Long for The Pure Word

“So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.” (1 Peter 2:1-3 ESV)

In chapter one of 1 Peter we learned that, as those who believe in Jesus Christ to be our Lord, we are to be obedient to our Lord and we are no longer to be conformed to our former sinful passions. For he who called us is holy, so we also must be holy in all our conduct, by the Spirit, in the strength of the Lord. And to be holy is to be separate (unlike, different) from the world because by the grace of God we are being transformed and conformed to the likeness of character of Jesus Christ, by the Spirit.

Therefore, for that to take place in our lives, we must put away all that is not of God and is against God and is of the sinful nature and our past lives. For to believe in Jesus Christ with biblical God-persuaded and God-gifted faith in him, it requires that we are crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness. So sin should no longer be what we practice, but righteousness and godliness and obedience to God.

So whatever sins we may have held on to in our past lives we must now do away with. They must be gone out of our lives for good. And this is not to say that we will never sin again (see 1 John 2:1-2), but the Scriptures definitely teach that genuine faith in Jesus Christ results in us putting sin to death in our lives, by the Spirit, and us now walking in obedience to our Lord, in practice, in the strength and power of the Lord. For if sin is still what we practice, and not obedience to God, we don’t have eternal life with God.

But this isn’t all just about getting rid of sin in our lives, but this is about longing after the pure “milk” of the word of God. We should be those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, whose desire it is to please our Lord in all that we are and do and say. We should want to obey our Lord and his commands to us, out of love for him, and out of gratitude for him dying on that cross and being resurrected from the dead so that we can now die to sin and live to God and to his righteousness in the power of God within us.

And by this we are then able to grow up (mature) into salvation so that we are no longer like infants just wanting our own way. We should be students of the Scriptures who study them for ourselves (in context) under the guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit, resulting in walks of surrender and obedience to our Lord and to his commands. And we should be those who are growing to maturity in our walks of faith in obedience to our Lord. We should be those who are listening to the Holy Spirit and following our Lord.

And then we have one of these “IF” clauses which frequent the teachings in the Scriptures. For not everyone who says, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God the Father who is in heaven. So not everyone who professes faith in Christ Jesus with their lips is of genuine God-gifted and God-persuaded faith in the Lord Jesus. For faith that saves leads us to deny self, die to sin daily, and to walk in obedience to our Lord in surrender to his will and purpose for our lives.

So, if sin is still what you practice, and not righteousness, and not obedience to the Lord, then according to the Scriptures you are not in fellowship with God, you do not know God, and you are not born of God, but you are of the devil. Thus salvation from sin and eternal life with God are not what is promised to you regardless of what you may have been taught by other people who are teaching the Scriptures out of context and who are twisting them to say what they do not say if taught in context.

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 2:6-8; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-21; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:5-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10]

As the Deer 

By Martin J. Nystrom

Based off Psalm 42:1

As the deer panteth for the water

 So my soul longeth after You

 You alone are my heart's desire

 And I long to worship You

You alone are my strength, my shield

 To You alone may my spirit yield

 You alone are my heart's desire

 And I long to worship You

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZv3jzOTE70

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