It is with great desire that
we would see the name of Christ exalted. He's worthy of praise. I want
to read, we're looking in the fifth chapter of Hebrews. And I want to read part of chapter
five and part of chapter six because it's kind of a continuation
of thought. in what he's setting forth here.
Of course, speaking of Christ as
the Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered,
beginning there in verse eight. And being made perfect, he became
the author of eternal salvation unto all that obey him, called
of God and high priest after the order of Melchizedek. of
whom we have many things to say and hard to be uttered, seeing
ye are dull of hearing. For when for the time ye ought
to be teachers again, which be the first principles of the oracles
of God, and are 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.
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. Therefore, leaving the principles
of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection, not
laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and
of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on
of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of the eternal
judgment. And this will we do if God permit.
For 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 to repentance, seeing they crucify to themselves the Son
of God afresh and put Him to an open shame. Now, I'm going
to stop there. We could actually continue on,
but I want to get the gist of what I believe is set forth here
in these verses. Of course, in order to understand
this passage of scripture, one must ever keep in mind who it
is that Paul, I believe Paul being the author of this book,
that to whom it is that he's specifically writing, which is
the Hebrews. And keep in mind not only who
he's writing to, but the context of what he is writing to them
about. Considering that Christ alone
is that one to whom we are to look. And that there is no mixing
of the law and Christ. Now that doesn't mean that the
law is bad. It simply means that Christ is
the law. That Christ is the embodiment
of the law. And if a man would walk in the
law of God, he must walk as Christ walked. And thus, it is illustrated
for us, if that be true, how much in folly it is that a man
should think that he could keep the law of God that he could
benefit himself eternally or temporally in a spiritual fashion
of keeping the law. Now, there's controversy, you
know, about these subjects, and we don't ever want anyone to
go away thinking that we believe that the law of God is not true.
that the law of God is not sure, that the law of God is not that
which was spoken by him. But I would also not want anybody
to ever consider that the law is not fully and completely satisfied
in Jesus Christ. There's no part of the law that
is not fulfilled in Christ. He is that one to whom we look. And so it is that this is a thing
that the Jews especially needed to hear because it was, as we
see in the book of Acts, it was so ingrained in their psyche
and understanding of the things of God that there was a mindset
towards the outward things as being those things which are
needful. When the Lord taught that the
thing that was needful was that the heart be set apart unto Him. And so it is that He points out
that the Lord Jesus Christ was not a priest after the order
of Aaron. Christ's priesthood didn't have
anything to do with the law. Now his work in satisfying the
claims of the law was absolutely sure. And in all things he did
satisfy the law. But his priesthood was not established
by the law. His priesthood was established
by the order of Melchizedek who preceded the law. because he
had neither beginning of days nor ending of life. Now we believe
that Melchizedek was Christ. That he appeared on the scene
as he did in other instances before he appeared in flesh and
blood out of Mary's womb. Now these
are mysterious things. Even as he says here, he says,
of whom we have many things to say and are hard to be uttered,
saying ye are dull of hearing. We cannot enter into the depths
of the spiritual nature of these appearings. I mean, I can't. I can't explain it. Now, I know
there's probably people out there that can. I'd be suspect of it,
you know, but they probably can. But I would not attempt to. I
know that when, I believe it was Darius, that when Daniel,
or when the three Hebrews, no, it was Nebuchadnezzar, when the
three Hebrews were cast into the And he looked in there and
he said, didn't we throw three men into this flame? And he said,
I see one likened to the son of God that is walking in that
flame. Now, you know, Nebuchadnezzar
was a corrupt individual, but I believe God showed mercy to
Nebuchadnezzar. because I believe he showed him
Christ. And then later on, after he had put him through the mill
and he ate grass like an ox, he said, my understanding returned
to me and I worshiped and blessed the most high God who rules an
army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and
there's none that can stay his hand or say unto him what doest
thou. Now who was it that he was speaking about? He was speaking
about Him who is the beginning and the end. He's talking about
Him who is the Alpha and the Omega. He's talking about Christ
Himself. And so, you know, you can't look
at people in the Bible and always know what the Lord may be doing
or have done with them. I mean, you look at Samson, as
Brother Al mentioned him today, and he's pretty much a rogue
if you look at him. I mean, he's certainly not the
example you would say to your children, I want you to grow
up and be like Samson. But yet, the scripture says he
was a man of faith. He died calling upon the name
of the Lord. You know, you can say what you
will about Samson, but I believe he was an object of God's mercy
and grace. And so the Lord is able to raise
up men to praise him, he says, out of the stones. The Lord doesn't need men in
any way, shape, or form. We're blessed to be used of God,
but he doesn't need us. No, he's not waiting on us to
do something, but he's done all things according to the good
pleasure of his will. And so we see Christ as this
priest after the order of Melchizedek, his own order, No, he is Melchizedek. He established his own order.
He didn't come under somebody else, but he came as this priest
forever, which had neither beginning of days nor ending of the same. And then he says, for when the
time you ought to be teachers, he says, you have been blessed
of God. He said, to you, Paul said, what
advantage then hath the Jew? He said, chiefly unto them that
was committed to oracles of God. I mean, they were blessed above
all people. He says to the Hebrews, you ought
to be teachers. Yeah, you ought to be the ones
that's sitting out here and saying all of these things that I'm
telling you now. He said, but. You ought to be
teachers, but you have need that one teach you again. He says
you need to go back and look at what the truth of the things
that you have believed in your lifetime actually are. They're pointing to Christ. He
says now you are very particular about keeping these things. You
remember when the the Christians at Jerusalem got kind of concerned
when the Lord through Paul had raised up some of the Gentile
believers. And they said, you know, we don't
think this is right. These Gentiles, they're out here
and they're not even being circumcised. There's something wrong with
this picture. You know, we got some things they need to be doing.
Because this was a thing that was very much in their mind.
It was very important. And insofar as the Lord gave
it to them as a covenant seal in Abraham, it was important. But it had no bearing on the
gospel. It had no bearing on faith in
Christ. It had nothing to do with that.
So he said, you have need that one teach you again, which be
the first principles of the oracles of God and become such as have
need of milk, not of strong meat. You need to go back to the basics
and look at what it is that the truth of the Old Testament was. See, some people look at the
Old Testament as though it's kind of like stands over here
on its own. But the Old Testament's like
a closed book that was opened in the New Testament. And the
New Testament is a commentary on the Old Testament, not vice
versa. Now some people go to the Old
Testament to try to figure out what the New Testament is, but
it's the other way around, dear brethren. You can't have any
comprehension of what the law of God is if you don't see the
one who was the lawgiver satisfying the law in the New Testament.
And so he says, you're as ones that need to be taught again.
For everyone that useth milk is unskillful in the word of
righteousness, for he is a babe. The outward things, while they
may have some importance in certain instances, these outward things
that they were, this is the milk. It's not the meat. And he's trying
to get them to see that. Strong meat belongs to them who
are of full age. That is, those whose understanding
has been opened up to see what the truth is. Even those who,
by reason of use, have their senses exercised to discern both
good and evil. Now, what is the exercise? What
is the, reason of use. It is as we come and behold Christ,
as we come and see the truth of God revealed in Christ. That is when our senses are exercised
to discern good and evil. You can't tell what good and
evil is without apart from looking at Christ. Now a lot of people
will tell you, oh yes, you can go to the Ten Commandments and
you can find out what's right and what's wrong. Well you can
in an external sense, but the Pharisees, did they not have
the law? The Lord said, you hadn't kept
the law. You hadn't understood the law.
So when a man's looking at the law in an external fashion to
fashion and form what his idea of righteousness is, then he's
not gone far enough. He's not seen it. He's still
drinking the milk because the meat belongs to them that are
of full age, those who have seen Christ as the fulfillment. of all these things. Therefore,
leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ. Now listen
to this. Now this passage of scripture here has caused great
confusion among many. What he is telling them is not
having to do with them as being believers leaving the doctrines
of Christ, but what he's talking about to them is them as Hebrews. Remember what I said? You've
got to know who it is that he wrote to and the context in which
he's writing to the men. And so when he says leaving the
principles of the doctrine of Christ, is he saying, well now
we've taught you the gospel, but we want you to leave that
behind. That wouldn't make any sense at all, would it? The principles
of the doctrine of Christ that he's speaking about is the Old
Testament, the law and the requirements therein. That's what he's speaking
to them about. And he says here, because that
is the doctrine of Christ. When Moses spoke on Mount Sinai,
what was he talking about? He was talking about the doctrine
of Christ. I mean, everything in the Old Testament's the doctrine
of Christ. It's not some new thing. Now,
it's a new revelation. It's an understanding that's
been given to those who, by reason of use, have their senses exercised
to discern good and evil, to see what the difference in those
things are. And so when he says, leaving
the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let's go on to perfection,
He's talking about maturity. He's saying quit drinking the
milk. Quit eating the pablum. It's time to grow up, to move
on. Because the gospel is not about
external things. Not laying again the foundation
of repentance from dead works. Now, is he saying we don't need
to talk about repentance? Of course not. Repentance and
faith toward God forms a very basis of that place where God
is pleased to call a sinner out of darkness and into the light.
I mean, God's people, repentance
is a work of the Spirit of God in them. You're not going to
find a man who believes Christ who does not have the spirit
of repentance. In other words, you're not going to come and
call upon Christ in reality and in true faith, except that the
Spirit of God convinces you of your own sin. And when the Spirit
of God convinces you of your own sin, what does He do? He
brings you to repentance. Well, what's the repentance from
dead works that he's talking about? He's talking about the
repentance of the dead works of the law. The priests, they
went in every day to these, making these sacrifices, but they needed
to be repented of, see? I mean, even the very offerings
that they made needed to be repented of. Why? Because they were sinful
priests. And repentance from dead works has to do with all
those things that these Hebrews were relying on. We need to turn
from it. Not laying again the foundation
of the repentance from dead works and of faith toward God. Obviously,
he's not telling them you don't need faith toward God. But what
is the faith toward God built upon? Is it built upon what you
are doing? Or is the faith toward God built
upon those things wherein you see what Christ has done? See,
that's the dividing line, I believe, between that which is true and
that which is in error. is to see that it's not what
we're doing, but it's what Christ has done. That's the glorious
truth of the gospel. For there's therefore now no
condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not
after the flesh, but after the spirit. For the law of the spirit
of life, the principle of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus,
hath made me free from the principle of sin and death. Now the principle
of sin and death is made quite plain in the law of God, because
what does the law of God say? It says do this and live. It
says the soul that sinneth shall die. So now what does the man
that knows he can't keep the law do? He says, man, I'm telling
you, I don't have any hope. There's no place of standing
for me. But we move from that, he said.
Repentance from dead works faith toward God. Now we're not leaving
behind faith toward God, but he's saying we're showing you
what true faith is. Not the faith toward God that
the supposed keepers of the law, the priests and all of these
men that went through all these motions had. That's not the faith
that we're looking for. It's a dead faith. of the doctrine
of baptisms and laying on of hands. Now there again, is he
saying, well, we don't need to baptize anybody, we need to move
on from that, no. He's talking about the washings
of the Old Testament. The baptism, see, baptism's in
the Old Testament. But it's in the washings in the
temple. I forget how big the thing was, but in Solomon's temple
there was a big basin. Do you remember how big it was,
brother? I mean, it was huge. a big thing that they cast out
of bronze, a huge bath, and it held, I forget how many thousand,
I think it was over a thousand gallons anyway, but it was a
big, big thing. And that's what they washed all
the temple instruments and everything in. He said we need to move from
that. We're not interested in that.
And anybody that's looking at baptism, even in the New Testament,
as being something that does enhance their position toward
God, they need to move on from that. These outward things are
of no value. They serve no purpose. except
cloud our vision of the doctrine of baptism and laying on of hands."
See, there was laying on of hands in the Old Testament. Do you
remember when the priest, when the scapegoat was sent forth
and the priest would lay his hands on the head of the goat
and turn him loose? Laying on of hands, resurrection
of the dead and of eternal judgment. So, I mean, is he telling us?
Y'all need to forget all that. Move on from that, that's just
baby stuff. Talking about the real? No, he's
talking about the concepts that were built in the minds of the
Hebrews about these things because they had an imperfect understanding
of what the resurrection was. They had an imperfect understanding
of eternal judgment because they didn't know who the judge was.
See, they didn't have an understanding of who that one who is the judge
of all the earth, whom the Lord would bring forth. And he's saying,
here, now you need to move on from those ideas that you had
in your past and grow up. And this will we do if God permits.
He said, by the grace of God, we will do these things. We will
grow up. We will be made strong in the
gospel. And then he gives a warning here,
and this is a true thing that should stir the sons of God to
realize that the only hope that there is for a sinner is in Jesus
Christ. It's not in what you did. It's
not in your decision. It's not in joining the church.
It's not in baptism. It's not in any external thing
that you can do. What does he say here? For 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
to repentance. Those are fearful words, dear
brother. Now, is he saying here that it is possible for a man
who has been awakened by the Spirit of God that he should
fall away, that he will fall away? No, it's not saying that
at all. But what it is saying is this, that there are many,
and Peter speaks of them, who have come up to the edge of the
truth. We read about them in the parable
of the sower. There are many who it would appear,
it would seem, that they are the followers of the Lord. I
mean, they can receive the word of God with joy. I know many
people in my life who they had some kind of a religious experience,
and I wouldn't say they didn't. I don't know what it was. But
they got all happy and everything for a little while, and then
next thing you know, they're right back in the same old place
like a dog that returns to his vomit, the sow that's washed
to a swallowing in the mire. Now what happened to them? Did
they make a decision and they really got saved as men say it? And they got lost? God forbid. The Lord said, I know my sheep. I call them by name, they follow
me. And so it is what he's speaking about here are those who have
the appearance of these things that have been taught the things
of God. They have in great measure agreed
with them as those in that parable. But things came along and choked
them out. And I don't have all the ins
and outs of ways to explain that, but just to, and these things
were given to us to know this, that if any man stands, it will
be by the grace of God. Because it is impossible, dear
brethren, if a man should abandon his hope in Christ, that he should
have any hope beyond that. I mean, when a man has moved
away from Christ, what is his hope? Peter expressed it. He said, Lord, to whom shall
we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life, and we believe
and are sure that Thou art the Son of the living God. So, if
they shall fall away, to renew them again to repentance. Now,
dear brethren, we know this to be a truth by nature. Each one
of us has an evil heart of unbelief. And we will depart tomorrow,
apart from the grace of God to keep us. Now the glorious thing
is that the Lord promises that he which hath begun a good work
in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. But
we're also given the warning that it's not what we have done.
Because if men do not continue in the faith, they have no reason
to believe they were ever in the faith. And these are stern
warnings. And it is, you know, you... You
hear of some, there are certain denominations that you can get
in the kingdom of God and out tomorrow, back in the next day,
and all like, I mean, you just enter out, you know, you go to
a meeting and you get all fired up and you get saved again. And
you come in, all this next, you go out, and you get lost, and
then you come back, and all of that stuff. This scripture says
here it's impossible to renew them again to repentance. If
a man rejects Christ, that's it. Now I'm not saying that every
man that backslides or falls into error in his life, we have
evidence in the scripture of men that did. But to deny Christ
as your hope, what hope do you have? Because see, once you have
denied Christ, you put him to an open shame. And you crucify
to themselves the Son of God afresh. The Lord's not dying
for His people multiple times. He died for us once to accomplish
the task that He came to do. And it's impossible to renew
a man to repentance who rejects that one sacrifice of Christ.
It's not many sacrifices. See, the Jews, their idea was
of many sacrifices. Well, if this one don't do it,
maybe the one tomorrow will. No, Christ is the sacrifice of
God. He's the one sacrifice. He's
that one whom we come here this morning to remember his death
till he comes. There's not another one. If they shall fall away, oh, by the grace of God, and only
by the grace of God will that not be said of us, if we fall
away. Because we'll all fall away.
You know, you can look back through history and you say, Well, where
are all the churches that have been established in the
New Testament and all of these things? I mean, where are they?
Well, I'll tell you where they are. They're no longer around
in great measure because many of them fell away. They tasted
of the things of God in some measure. I don't know what. But
they turned aside and walked no more with him. Solemn thoughts. And only by the grace of God
will it be that we are not among them. Oh, that we might believe
Christ. That we might every day constantly
and continually call upon Him who is our salvation. He is our
hope. We don't have any other one.
We're not looking for another one. was satisfied with him.
May the Lord help us.