Every believer understands exactly
what that first statement of that psalm was, and is, and experience
it. In evil long I took delight,
unawed by shame or fear, until a new object caught my sight. and stopped my wild career. Aren't you thankful for that?
Turn to Hebrews 5. The writer to the Hebrews had
been speaking of Melchizedek, And he pauses and doesn't pick
up this subject again until chapter 7, and he says regarding Melchizedek,
of whom we have many things to say and hard to be uttered, seeing
you are dull of hearing. I've entitled this message, Dull
of hearing. Now, I want the Lord
to hear me, don't you? When I call upon His name, I
want Him to hear me. When I pray, I want Him to hear
me. I want to be heard by the living
God. I want to have an audience with
God, don't you? I want him to hear when I call. But there is
something that's more important than him hearing me. What is that? It's more important
for me to hear him. You see, what he has to say to
me is more important than what I have to say to him. Speak, Lord, thy servant heareth. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God. Proverbs 1.5 says a wise man
will hear. And Ecclesiastes 5.1 says, be
more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools. I just
read that passage from James chapter one. Be swift to hear. And slow to speak. And slow to
wrath. The Lord said, if any man have
ears to hear. That's the gift of God's grace.
If you're unable to hear, that's the gift of his grace. If any
man have ears to hear, let him hear. Our Lord said, he that's
of God, heareth God's words. And he said, you therefore hear
them not because you're not of God. Now, they heard him audibly.
They heard everything he said audibly, but they didn't hear
with hearing ears. They didn't hear spiritually. You know, the gospel is actually
called in the book of Galatians, the hearing of faith. Hearing. And the writer says to the Hebrews,
you have become dull of hearing. Now, How did they get that way? I don't know. But I know that
it can happen to me, and I know that it can happen to you. You
lose your ear. You become dull in hearing. Now,
I can become dull in the sense that you hear, but you don't
rejoice. It's not a joyful sound. It's
not a sound that you rejoice in. Blessed are they that know
the joyful sound. Oh, what is better in this life
to hear the gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit? I don't know
of anything better. I know this. I enjoy hearing
the gospel more than I do preaching the gospel. I really do. There's
nothing like hearing the gospel. And you can lose your ability
to hear in that way and you can lose a discriminating ear to
where you can not really be able to hear what is being said. Now, just this week, Lynn and
Aubrey and I were eating dinner together and there was a statement
that all of us heard. We heard the exact same thing,
all three of us, and every one of us Got something different
out of it, though. We didn't hear the same thing,
we heard the same thing, but we interpret it differently. As a matter of fact, if you would
say the same thing to 10 different people, they'd probably hear
10 different things. That's kind of scary, isn't it? How we hear depends upon the
frame of our mind. Our point of view. And the state
of our heart. You know, some people can audibly
hear the gospel of God's grace. They hear everything that's said. And they can see no difference
between what they're hearing and the message of salvation
by works. It's not a lack of intelligence.
It doesn't have anything to do with it. It's not having ears
to hear. And the writer of the Hebrews
says to these people, you have become dull in hearing. You can't receive this because
you've become dull in hearing. And that's a dreadful state to
be in. Perhaps you understand what it
means to be dull in hearing. You lose either the joy of what
you're hearing Or you lose the ability to understand and see
the difference and discern and discriminate in your hearing.
Now, he goes on to say 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, the ABC's the foundational
truths of the oracles of God and to become such as have need
of milk and not of strong meat. You ought to be teachers by now,
but you have to be taught again, what are the first principles?
The ABCs of the word of God. Now, if you have to be taught
the alphabet over and over and over again. How much progress
are you going to make? Now, you never leave the alphabet.
When you're in the second grade, you use the alphabet. When you're
in the third grade, you use the alphabet. When you're in college,
you use the alphabet. You never leave the alphabet,
do you? But if you're always having to
learn what the alphabet is, you're never going to get into the second
grade. I have to be grounded in the ABCs, the alphabet of
the gospel. And he says in verse 12, for
when the time you ought to be teachers, you have neither one
teach you again what be the first principles, the ABCs, the foundational
truths of the oracles of God and have become such as have
need of milk and not strong meat. You can't take the meat of the
word. Now, what does that mean? You can't take the meat of the
word. And here's an example. Here's an example of somebody
who can't take the meat of the word. If you don't forgive, you will
not be forgiven. The Lord makes that promise.
If I don't forgive somebody, my heavenly father will not forgive
me. Now that's the scripture. That's
what the word teaches, isn't it? I mean, the Lord said that.
No ifs, ands, and buts. Now, someone who can't take the
meat of the word will turn that somehow into salvation by works.
If I have to forgive, if I forgive somebody, then God's obligated
to forgive me. What they hear, they turn into
a work. And that's immaturity. That is maybe lostness, but it
could be immaturity too, where you can't, you turn everything
into a work. You can't hear. The meat of the
word, love your enemies. The meat of the word, take the
lowest seat in the house. The meat of the word. Forgive
the meat of the word, be merciful. We make a work out of it. Now,
that's because we don't have the ABC's down what he says in
verse 13. For everyone that uses milk is
unskillful. My marginal reading says has
no experience In the word of righteousness, for he's a babe.
He's an infant. Now the word unskillful, unexperienced. Think about this. What would you prefer if you
were going to have surgery tomorrow? You're going to have a very advanced
surgery. What would you prefer? Someone
who's done it a lot of times and has some experience in it
or somebody who's doing it for the very first time? Maybe a
resident. He's giving it a shot for the first time. No thanks.
No, thanks. I've experienced that before.
I remember when I first went to UK, I was only 28 years old
and I felt like the residents just, I was a guinea pig. No,
thanks. I want someone with some experience.
When I had that surgery about six years ago, the two Pauls
here found a doctor up in Cleveland Clinic that had performed that
surgery 2,500 times. That's where I went. I remember
the doctor here said, you don't want anybody here to do it because
they don't have enough experience at it. He told me to go somewhere
else. I want a surgeon with experience. If you're going to fly across
the Atlantic, you want a fellow who's flying a plane for the
first time? I don't. I want someone with much experience
at that. Now, he says regarding these
people who are not grounded in the ABCs of the word with a heart
understanding. He says they have no experience
in the word of righteousness. And I love that as the name of
the gospel, the word of righteousness. This book is the word of righteousness,
how a righteous God can make a sinful man righteous. But he
says, when you're not grounded here, you have no experience
in the word of righteousness. And that makes you an infant,
a big, immature, helpless baby. Now, we love babies, don't we?
We really do, we love babies. But we don't want them to stay
that way, do we? I mean, if they're infants 20 years later, there's
some problems. He's a babe, but verse 14, but
strong-meant belongs to them that are of full age or mature,
even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to
discern. Both good and evil. They have
their senses, their spiritual life, their senses, they they
can hear the difference between grace and works, they can hear,
they understand, they. They can feel when something's
not right, they can hear a message and they can they might not even
be able to articulate exactly what it is, but something's wrong,
something they feel it. They can smell the sweet savor
of Christ in a message. They can taste that He's gracious,
and they can taste when something tastes like poison, too. I want
this discerning ear, don't you? I want to be able to see the
difference myself. And I'm not talking about just
so I have more knowledge than somebody else. I'm talking about
a heart faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and understanding, with
the heart man believeth unto righteousness. That's how I want
to believe, and I want to have hearing ears. Senses exercise to discern between
good and evil. This is the opposite of dullness
of hearing. I don't want to be a dull hearer. And let's go on into chapter
six. Therefore. Leaving the principles. The word of the beginning. The
ABC's of the doctrine of Christ. Let us go on unto perfection. Now, once again, if I don't learn
the ABCs, I'm not going to learn how to read. Now, when I learn
how to read, do I leave the ABCs? No, the ABCs are foundational
in everything I say. I mean, I never leave the ABCs.
They're always there. But if I always have to be learning
the ABCs over and over and over again, the foundation having
to be laid again, I'm not going to grow. I'm going to be dull
in hearing. Paul says, whoever wrote this
Hebrew says we should not always be laying down the foundations
and the first principles. Now, he gives us in this passage
of Scripture six things that are the first principles. The
ABCs of the gospel, the ABCs of the word of God, the ABCs
of the righteous. of the word of righteousness.
And if I am going to be understanding the gospel. If I'm going to have
hearing ears and a receptive heart, I'm going to have to understand
these six things that he says in this passage of scripture.
And once again, let me, I'm not talking about an academic understanding.
I'm talking about a heart faith. Now you understand the heart
faith, but it's more than just giving a scent to the truth.
It's a hard understanding of what's being said. I tell you
what it is. It's an experience of these things. You don't really
believe any more than you experience. Remember, these people who were
dull of hearing didn't experience these things. And this is what
we want. We want to experience these things. This is the gospel.
Now, look at the first thing he mentions. In verse 6, Therefore,
leaving the ABCs of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto
perfection, maturity, not laying again the foundation. Now, what's
going to happen if you always have to lay a foundation over?
Superstructure is not going to go up, is it? I mean, if you're
always laying down the foundation, there's going to be no superstructure.
The foundation is to be laid once and the superstructure is
to be settled on it. But if you have to lay again,
there's problems. And here's the first thing he
mentions. Repentance. Repentance from dead works, that's
the first thing he mentions. Repentance from dead works. Now,
what's that mean? Repentance from dead works? Well,
repentance means what? You change your mind. It's that
simple. I used to believe that I had
a free will and that I could believe whenever it was, I decided
I was going to do it. I don't believe that anymore.
Don't believe it at all. I've changed my mind. A change
of mind now with that change of mind, there's a lot of other
things that take place, but what it is by definition. is a change
of mind. I used to believe this. I don't
believe it anymore. I used to believe salvation by
works. I don't believe it anymore. I used to believe that there's
something I could do to help contribute to my salvation. I
don't believe that anymore. Repentance. You change your mind. Now, what do you repent of? What
do you change your mind about? Dead works. Now, what are dead
works? Anything performed by the natural
man. Dead. You at the equinox are
dead in trespasses and sins. Anything that you think you do
that causes God to respond to you, anything that your old nature
did, that's a dead work. And this is what most people
believe. Now listen real carefully. Most people believe, most people
preach, that God loves everybody. That Jesus Christ died on the
cross for everybody's sins and paid for everybody's sins. But
as to whether or not you're saved, it's up to you as to whether
or not you decide to accept what he did or reject what he did.
Salvation is in your hands. Now, what that is, is dead works
that put salvation in your hands and beloved salvation is not
in your hands. It's up to the Lord as to whether
or not you'll be saved. Not your dead works. If you believe you're saved because
of an act of your will. You believe in dead works, you've
never repented of your dead works, you've never really repented
before God. The first thing is a repentance
from dead works, you see, you understand what I love to say
this, I say it all the time, say it again. Salvation does
not end with the forgiveness of sins. I don't do this, this
and this and then God forgives me. No. Salvation begins with
God forgiving you of your sins for Christ's sake, without reference
to anything you do. God doesn't forgive you because
you ask for forgiveness. God doesn't forgive you because
you're sorry over your sins. God forgives you because He willed
to do it for Christ's sake. Now, Anything salvation begins
with salvation. Salvation is not a process where
you end up here. Salvation begins with salvation. And anything
short of that is dead works. And the first thing I'm called
upon to do is to repent of dead works. Turn to Hebrews, Chapter nine. Verse 12, neither by the blood of goats
and calves, but by his own blood, he entered in once into the holy
place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. He obtained it. He procured it,
that means he got it. He got it. He obtained it. Now, this obtaining of this eternal
redemption, I wasn't even born when it took place. Let's go
on reading, verse 13. For if the blood of bulls and
goats and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifies
to the purifying of the flesh. He's talking about the ashes
of the red heifer It didn't actually purify the flesh, but it represented
purifying the flesh, what the Lord Jesus Christ did on the
cross. How much more, verse 14, shall the blood of Christ, who
through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God. Now you purge your conscience
from dead works to serve the living God. My redemption was
obtained when Christ died, and he presented his blood before
the Father as my redemption. Now, you've purged your conscience
from anything but that. Do you hear? Do you hear? Now, that's the gospel. Do you hear? And the next thing
he says in our text, verse six, Not laying again the foundation
of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God. Repentance and faith, faith toward
God. Now, listen very carefully. Faith
toward Christ is faith toward God. Jesus Christ is God. I love saying that. Jesus Christ
is God. He's the mighty creator of the
universe. And when I have faith toward
God, I have faith toward Christ. When I have faith toward Christ,
I have faith toward God. And here's the point. Yes, we
believe he's man. We believe he's bone of our bones
and flesh of our flesh. He's the man Christ Jesus, but
he is the God man. And that's how we believe in
his ability. Whatever he does must be successful because of
who he is. He's the God man. Faith toward
God. Now. You can't believe this real
carefully. You cannot believe. That he is
God. And believe that he can die for
you and you wind up in hell anyway. Can't be done. Can't be done. Because of who he is, whatever
he did must be successful. Now that's why all this Foolishness
that goes on in our day under the banner of the gospel. He
died for everybody. He paid for everybody's sins.
But now you need to do something to make what he did work for
you is false. There's no salvation in that
message. That's not faith toward God. Now, when we trust his righteousness,
we're trusting the righteousness of God. That's why Paul said,
oh, that I may win Christ and be found in him, not having my
own righteousness. which is of the law, but that
which is through the faithfulness of Christ, the righteousness
which is of God by faith. We trust Him as God. Is God able to save you? Is God
able to save you with no help from you? That's how we trust
the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith toward God. Now, the leper understood this.
I love that passage of Matthew 8 where he said, He knew who
he was. Lord, if you will, you can make
me clean. And the reason you can is because
you're God. That thief on the cross understood
this. He was hanging on that tree looking
at that one bloodied civilian. You couldn't even recognize him.
And he said to his other thief beside him who was cursing him
and making fun of him, he said, Don't you fear God? This is God
hanging on this tree. Don't you fear God seeing you're
in the same condemnation? For we indeed justly, we're getting
what we deserve. But this man had done nothing
amiss. He understood that the Lord Jesus Christ was sinless. And he said, Lord, remember me
when you come in your kingdom. You're going to succeed. He knew
that. You're going to succeed. Remember
me when you return as a mighty king. You see, he had faith in
God, didn't he? Everybody that's ever been saved
has known by the revelation of God that Jesus Christ is God
Almighty. And the only way you can have
faith in him is as having faith In God, he is God. Now, verse two, here's the third
thing he mentions. First, repentance from dead works,
and if I'm not grounded in that, I've not learned the ABCs. And
then he speaks of faith in God, toward God, and then he talks
about the doctrine of baptisms. The doctrine. The teaching of
baptisms and notice he says baptisms in the plural. There are three
baptisms in the New Testament. First, there is the water baptism. To be baptized means to be immersed,
submerged, and you emerge back out. Water baptism. Talk some about that Sunday.
is given to illustrate union with the Lord Jesus Christ. When
I confess, when I'm baptized, I confess all my hope is that
when Christ lived, I lived. When he died under the wrath
of God, I did. When he was raised from the dead,
I was. That's what I confess in Believer's
Baptism. Baptism is so important. No,
baptism doesn't save, but that doesn't take away from the importance
of it. Our Lord said, Whoso believeth and is baptized, the same shall
be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. So never underestimate the importance
of this thing of baptism. Baptism by immersion And then
the baptism of fire that our Lord talked about in Luke chapter
12, when he says, I've come to kindle fire on the earth, I have
a baptism to be baptized with. And how is my soul straightened
till it be accomplished? The Lord Jesus Christ was immersed
under the wrath of God. And he was submerged completely
under the wrath of God. Why? Because my sin, the sins
of those the Father gave him, became his sin. He became guilty of that sin. Now, God has the authority to
do that. He can take my sin and lift it
off of me and place it upon Christ, and that's exactly what He did.
The Lord emerged from it, though. Now, the reason hell is eternal
is because you and I can never pay the debt. We can never satisfy
God. I've said this before. If somebody murdered Aubrey and
they offered me $5,000,000 would that satisfy me? $10,000,000?
$100,000,000? No. The only thing that would
satisfy me is if he was raised from the dead. Now, Christ satisfied
the wrath of God and he was raised from the dead. He emerged from
the wrath of God. And you know what else? Everybody
he died for emerged with him. The doctrine of baptisms, and
then there's the baptism of the Holy Spirit. That's all the saving
operations of the Holy Spirit being immersed in the Spirit.
All three of these baptisms teach the same thing. Union with the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, somebody says, what do you
mean by union? Well, let me show you. Hebrews chapter 7. And as I may so say, Levi also
who receives tithes. Remember, he's the Levitical
priesthood. All the children of Israel had to pay tithes to
the Levites. They didn't have to pay tithes. People paid tithes
to them. And as I may so say, Levi also who received tithes
paid tithes in Abraham. Now, do you hear what he says?
He says when Abraham paid those tithes, Levi paid those tithes. It doesn't say it was credited
to his count. It said he actually did it. And
this is what union with Christ means. When he kept the law,
I did, too. When he died, I did, too, I really
did. When he was raised, I was raised,
too, as he seated at the right hand of the father, I'm right
there with him, united to him. And, you know, you really can't
understand anything in the gospel apart from an understanding of
this thing of union with the Lord Jesus Christ. being one
with him, the doctrine of baptisms. And then back to Hebrews chapter
six, here's the fourth thing he mentions, the doctrine of
the laying on of hands. The doctrine of the laying on
of hands. Now, what is this laying on of
hands? Does it mean that I put my hands on somebody and somehow
they have some kind of gift transferred to them and all of a sudden they're
No, this is talking about what took place in the Old Testament.
Turn with me to Leviticus chapter 3. Verse one, and his oblation be
a sacrifice of peace offering if he offered of the herd, whether
it be a male or female, he shall offer it without blemish before
the Lord and he shall lay his hand upon the head of his offering
and kill it at the door at the tabernacle of the congregation.
It was without blemish. He laid his hand on it and this
signified the transferring of the guilt. That's what laying
hands means. Verse eight of the same chapter.
And he shall lay his hand upon the head of the offering, verse
13, and he shall lay his hand upon the head of it and kill
it before the tabernacle of the congregation. Look in chapter
four, verse twenty nine. And he shall lay his hand upon
the head of the sin offering and slay the sin offering in
the place of the burnt offering. Turn to Leviticus, chapter 16.
This is the one I mainly want you to see. This is on the great
day of atonement. Verse 21. And Aaron shall lay
both his hands upon the head of the live goat. Remember, there
were two goats, one was slain, one was alive, called the scapegoat,
and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of
Israel and all their transgressions in all their sins. putting them
upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand
of a fit man into the wilderness, and the goat shall bear upon
him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited, and he
shall let go the goat in the wilderness." Now, the doctrine
of the laying on of hands, my sin, my sin, the sins I've
committed today, The horrible sins I've committed today and
yesterday and all the sins that I'll commit tomorrow and all
the sins that I'll commit until the day I die. All my sin was
transferred onto the head of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he
actually became guilty of those sins. And he bore, he never sinned. He never committed the sin, but
he was made sin. And he bore all the hell that's
in my heart. It was made to be his. It was
transferred to him. That's what the laying on of
hands signifies. And his righteousness, his perfect obedience, his law
keeping is transferred to me. And I am righteous before God. Now, the only way I can get ahold
of that is by faith, because I sure don't feel righteous before
God. But I am righteous before God because of the laying on
of hands. My sin. I didn't do it. God did
this. And God can do it. I never will. This preacher's been caught up
in some kind of scandal. He said, I put my sins under
the blood. I thought, you can't do that.
You don't have the authority to do that. But God does. God does. He took my sin and
my sorrow. He made him his very own. He
bore the burden to Calvary and suffered and died alone. And
then next, he speaks in verse two of the resurrection of the
dead. These are the ABCs of the gospel. Repentance from dead works, faith
toward God, the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands and of
the resurrection of the dead. Now, there are three resurrections
spoken of in scripture. First, the physical, bodily resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I love to think about this.
He's laying there in that tomb, dead. And all of a sudden, he
opens his eyes. Darken there. Gets up. Takes the grave clothes off.
And walks out. Now, why was he raised? Because
all my sin was paid for. He was delivered for our offenses,
and He was raised again for our justification. Oh, the physical
resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. God said, I'm satisfied
with what He did, and I'm satisfied with everybody He did it for.
And then there's spiritual resurrection. And you have He quickened. You
have He given life to who were dead in trespasses and sins. And this is what the new birth
is. You were dead in sins. What can a dead man do? Dead
man, he can stink, but he can't do anything else. He can't believe.
He can't repent. He doesn't have a drop of love
in him. This thing of the resurrection of the dead, God puts life there
that was not there before. The new birth, he gives you a
new heart and now you believe. Now, you love God, you love him
as he's revealed in the word. Why? Because you've been given
a new heart. Resurrection from the dead. And
then there's the final physical resurrection, the last day. Now,
we're going to die. What a blessing if we're in Christ,
we're going to die and these bodies are going to turn to dirt,
turn to dust. Nobody will remember us. We're
going to die 50 years. If I die and the Lord doesn't
come back for 50 years, you reckon anybody will mention my name?
I feel quite sure they won't. Nobody will remember us, but
the Lord does. The Lord does. He's not going to forget me.
And when the Lord comes back, the body of every believer is
going to be raised incorruptible. I'm going to be raised to be
just like Christ. Now, the body of the unbeliever
It's called the resurrection of damnation. They're raised
to suffer God's wrath eternally. But the believer is raised up
to be like Christ forever, the final resurrection. And then
last, he speaks of in verse two, eternal judgment. And don't miss this word, eternal
judgment, not just judgment, but eternal judgment. God is
eternal. He's not confined to time. There
are no sequence of events to him. Everything is in the present,
no past, no future. Now, do we understand that? Not
at all. We can't even begin to grasp
that we're creatures of time, but God is eternal. He never
had a beginning. And everything the believer has,
he's had eternally. You know, I just read about eternal
redemption. He has obtained eternal redemption. 2 Timothy 1.9 says, He saved
us and He called us with a holy calling, not according to our
works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given
us in Christ Jesus before the world began. Everything I have,
was given me in Christ Jesus before the world began. I've always been in Christ. And
if the Lord had to wait till I was alive and give me whatever it is He's going
to give me, He couldn't give it to me. Because the Scripture
says He will by no means clear the guilty. In Christ, I'm eternally
saved. I'm eternally justified. I'm
eternally holy. Now, if somebody takes that and
says, well, then I don't need to worry about believing. You
don't even have the right to suspect that God has anything
but wrath for you until you believe the gospel. But if you believe,
I can tell you this, you've always been loved. You've always been
accepted in the beloved. You see, everything God does
is eternal because he's eternal. Now, if in my heart I and able
to grasp this, to repent of my dead works and look to Christ
only. I trust Him as God. Therefore, what He does must
be successful. I understand union within the
doctrine of baptism. I don't understand it, but I
believe it. I believe it. Eternally united to Him. If I
can get a hold of this thing of the laying on of hands, that
my sin was placed upon Christ, transferred to Him, and He put
it away. And his righteousness is given
to me. If I can understand this thing
of the resurrection of the dead. Christ was raised from the dead
for my justification. And I'm given a new heart, I'm
raised from the dead spiritually, something that wasn't there before,
and I'm enabled to hear. And one of these days I'm going
to be raised from the dead incorruptible and be made just like Christ.
And it's some, not an understanding, but a belief that everything
God does is eternal. It's eternal. Now, if by the grace of God,
I can lay hold upon that, you know what I'm doing? I'm hearing.
I'm hearing. I don't want to be dull of hearing,
do you? Speak, Lord, thy servant heareth. Do you hear what's being
said? May God grant us all hearing
ears. Our Lord said, He that hath ears
to hear. Do you have ears to hear? I mean,
is what I said good news to you? Is this the gospel? God gave
you those hearing ears. You know, there's a lot of folks
who hear this message and say, well, I don't see any difference
between that and what anybody else is preaching. Don't have
hearing ears. May God give us these hearing
ears to believe His gospel. Let's pray together.