Don't Be Dull of Hearing

If you have your Bible, turn with me to Hebrews chapter 5, verses 11 to 14, with the exhortation, do not be dull Of hearing We are embarking on the third warning passage in the book of Hebrews We have covered two of them extensively, and this is the third one, and this is the most difficult one of them all To inter In fact, you can read various commentaries on this series of verses and come up with different interpretations. I'm going to try to give you the right one Which I think is the right one

And to help you understand exactly what the author is trying to tell us as he embarks on warning this Jewish community, those who are professors of Christianity, to know The truth about the saving grace of Jesus Christ our Lord Now remember, whenever you interpret a passage of Scripture, you must always interpret it within the context In which it was written And that context is known by the author and the audience he's writing to, and the theme of that book

And we know that the theme of Of Hebrews is the supremacy, the sufficiency, the superiority of Jesus Christ over everything in the Old Testament, everything in the Old Coven And so it magnifies Christ as the greatest of all That's why he's called the great high priest, because he is greater than any priesthood in Israel's history No priest in Israel's history was ever called great, but Jesus is called the great high priest And if he is greater than everything in the old covenant, that means there is an understand as to how he ushered in the new covenant as prophesied in the book of Jeremiah

In the book of Ezekiel And so you need to understand exactly who the writer is addressing, this Jewish audience, who within that audience has people that are curious about Christianity Convinced about Christianity but not saved, and those who are committed to Christianity All right? We all know that within the church body, within people who come to church, not the true church, but those who come to church, There are always people in the audience Some of them are professors of Christianity They profess to know Christ, but in all reality, they don't know who he is

There are those who are not just professors, but some who are protesters That is, they protest Christianity They are against Christianity But sometimes they come to church anyway So you have professors Protesters and possessors, right? The possessors are the ones who possess Christ, Christ in you, the hope of glory They actually possess Jesus Christ They've embraced Christ They've embraced The gospel They possessed Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior They are the true believers And yet, there are many people within the con of churches

That are professors, some are protesters, some are even predecessors That is, they are about to embark on Christianity They have yet to understand the beauty of salvation, but they Are about to hear the gospel and give their life to Christ And so, this writer of Hebrews is addressing this audience And within that audience, there are people that are intellectually convinced Some of them, as we've said, are inspirationally curious about the Christ Others are intellectually convinced of who Jesus is But they are not intimately committed to the Christ They know about the Christ

They've heard about the Christ They've been taught about the Christ They know about the crucifixion They know about the resurrection They know about the ministry of Christ They know all the facts about the Christ, but they have not committed them to Christianity, not committed themselves to Christ They're still engulfed in Judaism They still are committed to the rituals of Judaism And so the Rite of Hebrews is Warning them He warns them in Hebrews 2:1 to 4 not to drift away from the word of God That's the very first warning he gives them

He says in Hebrews 2, verse number 1, these words very clearly, and we've talked about this: for this reason, based on the identity in the ministry of Christ We must pay much closer attention to what we have heard so that we do not drift away from it In other words, do not drift away from what you've heard The words say, if you do, you're in danger of missing out Salvation, he says For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? Salvation is great Don't neglect it

So the warning comes: do not drift away from the word which you have heard Okay? Then comes the second warning in chapter 3 And that is, we don't want you to doubt what the word says because your ancestors they doubted What God said, and they doubted what God did So he says in verse number 7, chapter 3: just as the Holy Spirit says, Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as when they provoked me, as in the day of trial in the wilderness Where your fathers tried me by testing me and saw my works for 40 years

Therefore, I was angry with this generation and said, They always go astray in their heart They wander away and they did not know my ways They are ignorant of the word of God They are ignorant of the ways of God because they doubt the truth of God So I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away From the living God He goes on to talk about the deceitfulness of sin Sin is so deceitful That's what it says: warning number one Do not drift away from the Word of God

Warning number two, do not doubt what the Word of God actually does say Now you come to warning number three Do not be dull of hearing what the Word of God has to say That's the warning And so he's writing to these people, a Jewish audience, some of which are committed to Christ Others are convinced about the Christ but never committed themselves to him Others are curious about the Christ, wanting to know more about the Christ So he gives these warning passages throughout He gives five of them all together This is the third one And this is the most serious of them all

Because it deals with those who have seen everything, know everything, and yet he goes on to say in Hebrews 6, if they fall away from what they have seen and heard, It will be impossible to ever renew them to repentance How sad is that? That's tragic So he puts these warning passages in there to help this Jewish audience to understand the implications of not comm yourself To following the Christ Let me read to you verses 11 to 14, Hebrews chapter 5 The writer of Hebrews says these words, we'll pick up the narrative in verse number 10

Sorry, verse 11, concerning him we have much to say and it is hard to explain Since you have become dull of hearing Thus, the title for the message: Don't be dull of hearing For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary 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 not accustomed to the word of righteousness For he is an infant or a babe But solid food is for the mature who, because of practice, have their senses trained to discern good And evil

Now, if you were to pick up twenty commentaries. 18 of those 20 commentaries would tell you that this is talking about Christians, some who are baby Christians, and some who are mature Christians. I do not agree with them. I think they're wrong And I'm going to explain to you why I believe they're wrong based on what the text actually does say Not that they don't believe what the text says They've just taken it a different direction It's imperative to understand exactly who we're speaking to

Is the Rite of Hebrews speaking to a church where there are baby Christians? And mature Christians? The answer is no He's talking to people who are engulfed in Judaism, committed to the Old Covenant and all of its rituals and ceremonies Versus those Jews who have given their life to Christ and have embraced the new covenant Okay? You must understand that He's talking to people Some of which are still enraptured by the shadows of the Old Testament Versus those who have embraced the substance of the New Testament

See the difference there? He's writing to people who are committed to the pictures and patterns of the Old Testament and the Old Covenant Who have yet to accept the person of the new covenant? That's the difference That's who he's writing to He's writing to people who understand the old covenant theology, but have been talked about or told concerning the Christ and who he is Understand who he is and understand what he's done, but have not committed themselves for various reasons, unbeknownst to us, why they haven't embraced Christ fully, just like some of you today You're here today

You know about the Christ You've heard about the Christ You might even say you love the Christ But you've yet to embrace the Christ You've yet to accept the finished work on Calvary's cross You've yet to deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow the Christ Give your all to him, but yet you know about him The writer of Hebrews wants you to understand Who Christ is in what He's done Now, let me say this before I get to it at the end We use a phrase today that the Bible never uses We say that people are babes in Christ And say that refers to new Christians

Do you know the Bible never does that? The Bible never calls new Christians babes in Christ Now, you might be a newborn Christian, right? You might have been saved yesterday, and we would look at you as a babe in Christ But there is no occurrence in the New Testament where new Christians Are referred to as babes in Christ. I'm going to show that to you this morning so you understand that That's very important to understand how that works in light of what these verses actually do say So the R says, don't be dull of hearing For three reasons, let me give them to you

Number one, don't be dull of hearing because if you are, it prevents a clear comprehension Of truth Don't be dull of hearing because it prevents a concise commun Of truth, and don't be dull of hearing because it prevents a complete comm to truth Did you get that? There are three points They're all all They all come together very clearly in the text We'll show it to you this morning First of all, do not be dull of hearing because it prevents a clear comprehension of truth He says to them very clearly these words

Verse 11: Concerning him, or concerning which or whom, speaking of Christ's superiority to Aaron Because he is in the order of Melchizedek and not the order of Aaron He's not from the tribe of Levi, he's from the tribe of Judah And because he's from the tribe of Judah, he is from the kingly tribe And yet Psalm 110, verse number 4 says, we talked about this last week, that Christ will be in the order of Melchizedek, who was the king priest He's called Melchizedek because his name means the king of righteousness He was the king of Salem, Jerusalem, the king of peace

So he was the king of righteousness and the king of peace He was a kingly priest Genesis 14, we looked about it last week, and that's where Abraham would pay tithes to Melchizedek Two Old Testament references: Genesis 14, Psal 110 Talk about Melchizedek And so now the writer of Hebrews brings this into focus for them because he wants them to understand that Jesus Christ is of a greater order than Aaron because he follows in the order of Melchizedek and not in the order of Aaron

You all with me so far? You're all tracking with me, right? We're all together here. I know it's early, but you look good You look really good You smell good You look good So let's just hang together here And so Having said that, he wants them to say, Look, I want to talk to you more about this. I really do But I can't And the reason I can't Is because there are some of you that are dull of hearing Noth Okay? Compound word No Push Okay? The word is used in Scripture Nothros is used in Scripture to speak of those who are sloth Sluggish, sl, and stupid Okay? You're dull of hearing

And so, when you understand that, he's saying, I want to speak to you more concerning Melchizedek and the Christ in the order of Melchizedek, but I can't do that Because you are sluggish and slow and you do not understand. I want to give it to you in its entirety But I'm unable to because you are so dull of hearing the whole thing about the priesthood You remember, he introduced the priesthood in chapter 1, verse number 3 Again in chapter 2, verse number 14 Then again in chapter 3, verse number 1 Then again in chapter 4, verses 16. 14, 15, and 16 So he's talking about the priesthood

And then in chapter 5, he goes into this whole Melchizedekian order and Christ being in the order of Melchizedek And we'll go from chapter 5 all the way to chapter 10, talking about the priesthood because the priesthood is Central to Judaism To understand Judaism, you must understand the priesthood of Judaism Remember Judaism is the root, and Christianity is the fruit So Christianity is the fruit of the root, which is Judaism To understand Christianity, you need to understand Judaism

And so, to understand the priesthood of Christ, you must understand the priesthood of Judaism, and that Christ is greater Than the high priest that Is has had, because Jesus is that great high priest All the other priests Offering all the sacrifices they offered could not accomplish what the one offering through the one great high priest gave when he gave his life away for the forgiveness of sins And so it's imperative that they understand that because I want to talk to you more about this It's so rich, it's so meaningful, it's so deep But I can't because you are slow, you are sluggish

You were slothful in hearing But you didn't get that way immediately You became that way, he says He says, as you read the text, he says, Concerning him, or concerning which, the whole Christ Melchizedekian concept, we have much to say It's hard to explain, since you have become this way You have moved this way

How do they move that way? Listen, when you, in Hebrews 2:1 to 4, begin to drift away, remember we talked about how that was the analogy in Greek language is that that's a that speaks of a ship moving past the dock, not entering the dock, but moving past it, and that they're just drifting away from that truth Well, as you begin to drift away from the Word of God and the truth that's there, the further you drift, the more you doubt the Word of God That's Hebrews 3:7 and following And the more you drift, the more you doubt, the more you doubt, the more dull you become at hearing the truth

The more sluggish you become The more slothful you become, lack of a better phrase, the more stupid or foolish you become See that? Now, interesting, the word Noth used twice in the New Testament Both times it's used It's a quotation from the prophet Isaiah Because a prophet Isaiah would use the phrase to speak about Israel So Christ would quote the prophet Isaiah when he begins to speak in parables Okay, this is very important To understand Nath, dull of hearing, and how it applies in context, how it refers to unbelievers Not belie Okay? But he says this

Disciples came and said to him, Matthew 13, verse number 10, why do you speak to them in parables? Jesus answered, To you, it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have in abundance But whoever does not have, even what he has, shall be taken Away from him That's a warning Okay? So Christ says to them, who has is going to get more, but whoever, because they believe, and those who don't believe, what they have is going to be taken away from them

Therefore, I speak to them in parables, verse 13, because while seeing, they do not see, and while hearing, they do not hear, nor do they understand Okay? They hear it, they see it, they don't get it In their case, the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled Now, the prophecy of Isaiah was fulfilled on two separate occasions: once in the Babylonian captivity, okay, and second during the time and ministry of Christ and the apostles So he says, and he quotes Isaiah 6, verses 6 to 9: You will keep on hearing, but will not understand You will keep on seeing, but will not perceive

For the heart of this people has become, what's the next phrase? Do not With their ears they scarcely hear, and they have closed their eyes, otherwise they would see with their eyes Hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and return, and I would heal them But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear You're not dull of hearing You hear, but the reason I'm speaking in parables is because while seeing and hearing, they will not understand, they will not believe So, the reason that is to fulfill the words of Isaiah the prophet

They will become dull of hearing Paul then, in Acts 28, would use the same Phrase, same text, Isaiah 6, quoting when it comes to the Jews who came to him in Rome Remember, when Paul was, whatever Paul would speak, he would go to the Jews first Prison in Rome

He was in a house, under house arrest, and they would come to his house and he would speak to them about the Christ, about the law, and the prophets to explain to them why Jesus is the Messiah, right? But the Bible says in the book of Acts, a 28th chapter, it says, Some were being persuaded by these things that were spoken, but others they would not believe These are Jewish people And when they did not agree with one another, they began leaving after Paul had spoken one parting word The Holy Spirit rightly spoke to Isaiah the prophet to your fathers

Here is a group of Jews who come to him in house arrest He's speaking to them about the law and the prophets, about Christ, and How he's the fulfillment of all the messianic promises, right? He's spelling out for them He's given great detail If anybody can preach about Jewish history, it's the Apostle Paul, right? He knew it Because he was a Jew and he would be able to explain it to these people And he was giving it out to them in great detail But many walked away So he said, as you're leaving, just want to let you know you're fulfilling the words of Isaiah the prophet

Go to this people and say, You will keep on hearing but will not understand You will keep on seeing but will not perceive For your heart of this people, for the heart of this people has become dull Noth, sluggish, slothful, stupid, unintelligent Because, in the midst of overwhelming evidence, you would not believe So Paul quotes the exact same text that Christ quotes, referring to Israel and their rejection of the Messiah The writer of Hebrews now picks up on that, uses the same word, doesn't quote the text, but uses the word

To explain to them that you have become not, you have become sluggish and slothful. I want to explain this stuff to you about Melchizedek, but I can't because you're dull of hearing You see it, but you don't embrace it You hear it, but you don't believe it So, what's he going to do? How's he going to handle this? So, this is what he says You weren't always like this, he says You became this way Because he's going to go on and say in Hebrews chapter 6, you guys are those who have been enlightened

And tasted the heavenly gift, and have been partakers of the Holy Spirit, have tasted the good word of the Lord and the powers of the age to come You are among those people That's where you were That's where you are You have heard it all You have seen it all And yet, and yet, because you drift away from the Word of God, you've let the opportunity pass you by You now begin to doubt the Word of God because now you're at the point where you are dull of hearing what the Word of God actually has to say

And I want to tell you so much about the great high priest, Christ him, who he is, and what he's done But I can't because you become dull of hearing So, those who are dull of hearing, it prevents them from a clear comprehension Of tr, Nath Okay? Number two, it prevents a concise commun Of truth He says these words For though by this time you ought to be teachers, by now you know so much You should be teaching others Wow, what an indictment against the Jewish people It doesn't mean you should be a professional teacher, but does not the Word of God command us to be teachers? Right

Go into all the world? Preach the gospel, make disciples, teaching them to observe all that I've commanded you, right? We're to teach one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs We know that 2 Timothy 2:1 and 2 talks about how we are to entrust to faithful men so they can teach others also Everybody in the room, to some degree, is a teacher We should be imparting biblical truth to other people He says, Look, by this time in your life, you should be imparting the word of God You should be teaching others the truth, but you can't You can't teach them this You can't teach them the truth

Having known all that you know, you think you'd be able to teach it to others, but you can't You can't Why can't they? He says, you have need again for someone to teach you the element principles of the or Of God Wow You need to be taught once again the ele principles Of the truth of God's word St, a word that means the first things Remember back when you taught your children how to read? Let me make it very simple for you We gave them books, right? And the books had what? They had pictures in the books, right? This is a house, right? This is a church This is a ball This is a father

There were pictures of fathers, balls, houses, churches, right? That's how we taught our children how to read Those were the first things Those were the elementary principles Why? Because Judaism Is all about the elementary principles Judaism is all about the A, B, C's, right? It's all about pictures When you open the Bible in the Old Testament, it's a picture book It's a picture of Ceremonies It's a picture of washings It's a picture of sacrifices It's a picture of the priesthood It's a picture of the rituals

Everything is a picture point to a person, right? So these are the AB in the Old Testament that paint a picture to point you to the person of the New Testament All these things are shadows That point to the substance, Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world You have to learn the AB before you can read the composition about the Christ That makes sense? That's what you try and help them understand You need to go back and someone to teach you the A of Judaism, the elementary principles of Judaism Why? He says these words simply because they are the oracles of God

What is that? Is that the gospel? No, it's not the gospel It's the law of God And the law of God is the mind of God, okay, revealed in the law of God How do we know this? Book of Romans, third chapter, verses one and two What advantage then does a Jew have? Much in every way, chiefly because unto them were committed the orac of God The Jews received the oracles of God It tells us in Acts 7, 38, when Stephen says of Moses, This is he that was in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him that is Moses in Mount Sinai, and with our fathers who received the living oracles To give unto us

What are the oracles of God? The oracles of God is the law of God given to man that he might understand the mind of God, the person of God, and who he is And so they are the oracles of God. 2 Samuel 16, 23 The counsel of Ahithophel, which he counseled in those days, was as if a man had inquired of the oracles of God You need the oracles of God You need the law of God Why? Because Paul tells us in the Galatians that the law of God was a schoolmaster Was a tutor He says, wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ That we might be justified by faith

But after faith has come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster, a tutor So the law was a tutor The law was the elementary principles The law was the mind of God put into print so that the Jewish people would know God, and they were to portray that God to a Gentile world But he says, Look, I want to take you into this whole Chizade priesthood thing with Christ being in his order, but I can't do that

Because you guys are dull of hearing, and the reason you're dull of hearing is because you guys have drifted away from the truth and you have doubted what the Word of God says, and now you become slothful and sluggish in listening to the truth So, you need someone to take you back to the Old Testament, to the living oracles of God, and give you the elementary principles, the A of Judaism So that you'll come to grips with the pictures and the paintings and the patterns that point to you to one specific person, and that person is the great high priest Jesus Christ our Lord

Make sense? So you should be teachers, but you're not You should be teaching people this stuff because the apostles have labored diligently to give you the truth You should know all this, you should be teaching others about About this, but you're not And you see in Romans 2, the Jews prided themselves on being great teachers of the law And Paul says in Romans chapter 2, you need to go back and be taught again because you're not doing a very good job of teaching the truth

And so the bottom line is this: that you need to realize that dull of hearing prevents you from a clear comprehension of the truth about the Christ It prevents a concise commun of that truth because you should be teachers, but you can't You can 't do that Therefore, you must understand that you can't have solid food All you can have is milk. I want to give you the meat of the priesthood Can't do that Why? Simply because you're like infants Infants can't digest meat They can just drink milk And therefore, point number three, dullness of hearing prevents a complete comm to truth

It prevents a complete commitment to truth And this is why the warning passage is so significant Because these people need to commit themselves to the Messiah They need to come all the way to the new covenant teaching They need to forego the rituals and the ceremonies and the shadows and everything that the old covenant portrayed and embrace Christ the priest The Savior of their souls So he says in verse number thirteen For everyone who partakes only of milk, okay, I got to go back and give you milk, the elementary principles, because you can't digest the food

For everyone who partakes only of milk is un Very important phrase Unskilled, or listen, without experience The person that unaccustomed, unskilled is literally without experience To the wor of righteousness That 's how you know they're not saved See? Because those of us who are saved are experienced in the word of righteousness We understand their righteousness of Christ He who knew no sin became sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of Christ in him, right? So we understand they don't get that because they're only on milk

They're still in the elementary stage, they're still on the A B C's of the subst of the shadows, they have not embraced the substance, therefore they can't have food with substance, right? And therefore they, as the text says, because they only partake of milk, are unskilled To the word of righteousness, or in the word that gives us righteousness See that? It prevents a complete comm to the tr He says these words: For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant The solid food is for the mature

Who, because of practice, have their senses trained to discern good and evil The believer is able to discern between good and evil, but you guys, you're still infants Very important phrase Infants Maybe your text says babes The phrase is ne Okay? If I'm referring to a child, I'm going to refer to him as a te. I'm going to refer to him as a nep. I'm going to refer to he or she as a briph Okay? Very important to understand that Because ne can be used of Christians, but it's also used of unbelievers And the context will tell you which is which

For instance, in Jewish culture, the Nep was one who was referred to as one who was uninstructed and ignorant when it came to the knowledge of God How do we know that? Romans chapter 2 Romans chapter 2 says this says But if you bear the name Jew, verse 17, and rely upon the law, and boast in God, and know his will, and approve the things that are essential, being instructed out of the law, and are confident that you yourselves are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, a corrector of the foolish A teacher of the babes or the immature or the nep

You consider yourselves teachers of the ignorant, teachers of the on Who are uninstructed, okay? The infants, the ne, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge of the truth, okay? So there he refers, as Jewish culture would tell us, the Nep are the ones who are uninstructed or ignorant when it comes to knowing the things of God Like I said earlier, never in Scripture are new Christians ever referred to as babes in Christ Say, well, wait a minute, Pastor What about 1 Corinthians chapter 3? Ah, glad you asked. 1 Corinthians chapter 3

Says, and I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh As to babes in Christ See, there it is, babes in Christ Ah, but the Corinthians were not new believers Paul was in Corinth for 18 months to two years, left, wrote a letter four years later They're six years down the road He's talk to them not about the fact that they're infants, ne, okay, but they are, he's writing to them because they are Carnal They're fleshy because of their divisions and because of their selfishness

And all throughout Corinthians, he's talking about the selfish attitude of these Corinthian believers who need to be further down the road than they are, but they're not See? So, ne can refer to Christians, but we know they're Christians because it says they're nep in Christ But the ones in Hebrews are not infants or ne in Christ Big difference They're un Uninstructed and ignorant of the true knowledge of God

And then, of course, there is The book of Peter, where it says, as newborn babes desire the pure milk of the word, right? But the word for babe there is bri, which can refer to the baby in the womb, right, or a newborn infant outside the womb But there, the metaphor is used to help us understand that we should have this desire As babies do for milk, for the Word of God He's telling these mature believers who have been saved for many years, who are grounded in the Word of God, to have this hunger, this thirst for the truth of God's Word as newborn

Nephios ne do when it comes to wanting milk or bre, excuse me Okay? So now you understand Now, if you go to the book of Galatians, Galatians, it says, Paul says, when we were Infants, babes, nep were in bond under the elements of the world So there the ne are in bondage To the things of the world Okay? So it all pertains to the context But how do we know that the infants, the nep in Hebrews 5, are unbelievers? Because they are Unskilled, they are without experience when it comes to the righteousness of Christ and those who are in Christ Are right

So the writer of Hebrews is laying the foundation to go into the sixth chapter No chapter references in the letter, but for our sake, it's chapter six, to understand how he goes on to encourage them to leave the elementary principles To move on to maturity in Christ And in Hebrews 6, it's an instantaneous maturity because you come to saving faith Because having tasted Of the good work of the Lord and partakers of the Holy Spirit, having once been enlightened, you're in danger

Of falling away, having drifted from the Word of God, having doubted the Word of God, now have become dull to hearing the Word of God You are in danger of falling away to the point where it will be impossible to ever renew you to the place of repentance What a tragic thing that is So next week, well, not next week, the following week, we will help you understand how that happens and what that warning says to all of us And the tragedy before those who profess Christianity but never embrace the Christ and fully follow Him Let me pray with you Father, we thank you for this great and glorious day

What a great opportunity for us to look into the Word of God, to study the scriptures together There is so much here We can't even begin To cover the depths, the riches, and the beauty of your word in such a brief time that we are together And yet, you grant us these opportunities Our prayer, Father, is that you'd open many doors Be with the heart of the one who is here today might have all the external knowledge, have all the The know-hows in terms of what happens next theologically And yet, they don't know the Christ personally, intimately We pray for their salvation

We know that Satan is a master deceiver And there could be people among us even today Who have been enlightened, been a partaker of the Spirit of God, seen the good work and tasted the good work of the Lord, and yet they're in danger of falling away We pray that that would not be the case You save their souls They might rejoice in the blessed salvation of our Lord We pray in Jesus' name Amen.