Hebrews 6:1a
"…the principles of the doctrine of Christ…."
I know I’m taking this slow, because I just reminded myself, don’t get in a hurry. Take this chapter slow!’ We’re going to take it slow. Because this is so important that people understand that here we have to see these Hebrews, to whom of course, the Epistle is primarily written, understand now that they cannot rest on the status quo. They certainly don’t want to be left slipping backward or become slothful. But rather they’ve got to move on ahead in their experience and their knowledge of the Word of God and there by grow in the Knowledge of God and the Lord Christ Jesus. Or as the Lord asked in Matthew chapter 11 “are you ready to take My yoke upon you and Learn of Me?” And the only way they could do that would be to "leave the words of the beginning of Christ." Now that just flies in the face of most of Christendom. Doesn’t it? What were the "words of the beginning of Christ?" What are the ‘principles of Christ?’ It’s in the Four Gospels! His earthly ministry to Israel!
Let's stop for a moment and ask what does the church of our day do? They ignore the words and warnings of Jesus by mixing the scriptures of the Old Testament in what could be called a slurry and then try to make a doctrine of them. Problem is that people no longer know what is truth from fiction and this is why there's no "power" in the church. Oh there maybe a form of power but in most cases its a power that man generates which does not last and causes great harm because it only leaves people wanting, starving and depressed and wondering in the wilderness of sin. Alright, let’s look at what Paul says concerning that in Romans chapter 15 verse 8. And again I imagine the vast majority of people who read their Bibles skim over this verse and never really understand what it says. But oh, it’s loaded! This says it all - of what we’re looking at now, that we’re going to have to move away from the first words of Christ, and His earthly ministry. Because, here’s the purpose.
Romans 15:8
"Now I say, that Jesus Christ was (past tense) a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the fathers."
Just look at that! You know, I read in the Jerusalem Post from cover to cover off the internet. And, quite often, there’s an article in there with regard to these young Jewish men who are in Yeshiva. And of course, that’s part and parcel of Israel’s history. Now what do these young Jewish men do in a Yeshiva? Well, they’ll sit there day in and day out and contemplate maybe one verse of the Torah. And they’ve been doing it for centuries. And what do they still hope to do? Pull something out of there that some previous Rabbi had never seen. But for what purpose now that our and their Lord has come, died, was buried, rose from the dead and ascended back to the Fathers right hand, is my question. The only answer I can find is that they don't believe and so they remain in their sin. If they remain in their sin where are the churches that do likewise, they remain in the same sin, is the answer.
Alright, now I don’t expect anybody to do that. We’re not in Yeshivas but goodness sakes let’s take a verse like this now again, and pick it apart. What does it really say? Well it says that Jesus Christ was the ministry of the circumcision. Who is the circumcision? Israel, the Hebrews! So Paul that great Apostle of the Gentiles, is reminding us, that Jesus Christ in the "beginning of His words" here on earth was to what people? Israel.
You know we're always stressing every word that Jesus said in His earthly ministry with two exceptions was always to the Hebrews under the Levitical Law. Oh goodness, that rattles people. I get a kick out of how it does, because it just sort of makes me smile that people can get so shook up with truth. That reminds me, we had a couple from out east someplace send an e-mail. I’m not going to identify them. But anyway one of the clergy of their particular denomination was with them. When they were doing a reading of one of our blogs in their Bible studies.
Well, it didn’t take them two minutes to see that the guy was just enraptured with what he was seeing. Oh, he was just eating it up. So this couple said, "We’re going to make sure that he’s back." But he wasn’t there. And they said, "Well, goodness sakes, what happened?" "Ah," they said, "he didn’t want to be confused with the truth!"
Isn’t that right? People say, "Don’t bother me with facts. I’m satisfied with whatever flies." But listen, we’re going to look at this in Truth. Not what I say, but rather what does the Book say? "Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision." And then what’s the next statement? "For the Truth of God." Now that just nails it down. This wasn’t something that flippantly came off the lips of the Apostle Paul. This was in accord with the whole Sovereign working of the Creator God, that Christ should come to the Nation of Israel. And then what does the rest of the verse say? "To confirm the promises made to the fathers." Who were the fathers? Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and all the rest of the Old Testament patriarchs. David, Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah you name them, He came to confirm all the promises, the Law and the Prophets.
They were all talking about the coming of this Messiah King. And that’s what Jesus came to proclaim. That He was the fulfillment of those promises made to the fathers of Israel, see? And that’s so hard for people to comprehend. They think that Jesus came - like I had one guy explode, "Ah," he said, "What do you do with John 3:16, throw it away?" No, John 3:16 was the fulfillment of Christ coming to His earthly people. And then when He was rejected, not once but six more times then yes, then He went to the whole world. And He had His man in the wings because he knew that Peter nor any of the others had the stuff He required for the job, so He had Saul of Tarsus. Besides what John declares is the same that the writer of this Epistle says in chapter 1 verse 5: "Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to Him a Father, and He shall be to Me a Son?" and this is a quote from Psalm 2 verse 7 " I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto Me, Thou art My Son; this day have I begotten thee." which was written by King David as a conversation between the God the Father and Yhovah the Son.
But for three years, He was the minister of the circumcision, for the Truth of God to confirm the promises made to the fathers. Now see when you pick it apart and take it slow, doesn’t it make sense. Sure it does. Just as sensible as it can be that He came to fulfill those Old Testament promises. He never once told those twelve disciples, "I’m going to be going to the Cross and be crucified and then raise up another Apostle and send him to the Gentiles," - at least not in a way that they could understand it.
Before we go any further we'll look at what John reveals about the Truth and our main subject Grace in John chapter 1 verses 14 and 17. We'll begin with verse ten:
"He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came to His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of the will of God. And the Word was made (put on) flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of Grace and Truth.
John bare witness of Him, and cried, saying, This was He of whom I spake, He that comes after me is preferred before me: for He was before me.
And of His fulness have all we received, and Grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but Grace and Truth came by (through, in) Jesus Christ. No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared (to unfold the things of, lead us to)the Father."
Now what we need to understand is this, that John is rehearsing what he had seen and heard first hand before and then from after the Lord ascended back to Glory or was taken up into Heaven. That's about as plan as it can get, He came to His own, the Hebrews, as they were the chosen people to whom and through whom the promised redeemer would come was made. As the end of the "everlasting" period of time or the end of the Hebrew only Age. The term "everlasting" only spoke of the Christ or Messiah of promise as the completion of this Age. The one to whom all the promises, covenants, commandments and Law pointed toward as their end. Christ come to bring Truth and Grace, the Will of God to bear on us all.
Now then, let’s go back and see some of those "words of the beginning of Christ." And let’s just jump all the way back to the Book of Matthew. We’re going to jump in first at Matthew chapter 5 and verse 17. And this of course, is the beginning of His earthly ministry. And Jesus said:
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
The Epistle to the Hebrews part CXXIII
Hebrews 6:1a
"Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrines (or the teachings) of Christ, let us go unto perfection…."
I’m going to stop right there. Because I’m thinking, there is so much right there, that the casual reader just reads over it. Here's what many tell us "You’ve taught me how to read!" Well, not that they couldn’t read as reading goes. But, people don’t stop to analyze what it really says, see? And this is what we have to do. So, "Therefore," since we have to come away from that milk-bottle, the signs, miracles and wonders environment and get into the deeper things that we can share with other people, we have to start someplace and what’s the next word? "Leaving." Now what do you suppose leaving means? Well, it means what it says!
Come back with us to Ephesians chapter 5 and here we have the whole marriage situation for us in this Age of Grace. The husband and wife relationship, so I want you to drop in at verse 31. And all I’m doing this for is so that you get the meaning of the word leaving.
Ephesians 5:31
"For this case shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh."
Let's look at that a little more than just seeing a beautiful wedding ceremony. What really happens when a young couple gets married and sets up their own home? What happens between them and their parents? Well, they don’t forsake them. They don’t say, "Bye, Dad! I’ll see you in Glory!" That isn’t what marriage does. Marriage is still connected to both generations.
In short order what does that young couple suddenly realize? The rent is due, car and insurance payments have to be made. Groceries have to be bought. The electric bill, and the phone bill are staring them in the face. Hey, they’ve never had this before, for the most part. And so what is it? It’s a whole progressive step from living in the home nest, to all of a sudden establishing a home of their own. But they don’t forsake that which has gone before, they merely move on away from it, still keeping the ties to the home folks. Now isn’t that understandable?
This all started back in Genesis. You have the same word; "therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and cleave to his wife." This is the whole concept. But the point we're trying to make, it’s not a matter of totally forsaking the parents, it’s simply moving on. In fact, the more we study Hebrews, the more we’ve come to the conclusion under the heading of the Epistle to the Hebrews, they could have added a letter promoting progression, because that’s what Hebrews is all about. To keep moving and moving. And as we were studying a little bit, we couldn’t help but think, that in the world around us, isn’t that exactly true? There is no status quo, at least not until you retired. And Glenda and I have talked on what it’d be like to be retired? We now have an idea! But for the average person going through life, there is no status quo if you’re going to succeed in life. Now this was some time ago as now we're retired and we have more time to spend in our studies of scriptures. It's amazing what we're learning as now we can take our time to slowly research words and phrases and then ask a few questions where and when needed of the Holy Spirit to get what He means or meant.
What am I saying? Whether it’s a sports team, a pro-football team, a college program, a business, a marriage, or an education, you have to either keep moving forward, be it ever so infinitesimal, you’ve got to keep moving forward or else what? Back you go! We stall out and we become slothful.
We’re using the analogy of a salmon swimming up stream or if in this application we're in canoe and paddling up stream. Oh, you may not be making much headway but I’ll tell you what, the minute you pull that paddle out of the water you’re going to make some movement! But it’s going to be back down stream.
Alright, now that’s exactly the way we have to look at Scripture. There is no such thing in this progressive unfolding of the Word of God as a status quo. We have to either keep moving on and learning and getting deeper into the Word or we're going to get careless and lose interest. And so it always holds that we have to leave that which has gone before for the purpose of moving on. And that’s exactly what it’s talking about. Now, let’s look at the verse again.
Hebrews 6:1a
"Therefore leaving…" In other words, don’t forsake it. You don’t turn your back on it saying, "I don’t want anything more to do with that." You move from that one place into a progressive unfolding of that which lies ahead. But what is the Apostle admonishing these people to leave?
Hebrews 6:1a
"…the principles of the doctrine of Christ…."
All the Greek that I can find and the various dictionaries and commentators, all use the same thing. And if you have a good marginal help in your Bible, it would be in your margin. This word principles is better translated "the words of the beginning of Christ."
Think about that for a minute.
"Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrines (or the teachings) of Christ, let us go unto perfection…."
I’m going to stop right there. Because I’m thinking, there is so much right there, that the casual reader just reads over it. Here's what many tell us "You’ve taught me how to read!" Well, not that they couldn’t read as reading goes. But, people don’t stop to analyze what it really says, see? And this is what we have to do. So, "Therefore," since we have to come away from that milk-bottle, the signs, miracles and wonders environment and get into the deeper things that we can share with other people, we have to start someplace and what’s the next word? "Leaving." Now what do you suppose leaving means? Well, it means what it says!
Come back with us to Ephesians chapter 5 and here we have the whole marriage situation for us in this Age of Grace. The husband and wife relationship, so I want you to drop in at verse 31. And all I’m doing this for is so that you get the meaning of the word leaving.
Ephesians 5:31
"For this case shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh."
Let's look at that a little more than just seeing a beautiful wedding ceremony. What really happens when a young couple gets married and sets up their own home? What happens between them and their parents? Well, they don’t forsake them. They don’t say, "Bye, Dad! I’ll see you in Glory!" That isn’t what marriage does. Marriage is still connected to both generations.
In short order what does that young couple suddenly realize? The rent is due, car and insurance payments have to be made. Groceries have to be bought. The electric bill, and the phone bill are staring them in the face. Hey, they’ve never had this before, for the most part. And so what is it? It’s a whole progressive step from living in the home nest, to all of a sudden establishing a home of their own. But they don’t forsake that which has gone before, they merely move on away from it, still keeping the ties to the home folks. Now isn’t that understandable?
This all started back in Genesis. You have the same word; "therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and cleave to his wife." This is the whole concept. But the point we're trying to make, it’s not a matter of totally forsaking the parents, it’s simply moving on. In fact, the more we study Hebrews, the more we’ve come to the conclusion under the heading of the Epistle to the Hebrews, they could have added a letter promoting progression, because that’s what Hebrews is all about. To keep moving and moving. And as we were studying a little bit, we couldn’t help but think, that in the world around us, isn’t that exactly true? There is no status quo, at least not until you retired. And Glenda and I have talked on what it’d be like to be retired? We now have an idea! But for the average person going through life, there is no status quo if you’re going to succeed in life. Now this was some time ago as now we're retired and we have more time to spend in our studies of scriptures. It's amazing what we're learning as now we can take our time to slowly research words and phrases and then ask a few questions where and when needed of the Holy Spirit to get what He means or meant.
What am I saying? Whether it’s a sports team, a pro-football team, a college program, a business, a marriage, or an education, you have to either keep moving forward, be it ever so infinitesimal, you’ve got to keep moving forward or else what? Back you go! We stall out and we become slothful.
We’re using the analogy of a salmon swimming up stream or if in this application we're in canoe and paddling up stream. Oh, you may not be making much headway but I’ll tell you what, the minute you pull that paddle out of the water you’re going to make some movement! But it’s going to be back down stream.
Alright, now that’s exactly the way we have to look at Scripture. There is no such thing in this progressive unfolding of the Word of God as a status quo. We have to either keep moving on and learning and getting deeper into the Word or we're going to get careless and lose interest. And so it always holds that we have to leave that which has gone before for the purpose of moving on. And that’s exactly what it’s talking about. Now, let’s look at the verse again.
Hebrews 6:1a
"Therefore leaving…" In other words, don’t forsake it. You don’t turn your back on it saying, "I don’t want anything more to do with that." You move from that one place into a progressive unfolding of that which lies ahead. But what is the Apostle admonishing these people to leave?
Hebrews 6:1a
"…the principles of the doctrine of Christ…."
All the Greek that I can find and the various dictionaries and commentators, all use the same thing. And if you have a good marginal help in your Bible, it would be in your margin. This word principles is better translated "the words of the beginning of Christ."
Think about that for a minute.
Monday, July 16, 2012
The Epistle to the Hebrews part CXXII
Hebrews 5:13
"For every one that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe."
They’re babes!" And even in believers, they may have been saved for years and years but they’ve never gotten beyond the baby stage spiritually or even entered into the spiritual stage, So Paul is admonishing them to get off the baby bottle!
Now verse 14.
Hebrews 5:14
"But strong meat (true spiritual adult food) belongs to them who are of full age, (that is spiritually mature, those seeking for the Truth and righteousness of God) even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil."
This means we should be knowing spiritual Truth from error. After the rudiments of redemption we’re still babes in Christ. As we begin to study the Word, and we begin to understand some of the basics. I think one of the first things we have to realize in the Age of Grace is that the moment we’re saved the Holy Spirit comes in, and indwells us. He then becomes our teacher, trainer, guide and tutor BUT we have to allow Him to teach us. The Holy Spirit is the One Who opens up our understanding of the Scriptures. I'll prove it. Go to 1 Corinthians 2 verse 10. This is where we start as a new believer with an understanding that we’re not just left out there to our own devices but we have the indwelling Holy Spirit Who is ready to reveal these things IF we will ask Him to. Now I think we have to simply pray and ask God, "Give me understanding. Teach me, reveal the Truth. Give me wisdom." And the Lord will do it.
I Corinthians 2:10
"But God hath revealed them (that is, the things that are only for believers to understand) unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit (God's Spirit) searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God."
Alright then come all the way down to verse 13,
I Corinthians 2:13
"Which things also we speak, (Paul says) not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, (You don’t go by what men say. You can NOT get it from a school of higher learning of mans wisdom such as a Bible College or some other institution.) but which the Holy Spirit teacheth, (And here’s how you study under God's direction to learn of Him.) comparing spiritual with spiritual."
This is why I use as many Scriptures as possible because we have to understand that the Word of God dovetails. Everything fits and we compare Scripture with Scripture because Scripture interprets Scripture. IF we are rightly dividing as Paul told Timothy to do. And then verse 14.
I Corinthians 2:14
"But the natural (the unregenerate, the unsaved, unbelieving and yes those who are babes) man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: (why?) for they are foolishness unto him:"
And why are they foolishness? Because he has no hunger, he has no desire to learn. Most don't have a teachable or even a believing spirit as they've not been awakened to the Truth of God. And so we have to understand that it is our spiritual life that has the need to feed on the Word of God in order to grow and mature. Thus moving into the four dimensions of God as seen in Ephesians chapter 3.
Hebrews 6:1a
"Therefore…"
You know, I can almost stop and teach thirty-minutes on just the word ‘therefore,’ because you see, he’s reminding us of what he had just covered in those previous verses in the last part of chapter 5. You remember, we were talking about Paul lamenting the fact that these people were not skilled in the Word of God. They were not able to go out and teach others. But rather they were like babes on the milk-bottle, and they still had to be fed.
What a dilemma. The average believer has not made enough effort to search the Scriptures to get skilled with them, to be comfortable in sharing it with someone else. Now we hope that this is what we’re accomplishing in our kind of teaching. That we are getting people to have enough understanding of the Scripture to be able to sit down with someone who is totally ignorant and just show them.
So this is what Paul was lamenting in those previous verses, that you’ve got to get off the milk-bottle. You’ve got to get into the strong meat, and be able to teach others also. "Therefore" since that’s what he has covered, look what the verse says:
"For every one that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe."
They’re babes!" And even in believers, they may have been saved for years and years but they’ve never gotten beyond the baby stage spiritually or even entered into the spiritual stage, So Paul is admonishing them to get off the baby bottle!
Now verse 14.
Hebrews 5:14
"But strong meat (true spiritual adult food) belongs to them who are of full age, (that is spiritually mature, those seeking for the Truth and righteousness of God) even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil."
This means we should be knowing spiritual Truth from error. After the rudiments of redemption we’re still babes in Christ. As we begin to study the Word, and we begin to understand some of the basics. I think one of the first things we have to realize in the Age of Grace is that the moment we’re saved the Holy Spirit comes in, and indwells us. He then becomes our teacher, trainer, guide and tutor BUT we have to allow Him to teach us. The Holy Spirit is the One Who opens up our understanding of the Scriptures. I'll prove it. Go to 1 Corinthians 2 verse 10. This is where we start as a new believer with an understanding that we’re not just left out there to our own devices but we have the indwelling Holy Spirit Who is ready to reveal these things IF we will ask Him to. Now I think we have to simply pray and ask God, "Give me understanding. Teach me, reveal the Truth. Give me wisdom." And the Lord will do it.
I Corinthians 2:10
"But God hath revealed them (that is, the things that are only for believers to understand) unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit (God's Spirit) searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God."
Alright then come all the way down to verse 13,
I Corinthians 2:13
"Which things also we speak, (Paul says) not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, (You don’t go by what men say. You can NOT get it from a school of higher learning of mans wisdom such as a Bible College or some other institution.) but which the Holy Spirit teacheth, (And here’s how you study under God's direction to learn of Him.) comparing spiritual with spiritual."
This is why I use as many Scriptures as possible because we have to understand that the Word of God dovetails. Everything fits and we compare Scripture with Scripture because Scripture interprets Scripture. IF we are rightly dividing as Paul told Timothy to do. And then verse 14.
I Corinthians 2:14
"But the natural (the unregenerate, the unsaved, unbelieving and yes those who are babes) man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: (why?) for they are foolishness unto him:"
And why are they foolishness? Because he has no hunger, he has no desire to learn. Most don't have a teachable or even a believing spirit as they've not been awakened to the Truth of God. And so we have to understand that it is our spiritual life that has the need to feed on the Word of God in order to grow and mature. Thus moving into the four dimensions of God as seen in Ephesians chapter 3.
Hebrews 6:1a
"Therefore…"
You know, I can almost stop and teach thirty-minutes on just the word ‘therefore,’ because you see, he’s reminding us of what he had just covered in those previous verses in the last part of chapter 5. You remember, we were talking about Paul lamenting the fact that these people were not skilled in the Word of God. They were not able to go out and teach others. But rather they were like babes on the milk-bottle, and they still had to be fed.
What a dilemma. The average believer has not made enough effort to search the Scriptures to get skilled with them, to be comfortable in sharing it with someone else. Now we hope that this is what we’re accomplishing in our kind of teaching. That we are getting people to have enough understanding of the Scripture to be able to sit down with someone who is totally ignorant and just show them.
So this is what Paul was lamenting in those previous verses, that you’ve got to get off the milk-bottle. You’ve got to get into the strong meat, and be able to teach others also. "Therefore" since that’s what he has covered, look what the verse says:
Sunday, July 15, 2012
The Epistle to the Hebrews part CXXI
Continuing with:
I Peter 2:2a
"As new born babes, (see the illustration? Just like a newly born infant, a human infant.) desire the sincere milk of the word,…"
We as believers, start out as newborn babes desiring the sincere milk of the Word. The principles, as Paul said in Hebrews, of the Word of God, the very foundations, the basics. And what’s the purpose to be? That we grow. Now babies don’t stay on milk. There comes a point in time when they can handle more solid food, because it’s a growth process. Well, the Bible is the same way. You start out with the basics and you grow in your desire and your knowledge. It's when this hasn't happened that we're to sit back and ask, why not? What's wrong or missing and what's needed? Alright verse 3.
Peter 2:3
"If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious." What is the Lord? Gracious!
When you begin to taste of the goodness of God, it just whets your appetite. Now we’ve got to come back to Hebrews, so back to chapter 5. Remember, the whole connotation is again, that instead of being ready to teach the Word to others, most believers are still on the milk bottle, and not ready for strong meat. As soon as you start talking some of the deep things of Scripture what do they do? They say, "I can’t understand that anyway, it’s over my head." Well, whose fault is that? It’s their own. They're not listening to God our the God head in us.
The reason these deep things go over their heads is that they haven’t taken the time to study the simpler things and to progress. Just like in our secular education, it’s a direct parallel. Would you take a kid and put him in a calculus or a physics class as a teacher if he never mastered fourth and fifth grade arithmetic? Of course not! That would be impossible. And as our whole secular education is a progressive thing to bringing or training up our young people to the place where they can comprehend the deeper concepts of whatever discipline. This is where we need the Holy Spirit because it is He that is given as our Trainer, Teacher, Guide and Tutor while we're in the elementary phase of our spiritual life. We have this benefit which Israel did not while she was under the tutor of the Law. Remember that All the Law does is convict us of sin and now He reveals Christ to us throughout the Old Testament up through and including Acts chapter 11. Because of how the Holy Spirit does His work in us.
As a child in school grows and moves on from the elementary stages of education so must the spiritual child of God move forward to the deeper things of Christ and God.
Now then, let’s move on to verse 13 of Hebrews chapter 5.
Hebrews 5:13a
"For every one that useth milk…"
They most likely, are still on Christ’s earthly ministry. At least let’s hope maybe they’ve gotten that far. They understand that Jesus of Nazareth had a ministry, and His miracles and so forth, but that’s as far as they can go. All they know is just simply His earthly ministry, and consequently, they are not knowledgeable in the Word of righteousness. In other words, they have not made or entered that grade in school yet. They're still in need of being taught that level of education. But the teachers can't teach them because they don't know it either. They believe that all they have is all they need or that it's all there is and they'll fight to the death defending that, not realizing their lack of spiritual knowledge. They thereby remain practical or earthy in their thinking not having the mind of Christ. They have not learned dependency on the Holy Spirit to bring them into the deeper things of God. For only the Spirit can speak to spirit, but these depend on the words of men instead. So therefore it's not a spiritual training but on mind or head knowledge. And this does nothing for their walk of Faith.
Most of the deeper concepts come from the pen of the Apostle Paul, and I imagine that the vast majority of church members know nothing of those concepts. For example, the first one that comes to my mind is that the old Adamic nature is bent to sin. "We’re not sinners because we sin, but rather we sin because we’re sinners." Most people don’t even know what I’m talking about, and Paul enlightens us on that subject.
You see, the old Adam-Satan-child nature that we’re born with, is hell-bent. And the only way you can overcome that is by the regeneration brought about by the power of God. And once we’re regenerated, then we should seek to understand these spiritual concepts, but too many people/teachers/preachers are afraid of them and refuse to learn them.
Most people think that once we're born again or regenerated that we should automatically understand spiritual concepts. We're just not equipped to discern between the Old and New and therefore we combine them, and that is wrong. This is why Paul emphasized to Timothy (2 Timothy 2:15) to rightly divide the word of Truth. And we'll read in Hebrews about the two edged sword used to cut into or divided both bone and marrow. Jesus also used the old cloth and new cloth and the old wine skin and new wine to reveal the same concept.
Most Church members can only rehearse Christ’s earthly ministry. I mean, they’ve heard that in Sunday School for years and they know that pretty much, but beyond that, they just don’t know. When it comes to end-time events as we see them rolling up around us, most people don’t have a clue as to what all this is about. They’ve never gotten off the milk bottle. They’ve never gotten any further than the Old Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Then Paul goes on to say here in Hebrews:
I Peter 2:2a
"As new born babes, (see the illustration? Just like a newly born infant, a human infant.) desire the sincere milk of the word,…"
We as believers, start out as newborn babes desiring the sincere milk of the Word. The principles, as Paul said in Hebrews, of the Word of God, the very foundations, the basics. And what’s the purpose to be? That we grow. Now babies don’t stay on milk. There comes a point in time when they can handle more solid food, because it’s a growth process. Well, the Bible is the same way. You start out with the basics and you grow in your desire and your knowledge. It's when this hasn't happened that we're to sit back and ask, why not? What's wrong or missing and what's needed? Alright verse 3.
Peter 2:3
"If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious." What is the Lord? Gracious!
When you begin to taste of the goodness of God, it just whets your appetite. Now we’ve got to come back to Hebrews, so back to chapter 5. Remember, the whole connotation is again, that instead of being ready to teach the Word to others, most believers are still on the milk bottle, and not ready for strong meat. As soon as you start talking some of the deep things of Scripture what do they do? They say, "I can’t understand that anyway, it’s over my head." Well, whose fault is that? It’s their own. They're not listening to God our the God head in us.
The reason these deep things go over their heads is that they haven’t taken the time to study the simpler things and to progress. Just like in our secular education, it’s a direct parallel. Would you take a kid and put him in a calculus or a physics class as a teacher if he never mastered fourth and fifth grade arithmetic? Of course not! That would be impossible. And as our whole secular education is a progressive thing to bringing or training up our young people to the place where they can comprehend the deeper concepts of whatever discipline. This is where we need the Holy Spirit because it is He that is given as our Trainer, Teacher, Guide and Tutor while we're in the elementary phase of our spiritual life. We have this benefit which Israel did not while she was under the tutor of the Law. Remember that All the Law does is convict us of sin and now He reveals Christ to us throughout the Old Testament up through and including Acts chapter 11. Because of how the Holy Spirit does His work in us.
As a child in school grows and moves on from the elementary stages of education so must the spiritual child of God move forward to the deeper things of Christ and God.
Now then, let’s move on to verse 13 of Hebrews chapter 5.
Hebrews 5:13a
"For every one that useth milk…"
They most likely, are still on Christ’s earthly ministry. At least let’s hope maybe they’ve gotten that far. They understand that Jesus of Nazareth had a ministry, and His miracles and so forth, but that’s as far as they can go. All they know is just simply His earthly ministry, and consequently, they are not knowledgeable in the Word of righteousness. In other words, they have not made or entered that grade in school yet. They're still in need of being taught that level of education. But the teachers can't teach them because they don't know it either. They believe that all they have is all they need or that it's all there is and they'll fight to the death defending that, not realizing their lack of spiritual knowledge. They thereby remain practical or earthy in their thinking not having the mind of Christ. They have not learned dependency on the Holy Spirit to bring them into the deeper things of God. For only the Spirit can speak to spirit, but these depend on the words of men instead. So therefore it's not a spiritual training but on mind or head knowledge. And this does nothing for their walk of Faith.
Most of the deeper concepts come from the pen of the Apostle Paul, and I imagine that the vast majority of church members know nothing of those concepts. For example, the first one that comes to my mind is that the old Adamic nature is bent to sin. "We’re not sinners because we sin, but rather we sin because we’re sinners." Most people don’t even know what I’m talking about, and Paul enlightens us on that subject.
You see, the old Adam-Satan-child nature that we’re born with, is hell-bent. And the only way you can overcome that is by the regeneration brought about by the power of God. And once we’re regenerated, then we should seek to understand these spiritual concepts, but too many people/teachers/preachers are afraid of them and refuse to learn them.
Most people think that once we're born again or regenerated that we should automatically understand spiritual concepts. We're just not equipped to discern between the Old and New and therefore we combine them, and that is wrong. This is why Paul emphasized to Timothy (2 Timothy 2:15) to rightly divide the word of Truth. And we'll read in Hebrews about the two edged sword used to cut into or divided both bone and marrow. Jesus also used the old cloth and new cloth and the old wine skin and new wine to reveal the same concept.
Most Church members can only rehearse Christ’s earthly ministry. I mean, they’ve heard that in Sunday School for years and they know that pretty much, but beyond that, they just don’t know. When it comes to end-time events as we see them rolling up around us, most people don’t have a clue as to what all this is about. They’ve never gotten off the milk bottle. They’ve never gotten any further than the Old Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Then Paul goes on to say here in Hebrews:
Saturday, July 14, 2012
The Epistle to the Hebrews part CXX
Alright now, Paul, the tremendous Apostle that he was, had problems teaching people, too. Go back with me to I Corinthians chapter 3. The Corinthian Church was the congregation with the most problems. They were the most none-spiritual, because they were believers that were so fleshly minded. They had not, as Hebrews says, gone on into the deeper things. The meeter things of Christ and of God. They too, were guilty of not even understanding the principles of the Word of God. So, if Paul had that problem, don’t feel bad if we do too. It’s not easy to overcome some of these obstacles but we just keep repeating and repeating and repeating and finally it starts soaking in.
I Corinthians 3:1
"And I brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, (or fleshly, earthly not even practical) even as unto (what?) babes (or babies) in Christ."
Now they were professed believers and they had been believers for quite some time but they were still in their infancy, they were still in the corral of learning under the Holy Spirit's training, so far as spiritual things were concerned. What were their problems? They were too hung up on tongues, prophecies, healings, the Law, going to law of pagan courts against each other. They were too busy arguing between themselves who was the greatest, Jesus or Peter or Apollos or Paul. See? And what was that? Carnality. That’s carnal thinking and so he says, "even after all these years I have to treat you as babes in Christ." Now verse 2:
I Corinthians 3:2a
"I have fed you with milk,…" He understood when they were new believers fresh out of paganism that they needed the milk of the Word and so that’s what he gave them. And so he says:
I Corinthians 3:2
"I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: (or the deeper things) for hitherto you were not able to bear it, (that was understandable. But, what does the rest of the verse say?) neither yet now are ye able."
He says "and you still can’t!" Isn’t that something? He says, "I understood that at the beginning when you were new believers that you had to be treated like babes in Christ, but, you haven’t grown a bit and I’m still having to treat you like babes in Christ." Alright, now verse 3, what was their problem?
I Corinthians 3:3a
"For ye are yet carnal:…"
You are more hung up on the external and material things than you are on spiritual. Does that ring a bell? This is where the churches are hung up even today....They follow all kinds of fails doctrines of men and thereby make light of God's Gospel and the cross and Blood of Christ. Here it comes now; We’ve already repeated it.
I Corinthians 3:3b
"…for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal and walk as men?"
In other words, you walk like the unsaved world, and we’ve already referred to this. Some in the Corinthians Church would argue who they would follow. Some would say, "Well, we follow Apollos, or we think Paul’s the greatest." Others thought it was Peter, and then we had all their other problems. In fact we remind people constantly, that this Corinthian letter was written to confront problems.
The Book of I Corinthians does not admonish spirituality and position like Ephesians and Philippians do. So Paul had to deal with problems in that Church because they weren’t growing. Oh, they were saved - he refers to that. They were believers but they were more concerned with fleshly and material things than they were the spiritual. And that's where our churches are still, there's more unbelievers in them than there are believers. For they don't know what it is that they're to believe even for their salvation. Many think that they're one and the samething but they are not they are two separate events. The first is designed to bring us through trials and tribulations for the perfecting of our trusting into faith and obedience. While under the leadership of the Holy Spirit who reveals to us Truth and Grace. But, Paul was absolutely right in starting them out on the milk of the Word and we're going to take you all the way back to Peter’s little Epistle and see what he says about this.
As you are turning to 1Peter chapter 2 verse 2.
I Peter 2:2a
"As new born babes, (see the illustration? Just like a newly born infant, a human infant.) desire the sincere milk of the word,…"
Now goodness sakes, we imagine every last one of you have been around newborn babes. Usually when they cry, what do they want? They want milk. They’re hungry! And that little body is just crying out for nourishment or changing. Well that’s the way a believer should be - so hungry.
And that’s what thrills us when people are hungry for the Word. They’ve been in these dead churches for so long and when all of sudden they taste of the Word of God they can’t get enough of it, HIM. The people just blew us away with their knowledge and they had never had any of this before in their life. Boy, we mean they just laid it out, one item after another. And we said, "You’ve learned all this just in the last few months?" They said, "They’d never heard it before!" So it’s possible to learn a lot in a short time if you’re hungry.
I Corinthians 3:1
"And I brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, (or fleshly, earthly not even practical) even as unto (what?) babes (or babies) in Christ."
Now they were professed believers and they had been believers for quite some time but they were still in their infancy, they were still in the corral of learning under the Holy Spirit's training, so far as spiritual things were concerned. What were their problems? They were too hung up on tongues, prophecies, healings, the Law, going to law of pagan courts against each other. They were too busy arguing between themselves who was the greatest, Jesus or Peter or Apollos or Paul. See? And what was that? Carnality. That’s carnal thinking and so he says, "even after all these years I have to treat you as babes in Christ." Now verse 2:
I Corinthians 3:2a
"I have fed you with milk,…" He understood when they were new believers fresh out of paganism that they needed the milk of the Word and so that’s what he gave them. And so he says:
I Corinthians 3:2
"I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: (or the deeper things) for hitherto you were not able to bear it, (that was understandable. But, what does the rest of the verse say?) neither yet now are ye able."
He says "and you still can’t!" Isn’t that something? He says, "I understood that at the beginning when you were new believers that you had to be treated like babes in Christ, but, you haven’t grown a bit and I’m still having to treat you like babes in Christ." Alright, now verse 3, what was their problem?
I Corinthians 3:3a
"For ye are yet carnal:…"
You are more hung up on the external and material things than you are on spiritual. Does that ring a bell? This is where the churches are hung up even today....They follow all kinds of fails doctrines of men and thereby make light of God's Gospel and the cross and Blood of Christ. Here it comes now; We’ve already repeated it.
I Corinthians 3:3b
"…for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal and walk as men?"
In other words, you walk like the unsaved world, and we’ve already referred to this. Some in the Corinthians Church would argue who they would follow. Some would say, "Well, we follow Apollos, or we think Paul’s the greatest." Others thought it was Peter, and then we had all their other problems. In fact we remind people constantly, that this Corinthian letter was written to confront problems.
The Book of I Corinthians does not admonish spirituality and position like Ephesians and Philippians do. So Paul had to deal with problems in that Church because they weren’t growing. Oh, they were saved - he refers to that. They were believers but they were more concerned with fleshly and material things than they were the spiritual. And that's where our churches are still, there's more unbelievers in them than there are believers. For they don't know what it is that they're to believe even for their salvation. Many think that they're one and the samething but they are not they are two separate events. The first is designed to bring us through trials and tribulations for the perfecting of our trusting into faith and obedience. While under the leadership of the Holy Spirit who reveals to us Truth and Grace. But, Paul was absolutely right in starting them out on the milk of the Word and we're going to take you all the way back to Peter’s little Epistle and see what he says about this.
As you are turning to 1Peter chapter 2 verse 2.
I Peter 2:2a
"As new born babes, (see the illustration? Just like a newly born infant, a human infant.) desire the sincere milk of the word,…"
Now goodness sakes, we imagine every last one of you have been around newborn babes. Usually when they cry, what do they want? They want milk. They’re hungry! And that little body is just crying out for nourishment or changing. Well that’s the way a believer should be - so hungry.
And that’s what thrills us when people are hungry for the Word. They’ve been in these dead churches for so long and when all of sudden they taste of the Word of God they can’t get enough of it, HIM. The people just blew us away with their knowledge and they had never had any of this before in their life. Boy, we mean they just laid it out, one item after another. And we said, "You’ve learned all this just in the last few months?" They said, "They’d never heard it before!" So it’s possible to learn a lot in a short time if you’re hungry.
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
The Epistle to the Hebrews part CXIX
Hebrews 5:12
“For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.”
Picking back up where we left off, yesterday with our thought on Hebrews 5:12.
See this is the whole idea. If we learn these things then it is so easy to share it with others. We don’t have to get out on the street corner and preach at people or collar them. But when they ask a question, we have both barrels cocked and fully loaded. Now, I’m going back to the old single-barreled 16-gauge shotgun that I grew up with. And when we were pheasant hunting, I know it was probably not the safest thing to do, but when we knew that there were birds not too far away, we walked with the barrel cocked and ready. Well, you see, this is what people should do, when someone asks you a question and it opens up, be ready! Be ready! Don’t hem and haw and say "Well I’m afraid to say something for fear I’m wrong." Allow the Spirit of Christ to give you the words to say because as He promised Moses that He'd not only give him the words but that He'd also put them in Aaron's month as well (Exodus 4:11-16).
Hey, if we’ve studied, and if you’ve done your homework, the Lord will give you what it takes to share. And it will be the most exciting thing you’ve ever experienced. Well, that’s what Paul is dealing with. But these people weren’t ready. And he said, "You need to be taught again the principles."
Now what are principles? The foundation. See? We’ve got kids now parents themselves, and grandkids, unbelievable; they’re all in school. Well, I wish I had the time and the where-with-all to just sit down and teach all of them. But you see, there’s no use trying to teach them say algebra unless they’ve got what? Plain old basic math. There’s no use trying to learn algebra unless you know the principles of mathematics. This is the plan God used for our training and teaching ages ago and He hasn't changed it one bite. So why is it so many want to skip right to the meet of the scriptures without the Holy Spirit or the Spirit of Christ it just doesn't work that way. We are to pass through each level just as we did when in school without failure or without short cuts.
This is the same way with Scripture. People have to know the basics. That’s why when people need a home Bible study and they ask what we recommend, we tell them to start in Romans and slowly work through to Philemon and then repeat them again. We've got to get people into an understanding of Who God is, and how it all came about. Then they need to start with Genesis and how did it all start? What happened? How did sin enter? How did the need of redemption and salvation come about? And so we start with the principles of Paul which Paul says, "you people haven’t even got that. You cannot pass on the principles of the Word of God." Now, look what he says next.
Hebrews 5:12b
"…and are become such as have need of (what?) milk,…"
Goodness sakes, who starts out on milk? Babies! We all know that babies start on milk, because they can’t handle beefsteak. They can’t handle the stronger foods, so they must start on milk. The basics of our faith. Well, it’s the same parallel spiritually. You don’t take a new believer and take him into prophecy, or the Levitical Law because he’s not ready for that. But you take a new believer and build him on the oracles, the basics of the Word of God, and that’s why we like to teach the way we do starting in Romans and just come on up through the Scriptures. And have people mature progressively in a knowledge of the Scriptures. Then we'll take them into Genesis and work them through Acts. Some will surprise you and begin to ask spiritual questions as they're a little deeper than the average they're hungry and thirsting for the meatier matters of scripture.
Now this remind us of a scripture found in Matthew chapter 9 and verse:
Matthew 9:16-17
Jesus is here speaking “No man putteth a piece of new cloth (the new covenant) unto an old garment (the old covenant), for that which is put in to fill it up taketh from the garment, and the rent is made worse (there is no mixing of fabrics of cloth). Neither do men put new wine (again new covenant) into old bottles (the old system of Law as it related to a corral or tutor): else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved.”
Now this fits with what we saw above as both are speaking of the old and its replacement by the New. (Psalm 119:83; 1Corinthians 3:1-2, 13:13) This is an example of the meat of the word verses the milk that seeks to stay within the confines of the old corral and under the bondage of legalism. Why? Because of a rebellious heart that seeks its own.
“For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.”
Picking back up where we left off, yesterday with our thought on Hebrews 5:12.
See this is the whole idea. If we learn these things then it is so easy to share it with others. We don’t have to get out on the street corner and preach at people or collar them. But when they ask a question, we have both barrels cocked and fully loaded. Now, I’m going back to the old single-barreled 16-gauge shotgun that I grew up with. And when we were pheasant hunting, I know it was probably not the safest thing to do, but when we knew that there were birds not too far away, we walked with the barrel cocked and ready. Well, you see, this is what people should do, when someone asks you a question and it opens up, be ready! Be ready! Don’t hem and haw and say "Well I’m afraid to say something for fear I’m wrong." Allow the Spirit of Christ to give you the words to say because as He promised Moses that He'd not only give him the words but that He'd also put them in Aaron's month as well (Exodus 4:11-16).
Hey, if we’ve studied, and if you’ve done your homework, the Lord will give you what it takes to share. And it will be the most exciting thing you’ve ever experienced. Well, that’s what Paul is dealing with. But these people weren’t ready. And he said, "You need to be taught again the principles."
Now what are principles? The foundation. See? We’ve got kids now parents themselves, and grandkids, unbelievable; they’re all in school. Well, I wish I had the time and the where-with-all to just sit down and teach all of them. But you see, there’s no use trying to teach them say algebra unless they’ve got what? Plain old basic math. There’s no use trying to learn algebra unless you know the principles of mathematics. This is the plan God used for our training and teaching ages ago and He hasn't changed it one bite. So why is it so many want to skip right to the meet of the scriptures without the Holy Spirit or the Spirit of Christ it just doesn't work that way. We are to pass through each level just as we did when in school without failure or without short cuts.
This is the same way with Scripture. People have to know the basics. That’s why when people need a home Bible study and they ask what we recommend, we tell them to start in Romans and slowly work through to Philemon and then repeat them again. We've got to get people into an understanding of Who God is, and how it all came about. Then they need to start with Genesis and how did it all start? What happened? How did sin enter? How did the need of redemption and salvation come about? And so we start with the principles of Paul which Paul says, "you people haven’t even got that. You cannot pass on the principles of the Word of God." Now, look what he says next.
Hebrews 5:12b
"…and are become such as have need of (what?) milk,…"
Goodness sakes, who starts out on milk? Babies! We all know that babies start on milk, because they can’t handle beefsteak. They can’t handle the stronger foods, so they must start on milk. The basics of our faith. Well, it’s the same parallel spiritually. You don’t take a new believer and take him into prophecy, or the Levitical Law because he’s not ready for that. But you take a new believer and build him on the oracles, the basics of the Word of God, and that’s why we like to teach the way we do starting in Romans and just come on up through the Scriptures. And have people mature progressively in a knowledge of the Scriptures. Then we'll take them into Genesis and work them through Acts. Some will surprise you and begin to ask spiritual questions as they're a little deeper than the average they're hungry and thirsting for the meatier matters of scripture.
Now this remind us of a scripture found in Matthew chapter 9 and verse:
Matthew 9:16-17
Jesus is here speaking “No man putteth a piece of new cloth (the new covenant) unto an old garment (the old covenant), for that which is put in to fill it up taketh from the garment, and the rent is made worse (there is no mixing of fabrics of cloth). Neither do men put new wine (again new covenant) into old bottles (the old system of Law as it related to a corral or tutor): else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved.”
Now this fits with what we saw above as both are speaking of the old and its replacement by the New. (Psalm 119:83; 1Corinthians 3:1-2, 13:13) This is an example of the meat of the word verses the milk that seeks to stay within the confines of the old corral and under the bondage of legalism. Why? Because of a rebellious heart that seeks its own.
Monday, July 9, 2012
The Epistle to the Hebrews part CXVIII
Hebrews chapter 5 verse 10. We’re still dealing with Christ the High Priest after the order of Melchizedek and how Christ suffered and died and rose from the dead and then as we saw back in chapter 1 verse 3:
Hebrews 1:3b
"…when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;"
Which indicated when He sat down that the work was finished. And never forget that, its a done deal from there on out. That twice in God’s dealings throughout the human history, He finished a work that was so perfect that He could sit down. The first one of course, was the work of Creation. Then the last verse of chapter 1 said, "and He saw that it was (what?) very good." It was perfect and then you get into chapter 2, it doesn’t say He sat down but it says "He rested". And I make the point that if you’re tired and you’ve had a long day what do you do to rest? Well, you sit down, and take a load off, as we say. And so God rested.
The work of the Lord's Last Passover through the garden, trial and then the Cross and up to an including His ascension is the same way. It was so perfect, there was not a flaw in that work. There was nothing that needed yet to be done. And so when He had purged our sins, He redeemed us from them, and opened the way to our Salvation He sat down. It was finished. And you know, ever since, what has mankind been trying to do? Add to it! One thing or another, adding to it. And, we think God is almost beside Himself that mankind cannot accept the fact that it was a finished work. But for this one thing, we need to learn Christ by taking of His yoke for His burden is light. Why? Because He blazed and forged the way ahead of us and the Apostle Paul is our example, as he followed Christ our chief leader. Now let’s begin with verse 10.
Hebrews 5:10
"Called of God an high priest (not after the order of Aaron's priesthood as it only could deal with the external or material world around them but) after the order of Melchizedek."
Who, remember, was the high priest of the Most High God, which was the definition of God concerning the non-Jewish world. Now we’ll move down into verse 11 and we’re going to again depart from the priesthood of Melchizedek for a little bit. We’re going to come down into the life of the ordinary believer. The ordinary Hebrew in this case, but we’re no different.
Hebrews 5:11
"Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing you are dull of hearing."
What is Paul referring to? It was hard for him to talk to them about the priesthood of Christ and after His finished work. Why? Because they were so thick-headed. They just couldn’t get it through their heads. And so he says, "You are dull of hearing." Now verse 12, why were they dull of hearing? Well it was a malaise, we think - it was just of no real interest. In fact, we can safely say, this to anyone of you, we don’t care what church you go to, it’s no different denomination by denomination. Large churches or small. How many of your fellow-church people have a true hunger and thirst for God or the Word of God? How many of them can honestly say, I just can’t wait until I can get into another Bible study. This requires a New Spirit be in them as Jeremiah said in chapter 31:32-36 and Ezekiel says a new spirit in chapters 11:19, 18:31 and 36:26.
Receiving a New spirit is exciting, because once people get an appetite once a week isn’t enough. But you see this is the whole idea that Paul is expressing here. Most professing believers have no hunger or thirst for the Word of God or God. They’re dull of hearing. As long as they fulfill their obligation and they’re there for an hour or two a week, they think that’s all that’s necessary. I remember as a kid our neighbors would make it a point to attend their denominational church on Christmas and Easter as for the rest of the year all most never. And this is what Paul is dealing with when he says in verse 12:
Hebrews 5:12
"For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, (what does that mean? You should be sharing it with people but instead, Paul says,) you have need that one teach you again which are the first principles of the oracles of God."
So right there between the lines what is the process that God hopes to see happen? That after you’ve been taught, you share it with others. Now that doesn’t mean you have to collar them and preach at them or anything like that, but be ready to open the Scriptures. Be ready any place and at any time and take no thought of what to say as the Holy Spirit will cause His word to flow from you like rivers of flowing living waters. In this way the Spirit gives or imparts His Life to those who receive of Him.
Hebrews 1:3b
"…when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;"
Which indicated when He sat down that the work was finished. And never forget that, its a done deal from there on out. That twice in God’s dealings throughout the human history, He finished a work that was so perfect that He could sit down. The first one of course, was the work of Creation. Then the last verse of chapter 1 said, "and He saw that it was (what?) very good." It was perfect and then you get into chapter 2, it doesn’t say He sat down but it says "He rested". And I make the point that if you’re tired and you’ve had a long day what do you do to rest? Well, you sit down, and take a load off, as we say. And so God rested.
The work of the Lord's Last Passover through the garden, trial and then the Cross and up to an including His ascension is the same way. It was so perfect, there was not a flaw in that work. There was nothing that needed yet to be done. And so when He had purged our sins, He redeemed us from them, and opened the way to our Salvation He sat down. It was finished. And you know, ever since, what has mankind been trying to do? Add to it! One thing or another, adding to it. And, we think God is almost beside Himself that mankind cannot accept the fact that it was a finished work. But for this one thing, we need to learn Christ by taking of His yoke for His burden is light. Why? Because He blazed and forged the way ahead of us and the Apostle Paul is our example, as he followed Christ our chief leader. Now let’s begin with verse 10.
Hebrews 5:10
"Called of God an high priest (not after the order of Aaron's priesthood as it only could deal with the external or material world around them but) after the order of Melchizedek."
Who, remember, was the high priest of the Most High God, which was the definition of God concerning the non-Jewish world. Now we’ll move down into verse 11 and we’re going to again depart from the priesthood of Melchizedek for a little bit. We’re going to come down into the life of the ordinary believer. The ordinary Hebrew in this case, but we’re no different.
Hebrews 5:11
"Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing you are dull of hearing."
What is Paul referring to? It was hard for him to talk to them about the priesthood of Christ and after His finished work. Why? Because they were so thick-headed. They just couldn’t get it through their heads. And so he says, "You are dull of hearing." Now verse 12, why were they dull of hearing? Well it was a malaise, we think - it was just of no real interest. In fact, we can safely say, this to anyone of you, we don’t care what church you go to, it’s no different denomination by denomination. Large churches or small. How many of your fellow-church people have a true hunger and thirst for God or the Word of God? How many of them can honestly say, I just can’t wait until I can get into another Bible study. This requires a New Spirit be in them as Jeremiah said in chapter 31:32-36 and Ezekiel says a new spirit in chapters 11:19, 18:31 and 36:26.
Receiving a New spirit is exciting, because once people get an appetite once a week isn’t enough. But you see this is the whole idea that Paul is expressing here. Most professing believers have no hunger or thirst for the Word of God or God. They’re dull of hearing. As long as they fulfill their obligation and they’re there for an hour or two a week, they think that’s all that’s necessary. I remember as a kid our neighbors would make it a point to attend their denominational church on Christmas and Easter as for the rest of the year all most never. And this is what Paul is dealing with when he says in verse 12:
Hebrews 5:12
"For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, (what does that mean? You should be sharing it with people but instead, Paul says,) you have need that one teach you again which are the first principles of the oracles of God."
So right there between the lines what is the process that God hopes to see happen? That after you’ve been taught, you share it with others. Now that doesn’t mean you have to collar them and preach at them or anything like that, but be ready to open the Scriptures. Be ready any place and at any time and take no thought of what to say as the Holy Spirit will cause His word to flow from you like rivers of flowing living waters. In this way the Spirit gives or imparts His Life to those who receive of Him.
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