back to index2019-09-08 Moving Beyond Spiritual Infancy
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If you can turn your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 5, we'll read verse 11 through 14. 00:00:15.520 |
Concerning him we have much to say, and it is hard to explain since you have become dull 00:00:21.240 |
For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you 00:00:24.880 |
the elementary principles of the oracles of God. 00:00:27.720 |
And you have come to need milk and not solid food. 00:00:30.660 |
For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, 00:00:36.360 |
But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern 00:00:46.960 |
Gracious Father, we thank you for the privilege that we have to come and worship you. 00:00:52.760 |
Help us Lord to never take for granted the grace that causes us to stand. 00:00:58.040 |
Help us Lord God to be reminded again of who you are. 00:01:02.440 |
In light of that, we pray that you would take the warning that is put in this passage Lord 00:01:09.760 |
Help us Lord God to respond in an appropriate way. 00:01:13.440 |
And we pray that our ears truly may be open to you and you alone. 00:01:25.720 |
So most of you, if not all of you, have driver's license and you had to have taken this test. 00:01:32.280 |
So if you fail this test, you shouldn't have a license. 00:01:35.320 |
So these are road signs that kind of prepare us for what is coming. 00:01:42.180 |
If you see this sign coming, what does this mean? 00:01:45.600 |
The roads are curvy so if you see that, what does that mean that you ought to be doing? 00:01:57.640 |
If you go at the same speed, you might get into trouble, okay? 00:02:02.800 |
Pedestrian, like unless you're playing a video game, this is a sign for you to slow down. 00:02:09.360 |
These are all warning signs to kind of be extra cautious because there's human beings 00:02:23.000 |
So if you're going side by side, you're going to speed, the two lanes are going to become 00:02:26.720 |
one, so somebody has to slow down, you have to be cautious. 00:02:29.840 |
So all of these signs are kind of warning signs about what's coming ahead and if you're 00:02:35.480 |
not careful, if you're going at the same way, you can't drive the same way or else you're 00:02:44.200 |
All of these signs are here because while you're driving, it means to slow down, stop, 00:02:50.120 |
to take a look, that there is, you know, some of these signs are more dangerous than others, 00:02:55.880 |
some of these require more attention than others, but every one of these signs are there 00:03:04.080 |
So if you see this sign, basically you're headed the wrong direction, unless that's 00:03:08.760 |
So if you keep going down this direction, there is no through street. 00:03:12.360 |
So it typically means you need to turn around, right? 00:03:17.680 |
Now the reason why you need to know these signs is because as you are driving, these 00:03:21.840 |
things are there so that you can be a safe driver and you don't hurt other people, right? 00:03:26.560 |
And again, I'm assuming these are basic signs. 00:03:28.840 |
There's some other signs, you know, sometimes in the countryside that you may not recognize, 00:03:35.900 |
And if you are driving, which almost everybody here is, you should have known what these 00:03:41.360 |
signs are for, because it helps us to be better drivers. 00:03:45.280 |
Now I gave all of that to you because the book of Hebrews is filled with warning signs, 00:03:52.640 |
If I asked you, "What is the purpose of the book of Hebrews?" 00:03:58.160 |
It's 11 chapters of exposition of the supremacy of Christ over all things. 00:04:10.760 |
This shouldn't have been new to the readers of Hebrews. 00:04:16.240 |
And the reason why he's reminding them is because the recipients of this letter was 00:04:22.120 |
And so in the midst of Christology, he breaks in with serious warnings. 00:04:29.400 |
There's one in chapter two, one in chapter three, the one that we're looking at here, 00:04:33.280 |
and then in the beginning of chapter six, there's a very serious warning, probably the 00:04:38.600 |
most serious warning, harshest warning toward the church in Hebrews chapter 10. 00:04:44.480 |
Hebrews chapter 10, 26 to 31, it says, "For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving 00:04:51.720 |
the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins." 00:04:55.160 |
Now, when he says that, he's not saying that if you willfully sin that you can't repent 00:05:01.480 |
What he is saying is, you know the path of righteousness, you know the path of forgiveness, 00:05:07.900 |
You continue to willfully sin and you reject the gospel by your actions. 00:05:13.080 |
He says, "There is no other repentance for sins." 00:05:20.040 |
"But as a terrifying expectation of judgment that the fury of a fire which will consume 00:05:25.760 |
Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two 00:05:31.580 |
How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled underfoot the 00:05:36.440 |
son of God and has regarded as the unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was 00:05:41.000 |
sanctified and has insulted the spirit of grace? 00:05:45.020 |
For we know him who said, 'Vengeance is mine, I will repent.' 00:05:50.420 |
It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God." 00:05:54.700 |
You probably know the sermon, "Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God," by Jonathan Edwards, 00:06:00.920 |
one of the harshest and most direct sermons ever given, or at least that we know of. 00:06:08.700 |
And a lot of people who read the Bible superficially will read and say, "You know what? 00:06:11.940 |
The God of the Old Testament seems to be harsh. 00:06:15.900 |
But in the New Testament, he's like a gracious grandfather. 00:06:19.140 |
You just do whatever you want and he gives you candy." 00:06:23.960 |
If you read the Bible carefully, you will find, just as he says in Hebrews chapter 10, 00:06:29.460 |
if God hated sin in the Old Testament, how much severe, he says, will the judgment be 00:06:35.260 |
after grace has been given through the blood of Jesus Christ, and you completely reject 00:06:40.740 |
him, and you trample on the foot, and you treat as unclean the blood of the covenant, 00:06:46.900 |
Jesus Christ, how much more severe would God's anger burn? 00:06:51.980 |
It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. 00:07:07.980 |
In fact, there is a debate among the commentators about, is this addressing, is the book of 00:07:13.400 |
Hebrews in the warnings, is this addressing non-Christians or Christians? 00:07:18.020 |
Some will argue that clearly it must be Christians because he's writing to the church. 00:07:23.700 |
And they say, "Well, clearly this can't be a description of a Christian." 00:07:30.100 |
I don't think that debate is fruitful because I don't think the author of Hebrews had in 00:07:36.100 |
mind that the words that he is saying is only for non-Christians and only for Christians. 00:07:43.220 |
And within the church, there are tares and there are wheats, meaning that there are some 00:07:48.500 |
people who are claiming to be Christians who are just going through the motion, and in 00:07:52.980 |
time you will recognize that maybe they really didn't have faith. 00:07:57.580 |
And then there are some people within the church who may be drifting, genuine believers 00:08:03.060 |
but kind of distracted and the concerns and life of the world is choking out their faith. 00:08:09.340 |
And so these warnings are given so that a Christian may hear it and may take heed. 00:08:17.360 |
They see the warning signs on the street and say, "Hey, I'm headed the wrong direction. 00:08:21.860 |
There's things that I need to pay attention to, that I've been drifting and this is not 00:08:26.980 |
And so, as he says in the previous chapter, "Let us fear that we do not fall short of 00:08:34.460 |
the rest of Christ and let us be diligent and let us hold fast and let us draw near." 00:08:39.100 |
So a Christian will hear these warnings and correct whatever behavior, whatever thing 00:08:43.980 |
is going on so that we may get right with God. 00:08:47.020 |
And then for the unbelievers in the church, we'll be waking up from whatever delusion 00:08:52.260 |
that they may be in, thinking that because I was raised in the church, that because I'm 00:08:58.260 |
a member, because I do these things and I know some of these doctrines, that I am safe. 00:09:03.660 |
And so it is written to the Christian and the non-Christian so that in order for the 00:09:08.260 |
church to be sober and make sure that our faith is genuine. 00:09:13.100 |
So it's important for us, so the author, before he moves on, to go into the depth of teaching 00:09:18.700 |
about Melchizedek, which he's going to do in chapter 7. 00:09:22.820 |
Before he gets in there, he says, "I can't even talk to you about Melchizedek because 00:09:26.580 |
you have become, one, become dull of hearing." 00:09:30.180 |
And these are some of the things that he describes of somebody who is either on the way of drifting 00:09:34.980 |
or maybe a non-Christian who doesn't have any appetite for the things of God. 00:09:41.320 |
These are the four characteristics that he mentions in this text. 00:09:43.660 |
One, he says, "He has become dull of hearing." 00:09:47.140 |
In Hebrews chapter 5, 11, concerning him, we have much to say, meaning about Melchizedek. 00:09:53.820 |
Melchizedek is a very important figure in Scripture. 00:09:56.100 |
He's only mentioned briefly in the Old Testament, but he says all of who Melchizedek represents 00:10:01.220 |
was the office of Christ that God was preparing so that when Christ came and became the king 00:10:07.100 |
priest that people said, "Wow, that's what that was." 00:10:11.540 |
But before the author gets into that in chapter 7, he says, "I can't even get into that because 00:10:19.580 |
When it says they have become dull of hearing, it means that at some point they were not. 00:10:28.100 |
In fact, in Hebrews 10, 32, 34, it describes how they were when they first met Christ. 00:10:34.380 |
But remember the former days when after being enlightened, you endured a great conflict 00:10:39.100 |
of sufferings, partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations, 00:10:45.180 |
and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated. 00:10:48.460 |
For you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, 00:10:53.420 |
knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and a lasting one. 00:10:59.780 |
So at one point, they were participating in the persecution. 00:11:05.500 |
Their possessions were being taken, they were visiting their friends in prison. 00:11:09.820 |
And so it's describing a church that at least on the surface was on fire at one point. 00:11:16.500 |
And he says, "For whatever the reason, maybe it was fatigue. 00:11:23.540 |
Maybe it was just the longevity of the hardship of life. 00:11:28.620 |
That when Jesus said to pick up your cross, that he meant it." 00:11:33.060 |
A lot of times, you know, when we talk about Jesus was picking up the cross, we just take 00:11:38.340 |
But maybe it began to sink in that, "Oh, shoot, he really meant that." 00:11:43.140 |
When he said, "If you want to come after me, pick up your cross and deny yourself." 00:11:46.780 |
And maybe that really began to sink in like, "Oh, that is required." 00:11:51.380 |
For whatever the reason, they were beginning to drift. 00:11:55.100 |
And as they were beginning to drift, he says, "You have become hard of hearing." 00:12:02.860 |
He says, "Something that they were doing caused them to not tolerate sound teaching." 00:12:08.260 |
In Matthew 13, 14 to 16, a similar prophecy is given to the nation of Israel through Isaiah. 00:12:16.540 |
And it's quoting Isaiah, and it says, "In their case, the prophecy of Isaiah is being 00:12:20.260 |
fulfilled which says, 'You will keep on hearing, but will not understand. 00:12:24.620 |
You will keep on seeing, but will not perceive. 00:12:27.260 |
For the heart of this people has become dull. 00:12:29.580 |
With their ears they scarcely hear, and they have closed their eyes. 00:12:33.060 |
Otherwise they would see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their 00:12:40.700 |
But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.'" 00:12:45.460 |
He said the nation of Israel, before they went into captivity, had the same problem. 00:12:48.980 |
He said God was sending prophets, prophet after prophet, warning them, giving warning 00:12:55.260 |
signs that if you keep going down this path, it's a dead end. 00:13:01.500 |
He said they kept on hearing, but they would not understand. 00:13:07.540 |
And the reason why they became dull of hearing is because they just were not interested. 00:13:15.980 |
You know, every pastor, every Sunday, they give sermons, and one of the things that we 00:13:20.540 |
are taught and that we learn is whenever we give an important lesson in the church, we 00:13:26.780 |
have to connect it to something relevant to you. 00:13:31.320 |
I try to talk about movies that I think that you've seen, and sometimes it's outdated. 00:13:37.580 |
And I try to talk about, you know, like Lakers, because I know there's a lot of Lakers fans. 00:13:43.220 |
And I try to do something like, oh, parents are raising children, because that's something 00:13:50.180 |
And I think it's helpful when we do that, because it helps me to listen to sermons as 00:13:55.500 |
But the problem is when someone is dull of hearing, that's all they're interested in. 00:14:01.500 |
And as soon as we move beyond these illustrations, there's no interest. 00:14:09.100 |
It's kind of like listening to instructions about building something, and you have no 00:14:17.020 |
Nobody goes and looks up the building code, right, and how to build this, how to build 00:14:22.180 |
that, if you're not in the process of building something, right, because it's just not interesting. 00:14:27.660 |
And so part of the reason why people become dull of hearing is because it just becomes 00:14:33.900 |
If there is no affection for Christ in your heart, the gospel is just information. 00:14:42.100 |
You may not reject it, you may not hate it, but it has no impact in your life. 00:14:47.620 |
So after a while, you heard Jesus died for you, he loved you, and then last year we talked 00:15:02.340 |
Oh, Lincoln was born here, and Washington did this, and Abraham Lincoln did this, and 00:15:13.660 |
So after a while, we become dull of hearing because it is not practical. 00:15:19.500 |
So you start hearing, "Well, teach me how to raise my children. 00:15:22.980 |
Teach me how to be a good mother, how to be a good father." 00:15:25.820 |
But whenever we start to endeavor in the depths of the things of Christ, we become dull of 00:15:36.140 |
And so Paul says, or the author says, the first sign that there is danger in our life 00:15:47.900 |
These things that really ought to be, maybe at one point, softened your heart and caused 00:15:52.180 |
you to repent and sing songs with all your heart, now it's just kind of like, "Okay, 00:16:01.120 |
The Scripture says that there's going to come a time when people are not going to put up 00:16:04.860 |
with sound doctrine, meaning that they're not going to have ears to hear sound doctrine. 00:16:08.220 |
Instead, they're going to gather around themselves teachers who are going to tickle their ears. 00:16:12.460 |
It's going to cause them to feel encouraged and enlightened and unburdened their busy 00:16:20.800 |
And they're going to gather around teachers who are going to tickle their ears. 00:16:26.420 |
Preach the word in season and out of season." 00:16:28.660 |
Whether they listen and don't listen, that is not your responsibility. 00:16:33.580 |
Whether they become dull of hearing or not, your responsibility is not to make sure that 00:16:38.900 |
Your responsibility is to preach the word in season and out of season. 00:16:43.860 |
But the first mark of somebody who is heading toward danger is that he becomes dull of hearing. 00:16:51.500 |
Secondly, he says, "They should have become teachers by now." 00:16:57.820 |
In Hebrews 5.12, "For though by this time you ought to be teachers." 00:17:05.820 |
It's not because they haven't been exposed to proper teaching. 00:17:09.140 |
He says, "You've been given plenty of teaching. 00:17:14.980 |
But yet because you become dull of hearing, you never mature." 00:17:17.940 |
In 2 Timothy 3.7, "They are always learning but never able to come to the knowledge of 00:17:27.980 |
In fact, our generation has exposure to the truth more than any other generation that 00:17:36.740 |
And I'm not just talking about, you know, this place. 00:17:40.260 |
Our generation, anybody who is born now into Christianity, because of internet, because 00:17:45.100 |
of the Bible translation, because of the freedom that we have to travel, we have more access 00:17:51.220 |
to the Word of God than any other generation ever in history. 00:17:56.860 |
And yet, this is probably true of our generation. 00:18:01.460 |
Always learning but never able to come to the knowledge of truth. 00:18:06.660 |
Hebrews 6, 7, and 8, which we'll be in next week, he goes even further and he says, "For 00:18:10.900 |
the ground that drinks the rain, which often falls on it and brings forth vegetation useful 00:18:15.820 |
to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God." 00:18:19.780 |
In other words, those people who receive God's Word. 00:18:23.140 |
And as a result, they're being fed and they're growing and bearing fruit. 00:18:27.100 |
"But," in verse 8 it says, "if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to 00:18:36.900 |
The Word of God is going forth, but some are bearing fruit, but the others receive the 00:18:41.380 |
same rain and all it produces is thorns and thistles. 00:18:47.380 |
That's a description of what Jesus said, the four different soils. 00:18:50.420 |
You have the first soil where the seed falls and the devil comes and snatches away its 00:18:55.580 |
Now, we never worry about that because the unbelievers, they hear the Word of God and 00:19:03.440 |
If they're outright rejecting the gospel, they're not here because the devil took it, 00:19:09.140 |
The second group is a seed that falls onto the rocky soil that there's a public confession, 00:19:16.860 |
But because there's no foundation, they also eventually leave. 00:19:21.000 |
So these are people who make the confession, they go to a crusade somewhere, they raise 00:19:24.780 |
their hand, come down the aisle, they come to church and maybe even become members of 00:19:28.340 |
the church, but it doesn't last long because their faith was maybe social. 00:19:34.680 |
Maybe it was an emotional response, but not real faith. 00:19:43.380 |
They usually end up just packing up and leaving. 00:19:46.800 |
It's the third soil and the fourth soil that we usually have the struggle with. 00:19:52.420 |
Third soil is the one that falls on the ground. 00:19:54.580 |
It actually bears fruit and it looks very similar to the fourth soil. 00:19:59.700 |
In fact, you know, in the book of Matthew, I believe in chapter 13, Jesus talks about 00:20:09.820 |
He doesn't separate the wheat and the tares early on because the wheat and the tare, if 00:20:12.900 |
you look at the pictures of a wheat and a tare, it looks exactly the same when it's 00:20:18.460 |
Until it grows and it bears fruit, the wheat actually, because of the wheat that is inside 00:20:25.700 |
of it, eventually the weight of it begins to cause it to bend. 00:20:29.620 |
The tares, because it doesn't have wheat, it actually just continues to grow up. 00:20:35.260 |
So if you try to distinguish early on, you're going to end up tearing out the wheat with 00:20:42.140 |
But after a while, you see the fruit, then it is pretty obvious. 00:20:46.920 |
So the third soil is the one that in the beginning looks exactly the same. 00:20:57.740 |
But after a while, they begin to drift and the same word that goes into them turns into 00:21:06.180 |
And that's the field that it's talking about. 00:21:12.020 |
They were in the same church and yet what was produced in them was thorns and thistles. 00:21:17.220 |
Forty Bachman gave a great sermon years ago at the Shepherds Conference. 00:21:23.620 |
And again, I'm going to butcher it, but one of the things that he powerfully illustrated 00:21:27.180 |
was how if you went to law school for 10 years, you would assume that that person is an expert 00:21:33.700 |
If you were in med school for 10 years, you would assume that he would be an expert in 00:21:42.460 |
If you just packed up chairs for 10 years, let's say for the next 10 years, your job 00:21:47.620 |
was to pack up these chairs and put it away and put it back. 00:21:50.420 |
We would assume 10 years after that, you would be the expert. 00:21:54.100 |
So next time we pack up chairs, you're the guy we ask. 00:21:56.940 |
I mean, it's a simple task as putting chairs away, but you've been doing it every week 00:22:05.300 |
What's the most efficient way to put it back? 00:22:08.820 |
We would assume, everybody would assume that you would be the expert. 00:22:12.740 |
Whatever you have done for a long period of time, we just automatically assume that you 00:22:20.180 |
And so Voddie Bachman was saying, only in Christianity that you can have men and women 00:22:28.200 |
And when they're asked about their faith, their answer is, "Well, talk to my pastor." 00:22:38.400 |
Only in Christianity has that become norm, where somebody who's been at church and professing 00:22:43.660 |
Christian all their life, and you ask him about their faith, he's like, "Oh, I only 00:22:48.340 |
It is a strange, strange sight, strange, strange generation that we live in where we should 00:22:55.940 |
be experts, where we should know our faith, and yet it's become common practice that you 00:23:02.980 |
just refer them to the leaders, refer them to the elders, or refer them to the pastors. 00:23:09.040 |
He says, "Individuals who's drifting away from God, they become hard of hearing." 00:23:13.300 |
He says, "By now, you should have been teachers, and yet you have to be taught again." 00:23:25.700 |
You have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracle's 00:23:29.740 |
God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 00:23:34.160 |
You can sense some frustration in the author. 00:23:36.220 |
Because what the author wants to talk about is Melchizedek. 00:23:40.100 |
What the author wants to talk about is about the high priesthood of Christ and how he fulfills 00:23:47.620 |
It'd be awesome if every Sunday I would love to just talk about the love of Christ and 00:23:53.860 |
the depth of the love of Christ and what it means for us, our adoption. 00:23:58.020 |
I would love every single Sunday just to dig deep into what Christ has done. 00:24:04.940 |
I could tell that the author of Hebrews is probably thinking the same thing. 00:24:10.300 |
I want to talk about him, and I want to show you how God has been preparing for the coming 00:24:20.220 |
But before I get to that, I can't jump into that because you guys aren't going to understand. 00:24:29.940 |
It may be a little bit confusing, but I need you to work hard to understand. 00:24:36.660 |
By this time, you ought to be teachers, but you need again to go over the ABCs. 00:24:40.780 |
The oracle that he's referring to is the Old Testament because he's talking to Jews who 00:24:46.460 |
are just kind of drifting back to their old life. 00:24:49.920 |
And that's why he's saying, "If you have Jesus, you have everything." 00:24:55.480 |
And yet they're going back and say, "Well, maybe if we did more of this, maybe if we 00:24:59.980 |
And that's why he's saying Jesus is superior to all of this. 00:25:05.020 |
He says in Romans chapter 3, "Much in every way to begin with, the Jews were entrusted 00:25:10.720 |
And the oracles he's referring to is the foundation that points to Christ. 00:25:16.480 |
The whole purpose of the shadow is to prepare so that when the reality comes, they can say, 00:25:24.980 |
But because they become dull of hearing, they never make the connection. 00:25:29.140 |
And they have to go back and say, "Well, this is the shadow. 00:25:32.700 |
They have to get over again to the shadows, and they never move beyond to maturity because 00:25:40.980 |
In Isaiah 28, 9-13, which is really interesting because Israelites were in the very similar 00:25:52.500 |
On the surface, they looked like they were doing great things, but God saw through all 00:25:57.020 |
of that, and they knew their heart was not in the right place. 00:26:00.500 |
Isaiah 28, 9-13 says, "To whom will He teach knowledge? 00:26:08.660 |
Those who are weaned from the milk, those who've taken the breast." 00:26:15.860 |
He said, "Those who have graduated from breast milk and are able to eat solid food, for it 00:26:22.980 |
is precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, 00:26:34.140 |
I remember the first time reading that, it's like, "Wow, what is He saying?" 00:26:39.820 |
Precept upon precept, line upon line, precept upon precept, and He's just repetition over 00:26:45.020 |
He does it again, verse 11, "For by people of strange lips and with foreign tongues, 00:26:50.860 |
In other words, because they have become dull of hearing and they're not paying attention, 00:26:57.820 |
Since you're not paying attention, the Gentiles are going to become what? 00:27:04.860 |
The Gentiles come in, and now the Gentiles are reaching out to the Israelites. 00:27:10.220 |
That's what He's saying, because they've become dull of hearing. 00:27:25.660 |
They're telling them about the gospel, that Christ is going to come and give them the 00:27:35.340 |
It says, "Precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, hear 00:27:41.620 |
little, their little, that they may go and fall backward and be broken and 00:27:46.660 |
snared and taken. Do you understand what he's saying? He says he's been trying to 00:27:53.140 |
teach them about the gospel, about what is going to bring them rest, but to them 00:27:58.600 |
because they become hard of hearing, God's instruction just sounds like 00:28:02.880 |
precept upon precept upon precept upon precept, line upon line upon line upon 00:28:09.080 |
line, here a little, there a little. In other words, they don't understand. You 00:28:15.380 |
know you ever hear you know the the cartoon Snoopy whenever the adults talk 00:28:20.020 |
you hear that wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah. That's basically, that's 00:28:26.900 |
basically what this is. Right? Snoopy wasn't invented yet. So that's that's 00:28:31.860 |
basically what he's saying to the Israelites who become dull of hearing 00:28:35.180 |
wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah. That's what a sermon sounds like. That's 00:28:40.700 |
what exposition of order of God sounds like to somebody who doesn't have ears 00:28:44.500 |
to hear because they become dull of hearing. And so all they see is how long? 00:28:51.060 |
You know, because I need to put in my time because all church and Christianity 00:28:57.380 |
and worship is is superstition because if you've been raised in the church and 00:29:01.060 |
if you don't go to church, God's not going to bless your family. God's not 00:29:06.100 |
going to bless your business. Maybe what if your child gets sick because God 00:29:10.920 |
tries to discipline you and so it's nothing more than superstition. And so 00:29:16.180 |
the time that we spend in the church is just checkmark so that I can appease 00:29:22.780 |
this God. And so everything that I need to do within that time frame is just 00:29:28.460 |
wah wah wah wah wah wah wah. Precept upon precept, precept upon precept, precept 00:29:34.700 |
upon precept, line upon line. And I could do this for the next 30 minutes and it 00:29:39.180 |
wouldn't sound any different. He said that's what the Word of God sounds 00:29:43.980 |
like to somebody whose heart has become hardened, who has drifted away and has 00:29:48.960 |
become lukewarm. And only when I talk about Lakers, only when I talk about 00:29:55.060 |
parenting, only when I talk about something that perks up your eyes or 00:29:58.660 |
ears, you pay attention and all of a sudden you're back to wah wah wah wah wah. 00:30:04.380 |
That's basically what he's saying. Instead of moving on to maturity, we have to 00:30:09.820 |
go back and and re-establish a foundation because until you have the 00:30:14.000 |
foundation, you cannot move on to maturity. In other words, he wants to get 00:30:17.640 |
to Melchizedek but he can't right now because some of them are not listening. 00:30:23.300 |
Basically, it's just an elaborate way of saying, "He who has ears, let him hear." I 00:30:29.380 |
am very aware, if we want our church to become a mega church, one of the first 00:30:36.980 |
things that I need to do is I need to shorten my sermon. Like that, I know. I've 00:30:40.740 |
been told. I've been told. I've gotten emails, people have been frustrated. 00:30:45.820 |
There have been sermons where I just poured my heart out and a guy come up to 00:30:49.940 |
me and frustrated kind of like, "Dude, you're so loud," and then they would walk 00:30:53.420 |
out. I've gone through all of that in all these years that I've been 00:30:56.940 |
preaching. I'm very aware like what people want and don't want. 00:31:01.420 |
Generally speaking, keep my sermon short, plenty of 00:31:07.380 |
illustrations to kind of keep people interested. So if I can be 00:31:12.020 |
winsome and keep people engaged and put a little bit laughter here, 00:31:16.820 |
a little bit laughter there, and then kind of mix it in with the love of God 00:31:19.180 |
in the gospel. Again, I'm not saying that all of that stuff is 00:31:23.420 |
wrong, but if that's the reason why you come to church, it's not hungering and 00:31:30.420 |
thirsting for righteousness. It's not mainly because you want to hear from God. 00:31:35.460 |
Not to fill in that time. It's kind of like going to traffic school, but might 00:31:39.100 |
as well go to comedy traffic school if you're gonna have to put in your time. I 00:31:42.820 |
don't know if you've ever been to traffic school. It's like torture, right? 00:31:46.460 |
So if you're gonna have to do it to reduce your points and reduce your 00:31:51.260 |
insurance, might as well do it as innocuous as possible, as you know what I 00:31:56.100 |
mean, the least painful as possible. So get online, make sure it's funny, get it 00:32:00.940 |
right. You're not taking this seriously. You just need to put in your time. And so 00:32:04.220 |
people who don't have years to hear, that's how they see the church. It's 00:32:12.140 |
something painful that I need to do, but make it as harmless and as easy as 00:32:17.660 |
possible. The frustration, you can hear the tone of the frustration of the 00:32:23.300 |
author, "I want to get to Melchizedek, but I can't do it with you because you 00:32:26.660 |
become hard of hearing. You have enough teaching where you should have been 00:32:30.580 |
teachers." So the problem wasn't the environment, it wasn't the teaching, it 00:32:35.380 |
was what was going on in their heart. Number four, it says they need milk and 00:32:38.220 |
not solid food because they do not practice what they know. And that's the 00:32:42.780 |
problem. The reason why it was they become dull of hearing is because it's 00:32:47.940 |
irrelevant to them. Oftentimes people come to God and say, "God, show me 00:32:53.460 |
your will." They haven't surrendered their heart yet. They haven't 00:32:59.140 |
surrendered and said, "Lord, show me your will so that I may surrender." They haven't 00:33:02.660 |
done that yet. Just in case, "Lord, show me your will, and then once you show it to 00:33:07.460 |
me, I'll decide if I want to do it or not." And that's exactly what the scripture 00:33:13.140 |
means, that do not test the Lord. And oftentimes the way that we pray is that, 00:33:17.500 |
"God, show me your will. I haven't decided yet if I'm gonna do it, but show me your 00:33:21.700 |
will." God never reveals himself to people who are coming to test him. That he who 00:33:27.300 |
comes to God must first believe that he is, and he is a rewarder of those who 00:33:31.020 |
diligently seek him. He who first comes to God, it is impossible to plea him 00:33:35.580 |
without faith. He who comes to God must first believe that he is, and he is a 00:33:41.740 |
rewarder of those who diligently seek him. But if we haven't committed our life 00:33:45.100 |
to Christ, and we're just testing to see, "Lord, reveal yourself so that I may, maybe 00:33:51.420 |
not, depending on what I want." Oftentimes, you know, we have a tendency, if we're not 00:33:59.740 |
careful, to approach our Christianity like a smorgasbord. You guys know what a 00:34:03.340 |
smorgasbord is? Okay. Now we have buffets and then non-buffets, but you know, years 00:34:08.020 |
back, a smorgasbord, basically you walk into a cafeteria and you get what you 00:34:11.780 |
want, and then you pay for whatever you grab, right? That's kind of what a 00:34:16.180 |
smorgasbord is. I might be wrong. You can correct me afterwards, but that's what I 00:34:19.940 |
understand what smorgasbord is, right? So you just get in a line, and then you want 00:34:24.980 |
this, I don't want this, and you just kind of put whatever you're planning to eat, 00:34:28.060 |
and then you pay for whatever you want. And everything that you don't want, you 00:34:32.220 |
just leave behind, right? Our approach, oftentimes, sometimes, if we're not 00:34:37.860 |
careful, is we come to Christ and we just kind of pick and choose. I like this, I 00:34:44.100 |
don't like this, I like this, but I don't like that. And even the way that we 00:34:48.540 |
listen to sermons, even the way that we study the Scriptures, even the way that 00:34:53.260 |
we practice our faith, we haven't ever really fully surrendered to God. If when 00:34:58.940 |
my children are young and I tell them to do five things, they say, "You know, I'm 00:35:02.060 |
gonna do one and three, but two, you know, two, three, and five, I don't think so." 00:35:07.500 |
Right? Well, I was obedient to one and three, but two, three, and five, I wasn't. No, 00:35:13.780 |
you're disobedient. You're not partially obedient, you're disobedient, right? You 00:35:19.420 |
don't pick and choose. So if Christ is our King, He is King of all things. You're 00:35:25.460 |
not, He's not King on Monday and then Friday, and then Tuesday, Thursday, 00:35:29.820 |
Saturday, I'm independent. He says the reason why they become hard of hearing 00:35:35.300 |
is because they're not accustomed to the Word of Righteousness. They hear it, they 00:35:39.460 |
have no intention of practicing it. In Romans chapter 2, 17 to 24, "But if you 00:35:44.900 |
bear the name of the Jew, rely upon the law, and boast in God, and know His will, 00:35:50.780 |
and approve the things that are essential, being instructed out of the 00:35:53.460 |
law, and are confident that you or yourselves are a guide to the blind, lie to those who 00:35:57.380 |
are in darkness, a corrector of the foolish, teacher of the immature, 00:36:01.980 |
having in the law the embodiment of knowledge of the truth, you therefore who 00:36:05.860 |
teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that one shall not steal, do 00:36:10.940 |
you steal? You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit 00:36:14.700 |
adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the law, through 00:36:19.340 |
your breaking the law, do you dishonor God? For the name of God is blasphemy 00:36:23.660 |
among the Gentiles because of you, just as it is written." It is not because they 00:36:27.940 |
didn't know. The reason why they became blind is because they didn't practice it. 00:36:33.620 |
It's not because God didn't make it clear. It wasn't that the Jews were there 00:36:38.620 |
and then all of a sudden the Messiah showed up and it's like, "Well, God didn't 00:36:41.700 |
make it clear." That's why they missed the Messiah. When Jesus said, "If you only 00:36:48.140 |
knew what would truly bring peace, destruction would not be coming upon 00:36:51.220 |
Jerusalem." It wasn't because God made it unclear. It wasn't because it was 00:36:57.260 |
ambiguous. He says they know. They had the oracles of God. It was clearly taught. In 00:37:04.100 |
fact, he was illustrated. He gave poems, narratives. He gives prophecies. He had 00:37:12.060 |
miracles. I mean in every way, in every direction, it was pointing to Christ. But 00:37:19.500 |
the reason why they missed it is because they knew to preach and they knew 00:37:24.180 |
the truth, but they didn't practice it. That's why Jesus says of those, the 00:37:30.380 |
scribes and the teachers, he says, "Do what they say because they sit in the seat of 00:37:34.340 |
Moses. They're teaching you the law that God gave. Do listen to them, but do not do 00:37:41.620 |
what they do because they're hypocrites. Everything that they do, they do it for 00:37:46.780 |
their own glory." He said the reason why they became blind and dull of hearing is 00:37:50.780 |
not because they didn't have the truth. It's because they had no intention of 00:37:53.780 |
following it. What causes us to become blind isn't lack of clarity, because it's 00:38:02.020 |
clear. You know, people often say, "Well, you're a pastor. You know that because 00:38:06.780 |
you're a pastor. You do that because you're a pastor. There is nothing that I 00:38:09.860 |
have that you don't have access to. Nothing. The Scripture makes it very 00:38:16.180 |
clear that everything that we need for a life of godliness has been given to us 00:38:22.900 |
in the knowledge of his Son, Jesus Christ. Is that only for pastors and elders and 00:38:27.100 |
apostles? Every single Christian, we already have it. A part of the reason why 00:38:33.700 |
we oftentimes are disobedient is we say, "Well, I don't have enough of this." Only if 00:38:39.980 |
we had a small group like that. Only if I joined that community group. Only if I 00:38:43.940 |
was here. Only if I was there. And basically, it's justifying where we are. 00:38:48.460 |
I'm lukewarm because of this. I am the way I am because of this. I don't follow 00:38:55.300 |
this because of this. But in the end, it's no different than Adam saying, "I ate the 00:39:00.580 |
apple because of the woman that you put in the garden. She tempted me." He says, 00:39:06.660 |
"Everything that we need for a life of godliness has been given to us. The same 00:39:11.500 |
God that I have access to, that I get on my knees to pray and cry out to, is the 00:39:16.660 |
same access that you have to the same God." When he says to draw near to the 00:39:21.460 |
throne of grace with confidence that we may be able to find help 00:39:26.260 |
and mercy in a time of need, it's not an invitation just to a few elect. It's to 00:39:33.020 |
all of us. And so to justify our lukewarmness is to justify our sins. Let 00:39:43.100 |
me say that again. To justify our lukewarmness is to justify our sins. You 00:39:49.180 |
know what lukewarmness is? When the harshest rebuke came to the church of 00:39:55.840 |
Laodicea because of the lukewarmness, he says, "You're neither hot nor cold. And 00:39:59.980 |
because you're neither hot nor cold, I will spew you out of my mouth." I mean, 00:40:03.620 |
that's the illustration that we see is God disgusted. When you spew 00:40:10.020 |
something out of the mouth, it isn't just like, "Oh, this is not good." It's like, "Pfft!" 00:40:14.140 |
You ever eat something like that that was that bad? Maybe it's spoiled. 00:40:19.300 |
Maybe you thought it was good milk and you were just chugging it like, "Ugh, milk!" And 00:40:23.580 |
then in your mouth it's yogurt-y. You know what I mean? And you know you didn't 00:40:28.540 |
grab yogurt. It's like, "Pfft! What is that?" That's how it's described. God takes it, 00:40:35.500 |
"You're neither hot nor cold, and because you are lukewarm, I will spit you out of 00:40:39.820 |
my mouth." It disgusts God. You know what lukewarmness is? Lukewarmness is room 00:40:45.300 |
temperature. When you get a hot coffee and just leave it out without 00:40:49.940 |
external help, what happens? It turns into room temperature. So if the room is cold, 00:40:53.460 |
it'll get cold. If his room is hot, it'll get hot. So lukewarm is somebody who's 00:40:58.980 |
constantly adjusting to their environment. So if you happen to be with 00:41:04.380 |
a group of people on fire, you kind of act like you're on fire. But as soon as 00:41:08.100 |
they lose fire, you lose fire. If you happen to be with a bunch of people who 00:41:11.940 |
are liberal, you become liberal. If you happen to be with a bunch of people who 00:41:15.780 |
are one-way, you become like that. But it's not your faith. So lukewarmness 00:41:21.060 |
isn't always cold. It's not always hot. It's just whatever the room temperature 00:41:25.140 |
is. Matthew chapter 24, 12 to 13 says, "Because of lawlessness is increased, 00:41:31.460 |
most people's love will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end, he will 00:41:36.660 |
be saved." You notice here, first of all, who is he talking to? Is he talking to 00:41:42.820 |
non-Christians in Matthew 24? He said, "Because of increase of lawlessness." 00:41:47.740 |
Now let's get this. Let's be on the same page on this. I've been a 00:41:54.080 |
Christian for 30-some years, 36 years. And I could tell you, and I 00:41:58.460 |
think there's other people in this room who can testify, Christianity, as we see 00:42:04.600 |
it today, if I went into coma 36 years ago and I woke up today, I wouldn't 00:42:10.020 |
recognize Christianity. That's how far we've drifted. And I'm not even just 00:42:15.260 |
talking about the pews. I'm talking about even from the pulpit. That's how far 00:42:19.660 |
we've drifted. And I'm not even talking about what's going on out there. I'm 00:42:23.100 |
talking about inside the church. What has become acceptable within the church, 00:42:27.380 |
Christians from just 30 years ago, would not be able to recognize what's 00:42:31.540 |
going on today. That's how far we've come. When he says, "Because of increase of 00:42:36.420 |
lawlessness," we have to agree that lawlessness has increased in our 00:42:39.420 |
generation, especially in the last five years, right? It's just crazy what they're 00:42:43.820 |
trying to push even in our public schools. I mean, you don't have to be a 00:42:47.740 |
Christian to think that that's strange. Again, not going into details, I 00:42:52.860 |
think a lot of the parents are already aware of what's going on, but what they're 00:42:56.060 |
trying to push to our kindergartners is disgusting. You don't have to be a 00:43:02.420 |
Christian to agree with me. That's how far it's come, right? And he says, "Because of 00:43:09.260 |
the increase of lawlessness, the love of most will grow cold." First of all, he's 00:43:14.180 |
not talking to the outside world because non-Christians didn't have the love to 00:43:17.980 |
begin with. What's there to grow cold? That they're not gonna love their 00:43:21.140 |
mothers or fathers or their children? That's not gonna change. They're not 00:43:23.660 |
talking to Christians. Who is he talking to? He's talking to Christians in the 00:43:27.540 |
church. Love of who? Most. Not a lot of people. He says, "Most." Because of the 00:43:37.620 |
pressure coming from the outside, if you are in the habit of adjusting, lukewarm, 00:43:43.180 |
and continue to drift, your passion is going to be dependent upon your 00:43:48.980 |
circumstance. And so because the circumstance, the pressure is increasing, 00:43:52.660 |
love of not a few, not a lot, but he says, "Most." So if you agree with me, if you 00:44:02.340 |
agree with me that the wickedness has been increasing in an exponential manner 00:44:06.860 |
in the last 10 years, especially the last five years, then you will also agree with 00:44:11.860 |
me that love of most has grown cold. Because that's what he says will happen. 00:44:18.380 |
And he says, "Love of most will grow cold, but the one who endures." You notice how 00:44:26.180 |
he says most people will grow cold, but then when he talks about perseverance, 00:44:30.140 |
but the one, right? I don't think that's by accident. He's telling the church, "You 00:44:37.620 |
will be few." Broad is the path that leads to destruction, and easy is its way, but 00:44:44.660 |
narrow and few will be found on the path that leads to eternal life. That is not by 00:44:50.260 |
accident. That is not by accident. And that's why he says, "Solid food is for the 00:44:58.820 |
mature." I was talking to a pastor a while back, and it was when we were going 00:45:06.260 |
through the book of Isaiah, and he asked me, "People actually come to that?" That's 00:45:12.060 |
what he said. He listened to the Bible studies online. "You're teaching Isaiah." 00:45:17.380 |
So he said he actually started listening to our Bible study 00:45:20.580 |
online, and he was kind of surprised, especially because the age of our church. 00:45:24.140 |
You know what I mean? Like, "Okay, maybe Christians from a different generation, 00:45:28.100 |
maybe different, but we have a lot of young people at our church, and they come to 00:45:31.620 |
listen to this?" That's what he...you know, it would have been offensive if I had 00:45:36.540 |
heard any other context, right? But he's like, "They come listen to this?" He said, "Yeah." 00:45:41.220 |
In fact, once they get accustomed to listening to that, it's hard for them to 00:45:45.220 |
listen to anything else. Once they get hunger for that, it's hard for them to 00:45:49.060 |
listen to anything else. But he just couldn't believe it. And he said, "I'm 00:45:54.060 |
thinking about doing that." That's what he said. "I'm thinking about possibly 00:45:58.620 |
starting to do more expositional teaching." But then he was honest with me. 00:46:03.460 |
He said, "But what if they don't come?" That's what he said. And I was trying to 00:46:11.100 |
encourage this pastor. I said, "Pastor, you can't teach one way or another because 00:46:15.420 |
they're gonna come. You have to teach because you're convicted that that's the 00:46:19.740 |
right thing to do. Sometimes preaching the truth is going to cause the church 00:46:24.500 |
to shrink. Sometimes it may be in season. My experience has been there's more 00:46:31.620 |
seasons when it's not in season, and more seasons where people don't want to 00:46:36.860 |
listen to it, right? And there has been seasons when people were coming for that 00:46:40.300 |
reason, right? But I said, "Pastor, you can't decide to do that because you're 00:46:46.180 |
gonna bring more people. If that's the reason why you're doing it, it doesn't 00:46:49.980 |
matter if you do expositional preaching." And he said, "Thanks for being 00:46:54.580 |
honest with me." He said, "But to be honest, I'm afraid." You know, I said, "As a 00:47:01.140 |
pastor, if the church doesn't grow, that means our church needs to shut down. 00:47:05.300 |
And his livelihood and his vision, all the energy poured into it, all of 00:47:11.980 |
that is gonna go down the toilet. Now what if they don't come?" I understand the 00:47:16.860 |
pressure, and I understand the temptation, but you're a minister of God, right? Before 00:47:23.500 |
you're a servant of people, you're a servant of God. So you need to make a decision. 00:47:29.020 |
You pray. If God convicts you that this is the truth, then you need to preach it, 00:47:34.780 |
in season and out of season. And then we pray together, we parted our ways. But I 00:47:39.980 |
understand his temptation. I understand his temptation. And I know, you know, you 00:47:47.220 |
want to have a mega church, you want to have more people to come to church, and 00:47:49.380 |
I've had people come up to me and tell me, "If your sermons were just a little 00:47:53.580 |
bit shorter, my friends would come." Right? "If your sermons were a little bit more 00:48:00.620 |
encouraging, they would come." Some Sundays it is, but today it's not. 00:48:08.580 |
Right? But if you keep doing that, you know, I have some friends who don't want 00:48:15.180 |
to come because of that. But I'm not here to fill the seats with as many people as 00:48:22.540 |
I can. Before I'm your servant, I'm his servant. And I don't want to, like, you 00:48:30.580 |
know, I have to face, you know, some people afterwards, but ultimately I have to face 00:48:35.220 |
God. And that's why every letter Paul writes, right, he identifies himself as a 00:48:42.180 |
servant of Christ or as an apostle of Jesus Christ. Because there are some 00:48:49.300 |
things that he says in that letter that they're not going to like. There's 00:48:53.140 |
something that he's going to say that they're going to refuse. But that's why 00:48:56.820 |
he says, first and foremost, "Before I love you, before I care about you, I'm an 00:49:01.580 |
apostle of Jesus. I'm a servant of Christ. I'm a bond servant." Whether they listen 00:49:07.740 |
or not. He says, finally, "But solid food is for the mature, who because of 00:49:15.540 |
practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil." Our ability to 00:49:21.380 |
listen to the deep things of God is directly linked to our obedience. It's 00:49:27.940 |
directly linked to our obedience. If we continue to live our lives in 00:49:31.900 |
compromise and disobedience, it affects the way that you even understand the 00:49:35.220 |
Word of God. You become hardened. There's no appetite. A lot of people come to 00:49:40.780 |
church and things like, "Oh, you know, like, I don't get it." And part of 00:49:47.180 |
the reason, not all of it, but part of the reason why is because you don't bring 00:49:52.140 |
appetite into the church. I mean, I get it. Sometimes my sermons are no good. 00:49:58.740 |
I could have done better. It's not because of lack of trying. It's just 00:50:03.700 |
hard every single week. Trying to be fresh every single week for 22 00:50:09.500 |
years. So it's hard. Speaking to the same people. So when I go to retreats, 00:50:15.220 |
I got 22 years I can pull from. But when I church, 00:50:19.980 |
every illustration is like, "I did that last week." You know what I 00:50:24.580 |
mean? "I said that the week before, a year before." So it's hard. So I get it. So if 00:50:28.940 |
you don't like some of the sermons, I don't blame you. I'd have a 00:50:32.740 |
hard time listening to me every single week. So not all of it is that, but 00:50:40.180 |
sometimes the reason why we don't have appetite is because we're already full 00:50:45.380 |
when we come. It doesn't matter how great the banquet is. If you've 00:50:51.780 |
been eating cup ramen from morning till six o'clock, and all of a sudden you say, 00:50:56.780 |
"This filet mignon is not as good." It's not good. If somebody else comes in 00:51:02.780 |
hungry, it's like even white rice tastes awesome. When somebody is coming 00:51:09.380 |
hungry, and they're hungering and thirsting for righteousness, even a 00:51:14.020 |
little taste of stale bread tastes good for them. But when you're filled by 00:51:22.100 |
nibbling in the things of this world, John MacArthur, John Piper, John Owens, 00:51:27.780 |
all the Johns in the world give the best sermon that they can give, but 00:51:33.940 |
you don't have an appetite. Even Jesus himself, when he preached, they didn't 00:51:40.820 |
have an appetite. He said solid food is for the mature, because of their practice, 00:51:49.180 |
have their senses trained to discern good and evil. So as a wrap-up this 00:51:56.380 |
morning, the only Christian who fails is the one who quits. So let's establish 00:52:03.860 |
that, okay? So he's not saying the warning is not like, "Well, if you don't try hard 00:52:08.780 |
and if you don't get an A, you're not gonna make it into the kingdom of God." 00:52:11.220 |
That's not what he's saying. What he is saying is there's no reason for 00:52:15.300 |
Christians to quit. The fact that we have a tendency to drift, that's all of us. It's 00:52:21.860 |
not just a few of you. The fact that we are tempted and we sometimes give in to 00:52:25.580 |
our temptation, that's not just a few of you. That's all of us. We all have a 00:52:30.140 |
tendency at times, having a hard time to be obedient to God. We all struggle with 00:52:35.460 |
that. But there is no excuse for a Christian to continue to drift, because 00:52:41.700 |
he already paid the price. The door has already been opened. The battle has 00:52:47.220 |
already been won. So when we see that warning sign, if you believe, there is no 00:52:53.980 |
reason not to pay attention. So only an unbeliever will listen to this and say, 00:52:58.540 |
"Ah, forget it," because they don't believe. All of this is nonsense. But if you are a 00:53:03.020 |
child of God and you've caught your heart being hardened, it's been months 00:53:10.140 |
and years since you cried out to God. It's been months and years since you 00:53:15.940 |
prayed and cried out to God. It's been months and years since you've been 00:53:20.900 |
praising His name, but it was just all lip service. If that's where you are, 00:53:26.220 |
return. Remember the height from which you had fallen, repent, and redo the 00:53:32.460 |
things that you did at first. So again, my prayer is as we welcome our 00:53:37.680 |
worship team to come back up, let's take some time to come before the Lord 00:53:43.300 |
again and be honest and pray and be fervent. If your heart has become hardened 00:53:49.700 |
for whatever the reason, don't justify that. Come before the Lord, consider 00:53:55.940 |
who He is and what He has done, and receive the blessing that only He can 00:54:00.620 |
give. Let's take some time to pray as our worship team leads us.