Turn with me to the book of Hebrews
chapter 5. Hebrews chapter 5. I'd like to
begin reading in verse 12. I'm going to actually pick up
the last phrase in this evening's message out of Verse 12, and
then look at verses 13 and 14. Hebrews 5, 12, 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 it
becomes 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. But strong meat belongeth to
them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have
their senses exercised to discern both good and evil." Let's pray
together. This evening as we come before
you, we thank you that we have this blessed time to worship.
And Lord, as we look into your Word, we admit how utterly helpless
we are to perceive the depth of the unsearchable riches of
Christ. found within these passages tonight. Lord, I ask You, would You bless
the Word to our understanding. Teach us. Oh, that we might rejoice
and truly feast upon our blessed Savior. For it is in His name
we pray, Amen. Before I look at the verses Tonight,
I want to just make a couple of statements concerning who
Paul was preaching to. In these passages tonight, and
you have to understand, Paul was talking to some Hebrews,
some fellows that had come up, grew up, witnessing the sacrifices
and the law and the rituals and the shadows and the types. And
they called out of darkness. But there
were some problems that Paul saw. And so there's a significance,
a definite significance of these Scriptures right here to the
Hebrews that Paul was talking to, but there's a practical application
for us here. As I've said before, you can
look in this, and obviously he was talking to a group of people
that lived hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years ago. But
what's that got to do with us tonight? And that's what I'd
like to look at. So I want to just lay a little
groundwork so that we can understand some of these terms, understand
what is actually being taught. Paul told these Hebrews after
they had been called out of darkness in verse 11, he said, I've got
many things to say to you. But you're dull of hearing. Now let me tell you exactly what
he was telling them. He had just been talking about
in verse 10, the Lord Jesus Christ called of God and high priest
after the order of Melchizedek. And there was a lot of things
that the Apostle Paul wanted to say concerning the eternal
glory of the Lord Jesus Christ and His priesthood that was set
forth by the order of Melchizedek, but their immaturity concerning
the fulfillment of the temporal order of Aaron had kind of gotten
away. You see, they had sat there for
years, all their life, and they witnessed that temporal order. of Aaron. Now that order, you
remember, was the order that set forth those 33 years of our
Lord's humiliation. He actually came into this world. He actually had to die. His blood actually had to be
shed. Aaron actually took animals and
he slit their throats. Blood was actually shed. And
that's what these Hebrews witnessed. They saw that which God had absolutely
set forth to present, to show in type and picture and shadow,
the humiliation of the Lord Jesus Christ. He would actually come
to this world, be made sin, and He would die. Now, when the Lord
Jesus Christ came into this world, made of flesh, made of a woman,
made under the law, And He actually came and walked on this earth
and actually shed His blood. When He cried from the cross,
it's finished. That ended the order of Aaron. No more. No more. It was over. Oh, I understand they continued
doing it, but it was over. And now Paul was telling them,
he said, I'd like to Talk to you more concerning the eternal
priesthood of the Lord Jesus Christ after the order of Melchizedek. I've got a lot of things to say
to you, but they're hard to be uttered. You're dull of hearing. They were lazy, slothful. They exhibited some spiritual
immaturity. And their attitude toward the
revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ and therefore their going
on and growing and maturing was hindered because of their immaturity. Now because of that immaturity,
they appeared to Paul the Apostle to want to be hanging on. to some things that they could
touch, hear, or see with their corporal eyes. Now, you have
to understand, Paul had some confidence in these folks. I've read this before. Look in
chapter 6, verse 8 and 9. That which beareth thorns and
briars is rejected, and it's an eye unto cursing whose end
is to be burned. We're persuaded better things
of you, things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak."
Now, here's what I'm saying. Paul had some confidence in these
folks. And it wasn't that he was discouraged
as far as their salvation, but they were immature. They were
babies. He detected that they were trying
to go back. I'm telling you, listen, we're
flesh. And old habits are hard to break. And I'm telling you,
we have habits and we have some old grave clothes. And I want
you to turn to Philippians. Turn to Philippians 3. Let me
show you something. Philippians chapter 3. And here
was Paul the apostle. Philippians 3. A lot of times
we'll read a portion of this Scripture. I want to read the
first 15 verses of Philippians 3. I want you to listen. And
Paul is dealing with this very thing of things in the past. You know, I know that these fellows,
there probably were some Judaizers. There were people talking to
them saying, now listen, we believe in salvation by grace, but you
know, you've still got to be circumcised. You know, and they
were struggling. They had some things they were
struggling with. Now here's Philippians chapter 3, verse 1. Finally, my brethren, rejoice
in the Lord. To write the same things to you,
to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it's safe. Beware
of dogs. Beware of evil workers. Beware
of the concision. For we are the circumcision which
worship God in the spirit. We rejoice in Christ Jesus. We
have no confidence in the flesh, though I might also have confidence
in the flesh if any other man thinketh that he might trust
in the flesh. I more circumcise the eighth
day the stock of Israel, tribe of Benjamin, Hebrew of the Hebrews,
as touching the law, a Pharisee, concerning zeal, persecuting
the church, touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
But what things were gained to me, those I counted lost for
Christ. Yea, doubtless, I count all things
but lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do
count them but done that I may win Christ and be found in Him,
not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that
which is through the faith of Christ. the righteousness which
is of God by faith, that I may know him, and the power of his
resurrection, the fellowship of his sufferings, being made
conformable unto death, if by any means I might attain unto
the resurrection of the dead, not as though I had already attained,
either were already perfect or mature, but I follow after, if
that I may apprehend that for which Also, I am apprehended
of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself
to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those
things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which
are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high
calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us, therefore, as many as
be perfect," or again, mature, be thus minded, and if in anything
ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you." He
said, Paul was saying, listen, listen, we all, that's what he's
saying, we sat and we saw those pictures and types and the Lord
in regenerating grace revealed to these Hebrews and to Paul
what all of those pictures, see at one time they trusted in the
figures and the types and the pictures, that the actual keeping
of those types, that they were obeying God and they didn't see
that it was a beautiful picture of the Lord Jesus Himself. And
Paul says, now listen, listen. Forget it. It's over. Pressing forward. He said, Those
things that they first saw, those first principles of the Gospel,
were set forth in the Law. The first principles of the Gospel. This is what I mean. I said this
a week or so ago. The first principles of the Gospel
were set forth in this. The Messiah is coming. He's going
to come. When they shed the blood of that
lamb, what was being said was two things, actually. Here's
the principle. Number one, the Lamb of God is
coming. There's going to be a Lamb of
God, a true Lamb of God. God, that's what Abraham told
his son Isaac. My son, God will provide Himself
a lamb. And then also, the lamb was going
to die. There was going to be a sacrifice.
The blood of the lamb was put away. the guilt. Now, Paul says,
now, those first principles of the gospel, they've now been
fulfilled. Now, we're not going back to
that. Now, back in Hebrews chapter 5, Paul was talking about those
first principles put away, and he says, now, you've become the
latter part. such as have need of milk and
not of strong meat." Now, I want to just talk for just a minute. I may get into the fullness of
this message tonight, but I got to thinking about it today. Unless
we just stop and understand what he's talking about, about the
difference in milk and strong meat, we'll miss the message
of this Scripture right here. Milk and strong meat. What is,
when we start talking about the milk, the milk, the milk of the
Word, what are we talking about? Well, the milk of the Word is
actually those fundamental truths that are set forth as we preach
the glorious gospel of God's grace. Somebody would say, well,
I know what the strong meat is. Strong meat is that talking about irresistible grace
and unconditional election, preservation of the saints, you know, when
the Lord actually laid down His life, particular redemption.
That's strong meat. No. No. Well, that's the milk. That's the milk of the Word.
The milk that babies feed on. the glorious gospel of God's
sovereign grace, sovereignty. Babes in Christ, they're alive. They've got to be alive. They're
babies. They're alive. And when they
hear the glorious gospel of God's grace, they hear. That's the
milk. That's the milk that they drink,
the glorious gospel of God's sovereign grace in Christ. So that fundamental truth, that
truth that reveals who we are is fallen in Adam. Total depravity,
total depravity. We believe that. You say, that's
strong meat. No, that's milk. That's the fundamental truth. We believe man by nature in himself
is unable. The Lord told him, without me
you can do nothing. That's fundamental. That Almighty
God chose a people before the foundation of the world. That's
strong meat. No, that's milk. That's fundamental. God chose a people before the
foundation of the world. And Christ laid down His life
only for the sheep. He died for no one else except
those that the Father had given. That's strong meat. No, it's
not. That's milk. The milk of the Word. We drink the milk. Listen to this Scripture. As
newborn babes, 1 Peter 2.2, desire the sincere milk of the Word
that you may grow thereby. Now listen, here's the bottom
line. What we set forth concerning
God's sovereignty, that is the foundation upon which everything
else is built. It's built upon Christ. The glory
of Christ. The sovereignty of God in Christ.
Election. Predestination. Particular redemption. Irresistible grace. Preservation.
Everything that we preach is based on that foundation. You
have to have a foundation. We build a foundation. And then
the house is built, the building is set on the foundation. If
the foundation is not right, nothing else is right. The foundation
is weak, the whole building is weak. This is what we build on
this. This is the truth. Well, we're
using the first grade. You learned your ABCs. You take
a piece of paper, we're going to do ABCs. Now we're going to
do them in cursive. A, B. We did A, B, C's. Went all through
them. Did them, you know. Did them, had to start off, you
know, with that little thing going like that. We studied the
A, B, C's. Learned the A, B, C's. And I'll
tell you right now, I learned the A, B, C's. You did too. And
now right now, I've never gotten away from the A, B, C's. I've
never gotten away from the alphabet. And now here I am, I'm forming
words this fast. building on the ABCs. I haven't
left the ABCs. I haven't left the alphabet.
Well, what I've done, I'm not sitting here teaching. I mean,
the alphabet's important. I mean, this is the foundation
of our language right here, to speak. But there has to be a
going on. We don't leave the foundation. I was, my first year in art school,
I learned the color wheel. You know, here was a color wheel.
Red, yellow, blue. Red, yellow, blue. You know? You got primary colors, red,
yellow, blue. You got secondary colors, you know, green, purple
and something else. And now here's the thing. All
right. All right. I learned the color
wheel, but do you know when I sit down to paint, I don't, you know,
I never leave the color wheel. I never get away from that because
very often I'll have to, I'll draw another color wheel real
fast to see what this color is in the primary and the complementary
color of that and something. Or I'll just I'll look at a color
and I'll say, well, that'll take, you know, burnt sienna and it'll
take alizarin crimson and it'll take and I just I never got away
from the color wheel. You never get away from the fundamental
of the gospel. That's the milk. That's the milk
of the word, fundamental, the milk. Well, what is the strong
meat then? What is the strong meat? I look
this up, it means firm. That which causes a person to
keep his place settles, fixes, and sustains his mind. Now this
is what's being said. Knowing that we take the milk
of the Word. That's the foundation. That's
the truth. And we're going to build on the
milk. We're going to build on the foundation.
Strong meat is that maturing of a believer. It's the eating
by experience of the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the
actual food. And when I say the eating of
strong meat, just take strong meat and equals experience. You eat. You know, we talk about
eating of Christ. Well, we're not talking about
this. It's by faith, the experiencing
of Christ. The experiencing and the maturing. It's to partake of Him, to actually
have to rest in Him, to lean on Him all the while learning,
being matured, taught something of my utter dependence upon Him. and of His all-sufficiency. Strong
meat is the actual experiencing of what I've learned concerning
the gospel. Let me give an example. You can sit here and learn by
hearing. Faith cometh by hearing. Here,
you can hear this truth. The Lord said, My grace is sufficient. My grace is sufficient. Now,
you know, that's a fundamental truth. We're taught that. That's
fundamentally true concerning the Gospel of Christ. He said,
I'm not going to leave you. I'm not going to forsake you.
Now, we know that. I know it. I know it right here.
I know it by faith. I know it. But let me tell you
something. When you have to actually experience
something and you go through it, there's the strong meat. It's one thing to believe that
Almighty God calls an elect people. It's another thing to have to
love them and live with them, experience. That's the strong
meat. Now, that practical application
is for us today. Now let me tell you, and we'll
start now, we'll start, and let's see if I can get into this. Paul
told the Hebrews, he said, after he had come to that point, he
detected they'd been called out of darkness, they had seen the
fundamental truths of the of the gospel set forth in the law. They saw that the Spirit of God
had revealed to them what the law was. It was a schoolmaster. It was a schoolmaster to bring
them, to point them to Christ. And they saw in regenerating
grace. We don't trust in that. We don't
trust in that. That was the fundamental truth. appearing as though that they
were wanting to kind of still hold on. Immaturity is what it
was. They were babies, you know. I love it when I see, you know,
little children. They first begin to walk, and
they're trying to say some words. You know, they don't come out
all right. You know, it's just as cute as they can be. And I
can remember one of my little grandchildren would talk about
something that was, you know, in the past, and she said, well,
Laster Day. And I thought, well, that Laster Day. But you know
what? That's cute, you know, when she's
two. But then after a while, you know,
if there's no maturing, you say there's something wrong. We grow. We've got to grow. Paul said
that latter part, he said, you're such as have need of milk and not
strong meat. He said, the immaturity. You know, you can talk to a child
on a child's level, but you've got to have some maturity before
you can go on and talk to them. It's at this point that we need
to understand what Paul was actually telling these Hebrews concerning the need of learning again the
fundamentals. Paul said you've got to go back. That fundamental truth of the
Gospel. He told them in verse 13, and
this is where we'll start because these two are the explanation.
For everyone that uses milk is unskillful. If your Bible has
got, in the middle here, mine's got a little explanation in the
middle here, that word is unskillful, they've no experience. Everyone
that uses milk is inexperienced in the word of righteousness.
Everyone that is a partaker of the first principles of the oracles
of God, but has no experience. in the word of righteousness."
No maturing. No proving. They're obeyed. Now, that's not critical. It's
not critical. I'm not saying that's a critical
thing. But what it is, it's according to God's Word. There is a growth. There's a growth. And God grows
His people. He grows them. There's little
children. Listen to this. There's little
children and young men and the elders. John says, 1 John 2,
12 and 13, I write unto you, little children, because your
sins are forgiven, you for His name's sake. I write unto you,
fathers, because you've known Him that's from the beginning.
I write unto you, young men, because you've overcome the wicked
one. Now, obviously, there's some classes that he's talking
about, and it's classes according to maturity. These little children,
they're babes in Christ. Inexperienced. Immature. But these are precious. They're
precious to the Father. Babes in Christ. They're alive
spiritually just like the young men and the fathers. These young
men Paul was talking to, probably those that Had some experience
to learn from, but then the apostle speaks of the fathers, not necessarily
the oldest in the congregation, but those that the Lord had been
pleased to bring through much tribulation. Teach all for the
glory of God Almighty and for the good of the saints. I'll
tell you, I'll be honest with you. You
know, we start talking about babes in Christ and young men
and the elders. When you start talking about
those that God has truly, truly matured, it's a very humbling
thing when you start thinking about the maturing of a belief. Some of the things that they
go through is a very, very trying thing. You think back. I think back on Brother Scott.
I mean, look, look how we we look to him and appreciated him
and and had so much respect for him. Let me ask you something.
How many of us, honestly speaking, how many of us have gone through
some of the things he went through? Think of the ridicule that he
took. Think of the heartache. Think of how many times he went
to bed. I know I'm talking. You know,
I pray I'm not talking foolishly, but I'm serious. I mean, think
of the mature and how much respect. That's why Brother Henry said,
he said, one of the greatest losses this world ever suffers
is when God removes a mature, a taught believer. One that God
has taught something of their utter need of Him. But I want
to show you something in Matthew 18. Here's a passage of Scripture. Now listen, if you want to know
the heart, the very heart of a mature believer, here it is
right here. In my estimation, I can find
no better Scripture than this Scripture right here. Matthew
18, verses 1 to 4, on a truly mature believer. Mature! A truly taught father. Matthew 18, verse 1, at the same
time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is greatest
in the kingdom of heaven? I looked that word up just a
few minutes ago. Greatest. Who's the elder? Who is the most mature? Who is
the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And Jesus called a little
child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, and said,
Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as
little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child,
the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And you know what
that is? That's the exact opposite of
what we think it is. This is what we think. A little
child is humanly born, naturally born. They're just weak and they
don't know anything. We've got to teach them everything. And we've got to teach them how
to walk, And they go from absolute helplessness and they get stronger
and stronger. And they mature. And now they're
starting to get some strength to them. That's humanly speaking. Now, here's how it is spiritually.
Obeying Christ, the Lord begins to teach him something. The first
thing he knows is the foundational truths of the Gospel, the milk
of the Word. And I'm telling you, because of pride and arrogance,
he thinks he's somebody. He thinks he's strong. Now he
thinks he knows something. And I'm telling you, the truth
of maturity is when he becomes, as a little child, he goes the
exact opposite. That's the maturing of a believer. That's the meat. It's when I truly learn by experience
what it is to have to believe God, have to wait on God. You know, we talk about that.
We talk about faith in Christ. And I'm telling you, it's the
older a person is spiritually, I'm talking about, that a person
is taught and matured and they become as a little child, I can't
do anything. I thought I could. I thought
I had this all together. I thought I had this in the bag. I thought I really knew something.
I don't know anything. And I'm ignorant. That's maturing. You find an aged and taught one
that grows in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior,
and you're going to find somebody that's just like a little child.
Just, Lord, I need You. I don't even know how to pray.
I used to think I could. I don't even know what to say
anymore. Except you become. Well, obviously, I've got to
go from here to there, except you become as little children. We grow by experience. We grow by eating what the Apostle
refers to as strong meat, that experience at the hand of our
loving Father's chastening mercy. Those that He loves, chastens,
teaches, Strong-meet, verse 14, belongeth to them that are of
full age. The word is perfect there, and
it means mature. Strong-meet. Here are the words of true maturity. Christ is all in all. Truly,
without Him, I can do nothing. I'm so weak. I see something
in my frailty. I don't know. That's maturity. Now, I'm going to tell you something.
We can say it, but to learn it by experience, to learn to be
taught and experienced by the grace of God, the Spirit of God
teaching a man, that's strong meat. It's building on the foundation
of Christ. You know, I'm telling you, think
back. Now, I'll bet you you'll agree with me right here. When
the Lord first taught you something of the gospel of His precious
Son, do you know how proud we can be knowing that? I don't know about all y'all
out there, but at least I know the gospel of God's grace. And
I'm going to tell you something. He's going to deliver us from
that. I'm telling you, we're so proud. That's the milk of
the Word. We've got to grow on that. And
I'm telling you, He's going to experience His people. He's going
to mature them. And He's going to take them through
these things and show them. And they're going to eat of that
strong meat, that solid food that exercises. Listen to verse
14 now. Now that you understand. What
strong meat is, strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age,
perfect, mature, even those who by reason of use or habit have
their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. You see what
I'm saying? It's the maturing of a believer by the strong meat
of the Word that's built on the foundation of the gospel of God's
free and sovereign grace. We never get away from the gospel. I've got to have that. Verse
1 of chapter 6 says, therefore, leaving the principles of the
doctrine of Christ. Lord willing, I'll preach on
that next time. The word leaving there doesn't mean forsaken.
It means building on, progressing in, maturing in. How do you leave
the Gospel of Christ? We don't leave the Gospel of
Christ. We build on it. God matures us in it. I wrote down a few things, and
I'm going to stop after this, just give you some examples that
tries to set forth what I've been trying to set forth. Babes in Christ, I wrote, willingly
believe that God has a people. Strong meat reveals the maturity
of God's people when they love those that God loves. John 13.35,
By this shall all men know that you are my disciples. You have
love one for another. You know what God's people do,
especially with God's people. They attempt to hide their faults.
They cover their frailties. They build them up, encourage
them, pray for them. Don't cut them down. Secondly, the babes in Christ
believe the milk of the Word that reveals Christ to have laid
down His life for the sheep. We believe that. We believe that. Here's some strong meat. 1 John
3.16, Hereby perceive we the love of God because He laid down
His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the
brethren. By nature, I'd a whole lot rather
make sure that I'm taken care of than you. That's by nature
now. But I'm going to tell you something.
One, that God has taught something of God's grace to me. Exhibit
that graciousness towards you. Babes joyfully believe the Lord
will provide. Now we, you know, the Lord will
provide. Now we believe that. The strong
meat reveals that he may be pleased to provide for his own and use
you as the means. Oh, now wait a minute. Use me? 1 John 3, 17, Whoso hath this
world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shut up his bowels
of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? The Lord
will provide, what if he tells you to do it? Babes know and believe that the
Lord has forgiven them, but strong meat from the mouth of our Lord
exposes my responsibility. Matthew 18, 21, 22. Then came
Peter to Him and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin
against me and I forgive him? Until seven times? Jesus saith
unto him, I say not unto thee until seven times, but until
seventy times seven. Babes believe this truth. Babes believe this truth right
here. Romans 8, 37. Nay, in all these things we are
more than conquerors through Him that loved us. We believe
that. We are more than conquerors through
Him that loved us. Strong meat reveals Psalm 44,
22. Yea, for thy sake. were killed all the day long
and are counted as sheep for the slaughter. All believers need the milk of the Word. No
doubt about that. The first oracles of God. The
rehearsal of the truth of God's sovereign grace. But we must,
according to our Lord's revelation, we must grow thereby. And I'm
going to tell you this, he's going to grow us. He's going
to put us in situations, teach us something of our frailties. We're going to grow. I mean,
I'm going to tell you something. My kids were growing up. I was
going to make sure. Now look now, y'all going to
have to eat. Y'all going to have to eat. I
don't want that. No, you're going to eat. And
you're going to go to bed at a certain time and you're going
to get some rest. And I made sure that whatever they needed,
I was going to make sure they did it. He is too. We're going to grow
as babes in Christ, as young men, as elders. And Almighty
God has set every man, every person, wherever they are in
the body of Christ, for His glory and for the good of the body.
God's going to mature His people. Recognize this, the milk of the
Word which we never get away from. Just like the ABCs, just
like that color wheel I was talking about. We don't ever get away
from it. But we're going to build on it. The Lord is going to mature
His people. It's a blessed place where God
is pleased to mature people. He sends a pastor. He teaches
that pastor. The first one's got to be taught.
It's the pastor. Hard to stand up here and say
some things unless you've gone through them by experience. I
mean, you know, I've said this before, if you come up to me
and say, I've gone through this, I say, yeah, I know, I've been
there. I know what you're talking about. All of a sudden, you know, you
really do want to hear. I mean, OK, well, he's still
here. I'm thankful for that. Almighty
God matures His people. This is a blessed state. This
is a blessed place to be where God will raise up a body of believers
and will grow them in grace. Do you know what I would say? I've said this before. This is
my recommendation to all of us. Make much of the means of God's
grace. Make much of the hearing of the
Gospel. Make much of the study of Scriptures. And make much
of prayer. For Christ's sake, Amen.