as I continue to get set up here. So our memory verse this month is 1 Peter 2, 1 and 2. First thing we'll do is we'll read 1 Peter 2, 1 and 2, New King James Version. Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby. At first glance, as we look at this verse, a couple of things jump off the page. First of all, we kind of get two different vibes in this verse. One is negative and one is positive. We have a list of negative attitudes and things. Malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and finally evil speaking. And then we see the second statement is kind of a positive statement, the desire, the pure milk of the Word that you may grow. So tonight we're going to see why these things are mentioned and what we're supposed to do with them. But I want to set up the context here and who the intended audience is here. So please turn in your Bibles to 1 Peter 1, verse 1. The book of 1 Peter is written to a very specific group of people, and it's mentioned twice. 1 Peter 1 states, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ to the pilgrims of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Asia, and Bithynia. Also, if you look in chapter 2, verse 11, Peter mentions him again, he says, Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from freshly lust which war against your flesh. So we can deduct from the first one that sometime in the past, these people had been dispersed. They moved to where they were now, and they were not at home. They weren't, they didn't move there because they had good job opportunities there. They were there because they were pushed out of their homes, countries, or their hometowns. A little research I did do it, this dispersion could refer to the dispersion that Paul, or Saul, before he became the Apostle Paul was part of. So we had the Jewish believers that were dispersed because of the suffering caused by the religious leaders, or it could have been this is about the time that Nero started cranking up the persecution on believers and Christians in the Roman Empire. So, this group that Peter is talking to is saved and you can call them pilgrims and sojourners and these people are mentioned where they live by name. See if I got this little light here. So we have Pontus which is up in this corner here by the Black Sea. Then we have Bithynia here and this is Asia, Galatia and that big word again. So, as I looked at it, what surprised me is how far can you get and still be in Asia? I mean, these people, you kind of get the idea they're getting pushed. You know, I don't know if they did come from Israel or Jerusalem, but they're kind of getting pushed against the boundaries here before they're You know, if you can kind of stood out that meter there. These are, this is where they're living here. You know, they're kind of getting pushed against the Black Sea and the, you know, they can't go much further without getting up into the wilds of Russia or crossing over into Europe. But the other thing I noticed as I studied this first is although these people were scattered, They had a few things in common. They were all believers. They're described by Peter, in 1 Peter, as pilgrims, or sojourners, or temporary residents. They're described as elect. As he describes these people, he says they loved Jesus Christ. They believed Jesus Christ. These people had received the end of their faith, the salvation of their souls. They are called holy. They are referred to by Peter as redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. They have had purified souls. These people obeyed the truth and Peter called them born again. So at some point in the past, the recipients, these believers, came to the realization that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah, the promised by God in the Old Testament. And that Jesus Christ came down and accomplished something on the cross that we could not do for ourselves. He died for our sins. He made the satisfactory payment. on our behalf. Sin was no longer the barrier that kept them, or you and me, from a righteous, holy God. And at that point of salvation, they became children of God by placing the faith in Jesus Christ and what He accomplished. Because of this, God can give us eternal life in heaven with Him when we die, as a gift, all by His grace. A believer, then and now, although heaven is his eternal destination, does not immediately go to heaven. But they are to live a life motivated by love that honors and glorifies the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. The ultimate goal here as believers on this earth, whether we're scattered abroad in Asia Minor, or northern Minnesota, is to become more and more Christ-like. The characters of Christ become more and more real in us as we mature. This change in us, being transformed by the Word of God, sometimes will cause a believer to stick out in a world system that's ruled by the devil. This standing out or change in attitude or beliefs will sometimes lead to suffering and persecution. This is what these believers had experienced. Because of their faith in Christ, they had been persecuted. They were suffering. This particular group had been dispersed throughout Asia Minor, and Peter writes to them to remind them of their salvation, their status as pilgrims and sojourners in this world, their sanctification, and reminds them that their conduct as believers is supposed to be in light of the world. And it's in this reminder of truth and this pattern that we are going to find our memory verse tonight. Please follow along and as I studied this all day I discovered a pattern. And the pattern we see starting with 1 Peter 1 verse 3 is truths that are mentioned then we have a therefore and an exhortation and then an encouragement. This cycle repeats itself in 1 Peter 1, 22-25. We have the truth, we have the exhortation, which is our memory verse, and then verse 3 is the encouragement. Just to glance at this and establish this, please follow along as I glance through 1 Peter 1, As we start in the second cycle here of Truce in 1 Peter 1.22. Truce. Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the spirit and sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever. Because all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower fades away. But the word of God, of the Lord, endures forever. Now this is the word by which the gospel was preached to you. Therefore, here's our big therefore, and here comes our exhortation. Laying aside all malice, deceit, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and evil speaking, So what are we exhorted to do here? As believers, we are exhorted to lay aside And I thought this was interesting, this word lay aside means to stop. Not only does it say that, it's to cease what you are accustomed to doing. To stop doing what you normally do. This will come up later. This is in the middle voice, so this is something we choose to do. It's translated as put off, or lay aside, or lay down, or cast off, or lay apart in other translations. The ESV says, so put away. The net says, so get rid of. The Holman Bible says, so rid yourselves of. And then we have ourselves a list. We are to lay aside malice. Malice is a desire to inflict injury, harm, or suffering on another. A feeling of hostility or strong dislike with a desire to do harm. This isn't, I don't like you. This is, I really, really don't like you and I want to hurt you. That's malice. Deceit. Deceit is the act or practice of concealing or distorting the truth for the purpose to cheat, defraud, or mislead someone. So we are to lay aside these things, malice, deceit. We are to lay aside hypocrisy, which is a pretense of having a virtue or virtuous characters, morals, beliefs, or principles that one does not have. When we're being hypocritical or a hypocrite, we are to lay aside, get rid of. I also had this one that made sense to me. To give an impression of having certain purposes or motivations, while in reality having quite different ones. To pretend. We can pretend. The next one is envy, which is the state of ill will towards someone because of some real or presumed advantage. A feeling of discontent and covetousness. And the last on this list of things we're to lay aside and get rid of when we see them or are aware of them is all evil speaking. To speak against or to slander. Slander, I had to look that word up just to make sure. Slander means to false or unjustified injury of the good reputation of another. Backbiting is a way of saying evil speaking. So that's a quick list there of things and definitions. So one thing I made an observation about this list is these all kind of start inside and work their way outward, don't they? We have, if you have malice towards somebody, if you're speaking evil of somebody, if you're attempting to deceive somebody, if you're being hypocritical, you know, there seems to be this insight towards a target. I get this idea, in my mind, these believers had real people in mind when they were thinking being malicious or talking evil of somebody. It could have been a family member that kicked them out of their family. It could have been a co-worker or a boss because of their beliefs. you know, or people that they grew up with that disowned them because of their faith. This isn't some mystical, you know, like, I don't know what that is. This is, to me, these people and I, excuse me, I have a, they know who they're talking evil against. You know, they're somebody Pacific. A group of people or You know, like I said, in my mind, I see these people that are dispersed, not being where they want to be, and it's because my brother-in-law, or Joe the barber, you know, they have somebody in mind. So, Peter says, you have to lay these things aside. And then the question came up, you mean believers are guilty of this? Believers can do these things. And, in fact, believers from Itasca Bible Church can do these things. That's why we're told not to do them. I know I have problems with these, and what I learned from these verses particularly is when these things pop up in your life and you become aware of them, you are to lay them aside. Don't worry, we're in good company. The Apostle Paul looks familiar. Talks to the Ephesians, let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. Almost word for word. Colossians, Colossian believers had some trouble with these things. Now you yourselves are to put off, get rid of all these anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. What about the Corinthians? Apostle Paul talks and says, lest there be contentions. And by the way, this is probably what was going on. There was contentions and jealousies and outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, backbiting, whisperings, conceits and tumults. This is the Corinthian church. I'm not going to stop there. James, when he's talking to the church at Jerusalem, what does he say? Therefore, lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your souls." Remember what I said, laying aside is stop doing what you naturally want to do or you are prone to do. It is all over the New Testament. Stop, lay aside. Luckily, Apostle Peter goes on. Second thing we are supposed to do after we've laid aside these things is to desire. We are to long for something with an implication or recognizing a lack of it. We are to crave. This is an aorist imperative. This is a command. The Apostle Peter is telling us, you are to desire. This is a command. With an active voice, you are to choose to desire. And what are we to choose to desire? Desire and other translations are long for the pure spiritual milk, crave pure spiritual milk, and yearn like newborn infants. And that answers our next question is, what are we to desire? The pure milk of the Word. This word pure means unadulterated. means to be pure and unadulterated. The word milk signifies the basic gospel and is used in the one commentary, 1 Peter 2.2, pure spiritual milk will help newborns bathe, grow up with, to salvation. Thus the term in 1 Peter 2.2 undoubtedly indicates the character of the gospel as mystery or sacrament, but the content of the gospel is discriminative from the mysteries that are used in similar terminology. We are told, we are commanded here, to desire the pure milk of the Word of God, the unadulterated Word of God. And we're even given an example. How are we to do this? How are we to desire this? Like a newborn, or as a newborn babe, And Peter goes on, and what's the result? The result is growth. Spiritual growth. So that, or in order that, there would be some growth. We know from Romans 12, 1 and 2 that as we renew our minds in the Word of God, with the pure milk of the Word, it transforms us from the inside out, with the goal becoming more and more Christ-like. Finally, we get an encouragement, though it's not part of our memory verses, it's verse three. Since you, since indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. I think this picture coming up here kind of illustrates it. Pure milk, so that you may grow. Taller and taller and taller. So that's our memory verse, 1 Peter 2, 1 and 2. Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, all evie speakings. When you see these things pop up in your life, we are to lay them aside. Don't continue in them. Confess them as sin. Step away from them. They don't have to be part of who you are. And we are encouraged to grow. And this happens through desiring, longing for, craving the pure milk of the Word. Not only we just, we can take our eyes off of the malice, the deceit, the hypocrisy, and turn our eyes towards the Word of God and focus on that. And growth happens. In conclusion, we notice that Peter wrote this epistle to believers who had suffered because of their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and now are scattered throughout Asia Minor. These truths he presents to us are followed by exhortations to see a difference in the way we live. We are to stop doing what we are accustomed to doing and commanded to desire the unadulterated truth of the Word so we will see spiritual growth. These truths and the intended effects are upon our character and spiritual growth are the same for the believers of Asia Minor and for us today. So let me challenge you this. Are you being malicious or do you have malice towards another? Are you planning or attempting to deceive somebody? And because you're planning and attempting to deceive somebody, are you being a hypocrite? Because you envy somebody else, and you backstab or speak evil or slander another. When these things again pop up in your life, stop doing these things. Lay them aside. Get rid of them. And look towards desire, the unadulterated truth of the Word of God. It's been my experience that the Lord is faithful and just to show exactly where you are. And now we have, and it's been kind of interesting, as I think about these things is, oops, there was a little bit of malice. There was a little bit of evil speaking. It just says you're going along your day and just doing your thing, and all of a sudden, as you're aware of them, put them away, lay them aside. Confess them of sin, look towards the Word of God. Very, very encouraging verses. Very, very specific list, which is very, very helpful to see where you are. And it's also encouraging to know, me personally, that this isn't my problem. This isn't the believers that are scattered, neither mine. This list and the command to put them away, get rid of is sprinkled throughout the New Testament to practically every church. So we're not alone in this battle. Let's pray. Dear Holy Fathers, thank you for these two verses that Peter wrote to the believers in Asia Minor, but now we can also do us, but that how we are to conduct ourselves in the world, no matter if we're at home or if we're being pushed abroad or Scattered throughout the world, but our conduct and just remind us that we do have tendencies that are not do not line up with the Word of God and who we are in Christ and and when we see those we are to We don't have to wallow in them. We can stop make a choice Walk away from them put them away And then and turn towards you in the Word of God that we may have spiritual growth through that in Jesus name Amen unit.