 as we continue our verse-by-verse study here in the book of Hebrews and here in chapter 5. So let's begin reading together at verse 11, read to verse 14, and we'll get into our study. Hebrews chapter 5, beginning at verse 11 and moving on to verse 14. The writer writes, of whom we have much to say and hard to explain since you have become dull of hearing. 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, not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he's a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of a full age. That is those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Now last time we were together we had begun chapter 5, and we had looked at the Aaronic priesthood and a variety of things that were related to the priesthood and how the high priest was selected from amongst men and a variety of things like that. And we had moved into the fact that Jesus Christ is not a high priest after the order of Levi, but is rather a priest after the order of Melchizedek. And so we had stopped at verse 10 and now picking up at verse 11, he's actually just referring back to what we've already looked at. He wants to explain some things to his readers, and he's going to continue doing so because when we get to chapter 7 he gives more information concerning Melchizedek. But at this point he cannot speak as he would desire because he says you guys have become dull of hearing. When he says to them you have become dull of hearing in verse 11 here, that means you have become listless. You lack vigor, you lack force, you become intellectually numb is what he's saying. In other words your original eagerness to hear the word of God has cooled down. You at one time had a great desire, he's telling them, to hear the things of God from the word of God. There was a time when you had a fire in your heart, there was a desire in your life to know God and to know his word, what was going on in your life was so unique in you and so freeing up that you just couldn't get enough of it. You know, if you brought it up to contemporary standards it would be like saying the day you got born again when you received Christ there wasn't a Bible study that you didn't want to go to. The day you got saved you began to desire to be involved in any way that you could. You would go to Bible studies, you get involved wanting to serve. There was just a variety of things that you did. You began to forsake the things that at one time you used to love doing and you began to hang around with people who love the Lord. You began to enjoy praying and you began to share things about God with people. You began to share those things in terms of witnessing and all. You were just totally excited about being a believer but something happened, the fire went out. You no longer have that original spiritual hunger that you had. You don't have that level of excitement anymore. You're no longer desiring to hear the word of God and the sad thing is, he's saying, I want to tell you more. I want to share with you more. I want to bring you further on into the maturity of the things of God. I don't want to leave you as children. I want to encourage you so that I can build into your life the things that have depth and the things that are making for you becoming spiritually wise and strong individual. But I can't do that right now because you're just not interested. Your lack of interest in the things of God is causing me great, great concern. So dullness is now preventing your understanding. Here's something for you that you might want to mark down if you're not in your notes, at least in your heart. Mark this down. It's something that's really important. Failure to act on what you know results in hardening and the loss of blessings in your life. Failure to act on what you know results in a hardness, a hardening of your heart. And it also causes you to not receive the blessings that God wants to pour into your life. How do I know that? Well, turn with me for a moment to Matthew's Gospel, chapter 25. I want to share something with you there. Matthew chapter 25. We need to act on what God gives to us. What the Lord gives to us, we put into practice. When we put it into practice, we grow in our understanding. We also grow in our knowledge of Him in the personal fellowship that we have with God. And what we want to do is we want to act on what God gives to us. We don't come to Bible studies, in other words, just to hear Bible study. We come in order to know God, to be equipped with works of service so that we might go out and do those things that bring pleasure to Him and result in a blessing to us. But if I don't act on what I know, I'm going to become hardened because I'm going to say within myself, I've heard that before, give me something new, give me something fresh, give me something that I haven't heard before. And that makes me open to walking away from the things of the Lord and beginning to pursue experiences with God or experiences that are called experiences with God. And I end up getting messed up. In Matthew 25, we have an interesting parable. It's called the Parable of the Talents. And in Matthew 25, beginning at verse 14, Jesus gives this parable. I'm not going to give you a full explanation of it tonight, but I will point something out in just a moment. But let's read it together here. And beginning at verse 14, in Matthew 25, Matthew records that Jesus said, For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. And to one he gave five talents to another two and to another one to each according to his own ability. And immediately he went on a journey. Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them and made another five talents. And likewise he who had received two gained two more also. But he who had received one went and dug in the ground and hid his Lord's money. After a long time, the Lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them. So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents. Saying, Lord, you delivered to me five talents. Look, I have gained five more talents besides them. His Lord said to him, Well done, good and faithful servant. You are faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord. He also who had received two talents came and said, Lord, you delivered to me two talents. Look, I've gained two more talents besides them. His Lord said to him, Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord. Then he who had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew you to be a hard man reaping where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. And I was afraid and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours. But his Lord answered and said to him, You wicked and lazy servant. You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed. Therefore, you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers. And at my coming, I would have received back my own with interest. Therefore, take the talent from him and give it to him who has ten talents. For to everyone who has more will be given, and he will have abundance. But from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of tea. I want to concentrate on the third servant. I want you to notice that this one he's referred to and what happens in verses 24 through 30 here especially. I want you to notice that the third servant did not give the master any earnings. What he did give to the master was a self-serving excuse. These are all identified as servants. But in reality, this individual is a counterfeit. This is a person who doesn't have a relationship with God. You'll see why in just a moment. But let me give you two reasons. One is because he doesn't produce any fruit. He had no earnings to turn back because he had disregarded the master's commands. A genuine believer produces fruit that endures. And second, notice how he spoke to the master. He called him a hard man and basically was calling him dishonest. That makes the master an opportunist and it also makes him ruthless and cruel. That is the general belief of somebody who doesn't know the Lord. Because if somebody knows the Lord, they know that he's exactly the opposite of that. This man though in verses 25 and 26 thinks that God is distant, harsh, unjust, and uncaring. And that shows that he doesn't know the Lord. He doesn't know God as the loving, merciful savior of the world. And what he is actually showing here is irreverent contempt and therefore he is judged. That's why in verse 26 the Lord answers him and says you're a wicked and a lazy servant. In other words, you viewed me through your own heart and therefore I'm going to let you see me or I'm going to act in the way that you originally judged me. I am going to act towards you in harshness and as a judge. You're wicked because you have accused me and you're lazy because you did nothing with what I had given to you. So the result is that what he has is taken from him and given to the one who's shown faithfulness. And so we who are faithful to God receive blessings and eternal life. When we work according to our knowledge of God and salvation experience that we have in him, the result is going to be a producing of fruit. The result is going to be that we're adding to the things that God has given to us. And the result will be that we as believers will continue on in the things of God and be used by the Lord. See what happens, and you can return on back to Hebrews 5, what happens is God gives to us gifts and talents and variety of things to make use of. But if I don't make use of those things, I'm going to become hardened towards the things of God and I'm ultimately going to be stepping away from the things that I at one time had heard, perhaps intellectually embraced. And as a result of that I'm not going to be in a position that I can be blessed by God. When these people that the writer is writing to is being spoken to in verse 11, they're actually being admonished at this time because they have become dull of hearing, because they're not willing to hear, they're not eager anymore. And so one of the things that the Lord uses in his word for me at least is he asks me, am I just as excited now as I've ever been about getting into the word of God? Am I just as excited now as I've ever been about receiving a Bible study? Am I just as excited now as I've ever been about learning a new truth about the Lord and growing in my relationship with Him? Because if I've gotten to the point where I'm saying, I've heard that before, give me something new, then perhaps I'm not putting into practice the things that God has already given to me. Because what God gives to me, I add to that and I grow in my experience because there are levels of maturity that take place as I apply those things to my life. In other words, as I've read the New Testament when I first got saved and I read through the New Testament within the first few weeks of my salvation because I read it every day and I read through it very quickly, there are things that I read originally as a brand new Christian that I read today with greater understanding. Of course, after 35, almost 36 years of walking with the Lord and having hundreds of Bible studies after teaching thousands of studies, literally thousands of studies myself, I know that at this point that when I read the word of God, I am basically adding to the things that God has already given to me. But am I still eager for that? Am I still eager to hear God's word taught? Am I still eager to be exhorted and encouraged and taught in those things? Do I want to hear those things and do I want to act on those things? Because I can become dull of hearing. And that's what the writer is saying here again in verse 11. He says, I've got a lot to tell you. We have much to say concerning Melchizedek, but the problem is, as you become dull of hearing, the problem is, is you're not eager to receive and as a result of that, I'm greatly concerned for you. I want you to grow and I want you to know the things of God and to mature. So he says in verse 12, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God. You have come to need milk and not solid food. Enough time has passed since you first heard the gospel and professed no Jesus Christ. You have heard enough New Testament truth to be able to communicate it. Now in verse 12, when he says that by this time you ought to be teachers, it's not like he's saying every one of you in the church should be out there teaching Bible studies because I think that there's someone here perhaps that God has called to do that and you may have a sense to do that and maybe you are doing that on the job or in the home or in the neighborhood. But not every person has been called obviously to be a Bible teacher. What he's saying is you have enough information now to be able to communicate the things of the gospel of Jesus Christ to people. You've been spending enough time or should have spent enough time in the Word by now to understand enough about it, to be able to communicate to people and to share with them the things that you've been taught. You have received enough to be able to communicate about Jesus Christ to people. Now there's an interesting story in the gospel of Mark. I want to illustrate this with the man of the Gadarenes. It's found in Mark chapter 8. And in Mark chapter 8, and I'm going to turn there because I'm going to point something out to you in verses, well I won't tell you because you'll read them, but in Mark chapter 8, interesting story. The Lord Jesus Christ goes to a particular region there in Israel. We've been there numerous times called the Gadarenes. It's on the east of the Jordan River. And as the Lord Jesus is there with his disciples, he has an interesting welcoming committee there. There's a man, a man who's demon possessed, a man who's living in that region and actually is living in caves and tombs. This is a man who has shackles and chains upon him that the people have placed on him. But because he is demon possessed, he has a supernatural strength that actually has broken the chains and he runs free and he screams out there in the tombs in what we would call today the graveyard and he moans in agony and it's absolutely frightening to any people who happen by because as they would go by that road there in that region, he would come running out of the hills and he was flat out naked and he was wild eyed and he would scare everybody out of their minds, the man of the Gadarenes. The Lord Jesus Christ and his men have made their way to this region and as they're there in the region of the Gadarenes, the welcoming committee comes out and as this man comes towards the Lord Jesus Christ and begins to speak to him, he basically first, Mark tells us that he falls before him to worship, but then he asks Jesus Christ, do not torment us. Do not torment us. Have you come to torment us before the time and they make a request because within him there are demons and Jesus says what is your name and he says my name is Legion because within him are a multitude of demons and so the man that is there before Jesus Christ begs that the demons actually beg that Jesus will not send them into the abyss but rather allow them to go into a herd of swine. Now there are herd of swine that are feeding some 2,000 pigs and so Jesus gives them permission and these demons leave from this demon possessed man and they go and they invade the bodies of these pigs and the pigs all come running down this hill and they fall into the area, they fall right into the lake there and there are some when we've been there who say that's why this region here was called the Bay of Pigs. I'm not quite sure whether that's true or not, but this may be the first time you see Deviled Ham in Scripture, but anyway as you see this and these pigs fall into the water and they drown, the man that has been delivered of these demons is now at the feet of Jesus Christ. The ones who had fed the swine, well they run away, notice verse 14, those who fed the swine fled and they told it in the city and in the country and they went out to see what it was that had happened. Then they came to Jesus and saw the one who had been demon possessed and had the legion sitting and clothed and in his right mind they were afraid and those who saw it told them how it happened to him who had been demon possessed and about the swine. Then they began to plead with him to depart from their region and when he got into the boat he who had been demon possessed begged him that he might be with him. However Jesus did not permit him but said to him go home to your friends and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you and how he had compassion on you and he departed and began to proclaim in Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him and all marveled. This is one of those stories when I first got saved they gave to me an encouragement to share the little bit that I knew. Once I was out of my mind and now I'm in my right mind. Once I was absolutely crazy, as a matter of fact without going into any real testimony with you, I won't bore you with it, but from a young man who absolutely was just totally messed up to where I am now it is not just a matter of just growing up. It's a matter of transformation. It's a matter of regeneration. It's a matter of the Holy Spirit transforming and regenerating a broken life giving life to the dead and this man didn't know very much keep that in mind. He had just been demon possessed but delivered and yet what does Jesus do with this guy? Does Jesus put him in the boat and take him with him and disciple him? No it's interesting to me that he doesn't do that. What does he do? He says you go and you tell the people what happened and that's exactly what he does. Listen when it comes to sharing your faith and the things that you're learning of the Lord just take what God gives to you and use it. The Bible studies that you gain the notes that you write the passages that you look at take those things and put them into practice. If God gives you one insight through his word put that into practice and watch what happens in your life because every day every day you are going to be growing a little bit more in the things of God. You're not going to be dull of hearing. You're going to be a person who can take the basic things that God has given to you and share them with other people. You see that's what the writer is saying here in chapter 5 verse 12 of Hebrews. When he says that you ought to be teachers he's simply saying you have enough experience in the Lord to be able to communicate these things because you've experienced from God the transformation that occurs and because God is pouring into your life through his word things you can pour out of your heart to people. How do we know that? Well Matthew 12 34 says out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks and so what we do is we take the word of God in we memorize it we meditate upon it and we put it into action and in doing so our lives begin to change. But like he's saying in verse 12 though by this time you ought to be teachers you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God. You ought to be teaching but you're still in need of being taught. Now if you graduated from high school and you entered into college and you entered into college at the age of 18 between three and four years later if you do all of your studies you can graduate with a bachelor's degree three years three and a half years four years. Then if you pursue a master's degree depending on how studious you are and the kind of masters you're going to get within two years or three years you can gain a master's degree that's only seven years out of your life you're now 25 years old. If you pursue something beyond that into a doctoral study then three years plus whatever time it takes for you to gain after writing your dissertation and all. So three years to five years later on you could have your your doctorate so within a few short years after graduating from high school within 12 plus years or so you can be a doctor. Now 12 years how many of us in this room have been Christians for years how many of us have been Christians for seven years how many of us have been Christians for 12 do the math and begin to apply it because if I've been a Christian for four years and I've been studying the Word of God as diligently as I studied whatever my subject might be that I was getting my degree in that within four years I ought to have a pretty strong commanding understanding of the Word of God by six or seven years if I have been faithful in my studies I ought to have a master's level of understanding of the things of God if I'm 12 years old and I'm really spending my time in the Word of God I should have a pretty advanced knowledge and that's the point that he's making if I were in other words as a Christian as diligent in the pursuit of God as I've been in pursuit of my degrees or my job I probably would be pretty strong right now but unfortunately in the writer's experience he's saying listen though you should be teachers because you know enough the things of God to be able to communicate those things yet you have need to be taught because you haven't advanced and that's why he's so greatly concerned for them because you haven't been maturing you need to go through the ABCs once again of the things of God you see in verse 12 when he says you need someone to teach you again the first principles that word principle Stoichia speaks of the ABCs or the basics you need to go through the very basic things the basic truths again the oracles of God speaks of the Old Testament laws that God had revealed in other words you're only able to understand the spiritual truths on the simplest level and it concerns me verse 12 you've come to need milk and not solid food this is interesting because he says you have come to need milk you know what that means instead of advancing he's saying to them you're regressing instead of going forward you're going backwards instead of advancing in the things of God you are now becoming immature in the things of the Lord this is a pattern of regression you have returned to bottle feeding because you're not progressing in maturity you need basic truth now he calls the basic truths of scripture the milk you have come to need milk and not solid food milk and not solid food you are incapable of digesting you're not developed enough to to eat the solid food and therefore we have to give give to you something that is basically predigested my grandson Josiah is three years old and he likes gum and and I have a lot of it in my office and so he and he knows that and so he'll come in and one of the very first things he does uh is he'll go up to where I have all this gum and he actually looks through the office till he finds it because we have it in in different cabinets and oh here it is and you'll say I want some gum well of course you can have some gum but you know he's just a little guy and the gum is is is is big and it's that barrel shaped gum and so what I will do is I will take it and I will actually bite on it and I flatten the gum out at first I would just take pieces of it until he was large enough you know going big enough to chew a whole piece but I would take pieces of it and I would give it to him a little piece at a time because I don't want him to choke because I don't want him to choke on something that's too large for him to swallow that he's not prepared to or advanced enough or mature enough to be able to chew and to uh you actually enjoy and you know I'm that way with him I do that with certain kinds of uh of foods that I have I I you know it's gross as it seems to myself even as I'm saying this I will break open shells and I will I have some corn nuts and things like that I'll break them up and I give them piece by piece he's just not mature enough strong enough advanced enough to eat things that require some sophistication and so I understand the point that he's making here he's saying listen you should be right now advanced enough to have the meat of the word of God the advanced and the deeper things of God you ought to have that maturity right now but because you haven't been putting into practice the basic things you've actually gone backwards and now you have come to the point where I have to take a bottle out and I have to basically bottle feed you you ought to by now be capable just through using the word of God and sharing it with people you ought to by now be able to uh share enough with people to know that they might know the things of the kingdom of God but unfortunately you're not there at all you're immature in the things of God you're spiritually young and you're immature and therefore you need milk he says in verse 13 for everyone who partakes only in milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness for he's a babe now he's not saying he's good-looking he's a babe he's saying that he's a baby you're a spiritual infant that word unskilled when he says everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled that word unskilled speaks of being inexperienced a spiritual infant is not accustomed to deeper truths of scripture because he cannot digest those things he is inexperienced and unskilled and unprepared because you're not advancing I cannot give you deeper things those are things I understand as as a minister I understand those things as a a father because if I'm trying to share with my kids spiritual principles I guarantee you that even at their advanced age in terms of their chronological age there are still things because they haven't been involved in some things that they don't understand they simply don't understand those things because they do not do those things when it comes to ministry I know how that I know how that that works in ministry because I might speak after after service to somebody who's a new believer I had an individual who's only a few months old in the Lord come and speak to me today and he was sharing his heart with me and said I'm only three or four months old in Christ and and you can see the difference of somebody who's three or four months old in the Lord learning the basics versus somebody who might come up after service who's been a Christian for 25 or 30 years they're more advanced than their understanding because they've been walking with God for 25 30 years and so you have to have the wisdom to know what to give to that person whether it's milk or whether it's meat the writer's problem is is your inexperience you're unskilled you don't know the depth of God's word why because you've been regressing and therefore you're just taken of the milk and not the meat you're simply a baby 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 so your spiritual state must increase your system needs to mature and that comes through practice as you learn the word of God you're going to grow an experience with him then you're going to come to desire God's word more because you see the value in your life and then you're going to see that it brings spiritual nourishment to your life so when you have a hunger for the word of God you're going to grow so you see the spiritually mature person comes to understand the value of God's word because partaking of God's word ultimately is understood as as of premier importance in Job in Job 23 verse 12 we read I have not departed from the commandment of his lips I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my necessary food the psalmist in Psalm 119 103 says how sweet are your words to my taste sweeter than honey to my mouth Psalm 119 127 I love your commandments more than gold yes and fine gold Jeremiah 15 16 your words were found and I ate them your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart for I'm called by your name oh Lord God of hosts and Jesus in Matthew 4 verse 4 said man does not live by bread alone and so when you grow in the things of the Lord one of the things you're going to discover is a greater hunger for God's word if you want to mature and be used by God if you want to experience the depth of the wisdom of God you put into practice the things of God and that means you you you spend time every day reading a passage reading a psalm reading the Proverbs reading through the Bible whatever you do but you have a regular habit of doing that and as a result of that you're growing your understanding and then the things that God gives to you you put into practice I can't tell you how many times I have been reading a passage in scripture that is just my time with the Lord and later on I'm talking to somebody and that passage comes to mind it comes to mind and I'll say you know I was just reading this today and it applies to this situation because God is arming you with his word and then you take it and you hand it to somebody and as you hand it to them then their eyes are enlightened their understanding grows and their life is transformed it's just taking the word of God and putting it into practice so somebody says listen I'd like to know how I can grow how is it possible for me to grow in the things of the Lord I want to close our study by taking you to Proverbs chapter 2 now you heard me say I'm going to close my study right some of you are saying all right no it's going to be a while Proverbs chapter 2 and I want to show you something here that can be of help to you you know we memorize quite a number of things don't we we memorize so many things and we put our concentration on so many things and sometimes the things that we memorize and that we concentrate on don't even benefit us I was coming to church a couple of Wednesday nights ago and I was by the the high school Don Lugo high school now it's coming north here on pipeline I was right there by the tennis courts you all know where that is and I'm going north and coming to church it's Wednesday night and I'm at the stop and the light turns green and so I begin to proceed through the intersection to make my way up here when the guy who's in the left turn lane decides to turn right in front of me and so I'm as I'm as I'm driving I slowed down for a moment and I think no he's just creeping out you know that he's just moving out no he drives about 10 miles an hour in front of me as I'm accelerating into the intersection of course I'm not going too fast you know I just gone 15 feet so I was only going about 40 miles an hour by then I had just started to accelerate when I hit my brakes and I honk the horn because I could see what he's doing my headlights hit the driver and you know what he's doing he had his cell phone out and he's looking at a message and he's driving through the intersection and I'm thinking I hope that message was that important because you could die for that you know and he's probably reading hey dog was up or something I mean some stupid you know and I'm thinking man I wonder if that message was worth it you know you can concentrate on the wrong things you can you can have your attention on the wrong things and end up hurt so for me I want to have my concentration on the right things and Proverbs Proverbs chapter 2 helps me to see how I can grow I want to give you some very basic things here to help you grow so let me read verses 1 through 6 in Proverbs chapter 2 and give you a few things that might help you to mature in the things of God how to grow how to access the wisdom of God how to partake in it and how to be equipped so that you can give it to somebody else well the writer says my son if you receive my words and treasure my commands within you so that you incline your ear to wisdom and apply your heart to understanding yes if you cry out for discernment and lift up your voice for understanding if you seek her as silver and search for her as for hidden treasures then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God for the Lord gives wisdom from his mouth comes knowledge and understanding and so what we have here is a way to access the wisdom of God and to partake in it so that we might grow how can I grow in the things of God I need to spend time in God's word and I need to practice it notice in verse 1 how Solomon first writes my son if you receive my words so the first thing I want to point out is where to receive the things of God if we're going to become wise we have to open to instruction if I'm going to become wise in the ways of God I need to be teachable when he says if you receive that word receive means to choose or to accept it speaks of taking so to gain wisdom the soil of your heart needs to be open to receive the seed of the word of God there needs to be a humility of heart a purity of spirit and a willingness to receive what God has to say so when you're in the word of God you say speak Lord for your servant is listening when we attend bible studies open the word of God we say God teach me your ways because I want to receive these things I want to be transformed in order that I might grow in my understanding of you a second thing we see is if we're going to gain wisdom we have to value God's word he says to him in verse 1 treasure my commands within you we need to have a heart that sees this as being valuable to treasure speaks of hiding something it speaks of storing something up it's another way of saying we memorize God's word it should be stored in our heart because when you store it in your heart you can carry it about with you and you can use it whenever you're called it's called upon whenever there's a need that's why the psalmist said in Psalm 119 verse 11 thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against you I have memorized your word I have I have meditated on your word and memorized your word and that way if I don't have my bible handy I've still got it right here in my heart and I'm capable of accessing it now as I've shared with you before I was sharing this the other day when I first got saved my friend said to me this he said David you need to remember that the bible is called in Ephesians 6 the sword of the spirit and so you know he he showed me this the big bible that I had that I'm holding up in my hand right now but he said you need to always have your sword and when you don't have your sword and he pulled out his little pocket bible that I've been carrying for 30 some years and he says if you don't have your sword carry your switchblade and and that's what I've been doing for years and so I carry this little bible with me wherever I go of course I've gone through a variety of these over the years but I carry this little bible with me wherever I go because there are times that I'm some place that I can just I can just I can take the time to read God's word and to put it in my heart sometimes people will ask you what are you reading you can actually share with them a little bit about what it is that you're reading and you have opportunities to share and so you need to have this in your heart as well as in your hand and so so one of the things we do is we need to be teachable the second thing we need to do is we need to treasure God's word within us and value it a third thing is found in verse two we incline he says so that you incline your ear to wisdom we incline our ear to incline is a is an active practical habit of paying attention we listen carefully to what's being said and I do that by habit you know after all these years I just do that by habit my kids do not like to sit and watch tv with me I have to tell you that it's the absolute truth they do not like it though they do they don't like it if I'm watching something why because I talk to the tv screen all the time I I don't know about anybody else do that am I the only crazy one yeah good thank you and we can watch tv together sometime and what is he saying I don't know it's so stupid but I will sit there and I will do that I comment on what I'm watching all the time my wife Marie just hates it the pieces she'll say can't you just watch this and I'll say no woman I can't I can't I can't because they're trying to tell me something that's not true it's not and that boy we you know she said honey it's just entertainment there's no such thing as just entertainment what it is is the message and you have to be discerning to receive or not to receive what's being said I'm constantly doing that why because I am constantly bombarded with messages in one form or another you actually we we all go through everyday millions of messages our sensory messages some things we see some things we hear things we smell some things we touch some things we taste we go through sensory experiences by the millions every day and some of those things that are being presented to us are part of the culture of the world that intends to communicate to you something that is not of the Lord and so I'm very careful with that I'm very careful with what I listen to I'm careful with what I read I'm careful with what I watch I'm careful where I go I'm careful with what I do because I want to live a disciplined life in the things of the Lord so that I don't short-circuit his communication to me by entertaining something that undermines what the Spirit has wanted to teach me now that may sound kind of crazy to you it might even sound a little radical to you but I see that as normal Christianity just wanting to do the things that are pleasing to God and to take into my life those things and being willing to say look at I can watch O'Reilly or whatever it is and I'm watching I'll say well that's interesting I don't agree with that I don't agree with that but that's interesting I can do that it's not like I'm going to walk out a clone of Bill O'Reilly and start getting mad at everybody it's not something like that but I am sensitive to what I'm watching because I want to receive the things that are going to change my life and I want to incline my ear to wisdom and I want to apply my heart to understanding which means I have an active habit of paying attention in Psalm 119 verse 10 with my whole heart I have sought you oh let me not wander from your commandments not with part of my heart with my whole heart I have sought you incline your ear to wisdom verse 3 gives us a fourth thing verse 3 if you cry out for discernment and lift up your voice for understanding crying out for discernment you need to cry out to God in prayer asking God to illuminate his word that as you read it it begins to make sense like the psalmist said in Psalm 119 verse 18 open my eyes that I might see wondrous things from your law like the psalmist said in Psalm 119 130 the entrance of your word gives light it gives understanding to the simple so I ask God that he might give to me that understanding in verse 4 there's a fifth thing if you seek her as silver and search for her as hidden treasure I believe very strongly that that what that requires on my part is effort I put effort into my spiritual life you know the way that if somebody approached me and said listen I have access to a mine that is filled with silver or I have access to and knowledge to a place that somebody has buried hidden treasure my problem is I can't access it by myself so are you willing to get up tomorrow at three o'clock in the morning to travel a few hours with me to get to the location so that you and I working together can get the silver or to get that hidden treasure listen if I were to stand up here and you trusted me and I know most of you do to some degree if I were to stand up here like tonight and if I were to say to you listen you guys this is unbelievable I know but it's true I have access right now because I have somebody who shared with me that I have a hundred percent trust in and I've seen this for myself but I need some help because at three in the morning I'm going to be taken off and traveling five hours but I guarantee you that when you get up and you travel with me that when we get there it's going to take a little while and it's going to take some effort but I can guarantee you that you will walk home with 15 million dollars if you spend a few hours with me helping me to dig it up I wonder how many people would be here with grandma and the boss and everybody else I mean the whole family would be here you know it's true I mean we'd have lines of people you'd be calling friends and saying listen we've got access to millions of dollars all that requires for you to do is get up and a little effort and and if you want to dig for a little while I guarantee you we can hit the the vein and we are going to walk away millionaires I guarantee you if you trusted me and I and I convinced you that it was absolutely true that I would have the parking lot filled with hundreds of people who are going to come and become millionaires never having to work on that job anymore traveling the world doing whatever they want just because they went out and applied themselves that's kind of what he's saying here he's saying listen you need to know that God's word is more valuable than hidden treasure it's more valuable than silver because that parishes with the using and you can use it all up but not God's wisdom you can never use up God's wisdom and so all you need is the discipline the eagerness and the ability to apply some effort and God will work in your life so we can read the word of God and search the scriptures we can learn to do these things but it has to be a heart that God might work in our lives as a result of that it's like again Psalm 1972 that says the law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of coins of gold and silver what an incredible thing to say what an incredible thing to say your word is more valuable to me than all the money in the world because wisdom is something that doesn't leave you and it never grows old so what's the result if we put these basic things in into play if we're teachable and obedient if we're disciplined and we persevere and we have a little effort while the result in verse five you're going to understand you're going to understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God the Lord gives wisdom from his mouth comes knowledge and understanding the result you gain a personal knowledge of the Lord you receive his direction and his protection and this wisdom protects you in life it also produces righteousness in you and protected by his wisdom you're not ripped off by the world and you're not ripped off by Satan because God is the one who gives wisdom it all comes from the Lord and if you search for wisdom God gives it to you and so the writer of Hebrews is saying by now you should be teachers but you've regressed into infancy I have to give you milk because you haven't put into practice the word of God and as a result of that your lives are spiritually immature you're spiritually retarded you're slow and you need to grow and so I take that as a warning how long have you been walking with the Lord what has God taught you has God taught you anything tonight is he encouraging you in any way to be hungry for his word if so put it into practice tomorrow when you get up have a devotion read a Psalm read a proverb one of the easiest things for you to do is because Proverbs has 31 chapters whatever the day of the week is tomorrow the 23rd pick up the bible and read the 23rd chapter of Proverbs do that as a habit and you can read Proverbs go through Proverbs every every month and you'll read through Proverbs 12 times in a year if you just read just one chapter of it you can do that that is not too hard to do ask yourself how many hours you watch tv how many hours you might listen to the radio how many hours you're in your car driving and then just use those hours to turn the radio on to Christian station and get taught the word of God get up in the morning and read a chapter of Proverbs get a devotional there are some good devotionals that that takes two minutes to read but it sets the tone for your day every morning when I get up I have a devotional that I read first thing in the morning first thing it only takes me two to three minutes to read it but it sets my day it sets my day in the right direction every day and that I think is really an important thing to do get into the word of God and apply it and watch what God will do in your life