Well, I invite you to turn in your Bibles this morning to Hebrews chapter 5, as we're continuing our study in the book of Hebrews, and we are looking at chapter 5, verse 11, that's found on page 1190 in your Bibles that are in front of you, 5, verse 11 through 6, 3, 6, 3. Let's give our attention this morning to the living Word of God. Verse 11. who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. Therefore, let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits. And there ends the reading of God's Word. Well, for the church of the modern day, we have probably come to one of the most important texts today in our study of the book of Hebrews. And I want to warn you up front, it's not meant, I think as you read that, to make anyone comfortable. He is challenging and confronting a very serious problem in the church. And as I was reading this at the table this past week, My daughter said, yeah, he sounds agitated. And I thought, yeah, I think he is, actually. He's frustrated a bit with a problem that has gone on in the church. And it will be a convicting sermon, but one I hope that you have here. See, the great goal of the author is to push you on to Christian maturity. Isn't that everything that was said here today? It is meant to push you to maturity. In other words, it's time to grow up is what he's saying. There are many dangers in the church today, but from the apostles' perspective, if you were to sit down with these apostles, again, we don't quite know who the author is here, probably Barnabas. If you were to sit down with these authors, maybe Apollos, I should throw him in too. If you were to talk to them, they would tell you that the greatest danger of the Christian church will be the problem of spiritual immaturity. but it's not what you think it is. That's the startling consequence of studying this passage. The passage exposes 21st century, you think about this, Christians in a way that is so obvious that it may be one of the easiest passages in Hebrews to preach. The challenge is simply saying what it says and being bold with it. Because it's probably one of the strongest warnings in the New Testament. It diagnoses a very real problem that is a real thing that leads to apostasy from Jesus. And that's what he's going after. That's what the book has been concerned about. And that's what's at stake. So he's pressing them. He's pressing them to grow as Christians. He wants growth in the faith. I want to look at this passage today by considering the danger of spiritual immaturity, which is really the first point that he is going after here. And then he's going to provide some evidences of that spiritual immaturity, so that you can evaluate your life by it and look and see which direction you're going. And then there's a great call at the end of this passage to be spiritually mature. And we'll look at what that looks like as he calls them to that. But beginning here with this great problem of this danger of spiritual immaturity in the faith. The author, last time you'll remember, introduced us to a big theme. That he is going to run with now for many chapters. It is the high priesthood of Jesus. It is the eternal priesthood of Jesus. And this is profound New Testament teaching. This is deep New Testament teaching. It was so comforting last time, you'll remember, that he said wonderful things. He said, you have a high priest that's passed through the heavens for you. He knows your weaknesses. He knows your sins. He knows your struggles. He sympathizes with you, and he's giving you a great call to draw near to him in prayer. Run to him. Talk with him. Prayer, as we consider it, is a great means of that. And we have the privilege to study prayer. We're doing that tonight. But I believe at this point the author's a little frustrated. I think my daughter's right. She's going to be mad I said this. Because the very thing he wanted to address, the glories of Christ and his work for us, the depths of his sacrifice for us, The depths of his eternal priesthood and all that he's done for us was the very thing that was uninteresting to them. Maybe some of you have thought, what is Hebrews accomplishing? Where is it going? This is deep and profound stuff. It all seems so complex. And we read sections and you realize how dense it is. And this takes a lot of effort to understand and a lot of work. And I don't think it's, I've heard too many people say it's my favorite book of the Bible. See, I think that exposes a problem in the very mentality that we have of the Christian faith that he's dealing with here. He says it to begin, he had just said Jesus was designated as a priest after the order of Melchizedek. We're going to have some powerful stuff to go through. But did you know what it's going to require? It's going to require deep commitment here. But then in the next breath, the author stops. And it's as if he says, you know, about this subject, we have much to say. I'm going to get there and I'm going to teach you a lot on the priesthood of Jesus. But it's hard to explain. I have a lot of hard things that have to be explained to you Christians. The problem is that they, it's not that they can't be understood. You'll notice he'll say, for by this time you ought to be teachers. You need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk and not solid food. I was struck by something I don't think we appreciate. That typically we hear in the ministry, and you've all said it, I've said it. That, okay, there's baby Christians, right? There's baby Christians, and then there's mature Christians. The author really doesn't give any inner place here between those two categories. There's baby Christians, and then there's mature Christians. There's milk Christians, and then there's meat Christians. So we think that maturity has to do with those who are, have been in the faith and understand the deeper truths of the Christian faith as if this is just an ability issue. That's not what he's saying. That's not what he's saying at all. In fact, what does he say about milk here? Anyone who remains on milk is unskilled in the word and is unable to discern what's right and what's wrong in their life. Uh-oh. The root of the problem has to do with something he is saying here. What is the root of the problem when it comes to maturity? he says, I've got a lot of hard things to talk about here. The problem's not your ability. The problem's your interest. You are dull of hearing. Did you hear him say that to the church? You have become completely dull of hearing. You're checked out. Even though you come, you're checked out. You're not really with it. the word that he chose here means lazy. It means dull. It means sluggish. It means totally lethargic to the deeper truths of the Christian faith. Totally lethargic. Remember, he had already said back in chapter two that we have to pay close attention to the things that we've heard lest we drift away from them. Wouldn't it be the most tragic thing for all these years to sit and listen to sermons and never grow in them? Never grow in conviction. And what's amazing about this particular passage is who he's writing to. This is where we get it all backwards. We would expect this in our mindset to be said to the milk Christians. He's not speaking to the milk Christians. these are Hebrew Christians these were those raised with the faith these were those raised knowing the Old Testament scriptures these were those to whom the gospel had been had been preached with power as it was to Israel the problem was they were completely uninterested in the content of their faith so what he's addressing in this particular passage is that the mature have regressed going back to infancy that's a really interesting point they're adults and they should be acting well what they're actually acting like is infants in need of milk. It's such an important distinction. There are regressing people. You know, today we're all talking about slippery slopes and everyone doesn't like anymore the slippery slope because they say it's a fallacy. Well, I can tell you this, that according to the author of Hebrews, regression is not a fallacy. When you chip away and you have less conviction and who you are, and you're moving away from it, and you're moving away from that conviction as a people and as a church or as an institution, what we've seen is not more conviction in the truth. What we've seen is an exit from the faith. And this is what he's talking about here. You're regressing out of this. You know, one of the things we often say today is just a common, you know axiom that as long as so-and-so's in church that's great we just want them in church what if what if the church is on milk what if that meant that we're sitting under a ministry that makes us unable to discern what's right from wrong what able if we're under a ministry that makes us unskilled in the word of righteousness. Now that's not arrogantly parading the Escondido URC. That's the last thing I want to do. But doesn't it call for some kind of conviction on these matters? That's what this passage is calling us to. And that we have to guard ourselves from this. I'm not looking at everyone else. That we have to guard ourselves from this. This is why I titled the message, Sermonettes Make Christianettes. That was John Stott's famous quote. If your diet is nothing but milk and your diet is nothing that's pressing you to the deep truths of Christianity, you are a regressing Christian. And he wants to impress upon people that's the most dangerous spiritual place somebody could be. Here's what he's saying. Because they're not growing in the truth, they have no idea of the danger they're in. Let me explain it this way. If somebody in Escondido was converted off the street and the truth of the gospel got into their heart and saved them, they have a starting point, don't they? Yeah, they have a starting point. And what we often see from people like this who are converted and who are overwhelmed by the grace that's been given to them to be saved. It's like they found the pearl of great price and everything else doesn't even matter anymore, right? Now the trajectory in their life is one of growth. They want to understand the scriptures. They want to grow in the scriptures. They want to know the scriptures. It's a beautiful thing. They don't have much. And from there, they want the deep truth. That's the fallacy today, is that baby Christians don't want the deep stuff. No, they want the deep stuff. As a matter of fact, they just did a big survey of millennials. And all of them are saying in these surveys, give us some substance to the faith. We're so weary on no substance. And the boomers haven't figured that out yet, by the way, about their kids. So here we are. We've got this situation. Somebody comes in and they're really hungry because the trajectory they're going is of growth. The author of Hebrews is looking at a people who've been catechized in the faith, who had the confession. Grandma and grandpa were deeply committed to it. They built churches. They were a deeply mature community. This is Hebrew Christians. And they had all this blessed knowledge and all this blessed truth. And they're going back in regression to milk. It's like a weightlifter going back to Gerber formula. It's the worst thing you could do. Your body will waste away. They were an eroding people. Don't you see this danger? And what has it proven in history, beloved? Just open your eyes to look at what happens when you erode away your doctrinal foundation in particulars to how it, number one, empties the church and destroys people and they all think they're relevant doing it. It's unbelievable. They can't see it. We have 2,000 years of people who've gone before us that have left a heritage, a vault of truth to hold on to, catechisms that define our faith and what has been our attitude to them. We've had Bibles in our homes. We've had a Christian school in our backyard. We have lectures at Westminster. Every week you can go hear chapels. You could take a part of any of this. And my point is, is what do we see in our day? What is the general trajectory in our day? Are people eating this stuff up? the word is a minefield that you'll never plumb in this life of the depths of showing you the beautiful righteousness of God and all the wonderful attributes and his beautiful theology that he's inspired for us to learn his ways to study the inspiration of the spirit to show the glories of God's son the depths of his love and his work for us and on what large scale do we see today from the established churches what direction do they go So, that's what the author's bothered about. This is the path we see to movement when we have conviction to become broad and then theologically liberal and then out. That's what he's describing. We've watched the wholesale erosion of the faith with people who just are not interested in God's word. They're not growing. God gave you a beautiful mind. It's remarkable when the truth of the faith is not known among Christians. It's even more remarkable when it's not known among the mature who've been given everything and they're going backward. The author's so concerned about this, about being dull or apathetic or even bothered that you'd be challenged by this because it's a seriously dangerous spiritual condition he's saying here. I think William Lane is absolutely right. And what the author seems to be reacting to is that the hearers had expressed to the author that what they needed was rudimentary instruction. We just need the stuff that'll help us. We just need something basic, not all this complex theology. So what was happening? Well, it seems that all the opposition that they were receiving as Christians living in a hostile world made them say this, why in the world are we spending all this time on a priesthood? Come on. I mean, that's not helpful to daily life. You're going to put us through deep instruction on a priesthood, and you're spending all your time on doctrine. Come on, that doesn't help me where I am. We've never heard that. Something more easy, just, I don't have to think. What people don't understand is that it's that mentality that destroys the faith. It leaves us powerless. It takes us to lowest common denominator Christianity that takes people backwards and your children are casualties. What they don't appreciate is that the mentality of digressing away from growth and doctrinal conviction and content is what creates apostasy. And what the author does is provide kind of an anatomy of it for you to understand it. First, what is the first thing he says here that you can say? Okay, what's the anatomy of this kind of thinking of spiritual immaturity? Number one, there's no depth to your faith. That's what he says here. For everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness since he's a child. And you say, that's why we catechize. That's the goal of it is to put the truths in the mind of our children. He says something fascinating. That somebody who's not growing and is regressing, they're unskilled in the word of righteousness. What does that mean? Well, what is the righteousness we always talk about? Jesus' It provides, the gospel provides a righteousness for us so that we're saved from the wrath to come. He's the author of eternal salvation. We get a righteousness that should enthrall our hearts. But how easy is the thought, what does all this doctrine accomplish? He's concerned about a Christianity without depth, a mile wide and an inch deep. Second, he's concerned about Christians unable to share their faith. Did you notice the verse that says, for by this time you ought to be teachers? You need someone again to teach you the basic principles of the oracles of God. they're unable to share and talk about the content of the faith. They never do it. That's the second mark of somebody who's spiritually immature. Remember, all throughout the scriptures, there's instruction given. Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanders or slaves to much wine, but they are to be teachers of what's good. All of us should aspire to be teachers in understanding the faith in the different places that he's given us. Even older women are supposed to be teachers this way of the faith. But since there was no growth in this, they can't express it. They're just merely identified with it. It's such an important point. We should be growing, you know? We have all these opportunities to grow in the faith and to learn your faith and to be able to teach the faith. That's a vibrant church, beloved, when everyone gets to this kind of maturity. A dead church is a bunch of people who can't ever articulate the faith. See? It's vibrant because people are joyful in the knowledge of the faith. And that's the challenge of this, I think, that we should want to teach the faith. And then he says, thirdly, the sort of anatomy of it here is no discernment. He said, solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. what's he saying? That when there's maturity in the faith, there's a power of discernment that begins to arise in people. There's conviction that arises in people. And that's how you can look. If you're growing, there's discernment. And discernment produces constant growth. And in growth, there is conviction of what's right and what's wrong. What do we see from regression? All those lines always blurred. Well, you know, it's all okay. In the first century, I think what was happening was they were being persecuted for the faith and they didn't want the public shame that came with it. So in other words, they didn't want to suffer for the gospel. So the easy route was just to hide and to tuck away and to not talk about faith. and to avoid hardship, and there was no discernment coming anymore in the body because they were huddling up in light of the problems. We're not in such a different situation. We're in the middle of a sexual revolution, and what's happening? We're seeing many roll over and unwilling to say anymore that homosexuality is a sin. We're all afraid even to say that. I just saw a preacher get up, and he just stood up and said, listen to me all, there's two genders. And he went off and the whole place erupted and praised. And I thought, why don't we have that kind of boldness anymore? We're all scared of this. Don't let them scare you. You have the living God and his word in your hand. There's men and women God made. God made a man and a woman to be married for life. When did we get to the point where we're now afraid to act on that? You see, this is the danger. This is what they were facing. And this is why he's calling them to perseverance in the truth. So that you would not be sluggish. So I close with this. He wants you to be spiritually mature. And it's not a beat down. That's what you feel like a little bit here. The goal of this is growth. The goal of this is to pull you out of that thinking. And isn't that a wonderful thing? That's a good motivating thing he's doing for you. To pull you out of what the church culture often pulls us into. Therefore, let as much of us, as it says, let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God and of instruction about washings and laying on of hands, the resurrection of dead and eternal judgment. What he's saying there is, is those are foundational doctrines that we grow in, that we're growing in. Repentance and faith toward God and just about justification. And then he's talking about sanctification. Spoke of the practices that speak of the coming of the spirit. And then resurrection and final judgment. Those are core truths to our faith that we grow in in the scriptures. And we press on in in the scriptures. And we build on them. And we mature in them. And our minds grow in them. it's a simple question today. Are we growing in the truth of God's word? Do we love God's word? Is our mind, our mind is being filled with God's word. Do we love the truth? You see, what we're about to unpack, beloved, are the glories of God's son. It's going to be awesome. All that he's done in his steadfast covenant love, it's going to be deep. It's going to show us the eternal high priesthood of Jesus, his righteousness, his glory, the immensity of the sacrifice, all the types and shadows and fulfillment. And what he's saying is it's that that produces mature Christians. The doctrine. A doctrine that's taken into the heart. Head to heart. he's about to tell you about his salvation. Without living by this bread, you'll waste away and you'll make every excuse under the sun to not grow. It's actually when we're growing in the gospel that we become like the house built on the rock. Whenever the waves crash up on against us, we're not a house built on the sand that falls right over. We're built on a rock and the waves come and they crash but that house stands because it stands on the word of God. You know, before the second coming, the Bible says a great apostasy will happen of people falling away from the truth. And 2 Thessalonians says because they refuse to love the truth today and be saved, therefore God sends strong delusion they may believe what's false in order that they may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. You see why he's so concerned. He wants all of you to love the truth and grow in it and understand what's at stake in that growth and how important that is for you and your children. And Hebrews makes very clear. God is sympathetic. We have a sympathetic high priest. He knows we're weak on all this. so what do we do we draw near to him right that's what he's been saying isn't that last word so important and this we will do if God permits that's an invitation to prayer that's an invitation to say Lord help me to grow in the faith help me to be committed to the faith help me not regress help me to be mature for your word is like a hammer that breaks the rocks in pieces. Let us press on to maturity. And that should be our prayer request today. Lord, press us on to spiritual maturity. Press us on to growth and love for your word. And we will be satisfied. And we will be preserved. And we will be kept by the grace and power of God. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, thank you for challenging us today with a very powerful text that we need to hear. And we confess, Lord, that we have not been a people of the mind in our age. We've been a people of the eye. And we have, Lord, been given to trinkets to find happiness when you have given us a living and powerful word that we could never plumb the depths of in this life. So give us to grow in this, to understand it. For there we will understand you more. There we will enjoy you more. Let not the wise man you say glory in his riches or in his great wisdom. But what we all should glory in is the great privilege to know you and to understand you. And thank you for pressing us on in your word. This we will do if you permit. So today we all say together, permit it. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.