Pressing On to Maturity - Part 1

Hebrews chapter five verse 11 says this, concerning him, we have much to say, and it is hard to explain since you have become dull of hearing. Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary 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 not accustomed to the word of righteousness for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature who, because of practice, have their senses trained to discern good and evil.

Well, happy Father's Day. So thankful for the fathers that are among us. It's privilege this year to be a father to fathers, and life just gets better. One of the first duties, and I would say that one of the most important duties that a father has to his family is to show them what genuine faith looks like.

A lot of good things that a father does and provides and gives. There's a lot of things that a father fails in. But this one thing is so important, men, and fathers to be, that you show those closest to you what genuine faith looks like. You can let the world rage on about who is the leader in the home.

I'll tell you who the leader in the home is, and the bible's very clear. What leads the home is the faith of the father or the absence of faith. Men, your faith is the nose of the plane. It's the top of the rocket. It's the tip of the spear.

It's the lead engine in the train. And where your faith goes, your family goes behind inevitably. Men, it is very important that you show what genuine faith looks like. Listen, I'm sure my kids are gonna have lots to say about my parenting as life goes on and as they get older and they'll look back and say, yeah, there's definitely some un Christ like moments.

But I also trust that what they've seen in me is an expression of genuine faith. Friends, that's the best thing you can leave anybody is a picture of what genuine faith looks like. And it's not void of trials and struggles and mess ups. Why is this so important?

Why do I say that this is so important for fathers? By the way, it's Father's Day, so this is a Father's Day message, but it's not just for fathers. Right? The ability to take in and properly process biblical truth is an indicator of one's destiny. Let me say that again.

The ability to take in and process biblical truth is an indicator of your eternal destiny. The way you listen to truth and take it in and process it and respond to it says much about where you're going to spend eternity. And that is why it's so important that we have set before us examples of genuine faith.

So many live with defective faith. Fathers, fathers to be. Are you raising up a generation of blessed people or of a cursed one that's going to experience God's judgment? What would you say about the health of a person whose body all of a sudden stopped its ability to process solid food, you'd be concerned.

What would you say about an infant that comes into this world and can't ever get off milk? You'd say there's something really wrong with this person. They're on a trajectory not towards healthy living, but a trajectory to death. Same is true in a spiritual sense. Just as food, solid food is necessary for the body to grow, so is spiritual food necessary for spirit to grow.

And the spiritual condition of those who cannot take in biblical truth and properly process it are heading to a very bad place. And so our text this morning deals with this issue. The writer begins a parenthetical thought here beginning in verse 11 that's gonna go all the way to the end of chapter six, the most controversial chapter in the book of Hebrews and perhaps the most controversial chapter in the New Testament.

But it's a parenthetical thought. He wants to continue his exposition of Psalm 110 about Melchizedek. Look back at verse nine. And having been made perfect, he became to all those who obey him the source of eternal salvation, namely Jesus, being designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek, the king of righteousness.

He wants to talk about the king of righteousness and make this connection to Jesus. And he says, I wanna go on and talk about this, but there's something I need to take care of first. He's very concerned about the inability of his audience to take in the teachings about this king of righteousness.

And so he takes a few moments to warn them against defective faith. And so this parenthetical thought that's gonna take us all the way through chapter six is this warning against having defective faith. And he's gonna come back to Melchizedek at the end of chapter six. He's gonna get right back to Psalm 110 and keep going.

And then he's gonna say much about Melchizedek in the following chapters and his priesthood. But first, he wants to address their defective faith. He's afraid there is this congregation here that has defective faith. And he wants to help to press them he wants to help to press them on to maturity.

And so he addresses their defective faith. And so this morning, I wanna look at four characteristics of defective faith to help you and I press on to maturity. First of all, defective faith is dull of hearing. Do you have defective faith? Pay attention. There's some characteristics here that help diagnose the status of your own faith.

Verse 11, concerning him, we have much to say and it is hard to explain since you have become dull of hearing. I'd like to talk a lot about Melchizedek, but and I've got a lot to say about it, but it's hard to explain. Actually, we have a lot to say about it.

Not alone there. Hard to explain. It's not easy to explain to you what I have to say about Melchizedek. The question is why? Why is this connection to Melchizedek so difficult to explain? Is it too mysterious? Is he such an obscure figure that well it's just the concept itself of Melchizedek is difficult to get your mind around?

No. The problem isn't with the content. The problem is with the hearer. Look back. We have much to say about them but it's hard to explain since or because you have become dull of hearing. Your faculty of hearing is the problem. Your spiritual ears are not working. They're dull.

Dull. Flashback to Isaiah six. The Babylonian exile generation, they've got dull hearts, dull ears, they're not hearing. And then fast fast forward to Jesus and speaking to the crowds in his generations, those that heard his preaching. And what was he saying? Dull. You're just like that Babylonian exile generation and you're gonna end up being the crucifixion generation because you do not hear.

Your heart is dull. Your ears are here are dull. Your ears do not hear. That's the problem. Dull. Word for dull, sluggish, lacking zeal. You're apathetic. Let's say that's the state of church in America, you know, least log large segments of it. Church today, there's this there's a less of a zeal for God's word than there has been in past.

Many do not have time to read the bible. Just think about it. Have you ever well, there goes the preacher Yeah. I can just tune him out for a minute. There goes, well, I don't have time to read the bible today. You know what would really be nice if we had shorter sermons and larger socials?

You see trends that are going on that really minimize the hearing of the word comes out of a heart that is sensitive, insensitive or dull to the word. I think most educators know acknowledge that excitement about a subject lends itself to greater learning. You know that. Right? If you can get a student excited about the subject, all of a sudden all kinds of senses go on.

They wanna learn. They wanna consume. Same is true about spiritual truth. But you have become dull. The writer wants to explain some of the most wonderful truths of God's word but he said, you don't even wanna listen. And we've got to address this because he wants to lay out before them some of the great truths.

Imagine if my wife came home and said, sweetheart, I want to tell you some of the most exciting thing that happened to me today at church and I just want to tell you about it. Great. She goes and she starts, I got in my car and I took off.

What car did you get into? Well, I got into the, you know, the sedan. Oh, well, continue. Yeah. And then I drove. Aren't you impressed about modern transportation today? I mean, we're not doing the horse and buggy anymore. Isn't it cool? Okay. Yeah, sweetheart. But let me keep telling you, then I got the and you know our pickup out there, it can tow 7,000.

What if we I just kept talking about that. It should be very quickly, should be like, you're not listening. You don't really care what I have to say. And that's similar what's happening here. You have become dull. I've got great things to tell you, but you are dull.

You don't wanna listen. You've got your mind on other things. And unless we dress this, you're not gonna learn what I have to say about Melchizedek and the priestly ministry of Jesus Christ. Defective faith, first of all, is dull of hearing. Second of all second of all about defective faith is it progress.

Does not show progress. Look back at verse 12. Notice where they ought to have been. For though by this time you ought to be teachers. Spiritually speaking, you ought to be teachers. By this time, you as certainly Hebrews being brought up in the Old Testament scriptures and then having the New Testament truths of the gospel proclaimed to you by eyewitnesses and by his great teachers.

You've been taught at length by some of the best talent, by some of the God gifted men, and they've spent a lot of time with you, you ought to be teachers. You see, back then, every church had to be its own seminary. You didn't have a bunch of seminaries you could send people off to.

No. It was the church. It was the church. They would preach the gospel, and then they would establish a pattern of teaching within the the church over the scriptures of God and the the the words of Christ. And they would exhort each individual to grow in Christ likeness.

And then they would entrust those words to faithful men and the ongoing governance of that body to faithful men and that community then would go on. He said, by this time, you've had so much poured into you that you ought to be teachers. But look at where they were instead.

Look back at verse 12. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God. You're in need. Instead of being in a position to give something of great value to somebody else, instead you are in need for somebody to come and to teach to you again some of the elementary principles of the oracles of God.

The ABCs, that's what the word refers to. The most basic fundamental revelations of God, you need to go back and learn the ABCs of the oracles of God. And you need somebody to come teach you even though by this time you ought to be a teacher. Well, since I shared my horrible event of striking out at T ball, I think case.

Case. Case. Graduated. And I went out to be a civil engineer. And And I took my first job. And I sat there and the guy, my supervisor laid out a whole set of plans for me and he gave me an engineering scale and he goes, I want you to calculate this, that and the other thing.

And I said, great. And I took that engineering scale and I looked at it. I said, how do I use this? I mean, my supervisor looked at me like, really? It'd been four years. I mean, that I that was the very first class you took. So four years so it's so after four years, I hadn't picked up an engineering scale.

But that's one of the very first things they taught me. How to use this, how to measure. I needed a refresher. I should have been able to teach anybody that because it's one of the most basic parts of engineering. And I needed somebody to go back and quit and tell me how to do it.

I should have been a teacher. Kind of embarrassing. But look at what he's saying. See, the Hebrews needed someone to go back to the very beginning, to the ABCs of the basic truths of God's word. And this condition was very inexcusable. You know why? Because first of all, they were Jews.

They had grown up in the scriptures. If you think about the Old Testament book, it's like the ABCs of the gospel. You do not understand the basics of the Old Testament, you'll never understand God's revelation in the new. You do not understand the old covenant, you will not understand the new.

And let me explain. You think about if you had a board book of the Old Testament. Let's go back to the basics. Creation. God created. Good. He created. Next page, you see the fall. Man sinned. Then you see Noah's flood. Judgment. And then you turn the page and you see Passover, Passover lamb.

You see a tabernacle. You see a sacrificial system. You see access to God. You see fellowship with God. All of these are the ABCs. And they had rehearsed those so they should have known. And even more, they had some eyewitnesses that had come and proclaimed the gospel to them and skilled teachers.

But after all that training, they were as unskilled with God's word as I was with my engineering scale that first day of work. You see Jesus warns about being sluggish in taking in God's word because those who are sluggish and don't take in the God's word and don't properly process it miss the benefits of what that produces.

And that's why in the parable of the soils in Mark four twenty four, Jesus says this, take care what you listen to. By your standard of measure, it will be measured to you and more will be given you besides. For whoever has, to him more shall be given.

And whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. And he's speaking there in the context of God's words. Take them in. Be good stewards of them and more will be given. But if you if you don't listen, if you don't respond, even what you have will be taken from you.

You see, because faith that isn't growing isn't genuine faith. It's not biblical faith. Effective faith does not show progress in the right kind we're We're to And to the need. We're And you have come to need milk and not solid food. Says you have come to a point.

Your development shows regression. You have come to a point of need. Your spiritual progress is compared to that of an infant's digestive system that cannot take in the food necessary to sustain life. And what would you say about a the health trajectory of a baby whose little body cannot digest solid food?

You'd say there's something really wrong and something to be very concerned about. I love this church. I love we're blessed with so many babies and more babies on the way. And you know this is true. I don't have to tell this to you. But within the first few hours of life outside the womb, the baby is going to have his or her first meal.

And it's not gonna be steak. It's gonna be milk, something easily consumed, something easily processed. Studying this, you know, the capacity of a baby's stomach at birth is somewhere between a half an ounce and an ounce. That's a little bitty stomach. Really small. But then they take in milk, and guess what?

It doubles the first week. And they just that that milk, they then they want more milk, and then they want more milk. And that produces a progression. Milk, then they want more milk. And then that after several months, maybe six months, four months, six months, somewhere in there, they start needing solid foods.

And then somewhere after the first year or somewhere thereabouts or a little after, milk solid food is primary. And where this progression, milk leads to more milk, leads to solid food, where that progression isn't happening, there's something really wrong with the child. And in this analogy, milk is a reference to the elementary teachings of God.

Solid food is metaphor for the doctrines of righteousness. Metaphor, milk, elementary teachings. Solid food, doctrines of righteousness. And that's very clear in the next verse. Look at verse 13. For everyone who partakes of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness for he is an infant. For everyone.

This is a universal truth that applies to everyone. One who partakes of only milk or the one just having milk is problematic, Not accustomed to the word of righteousness, word of uprightness, the teachings of righteousness. It's what solid foods is about. Contrast with milk. You must go beyond milk.

If you're you're gonna grow and develop. You must go beyond milk and take in solid foods. You must go beyond the basics of the gospel and you must embrace teachings and doctrines of righteousness. The origins of righteousness. The essence of righteousness. What living righteously looks like. What the Christ like path looks like.

All of that are teachings in righteousness. Ness. But look back. Everyone who partakes of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness. Not accustomed. They are unfamiliar. They are without experience. They are novices. They are void of skill, not acquainted with righteousness. Such an individual who partakes only of milk has no practical experience with Christ like righteousness.

No real interest in it. You know, in many contexts, to be a child is a virtue, childlike faith, childlike innocence. Not here. This childishness here is like what it means to be naive in the proverbs. Somebody who needs to grow and develop. Something is wrong with the person who can articulate the basics of the gospel but is not growing in a hunger and thirst for righteousness.

There's something off. You're not really assembling assimilating the milk. Because if a person really grasps the teaching of of God's word and the good news, there will be a hunger awakened for righteousness. And they are the blessed. Matthew five six, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be satisfied.

Yeah. Deficient faith does not come from above. It is earthly, and therefore it has no appetite for the things above, like righteousness. So there's no sense in talking about the king of righteousness if you have no appetite for righteousness in the beginning. That's what this writer is stopping and saying, look, I wanna talk to you about Melchizedek.

I wanna talk to you about the king of righteousness. I wanna talk to you about Jesus Christ and his high priestly ministry. I wanna talk to you about the deeper things of righteousness and why your soul can find rest and peace in him. But the problem is you have no appetite for righteousness, so it doesn't do any good for me to wax on about the king of righteousness until we get this thing settled.

Genuine faith progresses from milk to solid food. Fourth characteristic of defective faith is it is unable to discern good and evil. And there's a logical progression in all of this, of course. Look back at verse 14. But solid food is for the mature who, because of practice, have their senses trained to discern good and evil.

Solid food. The doctrines of righteousness. The mature is the one who's fully developed. How does he get to that being fully developed? Because of practice, that maturing process, the constant taking in of God's word, chewing on it, letting it taking it in, letting it have its beneficial impact upon your soul, and then taking in more of God's word, and letting that have its beneficial impact, And then listening again and listening to more and then taking in more and more.

That is the repetitions. Those are the repetitions of righteousness. And such a routine accomplishes something in a person. It accomplishes Christ likeness. Notice how those who, because of practice, have their senses trained. It speaks of an ability to discern correctly the faculty of distinguishing between good and evil.

Much like a healthy baby's ability is progresses from milk to taking in solid food, so those who by practice, by taking in God's truth, their faculty of hearing improves, and their faculty of distinguishing between good and evil improves because they grow in righteousness. They have their senses trained to discern good and evil.

To discern, they have the ability to distinguish, to separate in the mind what is good and what is evil. What is good and what is bad? What is wise and what is foolish? What is most helpful and what is not beneficial. Those who trained in righteousness keep going in the things of the word, they're able to distinguish between good and evil.

But the Hebrews generation, they were turning away from the gospel of the new covenant to go back to the Old Testament Judaism. And by doing so, they were distinguishing they were demonstrating that they were unable to distinguish between good and evil because they were going back. They were forgetting the good.

They were losing sight of the good and turning back to Egypt, figuratively speaking, like the Exodus generation. We read earlier about there have been many generations with defective faith. Talked about the exodus generation. Read to you earlier Isaiah six and the Babylonian exile generation. They were dull. Somewhat Isaiah six ten says rendered the hearts of this people insensitive, their ears dull.

Because they were dull of hearing, they didn't properly take in God's word. And because they didn't properly take in God's word, they didn't receive its benefit. Since they didn't receive its benefits, they didn't grow in an appetite. They didn't get a palate for righteousness. And so because they didn't get a palate and a taste for righteousness, they weren't able to distinguish between good and evil.

So they kept pursuing the good and they kept then getting right for God's judgment. That's what happened to Babylonian generation. Jesus, when he's preaching in those great days of the high moments of his preaching ministry to the great crowds, he says in to these crowd the reason I talk to them in parables is because they're just like the Babylonian exiles generation.

And he says this, in their case, Matthew thirteen fourteen, the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled. You will keep on hearing, but you will not understand. You will keep on seeing, but it will not you will not perceive for the heart of this people has become dull. With their ears, they scarcely hear.

They have closed their eyes. Otherwise, they would see with their with their eyes, hear with their ears, and understand with their heart and return, and I would heal them. And so the crucifixion generation followed the pattern of the Babylonian exile generation that Isaiah prophesied to and they ended up crucifying the Lord of glory.

We witnessed defective faith. It's it's generational. That's what the writer of Hebrews is very concerned about the church's church of the Hebrews is addressing. You don't properly take in biblical truth, if you don't properly assemble it, it will not awaken a greater hunger and thirst for righteousness, which will then deprive you of more teaching and more truth.

And because of that, you will not be able to have your senses trained between good and evil. So you will continue in a path of evil, and you will be judged. So the way you take in biblical truth says everything about your eternal destination. That's true of generations, and it could be true of families.

A family that is not progressing toward righteousness is progressing toward judgment. And that's why I said earlier that one of the best things you fathers and fathers to be can do is be an example of faith. Be an example of genuine faith. These four characteristics of defective faith also show a progression into judgment, don't they?

The one who's dull of hearing, of course, is not gonna progress in the faith. And if you do not progress in the faith, you're not gonna have a appetite for the things of God, for righteousness, and therefore, you're not gonna be able to discern between right and wrong.

So you'll continue in the way of wrong, and so you will come under judgment, eternal separation from God. That's the progression into God's judgment. Effective faith that is dull of hearing. Don't be sluggish in this regard. One of the most important things you can do in life is model genuine faith for those around you.

It doesn't matter who you are. How is your faith? Is it defective? What do you do with it if it is? Well, if you're like me, you gotta constantly be exchanging defective faith or genuine faith. How do you do this? Well, the answer has already been given. Look back at Hebrews four sixteen.

Therefore, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace. Maybe you need to repent completely this morning of a life separate from God. How do you start? Well, you draw near to God at the throne of grace. You draw near in confidence, in plainness of speech.

You tell them like it is. You don't hide anything. You confess every indication of your defective faith. That's what you need to do. Confess your sins. Confess the manifestations of your defective faith. Ask God to forgive you for it. Draw near. Confess. And then ask him to forgive you.

Ask God to give you more faith. And then trust his word. What word am I talking about? Keep reading in Hebrews four sixteen. Therefore, us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace so that we may receive mercy. You will receive mercy at the throne of grace And you will find grace to help in time of need.

You will find timely help. That's what he says. So come. Constantly becoming, drawn near to God in confidence. Confess every indication of your faith that's defective. Ask. Be asking God to forgive you. Ask God to give you more faith. Show you the path of righteousness. And then trust his word.

And then go out and think and feel and do what faith requires. And then come back and do that again. These are the repetitions of righteousness. So Hebrews four sixteen is about a pattern of life. Let us draw near with confidence through the throne of grace so that the the We are the thing.

Only so that you can grow in appreciation for the king who of righteousness. Let's pray. Heavenly father, we do indeed bow our hearts to you this morning, thanking you for these rich words, and we thank you for the fathers among us. Father, so much is demanded of the men of this generation, especially godly men.

So much is demanded on at their work, demanded it in society, demanded in the church, demanded at home, demanded by the relationships and above all these to to be growing in faith and growing in knowledge of your word, all of that, father, we I empathize with the men of this church who are really endeavoring to live godly lives.

Father, I pray that you would strengthen them in every facet, that you would raise up even more men who exemplify faith. Father, when they get it wrong, that they are quick to do what's right and exemplify faith in that manner. Father, may we all grow in faith celebrate and have a greater understanding and ability to celebrate our king who is the king of righteousness.

We thank you in Jesus' name.