Hebrews 5:7-14; 6:1-3
March 23, 2024
preached by Pastor Doug Cooper
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Time of Reflection Quotations

“We will never get anywhere in life without discipline, be it in the arts, business, athletics, or academics. This is doubly so in spiritual matters.”

~ Kent Hughes (1942-present), American pastor, professor, author

“You do not become a master musician by playing just as you please, by imagining that learning the scales is sheer legalism and bondage! No, true freedom in any area of life is the consequence of regular discipline.”

~ Sinclair Ferguson (1948-present), speaking about spiritual disciplines

“If you wish to make anything grow, you must understand it, and understand it in a very real sense. ‘Green fingers’ are a fact, and a mystery only to the unpracticed. But green fingers are the extensions of a verdant heart.”

~ Russell Page (1906-1985), British gardener and landscape architect

“To encounter Christ is to touch reality and experience transcendence. He gives us a sense of self-worth or personal significance, because He assures us of God’s love for us. He sets us free from guilt because He died for us and from paralyzing fear because He reigns. He gives meaning to marriage and home, work and leisure, personhood and citizenship.”

~ John Stott (1921-2011), English minister, theologian and author

“Our pleasure and our duty,
Though opposite before,
Since we have seen His beauty
Are joined to part no more.
To see the law by Christ fulfilled
And hear His pard’ning voice,
Transforms a slave into a child,
And duty into choice.”

~ John Newton (1725-1807), English minister, writer of Amazing Grace

Sermon Passage

Hebrews 5:7-14; 6:1-3 (CSB)

Hebrews 5

⁷ During his earthly life, [Jesus] offered prayers and appeals with loud cries and tears to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. ⁸ Although he was the Son, he learned obedience from what he suffered. ⁹ After he was perfected, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him, ¹⁰ and he was declared by God a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.

¹¹ We have a great deal to say about this, and it is difficult to explain, since you have become too lazy to understand. ¹² Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the basic principles of God’s revelation again. You need milk, not solid food. ¹³ Now everyone who lives on milk is inexperienced with the message about righteousness, because he is an infant. ¹⁴ But solid food is for the mature — for those whose senses have been trained to distinguish between
good and evil.

Hebrews 6

¹ Therefore, let us leave the elementary teaching about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works, faith in God, ² teaching about ritual washings, laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. ³ And we will do this if God permits.