Hebrews chapter 5, title of the
message, You have become dull of hearing. What a sobering,
sobering statement. It is alarming how easily, easily we can become complacent
in our Christian lives, and I don't mean that as the way the Armenians
mean it, but I mean as Christians, as Christ-followers, as Christ-followers,
how that we can become complacent. We get entangled in the affairs
of this life. You know, Paul told Timothy,
he said, He that woreth, and he was speaking especially of
preachers, Pastors, he that woreth entangleth not himself again
with the affairs of this life. That life out there, that working
world out there, is not mine no more. Now, I know you have
to go to work. You have jobs and careers, but
I tell you, as much as possible, I'm gonna tell you this, as much
as possible, Don't entangle yourself in it. And especially don't let
it tangle you up in it because it will. It'll wrap you up. And then later on it'll spit
you out. But we get entangled in the affairs of this life and
before we know it, we've grown cold, indifferent, and we have
become dull, not hard of hearing, NOT HARD OF HEARING, DULL OF
HEARING, UNINTERESTED. IT JUST BECOMES FORMALITY. FORMALITY. NOT ABLE, AND HERE'S WHAT HAPPENS
WHEN THIS HAPPENS, NOT ABLE TO DISCERN GOOD AND EVIL, ESPECIALLY
WHEN IT COMES TO THE MESSAGE OF GRACE. Now back in verse 10, the Apostle
spoke of Melchizedek. But he tells them he cannot really
say much about him. You see, he said, Called of God
a high priest after the order of Melchizedek, of whom I have,
of whom we have many things to say, hard to be utter, it's not
hard to, it's not hard, he's not saying it was hard for him
to articulate it. It was not hard for him to preach,
but the problem was with the hearers. It's with the hearers. When they should have been teachers,
and I'm getting ahead of myself, but when they should have been
teachers, they were still in kindergarten. He tells him he cannot really
say much about Melchizedek by way of comparing him to Christ.
because that's what he's going to do now in the next few chapters. They had grown dull of hearing, spiritually
dull of hearing. It's like they didn't hear anymore. They didn't hear what he was
saying anymore. And it was evident because many of them were wanting
to go back under the Old Testament economy. So that was evidence
that they were not hearing the gospel. The gospel they had once
heard and the gospel they had claimed. He said, now there's
some of them wanting to go back. We'll see this over in chapter
6 when he talks about them falling away. See in verse 6 of chapter
6? If they should fall away, it's impossible to renew them
again to repentance. If they leave Christ, if they
leave Him and they go back, there's no more sacrifice for sin. It's
impossible to renew them again to repentance. That's apostasy.
A dullness of hearing, if it continues, will lead to apostasy. And he shows us this in the next
chapter. And he's warning against this. He's giving us, and we
need this. We didn't, and we're not, we're
not going to go back under that old, well, we won't go back under
the Old Testament economy, but we do it in ways that's more
subtle. It's more subtle. You take Catholicism and their
priesthood and their sense of incense and all that stuff they
do. That's just another form of it. That's all it is, just
another form of it. Now he says here in verse 11,
concerning this Melchizedek, he said, Of whom we have many
things to say and hard to be uttered. There were many spiritual
benefits in the comparison in this type of Melchizedek to Christ. And he wants to tell them about
it. But it's hard to teach men and women who have remained immature
in the faith." That's almost unteachable. It's almost unteachable. That
is, if they even believed at all. Their salvation in Christ
is very questionable here. The problem was not with the
complication of the subject, but of the hearers. Here's the
problem. Seeing you are dull of hearing,
now in the Greek that is, it is like this. Seeing you have
become. You have become. You have become
dull of hearing. Not that they had a physical
hearing problem, but they had a loss of interest in Christ
and the things of Christ. They didn't, they wasn't really
sure no more. So they was really wanting to
go back under that old economy. There's a danger there. This
spiritual dullness of hearing, and I want you to get this, is
a process. It is a process. One writer put
it this way, it is a process, it's something that took place
in the past, but now is producing present results. This is something
that's been going on. This dullness of hearing didn't
just happen like that. It's something that started going
on. They started losing interest and they started wanting to go
back. And I think that false teachers
and preachers got a hold of their ear. They gave them a hearing. Don't give them a hearing. Don't
bid them Godspeed, the Scripture says. If a false prophet comes
along and starts to lie on God, send him on his way. Don't even
argue with him. The archangel wouldn't even argue
with Satan. He wouldn't do it. Over the body of Moses, he wouldn't
argue with him over it. I'm not going to argue with a
false prophet, because you're just arguing with the devil. This is a process. It's a process.
This dullness of hearing came on gradually. And I think here
with the Hebrews, it came on gradually through listening to
these false prophets. And they started losing interest
in Christ, and they started looking back. Remember Lot's wife. God said, when you leave here,
don't you look back. And she turned around. What'd
she do? She looked back. She didn't just look back and
see the smoke roll. Her heart looked back. In her
heart, it was back there in Sodom. It was back there inside him.
And God turned her into a pillar of salt. Now this dullness of
hearing, dull of hearing, it means this. It means you're slow. You're slow to hear. You know,
James said, what did James say? We went through the book of James.
He said, be quick to hear, slow to speak. Be quick to hear the
Word of God and be quick to act upon it. It means slow. It means sluggish. It means sluggish. It means no push. There was no... Paul said, I press forward to
the mark for the prize of the high golly of God in Christ.
I press toward Christ. I follow on to know the Lord. I follow on to know Him. It means this, stupid. Dull of
hearing means stupid. They had become spiritually stupid
because they were considering now going back and leaving Christ,
which is evident they didn't hear the message, they didn't
hear what the apostle was saying. That's what these things mean.
There was a time when they were quick to hear, they would search
the Scriptures, But now, dull, dull. And when he says in verse 12,
and when you should, for the time you ought to be teachers,
you ought to be teachers. You ought to be so schooled in
Christ. You ought to be so schooled in
the gospel. You ought to be such learned
students that when someone asks a reason for the hope within
you, you can give it, and you can give it with confidence.
and assurance. They couldn't do that. They could
not do that. How sad when a student should
have been a teacher but instead has not gotten out of kindergarten.
I'm sure some of you who teach have had students like that.
I'm sure you have. They don't seem to know any more at the
end of the school year than the beginning of the school year.
And that's what's wrong. That's what happened with these
Hebrew that he's writing to here. They hadn't gotten any further
than the beginning. And he said, here now, because
of this, because of this dullness of hearing, because of this lack
of interest in Christ, because of this turning back, you have
need that one teach you again. When you should be a teacher,
you need to be taught again, all over again. All over again. That's sad. I tell you, it's
sad to sit under the gospel for 10 years, 20 years, and you're
no further in the faith than when you began. There's something
wrong. Brother, there's something wrong
when that's so. When there's no growth in grace,
there's no life. There's no life when there's
no growth in grace. You have need that one teach
you again, which be the first principles. And this word principle
here means elementary. We need to go back to the elementary
class. We need to go back to the elementary truths of the
gospel. That's why you're saying the ABCs of the gospel. It's
like learning your ABCs, and then you come back to school
the next year, and the teacher says, spell cat. You go, I can't,
I don't remember my ABCs. Well, you gotta learn them again.
And then again. Then the next year, you gotta
learn them again. That's what he said. They're not retaining this. And
there's a reason why we don't retain things. It's because of
lack of interest in them. You know, I've watched this in
myself, and I've watched this in others. What you're really
interested in, you give yourselves to. Christ says, where your treasure
is, your heart is. That's where your heart is, where
your treasure is. And if Jesus Christ is my treasure, That's
where my heart will be. It'll be after Him. They learned
that Christ is the true Passover Lamb. They
learned that. And the preacher, through the
preacher of the gospel, they learned, Behold the Lamb of God
which takes away the sin of the world. They learned that. And
then forgot it, and wanted to turn back and offer up those
lambs again. They forgot that Christ is the
Lamb of God. Those things are gone. Those
Old Testament types and pictures, they're good for instructions.
But we're not going to go back there and do them again. We're
going to forsake them, which is what he'll tell us here in
chapter 6 when we get there. That's why he's talking about
these principles and truths that we go on to learn in Christ and
we don't return to the old way. We don't do that. And here he says, You are become
such as have need of milk, and not strong meat. Babes need milk,
don't they? Strong meat is for mature adults. That's what strong meat's for. And he said, for the time, you
should be able to eat strong meat. You should be mature enough. But instead, you need milk all
over again. They didn't grow in grace and in knowledge of
Christ. They didn't grow in... Turn over to Matthew chapter
five. Here are things they didn't grow
in. And I said this before, you can't grow in election. God chose
a people, that's it. You're not gonna grow in that.
How can you grow in it? It is what it is. It is what
it is. Predestination, it is what it
is. It's the truth, and it's so. But here's the things they
did not grow in. Look in verse 43. You've heard
that it had been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine
enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies, bless them that
curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which
despitefully use you and persecute you. How's that going? How's that
going for you? You know, like I said, I can
believe election, but I can't believe election anymore when
I believe it. But I can grow in grace. I can grow in love. I can grow in love to my enemies.
Those are the things we grow in. And they never mature to
the point of ever growing in these things. They didn't do
it. He said, you have need of milk.
Solid meat is for the mature in the Lord Jesus Christ. They're
the ones who understand the mysteries of the gospel. Christ in you,
the hope of glory. It's not believing some things
about Jesus Christ. It's Christ in you. It's Christ
in you. And verse 13, for everyone that
uses milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness. He's unskillful
in the gospel of Christ. I thought about this in my study
today. We cannot be teachers if we cannot comprehend the lesson.
Am I right? If you can't comprehend the lesson,
you can't teach it. You can't teach it. Christ, that's the reason our
Lord said, take my yoke upon you and learn of me. I'm the
lesson. I'm the lesson. For everyone that uses milk is
unskillful in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe, and that's
not in a good sense. He's not saying that in a good
sense. You know, there's babes in Christ,
there's young men in Christ, and there's old men in Christ.
But the baby he's talking about here is just an immature baby. Baby. That's what it is, just
immature. That's what it means. Now, let
me tell you this. Babies are cute, aren't they?
Babies are cute. But a 40-year-old baby's not
cute. Doug, I'm sure you was a cute
baby, but 75 year old baby, it wouldn't be cute, would it? That's
serious. And that's what he's saying to
them. You have been around for a long time. You've been around
for a while. You believe the gospel for a while, but you're,
you're a bunch of babies. You're a bunch of immature babies. And that's ugly. That baby is
ugly. But strong meat, what I read to you over there
in Matthew 5, it belongs to them that are full age. They've grown
up in Christ. They've matured in Christ. God
has sent trials and tried them and tried their faith, and they've
come through. Like Job said, I'll come through
as gold. Now, you don't feel like gold.
I know that. but that each time God sends you through one, the
dross is burned off, and you grow up, and you're mature,
and you learn something about love your enemies because you
realize that you were an enemy at one time to God. And that's exactly how you're
able to forgive. That's exactly how you're able
to love, love your enemies and pray for them who despitefully
use you because you despitefully did the same thing to somebody
else. You know, Solomon said this. He said, don't be offended.
I'm going to paraphrase this. It's in Proverbs. Don't be offended
of everything that's been said about
you that you've heard said about you. Because remember, you have
said the same thing about others. He says, so don't be offended
when someone you hear, well, so-and-so said something, well,
you're probably right, for sure. He's closer to being right than
wrong. In one way or another, you can get me. One way or another. But I need to remember that I've
also said something, I've said things about others that I shouldn't
have said. Maturity of faith growing up
in Christ will enable you to do that. It will enable you to do that.
It'll enable you to let a wrong go. It'll just let it go. It'll
enable you to do that. STRONG MEAT BELONGS TO THEM THAT
ARE FULL AGE. THOSE WHO HAVE GROWN UP IN CHRIST
WILL BE YOUNG MEN AND OLD MEN." That's what I want to be. You
know, I'm getting older, but I really want to get older in
Christ. I pray that God will enable me
and you to grow old graciously. Because I've met some mean old
people. I have. I've met some. And I've met some
that's just as gracious as could be. My brother listened to a
tape here of Henry preaching on the radio at Rocky Mount. When Paul was putting those up
on the radio, Henry was preaching, putting them up on the radio.
And he was doing it at home. Well, he forgot to turn the tape off.
Henry forgot to turn the tape off. And 1,000 people, Tom Harney
looked it up, 1,000 people had listened to that message. And he said, nobody's ever called
me. But my brother, because there was a gap in it, and he let it
play. And then him and Doris just started talking in the room. And she's going, honey, it's
just, this is not cleaning the tub. It's just, you know, I think
it's going to take the shine off of it or whatever. And Henry
goes, well, darling? And I told her, that was the sweetest conversation
I've heard go on between two old people. It was, and Tom took
it and took it off there. And I, after he took it off,
I told Vicki, I said, I wish he'd left it on. I said, they
were in an unguarded moment. And it was the sweetest conversation
going back and forth between those two that I've ever heard. That's what grace does for you. Now it says here, in verse 14,
but strong meat belongs to them that are at full age, even those
who by reason of use have their senses, their spiritual senses,
exercised. You know, if you're going to
grow stronger, if you're going to keep your body strong and healthy, you're going
to have to exercise. Sitting on the couch ain't going
to get it. You're going to have to exercise the body. The body's
made, our body is such that we have to exercise it to keep it
strong and healthy. Well, the same thing is true of spiritual,
the spiritual man, spiritual senses is what he's talking about.
Even those who by reason of use, They've listened to the gospel.
They've discerned the gospel. They've gone home and studied
the Word of God. You've taken the Word and gone home and see
if the things that I have said is true. And God has sent trials
along and exercised what you've heard. God put it to the test. And by reason of use, they've
had their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. You've
been able to exercise or the grace of God has been exercised
in you, I should say, and your faith has been exercised. And
you can discern. And the primary thing here is
the message. You can discern whether the gospel's
being preached or it's not. John said, try the spirits, whether
they be of God. Not everyone stands in a pulpit
telling truth. Most are lying. It's sad but so, but most are
lying. That's not an exaggeration. They are. But those who grow up in Christ
and have their spiritual senses that new man exercised through
trials, it's exercised through the reading of the Word, it's
exercised through prayer, these are the ones who can discern
whether or not the gospel's being preached. And what he's saying
here, if you can't understand what I'm saying, you've got a
real problem. And the problem's not with the Word of God, it's
not with his message, it's with the hearer. You're not interested. Your interest has now gone to
something else, and you've lost your interest in Christ. You
lost whatever interest there was, if there was an interest.
There might not have even been an interest. Might not have been. Now, the word use here means
the habit. It's the habit of use of the
mind or body. And here is the mind. It's the
habit of hearing the gospel, thinking upon it, searching out
the Word of God, which results in the ability to discern the
message. I can tell you, I've heard the gospel preached.
And there's been times I've had to pull over. I've had to pull
over off the road. It just hit me so hard. And it's such a blessing. I just
had to pull over. And you have too. You've heard
the gospel preached and you know. It's like It's like when Mary... Remember
when Mary, in the Scriptures, when she walked into the room
where Elizabeth was, and she was pregnant with John the Baptist,
and it said when she walked in the room, the baby leaped in
her womb? Have you ever heard the gospel and it felt like that?
It just leaped in you. You just felt it. I mean, it
just struck you so hard and so joyful. The habit is the habit of use
of the mind, hearing the gospel, meditating upon it, and searching
it out in the Word of God. Make that a habit. That's a good
habit. I've got a lot of habits I wish
I could break. But that's one habit I wish I
could have. Let me see, what time is it?
I tell you what, I'm not going to even try to go to verse, chapter
6. I've got three more pages. Let's just stop right there.
Let's just stop right. Dullness of hearing. Dullness
of hearing. I pray that God will save us,
keep us from dullness of hearing, lack of interest, GIVING SOMEONE ELSE YOUR... NOW
LISTEN. GIVING SOMEONE ELSE YOUR EAR.
DON'T DO THAT. WELL, I WANT TO HEAR WHAT THEY
HAVE TO SAY. WELL, IF I KNOW THEY'RE FALSE, I DON'T WANT TO
HEAR WHAT JIMMY SWAGGER HAS TO SAY TO YOU. THAT'S THE LAST THING
I WANT TO HEAR IS WHAT THAT GUY HAS TO SAY. I WANT TO HEAR WHAT GOD HAS TO
SAY. SERIOUSLY, I WANT TO HEAR WHAT GOD ALMIGHTY HAS TO SAY
from his word. He instruct me, teach me, keep
me, enable me to grow up. You know, I've, Henry asked me,
he said, John, how long? And last time I'd seen him, he
said, how long have you and I known each other? I said, Henry, it's
been 40 years now. And you could hear him over on
the, when he went back, you could hear him on that chair. We've
known each other for 40 years. He was happy. He's my pastor. He's still here. He's still here. He still loves the gospel. He
still loves the gospel. I don't want to become dull of
hearing uninterested. I don't want you to be that way
either. I can lose everything, but I
don't want to lose Christ.