Let's turn in our Bibles to Hebrews chapter 5. Francis, if you can't pay attention, which is OK, I understand. You have to be quiet, though, OK, during the preaching. Thanks, buddy. Let's pray first. Oh, Father, as we open your word, I pray, God, that you would lead us into the truth. God, I please pray that these truths would apply to each person here, God. We have many different people here, some unsaved, some baby Christians, some possibly professing Christians, some more mature. God, I pray would you please through your precious spirit, God, move in this place that each would be nourished, that each would go forth, God, knowing you and knowing Jesus Christ, in whose name I pray. Amen. So, we're going to look at today, Hebrews chapter 5, we're going to specifically look at verses 11, Hebrews 5, 11 through 6, 2. I believe verses 1 and 2 are connected to chapter 5, and we'll see how that works. But let's read those first. Of whom we have many things to say, and are hard to be uttered, seeing that you are dull of hearing. For when the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have 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. For everyone that uses milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But strong meat belongs to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on to perfection not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, and the doctrine of baptisms, and the laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment." So what we have here is this section, and really from chapter 5 verse 11 until the end of chapter 6 is one portion, and in this portion you see three different things. In the portion we just read in 5.11 through 6.2, we see those that are babes in Christ. And then in verses 6.4 through 8, we see those who are professing Christians, those who profess to be saved and look like they're saved and are not. And then in verses 9 through the end of the chapter, In the end of chapter 6, you have those who are the maturing Christians, or those who are mature in the faith, or are maturing in the faith. So I believe verses 11 and 12, though, are very pivotal in this passage. Look at 11 and 12. He said, We desire that every one of you do show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end, that ye be not slothful the followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises." So the writer of Hebrews is saying that he desires that each of them will have this full assurance, this full hope till the end. like we mentioned earlier, about the expectation of God's promises. Do we fully expect that God will do what he promises? That's basically what it means to have faith, and that's the reason he's writing this. But in this section we're going to specifically look at today, Hebrews 5.11-6.2, he's addressing those who are called babes in Christ. You see that here. And next week, though, some might be looking forward to chapter 6. Next week, we're going to get into the great interpretive challenge of verses 4 through 6 in Hebrews 6, which has been a great struggle for probably thousands of years, these verses in Hebrews chapter 6. So that'll be next week, though. We're going to endeavor to look at those verses, because a lot of people say you can lose your salvation. because of those verses. And at the same time, I think we should define the differences between perseverance of the saints and eternal security, two doctrines that are taught today in relation to those verses. And I think we should look at those. But that'll be that'll be next week, just to give you a little taste. So before we get too far ahead of ourselves, let's go back to Hebrews 511. And as we look at these verses, I would give this warning to those who try to figure out who is saved and who is not. Now the Bible clearly teaches us that salvation, there must be the fruit of salvation in order to have the assurance of salvation. In 1 John 2.29, 1 John 1, 6 and 7, even our Bible memory verses this month in Matthew 7.21-23, many profess to be saved and are not. So, that is true. But we must also be careful. We must be careful. And this warning that I'm giving is that we do not too quickly judge. Do not be quick to think or especially to say that a person isn't saved. For these verses in Hebrews 5 are clearly teaching that there is such a thing as a baby Christian. There are those who are babes in Christ. There's those who are weaker in the faith, also the New Testament talks about. They may be babies, and at times even appear as non-Christians. But be careful, lest we would pronounce judgment upon one of God's children. It's a very serious thing to pronounce judgment on one of God's children. So we must be careful. In one sense, yes, we must examine our own hearts. And we must help others to do that in the issue of salvation. It's very needful in the day and age we live in. And we talk about that much. But at the same time, we must be very careful that in doing that, that we are not condemning God's children and saying, well, they're not saved. They're not saved. We don't have the right to say that. There's people that are babes in Christ. Now, we do have the right to say if somebody openly denies the gospel or if somebody openly lives in unrepentant sin, where to warn them, and even in that case, though, would it do it in humility, and would it do it in much brokenness? So, but this is telling us that there are those who are babes in Christ. There are those who are babes in Christ. So be careful on how you would look at that, because really, time, time is the great revealer of the heart. Time is the great revealer of the heart. And we see four characteristics of these babes in Christ here in this passage. Are you ready? Verse 11, they are dull of hearing. In verse 11, they are dull of hearing. In verse 12, they are unable to teach. Number three, in verses 12b and 13, they can only receive milk. And the first three characteristics are negative. This fourth characteristic has a negative side to it and a positive side to it. And I would say it's in verses one and two. See, verses 6-1, it starts with this word, therefore. Do you see that? And therefore is pointing back to what precedes. The next word is leaving. If they were encouraged to leave, then they had to be there in the first place, right? So number 4 in verses 6-1 and 2, they had the foundational principles of the Christian faith. They had the foundational principles of the Christian faith. So it's interesting that somebody can have the foundational principles of what it means to be a Christian and not be growing. So this is teaching us that we, in order to grow, must go beyond a certain understanding. We must grow beyond a certain understanding. And that's what this is teaching us here. Now for those who are not believers, we're going to go through at the end, and may not be sure even what the gospel is, there may be some here in that case, in that situation, take what you can from what I'm going to say, and what you can't, just leave it aside. That's the best way to do it. When you hear a sermon, and that's like that in every sermon probably for some people, you can't receive everything, but receive what you can, and leave aside what you can't. And you can ask questions to some of us here afterwards if you'd like to. But the first thing I think of when I hear of the doll of hearing, which is number one, the doll of hearing. For this phrase, doll of hearing, implies that there is hearing. These babes in Christ have spiritual ears, even though the hearing may be faint. Jesus says in Revelation chapters 2 and 3 to the churches, whosoever has ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying unto the churches. Every Christian has spiritual ears, but some have to get the wax out of the ears. Some are dull of hearing. This is a characteristic of a babe in Christ. The New Testament uses the word heard, hearing, and hear 395 times. It has much to say about the subject of hearing. But I think the best understanding of why someone would be dull of hearing would be in Hebrews 4.2. You look right there, it's on the same page where you're at probably. It says 4.2. For unto us was the gospel preached as well as unto them. But the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. Someone who is dull of hearing, or some might say hard of hearing, can only hear part of what is being said. So they're not getting the whole story. They're only hearing part of the truth. They are only hearing what is more easily understood. In this context, that's what he's saying. They're dull of hearing. They're only hearing that which is more easily understood. And I think one of the main problems, the reason they were doing that, in verse 12, It says, be not slothful. It's because they were slothful. And the writer here is exhorting them not to be slothful. A slothful hearer is one who only hears what he wants to hear. Either because of laziness and or because of self-preservation. Although there are also those who are dull of hearing because of their past teachers, People have been taught to be lazy in their thinking, and that's so true today. People have been taught to be lazy. They've been taught to say, well, the pastor does the thinking, he does the teaching, and I just sit here and I hear, and that's what I do. But the Bible does not say that. The Bible does not say that. We'll get more into that in a few minutes. But these babes in Christ are described in Ephesians 4, 14, where it says, be no more children tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the slight of men and the cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive." They lie in wait to deceive. Stay with me, because I want to go through this, how people are deceived, and how they can be easily led into this lazy way of thinking. And there's three distinctives that will help us in our listening as a Christian. Those who are Christians and have spiritual ears because of the work of the Holy Spirit in the heart. So that's already established. The work of the Holy Spirit is in these people's heart. They have ears to hear. They have spiritual ears, but they're babes in Christ. And that first distinctive is who do you listen to? A mature listener can detect who the deceivers are. The dull listeners just listen to anybody. They just listen to anybody that has a Bible open and say, well, he's preaching from the Bible. It must be true. The second distinctive is what you hear is what you hear. So who you hear and what you hear and how you hear it. What you hear, they're tossed to and fro about every wind of doctrine. Listen to me, I think this is the most important subject. One of the most important subjects in the church today is people lack discernment on who they hear, what they hear, and how they hear. On what they hear, I mean people who seem to be truly Christian, or at least show some fruit of salvation. But they have much difficulty in their life because I believe they cannot discern strong doctrine. And the main reason for that is fourfold. I have four reasons why that happens. Please, please stay with me. I think this will really help you in your listening. There's four reasons that I can come up with of why people cannot discern what is true. One is emotionalism, one is philosophy, one is authoritative, and one is pragmatism. Listen to me, please. I know this may sound a little mundane, but I'm telling you, many, many people are being deceived because they are judging what someone is saying by how it affects them. They're judging that it's true by how it affects them. You can go and hear a fireman tell you a story about how a young child was dying and he ran up and he saved it. And he pulled that child out of the fire and saved the child. And it'll bring you to tears. Does that mean that what that man was saying was spiritual? It does not. It was a good story, and it was a humanly good thing that he did, but it was not spiritual. And because someone can stand up in front of a pulpit and bang it and yell and speak authoritatively, does that mean that what they're saying is true? Because they speak authoritatively, it's much more common in men to think that way. They say, well, he preaches it like it is. He says it like it is. That doesn't make it true, because someone stands up and speaks with authority. That doesn't make it true. It doesn't make it true if it's emotional. It doesn't make it true if it's philosophical. People get up and they give these long speeches and it dazzles your mind. I remember one preacher I used to listen to, that I discerned that, he was very good at doing that. Very intellectual. And you say, wow, this must be from God. It dazzles my mind. It's very intellectual. It's very stimulating to my mind and philosophical. Then you have this issue of pragmatism, where somebody says, it's really just, pragmatism is simply like taking practical principles and applying them in your life and they work. And many people today are deceived because these teachers teach how to do practical things. And you do them in your life and they work. But guess what? You can go to the local psychiatrist and he'll do the same thing. He'll teach you the same thing. It doesn't make it spiritual. how it affects me, does not make it from God. And I'm telling you, everyone in here, every single person in here, including myself, is affected by one of these four things, in how we discern truth. We discern truth by many people, or by the emotional. Oh, that was so good. It made me cry, it moved me. That had to be from God. You know, or like I said, men will take that, women will do that more. Men will do more of the, wow, he really said it like it was, you know, and he really preached with authority. And that must be from God. We cannot discern truth by any of these things. The tricky thing is, is that the Bible has all of these things in it. The Bible is a very emotional book. The Bible will bring you to tears. The Bible can be very philosophical. It can teach you the deep inner workings of your mind and how it works. The Bible is an authoritative book. The Bible commands things very strongly. And the Bible is a very practical book. The Bible teaches us how to live in every aspect of life. Every practical aspect of my life is covered in the Bible. So if all these things are in the Bible, Yet we cannot discern if someone is telling the truth or not solely based on these things. How do we base it? How do we know what the truth is? And of these principles, because of all these principles, they can exist without spiritual life. Yet at the same time, they're all in the Bible. In Psalm 12.6, it says, the words of the Lord are pure, as silver tried in a furnace of earth purified seven times. How something affects me, or works for me, or makes me feel, doesn't make it true. But the words of the Lord are true. Let me say that again. How something affects me, or works for me, or makes me feel, does not make it true. But the words of the Lord are true. In Isaiah 48, the grass withers, the flower fades. But the word of our God shall stand forever. I don't primarily need to feel good, or to have my intellect stimulated, or to feel some great authority, or to understand practical principles. Although all those things are in the Bible, and all those things we must learn. But what I need to understand is to understand, believe, and obey the words of God. What I need is to understand, believe, and obey the words of God. What are the words of God? What is God telling me? That's what I need to understand about God's Word. But I'm telling you, many people are dull of hearing, are dull of hearing because they judge by these other four principles. They judge by what is really just descriptive of what is being said. It's not really what's being said, it's just how it's being said. Do you understand what I'm saying? They're judging it by how it's being said instead of what is being said. And I'm telling you, it's very scary. Because it makes me wonder, would those same people go into one of these churches that are cults, or one of these churches that are not teaching the Bible at all? And guess what? You go into those churches, and you know what? There's men that speak authoritatively. There's men that speak emotionally. There's men that speak with great intellect. And there's men that speak with very pragmatic principles. And you think, would those people be led astray in that type of a church? If that's how they're judging truth in a true church, it makes you wonder. It makes you wonder. Because truth is not discerned by how it's presented, or how it even comes across to me in those ways, but truth is discerned by the Word of God, by the truth, by the very truth. By what the Bible says, by what our Lord and Savior has said, the dull of hearing don't mix faith with what they hear, and they do not prepare their hearts to hear. Can you hear God with a proud heart? The Scripture often exhorts us to humble ourselves before God, and He shall exalt us. Faith is to believe even though you cannot see it. Faith in patience, you see that in verse 12 again, faith in patience go hand in hand. Believing God's promises is to wait for God's promises. Believing God's promises is to wait for God's promises. I already used this illustration earlier, but I wrote this one out, so let me use it again. But this is true, I remember going on mission trips when Zack and Ayla were younger and before I would leave, I would tell them that I was going to bring them something back from the trip. And as it was my joy to do that. And when I got back from the trip, we would always sit and open up the gifts. And we still do that, actually. We did that last time I went on a mission trip. But what you see is, the point is, is that they didn't have the gift while I was gone they only had the promise but they had the expectation of the gift probably when they were younger they expected it more now it's just probably something that they've been familiar with but they had the expectation of the gift because they knew that they would get it because I told them and they knew that I care for them and I did for them what I did in the past. So they waited with expectation or with patience because they knew the gift was coming. How much more ought we to expect God to provide all good things for us in eternity when he has gave us the most precious thing to him, his son. In Romans 8.32 it says, he that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Faith and patience go hand in hand. To believe is to wait, and to wait on the promises of God. And also, I would say, faith and humility Faith and humility are the signs of open ears. Faith is an expectation of what God has and will provide through what he has promised and done. Humility is viewing ourselves in a proper relationship to God and to others. Humility is viewing ourselves in a proper relationship to God and to others. So faith and humility is what we need to hear. And this brings us to our second characteristic of the baby Christian. The first being that they are dull of hearing. The second being that they are unable to teach. These last three we'll move through quicker. The last, this is that they are unable to teach. You see that in verse 12 of chapter 5. Does this mean that every mature Christian is called to stand behind a pulpit and teach? I would say no, but every Christian is called to teach. Like we read in Titus, that the women, the older women are to teach the younger women. The parents are to teach their children. It says to teach them in the morning, teach them in the noontime, and teach them in the evening. The parents are to teach their children. The older are to teach the younger. And the saved are to teach the gospel to the lost. So every believer is called to teach. And it's one sign of maturity. If a sign of immaturity is that they could not teach, a sign of maturity would be that each one of us are called to teach. And if we are maturing Christians, we will be teaching. And many people, like I've already said, are caught in this mindset that pastors do the teaching, and I just sit there and listen. But a teacher is simply someone who explains what is true and right. We all had to be taught as children, and we all teach if we are parents. We all ought to be purposing to teach others. A maturing Christian must teach, because I thought it's like a balloon that's filling with air. If we're filling with the truth, it must come out, or else the balloon will pop. Every Christian, every maturing Christian is called to teach, and those who do not teach are still babes in Christ. to still bathe in Christ. We should be purposing to mature into teaching Christians. God did not save us only for our own benefit, but he saved us that we might help others. Philippians 2.4 says, Look, not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. What better way can I consider other person's needs than to share the word of God with that person? Every Christian ought to be a teacher in the same way. I'm sorry, in some way. Every Christian must be a teacher in some way. Not must be, or else you're a babe. Every maturing Christian is a teacher. There will always be someone in need of being taught. Let's go to Second Timothy. I want to read a couple of verses there. If you go towards the front of your Bible, you'll hit Timothy shortly before Hebrews, Second Timothy, chapter two. 2 Timothy 2 verses 23-25, it says, But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strife. And the servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient in meekness, instructing those that oppose themselves, that God, peradventure, will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth. Now some people, especially if some people have certain doctrinal persuasions, they think that because they know everything about the Bible, that they're going to go and teach everybody what the Bible says, and in a way that is proud, in a way that is arrogant. And this happens especially in young men, should be careful of this. And myself also, I should be careful of this. Because teaching is to be done in gentleness, it says, not with strife. The teacher is to be patient. The teacher is to be patient. We are not teaching by continually answering contentious people, in verse 23. For the teacher must not strive My job is not to force feed everybody the Bible. Our job as teachers is to teach with our mouths and with our lives. If I am teaching, yet I am always falling into strife, what will I produce? I will produce those who are striving. Striving in the wrong sense of the word. But a teacher is to be gentle, ready to teach or apt to teach and patient. My fellow brothers and sisters in the Lord who are moving on to maturity, don't be so forceful with those who are weaker. For where would we be if our precious Lord was not and is not patient with us? It is the Lord who does the work. I can't change somebody's mind by forcefully convincing them. It is God who does the work. A teacher is a person who is gentle, is a man or woman who has been broken. He's been broken by his own sinful condition, and he's been broken by God's grace. He is gentle. He is ready to teach always. always having the Word of God in his mind, where the Word of God exhorts us to do so. For some, it takes a long time to come around, and as teachers, we must be patient. So what would hinder from becoming teachers? Would it not be the opposite of gentleness, readiness to teach, and patience, which would be pride, pride, a very big one in men, that hinders them from being teachers. We have pride and we want to prove to people what we know. Laziness in our Bible preparation, when the Bible commands us to study, to show ourselves approved in 2 Timothy 2.15, and to always be ready to give an answer. So we must be gentle, ready to teach, and patient. and not proud, lazy in our preparation, and having a false expectation of others. Which would be the third one. It's the opposite of patience. It's having a false expectation of others. I told them that last week. Why aren't they doing it? That's how a false teacher would think. Or an immature teacher. He would think he's impatient. But he doesn't realize that it takes time. You teach and teach and teach. And over time, God does a work in people. God does a work in people. A teacher is to be patient and not having false expectations of others, but to be patient. And that takes humility. Takes humility. It's hard. Trust me when you say something 20 times and then you look and you still don't see it. As a teacher, it takes humility. You have to say, God, this is your work. You do the work, Lord. I can't change people. I can simply preach the truth. I preach the truth. But a portion of these Hebrew Christians were not equipped in this way. They were dull of hearing. They were not teachers. And thirdly, they were only able to receive milk. I thought of this illustration. It's kind of funny. I heard somebody say it before. But what would you think of a six-year-old that was not weaned from his mother's milk. First of all, you probably think it's weird. Why is a six-year-old still not weaned from his mother's milk? But think of how God looks down and sees some of his children who are five and ten years old and they're still on milk. They're still only receiving the milk. They've never gone on to maturity. And although I think that many are still babes because they have not been properly fed, because a baby goes from milk to solid food to more solid food to meat. One who is only on milk has never gone beyond the most basic doctrines of the faith. If someone was building a house and laid the foundation, which is the most important part of the house, That's where the structural integrity of the house lays. But if they laid the foundation and never moved on to the first and second floors, what purpose would the house have? Little or none, the house would have. You just have a foundation. Those who only drink milk are unskillful, it says, in the word of righteousness. Do you see that? In chapter five, if you go back to Hebrews, In verse 13, for everyone that uses milk is unfilful in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. Ask people, this is an interesting question. I see my brother do this a lot. I ask people this sometimes. Ask people who profess to believe about faith and repentance. And baptism, the things mentioned in verses 1 and 2. And they'll go on and on. They'll tell you about faith, repentance, baptism. And everyone can tell you something about those issues. But ask them about righteousness. Most people will say righteous... what's that word? Righteous what? Like they don't even know what it is. They don't even know what righteousness is. When you ask them about righteousness. They're unskillful in righteousness. They don't even know what it is. And they don't even know that the imputed and the imparted righteousness of Christ, how righteousness works in our life. They don't understand how Christ's perfect righteousness has been imputed to the believer and how that is worked out in our life. And those who have imputed righteousness have imparted righteousness. And we were talking about this a couple of weeks ago. It's the major problem. Many people never go on to maturity because they don't understand how good works fit into Christianity. How righteousness works in my life. Yes, I am perfect in Christ and His righteousness has been imputed to me. But guess what? It's been imputed to me, therefore it's been imparted to me. The righteousness of Christ is being worked out in our lives as believers. And how should that look? And many people either go to one extreme or the other. You have the more antinomial people that will say, good works, not saved by good works. Galatians 2.16 says not by works. Or Romans 3.28 says not by works. Therefore, when you get saved, you don't have to do good works. You're saved no matter what. You can live in sin as long as you profess Jesus as your Savior and Lord, you're saved. And you don't need good works at all. That's one side of it, right? And then you have the other side of it, where people say, no, you have to do good works to be saved. And your good works will grant you forgiveness of sins. And your good works will grant you merit and favor before God. So it's your good works plus your faith that saves you. And they don't understand what real imparted righteousness is. And many do not move on. to maturity because they're unskilled in the word of righteousness. They don't understand how to work out their own salvation. They don't understand how good works work in a Christian life. Those who are still on milk often don't understand how good works work in our salvation. Then how do good works work in our salvation? They work through the power of the Holy Spirit. A Christian will do good works. My good works do not save me. They do not grant me forgiveness of sins. However, in Ephesians 2.10, what does it say? That we're called and preordained unto good works. A Christian cannot say they're a Christian and not have the works. We cannot say that. But my works don't save me. And that's very clear in the Bible. We need to understand that and what it means and not be unskilled in the word of righteousness. And not go to one extreme or the other. I see a disconnect. I see a disconnect in baby Christians between their theology and their practical lives. And again, it comes from a false balance. It comes from a false balance. I see a big disconnect there. And again, you'll be on one side or the other. One person has all his theology, he knows all the doctrines, right, about the Bible, but he has no practical outworking of it. No laying down the life for the brother. No serving others. No evangelism. No prayer. No outward working of how this theology fits into my life. Or even beyond that, how it fits into my workplace, how it fits into my family life, how my theology fits into all those things. So on one side, you have the man who has all the theology, but he has none of the outworking of it. And on the other side, you have the man who wants all the pragmatism, but none of the theology. He wants to do everything right according to the Bible, and use all the Bible principles, as they call them, the Bible principles, but have none of the theology. But those who are mature, those who are mature are skillful in these things, are skillful in how they can discern how theology fits into my life and the practical aspect of my life. For those who are of full age or mature, by reason of use, it says in verse 14, have their senses exercised to discern good and evil. Because they use their spiritual senses and have exercised them They can discern. I can have senses or muscles, but if I don't use them properly, they become weak and feeble. But the mature have used their spiritual senses in order to discern their own hearts, and then others in order to help them. Which brings us to our last point, which has a positive side and a negative side, which is that these babes had the foundational principles of the Christian faith, which is the positive side, but they never grew beyond those basics, which is the negative side. First, it is imperative that we must have the right foundation. How can we build unless the foundation is right? If the foundation is not solid, the whole house is unstable. But let's close and look at verses 1 and 2. Let's look at verses 1 and 2 quickly. Six doctrines of the foundational doctrines here mentioned. One is repentance from dead works, which means to turn. Two is faith, faith in God, this is salvation. Repentance and faith is salvation. Number three is the doctrine of baptisms. There's a couple different views of what he means by that, but I think it's a logical progression. What happens? Somebody repents, they believe, and what happens? They're baptized. It's the doctrine of baptisms. But I would also believe it's talking about the baptism of water, where somebody is immersed in water to be baptized, and the baptism of the Holy Spirit that is so important also for us to understand. And then number four, the laying on of hands. There's a couple different possible interpretations for that too, but it seems that The next step in the book of Acts, they would lay hands on people for them to be accepted into the church. So many believe, and I would lean towards that view. Because again, it's the next progression. They would repent, believe, be baptized, and then be accepted into the church. And then the resurrection of the dead. There's the resurrection unto life, and there's the resurrection unto death, and then the eternal judgment. that there is an eternal judgment for those who will not believe. These are the six fundamental or elementary doctrines of the gospel that must be understood. It must be understood. And next week we'll go through those doctrines. We're going to go through those doctrines one by one, but let's finish in verse 12. It says, that ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises." It is our desire, it is my desire, it is the desire of the Hebrews that each of us have a full assurance. That each of us have a full assurance. And that assurance comes By looking at verse 20, it says, whether the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus made an high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. And you see it over and over through Hebrews. The assurance that we have is that we know that Christ is the forerunner. That He is the one that has provided it for us. That we can hold fast to Him. The book of Hebrews keeps telling us. Because next week we're going to get into these professing believers You have the baby believers, you have the professing believers, and that's very scary. And you see these professing believers in Hebrews 6, they had everything that looked exactly like a real Christian. I mean, he goes through four things that look so much like a real Christian. that it can be hard to interpret. Like, isn't he talking about a real Christian here? Look at those things he lists in 4 through 6. But he's not. He's talking about a professing Christian. One who looks like one. So my friends, our purpose, though, in understanding what a baby Christian is and what a professing Christian is, the goal is that you would have a real profession and that you would have a real assurance of your salvation. a real assurance of your salvation. And that assurance comes by those who hold on to Christ. Look at verse 19, and we'll really close this time. I'll just read this verse. It says, Which hope we have, an anchor for the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which endures into that within the veil. So our assurance is that God, and if you read that whole chapter, which I'll encourage you to do on your own, our assurance is that the promises of God are true. That the promises of God are true and God cannot lie. And what he has provided for us is provided in Jesus Christ. Now I know I've said a lot today, but I hope you would take heed to it. and learn how to discern truth. Learn how to discern truth. Think of those four things. If you can't remember anything, think of those four things of how you can be deceived into discerning truth. But go to God's Word, and you will have the discernment of truth. So let's pray. Dear Father, I pray, God, please work in our hearts. I know this was a lot of information for many here. I pray, God, would you please use it, Lord God, work in our hearts through the power of your spirit, God, that those who are here who may be babes in Christ, Lord, that they would grow out of that, Lord God, they would become teachers, that they would become sharp in their hearing, God, and that they would not just have a simple understanding, but go deeper into the deep things of God. I pray, God, please, Work in those here that are babes in Christ. Work in those here that are unsaved. Lord, please save and use this time that was set today even to the salvation, Lord. And I pray for those who are maturing that we would use these things, God, for the edification of others, I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.