Hebrews chapter 13. Now we saw last week, verse 15
said, By Him, by Christ, He's our sacrifice that makes us accepted
with God, that sanctified us. He's our altar. on whom the sacrifice
is offered. He's our high priest who entered
into the holiest of holies to make intercession on our behalf
where he ever lives. And it says, by him, therefore,
let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually. That is the fruit of our lips
giving thanks to his name. Now, here's our text in verse
16. But to do good and to communicate,
forget not, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. Now, the writer began this 13th
chapter with, let brotherly love continue. Be not forgetful to
entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels
unaware. And then we were told all of
the great privileges we have in Christ Jesus our Lord, what
he's accomplished. And then we come again now to
this subject of, but to do good and to communicate, forget not. What is it to do good? What is
it to do good? First of all, in order for a
person to do good, the person has to be born of the Spirit
of God. It's one thing for you to obey
your parents and for your parents to say, that's good. That is
good. It's good for you to obey your
parents. But to obey God and to be received as a well-pleasing
sacrifice unto God, anything that is done that's well-pleasing
in His sight must be done through the blood of Christ Jesus the
Lord. When it said there, by Him therefore
offer the sacrifice, praise and thanksgiving is one sacrifice.
Another sacrifice is to do good and to communicate. Both of those
sacrifices, though, have to be by Him. Let me show you that
in Colossians chapter 3. Turn to Colossians chapter 3. Now, here are some of the actual
fruit of the Spirit that are mentioned. And then I want you
to pay close attention to how the end of this verse ends. Listen, verse 12, Colossians
3, verse 12. Put on therefore. Let me see
one thing. Now, when you see therefore,
I've told you that you want to see why it's there. So you go
back, look here at verse 10. It says, this is talking to believers,
you've put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after
the image of him that created him, where there's neither Greek
nor Jew. That's one reason men don't do
good, is they use the difference between races to treat one another
evil, and they use it as an excuse. But in Christ, there's neither
Greek nor Jew. circumcision nor uncircumcision. There's neither one who is under
the law or not under the law in Christ. We are all free in
Christ. Barbarian or scythian, bond or
free, but Christ is all and in all. And now look, here's the
conclusion. Put on therefore, as the elect
of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness
of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another and forgiving
one another. If any man have a quarrel, a
complaint against any, Now here's how this ends. Even as Christ
forgave you, so also do ye. The only person that knows anything
about how Christ forgave him is that person that's born of
God. And only the person that's born of God has the Spirit and
the fruits produced that are of the Spirit, which are these
things that are listed. Mercies and kindness and humbleness
of mind and things such as that. that nature. But even the believer
has to be reminded, sadly, to not forget these things. Or else
our text wouldn't say, but to do good and communicate, forget
not. But let me show you something
our Lord said about this doing good. Turn over to Matthew chapter
5. Matthew chapter 5. We just saw there where in Christ
there's neither Jew nor Greek. Our Lord gives us some information
on what that means. In Matthew 5.43, He said, "...Ye
have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor,
and hate thine enemy." That's what the Pharisees taught. That's what the scribes taught.
That's what had become a tradition. That's what they thought the
law said. Because the law said, For an
Israelite, for a Jew, he was not to associate with a Gentile. He was not to have any dealings
with a Gentile. And so, they passed along the
ages, thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy. Hate the
stranger. Hate the one that's from another
country. But all throughout the Scriptures,
the Lord continually says, remember the stranger. because you were
strangers in Egypt," he said. That's what he told them. Remember
the stranger because you were strangers in Egypt. They were
in a land, they were slaves and they were captives and God came
to them in mercy and grace when they had no way of freeing themselves
and brought them out. and set them free. They were
foreigners in Egypt and then they became foreigners in the
world because now they're of the heavenly Jerusalem of Christ. That's what a believer is. And
so then he says, remember the stranger. You were strangers
too at one time who didn't believe. And he says, but I say unto you,
verse 44, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do
good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully
use you and persecute you, that ye may be the children of your
father which is in heaven. For look what he does, for he
maketh his son the sun that shines. He makes his sun to rise on the
evil and on the good and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. Then he says to us, for if you
love them which love you, what reward have you? Do not even
the publicans, the tax collectors, they do that. They love them
that love them in return. But he says, And if you salute your brethren
only, what do ye more than others? Do not even the public and so?
Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven
is perfect. So we're told here to do good
to our enemies, to love our enemies, to pray for our enemies. And
so what is it that, what's one of the first things your parents
taught you out of the scriptures? Was it something like, Do unto
others as you would have them do unto you. Treat others the
way you want to be treated. That's what the Lord said. And
He said that's the Law and the Prophets. That's the sum and
substance of what is taught in the Law of God and the Prophets.
If somebody asks you, do you know what the Old Testament means?
You can say, yes sir, I do. It means do unto others as you
would have them do unto you. The Lord said that's the Law
and the Prophets. You see, Christ came And he was honest with people. He spoke truthfully with people. Do you desire people to speak
truthfully with you? Then speak truthfully with them.
He came and he told sinners they were sinners. And he told those
who were self-righteous that they could not enter into the
presence of God by their self-righteousness. That was a good thing. He didn't lie to them and pat
them on the back and call them a brother or a sister and go
on his way. He told them the truth. That's what it is to do good.
And he came to those that were sick. He visited those who were
sick and he healed them. You don't have the ability to
visit the sick and heal them, but you have the ability to visit
the sick. He came to those who were poor and naked and clothed
them in His righteousness. You don't have the ability to
make a person believe, but you have the ability to clothe someone
who needs a coat. You have the ability to give
someone food that's hungry. He came to those who could in
no way do anything for themselves because they were as the fatherless
are. They were as orphans before God
Almighty. You don't have the ability to
adopt somebody and to bring them to see God, to make them believe
on God, but you have the ability to visit an orphan, to visit
the fatherless, to give of yourselves for them and to teach them what
the Word of God says concerning those things. This is what Christ
did. He came and He did that which
was spiritual. And He tells those who are spiritual,
who are born of the Spirit of God, now, as you go forth into
the world, as you do these things for people, as you do good unto
people, you manifest what your Father in Heaven has done for
you. And then it says here, and to communicate. Do you know what
this word communicate means? By Him, therefore, let's do good
and communicate. Well, the word means, it means
to fellowship with, it means to enter into that which someone
is teaching you or which you teach someone, share with someone
else or teach someone else. But here, primarily it means
give of your goods. Give of those things you have.
Look with me over at 2 Corinthians 9. This is one of my favorite
texts. Some people who claim to believe
the gospel, claim to know Christ and know what He has done, and
know the doctrine very well, get very upset when they hear
someone teach from God's Word the importance of supplying the
need monetarily or physically with a coat, materially, supplying
the needs of those who are lacking. Some folks get upset about that
and if If that is the case with anybody, then I'm not talking
to them. This is not for them, because
God's people are made gracious by the Spirit of grace, and they
understand that whatever God says in His Word, it's to glorify
Him. It's to bring honor and glory
to His name. Let me show you that. Turn with
me there to 2 Corinthians 9. in verse 6. Now, Paul started
out here and he said, it's not needful for me to instruct you
and urge you to guilt because he knew their mind, he knew their
heart, and they were forward to do so. But he says here to
them in verse 6, this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall
reap also sparingly. And he which soweth bountifully
shall reap also bountifully. Now, don't get this backwards.
Don't think that this is saying, well, if I go out and I give
a lot away, then that's going to indent God to give me a lot. That's not what it's saying.
What it's saying is, you're going to see If you've been made to see Christ,
made to see the blessings of Christ, if you truly trust Him,
truly rely entirely upon Him, then you're going to reap bountifully. Now, how does it say that? Because those who truly rely
upon Him, they will sow bountifully. They will sow bountifully. And
as they sow bountifully, they reap bountifully. Now let me
show you what this means. Verse 7. Every man, according
as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give. Now, it always
starts, when God is speaking, it always begins with the heart.
Have you noticed that? With man, it always begins on
the outside. But with God it always begins
in the heart. It's a good thing that the heart
be established with grace. Remember? Every man according
as he purposeth in his heart. Where does he get this heart
to even have a purpose, a desire to supply a need for one of his
brethren or for a stranger? Where does he even have this
desire? What did Colossians say? As Christ forgave you, so ye
forgive others. He knows, as Christ sowed bountifully
unto me, so I have a heart to sow bountifully unto others.
That's where it comes from. So then, every man according
as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly,
or of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver." We're not
bound by a law. Under the old covenant, they
were. It said you had to tithe. You had to bring 10%. Not only do we not have to bring
10%, the believer who beholds what Christ has done rejoices
that we're not obligated to only bring 10%. Because God didn't
just give 10%. He didn't have 10 sons and give
one of them. He gave His only begotten Son. Christ didn't have 10 lives and
give one of them. He laid down His life. And so the believer is made to
behold that God gave everything, Christ gave everything for a
wretched, hell-deserving worm like me. And therefore, when
I behold a wretched, hell-deserving worm like me, The Spirit of Grace
causes me to want to give everything to Him. Whatever He needs, give
it to Him. Whatever is in His best interest
to try to point Him to Christ, give it to Him. Clothe Him. Feed
Him. Bring Him in the house and feed
Him. Clothe Him. Bring Him by the fire so He can
warm Himself. And all the while, teach Him
about Him who is our righteousness, who clothes us in the majesty
of the heavens, who from your belly shall flow rivers of living
water for those who trust Him. And it says, For God loveth a
cheerful giver. You know what the end of our
text says? For with such sacrifices God is well pleased. Well pleased. Because it's manifesting that
we truly have heard Him. We truly understand what Christ
has done for us. He did nothing but good for us.
And He gave everything for us. And it causes us to understand.
And we manifest it by helping others, doing good to others,
by supplying the needs of others. And therefore, God says, I'm
well pleased with it. It's from Him. It's through His
Son. It's by the Spirit of His grace
working in us. And it comes back to Him. And
He's well pleased with it. Now, let's read on. And God is
able to make all grace abound towards you, that ye always,
having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good
work. As it is written, he hath dispersed
abroad. It always begins with God. He
hath dispersed abroad. He hath given to the poor. His
righteousness remaineth forever. Now He that ministereth seed
to the sower, the one that gives this ability for you to sow,
He both ministers bread for your food. He's also the one who gives
you The food, and the clothing, and the shelter, and everything
you need. All things. He gives you all things. And
He also multiplies your seed sown and increases the fruits
of your righteousness. It's by Him that we have this
heart to do this. It's by Him that we have the
ability to do this. It's by Him that we purpose in
our heart to do this. It's by Him that we actually
go through with the administration of this service. And it's by
Him that this seed sown, that He produced that fruit, and then
this seed that sown, He produces more fruit from that. So we see
verse 8, God is able to make all grace abound toward you,
that ye always, having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to
every good work. Not just Not just do what you
can, abound. God's people don't eat the chicken
at home and bring the feet and the feathers to the poor folks
and to the Lord's people. They don't eat the steak at the
house and bring the horns and the hooves to God's people or
to those that are in need. Abound in this. Abound in it. You know that widow who brought
two mites? You remember her? That widow
that brought two mites. The Lord was sitting there by
the treasury, and He watched this widow. She didn't have a
husband. She didn't have an income. And she comes, and she puts in
two mites. That was a form of money. She
put in two mites. And there was rich folks coming
that was putting in, and the Lord said, She's given more than
all them. Now, I can guarantee you that
those folks that were coming who were legal and bound by the
law and thinking that they were righteous by the law, they were
given 10% of what they had. So when the Lord said she's given
more than they have, that means she gave more than 10%. She gave
more than what they were given. Compared to what she had coming
in, she gave more than a tenth of that going out with those
two mites. And the Lord said she's given
more than all of them have given. You see, that's a lesson for
us to learn. We start out like a baby. You
know what a baby knows right away? A baby knows right away
who its mother is. A baby knows right away that
its mother is life. A baby knows right away that
its mother feeds it, clothes it, protects it, A baby knows
that from day one. And the believer, born of God,
who by the Spirit of God has been convinced of sin because
he didn't believe on God, who's been convinced of righteousness,
that Christ is all our righteousness, has been convinced of judgment,
that all judgment is passed for him in Christ, that person knows. He may not know all that, but
he knows Christ is everything to him. But he's got a lot of
this world, he's got a lot of eyes for this world still left
in him. So what God does is, he takes
the pacifier away from him. And he cries because God took
the pacifier away from him. He don't cry because he's mourning
over his sin. He don't cry because of his unbelief
and not trusting the sufficiency of God's grace. He cries because
God took his pacifier away from him. But then God gives him more
grace. And he thanks God. And he praises
God. And he sees God's grace is sufficient.
And he goes on a little further. And then God takes something
else away from him. And he cries out again. Not because
of his sin. Not because he's mourning over
his unbelief. He's crying some more because God took his thumb
out of his mouth. Wouldn't let him suck his thumb anymore. But
then God gives more grace. And he beholds God's grace is
sufficient again. And when he beholds God's grace
is sufficient again, he thanks God for his grace. He says, Oh,
I shouldn't have cried with my thumb being taken out of my mouth.
Well, then Time goes along and God takes a little something
else from him. And this time he cries out again, but he's
not crying for it because he's mourning over his sin. He's crying
because God took his security blanket away from him that he
likes to snuggle up to at night, keeps him warm and makes him
feel safe. He took it away from him. And
God gives him more grace to behold that his grace is sufficient.
And he beholds God's grace is sufficient and he thanks God
and he's beginning to see God's grace is sufficient. And little
by little, little by little, God takes this away from him
and gives him more grace. Takes this away from him and
gives him more grace. And he's weaning his child just
like that mother weans that baby off of her milk. He's weaning
that child and giving it stronger meat. and stronger meat, and
stronger meat. And that stronger meat is to
see more of Christ in His full sufficiency. To see that by Him
we have been perfected forever. To see that because God gave
us all things when He gave us His Son, He shall also with Him
freely give us all things. And it says here, God is able
to make all grace abound towards you, that ye always, having all
sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work. Now,
here's what I love about this text. Look here, verse 11. Being
enriched in everything to all bountifulness. That means liberality. That means you give abundantly. at being enriched in everything
to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God."
Now, every time we behold God's grace and the sufficiency of
it, we thank God. Now Paul says, when you give
this, it's going to cause thanksgiving to God. Now read this. Here's
why. For the administration of this
service, When I take this that you've given and I give it to
the saints or to the stranger, particularly here, this is dealing
with saints. They're the ones that's going to truly thank God
from the heart. But look, and he says, it not
only supplies the want of those saints, it not only puts food
on their table so they can eat because they didn't have any
food. It not only does that, but look what else. But it is
abundant. It is full. It overflows also
by many thanksgivings unto God. Because by the experiment, by
the actual going through with this ministration, they glorify
God. They thank God. By Him, therefore,
let us offer the sacrifices of praise continually. That is the fruit of our lips,
giving thanks unto God in His name. That's what they do. They
give thanks unto God because what happens when you hear your
mother and father? Somebody comes along. They need
something. Your mother and father is running
short on being able to pay the bills or whatever's happening.
And somebody, a person physically, actually, gives them something
to help them out. And they say, our brethren gave
this to us to help us out. You know who they thank first
for that? They thank God. Through Christ,
by Him, they enter into the very throne room of God by faith and
thank God for it. And Paul says, that's what these
saints do who receive this. They go and thank God for it.
Now what else do you want in return? That's the best return
on your investment you could ever have is for a saint to enter
into the presence of God and praise your father What else
do you want? What else do you want? and it
says And it says and they do it for your professed Subjection
unto the gospel of Christ they go to God thanking God for what
he's done in your heart and And it says, and for your liberal
distribution unto them and unto all. They thank God for supplying
their need. They thank God for supplying
your need. And they thank God for that which
He gave you to give to them. You see that? God gets the glory
in all of it. And then, and they do this by
their prayer for you, longing after you for the exceeding grace
of God in you. And Paul says, thanks be unto
God for His unspeakable gift. Christ is that unspeakable gift.
Christ did this. Christ did this for us. And when
He makes a person behold this and do this and see the abounding,
abundant thanksgiving that redounds, that goes back to God's glory,
that causes us to cry out and to thank God. for His unspeakable
gift of Christ, for all the riches of glory, of mercy and grace
that He's given us by Him. And then it causes us to do what?
Look back at our text. We'll stop. Hebrews 13, 15. By
Him. This is what it causes us to do. By Him, therefore, let us offer
the sacrifices of praise to God continually. That is the fruit
of our lips, giving thanks to His name." And then it comes
back down to the end of verse 16, and this is why, with such
sacrifices, God is well pleased. He's well pleased. You see that? Did you see that?
I hope you see that. Do good and communicate. Forget not.