the story of the Philippian jailer,
as you know. He was given charge to put Paul
and Silas in the deepest part of the jail and the deepest part
of the dungeons, the lowest part where the sewage would run through,
to make sure that he kept them there. They'd been out stirring
up the people. They were preaching the free
grace of Jesus Christ. And the religious men of that
day didn't like that at all because people were starting to stop
the ceremonial stuff that these religious men had built up. The
waving of the smoke, dipping into the holy water, whatever
rituals they might have been doing. Observing the Sabbath. getting
baptized, whatever rituals you can think of that religious people
do. The people were leaving those rituals and going to hear the
true gospel being preached from men like John the Baptist, Paul
and Silas, Peter, John, Matthew. And the religious men didn't
like that. So they went to the ruler of the times to throw these
men into prison for us and the jailer That night there was singing
and praising to our Lord and Savior in the bottom of the jail
there. And there was a great earthquake,
such an earthquake that even the shackles fell off the hands
of the men. The doors became wide open. And
this jailer who was given that very responsibility to keep them in
jail, thought, oh, they had to be gone, and he went and he almost
killed himself. He was about to commit suicide.
And Paul and Silas hollered out, no, no, no, no, we're still here.
We're still here. And the jailer was like, whoa,
wait a minute. Wow, they're still here? What in the world? Because
if it would have been me, I'd have been out of there, gone.
Look there, the door's open. I'm out of here and gone. That night, these two men were
used by God to preach the gospel to a Philippian jailer. Can you
imagine the questions that man had? He'd never heard the gospel
preached before. What do you mean? Who is this
Jesus you're talking about? Who is this? I heard about Him,
yeah. I don't know much about Him,
though. What a wonderful thing you're saying about Him. He's
sovereign? He rules over everything? Wow! This Jesus, He could be called
God, huh? He made all these things happen?
He could be called... And what's this part about the
fact that He loves people so much that He laid down His own
life? Could you imagine having to ask those very questions? I remember coming to Pastor Gene
and Steve Doyle, dressed in my leathers, getting off the Harley,
coming in here, I was all dressed in leathers even, and saying,
what in the world is going on? Why is it that I feel like I
just gotta come back here every Sunday and hear about this Jesus
you're talking about? I remember the questions that
were going through my mind, and I would have them, they would
come up in my mind, The Lord would just answer him through
Gene and his preaching. And by the end of the message,
I can't tell you how many times this happened in Bible study
Friday nights. We get around at the end of the
Bible study with Gene Harmon on Friday nights. And how many
of you know this? I'm sure you'll back me up on
this. How many times do we sit there and say, you know, Pastor,
we don't have any questions because you've answered them all already.
Well, that's what the Lord did to me. Sitting here in this pew,
hearing the gospel preached, I would come up with questions.
I can imagine that jailer having the same questions. And I got
to thinking about this. That jailer, he was like a little
baby. He was hearing something for
the first time, and oh, it was good. It was good stuff. I've got to have more of that. Think about that baby who comes
from his mother's womb. Isn't it amazing? Isn't it amazing
how the Lord has made so many things go together, work together? Just, I mean, you know, we get
rain. It's produced from the oceans
out here in the sea. And the clouds come up here under
the coast, and they dump snow in the mountains, and they dump
enough snow sometimes, not all the time, but sometimes enough
to keep the valleys full of water. Our God created all that. Isn't
that awesome? The same God that created all
that we can see created these very bodies that we have. We
put stuff in the mouth and it nourishes this body and keeps
this body going. It gives it energy to keep going.
No man could have ever thought of anything like that. Only the
wisdom of God could have come up with such a magnificent creation.
Turn with me from your Bibles to the book of the Epistle of
Peter, Chapter 2, please. Have you ever taken a moment
to consider those things, the wonders of God's creation? The
lands, the seas, the elements, the rule of natural things, rain,
sun, wind, snow? All these things that a great
and wise God created going together to supply what man needs. But we can go a step further.
Consider the wonder of these bodies that our Lord has given
us. Eyes to see. Imagine what it
would be to be blind and not be able to see anything. Well, it's funny, I can imagine
that now. Now that I see I was blind. Ears to hear. Imagine what it
must be for those who suffer deafness. That's funny. I can imagine it now, knowing
that once I couldn't hear. A nose to smell, etc, etc. What a wonder. What a wonder
of His great wisdom. My thoughts are drawn to these
words in 1 Peter chapter 2. In verse 1, wherefore, laying
aside all malice and guile and hypocrisies and envies and all
evil speakings, as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the
word, that we may grow thereby, if so be ye have tasted that
the Lord is gracious. My subject this morning is sincere
milk. Consider for a moment the picture
our Lord has given us in these words. As newborn babes, desire the
sincere milk of the word that ye may grow thereby. We take
this into consideration. A child is born in such weakness, undeveloped, Everything is just
getting started. To those of us who are familiar
with small engines like Harley-Davidson's, sorry. As we picture this babe, this
newborn who's coming to the world, it's what we would call break-in
time. You see, a motorcycle must be
broke in. When you buy a brand new motorcycle with a motor,
they don't take it like a car and run it through and do all
that stuff. No, they put it all together,
put it in a box, and send it out. So they tell you you've
got to go out and do it a certain way. You don't want to just get
on the motorcycle and run down the road with it because it'll
destroy the motor. The motor won't last very long. It's got
to get broke in. You got to get it heated up.
The metal's got to get hot and then cooled off in certain ways.
They tell you to go out and ride for the first 500 miles by riding
at this RPM, then riding at a different one, just to get the motor to
be broken, to get the small engine to perform at its best at high
RPM conditions. Folks, these bodies also have
what's called a break-in period time. You don't come out of the
mother's room running, do you? No. Our nutrition is also important. The stomach must be developed.
The digestive system must be tuned to accept the things, the
things that we will use as fuel as we get older and as we grow.
What a creation, this nutritional fluid called milk. Mothers will understand this,
I'm sure. Probably way better than fathers. This milk God designed, it was
designed by the one of all wisdom to grow a newborn into a healthy
living child. All the needs that the body requires
is in this one element of milk that comes from his mother. Yet it's gentle. It's sensitive. The newborn organs can accept
it and be nourished by it. Isn't that amazing? Something
so simple as milk can be so wonderful to the growing child. And here our great God gives
you and I a picture of his word as the nutrition needed to the
souls of men. Matthew 11, 29, our Lord says
this, Take my yoke, take my yoke upon you, and learn
of me. For I am meek and lowly in heart,
and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and
my burden is light. sincere milk of His Word. What a wonderful thing. What
a wonderful thing. The gospel of Christ, the good
news for sinners, is like milk to a newborn. It's warm to the
taste. It fills our bellies. Our cup
runneth over. And it provides all that we need
to be sustained as we go through this life. Our walk through this
life is clouded by the flesh and drained by sin, bringing
us to our Lord for nourishment. As newborn children, we are drawn
to the mother's milk of life. We are drawn to the Word of Life,
the Word of God. In Romans 10, 17, we read this, Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the Word of God. Let's consider this word desire
for just a moment. It means to have a need. It literally
means to lust after. It means to burn within. In Luke 24, 32, two men on the
road from Emmaus had been taught by God, taught by the Lord Jesus
Christ Himself, the themes of Scripture concerning Himself.
And afterwards, after the Lord had left them, after they had
supper with Him, they were together and they said one to another,
did not our heart burn within us? That's that word lust. That's that word desire. Did
not our heart desire, burn, lust after the Word of God that we
just heard? While He opened to us. What? What did He open? The Scriptures.
The Word of God. As newborn children must have
milk to nourish their bodies, we must have the Word of our
Savior to nourish our souls. Notice what it says in verse
3. If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious." Have you
tasted? Have you tasted the grace of God? Has He come to a broken
and contrite heart? One who sees their sin for what
it is? Sees what we have in the flesh? How it must be burned up in the
end? How it cannot be in the presence
of God for He is a holy God? When our Lord has taught us,
taught His children of the sin that is in us, and shows us His
mercy and grace, we have tasted it as though it is ours. In Matthew
11, 25, our Lord says, and at that time Jesus answered, He
says, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, Because
thou hast hid these things from the wise and the prudent, and
hast revealed them unto babes." Oh, I can imagine that man who
was just about to take his own life a moment ago, sitting at
the feet of Jesus, washing his feet, as Scripture tells you,
feeding the Lord Jesus' meat, saying, Tell me more. Tell me more. Because that's the way John was
when I heard the gospel preached. Tell me more. This is John today. I love to
hear other men preach. This new thing that we have in
today's world of sermon audio is just so wonderful to me. I
drive around all day listening to people preach. It's great! I love it today as much as I
did 20 years ago when the Lord called me out of darkness. Today
is no different. I love to hear about my Savior,
Jesus Christ, and what He's done for me. Today, it's still milk. It still nourishes me. It still keeps me growing. And it keeps me. It keeps me
from death. I look into my Lord's Word And
I see the love my Savior has for me and it keeps me reminding
me that my God will not let me go. Our Lord loves us so much He
laid down His life. He shed His own blood for us. And as God, He will have us. And I'm thankful for that. remembering
a time when I shook my fist and said, this man shall not rule
over me. Luke 1 verse 53 it says, he hath
filled the hungry with good things. Are you hungry? Do you thirst? Look over at verse 1 of chapter
2 where it says, wherefore? This is to point us to what was
just said before, so let's go back now to chapter 1, verse
1 of this epistle, and may God be pleased to fill us with His
Word. Chapter 1, verse 1, Peter, an
apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout
Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, Peter was
an apostle of Jesus Christ sent out to speak to the strangers.
Not strangers as far as strangers who are just passing
through the land, but strangers who have been spread out through
other lands. They were spread out through
Pontius, Galatia, Cappadocia, the people of God. God's people
is what that stranger is referring to. Those who are spread out
throughout the world. And it continues to speak to
God's people throughout time. He speaks to you and I right
now. The called. God's chosen people. Right now
through His Word. An apostle who was made an apostle
by Jesus Christ. Not something Peter decided to
do of his own. Peter was a fisherman down by
the seaside. The Lord walked by and He said, come, follow
Me and I will make you fishers of men, didn't He? And the power
of God was used and Peter came. Just as each of us have come
to our Lord and Savior because our Lord called us with a personal
calling. Elect, He says. This is the people
He's addressing. The strangers, the people of
God, chosen. called by God according to the
foreknowledge, according to the knowledge that God had before
time, before anything was ever created, proving that God chose
a people in His Son before the world was, and that's why we
call His Son the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world.
Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through the
sanctification, through the setting aside, Through the making holy
of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of
Jesus Christ, grace unto you and peace be multiplied. Peter
is addressing God's people, Israel, the called. They were scattered
about throughout much trials they were going through, just
as it is today. Robert Hawker wrote this, he
says, I often read this precious verse,
the more my soul becomes impressed with the sublime truths contained
in it. Was there ever a form of words
chosen or can be chosen to express the plainest and most palpable
truths by that is here used, both to show and manifest the
existence of three distinct personalities of the Godhead? and their distinct
office characters, as revealed to the Church of God in Christ. What can more fully prove the
joint operation of the Holy Three in One by way of defining their
distinct personality, and at the same time, what more fully
show their oneness in all the essential nature and design,
and in their merciful tendencies towards the Church?" End of quote. We see Peter's address to the
elect as an address to you and I. The called out, the church
assembly. Peter goes about declaring God
the Father of who knew us before time was. Chosen in God the Father,
then being sanctified by the Holy Spirit, made holy. How? By the obedience of the
sprinkling of blood, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the
Great Three in One. Here is the Gospel declared right
out front. He says, Grace unto you and peace
be multiplied. Why? Because of the foreknowledge
of God the Father. Knowing that our Lord chose us
before the world began. Knowing that. And I'm not talking
about just a head knowledge of it. I'm talking about a heart
knowledge. Do we not go into trials that
we have in this world? with the knowledge that God has
prepared this for me already? Do we not accept the trials that
we face in this life knowing that all things are for our good
because God the Father has chosen us before the world began? How
often have I said to you, the whole world was created for us!
And it was! And everything in it! So that
God the Father, through God the Spirit, would make us holy. Holy, because God the Son spread
His, shed His blood for us. Why is grace unto you and peace
be multiplied? Because God the Father had foreknowledge
of His people. Why is there grace unto you and
peace be multiplied? Because the sanctification is
of the Spirit, not of man. Why is there grace unto you and
peace be multiplied? Because the blood of Christ Jesus,
the Son of the living God, be sprinkled on the mercy seat,
the very seat which is Christ Himself. Paul wrote the same thing over
in Ephesians 1, 3. He says, Blessed be the God,
the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. according as
He hath chosen us in Him, before the foundation of the world.
You see the same words here, that we should be holy and without
blame before Him, in love, having predestinated us into the adoption
of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good
pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace,
wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved, in whom we have
redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according
to the riches of His grace. Verse 3, 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 3, Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according
to His abundant mercy have begotten us again unto a lively hope by
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance
incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away reserved
in heaven for you." Folks, there's a description of God right there.
Our inheritance cannot be taken away from us. All that the Father
giveth me shall come to me, and those that come to me I shall
in no wise cast out. That's God's Word. That's His
Word. That's what we just read. An
inheritance that's incorruptible. I can't even get in the way of
my Father's love, and I try to a lot, do you not? Do you not
yourselves? Thank God for His will. Verse 5, kept by the power of
God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last
time. Does not our cup runneth over when we see the mercies
of our Lord, the mercies that He has bestowed upon us through
His Son, Christ Jesus the Lord? What a hope we have, a hope that
we all have seen, a hope that was not in us before we were
called by the power of God. We look back on the time before
the Lord called us out of that darkness, and we see the darkness
that we love so much. And we read in the Lord's Word
that we will not come to the light because we love that darkness.
And we say, that was me. That was me. But by His mercy
and love, I'm not that way anymore. I now live for my Savior. Because He lives in me. I have
a hope. I have a hope that rests in that
very power that He is God in the flesh. The power of God keeping me from
falling. It's like holding me. Holding
me to Him. I heard one time a minister say,
It's like a thread to the Lord. If you'll just grab a hold of
that little teeny thread and hang on. Hang on to that thread. I wanted to throw the radio right
out of the truck at that time. Folks, if I have to hold on to
it, I'm going to fall. If I have to hold on to that
thread, I'm a loser. I'm a goner now. I might as well
just end it. But I have a chain. A chain hooked to the most wonderful
anchor there is ever to walk this earth, and that is the anchor,
my Lord and Savior. That's our hope. That's the only
good hope there is in the world. Everything else in the world
is like that little thread. I don't know about you folks,
but I can break a thread usually pretty easy unless it's made
out of plastic. You get the point. Our chain is huge. And there's
nothing gonna break it. Because it's the right arm of
God. All power in heaven and earth belongs to Him. We have a hope. And we rest in
that power. The very power that keeps us
from falling. Holding us as an anchor holds the ship in stormy
waters. I don't know about you folks,
but we are on all kinds of stormy waters right now. Not just in
the world that goes on around us, but in our own lives. The
worst storm in this life right here that stands before you is
the storm that works within me. The sin that works in this flesh. with the Spirit that dwells in
me of our Holy Father, the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at verses
6-8. Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though
now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold
temptations. that the trial of your faith,
being much more precious than that of gold that perisheth,
though it be tried with fire, might be found under the praise
and honor and glory of the appearing of Jesus Christ. Whom having
not seen, ye love. In whom though now ye see him
not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable. and full
of glory. The day is coming. The day is
coming when we're all going to stand before the Lord Jesus Christ.
The question is, will you be on the right or the left? Will
you be on the side that hears these words, depart from me,
ye workers of iniquity, because you would not rest in our Savior. or will you be on the side?"
It says, come thou faithful servant. The Apostle Paul writes this
in 2 Corinthians 12.5, of such and one will I glory, yet of
myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities. And lest
I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of revelations,
There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of
Satan to buffet me." Now we don't know what that thorn is, but if you're a child of God,
you've got one. You've got one. We all have one to remind us
that we are of the flesh. And we need a Savior, not just
once, but every minute of every day, right now. Lest I should be exalted above
measure, Paul goes on to write, for this thing I besought the
Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And He, our great and
wise God, said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee, for my
strength is made perfect in weakness. Paul goes on to say, Most gladly,
therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities than that the
power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure
in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions,
in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then am I
strong. Now go over to verse 18, will
you? For as much as ye know that ye
were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold from
your vain conversations received by traditions from your father,
but with the precious blood of Christ, as the 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,
who by Him do believe in God, that raised Him up from the dead
and gave Him glory, that your faith and hope might be in God. Seeing you have purified your
souls and 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. Why? Why? For all flesh is as
grass. And all glory of men is as a
flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the
flower thereof falleth away. But, but, but, the word of the
Lord endureth forever, and this is the word which by the gospel
is preached unto you. Wherefore, wherefore, verse 1
of chapter 2, laying aside all malice, and guile and hypocrisies
and envies and all evil speakings, put all that stuff away from
the world. Now you might think that this is only talking about
evil speaking towards our neighbors and all of those things, but
this is talking about evil speaking such as, God has tried to save
you. That's an evil speaking. That's
an absolute lie. God has never tried to do anything.
Do you understand the point I'm making here? These points that
it's telling us here of all malice and all guile and all hypocrisy
and all of envies and all evil speakings are things against
our Lord. Those are the things of sin against our Lord. Put
those away. And as newborn babes, soak up the milk. Put all that other stuff out
of your mind, put it away, and look to Christ. That's as simple
as it gets right there. As newborn babes, desire the
milk of the word that ye may grow thereby, if so ye have tasted
that the Lord is gracious. Folks, what is your desire? What
do you desire? To be rich? to be popular? What is your need? What needs
have you this morning? Strength? Strength to walk the path the
Lord has laid before us? I can tell you this, that if
you lean on Jesus Christ, you'll have all the strength you need.
He'll never give us more than we can handle. All that the Father giveth me,
He says, shall come to me. But there's more to it than just
that. And whosoever cometh to me, I shall in no wise cast out.
Come to the Lord Jesus. Not just once, but every moment
of every day. Come to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen?