I've often told you, and we ought
to always remember when we read the scriptures, chapter and verse
divisions, while they are very useful in helping us to find
various passages of scripture, very useful in helping us to
memorize and locate things in scripture, are very cumbersome
when it comes to interpreting scripture. Often the chapter
and verse divisions come at an inappropriate time, and that
is certainly the case here in Hebrews chapters 5 and 6. That which is given to us in
chapter 6 really is just a continuation of what is spoken in chapter
5. The Apostle writing here by divine inspiration has been giving
instruction concerning the Lord Jesus Christ as being that one
who is superior to Aaron, as being that one who was represented
in Melchizedek, he who is our true Melchizedekian high priest,
risen and seated at the right hand of the majesty on high.
then he digresses beginning in verse 11 and doesn't pick up
again with that same subject until we get to chapter 7 where
he explains more concerning Christ and Melchizedek. So tonight I
want us to read together verses 11 of chapter 5 through verse
3 of chapter 6 and that will be our text. Hebrews chapter
5 verse 11. Of whom, that is of Christ, our
great priest, typified in, represented in, and set before us in the
work of Melchizedek. Of whom we have many things to
say, and hard to be uttered. Not that they're hard to talk
about, but hard for you to hear. Seeing you are dull of hearing.
Your ears are clogged. You're dull of hearing. For when
the time you ought to be teachers, You who have walked with God,
who know the gospel of God's grace, who have been in the kingdom
of God for a while, ought to have matured to be useful in
helping to instruct others in the things of God. You ought
to have been teachers. You have need that one teach
you again, which be the first principles. Now that's very,
very important. First principles of the oracles
of God. And are become such as have need
of milk, and not of strong meat. For everyone that uses milk is
unskillful in the word of righteousness, for he's a babe. But strong meat
belongeth to them that are of full age, even to those who by
reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good
and evil. Now without a break, read on.
Therefore, therefore in the light of these things, Leaving the
first principles, 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 the laying on of hands, and of resurrection
of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this will we do if God permits. My subject this evening is let
us go on. Let us go on. Another way to
put it would be it's time to grow up. Let us go on. Let us go on unto maturity in
Jesus Christ our Lord. Now, as we read these verses
together, it's obvious the Holy Spirit has three specific things
for us to gather from them. These things are written to encourage
us to persevere in the faith of Christ, to continue looking
to Christ, trusting him, following him, and obeying him. This passage
of scripture was written during a time of terrible apostasy. Many came out after the apostles
had preached the gospel, after our Lord was risen from the dead,
and while they professed faith in Christ, they were seeking
to pervert the gospel, turning men and women back again to Judaism,
not seeking to get them to deny the gospel at all. not openly,
not outwardly, not verbally, but rather seeking them to get
them to go back and incorporate into the worship and service
of Christ things that were fulfilled and done away in Christ. Getting
them to go back and keep the law, getting them to go back
and observe circumcision, getting them to go back and observe Sabbath
days, getting them to go back and observe the Passover and
all such things as that, mixing together Judaism and Christianity. Sound like anything familiar
today? Folks today talk about Judeo-Christian things, Judeo-Christian
worship, Judeo-Christian ethics. There's no such thing. That which
is Jewish is not Christian. That which is Christian is not
Jewish. And particularly, there is a terrible apostasy in our
day, in that men are turning rapidly and being turned on every
hand. from the revelation of God in
the gospel, from the truth of the gospel of God's free grace,
to Arminian freewill works religion, and that wholesale and universally. The fact is, almost all of what's
called Protestant religion and Baptist religion in our day came
out of Rome. And it's all going back to Rome
just as fast as it can go. You find me the distinction,
find me any real substantive distinction between Arminian
free will, works religion, and Roman Catholicism. There just
isn't any. They just wear different costumes
and go through different programs and have different ways of entertaining
each other on the way to hell. But the religion is the same.
It is a declaration that salvation depends on you, God's in your
hands, and eternity is that which you make of it. The gospel of
God's grace, on the other hand, declares salvation by God's free
grace alone, in Jesus Christ alone, and not anything that
we do. Thank God's salvations of the
Lord. It doesn't depend on what we do, but what Christ did. Doesn't
depend on our will, but his will. Doesn't depend on our feelings,
but his faithfulness. Salvation is God's work. And
so the Holy Spirit is writing these words to encourage us to
continue to persevere in the faith of the gospel. Secondly,
the Holy Spirit here encourages believers to grow in the grace
and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now understand what I'm
saying. We do not grow in acceptance
with God. We do not grow in our position
of divine favor. Those things are complete, forever,
and immutable. We are accepted of God in Jesus
Christ alone. Our righteousness is Christ alone. Our holiness is Christ alone. Our standing before God is Christ
alone. Nothing changes that. It never
varies, it never alters, it never increases, it never decreases.
We stand accepted in the beloved from eternity if ever we're accepted
in the beloved. That doesn't change by our behavior.
That doesn't change by our conduct. That doesn't change by our feelings. That doesn't change by what we
do or what we experience. The believer's acceptance is
Jesus Christ the Lord. Somebody said, well we grow in
holiness. No sir, we don't. We grow in the state of holiness,
yes, but we do not grow in greater degrees of holiness. We grow
in the state of sanctification, yes, but we do not grow in degrees
of sanctification. Sanctification and holiness is
not a progressive thing. We attain by varying steps until
we finally ascend up so high that we're right for heaven.
Such things are totally contrary to the gospel. Christ is of God,
made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
And there's a reason for that. So that he that glories will
glory in the Lord. But we do grow in the grace and
in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. And this is what
the Spirit of God calls for in this passage. Let us then go
on to perfection. Let us go on to maturity. And thirdly, this passage of
inspiration is intended to encourage those who are still babies in
Christ to go on to maturity in the things of God. The passage
is designed specifically to encourage us to seek spiritual maturity,
spiritual stability, to seek to be strong, dependable, well-established,
useful, well-grounded men and women in the kingdom of God.
I can speak a little as a father. I just have one child. He was
a girl, so I don't qualify much. I understand that. But the object
of a father, David, is to train his sons and daughters to stand
on their own two feet. Isn't it? That's the object.
We want them to grow, to become mature, responsible adults, taking
responsibility for their actions, taking responsibility for themselves,
being useful to other people. Oh, now, that's exactly the object
of God's servants as we seek to preach the gospel of God's
grace. In this day, Preachers do their dead level best to get
men and women to treat them as priests by whom they find God,
by whom they come to God, by whom they have access to God.
So anytime something happens, the preacher is called. And anytime
something goes wrong, the preacher's supposed to run. The preacher's
supposed to just go and hold hands and wipe noses all the
time. The object, the object of the gospel ministry is to
get you to grow up. to walk before God, to believe
God, and not be constantly hand-held, but rather to teach you to hold
somebody else's hand, so that you yourself walk before God
as men and women in the kingdom of His grace. Now in this portion
of Scripture, the Spirit of God teaches us that the righteous
shall indeed hold on his way, and that he will grow and bear
fruit by the grace of God. This is what the Scripture says.
The righteous shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands
shall be stronger and stronger. The righteous. He'll continue
to hold to Christ. And he will grow from strength
to strength in the grace of God. All right, now let me show you
three things in these verses of scripture. We'll look at them
line by line. First, there is a word of concern
in verses 11 through 14 of chapter five. When men and women who
should be instruments of usefulness to others are spiritually immature,
that's a matter of concern. They're like babies and small
children. They must be constantly instructed
in elementary principles of the faith. This is what we see in
the latter part of this fifth chapter. Paul had many things
yet to say about Christ, our great Melchizedek. There were
many great treasures to be revealed, many great truths to be taught,
many great mysteries to be unfolded, but it was difficult for him
to deal with those things, to just plunge directly into those
things, those wonders of Christ person and work as our great
priest before God, the great mysteries of his person, because
there were many among these Hebrew believers who were still babes,
infantile, children, dull of hearing, immature, immature. If he gave him strong meat, just
handed it out there and gave him a knife, he was dead sure
that he'd cut themselves or choke to death. So he, before moving
on to these weightier matters in chapter seven, He is inspired
of the Holy Spirit to reprove those who continue in immaturity,
who continue to walk and act and talk like babies and encourages
them to grow up, to mature in the things of God. Those who
have been believers for a long time ought to be, they ought
to be mature in the things of God. But many remain babes. Look at verse two, or verse 12
rather. For when the time, you ought to be teachers. You ought
to be teachers. That doesn't mean everybody ought
to teach. Obviously, those who are gifted to teach and preach
the gospel are gifted to teach and preach the gospel, and not
everyone is. The idea is that of useful, helpful,
ministering to others. In the kingdom of God, I don't
know if anywhere else this is so, in the kingdom of God, in
spiritual things, I shouldn't say the kingdom of God, but in
spiritual things, every mother's son is an authority overnight. Just ask them. You don't have
to ask them. Just stop for a minute. And if anybody finds out you've
got any ideas about anything religious, they'll tell you in
a hurry. I can't tell you how often. I try my best not to tell
folks I'm a preacher. Just as sure as you do, just
as sure as you do, they'll either start to act real religious or
they'll start to tell you how you ought to do your business.
I mean, like that, like that. If a fella came to me and was
interested and had a need for neurosurgery, I'd say, bud, you're
talking to the wrong fella. I can give you the names of some
fellas that might can help you, but I don't know anything about
what you're talking about. Go to the doctor, just go to him,
ask him about something spiritual. I guarantee he'll turn patients
away, tell you how to do things. Because he, oh I know, I know. Somebody come ask me about insurance,
I say call Lindsey Campbell. That's exactly what I said, I
don't know anything about it. I don't know a thing about it.
Go ask an insurance salesman about something spiritual. I'll
tell you what's wrong with church right now. I'll tell you what
your pastor's doing wrong. Just like that, authority overnight.
How long have you studied this thing? Oh I never did really.
Just overnight an authority, instantaneous authority. What
the passage here is teaching is not that everybody, as soon
as he gets dried off in the waters of baptism, becomes an authority
in the things of God. You don't. The idea is that you
who are born of God grow to be useful to one another in the
kingdom of God. You don't. You have need, however,
that one teach you again, which be the first principles, the
rudiments, first principles of the oracles of God, and are become
such as have need of milk and not of strong meat. Now immaturity
is acceptable in children. You accept it in children, in
stages. You know, just in stages. Once
you've got them potty trained, you don't expect them to mess
with bitches anymore. Just don't expect that. But while they're
being trained, you kind of expect it. Man alive, if that were Josh's
problem, I'd be concerned. Now that sounds silly, but I'd
be concerned. Even more so with adults. Even
more so. With adults, when adults are
immature, when adults can't walk on their own two feet, when adults
can't take care of themselves, when adults can't provide for
themselves, when adults act like children, they're an embarrassment
to the family and a nuisance to everybody else. A nuisance. Who on earth wants to be around
a 25, 26-year-old man who acts like a 16-year-old boy? Not me,
not me. I don't know anybody else who
does, except another 25, 26-year-old man who acts like a 16-year-old
boy. You don't want your daughter to date him, they might marry
him. You don't want your son around him, he might act like
him. You expect mature people to be mature. And this is what
Paul's saying. He's telling us, brethren, it's
time to grow up. Stop acting like children. Babies
require milk. First principles. Audrey Grace
is two. We try to teach her her numbers,
her ABCs. You know, every time, I'm not
as good at it as Nana is. Every time this woman's around
that child, she'll figure out a way to get her to count. And
she'll repeat, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Don't
leave off six and seven. After five is six. And she'll
repeat it, and repeat it, and repeat it, and repeat it, and
never gets tired of repeating. The kid's just two. Got her ABCs,
little blocks, you know, put on the refrigerator, the magnetic
things. Show me C. No, honey, that's an E. This
is a C. No, that's an E. This is a C. This is a C right
here. And you expect it. She's just two. You don't do
it with somebody who's 12. You just don't expect it. Expect
them to grow up from the rudiments. This is what he's saying. He
said, you babies require that we continually show you the difference
between the C and the E. Get it in your head and forget
it now. Go on to something higher. Doesn't
mean forget the ABCs. The reason for learning them
is to learn them. But forget me constantly showing it to you.
Mature believers need and feed upon the strong meat of the word. Being unstable in the word of
righteousness, spiritual babies have to be spoon-fed, lest they
be tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine. Look at verse
13. For everyone that uses milk is unskillful in the word of
righteousness, for he's a babe. But strong meat belongs to them
that are of full age, even to those who by reason of use have
their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Incapable
of discerning good and evil. That is spiritual good and evil.
It's not a matter of not being able to discern the difference
between stealing and being honest. That's not it. Not a matter of
not being able to discern the difference between immorality
and morality. That's not it. I'm talking about
spiritual good and evil. Both doctrinal and practical
spiritual good and evil. Babies. They sometimes mistake
gossip for edification. Babies sometimes mistake doing
harm for doing good. Now, you who are mature ought
to know better. They are incapable of distinguishing
good and evil, and such infantile men and women must constantly
be given a game, just the ABCs. This is a C. This is an E. Just constantly go back, back,
back, back to the basics. The first principles of truth.
Now as long as you're satisfied with such spiritual immaturity,
you both robbed yourself of great joy and blessedness, and you
remain useless, just useless, just useless. Oh, you may think
you're mighty and useful and strong and powerful and great
and all, you're useless. You edify nobody, you help nobody,
you serve nobody except yourself. Babies have childish minds, behave
in peevish ways, and are greatly affected by childish toys, and
they provide no real good to anyone. Now, that's the concern. Look at verses 1 and 2 of chapter
6 and hear this word of exhortation. Therefore, therefore, in the
light of these things, lest we remain in a state of spiritual
immaturity and uselessness, Leaving the principles of the doctrine
of Christ, let us go on to perfection. The word is maturity, completion.
Maturity as the sons and daughters of God Almighty. 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. Now be sure you understand what
Paul said. He is not telling us that we're to lose the first
principles. Oh, no. If you lose them, you haven't
got them. He's not saying lose them. He's not telling us to
forget the first principles. The first principles are the
building blocks. The ABCs are necessary for English grammar.
You've got to keep them. He's not telling us to forget
them. He's not saying deny the first principles. He's not saying
cease to preach and teach and love the first principles. Rather,
he is saying build upon these first principles. We lay the
first principles in our hearts as the foundation of all, and
we build upon those things as the basis of all. Then we go
on building upon the foundation. Well, what are these first principles?
The Holy Spirit here gives us six specific first principles
of the doctrine of Christ. They are given very plainly,
very simply, because they're very plain, simple things, plainly
revealed in the Scriptures. The first is repentance from
dead works. Nothing in my hands I bring. simply to thy cross I cling. Naked, come to thee for dress. Helpless, look to thee for grace. That's what repentance is all
about. Repentance from dead works. Both the dead works of our corruption
and vileness and the dead works of our idolatrous religion. It's
turning to the living God from idols and kissing goodbye forever
that which was in the past. Turn to Philippians chapter 3.
Let me show you. Philippians 3. The Apostle Paul is talking
to us about what true worship is. He says, those who believe
God, those who are the circumcision rejoice in Christ Jesus. And
they worship God in spirit and in truth, and they have no confidence
in the flesh. Then in verse four he says, though
I might also have confidence in the flesh, if any other man
thinks that he has whereof, he might trust in the flesh. He
doesn't hold a candle to me, I'm more. I was circumcised the
eighth day of the tribe of Israel of the stock of Israel of the
tribe of Benjamin a Hebrew of the Hebrews as touching the law
of Pharisee is I've been in church since before I was born they
put me on the cradle roll I've always been in church verse 6
concerning zeal concerning zeal I was willing to kill folks in
the name of God. Persecuting the church, touching
the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. Men looked
at me and said, if there's anybody who knows God, that man does.
But what things were gained to me, all my former religion, all
my former life, all my personal worth, all my personal confidence,
all my personal righteousness, I counted loss for Christ, yea,
doubtless, and I count all things but loss 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 dung that I may
win Christ." George Whitefield once made this statement with
regard to repentance. He said, no man has truly repented
before God until he has repented of his sin That's his nature. His sins, that's his deeds of
evil and his righteousness, all his goodness. Lord, here I am. Sin, that's all. My righteousness,
filthy rags. My heart, corrupt. Now look,
next thing, and the faith toward God. I believe that Jesus is the Christ,
the son of the living God. That's what Abraham believed,
Rex. The scripture says it was counted to him for righteousness.
Not only was it accounted to him for righteousness, but this
is written for us also, to whom it shall be imputed if we believe
on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead. Our faith
in Jesus Christ, faith toward God, laying hold of Christ, is
that by which we receive justification and righteousness from God. Now
our faith does not accomplish it. But our faith lays hold of
him who is our justification, who is our righteousness, and
by faith in him we have peace with God. The doctrine of baptisms. Baptisms. Why does he put this
in the plural? Perhaps there is a reference
here to the Jewish custom and the Jewish traditions and the
Jewish laws with regard to washing of cups and platters and so forth.
But that doesn't seem to fit the context. Well then why does
he use the word baptisms plural rather than baptisms singular
when he tells us plainly that there is one Lord, one faith,
one baptism? because he's talking about two things. He's first
talking about that which took place back yonder on the day
of Pentecost, one time forever, never to be repeated again, just
exactly as that which took place at Calvary 2,000 years ago, one
time forever, never to be repeated again, so there's no point debating
the issue. He's talking about that day when
the ascended Christ, King of Glory, poured out His Spirit
upon His church and put us into the realm and life of the Spirit. So that when Christ poured out
His Spirit upon His people in Acts chapter 2, something new
altogether was born in the world. It's called the Church of the
Living God. And now we walk in the Spirit. We don't live after
the flesh, but after the spirit. We walk not after the flesh,
but after the spirit. He said, there's no need in dealing
with that anymore. This thing is done. All right, now, he's
also talking about believer's baptism. Baptism, the immersion
of the believer in water, confessing Christ in believer's baptism. This is the one baptism of which
he speaks in Ephesians chapter four. Turn to Romans six for
a moment. Paul is dealing with our justification.
He declares that we were crucified with Christ. And since we were
crucified with Christ, since that's how we're saved, this
is how we confess it. Look at verse 4, Romans 6, 4.
Therefore, therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death. There is no other way to baptize
anyone. We're buried with him by baptism
into death, symbolically. That like as Christ was raised
up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also
should walk in the newness of life. Okay, back to our text. Laying on of hands. Again, this refers to that which
took place in the apostolic era. Some of those things being kept
trying to hang on to, they still do to this day. The apostles
were given special gifts so that they, by the laying on of their
hands, conveyed to other men the gifts, those extraordinary
apostolic gifts of the apostolic age. Now, only the apostles could
do that. Nobody else could. In Acts chapter
8, Philip was preaching the gospel down at Samaria. Philip was present
in Acts 2. when the Holy Spirit was poured
out. When those unusual gifts of tongues and so forth were
poured out upon men, He performed those things. But He could not
convey those things to anyone else. Not until the apostles
came down and laid hands on them could anyone receive the gifts
of the Holy Spirit. So those apostolic gifts ceased
with the apostolic age. Well, what about those people
today who lay on hands and people fall over on the floor and they
are slain in the spirit and some little old effeminate fellow
hits them on the head and says, Heal! They're healed. It's just pretense. A satanic delusion. God's not
in it. God's not in it. God is not in
it. It is contrary to the gospel
of God's grace, contrary to the word of God, and would destroy
the whole fabric of faith, for it makes the word of God to be
incomplete, yet getting continual revelation from man. This laying
on of hands was practiced in the early church. whenever a
man was set aside to be a deacon, Acts chapter 6, or set aside
to be a gospel preacher, Acts chapter 13, the presbyters, the
preachers, would lay hands on the man. And they would, laying
hands on him, would give him extraordinary gifts. But that
too has ceased when we ordain men. I don't lay hands on somebody's
head. It's a needless ceremony, and
it's a ceremony that implies something I don't have. I love
what Spurgeon said. I think I told you once. He said,
somebody asked him why he didn't submit to them ordaining him.
He said, I don't see how you lay your empty hands on my empty
head to do either of us any good. And that's the fact. That's the
fact. But there is an application still.
Paul told Timothy, lay hands on no man suddenly. It takes
preachers a while, but after a while, they'll all learn it.
Don't do it. Don't set men aside and set them
aside for the ministry and urge them to the ministry. You just
wait. You just wait. When God sets them aside and
God makes them known and God makes it manifest, then there's
something. You recognize and publicly avow
your commitment to the man, but don't do this suddenly. Don't
do it. The resurrection of the dead,
he says. First principles. First principles. Christ is coming again. And when
Christ comes, there's going to be a general resurrection. The
dead in Christ will rise first, and afterward, we that are alive
and remain, and there'll be a resurrection of all the damned as well. The
resurrection of the dead. And then, after the resurrection,
eternal judgment. God has appointed a day when
he will judge the world by that man whom he has ordained, Jesus
Christ the Lord. In that day, every man will be
judged out of the books of heaven, exactly according to the tenor
of strict justice, and everybody gets exactly what he deserves,
either in himself or in his substitute. One of the two. One of the two.
Gets exactly what justice and law demands. Either all the bliss
and perfection of everlasting glory because we've earned it
in Christ our substitute. He is our righteousness and our
redemption that makes us in him worthy of God's approval. Or in yourself. Get exactly what
you deserve. according to your deeds shall
you be judged. These are the first principles
of the doctrine of Christ. This is where we began in Christ.
We must always continue to believe, preach, and rejoice in these
things. But Paul is saying, do we need to prove these things
over and over and over again to you who claim to believe them,
to you who say you've experienced them? In fact, if I go somewhere
and preach in a strange place, as I often do, where I have no
idea what they've heard, when I start to deal with divine sovereignty,
man, I'll have 50 texts. Let me show you, let me show
you. Now, gain seed if you can. When
I start talking about effectual redemption, I'll go to the scriptures
and I'll buttress every word I say because I've got to prove
it to those who don't know it. I've got to prove it to those
who've not experienced it. But for you, well, we just declare
it and go on. We just declare the truth because
God's people know it. They've experienced it. We don't
lay the foundation again. Certainly, certainly not. Paul
says, let us go on. I want to show you more. I want
you to know more. I want you to experience more.
I want you to grow in maturity. But what's more, on this foundation,
Christ Jesus, Him crucified, I want you to know Christ. Know
Him. Know Him. What preacher? I know Him. You meet and work with a lot
of religious folks. Anybody who's so cocky, I know,
I got that taken care of, they don't know him. Man whom I suppose knew him best
in this world, just before he left this world said, oh, that
I may know him. I want to know him. I've been married to that lady
for 31 years. And I know her better every day. Every day. Know her better every
day. Every day. And never get tired
of learning more. I want to know him. I want to
know the emotions and motives of the details of her being. I want to know the details of
the depths of his holy being. I want to know him. Know him. Let's build on this foundation
so that we grow up in maternity, in love, and in the unity of
Christ as believers. so that we learn to walk together
as one. Let this mind be in you, which
is also in Christ Jesus. Having his mind in all things,
conform to him. This is what I want for me, and
this is what I want for every one of you. Submission, willing, growing
submission to the will of God, His Word. That's what it is to
grow. The confidence in His goodness,
His purpose, His grace. Obedient. Unless I am deceived and trying
to deceive you, Bob Punster, I want for me and for you obedience
to Christ, obedience to Him. Our Lord Jesus gave us an example in everything
He did. How that he who is Lord of all
became servant of all and he became serviceable to all. Now
if we know him, let us grow down to serve one another. It's exactly what it is. I think
I read in Brother Maurice's bulletin several years ago, somebody asked
an old lady one time, said, how do you How do you describe Christians
growing? She said, well, Christians grow
kind of like a cow's tail. The more mature they get, the
closer it gets to the ground. That's exactly right. Believers
grow down to serve and be of service to one another, to wash
one another's feet, to wipe them with a towel, to meet their needs. All right, now here's a word
of confidence. Paul says, and this we will do. That's it, verse
three. And this will we do. By the will of God, by the grace
of God, by the glory of God, we will, as his children, grow
up in Christ. We will go on to this maturity. We will lay the foundation, yes,
and we will build upon it. We will persevere in the faith
of Christ by the grace of God. We will because it is not possible
for those who know God to do otherwise. You're either gonna
go on or go back and we can't go back. We're going to go on
to maturity. How can you be sure of that?
Because the Son of God says, I give them eternal life and
they shall never perish. Because the Lord Jesus Christ
nourishes and cherishes his church as his body. And he's determined
to present it to himself a faultless church, having neither spot nor
wrinkle or any such thing. And our Heavenly Father graciously
causes his sons and daughters to grow up. And he makes them fruitful. He
makes them fruitful. Our best efforts as fathers may
prove to be futile and worthless. But not his. Not his. If we're his, he's going to make
us grow. He's going to make us go on to
maturity. And we're going to love him for
it. He's going to make us bring forth fruit to the glory of His
name, and we'll rejoice in Him for it. He has several ways of
doing it. He has His chastening rod, of
which all His sons and daughters are made partakers. He has His
pruning knife, pruning knife by which He prunes back the branches
that are useless. Cast them off, throws them in
the fire. If that vine could speak and saw the husbandman
coming with his knife fixing to cut a branch off, they'd scream,
don't touch me. But unless the knife is applied,
no fruit comes out of the vine. He's going to use his pruning
knife, David. He's going to do it. And he has his shepherd's rod.
I love the illustration I read years ago. I forgot where I saw
it. Told a story of how he takes
care of his sheep. And once in a while the sheep,
they get out of line, as sheep do. And this shepherd had one
little lamb, he couldn't keep it. He was spending all his time
going after that lamb. Spending all his time going after
that lamb. Lamb get gone, he go get it.
Lamb fall, he go pick it up. Lamb get over the cliff, he go
find it, fetch it back. And finally, he's spending all
his time taking care of that lamb to the neglect of the other
sheep. One day, that lamb got out of line, got over in the
brush, wandering away, and the shepherd went over and found
it, and he took his rod and broke that lamb's front leg.
He broke it smack into it, and then he set it, and he bound
it up, and he carried the lamb in his arms. He carried the lamb
until that leg was healed. Took the bandage off, took the
splint off, put the lamb down. He said, I couldn't keep him
away from my feet. He's with me all the time. And that's just
what our good shepherd does for his lambs. He may break our legs,
but when he does, he'll carry his young in his arms and make
them glad to follow him. Let us go on. God helping us,
we will. Amen. All right, Linda, come
listen to him, please.