Soul Food/Spiritual Appetite – Part 2

1 Peter 2. We’re basically picking
up where we left off last Lord’s Day as we began to consider this
great passage. If you were with us last week,
I reminded you of Psalm 104, which is all about God’s creation. The Psalm opens with a discussion
of the God of creation, and then it moves almost seamlessly into
the creation of God. So first, it tells us about God,
and then it tells us what God created. And then it tells us
about the sustenance of God’s creation. And that’s basically
What I suggested last week was that was the passage that I used
to poke all kinds of holes in the whole theory of Y2K. That
the world is not going to end with this whimper. We’re not
going to run out of groceries. We’re not just going to, you
know, burn out the resources that are available to us. God is the one that sustains
us. It’s not like it’s going to catch God by surprise. If
we run out of groceries, it will be because a sovereign God withholds
His grace and we will perish. And what I suggested last week
is that the Christian life is just like this. The life of salvation
that we enjoy is just exactly like this. We begin just like
the work of creation. In us, there was worked into
us a work of God’s grace, much like the work of creation, a
miracle nonetheless, where God took a deadened sinner, caught
in his trespasses and sins, infused life into him. The sinner sat
up, saw Christ for who He was, and received Him fully. That’s
a miracle, just like the miracle of creation. It is a work of grace. And the
same power and goodness that manifests itself in giving life
to creatures appears in the same way in sustaining and preserving
them. The same God that saved you is
the same God who is actively at work in your lives to sanctify
you, to perfect you. It’s true both in the first creation
and in the second. Both in life, in granting us
life, and in granting us new life. In the first creation,
the creatures to which He gave life, us, He provided with convenient
nourishment and time. Do you know what’s interesting?
Go back and read the creation account of Genesis 1. Do you
know what’s interesting? God created the food before He
created us to eat the food. God was already magnanimously
caring for us before we were ever created as human beings.
And in the new life, in the new birth, once we come to know Christ,
the same thing that initiated that life in us, that new life,
God’s grace, is the same thing that sustains us day after day
after day. God gives us the proper food.
And he does it by the nourishment of his word. We take you back
to the context, if I may. We’ve been studying this passage,
really, we’ve been looking at first Peter from the very beginning,
a passage about salvation. Remember, all of the great themes
of salvation are right there. We saw the unmistakable features
of the church. And we saw that we are, from
the world’s perspective, aliens. From the gospel’s perspective,
we are scattered. From God’s perspective, we are
chosen. All that in the first two verses
of chapter one. Peter goes on to talk about the
blessings of new birth in Christ. They’re specifically dealing
with the element of regeneration. in this great doctrine of salvation.
He moves to faith and talking about faith and all the facets
of it. And then, as I said, as I suggested,
Peter rounds the corner and says, if this salvation is so great,
there should be an equal and amazing and astounding response
to this salvation by the saint, by the Christian. What is the
Christian’s response to be in salvation? And we saw that there
were essentially four. First, we were to have a grace-filled
confidence. Of all the people on the earth
that ever walked the earth, we should be the most confident
in the future. Not fretting, not worried about
what the economy is doing, not worried about what our health
is doing, not worried about who’s president or who’s the mayor.
We should be the most confident. And it’s a grace filled confidence. Secondly, we should have a God
like holiness. Our standard is not the Christian
next door or even the greatest Christian who ever lived. Our
standard is God and God alone. It is Christ who is our standard.
We are to look always and only to Him for the standard of holy
living. Not only a grace filled confidence
and a God like holiness, but third, we are to have a Christ
bought reverence. We are to worship Christ like
no other. We are to have a deep and abiding
reverence for Christ that touches every area of our life. And the
closer we looked at that, the sadder we became when we saw
that most often we don’t truly worship Christ as we ought. Not with everything in our being.
Not, as Peter said, conducting ourselves in fear during this
brief time that we’re passing through. There was a fourth response,
the only reasonable response. A response that God deserves
from those to whom He’s bestowed salvation. not only a grace-filled
confidence and a God-like holiness and a Christ-bought reverence,
but the fourth thing was a born-again affection. And this is where
the one another’s play themselves out. We are supposed to look
so different. We are supposed to love one another
so intensely and so purely that that in and of itself becomes
a testimony to a dark, dying world. And it’s in that context
that Peter says, look at verse 22 if you would, since you have
in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love
of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart. This
is where that born-again affection comes from. Peter goes on to
say that when we sowed this seed of affection in you, we used
good seed. Not just common, everyday, run-of-the-mill
seed. And this is what he talks about
in v. 23. It’s the quality of the seed
that was placed within you. It’s the quality of the work
of God. How can we respond any differently? Look at v. 23, “…for you have been born
again, not of a seed which is perishable, but imperishable,
that is, through the living and abiding Word of God.” It’s the
Word of God that did the work. It’s the Word of God that did
the work in those first century believers, and Peter knew about
it because it was the Word of God that had done the work in
his own life. And it’s the Word of God, down through the ages,
down to you and I, that does the work. It’s the preached Word. It’s the read Word. It’s the
spoken Word, which all the more gives us that impetus we need
to go and proclaim Christ. Peter closes that great section
by saying, all flesh is like grass and all its glory is like
the flower of grass. The grass withers, the flower
falls off, but the Word of the Lord abides forever. And this is the Word which was
preached to you. So you have this eternal Word, this precious,
living, abiding Word preached to you, which Peter uses to tell
us it should change you. It should make us different.
We should live and love so differently because of the word that we’ve
received into our hearts. It’s an interesting switch. Little
transition. There’s not the hard chapter
break that we see there in most of our Bibles. Chapter two, verse
one, therefore, there is a flow of thought here and the flow
of thought written in between those lines, there is an admission
that we are not now what we should be. We haven’t arrived. We know that we’re supposed to
have this grace-filled confidence. We know that we’re supposed to
have this God-like holiness. We know that we’re supposed to
have this Christ-bought reverence. And we know we’re supposed to
have a born-again affection. And we don’t. Oh God, we’ve fallen so far short. There is in between chapter 1,
verse 25, and chapter 2, verse 1, a yearning sigh of failure. We know that we haven’t arrived.
And that’s exactly why Peter writes. He writes to those who want to
grow. Who want to grow in grace. Who want to become what God has
called them to be. Confident. Reverent. Holy. Loving. Look at verse 1
of chapter 2. Therefore, putting aside all
malice and all guile and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like
newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the Word, that by it
you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness
of the Lord. What Peter is telling us is that
we are to have an appetite. We are to cultivate an appetite
for God’s Word. When He tells us to long, that
is an imperative verb, and He’s not telling us what He’s observing. He’s telling us to do something. He’s telling us to cultivate
a hunger, a mighty spiritual hunger for God’s Word. The word,
it’s so simple there, it hardly needs explanation. He’s talking
about God’s Word, the Scriptures, the Bible. We are to hunger and
thirst for our spiritual food. It’s a simple argument. It is the divinely given nourishment
supplied by God’s Word. And for that reason, I entitled
the message Soul Food. Now, I’m just, by way of review,
We’re going to pick up these first two points very quickly
because we spent a long time on them last Sunday. What I want
to look at this morning, hopefully, the final two points, four contributing
factors. What kinds of things go into
fostering, conjuring up, working up a spiritual appetite for God’s
Word? What kinds of things? We saw,
first of all, that a preparation for the meal is absolutely crucial. In fact, I would even go so far
as to say that if you haven’t prepared for the meal, you won’t
desire the meal at all. That your desire for God’s Word
will slowly wane to the point where you don’t want it at all. Peter tells us how. to prepare. He says that we are to be in
the process of putting aside something. This putting aside
implies that we are naturally possessive of certain things.
They are inborn, they are innate, and they can’t, without great
trouble and trauma to our person, be eradicated from us. We are
naturally possessive of these evils, and our hearts are by
nature, as one said, cages of the unclean birds of malice and
envy and guile.” It’s an interesting image. This word, putting aside, as
I told you last week, it is as if you are taking off the filthiest,
most vile garments that you’ve ever been in. You can’t wait
to get them off. And you can’t wait upon taking
them off to cast them far from you. And the furthest thought
in your mind is to ever put them back on. You can’t even conceive
of the idea of putting these things back on. And the image
is repeated throughout the New Testament. Romans 13, 12, The
night is almost gone. The day is near. Therefore, let
us lay aside the deeds of darkness. Take them off. Put them away.
And don’t ever go back. Ephesians 4.22, in reference
to your former manner of life, that you lay aside the old self. Colossians 3.5, consider the
members of your earthly body as dead. You wouldn’t dream of
putting these things back on. One pastor characterized this
desire in these terms. He said, what makes the word
obscure is the filthy mists within. God will, in just judgment, hide
himself. It’s not a terrifying thought.
He will, in just judgment, hide himself in the saving truth of
his word from those who entertain and delight in sin. The very
sins in which they delight shall obscure and darken the light
of the gospel to them, so that though it shines as clear as
the sun at noonday, they shall be as those that live in a dungeon.
They shall not discern it.” It’s a frightening thought, people.
That the more we embrace sin, the less we thirst and hunger
for the only nourishment that can improve our souls. Another said it this way. Though
some of them hear the word often. I mean, doesn’t that sound like
us? I shock people from time to time
by saying, you know what? People hear too many sermons. I don’t mean that literally.
I’m glad that you’re here. People hear too many sermons
that they don’t apply. That’s the rest of it. Though some of them hear the
word often, yet they will be in spiritual atrophy. They will
eat much, but grow nothing by it. They will find no increase
in grace and spiritual strength. And what is the cause of this
fruitless hearing of the word? Here it is. We do not bring meek
and guileless spirits to it, not minds emptied and purified
to receive it, but minds stuffed with malice and hypocrisy and
pride and other such evils. And where should the word enter?
It’s an interesting image. How on earth is it going to come
in? There’s no room for the word. And if it did enter, how should
it prosper among so many enemies? Interesting thought. No wonder
Peter says, you know what? Before you even sit down at the
table, before you even put a bite to your mouth, you must prepare
for this spiritual meal. You must put aside some things. And he mentions them. Malice. Literally evil. A hatred for
others. A desire for evil to come upon
other people. And I shared with you the rule
of our house from the very earliest moments of our household in teaching
our children. We will not rejoice in another
one’s calamity. That is malice. It is cruelty, it is an evil
habit of mind, as one said, it is a constant desire to foment
evil in another person’s life, and not only that, but all guile. Gile, the word there is used
of fishing bait. Trickery to the point of causing
someone to stumble. And what worse than hypocrisy?
The next thing. Joining the church and aligning
with the church from purely false motives. You know in your heart
that you don’t belong. You know in your heart that you’re
not saved. And yet, here you are putting on a false face and
a false front. Not only that, but envy. the
hatred of others because of what they have. Whether it’s giftedness
or money or good looks or whatever else it is, it often leads ultimately
to grudges and bitterness and hatred and conflict. And, of
course, which rounds out our list, slander. Slander is the fruit of envy
and malice. Slander is just one of the many
weapons the person’s disposal. It is a speaking against one
another. It is exactly what James says that we are not to do. Period. That derogatory, overcritical,
slanderous, false, accusatory spirit that just seems to course
through our very being, doesn’t it? It is so easy to criticize
others. It’s so easy to point out other
people’s sins and shortcomings. But this goes far beyond that.
One described it this way, to speak harshly of, to speak evil
of someone else in that person’s absence. Isn’t that the easiest
time to do it? To insult them, to slander them
when they’re not there to defend themselves. That’s really what
this is all about. Peter said, you know what? Before
you even take a bite, Before you even sit down and open your
Bibles, you better prepare for the meal. And the only way to
prepare for the meal is to take off this filthy garment that
he describes there in such graphic terms. Take it off, leave it
off and don’t ever put it back on. Secondly, There’s another
contributing factor. Fostering a desire for God’s
Word. You won’t desire God’s Word unless you put off those
evil things. And if you want to desire God’s
Word, look at the likeness of the meal. Look at the likeness
of the meal. How are we supposed to desire
God’s Word? Like newborn babes, verse 2,
long for the Word. All I could do is point you to
a living illustration. Go look at a gentle newborn child as they’re growing. And as they
begin to long for their next meal, they just begin to almost
seize with hunger. They have no way of communicating
their needs. The only way they can communicate
it is to cry out. And then upon seeing the mother,
or perhaps as they age the bottle, they just begin to quiver with
delight at the thought of that meal. And it caused us to ask
that question, is that how we desire our next meal from God’s
word? How many of us eagerly arose
this morning, eagerly looking to the meal from God’s word that
would be here this morning? How many of us eagerly get up
each morning And look to God’s Word as the very means of grace
in growing in Christ. That word that we looked at last
week described an intense yearning, isn’t that? Could there be anything
more appropriate than a newborn baby crying and longing for its
mother, for its next meal? In Scripture, this little word
is often used, of a heartfelt longing to see a loved one. It
is an intense desire and it’s a pure desire. It is one of the
words that we use to describe our yearning for God. My heart
pants like the deer for the water brook. And some would say in looking
at this, Well, he’s talking to those baby Christians, not talking
to me, because I’ve been a Christian for some 25 years and I’m not
a novice anymore. Is that what he’s talking about,
really? I mean, it’s certainly it’s an argument worth considering.
And often the beginnings in a work of grace in our lives is used
in Scripture. In very similar terms, Ephesians
1.4, as a result, we are no longer to be children. Right. And so
it calls us to to grow up a little bit. We’re no longer to be children
tossed here and there by waves carried about by every wind of
doctrine. Don’t be like children. Is that what Peter’s saying here?
That for those of you who are new in the faith, you need to
long for the word so that you grow. For the rest of you, we’ll
have some additional words for you in a moment. First Corinthians
uses the same imagery. I, brethren, could not speak
to you as spiritual men, but as men of flesh, as to infants
in Christ. Isn’t that what Peter’s saying?
Let me address for a moment those who are babes in Christ so that
you long for the milk of God’s word. Maybe. 1 Corinthians 14. Brethren, do not be children
in your thinking. Hebrews 5.12. By this time, you ought to be
teachers. You have again need for someone to teach you the
elementary principles of the oracles of God. And you have
come to need milk and not solid food. Isn’t that the exact image
in Peter? No. Not in my opinion. From what I see, Peter writes
to every one of us. Peter writes to Christians. And
then in every one of us, there is an infancy. There is a yet
incomplete product where Peter is desiring us to be built up
by God’s grace. And the only way to do it is
to feast on the milk of God’s Word. The only way. Milk here
refers not to the basic principles of Christianity as compared to
the deep meat of the doctrinal truths of God’s Word. That’s
not at all what Peter is setting this up as. Rather, it signifies
the whole Word of God in all of its precious and saving truths
as being the only proper nutrition for any and all of God’s children. It’s for all of us. And now I ask you to desire God’s
Word. Do you yearn for God’s Word? Point three. I’m suggesting that there are
four contributing factors that will foster a desire for God’s
Word. Not only the preparation for
the meal and the likeness of the meal, but thirdly, look at
the nature of the meal. Look at the nature of the meal.
Therefore, long for the Word.” There’s the simple sentence.
As we often will look at, Peter just says that we are to desire,
work up an appetite for God’s Word, but it’s a certain kind
of a meal. We can assume that since it’s
equated with newborn babies, that it’s milk, although that
isn’t stated initially. But Peter wants to characterize
it. He wants to get an image across to us in our mind that
characterizes the nature of this word. What is it? He says, long
for the pure milk of God’s word. Long for the pure milk of God’s
word. The word there just has reference
to that which is unadulterated, uncontaminated by other matter. Often it was used of corn that
was free of chaff, unadulterated, pure corn. Peter’s urging us to is to not
be bogged down by human opinion, certainly not by false teaching.
It’s one thing I’ve always said. Bible study, in my opinion, is
one of the most dangerous times in a Christian’s life. Because
oftentimes what people will do is they’ll, you know, my famous
illustration, they’re studying the passage on their way to the
Bible study. Right. And they get to the Bible study,
they all go around in a circle and talk about what they think
the passage means. Not the pure word of God. Peter urges us to is a deep study
of God’s word in and of our own. A desire for the pure word of
God would include a desire, a regular feasting upon it just by way
of your own personal reading. Certainly, it would include and
encompass the preaching of God’s word, but in its simplicity,
it’s talking about just your time, your time feasting on God’s
word, not all the human opinions, not all the exegesis, not all
the commentary on God’s word, the pure milk. of God’s Word. The only proper, genuine appetite
of the children of God is for the Word of God itself. Just
like when a child is not hungry, you can tell that there is something
wrong and just so in the Christian’s life if the Christian is not
ravenous for God’s Word. And I believe that’s the image
that is presented here. If the Christian is not ravenous
for God’s Word, something is amiss. Usually, it’s something
in that early list that we looked at. Those things that we’re supposed
to put aside. But there’s something not right
about a Christian who doesn’t desire God’s Word. One Puritan said it this way.
He who lives up to a little light shall have more light. He who
lives up to a little knowledge shall have more knowledge. He
who lives up to a little faith shall have more faith. And he
who lives up to a little love shall have more love. Verily,
the main reason why men are such babes and shrubs in grace is
because they do not live up to their attainments. We haven’t
appropriated what we’ve read. We haven’t appropriated what
we’ve learned. We haven’t put to use God’s Word
in our life thus far. What makes us think that we’re
prepared for the next meal? It’s a dangerous thought. And
it’s not easy. It’s not easy to take God’s Word
and appropriate it in our lives and to hear a rebuke or to hear
a sermon that steps upon our toes or to read a passage that
is convicting in its very nature. It’s not easy. But this is the
very work that we’re called to, people, if we are truly going
to be like Christ. This is it. There’s no easy way. There’s no quick course that
you could take in sanctification. One godly saint put it this way,
heart work is hard work indeed. To shuffle over religious duties
with a loose and careless spirit will cost no great difficulties,
but to set yourself before the Lord and to tie up your loose
and vain thoughts to a constant and serious attendance upon Him,
this will cost you something. To attain ease and dexterity
of language in prayer and to be able to put meaning into appropriate
fittings of expression is easy. You know what he says there?
To talk like a Christian, even to pray like a Christian, is
a piece of cake. Easy. But to get your heart broken
for sin, while you’re actually confessing
it, melted with free grace, even while you are blessing God for
it, To be really ashamed and really humbled through the awareness
of God’s infinite holiness and to keep your heart in this state,
not only in, but after these dirty duties will surely cost
you some groans and travailing pain of soul. Oh, it sounds exciting, doesn’t
it? It doesn’t sound exciting. It
sounds like hard work. It sounds like uncomfortable
work. It sounds like I may have to confess. I may need to own
up to something. I may need to apologize. I may
need to seek forgiveness. I may need to plead for grace
that God would eradicate this vile thing from my life. It doesn’t
sound easy at all. But it sounds worthwhile. What Peter points us to here
is what the saints for thousands of years have called the primary
means of grace. What is the primary means of
grace? What is the channel, the conduit by which God’s grace
flows to us? It’s His Word. It’s God’s Word. The primary means of grace, prayer,
Bible study, and Christian service. And there are all kinds of other
ones. James Boyce points out at least seven assurance, knowledge,
Bible study. But the primary means of grace
is God’s Word, God’s Word. As one said, strictly speaking,
only the Word can be regarded as a means of grace. The objective
channels by which Christ is instituted in the church, to which He ordinarily
binds Himself in the communication of His grace. In other words,
you have from God a divine promise. That if you come to this with
a pure heart, if you come to this prepared for a meal, yearning
for it, God promises to nourish you. Where can you get a promise
like that? God’s Word is not an instrument,
not of common, but of special grace, that grace that removes
sins and renews the sinner in conformity with the image of
God. These graces, these means of grace or continuous means
of grace, they are the official means. Of the Church of Jesus
Christ. It’s not being part of the tape
club, it’s not being, you know, having the entire anthology of
some such preacher. It is the pure, unadulterated
Word of God. Why is it the Word is held out
so repeatedly in Scripture? The pure Word of God. Because only the Word, only Scripture
promotes sound doctrine, right? Only the Word performs its work
in you who believe. 1 Thessalonians 2.13 Only the
Word is able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation.
2 Timothy 3.15 Same passage. Only the Word is inspired by
God. Only the Word is profitable for
teaching, reproof, correction, training, and righteousness.
Only the Word. Only the Word is able to make
you adequate, equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3.16 Only the Word, Hebrews 4, is
living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing
as far as the division of soul and spirit. No words of man can
do that. Only the Word is able to judge
the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Only the Word, Isaiah
46, abides forever. Only the Word, John 17, is truth. Only the Word presents Christ
accurately as all that He is, the Savior of the world. Only
the Word presents humanity accurately as all that we are. Desperately
sinful and in need of Him. And from that standpoint, the
preached word has always been held in the church as a bountiful
gift of God’s grace in laying out the word of God before the
people for their nourishment. William Ames said it this way.
He said the preaching of the word is of utmost importance.
The duty of an ordinary preacher is to set forth the will of God
out of the word for the edification of the hearers. In order that
the will of God may be first set forth fruitfully for edification. So worthy a part of divine service
that we would greatly wrong if we did not esteem preaching as
the blessed ordinance of God. When we come here, we come to
feast. Feast on God’s word. I said there were four contributing
factors fostering a desire for God’s Word. Not only the preparation
for the meal and putting aside those vile things, but the likeness
of the meal, yearning for that meal like a little infant child. And the nature of the meal, the
pure Word of God. But there’s a fourth factor,
the purpose of the meal. Why eat? Why eat? Therefore, long for the pure
milk of the word that by it you may grow.” I told you this is
what necessitated Peter’s words. He could hear the groanings,
the painful groanings of his congregation spread throughout
the land. He could hear them groaning.
We know what is desired of us, but we can’t do it. We haven’t
arrived. We don’t love as we ought. We’re
not as holy as we ought. We don’t revere Christ as we
ought. Peter says, let me tell you how
to get there. The only means that you have
is God’s word. But if you take in God’s word,
it is productive. And it will make you to grow
He will grow in godliness. He will grow in righteousness.
He will grow in Christ likeness. The psalmist knew this. Psalm
119, Thy word have I treasured in my heart that I may not sin
against thee. It is the very purpose of our
existence. growth in grace, growth in Christ, knowledge of and avoidance
of sin. We’re never finished in this
life. We can never reach some kind
of plateau. Charles Bridges, one of my heroes,
said it this way, because therefore the lack of knowledge of God
is the cause of all iniquity amongst men. You know, that’s
why both in our college group, when I was in college ministry,
in almost any ministry that I’ve ever begun, one of the first
things that I love to do is a study of the attributes of God. Because
once you begin to know what God is like and you hear about a
sovereign God, you hear about an omnipotent God, you hear about
an all-seeing God, you hear about an all-powerful God, He’s got
your attention. He’s got your attention. and
your sin comes into focus, and you begin to desire to deal with
it, Bridges says that the lack of the knowledge of God is the
cause of all iniquity. He says because of that, and
the seed of whatsoever perfect virtue grows from us is a right
opinion of touching things divine. In other words, he says there
is no change in us. unless we’ve got that seminal
truth of God’s Word. This kind of knowledge we must
justly set down for the first and chiefest thing which God
imparts to our people. And our duty of receiving this
at His merciful hands is the first duty that we should embrace. The receiving of God’s Word,
he says, for the purpose of growing in grace is the number one thing
that a Christian should be engaged in. And now I’ll ask you, number
one, are you prepared for the meal? Are you prepared to take
in the meal? Are you prepared to feast on
God’s grace all the while embracing some of these things that Peter
spoke of this malice, this envy, this hypocrisy? Have you put
those things aside? Are you quivering for God’s word
for your next meal? Are you longing for it and eager
to take it in? Eager to partake of a normal
and regular feeding, just like a child? Do you yearn first and foremost
for the pure milk of God’s word? Are you so caught up in letting
everybody else preach you your food for you that you never feast
on the pure word of God? I guess the point really comes
at the very end. Do you even really desire to
grow? Do you somehow and foolishly
so think that you’ve arrived at some kind of spiritual plateau
that you don’t need to do any more growing? Jonathan Edwards, the greatest pastor that America has ever
produced, Said it this way, you all have by you a large treasure
of divine knowledge in that you have the Bible in your hands.
Therefore, be not contented in possessing a little of this treasure.
I mean, aren’t we? Don’t we, you know, read some
little passage and think that, oh boy, what a rich man am I? He says, don’t be content in
a little of that treasure. God has spoken much to you in
the Scriptures. Labor to understand as much of
what He says to you as you can. God has made you all reasonable
creatures. Therefore, let not the noble
faculty of reason or understanding lie neglected. He says you’ve
got brains. Use them. Get into God’s Word. Content not yourselves with having
so much knowledge as is thrown your way, as you receive in some
sense unavoidably by the frequent inculcation of divine truth in
the preaching of the Word.” You know what he says? This isn’t
enough. Gathering here and having some
truth thrown your way, if it happens to stick, it’s not enough. And this is Jonathan Edwards,
the greatest. Perhaps of all America’s preachers,
one of the greatest preachers that ever lived. He certainly
had a high view of preaching. They said, you know what, as
good as the preaching is, it’s not enough. Content not yourselves with having
so much knowledge as is thrown your way or as you accidentally
gain in conversation, but let it very much be your business
to search for it. We’ve all got businesses, don’t
we? I’ve got something else that wakes me up at five in the morning,
every Monday morning, right? You’ve all got your things. But
is it our business? I love the way he says that. To search for it. And that, with
the same diligence and labor with which men are wont to dig
in mines of silver and gold. It’s an interesting thing. Job said, I’ve treasured the
words of his mouth more than my necessary food. And here,
Edward says that we’re supposed to dig in like it’s a mine of
pure gold. Is that how you long and yearn
for the Scriptures? Do you desire to grow that much? Let’s pray that God, by His grace,
might cultivate in us the hunger for God’s Word. Let’s pray. Oh, merciful God. God have mercy on us, because
we know we could walk out of here today. Amused and entertained
and. Their conscience is a little
bit pierced. And we know that we could go
today and let this die. We know that we could go away
and never again make an effort to cultivate a hunger for Your
Word, never even acknowledging it to You. So, we pray for mercy. We pray, don’t let us go the
natural direction of our hearts. Convict us of our lack of desire. Convict us of those things that
stand in the way. Convict us of our lack of a desire
to even grow desire for all manner of tainted versions of Your Word. Lord, convict us, we pray. That is the very means of change
in our life in this regard. Have mercy on us, we pray. Give
us a longing for Your Word by Your grace. We pray these things
in Jesus’ name, Amen. you