In Hebrews 13 chapter 1, let brotherly love continue.
Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have
entertained angels unawares. Remember them that are in bonds
as bound with them. and them which suffer adversity
as being yourselves also in the body. Remember them that are
in bonds and them which suffer adversity. The immediate reference
here is to brethren which have been cast into prison or suffered
adversity for the gospel sake. for the sake of trusting Christ
and being a witness of the Gospel of Christ. We read it in Scriptures
in various places, but we can read here in Hebrews 11, verse
36, and it says, And others had trial of cruel
mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover, of bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sewn
asunder, and were tempted, were slain with a sword. They wandered
about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented,
of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and
in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth. It'll help
to consider remembering those who are in bonds and those who
suffer adversity, if we consider a few things about sin and about
our Savior. If it wasn't for sinners being
in captivity to sin, there wouldn't be any need of prisons in the
first place. It's a testimony to the absolute
depravity of man that men would imprison those who bear witness
of the only Deliverer who's able to set them free. But the hatred men have for Christ,
which has caused many of God's saints to be cast into prison
and treated with all types of cruel treatment, is due to man's
own captivity in sin. Most of those who imprisoned
the saints were religious men and women. It's no sign of God's
grace for a person to be religious. You can travel the world over
and you won't find a people anywhere that don't worship some kind
of God. Religion or being religious is what we have in us by nature. All men know there's a God whether
they admit it or not. All men know that God is and
that something has to be done. to make ourselves acceptable
to Him. That's a given in most every
place you look, in any kind of religion you look, no matter
how idolatrous it may be. You'll find blood is used, sacrifices
are used. You go down to Mexico and you
see where the where the Aztecs were, or the Mayan ruins, and
you see where they offered their children as sacrifices to God,
to their God, because they knew that something, some kind of
God existed, and that He had to be satisfied by some sort
of offering. Where did they get that? Where
did they come up with that? Men have the light of nature. We don't by nature have light
to be able to come to Christ, but we have that light that either
causes us to accuse or excuse one another. And we know that
there's some God out there. It's impossible to find a place
where men don't worship some kind of God, but the difference
between all religion and the truth is, is the true and living
God receives all the glory in the salvation of those whom He
saves. Somebody asked me, a friend asked
me recently, what's the difference between my gospel and the rest
of the world? And I told my friend, my gospel
declares that salvation is of the Lord. And he kind of laughed
and said, you know, that's what everybody says. Salvation is
of the Lord. And I said, but all whom my God
saves, those vessels that He saves, contribute absolutely
nothing to their salvation. Else it wouldn't be needful that
salvation is of the Lord. The Lord said that in His first
sermon. If we look over at Luke chapter
4. Luke chapter 4. When the Lord Jesus Christ came
to this earth, He came to deliver those given Him by the Father.
And He came to deliver them out of the prison of sin and death
into His presence in final glory. And the whole work, every bit
of it, from beginning to end, is His. And He receives all the
glory for it. Listen to what He said. Luke
4.18. the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed
me to preach the gospel to the poor. He hath sent me to heal
the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives,
and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them
that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
And how was Christ our Deliverer. How was He treated? How was He received when He came
preaching this Gospel? When the hour was come, look
over at John chapter 8 with me. When the hour was come that the
Lord should lay down His life, the Lord Jesus Christ took the
restraints off the religious leaders of the day And He allowed
them to vent the wrath of their heart. And this is what they
did. John 18, verse 12. It says, Then the band and the
captain and officers of the Jews took Jesus and bound Him. That was the first free act that
man performed toward Christ when He removed their restraints and
let them have their way towards Him. They bound Him. They bound
Him. But being religious, they justified
themselves in what they were doing. This shows us what we
are by nature. We're self-justifying, self-righteous,
blind, deaf, bound hand and foot to sin. And that's what we've
got to be saved from. What they did was is they had the Scriptures, but
they took one portion of Scripture and used that portion of scripture
to justify doing what they wanted to do themselves and ignored
the rest of the scripture. Let me show you that. He told
his apostles before he went to the cross, he said, this cometh
to pass that the word might be fulfilled that is written in
their law, in their scriptures. They hated me without a cause. They had the Word of God which
said that men would crucify Christ without a cause, finding no fault
in Him whatsoever. And yet, look over at John 19, and listen to this. Yet, we use
the Word of God to justify our rejection of the Prince of Life,
ignored part of that very word, but then took another part of
that very word to justify what we were doing. Listen. John 19,
verse 4. Pilate, therefore, went forth
again and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that
ye may know that I find no fault in him. Then came Jesus forth,
wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate saith
unto them, Behold the man, When the chief priests, when the chief
priests, therefore, and officers, religious leaders, saw him, they
cried out saying, crucify him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto
them, take ye him and crucify him, for I find no fault in him. The Jews answered him, we have
a law. And by our law, he ought to die
because he made himself the Son of God. Now the law they're talking
about is the law he gave them. Just like the scriptures that
said they'll do this thing without a cause. And they had both, but
they picked one and ignored the other one to justify their rejection
of the Prince of Life. That's why you and I spent so
many years rejecting Christ. That's why we spent so many years
rejecting Christ. It's because we were too religious,
too righteous in our own eyes to bow to Him. We didn't need
Him. We had a law, the very law He
gave us. And by that law, when we declared
ourselves righteous, what we were really saying was, He ought
to die. He ought to die. Christ was put
into prison and He was afflicted because the chief priests and
the religious rulers would sooner see the Son of God die than to
confess that they were sin and in no way could save themselves.
And for the same reason, you and I rejected Him. For the very
same reason. using His own Word to justify
our rejection. The Lord said in John 15, verse
22, this is what it comes down to. He said, If I had not come
and spoken unto them, they had not had sin, but now they have
no cloak for their sin. In verse 24, He said, If I had
not done among them the works which none other man did, which
clearly declare He's God. He's God. He said, if I hadn't
done this, they had not had sin. But now have they both seen and
hated both me and my Father. Any of us who He has delivered
from the prison and captivity of this very sin, this very prison
we're looking at here, we know how strong the bars were from
which He freed us. The Lord Jesus Christ bore the
very sin, that very sin, of mine in His own body on the tree. And by His own blood, He purchased
me from the law and from death. Look over at 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 56. This is why we live
in a country where we have freedom of religion. But, and it's odd
to us, strange to us to think that somebody would actually
be cast into prison and bound and suffer this kind of torture
simply for believing on Christ and preaching Christ. But this
word is timeless. That means it has as much to
do with us today as it did right here when Hebrew writers writing it to
these folks. This could very well happen in
our day, in our country again, to where they bound men hand
and foot and threw them in prison. But here's why that men do that,
why men hate this gospel, is because when Christ is preached,
if He's preached in truth, then then it sounds out loud and clear
that there is absolutely nothing that man can do to save himself. And when Christ comes in power
through the Word into just the carnal ear of a man, and he hears
that, he'd rather see the Son of God die than to confess his
sin. He'd rather reject the very Word
of God than confess his sin. But this is what Christ did by
his work. 1 Corinthians 15, 56 says, the
sting of death is sin. That means the wages that I earned
by my sin was death. The sting of death is sin. And the strength of sin is the
law. God my Savior gave a law and
it said this of me. It said he indeed has worked
very hard and has every right to the wages that he alone has
earned for himself. And those wages, that payment
that he has earned is death. He deserves eternal death. And the law said of me, he is
exceedingly sinful. He's just not a mediocre worker
that's earned these wages. Oh, he has gone above and beyond
to earn these wages. He's exceedingly sinful and deserves
death. And the soul that sinneth It
must die, the scripture said, the law said. But in my spiritual
death, in my spiritual death, I was so deaf and I was so blind
to my sin. I was so deaf to hear what the
law said and so blind to my own sin that I thought the law was
saying to me, I'm righteous. I've measured up. I've done a
good job and God will receive me. That's what I thought the
law was saying to me. And so then when somebody would
come around and they would say, we want to talk to you about
Jesus, I would listen. And if the Jesus
they were talking to me about was nothing more than a good
example, a good moral example to follow, I'd listen to Him. If the Jesus that they wanted
to talk about would give me whatever help I needed to make up for
the places where I lacked a little bit, I'd hear Him, gladly receive
Him. But anyone who came around speaking
about the Christ, who is indeed Holy God, who came around talking
about this one who is life by whom a dead depraved sinner must
be given life and it can only be by Him giving life. Whenever somebody came around
and they talked about this Christ who is the light whereby He enters
in and gives eyes to see Him and ears to hear Him and communicates
the gospel to His people. And only He can do it. When they
came around talking about this one who by himself had established
the law of God perfectly and wasn't looking to me to help
him at all establish God's law. And when I found out that God
the Father wasn't looking to me, but that he was looking to
this Jesus, when they would come around talking to me about this
one who has justified his people from all the sins from which
I couldn't justify myself by my obedience to the law of Moses,
when they came around talking about this One who by His one
offering for sin perfected forever them whom the Holy Spirit is
washing, sprinkling, and cleansing their conscience with His blood
and bringing them to a belief of the truth irresistibly in
truth, in righteousness, in judgment. When I heard about Him, This
one who alone is going to receive all the glory for my salvation. For the work which he alone is
able to perform. You would think that somebody
who is helplessly lost and unable to help themselves and destitute
of any life and light and food and Clothing and a covering and
life whatsoever you would think that when they heard about one
who had done all the work That I would have just latched on
to him and said that's the one I want But I wouldn't I wouldn't You know when your parents give
you something to do, a big job, a big list of chores to do, and
you're trying to get them done, and you're working, and it's
just so much work. So much work. If they come in
and tell you, give me all that, give me all of that burden, give
me all of those chores that I've given you, I'm going to do them
for you. You just sit down and rest. I'll do all the work. You'd like
that, wouldn't you? That sounds good. We work a job
and we work hard and we have this thought of, man, I wish
I could just get paid more and not have to work so much. No
way. But you know, there's something
in us that's ingrained in us. It's called pride. And it's so
a part of us. And it comes out in ways like
this. Somebody could give you something that you really need. You could be hard-pressed. You
could be not able to pay your bills or something. And somebody
come to you and give you what you need to pay your bills. And
your first thought, what you'll first say to them is, No, I don't
want it. Or, well, let me pay you back.
There's that pride of sin that's so ingrained in us that we really
don't want somebody doing it for us. We want to do it. We
want to be able to do it. We don't want to say, I need
help. I need somebody else to do this
for me. And when it comes to righteousness
and it comes to eternal matters, it's so much a part of us that
Scripture calls it enmity against God. That's how bad it is. We hate God to do it for us. And that's why I wouldn't take
that Jesus. The Jesus who couldn't do one
thing unless I helped Him along. Gladly take that That's a that's
a made-up figment of men's Imaginations and so therefore that Jesus is
not offensive to a man. He's not doing it all He's just
striking a bargain with us, and so we don't mind him Taking take
getting a little help from him but this one whom God says I
am jealous for my name's sake and and this one is the one I've
entrusted all salvation to, and therefore, he having accomplished
it himself, this one to whom I've given all power in heaven
and earth, he'll receive every bit of the glory. He'll receive
the glory for the Word that's been written, for all the men
he gathered together to write it, He'll receive the glory for
every preacher that He sent forth with this Word. He'll receive
the glory for gathering people together to hear this Word. He'll
receive the glory for quickening dead sinners and giving them
life and entering in so that He turns them from their self-righteousness
to Him. He'll receive all the glory.
He'll receive every bit of the glory for keeping His people
Teaching them and continuing to lead them in the way of truth
and and keeping them all their days he'll receive all the glory
for speaking and Causing our bodies to come out of the grave
in the last day and come into his presence he'll receive all
of the glory because from the beginning and Whenever that was,
before time existed, God gave this people that He's going to
save to Him, and He became their surety. And for His own namesake,
and for the glory of God, He shall do it. And you and I won't
receive any credit. We won't get any glory. We won't
have anything to glory in the day of his return. And this is
the Jesus that men, they don't like. This Jesus infringes upon
the rights that I thought belonged to me. This Jesus jeopardizes
the profession of faith that I myself made. This Christ receives
the glory of being the wisdom that I thought I had attained
by searching and seeking and being studious. Therefore, I
made sure to tell all who preached that Jesus, I have a law. I have a law. Scripture tells
us that that the Lord said they teach the fear of the Lord by
the precept of men. You know what the precept of
men is? Man. That's it. It may be a lot of
different precepts, but the precept is this. Man. And until God does
something miraculous, a miracle, we won't receive Him. It's still
there in 1 Corinthians 15, 57. Look there. But thanks be to
God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord. When you read Scripture, let
me give you some help. When you read Scripture and you
read the word receive, when you read that word receive, change your thinking. Change
your thinking. If you look at that word receive
and you think of it as you deciding I'll receive it. That's not what it means. When
it means receive, receive means that which has been given irresistibly
to you. It's not so much that you received
it by reaching out and taking it as much as you received it
without question, without being able to frustrate the fact that
it's given to you. And it's made yours. It's made
yours. How many of you, when you went
down to the living room on Christmas morning, how many of you had
to be talked in to taking those things that were provided there
for you? Did you have to be coerced into
opening up your presents that were handed to you? Did you have
to be coerced into looking into your stocking? It was yours, wasn't it? It was
a gift. Didn't cost you anything. Didn't
have to do anything to get it. It was a gift. This salvation
is free and it's given. And it shall be had. It shall
be received by everyone to whom it's given. No, God makes it
so appealing to us and such a wonderful gift to us that there is no possibility,
not even the slightest desire in the hearts of the one who
receives it, not to receive it. Not even the remotest possibility
that you won't take it because it's so wonderful and so beautiful. But how do you get to that point
to where it's just altogether beautiful and wonderful and lovely
to you from that point of saying, I have a law. I don't need a
handout. I don't need a gift. Well, the
same one who is the gift, the same one whom you receive when
he's given, is the one who has to take you from that point to
that point. And he gets all the glory. And
He's the One that has purposed it, purchased it, and procures
it. All of Him. God the Father, God
the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Salvation is of the Lord. Now, this One led captivity captive. And He set free from that dungeon
of sin and death all those that He died for. He sets them free.
And now, once He sets them free, They're free and belong to Him
from then on. And like it to be so. Now, so
the Lord Jesus warns us with these words. He said, if the
world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you.
You know that. How do you know that? Because
you did too. You did too. If you've been saved
by Him, you know the world hated Him before it hated you, because
you hated Him. And He says, but if you were
of the world, the world would love His own. But because you're
not of the world, but I've chosen you out of the world, therefore
the world hateth you. The Apostle Paul was put in prison
for preaching Christ. Let me show you what he said.
Look over at 2 Timothy chapter 1. Verse 7, 2 Timothy 1 verse 7. He wrote to Timothy. He was in
prison. And he said, 2 Timothy 1 verse
7, God hath not given us the spirit of fear. Is that the kind
of spirit you have now? Some of you sat here this morning
kind of looking like You'd like to be anywhere but here. But
if you were to die today, this hour, would you be fearful? Falling
into the hands of a holy God? Would you be fearful of that? Well, when He gives this gift,
He doesn't give us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of
love, and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed
of the testimony of our Lord. That's the testimony is his gospel. And he said, nor of me his prisoner. That's why Paul was a prisoner.
Because of the testimony of the Lord. But be thou partaker of
the afflictions of the gospel. according to the power of God,
who hath saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according
to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which
was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, but is
now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who
hath abolished death. You know what that means? That means for the believer,
there's no such thing as death. He has abolished it. He destroyed
death. He made death dead for you. He
abolished it. for his people, and he says,
and he hath brought life and immortality to light through
the gospel. Whereunto I am appointed a preacher,
and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles, for the which
cause I also suffer these things. Nevertheless, I am not ashamed. For I know whom I have believed,
and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed
unto him against that day." Now, that's just a little bit about
the sin and the Savior which causes men, unregenerate men,
to cast the Lord's people, the believer, into prison. torment
them in some severe adversity and affliction. And therefore
our text says, Remember them that are in bonds as bound with
them, and them which suffer adversity as being yourselves also in the
body, as being bound with them and as being yourselves sufferers
of adversity. You know what that's saying?
do unto others as you have them do unto you. Suffer with them
as though you were the one and changed yourself. As though the
pain inflicted on those who are mistreated was done in your own
bodies. Remember them in prayer, providing for their necessities,
visiting them. In other words, treat them like
you would treat a brother or a sister for whom Christ died. Now, I'm paraphrasing John Owen
here, because he's a little wordy, and I want to just say this,
give you the gist of what he said here. But he said, while
some brethren are tried by being in bonds, the brethren who are
free are tried, as to the sincerity of their faith, by the opportunity
we have to provide for our brethren. Isn't that right? This is one
of those things the Lord said we do unto Him when we do it
to our brethren. Listen. He said, I was naked
and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me.
I was in prison and you came unto me. The rule of faith, the rule of
Christ by which our Savior leads us is this, bear ye one another's
burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. Now let me give you
two examples, and I'll close with this. I'm going to show
you, just read to you two examples of this. Look, find one of them
in 2 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 16. 2 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 16. Paul said, the Lord give mercy
unto the house of Onesiphorus. For he often refreshed me and
was not ashamed of my chain. But when he was in Rome, he sought
me out very diligently and found me. the Lord grant unto him that
he may find mercy of the Lord in that day. And in how many
things he ministered unto me at Ephesus thou knowest very
well." He looked for Paul, had to search him out, find where
his hired house was so he could go minister to him. Now look
one other place, Philippians 4 in verse 14. I like this one especially. I
like what Paul says about this. He says in verse 11, Philippians 4.11, he says, Not
that I speak in respect of want. What I'm about to say to you,
I'm not saying because I want something. And he said, for I've
learned in whatsoever state I am to be content. But he says here, down in verse
14, he says, notwithstanding, ye have well done that ye did
communicate with my affliction. Now, you Philippians know also
that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no
church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving,
but ye only. For even in Thessalonica, ye
sent once and again unto my necessity, not because I desire a gift,
But I desire fruit that may abound to your account. I desire to
behold the Spirit of grace working in you. That's what he's saying.
I desire to see that my preaching hasn't been in vain, but that
the Spirit of God has created fruit in you. And he says, not
because I desire a gift, but I desire fruit that may abound
to your account. But I have all and abound. I
am full, having received of Ephroditus the things which were sent from
you. Now this is what he calls it. An odor of a sweet smell,
a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God. But my God shall supply
all your need according to his riches in glory by Jesus Christ. Now that's what we mean when
we read or sing the song. It says, blessed be the tie that
binds our hearts in Christian love. The fellowship of kindred
minds is like to that above. We share our mutual woes, our
mutual burdens bear, and often for each other flows the sympathizing
tear. Remember the bound and those
who suffer adversity. All right.