And all guile, guile is deceitfulness. Taking off that garment, of deceit. Deceit is when you try to put one over on people, to your own profit and gain. To deceive for your own ends, to not be honest, forthright, a person of integrity.

And hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is playing the actor. Going through the role of what it is to be a Christian, but it's only show, it isn't reality. There isn't any substance. It's being a Christian so that you look good in the eyes of the community, Maybe it helps business. Playing the hypocrite, not being sincere in one's worship. It's only a facade. You may sing the hymns, you may sit in the church, but there isn't a reality there. Hypocrisy -- believers are called to put it aside, to let it go.

Envy. Someone has said that envy is the last sin to die. Envy is wanting what someone else has. Jesus' disciples were quite envious of one another. They debated among each other who should have the greatest seat of honor.

And then all slander. Slander is literally talking down a person. Talking about a person behind their back in such a way that you put the person down. It's also called gossip. Everyone believes gossip is wrong, but most everyone enjoys it. Peter says that's not the way truly born again people live.

Spurn malice, guile, hypocrisy, envy, slander; spurn it. Cast it off like you do an old piece of clothing. All that stuff belongs to the old life. It doesn't belong to the Christian life. Let me ask you, where do congregations so often struggle? Where do so often the hurts and the hindrances to ministry occur? Isn't it in this area of relationships with people. Living like the world. Being deceitful. Being hypocrites, envious, talking about people, putting them down, putting other churches down. Oh, when that stuff permeates a congregation, God isn't pleased. And certainly people aren't growing when these kinds of sins are so prevalent. Spurn, if you would grow, put aside these things that are so deadly to one's spiritual life. These things all have consequences. We're seeing today in Washington the consequences of sin. Sin always has consequences and "be sure your sin will always find you out," the Bible says if you're born again, if you can say that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior then spurn. Are you spurning the world's attractions? Are you living like a believer?

Longing for -- Yearning (v. 2)

There's another command -- Yearn. If you would grow, it's not only to put off or lay aside these sins, that so beset Christians, but it is to yearn. Verse 2, the first part, "And like newborn babes long for the pure milk of the Word." The Word translated long for is the same word found in Psalm 42:1, where the deer pants for the water brooks, "As the deer pants for the water, so my soul pants after Thee." Are you finding a yearning in your heart for God? To know Him better, to grow closer to Him? This longing for the Word of God is a passion, a passion for the Word of God, a passion for Jesus Christ. That's a challenge for us today because there are so many things in our lives that cry out for attention and take our energy and our passions. The one who is truly born again, Peter says, will long for the presence of the Lord. He or she will long for His Word and will make every attempt to get to know God better through the pages of His Word.