Receive Him
Hebrews 5:13, “For every one that useth jmilk †is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is ka babe. 14 But strong meat belongeth to them that are ||of full age, even those who by reason ||of use have their senses lexercised mto ndiscern both good and evil.” [1]
I. Coddled
A. Shaky
B. Steady
II. Convinced
A. Strong
B. Senior
III. Convicted
A. Set
B. Spirit
Introduction: Today we will examine scripture that has been accused of causing division in a denomination. There are those who believe that unless a Christian confesses each night, they are in danger of slipping out of being saved. Some feel very strongly that it is possible to lose your gift of salvation that you did absolutely nothing to receive which Jesus paid the price for.
There are others who feel that since salvation is a gift and Jesus did all the work that there is nothing for us to do than to accept it and move on to being better people for Him. There is nothing about abandonment of self as the prerequisite for true faith. They just feel the need to be better examples of themselves.
There is so much controversy over this book titled Hebrews in the New Testament that people even argue over who is the author. Many people believe that it is another of the Pauline letters since Timothy is mentioned. Others would say that Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles, and this is a letter to the Jews since it is named Hebrews so this letter must be from someone other than Paul.
So, I might as well give my opinion of the author. The letter reads like a syllabus from a college professor who is explaining the content of his course of study. He is telling his students what he will cover and what he will not cover.
There was a very learned man named Apollus who was well acquainted with Paul. Apollus was more eloquent in speech, as some have said. He was often in the same circles with Paul and would have known many of the same people, but he taught the Jews who had accepted Jesus as Messiah.
We all get frustrated with each other. Face that! Own that! The guy who wrote this seemed frustrated that he was going over the same things time and time again. It is time to grow up. Please take the time to go back a few verses and see that he even called his audience “dull of hearing.”
Notice too that he never lied. He told the truth in what he said. Like me he might have been a little more politically correct but that has never worked for me either. Jesus said be angry but do not sin. It is a sin to use a lie to make your point, so this guy did not lie. Sometimes the truth hurts. Sometimes people are not ready for the truth, so they shut their ears and hear what makes them feel they are in control. Only God has control and God will always be sovereign. He is in control.
This author was telling of the absolute necessity of being obedient to God. He had explained that Jesus was a priest after the order of Melchisedec. The priest that Abraham offered the first tithe mentioned in the Bible. Melchisedec was not mentioned to be a priest after the order of the Levites as other priests. There was no Levi when Abraham offered the first tithe. Who is Melchisedec? The point that the author was making was that Jesus was not from the order of the Levites but rather His lineage went back instead to Judah. Jesus’ priesthood was established before there was ever a Jacob who became Israel or Jacob’s son Judah. Jesus was obedient to Our Heavenly Father and so must we be.
Scripture: The scripture for this message is Hebrews 5:13-14. Please Stand Under the reading of God’s word.
Prayer: Please be seated and keep your Bible open to the text.
Message: We get the image of a coddled baby who is not on solid food yet. That is a good thing but once you eat a piece of birthday cake, it is hard to go back to only drinking milk. If the cake is good how about a good old steak. No, I am not a vegetarian. Something and someone had to die for you to be here. If all you eat is plants, they die when pulled from the soil. Otherwise, you would not be able to live to eat. Jesus died else we would not be able to live eternally.
A person who has always been coddled and had the truth withheld cannot stand on their own. We see that in the hordes of people rebelling today. The truth is the truth, yet they want it not to be, so they rebel. Often people rebel because they make their own decisions before they hear and accept the truth. When the truth comes to light, they attempt to reject it.
Strong meat is for the strong and seasoned person who is not immature but has acquired a taste for that which gives more strength. When a person is sick there is a period when solid food is avoided because they might choke. Once the person gains strength the only way to continue to build strength is by consuming stronger nutritious food.
So, it is with education. The freshman begins with the fundamentals of arithmetic before they dive into algebra. I failed chemistry miserably when I was in my junior year at Pittsboro High School. I attended Deep River High School in Lee County on a transfer as a sophomore. In the middle of my junior year Principal Morrison informed me that I was truant. I didn’t get a transfer from Chatham County. Thought one was enough. We were studying Physics in Lee County. Chatham taught Chemistry in the Junior year and Physics to the Seniors. I missed memorizing the Periodic tables.
Though the Chemistry teacher became a close confidant, he had no choice but to fail me. He took me and my friend Johnny Wilson and His daughter Debby to many churches where we would sing for revivals and such. He was a music mentor, but I failed Mr. Johnson’s class because I wasn’t ready for chemistry without first ingesting the Periodic tables. Amazing how much my career depended on my knowledge of both chemistry and physics. Once I was convinced that I needed to, I was convicted to understand chemistry, and everything changed. I learned it when I needed to.
The text says, “Those who by reason of use…” My sister Carol had a photographic memory. She could memorize things faster than she could understand things. We often conversed about the meaning of the Bible, and she would listen.
I have told this story about my eldest sister Carol many times. Once I flew up to our sister Jane’s home in Hagerstown MD to get Carol. Carol wanted to spend some time with us here in Moncure. During the flight the weather was a little damp and cloudy. The controller failed to hand me off, so I contacted ATC and they handed me off with a location verification. Carol asked to see my chart. I laughed to myself. She pointed to the chart and said are we here? She was right! Here is some of how the conversation went. “How do you know how to read an IFR chart? She replied that she took ground school training to be a pilot. Well did you become a pilot? No, I only wanted to know what you had to learn to become one. Well did you take the written test? Yes. What did you score? I aced it of course. What did you score when you took the test. I made 78 but look who’s flying the airplane.”
By reason of use we learn to discern what works and what doesn’t work. That goes for common sense, but it also goes for spiritual wisdom. We go through periods of testing when God is allowing us to experience Him and His righteousness. We look at the world as those who insist on what is right, and we don’t agree when things happen that seem to be against our code of conscience. It seems wrong until the truth comes in the end, and then we see the true wisdom of God through His attribute of omniscience.
We are not ready for solid food as babies in Christ, so we are coddled and fed milk. We are shaky in our belief and not able to stand solid on the faith that God has us safely in His arms until we become seniors of the faith. Strong faith produces confidence that we indeed can go on even when the world says it is time to sit back and retire.
Those who have had their senses exercised are able to discern both good and evil. How does a muscle get stronger? Exercise! God allows our faith to get strong by allowing obstacles to come which we must hurdle across. We cannot do that as infants in faith because God’s conviction is the only thing that can bring us through when we want to hide ourselves in Elijah’s cave.
He made Elijah first strengthen himself before his time of fasting in that cave. Until we are truly convicted, we cannot discern what is the next step. Even Jesus was led into the wilderness after His Baptism to find where His strength came from. We must all have our cave experience before we can be set to follow God where He will take us. Often God seems to take His Spirit away so that we can finally learn that He will never take His Spirit away. We must go through that period of unrest to find that promised rest.
The author of this letter to the Hebrews was telling His readers that it is time to grow up. Chapter six is easy to misinterpret unless it is read as if it is from a scholar to a student. Hebrews 6:1, “Therefore aleaving ||the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto cperfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance dfrom dead works, and of faith toward God, 2 eOf the doctrine of baptisms, and fof laying on of hands, and gof resurrection of the dead, and ghof ieternal judgment.” [2]
We will never leave the principles of the doctrine of Christ. Don’t stop halfway through a sentence. Let us go on unto perfection. That is the theme of chapter six. By now those Jews who are reading this have accepted that Jesus is the Messiah. As my brother the evangelist Norman Stevens says, “You should know this!”
What is it that we must be moving towards? Perfection! Please continue to study this. Let us strive for perfection that can only be attained by allowing the Holy Spirit to work within you. Do not reach the place ever that you have nothing left to learn from the Bible. A coach that is remembered said, “Never give up.” Let us continue moving closer to Jesus.
Prayer:
Invitation: 1 John 4:18, “There is no fear in love; but sperfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth eis not made perfect in love.” [3]
We have fear of those who seem to be in control over our earthly existence such as politicians, the press, programmers who create so-called social platforms like Facebook. Know this! Nobody has control of you if you allow God in your life and we should not live in awe of them.
That word awe is often confused with the word fear. We have a fear of God and that is to say that we are in total awe of God. That is a good thing. John is not saying here in 1 John 4:18 that we lose that awe of God when we achieve perfect love. To have apprehension which causes a person to lose total trust in God alone is that fear which John is mentioning here.
There will be times of apprehension when we do not know whether we can trust God recklessly or not. The result through those tests will be reliance on God alone. We will finally learn to trust and love Him perfectly without reservation. If we don’t and we continue to fall back into believing that we can believe those who don’t believe in Him, we will only find torment of soul.
Was there a time ever when Jesus was tried in this way? Gethsemane! Let this cup pass from me Father but not my way but thine be done. Jesus loves His Father perfectly and even Jesus had to face indecision. On His cross Jesus felt rejection as He cried, My God, My God, Why hast thou forsaken me.
When we feel that apprehension, we are getting closer to perfect love. Hebrews 5:8, “Though he were xa Son, yet ylearned he obedience by the things which he suffered; 9 And zbeing made perfect, he became athe author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;” [4]
Receive Him. Receive His perfection. Obey His Perfect will as we learn to love Him and each other perfectly.
j See 1 Cor. 3:2.
† Gr. hath no experience.
k See 1 Cor. 3:1. So 1 Cor. 13:11 (Gk.).
|| Or, perfect. See 1 Cor. 14:20 marg. So Phil. 3:15. Col. 1:28.
|| Or, of a habit, or, perfection. Ecclus. 30:14 (Gk.).
l ch. 12:11. 2 Pet. 2:14. So 1 Tim. 4:7.
m So 1 Kin. 3:9. Isai. 7:15.
n See Rom. 14:1 marg.
[1] The Holy Bible: King James Version (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Heb 5:13–14). (2009). Logos Research Systems, Inc.
a Comp. Phil. 3:13, 14.
|| Or, the word of b the beginning of Christ.
c Col. 3:14 (Gk.).
d ch. 9:14.
e See Acts 19:4, 5. Comp. ch. 9:10.
f Acts 8:14–17. & 19:6.
g Acts 17:31, 32.
g Acts 17:31, 32.
h Acts 24:25. See Rom. 2:16.
i Matt. 25:41, 46. So Mark 3:29.
[2] Ibid., Heb 6:1-2). (2009). Logos Research Systems, Inc.
s So Ecclus. 25:12. See Rom. 8:15.
e See ch. 2:5. So ver. 18.
[3] Ibid., 1 Jn 4:18). (2009). Logos Research Systems, Inc.
x See ch. 1:2. So John 14:31.
y So Phil. 2:8.
z Wisd. 4:13. Phil. 3:12. ch. 2:10. & 7:28. & 11:40. & 12:23. See Luke 13:32.
a So ch. 2:10.
[4] Ibid., Heb 5:8–9). (2009). Logos Research Systems, Inc.
