Laying Aside The Old Self By..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. Good evening, everyone, and welcome to your church. What a great privilege to have you worshiping the Lord Jesus Christ with us.

And I have to apologize for my voice and my throat. I hope that the Lord gives me voice through this sermon so that we can make it. If you open your Bibles, please, to the first letter of Peter. The first letter of Peter. We're going to be studying together this evening 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 2 and 3.

But as we always do, I want us to read together from chapter 1, verse 10, and we are going to go through chapter 2, verse 12, because that's a whole section in the mind of the Apostle. And if I had to give a title to my sermon or to this message, or if I had to summarize and question the message that I want to give to you, that would be, what are the means by which a Christian grows up into salvation? What are the means? What is the means by which a Christian, a person who has been saved by grace and faith in Christ, what are the means, what are the means to grow up into salvation? And that's what the Apostle addresses in verse two, in chapter two, but I want us, it's very important that we understand the concept in which this verse is given to us by the Spirit through the ministry of the Apostles.

So let's read carefully with reverent hearts and pay much attention to each one of the words. Chapter 1, verse 10. Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicated when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves, but you in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preach the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look. Pay attention.

Therefore, preparing your minds for action and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, you shall be holy, for I am holy. And if you call on Him as Father, who judges impartially according to each one's deeds. Conduct yourself with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile waste inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He, Christ, was foreknown before the foundation of the world, that was made manifest in the last time for the sake of you, who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

Have me, purify your souls by your obedience to the truth, for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from my pure heart, since ye have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable through the living and abiding Word of God. For all flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the Word of the Lord remains forever. And this Word is the good news that was preached to you. So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy, and all the slender, light, newborn infants long for the pure, spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation, if indeed ye have tasted that the Lord is good.

As you come to Him, a living stone rejected by men, but in the sight of God, chosen and precious, you yourselves, like a living stone, are being built up spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. We understand in Scripture, Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and where beliefs in him will not be put to shame. So the honor is for you who believe, and for those who do not believe, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. They stumbled because they disobeyed the Word, as they were destined to do. But you, a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for its own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of the darkness into his marvelous light.

Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people. Once you have not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Love it. I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

Amen. That's the word of God. Beloved, last time when we came together and I had the opportunity to address you in the Lord, I was very intentional to communicate the truth of the purpose of the Christian, the purpose of the person who has been saved by grace through faith. And I said that the purpose of your Christianity, that the purpose of your faith, If you are in Christ truly and really, if you have been born again of the Spirit, if you have been taken from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light, if you have been restored from death into life, the purpose of your life is to become like the person of Jesus Christ. Conformity to the Savior is the purpose of our exile.

conformity to the one who is the fullness of righteousness, conformity to the one who is the beloved of the Father. That is the purpose of your life as a Christian. You see, all other things can be removed from your life if being coming like Jesus Christ or being like Christ is the priority number one. We have been saved. We have been redeemed.

so that Christ may live in us by faith, and that we may put to death our flesh. That is glory. Glorification is to become like our Savior, the fullness of the measure of righteousness, and the object of the love of the Father. And when we ask the question to the Bible of whose responsibility is that conformity to Christ, Whose responsibility is the accomplishment of that objective? Whose responsibility is the accomplishment of that goal?

The Bible gives a very clear answer. The Apostle in Ephesians 1 says that we have been chosen by God the Father in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless. That is the answer to the question, The ultimate responsibility of our conformity to Christ Jesus resides in the eternal decree of God himself. It is God who is interested, it is God who has chosen us before the foundation of the world to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. That's what the Apostle says in Romans 6.

That we have been predestined to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, the firstborn among many brothers. responsibility ultimately responsibilities of God the Father Philippians 1 says that he has started a good work in us and he will bring it to completion till the day of Jesus Christ if we as parents evil that we are and sinful that we are we care about the future of our children and we want them to achieve and to become something how much more the God of the universe who is also our Father, how much more He would not be concerned about our growth and our becoming like Jesus Christ, because it's His ultimate responsibility and it's His ultimate desire that we become like Jesus Christ. But just as the same way the Apostle Paul in Philippians 1 says that He will bring to completion this good work, in chapter 2 he says, you should be obedient, and that you should work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, knowing that it is God who works in you both will and to do according to His good pleasure. Because, biblically speaking, the answer to that question of whose responsibility conformity to Christ is, is not only that it is God's since it is sovereign, but it is also that it is the responsibility of the saint. Ephesians 4, Colossians 3, put off, put off the old men and put on the new men, who's been renewed in holiness, in righteousness, and in knowledge.

Put off the old men. Well, just in the words of the Apostle Peter, as we have just read here, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ, verse 13. Or verse 14, Do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance. Do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance. But as He who has called you is holy, you also be holy.

Why? Because it is written, He is holy, so you shall be holy. words of the Apostle Peter. Now this is very important, beloved, because as I have said many times now, the letter that we have in front of us was written to people who were going under persecution and tribulation and trials and difficulties. And if there's something that I want to push to you in your mind and in your heart today is that in which we live, either tribulations and difficulties and sorrows or peace and happiness and order in our lives.

Whatever the circumstances are in our life, the purpose is still the same. If you are in Christ, God is making you like Christ. So you see there is a sense in which it's not possible to say that the ultimate state of a Christian before he died, it is not more holy than the state when he was initially saved. Because this person is being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. So the ultimate state of a person before glory is a state in which he is or she is more conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.

There is not such a thing as a Christian who is not or will not be conformed to the image of Christ. We are growing in sanctification, we are growing in holiness, and this is a work of God in us, but it is also a responsibility. So that's why those who can exhort a people that are going through tribulations and difficulties to remain holy, One will say, as I've said now many times, that if a person is under difficult circumstances, that somehow that person can be just simply passed for the fact that he has to be more whole. This is not the testimony of the scripture. Beloved brethren, that this may be clear in your mind, that the goal of your everyday is to become like the one who gave his life for you.

He is the fullness of all righteousness. And the apostle is going to bring this encouragement, as I've said now many times, in a glorious way. He is going to point us now, he is going to point us to the things that God has done for us, and the things that God has done in us, before we get into the verse that we're addressing today, which is verse two in chapter two, that tells us the means by which that what I'm gonna try to do from this pulpit is to proclaim to you the words of God that tells you what are the means by which a person grows up into salvation. To put it another way, what are the means by which a person grows into conformity to Jesus Christ, walks towards this goal of being more like Jesus Christ. So the apostle having an audience that is being persecuted and going through trials and tribulations is going to point to the things that God has done for them and the things that God has done in them.

Two very important verses that you have there in front of you in your Bibles. In verse 18, he says, knowing. He says, knowing. So from verse 18 to verse 21, he's going to tell us those things that God has done for us. But then in verse 22, he says, having purified, he's going to say the things that he has done in us.

And those things that God has done for us is that He has decreed our salvation from eternity past and that He has accomplished that salvation in the person of Jesus Christ. The apostles start saying that knowing that you were ransomed, knowing silver, knowing knowing silver or gold are perishable, but rather that we have been ransomed with the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is without blemish and without spot, like a lamb without blemish or without spot. That is the accomplishment of our redemption. That is the accomplishment of our salvation by the Savior Jesus Christ, who in verse 20 says that He was foreknown. before the foundation of the world, and that he was manifesting this last time for the sake of you, for the church, because this salvation, what God has done for us, is that he has decreed this salvation from eternity past, and he accomplished it in Jesus Christ by the shedding of his blood.

So, a salvation that has been decreed, and a salvation that has been accomplished by the Spirit. So that's why the apostle would say there in verse 22, having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth. And then the King James will say, by the Spirit. Because obedience to the truth happened by the Spirit. Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth.

That is, having become a new creature. Your soul has been purified by obedience to the truth. And the truth is the gospel of Jesus Christ. So obedience to the calling of the gospel is the means by which the Spirit gives us life and purifies us. As he will say it in verse two, is the sprinkling with the blood of Christ upon us.

holy vessels for a new covenant. The Apostle Will enlarged that concept by then getting into our new birth and he says that the things that God has done for us is that we have been born again and we have a new life and the source of this new life The seed of this new life is not perishable, but it's imperishable. And that happens through the Word of God. New life. New life.

Death? Life. Darkness? Light. Satan?

Jesus Christ. Adam? The second Adam. Or the last Adam. but only two types of people in this world.

People who are in Adam and people who are in Christ. And their eternity depends on that covenantal relationship. He says that we have been born again by the Father. In verse 3 in chapter 1, he says that we have been The Father caused us to be born again, according to His great mercy, and that happened through the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is God the Father, the One who has done this in us.

We were dead, we couldn't do it ourselves. It is God who gave us life out of His own will, through His Word, as James 1 will say, that He brought us forth by the Word of Truth. It is the word of God, the one that produced life. And brothers and sisters, this is foundational. Because in the mind of the apostle, and in the minds of all the apostles, your identity as a new creature is the foundation of your Christian living.

You see, Paul and Peter and John, they can call you to be holy and to do all of these things, to work out your own salvation, because they come from the assumption that what happened in you could have not happened by the religion of men or by the traditions of men. It only happened by the power of the gospel that gives you life, that changes your heart from stone into a heart of flesh, as our brother explained to us last week. A new birth, new life, which is a foundation of who we are, of the eternity that we have. And for that reason, The Apostle Kenneth starts in chapter 2 saying that we therefore sow as a result of it that we can put away all of those things that are an opposition to love to our brothers. We explained that three weeks ago.

All of these things that removed from us. Not because there is some power in us, but because of the new identity that we have, because of the new birth. A new birth that has been caused by God through His living and abiding Word. In the end of chapter 1, the apostle calls it the Gospel, that was preached to you. Teaching us a lot of things about salvation.

That is the message that is the preaching message of the Gospel, the means that in His providence God has chosen for the salvation of His elect. The preaching of the Gospel. And now, brothers and sisters, beloved brethren, we have in verse 2 the means, the means by which a person who has been born again will grow up into salvation. The instrument of the means by which We grow up in conformity to the person of Jesus Christ. And the way that the apostle is going to answer that question, if it was a question, what are the means by which we grow up into salvation?

He's going to answer that question with an illustration. He is going to give us an illustration. He's going to put in one side, newborn infants, and he's going to put on the other side, Christians. And he's going to say that just as newborn infants desire the milk that is what they need to grow up physically and to be strong implicitly, so Christians are to desire what he calls a pure spiritual milk that by it they might grow up into salvation. This is the illustration.

He's putting two sides, newborn infants and Christians on the other one. They have a desire, babies or kids or infants, they have a desire for a milk that helps them to grow up healthy and strong, physically speaking, humanly speaking. And on the other side, he's saying Christians, that they have a desire for something that he calls a pure spiritual milk. And this is the means by which Christians those who have been born again, grow up into salvation. So task number one, that we need to define what is that, the elements of that illustration.

The elements of that illustration, because we understand the illustration on the side of the babies, that babies or newborns, infants, that they desire the meal because they, by eating it, by having it, they grow up healthy, or implicitly what the Apostle says there. And now he's going to say that Christians desire a spiritual milk a pure spiritual milk and this is the means by which they grow spiritually so the first question that we need to ask ourselves is what is that pure spiritual milk? what is that pure pure spiritual milk? that's how you pronounce pure right? pure spiritual milk now I'm going to give you a couple of evidences to give that answer and the answer to that is that This spiritual milk is the Word of God.

The Word of God is this pure, this spiritual milk that is used by God to give it to His children so that they might grow up into salvation. How do we know that? Pay attention to the two adjectives that, at least in the ESV, the Apostle gives to this milk, that it is pure and it is spiritual. And he says, something that is spiritual purity that is not contaminated. A very similar language the Apostle Hasford used just in the previous context.

In verse 22 he said, having purified, or that is, having made pure your souls by your obedience to the truth, the King James will say, by the Spirit. So having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth. So your obedience to the truth were the means by which your soul was purified. And when we did our teaching and our sermon on that verse, we said that the obedience to the truth was obedience to the gospel of Jesus Christ. And the truth of God that purifies us, that we are supposed to obey, is the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

That is the gospel, the power of God unto salvation, that purifies us, covenantally speaking. purifies our souls. It is the Word of God, it is the instrument here by which a person is purified. This truth is done in verse 25, it explains, it says, and this Word is the good news that was preached to you. So the obedience to the truth and abiding is the means by which we become new creatures, according to verse 23 and 24.

Brothers, this pure spiritual milk is the Word of God. And this is why if you have a different translation of your Bible, if you have a New American Standard Version, or if you have the New King James or the King James, you will see that this verse is translated the pure milk of the word. And that's because that word is spiritual, that you have in your ESV. It's a word that comes from a Greek word that is very similar to the word, word. Logos, logikon, logikos.

So then translators are attaching this concept of the spiritual to this milk, and other translators are attaching the concept of the word to this concept of the milk. But the context makes it very clear, brother, that the means by which a Christian grows into salvation is by the word. The word is this. the one that contains the message of Christ, that it is initially applied by the Spirit to the soul of an elect when this person is saved. It is the Word of God effectually applied to the heart of that person.

That's the illustration. So we have newborn infants on one side, and we have Christians. These ones desire the milk that helps them to grow strong and healthy. Then we have Christians desiring the pure Word of God, which is their milk. for them to grow up into salvation.

That's the illustration of the brothers. Illustrations aim to communicate not only a comparison between two things, but actual and natural truth. So it's very important for us to understand what the apostle is trying to communicate with this illustration, because I know that this verse can be understood in a way that it is not necessarily what the apostle is trying to communicate. So what this specifically speaking what the apostle is trying to communicate with this illustration of newborn infants in Christians. I'm going to tell you what he is not doing, to tell you after what he is actually doing.

Very important that we understand what he is not doing, what he is not trying to communicate, so that we will see what he is actually trying to communicate. So brothers and sisters, beloved brethren, the apostle is not comparing attention to this. The Apostle is not comparing newborn infants with new creatures or new believers or new converts in Christ. He is not comparing just as a baby is a new creature in the flesh, he is not comparing new believers, he is not comparing new Christians, he is not comparing new converts. Now, we can Again, he's comparing this to newborns and infants.

One might come to the conclusion that he's comparing newborns with new converts, but he is not. And this is very important, brothers and sisters, that we understand. Because if we say that the apostle is only using this illustration to communicate a teaching to people who are recent converts, to people who have been born again just recently, then we are reducing the effect of this passage only to those people. And now it's also very important that we distinguish that this is not what the apostle is doing, because the Bible does address this, which I have just said, in other places. So the Bible does speak of newcomers, or let's call it immature Christians in other places, and the Bible does give the analogy of One may think that Peter is doing the same thing here, but he is not.

He is not comparing newborn infants to new Christians, opposite to what Paul does in 1 Corinthians 3. Let's go there and let's see how different it is the treatment of the apostles to the analogy of the new. It says, but I, this is Paul, brothers, of course including sisters, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. You may see how similar language is used here. I fed you with milk, not solid food.

for you were not ready for it, and even now you are not yet ready, for you are still in the flesh." Now, this passage is a whole doctrine in and of itself, but what I want to show you is that apostolic doctrine uses the analogy of milk as food. In other sections of the Scripture, it speaks of immature Christians, or Christians who are not ready for solid Go to Hebrews, please. Hebrews 5. Hebrews 5.

Verse 12. The author of Hebrews is going to use the analogy of milk and solid food in a very similar way that Paul is using it in 1 Corinthians 3. That's why many people, not only this, but that's why many people say that the author of Hebrews is actually Paul, you know, preaching a sermon and someone taking notes. Verse 12, for though by this time you owe it to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food.

Beloved, the Bible does use the analogy of milk to speak of immature Christians. But what I'm saying to you here, and I think it's quite obvious from the way that Paul or Peter has written this, is that he is not comparing new infants or newborn infants with new Christians and new converts, but rather about the nature of the desire that all Christians have. He's speaking about the nature of the desire that all Christians have. He's not speaking about the nature of newborns with the nature of new Christians. He's speaking about the nature of a desire that all Christians should have.

So he's saying, just as newborn infants desire and long for the milk with strength and power and fervent desire, so you are to desire this spiritual milk, this pure spiritual milk, which is the Word of God. This is very important, brothers and sisters, that we see in the text, because If we take the other option, then we are limiting the effect of this passage only for a segment of Christians. Immature Christians need the Word of God, but the Word of God is the food that all Christians need, independently of their level of maturity. The Apostle is trying to emphasize the nature of this insight. Now it's very interesting because in this whole section that we have, that we have to break, there are only four imperatives.

Imperatives are commands, army-type commands, instructions, do it. There are only four imperatives in this whole section from chapter one to chapter two. And long for, or desire, is one of those imperatives. It's the third imperative in this section. Now, think about it, because I have to think about it.

How do you reconcile that someone is giving you a command for an emotion, a desire? How do you reconcile that someone is commanding you to desire something? Think about something that you don't like eating. Something that you hate, that you don't like, that when someone put it on your plate, you simply do not like. Someone can command you to eat it.

But how is someone going to command you to desire it? You can eat it, not liken it, not desire to eat it. But the Apostle, by the Spirit, is commanding Christians to desire something. And these commands cannot be applied to the desires of a person. You can speak to the mind of a person to try to convince them to do something, but from there to reach to their emotions and their desires is very difficult.

Why would a postman do that? The answer to that is given to us in verse 3. Because there is a requirement for desire in the Word of God. Because there is a need to desire the Word of God. There is a step that needs to be taken before taking the step of desiring the Word of God.

There is something that has to be done before we do desire the Word of God. The Apostle says all of this is true. If you have tasted that the Lord is good and allowed, because he uses desire as milk with tasting the graciousness of the Lord. You cannot desire the spiritual milk of the word of God if you have not tasted the goodness of Christ. If you have not tasted the grace of Christ, that one first tastes the grace of the Savior, to then love and desire the word of the Savior.

You see, brothers and sisters, that this cannot be done in the flesh. And it doesn't matter how smart we are. It doesn't matter how many books we have on our shelves. It doesn't matter how good our theology is. It doesn't matter what theological canon we belong.

It does no matter. What matters in the Kingdom of God is Christ operating in our lives through Jesus' Spirit, making us a new creature and then conforming us to the image of Christ Himself, tasting the goodness Christ. Tasting, this is the command. So the answer to this very simple question of what is the means by which a new creature grows up into salvation, or put it another way, the means by which a person grows in conformity to Jesus Christ is by desiring or longing for the Word because we have it. the grace and the goodness of our Savior.

And what the Apostle does in that verse three is very interesting because the difference between the word good, maybe you have another translation, the word gracious, between that word in Greek and Christ is only one vowel. So that word is Christos, and then Christ is Christos. And it seems that the Apostle is playing with words saying, If you have tasted that the Lord is Christ, that is just a speculation, because the word that he writes is good and grace. If we have tasted the goodness and the grace of our Savior, which is taken from Psalm 37, then we desire the word of God. But now, brothers and sisters, this is very important.

This is very important that we acknowledge the relationship that cannot be separated between our desire to the Word of God, which, by the way, is not only about desiring it, right? Just as a baby will not grow up healthy and strong just by crying and desiring the milk, he actually needs to drink the milk. Just in the same way, it's not only about desiring the Word of God. A Christian has to drink this spiritual milk. We assume that, and we understand that.

But what I want you to see is the connection that cannot be separated between Christ and His Word. The Word is not going to be of any benefit if we do not have Christ. Not only for unbelievers, because this is very clear, brothers and sisters. The Bible is very clear that those who walk in the flesh will be saved, that their mindset is according to the flesh, and that they cannot set their minds on the things of the Spirit. They cannot.

They cannot submit themselves to the law of God. They cannot please God. The only thing that pleases God is faith, Hebrews 11, 6. And the unbeliever does not have faith because they have not obeyed the word of truth. But in the same way, brothers and sisters, we can come to the word of God.

to the written word of God, absent of the goodness of Christ, and the written word will remain written and it will not be living word in us. Because brothers and sisters, there is a connection, an inseparable connection between the word and the word. The written word and the living word, the logos and the crystals, Christ and His Word, there is an intrinsic, inseparable relationship between those two. So when we desire the Word, we desire Christ and to become like Him. We are not desiring empty concepts or empty doctrines or theology that is absent of power.

When we come to the written Word, By the Spirit, He becomes living Word in us, because that which we ultimately desire is to become like the Savior, Jesus Christ. Let me share with you something that I shared with a man in our men's meeting. So please go to John chapter 15. desire like newborn infants, desire their milk, we are to desire the precious Word of Christ. Not because it is just written, but because it is a living Word in Him.

This Word, this message is what gave us life. We are alive in Christ. He is the source of our justification, of our sanctification. We live this life in the flesh by faith, in the Son of God, because we don't live anymore. Christ lives in us.

He's the one who gave himself for us, and he loved us. That's why he says this in chapter 15. I am the true vine, verse 1. I am the true vine, and my Father is a vine dresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit that you may grow up into your salvation, that you may bear fruit, that you may become more, that you may grow, He takes away.

And every branch that does bear fruit, He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you, Christ's word. Abide in me, and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, as a branch cannot grow by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me, and I in him, he, it is that bears much fruit.

For apart from me you can do nothing. Apart, brothers, The weight of those words, apart from me, you can't do anything, you can't do nothing. Apart from Christ, we can't do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, he's thrown away like a branch and withers. And the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned.

Now pay attention to verse seven, please. If, you abide in me this is Christ speaking if you abide in me and my words abide in you if you abide in me and my words abide in you ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you by this so that is by doing this my Father is glorified you see how we always speak of glory to God By these, the Bible says, my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love.

Just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love, These things I have as pocket to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. Verse 7. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you. What is that abiding of the words of Christ in us? What is that abiding of the words of Christ connected to according to Holy Scripture?

What is abiding in Christ and Christ's words abiding in us attached or connected to? Go to John chapter 5. John chapter 5. Because here the Lord is going to give us a connection between the abiding of the words of God with a very important element of the Christian life. A very important element.

In verse 37, in this section that comes from verse 30, the Lord is given, we're speaking of the witnesses of the Savior. He has spoken of John the Baptist and the works. Now he's gonna say something in verse 37. And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness upon me. His voice you have never heard, His form you have never seen.

Now pay attention to verse 38. And you do not have His Word abiding in you. And you do not have His Word abiding in you. Why? For you do not believe the one whom He has sent.

Brothers, the way that we apprehend the Word of Christ and make it abide in us is by faith. It's by faith. Apostle Peter says that the Word of God is to be desired just like a newborn infant desires his or her milk. The Lord Jesus Christ says in the Gospels that we are to have faith. like that of a child.

Because, brothers and sisters, if you do not believe the Word of God, what you have in your hands, the Word of God will never abide in you, because it is simply not a reality for you. Faith is that which grasps the spiritual milk that He has given us and applies it to our souls so that our souls may grow in conformity to Jesus Christ. Why do you think that the psalmist has spent a lot of time speaking of the treasuring of the words of God in our hearts, of the taking the words of God and putting them inside of us, of believing the words of God? Brothers and sisters, if you do not believe the word of God, it is of no benefit, just as I contaminated Milk is for a child. The Word of God without faith is for you because you don't believe it.

If you believe what is written, you will not only be hearers of the Word, but you will be also doers of the Word. You can say with your mouth that you believe what you read, but the way that you prove that you believe what God says is when someone sees your life. If you say with your mouth that God is sovereign, but then when tribulation comes and then you tremble, so that doesn't mean, it shows that you don't believe in God's sovereignty. Or if you say that we can rest in the mighty power of God, but when something comes and then you tremble and then you go to your cell to try to fix your thoughts and your mind's strength, that means that you don't believe the word of God. When you are going through tribulations and difficulties of your mind and of your heart, and then the first thing that you go to, it is secular wisdom of traditions or men, so that means that you don't believe the words of God, because the only thing that can provide joy to our souls is the sweetness of the honey that is written in these pages.

Brothers and sisters, our life comes down to, do you believe what He said? Because that's where it starts, in the garden. That's how it starts in the garden. Our lives go down to, do you believe? Because when you believe, you believe in Him, and you believe in His words, and because you believe in His words, you don't only desire His words abstractly, but then you come to His words.

Just as the baby knows naturally that milk is what he needs, then the soul of the Christian will naturally and spiritually know that by faith what he needs is the Word that has been given to him or to her by Christ Jesus. In times, brothers and sisters, in times where intelligence and reasoning and theology has become an idol, has become an idol, we have to be very clear about what the Bible speaks of real knowledge. I love the fact of what Mikey read for the call to worship because that speaks a lot of the biblical understanding. Go to that psalm and let's read again what Mikey read. Psalm 119, and we'll finish there.

119, verse 97. So the world and the contemporary idolatry of knowledge and reason and theology says, read, read, spend all of this time in these things, in these things. And this theology and all of these things feed your brain, which I'm not against. but when knowledge is disconnected by faith and love towards the Savior, it is the knowledge that the Pharisees had. The Lord Jesus Christ said in Matthew 23, do as they say, but do not do as they do, because the things that they were saying corresponded to that which was written.

But the Lord says, do what they say, but don't do what they do. So a person can speak truths of God that are to be heard and to be applied, but the life of that person might not be transformed, because that which transforms the life of a person into conformity to Jesus Christ is not only knowledge, that is, if you have tasted that the Lord is good and gracious. So what Mikey read is very according to what the Lord had for us in verse 97. Oh, how I love your law. How I love your law.

It is my meditation all the day. All the day is my meditation going to Psalm 1. Your commandments makes me wiser. Now, just think about the perception of secular theology. Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies.

Why? For it is ever with me. Your word, Lord, is ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers. Not because I have these masters or this doctrine or these things, but for your testimonies are my meditation.

I understand more than the age. Why? For I keep your precepts. Attachment of the heart to the mind. We will never understand the things of God if we have not tasted truly in our souls, in our hearts, the goodness of the Savior.

Because He is the One that opens the eyes to people. Lord, why do you teach them the parables? Because it has not been given to them to know the things of the kingdom. It has been given to you to know the things of the kingdom. It is God the One that opens the eyes.

It is God the One that reveals to us the wisdom that has been kept secret from long ages, 1 Corinthians 2. And this wisdom is the wisdom that is given for the church. May the Lord give us the grace, brothers and sisters, not to desire the word of God with our heads, but to desire the word of God with our hearts, because we have tasted the goodness of Christ. and we desire to be like Him, not for our sake, but for His glory, that we may have His will to live, and that we may have His heart to die, so that we may glorify the Father very much through Him. Amen.