Sunday Morning Service 8:30AM - Hebrews 5:11-14 - Be Mature Pt. 1 - Beware of Immaturity - Pastor Ry

Chapter 5. Hebrews chapter 5. We have been out of the book of Hebrews now for a little over a month. We spent a lot of time in there. But between the series that we did for the resurrection and me being out of town, we've been out of it for quite a while. So what I thought I'd do is spend just a few minutes bringing us back up to speed, kind of on where we are in the book of Hebrews.

Remember, we said that the book of Hebrews was written because the Hebrew believed. The Hebrew believers were facing great persecution. Because of the great persecution that they were facing, some were tempted to fall away. And falling away for them meant two different things. For some, falling away meant to return to the Jewish law, to return back to the temple, back to what they knew, back to Jewish legalism, where they would perhaps feel more accepted and have some sort of a place of safety.

But then for some of them, falling away simply meant that. It meant falling away, giving up, not following the Lord. It meant not following the Lord any longer because the pressure was too great, because the difficulty was too much. And so this book of Hebrews was written to restore these Hebrew believers back to the focus that they needed. That in order to continue, they needed to put their focus back on Jesus, the author and the finisher of their faith.

And so it started off with us talking about Jesus, the one and only. That he is the creator, the sustainer, the savior, that he is God. And we said that there were several things that we were going to prove that Jesus was better than. The first thing is that he was better than the angels. The second thing is that he was better than Moses. The third thing is that he is greater than the high priest.

And in the midst of all of those things, there were also several warnings that were given to us. After he told us, actually in the middle of him telling us that Jesus is better than the angels, he gave us a warning to beware of drifting. To beware of drifting away from the faith. That it's easy as we go about in our lives to lose our focus on Jesus. And just simply to begin to drift into things that are not Jesus.

After he told us about Moses, who was only able to bring them to the edge of the promised land, he warned them of unbelief. He said, beware of having an evil, unbelieving heart and be diligent to enter into the rest. Moses could only take you so far. Jesus can give you the rest that you need. So be diligent to enter the rest that Jesus offers. And then, of course, as he told us about Jesus, the great high priest.

He reminded us that Jesus was appointed by God. That Jesus is gentle with humanity. And that Jesus is the ultimate source of eternal salvation. But then he segued into what we're about to talk about this morning. And he said that Jesus is a priest forever. Not according to the line of Aaron. But according to the order of Melchizedek. And he introduces this figure to us.

And that prompts him to give another warning. And that warning that he gives us to be mature. To be mature. And ultimately. The end of chapter 5 on through all the rest of chapter 6. Are going to be three parts about the need for maturity in the life of the believer. Because what he just introduced to them was a subject that perhaps their spiritual minds were not ready to take in.

And that's Jesus and the order of Melchizedek. Because they maybe weren't familiar with who Melchizedek was. Or why Jesus was a priest according to the order of Melchizedek. And can I be honest? I feel like this same warning needs to be given to the church today. Because the church today. I feel like as has been stated prior to me. A mile wide and an inch deep.

We're really good at posting verses on our social media. We're really bad at knowing what they mean. Right? My favorite Babylon Bee that I've seen here recently. Was seven verses that you can post to make you feel a little bit better about yourself. And my favorite one was in Matthew 544. Where it says that you can take all verses out of context and post them on your social media.

That was my favorite verse that you could post. To make yourself feel a little bit better on your social media. And I see this happen all the time. And it's because unfortunately in the church today. We've lacked a depth. And what we have created instead is a shallow faith. That makes us feel good on Sunday. But does not translate into our lives Monday through Saturday.

And so what the writer to the Hebrews is going to challenge these Hebrew believers to do. Is to be mature. And the first thing that he gives them is a warning of spiritual immaturity. Be aware. Beware of immaturity. And so we pick up in verse 11. Of chapter 5. And it says this. Concerning him. Melchizedek. 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. Within that he tells us kind of three parts of the warning of spiritual immaturity. Three things that we need to pay attention to. About being aware of immaturity in our lives. And in the lives of the. These Hebrew believers. The first thing he says is. You have become dull of hearing. You have become dull of hearing. He starts off by saying.

Concerning him. Meaning this Melchizedek guy. Which by the way in chapter 7. He's going to go into great detail. So I promise we'll get there. He says concerning him. We have much to say. And it's hard to explain. You see. This is the issue with a lot of spiritual things. The beautiful thing about the word of God is this. It is simple enough. That it can be taught to.

A five year old. And it's complex enough. That we will never plumb the depths. Of everything that it has to say to us. Because it is. It's hard to explain. And there are certain spiritual things. That until you gain an amount of spiritual maturity. You're just not going to be able to take them in. He says these things are hard to explain. Jesus said the exact same thing to his disciples.

When he promised them the Holy Spirit. He said I have a lot more to say to you. But you can't take it in right now. So when he. Meaning the spirit of truth comes. He will explain to you all of these things. And declare me to you. And so we have to understand. That there's always going to be some aspect of spirituality. There's always going to be some aspect of God's word.

That we have not yet plumbed the depths of. And yet we realize that there's things. That we need to be able to take in. He says concerning him there is much to say. And unfortunately it's difficult to explain. But there's a reason. Why so many people struggle to take in. The deeper things of God's word. The deeper spiritual truths. Of what God wants them to know.

And number one is because they have become. Dull of hearing. That word dull means. Slothful. Sluggish. The idea is to have laziness. Or apathy. That's the idea of the dullness that's created here. In other words. In other words you've just kind of become slothful. You've become a little bit lazy. In the way that you approach the word of God. You've become apathetic.

In the way that you approach spiritual things. You've become sluggish. In the way that. You approach spirituality. Can we all just be honest for just a minute. And say when you get into truly spiritual things. It really does require a certain amount of commitment. On the part of the believer. And it's easy to become apathetic about that. Because you know the work that it's going to take.

You know the energy that it's going to take. You know the change that it's going to have to make in your heart. And so sometimes we look at that and we go. That's going to be hard. Let's not do it. That's going to be a difficult thing. So let's not go after that. Have you ever felt that way? Or maybe you know someone that feels that way. Where they refuse to go into the deeper things of God's word.

Because they know the energy that it will require of them. One of the things that I usually do. In my quiet time with the Lord. Is I take time to write out things that God is teaching me. Because I know it forces my mind to slow down enough. To really process what I'm learning in God's word. And I always know when I've grown a little bit apathetic. When I'm not willing to do that.

When I'm like that's going to take so much time. That's going to take so much energy. That's going to take so much thought. Because I know that I'm going to have to stop long enough. To get real with my thoughts. To get real with my emotions. To get real with my feelings. To get real with my sin. And write those things out. And really take time to process it.

And it's going to require a lot of me. And so it's easy to become dull. In the way that I approach those things. The idea behind this word dull is disinclined to listen. That's the way the Amplified Bible puts it. Disinclined to listen. In other words. You just don't want to listen anymore. It's sort of like the end of the service every Sunday morning. You start going is he done yet?

Is it time? I'm a little disinclined to listen at this point in time. And that's the way sometimes we can be with God's word. Is I don't want to listen to what it has to say. Those that are dull of hearing. Have ears that can no longer receive. Spiritual truth. And the reason why is because. Dull ears. And I got this from David Guzik. Dull ears come about because of a dull heart.

Dull ears come about because of a dull heart. And usually this is how it happens. Usually God convicts you about something. Some area in your life that needs dealt with. Whether it's an area of sin. An area of unbelief. An area of doubt perhaps that you have. An area of fear maybe that you have in your life. And rather than dealing with that. In the way that God's word has shown you to deal with it.

You instead push that down. And as you push that down and say I'm not going to deal with that right now. God won't move on. With you until you've dealt with that. Now. Now he can still teach you some other things. But it's always going to come back to that one area in your life. That you still haven't dealt with yet. And because of that you become dull of hearing.

And because you won't listen to God in that area. You stop listening to him in every other area. And the real issue is you have a heart problem. And the heart problem is now causing calluses. Which while they're on your heart. Begin to affect your ears. Because you can no longer hear. What anyone else has to say. Let me give you the perfect example. Let me give you the perfect picture of this.

Have you ever tried to correct a three-year-old? Right? What do they do? I can't hear you. Right? That's kind of what we do to God. Those are dull ears. That don't want to hear what God has to say to us. So we just stop going to God altogether. We just stop getting into God's word. And because of that we become very dull in our hearing. And I want to point out something to you.

Do you notice? Let me read this to you again. Verse 11. Concerning him. We have much to say. And it's hard to say. Or hard to explain. Since you have become dull of hearing. That word is very interesting. Because the word become means the process which brings it about. In other words, you didn't start off dull of hearing. Matter of fact, when you came to Jesus.

You were very much sharp in your hearing skills. Because that's what brought you to Jesus to begin with. Remember this is written to believers. Not unbelievers. Not unbelievers. And they were not dull of hearing when it started. Just like when you first came to Jesus. There was no dullness in your hearing. You were not slothful about repentance. Because when God really got a hold of your heart.

You couldn't wait to come to Jesus. Because you knew that was the only place that you had for hope. But when you came to Jesus. You had to realize he didn't just want that one area of sin in your life. He didn't want to just give you brand new life. In the eternal realm. He wanted to change everything. He wanted to change everything about your life. And he won't be content until he has every part of your life.

But when we refuse to give things over to him. We become dull of hearing. Have you noticed anything about all of the warnings that are given to us in the book of Hebrews? All of the warnings that are given to us in the book of Hebrews are not a once done event. Drifting. Not entering into the promised land. Not being diligent to enter the rest. Becoming dull of hearing.

You notice that each of those have a process that's involved with them. You don't just one day land in the spot where you stop listening to what God has to say. It's usually a slow process. It's a slow process that lands you there. That is a culmination of a lot of little decisions in your life. And all of those little decisions end up adding up to a place where you go.

I don't know what's happened to me. I'm not even hearing from God anymore. Now. Right. Before you get too stressed out. God's always there. God's always there and he's ready for repentance. And we'll deal with that in the very end. But this is a warning we've got to pay attention to. He says I would love to tell you more. But number one. You have become dull of hearing.

Number two. You still need the basics. You still need the basics. I want you to notice what it says in verse 12. 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. Though by this time you ought to be teachers. What does he mean by that? Well the idea is this. You ought to be teachers because of the time that you have been under instruction.

By this time for these Hebrew believers. He says you all have been under instruction for long enough that you should be in a place where you should be able to instruct other people. He says you all have been under instruction for long enough that you should be in a place where you should be able to instruct other people. You have heard it long enough that you should be able to teach it to someone else.

You have heard it long enough that you should be able to teach it to someone else. Now we have to understand something. Not everybody has the gift of teaching and that's okay. That's not what he's saying here. Not everyone has the ability to lead a small group or stand up on a stage and be able to present God's word in this way. Not everyone has the ability to lead a small group or stand up on a stage and be able to present God's word in this way.

Not everyone has the ability to lead a small group or stand up on a stage and be able to present God's word in this way. But everyone should be able to explain God's word. But everyone should be able to explain God's word. God's Word. Everyone should be able to explain the Gospel. You should be able to explain what God is doing in your life. And you should ask yourself a question right now. If I had to stand

in front of someone and explain the Gospel to them, could I do it? And if the answer is no, then we've clearly revealed an area of immaturity in your life. And it's time to become mature in that way. Could you articulate any of the truths of God's Word? Not in a large group setting where you're going to be judged on how well you presented it, but if you sat down one-on-one

and explained to somebody salvation, sanctification, glorification, and what a walk with Jesus Christ on a daily basis looks like, could you articulate that? Because if the answer is no, then perhaps we have revealed an area of immaturity in your life, and God wants to grow you in that way. This is why my favorite thing to do is to sit down and listen to what other people are learning in God's Word. You know why? Because you don't really know it yourself unless you can explain it to somebody

else. I'm here to tell you right now, the only reason I know what I know about God's Word is because on a almost daily basis, I explain it to somebody else. And I know that if I don't know it well enough, then I'm going to look stupid in front of people. And so partly pride is a little bit of my motivation. Honesty with Ryan. But the beautiful thing is that God teaches me more as I

explain it to other people. I'll never forget listening to J. Vernon McGee explain this. He said, I teach God's Word because I'm selfish. Because I want God to teach me more. Because the more that he, the more that I give it out to other people, the more that he teaches me. Therefore, I'm a little bit selfish in the way that I handle God's Word. And that's the way I feel too. I love doing

what I do because I get to learn lots and lots of new things about God's Word. And I'm very busy with speaking and things right now. And there are times where I get ready to go up and speak and I think, okay, I'm tired, but I can do this. But I told my wife the other day, I said, it's okay. I was telling her this. I said, it's okay that I get tired before I speak, but if I ever

get tired of the preparation, it's time for me to quit. If I ever don't love the preparation, if I ever feel that way about the preparation, it's time for me to quit because that means it's not really my heart to teach anymore. It's just my heart to speak. speak and praise god the preparation is still my favorite thing matter of fact i will set just about anything else aside to give myself the time that i need to get into god's word to make sure that i have a message from the lord for me and then hopefully a message of the lord for you he says by this time you ought to be able to teach other people by this time you ought to be able to explain god's word to the people around you because of the instruction that you've taken

in he said but here's the thing you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of god's word he says you need someone to teach you the elementary principles that word elementary in the greek really carries with it the idea of the abcs the very beginning of scripture the the very basics of what god's word has to say listen my wife is in education and i've been around education my entire life because my parents were both educators and and i know that there is nothing wrong with a three to five year old learning their abcs there's nothing wrong matter of fact it's very exciting to watch them do that it's very exciting to watch them learn uh the the letters of the alphabet and and as they begin to

watch how those letters come together to the to to form words it's it's fascinating because you get to watch how their little brains take all of that in but listen if you all were sitting here today after having gone all the way through school and graduated high school many of you in career some of you retired from careers if you are still in a place where you are still learning your abcs that's a problem that's a problem we would all say there's something wrong with that right because my wife is in education i know this i know there's educational milestones that people are supposed to hit when she first started teaching she taught first grade and so she explained some of those educational milestones to me and she taught kindergarten for a little

while and explained some of those educational milestones to me and and she said if they don't hit these milestones we have to start asking why what's what's the problem that's causing them to not hit these educational milestones the same is true in our walk with jesus christ if you are not hitting the educational milestones in your walk with jesus christ if you're still in the abcs of your faith we need to ask why listen if this is your first year as a believer i don't expect you to know more than the abcs of your faith right um i i know some people that are very new in their faith and they're they're excited to learn the letters and put the words together and and i love when they send me the little

things that god teaches them and and and how much god is ministering to them but if i talk to a person that's walked with jesus for 20 years and they're sharing the same things with me that the kids walked with six months of sharing with me i kind of go where have we where have we missed some things here where where have we where have we not grown what's causing you to not hit your milestones because you still need the elementary truths of the word of god presented to you brothers and sisters my goal for you god's goal for you is maturity to see each of us become someone who can ultimately disciple someone else i hope we all realize that as believers in jesus christ that is all of our goal right we we are all

in a place where every single one of us as a believer in jesus christ has a goal and that's to go out and make other disciples do we know that do do we know that there's no such thing as pew warmers chair warmers in this case there's not supposed to be any such thing as a chair warmer in a church everybody has a mission everybody has a job don't get me wrong your first mission is your relationship with jesus if that's not right nothing else will be right but then your job is to now go and make disciples of other people some of you have built-in disciples they're called your kids And you're to be making disciples of those kids because that's your first ministry. Husbands, your first ministry is to your wife and to your kids, to make disciples of them.

Wives, your first ministry is to your husband and to your kids to continue the discipleship process. And then beyond that, we now look at our church. You look at the people around you, grandmas and grandpas, grandkids are your mission field. And you're to make disciples of all of those kids. You're to make disciples of all the people that are around you, teaching them.

Again, as I've said before, one of the greatest things you can do is to sit down with a group of people once a week and say, what are you learning in God's Word right now? This is what I'm learning. Let me articulate it to you. You articulate to me what you're learning. And it's amazing how we grow like that. When I lived in Johnson County, went to Calvary Chapel in Johnson County,

that was our men's study. Our men's study every Saturday morning, a group of about, 20 of us guys got together and we were all reading through the one-year Bible and everybody got to share two things that God was speaking to them throughout the week. And it was great how some people, one week it would be like God was showing us all the same thing. And we were like, dude, that's exactly where I am right now.

And then some weeks, each of us would share something a little bit different and we would sharpen each other that way. And then we'd ask questions. Now, wait a second, is that really God speaking that to you? Is that really what that says? And we sharpened each other that way. See, that's making disciples. That's being able to teach each other and not being stuck in the elementary ABCs of faith.

He says the problem is you still need the basics. But then the third thing he says, number one, you've become dull of hearing. Number two, you still need the basics. But then number three, you need milk, not solid food. End of verse 12, notice what it says. 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, because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil. He describes two different people. He describes spiritual infants and mature believers. He starts off by saying, you need milk. Not solid food. Now, we do need to understand something. You never outgrow your desire for milk. As a matter of fact, in 1 Peter,

Peter, I don't know, chapter two, verse two, I think, something like that. Peter says, as newborn babes desire the pure milk of the word. We never outgrow our desire for milk. But we should eventually grow into a desire for solid food. I'll give you the exact same example of children. If my kids, if my kids, if my kids, if my kids, if my kids, if my kids, if my kids, if my kids,

if my kids, if my kids, if my kids, if my kids, if my kids, if my kids, never want to eat real food, if they only want to keep drinking milk, I go, well, what's the problem here? Why are you not developing? Praise God, my girls love steak, right? Sidebar, there's nothing that makes you more proud as a father than to grill a steak and have your little girl eat that steak and go, I need more.

And you're just like, oh, man. That's it. That's my girl right there. But eventually, you want people to start eating solid food because that's how you grow. You grow by that process of eating solid food. And so he describes the spiritual infant. He says, he says, for everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant.

What is the milk that he's referring to? Well, the milk is the basic understanding of Christ's work on earth. The basic understanding of Christ's work on earth. Again, there's nothing wrong with it unless that's all you desire. And then there's a stunting of your growth. Several commentators that I read pointed out several different things. And I would like to point these out to you.

Number one, milk drinkers are hearers, not doers. Milk drinkers are hearers, not doers. You love to take in a good sermon. You love to take in what God's word has to say, but it never turns into a lifestyle change in your life. You become like the one that James talks about when he says those who are hearers of the word and not doers only are those who look into a mirror

and walk away in a mirror. And immediately forget what they look like. I always use the example of this. When I still had hair, it's been a while now, when I still had hair, but it was all starting to fall out, I'd wake up in the morning and my hair looked ridiculous because I had these things right here down the middle where hair was missing. And so I look in the mirror like, whoa, that's really bad.

And so I would then do something about it. I would have to move my hair around a little bit to make it look a little bit better, right? Can you imagine I look in the mirror and I go, whoa, that looks really bad. And I walk away and don't do anything about it, right? Now, how many small children have you seen show up to school, especially those of you that are teachers,

and their hair looks absolutely ridiculous? And you ask, mom, see you before you left the house? And they're like, you're like, of course he didn't because you're a hearer of the word and not a doer of the word. Your mom probably was like, brush your hair before you go to school. And they're like, and then they show up to school and they didn't do it. That's what milk drinkers are like.

Listen, if God's word is taking no effect on your life, if you love to hear it, but you hate to do it, then you're probably not going to do it. You're probably not going to be a milk drinker because that makes you someone who is dull of hearing. You're someone who's sluggish and slothful in the way that you handle God's word. And it's never actually changing the core of who you are.

You're not really growing into it. The second thing is that milk drinkers can't take in the weightier matters of God's word. They can't take in the weightier matters of God's word. They can't get past Jesus loves you. Listen, it is a fantastic foundational doctrine that is at the base of everything that we do. But Jesus loves you has to turn into you love people and you love him in return

through your obedience. That's what it's to turn into. And there are weightier matters of God's word. If you never want to get into the difficult books of God's word, if you never want to get into the difficult doctrines of God's word, then we go, why are you still a spiritual infant? Don't you know that there's lots of things that you can grow by? In our faith, we are to be childlike, not childish.

Number three, milk drinkers are tossed, about by every wind of doctrine. And this is how I know that the Western culture church are predominantly milk drinkers. They're predominantly milk drinkers because they are tossed about by every new fad that comes across social media or the Christian bookstore. And every new thing that comes along tosses them all over the place.

And pretty soon, now we believe in the Enneagram and now we believe in contemplative prayer and now we believe whatever next thing Jen Hatmaker is going to say. And, you know, we're tossed about by every new thing. And as we get tossed about by every new thing that comes along, it's because we're not grounded in what God's word has to say. There's always going to be a new idea out there.

There's always going to be a new book that comes out. There's always going to be a new teaching that comes out. But you should be able to answer, does it line up with what God's word has to say? If it does, keep it. If it doesn't, toss it. But you can't be tossed about constantly by every wind of doctrine. You can't be tossed around constantly by your emotions

because that's what milk drinkers do. One day when it's a bad day, they're not sure if they're saved. The next day it's a good day and they're pretty sure they're the super saint everybody's been looking for. And you're tossed about by every wind of doctrine. That's a milk drinker.

And the last thing that we have to realize is that milk drinkers are inexperienced in God's word. They are inexperienced in God's word. As a matter of fact, that word in verse 13, for everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the ideas unskilled or inexperienced. Unskilled or inexperienced. And so they don't know how to handle it. They don't know how to study it.

They don't know how to apply it. You see, here's the thing. There's three basic parts, and I've shared this lots of times before. There's three basic parts to the study of God's word. And these are important. You should write these down. If you're gonna be inexperienced in God's word, or if you're gonna be experienced in God's word, these are the three things that you need to do.

The first part of Bible study is called observation. In other words, I'm just gonna read it, and I'm just gonna see what it says. I'm not gonna try to figure out the interpretation or the application of it yet. I just wanna read it. And I wanna get everything down as best I can. This is how I start off every Bible study. I sit down with my Bible and a journal,

and I just write down everything that I observe. Who the people are, what the place is, what's actually being said. If there's any principles that are pointed out that I need to pay attention to, you're just gonna observe it. Listen, that is about 60% of Bible study. If not, maybe 60%. 70% of Bible study is just observing it because you have to be able to handle God's word.

You have to be able to handle it for yourself. Let me give you a little bit of an illustration. You can go and read the driver's manual. I have a 14-year-old now. You can go and read the driver's manual all you want to, but until you begin to handle the car for yourself and observe everything of how it operates, you're never gonna be able to drive it. That's why that time is so important

to observe everything that goes on with driving. So number one, you're gonna observe. Number two, you're going to interpret. This is really important. There's observation. Number two, there's interpretation. Interpretation is usually gonna be you making sure you understand what it says so that you can know exactly how to interpret it. That usually is based on things like location,

historical context, all those different kinds of things. How does it fit into the rest of Scripture? You're going to interpret it. But then the third part is the part that we usually lead out, and that's the application. How am I going to obey it? Am I obeying it by believing it? Am I obeying it by actually acting on it? Am I obeying it by stopping something in my life?

What is it that I need to obey? Listen, if you will write down those three things, what does it say? What does it mean? What does now God's Word speak to me? What does it mean to me that I need to do? You will be leaps and bounds beyond most of the Western culture church today. And you won't just have the verse of the day that you can post on your wall. You will have the Word of God changing your life.

But that's not what a milk drinker does. A milk drinker is inexperienced in God's Word. They never take the time to do those things. You never outgrow your need for milk, but it can't be where you stop. But then after he describes a spiritual infant, he now begins to describe the spiritually mature. Notice what he says in verse 14. For solid food is for the mature,

who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil. The mature love solid food. So if milk is the basics of what Christ did on earth, what is solid food? Well, solid food is the spiritual reality of Christ's work now. The spiritual reality of Christ's work now is the spiritual reality of Christ's work now. So if milk is the basics of what Christ did on earth,

reality of christ's work now that he is that high priest according to the order of melchizedek that he is ever living to make intercession for us that all of the gifts that he's given to us are to point people to him it is the spiritual reality of christ's work now and that's the solid food that we want to get into but i want you to pay attention to what it is that this solid food or some things about this solid food and those who are mature number one they have their senses trained they have their senses trained that word trained is an interesting word in the greek it literally means a gymnasium and that's the idea behind that word it means to exercise in a gym

and so the idea is the mature christian uses god's word as their gym to work out in now does that make it seem like that your time in god's word should be this easy peaceful little just the emotional devotional no it means you get into that thing and you get into that thing and you get into that thing and you get into that thing and you get You do some work, right? And when you're done, you're going to feel good. Just like when you go to the gym, you feel good. Unless you injure yourself.

That's neither here nor there. But when you go to the gym, you feel good, right? Because you've exercised yourself towards that. But what's true the first time you go to the gym? It's terrible, right? Like, that person wants to kill me. I hate that place because that's really hard. My heart is palpitating. I've got this weird, moist stuff coming out of my body.

I do not like anything about this situation. And I am absolutely exhausted. I don't know how any of the equipment works. Everybody's in better shape than me. I don't want to go back to that place. But you know you should. So you go back the second day. And then you go back the third day. And pretty soon, you get a month into it. You know what you start doing?

Man, I'm glad I go to that place. I feel good. And you start to crave it. Why? Because that exercise feels so good to your body. That's kind of the way God's Word is. You have to exercise yourself into it. And those first few weeks, listen, you've got to understand, it's going to feel a little awkward. I don't understand. I don't understand how the machine works.

It sometimes makes me feel really uncomfortable. Sometimes it's really hard. It takes a lot of focus and concentration on my part. I don't like this because it's hard. But if you keep going back day after day after day, I promise you, you get a month into that, and you will want to come back. You will crave it. I'm super weird. I'm a nerd. But I also love Jesus a lot.

So this explains it. When I go on vacation, and I know that I get to get up before everybody else in the family, and I know that my coffee's going to be ready when I get up, and I know my Bible's going to be sitting there, I can't wait to go to bed on vacation. I know that's the dumbest thing anybody's ever said. I know, don't judge me. But I realize, like, nothing's going to keep me.

Like, I'm not going to answer my phone. I'm not going to have anything else distracting me. I just get to be in God's Word. It's the most exciting time of my life. Because I've exercised myself towards it. And that's what he says. He says, those who are mature have their senses trained. They exercise like an Egyptian. And what do they have their senses trained for?

To discern good and evil. In other words, to be able to judge and distinguish between that which is good and that which is evil. This is another reason why I know that the Western culture church is immature. Because the Western culture church can't figure out the difference between good and evil. The Western culture church cannot figure out what sin is, so they live like sin, and then they worship God.

And you're going, listen, I understand God's patient with our weaknesses, but at some point in time, you don't understand what sin is. You don't understand the difference between good and evil. Because your senses are not trained. So you'll accept everything. What will babies put in their mouth? An easier question is, what won't babies put in their mouth? Right?

They'll put anything in their mouth. Why? Because their senses are not trained to distinguish between good and evil. My favorite thing that went around the Internet when my girls were tiny is, reasons why my two-year-old is yelling at me. And usually it was because of some nasty thing the kid wanted to put in their mouth. And they took it away. My favorite one was the girl that was trying to put dog poop in her mouth.

And the mom took it away. And she's like, now my two-year-old is screaming at me. Why? Because they can't discern good and evil. It all looks the same to them. But as believers, we should get to a place where our senses are exercised to be able to distinguish between good and evil. And even more than that, between that which is good and that which is best. And that's what it takes the work of the maturing

to do in our lives. He says, they have their senses trained to discern good and evil. Why? Because notice what it says. Solid food is for the mature who because of what? Practice. Who because of? Practice can discern good and evil. I've learned something in working with college athletes over this last year. It's been my first time really working with college athletes.

They never don't practice. And I don't think I realize that. I don't think I realize that legit, they practice all year round. When it's off-season, it's not off-season. It's just a different kind of practice season. And the reason why is because they have to always be at their best. Because somebody out there is being better than them. Someone out there is practicing when they're not.

So they have to be in the gym all the time. And so that practice that they do is continual. Off-season may not be as hard as in-season, but they're still practicing so that their skills are as sharp as possible. We should not have an off-season as Christians. We should not have an off-season. I keep getting these advertisements about don't make the summer the off-season for the church.

And I agree with that. I. When I was a kid, I was a kid. I was a kid. When I first came into youth ministry down here. I grew my youth group because we had youth group during the summer. Because a lot of churches, they would cancel their youth group during the summer. And kids still wanted to go to youth group somewhere. Well, I just always went all year round.

That's just the way I was used to it. And so I did. And so kids started coming to youth group because of it. And then they liked our youth group, so they stayed. And it's like you can't have off-seasons. That's not a criticism to anybody in town. But you can't have an off-season. You know why? Because sin doesn't have an off-season. The enemy doesn't have an off-season.

He's always looking for a time to get at you. And so he says, because of practice, they know how to do these things. So what does practice look like for the believer in Jesus Christ? Practice looks like time spent in the Word, number one. Number one is time spent in the Word. And again, I'll remind you, we can come up with every reason in the world. I was just having a discussion with somebody.

And I'm good at this, too. This is a weakness that we all have. We can come up with every reason in the world to not spend time in the Word. I went through a short season about a month ago where I was struggling with this. Because three mornings a week, I leave my house really early to go to huddles in different places in Cali County. And then we already get up very early because my wife has to leave early.

So for me to spend time with the Lord, it had to be in some sort of an off time than what I was used to. Well, I kept not prioritizing that. I kept not prioritizing my time in the Word. And so Monday, I was great. Friday, Saturday, I was great. But man, I was missing Tuesday through Thursday. And it was showing up in my life. I was feeling it. And I was talking to my boss with FCA.

And we have a meeting about once a month for him to check in on me to make sure that I'm doing those things. It's accountability. And he says, how's your time with the Lord right now? And I said, honestly, it could be better. Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?

Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? from somebody else that said, hey, this is a weakness that you've developed in your life that if you don't deal with, it's going to become an issue for you. And so I started building it back

in. It's in odd times now. That's okay. But I've built it back into my life. And so if you are going to practice to become mature, number one, it's going to take time spent in the Word. Number two, it's going to take time spent with the Lord. We have to understand there can be a difference between those two things. Because you can read the Word for intellectual pursuit, or you can read the

Word for Jesus pursuit. The choice is yours. But then also it takes time spent living out the Word. Time spent living out the Word. And so all of this to tell us that maturity is what God desires for us. He doesn't want us to live in that place of immaturity. He wants us to go on to maturity, to go on to become who He wants us to be. Warren Wiersbe in his commentary closed with a little

story, and I'd like to close with this story with you. He said, I once heard a preacher say, most Christians are betweeners. I said, what do you mean by that? He replied, they are between Egypt and Canaan. Out of the place of danger, but not yet into the place of rest and rich inheritance. They are between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Saved by the blood, but not enjoying the newness of the

resurrected life. Are you a betweener? Well, again, I'll close with these last three points. If you want to not be a betweener, but be who God truly has called for you to be and to move into maturity, I haven't put these up here. Number one, you need to recognize the areas of immaturity in your life. Are you dull of hearing? Are you someone who still needs the basics?

Are you a milk drinker, not a solid food eater? Recognize the areas of immaturity in your life. Is it unbelief? Is it sin? Is it doubt? Is it anger? Is it fear? Is it in your life that's the area of immaturity? Listen, this is a hard one to figure out. And sometimes we have to ask God, will you show me the areas of immaturity in my life? Because we can have blind spots.

Number one, you've got to recognize the areas of immaturity in your life. Number two, you have to determine to be a creature of the Word. You have to determine to be a creature of the Word. I love that phrase. I read a book. As a matter of fact, a great book by Matt Chandler called Creature of the Word if you're looking for a good one to read. Where he goes into what this looks like. Where it looks like your life

is spent in reflection of what God's Word wants to do in you. And then number three, you have to begin to be a doer of the Word and not a hearer only. Begin to be a doer of the Word and not a hearer only. Because God desires us to live in the freedom that maturity brings. Amen? Let's all stand.

With me. Father, we come before you. And Lord, I thank you for the time that you've given us here this morning. And I ask that as we move on from here and go about the rest of our day and the rest of our week, Lord, that your Word would sink deeply into our hearts and that it would be begin to change the fabric of who we are and that today would be the day that we say I press on to maturity. I'm not going to be content with immaturity any longer.

Lord, do the work that only your Holy Spirit can do in us. Draw us near to you. Lord, I thank you that you're patient with us. And I thank you that when we are in areas where we are wrong, you so graciously correct us. So Father, we just thank you and we praise you. In Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed.

Lord, we just thank you for another day. Thank you for allowing us to be here this morning. I thank you for your Word. Lord, may we move on to the Lord. May we move on to the spiritual milk, Lord God. May we move on to the meat of the Word, Lord. May we grow deeper and stronger in you, Lord God. We love you, Lord, and we praise you. In Jesus' name. Amen. You guys have a wonderful week. God bless you.