I want to open your Bibles with
me to Hebrews chapter 13. Hebrews chapter 13. This was in the bulletin last
week, but I didn't say it out loud and I want you to hear it
from my mouth how much I thank you and appreciate your very
generous gift and your demonstration of love and
care for me and Janet over the Christmas holiday, I greatly
appreciate you. Thank you. Thank you for it.
There's so many other things I was mentioning last week I
forgot. So I want you to hear that from from my mouth. All
right, we're going to read the first three verses of Hebrews
chapter 13. This will serve as our text this
morning. 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. With arms and with vials there
stands a great throne in the presence of Jesus and sings this
new song. Unto Him who hath loved us and
washed us from sin, Unto Him be the glory forever. Amen. All these ones were sinners,
defiled in His sight, Now arrayed in pure garments, their voices
unite. To Him who hath loved us, and
washed us from sin, Unto Him be the glory, He maketh the rebel a priest
and a king He hath bought us and taught us this new song to
sing To him who hath loved us and washed us from sin Unto him
be the glory forever How helpless and hopeless we sinners have
been, If He had not loved us and washed us from sin. Unto Him be the glory forever,
Amen. Aloud in His praises our voices
shall ring, So that others believe This new song shall sing to Him
who hath loved us and washed us from sin. Unto Him be the
glory forever. Amen. Turn now in our hymnal to 187,
187. Blest be the tie that binds Our
hearts in Christian love. The fellowship of kindred minds
Is like to that above. Before our Father's throne, we
pour our ardent prayer. Our fears, our hope, our aims,
our want, our comforts and our care. We share our mutual woes, Our
mutual burdens bear, And often for each other flows The sympathizing
tear. When we asunder par, it gives
us inward pain. But we shall still be joined
in heart and hope to meet again. May the mind of Christ my Savior
live in me from day to day, By His love and power controlling
all I do and say. May the Word of God dwell richly
in my heart from hour to hour, so that all may see I triumph
only through His power. May the peace of God, my Father,
rule my life in everything. that I may be calm to comfort
sick and sorrowing. May the love of Jesus fill me
as the waters fill the sea, Him exalting, self-effacing, this
is victory. May I run the race before me,
Strong and brave to face the foe, Looking only unto Jesus. as I onward go. May His beauty rest upon me as
I seek the lost to win, and may they forget the channel, sing
only If you would please open your Bibles
to 1 Corinthians chapter 13. Though I speak with the tongues
of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding
brass or a tinkling cymbal. Though I have the gift of prophecy,
and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though
I have all faith, so that I can remove mountains, and have not
charity, I am nothing. Though I bestow all my goods
to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned,
and have not charity, that profiteth me nothing. Charity suffereth
long and is kind. Charity envieth not. Charity
vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly,
seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinking no evil, rejoiceth
not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things,
believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth. But whether
there be prophecies, they shall fail. Whether there be tongues,
they shall cease. Whether there be knowledge, it
shall vanish away. We know in part, and we prophesy
in part, that when that which is perfect is come, then that
which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake
as a child. I understood as a child. I thought
as a child. But when I became a man, I put
away childish things. For now we see through a glass
darkly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then
shall I know even as also I am known. And now abideth faith,
hope, charity, these three. but the greatest of these is
charity. Let's put the God in prayer. Our great God and holy heavenly
Father, we're thankful people to have this place to come to,
Sunday and Wednesday, the place where you've given us a faithful
pastor to open your word to us. Thank you for the Sunday school
lesson this morning. cause us to only believe in Christ,
look not to ourselves, but only believe in Him and His work,
that the blood that was shed don't go to sin. Let Him be our
righteousness. Father, we pray for this worship
service, ask that you uphold our pastor to open your word
and to teach us out of the scriptures which you laid on his heart.
Father, we're thankful that you've seen fit to love us before give
us a desire to find you, seek you, and have you call us by
preaching of your word. Cause us to love you, knowing
that you loved us first and provided a salvation for your people.
We're eternally thankful for the gift of your son. I ask that
you cause us each day to realize that the sacrifice that was made for our Savior to take our sin
in His body and to be punished for what we've done and what
we were required to do. Trust each day to know the sacrifice
of His name. Be thankful for our Savior. Allow
us to also know that everything we have in our lives, our talents,
our abilities, our jobs, our homes, all this is a gift from
you. Let's be thankful for those things
as well. Each one that's going through
trials, Father, trials of the body, other things that we know
not of, each one we send trials to. They're there to serve a
purpose. We know this. We pray for them, help them through the trials
only you can, and Father, to serve his purpose. And Father,
we pray for a true hour of worship this morning. Let the work in
the name of our Lord Jesus Christ be exalted in this place. And
as we leave here to go back out into the world, we pray for you
to guide us and direct us, take us about, and leave us not alone,
Father. Help us each day to be wise in
the decisions that need to be made and to look to Thee and
be alone. We pray that You increase our
faith in Christ. I ask Mike, if we could have our
special music at the end of the message this morning, he and
I both thought of the same song to sing. And I asked him if we
could sing it at the end of the message. And I think you'll understand
why when we get there. Hebrews chapter 13. The title
of the message is Let Brotherly Love Continue. Again, preparing
a message on this passage a few weeks ago. And I knew that I
did not have a message from the Lord, and I went away from it.
I will come back. I believe Lord's given me something
on these three verses that will be helpful to you. I pray that
they will. Let's read our text again. Hebrews
13 verse one. Let brotherly love continue.
You're not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have
entertained angels unawares. Remember them that are in bonds
as bound with them and then would suffer adversity as yourselves
also in the body as being yourselves also in the body. Now, it's not
difficult to understand the surface teaching of these verses is Believers
are continually to find ways, to seek ways, to show our love
one for another by showing hospitality and care to one another. That's
easy for everybody to see. But I want us to look at these
verses and pray that the Lord will enable us to learn what
this love is, how to show it and be motivated to show this
love. When we talk about let brotherly
love continue, first thing, we need to establish is the importance
of love. Love is important for several
reasons. First, love is important because love is the commandment
to God's children. This is a commandment. Let brotherly
love continue. Our Lord told his disciples a
new commandment I give you. This is a commandment that you
love one another. As I've loved you, that you also
love one another. Look at over a few pages, 1 John.
Book of First John, the beloved apostle John had a lot to say
in his epistles about love. First John 3. In verse 23. And this is his commandment that
we should believe on the name of his son, Jesus Christ, and
love one another as he gave us commandments, loving one another
is the commandment of God. Look at 1 John 4, verse 20. If a man say, I love God and
hateth his brother, he's a liar. For he that loveth not his brother
whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
And this commandment have we from him, that he who loveth
God love his brother also. So love is important because
it's a commandment of God to his children. Second, love is
important. Because love is the evidence
that we've been born again. It's the only evidence you have.
And love just comes naturally to the child. When a person has
been born again, a child of God, love comes to them naturally
because that's the new nature that God's given them and the
new birth. 1 John 4, verse 7. Beloved, let us love one another.
For love is of God. And everyone that loveth is born
of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not
God, for God is love. Everyone that loveth is born
of God. It's the evidence of the new
birth that you love the brethren. Thirdly, love is important, because
love is the evidence that you're a disciple of Christ. Our Lord
said, by this shall all men know you're my disciples, if you have
love one to another. It's the evidence of discipleship.
Look in Matthew chapter 22. Fourth, love is important because
the whole law of God hangs upon love. Love for God and love for
one another. Matthew chapter 22, verse 35. Then one of them, which was a
lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him and saying, Master,
what is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him,
thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with
all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great
commandment. And the second is like unto it,
thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments
hang all the law and the prophets. All of the law hangs upon these
two commandments. If you love the Lord thy God
with all your heart and your soul and your mind, You'll worship
him, won't you? You won't take his name in vain. You won't worship idols, not
if you love God. And if you love your neighbor,
you're not gonna steal from him, you're not gonna lie on him,
you're not gonna kill to him. All the law hangs upon these two
commandments, love for God and love for your neighbor. And all
the message of the prophets hang upon this, love for God and love
for others. So love's important. The fifth,
love and hospitality to the brethren is important. Is it important
for you to show hospitality and love one to another? Not just
to feel it, but to demonstrate it to each other. Is it important?
It is. Because showing love and hospitality
to the brethren, these people right here in this room, is the
same thing as showing love to Christ himself. Look at Matthew
chapter 25, verse 34. Then shall the king say unto
them on his right hand, Come, you blessed of my father, inherit
the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
For I was hungered, and you gave me meat. I was thirsty, and you
gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you took
me in. Naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited
me. I was in prison, and you came
unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when
saw we thee hungered, and fed thee? Or thirsty, and gave thee
drink? When saw we thee a stranger? and took thee in, or naked and
clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick or in prison, and came
unto thee? And the king shall answer and say unto them, Verily
I say unto you, As much as you've done it unto one of the least
of these my brethren, you've done it unto me. Showing that
love and hospitality is important. Showing love to one another,
hospitality to one another, that's showing love and kindness to
Christ himself. And withholding that love, Withholding
that hospitality from your brethren is to not love Christ. It's to
withhold those things from Christ himself. Verse 41. Then shall
he say also unto them on the left hand, depart from me he
cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his
angels. For I was in hunger and you gave me no meat. I was thirsty
and you gave me no drink. I was a stranger and you took
me not in. Naked and you clothed me not. Sick and in prison and
you visited me not. Then shall they also answer him,
saying, Lord, when saw we thee in hunger, or thirst, or stranger,
or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, as much
as you did it not to one of these, the least of these, you did it
not to me. And these shall go away into
everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal. See, not showing love. to hospitality,
withholding it from the brethren is to withhold those things from
Christ. Love must be important because
if I don't have love, what did Wayne just read to us several
times? If I had not love, I'm nothing.
I'm nothing. Sixth, love is important because
love is the bond that cements the church of God together. Colossians
3 verse 14, the apostle Paul said, above all these things,
above all these things, most importantly, put on charity,
put on love, which is the bond of perfectness. Love is the cement
that holds us together, that keeps us worshiping God together
and serving God together. And this love, like I said, it
just comes naturally to the new man born of God, the child of
God. It's his nature. But this love
must also be taught. We've got to be taught how to
love one another, how to show this love one to another. And
we've got to be reminded to show this love one for another. And
I can tell you why. Because self-love is so strong
in this flesh. Self-love comes as naturally
to this flesh as a love of Christ and love for the brethren comes
to the new man, comes to the spirit. And we've got to be taught
to love one another. Now we've seen from God's Word
how important it is. How important it is to show love
and hospitality to each other. The writer to the Hebrews says
we're to let this love continue uninterrupted. Let brotherly
love continue. It doesn't stop and start, let
it continue. All right, that's the importance of love. All right,
what does this brotherly love look like in action? How can
I recognize brotherly love when I see it. Now, I could go through
and give you all kinds of things that you're supposed to do in
order to show this love one to another. And if I did that, you
would be discouraged. You'd leave here discouraged,
because you'd think, I don't do that well enough. And you
might try to kind of ramp it up, and then you'd find, I can't
ramp it up long enough. You'd be discouraged. And I say,
I make this statement to one of the most loving congregations
that I know. You are to be commended for your
love, your love for God, your love for Christ, your love for
the gospel, your love for one another, your love for God's
church, everywhere they are. And even though you're to be
commended for your love, if I really wanted to, I'd make you feel
bad about it because it's just not perfect. It's not good enough. Because it'd be easy for us. And we start talking about all
the things we're supposed to do, show our love. The things
that we'd see first is our weakness and our failure to do it. That's
what we'd see first. And if I did that to you, you'd
leave here, you wouldn't be blessed. And you wouldn't be taught anything
about showing love. If I just gave you a list of
things that you're supposed to do, you wouldn't be blessed,
you wouldn't be taught. That'd be preaching works, wouldn't
it? If I just gave you all these things to do. But tell you how
God's people will be blessed. They'll be taught and they'll
be motivated in this matter of love. If Lord will enable me
to do what I always try to do from this text, if I preach Christ
from this text, God's people are going to be blessed. They're
going to be taught what brotherly love is and they're going to
be motivated to show it if I preach Christ. See, we got to remember
every text we ever look at, the goal is to preach Christ. When
you're at home reading the Word, the goal when you read a verse
of Scripture is to see Christ. Because Luke, he's the primary
meaning of that. We're to preach Christ. And if God will enable
us to do that, preach Christ and His love for His people,
God's people will be blessed. And they'll be taught and motivated
in this matter of hospitality. Now I'm getting ready to jump
in to the deep end of Google here. The love of God. So just
let me tell you this from the outset. There is not any way
that I am going to begin to start to commence to scratch the surface
of God's love. It's immeasurable. It's immeasurable.
But I pray, Lord, give us just a small glimpse of it. The love
of God for His people. It'll bless the hearts of God's
people. It'll cause us to cling to Christ. And it'll motivate
us in this matter of brotherly love. All right, we've seen the
importance of love. Number two, we need to establish
this. We established the importance of love. Now we need to establish
what brotherly love is. What is brotherly love? Christ's
love for his people is a family love. It's brotherly love. Christ's love is a love for his
people, for his family. Well, who is in God's family?
Isn't it? The people that he chose. Now
the writer here is talking about brotherly love. Christ, our Savior,
is our older brother. Christ is our brother because
we have the same father. Jonathan and I are brothers.
We got the same father. The Lord Jesus Christ and his people are
brothers because they have the same father. And I wouldn't,
I don't think I dare say that if our Lord himself didn't say
it. John 20 verse 17, he told his disciples, I sinned unto
my father, and your father, your father, he's our older brother. In Proverbs 17, verse 17, Solomon
is describing Christ, our older brother, as the brother born
for adversity. That's exactly why the Lord Jesus
Christ was born in the flesh. He's born for adversity. He was born to suffer adversity
for his people when he would suffer and die for their sin.
What a brother we have. that would be born to suffer
adversity for us and set us free. Now that's our older brother.
And when you get a glimpse of him, you start to hear about
him, hear who he is, does that make you want to be a good brother?
Does it make you want to be a good sister? Does that make you want
to bear one another's burdens? It should. Look at Hebrews chapter
two. Hebrews chapter two. So here's the brother that every
child of God would like to be. Hebrews 2 verse 11. For both he that sanctifyeth
and they who are sanctified, they're all one. Christ and his
people are one. He sanctified them. For which cause? He's not
ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare thy name
unto my brethren in the midst of the church while I sing praise
unto thee. And again, I'll put my trust in him. And again, behold,
I and the children which God hath given me. These children
that God elected and gave to Christ, they're his brothers. The ones he came to save, they're
his brethren. And he's not ashamed of them. He's not ashamed to call them
brethren. Now, that's a miracle because
everything about our birth in Adam is shameful. Everything
about us in Adam is shameful. We're shameful because of our
sins. We're shameful because of our rebellion. We're shameful
in our refusal to believe Christ. We hear the gospel over and over
and over and over again. We're shameful that we don't
believe. We're shameful. Here we're talking
about this matter of love and hospitality. We're shameful in
our hatefulness. We're shameful. We're shameful
in how we doubt God. He blessed us over and over and
over again. And the first little hiccup in the road comes, we
doubt it. It's shameful. We're shameful
in our murmuring and complaining after all God's blessed us with?
Shameful. Yet the Son of God is not ashamed
to identify with his people. That's my brother. That's my
little brother. Now that's great love. Christ the
Savior put his love in action. Love is not love unless it's
put in action. The Son of God put his love in
action. He loved his people. And he humbled himself to become
what they are. He humbled himself to become
flesh, just like them, yet without sin. And he did that so he could
save his people from their sin, so he could be their representative.
He became flesh so that he could be the sacrifice for the sin
of his people, so he could put their sin away and make them
holy. Make them holy. Scripture calls
God's elect holy brethren. They're holy because Christ has
made them holy. The son of God left the glories
and the comforts of heaven so that he could come to earth as
a man, live as a homeless man, he didn't have a place to lay
his head, so that he could save his people from their sin. And
he could bring his people from this world of sin and corruption
and bring them and present all those children that the father
had given, present them all to the father to be with him forever. That's how our older brother
put his brotherly love into action. Now, if God saved you, that makes
you desire to show brotherly love to your brothers and sisters.
It just will. You can't help it. You want to
put that love in action by covering the faults of your brethren,
don't you? It makes you want to spend some time with them,
like the Savior spent some time with you. It does. It motivates
you to have God saved you. Now, we know believers are to
love all men. We're commanded to love all men
and care for all men. We're not to wish them ill. And
the best way we can show our love for men in general is this.
Preach the gospel to our fellow men. It's the greatest way we
can show our love to men in general. But we are to especially love
the brethren. The Apostle Paul wrote in Galatians
6 verse 10, as we have therefore opportunity, let's do good to
all men. But especially under the who
are of the household of faith, the household of faith. This
is a family love. People live in the same household.
They're family members. Especially you look for opportunity. You make it happen if you have
to make the opportunity happen to show this love to those who
are of the household of faith. And I ask you, how can we not
do that? After the love that Christ has
shown for us, how can we not do See, that is what brotherly
love is. All right, thirdly, what does
brotherly love look like in action? Now, if you love someone, they
know it, don't they? They know it. How do they know
it? They know it by your actions.
Well, Christ loves his people, and we know it by what he has
done for his people. Look back in our text, now Hebrews
chapter 13. Here's Christ's love for his people in action. First,
Christ's love continues uninterrupted. Hebrews 13 verse 1, let brotherly
love continue. Now that's Christ's love for
his people. It continues. It's eternal. It doesn't have
a beginning and it doesn't have an ending. It's eternal. It's
uninterrupted. It doesn't go up and down. It's
eternally continues perfect. Now why point that out? I'll
tell you what that has to mean. If Christ's love for his people
is eternal, it doesn't have a beginning. Christ loved his people before
the foundation of the world. That has to mean that Christ's
love for his people are for reasons found only in himself. If God
loved his people when nobody existed but God, then the reasons
for God's love for his people has to be found in God, not in
us. Does that make sense? If nothing existed but God, when
God first loved his people, that means the reason that God loves
his people are reasons found in God and his character and
not in ours. See, if God loves me, it's not
because I did something to deserve it. No, it's because God is loving,
because who God is, not because of who I am. And I'm thankful
that that's true. So I want to tell you something.
I never have done anything after I came into existence to deserve
God's love. Just the opposite. God loved
me anyway, because his love continues. It's eternal. Christ loved the
people that the father gave him to redeem in eternity. The father
chose the people to save because he loved them. He chose them
in love and he gave them, he did the most glorious thing he
could have done for them. He gave them to his son. He put
them in His Son. And in the fullness of time,
Christ showed that love for His people. Look at 1 John chapter
4. Christ showed His love for His people by coming into the
world in the flesh to redeem those people from their sin. You want to know what love looks
like? Here it is. 1 John 4 verse 9. And this was manifested. It made obvious the love of God
toward us. because the God sent his only
begotten son into the world that we might live through him. Herein
is love. Here it is. Not that we love
God, but that he loved us. And here's his love in action
and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sin. That's Christ's
love for you. His love put into action. Does
that make you want to put your love into action for your brethren?
I mean, think about that. And I answer this is important.
Does it? It is better, because look what
he says next, verse 11. Beloved, if God so loved us,
we ought also to love one another. If hearing that God sent his
son to be the propitiation for my sins, does it make me want
to show love to you? Something wrong with me. That
means Christ didn't die for me. But if he has, oh, that make
us ought to love one another, to show our love one to another.
And Christ loved for his people. It continues. It's eternal. It
continued all the way through the cross, to the cross and through
the cross. It's Christ's love for His people
that compelled Him to go to the cross. John 13 verse 1 says,
Having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto
the end. His love continued uninterrupted. It never stopped. Christ loved
His people so much, He sacrificed Himself. He sacrificed everything
that He is for His people to put their sin away. Does that
make you want to sacrifice something? Does that make you willing to
sacrifice a little bit of your time, a little bit of your me
time, a little bit of your right to show love to your brethren,
to make life better for them? It sure should. It should. Let
brotherly love continue. Christ loved His people. It never
stops. It never stops. It continues
always. Even though we don't deserve
it. Aren't you thankful for that? Even though we don't show love
to God at all times, it's oh, just take a snapshot of us. Looks
like we don't love God at all. Yet he still always loves his
people and will never stop. Someone said one time about a
dear, dear friend of mine, in their presence, well, I used
to love you. Well, I understand, I understand.
That's not real love. It never was love, really. I'm
thankful God's love's not like that, aren't you? And I understand
there's some relationships in this life that are going to be
separate Whatever reason, good or bad, I mean, I understand.
But this is what we're thankful for. Christ's love for his people
guarantees that his relationship with them will never end. Because
it's based on his love for them. His love for them will never
stop. Does that motivate you to let
your brotherly love continue? If you know Christ, it will.
All right, second, here's love in action. Back in our text,
Hebrews chapter 13, here's love in action. Christ's love is hospitable. The savior enjoys being with
his people. He says, verse two, be not forgetful
to entertain strangers for thereby some have entertained angels
unawares. A brotherly love is hospitable.
Brotherly love opens hearts and homes to to entertain people,
to have fellowship with them, to be with them. Your hospitality,
showing kindness in these things, not just for Sundays and Wednesdays
here in the church house, it's for all times. Brotherly love
makes us open our homes, our hearts, our lives to God's people. That's Christ's love for His
people. It's put into action when He shows hospitality to
His people. He opens, He's open to them.
Come at all times, He says. You know, the Pharisees charge
against the Savior, they just turn their nose up. They say,
this man receives publicans and sinners. He eats with them. This
man, he shows hospitality to the worst of sinners. How can
they, oh, they didn't like that. He has fellowship with them.
He sits and breaks bread with them. Self-righteous hate that,
don't they? No, they want to earn their way.
They want sinners to be, you know, cast out and those who
are, you know, cut above, they want themselves to be The self-righteous
hate this. The Savior, he accepts sinners,
has fellowship with them, eats with them. But I tell you who
loves to hear that? This man receives sinners. Do
you know who loves to hear that? Sinners. All guilty sinners,
they love to hear that. You mean to tell me that the
Savior shows hospitality to somebody like me? That he'll receive somebody
like me? That he'll break bread with somebody like me? That he'll
dwell with me and fellowship with me? Aren't you thankful
that Christ shows hospitality to sinners? That's the only way
he can have fellowship with the likes of you and me, if he has
fellowship with sinners. Hospitality. Christ the Savior
entertains strangers. Now, they're strangers to this
world. They're scattered all throughout this world, but they're
not strangers to God. No, they're left according to
the foreknowledge of God the Father. And he shows them hospitality. He shows these strangers hospitality. You know how he does it? He prepares
for them a table in the presence of their enemies. A table where
they can feast on Christ the Savior right here in the world
in the midst of our enemies. The Savior has prepared for his
people a table this morning that you can come and feast on Christ.
Feast on his love for sinners and his love in action for sinners. How he came to to put their sin
away. He's prepared for us a table, the riches of Christ the Savior.
And the Savior's loving hospitality has no end, even though his people
don't deserve it. Even though his people deserve
for him to say, all right, that's it. He never does. You remember in John chapter
21, the Lord told his disciples, he said, this night, all of you
are going to flee from me. Peter, you're going to die, you
don't even know me. And they said, no. Well, all it took was that mob
coming, and they all banned him, didn't they? Suffered, and he
died alone. And after he died, they didn't
even wait for him. Like, he commanded them, you
wait. You wait for me. And they didn't, did they? What
did they do? These men quit the ministry and went back to commercial
fishing. I mean, they weren't going fishing
to see if they can catch a few bass. Wayne puts his bass boat
out. They went to commercial fishing
with the ministry. And they were a complete and
utter failure at it. Didn't catch a thing. There was a man standing
out there on the shore. They fished all night, caught
nothing. There was a man standing out there on the shore, had a little fire
burning beside him. He hollered at them, said, catch
that over on their side. They caught so many fish, they
couldn't haul them in. Peter, who had denied the Lord,
He said, it's the Lord. He didn't wait for that ship
to come ashore. He jumped in and swam. And they all got there,
and there's the master. He risen. They'd all painted
him. They left the ministry. And you know what he said to
them? You dirty, rotten dogs. I told you, why didn't you? No.
He said, come and die. All things are ready. Come and
die. He had them prepared. There were fish on the fire with
bread. Oh, I bet those disciples never
had a meal like that. The Savior prepared it. They
didn't deserve it. His hospitality, His love never
ends, even though we don't deserve it. That prick your heart? Want to
show some hospitality to your brethren? You really ought to. We ought to show hospitality
because I'll tell you what, You just never know who you might
meet. You open your heart. You open
your home. You open your life. You just
never know who you might meet. The reference here in this verse
is to Abraham. Abraham was there in his tent
one day. Sarah was back in there and Abraham's in the door of
his tent. He saw these men coming and he entered. They're strangers.
He didn't know who they were, but he entertained them. He opened
his home. He opened his heart to them.
Lo and behold, one of them was a son of God. One of them was
Christ, a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ, and the others were
angels from heaven. Unbeknownst to Abraham, he opened
his home, he showed hospitality, and he welcomed heavenly visitors. Now, let's seek to show hospitality. You just never know who you might
be. Now, you're not gonna meet an
angel, Gabriel, or, you know, one of the heavenly hosts to
create a being. The word angel means a messenger from God. Let's
seek to show hospitality. You just never know. You might
get a messenger from God. A friend sent to you from God.
A brother or sister. And if that's the case, tell
you what, they're not going to be a stranger for long. I've used this illustration
many times, but it serves real well. The first time I went to
preach in Dangas, West Virginia. Dangas. If you're from Dangas,
you say Dangas. Dangas, West Virginia. And we
were there in the parsonage, got there, and it was, buddy,
when it's dark in Dingas, it's dark. I mean, I think at noon
they got pumped sunlight in that place, but at night, buddy, I'm
telling you, it's dark, it's dark. Savannah was an infant
in arms. And there was a highway running
just feet from the parsonage. But you look out the window,
it's so dark you can't see it. And Janet looked out that window,
and she turned around, she said, Frank Tate, where have you brought
me and my babies? I said, well, you know, how fast
can we come here and preach, huh? Well, about that time, the
phone rang. Gary Vance, who now is the pastor
of Dingus, was on the phone, and he said, why don't y'all,
they owned a restaurant. He said, why don't y'all come
down here to the restaurant and have something to eat? He said, everybody's
here. And he said, Jay and I packed the girls up, and we walked in
that place. We didn't know what was going on. And it was like
we just walked into family. Albert of Pance walked up and
she told Janice, she said, here, give me that baby. Janice said,
oh, no, she won't go to you. And Albert said, she'll come
to me. She just took that baby and Savannah was happy as could
be. She would tell Holly, Holly, come on, honey. Just grandmothered
them to death, you know, and just they weren't strangers for
long. You just never know who you might
meet. An angel, a messenger sent to you from God. And again, let
me commend. I don't want anybody to feel,
you know, horrible about yourself. Let me commend this congregation.
You're wonderful at this. You show hospitality and love
to our guests. So many guests come and visitors
at the conference and things just always tell me, Frank, that's
the most loving congregation. I know. I know. You're right.
I know. Now let it continue. Let it continue. See that no
visitor here goes unwelcomed by you. I've used this illustration before.
It's very difficult for me. It happens very, very, very rarely
that I greet a visitor in this place before Dan Morgan or Julie
Thornberry. It's very rare. Don't leave that
to Dan Julie. It's for everybody. It's for
everybody. And listen, don't just do this for our visitors.
Here in April, Lord willing, we're going to have a conference
and our brethren from all over the place are going to come.
You're going to be so happy to see them and just be bright and
have all this, you know, energy and love for them. That's good.
That's good. Let that continue. I'll tell
you what, don't wait until April to show that. Show it every week
to these folks here. Every week. To each other. Look at Romans chapter 12. I'll
show you Romans chapter 12. Make a habit of showing that
to each other. Romans chapter 12 verse 9. Paul here has talked about all
these differing gifts of grace, of preaching, of ministering,
of teaching. But here's something that applies to every believer. Let love be without dissimulation. Let it be real. It's not a hypocritical
show. Let it be real. Abhor that which
is evil. Cling to that which is good.
Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love in
honor, preferring one another. Show a preference to one another.
Treat one another just like you would these preachers are going
to come preach at the conference. Prefer one another. Show this
love one to another. And someone's going to think,
well, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm nobody and nobody cares about
me. And, you know, I'm, I'm shy. I'm backward. It's, you know,
showing hospitality. That's just not, you know, my
strength. It's not my personality. I'll tell you what, if you're
a child of God, change your personality. Change it. Get out of your box
and enjoy this blessing. of hospitality. You're the ones
going to get the blessing, not somebody else. I mean, they will,
but you'll find you're the one getting the blessing. But remember
what John said, beloved, God so loved us, we ought also to
love one another, to show this love, hospitality one to another.
That's what this brotherly love and action looks like. All right,
thirdly, back in our text, Hebrews 13. Here's what love, this brotherly
love and action looks like. Christ's love for his people
comes where they are. and sets them free. Verse three,
remember them that are in bonds is bound with them. And then
which suffer adversity is being yourselves also in the body. Now God has an elect people,
but those people are born in this world in bondage to sin.
They're born in the prison house of the law and there they've
got to stay because they're guilty. They got to stay there till the
price is paid. Justice must be satisfied. So you're telling
me that Almighty God loves a bunch of criminals who are down there
in jail. They're guilty. That's where they belong. Yes,
that's what I'm telling you. And God put His love in action.
You know what His Son did? He came where they are and set
them free. He came down there in the prison house and set them
free. And He didn't do it by organizing a prison break, by
tunneling out or something. Christ loved His people so much,
He became guilty for them. He took their place in the prison
house. He took their place under the
sentence of the law. See, they're suffering adversity
under the penalty of the law. And Christ, our older brother,
was born for just this moment, for this adversity, to be made
sin for His people and to suffer, to pay the penalty of the broken
law for His people. And by His sacrifice, that's
just what He did. He did for His people what suffering
for eternity in hell could never do, pay the price. His blood paid the price Set
his people free. And now the justice that once
demanded they stay in prison, that very same justice demands
they go free. See, Christ didn't have to come
in and have a prison break and take the prison door off the
hinges. Justice did it. He said, get
out of here. You're free. The price has been
paid. Now, does that make you want
to show some brotherly love? Visit your brethren when they're
suffering? When they're in adversity? What if it is jail? Go down there
and see them. I tell you where I promise you
it will be. It'll be in this clay prison, clay prison of this
body. They're going to be suffering,
suffering adversity in the hospital, at home, you know, just whatever
it is. Christ came where you are to
set you free. Does that make you want to go
where they are, help them? It will if you're also in the
body. If one member of the body is suffering, you're going to
suffer. You're going to feel it too if you're in the body. When one
member of the body hurts, the rest of the body reacts to help. That's brotherly love. And like
I said, I know that we can't show this love perfectly. But
that's no excuse not to show it. That's no excuse. I want
to give it my best to show brotherly love and kindness and affection
to you. So I'm thankful our Savior shows it perfectly, brotherly
love perfectly. And that love is the salvation
and it's the motivation for every believer, brotherly love. Let's
bow together in prayer. Our Father, how we thank you
for your immeasurable, eternal love to your people. And while
we can't know the length or breadth or height or depth of it, Your
people know it by experience, the love of God shed abroad in
our hearts. Father, we're so thankful, we're
humbled. Oh, how we thank you for your
undeserved love to your people and Christ our Savior. And Father,
I pray that you would give us the ability to show our love
one to another, to be a help and encouragement, to seek ways
to help and encourage one another. Father, I thank you for this
congregation. I thank you for the faithfulness and for the
love that you've given them. But Father, don't let us rest
on past, on the past gifts and past. But Father, cause us, cause
this brother loving us to continue, that we might be a blessing and
a help one to another. It's in the precious name of
Christ our Savior we pray and ask that you bless your Right now, Leah's going to come
and sing while I just try and preach God's love for His people. If you'd like to follow along, it's
in the old school hymn, 486. And after she sings the third
verse, You all join in on the chorus and just stand. Go ahead and stand. The love of God is greater for
Benchonghu can ever tell. It goes beyond The highest star and reaches
to the lowest hell. The guilty pair. Bow down with care, God gave
His Son to win. ? His erring child ? ? He reconciled
? ? And pardoned from ? ? His sin ? ? O love of God ? how rich and pure, how measureless
and strong. It shall forever The saints and angels song When
years of time shall pass away And earthly thrones and kingdoms
fall When men who hear Refuse to pray On rocks and hills
And mountains tall God's love's so sure shall still endure, O measureless. and strong, redeeming love from
heaven above. The saints and angels angels' song. O love of God, how rich and pure
How measureless and strong. The saints' and angels' song. Okay, you may go ahead and stand,
please. ? Could we with the ? The ocean
feel And were the skies of parchment
made, Were every stalk on earth a quill, And every man a scribe by trade
To write the love of God above Would drain the ocean dry Nor
could the scroll Those stretched from sky to sky. How rich and pure How measureless
And strong It shall forever Therefore endure the saints' and angels'
song. Evermore endure The saints their
day you