Tuesday Evening Service 27/5/2025

Skilled In Righteousness - Part 2

Hebrews 5:12-14

Watch the Full Sermon HERE.

Well tonight we continue on just a slightly different trajectory than normal. As these Tuesday nights are mostly, or should I say, almost entirely taken up by teachings from a work, or a treatise or a sermon from the great puritans. But last time I mentioned we are taking a little side step and bring another teaching.

As we have said, in August we are going to be, every second Sunday, bringing some teachings to help you in your walk. Like a mini seminary. Where we will all work through many of the fundamentals of faith. But also learn more systematic theology, and doctrines, that we believe will truly help equip and give you all a more robust grasp of the things of God, His Word, and the church.

We will have some lessons in church history. Some Scottish church history, and the covenanters. We will even bring a lesson and teaching on basic biblical Greek. That may be a workshop, or something we will do out with Sunday nights, for those who are interested in learning even the basics of that.

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.

There are no apostles or prophets today. The church today is made up of pastors/teachers, and evangelists. We are all called to the work of the evangelist, but some are truly gifted and called to that work.

The role of pastors/teachers, eldership, is to equip the saints. To bring to maturity, to bring to unity and perfection.

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.

“uninterrupted progress.”

That’s what Paul is writing to the Ephesians about. It’s what he writes to the Corinthians about. It’s what is at the heart of every letter.

It was at the heart of Christ’s High Priestly prayer. Christ was, and still is praying for us not to be interrupted. Isn’t that a wonderful thing?

Yet we are, and we do stumble.

How easily interrupted am I?

What are the means of the interruption? What makes us stumble?

Paul, in his writing to the church in Galatia:

Galatians 5:7

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

So as a sort of precursor, or preamble: before we head to these nights, myself and the elders thought it would be beneficial to talk to you about maturing, and learning to be skilled in righteousness. So that we don’t stumble. Over the course of a few sessions or weeks.

These verses in Hebrews, which we started teaching on last time, truly teach what is the cause and what we in turn must do to walk towards uninterrupted progress.

As always on Tuesdays, before we go into the teaching, let me read a puritan prayer that is fitting for the subject matter. The prayer comes from ‘Piercing Heaven’, page 64, and is by puritan Philip Doddridge – entitled: ‘From One Degree Of Faith To The Next’:

Blessed God, I acknowledge before you my own weakness and insufficiency for anything that is spiritually good. I have experienced it a thousand times, and yet my foolish heart would again trust itself and resolve to move ahead in its own weakness. But let this be the firstfruits of your gracious influence: to bring it to a humble distrust of itself, and to rest in you. I rejoice, O Lord, in your assurance that you are ready to shower me with rich benefits. So because of your kind invitation, I boldly approach your throne, to find grace for help in every time of need. I do not mean to turn your grace into a license for immorality or to make my weakness an excuse for negligence and laziness. You have already given me more strength than I have used. I want to be found diligent in the use of everything you supply. If not, any petition like this one would be a profane mockery, and would probably provoke you to take away what I have, not impart more. But as I firmly resolve to exert myself, I ask for your grace to fulfil that resolution. Fill me with the right attitude toward you and my fellow creatures. Remind me always of your presence, and that every secret of my soul is open to you. May I guard against the first sign of sin, and may Satan find no room for his evil suggestions. Fill my heart with your Holy Spirit, and take up your residence there. Dwell in me, walk with me, and let my body be the temple of the Holy Spirit. Take me from one degree of faith, love, zeal, and holiness, to the next, until I appear perfect before you through Jesus Christ my Lord. In him I have righteousness and strength. Amen.

Last time we covered verse 12, tonight we will continue mostly in that verse and then 13 to close. However, let me read all three verses we are covering in this teaching we have entitled: ‘Skilled In Righteousness’.

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. Instead of maturing, as A.W. Pink wrote, they are ‘retrogressing’.

Of course, our reason for Sunday nights is not a rebuke but to equip. However, these verses do highlight in great detail the effects of not maturing.

The two things we want to hopefully help you with over these nights is first, as I said: to help us all stop being interrupted. And the second is: to learn to be more ‘skilled in righteousness, not unskilled’. Other versions says ‘not accustomed to the word of righteousness’.

One of the clearest indications 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.

John Brown, the 18th century Scottish theologian who served in Knox’ birth place Haddington, writes a wonderful commentary on Hebrews.

Brown was self-educated, and was known to be wonderful with languages, it is said he could speak at least ten: Latin, Greek, and Hebrew being is most fluent out with English. His commentary on Hebrews is known by many as a great work.

His most famous work of course is that of the self-interpreting bible. A massive single volume bible. I have an 1858 one I picked up in a charity shop for £25.

Anyway, Brown wrote this about the condition of the Jewish converts:

Instead of the obscure becoming clear, the clear was becoming obscure.

Tonight I will quote him from time to time, along with others.

I said last time and say it again, 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. Also such poor skills in discerning, not just false teaching, but even their own pride.

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. When their flesh flared up, through pride, or offence or rejection. Their minds were not polluted with unrighteousness.

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

In Greek:

Δικαιοσύνη

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

I don’t want to spend much time in verse 12, as we did so the last time. Let me just share a few things from last time.

Hebrews 5:12

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.

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 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, you’re going to stumble a whole lot. Because of the lack of maturity, because of the lack of the Word of righteousness.

Note again what the writer writes in verse 12: ‘you have come to need milk and not solid food’.

John Brown writes:

I am afraid this is a very common habit among hearers of the gospel in this present age. They have been accustomed to hear the gospel from their infancy; and fancy they know and understand it perfectly…

He adds:

And as such they have come to need milk and not strong meat.

I remember, and you have heard me say it many times: I was so accustomed to fleshy, carnal messages, that when I started to listen to the puritans and sound teaching, it took me time for me to develop a deep hunger for it. Because it’s not like a sugar rush that you get from the modern pragmatic teaching, that’s all candy floss and not meat. Or all milk and no meat.

I remember sitting next to Ian Murray and the late Jean Murray at a conference, and they are old, and not once did they zone out. Maybe in their minds they did, but they stayed upright and walked in their tiny bibles through every verse preached.

And I never had the language as to why. But I realised, they were used to the meat of the Word. They didn’t need their emotions stirred and given a shot of adrenaline.

Dr Lloyd Jones was never a huge fan of testimony nights. He felt they were over emotional, and were more acquired by the immature.

The truth is the more I walked in shallow teaching, and shallow immature worship, the more I never developed an appetite for solid food.

I choked on it, it never stirred my flesh. But truly it also never crucified my flesh, and that was the real issue. And that is the real issue with those that ‘have come to need milk’.

I truly love the story from 1 Kings 20. I’m sure many of you will be familiar with it. If not by memory of verse but of story.

Evil king Ahab wants to go into battle. So he summons all his ‘yes men’.

1 Kings 22:6-8

Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men, and said to them, “shall I go against Ramoth Gilead to fight, or shall I refrain?” So they said, “go up, for the Lord will deliver it into the hand of the king.” And Jehoshaphat said, “is there not still a prophet of the Lord here, that we may inquire of him?” So the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “there is still one man, Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may inquire of the Lord; but I hate him, because he does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil.” And Jehoshaphat said, “let not the king say such things!”

1 Kings 22:17-18

Then he said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd. And the Lord said, ‘these have no master. Let each return to his house in peace.’ ” and the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “did I not tell you he would not prophesy good concerning me, but evil?”

Ahab had no appetite for truth, he only wanted to follow his carnal, evil desires, and as a result, shut out Micaiah.

1 Kings 22:26-27

So the king of Israel said, “take Micaiah, and return him to Amon the governor of the city and to Joash the king’s son; and say, ‘thus says the king: “put this fellow in prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and water of affliction, until I come in peace.”

Shut him out my life, out of sight out of mind, so I can pursue what I want.

Totally and utterly un-equipping him, making him totally unskilled in righteousness, because he has no appetite for anything but his carnal desires.

I’m sure as parents you try and teach your kids to get beyond chicken nuggets. But that thing is not easy. Because often parents just give them what they want. And I get that. But how will they develop their taste buds, if all they live on is ketchup and nuggets?

John Brown again on the immature Jews writes:

They had by their indolent (laziness) neglect of the proper nourishment of the mind, that it spoiled their spiritual appetite and power of digestion, bringing them back as it were to a state of second childhood.

He added to the point:

They could digest nothing else. That person is one who is unskilful in righteousness.

Which equals a lack of fully knowing truth in your life.

Brown calls it:

The truth most sure.

We will close with verse 13 and next time share more on that along with verse 14.

Hebrews 5:13

For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.

John Macarthur says:

A spiritual infant is not accustomed to the deeper truths.

He adds and I say this to close:

The spiritual system, like the physical, has to grow in order to handle that which is more difficult.

Difficult in scripture, difficult in understanding, difficult in life, and battles, and trials.

We need to mature in righteousness, to be fully effective, and not be swayed, or moved by every trial, or wind, or doctrine, as Paul says.

I’m grateful for mature brothers, they hold me accountable.

We need Micaiahs; we need to become skilled in righteousness.

Amen.