There's so much to say on this next topic that I'm tempted, of course, to go into a large dissertation on this point. But it's so absolutely vital to your spiritual health. I want to, for many of you, it's necessary, frankly, to introduce the topic in just a bite-sized way. And the reason is, is because It involves the worst spiritual condition anyone can be in. The worst spiritual condition. And yet many Christians, I would say most Christians today, are in that condition. And that is the condition that when you reach the point where you are no longer willing to hear the voice of God. You're no longer willing to hear the voice of the Spirit in the text. Instead, you are comfortable. You are settled. You are entrenched in your religious tradition or your way of doing things. And you're quite even smug, again, frankly, about your eternal state. This was the consistent pattern throughout redemptive history of God's people. It happened in the wilderness, it happened throughout the monarchy, It happened during the ministry of Jesus. The people simply were dull of hearing. Now, let's just take a few minutes and look at some passages so we can begin to see the theme that this is, the underlying theme underneath the gospel itself, the good news of the gospel, whereby by the mercies of God we are given ears to hear, eyes to see, is the need for that to occur on a sovereign grace level due to the fact that our spiritual condition is such that we will not hear the gospel, we will not respond to the gospel if there isn't a prior work of grace. Now the reason I bring this up is because we are living in a time in church history when it is probably worse than it's ever been in church history. Maybe the dark ages, maybe those years just prior to the Reformation where we saw a glimpse of light at least for a few years and then returned to the darkness in the form of institutionalism. So let's look at beginning with Hebrews chapter 5. Again what I want to introduce you to is this concern and you should have this concern. that Christianity today is in a state of dullness when it comes to hearing. We are so fixed in our ways of doing things, our way of doing church specifically, that we're not willing to hear anything that the New Testament has to say about the way we do church or exposes so many ways that we do church or the clergy and laity distinction or any of these type of principles that we're just not willing to hear it anymore because we're so comfortable in our religiosity. I mean folks I've had people tell me over the years and recently that they are devoted to their church fellowship, not because they are growing spiritually, not because they are hearing the voice of Christ in their life, not because they are in a position where they can exercise their spiritual gifts and be of use and of help and edification to other Christians, but because they like the social benefit. One man who was a deacon for a long time, 30 out of 40 years, even admitted to me once that he doesn't read his Bible. He just, whatever the pastor says, you can translate that as whatever the priest says. It's an evangelical church, so they don't officially call their pastor priest, but that's how they function. Whatever the pastor says about the passage during the sermon, that's what it means to him. Whether that's actually what it means or not is not in question to him. If that's what the pastor says, that's what he believes. He doesn't check it. In other words, he's not like the noble Bereans in the book of Acts who heard Paul preach and then searched the scriptures to see if those things were so. That ought to be the believer's response to hearing of any sermon, including this one. So it's a real sobering reality at this point. I speak with a lot of church leaders. I do pastoral counseling with a lot of Christians from various and different denominations and traditions. But they all have one thing in common, and that is the institution exists as a intermediary between them and the Lord Jesus Christ. They are more intimate, they are more devoted to their tradition and their institution and their organization. their denomination and their local church than they are to Jesus Christ himself. And they will put up with almost anything, however offensive it is to the gospel of Christ, however offensive it is to their own spiritual well-being, in order to preserve the social contact and communication and community that they have there. Now, this is especially true for older Christians, people in their 70s, 80s, and 90s. They're settled, they're in. They're not interested in hearing anything that would conflict with their current church experience. Even if it's a critical point of doctrine, even if it's a critical point of biblical faithfulness, They simply don't want to hear about it. This is a serious point. And I don't want to sound hysterical because I'm not hysterical. I am deeply burdened, deeply concerned. I spent my own time wandering around within the institutional church system, looking for Christ. getting glimpses of him and a few people here and there, hearing something of his voice from time to time. But generally speaking, it was drowned out by all the noise, all the trappings, all the worldliness that occurs even in the most fundamentalist, small Baptist church. Anywhere you have a a clergy pastor laity like distinction And you have monologue sermonizing going on and a worship team You know, you know what I'm talking about the whole structure principles of tithing All of that. Anywhere you have all that Levitical stuff going on, you have a whole system that has returned, that has left Jesus, fallen away from Christ, if you will, and returned to the Levitical priesthood as the way of forming their church structure and practices as well. And when these things get entrenched, folks, this is my concern for you. When these things get entrenched over generations, they become sacred. They become sacred cows. And no one, even if it's contrary to scripture, as I've been saying, Willing to object to that sacred cow. They don't want to be certainly the first ones to do it They don't want to be troublemakers They don't want to risk losing their social community So they'll just offend God instead Well judgment folks begins in the house of God Hebrews chapter 5 The author is speaking about the priesthood of Jesus and for good reason, because he's writing to people who are hyper aware of the priesthood, the Aaronic, the Aaron based priesthood of the temple. The temple priesthood, the high priest, the other priests, And he's telling them that they are no longer necessary, that that whole structure, that whole temple structure with its sacrifices and priesthoods are no longer necessary, nor must they attempt to integrate them into their Christian experience because they have a priesthood. He's telling them that for them to reject, excuse me, for them to try to integrate that temple worship back into their Christian faith, is an utter rejection of the exclusive, unique, and final priesthood of Jesus Christ. And he says that Jesus has been called by God as High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek. Now listen to verse 11. of whom we have much to say and hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. Verse 12. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food, For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe, spiritual infant. But solid food belongs to those who are mature, full of age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil." These people were in grave danger of thinking that they could re-institute, reintegrate the temple worship and its practices into their Christian faith, or perhaps simply return to the temple and become, and the synagogues, and become closet Christians, I guess. And he's telling them, don't even begin to go there. The first thing that's going to happen is that you're going to lose any opportunity to grow spiritually. You're going to remain spiritually immature. Second thing that's going to happen is you're going to become dull of hearing because you will have closed off your heart and your mind to the voice of the Holy Spirit. Now this, he reminds us back in Hebrews chapter three, three times in two chapters do we hear this ominous warning Hebrews chapter 3 verse 7 therefore as the Holy Spirit says today if you will hear his voice do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion in the day of trial in the wilderness where your fathers tested me, tried me, and saw my works for forty years. Therefore I was angrier with that generation, and said, They always go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways. So I swore in my wrath, They shall not enter my rest. then down at verse 14, for we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end. While it is said, again, today, if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion. And then again in chapter 4 verse 7 again, he designates a certain day saying today After such a long time as it has been said today If you hear if you hear his voice do not harden your hearts That folks is the worst spiritual condition you can be in and it occurs it happens because you look to something other than Christ alone, typically the Christian Christendom Church Organization Institution and its clergy, its programs, its practices, all of which are unbiblical, all of which rob you of your spiritual giftedness and your ability to function as a Christian within the body of Christ. You know what I'm talking about, the performance up front on Sunday mornings, where you are reduced to a passive spectator. Now, if you're hearing this on whatever platform, and you are a pastor, you're the problem. You're the thief in the room. And my brother, I encourage you to consider what I'm saying. I'm not trying to be mean. I'm not trying to be harsh. I'm just, I'm begging you to consider the state of the church, not only in America, but globally. And the fact that it's so fruitless, that it's producing fruitless Christians, immature Christians, Christians who have become dull of hearing and are perhaps very devoted to the institution, to your local church, to your regular cycle of worship services, quote, end quote, but have no idea who they are in Christ, have no idea who their spiritual gifts are. I talk to Christians all the time, 20, 25 years in Christ, since their baptism. And I ask, do you know what your spiritual gifts are? And they look at me like I'm talking another language. This is what the author is saying in Hebrews chapter 5. Solid food belongs to those who are full of age, that is, those who, by reason of use, have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. They don't know how to discern good and evil. They don't know how to look at the institution and see that it's usurping Christ's place in their life, and that they're allowing it, they're even supporting it. They're even going to encourage it, applaud it, just so they can maintain their social connection. I hear that all the time. I, I try to be patient with these things when I hear them and I, but it's, it's like watching a train wreck. You can only be so patient. I remember seeing on the freeway, watching a car wreck occur right in front of me. And you're gonna have some reaction to that. You can't just casually see three or four car pile up and go, oh, gee, that's interesting. Well, anyway, what were we talking about? You're gonna fear for the people's lives in those cars. You're going to wonder how that accident is going to affect the rest of traffic. I mean, there's, you're going to be alarmed. You're going to want to get out of the way and save you and your family from any harm yourself. I beg you to consider that's, that's the context that I'm in here. Jeremiah 5 30 to 31 reads, an astonishing and horrible thing has been committed in the land. The prophets prophesied falsely and the priests rule by their own power and my people love to have it so. But what will you do in the end? What I am saying to you is that the worst spiritual condition anyone can be in is to be dull of hearing, to be closed off of hearing, to no longer be willing to hear the voice of the spirit in the text and respond in obedience. put the church institution, its tradition, its organization, and its usurping clergy leaders in the place of Christ as Lord, Savior, and head of the church in your life. This is not new. This is something that's been going on throughout the history of the people of God. Jesus contended with it every day. Every day. It was just part of what was happening at the time of his ministry. In Matthew 13, verse 10, the disciples came to him and said, why do you speak to them in parables? He answered and said to them, Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have abundance. But whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. See, the parables were a form of judgment and they were a form of mercy. To continue to speak to a people who have closed their ears and closed their eyes is to heap judgment on them every time you speak to them. To speak in parables is a way of limiting the judgment. Isaiah the prophet, Jesus quotes in verse 14 of Matthew 13, And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says, quote, hearing you will hear and shall not understand, and seeing you will see and not perceive. You will see and not perceive. For the hearts of this people have grown, what, dull. Their ears are hard of hearing and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see what their eyes, and hear with their ears, that they should understand with their hearts, that's the most important thing, and turn so that I should heal them. Verse 16 he tells his disciples. But blessed are your eyes for they see and your ears for they hear for surely I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see and did not see it and hear what you hear and did not hear it. The disciples Jesus would take aside and teach them privately. If we have ears to hear If you've ever heard the gospel, if you've ever heard the truth of who you are in Christ as a member, a vital spirit gifted member of the body of Christ who gathers with other members of the body to build each other up for mutual edification, for equipping of the saints so that you can leave that gathering, having become better disciples that when you came, then if you've ever done that, then you cannot go back. You cannot simply return back to the institutional church performance, pastor-driven church performance that happens on Sunday mornings in most churches. God is not passive about this. He is patient. He is long-suffering. But the day is coming. The day is coming. Judgment, Peter says, begins in the house of God. And I want better for you. I want you to realize your state. And I'm hoping that you will see this, that the Holy Spirit will open your hearts and your eyes and your minds to see your condition. This is the worst of all spiritual conditions, to be so dull of hearing that you're no longer willing to hear. You're no longer willing to understand. You got the way things are you like the way things are Somebody once said that's those are the final words of a dying church. That's the way we've always done it That's a problem throughout the history of God's people and it's a big problem today The worst spiritual condition is to be so dull of your hearing, that you're no longer willing to try to understand or have anything that you do in your church experience be challenged by scripture itself. Let me close with Acts chapter 7 real briefly. Acts chapter 7 of course carries the story of Philip, excuse me, of Stephen, Speaking to his people about the gospel goes into their long history About how they made idols And how they had now made their own temple worship in their system an idol I mean Our minds are idle factories folks if we're not careful. I And in verse 44 he says, our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness as he appointed, instructing Moses to make it according to the pattern that had been seen, which our fathers having received it in turn also brought with Joshua into the land possessed by the Gentiles, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers until the days of David, who found favor before God and asked to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. But Solomon built him a house, However, verse 48, chapter 7 of Acts, however, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands. It's easily translated, easily understood to mean the whole structure, the whole temple structure, the whole thing of having a designated building, the whole thing of having an elevated clergy, the whole thing of having a special, quote, worship service, end quote. It all has its roots, not in the New Testament. It has its roots in Greco-Roman Judaic practices. Greco-Roman paganism and Judaic synagogue practices. However, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says. Heaven is my throne, the earth is my footstool. What house will you build for me, says the Lord? What is the place of my rest? Has my hands not made all these things? Now listen to verse 51. Stephen makes this pronouncement to this crowd of his own Jewish people. You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears. You might think I'm being a little serious here. You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you have now become the betrayers and murderers. Who have received the law, you have the Word of God, you have the Bible, by the direction of angels and have not kept it, he told them." Well, they didn't respond in repentance, folks, as you know. The balance of that chapter records how that Jesus stood with him When they heard these words, they were cut to heart and they gnashed at him with their teeth. But he, Stephen, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. and said, look, I see the heavens open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. Jesus was standing with Stephen at that moment, and Stephen, praise God, was standing with Jesus. But the rest of the crowd, the whole religious crowd, were preparing now to kill Stephen, which they did by stoning. The worst spiritual condition one can be in is to think you know so much and you're so comfortable in your religious tradition that you're not willing to challenge it. You're not willing to hold it up to the light of scripture and consider whether or not what you do every Sunday is biblical. You're not willing to challenge the clergy, elevated clergy, laity distinction among you. You're not willing to challenge the worship format, because after all, who wants to challenge worship, when there's nothing in the New Testament that speaks of Christians gathering to worship, per se. They gather for edification, building up each other and for equipping, so they are better disciples when they leave the gathering than when they came. Worship happens 24-7. We now are under a new covenant in which Jesus taught us in John chapter 4, we worship in spirit and in truth. We are never not worshipping. The fact that the institution has taught us that we have to come to a certain place at a certain time at a certain building to worship is just a reversion back to the old temple format. So folks, I hope you hear and are willing to hear. I hope you consider what I'm saying. It is the worst spiritual condition. This would be so dull of hearing. that you can't challenge your own religious tradition, even by the light of scripture. Well, may the Lord grant us each, all of us, wisdom, heavenly wisdom, mercy, so that we can walk in his ways and not the man-made religions of this world. Amen.