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Key verses:
1 Peter 2:1-5

I ask you to take your Bible now, if you will, and turn with me to 1 Peter chapter two, 1 Peter chapter two. We’re going to read the first five verses of 1 Peter chapter 2.

In 1 Peter chapter two, Peter writes:

1 Peter 2:1: “Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,

1 Peter 2:2: “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:”

1 Peter 2:3: “If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.”

1 Peter 2:4: “To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious,”

1 Peter 2:5: “Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.”

I call your attention to verse two:

1 Peter 2:2: “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:”

I want to start a short series of studies this evening, and we plan to keep it short on the subject of spiritual growth. I call this series “Simple Steps to Spiritual Growth.” They are simple steps, nothing profound, nothing you’ve never heard before in your whole life, but just simple steps that we take to grow and keep on growing.

Spiritual growth doesn’t stop. It continues as long as you’re here on Earth. But in this study, I will give you some full verses of scripture, but other times, for the sake of time, I just want to give you the reference so that you can look them up for yourself. I highly encourage that.

So, you might want to jot a few of these references down that we’re not actually going to read. But before we get into that, I want you to look again at the text tonight, 1 Peter 2, and in big, all capital letters says “WHEREFORE,” so we’re to pay attention to that. “…laying aside all malice,” that is ill feeling towards others, “…all guile,” that is deceit, “…and hypocrisies,” that is not being sincere, not being who we should be. Talking the talk, but not walking the walk, as people often say. “…and envies,” envying what is not rightfully yours. “…and all evil speaking,” it’s saying evil against other people.

As Newborn Babes

Comma, continuing the same sentence, “As newborn babes.” So, obviously, this is written to those who have recently been born again. This same writer, Peter, talks about in:

1 Peter: 1: 23: “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.”

So, he’s talking to newborn babes, those who are young in Christ. The same kind of people, probably not the exact same audience, but the same kind of people John’s talking to in 1 John when he uses the term “my little children.” He’s not talking about five- and six-year-olds. That’d be great. But he’s talking to those who are young in the faith, and the same thing Peter’s doing here:

1 Peter 2:2: “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:”

Do you know that Paul talks about this? He writes, and he says:

1 Corinthians 3:2: “I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.”

I understand that a lot of folks are opposed to eating meat at all and they don’t believe it’s healthy and they don’t believe it’s right, and so forth, and that’s fine, I have no argument with that if that’s your conviction. I think you ought to hold on to it. I mean that sincerely, but the illustration doesn’t change. The illustration is that you start a baby out on milk because they don’t have teeth to chew meat, and even if they did, their little digestive system couldn’t handle it. You just wouldn’t do that. They’re not ready for it. They’re not mature enough for it.

So, he’s talking here about how newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the Word. He doesn’t say you’re too little for the Word, doesn’t say you’re too young for the Word. He says to get the milk of the Word. Why? “…that you may grow thereby.” Why do we give babies milk? Well, to sustain them of course, but also so that they can grow. They need the nutrients to grow.

1 Peter 2:3: “If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.”

Now, if you’re a newborn babe, you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. You know that you don’t know all about the Lord, but you know that He is gracious. That’s how you became born again. It is by the grace of God:

1 Peter 2:4: “To whom coming, as unto a living stone [the Lord is the living Stone], disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious,”

1 Peter 2:5: “Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.”

“Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house…” Now, Paul writes to Timothy, and he talks about the house of God, which is the church. What is this spiritual house? It is the church. You’re built up into a spiritual house, an holy priesthood. We believe as Baptists in the priesthood of the believer, and that is that you can go directly to God. You do not need an intermediary to go to God on your behalf. You can go directly to God in prayer. You can go directly to God in faith. You can hear directly from God.

We have preachers, and we have teachers, but they are not priests who go to God on your behalf. You can go. So, you are raised up a spiritual house, built up a spiritual house, and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices. Not the old animal sacrifices and grain sacrifices of the old law, but spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God. How are our sacrifices acceptable to God? By Jesus Christ.

Now, there is no process of a person being saved. I’ve had people tell me, not a lot of people, very few, actually, but I’ve had some people tell me there’s a process to being saved, and where are you in the process of being saved. There’s no such thing, no such thing as a process of being saved.

It is a matter of the lost, as in those who are separated from God by their own sin. Isaiah 59:2, first scripture reference, Isaiah 59:2. It’s a matter of the lost, separated from God by their own sin, coming to the point where they understand that they are lost and that they cannot save themselves from that condition. Isaiah 6:5, Luke 5:8, 2 Corinthians 7:10, Isaiah 6:5, 2 Corinthians 7:10.

Then, when that person understands that the Lord Jesus paid for their sins upon the cross and that as the Risen Savior, John 6:47, Acts 16:31, Romans 10:9 and10, He will forgive their sins and grant them eternal life, and then they are saved, John 5:24.

When Spiritual Growth Begins

Immediately after a person trusts the Lord as their Savior, they are born again, and immediately after that, they begin the process of spiritual growth. So, when does it begin? The day you are saved. When does it begin? The hour that you are born again. That’s when the spiritual growth process begins. Now, spiritually speaking, just like physical growth, not everybody grows at the same rate. Some grow faster than others.

I remember seeing a lot of young people and maybe at one age they’re smaller than their peers, and a couple years later, they’re bigger than all their peers. Not everybody grows at the same rate, and that’s true spiritually. Not everybody grows at the same speed. Some people just seem to take off like a rocket spiritually. For most people, it’s not like that. For most of us it’s more gradual, and it’s a step-by-step process.

My experience, and that’s all I’m talking about for this moment is my experience, yours may be different, and that’s okay. I’m not saying everybody’s like that, but my experience is that those who grow steadily usually last longer than those who grow big, usually not always. Ephesians 4:15 says:

Ephesians 4:15: “But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:”

So, our goal is to grow up into Him, to grow up to be like Him. 1 Peter 2:2, “As newborn babes,” we just read it, “…desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby.”

2 Peter 3:18: “But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.”

How are we supposed to grow? In grace. His grace. We get bigger in grace? No, we become more aware of His grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory forever and ever. The more we know of the Lord, the better we know the Lord, the more we know about Him, the more we know Him, the more we grow, and the more we become like him, which again, is the goal.

So, there are five simple steps to growing spiritually. These are not my steps. These are five steps that were shared with me shortly after I was saved. I believe they’ll help you the way they help me. Again, these are not steps to salvation. This is for the person who’s already saved. This is for the one who has been saved and wants to grow to be like the Savior.

Read the Bible

Now again, I don’t want to share with you any shocking news that’s so huge you’d never heard that before. But I want to encourage you because the steps that a newborn Christian needs to take are the steps all the rest of us take, no matter how long we’ve been saved.

Number one and the main one we’re going to work on tonight, begin by simply reading the Bible. Begin by simply reading the Bible. Now, let’s talk about that a little bit. There are many methods for reading the Bible. I’m going to give you a few, but these few are not the only ones. There are others. Let me give you a few methods for reading the Bible. Some choose to begin at Genesis 1:1, the very first verse of the Bible, and they read through to Revelation 22:21, the very last word of the Bible. And let me emphasize there is nothing wrong with that method, nothing wrong with that. I’m not telling you don’t start at the beginning, read all the way through. I would never tell you that. There’s nothing wrong with that method. It is a good method, and it works well for many people. However, it is not the only one, and it may or may not be the best one for you.

Before I was a Christian, years before, I would guess probably a good nine years or more before I was a Christian, my grandmother gave me my first Bible. I read some of it now and then. I read large portions of it before the Lord forgave my sins and saved my soul. But after He saved me, I began to read the Bible again.

The first time I read it, before I was saved, I began at Genesis and got all the way through Genesis and got into Exodus. I found both of those to be very interesting until I got to, or shortly after I got to, Exodus 20, where the law is beginning to be given, and I found reading the law to be a little bit more difficult. So, I changed, and I began to read the Gospel. I remember reading John and Matthew, and I don’t really remember if I read Luke and Mark or not. I don’t think I did, but I may have then.

As I recall, after reading the Gospels, I went straight to Revelation. Now, I understood some of what I read, but I certainly didn’t understand all of it, and I actually didn’t understand most of it. But after I was saved, I began to read the Bible again, and I did it differently. I started in the epistle to the Romans, Now, I don’t remember if somebody suggested that, maybe the pastor, maybe somebody else at church suggested that. I’m not sure why I began in Romans, but I’m glad I did because, to me, it was like looking into a spiritual mirror.

But after reading Romans, I continued reading different books of the Bible, but not in any set order. It was more like where my interest took me. If I was interested in this one, I’d read here, interested in that one, I’d read there. So that’s another method of reading the Bible and it did work for me, but it again may not be the best way for you. What I recommend to most new believers, or let me be blind about it, those who have been believers a long time, but they’ve gotten away from their Bible reading and they need to get back, I recommend beginning with the Gospel of John.

I’ll tell you this, and I’ve done this pretty much all my Christian life as much as of it as I can remember, when I find myself getting a little cold of heart, not as interested in scripture as I ought to be, you know what I do? I’m not telling you to do this, but I’m telling you what works for me. I go back and I read all four Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, all four accounts of the crucifixion. That helps me to get back. It does. I could go into reasons why, but I think you have an idea. But I recommend starting with the Gospel of John because that gives you a wonderful introduction to the Lord Jesus, His life, and His work, in harmony with the idea that John tells us in John 20:33-31:

John 20:30: “And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book:”

John 20:31: “But these are written [things you read in the Gospel of John], that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.”

That’s why John’s Gospel is written. After reading John, go back and read Matthew, Mark, and Luke to get the whole picture. When that’s finished, read the book of The Acts of the Apostles, then go back to read Genesis through Joshua, then return to the New Testament and read the Epistles, Romans through Jude. Then, go back to the Old Testament to read Judges. Go to the New Testament again to read the Revelation. Go back to the Old Testament and read Ruth through Malachi, and if at any point in all that you feel you don’t understand or that you’re losing interest, then I recommend you go back to the Gospels for a while.

Now, understand that what I just told you is just a suggestion, and that’s all it is a suggestion. I will tell you this and it’s not my theory at all. If you read four chapters of the Bible a day you will read through the Bible in just under a year, a day or two less than a year. You’ll read through the whole Bible four chapters a day.

Many years ago, I tried to look up and find this exact quote. I couldn’t find it. I remember hearing Billy Graham who was no doubt the most famous preacher of the last half of the 20th century. I heard him say that he read three, I think three, two, or three chapters in the New Testament every day and then a Psalm and a chapter of Proverbs. Now, did he always do that? I don’t know, that’s what I heard him say. There’s nothing wrong with that. That works. There are other methods of reading the Bible. I’ve only given a few.

“Well, I don’t do any of those.” You don’t have to. The main thing is to read the Bible. That’s the first step: to read the Bible and become as familiar with it as you are able.

Study the Bible

Now, as you read the Bible, the next thing you need to do is study the Bible. Isn’t that what I just did when I was reading it? No, you’re just reading it. Study the Bible. I suggest that you study the Bible, and by that, I mean read it for understanding. Don’t read it just to be reading it. I don’t suggest that you read the Bible, and you pick up the Bible and you read and say (hurriedly), “Likewise you wives be in subjection to your own husbands that if any obey not the word they also may without the word be won by the conversation of their wives while they behold your chaste…”

“Yeah, oh, I read it.” Okay, what’d you get out of that? “I don’t know.” Well, that’s not the goal. That’s not the goal. Read it for understanding. When you read a verse that is not quite clear to you; you don’t quite get it, try reading the verse right before it and the verse right after it. More often than not that will clarify, In some cases it may not. So, what do I do then? Read the entire chapter context.

And this is not original with me by any means. Context is key, the meaning of a verse is always governed by its context. So, reading the verse before it and the verse after it is going to help you. If you still don’t get it, you’re not understanding some things, read the entire chapter. “What if I still don’t get it?” Read the book that it’s in. “What if I still don’t get it?” Keep reading, you’re going to catch on eventually.

Remember that it is not wrong to ask questions. Let me say it again. Remember, it’s not wrong to ask questions. When I was a little boy, I asked a lot of questions, and sometimes adults would get impatient with me. “Why do you ask so many questions?” Do you know what I said? How am I going to learn? And that’s just it. If you never ask a question, how are you going to learn? How are you going to grow? It’s likely that other people have the same questions that you have. So, continue to read with an open heart and an open mind, and remember that the Lord said this, Jeremiah 29:13, listen carefully:

Jeremiah 29:13: “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.”

Study the Bible as Paul advised Timothy:

2 Timothy 2:15: “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

Do you know what “rightly dividing the word of truth” is? It means understanding the direction that God wants you to go, letting Him guide you. Remember also 2 Timothy 3:16-17, the next chapter over:

2 Timothy 3:16: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:”

2 Timothy 3:17: “That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.”

“That the man of God may be perfect,” – complete having everything you need, “That the man of God may be perfect,” – truly furnished, got everything you need, “unto all good works.”

So, Peter said, “Desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby.” So, read the Bible, study the Bible, and meditate on the verses that speak to you.

Meditate on God’s Word

Joshua 1:8: “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth,” – that means you’re supposed to speak the Word of God and share it. “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein,” – meditate diligently, ponder, think it through, consider what God is saying to you. “Thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then,” – when you do that, “then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.”

In Philippians 4:8, Paul’s talking about meditation. He says:

Philippians 4:8: “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”

What do you think he means by “think on these things”? Meditate on them. In a lot of the Psalms, you’ll see a break in a portion of the Psalm with a little Hebrew word “selah.” Now, some people say selah means pause like a musical pause, and that’s likely because the Psalms were written to be sung, so you take a little pause there just like you would singing a song. We sang “In the Garden” and between the verses, and of course, there’s a brief pause there, so it’s that kind of idea.

But there’s a fellow on the radio I hear quite often, and he’ll use that word selah, and he says it means to meditate on this. Well, that’s not bad. While you’re taking that brief pause, think about what you just read.

Memorize God’s Word

Then, memorize the Word of God. Again:

Psalm 119:9: “Wherewithal [what you know you are going to do it] shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.”

Well, you can’t take heed to the Word if you don’t know what it says.

Psalm 119:10: “With my whole heart have I sought thee [they that seek me shall find me, God] promise: O let me not wander from thy commandments.”

Here’s the key:

Psalm 119:11: “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.”

Memorize the Bible. I challenge you.

Now, I plan to address memorization and meditation a little bit further in the future. So, let me get to the last part of being in the Word tonight, and let’s apply the Word. It’s wonderful to know the Bible. It’s wonderful to know what it says. It’s so important to know what it means, but you’ve got to apply it in your life. If you could quote scripture and if you can tell people where to find things in the Bible, you can even debate scripture with people.

But if you don’t apply it to your life, you’re missing the point. I’ve known people to do that. Boy, they could quote scripture better than I could, but it didn’t make a difference in their life. Why? Because they didn’t apply it.

Psalm 119:105: “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”

Let the Word be a guide to you.

2 Peter 2:21: “For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:”

How are you going to follow in His steps if you don’t know what they are? You’ve got to let the Word be the light under your path, the lamp under your feet, and you’ve got to follow in the Lord’s steps.

So, the first simple step to spiritual growth is to read the Bible. Become as familiar with it as you are able. Read, study, meditate, memorize, and apply the Word of God.

1 Peter 2:2: “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:”

Ignite your spiritual life! “Simple Steps for Spiritual Growth” is a five-part series of sermons that unveil the power of God’s Word. Watch live Wednesdays on Facebook or later on YouTube.

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Father, help us to read, study, meditate, memorize, and apply your Word in our daily lives. Help us now as we go to a season of prayer. Help us to pray for those most in need. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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