A Daily Walk

John Randall: Down with the diluted presentation of the gospel that presents Jesus as some additive to make your life happy. Down with the mitigated message that doesn't call sin sin and truth truth, or that Jesus is God. Friends, we need the gospel to be preached unapologetically.

Listen, do you know the gospel? If you do, then by the power of God's Holy Spirit, proclaim it lovingly, passionately, graciously, truthfully. Don't shun to declare the whole counsel of God's word. Tell the world that Jesus lives, that Jesus saves. We must know the Lord of the word and make known the word of the Lord.

Announcer: You know, it really is sad to see so many churches and Christians abandoning the word of God today. Yes, it is an alarming trend and the results are disastrous. You don't have to look far to see that.

When Peter penned his first letter to suffering Christians, he made sure to emphasize the importance of the word of God in their lives. Times of trial are times for growth, and the Bible is what will help us grow. Today on A Daily Walk, we're about to show you how important it is to your health and your growth. Here is Pastor John Randall with what the word does in the life of a Christian, from 1 Peter chapters 1 and 2.

John Randall: Again, verse 25. But the word of the Lord endures forever. And this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you. The gospel. What is the gospel that came through the word? The gospel means good news. The good news is that Jesus came to save sinners. The word of God reveals the plan of God for salvation. It spells out how a sinner like me can get to heaven. The most important information that you could ever receive is found right here. Because this right here determines your eternal destiny.

You can read textbooks, you can learn equations and theories and all kinds of things, but those things don't tell you how to get to heaven. This right here is what reveals where you're going to spend your eternal destiny. That is why it is so important to have the word of God. The word of God shows me my need for salvation. The word of God points me to the Savior. The word of God reveals how I am to be saved.

You can have a wealth of knowledge in your given field. You can have untold numbers of degrees, which are pieces of paper that are framed and hang on your wall, that tell us how intelligent you are. However, if you do not possess the knowledge of how to get to heaven, you are not as smart or as wise as you suppose yourself to be. Those papers can't save you, but God can save you. And the word of God reveals how that is to be.

There are many brilliant people today in hell. It's a fact. How do you get saved? By the gospel. Where do I find the gospel? In the word that endures forever. Jesus' last words to His disciples before His departure, the Great Commission, in Mark chapter 16, He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." Preach the good news.

And that's what the apostles did. Peter declared it in Acts chapter 4, verse 12. He said, "Nor is there salvation in any other. There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved," only the name of Jesus. The early church kept themselves in the word of God and they continually proclaimed the word of God.

The gospel must be preached because that is how people come to salvation, through the preaching of the gospel. People do not get saved by being entertained. People do not get saved through any other means but the preaching of the word of God. This is God's means for His message to be heard. We're not preaching ethics or morality so much, or politics or art or positive thinking. We preach God's word. And the preaching of God's word is to preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified. This is what we are to declare. If we're not declaring that, then are we really preaching the gospel?

Listen, I'm going to say it and I think it's worth saying, or I wouldn't say it. Down with the diluted presentation of the gospel that presents Jesus as some additive to make your life happy. Down with the mitigated message that doesn't call sin sin and truth truth, or that Jesus is God. Friends, we need the gospel to be preached unapologetically.

Do you know the gospel? If you do, then by the power of God's Holy Spirit, proclaim it lovingly, passionately, graciously, truthfully. Don't shun to declare the whole counsel of God's word. Tell the world that Jesus lives, that Jesus saves. We must know the Lord of the word and make known the word of the Lord. Salvation comes through the preaching of the gospel.

But the word of God not only tells us how to get saved, but you know what else the word of God provides? It tells us how to grow. If you look at the very next chapter, first verse, notice what Peter declares concerning the word of God. "Therefore, or in light of the gospel being preached, lay aside all malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking. And as newborn babies, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious."

Peter now exhorts the believers to have a desire for God's word in order that they can grow. And it's interesting, isn't it, that he likens the word of God like milk for a brand-new baby? When Peter refers to God's word as pure, it means unadulterated, untainted. Nothing added to it, nothing strange, no aberrant spin. It's just pure in itself.

When a child is born, the best thing for that child when they come into this world, the way God has developed it, is the milk from its mother. A mother's milk is the perfect food for newborn babies. It will immunize her baby from any illnesses and nourish her baby for growth. It's a miracle. And in the same way, God's word will protect Christians from many spiritual aberrant things that are out there.

You'll begin to grow. A mother's milk will make her baby grow for months without any other food. God's word will nourish Christians so that they grow in their understanding of who God is. Now, if a child is not given the proper nutrients that are found within the milk, then it can become sick, it can become weak, and so too even their development can become quickly arrested. Arrested development with improper nutrition.

You know, there are a number of things that have the potential to stunt our spiritual growth. Things that hinder my ability to grow, such as being in a place where the word of God is not taught. Christians over the years, and again, God uses different churches to minister to all different types of people, and I say yes and amen to that. I believe it. I praise God for it and the variety of the body of Christ. There is only one church ultimately, and that's the entire church that's here and in the presence of the Lord. Although there's many churches and many denominations, I understand that. But in heaven, nobody cares up there what denomination you're from. We're just all around the throne of God. So God uses different churches to minister to different people.

But I do believe that in churches, the priority, at least from what you get from reading the word, is that God's word is to be important. That God holds His word above His name. Therefore it's supposed to be proclaimed, it's supposed to be preached. So over the years, I've had people come to us and I say this humbly, really, and say, "I've learned more here in the last three months than I've learned however, wherever I was before."

Why is that? I'll tell you why it's not. It's not because we're so amazing. It's because God's word is so powerful. And God honors the teaching of His word. That's why you're growing. It's not because we're opening it up, we're just going through it. And that is what is changing your life and changing your family and changing your attitude and changing your mind and altering who I am. It's the word of God. That's where the power is. The building is insignificant compared to what's here.

And you found this to be so because we weren't even in a building for a couple years. We were in a parking lot for Pete's sake. It doesn't matter. What brought people was God's word. That is what is life-changing. So, if you're sitting in a place where the word of God is not taught, that's a problem. You will have arrested development. You can't grow. If you never crack this book, if you never go through it, how are you going to learn about it? We're not giving Ted Talks here. We're giving the word of God. This is what changes lives. So, this is really important and that can arrest your development.

I've known people who don't know that's in the Bible. "God helps those who help themselves." That is not in the Bible. That's not there. Just these things that people come up with. Where have you been reading? Shame on whoever didn't open it.

Second thing, sin. Oh man, if there's anything that will arrest our development and growth in our walk with Jesus, it's sin. Hidden sin, blatant sin, it affects our ability to grow. It stifles our passion for the word of God. Sin kills my passion for the word. And Peter lists some of these sins here. He says lay aside malice and deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all evil speaking. That will ruin your appetite for the word of God for sure. Sin hinders. So sin is repented of and suddenly the word of God opens up again.

People who live in a consistent lifestyle of habitual unrepentant sin and go to the word and say, "I don't see it. I don't understand it." Can I just tell you why? Because you're blind. You're living a life inconsistent with what it says. How do you expect to see it if you're blind? Repent, have your eyes opened, and suddenly the word comes alive. Suddenly I'm hearing, I'm receiving, I'm not hindered any longer. Now it's everything to me.

A healthy infant is a hungry infant. You know we have two little grandsons and our second one is four months. He is chunky. This kid every time I see him, there's three more rolls. I love it. We have a lot in common. But I just realize just hugging this little guy's little cheeks, he's eating well. A spiritually healthy Christian is a hungry Christian. "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled."

Are you hungry for God's word? Do you have a growing appetite for the things of God? Do you thirst for more of Jesus? If the answer is "not really, I don't," then here's what you might want to do. Check your spiritual diet. Check it out. What are you eating?

Let's say today that after church you were going over to some friends' house and you're going to have a meal together. It's always nice to have a meal with friends. You're just going to sit down at the table and you're excited and they said, "Oh, we're making this and that. My husband got a new smoker and he thinks he's amazing, so we are really going to cook. It's going to be amazing. You just want to come. He's been smoking it all night and now it's going to be ready tomorrow."

Some of you guys are skilled and I appreciate it. You guys should be Old Testament priests the way you guys get it cooked out at the barbecues. The Lord loves that smell. Bible tells us that. But what I want to say to you is this. So you're on your way to your friend's house and you're driving down the five, you go a little bit further toward Mission Viejo, and you see that sign that says Krispy Kreme.

And your car just for some reason went down there. You realize you have to make sure the conveyor's working today. I don't want to see that thing go down. I'm concerned. And that's all. That's my intention. I don't have anything else. And they also give you free hats. I mean, I got to make sure that things are good. And so you go and you go in and you just put your face on the glass and your nose is all pressed up and you see the glaze come over. Then you realize they're having a deal. You're like, "You know what? There's a deal. Let's just do it."

And so you buy a dozen and you're on your way to your friend's house and you eat them all. And man, going down it's like nothing. And then on your way you get there and suddenly you get to your friend's house and they set out, they bring out the meat, you smell the meat. They set it out before you, they're carving it up, they put it in front of you and you're like, "I can't do it."

"What do you mean you can't do it? Why? What's wrong?" "Well, my wife, she said we had to go to Krispy Kreme and I ate them all." What am I telling you all this for? By the way, this is a fictitious story. This isn't real. Unless it is. But anyways, the point is this. You ate something that hindered your ability for something else. You're feeding on the wrong things.

Maybe you feed on the political climate. You just live off of what's next. Yeah, every day feels like Christmas since the election, I get it. But you live off of that. Or you live off of sports. You know more stats about sports than scripture. "Do you know back in 1958 how many pitches he threw when he was..." If you would apply that knowledge to this, you'd be a scholar! You'd be writing commentaries, man!

Or maybe you live off of whatever your favorite TV show is. "I mean, I would love to read, but oh, I got to see what happens to them! I don't know, is she going to be with him? Is she going to be with somebody else? Is she going to get the rose? Is she not? Who knows? I'm really troubled by this." Would you turn that off? That's garbage. And just check this out. This will change your life.

All right, now that we're all convicted, we come back to the word. Why is this so important? Because it causes us to grow. It tells us how to get saved. The Psalmist declared concerning the man or the woman whose delight is in the law of the Lord. He said, "And in the law, that is the word, they meditate day and night. And they're going to be like a tree that's planted by the rivers of water that brings forth fruit in its season and whatever they do shall prosper."

What kind of person prospers in that way? The person that loves the word of God. That sees it as more necessary than their food and they take it in and they receive it and it becomes the joy and the rejoicing of their heart. I have yet, and I don't think it will ever happen, I'm going on the authority of the word, I've never seen a person who consistently and never picks up their Bible, neglects the word of God, I've never seen a healthy Christian who neglects the reading of the word of God. How could you be without any of it? It's like saying you don't drink water ever or eat anything that would nourish you.

But on the other hand, I haven't seen a weak Christian going back into sin and living, pursuing, than somebody who is committed to the word of God. It just keeps you straight, just keeps you on point, on track. And I have to say, Lord, what kind of person am I going to be? Stir up a hunger. As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul thirsts for You, oh God. A passion for the word.

But finally for today, for the sake of time, the word of God also builds you up. It really does. If you look at what it says in verse 4, it says, "Coming to Him, that is to Jesus, as a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious. You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ."

As we come to the word of God, it draws us near to Jesus. I'm coming to Him. In the volume of the book, it's written concerning Him. So I am learning more about, it all points to, the person of Jesus. And He is the living stone. And so as I come to Him, although He was rejected, He was actually the chief cornerstone in the temple. They had a chief cornerstone in which everything hinged upon. Of course, the religious leaders rejected the stone, that is they rejected Christ, but it didn't matter. He was the chosen stone in which everything was to be built around and built upon.

So He is the living stone, but we now as living stones are building upon Him. I am being built up, I'm being strengthened, I'm being fortified through the word of God. You know, the word of God fortifies my faith. It really does. I come to it, I see what it says, I see the stories, I see that this is the same God. And what does that do for me? You know what it does? It solidifies my own faith. I trust God because He's the same God. What He did here, He could still do. And He does.

So I look at God's word that way. It fortifies my faith. I'm building my life on Christ. He is the rock. The Psalmist declared in Psalm 92, verse 15, "To declare that the Lord is upright, He is my rock." Moses would write, "There is no rock like our rock. There's no God like our God," the one on which you can build your life upon.

In fact, Paul said in writing to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 10, verse 4, he said, "All drank the same spiritual drink. They drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ," Paul said. Jesus is our rock. He's our living stone. And I choose to build my life upon Him. And listen, He is solid enough to uphold me.

Let me say this to you in conclusion. Listen carefully. Jesus told us about the person who hears the word and doesn't hear the word. What they're like. He gave us an illustration. It's found in Luke chapter 6. In Luke chapter 6, Jesus said this. "Whoever comes to Me and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like."

What's he like? Listen to Jesus said. "He's like a man building his house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose and the stream beat vehemently against that house, it could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock."

Ah, that's one person. But then Jesus contrasted that by saying, "But he who heard and did nothing with what he heard, he's like a man who built his house on the earth or on the sand. There was no foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently and immediately it fell and the ruin of that house was great," or another translation reads, "and great was its fall."

What was the difference between the two houses? Both of them experienced the same storm, the same hardship, the same flood. Both of them experienced that. That was common among the both of them. The difference was where they built. One chose to build on the rock. He took what he heard, what he received, and he built his life upon it. And when the storms came, and they did, he withstood it. He couldn't be shaken because of where he built. He built his life on the word of God.

As opposed to the other man in the parable, in the illustration, who heard the same thing, knew what to do, but instead of building on the word of God, he built on nothing. He built on the glory of man. He built on the things that fade, not on the thing that endures forever. And when the storm came to him, like it did to the other man, he couldn't withstand it. He was ruined because he didn't build on what lasts forever. He built on that which was temporary and that which would fade.

Listen, here's the conclusion. What are we collectively building on today? Are you building on the rock that endures, or are you building on sand?

Announcer: And we'll leave you to think that over. What are you building upon? We hope and pray it's the rock. You're listening to A Daily Walk with our teacher and Pastor John Randall. Hear the study from 1 Peter again anytime you'd like at adailywalk.org, and sign up for our free podcast so you can start receiving biblical encouragement on a regular basis.

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