We've come to the last chapter
in Hebrews. After all has been said in this epistle about the Lord
Jesus Christ, His greatness, His superiority, He's going to
end this epistle with love, Love the brethren. Love one another. I am sure there were some who
had hard feelings going on at that time because they had so
much persecution going on, some wanting to leave, some staying,
and there was a lot of conflict going on. And I know that we will have
our differences. Believers, We will have our differences,
but we can have our differences in love. You know that? We can
actually have our differences in love. And then what he's saying here,
we will have our differences and our feelings and our differences
need to be checked by love. There's a point where it needs
to be checked, and it needs to be checked by love. Nothing is to come between our
love for Christ and our love for one another. Absolutely nothing
is to come between our love for Christ and one another. If you'll
remember in the Scriptures, it said love covers a multitude
of sin. It covers it. Are you not glad
that Jesus Christ has covered all your sins? I sure hate for
the Lord to put my sins up here on the screen. And I'd be looking
at a lot of them saying, well, I didn't know that. Because there's
a lot more of them I don't know than the ones I think I know.
And I'm glad He doesn't put them on the screen. They're gone. They're gone. They're not coming
back after me. The Scripture says some men's
sins go on before them, and some men's sins follow after them. The believer's sins have already
gone on. They've been judged. They've been judged in Christ.
And they're not coming back. They're not going to come back
up at all. Our relationship, and we need
to remember this, our relationship is not only with the Lord Jesus
Christ, But our relationship is with one another in Christ. One another in Christ. Now, he
says in verse 1, Let brotherly love continue. And I looked at this verse, the
first thing that jumped out at me was how short this verse is. Let brotherly love continue,
period. Period. Because here it is. Without love, we don't need to
go any further. We don't need to talk about hospitality.
We don't need to talk about entertaining strangers. We don't need to talk
about remembering them in bonds. If love is absent, if it's absent,
as Paul said, we're just a sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal.
That's all it is. There's no substance to it. There's
no substance to true religion apart from the love of God, shed
abroad in the heart. There's no substance. Look over
in Ephesians chapter 5. In verse 1, he says, "...Be ye
therefore followers of God as dear children," in Ephesians
5, "...and walk in love." You know, when you're walking, that's
the path you're going down, isn't it? You're going somewhere. You're
walking down the road or down a path, you're going somewhere.
And he says here to walk, and a walk has to do with your manner
of life. Your manner of life is this. Walk in love as Christ
also hath loved us. Walk in the same manner of love
that He loved. Sacrificial love. Giving love. And hath given Himself for us
an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling Savior.
And He did that in love. And we are to walk in that same
sacrificial love and attitude. If the love of the brethren doesn't
continue, all else fails. Apart from love, it is all hypocrisy. That's all it is. It's just religious
hypocrisy apart from love. And this love is a special love.
It is of God. It's a love the world knows nothing
of. But you do. You do because it's
of God. And it's a real affection for
one another as brothers and sisters in Christ. A real, genuine affection
for one another. It's a family love. It's a fraternal
love. That's what it is. The word brother here in the
Greek means this, from the same womb. Brotherly love. It means from the same womb.
We have the same Father. How can I fall out with you and
you and I have the same Father if you and I are born of the
same Spirit? What's sad is I know that because
of sin we can fall out and love can grow cold. I know that. The
charge against the church of Ephesus was this, you left your
first love. That was the charge. They were
sound in doctrine. They were a busy congregation.
They were a busy church. They stood, the Lord commended
them for many things that they did do right. But he says, but
here's the problem. You've left your first love.
Your affections for me are gone. You know, two people get married,
they're in love, they have real affection for one another, life
comes along, kids come along, work, responsibilities come along,
and before you know it, before you know it, the affection has,
the flame is burning down low. It's like the pilot light. You
know, the fire's not burning, but the pilot light's there. But a pile of light won't keep
the house warm, will it? The fire has got to be on. And
that's what he's saying here. Don't lose your affection for
one another. We are born of God. There's no
reason not to love one another. No reason. Some of the Hebrews here, as
I said, were starting to disassemble with the church because of persecution. And because of this, there were
starting to be some hard feelings. And he's saying here, if you
let brotherly love continue, it'll put a stop to this. It'll
put a stop to it. Love will keep this from happening.
There's nothing...the Scripture says love is stronger than death.
There's nothing stronger than genuine love. Nothing. I tell
you, if I was in a foxhole in a war and fighting, the person
I would walk beside of me fighting is a person that really genuinely
loves me, because they're going to stay in that foxhole with
me. They're going to stay right there and fight with me. So let brotherly love continue.
And this love here, this love is a non-discriminating love.
It crosses all nationalities. All nationalities. Someone comes
here from Mexico, or someone were to walk in here from China,
who believe the gospel, love Christ, that's my brother. That's
my sister. And we are to hug them up. We
are to hug them up. That's family. And seeing this so, let brotherly
love continue, be not forgetful to entertain strangers. This
has to do with hospitality. For thereby some have entertained
angels unaware. Because of this tendency to separate
from the fellowship that they had from other believers, they
were prone not to receive believers whom they didn't know when they
came to town. And the apostle said, don't do
that. Open your home up to these strangers.
When he's talking about strangers, here, first of all, the strangers
he's talking about are believers. You know, there can be some come
in here that we've never met before. But entertain them, that is,
show hospitality to them. Show hospitality to them. We
are not to neglect or refuse any of the brotherhood. at all,
but to show, be eager to show hospitality. Be eager to do it. There was a time you and I were
strangers. There was a time we were strangers. I remember the
first time I went to 13th Street. I mean, you know, 400 people.
I walked in there and I felt so out of place. I mean, as far
as when I first walked into the place, there was so many people,
but they just, has pulled us right in. Now, why entertain
strangers? Well, first of all, God says
to. And it's just right. It's just right to do that. It's
right. But here's another reason. It's
because some have entertained angels unaware. Angels still exist. They still
exist. And from reading this text, They
are still used of God. Now, I cannot tell you that a
certain day or time say, yes, I entertained an angel. I don't
know. I don't know. But I tell you this. There are
things God has brought into my life that are like angels. You know what an angel is, don't
you? It's a messenger. A messenger. A trial might be considered one.
They're trying to say, why this? Why that? It's a messenger. An angel is a messenger. Do you
know what he calls the pastors of the seven churches? Do you
know what he calls them? Now I know I don't look like an angel.
If you've been around me very long, you're going to know I
don't really act like one. Whatever one acts like, I don't know. But I am considered an angel.
And you have entertained me. You know, I stayed in the barn
for four and a half months. Most of the time, Lon and Johnny
bought me something to eat on Friday. If I take a biblical understanding
of this, that's entertaining an angel, a messenger of God. That's what I am, a messenger
of God. But also this, Angels still exist. And if the
Lord is pleased to send one along, if He's pleased to let one take
a human form and send it along... He's done it before, hasn't He?
That's what He's saying. He said He's done this before.
He hasn't changed. So some have entertained angels
unaware. And evidently, they're still
used in this way today. You know, entertaining the Lord's
people is the exact same as entertaining Jesus Christ Himself. Over in
Matthew 25, I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and
you gave me drink. naked, and you clothed me, in
prison, and you visited me." And you know what his people
said, Lord, when will we ever see you this way? As much as
you've done it to the least of me, these my brethren have done
it to me. You know, the Lord said to Paul, the Apostle Paul
on the road to Damascus, and he struck him down, and he says,
Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? The Lord's in heaven. Paul never touched Him. He couldn't
touch Him. He's seated on the throne of God. But I tell you
what, if anyone touches you, now I'm telling you the truth,
they are touching Jesus Christ. You are the apple of His eye. And that means the pupil. That
you are the pupil of His eye. And if you're doing something
to one of His children, you're poking your finger in His eye. That's how closely connected
the head is to the body. Christ and His Church. And then he says, remember them
that are in bonds, in prison. He's talking about those that
were some at that time in prison for preaching the gospel. I've
never been in trouble, I mean real trouble, for preaching the
gospel. I've had some people upset, some not like me, but
I didn't lose a meal over it. I didn't lose anything over it.
These people here lost their homes. They were being scattered. They were being taken and put
in prison for doing just exactly what I am doing right now and
what you are doing. Gathering together and preaching
Christ and singing His praises. They've had to go to...some of
them were martyred. Some of them were put at the
stake and lit on fire. That's our spiritual ancestry.
And he says here, remember them that are in bonds as bound with
them. Don't just say, well, I feel
sorry for him. And them which suffer adversity
as being yourselves in the body. You know what it is to be in
this body. You're in this body. You know what it is to have pain.
You know what it is to have loss. You know what that is. You know, In Christ, we are one. One member
of the body cannot suffer, and the rest of the body not know
it. We are to bear one another's
burdens, and I scratched this on here upstairs just before
coming down here. We are to open our hearts to
others' troubles, because our tendency is to turn away. Our tendency is not to deal with
it. But he's saying here, open up
your heart to their pain. Weep with those who weep. Rejoice with those who rejoice. God blesses someone here in a
financial way or whatever way, but if God blesses one of you,
let's all rejoice. Let's all rejoice. If He makes
one of you weep, and hurt, and cry, let's do the same. Let's weep with those who weep,
and mourn with those who mourn, and rejoice with those who rejoice.
We're in the same body. We're in the same body. You know,
if the Lord exalts, or if He blesses one of you, He's blessed
all of us, hasn't He? The whole body's been blessed.
Really. And he's saying here, don't forget
those in prison. You know how it is with us, out
of sight, out of mind. Don't do that. You know, I get asked, several times to pray for someone. If someone would call me or text
me or something, they'd say, pray for them, pray for us, pray
for me, pray for us, depending on who it is or what it is. And
sometimes they put this statement on there, as it comes to your
mind, pray for us. Well, as I get older, my mind
is slipping. I don't remember as much. And
I was thinking the other day, I need to start and write down
these things. You know, there's nothing wrong
with before going to prayer, sit down and write what you want
to pray about. Henry told us once, and I've
done this, and I do it every now and then, he told us in a
Bible class, he said, write your prayers out. Write them out. And I tell you, you don't realize
how helpful it is just to write it out. I used to write them
out, and then I'd put them away somewhere where nobody could
find them and read them, because that was between me and God. And it's
amazing. You go back months later or a
year later and look at those, and then you can see where the
Lord answered your prayers. And you forgot about it. You'd
forgotten about it. But He didn't. He didn't. Now let me see where I'm at.
And then he says here, he talks about marriage, and it just seems
like, it's almost like to me it was out of place. And we're
just talking about it, then all of a sudden he brings in marriage.
And the reason being, I believe here, is because Christianity,
someone said this, Christianity brought a new standard to marriage
and the relationship between men and women. The places Paul
preached to, and the apostles and the others, if they went
to the Gentile world, like Corinth, my soul, fornication, there was
no sanctity about marriage in any way, shape, or form. There
was nothing honorable about it. It was just whatever feels good
goes. Doesn't that sound like in our day? I'm telling you,
it just sounds just like our day. But he says here, marriage
is honorable in all. Marriage is to be held, he's
saying, in great honor and great esteem. He's saying here, keep
the sanctity of marriage. That's what he's saying. It is
of God. Our Lord performed His first
miracle at a wedding. That's where He performed His
first miracle. When God created Adam, He said,
it's not good that the man should be alone. And he made woman and
brought her to Adam, and she became his wife. Always, listen, and this is important. I was thinking about this today.
Always keep the word of God as your guide in marriage. And forget
this world's view of it. Don't listen to it. I was watching
a program once one time, this has been years, a few years ago. And this lady was talking about
her second marriage, her first marriage failed, and the woman
said, no, that's just a starter marriage. Your first marriage
is your starter marriage. That's the world's understanding.
That's the world. That's not God. That's not God. There's no starter marriage. If you want to know what it's
all about, go to the Word of God. Go to His Word. It is a symbol of Jesus Christ
and His church. And I was thinking about this
today. Does my marriage... Vicki's been
married 43... it'll be 43 years. I never thought
about this. I actually never thought about
this until today. Does my marriage represent Christ
and the church? I never thought... that question
never crossed my mind until today. And I was reading this. I thought,
does my marriage represent Christ and the church? He says it's
honorable in all. It's to be protected at all costs. Believers are to build their
lives together for the glory of Jesus Christ. That's what we are to do. That's
what we are to do. And the marriage bed is undefiled. The intimate relationship between
husband and wife... Now listen. who was to say, we're going to
jump a creek here now. A.D. Muse, one of them, used to say,
we're going to jump a creek. The intimate relationship between
a husband and a wife is just as holy and pure as reading the
Word of God, as prayer, and as what I'm doing right now, preaching.
It's just as holy. The marriage bed is undefiled.
You know, we say in our vows, I just married a couple here
a few months ago, and I knew they didn't take what I was saying
serious. I knew they didn't, but the Scripture
says for a man and woman to be married, and they wanted to be
married, so I married them. You know, I just, I did. But in that
In the vows, we say forsaking all others. That's serious business. That
means we absolutely forsake all others. Now, we forsake mom and
dad, not in the sense we don't care for them. Not in the sense
we don't help them. but in the sense that me and
my wife have now become one. And it's none of mom and dad's
business. I'll be honest with you, it's
none of mom and dad's business. Mom and dad would be better off staying
out of it. Now I'm not talking about where
there's abuse and slapping around, you know, I'm not talking about
that, you know that. But I'm just saying if there's
a squabble, if there's a fuss going on, Mom and Dad stay out
of it. Just stay out of it. They can
go back home and they'll figure it out. Because I can tell you
what's going to happen. 99.9% of the time, you're going
to take this out of your child, even if that child is wrong. They are to leave Mom and Dad
and cleave to one another. Cleave to one another. I can say that our parents, our
mother, my mother and dad, they've stayed out of it. Of course,
they don't know anything either, but they stay out of it. They don't pry around it, is
what I'm saying. There's been nothing really to stay out of,
but they don't pry around. But they are too, It's forsaking all others. It's
forsaking all your past, your past friends, your past... It's leaving them. You know,
I was telling Vicki I was going to mention this, but she had
gotten an invitation to her class reunion about 20 years ago. Spouses
not included. The spouses for the first night
were not included. That went over like a lead balloon
with me. I can tell you right now. I said,
that's satanic as can be. I said, I don't know who wrote
that, but I know what's on their mind. The spouse is going to
get in the way. I said, here's the criteria.
Here's the criteria. Now listen, here it is. Would
the church ask Jesus Christ to stay home so they could go out
and build the world for the night? Would the church ask Jesus Christ
to do that? That would be wicked as hell. Forsaking all others. All others. I can tell you there's no place
I would go if I was not allowed to take her. And he says, here, the marriage
bed is undefiled, and those who violate it, God, he says, God
will judge. Those who commit fornication, those who destroy
marriage, he says, God will judge them. God will be their judge. Now, that's scary. You know what we ended chapter
11 with in verse 29? Look at it. Our God is a consuming fire. You want to deal with that? He's
saying here, those who destroy the sanctity of Mary, He says,
God will judge them. You can bank on it. I want you to look over in 1 Corinthians
6. I don't know how long I've been
here, We're been going. 1 Corinthians
chapter 6. And let me see the verse here,
where I'm at. Look at verse 9 and 10. Know ye not that the unrighteous
shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be ye not deceived, neither
fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor
abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor
drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the
kingdom of God. Now such were some of you, but you're not now."
You know, Paul said, Oh wretched man that I am, but he didn't
live like one. There's a difference. There's a difference knowing
that you are rich and living like a rich. There's a difference. Our lives are to be are to be
lived in love to one another. It's to be lived in love to God,
to Christ, to one another. We're to show hospitality. We're
to keep the sanctity of marriage. We are to remember them who are
in bonds. And our lives are to be free
of covetousness. Covetousness. Let your conversation... Now, when this was written, when
the King James Bible was written, The word conversation meant manner
of life and behavior. It was more than just a conversation
going on between me and you. It's your manner of life. It's
your behavior. That's what he's talking about. Let it be without
covetousness. Covetousness here in the Greek
means this. It has this meaning. Without
fondness for silver. You know, there's one thing I've
learned about the United States is being in this free country,
and we have the freedom to have business, but we are a money-making
machine. This country is a money-making
machine. It is. And he says here, live without
love of money. Live free, listen, free from
craving wealth and worldly gain. Live free from that. That's like a spider web. Once
you get caught in it, man, it's just a mess trying to get out
of it. Tangles you up. Now this doesn't mean you cannot
better yourself or your family. It doesn't mean that. Opportunity
comes along. You know, the Lord sends opportunity
along. If He sends it along and you're able to take it, and it
doesn't take you away from the gospel, the Lord's not sending
something along to take you away from the gospel. Although it could be a trial.
you know, a test. Because He did leave some things
in the land of Canaan to test the Israelites whether they loved
Him or not. He said that. He left some things
to test their love. But there's nothing wrong with
bettering yourself and your family. It means we do not lay ourselves
out to getting this world at any expense. A yearning to be
rich And be content with such things
as you have, for He has said, I'll never leave thee, nor forsake
thee." You know, contentment starts with Jesus Christ. Contentment
starts with Jesus Christ. If you're not content with Christ,
and what you have in Christ, and what God has done for you
in Christ, you won't be content. You won't be content. You know,
outside of Christ, I think there's a fine line between contentment
and laziness. A lot of people are just too
lazy to go out and do anything. Well, I'm content. Well, if it's
not Christ, if it's not Christ, you will not have real contentment. It starts with Christ. Am I content
with Jesus Christ? Answer that question to yourself.
Am I content with Jesus Christ? Without that, I'll never be content.
Am I content with where Jesus Christ has put me and what He's
doing with me? Right now. Right now. Our Father, our Heavenly Father
will give us what we need, and He will give us what we need
wisely. You know, if I could handle more,
He'd give me more. He gives me what I can handle. And we have this promise, and
he says, for being content. He said, I'll never leave thee
nor forsake thee. And the reading of this is, I will not, I will
not, I will not leave you. I will not fail you. Christ has
promised us His presence, His provision, His protection. To
want more is sin. It's sin. Can we say this? Now listen. Can we say this? The Lord is my shepherd, I shall
not want. Can I lay down tonight and honestly
pray that? Can that be my prayer? Can I honestly say, I'm full.
I have enough. That's what Jacob said when he
saw sending that stuff over. He said, or one of them said
it, now thank you Jacob, He said, I have enough. I have enough. In Christ, I have enough. And here's our witness, so that
we may boldly say, the Lord's my helper, and I will not fear
what man shall do unto me. Remember Abraham, before the
king of Sodom, he was going to give him all his stuff and Abraham
didn't take any of it. He said, lest you say you made Abraham
rich. Lest you say you made me rich. God made me rich. God made me
rich in Jesus Christ. And I tell you what, I have all
I need in this world. I have all I need. I do. I have
all I need. I don't need any more. I honestly
don't. With boldness, we can face each
day and say, the Lord's my helper. The Lord's my helper. We don't
have to get up in the morning and wring our hands and worry
and fret. The Lord's my helper. And because
of this, we don't need to fear what man shall do to me. Remember?
Many of them are losing their homes and their freedoms, But the one thing they could
not lose, and the one thing you and I cannot lose, our life,
for it's hid with Christ and God. A lost man said to me one time,
a young lost man said to me one time, and he did not know what
he was saying, but he told me, he said, we haven't lost anything
until we lost our life. Oh, buddy, you said more than
you'll ever probably know what you said. And then last of all, 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. I'm going to read you this when
I was looking at this, and then I remembered Henry's commentary,
and I went over and I copied it. If you can't come up with
something, go ahead and use plagiarism. Sometimes plagiarism is fine.
I'm not going to stick your name on it. Alright. Here's what Henry had
to say. Remember them that are guides
and authority over you. Christ is our King. The pastors
are subordinate leaders who point the way to Christ, teach the
Word of God, guide you in understanding of the Scriptures, and are responsible
to see that the church continues in the way of Christ. To remember
them is to respect them, to follow their leadership, to pray for
them, to provide for their material needs, and to honor them for
Christ's sake. Imitate the faith of a true pastor."
Boy, when I read that today, I thought, can any of you imitate
my faith? Can you follow me? That's a load. That's a load. Imitate the faith of a true pastor,
that is, his gospel, his conviction that Christ is the only Redeemer
and the Giver of life. We are not to imitate any man,
only Jesus Christ. But you can follow that and do
well, considering that the goal and object of their ministry
is the glory of Christ and your eternal good." I just couldn't
say anything better than that. I couldn't say anything better
than that. That's right out of his Bible lessons in Hebrews. And here's the end of their faith.
I pray to God this is the end of my faith right here. Jesus
Christ. The same. Yesterday, today, and
forever. His glory is the same. His office
is the same. His purpose is the same. His
work is the same. It never changes. It never changes. He is the great
I AM who never, never changes. I think I wrote something, I
think it was this bulletin this week on the Lord never changing. I'd have to look at the bulletin. I read so much and stuff, I get
things confused which time I used it. But our Lord never changes. Today or yesterday, He's the
same as He is today and He'll be the same tomorrow. When you
and I are gone, He'll be the same. When everything changes,
when change and decay come our way, Jesus Christ is the same. He's forever the same. He never
dies. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. He's forever on the
throne. He's forever our Lord and Savior.
He's forever our hope. He's the same. But the theme
of the message is let brotherly love continue. Then the rest
of this will flow out of that. All right.