If you can turn your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 5, we'll read verse 11 through 14. Hebrews chapter 5, verse 11 through 14. Concerning him we have much to say, and it is hard to explain since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God.

And you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.

Let's pray. Gracious Father, we thank you for the privilege that we have to come and worship you. Help us Lord to never take for granted the grace that causes us to stand. Help us Lord God to be reminded again of who you are. In light of that, we pray that you would take the warning that is put in this passage Lord and help us to be sober.

Help us Lord God to respond in an appropriate way. And we pray that our ears truly may be open to you and you alone. In Jesus name we pray, amen. If you can put up the signs. Okay, there you go. So most of you, if not all of you, have driver's license and you had to have taken this test.

So if you fail this test, you shouldn't have a license. So these are road signs that kind of prepare us for what is coming. So what is that sign? If you see this sign coming, what does this mean? The roads are curvy so if you see that, what does that mean that you ought to be doing?

Speed up? Tokyo drift? Right? Opportunity for you to test your skills? It means slow down, right? If you go at the same speed, you might get into trouble, okay? How about the next one? Pedestrian, like unless you're playing a video game, this is a sign for you to slow down.

These are all warning signs to kind of be extra cautious because there's human beings crossing the road, right? So what does this mean? Merging lane, right? So if you're going side by side, you're going to speed, the two lanes are going to become one, so somebody has to slow down, you have to be cautious.

So all of these signs are kind of warning signs about what's coming ahead and if you're not careful, if you're going at the same way, you can't drive the same way or else you're going to get into trouble. What's the next one? Railroad crossing, okay? So another sign. All of these signs are here because while you're driving, it means to slow down, stop, to take a look, that there is, you know, some of these signs are more dangerous than others, some of these require more attention than others, but every one of these signs are there to help us to drive safely.

What's the next one? So dead end. So if you see this sign, basically you're headed the wrong direction, unless that's where you're headed. So if you keep going down this direction, there is no through street. So it typically means you need to turn around, right? You're headed the wrong direction.

Now the reason why you need to know these signs is because as you are driving, these things are there so that you can be a safe driver and you don't hurt other people, right? And again, I'm assuming these are basic signs. There's some other signs, you know, sometimes in the countryside that you may not recognize, but these are all pretty basic signs, right?

And if you are driving, which almost everybody here is, you should have known what these signs are for, because it helps us to be better drivers. Now I gave all of that to you because the book of Hebrews is filled with warning signs, right? If I asked you, "What is the purpose of the book of Hebrews?" You'd say, "Well, it's Christology, right?

It's 11 chapters of exposition of the supremacy of Christ over all things. He's better than the angels. He's better than Moses. He's better than the sacrificial system." But all of that, he's giving for a purpose. This shouldn't have been new to the readers of Hebrews. This is not new.

He's reminding them. And the reason why he's reminding them is because the recipients of this letter was beginning to drift. And so in the midst of Christology, he breaks in with serious warnings. There's five specific warnings. There's one in chapter two, one in chapter three, the one that we're looking at here, and then in the beginning of chapter six, there's a very serious warning, probably the most serious warning, harshest warning toward the church in Hebrews chapter 10.

Let me read that for you. Hebrews chapter 10, 26 to 31, it says, "For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins." Now, when he says that, he's not saying that if you willfully sin that you can't repent and God will not forgive you.

What he is saying is, you know the path of righteousness, you know the path of forgiveness, but you choose to go the other path. You continue to willfully sin and you reject the gospel by your actions. He says, "There is no other repentance for sins." In other words, Christ is the only way.

"But as a terrifying expectation of judgment that the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled underfoot the son of God and has regarded as the unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified and has insulted the spirit of grace?

For we know him who said, 'Vengeance is mine, I will repent.' Again, the Lord will judge his people. It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God." You probably know the sermon, "Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God," by Jonathan Edwards, one of the harshest and most direct sermons ever given, or at least that we know of.

It's based upon this passage. And a lot of people who read the Bible superficially will read and say, "You know what? The God of the Old Testament seems to be harsh. He brings the flood, brings judgment. But in the New Testament, he's like a gracious grandfather. You just do whatever you want and he gives you candy." Absolutely untrue.

If you read the Bible carefully, you will find, just as he says in Hebrews chapter 10, if God hated sin in the Old Testament, how much severe, he says, will the judgment be after grace has been given through the blood of Jesus Christ, and you completely reject him, and you trample on the foot, and you treat as unclean the blood of the covenant, Jesus Christ, how much more severe would God's anger burn?

It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. This is not Old Testament. I'm not reading Ezekiel. I'm not reading Daniel. I'm reading in the book of Hebrews. And he is writing to the church. He's not writing to outside the church. In fact, there is a debate among the commentators about, is this addressing, is the book of Hebrews in the warnings, is this addressing non-Christians or Christians?

Some will argue that clearly it must be Christians because he's writing to the church. And they say, "Well, clearly this can't be a description of a Christian." So he's addressing non-Christians. I don't think that debate is fruitful because I don't think the author of Hebrews had in mind that the words that he is saying is only for non-Christians and only for Christians.

He's writing to the church. And within the church, there are tares and there are wheats, meaning that there are some people who are claiming to be Christians who are just going through the motion, and in time you will recognize that maybe they really didn't have faith. And then there are some people within the church who may be drifting, genuine believers but kind of distracted and the concerns and life of the world is choking out their faith.

And so these warnings are given so that a Christian may hear it and may take heed. They see the warning signs on the street and say, "Hey, I'm headed the wrong direction. There's things that I need to pay attention to, that I've been drifting and this is not the right path for me to be on." And so, as he says in the previous chapter, "Let us fear that we do not fall short of the rest of Christ and let us be diligent and let us hold fast and let us draw near." So a Christian will hear these warnings and correct whatever behavior, whatever thing is going on so that we may get right with God.

And then for the unbelievers in the church, we'll be waking up from whatever delusion that they may be in, thinking that because I was raised in the church, that because I'm a member, because I do these things and I know some of these doctrines, that I am safe. And so it is written to the Christian and the non-Christian so that in order for the church to be sober and make sure that our faith is genuine.

So it's important for us, so the author, before he moves on, to go into the depth of teaching about Melchizedek, which he's going to do in chapter 7. Before he gets in there, he says, "I can't even talk to you about Melchizedek because you have become, one, become dull of hearing." And these are some of the things that he describes of somebody who is either on the way of drifting or maybe a non-Christian who doesn't have any appetite for the things of God.

These are the four characteristics that he mentions in this text. One, he says, "He has become dull of hearing." In Hebrews chapter 5, 11, concerning him, we have much to say, meaning about Melchizedek. Melchizedek is a very important figure in Scripture. He's only mentioned briefly in the Old Testament, but he says all of who Melchizedek represents was the office of Christ that God was preparing so that when Christ came and became the king priest that people said, "Wow, that's what that was." But before the author gets into that in chapter 7, he says, "I can't even get into that because you have become dull of hearing." When it says they have become dull of hearing, it means that at some point they were not.

They got into this place. It wasn't that they were always like that. In fact, in Hebrews 10, 32, 34, it describes how they were when they first met Christ. But remember the former days when after being enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings, partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations, and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated.

For you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and a lasting one. So this is a description of this church. So at one point, they were participating in the persecution. Their possessions were being taken, they were visiting their friends in prison.

And so it's describing a church that at least on the surface was on fire at one point. And he says, "For whatever the reason, maybe it was fatigue. Maybe the persecution got to them. Maybe it was just the longevity of the hardship of life. Maybe it was beginning to sink in.

That when Jesus said to pick up your cross, that he meant it." A lot of times, you know, when we talk about Jesus was picking up the cross, we just take it metaphorically, right? But maybe it began to sink in that, "Oh, shoot, he really meant that." When he said, "If you want to come after me, pick up your cross and deny yourself." And maybe that really began to sink in like, "Oh, that is required." For whatever the reason, they were beginning to drift.

And as they were beginning to drift, he says, "You have become hard of hearing." And it wasn't a mistake. It wasn't an accident. He says, "Something that they were doing caused them to not tolerate sound teaching." In Matthew 13, 14 to 16, a similar prophecy is given to the nation of Israel through Isaiah.

And it's quoting Isaiah, and it says, "In their case, the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled which says, 'You will keep on hearing, but will not understand. You will keep on seeing, but will not perceive. For the heart of this people has become dull. With their ears they scarcely hear, and they have closed their eyes.

Otherwise they would see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and return, and I would heal them. But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.'" He said the nation of Israel, before they went into captivity, had the same problem.

He said God was sending prophets, prophet after prophet, warning them, giving warning signs that if you keep going down this path, it's a dead end. But they would not listen. He said they kept on hearing, but they would not understand. And the reason why they became dull of hearing is because they just were not interested.

You know, every pastor, every Sunday, they give sermons, and one of the things that we are taught and that we learn is whenever we give an important lesson in the church, we have to connect it to something relevant to you. And so I try. I try to talk about movies that I think that you've seen, and sometimes it's outdated.

And I try to talk about, you know, like Lakers, because I know there's a lot of Lakers fans. And I try to do something like, oh, parents are raising children, because that's something that we can all relate to. And I think it's helpful when we do that, because it helps me to listen to sermons as well.

But the problem is when someone is dull of hearing, that's all they're interested in. And as soon as we move beyond these illustrations, there's no interest. It's kind of like listening to instructions about building something, and you have no intentions to build it. Nobody goes and looks up the building code, right, and how to build this, how to build that, if you're not in the process of building something, right, because it's just not interesting.

And so part of the reason why people become dull of hearing is because it just becomes information. If there is no affection for Christ in your heart, the gospel is just information. It's something that happened in history. You may not reject it, you may not hate it, but it has no impact in your life.

So after a while, you heard Jesus died for you, he loved you, and then last year we talked about how Jesus cried out in tears. He learned obedience through his suffering. It sounds just like a history lesson. Oh, that's what happened. Oh, Lincoln was born here, and Washington did this, and Abraham Lincoln did this, and so you're learning history.

But it's not personal. So after a while, we become dull of hearing because it is not practical. There's nothing practical for you. So you start hearing, "Well, teach me how to raise my children. Teach me how to be a good mother, how to be a good father." But whenever we start to endeavor in the depths of the things of Christ, we become dull of hearing.

And so Paul says, or the author says, the first sign that there is danger in our life is that we become dull of hearing. These things that really ought to be, maybe at one point, softened your heart and caused you to repent and sing songs with all your heart, now it's just kind of like, "Okay, you know, okay, I heard it.

I know that. I already know that." The Scripture says that there's going to come a time when people are not going to put up with sound doctrine, meaning that they're not going to have ears to hear sound doctrine. Instead, they're going to gather around themselves teachers who are going to tickle their ears.

It's going to cause them to feel encouraged and enlightened and unburdened their busy life as it is. And they're going to gather around teachers who are going to tickle their ears. And he says to Timothy, "You do not sway. Preach the word in season and out of season." Whether they listen and don't listen, that is not your responsibility.

You continue to teach. Whether they become dull of hearing or not, your responsibility is not to make sure that everybody wants to listen. Your responsibility is to preach the word in season and out of season. But the first mark of somebody who is heading toward danger is that he becomes dull of hearing.

Secondly, he says, "They should have become teachers by now." In Hebrews 5.12, "For though by this time you ought to be teachers." It's not because of lack of teaching. It's not because they haven't been exposed to proper teaching. He says, "You've been given plenty of teaching. You've been given plenty of opportunities.

But yet because you become dull of hearing, you never mature." In 2 Timothy 3.7, "They are always learning but never able to come to the knowledge of truth." It wasn't lack of training. It wasn't lack of information. In fact, our generation has exposure to the truth more than any other generation that has ever lived.

Ever. And I'm not just talking about, you know, this place. Our generation, anybody who is born now into Christianity, because of internet, because of the Bible translation, because of the freedom that we have to travel, we have more access to the Word of God than any other generation ever in history.

And yet, this is probably true of our generation. Always learning but never able to come to the knowledge of truth. Hebrews 6, 7, and 8, which we'll be in next week, he goes even further and he says, "For the ground that drinks the rain, which often falls on it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God." In other words, those people who receive God's Word.

And as a result, they're being fed and they're growing and bearing fruit. "But," in verse 8 it says, "if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed and it ends up being burned." So it has the same ground. The Word of God is going forth, but some are bearing fruit, but the others receive the same rain and all it produces is thorns and thistles.

That's a description of what Jesus said, the four different soils. You have the first soil where the seed falls and the devil comes and snatches away its unbeliever. Now, we never worry about that because the unbelievers, they hear the Word of God and they say, "I don't believe that." They're not in the church.

If they're outright rejecting the gospel, they're not here because the devil took it, they're against us. The second group is a seed that falls onto the rocky soil that there's a public confession, immediate confession. But because there's no foundation, they also eventually leave. So these are people who make the confession, they go to a crusade somewhere, they raise their hand, come down the aisle, they come to church and maybe even become members of the church, but it doesn't last long because their faith was maybe social.

Maybe they caved under pressure. Maybe it was an emotional response, but not real faith. So because of that, they also leave. So they're not in the midst of us. They usually end up just packing up and leaving. It's the third soil and the fourth soil that we usually have the struggle with.

Third soil is the one that falls on the ground. It actually bears fruit and it looks very similar to the fourth soil. In fact, you know, in the book of Matthew, I believe in chapter 13, Jesus talks about the wheat and the tares. He doesn't separate the wheat and the tares early on because the wheat and the tare, if you look at the pictures of a wheat and a tare, it looks exactly the same when it's young.

Until it grows and it bears fruit, the wheat actually, because of the wheat that is inside of it, eventually the weight of it begins to cause it to bend. The tares, because it doesn't have wheat, it actually just continues to grow up. So if you try to distinguish early on, you're going to end up tearing out the wheat with the tares.

But after a while, you see the fruit, then it is pretty obvious. So the third soil is the one that in the beginning looks exactly the same. It looks exactly the same. They do the same thing. They profess. They seem passionate. But after a while, they begin to drift and the same word that goes into them turns into bitterness and thorns and thistles.

And that's the field that it's talking about. They should have been teachers by now. They received the same word. They were in the same church and yet what was produced in them was thorns and thistles. Forty Bachman gave a great sermon years ago at the Shepherds Conference. And again, I'm going to butcher it, but one of the things that he powerfully illustrated was how if you went to law school for 10 years, you would assume that that person is an expert in the law.

If you were in med school for 10 years, you would assume that he would be an expert in medicine. But it's not just in law and medicine. If you just packed up chairs for 10 years, let's say for the next 10 years, your job was to pack up these chairs and put it away and put it back.

We would assume 10 years after that, you would be the expert. So next time we pack up chairs, you're the guy we ask. I mean, it's a simple task as putting chairs away, but you've been doing it every week for 10 years. So what's the best way to put it away?

What's the most efficient way to put it back? What's the best way to handle it? We would assume, everybody would assume that you would be the expert. Whatever you have done for a long period of time, we just automatically assume that you would know better than anybody else. And so Voddie Bachman was saying, only in Christianity that you can have men and women who've been in church for decades.

And when they're asked about their faith, their answer is, "Well, talk to my pastor." I'm just a layman. I just attend church. Only in Christianity has that become norm, where somebody who's been at church and professing Christian all their life, and you ask him about their faith, he's like, "Oh, I only know the ABCs." It is a strange, strange sight, strange, strange generation that we live in where we should be experts, where we should know our faith, and yet it's become common practice that you just refer them to the leaders, refer them to the elders, or refer them to the pastors.

And that's exactly what he's talking about. He says, "Individuals who's drifting away from God, they become hard of hearing." He says, "By now, you should have been teachers, and yet you have to be taught again." Thirdly, they never go beyond the ABCs. Hebrews chapter 5, 12. You have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracle's God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food.

You can sense some frustration in the author. Because what the author wants to talk about is Melchizedek. What the author wants to talk about is about the high priesthood of Christ and how he fulfills it and his prayers and what it means to us. It'd be awesome. It'd be awesome if every Sunday I would love to just talk about the love of Christ and the depth of the love of Christ and what it means for us, our adoption.

I would love every single Sunday just to dig deep into what Christ has done. I could tell that the author of Hebrews is probably thinking the same thing. I want to get to Melchizedek. I want to talk about him, and I want to show you how God has been preparing for the coming of Christ, the king priesthood of Jesus.

But before I get to that, I can't jump into that because you guys aren't going to understand. He's trying to get their attention. It may be a little bit confusing, but I need you to work hard to understand. That's what he's doing. He's going to send some frustration. By this time, you ought to be teachers, but you need again to go over the ABCs.

The oracle that he's referring to is the Old Testament because he's talking to Jews who are just kind of drifting back to their old life. And that's why he's saying, "If you have Jesus, you have everything." And yet they're going back and say, "Well, maybe if we did more of this, maybe if we did that." And that's why he's saying Jesus is superior to all of this.

He says in Romans chapter 3, "Much in every way to begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God." And the oracles he's referring to is the foundation that points to Christ. The whole purpose of the shadow is to prepare so that when the reality comes, they can say, "Ah, that's what the shadow is for." But because they become dull of hearing, they never make the connection.

And they have to go back and say, "Well, this is the shadow. It's over again." They have to get over again to the shadows, and they never move beyond to maturity because they have become dull of hearing. In Isaiah 28, 9-13, which is really interesting because Israelites were in the very similar place where the authors of Hebrews were.

Very religious. On the surface, they looked like they were doing great things, but God saw through all of that, and they knew their heart was not in the right place. Isaiah 28, 9-13 says, "To whom will He teach knowledge? To whom will He explain the message? Those who are weaned from the milk, those who've taken the breast." In other words, those who've matured.

How is God going to talk to people? Who is He going to talk to? He said, "Those who have graduated from breast milk and are able to eat solid food, for it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little." Let me stop right there.

What does He mean by that? I remember the first time reading that, it's like, "Wow, what is He saying?" Precept upon precept, line upon line, precept upon precept, and He's just repetition over and over again. He does it again, verse 11, "For by people of strange lips and with foreign tongues, and Lord will speak to this people." In other words, because they have become dull of hearing and they're not paying attention, He's talking about the Gentiles, right?

Since you're not paying attention, the Gentiles are going to become what? Your teachers, right? And that's what happens in the church. The Gentiles come in, and now the Gentiles are reaching out to the Israelites. That's what He's saying, because they've become dull of hearing. To whom? He has said, "This is rest.

Give rest to the weary, and this is repose." What is He referring to? The gospel, right? He said, "To whom?" They're telling them about the gospel, that Christ is going to come and give them the Sabbath, but they're not listening. To them, what does God's gospel sound like? It says, "Precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, hear little, their little, that they may go and fall backward and be broken and snared and taken.

Do you understand what he's saying? He says he's been trying to teach them about the gospel, about what is going to bring them rest, but to them because they become hard of hearing, God's instruction just sounds like precept upon precept upon precept upon precept, line upon line upon line upon line, here a little, there a little.

In other words, they don't understand. You know you ever hear you know the the cartoon Snoopy whenever the adults talk you hear that wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah. That's basically, that's basically what this is. Right? Snoopy wasn't invented yet. So that's that's basically what he's saying to the Israelites who become dull of hearing wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah.

That's what a sermon sounds like. That's what exposition of order of God sounds like to somebody who doesn't have ears to hear because they become dull of hearing. And so all they see is how long? You know, because I need to put in my time because all church and Christianity and worship is is superstition because if you've been raised in the church and if you don't go to church, God's not going to bless your family.

God's not going to bless your business. Maybe what if your child gets sick because God tries to discipline you and so it's nothing more than superstition. And so the time that we spend in the church is just checkmark so that I can appease this God. And so everything that I need to do within that time frame is just wah wah wah wah wah wah wah.

Precept upon precept, precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line. And I could do this for the next 30 minutes and it wouldn't sound any different. He said that's what the Word of God sounds like to somebody whose heart has become hardened, who has drifted away and has become lukewarm.

And only when I talk about Lakers, only when I talk about parenting, only when I talk about something that perks up your eyes or ears, you pay attention and all of a sudden you're back to wah wah wah wah wah. That's basically what he's saying. Instead of moving on to maturity, we have to go back and and re-establish a foundation because until you have the foundation, you cannot move on to maturity.

In other words, he wants to get to Melchizedek but he can't right now because some of them are not listening. Basically, it's just an elaborate way of saying, "He who has ears, let him hear." I am very aware, if we want our church to become a mega church, one of the first things that I need to do is I need to shorten my sermon.

Like that, I know. I've been told. I've been told. I've gotten emails, people have been frustrated. There have been sermons where I just poured my heart out and a guy come up to me and frustrated kind of like, "Dude, you're so loud," and then they would walk out. I've gone through all of that in all these years that I've been preaching.

I'm very aware like what people want and don't want. Generally speaking, keep my sermon short, plenty of illustrations to kind of keep people interested. So if I can be winsome and keep people engaged and put a little bit laughter here, a little bit laughter there, and then kind of mix it in with the love of God in the gospel.

Again, I'm not saying that all of that stuff is wrong, but if that's the reason why you come to church, it's not hungering and thirsting for righteousness. It's not mainly because you want to hear from God. Not to fill in that time. It's kind of like going to traffic school, but might as well go to comedy traffic school if you're gonna have to put in your time.

I don't know if you've ever been to traffic school. It's like torture, right? So if you're gonna have to do it to reduce your points and reduce your insurance, might as well do it as innocuous as possible, as you know what I mean, the least painful as possible. So get online, make sure it's funny, get it right.

You're not taking this seriously. You just need to put in your time. And so people who don't have years to hear, that's how they see the church. It's something painful that I need to do, but make it as harmless and as easy as possible. The frustration, you can hear the tone of the frustration of the author, "I want to get to Melchizedek, but I can't do it with you because you become hard of hearing.

You have enough teaching where you should have been teachers." So the problem wasn't the environment, it wasn't the teaching, it was what was going on in their heart. Number four, it says they need milk and not solid food because they do not practice what they know. And that's the problem.

The reason why it was they become dull of hearing is because it's irrelevant to them. Oftentimes people come to God and say, "God, show me your will." They haven't surrendered their heart yet. They haven't surrendered and said, "Lord, show me your will so that I may surrender." They haven't done that yet.

Just in case, "Lord, show me your will, and then once you show it to me, I'll decide if I want to do it or not." And that's exactly what the scripture means, that do not test the Lord. And oftentimes the way that we pray is that, "God, show me your will.

I haven't decided yet if I'm gonna do it, but show me your will." God never reveals himself to people who are coming to test him. That he who comes to God must first believe that he is, and he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. He who first comes to God, it is impossible to plea him without faith.

He who comes to God must first believe that he is, and he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. But if we haven't committed our life to Christ, and we're just testing to see, "Lord, reveal yourself so that I may, maybe not, depending on what I want." Oftentimes, you know, we have a tendency, if we're not careful, to approach our Christianity like a smorgasbord.

You guys know what a smorgasbord is? Okay. Now we have buffets and then non-buffets, but you know, years back, a smorgasbord, basically you walk into a cafeteria and you get what you want, and then you pay for whatever you grab, right? That's kind of what a smorgasbord is. I might be wrong.

You can correct me afterwards, but that's what I understand what smorgasbord is, right? So you just get in a line, and then you want this, I don't want this, and you just kind of put whatever you're planning to eat, and then you pay for whatever you want. And everything that you don't want, you just leave behind, right?

Our approach, oftentimes, sometimes, if we're not careful, is we come to Christ and we just kind of pick and choose. I like this, I don't like this, I like this, but I don't like that. And even the way that we listen to sermons, even the way that we study the Scriptures, even the way that we practice our faith, we haven't ever really fully surrendered to God.

If when my children are young and I tell them to do five things, they say, "You know, I'm gonna do one and three, but two, you know, two, three, and five, I don't think so." Right? Well, I was obedient to one and three, but two, three, and five, I wasn't.

No, you're disobedient. You're not partially obedient, you're disobedient, right? You don't pick and choose. So if Christ is our King, He is King of all things. You're not, He's not King on Monday and then Friday, and then Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, I'm independent. He says the reason why they become hard of hearing is because they're not accustomed to the Word of Righteousness.

They hear it, they have no intention of practicing it. In Romans chapter 2, 17 to 24, "But if you bear the name of the Jew, rely upon the law, and boast in God, and know His will, and approve the things that are essential, being instructed out of the law, and are confident that you or yourselves are a guide to the blind, lie to those who are in darkness, a corrector of the foolish, teacher of the immature, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge of the truth, you therefore who teach others, do you not teach yourself?

You who preach that one shall not steal, do you steal? You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the law, through your breaking the law, do you dishonor God? For the name of God is blasphemy among the Gentiles because of you, just as it is written." It is not because they didn't know.

The reason why they became blind is because they didn't practice it. It's not because God didn't make it clear. It wasn't that the Jews were there and then all of a sudden the Messiah showed up and it's like, "Well, God didn't make it clear." That's why they missed the Messiah.

When Jesus said, "If you only knew what would truly bring peace, destruction would not be coming upon Jerusalem." It wasn't because God made it unclear. It wasn't because it was ambiguous. He says they know. They had the oracles of God. It was clearly taught. In fact, he was illustrated.

He gave poems, narratives. He gives prophecies. He had miracles. I mean in every way, in every direction, it was pointing to Christ. But the reason why they missed it is because they knew to preach and they knew the truth, but they didn't practice it. That's why Jesus says of those, the scribes and the teachers, he says, "Do what they say because they sit in the seat of Moses.

They're teaching you the law that God gave. Do listen to them, but do not do what they do because they're hypocrites. Everything that they do, they do it for their own glory." He said the reason why they became blind and dull of hearing is not because they didn't have the truth.

It's because they had no intention of following it. What causes us to become blind isn't lack of clarity, because it's clear. You know, people often say, "Well, you're a pastor. You know that because you're a pastor. You do that because you're a pastor. There is nothing that I have that you don't have access to.

Nothing. The Scripture makes it very clear that everything that we need for a life of godliness has been given to us in the knowledge of his Son, Jesus Christ. Is that only for pastors and elders and apostles? Every single Christian, we already have it. A part of the reason why we oftentimes are disobedient is we say, "Well, I don't have enough of this." Only if we had a small group like that.

Only if I joined that community group. Only if I was here. Only if I was there. And basically, it's justifying where we are. I'm lukewarm because of this. I am the way I am because of this. I don't follow this because of this. But in the end, it's no different than Adam saying, "I ate the apple because of the woman that you put in the garden.

She tempted me." He says, "Everything that we need for a life of godliness has been given to us. The same God that I have access to, that I get on my knees to pray and cry out to, is the same access that you have to the same God." When he says to draw near to the throne of grace with confidence that we may be able to find help and mercy in a time of need, it's not an invitation just to a few elect.

It's to all of us. And so to justify our lukewarmness is to justify our sins. Let me say that again. To justify our lukewarmness is to justify our sins. You know what lukewarmness is? When the harshest rebuke came to the church of Laodicea because of the lukewarmness, he says, "You're neither hot nor cold.

And because you're neither hot nor cold, I will spew you out of my mouth." I mean, that's the illustration that we see is God disgusted. When you spew something out of the mouth, it isn't just like, "Oh, this is not good." It's like, "Pfft!" You ever eat something like that that was that bad?

Maybe it's spoiled. Maybe you thought it was good milk and you were just chugging it like, "Ugh, milk!" And then in your mouth it's yogurt-y. You know what I mean? And you know you didn't grab yogurt. It's like, "Pfft! What is that?" That's how it's described. God takes it, "You're neither hot nor cold, and because you are lukewarm, I will spit you out of my mouth." It disgusts God.

You know what lukewarmness is? Lukewarmness is room temperature. When you get a hot coffee and just leave it out without external help, what happens? It turns into room temperature. So if the room is cold, it'll get cold. If his room is hot, it'll get hot. So lukewarm is somebody who's constantly adjusting to their environment.

So if you happen to be with a group of people on fire, you kind of act like you're on fire. But as soon as they lose fire, you lose fire. If you happen to be with a bunch of people who are liberal, you become liberal. If you happen to be with a bunch of people who are one-way, you become like that.

But it's not your faith. So lukewarmness isn't always cold. It's not always hot. It's just whatever the room temperature is. Matthew chapter 24, 12 to 13 says, "Because of lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved." You notice here, first of all, who is he talking to?

Is he talking to non-Christians in Matthew 24? He said, "Because of increase of lawlessness." Now let's get this. Let's be on the same page on this. I've been a Christian for 30-some years, 36 years. And I could tell you, and I think there's other people in this room who can testify, Christianity, as we see it today, if I went into coma 36 years ago and I woke up today, I wouldn't recognize Christianity.

That's how far we've drifted. And I'm not even just talking about the pews. I'm talking about even from the pulpit. That's how far we've drifted. And I'm not even talking about what's going on out there. I'm talking about inside the church. What has become acceptable within the church, Christians from just 30 years ago, would not be able to recognize what's going on today.

That's how far we've come. When he says, "Because of increase of lawlessness," we have to agree that lawlessness has increased in our generation, especially in the last five years, right? It's just crazy what they're trying to push even in our public schools. I mean, you don't have to be a Christian to think that that's strange.

Again, not going into details, I think a lot of the parents are already aware of what's going on, but what they're trying to push to our kindergartners is disgusting. You don't have to be a Christian to agree with me. That's how far it's come, right? And he says, "Because of the increase of lawlessness, the love of most will grow cold." First of all, he's not talking to the outside world because non-Christians didn't have the love to begin with.

What's there to grow cold? That they're not gonna love their mothers or fathers or their children? That's not gonna change. They're not talking to Christians. Who is he talking to? He's talking to Christians in the church. Love of who? Most. Not a lot of people. He says, "Most." Because of the pressure coming from the outside, if you are in the habit of adjusting, lukewarm, and continue to drift, your passion is going to be dependent upon your circumstance.

And so because the circumstance, the pressure is increasing, love of not a few, not a lot, but he says, "Most." So if you agree with me, if you agree with me that the wickedness has been increasing in an exponential manner in the last 10 years, especially the last five years, then you will also agree with me that love of most has grown cold.

Because that's what he says will happen. And he says, "Love of most will grow cold, but the one who endures." You notice how he says most people will grow cold, but then when he talks about perseverance, but the one, right? I don't think that's by accident. He's telling the church, "You will be few." Broad is the path that leads to destruction, and easy is its way, but narrow and few will be found on the path that leads to eternal life.

That is not by accident. That is not by accident. And that's why he says, "Solid food is for the mature." I was talking to a pastor a while back, and it was when we were going through the book of Isaiah, and he asked me, "People actually come to that?" That's what he said.

He listened to the Bible studies online. "You're teaching Isaiah." So he said he actually started listening to our Bible study online, and he was kind of surprised, especially because the age of our church. You know what I mean? Like, "Okay, maybe Christians from a different generation, maybe different, but we have a lot of young people at our church, and they come to listen to this?" That's what he...you know, it would have been offensive if I had heard any other context, right?

But he's like, "They come listen to this?" He said, "Yeah." In fact, once they get accustomed to listening to that, it's hard for them to listen to anything else. Once they get hunger for that, it's hard for them to listen to anything else. But he just couldn't believe it.

And he said, "I'm thinking about doing that." That's what he said. "I'm thinking about possibly starting to do more expositional teaching." But then he was honest with me. He said, "But what if they don't come?" That's what he said. And I was trying to encourage this pastor. I said, "Pastor, you can't teach one way or another because they're gonna come.

You have to teach because you're convicted that that's the right thing to do. Sometimes preaching the truth is going to cause the church to shrink. Sometimes it may be in season. My experience has been there's more seasons when it's not in season, and more seasons where people don't want to listen to it, right?

And there has been seasons when people were coming for that reason, right? But I said, "Pastor, you can't decide to do that because you're gonna bring more people. If that's the reason why you're doing it, it doesn't matter if you do expositional preaching." And he said, "Thanks for being honest with me." He said, "But to be honest, I'm afraid." You know, I said, "As a pastor, if the church doesn't grow, that means our church needs to shut down.

And his livelihood and his vision, all the energy poured into it, all of that is gonna go down the toilet. Now what if they don't come?" I understand the pressure, and I understand the temptation, but you're a minister of God, right? Before you're a servant of people, you're a servant of God.

So you need to make a decision. You pray. If God convicts you that this is the truth, then you need to preach it, in season and out of season. And then we pray together, we parted our ways. But I understand his temptation. I understand his temptation. And I know, you know, you want to have a mega church, you want to have more people to come to church, and I've had people come up to me and tell me, "If your sermons were just a little bit shorter, my friends would come." Right?

"If your sermons were a little bit more encouraging, they would come." Some Sundays it is, but today it's not. Right? But if you keep doing that, you know, I have some friends who don't want to come because of that. But I'm not here to fill the seats with as many people as I can.

Before I'm your servant, I'm his servant. And I don't want to, like, you know, I have to face, you know, some people afterwards, but ultimately I have to face God. And that's why every letter Paul writes, right, he identifies himself as a servant of Christ or as an apostle of Jesus Christ.

Because there are some things that he says in that letter that they're not going to like. There's something that he's going to say that they're going to refuse. But that's why he says, first and foremost, "Before I love you, before I care about you, I'm an apostle of Jesus.

I'm a servant of Christ. I'm a bond servant." Whether they listen or not. He says, finally, "But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil." Our ability to listen to the deep things of God is directly linked to our obedience.

It's directly linked to our obedience. If we continue to live our lives in compromise and disobedience, it affects the way that you even understand the Word of God. You become hardened. There's no appetite. A lot of people come to church and things like, "Oh, you know, like, I don't get it." And part of the reason, not all of it, but part of the reason why is because you don't bring appetite into the church.

I mean, I get it. Sometimes my sermons are no good. I could have done better. It's not because of lack of trying. It's just hard every single week. Trying to be fresh every single week for 22 years. So it's hard. Speaking to the same people. So when I go to retreats, I got 22 years I can pull from.

But when I church, every illustration is like, "I did that last week." You know what I mean? "I said that the week before, a year before." So it's hard. So I get it. So if you don't like some of the sermons, I don't blame you. I'd have a hard time listening to me every single week.

So not all of it is that, but sometimes the reason why we don't have appetite is because we're already full when we come. It doesn't matter how great the banquet is. If you've been eating cup ramen from morning till six o'clock, and all of a sudden you say, "This filet mignon is not as good." It's not good.

If somebody else comes in hungry, it's like even white rice tastes awesome. When somebody is coming hungry, and they're hungering and thirsting for righteousness, even a little taste of stale bread tastes good for them. But when you're filled by nibbling in the things of this world, John MacArthur, John Piper, John Owens, all the Johns in the world give the best sermon that they can give, but you don't have an appetite.

Even Jesus himself, when he preached, they didn't have an appetite. He said solid food is for the mature, because of their practice, have their senses trained to discern good and evil. So as a wrap-up this morning, the only Christian who fails is the one who quits. So let's establish that, okay?

So he's not saying the warning is not like, "Well, if you don't try hard and if you don't get an A, you're not gonna make it into the kingdom of God." That's not what he's saying. What he is saying is there's no reason for Christians to quit. The fact that we have a tendency to drift, that's all of us.

It's not just a few of you. The fact that we are tempted and we sometimes give in to our temptation, that's not just a few of you. That's all of us. We all have a tendency at times, having a hard time to be obedient to God. We all struggle with that.

But there is no excuse for a Christian to continue to drift, because he already paid the price. The door has already been opened. The battle has already been won. So when we see that warning sign, if you believe, there is no reason not to pay attention. So only an unbeliever will listen to this and say, "Ah, forget it," because they don't believe.

All of this is nonsense. But if you are a child of God and you've caught your heart being hardened, it's been months and years since you cried out to God. It's been months and years since you prayed and cried out to God. It's been months and years since you've been praising His name, but it was just all lip service.

If that's where you are, return. Remember the height from which you had fallen, repent, and redo the things that you did at first. So again, my prayer is as we welcome our worship team to come back up, let's take some time to come before the Lord again and be honest and pray and be fervent.

If your heart has become hardened for whatever the reason, don't justify that. Come before the Lord, consider who He is and what He has done, and receive the blessing that only He can give. Let's take some time to pray as our worship team leads us.