Turn to Hebrews chapter 5. Remember, next week is daylight
savings time. Everybody gets an extra hour
sleep for that one night. And it could be that the auditorium
will be ready next week. Maybe. If everything goes right,
which it probably won't, but if everything goes right, we
could be there. So I don't know. I hope so. Hebrews
chapter 5. I want to read verses 10 and 11. Called of God and high priest. After the order of Melchizedek. Of whom Melchizedek, we have
many things to say, and hard to be uttered seeing
you are dull of hearing. I have entitled this message,
Dull of Hearing. of hearing, sluggish, slow, no
emotional connection between what we hear and what we feel,
no discernment, not being able to tell the difference between
that which is of God and that which is not of God. Now, the writer says there are
many things to be said regarding Melchizedek, but it's difficult
to do so because you have become dull in hearing, is the way that
literally reads. Not that you've always been that
way, but you've digressed. You have become dull of hearing. You're not quick to hear. And
this is the same thing Paul said to the Corinthians in 1st Corinthians
chapter 3. Would you hold your finger there
in Hebrews 5 and turn to 1st Corinthians chapter 3. Verse 1. And I, brethren. 1st Corinthians 3 verse 1. And
I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual. But
as unto carnal. Even as unto babes in Christ,
infants, I fed you with milk and not with meat. For hitherto
you were not able to bear it, neither yet 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, he says to these people, your babies, your children, You
don't have understanding or discernment that an adult has, and that is
what has happened to the Hebrews. They were unable to hear what
they should hear regarding this glorious figure Melchizedek. Because they were dull of hearing,
they couldn't receive what was being said. Now, let's go back
to Hebrews 5, verse 12. He says, for when for the time
you ought to be teachers. You have need that one teach
you again, which be the first principles, the first. Elements,
the ABCs of the oracles or the words of God, and you become
such as have need of milk. and not strong meat. He's saying you have to be taught
again the ABCs. You have to be taught again the
first principles of the oracles of God. A baby cannot digest
solid food. It can only handle milk. Now
we love babies. We really do love babies. But
what if they stay babies? What if they're 20 years old
and you're changing their diaper? There's a real problem, isn't
there? Now, he's saying to these people, you're not growing. You're
not growing. And that scene in your hearing,
you've become dull of hearing. Look at verse 13. For everyone
that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness. He's a babe. He's an infant.
Now, that word unskillful means inexperienced. If you're inexperienced,
that means you haven't really done it. You know, when you look
for a doctor, I remember when we were looking for a doctor
for my surgery, it was so good to have a doctor who had some
experience. I mean, he told me I've done this over 2000 times.
That made me feel good. He had some experience. If somebody
said, well, this is the first time, I'd say, man, I want to
go somebody else. You know, I want some experience. Experience,
he said. Now you have no. If all you use
is milk, you have no experience in the word of righteousness.
And I love this name of the gospel. The word of righteousness. This
gospel, the word of righteousness, tells how many a sinner can actually
be righteous before God. I'm awfully interested in that,
aren't you? The word of. Righteousness. Now, he says in
verse 14, strong meat. Belongeth to them who are of
full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised
to discern both good and evil. Strongly like what he wanted
to say about Melchizedek. He said this is for the mature.
This is for those who have grown up, those who by reason of use,
or experience, or habit, or practice, have their senses, their spiritual
senses, they've been exercised. You know what exercise does? It develops the body. It develops
the body. If you don't exercise, you're
going to lack development. If you exercise, It develops
your body. That's what he's saying, the
same thing spiritually. You're to have your spiritual senses
exercised or to develop so you can discern the difference between
good and evil. So you can hear with a discerning
ear. Now, I want to hear with a discerning
ear, don't you? I want to be able to know if
what I'm hearing comes from God or if it comes from man. Now,
an immature ear, when I'm dull in hearing, I can't hear the
difference. When I'm given hearing ears,
spiritual discernment, I know the difference. Now, when I have
matured, I can see what the gospel is and I can also see what it's
not. I can smell that which is a sweet
savor of Christ and I can smell that which is decaying. and smells
like death and is contrary to the gospel. When my spiritual senses are
exercised, I can hear the gospel. And I hear it as gospel. And
I can hear that which is not the gospel. I can taste His grace. And I can also taste the bitterness
of salvation by works. I can feel the pleasure of the
gospel of Christ, and I can feel the pain of that which is contrary
to the gospel of Christ. Now, the spiritual baby cannot
discern well. That's what he's rebuking them
for. They cannot discern well. Their spiritual senses have not
been exercised. They've been dulled. The glory
of Christ is preached and there's no connection. We lose our appreciation
for divine things. The spiritual baby cannot discern.
He has difficulty distinguishing between law and grace. He hears
of the sovereignty of God and he turns it into fatalism. He
hears of the importance of human responsibility and cries out,
that works. Now listen to me real carefully.
Error is so subtle. And it scares me. Error is so
subtle that quite often error is seen not by what is said,
but by what's left out. That's scary. It may be that
everything the guy says is true. But he doesn't say that which
is vital to preaching the truth. And you might agree with everything
he says, and yet he doesn't say the gospel. Now, I want to have
discerning ears, don't you? I want to be quick to hear, quick
to hear the word of God. I want to have discernment. Now, these people had become
dull in hearing, and that is the first step towards apostasy. Dull. in hearing." And he said,
you have need that one teach you again, over again, what are
the first principles of the gospel of Christ. And here's where the
problem was. They had never become grounded
in these first principles. And that's why they were dull
in hearing. Look back in verse 12 once again. For when the time
you ought to be teachers, you have the 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 of strong
meat. Now look down in verse one of
chapter six. Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine
of Christ, Let us go on unto perfection or maturity, leaving
these first principles. Now, what does he mean, leave
these first principles? Does he mean we never go over
those again? Not at all. He means we shouldn't have to
be laying the foundation again, over and over and over again.
Now, what are the first principles? Now, that word means literally
the ABCs, the fundamental truth, the ABCs. The alphabet, if I
don't learn the alphabet, I'm never going to learn to read
very well, am I? I never get away from the alphabet. Every
time I read, I have to have some understanding the alphabet, you
know, but but if I'm always if I if I'm crossed up on the alphabet,
I'm never going to learn to read well. It ought to become natural. And, you know, I was thinking
it's so easy. The ABCs, I know I'm not even thinking about them.
I mean, they're natural to me. And this is what he's saying.
These principle truths. The truth of the gospel, these
six foundational truths ought to just come natural to you.
And if they don't, you're going to be dull in hearing. You're
not going to be quick to hear. Now, let's read chapter six,
verses one and two together. Therefore, leaving the principles,
the ABCs of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on to maturity, perfection,
not laying again. Now, there's the point, not having
to lay this again, the foundation. Now, the foundation is what the
superstructure is built upon, and if I'm always laying the
foundation, that superstructure is not going to come up. The
foundation is what's most important. The most important part of a
building is what? The foundation. I mean, if the
foundation is not good, I don't care how good that building looks,
it's going to crack and crumble, it's going to have problems.
The foundation, that which you can't see, is more important
than anything else. He says, not laying again the
foundation of one repentance from dead works to faith toward
God, three, the doctrine of baptisms for the doctrine of the laying
on of hands, five, the resurrection of the dead and six eternal judgment. And this will do. If God permit. You know, I'm not going to be
grounded unless God causes me to be. Neither will you. We'll
go on to maturity if God permits. And I thought about this. Do
you know, we're just as dependent upon God for spiritual maturity
as we are on God for election. That's how dependent we are for
this thing of spiritual maturity. Now, what I want us to do is
to consider these six foundational truths. This is the gospel. There's no understanding of the
gospel without these six foundational truths. And if I'm not grounded
in this, I will never reach maturity. And I'll tell you this also,
this thing of growth. He's saying you're not growing.
If I don't grow, you know what that means? I got no life. Living things grow. Dead things
stay the same. Now, here's the first foundational
truth he mentions that you and I must be grounded in. I think this is interesting.
The first thing he mentions is repentance from dead works. First thing he mentions. Repentance,
a change of mind regarding dead works, you change your mind about
your dead works and you see them for what they are. Dead Now, Hebrews chapter 9 gives
us a little more light as to what he means by this phrase,
dead works. Verse 13, Hebrews chapter 9,
verse 13, For if the blood of bulls and of goats And the ashes
of an heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctify through 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, here's how I'm clean. By
Christ offering himself without spot to God. Now, what's he say
next? Purge your conscience. from dead
works to serve the living God. The only way I can be clean before
God is through the blood of Christ, not my dead works. Now you listen
to me real carefully. Dead works are any works that
we think contributes to, adds to, or enhances our salvation
in the beginning, in the middle, or the end. That's a dead work. And let me give you some examples.
Most people in Lexington, Kentucky, and in the entire world believe
that Jesus Christ shed his blood for everybody without exception. But you need as an act of your
will to accept him. And that's what will make his
blood work for you. That is a dead work, repent of
it. It is contrary to the gospel. It is contrary to faith in Christ. You see, your salvation doesn't
begin with you doing anything. Your cleanness before God is
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and nothing else. Somebody else
says, well, salvation is by grace. But we become progressively more
holy by our acts of personal obedience. We can make ourselves
more holy and less sinful by what we do. Oh, since when can
you become more holy? That's a denial of what holiness
is in the first place. That is a dead work. You're saying I'm enhancing my
salvation that way. Here's another dead work. Believers
are going to be given different rewards in heaven based upon
their works here on earth. Somebody's going to get a higher
position in glory because they did something that somebody else
didn't do it. That's a dead work. Repent of it. Change your mind
about that foolishness. That's what he's saying. Repent
of dead works. Now, listen to me. This is very
important. If I believe that I was saved,
When I did not believe the gospel of God's grace, I was saved though,
I've not repented of my dead works. Now that's just the truth. And this is where he begins.
Repent of your dead works. Have I repented of my dead works?
You know, I'm having to repent of them all the time. Repentance is continual. It's
continual. And the first thing he speaks
of when he talks about this spiritual maturity and being grounded is
to repent of dead works. And until you repent of dead
works by the grace of God, you're never going to have the discernment
to be able to hear. You're going to be dull, sluggish,
slow of hearing. You're not quick to hear, but
you're going to be slow to hear. Now, let's look what he says
next, Hebrews chapter six. Therefore, verse one, leaving
the ABCs of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on to maturity, not
laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and
of faith toward God. Now, what happens when you repent
of your dead works? You believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. Is that what faith toward God is? Faith in Christ is faith
toward God. When I repent of my dead works,
I rely on Jesus Christ only as everything in my salvation. That's
what I do when I repent of my dead works. I have faith toward
God. I have faith. And this is what
I'm doing right now while I'm talking to you. I hope this is
true. This is what I'm confessing.
God knows whether it's true or not. I am relying on the God-man
as my salvation before God. I have faith that who He is,
And what he did is everything in my salvation. And I repent
of anything that's contrary to that. You see, wherever you have
repentance, you have faith. They always go together. You
repent. You change your mind. You believe
the Gospel. You have a change of mind about
your dead works. You see them for what they are
as dead, as powerless in giving me any acceptance before God.
And I look. I rely upon Jesus Christ only. I trust Him. I'm trusting Him,
the God-man, as my salvation before God. I love what those two blind men
said to the Lord. They come in. It's Matthew chapter
9. They come in, groping their way
in. They couldn't see. I can identify
with that. You're just groping your way
in. I know I've got to get to Him. But I'm blind. I'm just
groping in. How they got in there, I don't
know. But here they come into the house where the Lord was,
blind as bats. And the Lord said, Do you believe
that I am able to do this? Do you believe that He is able
to save you without your works? I love their answer. Yay, Lord! That's faith. I believe He is
able to save me. He's God. Can God fail? Remember,
faith in Christ is faith in God. Believing Christ is believing
God. So wherever you have this repentance from dead works, you're
also going to have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, back
to look in Hebrews 6, verse 2. Here's the third ABC or foundational
truth, the doctrine of baptisms, the doctrine or the teaching
of baptisms, and notice it's in the plural. There are several
baptisms taught in Scripture. There's baptism by immersion.
The only baptism the Word of God knows anything of is by water
immersion, going down and coming back up underneath the water.
You know, when you bury somebody, you don't sprinkle dirt on them,
do you? You bury them. You cover them up. If they're
raised, they come up. Baptism by immersion. That's
our confession of Christ. And I'm going to talk about that
in just a moment. There is being baptized into Christ, being baptized
into the Spirit. Scripture speaks of those things.
But what is the teaching of baptisms? What does baptism actually teach?
Baptism teaches union. with the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
the teaching. That's the elementary fundamental
teaching. Baptism by mercy is my public
confession of Christ. Now let me show you this. Turn
with me to Mark chapter one. Mark chapter one. Here's what
baptism is all about. Verse five. And there went out
unto him all the land of Judea and they of Jerusalem, and were
all baptized of Him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now, here's what happens when
you're baptized. First, before you go under the water, you've
got to get up and tell everybody what you've done. You know better
than that, don't you? That's foolishness. You don't
get up and confess your sins to any man. And I say this, make
sure you never look at me as a priest, because I'm not one. Somebody wants to give people
feel like they want to confess their sins to the preacher. Don't
do it. I can't do anything for you. And all you're going to
do is make me like you. And I'm already like you. You see, don't do that
kind of stuff. You confess your sin to God.
Nobody else can do you good. But the act of baptism is the
act of confession of sins. When I am baptized, I confess,
now listen to me real carefully, I confess publicly that I am
so sinful that the only way that I can be saved is through the
life of Christ, His righteousness counted to me, through the death
of Christ, His being punished for my sins. When he lived, I
lived. This is what I'm confessing in
baptism. Here's my life before God. My life before God is the
life of the Lord Jesus Christ. My righteousness before God is
the obedience of Christ. If you want to know the truth
about me, read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and there you'll
read my history. That's my life before God, the righteousness
of Jesus Christ. My only sin payment before God
is the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. When He died, I died. When He was raised, I was raised. That's what I confess in baptism.
The doctrine of baptisms is the doctrine of union with the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, here's my hope. I John 4,
17 says, as He is, so are we in this world. Is He the righteousness of God?
Then I am. Did He die and pay for sin? I
did. This is our hope. Union with
the Lord Jesus Christ as He is, so are we in this world. And oh, what joy there is in
this. What peace there is in this?
I get such peace in this. If you tell me that my righteousness
is like His righteousness, I don't get any peace out of that. If
you tell me that it's just as if I never sinned, I don't really
get any peace out of that because I know I did. But if you tell
me that His life is my life before God, His precious blood is my
sin payment, Life before God right now is my inner... I'm
in heaven. I'm in heaven. Literally? Literally. Because
if He's there, I'm there. That's what Ephesians 2, 6 says.
It says we're seated together in the heavens in Christ Jesus.
Now, you get a hold of this. You'll have such joy. You'll
have such peace. And you hear. You see, union
with Christ is the key to understanding every doctrine in the Bible.
How do you understand election apart from being chosen in him?
How do you understand justification apart from being justified by
his righteousness? Redemption, redeemed by his blood,
united to him. Every doctrine in the Bible is
understood in light of this, the doctrine of baptisms. It's
very simple. Now, look what he says next in
our text. the doctrine of baptisms and the doctrine of the laying
on of hands. Now, what in the world? This
is a fundamental truth taught in the Bible, this thing of laying
on of hands. I know what we think of when we think of laying on
of hands. We think of where somebody's being ordained to the ministry
or something and they lay their hands on them. Is that what he's
talking about? That's a foundational truth.
No, that's not what he's talking about. What is taught in the
laying on of hands? Well, the first thing that is
taught is where the priest would lay his hands on the head of
the sacrifice. Now, what did that typify? It meant the sins of everybody
he represented were transferred to that sacrifice. It means transference. When the apostles laid their
hands on the head of somebody so that the Holy Ghost was given,
the gifts of the Holy Spirit, nobody could have these supernatural
gifts unless they had an apostle lay their hands on them. And
what happened? There was the transference of
something. And this is a foundational truth in the Scripture, the transference. Transference. It is the doctrine
of the transference of something from one place to another. Now, here's the hope of the gospel,
and this is a foundational truth. The transference of my sin to
the Lord Jesus Christ. My sin. God lifted it off of me. and
He placed it upon the Lord Jesus Christ, who His own self bare
our sins in His own body on the tree. Why did He die? He died. He died under the wrath of God.
Why did He die? Did God look at Him and say,
I know you're innocent, but I'm charging Todd's sins to you?
That would be wrong. I'd be unjust for Him to die
for something somebody else did. No. On the cross, He became guilty. My sins became His so that He
became guilty. Are you saying that Jesus Christ
became the sinner? No, worse. Worse. He became sin. That's what the Bible teaches.
For he hath made him to be sin." All the hell that sin is, he
was made to be. And God poured His wrath on him
because he had it coming to him. It's a transference. My sin became
His. And just as truly as my sin became
His, His righteousness becomes mine. So that I am the very righteousness
of God. That's what the scripture teaches.
Now, is that salvation or what? Being made the righteousness
of God. That's my righteousness before
God. I am righteous. God doesn't look at me as sinful, but I know
I'm going to take the righteousness of my son. No. I'm righteous
before God. Just as He truly was made sin,
everybody He died for has made the very righteousness of God
in Him. And until I'm grounded there,
I can't discern the difference. I can't hear. Now, this is absolutely
critical in not being dull of hearing, understanding this thing
of transference. Substitution is another word
for it. All it is is substitution. He became what I am. I become
what He is. substitution. Now, the third
thing he mentions is or the fifth thing he mentions is the resurrection
of the dead. Look in our text of the doctrine
of baptisms of the laying on hands and of the resurrection
of the dead. Now, in the Bible, there are
three resurrections taught. The bodily resurrection of the
Lord Jesus Christ. The spiritual resurrection of
the believer in the new birth. and the final resurrection on
Resurrection Day. Now, what do they mean? What
is the teaching of the resurrection? Until I'm grounded in the resurrection,
I'm going to be dull of hearing. May God give us grace to be utterly
grounded right here. The resurrection of the dead.
Now, our Lord Jesus Christ, it's true, He died. He died under
the wrath of God. Who can understand that? You
know, when I'm talking about all this kind of stuff, I'm just
always mystified by it because I don't understand it. I believe
it, but I don't understand it. I can't enter into this. How
did the Son of God die? How was He made sin? I don't
know, but He was. How did He die? I don't know,
but He did. And they put Him in that grave, and there He lay
for three days, dead, stone cold dead. The Son of God, dead. Oh my, I have a hard time getting
a hold of that, don't you? He who is life, he who never
began to be, is dead. He's laying there dead three
days in that dark tomb. And all of a sudden he opens
his eyes. Isn't that glorious to think about? He was raised
from the dead. He gets up, takes his grave clothes
off, walks out of that tomb. What's that mean? Turn to Romans
chapter 4. Verse 25, "...who was delivered for our
offenses, and was raised again for our justification." When
Christ was raised from the dead, everybody He died for, you know
what they were? They were justified. Now, that's the teaching of the
resurrection. When he was raised from the dead,
there's my justification. That's my justification before
God. And then there is the spiritual resurrection of the believer.
Ephesians 2, 1 says, and you have he quickened who were what?
Dead in trespasses and sins. And he gave you life. You were
raised from the dead. Now, that's the point. What's
it? Only God can raise somebody from the dead. in my experience
as far as spiritual resurrection. I didn't cooperate in this thing.
He said, live! And I lived. It's a work of God. Only God can raise somebody from
the dead. He raised me from the dead. There was a time when I
didn't believe. I do now. There was a time when I did not
love. I do now. There was a time when I never
repented. I do now. Why? I've been raised
from the dead. And then there's that final resurrection. Aren't you looking forward to
that? Times coming, when the trump
is going to sound, I'm going to die, you're going to die,
physically. It's coming. And I'm going to be raised, every
believer is going to be raised incorruptible. This mortal shall
put on immortality and this corruptible, must put on incorruption. I'm
going to awake in this resurrection in the likeness of the Lord Jesus
Christ. God's purpose will be realized. I will be just like the Lord
Jesus Christ in my experience. Now I am, but I can't see it
right now. I'm justified, but I can't see
my justification. All I can see in me is sin. That's
it. I believe I am. I can't see that I'm holy, but
I believe I am through the gospel. Now, when I'm raised from the
dead, all the stuff I believe I will experience. Faith will no longer be needed.
Faith will be turned into sight. Oh, the glorious resurrection. And then the last thing he mentions
in verse two is eternal judgment. Eternal judgment. And that word
internal is very important. Eternal judgment. What does judgment mean? It means
the passing of the sentence. Guilty or not guilty. Justified or condemned. What does eternal mean? Eternal
means no starting point. No ending point. Now, this is
a very hard thing for us to grasp. As a matter of fact, we can't
grasp it. Eternity. Eternity. God never began to
exist, did he? He's always been. And you know
that everything before him is always right now. There's no
past. There's no present. Everything's
in the present. There's no future. There's no
future. God is eternal. For creatures of time, that's
a hard thing to get hold of. God is eternal. Now, what was
the subject of eternity past? Well, Revelation 13, 8 speaks
of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Before there was
ever one, before there was this thing called time, God's purpose,
God's glory was the Lamb slain. Christ is the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. Before there was any time, before
we had any existence, Christ was the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. And what's going to be the subject
of eternity future? Worthy is the Lamb that was slain. The subject of eternity past,
the subject of eternity future is the same thing And the subject
of the eternities was accomplished in time. God decreed that Christ
would die and represent his elect and put away their sins, and
he came in time and did it. Everything God decrees must take
place. Now, I like the way this is called
eternal. Eternal. Eternal judgment. You see, everything God does
is eternal. He is eternal. I was judged before the foundation
of the world. You see, all judgment took place
on the cross. All of God's elect were justified. All of those
who refused to bow to neither cross are condemned. All this
took place before time began, and it all be realized in eternity,
and what I'm talking about, I don't even know what I'm talking about.
I mean, I realize that. I mean, it's just, it's above
my ability to think. But everything God does is eternal.
You believe in an eternal justification? You believe the elect were eternally
justified before God? Yes, I do, because God's eternal.
Do you believe in eternal salvation? Of course I do. God's eternal.
This is who God is. But what about, but what about,
I don't know how to explain it all. Yes, I must believe in time. Yes, I must repent. Yes, I must
bow beneath Christ. But my salvation is an eternal
salvation. We read of eternal redemption. Everything God does is eternal. Eternal judgment. All judgment
took place on the cross. It's what was before time began
and it's what will be after time began. And that's one of the
things you just, you got to swallow it. You can't understand it.
Just swallow up the pill whole. This is what God's word teaches
and we bow. Now, what assurance, what confidence
I have in a salvation that was already completed before I was
able to mess it up. Don't you have assurance in that?
A salvation that was completed outside of your personal subjective
experience. I have such confidence in that.
And here's what my personal subjective experience is. It makes me happy.
It makes me have peace. It makes me have joy. Now, these
six foundational truths, if I have to be taught these over and over
again because I'm having a hard time, I don't know if I believe
it, I'm always going to be dull of hearing. And I'll be unable
to discern the difference between that which is true and that which
is false. And I don't want that. I want
to go on to perfection. I want to go on to maturity. I want to be quick to hear the
Word of God. Now, he said, let's go on to
perfection, not having to lay again the foundation of repentance
from dead works, of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms
and the doctrine of laying on of hands and of the resurrection
of the dead and of eternal judgment. And this will do. We'll go on
to perfection if God permit. We're placed right back where
we began. We're totally dependent upon
the grace of God. And I say, Lord, Make me this
way. Make me this way. Let's pray
together. Lord, we ask in the name of your
Son that we might be grounded O Lord, that we might be grounded
in repentance from dead works, and of faith in thy blessed Son,
in your glorious teachings of union with the Lord Jesus and
the transference of his righteousness to us. Lord, that we might glory
truly to glory in the resurrection of the dead of our Lord, and
all the benefits we have in that, and of eternal judgment. Lord,
we don't understand these things, but we believe and we bow. And Lord, give us the grace to
go on to maturity, to perfection. Lord, give us hearing ears and
discerning hearts. Lord, cause us to be quick to
hear and slow to speak. Bless this message for Christ's
sake. In His blessed name we pray. Amen.