10. Jesus Leads Us Forward, Hebrews 5:11-6:3

[Music] open up your Bibles to Hebrews chapter five now I love the book of Hebrews I could say I'm a little jealous that the women get to start a study in the book of in the book of 1st Corinthians coming up this week because that's an amazing book and I just got it that's gonna be good but for right now we're gonna continue on in our Sunday morning study through the book of Hebrews again starting in chapter 5 for this morning so open up your Bibles there we're gonna begin at verse 11 let me pray and begin our time in the word father we come to seek you we come to seek your voice and we pray Lord that now at this time at this place you'd speak to us that you'd open up the eyes of our understanding we we get it Lord that just as we have spirit a physical eyes that see Lord you've given us some sort of faculty to be able to see and connect with the spiritual realm so Lord increase that blessed that sharpen that vision now so that we can see what you have for us in your word we pray this now in Jesus name Amen it's good for us to remind ourselves of these big themes going through the book of Hebrews and just to understand all over again that this was a letter written to discouraged Christians this was a letter written to those who felt like giving up and there are many reasons and the sort of scattered throughout the letter of the Hebrews as to why they felt like giving up but that's sort of the basic scenario in an attempt to get them to persevere to not only hang in there and you could say to survive in their Christian life the write of Hebrews wanted them to go all the more with strength and with vigor to pursuing what God had for them in an effort to do all of that he brings forth a lot of reasons he tries to tell me that Jesus is greater than Moses that the Old Testament system was passing away he brings out this reason and the other reason and one of the great reasons why he brings out intended to encourage these discouraged Christians is he brings out the idea that we have a high priest in heaven Jesus exalted seated at the right hand of God the Father and that Jesus himself is our sympathetic are compassionate high priest well that connects with many other ideas that the right of the Hebrews wants to demonstrate to his readers including ideas having to do with the nature of the priesthood of Jesus and without getting too far afield and I'll just say if you don't get it we'll explain it in later chapters but the idea that there was a priesthood according to Aaron the first of the priests the brother of Moses and then there was another priesthood according to order of Melchizedek this amazing character that just sort of streaks across the sky of the Old Testament and he intended to explain more about this business of Aaron and Melchizedek and their respective priesthoods and how it's fulfilled in Jesus but then he realized that there was something not quite right in the hearts and the minds of those that he was writing to and that's where we come to Hebrews chapter 5 starting out verse 11 where he says of whom we have much to say by the way the home there is Melchizedek of whom we have much to say and hard to explain since you have become dull of hearing you see this explains why at least at this point in the letter of the Hebrews he's not going to continue the discussion of the high priesthood in Melchizedek and Aaron and although there are other things don't worry that's a fascinating subject and he'll come back to it in Hebrews chapter 7 but for the time being he says I'm not gonna go deeper into that discussion of the high priestly character of Jesus and all that he does until i address some issues in your own walk with God and most pointedly I want to address the issue that you become dull of hearing that there's something not so sharp anymore in your faculty and your ability to hear what God says it's as if this God is speaking but you're not hearing you used to hear better by the way that's sort of inherent in the phrase there you have become dull of hearing used to be sharper used to hear God better used to be more attentive when the word was being taught it just seemed to produce more benefit you seemed if I could just use two get more out of it and maybe you could say well you don't get as much out of it because the preacher isn't as good as he used to be well that may very well be so but still doesn't take away the fact that there's an element of sharpness of hearing that God wants us to have when it comes to spiritual things and if we don't have that sharpness of hearing there's a limit to how far we can go to what we can actually receive from God and so therefore the writer of the Hebrews now and in the whole section we're gonna take a look at this morning he's warning them that's what it is it's a warning and I just want you to be very aware of this fact that's dynamic in our following after Jesus Christ there from time to time we need to be warned and we need a lot of things don't we we need to be comforted we need to be assured we need to be strengthened we need to be built up in faith we need all of those things but don't we from time to time need to be warned don't you need from time to time somebody just look you square in the eye and say this isn't good you need to do better and if you don't there's consequences that's the spirit of what we're taking a look at here in this passage he's told them you've become dull of hearing and now he's gonna continue on the thought into verse 12 where he says for though by this time you ought to be teachers you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the Oracles of God and you've come to need milk and not solid food in other words he takes a look at the rate of progress in their Christian experience and he says you don't really by this time you should be so much farther along you should be teachers by now I don't think for a moment that he says you should be teachers in the sense that each and every Christian should be able to stand on a platform and teach other people the Bible no I don't think so if that's not your calling that's not your calling but you know some of the best and most important teaching that goes on in the Christian world it doesn't happen from a platform to people who hear it happens as people just talk about the things of God one to another it talks about how somebody just shares what God is teaching them it talks about how somebody just shares what God has done in their life and every one of us should be able to teach one another at least in that sense by the way that's a very powerful and sometimes the most of effective way that Christians are taught it's in that very relational one-on-one where I'm just sharing or you're just sharing relationship every one of us should come to the place we're capable of that every one of us who able to just simply explain what God is showing us in the scripture and how it's impacting our life then that sense every one of us should either be at that place or working towards this place and the right of the Hebrews is saying as he looks at the people who's reading this letter his original audience he said you should be there by now but you're not this brings up a very important issue as we think about this idea of the Christian life it's that we should be making continual progress in our Christian life in other words the person who has been following Jesus for ten years should be further along in their experience in their knowledge in their relationship with Jesus after 10 years you should be further along than someone who's been there after two years I mean think about it's not like that with everything in life there you were you were 16 years old and you were in driver's ed and you got your license and you pretty much learned how to drive you're probably regrettably probably pretty much the same driver you are now as you word 17 or 18 I mean it's just things like that they don't change a whole lot you're just okay you're this it's it's not like you're continually taking courses to improve your driving capability you're not thinking about it you drive I learned how to drive and now I Drive okay the end of the story it's not like that with the Christian life there should be a sense of continual progress being made but it's not like that for everybody I dare say it's probably not like that for everybody in this room I heard it said of somebody I thought this was such a wise insightful statement little strong's it kind of took me aback but I think it was true a man I know it said of another man he said he hasn't been a Christian for 10 years he's been a Christian for two years five times over in other words yeah there's ten years on the calendar but there's not ten years worth of maturity it's as if he's still a two-year-old in his walk with God that's not right there needs to be a sense in the Christian life where we're continually challenging herself to continually make progress in our following of God that's what God has for you and I'll tell you that's what he has for me too it's not as if oh now I'm a pastor oh now I stand on a platform and talk to people well that's enough progress for me no it's not the way for any of us there's this idea that there should be this continual progression but it wasn't that way for the original readers it says here at the end of verse 12 and you have come to need milk milk representing perhaps those basic things of the Christian life which are not bad we're not trying to say it at all oh you know forget about the milk it's just the strong thing no but there are certain things in the Christian life that are deeper that are further it's not some esoteric hidden mysteries secret knowledge that you know you have to learn a secret handshake in order for me to tell you about them there's nothing like that in the Christian life but yet it's as if these basic things we find a way to delve deeper in them to delve further in them to understand them go this basic truth I'm a sinner that's a basic truth in the Christian life isn't it but 10 years on in the Christian life you should know that deeper and you should know it better Jesus is a savior that's a basic truth don't you think in the Christian experience 10 years on end you should know it deeper you should know it better and then there's just this dynamic of being able by the progression of years and not being limited in this endless cycle of living the same Christian life two years at a time over and over again he's gonna continue on this thought in the verse 13 and 14 look at it here with me he says for everyone who protects only a milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness for he's a babe but solid food belongs to those who are full age that is those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil in other words to become a babe for someone to be like a little baby over and over again and their Christian life it's just wrong there's something wonderful about Chloe a young little baby appropriate for her years but listen listen for someone to be 16 17 years old and to be of the same nature baby that's weird that's abnormal there's something wrong with that and friends this is what he's saying he's saying you shouldn't be like these babes you should progress on and one of these measures of not being like a babe look at it right there in verse 13 is that a person is unskilled in the word of righteousness what one way that those who have become like babies reveal themselves it's because they're unskilled in the word of righteousness we don't expect people who first come to Jesus to be skilled in God's Word but we expect those who have walked with the Lord for a while to be skilled in God's Word and it's connected with this idea of solid food of greater maturity and connected with it also is a very interesting phrase that he uses there where he says notice it there in verse 14 have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil I think that's a fascinating phrase in verse 14 because he's not talking about our physical senses he's talking and using the analogy of our physical senses to communicate things that are in the spiritual world in the spiritual realm now as soon as I start talking about the spiritual realm it makes me feel a little strange talking to a great group of people about that because this is something that our culture is so out of touch with but really it's a reality do you understand that there's a spiritual world out there that we are in contact with all the time that there is a spiritual environment in this very room or in your home or all around you and you connect you interact that spiritual environment has an effect on you and you and some measure have an effect on it and you can't see it with your physical eye or perhaps hear it with your physical ear but it's real and it's around you nevertheless if somehow the spiritual reality of what was happening in this room right now could become visible to our spiritual eyes our physical eyes I think we'd be astounded we would see and I don't want to sound all weird about this but wouldn't we see angels present in this very room aren't they interested in the gatherings of Christians for worship don't they attendance has not God sent them for Minister and I think our minds are people we would see angels right here in a minute and I'm gonna get out and want to sound strange about this but would not we see a few perhaps demonic spirits here sent to distract to harass to to to take away from whatever good work that God wants to do would we not sense something different in individual something that God or that malevolent spirits would be doing in them and around them and look let's face it we can't perceive this with our physical eyes but it's real nevertheless now we live in the midst of a culture we live in the midst of a world mindset that says all around us that the only world that matters is the world you can see I'm here to tell you that the Bible says that's a lie and the Bible tells us that in fact the most important world that we interact with is this spiritual world yet wouldn't you agree that most people live their lives completely dead to this world this summer my wife and I on vacation we went snorkeling a lot of you have done that it's really fun isn't it and it struck me that one of the mind-blowing things about snorkeling is you go under the water you got the mask you're all there with your flippers and everything and you realize there's a whole world under here that exists that I never knew about wow isn't this amazing ladies gentlemen there is a whole world in the spirit that you may be completely insensitive to but just because you're insensitive to it doesn't mean it doesn't exist it's all around you now here's the thing God gives us senses by which we can interact with the spiritual world you have physical senses by which you interact with the material world don't you you have sight you have hearing you have taste you have all these other things and I find it fascinating that there is some analogy between our physical senses and spiritual senses for example we have a spiritual sense of taste the Bible says this taste and see that the Lord is good he didn't mean for you to lick your Bible but there's a sense in which we can taste now again you understand it's speaking sort of with a metaphor but the idea is the same there's a spiritual sense of taste you could say that there's a spiritual sense of hearing he says in the Bible of Jesus did to the churches revelation he who has an ear to hear let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches he's appealing to the spiritual ear which again is analogous to our physical or material ear we have a spiritual sense of sight the psalmist said open my eyes that I may see wondrous things from your law again he's not referring so much to his physical eyes to where he could read the scroll but something beyond that and I've just got such a burden such a hunger in my heart that we as a people of God would become awakened all over again to a life in the spirit that we would realize that yes we live in a material world but isn't it beautiful that we can come here and get something together in the community of God's people gathering that you're not gonna get anywhere else look you cannot watch a movie and listen to somebody far more entertaining and interesting perhaps than me speaking to you now but I'll tell you what I could give you that they can I can put you in touch with the spiritual world we have something as the body of Christ collectively that you can't get anywhere else it's a legitimate pure powerful real interaction with the world of the Spirit and these senses to be able to perceive the spiritual world notice how they are developed first he says that these spiritual senses are exercised that's the phrase that they're trained by practice and habit in other words the more you seek to interact with the spiritual world the way God tells you to now I don't want to get off onto a big just you know detour here I had to think of the word I don't want to get off on a big detour here but we need to understand that not all of the spiritual world is good and pure and godly there is a evil a malevolent spiritual world out there as well that we are forbidden to interact with because it will destroy us it'll eat us up but but assuming here that I'm talking about a godly Interac with the spiritual world that God gives us to interact with through Jesus Christ and through the revelation of the Bible first of all we need to just exercise that and interact with it more and more secondly these spiritual senses become exercised as they are used notice the phrase there it says by reason of use that's how the the more faith you exercise you gain more faith the more spiritual sight you exercise you'll gain sharper spiritual eyes the more you listen to the word of the Spirit in and through his word you'll get a sharper sense of hearing but then thirdly I'd say this that these spiritual senses should be able to discern both good and evil in other words we'll be able to know what's true in what's false what's light and what's dark what's good and what's evil and this ability to discern is one critical marking point of those who are spiritually mature people who are immature spiritually don't have a well-developed sense of discernment how about this a baby will put just about anything into its mouth and that's how it is with people who are spiritually babies they'll just put anything into their mouth now they may spit it out pretty quick or maybe not but again they don't have that discernment ahead of time now flowing into Chapter six he's gonna continue the thought and continue to challenge them where he says this and I'm just gonna read the first half of chapter six of verse 1 rather of chapter 6 where he says this therefore leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ let us go on to perfection this is oK we've talked about these things that sort of correspond with milk we talked about these elementary principles we talked about these basic things and let's move on from this matter of fact I love the attitude there first of all first of all understand this when he says let us go on to perfection he's not trying to imply that somehow you can be brought to a place of sinless perfection in your life that's not gonna happen and if anybody here thinks you've already achieved it why don't you come up and talk to me afterwards better yet once you let me talk to your husband or wife afterwards and we'll confirm that this isn't the case I mean we're not looking to come to some place of sinless perfection no acts the idea behind that ancient word that we translate perfection there the idea is much better understood by the word maturity the idea is completeness and complete list isn't necessarily what we might think of as perfection in every element but there's just a sense of completeness of maturity of appropriate development so this is just basically the idea he says he says let's leave these things on behind let's press on to appropriate maturity but I love how he does this he's not gonna treat him like a bunch of babies okay you you're stunted in your spiritual progress you say that that all you're interested in is these basic elementary things okay I get that but I'm gonna pull you along into maturity I think that's a beautiful attitude for a pastor or teacher to have towards a congregation where somebody perhaps might be lagging behind in their spiritual maturity the idea isn't to flog them and tell them how horrible they are no the idea is to say all right now let's come along I'm not gonna treat you endlessly like a baby let's come along in with hopefully with pastoral wisdom and grace that person has brought along and has brought deeper into Christian knowledge and experience all along the way now let me read again starting at verse one but continuing on through verse two ready therefore leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ let us go on to perfection not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God of the doctrine of baptisms of laying on of hands of the resurrection of the Dead and of eternal judgment in other words he says these are some of the elementary principles that we want to go beyond and not remain so to speak stuck in and with Hebrews chapter six verses one and two begins one of the most controversial passages of the entire New Testament so we're gonna consider the beginning of this passage this week just up to verse three and we're gonna get into the most controversial aspect of it next week next week that's where the real fireworks begin and part of me is like yes can't wait let's into it because I think God really has something to teach us through it but listen in these first three verses of Hebrews chapter six I think God speaks something so powerful so challenging so important for you and I to hear that it's really on my heart that we should understand this together I want you to look again at verses 1 and 2 and I want you to notice that he makes a list does he not he lists as a matter of fact six things what are the six things that he mentions well repentance from dead works the resurrection of the Dead faith towards God eternal judgment the laying on of hands and baptism six things all together now I understand that I just read them to you a little bit out of order I had a reason for doing that so hold tight with that but then there's six reasons six things that he lays down there now I know people who with the best of intentions and I'm not trying to criticize their intention or their heart at all but there are people who say look Hebrews tells us that these are six foundational principles for the Christian life so let's take a look at these six foundational things and we'll do a new believers course with these six topics now I understand that but I have to say I don't think that that's the correct approach to this passage I don't believe that the writer of Hebrews was saying these are the first six things that you need to understand if you want to be a follower of Jesus Christ and can I just tell you one reason why if you take a look at that list can anybody notice something's sort of conspicuous missing from it Jesus the cross how about that I mean there's no direct reference I mean you could sort of tangental II get there but there's no direct reference there to the person or the work of Jesus so I don't think that he was trying to say these are the first six most important things that anybody should learn if they're gonna follow Jesus the foundational things then what did he mean well can I want you to look at that list and I want you to think through it and I want you to ask yourself what on this list is not also shared in Judaism because please remember he did not write this letter to Christians from a pagon background he wrote this letter to Christians from a Jewish background these were Christians who in their social circle and the people around them who didn't know Jesus they still had a Jewish background so we have to read it in that context and that framework now what on this list does not connect with Judaism for example does Judaism have the doctrine of repentance from dead works absolutely does Judaism have the doctrine of of resurrection of the dead yes faith toward God yes eternal judgment yes laying on of hands yes it was part of the vertical system now you might be saying and this is why I changed the order just a little bit st. David I've got you at baptisms baptisms is something that's distinctively Christian and not directly practiced in Judaism and then I would respond aha I'm glad you asked that I've got the perfect answer what's very interesting about this list is the ancient word that's translated baptisms in the text it's not the normal word for baptisms used in the New Testament not at all matter of fact that word could be more accurately translated and it is this way in some versions if you have a ESV version in front of you you'll see what it says it doesn't say baptism it says ceremonial washings or something very similar to that because that's the word that he used now let me ask you this did Judaism have ceremonial washings absolutely so I see this is what I'm getting at is what he's describing in these 6 things are not distinctively Christian doctrines not the basics of a distinctively Christian life it doesn't mention the cross or Jesus at all but what he's mentioning here are six things that are true in Christianity but they are also true in Judaism it represents some of the common ground between Christianity and Judaism well what's the point of this what's the idea why is this even important friends I hope you follow with me on this because I think this is so important for us today I want you to have this concept in your mind of Christianity and Judaism think about them you could think about them and we'll have a graphic for you as to circles okay there's the circle of Christianity and the circle of Judaism and I just want you to think in your mind do Christian some share certain doctrines of course they do they're not like two separate circles that don't meet matter of fact there is overlap between the two is there not now there are some things that are distinctive to Judaism and not found in Christianity and there are some things that are distinctive in Christianity not found in Judaism but there is a healthy overlap every one of those six things that he lists in Hebrews chapter 6 verses 1 & 2 every one of those six things is found in that overlap it's found in the middle ground and do you see with these ancient discouraged Christians were doing because they were discouraged because they were being persecuted they were tempted to retreat back into an inoffensive middle ground nobody would persecute them for preaching repentance from dead works because the Jews preached that as well nobody would persecute them for preaching the resurrection of the Dead because the Jews preached that as well nobody would persecute them for preaching doctrines of baptisms because they practice their ceremonial washings as well the temptation was to retreat into a safe common ground encompassed by both Judaism and Christianity say well what's the problem with that so big deal those things are still Christian why not just emphasize that I'll tell you because there's something that's pretty important that's not in that common ground what is it the cross the cross lies outside of that common ground and if you say so that I don't offend anybody I'm gonna retreat back to an inoffensive common ground what you've done is you may keep them things that are still Christian but what have you denied you've denied the things that are distinctively Christian the person and work of Jesus Christ who he is and what he did for us in particular what he did for us on the cross now you might agree okay David I get it fascinating anthropological study of the correlation between Judaism and Christianity ancient world great I get it no I want you understand this is for right now this is for today how okay think of that chart that we put up before and I want you to think of instead of the circles reading Judaism and Christianity the circles now read modern culture and Christianity now modern culture has its values the spirit of the age has the things that are important to it the spirit of the age has its own doctrines has its own teachings they don't call them that but that's what they are and do you understand that between the spirit of the age and Christianity there's some overlap there are some things that are important to the spirit of the age today that are also important to Christianity how about this the cold church says we should all love one another that's not Christianity say that it's true isn't it Christianity says that we should love one another the culture says we should help one another and do things for people who aren't advantage we should help disadvantaged nations and disadvantaged people does Christianity say that absolutely it does but here's the problem if you pretty much live your whole Christian existence in that safe middle ground so that you don't offend anybody from our culture then you've lost your distinctive Christian as' and that's a price that's too high for us to pay and so what we do is we recognize yes the Bible tells us that were to love one another of course yes the Bible tells us that we're to help people wherever we can whoever's disadvantaged we should be seeking to do good works all over this world but we will never let go of those distinctive truths even if we're mocked for it even if the world hates us for it even if we're rejected for it no we're gonna hold high the banner of who Jesus is and what he did for us and not retreat to an inoffensive common ground lissa gentlemen the temptation to do that in the modern world is very powerful matter of fact I would say that there's two great temptations that face us the first temptation is for Christians to retreat into this inoffensive common ground what does it mean to be a Christian well it means to love one another what does it mean to be a Christian means to help people great the culture will say okay wonder if I have no problem with that what does it mean to be a Christian it means to repent of your sins and to surrender your life to Jesus Christ and to recognize him as Lord and Master suddenly the culture goes ah you can't say that but we say no that's what the whole message is so the first temptation is to retreat into this inoffensive common ground and we must not do that listen we live in a culture and it's hard to say I'm gonna go full-bore after Jesus and I'm gonna be distinctively Christian and there is a price to be paid for that I pray that God will help you and myself to be courageous and willing to pay that price that's the first temptation but you know there's a second temptation you know what the second temptation is it's to say that if it's in the common ground of things that the culture accepts or likes well then we can't have anything to do with that in other words loving other people no that's what the world says we should do no we're not gonna do that helping the disadvantaged no you know that's just social programs we're not going to do that no the bottom line is we're not gonna let our agenda be set by the culture one way or another if the Bible tells us that we should love one another we're gonna do it sometimes the curt's will say yes sometimes the coach will say no it doesn't matter us we're gonna do what's right if the Bible tells us that we should help the disadvantaged it doesn't matter if that's faddish to do in the culture or not doesn't matter to us we're gonna do because the Bible tells us to do it and where the culture says great gives us a thumbs up well then fine we're good with that we're the culture says no you're crazy for doing that then we'll accept the title and we'll go on doing our father's business you see how powerful this is they see how much this relates not just a first century Christian's living in a Jewish environment it relates to us today let's take a look at verse 3 and we'll conclude with this verse 3 very simple shortest verse in the morning and this we will do if God permits now I don't think for a moment he's trying to say God might not permit it for some people no I think God permits it for all what it is is this is an expression of saying we can only do this with God working in us my heart goes out to the discouraged disillusioned follower of Jesus Christ you you have not lost the faith but maybe it's hanging by a slender thread I would almost tell you it's not within you to hang on to Jesus you have to look to him and put your trust in him all over again and say Jesus would you hang on to me I see it with my mind that I've been retreating into an inoffensive common ground and instead I want to live a full and faithful Christian life God would you work that in me I cannot do it on my own you pray that prayer I think he'll answer so why don't I prayer it on behalf of all of us right now here we are Lord it'd be easy to sort of exaggerate our spiritual maturity or accomplishments the Lord in our heart of hearts while we thank you for whatever maturity you have worked in us we recognize Lord I think everybody in this room that there's more for us to do there's deeper places for us to go there's spiritual senses that need to become sharper and sharper Jesus I just know that that's never gonna happen in my life or in anybody's life here by retreating into that safe common ground instead Lord I pray that you'd strengthen me and everyone in here to live a full and faithful Christian life that's genuine followers of Jesus not lovers of the present age though we live in it teach us not to love it but rather more than anything identified by a love for you because we do love you Laura we find ourselves in that same place of the man who said to you Jesus Lord I believe help my unbelief it's as if we pray this before you Lord Lord we love you help us to love you more this is our prayer in Jesus name Amen you know I think part of living this full and faithful Christian life an absolute part of it is worship I think there's no better way for us to express this commitment to Jesus now than just to worship Him with a whole heart because you know what true worship is not in that common ground that's something that the culture doesn't get alright fine we should get it as God's people so let's worship Him together now [Music] you

Channel: David Guzik

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Published: Mon May 20 2019