Tuesday Evening Service 13^th May 2025

Skilled In Righteousness - Part 1

Hebrews 5:12-14

Watch the Full Sermon HERE.

Well tonight I want to share something different than we usually do on these nights. Usually we share from one of the wonderful writings and works from the puritans.

Tonight however, I want to share from a scripture I have been studying for a few weeks.

As I’ve mentioned, after the summer we will enter into our Sunday night teachings which will be like you all coming to seminary. Where we will all work through many of the fundamentals of faith.

But also learn more systematic theology, and truly help equip and give you all a more robust grasp of the things of God, His word, and the church. Even with some lessons in church history. Even some Scottish church history.

We will even bring a lesson and teaching on basic biblical Greek. Where, by the end of the lesson, you will be able to even recite some words and who knows maybe even one or two sentences in Greek, from the text.

It’s for this reason I want to share tonight and preach what I am. Not to start the teaching, but maybe to give you a reason why we as elders feel it’s needed. And maybe share the goal, and hope we aim to try and attain from it.

The Sunday night seminary is not just about some lessons; the heart of the elders is to equip.

Paul in his epistle to the Ephesians in 4:11-15 writes:

And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into him who is the head-Christ.

That is the purpose of the church, and the role of eldership, to equip, to perfect.

The Greek word is Καταρτισμός - Katar-tis-mos - to complete and to furnish.

I loved what John Calvin said about Christ’s High Priestly prayer, he said:

In short He asks the Father will lead them into uninterrupted progress to the full view of God.

That statement has been in my heart since I said it. I can’t get it out of my mind.

“uninterrupted progress.”

That’s what Paul is writing to the Ephesians about. It’s what he writes to the Corinthians about - that Christ is praying for us not to be interrupted. Isn’t that a wonderful thing?

Yet we are. What would your life look like do you think, if it went uninterrupted, in its devotion and progress?

Yes, of course all things do work for good, and often those interruptions become lessons. But truly, how many interruptions do we have that cause us to lose sight, that halt our progress to that uninterrupted glory?

Of course, as we have been in 1 Corinthians 15 we know on Christ’s return, we will enter into uninterrupted progress. You may think it will not be progress but completion, however, in heaven in eternity, God will just keep becoming greater and we will just keep revelling in that glory. We will be changed from glory, to glory.

However, as we are not there yet, and we still have to navigate this life in order to bring glory and honour to God, and bring that undiluted gospel to the world, we must ask, what is interrupting us?

How easily interrupted am I?

What is the means of the interruption?

What makes us stumble?

As one of the puritans said, I believe it was Sibbes:

You walked with the Lord , what caused you to stumble?

Or as Paul writes to the church in Galatia.

Galatians 5:7

You ran well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth?

Who or what hindered you from obeying truth? What interrupted you? What caused you to stumble? What distracted you? What took over your focus, or your attention?

So this is one of the main reasons we want to take you through things on Sunday nights, to help stop the stumbling. To bring to us to more maturity. To equip. To furnish.

We aim to start these by weekly Sundays on 3rd of August.

Before then I will be walking through, three maybe four teachings to help set the tone and bring the heart and hope behind our Sunday night seminary.

The actual verse I said I have been studying is Hebrews 5:12-14

This verse melds for me into the same subject. And it holds great lessons, but also great challenges.

One, being leading us to uninterrupted progress. And the other, which comes from the scripture I’m about to share.

First we start with a puritan prayer. Which is from  the ‘Valley of Vision’ page 254 (139 in the paperback version), and is called: ‘To Be Fit For God’.

THOU MAKER AND SUSTAINER OF ALL THINGS, Day and night are thine, heaven and earth declare thy glory; But I, a creature of thy power and bounty, have sinned against thee by resisting the dictates of conscience, the demands of thy law, the calls of thy gospel; yet I live under the dispensation of a given hope. Deliver me from worldly dispositions, for I am born from above and bound for glory. May I view and long after holiness as the beauty and dignity of the soul. Let me never slumber, never lose my assurance, never fail to wear armour when passing through enemy land. Fit me for every scene and circumstance; Stay my mind upon thee and turn my trials to blessings, that they may draw out my gratitude and praise as I see their design and effects. Render my obedience to thy will holy, natural, and delightful. Rectify all my principles by clear, consistent, and influential views of divine truth. Let me never undervalue or neglect any part of thy revealed will. May I duly regard the doctrine and practice of the gospel, prizing its commands as well as its promises. Sanctify me in every relation, office, transaction and condition of life, that if I prosper I may not be unduly exalted, if I suffer I may not be over-sorrowful. Balance my mind in all varying circumstances and help me to cultivate a disposition that renders every duty a spiritual privilege. Thus may I be content, be a glory to thee and an example to others.

Okay let me read the verses.

Hebrews 5:12-14

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

The writer of Hebrews is writing this as a rebuke to the Jews who were being lazy in their walk, and immature. But I don’t want you to think that’s the sole reason I’m saying this here.

Our reason for Sunday nights is not a rebuke. But to equip.

The two things we want to help you with is, first, as I said: to stop being interrupted. And the second is to be ‘skilled in righteousness’, not unskilled.

Other versions say ‘not accustomed to the word of righteousness’.

One of the clearest indication of being unskilled in righteousness is that you keep being interrupted. We keep stumbling.

And the cause. As the scripture tells us, is lack of maturity.

We need to become more mature, and maturity is not an age thing, I know a whole lot of immature, interrupted, unrighteousness old believers. Who are still being spoon-fed as it were. And as a result they have such poor skills, when the fiery darts of the enemy come.

What made the Apostles so skilled, is not what they did when all was well, but how they acted and reacted when trials and temptation, and persecution came.

To be righteous, or to be skilled in the work of righteousness, is to be in a state of mind and heart that is acceptable and pleasing to the Lord.

‘Δικαιοσύνη’ – ‘Dik-eye-o -soona- ah’ - To be in a condition that is approved by God.

Scripture is jam-full of this plead.

Matthew 5:6

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.

Matthew 5:10

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

As Jesus continues the greatest sermon ever preached. He addresses those who worry about provisions:

Matthew 6:31-33

“Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘what shall we eat?’ or ‘what shall we drink?’ or ‘what shall we wear?’ for after all these things the gentiles seek. For your heavenly father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”

The bottom line is they had trust issues. They were immature, they were not trusting, because they were unskilled in righteousness.

How skilled are we in pleasing the Lord? How often are we not in a state or mind that is approved by God?

So over the next few times, maybe even beyond that - right up to before we start our Sunday night teachings, I want to unpack these verses.

I will be drawing from many writers on this.

Some of this will be challenging. It wouldn’t be a Tuesday night if it wasn’t.

But hopefully it will, by the time we walk through it, help you know why we need to grow and mature, and have a deeper desire to please God in righteousness. And therefore make you desire more to learn and understand why what we will be doing on Sunday nights is vital for you.

Because, let’s make it clear, we need less stumbling and more skills in righteousness.

I will add this, yes we have the righteousness of God, but that does not mean we ‘walk’ in it.

‘Perapeteo’

That word is used 97 times in the new testament.

To walk worthy.

To walk deliberately.

To walk in a way that makes progress.

Let’s go through this verse by verse. Tonight, with what time is left, I won’t get beyond verse 12

Verse 12:

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food.

Cavlin writes at the offset:

You ought to have been instructors of others, but you’re not even disciples, who comprehend any truth, for as yet you do not understand the first rudiments of Christianity.

Rudiments – ‘basic principles’.

How can we be skilled, and aquatinted with righteousness, if we struggle to grasp the basics?

A.W. Pink, in his massive exposition of Hebrews writes:

The Hebrews were too lazy to make any effort to improvement.

Calvin then writes that the writer of Hebrews to the Jews then says in effect:

How can you know God’s word when you don’t even know the alphabet.

I remember when I was learning Greek, I still am. I had to do so like a child. I had to do it like I was in primary one. First saying out the letters, and repeating them back . Then when I got that, then writing each letter ten times and way more. Then the next day a few more letters, and then back to the same ones so I wouldn’t forget.

I did this for months, maybe six months on that alone, like a child. Until the letters were imbedded in my mind. Then went onto diphthongs for months. Then onto other things like breathing marks, and then tenses; past, present, then onto sexes, male, female, neuter. But it all started with childlike teaching. And when I don’t keep learning, I end up back at spelling out words like a child again.

If all I can in time is barely know the alphabet, what can’t I learn, what can’t I discover, what can and can’t I find out? What can I do to stop stumbling, and not be interrupted by? What dangers will I see and not see? I would just be a child; immature, ill equipped, unskilled, in the work of righteousness.

How can I truly be approved, when I have no righteous skills, but only childish ways?

Of course it’s not called immaturity today, or a lack of self-control, or selfish carnal ambition. It’s called ADHD.

It’s not immaturity, it’s not laziness, it’s a lack of attention span, coupled with hyperactivity.

Yes - hyperactivity to things that feed the flesh, and not stir the soul. Welcome to the world of every undisciplined child.

Calvin calls milk:

The elementary doctrine suitable for the ignorant.

Or in other words: The most basic teaching for those that know nothing.

Now, we cannot and ought not to mock that. We all start somewhere. The problem is of course, that we don’t move on from that place. Then we will end up in over our head when we are in trials, and temptations, with zero skills

We all start on milk, it is to nourish us into solid food, but if all you ever have is baby milk, you’re not going to become equipped well. You’re going to be interrupted a whole lot, due to a lack of righteous skills.

I can but only know childish things, and only know unequipping things, I can only but cry out for milk.

Paul, if you remember, called out the Corinthians on this in chapter 3:

1 Corinthians 3:1-2

And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able;

The writer of Hebrews states:

By now some should be teachers

‘Didaskalos’ - To teach the things of God.

But instead you need fed. Baby food.

Instead of teaching righteousness, we are so unskilled in its work, that we need fed the basics again, and again and again.

Here is the issue: Some only teach baby food messages, that keep others immature. Because they never graduate beyond baby food.

Some of the teaching we see today in the pragmatic church is so immature. Mostly driven by emotion and personal experience, and not the Word.

How many children are privy to their nurturer’s childish tantrums, and childish pursuits and rants? It’s all the see. They are so privy to the lack of righteousness. They only see examples of them unskilled in righteousness.

A.W. Pink again penned:

Spiritual slothfulness not only prevents practical progress, in a Christians life, but it produces retrogression.

Meaning it actually reverses and takes you back to a worse state.

Instead of adding, they are subtracting. They in time spiral out of control. Before long they have made another wealth of bad choices, bad relationships, bad financial commitments.

The lack of skill, is working towards their demise.

It’s not just that we don’t develop good godly skills. It’s that we as a result develop really poor ungodly skills - all compensation for lack of godliness. And as a Jesus diminishes, or gets reinvented, we in our carnal man increase.

I will close with this from Dr MacArthur:

I have known many professing Christians and well known theologians. They know scripture and even biblical languages well. They know what the bible says. But they neither know or accept what it means. They have been advanced students of scripture for decades, yet they don’t even know Jesus Christ. They may teach, but it’s not the pure Word of Christ they teach.

Amen.