May the Lord God be with us this
morning as we turn once more to his word. And we will turn
to the chapter that we read together in a first epistle to Peter,
first epistle of Peter rather, and chapter two and reading verse
two. One Peter chapter two and verse
two. As newborn babes, desire the
sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby. As newborn babes, desire the
sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby. Well, you children who were in
the Sunday school this morning will hopefully still remember
that in the opening you heard about Pilgrim, or Christian,
in the Pilgrim's Progress. And you heard about how he had
found a book in his home. He had dusted it off and began
reading it. And that that book had caused
him to be very troubled and concerned. And the reason was the book had
taught him that he was a sinner, but it also taught him that the
place that he was living, the city of destruction, was to be
destroyed. And in reading the book, he was
worried about what he should do, where he should go, and the
future path. And we heard about, didn't we,
how he was directed by evangelists to flee out of the city towards
that light in the distance. But that book that he was reading
was the Bible. He had discovered it and found
it and it troubled him because it told him the truth about himself
and about the world around him. And perhaps because we have,
for many of us here, often read the Bible, often come for public
worship like this and have the Bible read to us, Often, some
of us perhaps have a number of copies of the scriptures of the
Bible at home. We can be guilty of taking that
for granted, of forgetting what a privilege it is to have the
Word of God. You know, in the past, people
would go to great lengths to try and have a copy of the Bible. They would travel long distances
or pay a lot of money to have their own copy of the Bible. In the past, people have died
trying to translate and distribute the Bible. And of course, even
today, the Bible is still being translated, because some in the
world do not have it in their own language as yet. It is a
great blessing to have the Word of God, to have it read, to be
able to hear it, and to be able to understand it. And to that,
I don't think we should ever diminish also the blessing that
we have in receiving an education so that we can, at least on the
surface, read and understand the Word. If we couldn't read,
then the Word of God would mean nothing to us. And so it is a
wonderful blessing to have the Word of God. First of all this
morning, just to give an overview, I want to consider what makes
the Bible, what makes this book unique? Why is this book different
from any other book? The world is filled with books. There are thousands and millions
and billions probably of books and we can turn to all the different
types and genres and authors of books. What makes this book
different? And if we can maybe narrow it
down, what makes this book different from any other religious books? How is this book different from
the Quran? What makes this book different
from the Bhagavad Gita and so forth? Why is the Bible unique? Well, the Bible, at one point,
is unique because it was written over such a long period of time. Of course, as we know, the Bible
is not just one book, it is a collection of 66 different books. And it's written over a vast
period of time, around about 2,000 years, from the life of
Moses, when the early books of the Bible were written, all the
way to John in the writing of the book of Revelation. And over
all of this vast period of years, around about 40 different authors
were involved in the writing of the scriptures. And you can
read the writings of kings and of men of great authority like
David and Solomon. You can read the writings of
shepherds and simple people like Peter and of course David when
he was younger. You can read the writings of
fishermen and of people who had little natural education. You
can read the writings of prophets and people who spoke of the word
of God more directly. It is a vast collection of different
people from different backgrounds, different places, different abilities,
naturally. Some of the books were written
in Israel, Some of the books are written in the midst of the
wilderness. Some of the books are written far off in Babylon
in exile. Some of the books are written
in Rome. One book was written on an island of Patmos. Vast
areas of geography, vastly different people and vastly different circumstances. Some of the Bible is written
in very difficult circumstances of times of invasion. or times
of exile where the people were taken off into another land. Some of the Bible is written
in times of wandering when the people didn't know where they
were going or quite how long they would be there. Some of
the Bible is written in times of great prosperity and joy and
rejoicing. You see different circumstances,
different people, different times, different places. But the wonderful
thing about the Bible is that from beginning to end, there
is one central theme. The scriptures teach us that
there is one God. Every author, every person, every
section of the scriptures clearly teaches us that there is one
God. And we are told that that God
is holy, that God is perfect, that God is the creator of the
heavens and of the earth. And the scriptures tell us clearly
that that God in his holiness is angry with the sins of this
world. That the world has fallen, that
the world has turned into sin, and that the world justly deserves
the anger of God. And yet the Bible tells us again
from beginning to end that the Lord is merciful, that the Lord
is ready to forgive all who turn unto him. And whether you turn
to the promise right back in the Garden of Eden that he would
send one to bruise the head of the serpent, or whether you turn
to his goodness in the wilderness when Moses was instructed to
lift up a serpent, a brazen serpent, that the people might look and
be healed. or whether you turn to this time
of Babylon when suddenly through the wonderful decree of Cyrus
they will return back to their homeland. Or whether, of course,
you come to the New Testament and the person and teaching of
Jesus Christ and his work of salvation on the cross. From
beginning to end, we have a God of justice and we have a God
of mercy. And so whatever author, whatever
time, whatever place, there is this wonderful unity in the scriptures
that declares to us so plainly, this is the word of God. The Word of God, of course, over
the years has faced much opposition. People have not wanted to hear
the truth. They have not wanted to hear
what it speaks to them. Like Pilgrim that we heard of
this morning, now he was challenged by the Word. He was condemned
by the Word. And he sought and desired to
know a way of mercy, a way of life. because of what he read
in the word. But many people have read the
word and have turned away from it as a result, have not wanted
it, have rejected what it has spoken. You can think of, in
the Old Testament, we read of that King Jehoiakim. And Jeremiah
sent a prophecy unto Jehoiakim the king and he took the scroll
that had been written, and he ripped it up with a penknife
and threw it in the fire. He did not want the Word. He
did not want to hear what God had spoken. Through the many, many years
up till now, the Word of God has been banned. It has been
burned. The translation of the Word has
been forbidden. Those who have tried to do it
have been killed, martyred. And so there's been much opposition
to the word, and yet the word has prevailed. Think of that
occasion with King Jehoiakim. What happened after it was ripped
up and burned? That the Lord spoke unto Jeremiah again, and
it was written out again. And the Word of God has been
opposed over many, many years, and yet here it is in our hands,
in our possession, in our language for us to read today. And so it is a wonderful privilege,
a wonderful blessing for us today that we can turn to the Word. But, of course, we know that
as precious and unique as the book is, the Word of God It has
a depth. It is powerful. There is blessing
in the Word of God. It is not like any other book
because it is not just a book to read and forget about. There
is power and authority in the Word of God. The Word itself
describes itself as a sharp, two-edged sword. A sharp two-edged
sword, of course, can cut through so many things. It can cause
great damage from that point of view. It can cause great effect.
It has a real impact. The Word of God cuts through. It makes a real impact in the
hand of God to those who read it. And so it must be our concern
that the Word of God is not just something we read and forget
about. That it isn't just, if you like, on the surface level. What we want is that the word,
yes, goes into our mind as we read it. We literally understand
it in our head. But what we desire is that the
word goes much deeper than the mind, and that it enters through
the mind into the heart, and that it truly has an effect upon
us, a God-given effect. What do we know then about this
word? Well, let's look just firstly
at these closing verses that we read together in chapter one.
In 1 Peter chapter one, we are told how remarkable the word
of God is. You notice in verse 24, we read
that all flesh is as grass and all the glory of man is the flower
of grass. The grass withereth and the flower
fadeth, thereof falleth away, but the word of the Lord endureth
forever. This is a word that endures. Not just endures in time, but
endures in the sense that it does not change. It does not change. It is true. Truth, today for many people,
is something which changes. It's something that's not really
able to grasp, something that's not very tangible. What is truth? And people's idea of what is
right comes and goes with the winds of time. But here with
the Bible, we have the absolute truth. And in a changing world,
this should be our great encouragement, this should be our rock, our
stable point, that this word endures forever. It is applicable
to us today as it has been throughout the centuries, throughout the
millennia. It applies to us because fundamentally
the state of man is the same today as it was way back when
Moses first started writing. Man is still fallen. Man is still
in need of the mercy of God. Man is still in the face of God's
wrath and man still needs a saviour. And so the Word of God, which
does not change, it endures forever, is applying to us today because
we have the same fundamental needs. We have the picture here,
the grass and the flower of the grass, it withers and it falls
away. And we can see that at springtime
at the moment, we can see the flowers coming up, and they look
beautiful, and we appreciate them for a time, but in a few
weeks those flowers will have gone. They will have fallen away. And you see, the ideas and philosophies
and views of men are like those flowers. It comes up. It's popular
for a short period of time. People buy in to that thought. They enjoy it. It's the idea
of the day. But it falls away. And then another
idea comes, and another view comes. And people follow that
view, or that person, or that position. You see, it comes and
it goes. But the word of the Lord endureth
forever. How can we know that the Word
of God is the same, that it is truth, that it does not change?
Well, because it's the Word of God. You see, God is truth. God does not change. Jesus Christ, we read, is the
same yesterday and today and forever. And as He endures forever,
He does not change His mind. He does not change with the ideas
of men. He is not subject to the views
of the world. He is the same forever. He is always holy. He is always
righteous. He is always gracious and merciful. because the very character of
God does not change, then surely it is true that his word does
not change. It endures forever. Well then what does this Word
point us to? To say there's so much in the
Word of God. It is full of instruction. It's
full of encouragement. It's full of prophecy. It's full
of fulfilled prophecy. There is so much in the Word
of God about our lives, about our church life, about how we
follow the Lord. But what is the sum and substance
of it all? What is the main thrust of the
Word? We read, Forasmuch as ye know
that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver
and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your
fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ. of a lamb without
blemish and without spot, who verily was foreordained before
the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last
times for you. And then when we skip to verse
25, you see it says, and this is the word which by the gospel
is preached unto you. The word that's being referred
to in verse 25, this word which by the gospel is preached, is
this message found here in the previous verses. The message
of the precious blood of Christ. And from beginning to end, then,
the word of God preaches Christ. It is not the ideas of men. You are not redeemed with corruptible
things. You are not redeemed with silver
and gold. You are not redeemed from the
vain conversation that you've received by tradition from the
fathers. You are not redeemed with earthly
things or with earthly ideas. You are redeemed solely and only
by the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish
and without spot. The word of God constantly points
us to a savior. Of course we have the wonderful
types in the Old Testament, the types found in the Passover,
where there the firstborn in the house was kept safe, alive,
only because of the death of the lamb and the blood that was
applied. We have the types in the sacrifices
of the Old Testament, the sacrifices of the tabernacle and later of
the temple, when they were brought as a sin-offering for the sinner. And we have the types through
the various events of the wilderness wanderings that I mentioned earlier.
The serpent that was lifted up on the pole and all who looked
lived. There is this constant reminder
that man needs a saviour. That we cannot save ourselves. that nothing we do, nothing we
have, nothing we know can save us. There is no way unto God
with a baggage load of things that we think will earn our way
to God. And so you can be the richest
person in the world and that will not bring you to God. You
can be the cleverest person in the world, that will not bring
you to God. You can be the best theologian
in the world and understand everything of the scriptures on the head
level. That will not bring you to God. You see, what we need is a saviour. And it is of the work of God
to direct us through his word to that saviour. And here he
is, the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish
and without spot. But you see the wonderful news
of the Gospel about this Saviour is that this is God's eternal
plan. He was verily ordained before
the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last
times for you. Before the foundation of the
world, before the creation, before He spoke, let there be light. Before Adam breathed his first,
before the fall, before sin entered into the world, it had been foreordained
that God would save His people, because God does not change,
because God is eternal. And so this amazing, wonderful,
eternal plan of love is this, it reveals to us the determination
of God to save his people. It was foreordained before the
foundation of the world. And now, he says, this is the
word which by the gospel is preached unto you. This word has come
to us today, you see? This is our privilege. This is
why we should be reading, devouring the Word, because it preaches
Christ unto us. This is the good news of the
Gospel, says the Apostle. This is the Word that was preached
unto you. This is the Word that does not
change. And as Peter needed the precious blood of Christ, and
those he preached to needed the precious blood of Christ, So
this word that endures forever, we need the precious blood of
Christ. Oh, that blood of Christ shows
us of his death. It shows us his suffering. It
shows us that Christ is in the sinner's place and that he dies
that they might live. The word tells us we need a savior
and we all need a savior. Or may we all have received this
word that's been preached unto us and come and found the glorious
gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ to be our hope and our salvation. And so the word points us to
Christ. But the word also points us to
the way of obedience. Verse 22 of chapter one, seeing
you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through
the spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren. See that you
love one another with a pure heart fervently. Being born again,
not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word
of God, which liveth and abideth forever. And so here is the instruction,
the direction of the word of God that we might follow in obeying
the truth through the spirit. But you see, the vital thing
here, and we must not, in of course preaching a word, we must
not forget this vital thing. You have obeyed the truth, that
is you have heard the word, you have received the word, You have
repented of your sins because that is the call of the Word.
You have turned to the Lord Jesus Christ because that is the revelation
of the Word. You see how wonderful the Word
is, but how? You've obeyed the truth through
the Spirit. And we must not ever forget that
point. It is through the work of the
Spirit who takes of the Word of God and applies it to the
people of God. who opens their hearts and understanding,
and who brings with power and authority the Word of God. You see, it is possible for us
all to read the Word. We have it in our language and
we have the ability to read, we can read the Word. But the
challenge is, do we read it as the Word of God? Do we read it
as God speaking? Do we read it as His word? Now,
if we are to receive it as authority, we are to receive it as it applies
to us, what we need so vitally is the work of the Spirit. But
you see, God has promised this. God has promised the work of
the Spirit. God has sent Holy Spirit to work. You think of
the preaching of Peter. Peter on that day of Pentecost,
he preached Christ, didn't he? He preached to the people, he
preached their sins, how they had rejected the Messiah, how
they had crucified him. He preached Christ, how God had
raised him up from the dead and made him that great king and
victor. They preached the truth, the word of God. And they were
cut to the heart. Now how is that? You think of
these people, it may well be that some of the company of Peter's
congregation had been there on the days of the trial and crucifixion
of Jesus. But at least think of that crowd
of people. Here is the Son of God. Here is Jesus Christ himself. Here he is being betrayed. Here
he is being mocked, being tried, being beaten and scourged. Here
is Jesus on the cross. And yet for multitudes of people
it didn't move them at all. They continued to reject him.
They continued to despise him. They were not moved to a true
spiritual repentance by even beholding the Son of God on the
cross. And so how is it that just one
man preaches on the day of Pentecost and suddenly we have thousands
of people repenting of their sins and turning to the Lord
and being baptized? It's the work of the Spirit on
that day. The spirit fell and worked powerfully in their hearts.
He broke their hearts and gave them a true spirit of repentance
so that they said, sirs, what shall we do? You see the vital difference that
the spirit makes. Well then, if this is the power
and the blessing of the word, If this is the change to be known
through the power and blessing of the word, we have to ask,
have we known that? Is this book a living book? And
do we love the message of the book? Have we ourselves known
the blessing of the gospel? Or at the moment, is it still
dry? dead and uninteresting to us. Oh, how can we turn away
from this wonderful message of the gospel? You are not redeemed
with corruptible things, but with the precious blood of Christ. Oh, how can we turn away? How
can we not hear that wonderful news? Have we? Have we? Have we rejoiced to hear that
the promised Christ has come? Have we rejoiced at the foot
of the cross to realize He has borne our sins and carried our
sorrows? Have we rejoiced as we've come
to the end of the Gospels and read that the tomb is empty and
He lives forever? Have we rejoiced even as we've
read of the book of the Revelation and we've read that He reigns
victorious for his people. Have we rejoiced in reading the
word? Oh, the power and the blessing. But let's come back to this text. Because not only is a power and
blessing, but you see, we have great need for the word. We have
great need. We do not outgrow it. We do not
get beyond it. As newborn babes, as newborn
babes, desire the sincere milk of the word that ye may grow
thereby. And so we have a picture here
of a baby, of a young child. And we all know that babies,
when they're hungry, they need feeding. Without that food, they
are weak. Without that food, they will
eventually, of course, get so weak that they can't do anything.
But the baby has a simple food, a simple food of milk. It's good,
it's nourishing, it's necessary, and they're satisfied by it.
They're happy with it. But they need it, you see. They'll
be weak, they'll die eventually if they're not given their milk.
And so here is this child that desires the milk. And will cry
until it has the milk. As newborn babes desire the sincere
milk of the word. And so there's a real encouragement
here to stay in the word. Do not think that when we come
to know the Lord Jesus Christ that we've got beyond the word.
Because here is our daily nourishment. Here is our regular food. We need to be continually directed
back to the attributes and knowledge of God. We need to be continually
reminded of his glorious work. We need to be continually brought
back to the gospel of grace because we need that regular reminder
that salvation is not of us, but of Him. We need to come back
to the milk of the Word. Oh, the tragedy is that sometimes
the Christian loses his appetite for the Word. If a child goes for hours and
hours and doesn't cry for its milk, then you'd be worried. You'd be worried it wasn't well.
You'd be worried, where's the appetite gone? Why isn't it hungry?
Why doesn't it cry for its food? It must be unwell. But sadly,
we do come to that point from a spiritual point of view. We
need to pray for an appetite. The prey that we might desire.
He says, as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word.
Oh, we need to pray for that desire. Oh, give me a hunger,
give me an appetite, Lord, for the word. It's a sad fact of the human
heart that we can get, even a Christian can get so hard-hearted. and
the word means nothing to them. The word that they once loved,
the word that they once fed on, the gospel that they rejoiced
in, it was their food, it was their milk, it was their drink,
it was all that they needed, and they loved it, and they loved
to hear it, and they loved to speak of it. But sadly, we can
all come to that point when that seems to fade away, where the
appetite seems to have gone. The psalmist say, O Lord, wilt
thou not revive us again, that thy people might rejoice in thee?
Lord, wilt thou not make me healthy and strong and hungry for the
word again? Because this is that ye might
grow. Desire the sincere milk of the
word, that ye might grow thereby. And we're told, aren't we, to
grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus
Christ. How are we to grow in knowledge?
How are we to be deepening in our knowledge of Christ? Is it
not through the Word? Is it not as we come to the truth? And so, as I say, we need to
come back. We need to read again of the attributes and of the
character of God. When we've become too comfortable
in this world, we need to read again that the Lord God is holy,
that He is pure and sinless. When we've become too used to
normalize to the sin around us, we need to remember and we need
to read that God is holy and angry with sin. When we become downcast, When
we feel that the Lord has left us and abandoned us, we need
to come back to the word. We need to remember, how did
he deal with people? How did he deal with David? How
did he lead and direct him? How did he continue to always
be with David, even in the wanderings as he was chased by King Saul? How did he deal with other characters
in the scriptures? How did he lead and keep and
direct them? You see, we can find encouragement.
And we come to the Word, we need to be reminded that God is grace,
that God is a way of salvation. And we, when we feel our sin
and that renewed sin and that renewed sadness of sin, we come
back and we read, He is merciful and gracious and slow to anger
and abundant in mercy. We need to hear it again and
again. We need to be reminded of the
joys and the sorrows of God's people. That's when we turn most
importantly to the Psalms. We read there of the rejoicings
and the blessings that people have received. And we read there
of their sadnesses and their difficulties and their broken
hearts. And we can join with them in
the Psalms. We need to be reminded of God's
victory, of God's triumph. of God's defeat of his enemies,
either in the literal, as we read of the defeat of Satan,
and we read of the glory which is prepared for his people, or
in type. We read of Goliath and how David
slew Goliath by the hand of God, and we read of Sennacherib and
how the Lord turned him away from Jerusalem, Hezekiah. You
see, again, we find this encouragement in different places, different
situations in our life. The Word has the answer. The
Word directs us and encourages us. Desire the sincere milk of the
Word that ye may grow thereby. Do you see what the Word always
does? And we read it rightly and consider
it rightly. What the Word always does is
it cuts us down. and it lifts up Christ. It shows us our unworthiness,
our sinfulness. It shows us our weakness. And we, if we're left there,
we despair. We think the Word only seems
to condemn. But then we are told of the Savior and of grace and
of mercy and of the long-suffering of God. Oh, the Word cuts us
down, and the Word lifts up Christ. This is why, and I don't need
to tell you this, but let's just say it for the sake, because
it's an issue in the world, this is why the preaching must be
the preaching of the Word. It is not the ideas of men. It is not the views of men. Timothy was told by Paul, preach
the word. This is why, because there's
power in the word, and because the word answers the needs of
the people, because it's his holy word. As newborn babes, desire the
sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby. If so be,
ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. We have this same picture carrying
on here of tasting. Milk is something we take into
our mouths, we taste it. Have we tasted of the graciousness
of God? Have we tasted that the Lord
is gracious? Had something, had a little light
had a little taste, a little flavour of the graciousness of
God. Just something that's remained with us for a period of time,
something that's been precious. Have you tasted that the Lord
is gracious? Or there's been perhaps just one little passage,
or one little word, one little text, and it's just leapt out,
there's been some life there. It's been to you the Word of
God at that moment. It was a taste, it was a little
flavour, But it was real, you tasted, the Lord was gracious.
He spoke. Oh, my friends, don't you want
to eat more? Do we not desire to taste more? Do we not desire
to feast? Desire the sincere milk of the
word, that you may grow thereby, if so be you have tasted, the
Lord is gracious. Oh, desire. the blessing of God on the Word. Desire to come and speak just
where you are. And you would see how the Word
applies to you. And it does. Because I come back
to the main message of the Word. How do you know the Word of God
applies to you? You say, people perhaps think
this and say this. There was a word for me there,
or there was a direction for me there. There was a word. You
say, well, how do we know the word applies to you? Well, you
know the main word of God applies to us all. It tells us that we are sinners.
It tells us of the wretchedness of our state. It tells us of the holiness of
God. And we all fall under that condemnation.
And it tells us of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. And
so that's a word for you, isn't it? That applies to you, doesn't
it? Because we've all fallen, we've
all come short of the glory of God. But God so loved the world. that he gave his only begotten
son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but
have everlasting life. Is that a word for you? Of course
it is. Because it's the truth. And because we all need it. Oh,
that we could have the faith to grasp it. And oh, that we
might know the joy of not just tasting, but of drinking in the
sincere milk of the word. Or may we know the Lord's help
and may we be directed by his spirit to see Christ in it all. Amen.