Losing Your Thirst for God

First Peter two ties the craving for the word of God to the putting aside of sin. Peter gives one main command in these three verses: long for the pure milk of the word. That longing is not treated as a light feeling or a passing mood. Peter compares it to a newborn baby craving milk, because spiritual growth depends on that kind of hunger.

The word “therefore” takes the text back into chapter one, where Peter has already said that believers have been born again through the living and enduring word of God. Since the word brought life, the word must also become the true and proper nourishment of that life. The word of the Lord endures forever, and that same word is what was preached and obeyed.

Peter then says that certain sins have to be put aside once and for all. The image is like stripping off soiled garments. Sin is not something the believer owes anything to. The flesh may tempt, but temptation does not have to be obeyed. If sin is not being dealt with, it will zap the desire for God and the desire for Scripture.

Malice is the all-inclusive wickedness that comes out of the fallen heart. Deceit is trickery, falsehood, and the kind of speech or action that uses bait to get what it wants. Hypocrisy is pretending, wearing a mask, appearing righteous on the outside while hiding what is on the inside. Envy is displeasure over another person’s prosperity, gifts, happiness, or honor. Slander is evil speaking, backbiting, and using the tongue to tear down instead of build up.

Peter’s list is not small because these vices kill appetite. A believer marked by these things cannot expect a healthy desire for the word. If these things are the habit of a life, the issue is deeper than weak devotion, because those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

The pure milk of the word is to be desired like food, like treasure, like life itself. Moses said the word was “not an idle word,” but life. Jeremiah found God’s words and ate them, and they became joy and delight. Peter says that those who have tasted the kindness of the Lord should want more. A taste excites the appetite. Since the Lord has been kind in salvation, the believer should come again to the word, kill sin daily, and grow in respect to salvation.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Sin weakens spiritual appetite Sin does not usually announce itself as sin. It comes looking pleasant and desirable, and if it is entertained, it begins to drain the desire for prayer and Scripture. The believer who wonders why the word feels dull must examine whether sin has been allowed to sit comfortably in the heart. [03:15]
• 2. The heart is the source Malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander do not merely come from bad circumstances or difficult people. Jesus says these things proceed “from within,” out of the heart, and that is what makes them so serious. Real repentance has to deal with the inward source, not just the outward behavior. [15:06]
• 3. Hypocrisy hides and hardens Hypocrisy is not just looking better than reality. It is wearing a disguise so long that a person can become unable to recognize himself. The Pharisees washed the outside of the cup, but Jesus read the inside, and that warning still presses every believer toward honest self-examination. [18:39]
• 4. The tongue can destroy fellowship Slander and gossip may feel justified in the moment, but a slip of the tongue may not be recovered. Evil speech divides churches, wounds brothers and sisters, and often reveals a heart that is not being ruled by the Spirit. The fitting replacement is kindness, tenderness, and forgiveness grounded in God’s forgiveness in Christ. [34:11]
• 5. A taste should create hunger Peter does not picture a cautious sip, but a real enjoyment of the Lord’s kindness. Since the Lord has been tasted as good in salvation, that past grace should stir a fresh craving for the word. A healthy infant is a hungry infant, and a spiritually healthy Christian is hungry for God’s word.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [00:26] - Losing Thirst for God
• [00:59] - First Peter 2:1-3
• [01:36] - Craving the Word Like a Baby
• [03:15] - Sin Looks Pleasant and Desirable
• [04:20] - Therefore Points Backward
• [05:57] - Putting Aside Soiled Garments
• [08:30] - Malice and Deceit
• [16:24] - Hypocrisy and the Mask
• [23:59] - Envy and Insatiable Desire
• [28:46] - Slander and Evil Speaking
• [35:55] - Longing for Pure Milk
• [42:20] - Milk, Meat, and Maturity
• [46:41] - Tasting the Kindness of the Lord
• [49:53] - Killing Sin and Returning to Christ

1. In 1 Peter 2:1, what five sins are named, and what are believers told to do with them? [05:57]
2. In 1 Peter 2:2, what picture does Peter use to describe the way believers should desire the word, and what result does he say comes from that desire?
3. According to Mark 7:21-23, where do sins like deceit, envy, and slander come from? [15:22]
4. What connection is made between being born again through the word in 1 Peter 1 and longing for the word in 1 Peter 2? [04:20]

1. Peter says “therefore” before commanding believers to put away sin and long for the word. Why does that backward connection matter? How does being born again through the enduring word help explain why the word must also be the believer’s nourishment? [04:20]
2. Peter’s list includes malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander. Why do these particular sins so quickly weaken a person’s appetite for Scripture and prayer? [03:15]
3. If Jesus says these sins come “from within,” what does that show about the problem? Why is behavior change alone not enough if the heart remains untouched? [16:00]
4. Peter says believers who have tasted the Lord’s goodness should long for more. How does remembering the Lord’s kindness in salvation help stir up a fresh hunger for the word? [47:38]

1. When the desire for Scripture feels weak, sin is often dulling the appetite. What has most commonly drained that appetite lately: resentment, hidden deceit, pretending, jealousy, careless speech, or something close to those? [50:08]
2. Sin often looks pleasant and reasonable before it shows its damage. What kind of temptation tends to come looking attractive in daily life, and how can it be recognized sooner for what it is? [03:15]
3. Hypocrisy hides behind appearances and excuses. Where is there a temptation to look spiritually stronger on the outside than things really are on the inside? What would honest repentance look like there? [18:39]
4. Envy is grief over another person’s gifts, happiness, success, or honor. Is there anyone whose situation has been hard to rejoice over recently? What might it look like to fight envy with gratitude and love? [23:59]
5. Slander and gossip wound people and damage fellowship. Have there been recent conversations where words tore down more than they built up? What would a more gracious and truthful way of speaking have sounded like? [34:11]
6. A healthy infant is a hungry infant, and spiritual health shows itself in hunger for the word. What does that hunger look like in a real week for this group: time, attention, planning, and willingness to say no to distractions? [44:40]
7. Those who have tasted that the Lord is good should come back for more. What helps most in remembering the Lord’s kindness personally, so that reading the Bible becomes more than duty and starts to feel like coming again to something good? [48:59]