Deutchman, Harry: Studies In Hebrews-06 ~ Hebrews 5

Will you open again to the fifth chapter in Hebrews? Hebrews chapter five. And there, beginning with verse eleven, after it said in verse ten, 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 that you are dull or sluggish of hearing. 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 now become such as have need of milk and not of strong meat. For everyone that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe, but strong meat belongs to them that are of full age, even to those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine that speak of Christ, let us go on to maturity, 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 of eternal judgment. And this, uh, we will do if God permits. Now, after showing them what has been brought to their attention about the Son of God in his person being greater than any personage, whether it be angel or man, who was used of God. He then, uh, moves toward priesthood. You see, if we did not have this epistle, we would not know anything about the priestly work of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's preserved for us in this epistle. I agree that we read in Romans, the eighth chapter, he ever liveth to make intercession for us, but it doesn't come to the fore, and it isn't succinct or acute in our awareness of that statement concerning his priestly work. So that in this epistle, the Lord brings to our mind priesthood, a work that has gone on when he arose from the dead in behalf of his own, and a work that is still going on. While you are sitting here, no matter what your thoughts might be, may be, no matter what your feelings, no matter what your motives, when they are wrong, there is the high priest on the right hand of the Father, constantly presenting his righteousness, constantly. And might I bring this again to our attention, if I had mentioned it before, I am not sure, that in the Epistle of John we read, if the believer confesses his sins, God is faithful and just to forgive him his sins and to cleanse him from all unrighteousness. So the question arises, does all this take place when I confess my sin? Or is there another work that goes beyond my confession that is more vicarious and does more for me than my mere confession. When the child of God sinned, communion is broken. Union can never be broken. We were saved unconditionally by the grace of God when we at took God at his word, who said, I gave my son for you, a sinner, and when the heart responds and accepts him as Savior, then that individual is unconditionally saved. He is saved by grace apart from work. On the other hand, when the individual believer has the Word of God before him, the Spirit of God within him as a gift by believing in the Son of God, then the believer in the worship of the Savior is desirous and is prompted unto living for him. But when we confess our sins and we have committed some infraction contrary to God's word, where the Spirit of God will give us no peace and rest, it is not our confession that, eh, forgives that sin. The confession brings together fellowship that have been broken. Then what is the vital factor or the work that forgives us our sin? When fellowship is restored on the basis of confessing that sin. In the second chapter, verse one of First John, we read, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the what? Therefore, it's his righteousness presented before the Father that forgives us. Our confession brings about the restoration and fellowship. So you see, beloved, even our confession is not meritorious for forgiveness. When he hung on the that cross, he died for the sinner's sins. When the sinner accepts this, accepts the Savior, then he is not only the sin offering for the sinner, but he is the trespass offering for the saved one. So in the Old Testament, the book of Leviticus, you have the sin of ignorance and the sin offering for trespass. So it's his righteousness that is constantly brought before the Father that gives that benediction that we have been forgiven. Our confession restores fellowship. His righteousness brings about the forgiveness. Having seen this, the writer says, how can I explain to you what's on my heart? In the second chapter of this epistle, verse seventeen, he mentions about the priest who is touched, who has compassion for us. In the fourth chapter, again he mentions it in verse fourteen, that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heaven. Then he wants to, or rather he began to continue the theme of priesthood. He said, how can I do it when you are so sluggish to hear and understand? How can I break through? So we noticed concerning this Melchizedek of a different order, and he is a priest without any successor, the one who lives on forever, of whom we have many things to say in verse eleven, He says to the- those to whom he writes, but it is hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing. Many a time, one who has within his being a desire to make Christ known, and within his own soul he is alive and vibrant, and the people sit and listen, and afterwards, Mrs. So-and-so says to Mrs. So-and-so, did you understand what he said? The other one said, I couldn't make head or tail out of it. Well, so he's no good, the preacher. Another one goes out with a glowing face. What's the difference? The one is sluggish, and something produced the sluggishness. And when the one who wants to give out the word, no matter how clearly he might make it, it do- it goes into one ear and out of the other. And the heart is just as empty as when the individual came in. Here, concerning these writers, he said, it is hard for me to tell you these things. Why? Ye are dull. You are sluggish. A sluggish person is a lazy person. What made these Jewish believers lazy and sluggish. Lazy and sluggish concerning these things that the writer wants to convey to them. The Spirit of God searches the deep things of God. The superficial things of God man can give out, but the deep things of God, only the Spirit of God who searches the deep things of God is ready to put them into a heart that is open and empty of other things, a heart that is ready for the deep things. So here he says, it is hard to be uttered, seeing you're dull of hearing. From now on, what he is telling them has nothing to do with the New Testament, nothing at all. And you may challenge me, you may speak to the contrary, and after some forty seven, forty eight years, I am convinced that what follows has nothing to do with the New Testament, but the old. Verse twelve. For when the time ye ought to be teachers, being that you have accepted Christ as the Messiah, ye, you reverted. You have need now of one that would teach you again the things that you should have known and once did know, but something entered in that made you lazy and made you sluggish with regard to the word of God. Which means the individual says, I accept Jesus. He is going to be my savior, but stops right there, and as far as feeding on him, as he said in John, the sixth chapter, except a man eat my flesh and drink my blood, he has no life in him. Which means unless he assimilates me, unless he eats me and digests me, there is not that spiritual life that beco- that should be alive. So right here, you have one that has to teach you again, which be the first principles of the oracles of God. What does that mean? It means the beginning of the mind of God. And where was the beginning? In the Old Testament. Which they should have known and be able to discern what a difference from what they first learned to what they should have known when they came to, uh, uh, uh, face to face with the Messiah and accepted him by faith. And you are become such as have need again of milk and not of strong meat. For everyone that uses milk is unskillful. And we know that when a child is not given more than milk, something happens to its maturity. It can affect the individual child physically, emotionally, or mentally. So that the child is given milk, and then is given some pablum later on, and then something else is enters into its feeding, and finally, as it grows, it can take some meat and take other food. But merely to be a, to be on milk in one's physical life is an infraction and impediment to that growth, if that's all the individual has. And so is it true with regard to spiritual maturity. And when you speak about spiritual maturity, the average individual compares their growth, not spiritually so much, but they gauge it on the basis of what makes them happy, what surrounds them that makes them happy, and feel that they have made strides. But this is not what the word of God is speaking about. For everyone that useth milk is unskillful, makes a botch concerning the word, which is a word of righteousness, for he is a baby. And might I bring this to our attention? The only reason why Israel was preserved from being wiped out as a nation is that we might have that Old Testament, and practically all the writers were Hebrews, were Jewish, and gave us the New Testament. She was also preserved so that the line of the tribe of Judah would be preserved, to whom the Messiah would come. I've watched somebody eating peanuts, and they opened the shell, they ate the peanut, enjoyed the peanut, but threw away the shell. At what am I driving? It's this. We do not appreciate and thank the Lord for what we have gotten even from these people, my people Israel, although rebellious and chastened and scattered throughout the whole world. Nevertheless, we receive the Word of God and the God of the Word from them. And so it is what has preserved this Word of God after that. Men who were tied to the stake and who were told that if they deny the faith, they will live, but they would not. Reading Fox's Book of Martyrs, one of them had his tongue cut out, and he could not, as the flames were coming up on his body, naturally he could not praise the Lord as he would like to, but he gurgled joyfully as he was laying down his life for the Savior's sake. It's men like these who have preserved this marvelous heritage that we have, and our politics, our society, our science, all these that are counted as very important to the day in which we are living, and even so-called Christianity is denying this blessed word. The word has been given for the purpose that we might be skillful in the sphere of righteousness. Hold your place here and turn with me to Second Timothy. Second Timothy, and in Second Timothy, the third chapter and verse sixteen. it reads here, all scripture is given by inspiration of God. For what purpose? That it might be profitable for the teaching concerning righteousness, for reproving when the life is not righteous before God, and for chastening, for correcting when there's disobedience to walk in righteousness, and also to instruct us in the way of righteousness. That is why the word of God has been given, and these Jewish believers, they were believers for quite a while. This epistle has been written between sixty four to sixty AD, before the temple was destroyed, before Jerusalem was burned, before Israel was scattered, because in it the writer still mentions the priesthood and the sacrifices and the temple and all these things. But he's telling these believers that they become lazy, they become sluggish in the matter of righteousness. So may it be with you, perhaps this evening, as you are sitting there and I am standing here, there are two ways to, uh, give our views concerning the word, or three ways. We can read it, and we can meditate on it, and or we can apply it to the life. If, on the other hand, it means nothing to us except a book that has print, and we just read it feeling that some kind of magic as we open the Bible, something will happen, and it's sort of an act of virtue on our part. Unless there is the matter of desiring through that word to see righteousness and walk in it and live by it, we are only based. But strong meat belongs to them who are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. So the Lord God first built a home for the man whom he created, the body he made of the dust, and then he breathed his life into him, and the man became a living soul. And in the communion with God, the Lord God gave him instructions, and he used words. How could Adam understand what God said? Because he, when he created him, he created him mature. Sin had not touched him as yet, and therefore he could understand the communication. He was created by God and for God. And when you and I are born again and created in Christ Jesus as new creation, we were created as new creations for him, by him, and for him. But what happened? The Lord God said, look, I'm giving you everything here. Rule over it, but only one restriction, that's all, only one. In the midst of the garden, there are these two trees, Adam. The tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In the day that you eat this tree that is forbidden, and it's the only ins- it's the only, uh, thing that I will not allow you to eat, because what I withhold from you is for your highest good. But the moment you partake of it and eat of it, in dying spiritually for disobedience, you will eventually die physically. In dying, thou shalt die. All right. Adam, when Eve was presented to him, said, oh, this is what I was looking for. She is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. And all the intimacy, the joy, the fellowship, and all that, and they forgot the word of God. They forgot the word of God. And if they did remember it, when Lucifer, who was Satan, because of his rebellion against God, when he approached the woman, she so forgot the word of God that she was not able to discern between evil and good. See? And she said, we can eat of every tree but of this tree, and we are not even able to touch it. Now, the Lord God never said that. But somehow or other, she added on to it. Adam forgot the instruction. Eve took the fruit. Adam was right there with her. He knew better, but forgetting much of what was told him because of the circumstances that surrounded him, he gave in and he ate. And so it is with you and with me. Because we are not saturated with the word of God, you and I are not able to discern the difference between good and evil. And not being able to discern, to separate the evil and love the good, we make compromises, and our logic tells us, our human logic, that there was nothing wrong. Beloved, when I stand before the judgment seat of Christ and you stand before the judgment seat of Christ, you and I will not have one excuse because the word of God has been given, the revelation, the Spirit of God has come into the believer's heart, but the surrounding circumstances and our own human prejudices has so made this word vague that it has lost its taste for us. And instead of it being the roof and wall of our being, we, the Spirit of God is not able to bring to our minds those scriptures that would counteract that which is not right in his sight. Well, I'm saved, and I'll have pie in the sky by and by, for which I sigh. Oh, I'm going to heaven. But, beloved, if that is the attitude, you had better examine yourself or ask the Spirit of God to examine your heart and your soul to see if you are born again. Because the first thing that a newborn baby does is cry when it is born. And the first word that is said is f- papa, papa. Why that? Because the baby has no teeth and said papa. And the first thing that should come from the spiritual soul is a crying because we've come into that life and a crying for him who made it all possible. And when there is no continuity along that line, everything becomes blurred, and we call evil good, and we call good evil. And we are not able to discern, and because we do not deal in absolute black and in absolute white, we bring it together, and we are dealing in the color of gray. Now to go on. Therefore, he says, leaving the principles, the ABCs of the Old Testament that speak or teaches concerning the Christ who is to come, let us go on to manhood. Judaism is the infancy, and right there in the Old Testament, it gives us pictures of the Christ who is to come. So don't go back to thee, but rather go on to maturity. Then he says, you're thinking of Old Testament times, and you're saying, what does it mean, the laying again the foundation of repentance? Oh no, the writer is saying, you're laying again the foundation of repentance because the Jewish nation went astray. And in going astray, how did they repent? And, oh, what do the Old Testament sacrifices mean? You say to me, but that's stretching the point. That's not what it's saying. That's your viewpoint. If you think that I'm stretching the point by saying, laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and faith toward God, that it was the Old Testament there, and Israel's constant rebellion, and then after being chastened, moving Godward. How ha- what has that to do with that which I believe now? And the repentance now, how does it differ from the repentance then? They became sluggish, lazy. They didn't understand the word as once it gripped their heart. Hold your place here and turn with me to John, the third chapter. John chapter three. All that they knew at that time was the Old Testament. John chapter three, Nicodemus comes, and as he comes to Jesus by night, whatever his motive might have been, there are as many answers as people to give them. And in verse five uh of John three, it says, oh no, our Lord says in verse three, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, how can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of what? Water and of the spirit. He cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Don't let it surprise you, Nicodemus. I see your face, uh, full of, uh, uh, me- you can't understand it's a puzzle. Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again. Nicodemus, in verse nine says, how can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto him, thou, art thou a master of Israel and knowest not these things about being born of water and being born of the spirit, of being born again, it was pointing to the Old Testament. How do we know that? Turn to Ezekiel, the thirty sixth chapter, and in the thirty sixth chapter, beginning with verse twenty four— hold your place in Hebrews. Verse twenty four. there in the Old Testament, the Lord says, for I will take you from among the heathen and gather you out of all country, and will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean what? Water. All right. Verse twenty six. a new heart also will I give you and a new watch. There you have water and spirit. All their ritual washings were nothing at all, they were just outward. But here he says, I will give thee clean water. The clean has to do not with the quality, but the spiritual quality, not the physical or the material quality of the water, but the spiritual quality. I will give you clean water. I will sprinkle it on you, and you shall be clean from all your filthiness, and from all your idols will I cleanse you, and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk my statutes. Christ had not yet gone to the cross. He says, are you a teacher in Israel, Nicodemus, and you don't know these things that except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God, uh, which kingdom will come down upon the earth, and then, uh, before that, the Lord revealing himself upon the mount, and they shall look upon whom they have pierced, and there shall be the sprinkling of the clean water and the putting of a new spirit into their heart, he was referring to the Old Testament. So here, it says here, with regard to the foundation of repentance from dead works, all these works, these rituals, and all the offerings of the Old Testament, they were dead works because they never engendered life. They only did something for the outward man, they never did anything for the inward man. If all the Old Testament sacrifices could do a work in the inward man, then the sacrifices wouldn't be needed. Then the priesthood wouldn't be needed. But all this came to pass because when the law was given, the Lord knew they would break it. He gave it to them as a schoolmaster to teach them the impossibility of keeping that law. There's one of two ways of acknowledging or rejecting the law. Either you pull down the law of the commandments given to Israel, either you pull it down and water it down, see, and be comfortable in it because you give your own interpretation of it, or you reject it, one of two. So, here, they repented from dead works, and they try to make it up by ritualistic work. And then this matter of faith toward God. How does that differ from the Messiah whom we believed in and that which we did in Old Testament times? Then he says to them, also leave those things that merely pointed as object lessons to Christ of the doctrine of baptisms. That has nothing to do with John's baptism. It has nothing to do with Christian baptism. Of the teaching of baptism, like in the Old Testament times, and when John called them to that baptism, it was a baptism unto repentance that they might change their ways and move Godward. Christ had not yet died for their sin, and he was there at that baptism, but that's not what the, uh, the baptism that he's speaking about. He's speaking about all the washing, the ritualistic washings that were dead works, and the laying on of the hands. That has nothing to do with what Paul said to Timothy, that he had hands put upon him and sent forth, so to speak, in the ministry. No, it had to do that when the sinner brought the sacrifice, he put his hand on the head of that sin offering, transferring in the act his sins, the guilty sinner, to the innocent victim. That's what he's speaking about, the laying on of hands and of the resurrection of the dead. These early believers did not have it clear in their mind about the resurrection of the dead. Even Martha, when she came to Jesus, said, if you had come, my brother would not have died. Why did you tarry, and now he's dead? And the Lord said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Oh, I know, said Martha, in the last day, and the Jewish people even now, and the Orthodox rabbis even now feel at the end of all the ages there will be a resurrection of those who were good and those who were evil. That's why in the Day of Atonement they try to atone by doing good works, because in that day there shall be a general resurrection. But they never knew, these believers, and if they didn't know, they had forgotten that first there's a resurrection of all the believers, the body of Christ called the church. Then there is another resurrection later on, and it's the resurrection of the dead who died without accepting Christ, and they shall stand before the great white throne judgment. And the reason why it's called the white throne is because the heat and the indignation and the wrath of the Lord God who gave his only begotten son, and they trampled his blood and refused him and rejected him. So it is when you put a piece of steel in a furnace, and then when the steel, having been burnt in the furnace, is ready for forging, it comes out white, and then the anvil is put to it. So, without Christ, you may die one way or another. Apart from him, you're going to be at the white throne judgment. So here, it had nothing to do with the resurrection of the dead of the believers, but a general resurrection in that last age and of eternal judgment. All the Jewish people believe in an eternal judgment, and therefore all this that the writer mentioned has to do with Old Testament things. It's rather strange they were so sluggish and lazy with regard to the Word of God. Other things took up their minds, as we shall soon see. Now, verses four through six is a very difficult passage, very difficult, and I will read it. For it is impossible, for it is impossible for those who were once enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost and have tasted of the good word of God and the miracles or the power that will again be manifested in the world to come, if they shall fall away to renew them again unto repentance, seeing they crucified to themselves the Son of God afresh and put him to an open shame. No one, no one in this day can commit that sin. No one. It was written to first century believers. Only they c- could ca- commit that sin, and it is was impossible to renew them unto repentance. Hold your place here. And I want you to notice, they crucified the Son of God afresh and put him to an open shame. I want you to notice the tenth chapter and verse twenty nine. They sin against the Triune God. Here it is. Verse twenty nine. Of how much sore punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and therefore it's a sin unto God the Father who sent his Son, and hath counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing, that is sinning against the Son, and have done despite unto the Spirit, the Holy Spirit of grace, and that is sinning against the Spirit of God. What? To whom is he writing? Of whom is he writing? It says here, verse six, if they, if they shall fall away, to renew them again to repentance. But look at verse nine, but beloved, we are persuaded better things are, what's the next word? You. Therefore, there are two companies, they and you. Two companies. And along that line, who are they? They are the ones who apostatized and went back to Judaism. These who apostatized on the day of Pentecost, here is what happened. They were enlightened. For the Jew in the Old Testament always believed if there was a sign concerning something, he would believe. But he was once enlightened, not once for all, once in the process of time. He was enlightened there on the day of Pentecost, and he had a sample of the heavenly gift. He sampled it right there and became a partner and went along with the Holy Spirit who leads to salvation. And in verse five, they have sampled the good word of God, and they saw there the power, the miraculous that shall be at that time when Messiah will come back, the one who was rejected, and set up his kingdom and sit on the throne. They had all these evidences. Do you know what it reminds you of? Numbers, the thirteenth chapter. And Moses sent forth the spies, and Caleb and Joshua went with them. And as they went, they saw what a good land it was, a land flowing with milk and honey. And they even have the evidence of it in their hands, and they put it on a pole. That big cluster of grapes was so heavy that one carried the pole on one shoulder, the end on one shoulder, the other on the other shoulder. So heavy was the cluster. They had the evidence. They had the down payment of the marvelousness of that land, but they became afraid of the Anakims who lived there, the tall people, and they were afraid they would be persecuted and perhaps wiped out. And when the spies came back and gave their report, they said it was all s- marvelous, but the price that we might have to pay is too much. Too much. They were afraid of the Anakim. So Caleb and Joshua said, no, it is our good land. Let us go and take it. Look at the evidence of it. So they, of whom it is said that it is impossible for those who were once at that time enlightened concerning the truth and have sampled the heavenly gift and were made partners or went along with what the Spirit of God was doing so that people would really believe, they are like the spies in Numbers, the 13th chapter, that as they went along and the going was rough and their Jewish fellow men wouldn't have them, and they were rejected from the religious life, and they didn't have priesthood and sacrifice, it was too much, and they went back to Judaism. It is impossible for these people at that time to be brought again to repentance. Why? For this reason, they have crucified to themselves the Son of God afresh and put into an open shame. It says again, what does it mean they did it again? They could have been with a mob and a multitude where the people, when Pilate brought him out, said, behold the man, and they said, away with him, crucify him. We will not have him to rule over us. It could have been that they were in that crowd, and now that they went back to Judaism, they are crucifying him afresh, saying, away with him. We don't want him. So they crucified him afresh in their attitude. If they shall fall away to renew them again unto repentance. Let me bring this to you. When it says here, for it is impossible to renew them again to repentance. What are you going to do with those who do not believe in eternal security? And if the individual, the believer, accidentally falls into sin and he fell into the trap, well, it is impossible to bring him back to repentance. But they say, no, let him come and accept Christ again. But that's gone contrary to this verse. It says it is impossible, impossible, impossible. It was for those early believers and who does not believe in eternal security. What are they going to do with a verse like that? They say, let him do it over again, and let him do it over, and let him come again to Christ. It is impossible. But I want you to notice, after speaking about these particular people, who are they really? Our Lord spoke a parable. A sower went forth to sow, and he took the seed, and he threw it here, and he threw it there, yonder, thither. Some fell on stony ground, on hard ground, I mean. Some fell on stony ground, where there was earth, but underneath there was a rock ledge. Some fell on thorny ground. So who were these believers? They are the second type of believer or the third type. They saw what they did, they heard the apostles speaking, and what the apostles said, the Spirit of God interpreted that message to their language. For the Jewish people came from different parts of the Roman Empire and had a different type of language here and there. So they heard the superficial ones. They heard, they meet immediately went along with, but the seed went into the earth, but it could not take root because of that rock or that slab underneath. So our Lord said, when the heat of persecution comes, they immediately fall away. Or that which comes up and it seems like true fruit by some shoots being seen, but when the sun comes down, it withers and it dies. And so it is the seed in stony gr- in thorny ground, which speaks of the cares of this world. It chokes out the word. This class of believers could be the second type or the third type of believers. But have you ever noticed in the parable, the Lord never describes the fourth type of ground that brings forth fruit. He never described it. He said this first one is hard ground, the second one is shallow ground, the third one is thorny ground, but the ground that bears fruit he never describes. Why? Because the people knew what kind of ground it was. It was the kind of ground where the farmer takes the plow and he puts the tongue or the blade into the hard ground, the the superficial ground, the thorny ground, and the plowing breaks it all up, and it's only that seed that falls into cultivated ground that takes root downward and bears fruit upward. You may perhaps not be a true child of God. Uh, that is, you perhaps are religious. You go along with these things because they have a morality to it that you like, but never saw yourself as a sinner. Never saw the need of a savior, who apart from him you're done for. The Lord may have to put the plow into your being and break you up completely before you turn to the savior. And child of God, and with this I close. That's why the Lord brings about so much, so many trials in our lives, especially a big bill would come that almost threw me over today. Or it could be some physical ailment, or it could be the loss of a loved one. It is God's plowing. Why? Because he does not want the heart to be hardened. He does not want the heart to be shallow. He does not want the heart to be thorny because of the cares of this life. He wants the our being to be plowed and open to his word that it might find lodgment within and bring forth fruit unto God. Now, tomorrow evening, I do believe that we will be able to finish chapter six and go into chapter seven. uh Shall we pray? Our Heavenly Father, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. What a privilege to hear things of this kind, truths concerning these matters, and yet what an awful responsibility. Do this and thou shalt live. Be ye not hearers of the word, but doers. And now, our Father, we come short. The confession does not change unless the motive changes. So, our Heavenly Father, what has been given, may thy spirit apply it to our lives, and so may we walk in deep love and appreciation of all that has been done for us. Open our soul and our eyes and our ears and our understanding to make us see the real world that we cannot see with the physical eye because of the material, uh, world system that would blot it out. May we look unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, and see where our real world is and where our priorities should lie. We ask it, our Father, in the name and for the sake of him who loved us and gave himself for us, even the one who we believe is soon coming, even the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.