Truth 4 USA

09/03/2026

09/03/2026

Father, guide our steps and help us follow where You lead.

09/03/2026

Craving God's Word
by John MacArthur | January 4, 2023

Babies crave milk, and only milk. Parents care about the color of the blanket, the pattern of the curtains, the decorations in and around the crib, and the way the child is dressed. The baby doesn’t care about any of that. Babies don’t scream because they’re offended by the color of their pajamas. They scream because they want milk. The only thing that matters to them is milk—from the moment they’re born, that’s their only priority.

It’s amazing that everything about a baby is so wonderfully soft and cuddly and inviting—except for their voices. A baby’s scream can be piercing and horrific. It’s almost completely alien to everything else about the baby; such an awful sound shouldn’t come out of that adorable mouth. But it’s necessarily so—those irritating screams are designed to ensure that we don’t forget to feed the baby. The child will scream his head off to make sure we know it is time to eat. Moreover, babies don’t care about the convenience of their needs or how they fit into the rest of our plans. There is no negotiation—until his needs are met, that baby is going to let us hear it.

That is the imagery the apostle Peter uses to describe how believers should hunger for God’s Word: “Like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation” (1 Peter 2:2).

Do we have that singular craving for the truth of Scripture? Do we get to the place, like Job, where we desire God’s Word more than our necessary food (Job 23:12)? It would be hard for most people to think of anything they desired that strongly—especially in our culture of instant gratification. Nearly anything we want is never more than a few dollars, a short drive, or a couple mouse clicks away. But the helpless hunger Peter describes isn’t satisfied so quickly.

Making Sense of the Metaphor
There is no mistaking the apostle’s intention here; the term artigennēta brephē refers to a suckling infant in the first moments after his birth. This isn’t just any nursing baby—Peter is reaching all the way back to the moments just after a child emerges from his mother’s womb, and the immediacy and intensity of his hunger. The moment that baby is born, he cries for his mother to provide the pure, uncontaminated milk he desperately needs. That milk is vital to the baby’s survival, providing both nourishment and antibodies to protect and sustain his little life.

It’s important that we don’t confuse the point of Peter’s metaphor with others in Scripture. He is not merely talking about newborn babies in Christ—this isn’t limited to new believers. All Christians, regardless of their spiritual maturity, need to cultivate a singular craving for God’s truth. Likewise, Peter is not talking about the milk of the Word versus the meat (cf. 1 Corinthians 3:2; Hebrews 5:12–14). That’s a separate metaphor used by other authors to illustrate a different point. Here, Peter is simply exhorting his readers to hunger for the whole Word of God.

We ought to be thankful for such a clear, graphic analogy. A newborn baby longs for his mother’s milk because he cannot survive without it. And in God’s design, various mechanisms go off in that precious little baby to create agitation and irritation when his primary need is not met. This is not just a mild hunger—it’s a critical, all-consuming need.

This is a hunger that should be apparent in the life of every believer. However, many Christians have instead cultivated an appetite for spiritual junk food. They prefer shallow sermons, feel-good stories, worldly entertainment, emotional experiences, and sensory overload to clear, verse-by-verse Bible teaching. Many in the church have cut themselves off from the source of true spiritual food, choosing instead to perpetually languish in an unhealthy, underdeveloped state.

Others are simply starving. My heart goes out to those true believers who can’t find a reliable church that provides real spiritual food. I hear from people in that situation all the time. They’re committed to their local church, but they’re not being faithfully fed. They have to survive with weak teaching, scrounging for morsels instead of feasting on the riches of God’s Word. And in that malnourished state, they develop deficient immune systems, succumbing to heresies and errors they would otherwise know to avoid. That’s the cost of weak preaching and weak pastors—they leave the people under them exposed and vulnerable to lies that wouldn’t afflict stronger believers. Today, too many pulpits are occupied by hirelings who don’t know the first thing about how to feed their flocks—they’re either incapable of feeding God’s sheep or unwilling to do so. My prayer is that believers caught in such situations would find faithful ministries to help supplement the spiritual sustenance they require from God’s Word.

The Only True Source of Spiritual Sustenance
Ultimately, Peter wants his readers to understand their dependence on the truth and develop a proper hunger for it in light of that consuming need. There is no alternate supply of spiritual nourishment. We don’t have the luxury of options—there is no buffet table or smorgasbord. In a world full of corrupting influences and contaminating ideas, there is only one source of the pure spiritual milk we require: Scripture.

And while Peter is commanding us to have that kind of longing for the Word, the longing itself is not the product of external forces or legalistic fears. Nor should our hunger for the truth be a function of begrudging religious duty. It is to rise out of our hearts because of our profound need for it, the way the cries of hunger rise out of a baby’s need. There should be such a compelling discontent that we cry out for divine truth as the food for our souls.

That’s far from the conversations some Christians have from week to week as they try to locate their Bibles in time for church, or debate whether they should bother going at all. Such attitudes deprive believers of their spiritual sustenance and stifle their usefulness and joy.

Sanctification doesn’t happen by osmosis. We can’t starve ourselves spiritually and still expect to grow in the likeness of Christ. All the facets of Scripture—all its rich benefits and blessings—are not available to those who fail to open it and study.

Others do want to see the Word at work in their lives. They simply need someone to point them in the right direction, to show them how to cultivate such a longing for and ability to understand the truth, and to spur them on to pursue the riches found only in God’s Word. For believers like that, Peter offers good help. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he lays out the critical components for developing a deep hunger and desire for the Word of God. And we’ll consider each of them in the days ahead.

Adapted from “Final Word” by John MacArthur.

GTY.org
https://www.gty.org/library/blog/B190911

09/02/2026

"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you."
Matthew 6:33, NKJV

09/02/2026

The Right Kind of Hunger
by John MacArthur | January 2, 2023

Some Christians undergo a frantic struggle every Sunday to remember where they last saw their Bibles. They know they had it with them at church last week. But they haven’t seen it since they got home and set it down. Inevitably, they’ll find it buried somewhere under the debris of the intervening week. And once the next Sunday rolls around, they will launch the same search to locate it again in time for its once-a-week use.

Describing the dangerous distance that sometimes exists between believers and their Bibles, Charles Spurgeon said,

“Most people treat the Bible very politely. They have a small pocket volume, neatly bound; they put a white pocket-handkerchief around it, and carry it to their places of worship; when they get home, they lay it up in a drawer till next Sunday morning; then it comes out again for a little bit of a treat and goes to chapel; that is all the poor Bible gets in the way of an airing. That is your style of entertaining this heavenly messenger. There is dust enough on some of your Bibles to write ‘damnation’ with your fingers.” [1]

Spurgeon noted that trend more than 150 years ago. Today, in a culture that excels at distraction, shallow thought, and casual indifference, it’s even easier to neglect one’s Bible. Some don’t even bother to keep a physical copy of God’s Word. Instead it’s just another app on their phones or words projected on a screen. Christians cannot afford to have such a dismissive, lackadaisical approach to Scripture. As the only repository of God’s written revelation to us, Scripture demands our attention.

It sounds incongruous that believers would need to be reminded to faithfully study and hold fast to the Word. But in his first epistle, Peter exhorts his readers about the way God’s people ought to hunger for His truth:

“Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord. And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:1–5).

Peter gives us a lot to unpack in that passage, but at its core is the imperative to “long for the pure milk of the word.” This is not a suggestion. It’s an unequivocal directive—one reinforced by everything else in the surrounding context. Peter’s primary emphasis here is the command to cultivate an abiding desire for Scripture.

A hunger for the truth is one of the defining characteristics of those who have been redeemed by God. Jesus indicated as much: “He who is of God hears the words of God” (John 8:47). Paul expressed a similar love for God’s Word in the believer’s heart: “I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man” (Romans 7:22). Job said, “I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food” (Job 23:12). Psalm 1 says that the godly man is blessed because “his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night” (Psalm 1:2). In Psalm 19, David describes his own affection for God’s truth, saying it is “more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb” (Psalm 19:10). And in Psalm 40:8, he writes, “I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your Law is within my heart.”

But the magnum opus regarding love for God’s Word is undoubtedly Psalm 119. Over and over, the psalmist recounts the glories of Scripture, extolling its perfections and expressing the satisfaction found only therein. He rejoices in the truth, not from external compulsion, but from the overflow of his heart. He has seen firsthand the outworking of God’s Word in his life, and he can’t hold back his grateful adoration for all that it has already accomplished, and all that it will in the future. In verse 174, the psalmist’s praise for the truth culminates with the statement, “I long for Your salvation, O Lord, and Your law is my delight” (Psalm 119:174). The Word is his strongest desire and greatest delight. Psalm 42:1 communicates a similar longing: “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for You, O God.” In the Septuagint, both those verses are translated with the same Greek verb (epipotheō) Peter uses to describe how believers must “long for the pure milk of the word.” The term communicates an intense, compelling craving. In James 4:5, it is translated as “jealously desires.” Paul used the same word to describe his desire for heaven (2 Corinthians 5:2). Throughout Scripture, it is employed to reflect an intense, recurring passion and an insatiable longing.

Peter demands that his readers cultivate that kind of hunger for the Word. And he chooses a powerful analogy to illustrate his point. He says, “Like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word” (1 Peter 2:2). He reaches into the physical world to find the most apt and vivid illustration he can employ. And as we’ll see next time, he had good reason to use that analogy—our spiritual survival hinges on the nourishment that can only be found in God’s Word.

Footnote:
[1] Charles Haddon Spurgeon, “The Bible,” sermon 15 in The New Park Street Pulpit, vol. 1 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1855), 112.

Adapted from “Final Word” by John MacArthur.

GTY.org
https://www.gty.org/library/blog/B190909

09/01/2026

God, remind us that through Christ we belong.

09/01/2026

𝗙𝗼𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗖𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗠𝗲𝗻: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝗮𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗧𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗧𝗼𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗿𝗼𝘄
An excerpt from Jonathan Edwards’s “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” with editorial reflection by T4USA

Most people know they will die, yet many live as though death must first consult their plans. They intend to think seriously about eternity someday. They expect to repent later, seek God later, and settle the condition of their souls when life is less busy and obedience is more convenient.

Jonathan Edwards exposed the deadly presumption beneath such thinking. The sinner assumes that time belongs to him, that death will arrive with sufficient warning, and that his own wisdom will secure an opportunity to escape judgment. But no human plan can guarantee another day, another sermon, another conviction, or another opportunity to repent.

Edwards wrote:

“But the foolish children of men miserably delude themselves in their own schemes, and in confidence in their own strength and wisdom; they trust to nothing but a shadow. The greater part of those who heretofore have lived under the same means of grace, and are now dead, are undoubtedly gone to hell; and it was not because they were not as wise as those who are now alive: it was not because they did not lay out matters as well for themselves to secure their own escape.

“If we could speak with them, and inquire of them, one by one, whether they expected, when alive, and when they used to hear about hell, ever to be the subjects of misery: we doubtless should hear one and another reply, ‘No, I never intended to come here: I had laid out matters otherwise in my mind; I thought I should contrive well for myself—I thought my scheme good. I intended to take effectual care; but it came upon me unexpected; I did not look for it at that time, and in that manner; it came as a thief—Death outwitted me: God’s wrath was too quick for me. Oh, my cursed foolishness! I was flattering myself, and pleasing myself with vain dreams of what I would do hereafter; and when I was saying, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction came upon me.’”

𝗧𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻 𝗮 𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗱𝗼𝘄
Edwards was not condemning ordinary planning or prudent preparation. He was confronting spiritual self-confidence—the belief that a sinner can remain at peace with sin today and still arrange his reconciliation with God tomorrow.

Scripture warns, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Proverbs 14:12). A plan may appear reasonable and still be eternally ruinous. Good intentions cannot erase guilt. Religious familiarity cannot produce the new birth. Future resolutions cannot substitute for present repentance and faith.

The sinner’s imagined refuge is a shadow because it has no substance. Health is not a promise of tomorrow. Youth is not protection from death. Church attendance is not reconciliation with God. Moral reform cannot remove the record of sin. None of these things can bear the weight of a soul standing before its Creator.

“𝗗𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗵 𝗢𝘂𝘁𝘄𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗠𝗲”
Christ gave a similar warning in the parable of the rich fool. The man looked at his prosperity and assured himself, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.” But God said to him, “Fool! This night your soul will be required of you” (Luke 12:19–20).

The man’s mistake was not simply that he accumulated possessions. His great folly was believing that his remaining years belonged to him. He spoke confidently about “many years” when he did not possess another night.

“It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). Death is not the end of accountability. It fixes a person’s condition before God and brings him before the Judge whose knowledge is perfect and whose verdict cannot be appealed.

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗦𝗮𝘆, “𝗣𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗦𝗮𝗳𝗲𝘁𝘆”
Edwards deliberately echoed the apostle Paul: “For when they say, ‘Peace and safety!’ then sudden destruction comes upon them” (1 Thessalonians 5:3).

False peace is especially dangerous because it makes urgency appear unnecessary. A person may feel safe because judgment has not yet fallen. He may interpret God’s patience as approval, when that patience is actually giving him time to repent. Every ordinary morning, every faithful sermon, every warning from Scripture, and every awakening of conscience is mercy—not evidence that judgment will never come.

God’s patience should not harden us in presumption. It should lead us to repentance.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗢𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗦𝗮𝗳𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗳𝘂𝗴𝗲
The answer is not to devise a better scheme for saving yourself. The answer is to abandon confidence in yourself and flee to Jesus Christ.

The same sermon that solemnly warns of divine wrath also announces an open door of mercy. God does not command sinners to repair their own record before coming to Christ. He commands them to repent and believe the gospel. Christ has borne the punishment of sinners, risen from the dead, and freely receives all who come to Him in genuine faith.

Salvation is not secured by intelligence, religious effort, moral improvement, or a carefully timed future decision. It is by grace through faith, “not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:8–9).

Do not confuse conviction with conversion. Do not assume that intending to repent is the same as repenting. Do not imagine that knowing the gospel is the same as trusting Christ. Turn from sin and cast yourself upon Christ alone.

𝗗𝗼 𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝗦𝗮𝘆, “𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿”
The word “hereafter” has carried multitudes into eternity unprepared. They meant to seek God—later. They meant to forsake their sin—later. They meant to take Christ seriously—later. But the promised opportunity never came.

Scripture does not say that a more convenient season is the day of salvation. It says, “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2).

If you are outside of Christ, do not continue flattering yourself with the vain dream that you control tomorrow. You do not need a more successful plan; you need a Savior. Confess your guilt before God. Turn from your sin. Trust completely in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Do not trust in a shadow. Do not be outwitted by death. Come to Christ today.

𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗙𝘂𝗿𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴
The Jonathan Edwards excerpt above is from his 1741 sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.”

Read the complete sermon at Christian Classics Ethereal Library:

https://www.ccel.org/ccel/edwards/sermons.sinners.html

Editorial note:
The introductory, explanatory, and application sections were developed by T4USA to accompany Edwards’s public-domain sermon excerpt. They are not presented as Edwards’s original wording.