A Solid Doctrinal Foundation

Please turn in your Bible with me here this morning to Hebrews chapter 5 in the New Testament. Turn into the New Testament. This is part 5 in our series on Christ as the only foundation, and this is part 5. And I want to preach this morning from Hebrews 5 and Hebrews 6 on a solid doctrinal foundation, a solid doctrinal foundation. Reading from Hebrews 5, I just want to read the entirety of this chapter to give you the context. We're not going to deal with it all. I just want to deal with the end of Hebrews 5, the beginning of Hebrews 6, but I want you to listen to the context as we look at a solid doctrinal foundation. Reading from Hebrews chapter 5, verse 1. He also is compassed with infirmity, and by reason hereof he ought as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins, and no man taketh this honor unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron, who was the high priest in the Old Testament. So also Christ glorified not himself to be made a high priest, but he that said unto him, Thou art my son, today have I begotten thee, as he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek, who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and fears, unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared, though he were a son, yet learnt he obedience by the things which he suffered, and being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him, called of God, and high priest after the order of Melchizedek, of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing, for when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you which be the first principles of the oracles of God, and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat, for every one that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe, but strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those that by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern good and evil. And then continuing in chapter 6, there's no break in chapters in the original. Therefore, or because of this, therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith towards God, of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permit. He may not permit, if God permit. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for the word of God, this precious book filled with its promises, and blessings, and provisions. Lord God, for the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ, the encouragements we gain from it. Lord God, the words of this book have become the songs of our pilgrimage through a dry and a thirsty land. And Father, it reveals who you are. It reveals your love, and your grace, and your mercy, your kindness, your faithfulness. So God, it reveals your plans, and your purposes, and trials, and buffetons, and temptations. And we stand in awe that this book reveals and opens up so many things concerning eternity, and the life to come. And Father, I pray in this message that you'd reveal. Lord God, this solid doctrinal foundation. Lord God, that your word provides a solid foundation. There are truths in this book that must be in our foundations. And Father, I pray today, open the eyes of our understanding that we might see. Open our ears that we might hear. And oh God, grant us a heart that is soft and tender, and that is teachable, that is humble, and that is submitted unto you. Lord God, deal with every pride and arrogance. Lord God, every selfishness, every self-will. Lord God, that so easily can dominate the heart of man. Lord God, we look for your grace that Christ and all his glory might be magnified right now in Jesus' mighty name. Amen. My message as we come to part five, a solid doctrinal foundation. In many church circles, the word doctrine is a dirty word. Say, I believe in Christ. I'm all Christ-centered. I don't need doctrine, theology, teachings. I'm telling you, you have been preserved from the lot, but out there in the contemporary church, well, I just worship Jesus. I just love Jesus. It doesn't matter how I live or act or speak or what I do or what I believe. I'm just a follower of Jesus. I love Jesus. Jesus loves me. It doesn't matter about doctrine. I want to tell you the Bible constantly says doctrine or the lack of it will either save you or damn you. You do not only get lost because of a wrong lifestyle. You can be lost because of a wrong belief system. We have already emphasized Paul teaching about this foundation in 1 Corinthians 3 and 11. For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Christ Jesus. The foundation we build our Christian life on, our Christian house on, and the church on, Christ is the only foundation. He is the foundation. There's no other safe foundation. You try to build on anything else, it will fail you. Christ alone is a good foundation, a solid foundation, a secure foundation, a steadfast foundation, a reliable foundation, and so we build our entire Christian life on him. Imagine calling yourself a Christian or someone who sort of follows Jesus, but you don't have Christ as your foundation. That would be ridiculous. It's a bit like someone calling themselves a Christian but saying, oh, but I don't believe what Jesus taught. It's ridiculous. Oh, I believe in Jesus like you, but I don't need to believe in a certain way. Then you're not a Christian. You can't follow Jesus and not obey his words. You do not love him. Neither are you experiencing his love if you walk in the light of his teaching. You see, I believe there's many people who say or who claim Christ is the foundation of their life. They hope he is their eternal hope. They're saying, I hope when I die, I'll be okay. After all, he forgives everyone and loves everyone. He'll accept everyone. Christ is my foundation. They claim that they're building their life on Christ. He is their hope. He is their security. He is their eternal foundation, but let's look a bit closer. Anyone can claim to have Christ as their foundation, but the thing is, what does your Christ look like? What does your foundation look like? What does this Jesus who you say is your foundation? Let's now go into it and look, and this is my message, a solid doctrinal foundation. You see, the real Jesus is defined by doctrine. What do I mean by the word doctrine? Truth, truth, facts, reality. Don't let the word doctrine put you off. It simply means solid truth that God spoke. I don't want to be building on lies or error or things that aren't facts. I do not believe faith is just stepping out and hoping for the best. I don't believe in blind faith. Blind faith is a deception. I would never risk my eternity with blind faith. I've got to have a faith that knows a thing is real. That's real faith, but we'll get to it along the way. I've got three points here from what we've read. Let's look into Hebrews chapter five and the beginning of chapter six. This is a remarkable book, Hebrews, but I've got three points here. Number one, I want you to see something at the end of chapter five, and this is it. This is my point, mature dullness to doctrine. Let me say that again. I want you to understand that. This is my point. I'm going to show you here that Paul Wrighton begins to talk about people in the church who claim to be mature Christians, claim to know Christ, claim to be really in a state of spiritual superiority by their words, their actions, their attitudes, and yet Paul, when he begins dealing with them, he goes right to their foundations. See, we're dealing week by week with foundations. I'm dealing with your foundation. Let's take a look at your foundation because Paul does it. A mature dullness in doctrine. There were certain in the church who claimed to be mature. In fact, they were known to be mature. They've been around a while after all. They've gained a lot of knowledge, so they're expected to be mature. Look at what Paul says here in verse 11. He begins to warn of whom we have many things to say and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing. Paul actually throughout chapter five has been talking about Jesus Christ as our high priest. We only have one high priest. You only have one mediator. You cannot go through any man as your priest. You only go through Jesus Christ. There's one mediator between God and man. His name is Jesus. There's salvation in no other name but in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the only means to approach the Father. I don't pray another any name. I don't pray to any other person. It is Christ alone, only Christ, only through Jesus Christ. And so in chapter five, Paul actually is speaking about Christ. He says, I have so many things to speak to you about, about Jesus being our high priest or being Melchizedek. He is our Melchizedek. There's an entire teaching in the Bible and most of Hebrews is about this. It's about a deeper, spiritual, mature teaching about Jesus Christ, not his earthly ministry. You see many people in the church, their entire focus, if you talk to them, their entire focus is about Jesus dying on the cross. And you may be shocked by that, that I would even question that, that there is something more than that. You know what Paul is trying to do? He is saying there's more to Christ. There is his high priestly spiritual ministry right now within the veil. I wonder if I asked you, how much do you know about Christ's ministry right now, right now for you within the veil? What Christ is doing right now at the right hand of the Father. I actually believe there's great ignorance in today's church. They go, it's a closed book, a closed subject. They've never thought on it. Their entire focus is Christ crucified. And believe me, you know, I preach Christ crucified. I emphasize it constantly all the time. That ought to be your focus. We ought to preach it all the time. But there's more. There's a deeper place. What does Paul say here in verse 11? He actually says, of whom, speaking about Christ, we have many things to say. He says, my heart is busting. I've got so much I want to teach you, but I cannot. I've got loads and loads of teachings I could keep you here all night. Paul was saying, now you know where I steal these statements from. Of whom we have many things to say. But listen to what he says, hard to be uttered. To be hard actually means difficult to explain or to translate or to interpret or to communicate. I've got so many things to tell you about Jesus right now and his priestly ministry. How he prays for you. What he is doing for you right now. Most of you aren't even aware of it this morning. And I long to tell you, but I can't. I actually cannot do it this morning. In fact, it's very hard. Not because the subject's hard. It's not. Not because I don't have lots to say or lots of scriptures. There's lots for me to say. Not because of my lack of ability. I have the ability to do it. Not because of my lack of simplicity. I could do it. So what's the problem then? Well, he says at the end of verse 11, seeing ye are dull of hearing. Do you see he's saying here, I've got so much I want to communicate about the high priestly ministry of Christ right now within the veil. Not just as death on the cross for your sins. This is something deeper altogether more. This is mature substance teaching, but I can't actually teach you. You know why? Ye are dull of hearing. Now this is my point here. First of all, mature dullness to doctrine. There were here amongst the Hebrews, there were a whole, there were many that were dull in their hearing. Notice he's dealing with their ears. That's where the problem was. Not in the preacher, not in the teaching, not in the clarity of scripture. The problem was in those hearing, those listening, in the congregation, in the church. He said, ye or you are dull of hearing. See this word dull. It means, this is accurately defined in the Greek, sluggish, to be lazy, to be slothful. Notice what he's saying. He's saying this about your hearing, the preaching, or the teaching of God's word. He says you are lazy. It means to be slow, one not easily stirred or moved. It means to be so heavy that you can't even move yourself. It means to be inactive, to refuse to work, refuse to move. Listen, refusing to study, to understand, to grapple with. He says that's why it's hard for me to teach about Christ's priestly ministry and what he is doing for you. He's doing, even when you don't fully understand what he's doing, he's doing it for you. Even when you're not aware or conscious he's praying for you, he is praying for you. That's what the Bible says. Paul says, I can't teach you. See, teaching helps you. That's where you go, oh, right, I understand. That's where you get encouraged and blessed and your heart opens and you enjoy this truth. He says, you cannot hear. You know why? You are lazy. You are dull. There's something wrong with your hearing. I want to move you from Calvary to Christ crucified. I want to move you through this deeper teaching into him at the right hand of the father, but I cannot do that. I can't communicate to you. I can't teach as I'd want to. You know why? You're dull and you're lazy. Notice the apostle points the finger. You know, we live in an hour. You know, it's like in the school of music, they brought in a whole new agenda in every sphere of life. Nobody's bad. Nobody fails at school. There's no pass. There's no fail. My school teacher, he got all S's apart from one A in art. Well, he said, there's no failure in GCSE. Everybody passes. Try telling me when I got my results, I want to tell you. I sat down and cried, depressed, didn't want to talk to my best friend. Don't tell me there's no failure. I know there is, but you try to go to the school of music. No, you can't say that's awful. You're really not called to play this instrument because everybody has to be a success in this hour. But look at the apostle. He says, you are slow. You are lazy. You can't even receive certain teachings because you are dull. You're not willing to put in the effort. What a great tragedy. Ye are. Say that term, ye are. Listen carefully to me for a moment. Ye are dull of hearing. The word ye are means you become. Do you know who he's speaking to? Not new Christians. We're going to come to new Christians in a moment, but primarily speaking to these older, mature ones who think they're going on to perfection. The ones who know this, who understand the things of God, who have been around here quite a few years. That's who he's speaking to here, and he says, ye are dull of hearing. The term ye are means ye have become. You weren't always. That's the Greek here. You have become. Something's happened to you, older ones. That's why I'm addressing the more mature here. First of all, mature dullness to doctrine. You can be a mature Christian and you become dull and lazy to doctrine, biblical teaching, and it affects your spiritual life. Ye have become. This was about their hearing, their ability to receive the will of God. Something's happened to you. You weren't always like that. You weren't like that at the beginning, but you become dull and lazy in hearing the word of God. Oh yes, you're in the meeting. Oh yes, you sit there, but it doesn't impact your life. You actually have become slothful. You have become lazy. You have lost maturity. He goes on to say, ye have become like babes again. He says in verse 12, for when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again, which be the first principles of the oracles of God, and are become as such as have need of milk and not strong meat. And every one that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness for he is a babe. Look at these older Christians who know much, have much experience in the church, and he said, you become babes. You become children. You become milk drinkers. You know why something has happened to your ability to hear doctrine or teaching. So I can actually preach about Christ's high priestly ministry. Do you know what I've got to do? I've got to take you back to milk, and I've got to preach on the cross. You're forgiven. You're okay. You're going to make it. There's nothing wrong with milk. We've got someone here, Rory, who loves his milk. It's funny seeing a big guy, a mature guy with his big glass of milk. What do you want to drink? A big glass of milk. He never said a small glass of milk. And to see him drink that is quite something. I go, this man loves his milk. And I'm not telling them off here this morning in this message, but I'll tell you what I will spiritually. Do you know what's spiritually to see big men who praise God that you're at Calvary, praise God that we preach Christ crucified, praise God you're coming back to the blood and the cross and forgiveness. You don't have salvation apart from that. You never forsake that truth. But you know what? There is more. There is more. And there are those in the house of God, you cannot take them further into deeper things. See that high priestly ministry isn't an issue of salvation, but the foundations are. See, we're going to deal with the foundations here. The foundations are milk, the ABCs of the gospel. Are you forgiven? Are you born again? Are you right with God? Are you washed in the blood? Do you know God in your heart? Is it real? That's the ABCs. That's the But here's Paul saying, I'm caught here. I want to take you on, but you know what I have to do with you older ones, you mature ones, you meat eaters, I've got to take you back and serve you up milk one more time. See this word dull to be sluggish or lazy. The root meaning of this word means to be an illegitimate son. That's what it is to be slothful. In other words, you're not even doing anything worthy of being called a son. You're acting like you have no family relationship. It'd be like a son hanging about the house. Mommy does everything for him. Daddy does everything for him. His brothers do everything for him. Hope I'm not convicting anyone. But all of that, we've all seen it at some stage. You never left a hand to do anything. You're not even acting like a son in the house. Laziness is a very serious thing. You know, these older believers, he says three things about them. They have a dullness towards the word of God. Specifically, they are lazy towards the word of God. Another word, they are negligent in their attitude towards the word of God. They ought to be teachers teaching others. But you know what? They are actually dull towards it. Can I ask you this morning, are you maturing in Christ? A sign of maturity is that you're not lazy with the word of God. You know, if you're a newborn Christian, a young Christian, a young believer, and you so rely on these Sunday morning messages, praise God, that's the way it's meant to be. Just like a baby is reliant on the mother, either bringing her breast or bringing a bottle to that baby. That baby is, you know, if you said that baby needs to grow up, that would be foolishness. That would be silly. But you know, when you get to five and ten and fifteen, something needs to take place here. There's something wrong if I get a 15 year old coming to mommy saying, where's the bottle? Give me a drink. There's something seriously gone wrong. Either those parents have lost the plot or that child has lost the plot. But that is not normal. And it's the same in the house of God. Mature Christians who actually, they're dull, they're sluggish to the word of God. Something has gone wrong. You know, in Hebrews, there's five warnings about the word of God. Five dangers of your attitude towards the written scripture. Do you know what this tells me? Whether you're a baby Christian or an older Christian, doctrine matters. You see, what is milk? It is the word of God. What is meat? It is the word of God, as we're going to see here. But that's the first danger with these older Christians. Dullness towards the word of God. Secondly, in verse 12, inability to share the word. You ought to be teachers. But do you know what happens? You need someone to teach you afresh. You ought to be mature enough, old enough. You've got enough knowledge. You ought to be teaching others, new Christians, sinners, young children. You ought to be teaching them, laying this out. But do you know what? You need your spiritual condition. After years, years of sermons, you need to be sat down and taught A, B, C. Remember the first message we dealt with, foundations. You would be offended with me if I sat you down after this meeting and said, all you, you nice big room people who've been through school and education and college and university, and many of yous are working, let me sit down. I want to teach you the alphabet. You go, what? You'd be offended. You'd be embarrassed. You'd have something to say to me. I'd have a great job sitting a bunch of you down and saying, let's go through the alphabet. Let's put it up on the board here. You know what you'll say? I'm not a baby. I'm not a child. And yet here's Paul with mature Christians saying, I can't even preach about Christ and his high ministry. I need to bring you right back to milk again. You ought to be teaching others. Do you know in the new Testament, people say two years were mature Christians, two years. They were grown in Christ. You could appoint a man to be an elder. He's only been a Christian two years. There's no history, no older Christians in his community. And you, he can have 22 qualifications. His home is in order. His attitude is in order. Everything is in order. And you're saying he can be an elder, an overseer of the church, only say two years or even less than that. And so that's the second danger is that no longer are you giving out your then having to be ministered to perpetually. You are stuck in a position. Third of all, it says they become unskillful. See, they weren't always like this. There was a time of maturity, of fervency where they were given out, but not now. So they become unskillful, unskillful. That means inexperienced, ignorant, or unacquainted with the word of God. Imagine becoming that. You weren't that one time. But because of your neglect, you become, verse 13, you become unskillful in the word of righteousness. You have become a babe. That's what it states. That shows me if you're no longer skillful, knowledgeable of the word of God, you are a babe, inexperienced, unacquainted, unable to use it, not knowing how to apply it, not knowing how to feed yourself. If you don't know how to feed yourself, how to gain sustenance from the word to make you stand, to walk through trials, you're a babe in Christ. And there's no sin in being a babe. But like Brother Clendenin often used to say, I don't mind feeding you with a milk bottle, but I hate doing it if I have to remove those false teeth. There's something wrong. There's no problem with being a milk drinker. I'm still a milk drinker. I love milk. But when you no longer can eat meat, you become unable and you can't feed yourself. There's something seriously wrong. Paul even says to the Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 3 and I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. Some people say, there's a big argument in the church. Is there such a thing as a carnal believer or not? I've heard all the debates. I've read them all. Do you understand the debate? Because some are dogmatic. You cannot get a carnal Christian. There's no such thing. Then others say, of course there's carnal Christians. Do you want to hear my answer to it all, to the entire debate? It depends. Which sort of carnal Christian are you talking about? If you're talking about the ones in 1 Corinthians 3, there are carnal Christians. That means immature, natural. It doesn't mean being sinful. It means you haven't grown. So in 1 Corinthians 3, there are carnal Christians. But if you mean the carnality of Romans chapter 8, there are no carnal Christians. Because in Romans chapter 8, to be carnal is to be opposite the spirit. In other words, you're not saved. You're not born again. So as per usual, I've got to break the trend, don't I? So I'm coming out. It depends. What sort of carnal Christian do you mean? There are carnal Christians. They are called babes in Christ. Do you know how you know the difference between a healthy babe and an outgrown babe? Well, it's a milk drinker with false teeth. That's what it is. That's your picture this morning. There's something wrong when you look at it and you go, that's grotesque. A grown man being pushed around in a pram. There's something wrong with that. A Christian who has years and years and years of experience in teaching and still you're having to teach them how to be forgiven, how to walk straight for a day. There's something terribly wrong with that. What does Paul say in chapter 6 verse 1? Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrines of Christ, let us go on to perfection. You see, there is a state of perfection of maturity. Paul's talking here about meat eaters. Do you know what meat eaters are? I'm going to feast on Christ's high priestly ministry. I have a revelation. I'm going deeper in my God. It's not just am I forgiven today? The ups and downs. One minute I'm out. The next minute I'm in. You haven't even begun to understand the high priestly ministry. There are places of depth. And you know what the Bible says, going on to perfection from the foundations, the basic ABCs, the work of the cross. But listen to me. It says going on, leaving the principles or the basic things, leaving the principles, going on to perfection. That doesn't mean leave in our normal sense. The word leaving there means to move beyond or to build upon. You never leave Calvary. You never stray from the cross. You never go far from the blood daily. All of this, I'm a perpetual milk drinker. I love my milk, especially in my tea. I can't survive without tea. I got in a panic last night, ran out of milk. I had to go to the garage. I'm in the midst of studying. I go, this is my priority. But I've got to take five minutes to go get a milk bottle. I can't have a house without milk in it. And so you have this condition. Paul's laying out here, those that are babes, those of full age, you're either a milk drinker or a strong meat eater. Either you're dealing with foundations or you're going on to perfection. Number two is my second point, doctrinally healthy babes. You can have mature Christians being in a real church for 30 years. They're dysfunctional. They're having to be corrected and told, you need to come back to the foundations. You know why? You can't eat meat. You're a mature Christian who has to go back to milk again. I've got to teach you the most elementary basic things because that's what you need. You need milk. You can't even teach others. You actually need someone to minister to you. Something's gone wrong. But the second point, doctrinally healthy babes, it says in verse 12, are become such as have need of milk and not of strong meat. He talks in these verses about a stage, a condition. It's spiritual of being a babe. What is a babe? It's when you're newly born again. We know in the natural, it's when a babe is born. We had two babies in this church, born a few months ago, within several weeks of each other. Both of them were in danger of death. Both of them were in hospital. Their mothers, their fathers, this church, worrying, praying about them. It was very serious. Both children hung in the balances with real issues. You know what those mothers are looking for? I'm looking for them to begin drinking milk. I'm looking for that sign of life where they desire. One of the happiest thing you can do for a mother is when that baby begins to pant and look to be fed. Not having to have that minister to it, but it actually desires this milk. Do you know a baby is born desiring milk? It is the natural function of a babe. It's a bit like dogs. I don't know to this day, how does Shiloh, my dog, know what grass to eat in the garden? Who taught it? What college did she go to? What YouTube video? I'm there trying to learn all about herbs and this is good for this and mint you should put on this food. That dog, it absolutely knows certain grasses. It'll never touch other grasses. It eats that. When it gets ill, when it vomits, it goes to certain grass. When certain things are going on in its body, it goes to certain grass. Who taught it? Who taught your baby to have an insatiable desire for milk? I mean a passionate. No mommy ever taught said, this is milk bottle, this is breast, this is where it goes. You don't need to do that. Please educate because I don't know these things. You mommies educate me afterwards. But as best as I know, how? There's no instruction manual. You'll say that child wouldn't understand. There's a natural built-in desire. It says have need of milk. The word need there is necessity, not a preference. It is a requirement. The word need there means a demand. It means that babe, the mark of that babe is its task, its goal in life is drink milk. I'm on a mission. Mommies, can you relate to that? Baby is on a mission to drink milk. I want milk. Please go to bed. I want milk. I'm tired. You're going to feed me. I'm baby. You're mommy. I need fed. I'll cry. I'll make my needs known. This is my occupation. You may have wondered what is baby's job in the home? To drink milk. That's its entire occupation. It has a degree in drinking milk. It is a special calling from God. It has an inward given, God-given desire to drink. It says in verse 13 about useth milk. And that means to belong to milk. So a baby state, you belong to milk. You desire milk. You have an urge to drink milk. It says in Isaiah 28 verse 9, whom shall he, that is God, teach knowledge? Now notice this carefully. I'm talking about doctrine here. Meat is doctrine. Milk is doctrine. Whom shall he, God, teach knowledge? And whom shall he make to understand doctrine? Them that are weaned from the milk. That's the first year, three years of a baby's life. When you're being weaned takes at least three years. So who does God teach knowledge and doctrine to? Newborn Christians in the first three years of their growth. Doctrine, milk. What is the milk? It is doctrine. It is truth. Never just say you just love Jesus. It doesn't matter what you believe. That is a lie. You know, a new healthy Christian, if you're going to be a healthy babe or a healthy newborn Christian, you desire the milk of the word. What is that milk? It is truth about Jesus, about the cross, about his ministry, what he has done. It is what the Bible says. Who does God teach knowledge and doctrine to? Newborn Christians. God himself says, I will teach them. I will wean them for three years. I'm going to feed you on milk or else you'll never grow. You'll never become mature. You'll never reach perfection. You'll never reach the fullness of God's desire for you. You can never go on to fulfill God's will for your life. Then he says, those who are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breast, for precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little, there a little. What do I do as a preacher for the new Christians? I teach you doctrine. I give you knowledge, hear a bit, there an exhortation, hear a scripture, hear a conversation around the table, hear a sermon, all of this. Why? That's so that you grow. What am I going to do to the new converts in this church or the young Christians? You know, the best thing that you can be weaned on is the ministry of milk and the ministry of meat. You know what? You are going to grow by that. Listen to what Peter says in the New Testament, 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 2, as newborn babes, he's talking to new Christians, as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word that ye may grow thereby. The word desire means to earnestly desire or intensely crave after. Do you get the picture of a newborn babe to be a babe in Christ? You crave after milk, you desire. Show me someone who claims to be born again or a new Christian and they have no desire for the Bible, there's something wrong with them. Like a baby that doesn't desire milk, you'll say, let's go to the hospital, let's get this child to a doctor. Show me a new convert who has no desire for truth, no desire for doctrine, no desire to be taught about Christ. I'll show you someone who isn't a Christian. They're not born. They're not being taught of God or else they're so seriously sick they may die before they reach infancy. And so Peter is saying, as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word. The word of God is milk. It is sincere. It is true. It'll never deceive you. And that is how you grow. Some people have tried to jump from being newly born again to become a mature Christian. They've never gone through stages of growth. And you know what? When you meet them, they're those old Christians. I as a preacher go, boy, I need to give you a milk bottle. You should be teaching others. You don't have the ability. You're not even skillful. You can't even discern. You don't even know your A's from your B's and yet you're trying to eat meat Could you imagine a little baby sitting there? What would it do with an entire steak? What's it going to do? It could put her around on it, play with it, hit it, but it cannot feed on it. It cannot gain sustenance from it. It says earlier in chapter 5 verse 12, it speaks about the first principles of the oracles of God. That's milk. Notice this carefully here today. The first principles of the oracle of God. What is milk? Very important for what I'm just about to tell you. The word first there is the Greek word archi. It means commencement, the beginning. It is the first of any subject. If I'm going to teach you English, where do I start? A, B, C. If you're going to become a mechanic, I'm going to take you into the garage. Okay. Do you know how to open the bonnet? Of course I do. If you join the army, I just want to be there in my uniform, my rifle shooting. No, you're going to stand. You're going to learn how to iron your clothes. You're going to stand attention. You're going to learn drill. What's the point of that? I want to go fight in a battlefield. This is the ABCs. You learn discipline that could save your life in a war. Do you realize in every single job, you have the first principles of any subject. This is the basics. Without this, you can't move on. It's plain, simple truce. The first principles, the word principles means arranged in an order. So here's the first principles all laid out for you. This is milk. This is teachings about Christ. Don't tell me you know Christ when you reject doctrine. Well, I just think I believe this. Then you don't know Christ. Oh, I can believe in Christ, but I can believe anything. I believe in him. I believe I'll be okay. I believe I know God, but it doesn't matter. Doctrines don't matter. Someone lied to you. You certainly don't understand this. It says the first principles of the oracles of God. The oracles is the word logian where we get logos from. It means utterances, teachings, all of these pure, simple, biblical teachings, the ABCs, the basics of the Christianity. All of this is the milk of the word of God. Look at verse one again. Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrines of Christ. Do you see that these teachings are called the doctrines of Christ, the ABCs? This is the milk of God's word. Let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation. Do you know what the doctrine of Christ is? It's the foundation. Do you hear me? It's the ABC. I'm just about to give you what they are. If you don't have the ABCs there, you aren't going anywhere. You're not a mature Christian. You know nothing about Christ. Some people try to say, oh, I know Christ. You don't even know the ABCs. How can you move on to perfection, spirituality, the will of God, if you don't have the principles which are the foundation? What is the foundation? I thought Christ was the foundation. Yes, he is. The person of Christ, the work of Christ. But let's look at what he looks like. See, the New Age, all of you that have come out of the New Age, or Satanism, or drink of the bars, everyone's got a Christ. You know that out there. Everybody's got a different Christ. Well, my Christ is a New Age Christ. My Christ is a Catholic Christ. My Christ is a Protestant Christ. My Christ is a who knows what sort of Christ. But let's come back and see if it's the real Christ. I'm astounded by people who say, I believe in Christ. I follow Christ. And yet, you quote what Jesus says and go, I don't believe that. I think this. And you don't follow Christ. Oh, I'm a Christian. I believe in him just like anyone can believe in him. You deny the teachings, the doctrines of Christ. How can you be a babe? How can you? It says leaving. That's a definite action. You leave these foundations. I want to go on to maturity. Make sure you've got the foundations. Do you realize you will never make anything in your Christian life unless you have right foundations? And he then mentioned six foundations, doctrines, or teachings that have to be there. As a baby Christian, if you're going to grow as a milk drinker, all six of these have to be there. They have to be settled, solid in your life. And if they are, you can then begin building. Don't tell me that you can move on in Christ or grow in Christian things and not have these in place. Will we go to them briefly before I close? Because these are called the principles of the doctrine of Christ. The word, the teachings, the ABCs, the alphabet of Jesus. Before you can begin writing sentences and poems and books and preaching, you've got to have the alphabet in place. If you don't have the right alphabet, how do you make words and sentences and understanding? It'll be gibberish. So it is with the gospel. Miss one of these foundations out, you'll be one of these Christians floating about the church who thinks they know everything. I'm a Christian. I walk with God. I hear from the Spirit. You don't even have basic things in place. Third and finally, this is my third and final point, six foundational doctrines. I hope you're very clear this morning that you cannot be a baby Christian without foundations. And it's not sufficient to say it's Jesus. It's doctrine as well. Oh, doctrine is not my God. But do you know what? That is who Christ is. See, some people's Christ, he's anemic. He has no bone structure. Do you know what happens if someone doesn't have marrow, bone structure? They're all floppy. You won't stand. You won't go anywhere. You can't do anything. You can't even sit in a seat. If there's no marrow, no bone structure, most people's Christ's like that. There's no water, no structure, no power, no ability to stand. He's just flopping around all over the place. And this Jesus, that's not the Jesus of my Bible, I want to tell you, because the real Jesus has doctrine, doctrinal truth. If you get the doctrine of Christ wrong, you'll end up in eternal hell. That's what the Bible says. Six foundational doctrines. And you find this in verse two, sorry, verse one and verse two. I'm going to list these. You know that our church manual, I've written the whole book on the foundations of the faith. And I go through all six of these and give thorough teaching on them. I'm not going to do that. I just want you to understand that this foundation is a doctrinal foundation. Truth matters. It really matters. That's why Jesus said two men build in their house. One built on a rock, one built on sand. You know what the end of the story is going to be. Why? Because of what they're building on. Both of them build beautiful houses. Both of them have great confidence. Both of them have all these plans. But you know what's going to happen to the man on the sand. Builds in his house on sand. See, it's okay as long as a storm doesn't come, but let the right storm come in the right way at the right time. Your house is finito. What did Jesus say? The man building his house upon the rock is he that hears my words, hears my teachings and obeys them. That's the man building on a solid rock. Truth matters to foundations. Listen quickly as I close here. Number one foundation stone, and these go in order. Repentance from dead works. So a babe, a milk drinker who's just got born again, just come to Christ, just been saved. You're drinking milk. One of the first truths you've got to have settled, you've got to understand, it's got to be in place, is repentance from dead works. Do you know, again, that's another dirty word. Doctrine's a dirty word. In today's church, repentance is a dirty word. I've met a lot of white haired, older Christians, say 30, 40 years, so they say. Smart Alex, I like to call them. We had one of them in this church, they only come in for one Sunday. He said, I've been born again all these years. Just after the morning service, sitting around the tables, he couldn't wait to sit with all these young, immature Christians, or at least he thought they were. See, he's a majesty of a man. He's in perfection. He's gone on to maturity. He knows, he's walked with God 40 odd years. He knows everything. The smile on his face, the boasting. I'm a mature man of God. As he sat, do you know that man did not believe in repentance. He said, you can have faith without repentance. There's no teaching of repentance. He sat in this church with our young folk, trying to communicate this. You know what God told me on the Saturday, as clears in, speak in the afternoon in repentance. I didn't know he was coming in, just got my notes out. That's my next message. He walks straight in and he's very quick to come tell me. He said, repentance, the word repentance isn't once mentioned in John's gospel. And I go, why would you even bring that up? You're showing your ignorance. Oh, I'm a big man. I'm mature. You're a baby. I need to take you back to the bottle if you're saved. This is the first foundation stone. Do you realize if you don't get this right, you're going to have real problems in your Christian life. Listen to what the Bible says. Mark chapter 4, 17 and Mark chapter 1, 15, John the Baptist, repent and believe. You don't get belief without repentance. Not once in our New Testament. Listen to what Paul says in Acts chapter 20, verse 20. Hi, I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but I've showed you and I've taught you publicly and from every house to house, testify both to the Jews and to the Greeks. Listen to what he says in every house and every time and every community all through the years, every person, what does he teach? Listen, repentance towards God and faith towards the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you know in the New Testament, you never get repentance. So you never get faith without repentance first. Repentance always comes before faith. What is repentance? It's the doctrine of repentance from dead works. It's a turning, the word means to turn a change of mind, direction. These same sophisticated meat eaters have often told me it's got nothing to do with sin. It's got nothing to do with getting in on this. It's got nothing to do with repentance or turning from sin, nothing at all. I don't know where to begin with them. You know what? They're so far down the ladder, it's worse than me. Can you imagine me with a bottle feeding your baby? I dare say not. It's harder for me to imagine trying to deal with them. I don't know where to start. This goes way off the scale. That's the first thing. I want to warn you that dealing with repentance is milk. It's the ABCs. It's the foundations. And many people, because they got repentance wrong, they grew up into twisted Christians. They've been around church 20 years. They're nothing but a problem. You know what? Their stinking attitudes, they've never put right. They're saying, I'm a Christian now. I'm baptized. I'm saved. I'm going to heaven, but I'm stinking. I'm selfish. I can't control my tongue. There's something wrong with you. Number two, faith towards God. Notice as a faith burst out of repentance, you turn from sin. You turn from your dead works, dead works, works that are useless. What do you do? You turn to God. What is faith? It is belief. It is trust. It's confidence. It's not blind faith. Oh, you Christians have blind faith. No, I don't. Do you honestly think I and my brother done this when he was small? Jumped over a wall. In fact, he was pushed off the wall by his friend, and there was a sheer drop to the other side, and there was rocks below. Pushed. Do you know what? I, as a Christian, don't jump over walls without looking. I don't do that. You don't do that. You'd be foolish. My faith is not blind faith. I've just got to step out, believe all this, accept it, but I don't know it's true. I just hope it's true. That is not faith. Do you know what faith is? It's absolute confidence. It is a trust in something. It is facts. It's not blind faith or ignorance, but it's putting your facts in definite details that are true. I know Jesus died. I know he shed his blood, and the New Testament says, put your faith in the blood of Jesus. MacArthur says, no, you can talk about the death of Christ, not the blood. No, MacArthur, you got that wrong. My Bible says faith in the blood, faith in the work of cross, faith in the person of Jesus Christ. That's the second stone. Faith has to be there, not blind faith, but a substance, a solid confidence. I know this is true. Don't try to move on in your Christian life when you haven't believed on Jesus. In his blood, a vague belief in God is not sufficient. Do you believe in Christ? Do you believe he died for your sins? Are you washed in the blood? Third of all, the doctrine of baptisms. Notice it's plural. It's not doctrine of baptism, singular. It's baptisms. There's more than one baptisms. Remember what the word baptism means in the Greek? It's not being sprinkled or a bit of water dropped on your head. That is not the word baptism. It's the word for immersion, to be plunged, submerged below water. You're taken. If you're not soaking, you haven't been baptized. And you know, in the New Testament, there's various teachings about baptism. We're told about being baptized into Christ. I mean, spiritually, when you get born again, when you get saved, you are taken and you are baptized into Christ. Your life is taken and put into him. I look at a lot of so-called Christians. I don't even see Christ. They haven't been submerged in Christ. One thing I know about a real Christian, a real babe in Christ, they love Christ. They want to know Christ. They want the milk. They want to read the word of God. They want to talk about him. They want to learn more about this Jesus. They are baptized into Christ. The Bible talks about being baptized into his death. It talks about being baptized into the body of Christ as a member of the church. Some people haven't even understood that they're to be baptized, immersed. There's something wrong when you're not immersed in the body of Christ. There's water baptism, Mark 16, 16, he that believeth and is baptized. We read about after you believe in Christ, you go on to be baptized in water, not as an infant, but it's the response. Those who repent, those who believe go on to be baptized in water. There is a distinct baptism in the Holy Ghost. Have you been baptized in the Holy Ghost? Oh, God, that is salvation. That's not what the Bible says. There is a baptism in the Holy Ghost where you get immersed in the Holy Spirit by Jesus Christ. It's real. The fourth doctrine. Saints, why is there mature Christians who don't even know there's plurality of baptisms? They don't even study it. You think you're a mature Christian. You don't even know what it is to be baptized into the death of Jesus. Oh, I'm growing in Christ. I know a lot. I'm listening to sermons. That's not sufficient. Are you dull? Are you lazy? You need to come back to milk. Doctrine of baptisms. Fourth, laying on of hands. Strange doctrine, isn't it, for foundations, for babes, young believers. What about those who say, that makes me nervous, laying on of hands? I don't believe in that. I don't like a church where they lay hands on. Go back to your Bible. It's a basic milk teaching. You know our young Christians ought to be told about laying on of hands. I know my hands aren't special. Neither are yours. Not special anointed hands. It's an act of faith. Listen to what the Bible says. It says when we bless, when we lay hands on, it's a sign of blessing, recognition. We do it for healing. Lay hands on the sick. It's a command. Oh, I don't like that. I get nervous about that. It's a command. It's an ABC. It's milk. It's not debatable. It's there in your Bible. We're a reformed secessionist church. We don't believe in those Pentecostal things. It's a scripture. God help you. This is the doctrines of Christ. This is milk. I don't believe in laying on of hands. You don't really have a choice about this. Makes me nervous if someone laid hands on me. Just make sure it's the right person and the right church. Don't let anyone just lay hands on you. Make sure it's public as well. What we see in the Bible for the baptism in the Holy Ghost, Acts chapter eight, they laid hands on them and they received the Holy Ghost. Peter and John laid hands on their heads. Some people, it's empty hands being laid on empty heads and not much happens. But I want to tell you in the Bible, when you have faith, when you have faith that God is going to work. When I lay hands on you, when you're sick, we believe that God is a healer. To send out, as you've seen, Brother Sulf ordain an elder, we lay hands. That's not just some symbolic thing. Something happens. It's a basic doctrine of Christ. You know what? This is milk. This is life. This is reality. Number five, the resurrection of the dead. Saints of God, this is milk. It needs to be there or you get Christians growing wrongly. What do I mean resurrection of the dead? I mean the physical resurrection of the body. That a day comes, a time comes when everyone who's died, their physical bodies will be resurrected. Not just saints, not just Christians. Every man, every woman will be raised one day. It's going to happen. The atheist who said, nothing happens in the grave. I don't believe in anything spiritual. When I die, I die, I die. My body goes in the graves. It decays. There's nothing left. It's over. What a shock that that person is in for. You know what Jesus said in John 5 29, and they shall all come forth. They that have done good unto the resurrection of life. They that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation. Life isn't over. I'm very glad for Candice. I'm going to see her one day. Do you know a year ago, I started to feel bad because I'm there. With grief, with mourning, strange things happen. You'd be careful how you judge someone who's really going through grief. Your mind and emotions are not natural. I mean they, it plays games with you. It really does. I was there walking through the house and I was calling to the Lord. I said, Lord, you need to give her back. You need to bring her. Then I'm going, you're stupid. She can't come back. I'm going, and yet I didn't feel guilty for praying like that. I'm going, am I grieving the Holy Spirit? Am I breaking some commandment here saying, give her back, bring her back to me. Do you know it's come to me with power, but I'm going to do that. What's the Bible say? I will bring them when I come in a resurrected body. Do you realize if Jesus was to come right now, yes, I'm going to see him, but I'll see someone else. I think just to the right side of him, just behind, because she was a horse rider. She knew how to ride a horse. She, when we're in South Africa, she told the guy in Zulu said, do not let him ride that horse. I was giddy and up doing everything. She had sabotaged my only chance to be John Wayne. I'm there digging in my heels. Nothing's happening. The horse wasn't listening to me. Giddy up, giddy up. Do you realize, so I'm getting off. Do you realize resurrection, bodily resurrection is a foundational doctrine. It is milk. It is substance. It is true saints. If there isn't a life after we're wasting our time in this church and this gathering, some people say, oh, it's still good to be moral and nice and kind. It would be empty. It's lies. If there isn't a physical body resurrection, if there isn't a common of Christ, again, we are playing religious games. You better make sure in your foundation. I know there's eternal life. I know there's a world to come. I know there's a body bodily resurrection where I will be raised physically. If you die tonight, you will go right into the presence of God spiritually. Your body gets laid in the grave. Your spirit, it says to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord immediately. Immediately, you have direct access. You leave your body instantly, but your body gets left here. They said you can hang about here and all that. I go, why would I? She's gone. She's gone. Yes, this is her body. She's gone. I'm going to see her again. No, I can't say, Lord, you need to bring her. Because I've got scripture now. I'm not stupid. I'm not losing my marbles. I just know doctrine. I've got an assurance. Sixth and lastly, eternal judgment. Some people say they believe in Jesus, but not judgment. Or if they say there is a judgment, it's not eternal. Hell is not eternal. Fire is not eternal. Punishment is not eternal. We don't believe in hell. I can believe in Jesus, but I don't need to believe in hell. In your view, Hitler got off scot-free. You don't believe in eternal judgment. You just believe Hitler stopped existing. The child abusers, they get scot-free. Do you understand what I'm saying? If there's no eternal judgment, this world is wicked. There's no fairness. There is in my world, a biblical worldview. Everyone is going to be held accountable. One of the sixth foundations is eternal judgment. I actually believe if a babe in Christ does not have this settled, they're not going to grow right. A Christian won't grow right. Eternal judgment, the word judge means to distinguish, determine, to decree. In other words, there's going to be a judgment day where you stand before God. See, there's the behemoth seat for every Christian. You're going to be judged for rewards, not on salvation. You're already saved. There's a judgment seat of Christ, eternal judgment, where you get crowns, rewards, where you'll shine. Your degree of shining will depend on that judgment. But there's also the great white throne judgment. When you come to the end of the book of Revelation, there's a final resurrection of all that have died, and they'll stand at the great white throne judgment, and all the books will be open. Do you know all your conversations have been recorded, all of them, your deeds, your actions? Every sinner, they laugh at a scorn, go, I'll be with my mates in hell. You will not be. And it says the books are open, and they'll stand in judgment, and the heavens are going to be rolled up like a scroll. And then those who are in hell get resurrected out of it and cast into the lake of fire, and it's sealed for all eternity. So you begin to see from this, this is the doctrine of Christ. These are the milk, repentance, faith, baptisms, laying on of hands, resurrection of the dead, eternal judgment. This is milk. This is where you begin. This isn't mature meat. These are the basics. This is what Christ looks like. And I want to challenge you here this morning on a doctrinal foundation. This solid biblical foundation is a doctrinal foundation, and you can test it. Do my foundations line up with the word of God, or are they merely opinions, ideas, thoughts, my decisions? So many say, I don't believe that. Well, what do you believe, and how did you get there, and how do you know it's right? How do you know it's authoritative? You say this Bible's got mistakes, and you think your opinions don't. You exalt those above the written scriptures. I've heard so many arguments. It's beyond belief and imagination. But you know what? If you get weaned, taught the basics of Jesus Christ, you're going to grow up in immaturity. If you've lost your maturity, you need to go back to these six foundations again. It's a bit like snakes and ladders all the way down. After all that hard work, you go right back to the start, start all over again. You don't go anywhere until you start going through the A, B, Cs, as you begin to ascend again and go on to maturity. These foundations aren't there. You are not mature. You haven't grown. You've wasted time, and you need to come back to it. Please stand with me. Lord Jesus. Lord Jesus, we love you. We bless you. We thank you. Father, I thank you for the reality and the power of salvation. Father, that you're saving people out of sin, that you're bringing them out of darkness, oh God, that you're changing them, that you're delivering from bondages, from addictions, oh God, that you're giving them eternal hope in Christ Jesus. Father, I pray, Lord God, that you'd raise up new converts, oh God, who have an insatiable desire for the milk of the word. Lord God, we want healthy new babes in Christ. We want healthy converts in this church. Lord God, the desire, the sincere milk of the word. Father, we know it's a work of your Holy Spirit. You said, my sheep hear my voice, and they follow me. Father, we pray that you'd save, oh God, that you'd raise up sheep of the pasture, that desire to follow you, to keep your word, who love the written scriptures. Father, we're asking that we would go on to perfection, to maturity, but oh God, we know it's only on the basis of a solid foundation. We do want to go on to perfection. We do want to move on to maturity in Jesus Christ. We do want to grow in the things of Christ and to be taught, oh God, about that ministry of Christ within the veil, but oh God, we pray, oh God, give us solid doctrinal foundations that we might walk with you in this hour in Jesus' mighty name. Hallelujah.