Alright, go with me if you would
to Hebrews chapter 13. Hebrews 13 and our text will
be verse 2. Be not forgetful, to entertain
strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unaware. I think that's exciting. I think
that's really exciting. Be not forgetful to entertain. Some have entertained. The exhortation and the commandment
of this verse is be hospitable. Be hospitable. That's what entertain
means. To extend love toward. To extend hospitality toward. Hospitality means friendliness. It means to welcome with warmth,
kindness, and generosity. Now we're going to start this
message right here. Thank God for the hospitality of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Thank God for the fact that he
purposed in his heart to entertain strangers. He willingly extended
love toward. He willingly and happily extended
friendliness toward. He welcomed with warmth, kindness,
and generosity a bunch of strangers like us. Products of sin. The exact opposite of His hospitality. Not friendly toward Him. At enmity against Him, the Scripture
says. An enemy of His. Not warm. Cold as ice toward
Him. Cold, so cold, so cold. Not kind. Filled with hate. Just filled with hate. Not generous. Self. Selfish. Me. Me. We love the song that
says, Against the God that ruled the sky, I fought with hands
uplifted high. Despised the mention of His grace. Too proud to seek a hiding place. But thus the eternal counsel
ran. Almighty love, arrest that man. Engulf that man in my hospitality. Include that man in the friendliness
of redemption. Make him one of my friends that
I laid down my life for. Welcome Him into the covering
of my blood. Give Him the warmth of life. Show Him the loving kindness
of my tender mercy, the kindness of forgiveness. Grant Him the
generosity of grace. That's the hospitality of Christ
toward sinners. He welcomed us into his home. There's an Italian restaurant
and they had the slogan at one time, when you're here, you're
family. They meant that figuratively.
Our Lord says, in reality, to every sinful stranger that He
has shown loving hospitality to. Every stranger He's welcoming
to His home. You're here. This is what He
says to them. You're here. Right now are you the sons of God.
You're here, and when you're here, you're family. You are
family. This is not just hospitality.
This is family. Oh, the unsearchable riches.
Oh, the unsearchable riches of the fact that Christ would entertain
strangers. Now, is that not reason enough
for us to in turn be hospitable towards each other? That's all
the reason we need. He said, inasmuch as you have
done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, you have
done it unto me. You've done it directly to me.
You've done it to them, you've done it to me. Doesn't seeing his great hospitality,
his loving generosity in entertaining us, doesn't that make you want
to invite somebody over? Seeing how he has welcomed into
his home, For Christ's sake, as God for Christ's sake has
been so hospitable toward me, when I see everything He's done
for me, what can I do for you? What can I do for you? For Christ's
sake, because of His warmth, His kindness, His generosity
in giving His all to and for His people, because He washed
us in His own blood, because He clothed us in His own righteousness,
because He served us and fed us with heavenly bread and living
water. For Christ's sake, our commandment
is, be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have
entertained angels. Unaware. Be hospitable. Be hospitable. Look with me at
Romans chapter 12. Romans chapter 12 verse 10 says,
Be kindly affectioned one to another, with brotherly love,
in honor, preferring one another, not slothful in business, fervent
in spirit, serving the Lord, rejoicing in hope, patient in
tribulation, continuing instant in prayer, distributing to the
necessity of saints, given to hospitality. be given to hospitality,
absolutely given to hospitality. That's a requirement for being
a pastor. It's one of God's requirements. He must be given to hospitality. He must be loving. He must be
friendly, welcoming, warm, kind, generous. I don't know that I've
ever said something with so much conviction from it. I say that with conviction. I
acknowledge that's what God commands. I acknowledge that I fall short
of it. And I'm sorry. But that's what
God commands, whether I live up to it or not. And that's what
God has commanded to all of His saints, not just pastors, every
stranger who has received the loving hospitality of Christ.
In return, He said, Be given to the hospitality of each other.
Verse 17 right here in Romans 12 says, Recompense to no man
evil for evil. Provide things honest in the
sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as
life in you, live peaceably with all men. Show love and warmth
and kindness and generosity to all men. All men. But look at
Galatians 6. Turn with me over to Galatians
chapter 6. Galatians 6 verse 10 says, As
we have therefore opportunity Let us do good unto all men,
especially unto them who are of the household of faith. Show
kindness and hospitality to all men. Entertain strangers, but
especially if that stranger is pleading the blood of Jesus Christ.
Especially. Entertain brethren especially. Romans 12 said, prefer them. Prefer them. Back in our text
in Hebrews 13, verse 2 is coming off of verse 1. And verse 1 says,
let brotherly love continue. Brotherly love. Don't be forgetful
to entertain each other. Brethren, show friendliness and
kindness to each other. God is commanding. Paul is exhorting. I am repeating. This right here is such a wise
way for a child of God to go through life. This right here
is such a wise way for a child of God to go through life. This
right here is such a wise way for a child of God to go through
life. Open your home to people, brethren
especially. Give them a place to sleep. Give
them a meal. It will be your blessing more
so than theirs. It will be. Let's teach our children
to do the same thing. Let them learn from our example.
Let them experience the blessing of having other believers in
our home. And hopefully having conversation
around the gospel. I grew up, my parents were big
entertainers, and I grew up listening to countless hours of adults
sitting around our table talking about the gospel. And I just
cannot tell you how invaluable that was for me growing up, I'm
sure for my parents. So valuable for all of us. What a priceless thing to expose
ourselves to. and to expose our children to.
Verse 2 says, Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby
some have entertained angels unaware. The word angel means
messenger. Look with me at Revelation chapter
1. Revelation 1, the Apostle John
said in verse 10, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's
day and heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet. Verse 12 says, And I turned to
see the voice that spake with me, and being turned I saw seven
golden candlesticks. Verse 16 says, And he had in
his right hand seven stars. Verse 20 says, The mystery of
the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven
golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels. Messengers, the word means messengers.
The seven stars are the angels or the messengers of the seven
churches, the perfect number of congregations all over the
world, all throughout time, all of God's churches. And he went
on to say, the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven
churches. In chapter two, verse one, he
said unto the angel or the messenger, the one who is to deliver the
message, to the church of Ephesus, write this to him. So pastors
and preachers and teachers are messengers. They do the same
work that angels do. They deliver messages. Look at
Revelation 22. Revelation 22 verse 8 says, And
I, John, saw these things and heard them, and when I had heard
and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel
which showed me these things. Then saith he unto me, See thou
do it not, for I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren
the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book.
Worship God. The Lord sent to John one of
his fellow servants, one of the prophets, to deliver a message
to him. And that's why John called him
an angel. He was a messenger. But God's
people are not angels. They're not angels in heaven.
They're definitely not angels on this earth. God's people know they're not
angels. They're far from it. We're sinners. Not angels. Sinners. Redeemed sinners from
among men. The scripture mentions in a few
different places the capital A, Angel of the Lord. Meaning
the Lord came Himself to deliver the message. But as God, He is
not an angel. He's God. And as man, He is not
an angel. He's man. Here's how we know
this. Look with me at Hebrews 2. Hebrews
2 verse 14 says, For as much then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took
part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that
had the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver them
who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to
bondage. For verily he took not on him
the nature of angels. But he took on him the seed of
Abraham. Wherefore, in all things, it
behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might
be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to
God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in
that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to
succor them that are tempted." So in our text, when it says
some have entertained angels unaware, what that means is some
have entertained angels and had no idea. Had no idea. Now there's a lot we could say
about angels. There's a lot we have said about
angels in previous messages. The subject will come back up
and we'll say more about it. Tonight, for the sake of time,
I want to show you some things about their interaction with
God's people. Across my page, we read it for
the Scripture reading, Hebrews 1 verse 13 says, But to which of the angels said
he at any time, sit on my right hand until I make thine enemy
thy footstool? Are they not all ministering
spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of
salvation? God's angels are ministering
spirits, ministering messengers. People like to call them guardian
angels. That's exactly what they are.
They're God's servants. sent forth to minister for them. They're sent forth to take care
of those that shall be heirs of salvation. God has provided
them for his people. They're sent from God. He gets
all the glory in the care of his people. He is the one who
created angels. He's the one who sent his angels
to care for and protect and minister to his elect. And they do. They do. And this is, this will
bring a believer great comfort, great comfort. Everything that
is in our life, everything that goes on in our life, our God
is in complete control of it. And not just that, He is actively
involved in it. He has His hand on it. And He
has His ministers doing His bidding around it. And God's people are
going to be cared for according to all the power of
God and his ministers and all of heaven, all of heaven is looking
out for every single one of God's people. We always think about
the worst that could happen to us. And there are some things
that for the sake of the gospel, men have had to go through and
women have had to go through horrible, horrible things. But
the fact of the matter is, is the only way things like that
can happen is if it is in the direct purpose and will of God. Outside of that, nothing can
happen to God's people. Nothing. God's people are absolutely
invincible. Look with me, if you would, at
Matthew 18. Matthew 18 verse 2, Jesus called
a little child unto him and set him in the midst of them and
said, Verily I say unto you, except you be converted and become
as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of
heaven. Verse 6 says, But whoso shall offend one of these little
ones, which believe in me, it were better for him, the one
who did the offending, that a millstone were hanged about his neck and
that he were drowned in the depths of the sea. Verse 10 says, take
heed that you despise not one of these little ones. For I say
unto you that in heaven their angels do always behold the face
of my Father which is in heaven. What he's saying is you want
to harm one of the Father's little ones? Be warned. Their angels are looking at the
face of the Father, waiting on Him to say the word. Waiting
on Him to just give the command. They were created to do His bidding
concerning them which shall be heirs of salvation. Created for
God's people, and they're in constant interaction with Him.
Constant. It was that way in the beginning. The beginning of time as we know
it. Look with me at Genesis 18. Genesis 18, if your Bible's like
mine, the heading at the top of my page says, Abraham entertaineth
three angels. And verse 2 says, he lift up
his eyes and looked, and lo, three men stood by him. And when
he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door and bowed
himself toward the ground. Three men. And verse 13 says,
and the Lord said unto Abraham, One of them was the Lord and
there were two angels. Genesis 19 verse 1 says, And
there came two angels to Sodom at Even, and Lot sat in the gate
of Sodom, and Lot, seeing them, rose up to meet them, and he
bowed himself with his face toward the ground. They were just walking
down the street, right here on this earth. He walked right into
the gate of Sodom. Look at Genesis 32. Genesis 32 verse 1 says, And
Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. And they all talked. Abraham had the gospel to him.
God came with two angels. Abraham had the gospel preached
to him. Lot was literally delivered from
death. Jacob received some wise counsel
on how to deal with his brother Esau. Not only did that kind
of interaction take place in the beginning, it took place
in the middle of time as we know it. Go with me to Matthew 28. I'll be quick here. Matthew 28. Matthew 28 verse 1 says, In the
end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day
of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the
sepulcher. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for the
angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back
the stone from the door and sat upon it. His countenance was
like lightning, and his raiment white as snow. And for fear of
him, the keepers did shake and become as dead men. And the angel
answered and said unto the women, fear not ye, for I know that
you seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here, for he is risen,
as he said, come see the place where the Lord lay. His countenance
was like lightning. His clothes were white as snow.
But I can't find any mention of angels having wings. Not one time. The scripture says
the seraphims have six wings. It says the cherubims have four
wings. I cannot find one scripture that
says angels have any wings. I understand why we all think
they do. It's because they can fly. Daniel
said in Daniel chapter 9 that the angel Gabriel, being caused
to fly swiftly, came and touched me. So they can fly. But every time they are described
in the scripture, They're described as a man. Daniel actually said,
the man, Gabriel. And I was gonna take you through
these accounts of the sepulcher and you'll see that when they
went in, it says they saw a young man. They saw two men. Acts chapter one, when our Lord
ascended back to glory and they were all standing there gazing
up into heaven, two men said, why stand you here gazing into
heaven? He's gonna come back just like you saw him go up.
Two men. So here's the point. In the beginning
of time as we know it, God constantly sent his angels to care for his
people in their time of need. In the middle of time as we know
it, God constantly sent his angels to care for his people in their
time of need. It is still that way today. Our God does not change. He is
the same yesterday, today, and forever. He deals with us exactly
like He dealt with them. There is no doubt in my mind,
based on the scripture, Hebrews 13 verse 2, that some believers
have had interaction with angels and had no idea. No idea. Have you ever had somebody come
along, a stranger, come along at the exact moment in time that
you needed some desperate help? And you say, like many people
say, man, you're a godsend. It might literally have been
a godsend. Hannah and I, 11 years ago, we
were living in Rocky Mount. And we had to go to Nashville
for something. And Hannah was extremely pregnant. Very, very
close to her due date. Her doctor said, I don't recommend
you go. Our wise response was, it'll be fine. So we head out
down the interstate, 70 miles an hour. And this guy pulls up
beside me, and he's mouthing something. He's hollering something
to me. And I can't hear him. I'm trying to make out his words.
And what he was saying to me was, your car is leaking water. And what I read from his lips
was, your car is on fire. And I said, what? And I pulled
that car over on the side of the interstate and told him to
get out. My temp was pegged out. I was pegged out. It was getting
to my head. I thought, I'm hot. We're on
fire. So we got out and I ran behind
our vehicle and, I'm on fire. I saw the water trail. I realized
what he was saying. Your car is leaking water. Alright,
so now here we stand. This was in June. It was hot. Man, it was hot, hot. And the
first thing that went through my mind is, I don't know how
to fix this car. I don't know anything about cars. And then
I look at Hannah, and Hannah's standing there, and I thought,
why did I do this? I don't know how to deliver a
baby either. And, you know, my situation was
probably not as desperate as I thought it was at that moment,
but it was desperate to me. I was desperate. Lord, help us.
Please help us. I don't know what to do. I didn't
have a smartphone back then, AAA and all that Lord help what
help us help us well a black truck pulled up And a guy said
you guys need a ride somewhere And it caught me off guard And
my initial response inside was well, we will be fine. Thanks
But I looked he had a little boy in the backseat And it put
me at ease and I said that'd be wonderful. So he took us to
three different places looking for a tow truck We found one
I came out and told him, thank you for all this. They're going
to get me taken care of. I've tried to give him some money.
Thank you for stopping. Thank you for your time. Thank
you for your gas. No, that's fine. I hope it works out for
you. Thanks a lot. See you later.
I wondered then, and I still wonder to this day, I wonder
if my own simple desperation, if our God in his kind hospitality
said, go help him. You guys need a ride somewhere?
Now, a lot of people are going to hear that and say, that's
silly. That's silly. That's ridiculous. All that is,
is you just getting lost in your imagination. Maybe so. Maybe
that was just a guy and his little boy. Maybe no. Our God is in
direct, direct communication with his people. and He helps
us in our time of need. No matter how great the reality
of the need is, or no matter how great it is to us, it may
not be that big a deal in reality, but if it is to us, our God loves
us, our God chose us, our God is here for us, our God answers
us, our God helps us in our time of need. And as we go through
the rest of this life, we have just a short while to go. Let's
just try to remember to be hospitable and be kind and be welcoming
and entertain strangers. You never know when the Lord's
going to send one of his angels to entertain you. And doesn't
that cause us to give Him all glory? Doesn't that cause us
to completely bypass the angels and say, all glory be to God
for His great provision for us, His great care of us, everything. I'm telling you, if I could,
I would station soldiers around my children. That's exactly what
He has done. That's exactly what He's done.
And we give Him great, great thanks and praise. Not only did
He redeem us from our sins, not only has He prepared a place
for us, but He has stationed permanent care for us from here
to there. And that's just something to
be thankful for, something to rejoice over. All right, let's
all stand together.