If you will turn in your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 5, we're going to look at Hebrews 5, 11 through 6, 3. I'm going to read these verses and I'm going to probably only preach through the end of Hebrews 5, but we will We want to give attention to it because of its context. And we understand it as we approach this text that this is concerning the teaching about Melchizedek as Christ is a high priest in the order of Melchizedek. So in 511, I will start with those words concerning Melchizedek, which I'm drawing from the previous verses. And as we read these verses, remember that this is the very word of God. It has power as God the Holy Spirit attends these words. He can change us as we listen to these words and as He applies them to our hearts. So let's now give attention to the Word of God concerning Melchizedek. of whom we have much to say and 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 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. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits. May God add his blessing to the reading and the hearing of his perfect word as we continue in this series. in our home. We have a growth chart on the wall. It's on a beam right next to the kitchen, between the kitchen and the living room. And on it is inscribed a column that has the names of our children, the names of our grandchildren, the names of a lot of friends. And as they grow, and as our little grandchildren, particularly as they grow up, we make them stand there, we draw a line, we measure it, and we write the date. And it's always fun to see how they grow. But can you imagine how sad and concerned we would be if for some reason they stopped growing? They did not grow as expected during the normal growth part of their lives. If that happened, we would have scheduled an appointment with our medical doctors to find out what was wrong, because surely something is wrong. And growth is expected because that's what living things do. Living things grow. And as they grow, the more useful they become as they learn in school and develop personal attributes and learn to take part in life around the house and duties and chores. And in our household, we buddied our boys up to help the older ones learn to lead and teach and the younger ones to learn and follow. And Kirk was Corey's buddy, and Corey survived. Surprisingly, but Corey survived. But what would be happening, really, if one of our children just simply stopped growing? And what if he actually not only stopped growing, but started getting smaller and becoming less and less as time went on when he should have been growing? Well, I would have been sad and it would have been real cause for alarm. And the warning that we find in this section of Hebrews is to Christians who have not grown up in their Christian walk. And in fact, in a way, they had grown down instead of up. Now, this, of course, is not referring to a lack of physical growth. It's referring to a lack of spiritual growth. And this scathing rebuke here is for those who are in their condition of non-growth or reverse of maturity because of something they could have avoided. And, of course, this warning and rebuke is given because of spiritual, not physical, maladies that these people chose to bring upon themselves. This spiritual malady is a choice they made, a malady that comes from the inside, a malady that is spiritual. It's a spiritual disease of the heart. So today we're going to look at spiritual immaturity and how it happens, and the peril of spiritual immaturity. So if you'll look first at verse 12 here. It says again, 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 immaturity is obvious to people around you. Spiritual immaturity is made visible and becomes obvious when a person who ought to be able to be competent in doing something and they cannot do it. You've probably been at work where you've seen probably physicians and you've seen lawyers and you've seen pastors and you've seen painters and you've seen you know, people, and they're being paid to do a job, they've been called to do a job, they've been trained to do a job, or supposedly trained, and yet they're incompetent, they're immature. Well, the same can go on in the spiritual realm. And this writer actually mentions here, he says, though by this time, you see, it's clear that he knew about the lives of these people. He knew about how much time had lapsed since they had claimed to be Christians, made professions of faith. He knew about the many opportunities that they had to learn, to develop, to mature, to grow spiritually. And since the time of their confession or profession, which must have included a credible profession of faith, when they professed Christ, these people have not grown, the people he's speaking to, they have not grown. They have not progressed properly, faithfully in the Lord. And more than likely, they did not possess what they professed, and their lives showed it. They are not developed enough to even have the ABCs of Christianity clear enough to communicate them to others. And if I were to ask you, you know, you think about the ABCs of Christianity, what is the Bible and so forth, can you tell people the ABCs of Christianity? And these people cannot even teach the elementary basics of the gospel to others. And I wonder, can you? And our inspired author here says to them and to us in verse 12, the first part of it, by this time you ought to be teachers. You ought to be teachers. It's an expectation from God. It's an expectation of the church that you ought to be these things. And then yet you need someone to teach you again the first The Greek here is the beginning principles. In fact, it can be translated the letters of the alphabet, the ABCs. Calvin, do you know the ABCs? So do I. But do you know the ABCs of Christianity? We need to know these things. You need to know the first, the beginning principles, the letters of the alphabet. And that's verse 12. And then even in Hebrews 6, what it tells us, therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to, in your Bible, a probably word there is perfection. But the word perfection in Greek is the word teleos, which means completion or maturity or fulfillment of purpose. Are you prepared to fulfill the purpose that God has called you to? These people were not. And it goes on in this verse 12. Yet you need someone to teach you again. See, these people have been taught. They've been invested in. They have had opportunity upon opportunity. And yet they stay away. They stay out there. They don't participate. They don't come. You need someone else to teach you again what? The oracles of God, and the oracles of God are not like the Ten Commandments, but it's about how God reveals His truth to mankind. You can read Acts 7 for that. And you have digressed to the point where you people, who ought to be eating meat, you need milk. You again need milk like it is needed by those who are babies, baby Christians. 1 Corinthians 3 says, I fed you with milk and not with solid food for until now you were not able to receive it. And even now you're still not able. You know, there are people who come and make professions of faith and they come and they start being part of the congregation and part of the family, church family and Bible studies. And they go a little way and then they seem to be progressing. And then they stop. And they, they're like an accordion, in and out, in and out. And they never really go very far. They never really become useful. And it's because something inside of them, they do not want to go further. It's a self destructive malady. People will not give up themselves and turn to the true and the living God. And what gives away the fact that some people are not able to eat the food that they should be able to eat and they can only digest the milk? Well, there's two reasons given in scripture, one in this passage and one in another. The person's lack of ability, their lack of stability, their lack of interest and lack of involvement in the activities of fellowship that everyone needs to be knowing, they don't want those things. They just, they don't want to take hold of them. They're for others. They're optional. There's no diligence in their life. And why is there no diligence? They just don't have any interest. And why don't they have any interest? Well, probably they made a profession of faith because they wanted hell insurance. They didn't come to faith because they realized that Jesus is God the Son, that God is worthy to be trusted, These people probably heard some false, human-oriented message, some man-centered, counterfeit gospel that inoculated them against true Christianity. They've got enough and they're happy. They're immune from the real thing. They're immune from growth. They think they've got enough. Or maybe they've never encountered God's glory in mind or heart because they've never really thought about God wanting to be worshiped and God's people gathering together in order to give themselves and to follow the scriptures, to recognize that God is worthy of our worship, that we're supposed to respond to his greatness, and that we're supposed to be the people that we ought to be, and we're supposed to do that together, and that worship is warfare. This is not anything but warfare. The world looks at us and hopefully they see us as an army that's ready, willing, and able to stand against them, to fight them, and put them in their place. and the only place they have is in hell unless we tell them the gospel. Maybe these people have never focused on what it really means to love someone other than themselves, and particularly not think about really loving God with an affection. You know, how many people do you know that really understand what it means to love God? We're commanded to love God, and not because we're having to overcome some problem or some hurdle to love Him. We are commanded to love Him because He is lovable, because He is worthy of love, because He is worthy of obedience, and if we love Him, we will obey Him. And maybe it's somebody who has never submitted themselves to the Lord as Lord. That's a big deal, too. Is the Lord the Lord, or am I the Lord? Does He make my decisions, or do I make my decisions? I need to be making my decisions in reference to Him after He, as the Lord, gives me His commands and His orders and tells me what He wants of me. And, of course, I've got to do it. How do you spell Lord? B-O-S-S, Lord. That's right. Maybe these people have an unwillingness to make a commitment to the things of God. They don't recognize that they are facing eternity. And commitment gets in the way of them saying yes to God and no to self. They're stuck in themselves. That's the first reason. But the second reason is they were focused on the things of this world first. You know, Matthew 6, 33 says, But 1 Corinthians 3, 3, says they had drunk the milk when they were first exposed to Christ. It teaches that they drunk the milk when they were first exposed to Christ's gospel. And they were still just happy and fine with going on and on with milk. Now, we've got a lot of mothers in here. In fact, I think every woman in here, adult woman in here, is a mother. Did your children want to be weaned? Maybe some did. My kids liked it. And sometimes we just some some of us want to eat that those. The milk because it's good because it's easy it's easy to adjust it's available somebody else fixes it for me it's nice and warm and I can snuggle up and you know that's that's that's very sweet and that's very kind but We have to learn, we have to grow up. We have to grow teeth. We have to learn to eat. But instead of growing up, 1 Peter 2, 2, as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word that you may grow by it, we may not want to grow up. We may not want to be weaned. We're content because it's easy. And Hebrews 5.13 says, For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. They want to stay babies. Everyone who refuses to eat what is actually spiritually nourishing, what happens to them? They remain weak. They never grow in strength. And they, without strength, have no usefulness. They're unskilled, this verse says, in the word of righteousness. They're inept in the word of righteousness. They're personally unable to know the ways of God. Now, to be unskilled means to have nothing of any use to contribute to the work. And that's by their choice. They don't want to be contributors and they don't want to have anything to contribute. This person will not receive the spiritual nourishment he could. used to grow into Christlikeness. The person pointed out here in our text has chosen to not learn useful skills because he has not faithfully participated. That's the demonstration that he does not want to learn the skills. He has made himself dull of hearing, says verse 511 and 513. He doesn't want to participate. He is his personal priority. He has no interest in others. He has become his own idol. He will have his own way no matter what. He insists on ruling his life. And God will only be an option if he'll only refer to God if he feels like it. And unskilled in the word of righteousness means that he is unskilled in knowing what's right and wrong. A person like this could not possibly know what God's will is for them. This person is one who follows their feelings and their personal intuitions. And how many people do you know that are like a pinball machine, a ball and a pinball machine and being bang, bang, bang around as the world comes at them. They don't have any real direction from God. They run around the world on their intuitions. I feel like this. I think this. Your thinking has to be an informed process of thinking. You've got to have material with which to think. If you don't have material with which to think, you are a victim of the world. And the Bible, knowing the Bible causes you to not have to be the victim of the world. But if you don't know the Bible, you are a victim. You're a victim of your culture, a victim of the world. You're a victim of yourself. You're a victim of your own intuitions and opinions. You only have a diet of milk. Well, these people, people like this are spiritually dangerous to themselves and to others. And this should be alarming to us. And if it's not alarming to us, then maybe we are blind to our own immaturity. We need to be careful there. So, okay, let's think for a second together. How long have you been a Christian? Think how long you have claimed to be a Christian. You've been a Christian a year, two years, five years, 10 years, 20 years, 30 years. You count the time you've been a Christian. And then I want to ask you another. So how many of those years, however many they are, maybe more than 30, have you had a Bible that you could read? How many years have you been able to be involved with the people that are following Jesus, involved in a church and so forth? Okay, with that in mind, let's have a test. What are the first principles of Christianity? Can you name them? They're mentioned here in our text. How do you come to know with certainty God's will for your life? Do you know how to discern God's will for your life? Does the Bible make sense to you when you read it carefully? Or is it like reading somebody else's mail? If your very soul depended on you taking somebody to the gospel and telling them the gospel from the scriptures, would you be able to do that? Can you give God's instructions on marriage problems? Could you tell a mom who asked, let's make sure we have that caveat, a mom who asked what the Bible says about child discipline? Could you accurately explain the Ten Commandments to somebody? Do you even know the Ten Commandments in order? A little harder one. Do you know what the Bible says about lawsuits between Christians? Where that is? That's a big deal today. Could you teach somebody what the Bible says, what God says about worry? Could you define love without referring to feelings as the Bible does? Can you explain what God thinks about thinking? Have you ever thought about what God thinks about thinking? Can you explain what God thinks about fornication? And I could go on and on and on about sovereignty and inerrancy and inspiration and fallibility. Could you explain the Trinity? What is it? Why does it matter? What is worship? What is church? What is a sacrament? Are you living the life of mature usefulness to God? Now, the Christian life and a mature life is more than just knowing a lot of stuff. You've got to know it before you can do it. And you've got to understand that it's God's instruction to you before you're obligated to do it. I'm not obligating you to do anything. But if the Scripture teaches you to grow up, then I'm telling you that God says for you to grow up. If you are alive, if you are a living person, if you are a living Christian, you are going to be a growing person. And if you're going to grow, you can't keep eating milk. You've got to eat meat. You know, we can't just keep being hearers unwilling to converse. We've got to be able to engage and to think and to debate and to make the points. And in Hebrews 5.14 it says this, But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. You see, this person in this verse, he's a full age, which means literally he's grown up. He's actually matured. He's developed to the point of being ready and able to fulfill his purpose. But so many people had milked for so long that they don't even understand they have a purpose. Their purpose is to empty the breast. They don't have a purpose beyond emptying the breast. And yet God gave His Son that we might be saved and that we might be enlisted in His church, His army, that we might have purpose. So what is true about you? Are you a babe drinking milk? Are you self-oriented? Are you useless in the kingdom? Or are you mature and eating solid food? Are you God-oriented? Are you useful? Well, if you're not, why not? All the way back in the 11th verse, we find the answer. You have become dull of hearing. You have become ongoingly lazy and resistant to listening. And if you will not hear the word, if you're going, that's not for me. I wonder, you know, I know most of you, so I doubt this is happening, but how many church services the people sit in and they hear the preaching and they go, not for me, not for me. Not for me. He's talking to those people, not me. I'm not going to do that. Who does he think he is to tell me to do that? Just who does that preacher think he is? Well, this preacher thinks he's a nobody particular, but this preacher does know that this passage says that we are to change, that we're to do away with our lazy and dull hearing, and we're to become hearers of the word and eaters of the meat. When we sow our thoughts, we reap our acts. When we sow our acts, we reap our habits. When we sow our habits, we reap a character. And when we sow a character, we reap a destiny. If you're not a meat eater, I think that your destiny is not gonna be a good place. I think you're in trouble in your destiny. So it's time today to repent and to turn in your heart and in your mind to become a true, diligent student of the Scriptures, to participate regularly, faithfully in your worship services, to set aside Sunday by working the other six days to be here on Sunday with your brothers and your sisters. It's time for you to start thinking, God, I belong to you, and I want to be useful. I do not want to pour my life down a rat hole. I do not want to get to the end of my life and say, but I was this in the world, and I was that in the world, and I had status in the world. No, God, I want status with you. You're the one that matters Psalm 73 25 and 26 whom have I in heaven but thee and besides thee I desire nothing on earth my flesh and my heart may fail But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever That's the life. We've got to start living and I want you to live it with me because I love you Amen Amen