Pressing on to Maturity

Let us press on to maturity. That is the message of our text this morning, Hebrews chapter 6. Be looking at verses 1 through 3. While you're turning there, welcome to all the incoming college students, and especially you freshmen, maybe your first time in college station. Welcome. I know a lot of you spent a lot of time preparing for college.

Those of you who are coming in as freshmen, you spent a lot of time preparing yourselves to come to college. You took a lot of tests. You made an application. And you made it. You're here. You're in school as a college freshman. Let me ask you a question.

Is your goal to be a freshman the rest of your life? No, of course not. Do you remember the day you received your acceptance letter to college? Think back to that. How many of you were so excited and said, I really like this college thing, so I'm going to sit down and fill out another application and go through the whole application process again.

Any of you do that? Of course not. What's the goal of you coming to college? Graduation. I mean, what would you say about the Aggie? And this sounds like a bad Aggie joke, but it's not. Not a joke at all. But what would you say about the Aggie, who was so excited about the good news about being accepted into AM or to any other college?

And so he sat down and immediately started making application again. He was so enamored with the whole college scene, but he reduced it all to the application process. What hope do you think you'd have in graduating? Probably not a lot. You see, if you're going to graduate, and I know you've heard this many times at your new student conferences, but if you are If you're not going to focus on your coursework, guess what?

You're not going to graduate. And so you're not going to graduate if your attention is focused upon the application or upon anything else than the coursework. Bottom line is, you're not to remain a freshman, are you? You're to complete the course into which you have been admitted. That's the goal.

Isn't it interesting at the end of your time in college, you graduate, you don't have your application framed, do you? You have the diploma framed. You're to go from a freshman to a graduate. We're to go from the elementary things in Christ to the mature things in Christ.

We are to go from being babes in Christ to being adults in Christ. That's the need to press on to maturity. See, the news about being admitted into Christ's school of theology or Christ's school of discipleship is indeed good news. None of us deserved it. None of us earned it, but he calls us into his school that we may learn from him.

It's important to. Remember that as Christ called you to be his disciple, he has a goal in mind, and that is to grow up in his likeness. Paul said it like this in Philippians 3:12, I press on that I may lay hold of that for which I was also laid hold of by Christ Jesus.

Christ has laid hold of you, he has called you because he has something in mind for you, and you are to press forward to that. What is that goal? Well, it's very clear: it's to live for God's glory, and how do you do that? Christ-likeness in character. Christ's likeness.

In fact, Jesus says in Matthew 10:25, it is enough that the disciple become like his teacher. It's enough for you to become like Christ. That's the goal, Christ's likeness in character. That's how you live for God's glory. But there's a second component to this: that's walking in the specific good works that he has for you.

Ephesians 2:10, Paul says this, We are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which He prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. So you live for God's glory. That's the goal, Christian life, to live for His glory. You do that by putting on Christ-likeness in your character and walking in those good works.

That God has laid out for you to do so. You see, life moves from entry to completion. See it all around us. But you see, many of us have a problem. We get stuck in the elementary things. We get stuck in the elementary things about the teachings of Christ or about church and all of that.

And we think that that's all there is. And somehow we think we've mastered, but you haven't mastered Christ any more than a college student has mastered a curriculum who has just been admitted into the program. Don't be like the Aggie who thought that the application was all that there was to college.

We need to move on to maturity in Christ. And that involves teaching, maturing, and growing up in the doctrines of Christ and in the heart commitment to Christ. Text this morning is Hebrews 6, verse 1. Therefore, leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of instruction about washings and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment, and this we will do if we are.

God permits. Welcome back to Hebrews. It's been two months since we've been in the book of Hebrews. You know, when persecutions go up, biblical confessions go down. And that's what was happening in Hebrews. And the author is addressing in this book the crisis of many who are abandoning the apostolic confession of Christ, or they're softening it to such a degree, they're watering it down to such a degree that now they can go forward into society with some nominal form of Christianity that has compromised the core truths of the confession, and so to avoid persecution.

That's what happens when persecution goes up. Confessions of the biblical Christ go down. And that's what's happening. But our author is very concerned about these congregations that are in the face of persecution turning back. He's concerned that they are falling into a category or a rank of people that the scripture warns strongly against.

We've been talking about them all summer. We heard a sermon earlier this summer about Lot's wife, Genesis 19:26. But Lot. Wife from behind him looked back at Sodom and Gomorrah that was being destroyed. She looked back as if to turn to go back, and she became a pillar of salt.

Turn back. She turned back. Then we read a little further. Remember the Exodus generation. The writer of Hebrews has been talking about this Exodus generation. Remember in Numbers 14:3, they had come all the way to the promised land. God had promised to give it to them. And then they said this, Why is the Lord bringing us into this land to fall by the sword?

Our wives and our little ones will become plunder. Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt? So they said to one another, Let us appoint a leader and return or turn back to Egypt. Let us go back. Let us not continue in the course. Let us not press on to what God has for us.

Let's turn back. What happened to the Exodus generation? And they all died in the wilderness. Save two. Then you keep reading. I think we read another. We heard another great sermon this summer on the life of Saul. You remember? Dustin preached that one. 1 Samuel 15, 11, I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me.

And has not carried out my commands. And God rejected him as king. Why? Because he wouldn't press on to that for which God had called him. You see, we need a king. Humanity needs a king that will not turn back from the Father's will. Saul turned back. He said, you're not adequate.

That's why Christ had to come. God said, I will raise up a king. Because humanity needs a king who will do the Father's will, who will lead us to the Father's will, and who will not turn back even in the face of the most difficult circumstances. And that was Jesus Christ, true king.

He is the one we are to follow. Well, then, last week I talked about that Jesus generation. Remember John 6, 6, 6? John 6, 66? You remember the words of that verse? As a result of this, the many, the great masses of his disciples withdrew. They turned back and were not walking with him anymore.

Hategor, what about you? Are you one of those pressing on, or are there things going on in your life, and you are seriously thinking about turning back to your former life without Christ, or so watering down the teachings of who Christ is in Scripture, so as you just basically make him plain vanilla?

And no king at all. The last time we were in Hebrews, two months ago, the author started driving this point home. He starts a parenthetical thought in chapter 5 and verse 11. You see, what he's doing is he wants to talk about Jesus Christ and relate Jesus Christ to Melchizedek.

And he's going to spend chapters about this, the high priestly ministry of Jesus Christ. Why will any of us ever be able to go on to victory? It will be because of what Jesus Christ is doing now. He is at the right hand of the Father. He is advocating on his people's behalf.

And he is the cause for which any of us will go to maturity. He knows how to lead, and he knows how to enable us to carry out his will. So he wants to talk about Melchizedek, but then he interrupts himself. A long parenthetical. It takes us from chapter 5 and verse 11 all the way to the end of chapter 6, which many considered to be the most difficult chapter in the New Testament.

But it's a parenthetical thought, and it's about not turning back. He's saying, look, I don't want you to be like any of these. In the scriptures who have turned back from what God has laid out for you. And so it's a long exhortation about not turning back. And so he gets going.

But before he can continue his exposition of Psalm 110 about Melchizedek, he says, I need to talk to you about your own defective faith. There is a lot of defective faith among you. This is what we looked at last time. Defective faith is a faith that is not progressing.

Is your faith progressing? Is it going on to maturity? Well, there's a lot of people in the audience to which the book of Hebrews is written, they weren't progressing in the faith. And it's to them he wants to warn strongly. And he goes on and he itemizes what defective faith looks like.

I'll just read the verses in verse 11. Concerning him, we have much to say, and it is hard to explain since you have become dull of hearing. Defective faith is dull of hearing. Verse 12, 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, and you have come to need milk and not solid food.

Defective faith does not show progress. Verse 13, for everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. You see, defective faith has no appetite for righteousness. Verse 14, but solid food is for the mature who, because of practice, have their senses trained to discern good and evil.

Defective faith is unable to discern the difference between good and evil. And all of this is in this image of an infant that's not taking in solid food. What would you say about an infant that can't stop drinking milk? Something's wrong in his body. He's not progressing to maturity.

He's progressing to the grave. A body that does not take in solid food is not long for this world. And the same is true in a spiritual sense. A person who has no ability to take in biblical truth is headed to a very dark destination. But in our passage this morning, the author states this need to press on to maturity very explicitly.

Look back. Therefore, leaving the elementary teachings about the Christ, let us press on to maturity. He's very expressive about it, explicit. And he goes on to articulate three truths about pressing on in Christ that apply to every one of us here today. And so that's what we'll be looking at this morning.

Three basic truths about pressing on to Christ. Three truths about pressing on to Christ. So to press on to Christ, and these are very basic, basic, basic. How to get this? To press on to Christ, you must, number one, leave where you are. Makes sense. If you're going to press on, look back, verse 1 of Hebrews 6.

Therefore, leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity. Therefore, in light of what he's just said about the danger of not taking in solid food, we need to move on. Speaks of movement. This verse speaks of movement from one place to another. Therefore, leaving the elementary teachings.

You see, there's something to leave, and there's something to press on to. The idea of leaving is to press on, to move on from something. It's not to forget. It's not what he's saying. He's saying you need to move on from what you've already learned. You need to move.

On from the ABCs and apply the ABCs, the elementary teaching. So, Christian life is about leaving something behind. It's about pressing forward to what God has in store. And what are we to be leaving? We'll look back, verse 1. Therefore, leaving the elementary teaching. The beginnings. That's the idea.

Leave the beginnings of the Christ. Leave the beginnings, the beginning doctrines, the beginning teachings, those very fundamental and elementary teachings about the Christ. You need to be leaving those ABCs of Christ and grow up in Him. You are to press on, not forsake. You are to, having learned the ABCs, what do we do?

We learn ABCs in our elementary years in school, but have you forgotten them? No, because they're the building blocks on which the rest of your understanding and be able to communicate and ability to reason and think and communicate. It's all built upon these ABCs. Same is true in the Christian life.

You don't forget the fundamentals of or the beginnings of the teachings of Christ, elementary things about entry and relationship with Him. They shape everything that you do, but you do move on from them. And that's what he's saying: to press on to maturity. The elementary teaching, what's the sphere?

About the Christ. There was Old Testament teaching, there was New Testament teaching. What he's saying is there's more that you need to take in and move on. Where do you need to go? So you're leaving something behind. Where are you going? To maturity. Notice it there in the text.

Therefore, leaving the elementary teachings about the Christ, let us press on to maturity. Do you see that? There's something to move from, something to move to maturity. Word for is to the perfect or perfection or the mature, the goal. And it's not talking about perfection in relation to sin.

That's not what he's talking about here. He's talking about perfection or maturity in contrast with being an infant. Some of us can get very comfortable in a very infantile sort of Christianity. But the call here is to go beyond that, to maturity. Life moves from entry to completion.

You know, we have 10 baby dedications or plus coming up here, and we're having lots of babies around here. That is exciting. But I tell you what, I don't think there's a mother in here that wants. To see their child stagnate at just drinking milk. That would be alarming.

They don't start showing the progressions of growth. That would be alarming. Same is true in a Christian life. You stagnate at just milk. Yes, Jesus is indeed Savior, and we never outgrow that truth. And that is the basis on which we build a life. But he is also God's anointed.

He is humanity's king. He is the shepherd. And where the writer of Hebrews is going is you need to understand what he's doing right now as your high priest. That's what the book of Hebrews is about. You need to understand who he is and what he is doing right now on your behalf.

He is high priest. He is not just Savior. He's that, and to the fullest degree, but it is his high priestly role that now is enabling and is what he is doing that guarantees your salvation. And so, grow. You need to understand his role as high priest. And that's where he's going in this.

You see, you'll never get closer to maturity unless you give up the juvenile. And press on. And so we're constantly called. The Christian life is one of pressing on to maturity. So to press on in Christ, you must leave where you are. You have to go. Be more like him.

Second, you need to build your life upon the biblical foundation. You must build your life upon the biblical foundation. And the emphasis here is build upon. Look at back at Hebrews 6:1. Therefore, leaving the elementary teachings about the Christ, let us press on to maturity. And here it is, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of instruction about washings and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment.

You must build your life upon the biblical foundation, not keep laying the same foundation. That's the contrast that I'm trying to bring out here. We should be moving on to maturity. That's the emphasis of the verb here. We should be moving on. You've been called. You need to be moving on.

You should be moving on. If you're not moving on and not progressing in Christ like this, there's something really wrong here. Like a baby. That isn't progressing in drinking, in taking in solid foods. What he's saying here, let us not laying again a foundation. Literally, what he's saying is, we should not be the ones who are always throwing down a foundation.

That's the language. We should not always be about laying the foundation. What would you say about a home builder that all he knew what to do is build a foundation? Suppose I saw this advertisement, and this guy advertised himself as a great homebuilder, so I pick him up on the phone.

Can you guys show me how you would pick up on the phone? Is it like this, or is it like this? Generational thing, right? Suppose I picked up the phone and gave him a call and said, I'd like for you to come build my house. He says, okay.

So he comes out. The next day, his construction crew shows up. He's there. They clear the site. They form the foundation. They pour it. And they finish it off beautifully. I say, wow. Can't wait for you to come back tomorrow. And he comes back the next day and he does the same thing again.

He clears the site and then he forms up a foundation and he lays it and he finishes it beautifully. I'll say, wait a second. Why did you do that? Doesn't make any sense. Any sense that you already had a foundation there. Why didn't you build on it? He says, Oh, you want me to build on the foundation?

Yeah, the building needs to go vertical. It needs to go up. He goes, I got it. So he comes back the next day. Same crew shows up. Instead of tearing down the old foundation, they form another foundation and pour it right on top of the existing foundation. And so now I've got two foundations on top of each other.

I said, that's not the kind of vertical we're talking about. We need a different kind of. What would you say about that homebuilder? Do you really think he's a home builder? No. All he knows how to do is lay foundations. There's a lot more to building a home than laying a foundation.

In fact, if you don't build upon the foundation, you've defeated the purpose for the foundation being there. The foundation is there so you can build upon it and build the home. The same is true about Christ. We are to build upon the biblical foundation. There is a foundation for Christ in the Scripture, the teachings about the Christ.

And you are to build your life upon that foundation, not just keep laying the same foundation. That's what the author is getting at. To press on in Christ, you must build your life upon the biblical foundation, not just simply always laying another foundation. That's ridiculous. You see, many can profess Christ, but they are building upon another foundation.

Or, as in Luke 6:49, as we read earlier in the service, they're not building on a foundation at all of any biblical sense. And so they do not progress to maturity. If you're not building your life upon the biblical foundation, the biblical teachings about the Christ, you will not mature in Christ.

Very simple. Then the question becomes: what are the elementary teachings of Christ? I'm glad you asked that, because that's what the text should prompt you to ask. What are the elementary teachings of Christ? What is this elementary curriculum about the Christ that we would learn in grade school about him, spiritually speaking?

Look back at he gives them to us there, not laying again a foundation of repentance. Here it starts. Not laying again a foundation, of repentance from dead works and faith toward God, of instruction about washings and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment.

There they are, six of them, elementary doctrines about the Christ. Now, if you start looking at them, you start noticing the conjunctions, you can really take these six down to three pairs. Three pairs. And that's what I want to look at, call them the ABCs of the Christian life.

We'll look at the first one. Notice of repentance from dead works and faith toward God. Of repentance. What is repentance? This is the very first one you come to. Elementary teachings about the doctrine of Christ. Elementary. Very first. Repentance is about a change of mind about a previous course of behavior.

To repent is say, you know, I used to think this was the way to go, but now I think this is the way. It's a deep, serious change in the way one thinks and feels about something. It's a heart change as well as a mind change. Notice repentance.

There needs to be a change of mind about something. Look back at the text. What is it? Of repentance from something. You see it there? There's a word from. From dead works. Repentance. From dead works. Now that's an interesting. It's almost like an oxymoron, isn't it? Dead doings, is what you would say.

From deadness, from dead actions. But it's not an oxymoron. You see, because oftentimes we think of death as a cessation of being. That's not how the Bible sees death at all. Death in the Bible is a separation. It's about separation, being separate. And in this context, it's about being separate from God.

Dead works. There is a kind of living that lives separated from God. What about you? Do you live as if there were no God? Then your doings are that that comes from the realm of deadness to God. So the first thing is a repentance from dead works. You need to repent of the deadness to God which shows up in the things that you do.

That's the very beginning. That's the A. Repentance. You need to have a change of mind. This is where my starting point with God began. It began with this awareness that God had put me on this earth for a purpose, and it wasn't just to cause trouble. Now, I know that's earth-shattering, isn't it?

That's why we call it the elementary things. Yeah, God has put you on this earth, and it's not to wreak havoc on it, it's not to do evil. Yeah. God created you for something so much better than that, and in a world without sin, this would be self-evident.

Wouldn't even be talking about this. Of course, he made me not to wreak havoc, go my own way. But that's where it started with me. I didn't have the whole picture of life with God by any means, but I did grasp that my purpose in life had to accord with God's.

That's where spiritual life begins. An awareness. I needed to turn away from a life that didn't recognize God. That's what I needed. And by his grace, he even started changing my, even at that time, as I began realizing that my purpose in life isn't to just do my own thing.

Even at that time, I started having a desire to want to turn away from a life of sin. Not only did I recognize I shouldn't walk in a life of sin. But something within me started wanting to turn away from that. That's repentance. That is the beginnings of the Christian life.

But there's a pair here. You notice of repentance from dead works. You're turning away from something. There's a positive aspect to that, and that's turning to something. You can't come to Christ unless you turn away from something and turn to Him. That's the idea here of repentance from dead works and faith towards God.

From to faith would be a good way. It doesn't show up there, the prep, but it's there. From dead works and to the point of having faith toward God. Do you see that? Faith. That's what you're turning to. Belief, certainty that God is. From the realm of the dead that lives as if there is no God to the realm that is fully certain that God is and what he is like.

That's faith. And that faith is directed toward God. Do you see that? Faith toward God. To faith, belief, certainty in God. I know this is very basic. That's why we call it the ABCs. Yes. You're on earth not to wreak havoc. So repent of all the havoc in your life and turn to your Maker and have faith and understand who He is and that He has a purpose for you and start walking in it.

That's where we start. You see, the ones who have faith in God believe that the God of the Bible exists. They have come alive to Him. They are no longer part of the realm of the dead. A great example of this is, remember the prodigal son in Luke chapter 15.

Remember in verse 21, after he had squandered all of his father's gifts, treasures, he wakes up, pigsty, the depths of his sin. And in verse 21, he says this. And the son said to him, Father, and he goes back to the father. In verse 21, he says, The son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight.

I am no longer worthy to be called your son. But the father said to his slaves, quickly, bring out the best robe and put it on him. And put the ring on his fingers, put the sandals on his feet, and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and sleep.

Celebrate. Why all this celebration? This is what the Father says. For this Son of mine was dead and has come to life again. That's the picture of this spiritual resurrection. My son was dead to me. He was living as if I didn't matter or if I was a person of no consequence in his life.

But now he has come to me. He has come back as if one comes back from the grave itself. That's what repentance and faith is about. The son had a change in mind towards his sinful living, and so he abandoned it. And that's how we press on in Christ.

We are to abandon our sinful living, have a change of mind towards our sin, and also a change in mind to God. Don't ever separate repentance and faith theologically, they go together. Where you have one, you have the other. You have belief in God, you've already turned from sin.

If you've turned for sin, you already have faith in God. The cannot be separated. Don't separate them. Well, the first pair we've looked at deals with the spiritual cleansing that happens on the inside of a person. It is personal and it is internal. So build your life upon the internal and personal cleansing that comes from repentance to faith in God.

That's the A. Now let's look at the B, the ABCs of the elementary things. Look back at verse 2. Of baptisms, about washings and laying on of hands. Of baptisms. It's plural. Washings. About washings and the laying on of hands. Literally, it's about baptisms, about immersions, about plunging something into water as some part of a ritual of purification or purification ritual.

There's a minor interpretive issue here. I won't spend much time on it. But why the plural? Why baptisms? So many would point to this and say, since it's baptisms, it can't be talking about Christian baptisms. So it must be talking about the old Jewish rituals. And so here's your interpretive issue.

Is it about the Jewish context, washings and laying on the hands, to be understood in a strictly Jewish context or in a strictly Christian context? Or can you really separate the two since at this time the two are so... Intertwined. The early church was building upon many of the traditions and teachings and things laid out in the Old Testament.

Well, those who argue that this is strictly Jewish emphasize that, well, then it's about the form of teaching. What Hebrews is about here, about the washings, is about the form of teaching. The form needs to change to the substance. There's form in the Old Testament, there's substance in the New Testament.

So it's about moving on. So maturity in this sense would be one must be moving on to a better doctrinal position about what takes place in salvation. It's not just the Lamb, it's Jesus Christ on the cross. You must go from form to substance. And the writer is going to emphasize this a whole lot in the book of Hebrews.

But those who argue that, no, it's just about Christian ordinances or Christian washings. He's talking about the laying on of, or he's talking about the initiation elements into the community, baptisms. So maturity then becomes about moving on, about About growing up by moving on from just the Christian initiation into the church to growing and becoming mature.

So, which is it? Being mature and living out the faith in the public arena, or is it just a better doctrinal position? Well, as I look at it, you need both. I think the writer of Hebrews is doing both in this context. He's exhorting: you need to have a better understanding of what was pictured in the shadows and types that were in the Old Testament.

You need to understand the fulfillment of those in Jesus Christ, but you also need to be going on to really embracing those in at a heart level and becoming more and more like Him so that you are living out your faith in the public arena. So, in the one sense, you need to grow up with a greater understanding of what the Word of God says, and then a greater practice of that in your personal life.

You need both. And I think the writer of Hebrews is doing both. And so, when I look at it, I think there's a good reason to understand this baptism, why it's plural here, and do all the manuscript research, it is best to take it as plural. Baptisms, I think it's referring to a body of teaching that is distinguishing between Jewish baptisms.

Or rituals and Christian baptism. I don't think there's a reason why you have to rule anything out. There are many Jewish washings. Think about this. If you're going to study on baptisms or washings in the scripture, you're going to come across a whole lot of Old Testament teachings on washings.

You're going to have a bunch of, you're going to come up with New Testament teachings about washings. So it's all part of the same curriculum. So you don't need to get hung up on this element. The same interpretive issue exists with the next elementary doctrine, the laying on of hands.

These two come as a pair. The instruction of baptisms about washings, or instruction about washings and laying on of hands. Same interpretive issues exist for the laying on of hands. Those who strictly apply this to the Jewish Old Testament context think of the laying on of hands as in a salvific way or in that way, like they would take the bull and you would put the hands on, or the scapegoat, or you would bring your sacrifice and you would put your hands on and impute your sin into the animal and thereby taking the sin away.

In the New Testament, teaching about laying on of hands is about, you see, receiving the Holy Spirit, acceptance into the community, or being commissioned for. Service. The point of all this is, no one should get hung up on the biblical teachings. There are biblical teachings about in the old and new, about ceremonial washings, about laying on of hands, and they encompass the whole.

But this is clearly about the Christ. Look at this. We have already been told that the sphere is about the Christ, the elementary teachings about the Christ. And here's the point. In both Old Testament and New Testament contexts, spiritual cleansing was involved. And participation in the prescribed ordinances as a community were necessary for being part of the community.

And whether you're talking about Old Testament or New Testament, guess what? You have forms versus substance. We celebrate the ordinance of the Lord's table. It's a form. It's not the substance. We practice baptism. It's the form, not the substance. And so, even in Christian contexts, we can get all caught up in the form of going through the motions and deny the substance.

Same thing in the Old Testament. They could get caught up in the forms and rituals and deny the substance. I mean, what would you say about someone who refused? To be, who refused to take part in the Lord's Supper with us or refused water baptism? What would you say?

They're not one of us, are they? They're not building their lives upon the biblical foundation. So think about this: the first pair, the A's, it dealt with something that was personal and internal on the individual heart. The second pair deals with the communal and external. It talks about church participation.

There was something that happened on the inside, and then there's something in how we relate to one another in community, and it centers around the ordinances. The last pair of doctrines deal with the final state of human existence. Look at the C, the A, B, C's. Now, here is the C's, the elementary teachings, and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment.

The end of verse 2. The resurrection, literally the raising up of the dead, the whole realm of the dead in its entirety. Resurrection of the dead was anticipated in the Old Testament in scripture like Daniel 12:2, where it says, many of those who Sleep in the dust of the ground will awake these to everlasting life, but the others to disgraced and everlasting contempt.

Listen to what Isaiah 26, 19 says, Your dead will live, their corpses will rise. You who lie in the dust, awake and shout for joy, for your dew is as the dew of the dawn, and the earth will give birth to the departed spirits. Clearly, the resurrection was taught in the Old Testament.

It was embraced by the Pharisees. There will be a bodily resurrection of all humanity. And there's a purpose: eternal judgment. Judgment. A final ruling. The final decision, judgment, the decree, the final decree, the eternal one, the one that extends into the ages of the ages. You see, God's eternal judgment is his final decree concerning individuals and nations.

All of us must stand before the great judge. The Old Testament is clear on who that judge is. Isaiah 33:22. For the Lord is our judge, he is our lawgiver and our king. And he is the judge. The New Testament is clear on who that judge is. Jesus Himself said in John 5:21.

For just as the Father raises the dead and gives life, gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom he wishes. For not even the Father judges anyone, but has given all judgment to the Son, so that all will honor the Son, even as they honor the Father.

We also know who the one who's going to be doing the resurrection is, and that is Christ himself. He said, I am the resurrection. You see, all this boils down to the elementary body of teaching concerning the Christ has three distinct aspects. One relates to sin and God within our hearts, how we relate to sin and God within our hearts.

The second, how we relate to one another in community, and three, who holds our eternal destiny in his hand, to whom we must all give account. So the ABCs, three levels of cleansing on a personal level, a church level, and then on a global level. Pressing on to maturity involves building your life upon these three realities.

You never get out of there. There is eternal judgment. We are to turn away. We are to turn to. We are to respect the body. And we are to know that we must all go. Give an account before him. Those are the ABCs. Build your life upon the biblical foundation.

So to press on to Christ, you must leave where you are. You must build your life upon the biblical foundation. And number three, you must depend upon God to grow you. So this is some of the concluding thought to this passage. Look back at verse 3. And this we will do if God permits.

This, this thing. What is the thing? Referring back to pressing on to maturity. None of us are going to go on to maturity unless God permits it. Look at what he says. Notice his confidence. This we will do. We will accomplish this. We will go on to maturity.

That's his confidence. Notice his camaraderie. This we will do. Notice that word we. I love this. Circle that word we. We are in this together. You see the pastor's heart? We're in this together. You see our king's heart? We are in this together. And he's saying, we're all going to get there.

Let's get there. Come on. He's not like, I'm going there. So long. Like, no, we're getting there together. It's the heart of this pastor. Let's get there as a community. We get there as a team. That's why he is exhorting the way he is. He is. But also, third, notice his dependence, if God permits.

This we will do, and that is stronger in the Greek, if only God permits. We are dependent. God is the one who causes the growth. And we rely on him. We want to go on to maturity. We want to press on to maturity. But we're completely inadequate to get there unless God is permitting.

So where does that leave us? Let's cry out to him, God, you who said that you're the one who causes the growth. You're the one who said you want this body to grow up to maturity. Heavenly Father, cause the growth in us. We cannot press on to maturity unless you permit it.

So to press on in Christ, you must leave where you are, build your life upon the biblical foundation, and depend upon God to grow you. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the truth so present in this text. And the call for us to leave where we are.

And thank you, Father, that you have something more in store for each one of us here. Help us all to find that and walk in that way. Help us. Not to be afraid to repent and to agree with you on things that displease you and to seek your forgiveness and to walk in your way.

Father, and help us to press on to maturity. Just in Christ's name we pray. Amen.