Would you turn to Hebrews chapter
5? I have entitled this message,
Dull of Hearing. Dull of Hearing. 10, speaking of Christ who is 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 you are dull of hearing." Literally, you have become dull
of hearing. There was a time, he says, when
you were not dull of hearing, but you have become dull of hearing. No emotional connection between
what we hear and what we feel. No discernment. When one becomes
dull of hearing, they can't tell the difference. We don't get
it. Our appetite is dulled, sluggish,
slow. He says there are many things
that we want to say regarding Melchizedek, But we can't, because
you have become dull in hearing. Go on reading in verse 12, for
when for the time you ought to be teachers, you have need that
one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles
of God, and are become such as have need of milk, and not strong
meet. You have digressed, he says,
to being babies. Now that's a scary proposition,
isn't it? When I read that passage of scripture,
it scares me because I don't want to become dull of hearing. I want to be quick to hear. Didn't
James say, let every man be quick to hear and slow to speak? I don't want to be Dole of hearing.
I don't want to be a spiritual baby, as he speaks of in this
passage of scripture. And that's a very real danger.
Look in 1 Corinthians chapter 3. It's what Brother Bell read
last night. Let's look at it again in 1 Corinthians
chapter 3. Paul says to the church at Corinth
that our brethren could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but
as unto carnal. even as unto babes in Christ. I fed you with milk, not with
meat. Same thing the writer to the
Hebrews is saying. For hitherto you were not able to bear it,
neither now are you able, for you are yet carnal. For whereas
there is among you envying and strife and divisions, are you
not carnal and walk as men? Now, the writer to the Hebrews
says you ought to be teachers by this time, but you've not
grown. you've not grown now where there's life there is growth
and he says to these people you have not grown verse 13 Hebrews chapter 5 for everyone
that uses milk is unskillful or inexperienced in the word
of righteousness He's a baby. Now, I love this name for the
gospel. It's the word of righteousness.
The gospel tells me how I, a sinner, can be the very righteousness
of God. Isn't that amazing? That's glorious. But he says to these people,
you've become unskillful, unexperienced. You have no experience. Now,
we know what experience is. You know, me and Tommy, every
time I see him, I call him, hey, esophagusless. You know, we both
had that surgery where they remove your esophagus. And when we were
looking for a surgeon, there were some men in our church who
helped look for a guy. We found a guy that had some
experience at it. He'd done it over 2,000 times. It made me
feel so much better. I've done this. This is cake. I've done it. I wanted a surgeon
with some experience. Experience is a good thing. And
he says to these people, you have no experience in the word
of righteousness. You can only handle milk. Now we love babies. We love babies. I've just got so much out of
watching Jackson for the last 24 hours, or, you know, it's
just, he's a, he's a card. Now we love babies, but what
if they stay babies? What if they were 20 years old
and stay babies? That would be a real problem,
wouldn't there? We want to see maturity. I want to mature. I
want to be a strong man in Christ Jesus, whatever that means. And
he says, everyone that uses milk is unskillful, inexperienced
in the word of righteousness, for he's a babe. But strong meat
belongs to them that are of full age, who are mature. Even those
who, by reason of use, have their senses exercised to discern both
good and evil. Now I like the way he says that
their senses are exercised. Exercised. You know what exercise
is? It's how you improve the strength
of your body. He says their senses, people
with experience have their senses exercised to where they can see
the difference. They can discern between good
and evil. They have eyes to see the glory
of Christ. And eyes that see when he's not
glorified. They have ears that hear the
gospel. And they have ears that hear
when the gospel is not preached. Their senses are exercised. They
have a taste where they can taste that the Lord indeed is gracious. And they can also taste the bitterness
when the gospel is not preached. They can feel the pleasure of
the gospel of Christ and they can feel the pain of that Feeling
when something contrary to the gospel of christ is preached.
They can smell that which is a sweet savor And they can also
smell that which is decaying Their senses are exercised. There
is a spiritual discernment and an understanding That comes with
maturity look back up in verse 12 For when the time for when
for the time you ought to be teachers you have need that one
teach you again That which is the first principles, the ABCs
is what that means. The ABCs of the oracles of God. Now, down to chapter 6 verse
1. Therefore, leaving the principles,
the ABCs, the first principles of the doctrine of Christ, let
us go on unto perfection. on to maturity. Now what does
he mean by leaving the first principles, leaving the oracles? Well he tells us what he means
in the next line, not laying again the foundation. You see if I'm always having
to lay the foundation the superstructure is never going to come up with
it. You don't leave the foundation But if you're always having to
lay again this foundation, there will never be any maturity. There
will never be any discernment. Now look what he says in verse
one. Therefore, leaving the principles,
the ABCs, the ABCs. Now ABCs are important. If I
don't learn the ABCs, I'm never going to learn to read very well,
am I? The ABCs have to come natural to me. They have to, when I hear
the ABCs, I know the ABCs. And if I'm always having to learn
the ABCs over and over again, I'm never going to learn to read
well, am I? Now, he's talking about these
ABCs that were to be grounded in. This is where spiritual maturity
comes from, Ellis. Let's read. Chapter 6, verse
1. Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let
us go on unto perfection, unto maturity, 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 eternal judgment. And this will we do if God permit. I think that's interesting You
know, you're just as, and I'm just as dependent upon the grace
of God for spiritual maturity as we are for election. That's
how dependent we are. This will we do if God permit,
but he names these six things that you and I must be grounded
in, in order to have some discernment and some spiritual maturity.
And if I'm always having to go back and have these foundations
laid over and over again, I'm, I'm in trouble. I'm in trouble.
I'm dull of hearing. Now let's consider each of these
briefly. The first thing he speaks of
is repentance from dead works. Now what's that mean? Repentance
from dead works. For repentance means a change
of mind regarding dead Works you change your mind about your
dead works and you see them for what they are dead works now
Hebrews chapter 9 gives us a little more light as to what this repentance
from dead works is look in Hebrews chapter 9 verse 13 For if the blood of bulls and
of goats and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean
sanctifyeth to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall
the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself
without spot to God." Now you think what the blood of Christ
does? It makes me clean, makes me holy,
makes me pure before God. Now when He speaks of the blood
of Christ in what he does what he say next he says purge your
conscience from dead works to serve the living God now dead
works are any works that we do that we think contributes to
adds to or enhances our salvation That is a dead work. For instance,
if I believe, if I believe that through the act of my will, Christ's
blood is made effectual to me. If I believe that Christ died
for everybody, made salvation possible for everybody, shed
his blood for all men, and it's an act of my will that makes
his blood work for me, that's a dead work. If I believe that through some
act of obedience on my part, I become progressively more and
more holy and less sinful, that work is a dead work. If I believe that there's something
that I can do that will get me a higher reward in heaven, a
higher place in heaven because of something I've done, Here
on earth, that is a dead work. And I'm called upon to repent,
to change my mind of those dead works. Now, if I repent of my dead works,
I change my mind about them. You know, when someone wants
to maintain, now listen to me real carefully. When someone
wants to maintain that they were saved truly by the grace of God,
before they believe what we call the gospel sovereign race they've
never repented of their dead works repent of dead works now look
at the next thing he mentions back to our text in Hebrews 6 Therefore, leaving the principles
of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection, not
having to lay again the foundation of repentance from dead works
and of faith toward God." Now, here are two things that go together.
Repentance of dead works and faith toward God. What is faith
toward God? Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Isn't that faith toward God? relying on Him. I repent. I change my mind regarding my
dead works and I believe that it's the Lord Jesus Christ, God
the Son, the God-man who saved me. I trust His works. I trust His righteousness. I repent of my dead works and
I trust Him and Him alone as my All in salvation is my only
ground of acceptance before God. I really believe that the Lord
Jesus Christ is my salvation. And I look nowhere else. That's
what I do when I repent of dead works. I have faith toward God,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't faith toward God and faith
in Jesus Christ the same thing? Absolutely. Look what he says
next. Verse 2. The doctrine of baptisms. The doctrine or the teaching
of baptisms. Now, whether you're talking about
water immersion, being baptized into Christ, baptized into the
Spirit, The teaching is the same thing. The doctrine of baptisms. The teaching of baptism is union
with the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what the teaching actually
is. Let me show you something in Scripture. Turn to Mark chapter
1. Now when we talk about baptism, that is our public confession
of Christ. If you want to know what it is
to publicly confess Christ, it's to be baptized by water of mercy. That's my identification with
Christ. That's how I confess Him. Let
me show you this in Scripture, Mark chapter 1. Verse 5, And there went out unto
him all the land of Judea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all
baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins. Now does that mean before they
could be baptized, they had to tell everybody what they'd done?
All right, get out here and confess your sins, and tell what all
you've done, and then you can be baptized. No! No! The act of baptism was
the act of the confession of sin. How so? When I'm baptized,
I am saying in no uncertain terms that I am so sinful that the
only way that I can be saved is through the life of the Lord
Jesus Christ and the death of the Lord Jesus Christ and the
resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's all our gospel. This is the doctrine of baptisms.
Here's my hope. with the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
how every doctrine is understood in the Bible. You can't understand
election apart from union with Christ. You can't understand
justification apart from union with Christ. Every doctrine.
This is the bottom line. Union with the Lord Jesus Christ.
The doctrine of baptisms. And what joy, what liberty, what
peace there is when I see what 1 John 4, 17 says, as He is. So are we in this world right
now as He is, whatever He is. That's who I am. You want to
know the truth about me? Read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and
John. You'll find out the real truth
about me. That's my life before God. That's my righteousness
before God. The doctrine of baptisms, union,
with the Lord Jesus Christ. You think of the peace you find
in that. What joy! What peace! And you know, you
can't really discern what's being said if I'm not right there.
The doctrine of baptism. Now look what he says next. Back
to our text. the doctrine of baptisms and
of laying on of hands. Laying on of hands? That's a
ABC of the gospel? What's this all about? The laying
on of hands. Now, something's taught of the
laying on of hands. Whether it's talking about the
priest laying his hands on the head of the sacrifice. You remember
that in the Old Testament. The priest would lay his hands
on the head of the sacrifice. Or the apostles laying their
hands on people and The gift of the Holy Spirit was given.
Here's what is taught in the laying on of hands. Remember,
it's a doctrine. The doctrine of laying on of
hands tells us of the transference of something from one place to
another. Now that's very simple, isn't
it? Yet it's the very heart and soul of the gospel. The transference
of something from one place to another. Now, my sin on Calvary's
tree was transferred to the Lord Jesus Christ, just like that
priest put his hands on that sacrifice. And he typically transferred
the guilt of Israel onto that sacrifice. My sin was transferred
to the Lord Jesus Christ. He became sin. and His righteousness
is given to me." Isn't that glorious? Substitution. That's the very heart and soul
of the gospel. Really, all of these things are
the heart and soul of the gospel. The laying on of hands. And then he speaks of the resurrection
of the dead. In verse 2, of the doctrine of
baptisms and laying on of hands and of the resurrection of the
dead. Now, what was the theme of the apostles preaching? The
resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. That was the theme of
their preaching. Now in the Bible, we read of three resurrections. First, there is the physical
resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 4.25 says He was
delivered for our offenses and He was raised again for our justification. Now in the resurrection of Christ,
I see my justification before God. Justification means not
guilty. When Jesus Christ the Lord was
raised from the dead, God said concerning everybody He represented,
not guilty. perfect before God without sin
and then there is the spiritual resurrection Ephesians chapter
2 verse 1 and you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and
sins. When someone is born from above,
when they're born again, they're spiritually resurrected. I was
dead. I'm given life by God. I live
now. Oh, thank God for this second
resurrection, this spiritual resurrection. There was a time
when I didn't know what it was to believe. I tried to believe,
but I couldn't figure it out. What's it mean to believe? God
gave me life. I believed. There was a time
when I tried to figure it out. What do I need to do to repent?
What is this thing of repentance? God gave me life. It's a spiritual resurrection.
And then there's that final resurrection when every believer is going
to experience what they believe. I believe that I'm just before
God. But boy, looking at myself, I
can't see it. I'm going to see it then. I'm going to be perfectly
conformed to the image of Christ. All the stuff that I believe
now, I'm going to experience. I love what David said, as for
me, I will behold thy face in righteousness. I'll be satisfied
when I awake in thy likeness." The resurrection of the dead.
That's the very ABCs of the gospel. And then finally he mentions
eternal judgment. Eternal judgment. What's eternal mean? No starting point. No ending
point. You know, it's really impossible
for us to grasp. I believe it. Don't understand
it. Believe it. Eternal judgment. Now, what is judgment? Judgment
is the passing out of the sentence. Either condemned or justified.
Now, God, the Lord God is infinite. He dwells outside of time. Can I understand that? No. No. Do I believe it? Yes. He never
had a beginning. He never began to be. He never
ends. He is infinite. Everything he does is eternal. Now, the subject of the eternities,
and this is a hard, well it's impossible to grasp, just to
believe. Before time began we talked about eternity past. That's
a stupid thing to say really because it's not eternity past
It's attorney putting past in there's a denial what it means
but for lack of being able to say anything else because we're
bound by our creaturehood Eternity past what was the subject? Christ
was called the lamb slain from the foundation of the world Eternity
future, when time is wrapped up and time is no more. The scripture
actually speaks of time being no more at that time. What will
be the subject of eternity future? Worthy is the lamb that was slain. Now the subject of eternity past
and the subject of eternity future is an event that happened in
time. Our Lord invaded human history. became a man and put away our
sins and thus judgment was accomplished. And you know, everything that
God does is eternal. Do you believe in eternal justification?
Yeah, I do. Do you believe in eternal redemption?
Absolutely. Scripture speaks of eternal redemption.
Do you believe in eternal salvation? Sure do. Everything God does
is eternal. everything. He's glorious. Now, until by the grace of God,
if I have to always be learning these things again, I'm going
to be dull in hearing. I'm going to lack discernment.
I'm not going to be able to see the difference between good and
evil. But I don't want to be dull in
hearing, do you? I want to be quick to hear, quick to hear
what God says, quick to believe, quick to bow. I want to go on
to perfection, go on to maturity in every way. Now may the Lord
God, and the only way we will be is if He permits, may we go
on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance. from dead works and faith toward
God. The 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. Amen.