WEBVTT

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We are still talking about
the object of our faith,

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which is Jesus.

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Jesus is the object of our faith.

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And so the book of Hebrews is all about
Jesus because it goes back and

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draws in all the Old Testament about
the prophecies and God's provision

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throughout the Old Testament.

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And then we have all the New Testament
that Hebrews just sort of is the

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binding that draws it all together.

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And so we've been spending these
months in the book of Hebrews,

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and we're up to chapter five
after three months.

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Aren't we proud?

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Chapter five,

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verses 7 to 14.

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I'm doubling back a little bit on some
verses that we looked at last

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week, but it's because
today's Easter,

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and I purposely titled today's
message offensively.

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It's my intention to offend,

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and I'm an equal opportunity
offender.

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So here we go.

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Title of today's message
is Don't Be a Baby.

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Happy Easter.

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Okay, Hebrews 5:7-14.

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Here we go.

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He in the days of his flesh.

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Okay, so I'm using a different
translation.

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So it's okay.

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Just you read along what's
on the screen,

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and I'll show,

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and I'm going to read
what I got here.

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So he in the days of his flesh,

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offered up both prayers and supplications
with loud crying and tears to

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the one able to save him from death.

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And he was heard because
of his reverence.

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Although he was a son,

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he learned obedience from the
things which he suffered.

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Having been made perfect,

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he became to all those who obey him
the source of eternal salvation,

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being designated by God as a high
priest according to the order of

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Melchizedek. And that's where
we stopped last week.

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Then it goes on to say,

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concerning him,

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we have much to say,

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talking about Melchizedek,

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and it is hard to explain since
you've become dull of hearing.

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For though by this time you
ought to be teachers,

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you have need again for someone to teach
you the elementary principles of

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the oracles of God.

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And you have come to need
milk and not solid food.

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For everyone who partakes only of milk
is not accustomed to the word of

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righteousness, for he is an infant.

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But solid food is for the mature who
because of practice have their

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senses trained to discern
both good and evil.

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There's a whole lot of warning
in that passage.

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Let's pray.

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Father, we bow before you again,

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thanking you and praising you for
the opportunity and privilege,

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really, that we get to gather
to worship God.

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We celebrate the resurrection today.

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It's on the calendar that way.

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And yet God as believers;

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as  Followers of Christ,

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as those who have received this incredible
salvation that you provided

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for us.

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We celebrate the resurrection
every day because it is,

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it's our victory.

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God, we know that it's in the resurrection
that we have victory over sin

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and death.

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And so,

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God, today we celebrate
that very excitedly.

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I'm excited about the resurrection,

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I'm excited to sing songs
about our death,

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being arrested,

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and I'm excited just to
sing about this life,

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this identity that you've
given us in Jesus.

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So, God,

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I thank you for every person that's
gathered in this room.

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I know there's some who are here
for the very first time.

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And so,

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God, I'm so thankful for that,

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because God,

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as we gather,

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we gather with a same purpose.

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God, if we know Jesus,

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we're family.

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You've adopted us,

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you've made us yours.

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And yet,

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God, this very text warns
us to grow up.

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So, God,

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help us to hear you today,

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not me.

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Help us to hear your word.

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And God,

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help us to respond to it.

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We pray it in Jesus name.

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Amen.

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So this passage starts
with this phrase,

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in the days of his flesh,

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because a lot of translations just reference
that as his earthly life.

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And yet a more,

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I guess a more direct translation is
just when he was in the flesh,

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God, the Son,

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being eternal,

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came to earth in the form of a baby
and grew up and lived here.

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And so what he's referring to here
is that the humanity of Christ,

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because we've studied
in Hebrews so far,

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these things that are,

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he was son and he is heir,

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he is son,

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he is heir,

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he is the creator,

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he is the saint sustainer,

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he is the radiance of God's glory.

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When God's glory shows up,

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this is the son,

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this is the radiance,

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the shining light of God's glory.

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He is the exact impression,

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expression of the very
essence of God.

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And Jesus himself said,

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if you've seen me,

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you've seen the father.

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And so what we're learning
about Jesus is,

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is that Hebrews is pointing
out everything,

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prophetically speaking,

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in the Old Testament
refers to Jesus.

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And then as we see Jesus
in his life,

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in the days of his flesh,

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live out his perfect,

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sinless reverence,

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his human life,

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it gives us this source
of our salvation.

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So I made the point of today's
message simply,

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Christ the son,

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the savior,

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the source of knowledge
and salvation.

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And so when we look at that,

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we understand that we're supposed
to pay attention to Jesus,

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y'all, there's so much in the
world to pay attention to.

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And so many Christians,

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quite honestly,

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and I,

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you know,

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I shared this out front out
there at the beach that,

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you know,

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this makes year 42 as far as,

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since God called me to ministry.

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And I look at it and I'm like,

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you know,

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I've seen christians all up
and down the east coast.

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I've pastored from down in New
Orleans area up to Maryland.

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And it's a big difference.

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But I noticed in all the congregations
of worship and the community,

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the worship communities that there are
some believers and some followers

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of Christ who are steeped
and just sort of skewed.

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Okay, can I put that,

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I remember as a kid there were certain
things that when you were cooking

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them, you wanted them to cook a while
and bubble and so that all of the,

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the ingredients would just
kind of come out of it.

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And so I've seen lots of christians
that are deep in the word of God,

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and I've seen a lot of christians who
are shallow in the word of God.

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And the book of Hebrews has about forewarning
passages that get harsher

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and harsher,

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about not taking seriously,

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about not paying attention to what it
is that God has revealed and indeed

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what Jesus has done.

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So today this kind of follows
on one of those passages.

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So I'm going to ask you
to pray with me.

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All right,

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Father, we hear your word again.

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And God,

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it's just really important.

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Sometimes I think we think
it's an add on,

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and yet it's not.

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So again,

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God, let us hear you today.

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We pray it in Jesus name.

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Amen. In the flesh.

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It's important that Jesus
was in the flesh.

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Cause it's the book of Hebrews that
points out his deity and his

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humanity. It emphasizes his
deity and his humanity,

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because not only is he all those
things I named a minute ago,

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son, heir,

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creator, sustainer,

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radiance of God's glory,

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exact expression of his,

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of his,

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of God's essence.

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Of the essence.

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He is human,

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therefore, as the christ,

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he is the king of kings,

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but as the human,

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he is our high priest.

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And so we've just spent some passages
dealing with the fact that as our

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high priest,

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he is the one who stands and represents
us before the throne of God and

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brings the gifts and the sacrifices
before the throne of God on our

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behalf. And we're going
to get into this,

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that the fact is that Jesus,

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as a high priest,

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as the highest priest,

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is the one who brings the offering
of sacrifice for our sin.

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And yet in the practice of the sacrificial
system of the Old Testament,

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it was blood of goats
and cows and all.

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And Hebrews actually says,

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but we know that the blood
of horses and not horses,

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the blood of cows and lambs and pigeons
and whatever cannot forgive sin,

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it had to be the sinless blood of the
lamb of God that could take away

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sin. And so this passage begins
with this phrase.

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He, in the days of his flesh,

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offered up both prayers and supplications
with loud crying and tears to

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the one able to save him from death.

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Now, see,

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this is the picture of the garden of
Gethsemane that just before the

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crucifixion, Jesus went into
the garden and he prayed.

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Guess what?

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He knew what was coming.

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He knew how bad it was going to be.

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And I'm not talking
about the beating,

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not talking about the actual
physical cross.

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That's bad.

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Nobody wants to experience that.

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But he knew that by
becoming our sin,

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that in that moment he would be separated
for the first time in all of

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eternity from his heavenly daddy.

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And on the cross he said,

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my God,

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my God,

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why have you abandoned me?

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Now that's a quote from psalm 22,

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but it goes back to the messianic picture
of what God was accomplishing

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throughout the Old Testament
into the New Testament.

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And now we're reading Hebrews,

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which sort of paints the
fulfillment of it all.

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And in that garden he said,

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Father, if this cup,

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what cup?

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What cups are you referring to?

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Is it just the crucifixion?

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Is it the beating?

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No, it's the cup of God's wrath,

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because God hates sin.

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And so God's wrath is poured
out against sin.

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So the cup that Jesus is referring to
is this wrath of God against sin.

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And Jesus knew that
he had to bear it.

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And yet in the garden he says,

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God, Father,

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if there's any way,

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take this cup from me.

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And yet not what I want,

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not my will,

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but yours.

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Folks, we've grown up in what we refer
to as a christian culture,

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right? It's a christian nation.

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Excuse me.

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You know,

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if it was,

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we wouldn't be seeing some of the
things in the news we see today,

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right? But what we've done is we've
so compromised ourselves with sin

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that in a lot of ways,

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the body of Christ doesn't even
react anymore when we see sin.

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Well, that's part of what
this warning's about.

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Cause as we get into chapter six,

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cause 14, 14 is the
last verse of five.

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As we get into chapter six,

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we see a really strong warning.

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It says,

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those that,

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and I can't preach it.

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Now, I've already studied it,

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so I better stop.

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But the whole point is that for those
who have tasted the goodness of God

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and walk away,

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be careful.

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Be careful.

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Jesus prayed with loud crying and tears
to the one able to save him from

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death. And he was heard because
of his reverence.

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Jesus is not like the other high priests
of the history of the Hebrew

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people, the Israelites.

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He didn't have to bring a sacrifice for
his sins before he presented the

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sacrifice for everybody else's sins.

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Jesus had no sin.

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He had a reverence that
we don't bear.

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He had a sinlessness,

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a righteousness,

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that he approached the throne of God
and was heard at the throne of God,

00:12:48.074 --> 00:12:50.210
at the throne of his
heavenly Father,

00:12:50.210 --> 00:12:52.104
for his own reverence.

00:12:54.044 --> 00:12:55.396
And listen to what it says.

00:12:55.396 --> 00:12:56.704
He was heard.

00:12:57.204 --> 00:12:57.692
You know,

00:12:57.692 --> 00:12:59.624
God hears every prayer.

00:13:01.924 --> 00:13:07.024
But there is the psalmist who says that
if we regard sin in our heart,

00:13:07.404 --> 00:13:08.704
he won't listen.

00:13:10.124 --> 00:13:11.304
He hears.

00:13:11.764 --> 00:13:13.744
Jesus's prayer was heard.

00:13:14.324 --> 00:13:15.356
God answered him.

00:13:15.380 --> 00:13:21.358
Because if God had not answered Jesus's
prayer at that point and had

00:13:21.406 --> 00:13:23.422
poured out his cup of wrath on him,

00:13:23.422 --> 00:13:25.794
God raised him up from the wrath.

00:13:28.014 --> 00:13:31.110
See? So God heard the prayer.

00:13:31.262 --> 00:13:31.974
And then it says,

00:13:31.974 --> 00:13:33.006
although he was a son,

00:13:33.006 --> 00:13:35.798
he learned obedience from the
things which he suffered.

00:13:35.798 --> 00:13:38.394
Why? Because as God the son,

00:13:39.294 --> 00:13:45.342
he had never experienced temptation
as God the son,

00:13:45.398 --> 00:13:47.614
before he became incarnate,

00:13:47.654 --> 00:13:49.478
before he was in his flesh,

00:13:49.478 --> 00:13:51.954
he'd never experienced weakness.

00:13:53.884 --> 00:13:59.724
He never experienced the challenges
that we would face as humanity.

00:13:59.844 --> 00:14:02.020
But by becoming human,

00:14:02.132 --> 00:14:05.344
he learned through his obedience.

00:14:07.284 --> 00:14:10.464
He learned obedience through the
suffering that he endured.

00:14:12.084 --> 00:14:13.844
And then having been made perfect,

00:14:13.844 --> 00:14:17.440
having completed what was
set before him to do,

00:14:17.612 --> 00:14:19.024
having been perfected,

00:14:19.144 --> 00:14:20.872
having done the work set before him,

00:14:20.872 --> 00:14:24.248
he became to all those who obey him,

00:14:24.296 --> 00:14:27.384
the source of eternal salvation.

00:14:27.464 --> 00:14:30.324
He is the source of our salvation.

00:14:31.144 --> 00:14:34.440
Now, I've shared the story
before my mom,

00:14:34.472 --> 00:14:38.008
and she's probably watching this morning
because I helped them relocate

00:14:38.008 --> 00:14:40.044
YouTube this week on
their television.

00:14:41.224 --> 00:14:42.204
Hi, mom.

00:14:44.924 --> 00:14:46.412
I remember when I was
eight years old,

00:14:46.412 --> 00:14:49.268
I remember mom flipping through the Bible
and showing me Bible verses and

00:14:49.268 --> 00:14:50.364
telling me that Jesus,

00:14:50.364 --> 00:14:53.308
that God loved me so much that Jesus
died on the cross for my sin.

00:14:53.308 --> 00:14:58.772
And that if I but believe and confess
that Jesus is lord and believe in

00:14:58.788 --> 00:15:00.452
my heart that God raised
him from the dead,

00:15:00.452 --> 00:15:01.228
I'd be saved.

00:15:01.228 --> 00:15:04.524
And I remember as an eight year old thinking
of the horrendous life I'd

00:15:04.524 --> 00:15:05.624
lived so far.

00:15:07.684 --> 00:15:08.332
But at eight,

00:15:08.332 --> 00:15:10.148
I prayed and trusted Jesus.

00:15:10.196 --> 00:15:13.492
And I'm one of those kids that believes
that God saved me that day,

00:15:13.492 --> 00:15:17.122
because I know that in all the
years between eight and,

00:15:17.260 --> 00:15:17.764
you know,

00:15:17.764 --> 00:15:22.444
my teens and twenties is that
God never let me go.

00:15:22.484 --> 00:15:25.012
He always showed up in the
darkest moments going,

00:15:25.012 --> 00:15:26.002
that's not you.

00:15:26.844 --> 00:15:28.824
What do you think you're doing?

00:15:28.924 --> 00:15:29.508
You know,

00:15:29.508 --> 00:15:34.744
God was always convicting my heart and
showing me that I belong to him.

00:15:35.604 --> 00:15:37.228
And then as I grew up,

00:15:37.228 --> 00:15:38.444
I wanted to learn more.

00:15:38.444 --> 00:15:42.064
I remember at 19 when God
called me to ministry,

00:15:42.964 --> 00:15:43.852
I remember thinking,

00:15:43.852 --> 00:15:45.832
I don't know what this means.

00:15:46.004 --> 00:15:46.388
I mean,

00:15:46.388 --> 00:15:48.884
I know that there's something that
God wants me to simply say.

00:15:48.884 --> 00:15:52.580
This was the simple words that
I was instructed to say.

00:15:52.732 --> 00:15:54.396
God, I don't know,

00:15:54.580 --> 00:15:56.184
but whatever you want,

00:15:58.004 --> 00:15:59.104
I don't understand,

00:15:59.564 --> 00:16:01.184
but whatever you want.

00:16:01.564 --> 00:16:02.884
That began a journey.

00:16:02.916 --> 00:16:04.732
I tried to deal with God after that.

00:16:04.732 --> 00:16:07.372
God, I'll major in this
subject over here,

00:16:07.420 --> 00:16:08.836
and I'll be a good Christian,

00:16:08.836 --> 00:16:10.104
whatever that is.

00:16:10.724 --> 00:16:11.548
And God was like,

00:16:11.548 --> 00:16:12.092
mm mm.

00:16:12.092 --> 00:16:13.742
My way or the highway?

00:16:14.084 --> 00:16:15.092
My way to the highway,

00:16:15.092 --> 00:16:21.100
boy. So then I went off to Bible College
and began to study the word of

00:16:21.132 --> 00:16:29.204
God, began to listen to teachers teach
the nuance and subtlety of God's

00:16:29.324 --> 00:16:32.956
work, and going back to something
that Nick always,

00:16:33.020 --> 00:16:33.340
you know,

00:16:33.340 --> 00:16:34.324
Nick says frequently,

00:16:34.324 --> 00:16:34.644
you know,

00:16:34.644 --> 00:16:35.388
being a Christian,

00:16:35.388 --> 00:16:36.784
simple but not easy.

00:16:37.994 --> 00:16:43.314
So it was important for me in Bible college
to read and to study and to

00:16:43.354 --> 00:16:47.658
hear men of God that had been doing it
for years and years with maturity

00:16:47.658 --> 00:16:48.890
and depth,

00:16:49.082 --> 00:16:52.346
and to listen to them just open
up the word of God to me.

00:16:52.346 --> 00:16:53.226
And I was like,

00:16:53.226 --> 00:16:56.562
wow. And it made an impression on me.

00:16:56.578 --> 00:16:59.626
And I began to grow in
the word of God.

00:16:59.626 --> 00:17:00.346
And I was like,

00:17:00.346 --> 00:17:03.134
wow, this is amazing.

00:17:05.204 --> 00:17:06.436
And then in ministry,

00:17:06.436 --> 00:17:11.316
I began to notice that there were a lot
of people that the only feeding

00:17:11.316 --> 00:17:19.356
on the word of God that they did was
now an hour on Sunday morning or

00:17:19.380 --> 00:17:20.780
maybe a Sunday school class,

00:17:20.780 --> 00:17:22.060
because I grew up in a,

00:17:22.060 --> 00:17:23.492
one of them good Baptist churches,

00:17:23.492 --> 00:17:24.224
you know,

00:17:25.684 --> 00:17:26.556
and I wondered,

00:17:26.556 --> 00:17:30.264
how can we encourage others to grow?

00:17:30.734 --> 00:17:31.686
So anyway,

00:17:31.830 --> 00:17:33.070
as we unfold this thing,

00:17:33.070 --> 00:17:33.910
and as I got older,

00:17:33.910 --> 00:17:36.190
I began to dig and dig and dig
and try to learn more.

00:17:36.190 --> 00:17:38.414
And I'm still nowhere near where.

00:17:38.454 --> 00:17:41.424
I still listen to teachers
that I just go,

00:17:41.614 --> 00:17:43.758
man, I wish I could do that.

00:17:43.758 --> 00:17:45.518
I wish I could teach that.

00:17:45.358 --> 00:17:46.142
I wish I could,

00:17:46.142 --> 00:17:46.790
wish I could,

00:17:46.790 --> 00:17:51.434
wish I could get into the understanding
of that the way some people do.

00:17:52.014 --> 00:17:53.234
I want more.

00:17:54.014 --> 00:17:55.594
I want deeper.

00:17:57.074 --> 00:17:59.842
And so as we make our way
through this passage,

00:17:59.842 --> 00:18:00.674
I began to realize,

00:18:00.674 --> 00:18:07.134
look, this is the Hebrews is the
book that knits this together.

00:18:09.234 --> 00:18:10.210
Having perfected,

00:18:10.282 --> 00:18:12.370
having completed the work
that was set before him,

00:18:12.370 --> 00:18:13.978
he became the source
of our salvation,

00:18:13.978 --> 00:18:15.378
being designated by God.

00:18:15.466 --> 00:18:16.634
As a high priest,

00:18:16.634 --> 00:18:19.810
I referred to it as the high priest
according to the order of

00:18:19.810 --> 00:18:22.618
Melchizedek. And we'll talk about
that in chapter seven.

00:18:22.618 --> 00:18:23.834
We're going to find out who,

00:18:23.834 --> 00:18:25.204
who Melly was.

00:18:27.744 --> 00:18:28.728
Concerning him,

00:18:28.776 --> 00:18:30.426
we have much to say,

00:18:30.704 --> 00:18:35.404
but it is hard to explain since you've
become dull in your hearing.

00:18:35.944 --> 00:18:37.364
Dull of hearing.

00:18:38.144 --> 00:18:40.408
See, what the writer of Hebrews
is telling us is,

00:18:40.408 --> 00:18:42.456
I'd love to tell you
the deep things,

00:18:42.456 --> 00:18:44.164
but you're not really interested.

00:18:45.184 --> 00:18:47.164
You don't really want to know.

00:18:47.944 --> 00:18:54.014
See, I think what we've done is we've
made our faith a membership card.

00:18:54.834 --> 00:18:57.450
We carry it around in
our wallet like,

00:18:57.450 --> 00:18:57.930
oh yeah,

00:18:57.930 --> 00:18:58.774
I belong.

00:18:59.434 --> 00:18:59.858
Oh yeah,

00:18:59.858 --> 00:19:00.842
I said the words,

00:19:00.842 --> 00:19:01.274
oh yeah,

00:19:01.274 --> 00:19:02.082
I walked the aisle.

00:19:02.082 --> 00:19:02.378
Oh yeah,

00:19:02.378 --> 00:19:04.028
I got in the water.

00:19:04.914 --> 00:19:06.786
And beyond that there's no growth.

00:19:06.786 --> 00:19:11.814
Beyond that there's no
pursuit of knowledge,

00:19:13.434 --> 00:19:15.134
there's no maturing.

00:19:16.014 --> 00:19:22.262
Right. I had a professor in seminary once
said that and he was teaching a

00:19:22.278 --> 00:19:23.078
bunch of pastors,

00:19:23.078 --> 00:19:24.214
or preachers to be,

00:19:24.214 --> 00:19:24.718
I guess.

00:19:24.718 --> 00:19:25.254
And he said,

00:19:25.254 --> 00:19:25.550
you know,

00:19:25.550 --> 00:19:31.278
he said the hardest thing for a pastor
is to deal with a deacon who got

00:19:31.326 --> 00:19:33.994
saved and never grew up.

00:19:36.374 --> 00:19:42.794
Little baby deacons stomping
around wanting their way.

00:19:44.504 --> 00:19:47.474
You can't put that color
carpet in the church.

00:19:48.184 --> 00:19:50.484
You can't buy those light fixtures.

00:19:51.784 --> 00:19:55.744
See, there's a bigger thing goes
on in the body of Christ,

00:19:55.800 --> 00:19:58.440
folks, and we're supposed
to be pursuing it.

00:19:58.624 --> 00:20:01.124
We're supposed to be digging into it.

00:20:01.464 --> 00:20:02.480
It's not just,

00:20:02.552 --> 00:20:02.920
you know,

00:20:02.920 --> 00:20:04.744
a snack on Sundays,

00:20:04.904 --> 00:20:08.656
it's a full meal every single day,

00:20:08.720 --> 00:20:09.964
all day long,

00:20:11.104 --> 00:20:13.004
and we should want it.

00:20:14.944 --> 00:20:18.792
So the actual outline today is
just simply in the flesh,

00:20:18.848 --> 00:20:22.604
salvation source and finally
just grow up and eat.

00:20:24.784 --> 00:20:26.704
Now is that offensive to you?

00:20:26.704 --> 00:20:27.564
Oh, well,

00:20:29.424 --> 00:20:33.336
grow up and eat because that's
what he's saying right here.

00:20:33.360 --> 00:20:34.360
You become dull of hearing.

00:20:34.360 --> 00:20:36.164
For though by this time,

00:20:36.664 --> 00:20:40.156
and he's writing to believers,

00:20:40.220 --> 00:20:43.532
probably the majority of them are hebrew
people who have acknowledged and

00:20:43.532 --> 00:20:46.468
received and recognized
Jesus as the Messiah.

00:20:46.596 --> 00:20:50.180
But there are probably some gentiles
also in these congregations and in

00:20:50.180 --> 00:20:52.396
these worship communities
that he's speaking to.

00:20:52.308 --> 00:20:56.268
And he says you ought to all
be teachers at this time,

00:20:56.284 --> 00:21:01.444
but instead you've got need again for
someone to teach you the elementary

00:21:01.524 --> 00:21:07.958
principles of the oracles of God and
you've come to need milk and not

00:21:08.006 --> 00:21:09.034
solid food.

00:21:12.534 --> 00:21:13.630
Can I just go ahead?

00:21:13.630 --> 00:21:16.830
And I know there's a few
kids in the room,

00:21:16.830 --> 00:21:21.514
so I'm going to try to dance around
this as easy as I can.

00:21:22.414 --> 00:21:24.754
This is not a reference to formula.

00:21:27.334 --> 00:21:33.444
He's picturing something here that
we know as parents exists.

00:21:34.824 --> 00:21:35.408
You see,

00:21:35.408 --> 00:21:39.084
he's creating a visual image
for his writers here going,

00:21:39.384 --> 00:21:45.524
guess what you went back to for
your spiritual feeding.

00:21:47.064 --> 00:21:48.004
See that?

00:21:48.344 --> 00:21:50.764
That's a rough note right there.

00:21:54.064 --> 00:21:59.204
For everyone who partakes only of milk
is not accustomed to the word of

00:21:59.244 --> 00:22:03.424
righteousness, for he is a baby.

00:22:03.764 --> 00:22:04.904
Says infant.

00:22:06.324 --> 00:22:07.424
A baby.

00:22:08.084 --> 00:22:10.944
So let's talk about some insults.

00:22:11.644 --> 00:22:13.294
Ever been called a baby?

00:22:13.724 --> 00:22:15.344
Oh, you big baby.

00:22:16.364 --> 00:22:17.004
Fell down,

00:22:17.004 --> 00:22:18.228
hurt your knee and started crying.

00:22:18.228 --> 00:22:19.344
Big baby,

00:22:20.004 --> 00:22:21.064
get up.

00:22:21.484 --> 00:22:24.328
Right? I remember as a kid,

00:22:24.376 --> 00:22:25.712
and this is one of those things,

00:22:25.712 --> 00:22:26.192
you know?

00:22:25.992 --> 00:22:28.136
Remember there was a song way
back during the seventies,

00:22:28.136 --> 00:22:29.524
big boys don't cry.

00:22:29.864 --> 00:22:30.704
Remember that one?

00:22:30.704 --> 00:22:32.048
You big baby?

00:22:32.216 --> 00:22:33.760
Right? Well,

00:22:33.792 --> 00:22:35.442
let me tell you something.

00:22:37.624 --> 00:22:41.764
I'm probably a big baby
in certain areas,

00:22:42.224 --> 00:22:47.392
right? But can I just tell you
from this word right here in,

00:22:47.448 --> 00:22:48.240
in Hebrews,

00:22:48.272 --> 00:22:49.284
chapter five?

00:22:50.444 --> 00:22:53.344
This is an incredible insult.

00:22:55.844 --> 00:22:56.540
I mean,

00:22:56.652 --> 00:23:01.740
it's an acknowledgement and recognition
by the writer of Hebrews that as

00:23:01.812 --> 00:23:03.596
believers, the congregation,

00:23:03.700 --> 00:23:06.468
the bodies of Christ that
he is writing to,

00:23:06.468 --> 00:23:11.484
he is calling them big babies because
they don't want the deeper things

00:23:11.524 --> 00:23:12.068
of God.

00:23:12.068 --> 00:23:15.464
They just want the frilly
upper layer.

00:23:17.074 --> 00:23:19.930
They don't want to learn the depth
of what God is saying.

00:23:19.930 --> 00:23:21.954
They don't want to grow
in their faith.

00:23:21.954 --> 00:23:23.338
They want to dance somewhere.

00:23:23.210 --> 00:23:25.314
And I always use this
edge of the carpet.

00:23:25.314 --> 00:23:26.298
They want to use,

00:23:26.298 --> 00:23:32.234
they want to use their infancy to dance
back and forth between sin and

00:23:32.274 --> 00:23:33.986
righteousness. Oh,

00:23:34.010 --> 00:23:35.174
the world's pretty,

00:23:36.834 --> 00:23:38.154
but I'm a Christian.

00:23:39.554 --> 00:23:40.214
Oh, that,

00:23:40.226 --> 00:23:41.534
that's enticing.

00:23:42.474 --> 00:23:43.974
But I follow Jesus,

00:23:45.154 --> 00:23:46.054
you see,

00:23:46.474 --> 00:23:49.774
we're supposed to have moved beyond
those kind of things,

00:23:50.554 --> 00:23:51.214
you see?

00:23:51.178 --> 00:23:52.682
And I'm not saying that
we're sinless,

00:23:52.682 --> 00:23:54.332
because none of us are.

00:23:54.434 --> 00:23:56.258
But I am saying we're
supposed to grow up,

00:23:56.258 --> 00:23:58.874
or this passage wouldn't
even be in here,

00:23:58.874 --> 00:24:02.202
okay? And I know how people
do the Bible today.

00:24:02.258 --> 00:24:04.898
They cut out the parts
they don't like.

00:24:05.034 --> 00:24:08.314
So if there's a part of the Bible
that calls you a spiritual baby,

00:24:08.314 --> 00:24:09.442
might want to cut that one out,

00:24:09.442 --> 00:24:10.054
huh?

00:24:10.914 --> 00:24:11.410
No, no,

00:24:11.410 --> 00:24:13.774
no. Right?

00:24:15.114 --> 00:24:18.346
But solid food is for
the mature who,

00:24:18.370 --> 00:24:19.474
because of practice,

00:24:19.554 --> 00:24:20.214
have their,

00:24:20.258 --> 00:24:20.882
listen to this.

00:24:20.882 --> 00:24:21.542
This is,

00:24:21.658 --> 00:24:23.514
this goes back to my line over here,

00:24:23.514 --> 00:24:24.834
dancing back and forth.

00:24:24.874 --> 00:24:25.534
Who.

00:24:26.914 --> 00:24:28.570
But solid food is for
the mature who,

00:24:28.570 --> 00:24:29.834
because of practice,

00:24:29.914 --> 00:24:38.144
have their senses trained to
discern both good and evil.

00:24:40.644 --> 00:24:49.344
See, see that there is a practice
that follows spiritual maturity.

00:24:49.804 --> 00:24:52.548
Now, if you're my age,

00:24:52.596 --> 00:24:53.744
I'm 61,

00:24:54.164 --> 00:24:55.844
or somewhere near my age.

00:24:56.004 --> 00:24:59.634
It was one of those movies at
Christmastime that my mom,

00:25:00.804 --> 00:25:03.260
well, I won't say she
made us watch it.

00:25:03.260 --> 00:25:05.900
But we watched it and I hated it.

00:25:06.724 --> 00:25:09.344
It was the Walton's
Christmas special.

00:25:10.604 --> 00:25:13.244
How many of you feel me in that?

00:25:13.484 --> 00:25:15.196
See, those of you my age ish,

00:25:15.196 --> 00:25:16.268
in my same decade,

00:25:16.268 --> 00:25:19.384
right, the Walton Christmas special.

00:25:19.724 --> 00:25:20.428
There's a,

00:25:20.516 --> 00:25:21.404
one of the daughters,

00:25:21.404 --> 00:25:25.034
one of the Walton daughters was
a little girl named Elizabeth.

00:25:25.134 --> 00:25:26.062
I gotta wrap up.

00:25:26.062 --> 00:25:27.382
Gotta let y'all go.

00:25:27.198 --> 00:25:27.858
She said,

00:25:27.926 --> 00:25:28.958
she told John Boy,

00:25:28.958 --> 00:25:29.262
she said,

00:25:29.262 --> 00:25:30.912
I don't wanna grow up.

00:25:31.134 --> 00:25:31.558
He said,

00:25:31.558 --> 00:25:32.294
well, you got to.

00:25:32.294 --> 00:25:32.630
She said,

00:25:32.630 --> 00:25:34.610
no, I don't wanna grow up.

00:25:35.654 --> 00:25:36.150
She said,

00:25:36.150 --> 00:25:36.798
when I feel it,

00:25:36.798 --> 00:25:39.114
I'm gonna squeeze it back in.

00:25:41.494 --> 00:25:45.334
Folks, that's where a lot of the
body of Christ find themselves.

00:25:45.334 --> 00:25:46.984
They don't wanna grow up.

00:25:47.534 --> 00:25:52.474
They don't wanna be held responsible
for knowing the deep things of God.

00:25:53.604 --> 00:25:55.316
If you don't know Jesus
this morning,

00:25:55.316 --> 00:25:56.660
that's where it starts.

00:25:56.812 --> 00:25:58.462
But if you know Jesus,

00:25:59.004 --> 00:26:01.464
then this message is
about growing up.

00:26:02.084 --> 00:26:03.508
We're going to sing one more song,

00:26:03.508 --> 00:26:06.148
give you the opportunity
to respond to God,

00:26:06.364 --> 00:26:08.044
to respond to the word of God.

00:26:08.044 --> 00:26:08.596
Not me,

00:26:08.596 --> 00:26:09.580
not the gathering.

00:26:09.580 --> 00:26:10.524
I'm glad you're here.

00:26:10.524 --> 00:26:11.764
Love it that you're here.

00:26:11.764 --> 00:26:14.074
Maybe you're here just
because it's Easter.

00:26:13.596 --> 00:26:15.340
Welcome. We love you.

00:26:15.492 --> 00:26:16.524
If you give us a chance,

00:26:16.524 --> 00:26:17.844
we'll hug your neck.

00:26:18.664 --> 00:26:19.496
But know this,

00:26:19.496 --> 00:26:24.776
God loved you first and he gave his son
Jesus for you and you need him.

00:26:24.832 --> 00:26:25.822
So let's pray.

00:26:25.624 --> 00:26:26.752
God, we thank you for today,

00:26:26.752 --> 00:26:27.864
and we thank you for your word.

00:26:27.864 --> 00:26:28.912
And thank you,

00:26:28.928 --> 00:26:31.104
God, that you did love us first.

00:26:31.104 --> 00:26:31.656
And yet,

00:26:31.656 --> 00:26:32.904
God, it doesn't end there.

00:26:32.904 --> 00:26:35.416
It doesn't just stop with
trusting Jesus,

00:26:35.480 --> 00:26:37.096
receiving salvation.

00:26:37.280 --> 00:26:39.590
God, you want to grow us up.

00:26:39.264 --> 00:26:42.894
God, you want to make us whole
and strong and complete.

00:26:42.984 --> 00:26:43.472
And God,

00:26:43.472 --> 00:26:44.462
we're supposed to,

00:26:44.504 --> 00:26:49.512
we're supposed to enjoy and dig into the
deep things of the solid food of

00:26:49.528 --> 00:26:50.072
your word.

00:26:50.072 --> 00:26:50.432
And so,

00:26:50.432 --> 00:26:54.724
God, help us to want
it more and more.

00:26:56.144 --> 00:26:57.720
God, as we sing this last song,

00:26:57.720 --> 00:27:01.448
if there's even one person in this
room that's never trusted Jesus,

00:27:01.448 --> 00:27:03.160
maybe they got a lot
of churchianity,

00:27:03.160 --> 00:27:05.496
but they don't have
any Christianity.

00:27:05.560 --> 00:27:09.104
Father, my prayer would be is that
they'd surrender to you,

00:27:09.104 --> 00:27:12.256
they'd bow before you and trust you.

00:27:12.440 --> 00:27:13.552
Thank you for loving us.

00:27:13.552 --> 00:27:14.520
Thank you for Easter.

00:27:14.520 --> 00:27:17.728
Thank you that we celebrate the resurrection
and we pray it in Jesus

00:27:17.728 --> 00:27:18.744
name. Amen.