Well we come to the final chapter
of the epistle to the Hebrews, chapter 13 this morning. Last week we were looking at
those things which God shakes and those things which are unshakeable. The things which God shakes are
religion, this world, everything that we think is solid. And that
which is unshakable is a kingdom, a kingdom. We receiving a kingdom,
verse 28 of chapter 12, we receiving a kingdom which cannot be, it
says moved, but the word is shaken, a kingdom which cannot be shaken.
That kingdom of God cannot be shaken. It's absolutely solid. It's unmovable. It's certain. There is no doubt. There is no
questioning. whether it will happen. It's
a kingdom which cannot be moved. We saw those things and we saw
finally what it is to live continuing in this life before we get to
that state of eternal glory in heaven. Let us have grace, or
look at the margin, let us hold fast grace, whereby we may serve
God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear, for our God is
a consuming fire. Let us hold fast grace, whereby
we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear."
And then Paul goes on in chapter 13 to give some instruction in
serving God acceptably, as so many of the epistles do. All
of the epistles give instruction. There's teaching and doctrine
in all the epistles, but then there's very, very clear teaching
and instruction on how to live, how we ought to live. It doesn't
leave it in any doubt whatsoever. How is God to be served acceptably? That's the title of the message,
Serving God Acceptably. How is God to be served in this
life, in this flesh, while we're still here, before we who believe
arrive in heaven, how is God to be served acceptably? It's a vital question, and one
over which there's much controversy. There's the issue of law versus
grace, which no doubt you've heard of. There are those that
say, for a believer, the law of God, as encapsulated in the
Ten Commandments, is the believer's rule of life. They say, yes,
we accept, the scripture says you are not under law but under
grace, but, but, it may say that, but the most practical and beneficial
thing for you is to live your lives as if now, at this moment,
you are definitely under law. That's what they say. You know
you're not, but just to be sure, we'll live our lives as if we
are under law. So how do I do this? I look and
see what the Ten Commandments tell me. How do I live on a Sunday? I look and see what the Fourth
Commandment tells me. I live my life with the law of God as
the believer's rule of life. And that's set against that legal
bondage which is what it leads to, that lack of liberty that
that view leads to, is set against the liberty that the gospel declares
when it says, if the truth shall make you free, you shall be free
indeed. Jesus said that. You shall be
free indeed. You are free in Christ. Stand
fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made you free. That's
what Paul said to the Galatians. Don't let anybody move you from
it. Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made you
free. It's the contrast between living in the legal bondage of
a slave who has no choice and living in the liberty to serve
acceptably as a child and an heir of the kingdom of God. The
bond servant, good picture, lovely picture. The slave had no choice. The slave served his years in
the service of his master and had no choice but to do that
which the master required, had no liberty, couldn't go where
he wanted, couldn't do what he wanted. He was entirely the property
of his master. The slave had no choice. But
when the year of jubilee came, when the seven years were up
and the time had been served and all slaves were to go free
according to the law, there were those that said, but I love my
master's house. I don't want to leave my master's
house. And there was like an earring stamp was put in. The
servant said, I want to be bonded to my master, to this house,
because I love this house and I don't want to move from it.
The slave had no choice, but the bond servant worked willingly
and lovingly and chose to stay and serve the master he loved,
because the master was so gracious and kind to that slave. He didn't
want to be anywhere else. A total different way of looking
at things. So we have law versus grace as this debate. You see,
the New Testament is absolutely clear on how believers ought
to live. You can't avoid it. Look at each
of the epistles. Look at Galatians. Look at Ephesians.
Read the last three chapters of Ephesians. You can't avoid
it. It commends certain behavior. It censors certain other behavior,
it says it's not appropriate, it's not fitting for the person
who's seen the grace of God. But this is good, do this and
don't do that. It's quite clear, it's quite
prescriptive. What is the basis of that instruction
in the New Testament as to how we're to live? Is it law or is
it grace? Is it law or is it grace? In
my dealings with God, with others, and believers, and believers,
in my giving, in my service, in the New Testament, are we
ever instructed to behave or not behave certain ways based
on the law as encapsulated in the Ten Commandments. Find an
instance if you can and show it to me and I'll be happy to
look at it and think about it. But I can't think of one where
we are encouraged to live a certain way, to do certain things, to
not do certain other things on the basis of the Ten Commandments,
things encapsulated in the Ten Commandments. You see, think
about something outside of the Ten Commandments, giving. There were laws on giving called
tithing, tenthing, giving a tenth of everything, strict, legal,
give a tenth. The harvest came in, a tenth
of it was put to one side for the service of God, given to
the Levites for the service of the temple and for them to live
off. The tenth was the thing that was given. Now, there's
plenty of instruction in the New Testament about giving, about
the children of God ought to give. The children of God ought
to support the cause of the gospel. The children of God ought to
be generous spirited. The children of God ought to
be liberal with the things that they have and give and be generous
and not hoard. The children of God ought to
do these things. Is the Old Testament law of tithing ever used in the
New Testament to tell us that we ought to live like that? Never,
as far as I know. We're always pointed to the Lord
Jesus Christ. Why ought you to give? Look what He gave. Look what He did for you. How
can you possibly be mean-spirited? How can you, who are an object
of that grace of God, ever be mean-spirited towards others,
knowing what has been given you? See, that's the way that the
New Testament appeals. There's a right use of the law.
We read it earlier on in 1 Timothy chapter 1. Just turn back there
very quickly. 1 Timothy chapter 1. The problem was already creeping
in to the early church, and Paul's writing to Timothy, a pastor
of a church, he's writing to tell him to stay at Ephesus and
oversee things there, and that he might charge some that they
teach no other doctrine than that which is in accord with
verse 11, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which
was committed to my trust. The gospel of grace, the gospel
of sovereign grace, the gospel of particular redemption, the
gospel of God in Christ giving himself for his people that he
might bring us to God. No, he says, verse 4, don't give
heed to fables and endless genealogies and all sorts of theological
debates which don't amount to anything at all. rather than
godly edifying which is in faith. He says now this, now the end
of the commandment is charity, love out of a pure heart and
of a good conscience and of faith unfeigned from which some having
swerved have turned aside into vain jangling. Look at this verse
7, they desire to be teachers of the law. There are a lot of
folk around in evangelical circles, who desire to be teachers of
the law, but they don't understand either what they say or whereof
they affirm. We know that the law is good
if a man use it lawfully. Knowing this, that the law is
not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless. What's a
righteous man? one who's made righteous in the
Lord Jesus Christ. There's none righteous in themselves,
but there are those, his people, who are made righteous in him.
Why? He who knew no sin was made sin
for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Knowing this, that the law is
not made for one who has been made the righteousness of God
in him. It's made for the lawless and
disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and
profane. for murderers, for manslayers,
for whoremongers, for them who defile themselves, and so he
goes on, with anything that is contrary to sound doctrine. What's
sound doctrine? The glorious gospel of the blessed
God, which was committed to Paul's trust. There is this issue of
people using the law wrongly. The law, as Galatians tells us,
was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. But now, Once you've
come to Christ, you're dead to the law, says the scripture.
The relationship's changed. I think you've heard Don Faulkner
tell a similar story, and I used to tell one that I haven't for
a while. When I was at Heversham Grammar School in the 1960s,
I feared the headmaster, Mr. Willett, because he had the most
incredible knack of inflicting excruciating pain with his cane.
And everybody feared getting the wrong side of Mr. Willett
and his cane. And then several years later, 25 years after we'd
left, we all went back for an anniversary dinner near the school
to a restaurant. And there he was and he was chatting
with various people and everybody was milling around. Was anybody
scared of him and his cane anymore? Absolutely not. The relationship
had changed. We'd moved on. We were no longer
under the schoolmaster. We were now mature men. We'd
no longer feared him and his cane because those days had gone.
That relationship had finished. The law, says Galatians, was
our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. You see, what's the
motive for how we live? The law threatens a penalty. and the fear of the penalty constrains
our behavior. But grace warms the heart. Grace does that. Grace builds
a desire to honor God. And rather than the fear of penalty
constraining our behavior, what does the New Testament tell us
constrains the behavior of a believer? The love of Christ constrains
us. The love of Christ changes the
way we would otherwise behave in the flesh. The love of Christ
does this. Very soon we're going to again
be having the Trooping of the Colour on Horse Guards Parade.
Oh, maybe not this year because there's Olympics, but you know
it normally happens every year. And you see the soldiers and
the troops go out there and they're all polished up in their best
possible uniform turnout that they possibly can. Why do they
do it? Is it because they're terrified
of the discipline that will fall upon them if they get it wrong?
No. It's the honour of the regiment.
The honor, they don't want to let down the honor of the regiment. They're so proud to be part of
that regiment. It's for the honor of that situation
that they do it. It's not because of fear of what
will happen to them. Why do I try to drive safely
these days? Why do I try to do that? Is it
because I'm terrified of the fine or the penalty? No, it's
because I don't want to hurt anybody. I don't want to knock
a child over. I don't want to do those things. You see, the
fleshly heart, yours and mine, we have to admit, holds the seed
of every sin. Murder, theft, adultery. What's the most effective restraint
to keep me from adultery? Is it fear of the consequences
of the seventh commandment? Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Is that why? Is that why believers don't commit
adultery because they're terrified of breaking the seventh commandment
that tells them thou shalt not commit adultery and there are
dreadful consequences for doing that. No. It's love. Husbands, love your wives. Wives,
love your husbands. It's love. It's love that constrains. It's that that stops more than
anything else. I would go one step further.
Perhaps it's this. In the heart of the true believer,
more than love for husband or love for wife, it's love for
Christ. Love for Christ is what constrains. Love for Him. You
see, as you've heard often, the things we do as believers in
no way alter and affect our relationship with God. The things you do do
nothing for the degree of reward that you might receive in heaven.
Our God is our great and exceeding reward. The things that you do
and the things that you fail at don't alter in any way whatsoever
the things that God has reserved for those that love him, not
in the slightest. But knowing what he has done
for us dramatically affects the way that we live. It should do,
it should do. How we live is enormously important. the New Testament tells us so.
If it wasn't enormously important, there wouldn't be so much of
it in the New Testament. How we live is enormously important.
It requires proactive effort. We're encouraged. Why else would
the Scripture, would the New Testament encourage us, do this,
don't do that, do this, don't, if it wasn't that it required
proactive effort? The Spirit, we're told, is against
the flesh. The two are contrary to one another.
Their intention There's always the tendency for the old man
to go out with the old man's clothes on. The thing that the
Spirit of God tells us in the New Testament is put off the
old man with his works and put on the new which is renewed Now,
the Gospel doesn't give us any license to sin, as so many would
accuse us of. You believe the Gospel that we
believe in the Scriptures. You believe the Gospel of absolute
grace, of particular redemption, of all things accomplished by
the grace of God in Christ. due to nothing that we do and
immediately immediately others will say these are antinomians
they think that you can live as you like they think that they
have a license to sin because they say that Christ has dealt
with everything therefore what does Paul say to that? He says,
shall we sin? What then? Shall we sin that
grace may abound? God forbid. Perish the thought. How could you possibly think
such a thing? No, of course the gospel doesn't give license to
sin. Faith is only real if it produces fruitful works. That's
what James tells us. It's the whole tenor of his epistle. Knowing the wonderful doctrine
that we've seen in Hebrews, knowing that, it's full of glorious doctrine,
isn't it? To the mind and the heart that
is enlightened by the Spirit of God, the doctrine of the epistle
to the Hebrews which accords with every other bit of scripture,
but that doctrine is so glorious. It speaks of our total depravity,
of our unconditional election, of the limited atonement, the
particular redemption that's in the Lord Jesus Christ when
it talks about bringing many sons to glory, of the irresistible
grace of God, of the perseverance of the saints. That's Tulip,
you know, that's the true gospel encapsulated. It's there in this
book, in this epistle. Knowing that in the heart must
affect the people we are. It must affect the way that we
think. It must affect what we do. And as the scripture says,
as a man thinks, so is he. This must affect the way that
we are. If it doesn't, our faith is false and vain. And in Hebrews
12 verse 28, Paul says it's by holding fast grace that we're
able to serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.
So then let's come into chapter 13. What's the basis of fruitful
living? Because again, he's given doctrinal
instruction, but here at the end, he comes to a chapter of
practical application. He's already told them in chapter
12 not to give up, not to despair. They're in a glorious situation,
but you're still in this life, struggling with the flesh, experiencing
the chastisement of God. Don't give up on this. And then
he gets into chapter 13. He didn't put chapter divisions
in, but anyway, that's why we use them for convenience. But
he says in verse 1, let brotherly love continue. This is the basis. This is the basis of fruitful
living. Let brotherly love continue. Let it continue. Run the race
that we were exhorted to do in verse 1 of chapter 12. Let us
run the race with patience, the race that is set before us, looking
to Jesus. Let's run it with love, continuously
motivating. God is love. First John tells
us that. God is love. Christ is love. Christ is love. Jesus told them
again and again how much he had loved them. Christ loved us and
gave himself for us, we read in the scriptures. God commends
his love to us in that while we were still sinners, totally
unlovable, Christ died for us. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter
13. If you've been to an Anglican wedding recently, generally speaking,
they have two passages of scripture that they read. One is 1 Corinthians
chapter 13, and the other one is in 1 John chapter 4, first
few verses there. It's one or the other. I don't
think any other passages of scripture apply to weddings. certainly
chapter 13 of 1 Corinthians was read at the wedding we went to
recently because it's about love but it's not about married love
not primarily that's not what it's about it says this though
I speak with the tongues of men and of angels you know do this
wonderful religious thing that the Corinthians thought and have
not charity love I am become as a sounding brass or a tinkling
cymbal. I'm just a noise. I'm just an
annoying noise. And though I have the gift of
prophecy. Oh, he must be somebody worth listening to. And understand
all mysteries. Oh, if you want some obscure
passage of scripture explaining, go and talk to him. And all knowledge. And though I have all faith.
Oh, what strong faith. So that I could remove mountains
and have not charity. I am nothing. You see, it's foundational.
And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, oh, how generous.
And though I give my body to be burned, oh, now come on, look
at this. How can anybody say anything against this person?
Surely they should be elevated to Roman Catholic sainthood straight
away. They've done all of these things,
but have not charity, love, it profiteth me nothing. Profiteth
me nothing. That's what Paul said to the
legalists in Galatia, that you who go along that line of legalistic
living, Christ will profit you nothing. Love suffers long and
is kind. Love envies not. Love vaunts
not itself. Charity vaunts not itself, is
not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeks not its
own, is not easily provoked, thinks no evil, rejoices not
in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth, bears all things,
believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Charity
never fails. But whether there are prophecies,
they shall fail. All of these other things will
fail. But love is supreme. We'll end up looking at that
there. Love is central. Let brotherly love continue. Whatever else I do, if I do not
have in measure the Christ-like characteristic of love, it's
absolutely worthless. Did you notice as we read it?
They were all the characteristics of Christ. The things that love
does and love doesn't do. Love for its object. Love, this
true self-sacrificing love for the object of the love. This
is the motivating thing. Let brotherly love continue. Love prays for, love helps, love
comforts, love forgives its object, just as Christ did for us. Love
fulfills the law. This is what the New Testament
says. Paul writes in Romans 13, 8 and 10. He that loveth another
hath fulfilled the law. Love is the fulfilling of the
law. Galatians 5, 14. For all the
law is fulfilled in one word, even this, thou shalt love thy
neighbor as thyself. James chapter 2, verse 8. If
ye fulfill the royal law, According to the scripture, thou shalt
love thy neighbor as thyself, that's the royal law, ye shall
do well, you will do well. Now let's look how this specifically
works out in chapter 13. Look at verse 2. Remember them
that are in bonds, as bound with them, and them which suffer adversity,
as being yourselves. Or, sorry, verse 2, I read verse
3. Be not forgetful to entertain
strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
Hospitality, strangers, Talking about brethren in the gospel.
That isn't an instruction to open your door and let any Tom,
Dick and Harry in off the street. You have a responsibility to
protect your family. You have a responsibility to
be careful. No, this isn't a kind of a... just lose all common sense and
open the door and let anybody that happens to be passing in
off the street. No, it's talking about brethren in the gospel.
Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have
entertained angels unawares. Messengers. I'm not really sure
what he's saying here, but certainly the word angels means messengers.
I'm sure it's talking about brethren in the gospel. And it's talking
about open-handed use of all that has been lent to us, because
all that we have is just what God has lent to us for a season.
It's not... Look, what's the motive of it?
Why should you not be forgetful to entertain strangers? Because
the tenth commandment tells you thou shalt not covet. Does it
say that? I don't think so. Why does it
say, what does it say, what does it give as the reason? No, it
says it forbids selfish, not because of the law, but because
you might be entertaining God's messengers. Now move on, verse
three. Remember them that are in bonds,
as bound with them, and them which suffer adversity, as being
yourselves also in the body. Care and compassion. on others
in need is what this is encouraging. You who've inculcated this glorious
doctrine that has been expounded in the epistle to the Hebrews,
you that have taken on board where you are in the Lord Jesus
Christ, the solid rock on which you stand, the overwhelming grace
that has been shown to you, he says, have care and compassion
on others in needs. And what are they? They're in
bonds for the gospel's sake. This is what it's talking about.
Again, it's not talking about general prison visitation schemes
or anything like that. No, it's talking about those
that are in bonds, in difficulties for the gospel's sake. And it
says, it gives us the reason why. Why should we do it? Why should we do it? Again, it's
not because we're forbidden to be covetous with what we have.
No, as being yourselves also in the body. Romans 12 verse
15, weep with those that weep. Rejoice with those that rejoice,
not because law forbids. murder, adultery, theft, lying? No, but because you're part of
the same body with those who are the children of God, and
those that are in difficulty. You know, when your foot's hurting,
you do something about it. When another part of your body's
hurting, you do something about it. You're in the same body,
is the reason that's given. We're encouraged to live a particular
way, to act in a particular way, with care and compassion on others
in need, because you're part of that same body. Second, next
point, verse four, marriage. Marriage is honourable in all,
and the bed undefiled, but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.
Talking about home love, remember the foundation, let brotherly
love continue. Well this is home love, which
is foundational to wider brotherly love. We've already mentioned
husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church. Wives, love,
respect, honor your husbands. Tenderly care for them as your
own body. These are the marriage promises.
Be satisfied in that situation. There's a verse in Proverbs chapter
5 verse 18. Rejoice with the wife of your
youth. Be happy in that situation. Keep
yourselves from all sorts of sexual immorality. and be motivated
by love. Not fear of transgressing the
seventh commandment. It doesn't say that. It talks
about the honor and the love that's within marriage. Verse
five, the next point, verse five. Let your conversation be without
covetousness and be content with such things as ye have. For he
hath said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. The law
says, thou shalt not covet. And it was when he understood
the force of that law that Paul truly knew he was a sinner. He
thought in his pharisaical self-righteousness that he kept all of the law till
the force of thou shalt not covet hit him. And then he knew that
he was a sinner. And he knew that he was the chief
of sinners. And he knew that he wasn't worthy to be called
an apostle. He knew that. But that's not the reason we're
told to be content. Not because of the law against
covetousness. Not because we fear the penalty
of breaking the tenth commandment. No, it's because he has said,
I will never leave you nor forsake you. So why should you need to
be covetous? Why should you need to be anxious
for those things? Why should you need to be striving
to get those things? He has said, I will never leave
you nor forsake you. Rest in him and what he's given
you. That's the reason for it. He
gave that promise a number of times, Genesis 28 15, Deuteronomy
31 verses 6 to 8, Joshua chapter 1 verse 5, First Chronicles 28
verse 20, and here again, I will never leave you nor forsake you.
This was God's promise to his people. Why should you need to
be anxious about the things you have? Why should you need to
be covetous for the things that you want? The Lord is my shepherd,
says Psalm 23. I shall not want, I shall not
be in want, I shall not be anxious for things that I must get. Isaiah
66 we saw last week in the study, verse 11, that ye may suck and
be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations, that ye
may milk out and be delighted with the abundance of her glory.
That's God's promise to his people. Abundance of all that we need.
Give us this day our daily bread. We know God gives His children
what they need. He doesn't suffer His children
to go begging bread. Therefore, in whatever state
you are, as Paul learned, he said, I have learned in whatever
state, and he went through times of prosperity and comfort and
times of being beaten and in shipwreck and in prison and in
all sorts of situations of deprivation, but he said, I've learned in
whatever state I am, therewith to be content. Here's some good
advice. Let your riches, this verse might
say, let your riches consist not in the largeness of your
possessions, but in the fewness of your wants. Happy is the person
that can learn to be content with what they've got, and this
is what this is telling us. And what's the greatest motive
for the believer to be content with their material provision?
The Lord has said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you. I'll
always be with you. He's the one who cares with compassion
for his children. And then next, verses seven to
14. Write doctrine, follow right
doctrine. Remember them which have the
rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God, whose
faith follow, considering the end of their conversation, which
is Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today and forever. Be not
carried about with diverse and strange doctrines, for it is
a good thing that the heart be established with grace. not with
legalistic particulars, not with meats which have not profited
them that have been occupied therein. And that sounds awfully
like what we read earlier in 1st Timothy chapter 1. It sounds
very very much like what Paul says to the Colossians in chapter
2 and at the end of it. These legalistic ways of living,
this legal burden, not with meats, you can eat this, you can't eat
that, which have not profited them that have been occupied
therein. We have an altar whereof they
have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle, those who think
they've got the only right altar, those who think they've got a
physical altar that's magnificent in its appearance, those who
think that they are the ones that have got the right way.
No, we have an altar, a true altar, it's the Lord Jesus Christ,
and he shed blood on the cross of Calvary. That's our altar.
For the bodies of those beasts whose blood is brought into the
sanctuary by the high priest for sin are burned outside the
camp. Because they're disgusting. They
don't smell good. It's not nice. They're taken
outside of the camp, wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify
the people, set them apart, his people, with his own blood. suffered
outside of the gate, outside of all of the religious formality. Let us go forth therefore unto
him, outside, without the camp, bearing his reproach, for here
we have no continuing city, for we seek one to come." The law
says this. The Ten Commandments say, you
shall have no other gods but me. They say, don't make any
graven images. They say, revere the name of
God. They say, respect God's Sabbath
rest. And all the commandments threaten
death on any who fall short to any degree. This do and live,
but the soul that sins, that falls short, shall die. But grace points to Christ. who has filled all the types
and all the pictures, all the altars, all the animal sacrifices,
let us go forth to him outside the camp, outside the camp of
this world's religion, of this world's values, bearing his reproach
as Moses did. considering it better to suffer
the reproach of Christ than the pleasures of sin for a season.
Verse 9, don't let the legalists knock you off course, trying
to bring you back under legal bondage, as we read earlier in
1 Timothy. Let your heart be established,
verse 9, let your heart be established with grace, not legal restrictions,
with grace. Hold fast grace whereby we might
serve God acceptably. And verse seven, and support
those who minister the word of Christ to you. I'm talking of
all of them. This isn't the preacher's plea in any way whatsoever for
support. It's about needs. But the thing is, remember them
which have the rule over you. And how do they? Only insofar
as you hear the great shepherd of the sheep speaking to you
through what they say. That's it. That's the mark of
a pastor. That's the mark of a preacher
of the gospel. Do you hear the good shepherd's voice through
what they say? If so, support, I mean morally
support. It's not just, and in some cases,
like mine, it's not a case of needing financial support. It's
moral support. It's support those others that
preach the truth on Free Grace Radio. Support them. Encourage
them. Remember them, which have the
rule over you, whose faith follow, considering the end of their
conversation. This is all part of let brotherly love continue.
And it's all motivated by the love of Christ, which constrains
his people. Hold fast grace, and let brotherly
love continue, whereby we may serve God acceptably.