VERSES 9-14 MILK OR MEAT?
But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
[9] And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;
[10] Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec.
[11] Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing.
[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 such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.
[13] For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.
[14] But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. (Hebrews 5:9-14)
According to verse nine Salvation is granted to all who do what?
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Consider these other verses as well:
If ye love me, keep my commandments. (John 14:15)
He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. (John 14:21)
If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: (I John 1:6)
[19] Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
[20] Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
[21] Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19-21)
[17] Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
[18] Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works,
and I will shew thee my faith by my works. (James 2:17-18)
IS THE BIBLE BEING CONTRADICTORY?
IS SALVATION BY FAITH ALONE OR NOT?
[8] For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves:
it is the gift of God:
[9] Not of works, lest any man should boast. Ephesians 2:8-9
UNDERSTANDING SALVATION BY FAITH
No amount of good works can earn the eternal salvation of a person tainted by sin as each of us are. The problem is the sin NOT the good works.
There is no scale weighing sin on one side and good works on the other as if good works can outweigh our sin. It is not a balancing act. Sin doesn’t balance it infects and corrupts.
Sin is moral and spiritual imperfection. The presence of sin destroys all of the good works a person might do. This is why the Bible says
But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. (Isaiah 64:6)
It is not that good works are filthy and vile. It is that our sin pollutes and makes them foul.
Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour: so doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honour. (Ecclesiastes 10:1)
IT IS NOT THE GOOD WORKS THAT ARE THE POISON IT IS THE SIN!
You can cultivate your garden, fertilize it. Plant carrots and tomatoes and onions and all sorts of good vegetables in it. You can spend weeks plucking up all the weeds and hauling water to each little seedling as it grows and matures.
In the end you have an excellent garden. This is the product of your labor, your works. It is a good thing to do.
Now you prepare these vegetables with stock to make a great big pot of soup. You invite all your friends and your boss and his family and friends for this special dinner. Everyone is there around the table and hungry and ready to eat. Your boss comes into the kitchen and something catches his eye.
“Did you put any of those mushrooms in the soup?” He asks. “Oh yes I did, I spent hours in the woods gathering these straw and caesar mushrooms for the soup.”
Those are not caesar mushrooms. They are death caps – are you trying to kill us all?
All of the good work you did that year amounts to nothing because of the one ingredient of sin ruined it all. It might look good. It might smell good. It might even taste good but it is not good at all. It is poisoned by sin.
But what if the boss had been allowed in the kitchen to inspect the ingredients before the soup was made and pointed out to you the poison mushrooms and why they are poison and took the poison mushrooms away. Then your soup is presentable and good. No one dies.
That is What Christ does when you let Him in the Kitchen of your Heart. You might have worked all year to create that soup but Christ did the most important work by removing the poison that would kill you all! Otherwise your work is worse than dirty rags… it is criminal! ALL YOUR GOOD WORKS GO DOWN THE DRAIN!
Do not make the mistake of thinking that striving to do good works is wrong. Good works are good works when the sin is gone! And the sin is gone if you place your faith in Christ!
To put your faith in Christ means to follow Him! In order to follow Him you have to obey Him and do what He says otherwise you are not following Him at all!
“Jesus removes the sin from our soup” He makes our works presentable…
BUT WE STILL HAVE TO DO THE WORK… We still must do the gardening and prepare the stock and serve our boss and others and know good from bad mushrooms.
[1] What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
[2] God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
(Romans 6:1-2)
Sin is real. It is wrong. It’s wages is death. No matter how much good a person does in this life sin poisons the entire pot. Faith in Christ opens the door to the heart where Christ takes the poison from us which results in our good works becoming pure once again BECAUSE OF Him. There is no contradiction between the verses of salvation by faith and that of works.
A person without good works purified by Christ Jesus is not a follower and not saved! To follow Christ is to do good works and to hate sin. If Christ find’s sin in our hearts we must allow Him to remove it for we are His and not our own.
MATURING IN CHRIST-
GOING BEYOND THE EVANGELISTIC MESSAGE AND LIVING HOLY LIVES FOR CHRIST
Without the evangelistic message we would perish. It is central to the Christian faith and life. Yet too many churches focus only on grace and avoid works and judgement as if they are bad and contradictory things, but work and judgment are essential for maturity. The evangelistic message is for the unsaved and for babes in Christ but once saved they must begin the work of maturity..
How unseemly it is that Babes in Christ often judge mature Christians for not having the same “excitement” and energy of a baby. (Jesus Revolution), but adulthood necessitates character, sacrifice and responsibility.
Maturity brings stability and steadfastness. Something lacking in babes. The mature Christian has faced many valleys in their spiritual journey as well as mountain tops. Their emotion is contained in a strong and stable vessel not tipped about or spilled by every gust of wind or tremor. This does not mean emotion is not there but that it has been tempered like steel. Pastor’s ought not encourage babes to judge their elders in Christ for their steadfastness, but should admonish the babes in Christ to responsibility and maturity instead.
Those churches that remain in the “milk” where only excitement is sought after will become worldly and carnal. The “baby christians” will always be trying to excuse their sin and worldliness under the guise of grace, while pillow preachers reassure them over and over (I'm OK You're OK) how to have victory over their lives without personal work and sacrifice. Preaching how to feel like a christian while living like the devil. As they cast stable mature Christians as being like the Pharisee's. Their favorite snippet is "Judge Not". To be a stable Christian with righteous judgment is not to be a pharisee as is often presented in the Milky way churches.
The truth is that we will not conform to the image of Christ without work and sacrifice and even suffering. To follow Christ is to carry a cross of personal sacrifice through this world. To eat the meat is to experience Gethsemene with Christ.
That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; (Philippians 3:10
MILK: THE FIRST PRINCIPLES OF THE ORACLES OF GOD
Salvation by faith.
We come to Christ as a little child. We are born again like a baby. Everything is handed to us freely. Forgiveness, Sanctification, Justification, eternal life, the Holy Spirit himself. All we must do is to accept God’s Grace.
The milk is evangelism. The call to believe and the restoration of the sinner by the work of Christ. It is poured out to the babe in Christ like milk from the mother’s breast. But there are many who do not want to be weaned from the milk. They do not want to mature but want everything given to them like a mother must give to her child. But the time for teething must come and with it weaning. We cannot live on the evangelistic message alone but must move on to the work as a child must move on into adulthood.
The meat is to know good and evil and how to handle both. It is to “work out our salvation with fear and trembling.” It is to grow in obedience which is the topic of this scripture. We have been justified but now we must learn what justification is . We have been sanctified but what does that mean and what is our part in sanctification? How do we sink our roots deep in the soil and produce fruit? Do we know Scripture and if we know it do we live it?
The meat is also the revelation of the mysteries of the Word of God. We cannot understand prophecy and revelation without knowing and understanding the principles laid down from the beginning through the Old Testament and how they are to be viewed in the New.
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