Welcome to the Believers Bible Assembly This is the day that the Lord has made and we're going

to rejoice and be glad in it Open your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 5 verses

a shift from the author's teaching of Jesus as a high priest in the order of Melchizedek verses

they had become slow in their understanding of the word and that they were still in a state

of spiritual immaturity And that despite having the scriptures taught to you you decided to remain dependent on

spiritual milk unable to digest solid food that would enable them to mature spiritually What I

want us to do today is to learn from this teaching how to grow and mature

in our faith so that we won't become spiritually immature but that we will mature by maturing in

the word Let's begin to unpack this text this morning Verse 11 says we have much

to say about this but it is hard to explain because you are dull of

hearing meaning that you're no longer trying to understand The author of Hebrews delivers a serious

rebuke because his readers were spiritually immature He had much to say about the priesthood of Christ

That's the context of these verses of Scripture which is not a complex thing to teach but it was

difficult to explain because they were dull in their hearing They were not trying to understand They had

become slow in their hearing and lazy which indicates they were not growing spiritually That was the

problem That was the reason for the rebuke by the writer of Hebrews They had become complacent in whatever state

they were in They had no desire to grow And one of the reasons for that

is found in Proverbs chapter 1 verse 7 and it says the fear of the Lord

is the beginning of knowledge but fools despise wisdom And see this is where it all begins with a

fear a reverence of God That's the beginning of knowledge Because I reverence God because I love God I

acknowledge Him as Lord I'm going to now seek out and do what he instructs me to do

But see these people have become dull in their hearing As the teachers were teaching they did

not want to receive what the teachers were teaching because they had no fear of what the teachers

were teaching because they had no fear of God Because they lacked the knowledge of the word of God

that will mature them and because they lacked the knowledge they were unable to put it into practice

They were not doers of the word They were only healers of the word Therefore they could not grow and

mature spiritually which resulted in a hardened heart It wasn't the fact that they didn't understand the

word They rejected the word because their hearts were hardened That's why they became complacent That's why

they became lazy That's why they became dull of hearing Now Jesus condemned those who had hardened hearts a

heart that had became hard resistant and disobedient to God's word Matthew 13:15 this is what it says for the

hearts of these people are hardened and their ears cannot hear and they have closed their eyes so their eyes

cannot see and their ears cannot hear and their hearts cannot understand and they cannot turn to

me and let me heal them because their hearts were hard They could not receive their

healing that came from the word They resisted the word They were disobedient to the word They didn't

do what the word instructed them to do and as a result their hearts became hard and they

could not receive the healing the deliverance that would come from the word Psalm 107:20 says He sent His

word to heal and deliver them from their destruction A lot of believers cannot be healed spiritually

mentally physically because they have rejected the word of God Their eyes cannot see their ears cannot hear and their

hearts can't understand So therefore they cannot turn to God and let God heal them because

their hearts were hardened because they lacked the knowledge that came from the fear of the Lord Verse 12 says

by this time you ought to be teachers You need someone to reteach you the basic principles

of the word You need milk and not solid food Again here the author rebuking his readers

for not maturing in their faith They should have been teachers believers who are spiritually

mature enough in their understanding of God's word to be able to instruct others That's where they should have

been in their spiritual walk at that time A lot of us in our spiritual walk should be

teachers those who are spiritually mature enough in their understanding of God's word to be able to instruct

others Now we're not talking about in a formal setting We're talking about in every setting of life

in the home with your family friends We should be sharing teaching the word Am I talking

about line by line verse by verse No there's different settings for that but you

should have enough word in you and enough spiritual maturity to be able to share the

word to give someone an opportunity to believe the word But the scripture says that

these people could not do that because they were not spiritually mature although they've heard the word they sat

under ministries that taught them the word for years and years and years They still need they still desire the

basic truth the basic principles of the word of God They're not growing They're not maturing in their faith This

shows a lack of a desire for spiritual progress and growth That's why they were in need of the basic

principles the foundational principles of the word being retaught to them over and over and over

again because they lacked a desire for spiritual progress and growth This is what I love about the word The

word is designed that you can go as far in the word as you want to

go If you desire to go deep you can go deep If you desire to stay in shallow waters

you can stay in shallow waters but you'll never get the benefits or reap the rewards of maturing

in the word You chose to stay in the shallow parts because you didn't have a desire

to go deeper into the truth And here's the reason why they desired milk and not solid food

They were stuck at the basic levels of faith unable to understand the deeper truths They were

stuck in the basic levels See God does not want you to be stuck at a basic level He wants

you to grow into the deeper truths of the understanding of the word When you first heard the scripture you

were here As you continue to exercise in the word you grow and then you're at another level

now And now you're at this next level you hear the word you grow some more

but you always have a desire to grow Now if you choose not to grow it's because you're not

seeking after solid food You're stuck on milk Now listen to what the apostle Paul wrote in

who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly mere infants in

Christ I gave you milk not solid food for you were not yet ready for it

Indeed you are still not ready Paul is trying to give the people what they needed to grow spiritually

The reason why I can't get this to you because you were still worldly mere infants in

Christ because you desire milk Milk is not going to grow you So if you're

not growing you're going to conform more and more to the image of the world and

not to the image of Christ Paul went on to say I gave you milk not solid food for

you were not ready for it Paul founded the church in Corinth When he was initially trying to give

it to them they weren't ready for it And he comes back now and said and you're still not

ready meaning you hadn't grown at all from the first time you heard the word to now

and it's because you desire milk Another writing from Apostle Paul Ephesians chapter 4 verses 14 to 15 it teaches

us that when we are equipped built up and united in faith and in the knowledge of the Son

of God we will no longer be like infants What does that The word what

does this imply Spiritual growth When we're equipped built up and united in faith in the knowledge of the Son

of God we will no longer be like infants You won't be tossed about by

every changing teaching or deceived by the cunning of men Instead by speaking the truth and

love we will grow up steadily towards spiritual maturity and this growth will shape us into the full

body of Christ who is the head of the church And in Him we become stable we become grounded and

mature together as believers Now the context of this passage of scripture the body of Christ the church

growing together and how it's the responsibility of the leadership to teach and equip the people in order

to grow But they still have to have a desire to grow and if they don't have

a desire to grow they will never grow and become stable and grounded and mature 2 Peter chapter 3 verse

Him be glory both now and forever In order for us to grow we have to grow in the

grace and the knowledge of Jesus Christ and you have to have a desire to

do this If not we're going to be stumbling and fumbling through life never reaching our full potential because we

desire milk and not solid food Being a believer is not just about hearing the word but growing and

applying it to our life So the question is are we growing spiritually or are we still relying

on spiritual milk without desiring to go deeper in our faith Verse 13 the writer of Hebrews wrote For everyone

who lives on milk is still an infant inexperienced in the message of righteousness The author of Hebrews

repeats his teaching on spiritual maturity contrasting milk the basic teachings with solid food the deeper teachings and he

says that everyone who partakes in milk is someone who is still desiring the foundations of their faith and

not growing spiritually They're at the foundations Jesus wept They're good Not knowing why he wept

not knowing what was going on that caused him to weep and the deeper truth of it Jesus wept

they closed their Bible they're out the door They're just desiring to stay right there at the basic foundations of

their faith not trying to go at all And because of this the scripture says

they become inexperienced unskilled in the word of righteousness and it results in being spiritually immature because they have

no desire to devote the time that's necessary to read search and study the scripture They got other priorities

Other things are consuming more of their time That's why they always will remain spiritually and mature Anything worth

having in life you've got to invest the time in it in order for it

to produce the results You get out of studying and researching and reading the scripture You

get out of it what you put in So you put a little time into this

you're going to get little results If you put much time in you'll get great results If you

put no time in you'll get no result But I'm saying yeah you are but you're still

spiritually immature You're not growing And here's the reason why the scripture says because there's still

an infant there's still a child The immature believer cannot grow because they don't have a

desire to read search the scripture or study the word for them to be able to discern the deeper

truths of the word Rather they desire to be spoon fed the Bible and unfortunately that's

where many believers are right now They don't want to study the word for themselves They don't

want to read the word for themselves But they don't understand by them having a desire to be

spoon fed they're setting themselves up for false teachers and their false teachings They're setting themselves up They

would rather be spoon fed the Bible instead of opening up the Bible and seeking the

word for themselves See that's what the spiritual mentor would do 2 Peter chapter 1 verses 5

to 8 says this for this very reason make every effort to add to your faith

virtue and to virtue knowledge and to knowledge self-control and to self-control perseverance and to perseverance guideliness and

to guideliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness love Here it is For if these qualities are yours

and are increasing maturing They will keep you from being useless ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord

Jesus Christ We have to add to our faith You have to continue to grow You

got to continue to build upon your faith and you do this through the knowledge of the word It

will keep you from being ineffective useless unfruitful In the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ God wants your

life to be fruitful He desires the believer's life to produce much fruit but if you're

not doing the things that you need to do as a believer your life will

never produce much fruit You remain spiritually immature which is not God's desire for the believer We need to seek

to grow in faith by studying God's word or we will become satisfied with just the basic teaching of milk

In verse 14 says but solid food is for the mature Now he's talking to the mature believer

Why he says who by constant use have trained their senses to distinguish good from

evil The rite of Hebrews he's contrasting the immature believer who needs milk with the mature

believer who feeds on solid food Solid food is for the believers They desire a deeper understanding of

spiritual truths that require spiritual growth as they train their senses to understand and apply God's word It's

about going beyond the basics To a deeper understanding of God's word and living it out in the daily

life and this is done through practice Mature believers have practiced their faith and have developed spiritual

discernment based on their life experience being transformed You've worked the word and you've seen the

word work in your life and your life has been transformed So you're going to continue to

practice those things continue to do those things that are going to continue to transform your

life day in and day out And as you're being transformed daily you're growing in your understanding of the scripture

daily So mature believers they're living out and growing in their faith daily And that's exactly what the

word requires us to do No one said once you get born again you're going to be magically

transformed and know everything from Genesis to Revelation That's crazy talk But as we continue to practice

our faith and build upon our faith we're growing we're maturing we're living out faith daily becoming more

Christ-like We've exercised our thinking our minds through the renewing of our mind We've been training spiritually like training

physically A boxer trains months even years just to fight He didn't just step into the ring put on

some gloves and start swinging Those kind of people get knocked out but they knew they had to

train in order to sustain This walk that we're on is a journey and we

need the Holy Spirit and we need the Word to go through this journey to

get to where God designs us to be And the more you exercise your faith the more you exercise

in the word the more you train yourself like a boxer trains for a 12 round fight

You'll be able to endure anything and everything that comes your way You won't quit you won't

throw in the towel you won't give up And when you train your mind like a fighter trains now comes

the spiritual discernment that we need to discern both good and evil right from wrong

but it doesn't happen overnight And the mature believer understands this They put into practice those spiritual

disciplines that they need in order to grow in order to maintain in order to have spiritual endurance Romans chapter

going to do one thing and renew your mind so you got to continue to renew Be transformed

by the renewing ING of your mind so that you may prove what is that good and

acceptable and perfect will of God Philippians chapter 1 verse 9 to 10 says and this

is my prayer that your love may abound more and more in the knowledge and depth of insight so that

you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day

of Christ That's the will of God for your life This journey through the scriptures the studying of the scripture

reading of the scripture is not just an academic exercise I read my scripture today

so something magical going to happen now No it's so that you can grow It's so that

your faith can increase because it's not if things are going to happen Things are happening It's not

that the world is getting better it's going to get worse We're in the world we're

not of it but we're in it and we've got to maintain and remain faithful to our call and

you can't do that if you don't have the word in you So my prayer is like

Paul that you may abound more and more in the knowledge and the depth of

insight so that you will be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the

day of Christ James chapter 1 verses 22 to 25 it teaches us that the doing the practice

of the word is what strengthens our faith not just the hearing of it If I can

just get this one thing over to people because they're being deceived thinking oh I just

heard the word so now my life is going to be transformed We are to be doers of the word

not hearers only deceiving ourselves thinking that just by hearing the word our life is

going to be transformed without putting the word into practice without putting the word into action Spiritual maturity

does not happen automatically It requires daily practice the study of the word and prayer These are three things

that we need to be doing each and every day This is our training for a 12 round fight but

you know it's going to be more than 12 rounds But this is what we have to do each

and every day And as we do these things we'll become spiritually mature in the word

So let me leave you with this Solid food equals a deeper more advanced teaching

that matures believers to understand and apply the word as opposed to milk which equals spiritual immaturity That's

not what you want We want to grow by desiring the solid food of the word

As believers we must mature spiritually A believer cannot live and remain on basic milk Their faith will

become weak and become a risk to every kind of false teaching feel-good message out there today and

there's plenty of them They're taking people away from Christ instead of towards Christ The question

is are we growing in the knowledge and the practice of the word or are we

still desiring milk When we mature we exercise our discernment our ability to know the truth

from error but this comes with practice Spiritual maturity requires practice Are we practicing the word of God daily

or are we just hearers only deceiving ourselves As believers we are to grow spiritually and to seek solid

food in the word daily to develop spiritual discernment and to live in accordance with God's will

for our lives that's found in His word Amen