the more you're shedding the dead weight that's holding you back. Grow up into salvation. Grow up into the deliverance. Grow in freedom from the dead weight, casting off the chains. Grow in your walk with God to become like His son.

What's your appetite look like this morning? Here's the goal. The goal is simple, as what Paul put it, the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

That's the goal. What does God want to make of me? He wants me to reach the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. And listen, while we are on this earth under the sun, I will always be moving toward that goal.

I will not reach it fully and completely and absolutely until that moment where I am standing face-to-face with Jesus Christ. And until that moment, God is working this in me and He's doing it through transforming my appetite. Because I have tasted that the Lord is good, and therefore, like a newborn infant, I am longing for the spiritual food that comes from God's presence and His self-disclosure. That transforms me.

That frees me. That helps me shed all the dead weight that keeps me from getting into the fullness of me. That helps me shed all the dead weight that keeps me from being like Jesus. This is how grace works. You cast off the binding dead weight by feeding on His goodness.

That's how grace works. One of my favorite verses texts of Scripture comes from Psalm 36, verses 8 and 9. They feast on the abundance of your house, and a house represents the presence of God.

They feast on the abundance of your house. You give them drink from the river of your delights, for with you is the fountain of life. In your light do we see light. I love those verses. Do you know God this way?

What dead weight is there in your life that needs to be shed? What are you going to do to make your way back to the banquet table to feast on the goodness and the excellencies of God? Because you have tasted that the Lord is good. If you were here this morning and you have not tasted that the Lord is good, I invite you, I invite you to sit down at the table and actually see that the Lord is good. And the only thing you need to do is look at the cross. Your Creator loves you that much that He would die for you.

That's how good He is. What are you going to do about that? To know Him and to enjoy Him forever requires your surrender to that. And I invite you to that this morning. And Christians, for those of you, for those of us who are in Christ, let's be about feeding at His banquet table. Because He's continuing on after this 12 characteristics of people who are free. If you go to a restaurant and you really like the restaurant and the food is absolutely delicious and you know you're going back again, you know what you do?

You tell other people about it and they know you like that restaurant because you're going back again. 12 characteristics of people who are free. Number one is feeding on His goodness. Numbers 2 and 3 are proclaiming His goodness and living His goodness.

We'll study that in the next couple of weeks. 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, 7 Words That Can Change Your Life, where he unpacks from God's Word the very purpose for which you were designed. 7 Words That Can Change Your Life is available wherever books are sold. As always, tune in to Delight in Grace, weekdays at 10 a.m.