Warning: Apathy Results in Regress

Transcript

GR 1685
04/07/2013
Warning: Apostasy Results in Regress
Hebrews 5:11-14
Gil Rugh

We're going to Hebrews 5. The richest treasure God has given us is the privilege of having His Word. Think about it, you carried a Bible in here today. Here you have the very words of God given to us so that we might know Him, His will, His provision, the declaration of His love, the provision He has made for us in Christ. This is what the book of Hebrews is about—God's provision of His Son Jesus Christ to be our Savior. Started out by unfolding the wonder with clarity that God has climaxed millenniums of revelation with the coming of His Son. That's the finality with a clarity and a fullness that had never been seen before. “God in these last days has spoken to us in One who is Son.” The book of Hebrews is unfolding the truth concerning the One who is a Son. And the first four chapters really focused attention on the fact that Christ is God's Son, demonstrating both He is God and He is man. That's preparing the way for what is the main theme and focal point of the book of Hebrews. And that is Jesus Christ, God's Son is the high priest representing man before God.

As we come into Hebrews 5 the first ten verses unfolded the comparison between the high priest of the Old Testament and Jesus Christ. There were certain requirements for a high priest in the Old Testament under the Mosaic Law. Remember the writer to the Hebrews is writing to a congregation of Jewish Christians and these Jewish Christians have experienced much trial and conflict and persecution and they are facing more. And some are considering perhaps we should go back to Judaism. At least there was something of a refuge there. The writer is demonstrating that is not a possibility.

As we come into Hebrews 5 he wanted to talk about what characterized the Old Testament high priest, what was required of him. For example he had to be taken from among his brethren, a fellow Jew, a fellow human being. He had to be able to offer a sacrifice for sins, and for the Old Testament high priest he first had to offer a sacrifice for his own sins and then he could offer a sacrifice for the sins of the people. And then he had to be one who was appointed by God. That's where verse 4, the first four verses of Hebrews 5 talk about what was required of the Old Testament high priest and verse 4 says, “and no one takes the honor to himself but receives it when he is called by God,” even as Aaron was. So it wasn't a hope in a Jewish family that we're going to raise our little son and maybe someday he'll grow up to be high priest. No, he couldn't have that as his anticipation. God called the one who would be high priest. Aaron is the example, when God told Moses, take your brother, Aaron, and here is what you do to set him apart and then his family line after him to be the high priest in Israel.

Then with verses 5-10 he showed how Jesus Christ fulfills Himself those requirements. And he picked up with that last one in verse 4. In verses 5-6 he said, “even Christ did not glorify Himself so to become a high priest, but it was God the Father who said, you are My Son, today I have begotten you. You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” So this One that has been demonstrated to be the Son of God through the first four chapters of Hebrews is now clearly shown to be the One divinely appointed to be high priest. The high priest responsibility was to represent people before God. He was the go-between, the mediator. And his key role was to offer a sacrifice to God on behalf of the people he represents and God could provide forgiveness of sins.

Jesus Christ is unique. He has not only been appointed by God as high priest, but He is God's Son Who has appointed Him as high priest. I mean, remarkable. This supersedes any high priest that Israel ever had in their existence. He is the Son of God. He offered a sacrifice for sins which was the sacrifice of Himself. Now there is a difference between Jesus Christ functioning as high priest and the Old Testament high priest. The Old Testament high priest had to first offer a sacrifice for his own sins, and then he could offer a sacrifice for the people that he represented. But Jesus Christ had no sin, He was without sin, He was the perfect Son of God.

But He offered a sacrifice. And you'll note that sacrifice, verse 9, “having been made perfect He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation.” Did something that no other high priest could do, Jesus Christ offered a sacrifice for sins that would be sufficient for all people, for all time. And it would be effective for those who would obey Him, come to place their faith in Him and submit their life to Him.

And His priesthood is after the order of Melchizedek. He is God's Son, He offered a sacrifice of such significance, such completeness, such finality there would never again be a sacrifice for sins. This sacrifice was sufficient with all that's needed to bring eternal salvation to all who will believe in Him. And it's a unique high priesthood. It's not a high priest in the order of Aaron, in the line of the Levitical priest. This is a high priesthood after the order of Melchizedek. A unique and special high priesthood first referred to in Genesis 14, the historical Melchizedek, and then the Psalm 110 that we quoted in verse 6. The priesthood of Melchizedek, totally different order in Melchizedek. We see the Old Testament high priest could not be king, the king could not be high priest. The king had to be from the tribe of Judah, the high priest had to be from the tribe of Levi. Jesus Christ incorporates in Himself both the ministry of king and the ministry of high priest. He is of the order of Melchizedek, a unique and interesting person. And the priesthood of Christ after the order of Melchizedek is of absolute, essential importance. There is nothing more important in all the Bible than understanding the person and work of Jesus Christ. And that centers in His ministry as high priest.

So the writer to the Hebrews is going to pick up in verse 11 and say, concerning him we have much to say. But now we have a pause. But we can't say it now. And he won't talk about Melchizedek again until you get down to Hebrews 6:20 where he'll say, where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us having become a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. And then chapter 7 will begin the details of unfolding what it means that Jesus Christ is an order after the order of Melchizedek, where verse 1, “for this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High.” There we see he is a unique man, he is both king and priest. Aaron was priest but not king. And he'll unfold through subsequent chapters the importance of this high priest.

But what happens beginning with Hebrews 5:11, the writer is going to break off that discussion of Melchizedek and focus on a word of exhortation, challenge and warning to his readers. And we've talked about there is debate as you read the commentators. Is the book of Hebrews a doctrinal presentation of the work of Christ with some exhortation and warning attached? Or is the book of Hebrews an exhortation and warning with doctrinal truth given to be foundational to that exhortation? And the reality is, it's both, it's doctrinal truth woven with the exhortation and challenge and warning to the people of the seriousness of the truth about Christ. This is the third of these exhortation or warning sections in Hebrews.

The first was in Hebrews 2:1-4, come back, where after talking about the Son and His importance and superiority because He is the Son. Chapter begins, “for this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we heard.” The danger is we'll “drift away” from it. If we don't pay close attention, we'll drift away. It's that serious. He's coming back to almost that same theme, very similar in the section we'll be in, in a few moments. Then he connects it to the Old Testament because these are Jews who have professed faith in Christ. But under the pressure they are thinking maybe they ought to return to Judaism. Well he draws the comparison. You remember under Judaism every offense was met with a fit punishment. Now think about that. If you choose to disobey the revelation given in the Son, how much greater and more serious is that than any prior revelation. Think of how much more serious a penalty you'll pay if you drift past Christ and fail to trust in Him.

When you come to Hebrews 3 you have the second warning passage. It began with Hebrews 3:7 and went down through Hebrews 4:13. You see the extent of it, the seriousness of it. The warning was, as you have the quotes from the Old Testament in Hebrews 3:7-8, “if you hear His voice, don't harden your heart.” That is serious disobedience and rebellion against God that brings eternal consequences. Hebrews 3:12, “take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away, apostasizes from the living God.” This is a serious matter for you to contemplate turning away from Christ, going back to the Old Testament system. That's not an option, that's an act of rebellion.

Now we come to Hebrews 5 and we pick up with verse 11 and we have this third warning passage. And it along with the one in Hebrews 10 is probably the most serious. And what is contained in this warning passage as we come into Hebrews 6, which we won't get all to in this study today, is some of the most difficult material not only in the book of Hebrews, but in all the Scripture. But it is given to be understood, it has clarity if we are careful.

So the writer makes his transition into exhorting and warning his readers with a statement in verse 11. “Concerning him,” Melchizedek, and Christ's priesthood in the line of Melchizedek. “Concerning him we have much to say.” And he'll begin to say much with Hebrews 7:1 and in subsequent sections, all the way over into Hebrews 10, talking about this. We have much to say, but we have a problem. What I have to say is “hard to explain.“ Some translated it may have hard to understand. We get the word hermeneutics from this basic word. Here it doesn't mean hard to interpret but it is hard to explain, hard to understand. I mean, think about it, you think, go to invite people to come to our church. What are you doing? We're studying the book of Hebrews. What's it about? Well, it's showing how the high priestly ministry of Christ is superior to the priesthood of the Old Testament. Oh, that really sounds like that will be exciting, I can't wait to come. Even for many of us who have been believers, we think the book of Hebrews, all that Old Testament material and comparing priesthoods and sacrifices and kinds of priesthood. Maybe it's hard.

And so I agree with the writer here, he said it is hard to explain. But he doesn't mean the material is hard, he doesn't mean that it is hard to understand this truth about Melchizedek that I want to talk about. It is “hard to explain it since you have become dull of hearing.” The problem is not in the material about Melchizedek, the problem is in the condition of the listeners. They are not paying any attention, they are not listening, they have become sluggish. That word dull means sluggish, lazy, dull. They are just not that interested. And you'll note here, this is not the way it has always been. It's not just this is a congregation of people that aren't well educated, don't read a lot, aren't really into those things. No, that's not the problem. This is very understandable and would have been to those people at an earlier stage in their lives. Look at that word become, “since you have become dull of hearing.” In other words there is a time when they weren't dull of hearing. That word become, perfect participle, perfect tense, something happened in the past and now has brought them to this condition in which they are in. Somewhere along the line they have become disinterested in the serious things of God's revelation. Too much work, I don't see why I need to know that. I come to church, I have a lot of problems in my life, I have persecution, I have family conflicts, I have problems at my job, I've lost my house as some of these have when we get to Hebrews 10, and possessions. And you want to talk to me about these things. I've had a hard week, I just don't want to concentrate on this and try to work through it. I have to think through this. Just encourage me, give me something light and refreshing, enjoyable. They have become dull of hearing.

If I were going to say what is the major problem in the evangelical church today, God has addressed it right here. They have become dull of hearing. You say, that would be offensive. Think of what it would be, if I said here we have a letter that was written to us, that we are the congregation of Hebrews, pretend, and I get to this point. And I say here is what, whoever the author is, says to us concerning which we have much to say and it is hard to explain since you have become dull of hearing, since you are not interested. It's like a teacher trying to explain to a class something that they need to pay attention to and they should have been following along. But if you don't follow along now you are to the point . . . It's like, I went to school back in the days before air conditioning. Some of you did, too, and some of you can't imagine a life like that. But you know what happened when you are getting toward summer vacation, still true for the students today, they're just thinking of it in air conditioning, we didn't. They're looking out the window and in those days the windows were open and you're thinking this is a beautiful day and here I am sitting and listening to stuff that I don't know is that important. I wish I could get out there and play ball or be outside and do this or that. Just not paying attention. The teacher is trying to say, “listen, pay attention, we're going to have a test on this.” Yeah, yeah.

That's what we have spiritually here. We have a congregation of people that gather together but they are not interested. I didn't come for a serious lecture on biblical truth, I have other problems in my life. That's what it means, you've become dull of hearing. So you know what happens, you become a believer, you start to grow and you grow and you're growing and you're becoming more mature, more like Christ. We become more mature. But you know what happened? Somewhere along the line they began to decline spiritually and the result was we never stay static in our spiritual life. We're either growing and becoming more like Christ and more able to grapple with the serious things of the Word of God, or we are on the downward slide. And just like there is no stop in this life to maturing, it will wait until we are glorified in His presence, I don't know where the bottom is when we start to slide. These people have declined to the point that the writer says, “I'm not able to explain to you these important, basic truths about the high priestly ministry of Jesus Christ because you are not able to handle it. You are not interested and that disinterest has come to the point you are resistant to it.” Serious matter. You have become dull of hearing.

This word translated dull, incidentally, is only used one other time in the New Testament. Do you know where it is? It is at the close of this exhortation, over in Hebrews 6:12, “so you will not become sluggish.” Same word, nothros, sluggish, dull. We'll talk about that verse when we get there. But you see this warning is bracketed by the concern about their lack of interest and lack of readiness to seriously grapple with these truths.

Verse 12, “for though by this time you ought to be teachers you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God. You have need of milk and not of solid food.” They have been believers long enough, they should be able to teach others. That doesn't mean formal teachers like I am teaching you or some of you have sat in classes earlier and have had a teacher. The point is you have been believers long enough, you ought to be able to explain this to someone else. You are in a situation, you shouldn't need me to take you back through this. You should be ready to teach it. This is not something for just a few believers and some believers are more interested in the Word than others. He says the whole congregation ought to be here. You have been believers long enough. Now we see the danger that faces us, the danger that faces us as a local congregation.

The church has been existence since Acts 2 now, the time that Hebrews is written, for maybe a little over thirty years. These Jews that comprised this congregation have been believers for some time, long enough that they ought to be well versed enough in these truths, they ought to be teaching them and explaining them to others. And yet something is wrong. You have retrogressed, you have gone backwards, you have gone downhill. You know, I said we never stand still. There are people who at one time were very knowledgeable about the truths of God, the Scripture. Somewhere along the line they lost interest, they didn't like the pressure of the seriousness of it, where he is going to further emphasize. And you know it's not like . . . I think of myself and I don't want to get there. Well, I've taught the Word for years, if I quit studying the Word now and just don't pay that much attention, at least I have this vast reservoir of knowledge. It doesn't stay there, it begins to evaporate. We lose it.

These people ought to be teachers and now you need someone again. ”I need to take you back to where you have been,” he says, “and teach you the ABCs”. Serious. You see this is an exhortation to people. Look at what has happened to you. If you've been a believer long, you've probably had contact with someone like this. One time they were into the Word, they were excited about the Word, they were studying the Word. They want to talk about the Word. You meet them, where are you going to church? Oh, I'm going . . . Well, that's not a church that teaches. I know, but I have family there and my kids liked it and . . . You try to talk about it. I had this opportunity not long ago with a person I've known off and on over many years. We sat for hours talking. I couldn't believe, I knew this man many years ago and we interacted about the Word. This guy didn't know which end is up. We're talking the Word and I went away. I said to Marilyn, “he didn't know the basics. He didn't stay where he was, he lost what he had.”

This idea, and this is where he's going to get, and we get down into athletic training and that development. You know, when I was in high school I could do 100 push-ups and 500 sit-ups. I still put up those same numbers today—1-0-0 and 5-0-0 except they are not in the same order. Now it is 0-0-1 and 0-0-5. What happens? You lose it. Why is the football team out practicing, getting in shape, conditioning? That's the example we are going to in a moment, athletics. You lose it. I studied French in high school, I still remember three or four words. Why? Didn't use it, but I remember everything I studied. No I don't, I lost it. What happens?

This is what this writer is saying happens to us spiritually. We just think, that's all right, I built this up. If I'm not as serious into the Word as now I have this reservoir to draw from. The reservoir is evaporating. It dries up. We add to it as we are in the Word, there is that richness that keeps building. The danger, I stress this because we've been a congregation together for many years. Some of you have been through the Word many times and it's easy to get to the point, it's just not as fresh and exciting for me anymore. Nothing wrong with the Word, it's the same Word. I find myself, I just don't feel like it. I better get at it. Just like the athlete, better get at the conditioning. There is no other way to do it.

By this time you ought to be teachers and you have need again for someone to teach you in the elementary principles of the oracles of God. The elementary principles of the oracles of God used in a secular statement like it could be used in a school setting. You read secular writers of the time, it meant teaching them the ABCs. He's not even talking about grammar and that, we have to go back so you can learn the alphabet. I mean, this is really a slap in the face to get some attention to these professing believers. You need to go back to the ABCs. We're starting over. Something is seriously wrong here. Now in this context these Jews are thinking about going back to Judaism and this expression referring to the elementary principles of the oracles of God could be referring to the Mosaic Law in the context. Because what was the Mosaic Law? It was the beginning. Or as Galatians says, it was the school master to oversee and help develop the child and bring him along and see that he was prepared for adulthood. What was the Mosaic Law for? To prepare Israel for the coming of the One who would be the great high priest, who would offer the final sacrifice that could take away sin. So in all those sacrifices in the high priest of Aaron and subsequent ones, all this to be preparing Israel. Now they're talking about going back. You don't even understand the purpose of God's beginning revelation. We have to go back there, start over with the ABCs.

Come over to Galatians 4. Similar kind of context, similar kind of battle. Paul writes to the Galatians because there were Judaizers that were infiltrating among the churches that Paul had established in Galatia, trying to tell the people, “you have to keep the Mosaic Law, you have to be circumcised.” And the church is confused and some are thinking, yes, we better keep . . . Same kind of problem. And note the analogy he uses, he's going to use a word that's coming up in Hebrews 5 we haven't come to yet, but it's the word translated child, napios, infant, baby. Galatians 4:1, “now I say as long as the heir is a child,” and there's the word. Remember when we go back to Hebrews we'll see this and remember it's the same word translated child here. In your margin you may have the word minor, a word to mean infant, baby. It's a word he uses to talk about those who will need milk, not solid food that we're coming to in Hebrews 5, those who need to learn the ABCs. As long as the heir is a child, an infant, a baby, he does not differ at all from a slave. He's under guardians, managers. So also while we were children, here we go, we were held in bondage under the elemental things, the stoikeya. And in the context here these elemental things, he's talking about the Law.

“The fullness of time came, God sent for His Son born of a woman, born under the Law to redeem those who were under Law.” So now we are no longer under Law, in that stage of infancy. So you can't go back, you shouldn't be wanting to go back. You don't understand even the significance of . . . The Old Testament wasn't providing the way of salvation so now we have an option. You can either place your faith in Christ or you can go back and observe the Old Testament system with its high priest and sacrifices. No, you don't understand. You can't go back, those are the elemental things, the ABCs. Their purpose was to prepare you for this. You don't learn the alphabet and that's an end in it itself, you learn the alphabet so you know how to put words together, so you can learn how to put those words into sentences and those sentences into paragraphs and communicate. And you're thinking you just go back to the ABCs. You understand it was nice to go to pre-school, but you are in college now. You need to go back to pre-school, that's where you are spiritually.

Down in Galatians 4:9, “and now that you have come to know God or rather be known by God, how is it that you turn back again,” turning back to Judaism is the context in Galatians 4, “to weak and worthless elemental things.” They had their purpose, they had their value but they are fulfilled. It was the schoolmaster, down in Galatians 4:21. “Tell me, those of you who want to be under the Law, don't you listen to the Law?” I mean, shouldn't we who have placed our faith in Christ understand the role that the Old Testament played as preparatory time? Even as Gentiles who have been saved we have come to learn that. No excuse for these Jews.

Also, we won't turn there for time, but Colossians 2:8, 20 use this same word elemental in a context of the Mosaic Law.

So when you come back to Hebrews, he tells them, you need to go back to the ABCs, the very beginning, foundational things. That would include the Mosaic Law which was to prepare the way. Now Israel should understand and be prepared, I need a sacrifice, I need a high priest to offer the sacrifice that God has appointed by God's appointed person that will be acceptable. And now that that One has come, and you want to turn away from Him, we have to go back to the beginning, the ABCs, and start over. Learn the alphabet here, the foundational thing, build up. You ought to be able to teach someone else this and you are not even able to pay attention. You are resistant to what is being taught.

You have come to need milk and solid food. That's important again. That word translated come, that's the same word translated become in verse 11, a perfect participle. Remember that perfect tense, something happened in the past and results continue on to the present and they are in their present condition because of this pattern they have been on. Now they have come to need, they have retrogressed and it's not pretty. Something is wrong. You have this 25-year-old college student and he's back learning the ABCs and having only milk. Something is wrong. That's what he's saying, this is where you are spiritually. You have retrogressed to the ABCs.

Remember when you had a child and a couple years later you have another child, a baby and the older child has his food and he is eating. And he is going to help so he's going to feed his food to the baby. And you say, no, you can't give that to your little brother or sister, they are not ready to eat that. You are a big boy now, but he is little, he's a baby, he has to eat this food. Why? They can't handle it.

This is the way he is talking to them. You have need of milk and not solid food. You don't understand what I meant when I said you have to go back to the ABCs? You're a big baby, you're back to sucking on the bottle and you're not even ready to eat some solid food spiritually. This is what you have become. Important to see this. This is not where they were, they had placed their faith in Christ, they had grown, they were doing well. Somewhere along the line something happened. They had become something different than they were when they were growing. And now they are down here. Compared to where they were here, they've retrogressed and were back at the beginning. Milk and not solid food.

Look at verse 13. “ For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the Word of righteousness.” He is an infant, a baby, a child. That's the same word I said, remember in Galatians translated child or children. An infant, a baby. Everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the Word of righteousness. What a rebuke. When he talks about the Word of righteousness, you know what he is talking about—the truth concerning Christ.

Come back to 1 Corinthians 1. Pick up with verse 30, we'll just break in here. “But by His doing you are in Christ who became to us wisdom from God,” now note this, “and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.” He's the One in whom is found God's righteousness. And you're talking about going back to Judaism. The Word of righteousness, God's Word of His righteousness is focused in Christ. The unwillingness to listen to this, the inability to grapple with it. I mean, this is serious business.

Turn over to 1 Corinthians 3. What is he going to talk about? “And I, brethren, could not speak to you as spiritual men but as the men of flesh as to,” here's our word, “infants in Christ.” Same word we have in Hebrews. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food. You were not able to receive it. And you're not able yet. Something is wrong. Of course when Paul came to Corinth he started out with the basics. He's presenting the Gospel to bring salvation to the lost. You don't stay back there. There are some people that are happy to go to church as long as the Gospel is presented every week. We have a wonderful church, the Gospel is presented every week. Do you ever get anything else? No, we do the Gospel every week. Well, you're just going to stay on milk, huh? Paul is frustrated with the Corinthians, where they are stuck.

Now note here where this goes because this is where Hebrews is going so we won't come back here, “for you are still fleshly. There is still jealousy and strife among you.” You know what happens, when you don't grow, you are stuck in your infancy stage, other problems develop. It's not just a doctrinal issue, now the ability to discern good and evil, right conduct and wrong conduct gets all messed up. He says, now you are behaving like you are not even saved. I mean, you are stuck in this infancy stage. Well, I may not know much about the Word, I just like practical stuff. You can't function “practically,” discern and properly behave if you're not being nourished and maturing. It's not good to be still acting like a baby when you're 12, when you're 20, when you're 30. And we have conflicts in the churches. Why? We have churches filled with babies spiritually and they don't discern right and wrong and so they are arguing over this. They can't even sort out what is important and what is not important. That's what he tells the Corinthians and uses the same analogy—milk and meat. Christ is the righteousness, we're growing in Him.

2 Corinthians 5:21, we won't turn there for time, “for God the Father made Him who knew no sin to become sin on our behalf that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” We're talking about knowing and growing in our understanding of Christ and God's work in and through Him. A couple of passages, I was going to take another in Corinthians but come over to Ephesians 4. I say I am blessed to be pastoring in a church where people are open and receptive and responsive and hear the Word. And I don't say that to flatter you, but how many churches could I go and speak for an hour and have people have their Bibles open, following along. An hour! We have ten minute drive in and out churches now, not evangelical ones. But somehow we have to entertain the saints and keep them. This is the problem in the evangelical church. We have a new way to do church. How to do church? How do we reach this generation? Well, we make it light and lively, they are used to TV so we do TV and we do clips and we try to keep it moving and we don't get too heavy and too serious. Let's keep them in a baby state, just like pre-school. Much of what we do is entertaining with just a little bit built in to help prepare them for kindergarten. Is that what God has called us to do as a church?

Ephesians 4, talking about as a result of the work of Christ gifts are given to the church. Some of those gifts are mentioned in Ephesians 4:11, gifts involve communicating the Word of God. They are listed there. And these are given, verse 12, “for the equipping of the saints, for the work of serving, to the building up of the body of Christ.” God's Word is taught to believers who hear it and take it in, who grapple with it and grow in it. And God has gifted every believer with an ability to function as part of the body. And so as we mature, just like the parts of our physical body, that baby learns how to use his hands and not stick them in his eye and so on. And learns how to use his legs so he can walk. The body is developing and maturing as it is taking in the Word, taking in the Word. Tell young men going into a pastorate in a church, assume they haven't been taught the Word. Then the first few years of your ministry just build the Word into their lives, build the Word into their lives, build the Word into their lives. You'll find as they mature they begin to want to function. You don't go into a church that hasn't been taught the Word and start to tell them what they ought to do, you have to feed them, nourish them and grow. And then they can function together. Then the body can grow.

You'll note, we're growing up into Christ to be like Christ, to have the maturity of Christ produced in us. Then verse 14, as a result we are no longer to be, there is our word, infants, children, babies that just need milk, that just need the ABCs, that aren't able to sort out truth from error. They are “no longer carried about by every wind of doctrine or by the trickery of men, by craftiness and deceitful scheming.” You see there is discernment that comes with it. Is there any discernment in so much of the evangelical world today? They don't know the difference between a Roman Catholic and a biblical Christian. Some of them don't even know the difference between a Mormon and a biblical Christian. Some people don't know what proper biblical conduct is and what isn't and they get carried about with whatever is coming along. Here is the newest plan for growing the church, here is another plan for growing the church. What about God's plan? Nourish them on the Word so the Spirit of God can do what He does in a heart and life. So we don't want to be any longer babies, we want to grow.

Come back to Hebrews. Not accustomed to the Word of righteousness, depths here we will never fully plumb for all eternity? We finite creatures are going to be growing, we will have been perfected in that all sin and so on will be removed in every way from our lives but we will never exhaust the knowledge of the inexhaustible God. So we are on a track now and heaven will never be boring. What am I going to do after the first hundred billion years? I mean, I don't need to sleep, I assume there will be no TV. What are we going to do? Are we going to have ESPN? Sports? What are we going to do? We won't be bored, I know that. Growing.

Look at Hebrews 5:14, but “solid food is for the mature.” We're back to that word mature. Not that we're done, but those who have come to an adult stage, now they can take in more. We can study Hebrews, we can grapple with the Melchizedekian priesthood. I understand there are going to be people coming in to visit and they're going to be lost as a goose. What is he talking about? I don't know. He talked about priests and some kind of strange character, Mel somebody, I've never heard of him. And you shouldn't drink milk, you should eat meat. I don't know what he is talking about. I expect they are going to be lost, confused. You tell a friend, I hope we'll have something light and interesting for him. If the Spirit of God is working in his life, he will supernaturally come back. And if the Spirit of God is not working in his heart, he is not going to be interested no matter what you do. All you can do is bring him to be exposed. You can tell him, we're studying the Bible, our concern is to find out what God has said and to understand it. Don't get discouraged if you don't understand it to begin with. It's like anything you are new to, you have to learn, you have to begin at the beginning and you'll pick up a piece here, a piece there. And you'll find pretty soon those pieces are fitting together and you'll grow. We have the idea, if you're going to have a church that reaches out, we're going to have to do it light and easy and fun. Who is going to do the work in a heart? God or us? If we're going to have God do the work in a heart, we'll have to do it God's way.

Solid food is for the mature. Because of practice, they have their senses trained to discern good and evil. Here is our word. These are athletic metaphors, their senses trained. We get the word gymnastics or gymnasium from the word. It has the picture of the result of the training. Solid food is for the mature. Because of practice, they have their senses trained to discern good and evil. Remember 1 Corinthians 3? They couldn't even sort out good and evil, right and wrong in the congregation. They are picking their favorite star—Cephas, Paul. They are arguing and divided. The mature can sort out these things, they are committed to God's truth. We're trained, it is developed, it is work. You come here, it's work. People think they go to church on Sunday morning because they have worked hard all week, get a little breather and relax and sit back.

The family comes over on the holidays and sometimes there are sports on and we turn on the game. I like to really get involved in them, depends on certain sports. And I'll watch as I sit in my recliner with something to drink, two or three different kinds of snacks to nibble. Life is good. Look at those poor fools down there, getting all beat up with some 330 pound guy running full force into some 190 pound guy and knocking the daylights out of him. Running around there. They ought to take it easy, they ought to get a nice easy chair on the side there and just sit back. You can't be involved in the game and do that. I mean, it takes discipline. We're talking about those who, because of practice, discipline, have their senses trained. They have developed, it's not easy. What happens in the offseason? It's hard to keep in shape. So then we're back early going through training, they are going through discipline.

This is the analogy Paul is using. Whoever came up with the idea church is the fun place, the relaxing place? This is the place where you really do your serious work, where you are involved digging in, working through, thinking through these things, concentrating on a level maybe you don't do otherwise because this is the most important thing you will do. This will matter in a hundred million years. I have to be diligently at it. God says His work is clear but He doesn't say it is easy. You have to work at it.

I want to run through some Scriptures with you and we will be done. Come over to
I Corinthians 9. Used to have a song the quartet sang many years ago, some of you were here for that when they did that song, but just a couple of lines in it stuck in my mind over the years. “It's a battlefield, brother, not a recreation room. It's a fight and not a game.” And somehow along the way the church has lost that simple truth. Look in I Corinthians 9. And incidentally chapter 10 will move into the Old Testament and the situation there and the contrast and what we're having in Hebrews. But look at 1 Corinthians 9:24, “do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win.” In other words don't be just happy to be in the race, I don't care if I come in. He has lapped me 40 times. That's all right, I'm still in the race. Paul says, no, you have to run with passion and commitment. Everyone who competes in the game exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, we an imperishable. “Therefore I run in such a way as not without aim. I box in such a way as not beating the air, but I discipline my body.” That word originally meant to hit somebody under the eye so it turns black and blue. Picture, I discipline my body black and blue, make it my slave. I don't feel like going to church tonight, I don't feel like really concentrating on the Word, I don't . . . Paul says, “I don't let my body decide what I do, it's not a matter of what I feel like, it's a matter of what I have to do. I discipline myself, my body is my slave, so that I don't get disqualified even after I've preached to others.” That’s discipline.

Come over to Philippians 3:12, Paul talked about his experience in Judaism. All that had to be left behind. Verse 12, then he says, “not that I have already obtained it, the full maturity that will be his in Christ. Or have already become perfect,” there's our word we talk about, mature, perfect. “But I press on so that I may lay hold of that which I was laid hold of by Christ. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it. One thing I do, forgetting what lies behind, reaching toward what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call in Christ Jesus. And this is not just something for me. Let us therefore as many as are perfect have this attitude.” Verse 17, “brethren, join in following my example and observe those who set a pattern like I do.” And then the sad thing, some have turned away from the cross and even become enemies. Paul has no false illusions.

One more passage, Paul, 2 Timothy 2:1, Paul writing to Timothy, his last letter. Paul languishing in a prison, awaiting execution, a body that had to be in sad shape. Read 2 Corinthians 11, how many time he was beaten, how many times he went without sleep. He didn't baby himself. How many times he went without food and drink and the pressures. And he is there and you think, I should have taken it a little easier, taken time to smell the flowers, enjoy life a little more. Here I am at the end in a prison with a body that is beaten and bruised and aches and pains. Timothy, learn from me. Have a little more balance in your life. He didn't tell Timothy that.

2 Timothy 1:8. “Join with me in suffering.” Come down to 2 Timothy 2:1, “be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” The things that you have heard from me, you teach them to other men who will teach other men. And that's the process. No change in the plan of God. What's a new way to do church? God's way. Start out, you teach men and then you teach them and you teach them and that will equip the saints to function as God intends them. And the body will mature. Suffer hardship with me as a good soldier. It's not a game. We're here, I understand people come and they say, I don't fit here. Maybe they don't. This is a serious place. I go into the training facilities of the football team, I don't fit there. Well, then maybe we ought to make the training facilities different so he'll fit. No, you don't fit here. Everybody is welcome but not everybody is going to fit, not even people who claim to be evangelical Bible believers. They are looking for something light, something more relaxing, something easier, something more fun.

“No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life so he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.” I forget who we are trying to please. If anyone competes as an athlete, he does not win the prize unless he competes according to the rule. Or the hard working farmer ought to be the first to receive. Consider what I say, pay attention. There is no other way to get it done and be what God intends you to be, Timothy. Don't think you can find an easier way than I found. Pattern your life after mine, throw your life into it with abandon. You don't have to baby that body, give it to the Lord. I'm not saying we shouldn't take care of ourselves. Well, I need to spend time with my family so we don't go to church on Sunday night. And this is family time. And I need relaxing time, I work hard all week. Do you think Paul didn't work hard? Serious business we are in. We're followers of Jesus Christ, we are slaves. He says, why do you call Me master and not do what I tell you?

Our passion and overwhelming concern is to be pleasing to Him. These Hebrew Christians have lost sight of that. And you know what? They've been on the downward slide and they've retrogressed. Now the writer says, I have to take you back to the ABCs, get out the bottle and give you some milk and try to bring you along again. We're going back to where you were. We have to start over with you. That shows the seriousness of decline. The best thing is keep on the right track and then you don't have to build back to where you were.

Let's pray together. Thank You, Lord, for the riches of Your Word. How blessed we are to belong to You, how marvelous is our salvation. God, may we never become bored with the truth You have given. May we never become lazy and indifferent and uninterested at the marvelous wonder of the righteousness You have provided in Christ. Rather, may our passion grow stronger that we might be men and women that have lives that reflect the beauty of the character of the Savior that we love and serve. We pray in His name, amen.