Turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Hebrews We will read the whole of chapter 5 and work through chapter 5 for this morning Hebrews chapter 5 if you're using the pew Bible that's on page 943 in the pew Bible 943 Hebrews chapter 5. Let's hear God's word together. For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness. Because of this, he is obligated to offer sacrifice for his own sins, just as he does for those of the people. And no one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was. So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, you are my son, today I have forgotten you. As he says also in another place, you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness since he is a child. but solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. And let's pray together. Father, as we look into your word again this morning, as we consider this text in Hebrews, we do ask, Father, that you would give us listening ears and hearts For we need to hear from you. And there are important truths for us to take from each text that we work through. And so we ask that as we look at this text, that you would meet with your people. We ask Father that you would be pleased to grant us your Holy Spirit, to examine our feet, to see where we stand with respect to these truths, Lord, and to seek you for growth and grace this morning in what we consider. And so please help us, please forgive us for our sins. Please be gracious to us, Lord, and open our hearts to your word and do the work that only you can do so that we might leave this place changed for the better. We pray in Christ's name, amen. At the center of the entire old covenant sacrificial system stood the priesthood. which was perhaps the most important part of the entire system. The priesthood was the means by which sinful men could connect with God. and no offering made, no act of worship, indeed no single inclination of an individual's heart toward his creator could ever be received apart from priestly mediation. There is no connection to God apart from a priest. with respect to sinful men. Sinful man needs representation. He needs a mediator to stand between him and God, and that, not without the proper atoning sacrifice, if he is going to be received. And at the center of the priesthood was the appointed high priest, who stood as the greatest among the priests. Even the costumes that they had to wear, you could see that the high priest was so luxurious. It was kingly in its glory. And the regular priests did not wear that kind of outfit. But the high priest alone came the closest to the Divine Presence within the Most Holy Place each year on the Day of Atonement. As the author of Hebrews strives to compel his readers to hold fast to Christ, avoiding apostasy at any and all costs, he spends, and we've seen this already beginning to happen, he spends a significant amount of time explaining and showing how the Lord Jesus Christ is the perfect and great high priest who, being of divine origin and without any personal sins of his own, can truly represent God's people coming before God, not mainly through an earthly sanctuary, but passing right into God's heavenly sanctuary, providing permanent and constant access to God through the offering of himself. There's a lot about the priesthood in the book of Hebrews. The perfect and perpetual high priesthood of Christ is a critical theme in this epistle. And this morning we move on to consider then how the author affirms Christ's permanent appointment to this blessed office. And so we consider first the appointment of the earthly high priests, how they were appointed in verses one through four as we will bridge into Christ's appointment into the priesthood. And so the author begins then here by noting four essential facts surrounding the function and calling of the earthly high priest, that is the Levitical priesthood, the Aaronic, those priests that came from Aaron, who at those priests that have proceeded from Aaron's lineage, he begins by addressing essential facts surrounding the function and calling of the earthly priests and high priests and he begins in verse 1 and says this for every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins and so here we're given a general summation of the purpose and function of the high priesthood throughout the entire Old Covenant period The primary role of the high priest, here it is right here in this text, was to mediate every act of service and worship from the worshiper to God, whether it was free will worship, something that was offered as a gift to God in some sense, or whether it was some kind of representation on behalf of the individual who had sinned in some way, the offering of atonement. He served as a chosen, that is, an appointed representative to stand between God and sinful man so that sinful man could be received by God. That is the purpose and function of the priesthood. And without the mediation and intercession of the high priest, no man could ever relate to God in the Old Covenant. No man. Every sacrifice made, every offering given, was only received by God through the high priest. Secondly, we notice another important factor about the high priesthood here in verse two. He, that is the high priest, can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward since he himself is beset with weakness. So while the earthly high priest stood between man and God, representing sinful man, he really could not differentiate himself from those whom he represented because he himself was beset with the same weakness of a sin nature. So there's, in a sense, a flaw already in place. But it had to be in place if there was going to be representation in the Old Covenant. It was a necessary flaw, but there it was. He was bound, we're told, the high priest, to deal gently with those whom he represented, that is, those who were prone towards sin, because he himself had the same corrupt nature. In this sense, his representation was grossly flawed because he himself needed representation, which leads into the next essential fact, fact number three. Because of this, we're told in verse three, the high priest is obligated to offer sacrifice for his own sins, just as he does for those of the people. Because the high priest was beset with the weakness of a corrupt nature, the same corrupt nature as the individuals he represented, having no one to represent himself, he was obligated to offer sacrifice first for his own sins, before offering sacrifices for others. In other words, what was required of all other sinners was also required of the high priest before he could even represent them. And God had willingly or he had to willingly accept this significant old covenant flaw if he was to provide any form of mediation for his people. There was no other means. He was going to accept mediation. He had to allow for this flaw where the one representing the people was enabled to in some way represent himself by way of sacrifice. However, this reality in itself, the certain defilement of the high priest, implied that the earthly priesthood was temporary and insufficient, and at some point a true and undefiled high priest must come to represent man, one who is differentiated from others, having no sin, not being defiled himself, not needing representation for himself. If there is going to be genuine reconciliation between sinful man and God, that must happen. That must come about. Indeed, God had received The old covenant believers, not simply because he provided them high priests who were flawed in that sense, that wasn't why they ultimately received, but the only reason God had received old covenant believers was because it was guaranteed that the Messiah would come to provide a perfect and undefiled representation. In other words, it was the anticipation of the coming Messiah that God received the Old Covenant community. Otherwise, they never would have been received with all those high priests, ever. It would never happen. They had to anticipate that perfect representation would come with one who could be differentiated from the people, having no sin to represent the people, not having to offer first for his own sins. And then fourthly, we have another factor given here about the earthly priesthood. Verse 4, we're told this, And no one takes this honor, that is the honor of the high priesthood, being a high priest, for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was. And so the high priest was an office that Not just anyone could enter. In other words, you could not aspire to become a priest or a high priest, right? As a child, you might say to your child, what do you aspire to become? What would you like to be when you get older? Well, if you were not from the seat of Aaron, you could not aspire to be a priest or a high priest. at all. It wasn't even a possibility. That honor was specifically granted by God to those whom he had appointed through Aaron's lineage. And God was the one who appointed Aaron. It was done by God's appointment. And so the author here lays down then these four essential factors surrounding the high priestly office. And while he will touch on each of these points as they relate specifically to Christ throughout Hebrews, he will touch on all these points. He begins by specifically now addressing the fourth declaration in verse 4, and no one takes this honor for himself but only when called by God, just as Aaron was. He starts there and brings that now into the appointing of Christ to the high priesthood. Secondly, then, in our larger section of dividing up this message, we find that Jesus was appointed a high priest in verses 5 through 10. Building on the last declaration then, the author adds in verses five and six, he adds these words, adding to verse four, so also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, that is Christ did not take the office upon himself, he didn't appoint himself, to the office, stealing some kind of authority and putting it on himself, but rather, we're told, he was appointed by him who said, that is by God, who said to him, where? In the Old Testament, you are my son, today I have begotten you, as he also says in another place, you are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek. And so as the author seeks to establish the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ is a great high priest, which we talked about last time, indeed the high priest par excellence, he must further show biblically that the Lord was actually appointed to this office by God and that he did not take the office unto himself. In other words, the Lord Jesus Christ didn't just say, you know, I'm a perfect man, I'm without sin, or I'm a good person, and I'm going to aspire to be the high priest. He was appointed to that office even as the priests were appointed in the old covenant. He received a greater appointment for that matter. Establishing his authority to take this office was critical. Especially, remember, since the religious leaders, you look through the Gospels, what did they do? They often questioned the authority of Jesus. Who gave you this authority? Remember when he was casting out the money changers and so on from the temple? Who gave, where do you get this authority from? And so, They questioned the authority of Jesus and no doubt this questioning would have circulated among the Jews as an argument against receiving Jesus as their Messiah and High Priest. That would have been going around amongst the Hebrews. Would have been as they were trying to be compelled to forsake Jesus and to go back to the old covenant ceremonies. They would have said, who has appointed this man? We know where the high priests were appointed, although even they were defiled and even had a wrong appointment up to this point in history for that matter. They would have questioned Jesus's appointment. And so the author presents then two biblical texts that would affirm the high priesthood of Christ. First, he quotes from Psalm 2-7. And Psalm 2 was a well-known messianic text. It would have been well-known to the Jews. We read this short statement and part of us says, well, how would they have been convinced of this? It's hard to appreciate this unless you're amongst the Jews and you've been trained in understanding the Old Testament from a Jewish standpoint they would have known that Psalm 2, 7 was speaking about the Messiah, the reign of the Messiah who would reign. And so in Psalm chapter 2, verse 7, it says, you are my son today, I have forgotten you. Now at the beginning of this psalm, the sun is referred to as the Lord's, that is Yahweh's anointed. Yahweh's anointed, or Messiah, literally is the word Messiah. And while kings and rulers, if you're familiar, you're familiar with the psalm, we've read it many times, while they take aim to destroy this Messiah, this one anointed by God, and actually succeed in putting him to death, but only according to the God, to the divine will, God raises him up again and appoints him as the universal ruler over all things. And that's the point of the psalm. He will rule over all nations. Ask of me and I'll give you the ends of the earth. But it is specifically this declaration in verse 7 where following the resurrection of Christ the father speaks of begetting his son and the Lord is now moved from the offered sacrifice into the full role of permanent intercessor and high priest. Now he's already a high priest before the sacrifice but it's after the sacrifice that the offering has been made that he's in the full-blown role of high priest and he intercedes from that point on even as he does today. And brethren, what is particularly noteworthy in this context is that the father is shown in Psalm 2 to be the one who appoints the son to this office. He is the one speaking in Psalm 2, and he is the one who has begotten the successful and risen Christ into the position of mankind's representative, his mediator, his head, his ruler, and high priest. He's begotten after his resurrection, that proclamation is made. As a resurrected man, you might say, well, he's always been the son of God. Okay, well, that's true, but we're talking about Christ as fully man here, as the one who has accomplished salvation through his death in his humanity. He is begotten as a resurrected man. The Lord was there begotten of the Father. But then secondly, The author quotes another very clear messianic text, Psalm 110, verse 4, where again, the father is the one speaking there. And what does he declare? And this is even a more direct statement about the priesthood, even though the other is clearly assumed when you read the text. We find that in Psalm 110, 4, he says, you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Now, that had to come through prophetic revelation to make that kind of statement. In this particular psalm, brethren, in Psalm 110, once again what you find is that there's an emphasis placed on the universal reign of Christ. It's interesting, in both texts, the emphasis is on the reign of Christ, the rulership of Christ, but here in verse 4, we find the critical linking of his kingly office with his priestly office, which is particularly relevant to the office case here in Hebrews. We have the three offices, in fact, united together. Ultimately, this father has appointed the son unto the threefold office as one prophet, priest, and king. Now brethren, The author will later explain the great significance of Christ having proceeded from the high priestly office of Melchizedek. We believe this was a sermon preached originally, and the way that it's mapped out, you get that sense, because it's almost like he introduces something, some kind of thought, and then he comes back to it later to further elaborate on that thought. You see that repeatedly throughout the book of Hebrews. But for the moment, Let's draw out that which is particularly relevant for our present context. We're going to follow the author's line of thinking here before we get to his further explanation of this High Priestly Order according to the office of Melchizedek. And so let's draw out that which is particularly relevant for our present context. where the author is seeking to show that it was the father, right? What's his main, what is he mainly trying to do here in this present text? He wants to show that it was the father who appointed the son into the office of high priest, and it's not something that the Lord had taken upon himself, right? That's the goal, to show he was appointed to this position by the father. Again, recall, that he is seeking to establish the authority of Christ's priestly representation on behalf of his people. That is critical for the Jews. Where is your authority? Do you have the authority to be in that position that needed to be solidified? And that's what he's doing here. And so here's a couple things we can note just from what we see here implied in this text. First, At the most basic level, the fact that the scriptures tell us of the father appointing the Lord to be a priest in any sense is significant and certifies his point, right? The fact that he says he's appointing him to the office, you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Without even understanding Melchizedek yet, we at least see that Christ was appointed by the father to be a high priest. That's at the very basic level. Secondly, though, Appointing the Lord to a different priesthood than the Levitical, than the Aaronic priesthood, is significant. We know it's a different priesthood, it's the Order of Melchizedek, but that's significant since the Levitical priesthood has been grossly defiled and ultimately rejected by the Lord. You see this throughout Scripture, that God rejects the Levitical priesthood. right he's making his way he rejects one side during the time of Samuel after what happens with with the sons of Eli and then later on the other side is ultimately rejected as well the condition of Israel in fact having been rejected by God because of their continued rebellion points to the need of a better And in fact, undefiled representation. They need undefiled representation. The priesthood is a train wreck. And so the fact that it's a different order than Aaron is significant for that purpose even. But then thirdly. The fact that Melchizedek, and we know Melchizedek and we know this from the basic reading of Genesis, preceded the Levitical priesthood by quite a bit, and in fact, we're told he received a tithe from Abraham So not only do you not have Aaron or Levites in the picture at all, you're back to where Aaron is, and Aaron is paying a tithe to Abraham, and the author of Hebrews will get into this later, but it indicates, even by way of implication, the superiority of Christ's priesthood, not only to the Levitical priesthood, but to Abraham as well, for that matter. Because Abraham, in a sense, was a priest, right? This is before the priesthood came. And so the priest, Abraham, who would certainly be greater than the Levites, is paying a tithe to Melchizedek. And then finally, all in all, the implication is, just by what we see here, that Jesus comes from a greater high priestly line, a different line, an undefiled line, a line that preceded the Levitical one, and one that is unending, right? We see that in the text. You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. He has been declared a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. Well, brethren, we will come back to consider the Lord's connection to Melchizedek in chapter seven. But for now, suffice it to say that the author has established his immediate point showing that Jesus was appointed to the office of high priest by the father. That's the point. And he's established that. Well, moving on then. Look at verses seven through 10. He speaks now about the activity of Christ that leads into his high priestly office. Notice, in the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience. through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. And so here, the author gives us a brief summation, as it were, of the critical steps that the Lord Jesus Christ had taken during his earthly ministry, when it says, according to the days of his flesh, it's during his earthly ministry, he's still in a body, right, Jesus, when he was raised, but during his earthly ministry, which led to his being appointed unto the office of high priest according to the order of Melchizedek. This is what led to that by virtue of his own actions. And God appointed him, of course, but on the basis of his own actions and prosperity. In other words, here we find how Jesus was suited to be appointed to the office by God. First, we're told in the days of His flesh, again, in the days of His earthly ministry, prior to His resurrection and ascension, the Lord had often poured out His heart to the Father, often offering up prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears, seeking ultimate deliverance from death. And he was heard, he was heard, not because he was represented by the high priests over at the temple, he was heard because of his genuine fear and reverence toward God. Most notably, brethren, in Scripture, we witness this. Now I'm not saying this doesn't happen throughout the course of the Lord's ministry. Even outside of Scripture, there's times when Jesus prayed. It's not recorded, and I'm sure He offered up these kinds of prayers. But most notably, in Scripture, we witness this when the Lord prayed during His time of agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, and then, of course, later on, on the cross. and the evidence of his having been heard, right, he was heard, the evidence of his having been heard was the fact that he had been raised from the dead. That was the evidence that he had been heard. God had delivered him from the very grip of death itself, after the fact, having been buried for three days and nights in a tomb, indicating that his prayers were heard. Sometimes it's said, and I'm sure I've made comments like this at some point throughout my walk with the Lord. Well, when the Lord cried out on the cross because He died, His prayers weren't heard, it seems, at least on behalf of Himself. No, they were heard. It's just that they were answered at His resurrection. Very clearly, they were heard. And so this reality, Christ having been raised from the dead, in accordance with his prayers, sets the stage for his qualification to be a high priest over God's people because he had prevailed with God concerning his own state of desperation and suffering because he was reverent toward God. He was not like the high priests who were defiled in the temple. throughout all the old covenant time, the Levitical priests. He was heard because of his reverence. He was received by God, in other words, on account of his true worthiness and merit, affirmed by his flawless and genuine fear of God. When you and I are heard by God, it's not because of our reverence. Now I'm not saying we don't strive and we're not reverent, but that's not why we're heard. We're heard because we have mediation through Christ's high priesthood. And in the old covenant, it was the high priest who represented the people so that the people would be heard. Jesus was heard because he was one who had completely and flawlessly revered God. He was heard directly from God. And then secondly, secondly, we're told that although he was the son of God, as our mediator and faithful representative, And this is important. He had to, and he did, learn obedience by the things that he suffered. This is a complicated text sometimes when you first read it. He learned obedience. How is that possible? Well, we touched on this back in chapter 2, verses 17 through 18, remember? We were told there, therefore Christ had to be made like his brothers in every respect. so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted." And so here again, in this text, we find that the Lord had to learn obedience. Now when it says that here, it's not talking about learning in the sense of being chastened for any sins that he had committed. because we know that he was without sin, right? We learn obedience because we're chastened from our sins. We don't touch the light bulb. You touch it, you get burned, right? We learn. Right? Because we did something we shouldn't have done. That's not what this means. What this means, in the sense that as he grew, it means that in the sense that as he grew, he had entered into more intense levels of testing and temptation, which would stretch his obedience onto new limits afforded by his growth and maturity. And that's how he learned obedience. As he aged, more opportunities to experience new forms of suffering and trial had been granted to him, and by this means he learned obedience within each stage of his growth. culminating in the great sufferings that he endured throughout his public ministry during the last three and a half years of his life. He learned obedience. There were things that he learned. There were testings that he received as he became a teenager and as he became older that he did not receive when he was a little baby. He learned obedience. Each stage along the way prepared him for that which would come in greater intensity up ahead. And so although he was the son of God, he had to learn obedience through suffering for our sakes to identify with us and to procure our salvation, which leads them to the final step in the process of his becoming a worthy high priest for us. Thirdly, Withhold and being made perfect how for his suffering being made perfect He became, that is through the righteous offering up of himself, he had suffered, he had merited a righteousness according to the obedience that he learned through each stage of his life, he had procured a righteousness, and then he became through the offering up of himself in our stead, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God, appointed by God, a high priest after the order of Melchizedek, verses seven to 10. You see, the Lord was made perfect through his suffering because he always submitted to the Father through his sufferings, and he never gave in to the temptations that accompanied those sufferings. And so he learned new levels of obedience through that means. He always obeyed, and he secured a righteous standing before God, which could be laid hold of by all who put their trust in him. And so the Lord became the source of eternal salvation for the unrighteous, having been appointed by God because of his perfect obedience, even unto death, to be a high priest, not according to the defiled and failed priesthood of Aaron, but according to the perpetual order of Melchizedek, who we will learn more about shortly. All in all, again, what the author most wants to highlight here, brethren, is the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ did not decide to take hold of the office of high priest for himself, but rather he was appointed unto it by the Father according to the scriptures. His being perfected through his sufferings procured the righteousness that he needed to be brought to this end, and his undefiled offering of himself, accepted by the Father on behalf of sinful men, validated what the Scriptures had stated beforehand, namely, that he would be appointed a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek. He had merited that righteousness for us. When you go back and you read through the Gospels, and you read about Christ's temptation in the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights, You see the necessity of that in accomplishing this preparation to be worthy, a worthy representative for us. The offering is not acceptable if he's not a worthy offering. And so the temptation, the endurance, the obedience in temptation is all necessary to prepare him to be our offering. Every stage in the Lord's life is necessary for our salvation. None of it is random or just there for no reason. Well, brethren, Thirdly then, by way of the major points in this sermon, we conclude with a digressive rebuke. A digressive rebuke. In the remainder of our text here in chapter 5, The author then brings forth a digressive rebuke that leads into the warning that we get in chapter six, right? You think of Hebrew six and everybody's always shaking in their boots, right? It's a terrifying chapter when you read it, but I think if we understand it, we'll see what it really means, especially having gone through, this is why I love preaching expositionally through texts, because you just jump in chapter six and you have to assume the first five chapters to really understand what's going on in chapter six. Well, he's going to come back where he left off here, about speaking about Jesus as the high priest according to the order of Melchizedek. He's going to do that in chapter seven, but first, he digresses into a warning for a moment. He stops to get their attention. In light of what he's been saying, he's taking them down a theological journey, and then he stops and gives a rebuke, and that rebuke leads to a warning, and then he comes back, eventually, to what he was talking about when he gets to seven. Notice in verse 11 he states about this right this priesthood according to the order of Melchizedek We have much to say and it's hard to explain since you've become dull of hearing And so here the author digresses then for a moment to rebuke his readers concerning his inability to take them deeper theologically because of what? Their dullness of hearing. In other words, brethren, and this is absolutely important for us to grasp, in other words, this is going to lead into the whole practical aspect for this morning. He's not rebuking them because they're innocent in their lack of understanding. He's not trying to present them a mathematical equation, some form of calculus, and they're not getting it. And he's shaking them and saying, you're dull of hearing, like a teacher might do who's not patient. That's not what he's doing here. Rather, he's saying they ought to know better. They ought to know better. The dull of hearing, in other words, has to do with their own laziness and their own failure to grow in grace. It's on them because they're dull of hearing. They have dulled their hearing, and the idea here is when you think of this dullness of hearing, I tried to think of an illustration, and one that came to me was when we lived in Springfield. There's many illustrations, Fred, we can use. When we lived in Springfield, when we first moved there, at night. I don't know why, but that's the time that these trains, the train that goes through there, is blowing that horn. And it's not like it's right around the block, but you can hear it. If you come from New York and you're not right next to the train station, you're not used to that, you hear it. And you hear this train coming through. And we're talking 12, 1, 2, 3 in the morning. And so for a while, we were like, what the heck is going on here? We went out to the neighbor one time, said, how do you like Springfield? He said, yeah, it's great, but you get used to the, there's some trains and things, you get used to that. And we were like, oh, you do? Well, it's true that after a good month or two, for me, two, three months, I almost thought that the train stopped doing it. My hearing became dull to it. It's like my mind adjusted, and now I could sleep, and I'm like, I didn't hear any trains. And then for the rest of the time there, occasionally, if I'm up late, I'd hear, oh, there it is. But you just, you dull it out, right? You walk outside, even in a natural environment, you hear birds chirp. There's tons of sounds going on out there right now, but we don't hear any of it when we go out there. See, our minds are trained to dull that so that we don't hear it. right, in that sense. Well, in this case, there's an intentional, there's a dulling of the hearing of God's Word and growing, not because we don't want to hear it, but because we're not taking the time to exercise ourselves in the Word of God, is his point here. And so they're teetering on the fence of apostasy here and turning away from the most rudimentary elements of the faith, that's what's going on in the book, speaks of what? Their gross lack of discipline in the basic areas of the Christian life. And we talked about this in the past. Much time has elapsed. This wasn't a newborn church. And they ought to be well beyond where they were spiritually, he says. Notice, he says in verses 12 and 14, that's why he adds these words. He says, for both by this time, you ought to be teachers. You should be teaching other people. Theology. But you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the Oracles of God 101, Christianity. You need milk. Not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, listen to this, we get there. For those who what? Those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. Now brethren, I want you to imagine for a moment a 12 or 13 year old. We'll take a 13 year old. Take a 14 year old, my son Nathaniel here. 14 year old. That's still nursing in his mother's breast. No, the Daniel's not doing it. But I'm just saying, imagine a 14-year-old still nursing on his mother's breast. I gotta be careful here. Now, we would all say that's insane, right? We would say that's even perverted, right? You look at the Daniel, he's a beast. You say, that's perverted. There's a point in a toddler's life when he or she transitions from nursing into taking some soft foods and ultimately arriving at the place where he or she can eat meat, steaks, and some more difficult things to chew with those teeth that have come in the mouth, and more solid foods. We generally don't purchase Gerber products, that's pureed carrots and yams, for our teenagers. Right? Daniel, did I ever buy you Gerber products to eat? Little jaws of Gerber food with crushed yams and carrots? Did we ever get that from you? Okay. Unless they have some kind of a teeth-jaw problem, right? Sometimes somebody breaks their jaw or something like that and they have to eat soft foods, they do things like that. But generally speaking, we don't do that. As we grow in age, we expand our menu and eat solid foods. Well here, the apostle is using this kind of example to say to the Hebrews, who were not novices to Christianity, That they ought to have gotten far beyond being shaken by questions about the basic elements of the faith, having moved into much more deeper theological matters by now. How are they being shaken by these one-on-one things? They were not growing, that's his point. They weren't growing. In other words, there's a reason for this. It's not a random interruption in their lives, like they were growing and doing the right thing, and suddenly they just were going astray. No, there's a reason they were going astray. They were not growing because they were failing to diligently commit themselves to the basic responsibilities that would enable them to mature in Christ. They were at fault, in other words, for being negligent in their Christian walk. Indeed, he states that they ought to have been teachers at this point, but their neglect has retarded their spiritual growth. Some of us have met folks, I can remember we had a young man who was I think 18 or 19 back in New York, now he's much older, and he was just, he came to faith and he was just soaring and he was like a theological giant in a few months, he just soaked himself. Now that could become a pride issue too, don't get me wrong, but I'm just saying that you could see the more he intensified his reading and sought to soak himself, he became more and more an understanding of deeper theological things. And then there's others who seem to be in the church for 25 years and they don't even know the basics, it seems, of the Christian faith. Now there's a reason for that. I'm not saying that somebody can't have a lack, right, right, something wrong mentally, I'm not saying that, but generally speaking, There's an issue of negligence there. Notice again what the author says in verse 14. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. And so how does one mature in the Christian faith? It doesn't just happen to you. Not by sitting back and simply leaning on a profession that you made some point in the past. Well, I made a profession of faith back then, I was excited, I was in tears and all these great things, and I did that, I'm gonna hang my hat there. No, you don't grow by just simply having done that in the past. It says, by having your powers of discernment trained by constant, Constant practice to distinguish good from evil. You see, this doesn't simply come with conversion. We don't get saved and then sit back in a corner somewhere and wait to get to heaven. Say, I'm saved, I made a profession of faith, it was exciting, I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, I was baptized, and I'm just gonna sit back and put the recliner up now and take it easy. No. When we are immediately justified in Christ by faith, if we genuinely believe we're justified by faith, we also immediately diligently work toward the completion of our salvation and our sanctification. We diligently strive to understand how to discern the will of God, how to strengthen what we know and learn what we don't know so that we can persevere to the end and walk in a manner that is well pleasing to God. Our powers of discernment must be trained by constant practice so that we can distinguish good from evil, the will of God from Satan or the way of the world. The Word of God must be regularly, daily, and prayerfully cultivated in our hearts so that increasing in our understanding of the mind and will of Christ, we can properly deal with and respond to the barrage of wicked thoughts and ideas that meet us in the world on a daily basis. All over the social media, all over the voices around us. How do we discern? We need to be in the word, we need to be cultivating an atmosphere of taking God's word into us. We must combat the ways and the ideologies of the world. We must be able to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. And we will never be able to do this if we are stagnant, conveyor belt Christians. You cannot be a stagnant, sit back, and wait on the conveyor belt until you get to heaven Christian. There's no such Christian. Now brethren, I want you to hear me out on this. Because this is a critical point that the author is trying to get across. He's interrupting his train of thought on some glorious truths about the high priesthood of Christ to rebuke in this way and then to warn, as we'll see next time, because it's that important. The author is trying to get across something significant in this digressive rebuke. Ultimately, brethren, here it is. We've said this, but hear it again. At the root of the Hebrews teetering on the edge of apostasy, at the root of their being in danger of drifting away from Christ, was their failure to persistently and diligently grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. That was their failure. That was the root. They didn't just wake up one day and they were beginning to doubt. They were failing to be persistent in what they ought to have been doing daily. Again, as we've already read in previous weeks, They have failed to avail themselves to the basic means of grace. We talked about encouraging one another daily so that you're not hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Those kinds of warnings are in Hebrews to say, look, here's the problem, guys. We're not doing this. But now I need to correct and show you the truth. And that's important for you to get the theology. But I want to get back here and tell you why you're where you are. They were not in the word. They were not engaging in regular fellowship. They were not diligent in prayer. They were coasting Christians. And because of this, when trials come, this is what happens to coasting Christians, when challenges came, they were unable to withstand and to persevere in their faith. They were drifting for so long that they didn't know until the enemy came with a sledgehammer, and then it was too late. And now, they were in danger of apostatizing. Leaving the faith. They were not ready. And their faith was severely shaken. And they were on the verge of walking away from Christ. Again, I'm trying to show you that this has a root to it. It wasn't just something that happened overnight. They weren't being responsible in their Christian walk. They were coasting Christians. Are there any coasting Christians here this morning? In this room? This is why the author stops to rebuke them here, concerning their inability to delve into matters of deeper theological substance about the glorious gospel. And this rebuke, brethren, will transition into a severe and sobering warning in chapter six, which we will begin to consider next time, Lord willing. It will transition now. It's gonna go from just a rebuke to a very stern warning in chapter six, a very frightful warning. Chapter 6. Well brethren, let me just conclude with these words before we pray Soon enough brethren Soon enough We will spend more time talking about the Lord's connection to Melchizedek. It's a wonderful glorious truth regarding his priesthood but for now Let's take the author's warning. We're gonna run into his digression and to heart. Let us see again the need for a disciplined life in the matters that concern God. The need for a disciplined life. You will not grow as a Christian if you are not daily, diligently availing yourself to the means of grace. Daily, diligently, daily, diligently, daily, diligently. You may not even realize it. You may think that everything is okay because you feel okay. But remember, what did we talk about last time? We cannot judge by subjective feelings. That works both ways. We must judge by objective truth. Some of you may be teetering on the edge of apostasy right now because you're neglecting to feed your own soul. But by the time you realize what is happening, it may be too late. You have to live a disciplined Christian life. You cannot sit back and let days simply pass by and expect to grow or even to persevere. You have to fight. You have to walk with the Lord daily in the word, availing yourself constantly to every means of grace or you will not make it. You're gonna go astray. I've seen it happen many times. I've been in ministry for 20 years. People I'm close to who we hug, we encourage one another, and there's a gradual shifting in their own personal walk with the Lord, and it's gradual, but eventually it gets to the point where they're pushed out and there's no point of return. Hebrews 6 is gonna get into some of that. You see the design. of this passage is to exhort us to examine ourselves with judgment day honesty and to ensure that we're indeed in the race of faith. It's to give us a kick in the rear end so that we can start today. Even if we've drifted, you don't wanna get that attitude. That's what happens sometimes. Well, I've already been so far drifted already. God doesn't wanna hear from me. I'm not worthy. You gotta come back to grace. See, this is a warning, it's something to exhort you. See, this is God's grace to you to say, come back and get on track now. God will receive you. He will welcome you back. This is a preventative. to keep us from apostasy. Because brethren, once we cross that line, it's too late. And there are people, according to Hebrews 6, who cross that line. And as far as I can tell in my understanding of that passage, it's too late. Now I'm not ready to point to who that is, as there are some people I suspect in what I've witnessed in their lives in the past. But I will tell you, It is a reality according to Hebrews six. There is a line where you can cross and where God just leads you out and you will never come back to God because you will never desire to come back to God because he will not give you the desire to come back and he'll lead you to yourself for the rest of your life and you will be condemned having never really known Christ in truth. It's a preventative. Well, Lord willing, next time we'll continue into that warning in chapter six. I think it's a healthy thing to receive that warning. Ultimately, chapter six is to tell us that this is a reality so that we are shaken, but we're shaken forward. It's healthy. It's not gonna be for the person who's already out, right? It's not gonna be for them, it's for us. And I think it'll be a healthy thing. If you're outside of the Lord Jesus Christ this morning, if you're not a Christian, I want to encourage you to think about what we've talked about this morning about the priesthood of Christ, to realize that you need representation before God. All of this is establishing the important fact that you cannot come to God on your own, you cannot come to God as a sinful, fallen human being and expect to be received unless your sins are forgiven, unless they are pardoned, unless you are washed in the blood of Christ. You must be washed, you must be cleansed, you must come through His intercession and He will receive you and He will join you to Himself and take you out of Adam, as it were, and into Himself so that you'll be received by God and you will be seen, as it were, as the Son of God is. as righteous in the sight of God. And all of your sins, though they're red as scarlet, they will be made white as snow. That is the grace of God. If you will come to Christ by faith, believe into him and trust him and turn from your ways. Let's pray. Father, we give you thanks for your word. We thank you for these glorious truths that we're told about the high priestly office of Christ and what they entail. And we pray that you bring them home to our hearts, that your people would have great joy, that we who are in the struggle, in the fight, would have great joy and relief in knowing that we are continually received by you in Christ. And Father, we pray that these warnings and rebukes that are given would have their place as well, our Lord, according to the need, that we would ensure that if we're going astray, if we're slack in our commitment to you, Lord, that we would get back on track, that we would come to you in prayer and repentance, and that we would get back on track, knowing, again, that you will receive us. But help us, Lord, not to be presumptuous and to continue on in the way of neglecting our own souls. Father, we ask that you bless our souls with these truths, in Christ's name, amen.