The Book of Hebrews 5:11-14 Hearing and Food - Part 1

Good morning. We're going to be stepping into another section here in Hebrews. We last week completed 5.10, which is the end of the explanation section, and today we'll be switching to 5.11-14, which begins in exhortation, continues on into chapter 6, verse 12.

And so we're going to have a kind of a different character. Last week, it told you things, but didn't ask you to do something. This, we're going to see a difference. And we're going to take actually two weeks to go over this passage. So we're going to return again to it, and we'll talk about that in a minute why. Now, see this picture here? I can't explain anything in this picture. So let's move on to the passage. That's easier to explain. OK.

What we have is the Hebrews 5.11-14 sandwich, and I would ordinarily apologize showing you that right before lunch, except that we're all going to go down and have lunch together, right? So, at any rate, the sandwich goes like this.

Hebrews 5.11 is the top part, and we'll be looking at that first here.

5.14b, that is the last part of verse 14, is the other part, and we'll be putting our focus today on those two parts, and next week, looking at the middle of the sandwich, which is Hebrews 5.12-14a. So that's the way we're going to approach this thing, and don't worry, the bread is gluten-free. Now, Hebrews 5, 11 through 14 looks like this.

We're going to be taking a look at the parts that we have color-coded in blue. And just so it's clear, this is senses, dealing with senses only in a bad sense in verse 11. And so we have the upside-down thumb, right? Like that. And then at the end here, senses in a good sense in the last part of verse 14. And so, thumbs up, right?

And it's what's in between that we're going to put off until next week in order to be able to focus on that, because that's how a person gets from this bad sense, this dull of hearing, to the good use of the senses that are shown at the bottom part. So 12 through 14a is the transition. Here's how we get from here to there, from bad to good. All right, so that's our approach here. We're going to eat this sandwich a little differently this way.

So Hebrews 5.11 addresses spiritual senses and specifically the sense of hearing.

And so in the believers and the author's writing, he's letting the believers know that their hearing is in bad condition. They've taken their hearing test and they flunked. That's what the deal is here. Their spiritual sense of hearing is not working so good. 5.14, starting with the line, who, because of practice, tells the readers where their spiritual senses ought to be.

So, by doing that, what are we saying? This is a matter not of position, this is condition. Got that? This is not a matter of your eternal position, this is a matter of your daily condition. That's what he's talking about. When you see an ought, It has to do with your daily condition, and that's the case here in 11 through 14. Now, so we're going to eat the bread first, right?

Hebrews 5.11 tells them where they are, and it is not a pretty picture. They are dull of hearing, and we're going to talk more about what that dull of hearing means here in a little bit.

But 5.14 there tells them where they ought to be, and the picture couldn't look any better. For a believer who has their senses fully trained, then they're operating as God intended, and as their position in Christ makes them capable of being. So, 5, 12, and 13 tells them how to get from the really terrible, and I'm going to use this word, retrogressive state that they're in now to the place where they, spiritually speaking, ought to be. And so what is described here in verse 11, their terrible state, is retrogressive. They ought to be farther along than they are. They ought to be farther along than they are.

So we're going to look at Hebrews 5.11 and 14 today, 5.12 and 13 next Sunday. So looking at this passage here, we're going to start off with the first and the last part and go through it that way. What you have, and this is still on page 2, in the same way that we have five senses in the physical realm, we also have the analog of these in the spiritual realm.

And scripture talks repeatedly about this, both in the Old and New Testaments. And you have the sense of sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste all referred to in the Bible, substantially in the New Testament, but even in the Old Testament as well. All five of those senses are made reference to spiritually speaking. Now, in teaching on spiritual senses, if teaching on spiritual senses were a country, Hebrews would be the capital. This is a book that is full of the use of the senses full of the use of the senses in a spiritual respect. The teaching on spiritual senses is found both in the Old and New Testament, and the prophets particularly talked about the use of the senses, spiritually speaking. The teaching on spiritual senses for church saints, however, is found in the New Testament letters. The Apostle Paul used them repeatedly, but this book of Hebrews really has a substantial reference to it, as we're going to see. Of the letters in the New Testament, this has the greatest density of such teaching here in the book of Hebrews.

Not only are three of the five spiritual senses found in Hebrews, and repeatedly for each one, but the senses as a whole are found in Hebrews 5.14. As far as I can tell, that is the only place where the spiritual senses are referred to as an umbrella term. All of the senses are referred to there. Now, what you have here is the five senses in the physical realm have an analog in the spiritual realm. Now let's step through that.

You have seeing in Hebrews 2.9, we see him. Obviously that's seeing him spiritually.

Hebrews 12.2, looking unto Jesus. is another reference. You have in addition to that, several others that we won't quote here, but chapter 11 has three of them, 10, 26, and 27, more reference to seeing in the spiritual realm.

And as you might have noticed, Hebrews 12.2 follows those multiple references. So here we have in Hebrews five references to seeing in the spiritual realm.

The book is dense with them. Next one, hearing. And you have, beside the dull of hearing in this passage, you have reference to it in 3.7 and 15 and 4.7. So this is the last of several references to hearing. And we'll talk more about what dull of hearing means here in the context.

The next one is tasting, and this is another one where it shows up more than once in the book of Hebrews. We're going to see that in the next chapter, verses 4 and 5. 2-9 is a place where we already saw tasting, spiritually speaking. However, Hebrews isn't the only place where that comes up. We've particularly selected those examples here, and we'll be looking a little bit at where it shows up in other books. Next one, the sense of smell. is one that shows up not here in the book of Hebrews, but 2 Corinthians 2, 14-16, the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him. So the sense of smell is another one that's referred to.

And Ephesians 4.19 talks about the unbelievers being past feeling. They have lost their sense of touch. So all five senses are referred to. Hebrews is the capital, if you will, of that teaching and has multiple references of those first three kinds of senses.

All right. You have on page two, this slide, and rather than have this thing show up all at once, it almost looks like a wiring diagram for the space shuttle. So let's take a little step at a time here and see if we can make it a little more comprehensible.

First of all, There is a physical realm and a spiritual realm. Now it's interesting, human beings have been inclined to think that there's a physical realm and some human beings don't even think there's a spiritual realm. What the Bible reveals, because God loves us, is that from the spiritual realm is where the physical realm has come. The spiritual realm is the source of the physical realm and not the other way around. And so the Bible teaches there's a physical realm and a spiritual realm. Human beings are both physical and spiritual beings. We are a spiritual being. We are a physical being. We are both. That's how God made us. What we have here we can, and this is more like your diagram here so we can track it.

There is in the physical realm a body which contains as a part of the body the brain. Similarly, in the spiritual realm, there is the spirit of a person, and within that, the soul. So far, fairly simple, right? So this is a physical-spiritual anatomy. Next part, we see the mind, emotions, and will has a physical component and a spiritual component. See that? The mind, emotions, and will has a physical component in the brain as well as a spiritual component on the spiritual side. And the Bible talks about mind, emotions, and will numerous times, each of those components.

We looked at Hebrews 4.12 previously and we'll look at it 5.12-14 talking about we get the Word of God through sight Hearing and if you use braille touch, right? Sight hearing and touch is the avenue through which we get the Word of God here You have a physical entity and most of you might have even a Bible in the pew racks You might have brought your own Bible and that's a good thing But here we have a physical entity out here that penetrates into the human heart to the deepest place Hebrews 412 says to the dividing line between soul and spirit and So here is this deepest part of you that is touched by, here, the Word of God, a physical entity.

That's a rather amazing thing. Nothing else does that. Nothing else does that. Next, what Hebrews says multiple times, and this passage here addresses that, next is there is the impact from the Word of God on our spiritual sight, hearing, and taste. There's the impact on our spiritual senses from sight, hearing, and taste. What's interesting is that it is possible for a believer to have some limitations to some of their physical senses. Maybe you can't hear quite so well, maybe you have difficulty seeing, and still have fully functional spiritual senses. See the difference there? It's possible, as a believer, I may be challenged in my physical senses, but have still fully functional spiritual senses.

We have one more indication in that, and all senses are referred to in this passage in Hebrews 5.14, rather than just specific senses. So we have senses in the physical realm, which may be of varying capacity, and we have senses in the spiritual realm, which this passage here reveals, may be of varying capacity. It's God's intent that the believer, through maturity, through the Word of God, have all five functional senses in the spiritual realm. It's God's intent that the believer, through maturity by the word of God have all five senses functional fully functional in the spiritual realm that's what God intends for you and for me okay he addresses spiritual hearing loss okay spiritual hearing loss Hebrews 511 concerning him that is Christ who is the high priest of the order of Melchizedek we have much to say and it is hard to explain Since you have become dull of hearing, Isaiah 6, 9, and 10, and that's quoted in Acts chapter 28, Isaiah 6, 9, and 10 also has reference to spiritual hearing. So this is not simply a New Testament teaching, although the New Testament teaches what is true of church saints, right? So it is a teaching throughout the Bible.

We also have spiritual hearing in Revelation 2.7.

Those who have been involved in our Revelation Intensive saw right off that we have this in Revelation 2.7 and repeated in 2.11, 17, 29, 3.6, 13, and 22. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. That's not referring to this ear. It's talking about spiritual hearing, right? He who has a spiritual ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

Now, another reference we have, and this gives us insight into the unbeliever, blinded minds in 2 Corinthians 4, 3 and 4. So here is, and even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. in whose case the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God.

So what's the condition of the unbeliever? They can't see. We as believers have our senses turned on. The unbeliever has limited to no sensibility in the spiritual realm. You talk about God and they've got no experience and no insight there. They can't see it. They can't see it. You can. Gospel? What gospel? They don't get it. They don't understand. Their minds have been blinded. Their seeing in the spiritual realm is just simply non-functional.

Here is Paul's reference to the eyes of your heart, and I think this provides an insight for us. In Ephesians 1, 18 and the first part of 19, I pray that the eyes of your heart, so here is the sense function, sight, on the spiritual side, may be, and this actually is in the perfect tense, so it's having been opened, having been enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. What this passage is telling us is when you believed, the light switch was turned on to your spiritual senses. All right, let's take a look here. Just as we have five senses in the physical realm, believers have five spiritual senses that have been made operable by God's doing at the time that we believe. And one way we can put that is it's like God's turn on the switch. At the time you believe, you have those five senses operable. But what this Hebrews passage is telling us, it is possible that a believer has all the senses turned on, but they're not using it. They're not using one or more of them to the capacity they ought to be.

So here's Hebrews 5.11 expanded and explained, okay? Concerning whom, as Christ is the high priest according to the order Melchizedek, we have much to say, but it is difficult to explain to you since you have actively become dull of hearing as a fixed and retrogressive spiritual condition. The verb here packs in a lot of information, and so that's not accidental or added. It's active voice.

They have actively sought to become dull of hearing. It's possible for believers to do that. God turned on that spiritual sense of hearing, but these guys say, no, I don't want to hear that. And they've shut it down willfully. And the verb tense conveys another thing. that it is a fixed condition. They're stuck in it. They're stuck in it. Isn't that amazing that believers can get to a place where they actively shut down the sense that God turned on and they're stuck there.

Wow. I mean, that's intense. Let's take a look at the note here. The author of Hebrews was having a hard time getting the truth across to his audience, not because of the lack of ability on the author's part. It wasn't because the author was saying, it's hard to explain to you because I'm not very good at this. That's not his point.

His point was that they had a chronic pursuit of spiritual dullness of hearing. They were chronically pursuing that dull hearing And they were stuck there, such that they are mired down in a degraded spiritual condition that is minimally responsive to God's truth. They can't hear very well, and they like it, and that's what they've pursued, and they'd like to stay there. Now, so then, we go from dull to trained.

The word translated dull in verse 11 had a variety of meanings in different contexts, but considering the athletic focus of Hebrews 5.14, dull in 5.11 can mean slow from being out of shape. You guys are out of shape in your hearing. You got some conditioning you need to do, some exercising here, and that's what's going to get you out of it. Right now your ears are pretty out of shape. That's the implication from the context. The word translated trained here in 14 is from a word that means athletic training in a gymnasium, which I also have to add they did naked. I won't show pictures of that. All right.

The cities had an athletic gymnasium that was prominent. Most of the major cities would have that and it was a place for skill and conditioning. And let me show you a couple examples. Here we have in Sardis would be a very good one because the gymnasium, at least the facade and the front, is in very good shape after 2,000 years. So here is this bathhouse and gymnasium here at Sardis under the construction during the time that the Book of Revelation was written. And as you see, it's in pretty good shape for something that's 2,000 years old.

Another example will go from Sardis, one of the seven cities of Revelation, to the city of Philippi. Now, the city of Philippi is a city at the base of a mountain. The mountain was used for gold mining and as a cemetery. But looking down from there, you can see this area.

This area here is where Paul and Silas were beaten With rods and then were sent to jail from right behind that a little bit beyond it That is the place that was the gymnasium and bathhouse There and this is a shot of it from another angle down on the ground and a little closer The bathhouse was in place during the time Paul and Silas were present as was dr Luke because we would write we and us So he was there as well Now What he's talking about here is going from dull to trained. God intends spiritual athletic training for each believer to be trained towards skilled senses. So God turns the senses on when we believe. He has the intent that by the word of God, through maturity, the believer's senses are trained And as much as this dull of hearing is a fixed condition, this training, the way this is written, is also a fixed condition.

So here's Hebrews 5.14 expanded and explained. But solid spiritual food, which is substantial spiritual content from the written word of God, is for the spiritually mature, who, because of consistent practice in understanding the truth of the word of God and rightly applying it to life, have their spiritual senses completely trained by guidance and discipline to discern and judge what is spiritually and morally good and what is spiritually and morally evil. This is where God wants us to be. Maturity through the Word of God is how these senses get to a place where we use them properly.

Without maturity, without the Word of God, it's not happening. That's the only way to train. If you sit on the couch and eat Jell-O all day, you're not going to be in any kind of shape. It is a training process. Maturity takes time, and as we'll see as we get into the middle of this sandwich here next week, maturity requires the Word of God. There is no bypassing it.

There is no going tangential. I would say in our culture what has happened among Christians is the charismatic movement tends to go from the Word of God in some tangential direction, away from the Word of God. And that sidesteps maturity. Another problem, however, is that Christians think, oh, I'm going to get mature by really trying hard and working the law as if that's going to do any good. It is not maturity. You cannot mature by applying the law harder and harder and getting other people to help you do it better and better. There is no maturity in it.

You cannot get mature by doing what's more commonly called and becoming very popular, the spiritual formation, contemplative spirituality, where you bypass the word of God. That is not going to work. My term for that is Christian Buddhism. And by the way, the Denver area is the capital of that teaching. Anything that leaves or bypasses the Word of God or attempts to take law out of the Word of God and make that fix the problem keeps people with dull spiritual senses. It doesn't work. You can't grow on it any more than you can mature a kid by feeding them rocks. Now, the written Word of God is the key agent in the training of the spiritual senses so as to be spiritually and morally discerning. So, spiritual immaturity and maturity each have their own typical set of characteristics.

Do we have a baby here? Do we have an infant here? Or was that back in the room? When a baby is born, we say, isn't that cute? Everybody wants to get around, right? However, if 10 years down the line that baby looks the same, we're going to be very concerned, right? We want to see spiritual growth. We want to see physical growth, and we want to see spiritual growth. They go together.

And that's what the author here is talking about very specifically. He tells them you should have been by now at this point, but you've actually gone backwards. You have stunted growth. And any parent's going to get very concerned if after 10 years their infant still looks the same. Same thing spiritually. These people have not gotten anywhere. They've retrogressed. They've gone back to where they were some time ago and not gotten any farther spiritually.

Spiritual maturity results in spiritual senses that are trained by practice with God's word in order to discern. Oh, this is true and this is false. This is right and this is wrong. Not because I've got my set of laws with me, but because of spiritual maturity and the Word of God. Now, you notice this is pulling your leg, winking, and tongue-in-cheek.

Okay? So get this. If one wants to be spiritually and morally undiscerning, then aim for spiritually dull of hearing. That'll work every time. Okay? That will get the person there. And by all means, neglect the Word of God. Okay? You got that? All right. Wink, wink. Pull the leg, you know, tongue-in-cheek, all that. All right. Let's go on to something serious.

The believers that Hebrews 5.11 is referring to have actively pursued having bad hearing, spiritually speaking, taking it as far as it can go backwards. Taking it as far as it can go backwards.

The only way, and the author is telling them the only way, that they can get to a place of restoring their senses is by spiritual maturity through the Word of God. You can't bypass the Word of God in order to be spiritually mature. The Word of God is essential, spiritual maturity is essential. Every believer has a principle to understand, from here, and a decision to make, and there is no plan B. Is there something else?

Imagine going to the doctor, the doctor prescribes something, gives it to you, and you say, is there something else you can give me? Now, wait a minute. This is what I just prescribed, right? We only have one path. We only have one path here to achieve spiritual maturity. God designed it to be with his word. And spiritual maturity is the only way to have these senses, spiritual senses, fully functional. That's the way it is. That's the way God has made it.

Now we'll be looking this next time at the middle part of the sandwich and looking more because the author has the Word of God pictured as spiritual food and it's not all the same and there are gradations according to the level of spiritual maturity as to which food is appropriate. So we'll be taking a look at that this next time.

Let's pray. Lord, we thank you that you have given these things examples because you love us. You want us to be able to have fully functional senses, certainly hearing and seeing, as Paul prayed in Ephesians 1, seeing everything functional and operable and trained in the spiritual realm. And Lord, you've revealed yourself through your word because you love us.

We realize that maturity is Christ. Maturity is Him. And so this is not just a physical definition, but this is personal. This is a personal relationship with Him. And Lord, we thank you for what you've revealed here because you love us. We thank you for what you're going to continue to make clear as we return to the middle part of this passage next week. We give you thanks in Jesus' name. Amen.