Turn to Hebrews chapter 13. Hebrews 13. Debbie Sparks, Ed and Debbie
Sparks, their daughter, November. She's in the Children's Hospital
of Cincinnati. She got chronic kidney disease.
And she sends her love and appreciation for the prayers that some of
us didn't know about. And she requests that we continue
to pray for her. The subject this morning, and
as soon as Frank asked me about doing this, this came to my mind,
is the Christian's walk. That's what I taught, the Christian's
walk. We have a life to live, a death
to die, and an eternity to spend. I want to talk about the life
we have to live right now on this earth. I want to touch on some of these
verses, but not all of them. You know, the Word of God says,
tells us that Christ gave Himself for us, that He may purchase
to Himself a peculiar people, zealous zealous, desirous of good works. Don't be afraid of that word,
good works. Good works done in Christ are genuinely good works. That's what they are. And you
and I know, we've been taught well enough to know that we're
not saved by them. We're not saved by them, we're
saved by Christ. But where these are absent, you can be sure the
Spirit of God is absent. And it starts here in Hebrews
13 verse 1. Let brotherly love continue. Paternal love. Family love. We know what family love is,
don't we? Let family love continue. We
do not realize how much our love to God, our love to Christ, And
our love to one another is constantly under attack. We don't realize
how much that's under attack. Satan doesn't care if you believe
doctrine. Hell is full of people that believe
doctrine. The Pharisees believed in election. The Pharisees believed in particular
redemption. They believed that salvation
was for the Jews only. They believed that. And Christ
said to them, you're of your father, the devil. He doesn't care if you believe
doctrine. But he doesn't want you to love Christ. I tell you what, there's not
one person in hell that loves Jesus Christ. Not one. All the people believe doctrine,
but not one that loves Christ. If you and I love Christ, we
will love the brethren. You can't help but love the brethren.
Can't do it. And we must guard against anything. Boy, I see this. I see this as
I get older. I didn't see this as clearly
20 years ago or 30 years ago or almost 40 years ago maybe. As I see it now. Guard against anything. That
comes between us and Christ and that comes between us as believers. The Lord said, Peter, do you
love me? He didn't say, Peter, do you
believe me? He said, do you love me? Love will bond us together
or the loss of it will separate us. It'll separate us. Here's something I wish I was
more aware of, or I would be more aware of. Ephesians 6, 12,
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood. My warfare is not
against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against
powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against
spiritual wickedness in high places. That's the warfare. That's the warfare. We need to
realize that there's a greater battle continually, always going
on that we can't see with these eyes of flesh. There's a greater
battle going on. We can't see it with our eyes,
not with these eyes of flesh. You get a rift going between
somebody and back and forth and you just think you guys are at
odds. You don't realize the unseen things that's going on. To break
and destroy that love. That love. Satan's not going
to break or destroy your belief in the doctrine of election.
That ain't going to happen. But boy, I tell you what, if
he can drive a wedge between our affections for one another,
our affection for Him, our affection for Christ. If I'm His, Lord,
if I'm Yours, why am I thus? Why is this happening to me if
I'm Yours? That's where He wants to drive
the wedge, is in our affection for Christ, our love for Christ,
and our love for one another. And then He says, be not forgetful
to entertain strangers. For thereby some have entertained
angels unaware. I wrote out here after that,
this first thought came to me. We are not a closed society. It's not a private club. Open
our hearts and open our doors to all people, all races. Entertain
them. Be hospitable. Be friendly. Show hospitality. Open your hearts
to them. Open your hearts. I know a man,
a young man, he claims that God has saved him. I told him plainly,
I told him plainly, no He hasn't. And he's one of the most prejudiced
people I've ever been around. And I told him, you can't be
that way. You can't have the love of God yet have brought
in your heart and be that prejudiced. That's just not so. Open your hearts up to people
that's different than you. And he said here, some have entertained
angels unaware. Do you believe that still happens?
Do you believe that still happens? Do you believe that angels still
exist? By course you do. Of course you do. If God would
open our eyes this morning, it would shock us. I honestly believe
it would shock the life out of us how many angels are in this
room. There's a greater audience unseen
this morning around this service than ones we can see. You'd be shocked. You'd be shocked. But show hospitality. Don't be,
now listen, don't be cliquish or clannish. We wouldn't be that
way, would we? You just wait till we have another
dinner. And see, now listen, don't get mad, but listen to
me. You see, if we all don't sit basically with the same people
all the time. I went to a dinner, this had
been a few years ago. We were invited. And there's
my name plate sitting on the table. I thought, well, I know
where I'm going to sit. And then I found out the purpose
of that was so that we would not sit with the same people
we sit with all the time, that we would actually sit with somebody
else and say hello. Try it sometimes. Try it the
next time. I'm telling you, we do things
so automatically we don't even realize it. Don't even realize
it. And remember this, at one time
we were strangers and aliens from the commonwealth of Israel.
At one time I walked into 13th Street and heard him on the television. I walked in there a stranger,
nobody knew me, and I didn't know where to find him. But I
was welcome. I was welcome. And now what? Here I stand, preaching
the gospel, almost 40 years later, And then remember, it says here
in verse 3. Remember them that are in bonds.
Listen, don't just abound with them. Don't just say, I feel sorry
for them. He said, really enter in and abound with them. And then when you suffer adversity
as being yourself also in the body. Sooner or later it's going
to come around in my time. All I got to do is just live
long enough. Sooner or later, my turn's coming. It's like that
wheel in Ezekiel. You read in Ezekiel, that wheel
just turned and went over the earth. I see that as the providence
of God. Sometimes you're on the top,
sometimes you're on the bottom. It's going to come around. Sooner
or later, it'll come around. The trial will come around. One
day it's a fine day, sunshine. The next day, your heart is shattered. And He says, don't close yourself
off to that. Now I do know this, I know that
we naturally want to get away from trouble, don't we? We naturally
want to get away from suffering. We naturally don't want to expose
ourselves to it, open ourselves up. We just naturally don't want
to do that. This flesh never wants to do
what we ought to do spiritually. It never wants to do that. You
always find that fight and that struggle going on. That's why
he wrote these things. That's why these things were
written for us. Remember the saints that are in trouble. We
have a tendency, because of sin, to stay away. Let's remember
Debbie. Remember her. It says, marriage is honorable
in all, and the bed undefiled, but the whoremongers and adulterers
God will judge. It's of God. It's of God. It represents Christ and his
church. Guard it with your life. Guard your affections. We don't realize how easy our
affections can get wrapped up by something else. Guard your affections for one
another. I'm so glad that the Lord does not ever feel toward
me. Like every now and then, I have
felt cold and indifferent. Okay, whatever, I'm gone. I gotta
go. See you later. You know how we
get in this flesh. It's just so full of sin. So
full of sin. I told Vicki last night, I said,
I don't think we've ever scratched the surface how a marriage is
to be in this life, if you really represent it between Christ and
the church. I don't have much Christ to say. And then he says, and let your
conversation be without covetousness. Man, we live in a country where
it's so There's probably no more idolatrous
country on this earth than America. And when I say that, don't just
think of religion. Covetousness, it says, is idolatry. Covetousness is greatly desiring
that which you don't have. Constantly going after, after,
after, giving your life out to getting it. Let your conversation be without
covetousness and be content with such things as you have. For He has said, I will never
leave thee nor forsake thee. As I was reading these, as I
said, this just means so much more to me now. I see so much
more of it. I see the necessity of it more now than ever. But let your character be without
covetousness. Don't let that define you. I
know a person that anytime his name comes up, they start talking
about what he spends, what he has in his toys, all this. That defines him. That's how
he's defined. Our character should be defined
by our union to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how it ought to
be defined. When we hear of Spurgeon, we
automatically think of someone who was a great preacher of the
gospel. Enoch. What's the first thing
when you hear of Enoch? What's the first thing that comes
to mind? He walked with God. Let that define our character.
Let that be the definition. When my name comes up, let the
definition of my name be He bleeds God. He bleeds God. He preached the gospel. It ought
to be our connection to Christ. Our connection to Christ. Be content with such things as
you have. We have the Lord Jesus Christ.
We have it all. Is Christ that real to us yet? Is Jesus Christ that real to
me? That if I have Him, I have everything
I need. Give it all to Ziba. Is that
what my favorite chef said? Give it all to Zaba. I have the
king. I have the king. I heard this on the radio the
other day coming home from work. We're the richest country on
earth. Aren't we? Are we not the richest country
on earth? One out of every five people or on some kind of psychiatric
drug. Depression medication has gone
up 300% in 20 years. I do believe this. I believe
that Christ is all and all. And I find my real contentment
in Him. I believe a lot of this will go away. One psychiatrist said, I heard
him on the radio, he said, if you could just get rid of the
guilt, he said, I can get rid of about all my patients. If
you could just get rid of guilt. I can tell you the only way to
get rid of guilt, the only way to quiet an accusing conscience
is the blood of Christ. Wiping it away. Covetousness, the word of God
says, is idolatry. It is worship. Worshipping that
which you're after. I'll show you this in the next
message. And here's the reason why. So that we may boldly, boldly
say, not say with, well maybe, with a doubt. But we may boldly
say the Lord is my helper. And I will not fear what man
shall do unto me. The Lord's my helper. That we
may give Jesus Christ the glory for all our care. Who's caring
for you? Who's caring for you? Who's providing? Who is really
providing for you? It's the Lord. Let him just withhold the rain. Let him just withhold the rain
for a while. Just watch everything dry. Remember Abraham? Remember when Lot went down to Sodom? And then
Sodom came under attack and Lot and all of them there in Sodom
were captured? Abraham got his men together,
went down and delivered Lot. He got him, brought him back,
and the king was going to give Abraham all
the spoils. What would I have done? He was going to give Abraham
all the spoils from that battle because he came down and saved
him. Abraham said, no. lest you say
you have made Abraham rich. But you keep. I'm okay." When there was an argument between
Lot's men and Abraham's men, Abraham said to Lot, we be brethren. We're not going to fight. He
says, you look and you choose. You choose whatever you want.
Go wherever you want to go. And I'll take what's left. And
I'll take what's left. And you know the story. Lot did.
He looked at the well, water, plains of Jordan. He probably
looked and saw and then looked over here like he didn't see
him. Looking around, you know, and all this time, that got his
eye. It got him. It got him. And he just said,
well, I'll tell you what, I'll just go this way. You know what
happened after he left? God said, Abraham, lift up your
eyes. All of this is yours. I'm going to give it to you soon. It's all yours. So that we may boldly say and not complain that we don't
have enough, we don't have this, we don't have that. You know,
I've learned this. I don't do it. I don't think
we do have to. We don't do hardly nearly anything
to learn. I've learned that I really don't have anything to complain
about, though I do. Do we not say, do we not believe that all
things are of God? Do we not believe that? Does
not the Word of God say that all things are of God? I have
nothing to complain about. Nothing to complain about. Remember them which have the
rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God. Remember
them. Remember them in prayer. Remember
to take care of them. Don't neglect them. God could
remove the candlestick. He could, you know. He went over
in the book of Revelation to those churches. He said, if you
don't straighten up, I'm going to remove the candlestick. He
can remove the candlestick. which in that place is called
an angel. Angels in churches. Entertain angels unaware. You
may entertain an angel unaware like Abraham did. You may entertain
an angel of God, a minister of God that's not a minister yet,
but one day he will be. You say, I remember when he stayed
in my home. I couldn't tell you the homes
I've stayed in over the years, people I did not know. And now
I know. And they've opened their homes
up to me. Took care of me, treated me like I was a king. I remember
one time we went to Alabama. Carter and Joyce was down there.
We stayed with him. Was that him that we loved? Was
that him? We stayed with him and his wife. Got up for breakfast
the next morning. You would think we was at Bob
Evans. I mean, it was a buffet. I was just 20-some years old.
I wasn't worth a biscuit. And it was a buffet. And I preached the gospel since. I'm not calling myself an angel
now, but you get it. You get the point. Listen now, be not carried about
with divers and strange doctors. I think it was the Athenians,
they just lived to hear something new. Tell me something new this
morning. Would you hear this? No, he says don't be carried
away with it. For it's a good thing that the
heart be established with grace, the grace of God, true grace,
the grace of the Gospel. Be settled in your hearts over
the Gospel. There's only one. And never give in to opinions.
We ought to learn to do this. When opinions get started instead
of the Word of God, let's just stop the conversation. Go talk
about a ball game or something. Let's just stop the conversation
when the Word of God takes a back seat. I've learned over the years that
now when I talk to someone We start talking about the gospel.
Once it leaves the word of God, I just forget about it. Let's
go do something else. If you're going to just stand
there and throw out your opinion, my opinion, I told a man here not
too long ago, I said, it doesn't matter what you believe. I said,
what does this say? Now, if we believe what it says,
that's the difference. We'll talk about what I believe
and you believe, because I had a man ask me the other day, what do
you believe? Who do you believe? With the believer it becomes
a who. With false religion it becomes a what? And don't be carried away, it's
for its good thing that the heart be established with grace and
not with meets, not with, listen, not with ceremonies and rituals. Don't try to look religious and
spooky and like God's here and God is in that.
He's not. Not with ceremonies and rituals,
which have not profited them, which have been occupied therein.
It didn't profit them as old Jews did it, as old Pharisees
and all those rituals and all those ceremonies. God said, you're
a smoke in my nose. And by Him, by Jesus Christ,
therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually,
starting this morning. Oh, that God would enable us
to genuinely praise Him. I mean to sing praises unto Him. That is the fruit of our lips
given thanks to His name. Thanks to Him, praising Him.
I thought of this this morning. I thought there are people right
now in hell. And I'm not. I'm not. Here we sit, the Word
of God open. Do we have something to praise
Him about this morning? Even if you've never confessed
Christ, It's not over yet. Not over yet. But to do good and communicate,
forget not. That's verse 16. I haven't been
giving you the verses. Don't forget to do that. It's
so easy to let things slip. It's easy to let things go. It's
easy to turn away from somebody in need. Or communicate. with God, for with such sacrifices,
God will please. And obey them to have the rule
over you, verse 17. You see at first in verse 77,
remember them, take care of them. Now he says, obey them. God has
sent you a true pastor, a true preacher of the gospel. He says,
follow him, follow him. Someone told me one time, said
to me one time, said, you follow Mahan. I said, Ann, what's your
point? What's your point? Yes. Paul
said, follow me as I follow Christ. Didn't he say that? Follow Christ. They watch for your souls as
that must give account. They may do it with joy and not
with grief. That's unprofitable for you. Obey them, take care of them,
listen to them. But it also means this. Obey
them which have the rule over you. Children, I don't have any
children here right now, but children obey your parents. It
means that too. All of us obey civil magistrates. Obey the laws out there. That's
what it means. It includes them too. And pray
for us. Pray for us. That's what Debbie said, pray
for us. How important is that? How important? That for me and
you, there's no greater way to show brotherly love than to genuinely
take the Holy Spirit and pray for us. the fervent prayer of
a righteous man. I can't do, there's very little
I can do to relieve suffering or especially heartaches. I've
learned some things about some of you people and I didn't know. I was telling Frank this the
other day. I said, what you realize when
you're standing there pastoring or standing there preaching There
are so many people that have gone through such great trials
and heartaches that you don't even know about. You come in
here dressed up, fine, talking to each other. Boy, some of you
have got deep scars. Pray for us. Pray for us. You didn't say send
your offering. Send us an offering. Show us your sincerity by sending
us an offering, an actual offering. See, I said I can't
do, there's not much I can do, but I tell you what, I know one
who can. I know one who can. Lord, he whom
thou lovest. They couldn't give him his health
back, they couldn't raise him up, but they knew one who could. And they said, Lord, he whom
thou loved. They didn't say, Lord, you know
he believes a doctrine of election. You know that, don't you? You
know he believes particular contention. You know that. No, they said,
Lord, the one you love, let brotherly love continue. We trust we have a good conscience
in all things, willing to live honestly. How important is prayer,
a good conscience, and an honest life? Isn't that a combination? These things are always, always
to be attended to, given great attention, always, always.