I'll turn back to the epistle
to the Hebrews, chapter 5 and verse 11. And I want to look
down at the passage down to chapter 6 and verse 12, because there's
an encouragement to us here to progress. Let's just recap briefly. We've seen how much superior
Christ is to the angels, to Moses, to the Old Testament law, to
the Sabbath days, to all of those things which were just pictures.
And we're now getting to the crux of the matter, how much
better he is as a priest. There are two orders of priesthood,
only ever have been. There's the Old Testament one,
that of the Levites, the tribe of Levi, the Aaronic priesthood,
the priesthood of the Old Testament temple and sacrifices, and the
priesthood of Melchizedek, the order according to Melchizedek.
There is no other priesthood. As I've said, I can't say too
strongly and yet I seem to fly in the face of everything that
you see around us. This is probably one of the least
ecumenical statements you will ever hear somebody say. There
are no priests today. Anybody who pretends to be a
priest is nothing other than an imposter who needs to read
this book. There are no priests today. There
were only ever the Old Testament ones who dressed up in their
robes to picture that which is fulfilled in Christ and we're
going to see that in graphic detail in chapters 7 through
10 everything that they were and did was talking about Christ
and speaking of him. Because what we're dealing with
is the picture that these Hebrews that were written to, Paul wrote
to the Hebrews, these were Hebrew Jewish believers who had this
affection to stick with their Old Testament types and pictures,
and they were focused on the picture and were not moving on
to the reality. The reality is this, there's
one God, and it's appointed to man to die once and then comes
the judgment and we must all stand before God and it's a fearful
thing to fall into the hands of the living God and our God
is a consuming fire you must have a mediator You know, I've
just said there are no priests. You need a priest. Absolutely. I need a priest. I must have
a priest. But there is one God and one
mediator, one priest between God and man. The man? Christ
Jesus. Nobody else. No other man who
dresses up in a robe can act, can stand between you and God? Not one of them. How dare they
do it? Honestly, how dare they do it? I know good men in the
past have been shaky on this point, but we have clear light
here. We have clear light. There is no place for a modern
priesthood except this, that Peter says that all believers
are a royal priesthood, because everyone is taught of God and
everyone has access to the Father and we're all told to come boldly
to the throne of grace, we have that access to him. There's much
to say. There are many deep things. There's
very strong meat coming, but very satisfying meat. Very, very
satisfying meat. It's all about the heart of the
sinner's reconciliation with God. Isn't that what's important
to you? So that certainly is to me. How can I be reconciled
to God? How can I know that I am reconciled
to God? What we're talking about is absolutely
at the core of a sinner's reconciliation with God. It's the foundation
of eternal security and peace. It's not academic theology I'm
speaking here. I'm talking about that which
in your loneliest moment enables you to sleep peacefully at night.
knowing that if you're taken you're straight into the everlasting
arms. That's comforting. Oh, wow, that's
comforting. You think of all things that
you might have or you might lose or that are dear to you in this
life, but that above all, that I can sleep peacefully. I know
it is well with my soul. I know I'm in the arms of the
Lord Jesus Christ, who is my infinite God and Savior. See,
this is what it's about. It's resting in that knowledge. It's not academic theology. But
before we go on to see it in chapters 7 to 10, before we get
into the detail of Christ's priesthood, and how effectual it is, and
how necessary it is, there's a need for an alarm call. And
that's what we've got in the verses before us. Do you count
yourself a believer this morning? Do you count yourself as one
who, by the grace of God, has an interest in Christ's person
and work? Well, the message of this is,
wake up! Take this seriously. Whatever
else is going on in your life, however big those things are,
wake up. Take this seriously. What we've
got here are four things as I see it. We've got a rebuke for immaturity. Secondly, and I'm not taking
it in the order that the passage goes, for obvious reasons. I like to end on good news so
that you go away with a message of good news. But there's a rebuke
for immaturity. there's a warning to the presumptuous
and it's one of the most severe I don't know if you noticed it
as Stephen was reading there's one of the most severe warnings
for presumptuous unbelief in anywhere in the scriptures here
in this passage then thirdly we've got a comfort to the faithful
and fourthly an encouragement to progress I want to look at
these things then first of all a rebuke for immaturity. Look at verses 11-14 of chapter
5. Well, I'll read verse 10, because
it links. Talking about Christ, who was
called of God and high priest after the order of Melchizedek.
Different from the Aaronic priest, the order of Melchizedek. His
is a priesthood which is according to the order of Melchizedek.
And he says, we've got a lot to say about that. and they're
quite difficult to get your head round, we would say in our day,
hard to be uttered. Why are they hard to be uttered?
Seeing, he doesn't mince his words, does he? You're dull of
hearing, you're dull of hearing. For when for the time ye ought
to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again, which
be the first principles of the oracles of God, and to become
such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat, for everyone
that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness,
for he is a babe. Your babies, he's saying to them.
But strong meat belongs to them that are of full age, even those
who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both
good and evil. This was written to Hebrews,
Jewish Christians, Hebrew Christians. Perhaps some of them had been
there on the day of Pentecost when Peter preached in Jerusalem.
You know, when 3,000 were converted, perhaps some of them had been
there. We don't know. I would say there's
a good chance that they were. That was 30 years before this
was written. Had they progressed? What sort
of spiritual food, spiritual nutrition were they taking? What
sort were they able to take? You see, babies thrive on milk. Babies thrive on milk. Peter
says in his epistle, 1 Peter 2, verse 2, as newborn babes,
desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby.
Yes, babies desire milk. Babies thrive on milk. But babies
don't stay on milk, because as they grow, they progress to solids. And then from solids, they progress
to strong meat. You probably have a meal at some
stage today. What are you going to sit down
to? I imagine, I'm not making an issue about vegetarianism
or anything to do with that, so let's not go there, but let's
say, for example, You're going to sit down to a roast dinner,
or a steak, or a lamb chop, or something like that. You're going
to sit down to something that's got some protein in it. You're
not going to sit down to a bottle of milk, are you? And just sit
there sucking on a bottle of milk. Because you've grown up!
You're no longer babies, physically. You grow up, you eat food which
is appropriate to your stage of development. He says to these
ones here, You're still babies. Look, verse 13, he is a babe. You're still using milk. I can't
give you strong meat. I've got a lot to say about Christ
and the order of Melchizedek, which is so fundamental for the
good of your souls. You need to know these things
that you might enter into the good of that which Christ has
done for you, that you might rejoice in it, that you might
sleep peacefully because you know these things. But he says,
I can't give you it because you can't digest meat. You've been
in this race 30 years, and you're still sucking on your bottles
of milk. You're not eating your stakes of doctrine. That's what
he's saying to them. He's saying that they need to
go on to maturity. He said, He said they're still
needing milk years after they came to know the faith. See,
the objective is to go on to maturity. Peter, at the last
verse of Peter's second epistle, chapter 3, verse 18, he exhorts
those who are reading to grow in grace and the knowledge of
our God and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Grow. He exhorts them to grow.
Don't stay still. It's important that you grow.
Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 14, Paul writes this, that we
henceforth, he's talking about coming to full maturity, that
God has given ministry gifts to the church, teaching gifts,
that the people of God, that Christians, that believers might
grow, that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and
fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the slight
of men and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive.
What he says is that you need that which will anchor you in
a storm. Look at verse 19 of chapter six. He's talking about
the hope of the gospel and he says which hope we have as an
anchor of the soul. And I imagine the words and the
tune of the hymn. We have an anchor that keeps
the soul steadfast and sure as the billows roll. These truths
are an anchor for the soul, so that we be not tossed about like
children on milk to and fro, carried about by every wind of
doctrine, but be strong, be mature, be confident in the things that
we know. This is what he's talking about. Anchor, that truth, is found
in Christ. It's found in knowing Him, and
Him alone, and resting and rejoicing in gospel truth, which is Him. He is gospel truth. It's not
just about Him, He is gospel truth. It's growing out of the
Levitical priesthood pictures into Melchizedek priesthood reality,
growing out of pictures into reality, but he says to them,
but you can't take it yet. You can't take it, you can't
digest it. If I give you this, he's saying
to them, it will be like giving a steak to a baby. Is a baby
going to be able to, he hasn't even got the teeth to eat the
steak. He hasn't got the digestive system to digest the steak. What
has led them to this state of immaturity? Possibly 30 years
on in the case of some of them. Here are some things that can
keep you bound in this state of immaturity spiritually and
enable to move on to strong meat. First of all, I think in their
case, clearly, an attachment to Old Testament types and traditions. That's what was wrong. That's
why he was writing this letter to them. They were still attached
to those Old Testament types. You know, it was such a problem
in the early church. Judaizers, those that said, well,
the Christian faith is a good thing, but you know, you can't
throw out the Old Testament stuff as well. We've got to keep all
of those Old Testament traditions and pictures and types and priesthoods
and sacraments. We've got to keep all of that.
You know, belief in Christ is good, but you must add all of
these other things. And you know what Paul said about that? If
anyone comes and preaches any other gospel to you than that
which he had preached, let him be accursed. And he says, did
you not hear that properly? I'll say it again. And he repeats
exactly the same thing. It's so important not to add
anything to the Lord Jesus Christ. How is it in our day? There are
so many who are bound up in legalism. Oh yes, we don't have animal
sacrifices in a temple. But they try to reinstate a legalistic
form of religion, a law-based form of religion. And it doesn't
lead to maturity and strength. It leads to immaturity. It leads
to people who genuinely don't know what their true standing
is in grace. in eternity, where they stand
in relation to judgment. They don't know. They're immature.
You think about it. Am I making an extreme point?
I could take you to many, many churches that have a name for
being good and solid, but they're bound up in legalism, and the
majority of people in those situations quite honestly have no confidence
in the Lord Jesus Christ. They don't know where they stand.
They look constantly to themselves. They're either filled with hypocritical
pride at how good they're becoming, or they're filled with utter
and complete despair that they constantly fall into sin. And
they have no confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ. Immaturity. Legalism leads to immaturity.
There's just plain laziness too. Just plain laziness leads to
not progressing. Constant submission to lazy flesh. You know the expression, the
spirit is willing but the flesh is weak, the flesh is lazy, the
flesh is unable. you know, far more concerned
with doing secular exercise than spiritual exercise. We're coming
up to the Olympics next year and I imagine anybody that has
any aspirations to take part and possibly even win a medal
and perhaps even win a gold medal, you know, there's no complacency
about it. There's no laziness about it.
There's an utter and complete determined commitment to do it. And rather than people driving
them to do it, if they've got that in mind, I'm going to be
the first through that tape, you know, people will be saying
to them, don't overdo it, oh no, calm down, don't, no, they're
going to be there, they'll be up at five in the morning, they'll
be training, they'll be doing everything necessary. I'm not
saying that we need to be getting up in the middle of the night
and reading the scriptures, but you know what I mean. were so
prone to follow the things of secular physical exercise and
neglect spiritual exercise. Irreverence for the word is another
thing that leads to immaturity. Immature Christians have a very
poor view of the word, the word of God, the word which is Christ. They don't take it seriously.
You know, this is why even though we're in these domestic situations
for our worship for the time being. Yet, as much as possible,
we try and take it seriously. We try and come at it seriously. We do it properly. We have the
established elements of the true worship of the Church of God,
the reading of His Word, public praying, the singing of his praise,
and the proclamation of the gospel of his grace. And we come to
it seriously. We come to it as if the eyes
of the world are upon us. We know that the ears of significant
numbers are on us when this goes on Free Grace Radio. But we take
it seriously. But not taking it seriously leads
to immaturity. leads to taking it lightly and
as a casual thing. Not investing effort in the spiritual
exercise and the use of our time leads to immaturity. Perhaps
they've done some of that. It's a danger that we can fall
into. There are things all around us to distract us as well from
growing in grace and the knowledge of our God and Savior. The deceitfulness
of riches. Oh, it's all around us, isn't
it? The deceitfulness of riches. Covetousness. Covetousness. Oh, I must have, I must have,
I must have. Love of the world, the things of the world. It's
not wrong to have things. The saints of God have been blessed
with great material blessing from God, but read the article
that I put in of Paul Mahan's in the bulletin this week about
how much we have. Read that in your own time. the
cares and stresses of life as well I know some of us are in
very busy situations but all of these things can lead us to
neglect to neglect the true good spiritual exercise which is good
for growth in grace and neglect of it is what leads to immaturity
but then perhaps some of them have not progressed because they
were never true believers they were false believers So I want
to move on quickly to look at a warning to the presumptuous.
Look at verses four to eight of chapter six. He says, It is
impossible for those who were once enlightened and have tasted
of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost
and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the
world to come. if they shall fall away, to renew them again
unto repentance, seeing they crucify to themselves the Son
of God afresh, and put him to an open shame, for the earth
which drinketh in the rain, and we'll come to that shortly. There's
much contention over these verses. There's much contention, because
some say, look, it proves that those who have believed Christ
can then be lost. It proves that those who were
enlightened with the gospel, they tasted the heavenly gift,
they partook of the Holy Ghost, they tasted the word of God.
They sound like believers, don't they? And then they're lost,
if they shall fall away, they can't be renewed again to repentance.
And oh, it casts such fear and such doubt in people's minds,
much contention over the possibility of believers ending up lost.
But the fact is, the fact is, that these who are being described
here were never true believers. because true believers cannot
be lost. These were not progressing because
they were never real, these particular ones. These were just religious
professors. Look at the description of them
in verse 4. They were once enlightened. Do
you know it's possible to be enlightened, but to be completely
outside of the grace of God? You can have some head knowledge.
Lots of people have head knowledge. but no heart experience. It's
a heart experience of the gospel of grace. It's knowing the truth
of the Lord Jesus Christ and the salvation that he's wrought
as your personal experience. These were enlightened. Oh, that
seems like a logical system. Oh, that seems, yes, I can see
how all that fits together now. Hey, do you know, this is quite,
quite intellectually stimulating. It can be quite intellectually
stimulating without being a heart experience that is real. They
had, it says, tasted the heavenly gift. Tasted it, dipped their
tongue in it. You know, like when the chef
just tastes, is that the right flavour? But he doesn't sit down
and eat the meal. They hadn't imbibed it. They
hadn't taken it within them. They tasted a sweetness on their
tongue, but they hadn't digested it. I imagine Judas was like
that. He walked with our Lord Jesus
Christ. He heard his words. No doubt,
He'd had a certain head-knowledge enlightenment. He wouldn't have
stayed as long as he did if he hadn't had that head-knowledge
enlightenment. He'd tasted the heavenly gift, but not imbibed
it. He'd heard the words come from
his lips. Partakers of the Holy Ghost.
It says there too, partakers of the Holy Ghost. Think back
to the Israelites wandering in the wilderness with all of the
signs that were all around them, the pillar of cloud, the fire
by night, The manna that came down, the quails, all of these
signs, the water from the rock. They were all partakers of those
things. They all ate the manna, as we
read in John chapter six, they all ate the manna. But they didn't,
in that sense, partook of the Holy Ghost. But they weren't
real believers. And they fell and perished in
the wilderness. Why did they fall and perish
in the wilderness? We saw it a couple of weeks ago. Because
of unbelief. They couldn't enter in. because
of unbelief. No, they partook of the Holy
Ghost only to that extent. They didn't apprehend Christ
in any of those signs. The true believer apprehends
Christ and knows that your security and your spiritual food and your
eternal state is in him. As it says in verse five, tasted
the good word of God. It's possible to taste the good
word of God and yet be outside of Christ. Just as Balaam was. That Old Testament false prophet
back in Numbers around chapter 21, 22, 23. Balaam, who was sent by Balak
to curse the Israelites, and he couldn't, he was sent for
reward, for bribery, to go and curse them. And he couldn't.
He said he couldn't do that which God wouldn't let him do. God
wouldn't let him curse them. Every time he opened his mouth
to try to curse them, to get his reward, words of grace came
out of his mouth. looking for iniquity in Israel
and not finding it. He even said, Balaam, who was
lost, who was a false prophet, Balaam, Numbers 23 verse 10 said,
Oh, that I might die the death of the righteous. Sounds to me
like he tasted of the good word to that extent, but yet he was
lost. No heart experience, no apprehension
of Christ in it. And it says, Those who are like
that, never truly in Christ, but showing some signs of association
with the things of Christ, if they shall fall away, if they
shall walk out on the truth, if they shall neglect the worship
of God and the service of God and commitment, if they shall
treat the gospel as if it never was true, that's not the same
as backsliding. All believers have periods of
backsliding. Think of David. King David, who
was a man after God's own heart. who knew the Lord, who had such
an abundant measure of the Spirit of God, and yet think of the
sin into which he fell. atrocious sin. That's not a license
to sin, but it does say this. It's possible to be thoroughly
rooted in Christ and yet because of the weakness of the flesh
to backslide and sin. If we say we have no sin, we
deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. But if we confess
our sins, repentance, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.
No, we're not talking about backsliding or a lapse into sin, but we are
talking about apostasy. We are talking about treating
the truth of God as if it was a lie and walking out on it.
We are talking about sinning against the Holy Ghost, that
sin which is unforgivable, that sin of denying the revelation
of God by his Holy Spirit. True disciples, like those around
the table at the Last Supper, when Jesus said, one of you will
betray me. And do you know what they all
said? They didn't all say, we bet it's Judas. No, they all
said this. Is it I, Lord? Shock. Is it I, Lord? They didn't
know. Judas was such a good fake that
none of them knew that it was him. They all were saying, is
it I? Is it I that will betray you?
This is what true disciples say. Oh, keep me from that, Lord.
Keep me from that. I know my flesh is weak. If you
do not keep me, then I cannot keep myself, is what the true
believer says. Oh, there's a warning there.
In amongst this, your babes, but you're true, but you should
be progressing, there's a warning, but some perhaps of you, that
you be not presumptuous, that some perhaps of you never ever
truly knew Christ. You had lots of little external
signs of enlightenment and tasting of heavenly gift and partaking
of the Holy Ghost, but you were never really true. No, so that
you don't despair, so that they didn't despair, there's comfort
to the faithful. Look at verse seven. comfort
to the faithful. For the earth which drinketh
in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs
meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God.
But that which beareth thorns and briars is rejected, and is
nigh unto cursing, whose end is to be burned." You see, the
same word of the Gospel of Grace, the same truth of God comes down
on all. And to some, it bears fruit,
like the seed that lands on the good ground in the parable of
the sower. But to others, the thorns come up and choke it,
and it's rejected, it's nigh unto cursing, whose end is to
be burned. But brethren, but beloved, he
says, verse 9, beloved, we're persuaded better things of you.
You may be immature, You may still be on milk when you ought
to be eating strong meat, but, he says, beloved, we're persuaded
better things of you. True believers are beloved. That verse that I often quote,
2 Thessalonians 2, verse 13. You shouldn't really need to
turn to it, and neither should I, but it says, But we are bound
to give thanks all the way to God for you, brethren. Beloved
of the Lord. Brethren, true believers are
beloved of the Lord. How does he know? Because God
hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation. through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth. These are the marks. The
Spirit sets you apart, and you believe the truth. You don't
just find it superficially interesting. You imbibe it. You take it into
you. We're bound to give thanks to
God for you because you're beloved of the Lord. But, beloved, we're
persuaded better things of you. What things? Things that accompany
salvation. Oh, they may be babes, they may
still be on milk, but they've got things that accompany salvation. Yes, they're childish in their
faith. Yes, there's some strong meat to come which they need
to take on board to enter into the fullness of the Lord Jesus
Christ. But they're still true believers. There are things that
accompany salvation. Things that accompany salvation,
though we thus speak, though he has just spoken harshly to
them. There are marks about them, for
God, verse 10, is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour
of love which you have showed towards his name, in that ye
have ministered to the saints and do minister. This is not
salvation by works. But it is what James talks about. True faith is faith that works. Sham faith doesn't work. It doesn't
produce any fruit. But true faith does. True faith
works. God's not unrighteous to forget
your work and labour of love which you have showed towards
his name. A devotion to the name of God, to the gospel of his
grace, to the honour of his gospel, to the truth of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And not only honour towards God and reverence towards God,
but ministry to one another. The true saints of God love one
another. and do things for one another,
and are self-sacrificing to one another, and minister to one
another's needs. And verse 11, and we desire that
every one of you do show the same diligence to the full assurance
of hope unto the end. You see, how do I know that I'm
not amongst those who are going to fall away and not be able
to be renewed again because it would bring our Lord Jesus Christ
to an open shame? How do I know I'm not among them?
Give diligence. We desire that every one of you
do show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto
the end. It's like the situation at the
end of Joshua. Choose you this day whom you
will serve. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
God helping me. God helping me. It's all of him.
It's all of his grace. I can do nothing without him.
If I think I can do anything without him, then I'm totally
mistaken. Ask for me in my house, we will serve the Lord. Give
diligence. We desire that every one of you do show the same diligence
to the full assurance of hope unto the end. Now let's go on
to maturity. Here's an encouragement to progress.
Look at verse one of chapter six. Therefore, he says, there's
this truth of Melchizedek and Christ's priesthood coming. which
is not academic theology. It's absolutely foundational.
It's at the heart of where you need to be growing as a mature
believer in Christ. but you're still immature. You're
still in these basic principles, therefore leaving the principles
of the doctrine of Christ. Let us go on to perfection, not
laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and
of faith toward God, of doctrine of baptisms and of laying on
of hands and of resurrection of the dead and of eternal judgment,
and this will we do if God permit. This again is another passage
that has been widely, widely misunderstood and misapplied.
What he's saying is this, let's move on to these Hebrews, he's
saying let's move on from where you are as Hebrew believers.
I like the way Robert Hawker put it, commenting on this. He
said that this is an encouragement to be more earnest, to be satisfied
with the substance, the reality, than being amused by the shadow,
the picture. Let's move on. So that we're
more earnest to be satisfied with the substance, the reality,
than being amused by the shadow. They were still amused by the
Old Testament shadows, as are so many in our day. He says,
let's move on, that we might be satisfied with the substance,
the reality, which is Christ. As Hebrews, they were stuck with
mere pictures of the gospel, graphic pictures of the gospel,
but pictures no less, and hadn't moved on to the fullness of the
knowledge of the doctrine of Christ, the principles of the
doctrine of Christ, the gospel of Christ. We need to progress
to the full revelation. Look, leaving the principles
of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection. He's
not saying that the concepts of substitutionary atonement,
of Christ bearing the sins of his people, of trusting Christ
for salvation. He's not saying that those are
immature things that you don't need to preach anymore. You know,
there are those who think, well, that's the gospel, I'm preaching
to the converted. In many a church up and down
this country that calls itself Reformed, you'll go, you won't
hear Christ preached. Why? Because they say, well,
everybody knows that. They all know the basics of the
gospel, so they want to teach them stronger meat, so they'll
teach them some obscure point of doctrine, or some obscure
aspect of the law, because they say they've moved on, they've
left those principles behind, and they've graduated to other
things that are better for people and stronger meat. Not in the
slightest. These are found, the doctrines of Christ, the principles
of the doctrine of Christ, are the foundations. You don't tear
the foundations away and then build a different building. You
build truth upon those foundations. So Hawker said, be more satisfied
with the substance, the reality, than being amused by the shadow.
They were stuck in the pictures. They needed to move on. They
needed to progress to the full revelation, the perfection. This
word perfection here, let us go on to perfection. I don't
think it means perfection in this flesh in terms of sinlessness. What I think it does mean is
the word of God, the full, perfect revelation of the gospel of his
grace. Why do I say that? You read 1 Corinthians 13, talking
about the charismatic gifts of tongues and prophecy. And he
says, all of these are going to go away. They're all going
to fade away in the New Testament age and pass away into oblivion,
as they have done. And as you know, I'm absolutely
100% persuaded that anybody that claims charismatic gifts in these
days is utterly deluded. It's a complete side Waste of
time. Distraction. It's got nothing
to do with the truth of the Gospel of Grace, because they're finished.
They were just gifts of authentication for a particular period, until
what? When that which is perfect has
come. It says there, in 1 Corinthians,
what's the thing which is perfect? The completed Scriptures. How
do I know that? Well, James talks about the perfect
Word of God. The perfect thing. The completed
scripture, it's the same word that's used. The same word. The
perfect, completed word of scripture. And what is it? It's the fullness
of the truth of Christ. That's what it is. Let's go on
to the fullness of the truth of Christ. Let's go on to imbibe
and take it into our being. The fullness of the truth of
Christ. It could imply progression from
the Old Testament principles of belief, which these Hebrews,
as believers, no doubt did. For example, repentance, as in
John's baptism, was a repentance. And do you remember Paul rebaptised
some believers in Acts chapter 19? What baptism have you been
in? Oh, the baptism of John, which was just a baptism of repentance.
It was a baptism of Old Testament repentance. Belief in God, just
a fundamental thing, the way that Judaism believes in one
God. Baptisms, as in Old Testament
ceremonial washings, perhaps. Laying on of hands, as perhaps
pictured in the animal sacrifices. You know, with the scapegoat,
the priest would lay his hand on the head of the sacrifice,
and you see how I mean it's tied up with pictures? resurrection
as a distinctly Jewish belief compared with the other religions
of the world, judgment, etc. But what about us today? Those
things perhaps don't apply quite so much to us today, those Old
Testament pictures. No, he's not saying we need to
graduate away from the gospel foundations, but to build solid
truth on those foundations. to progress from fascination
with the head knowledge of Christ's doctrine to heart experience
of Christ himself. Paul in Philippians chapter three
talks about his desire, his objective, is that he might know him, know
Christ. You know, I remember years ago
for the first time hearing Henry Mahan make a very, very effective
point on the distinction between knowing about him and knowing
him. You can know about lots of people
that you don't know. You can know about lots of celebrities
that you're never going to meet in this life, that you're never
ever going to get to know. This is knowing him. This is
moving on from pictures to the reality which is Christ, as he's
going to show us how Christ fulfils every picture perfectly. But
the reality for his people today taught of God, everyone individually
taught of God, is this knowing Christ, and being found in him. not having my own righteousness
which is of the law, but that which is through faith of Jesus
Christ, knowing him, not just about him. This is the maturity
we need to go on to, not head knowledge so that I can sit a
theological exam and come out with a diploma at the end of
it, not in the slightest, but that I might know him. I might
know him, I've mentioned this one before, you know the old
story that we had in a bulletin a few years ago of Happy Jack,
the old man who knew next to nothing. and he became a believer
because he heard people witnessing and he trusted Christ and uh... they took him before the church
board of elders to see whether he was fit to be a member of
the church well tell me about this aspect of your life and
your sanctification and uh... tell me about this aspect of
doctrine and what do you think on this point and you know what
Jack's answer was every single time I only know this I'm a poor
sinner and nothing at all, but Jesus Christ, he's my all in
all. That's the knowledge I'm talking
about. That knowledge. That knowledge. Jesus Christ, he is my all in
all. Paul writes to the Galatians,
chapter 4, verse 19, my little children of whom I travail in
birth again until Christ be formed in you. Christ formed in you. so that we might have, as John
says in his epistle, fellowship with the Father and with his
Son, Jesus Christ. Full maturity in Christian doctrine
is knowing Christ. That's why Paul, in 1 Corinthians
2, verse 2, said that he was determined to know nothing else
amongst them, save Jesus Christ and him crucified. I don't want
to debate points of doctrine, I just want to say this. Jesus
Christ and him crucified. What do I mean? His glorious
his triumphant work of particular redemption, my union with him
and my interest in what he's done, my justification in him,
my righteousness from him, righteousness that he's imputed to me, a righteous
nature that he's imparted to me by his spirit, his payment
of my sin-debt, his removal of my sins as far as the East is
from the West, my strong confidence because of his salvation, my
hope that he's given me of glory. You see, nothing is more motivating
in the Christian life than sight fixed on these real things and
heart experience of these real things. So let's not keep wallowing
in pictures. Real strength and real comfort
is not found there. Let's progress from there to
see what Paul elsewhere calls, Ephesians 3.8, the unsearchable
riches of Christ, the unsearchable riches that are in Christ. In
chapters 7 to 10, we're going to see how he fulfills all the
Old Testament pictures. How he is your perfect high priest. He's every high priest you could
ever want. There is no other one that you
ever need. You don't need to look anywhere,
you don't need to listen to anybody who points you anywhere else.
He is all, Christ alone. But, verse 3, and this we will
do, If God permit, this we will do. If God permit, we need God's
enabling to do it. We need the enabling of His Spirit
to take of the things of Christ and to reveal them to us.