How often our Lord encourages
us to love one another. Nothing is more like our Savior
than love. God is love. Nothing is more
unlike Him than the absence of love and all that contradicts
it. As he brings his inspired epistle
to its conclusion, the Apostle Paul makes his final word of
instruction and encouragement in Hebrews chapter 13 to be a
word concerning this matter of brotherly love. The chapter begins
like this. Let brotherly love continue. Now, watch the context. Paul has been encouraging us
to persevere in the faith. He has been encouraging us to
run with patience the race that's set before us. He's been encouraging
us to continue in the grace of God, not to depart from the gospel. And then he says, let brotherly
love continue. Now that may seem strange to
some. It is as though Paul were saying
the way to run this race The way to persevere in grace, the
way to walk in faith, is to keep on loving one another. This business of serving Christ
has much less to do with the traditions and commandments and
ordinances of men than most people ever imagine. This business of
serving Christ has to do with loving his people. Read Matthew
25. Our Lord on the Day of Judgment
speaks to folks and He says to those on His left hand, depart
from me, you cursed, I never knew you. I was hungry, thirsty,
sick, in prison. You didn't feed me, you didn't
visit me, you didn't care for me. And they said, when didn't
we do that? You see, self-righteous people
always presume they're serving God. Believers walking in love
Presume they have never served him at all. What have I ever
done for him? He says to those on his right
hand, come, you blessed my father. I was hungry, naked, in prison,
thirsty, sick. You fed me, clothed me, came
to me, visited me, comforted me. And they said, when did we
ever do that? Serving Christ, worshiping God. Walking with God in this world,
now listen carefully to me, has nothing to do with what you eat
and drink. It has nothing to do with the
kind of clothes you wear or how you wear your hair. It has nothing
to do with that. Serving Christ, worshiping God,
walking in the way of faith and consecration to God has everything
to do with loving one another. Let's read together verses one
through seven. We'll look at these just briefly. I'll try
to go through this chapter and then we'll come back and pick
up some highlights later, if the Lord willing. 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. Marriage is honorable in all,
and the bed undefiled, but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.
Let your conversation, your manner of life, that's not talking about
the way you talk, it's talking about your manner of life, be
without covetousness. and be content with such things
as you have. For he hath said, I will never
leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, the
Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto
me. 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, that is, the end of their lives. Multitudes live
in religious bondage, trying to obey rules and regulations
imposed on them by religious leaders. These rules of bondage
people everywhere call practical godliness. Our Lord calls them
vain traditions, works of the flesh, a vain show in the flesh,
and a form of godliness. That by which men and women attempt
to show themselves religious is nothing but self-righteous
pretense and hypocrisy, no matter what it is. Doesn't matter how
humble it may appear. Anything you and I do, by which
we attempt to show other people that we are truly spiritual,
that we are truly devoted to Christ, is nothing on this earth
but a proud show of self-righteousness in the flesh. Our Lord said,
when you pray, do it in your closet. When you give alms, don't
let your right hand know what your left hand's doing. When
you fast, don't just wash your face and go about your business.
Don't, oh, I can't eat those potatoes today. I'm fasting. I want to kick a fellow when
he says stuff. It's just a proud show in the flesh. That's all
it is. That's all it is. Here, these seven verses of inspiration
are given by God the Holy Spirit to show us what godliness really
is. Somehow, it is measured by love. As I read these seven verses
and the rest of this chapter, I kept thinking, Those passages,
what we just read, these seven verses particularly, seem to
be disconnected words of instruction. But they're not disconnected
at all. Paul is talking about brotherly love. He says, let
brotherly love continue, and then he begins telling us what
it is. Don't forget to entertain strangers. Don't neglect that. Don't be covetous, but be content.
Love your wives. Obey those who had the rule over
you. He's saying very much the same thing that James says, just
a couple of pages over. Turn over to James chapter 1.
James chapter 1, verse 26. If any man among you seem to be
religious and bridleth not his tongue, I don't care if he looks
to be the most pious fellow you ever saw. It doesn't matter if
he's one of those fellows who just, you never saw him do anything
wrong, you never saw him out of sorts, you never saw him out
of temper, you never, everything you look at him, he, oh boy,
now there's a specimen of true religion. But he's a gossip. He doesn't have any control over
his tongue. bridleth not his tongue, he deceives his own heart,
this man's religion is just a puff of air. That's all it is. It's
just vain. Pure religion, real religion,
and undefiled before God and the Father, not before the world,
before God and the Father, doesn't matter what the world thinks,
is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their afflictions.
Now, that's not talking about Running around here and there
and spending all your time sipping tea with winners or sitting down
playing ball with little boys who don't have a daddy. That's
not what it's talking about. That's not what it's talking about.
It's talking about caring for them. Caring for them. Meeting their needs. Comforting
them. Giving them solace as you're
able. Praying for them and providing for them. And to keep himself
unspotted from the world. Unspotted from the religious
traditions and customs of this world. All right, I'm going to
turn back to Hebrews 13, and let me show you three things
in these seven verses. First, in verses one through
four, we see that love is expressed by deeds. As was his custom,
Paul has finished giving us his doctrinal instruction in this
epistle of Hebrews, and now he gives us some shoe leather to
walk in. He calls us to have now this
doctrine applied to our hearts. He's telling us what it is indeed
to persevere in faith and continue in the grace of God. He's saying,
children of God, let brotherly love continue. That is, never
cease loving one another. Let nothing divide your hearts
from one another. Make your life's business the
business of loving God's people. Make this the fixed principle
of your lives and the fixed practice of your lives. Let brotherly
love continue. Now certainly we are to love
all men, even our enemies. And much more needs to be said
about that than has been said. We are to seek the best for all. That's what it is to love folks.
Seek the best you can seek, even for your enemies. But Paul is
talking here about loving particularly God's family. That special family
love that exists and is created in God's people with one another. what John Trapp calls the sweetest
thing this side of heaven, communion, fellowship, and love among God's
people. It is love, the love of hearts
for one another because they're fixed on one object. You ever
notice how that Men and women who love the same thing have
a tendency to love one another. Men and women whose hearts are
devoted to this child or devoted to this girl, this daughter,
this son, they pull together and they're working toward one
object, loving one another. Believers are men and women who
love the Son of God. If any man loved not the Lord
Jesus Christ, he's damned. That's right, Bob. Love it. We
don't brag about our love. We don't talk about our love.
We're ashamed to speak of our love. But we do love Him. John said we love Him because
He first loved us. And we, loving Him, love one
another. Let's look at a few passages
of Scripture. Turn to 1 John 3. The fruit of the Spirit is
love, first thing. First thing, a man, a woman born
of God, God does something for him. He causes him to love God
and love his people. The fruit of the Spirit is love.
Our Lord said, by this shall all men know that you're my disciples
if you have love one for another. Look here in 1 John 3 verse 7.
Little children, let no man deceive you. He that doeth righteousness
is righteous even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of
the devil, for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this
purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works
of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth
not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him. And he cannot
sin because he is born of God. Now watch this. Watch how John
follows this. In this the children of God are
manifested. He's talking about sin and righteousness. He's talking
about committing sin and doing righteousness. In this, the children
of God are manifest, and the children of the devil. Whosoever
doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth
not his brother. For this is the message that
you've heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.
The whole law is fulfilled in this word, love God with all
your heart, soul, mind, and being, and your neighbor as yourself.
Our Lord said to that rich young ruler, that's exactly what the
law says. In 1 John chapter 4 verse 20, if man says he loves God
and hates his brother, he's a liar. Chapter 5 verse 1, whosoever
believeth that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God. And everyone
that loveth him that begat, loveth him also that is begotten of
him. That is, everyone who loves God, who gave him life, loves
those to whom God has given life. Now, I'm not talking about lip
love. Anybody can say, I love you.
And they can say it sometimes real piously and real sweet,
or they stick you under the fifth rib of the knife. I'm not talking
about lip love. I'm talking about love. Love
manifest by deeds. Somebody say, well, he loves
in his own way, fully on his way. His way not in account. The only way he counts is God's
way. The deeds by which the love of Christ in us is manifest are
not matters difficult to discern. We don't have to guess about
them. How did our Lord Jesus love us? He gave Himself for
us. How do we love one another? We
give ourselves to one another. How did our Lord love us? He
prays for us. He prays for us. I pray for you because I love
you. How did our Lord show His love
for us? Oh, He bears our burdens. All of them. He bore the burden
of our sin to the cursed tree and bore it away. And He bears
the burdens of our hearts. He says, cast your care on Him.
He cares for you. How do I love you? If I love
you, I bear your burdens. Weep with those that weep and
rejoice with those that rejoice. Our Lord Jesus loved us and loves
us and shows his love for us because he is patient, forbearing,
long-suffering, and forgiving. Oh, God, teach me to be patient,
forbearing, long-suffering, and forgiving. Patient with you. Patient with the infirmities
of others. Patient with the impatience of
others. Patient with the hastiness of
others. Patient with the indecision of
others. Forbearing of others' offenses. Forgiving of others' deeds done
against me. Forgiving. It's called love. It's called love. I try my best always to show
that dear lady that I love her. Oh, she's seen me out of sorts
so many times. And you know, she stuck with
me for 33 years. Because she looks at this man
through his weaknesses, failures, and infirmities. And when something's
out of source for that, that ain't him. That's not him. It might take her a few minutes
to realize that, but that's not him. That's not him. He loves
me. And I do. Now, that's exactly
how we look at each other. As you overlook the weaknesses,
failures, and infirmities of your wife or your husband, consider such of your brother.
As you do such with your children, certainly do so with your brethren.
After all, if Rex Bartley is in Christ, I'm to esteem him
better than myself. And if I esteem him better than
myself, I've got nothing evil to think of him, much less say
about him. If I truly esteem Him better than me, He's perfect
in Christ. And I can't see anything in Him,
what He really is. I do know something about what's
in me, what I really am. And so I esteem Him better than
myself. If we love one another, we try to encourage, help, uphold
one another, not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together.
How come? Well, I need you. But the fact
is you need me too. We need one another. We need
one another's encouragement. We need one another's strength.
We need one another's fellowship. We need to lift one another and
encourage one another in the way. If we don't love each other,
I'm talking about love each other. than any profession of faith
in Christ that we make. It's vain. It's just a puff of
air. It's meaningless. It's delusion. Peter says, honor all men, love
the brotherhood. Back here in 1 John chapter 3
again, verse 14, John says, we know that we passed from death
into life. Because we love the brethren.
He that loveth not his brother abides in death. Whosoever hateth
his brother is a murderer. Oh, I'm not guilty of that. If
you don't love him, you hate him. That's exactly right. If you don't love... Well, I
just... No, I don't hate him. I just
don't care. Oh, yes, you do. Our Lord speaks
of Jacob and Esau. He said, Jacob have I loved,
Esau have I hated. What did he do to Esau? He just
left him alone. He didn't do anything for him.
Oh, that's what it means to hate somebody. Leave him alone to
do nothing for. Do nothing for. Man loves not
his brother, but hates his brother. He's a murderer. And you know
that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. Verse 16. Hereby perceive we the love of
God. Here's how I can see God's love. because he laid down his life
for us. And we ought to lay down our
lives for the brethren. Well, what on earth does he mean
by that? Read the next verse. But whoso hath this world's goods,
and seeth his brother hath me, and shutteth up his bowels of
compassion from him, he says, I love God, and I love my brother.
How dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let
us not love in word only, Neither in tongue, but in deed and in
truth. Paul says, brethren, see that you make this the fixed
principle by which you live. The unbroken habit of your lives,
love one another. As you grow in grace and in the
knowledge of Christ and love for Christ, so too grow in love
one for another. Now look at verse two. Here the
Holy Spirit tells us something about how this love for the brethren
is to be expressed. He's telling us that love is
hospitable, given to hospitality. We know that a pastor must be
one who is given to hospitality. But there's a reason why that's
a requirement for one who's a pastor, because that's a requirement
for one who's a believer. A believer is a person who's
hospitable, generous. Look at chapter 13, verse 2.
Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have
entertained angels unawares. I love what the Amplified Version
says concerning this. If you have an Amplified Version,
when you read it, understand it's not a version, it's a paraphrase,
but it's got some good statements in it. Listen to what it says.
Do not forget or neglect or refuse to extend hospitality to strangers
in the brotherhood, being friendly, cordial, and gracious, sharing
the comforts of your home, and doing your part generously. For
through it, some have entertained angels without knowing it." We
must never neglect or fail to care for and meet the needs of
God's people in this world. We must never fail to use what
God has put in our hands as stewards in his house. Stewards
in his house. Whatever God has trusted you
and me with, he's trusted us with it as stewards in his house. What's that mean? That means
it's not mine, it's his. That means we are responsible
for how we use it, being faithful stewards. Let us never fail to
use what is trusted to our hands as stewards in his house for
the benefit of his house, to minister to the needs of his
family, to comfort his people in this world. We are to make
it a matter of conscious effort. We are to make it a matter of
conscious effort. He says, be not... Be careful
not to neglect ministering to strangers, not to neglect being
hospitable. Be careful now that you don't
neglect that. Because we are all given, at times and in one
way or another, we are all given to living within our own shell. Somebody goes, I'm just bashful.
Well, be careful that you don't let your bashfulness get in the
way of being hospitable and gracious. Well, I'm nervous. Be careful
you don't let your nervous disposition get in the way of being gracious
and hospitable. We make all kinds of excuses for ungodliness. God's
people are gracious and hospitable and generous. And we must make
a conscious effort at this business of showing ourselves friendly,
cordial, gracious towards His people, especially toward those
who cannot return any favor. We all like to entertain folks who really don't
need to be entertained, don't we? We like to have folks in
for dinner who really don't need to come to our place for dinner.
And that's great. There's nothing wrong with that.
But don't neglect the fellow who needs to be there, either
because of his physical circumstances or because of his present spiritual
circumstances. Don't neglect the one who needs
attention. Share your comforts and provisions generously. Now
watch this. For thereby some have entertained
angels unawares. And when he talks about us, being
hospitable and entertaining strangers. He's not talking about, I've
heard fellas talk this, you know, you see some hobo on the street
and you invite him home and put him up, all that stuff. That might be all right. But
that's not what this is talking about. It's great to be generous
with the hobo on the street. That's fine. But you better be
careful who you invite into your house. You got a responsibility
to care for your family and protect them. The strangers talking about
here are the same ones you talked about in chapter 11, verse 13.
Those who are strangers and pilgrims in this world. Abraham looked
out one day and he saw three strangers coming his way. Men. He recognized these men as angels
of God. And they came and ministered
to him as he ministered to them. He said, Sarah, go break three
cakes for these fellows. Let's entertain them royally.
Give them the best we've got. And the angel of the Lord said,
shall I withhold from Abraham the thing I'm about to do? Came
and ministered to him. Lot was visited by the angels
of God. and took them into his house,
protecting them from the citizens of the land, and was delivered.
The Lord's disciples walked along the road to Emmaus, and they
met up with a stranger. A stranger who was one of them.
And they presumed this stranger had not heard what had happened
at Jerusalem, and as they walked along the way, this stranger
began to open the Scriptures to them. And before the day was
done, they found out the stranger was the Son of God. Our Lord
said, buddy, He said, if you entertain one of my disciples,
you're entertaining me. Read the book, Matthew 25. He
said, you visited You visited my sick child over there. You
gave a cup of cold water to that disciple over there. You spread
your table for that disciple. You invited that disciple down
to your house to spend the day or spend the week or spend the
month. You invited me down. We have been blessed in our home,
and many of you as well. We've had the privilege so many
times, sitting in our living room early in the morning, late
in the evening, sitting at the table, and sitting in the presence
of the angels of God who had been sent of God specifically
with a message of mercy for us. I can't tell you the times someone
has come to my door, a friend, May have done them a long time,
but not done them very long. But before they left, God Almighty
had given me something by their lips I couldn't have gotten any
other way. Be careful to entertain strangers.
Brotherly love expresses itself by tenderly caring for the brethren. Verse 3, Paul's talking about
the same thing here. Remember them that are in bonds
as bound with them. and them which suffer adversity
as being yourselves also in the body. Now let me just give you
a summary of that. I don't want to keep you too
late tonight. We'll come back to it, Lord willing. He's not
talking about going over here to North Point and having a prison
ministry. That's all right, but that's not what this is talking
about. He's not talking about folks who are imprisoned, incarcerated
legally because they robbed a bank. That's not what he's talking
about. He's talking about folks who are in bondage because of
the gospel. Remember them. whether they are physically in
bonds or whether they are in bonds because of their circumstances. They're constrained and they're
put in constraining circumstances. Those who are in adversity, suffering
for Christ's sake, in adversity because of their faith and faithfulness
to the Lord Jesus Christ, remember them as being yourselves in the
body. Lindsay, we are one. We are one. God's people are one. We're in
the same body. We're in the body of Christ.
So weep with those that weep and rejoice with those that rejoice.
And also, we are in this body of flesh as well. Don't forget
that. Don't forget that. Our brother's
in adversity. He's in trouble because he's
still in the flesh. Me and you too. So remember that. And when it says remember them,
that means remember them so as to pray for them, care for them,
do what you can to sustain, strengthen, and comfort them. Then in verse
4, he seems to throw something in here that sure enough is out
of joint. Something that's totally unrelated to this matter of birth
of the love. He says in verse 4, marriage is honorable in all,
and the bed undefiled, but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. But the fact is, what he has
to say is very central to this thing of brotherly love. You
see, brotherly love flourishes when home love flourishes. Did you hear me? Brotherly love
flourishes when home love flourishes. If I don't love my wife and care
for her, if I don't devote myself to her, I don't love you and
I don't love Christ. And I won't care for you. And
I won't care for the things of Christ. Husbands, love your wives. Wives, reference your husbands. It's as horrible, as despicable,
as vile, as base for a woman to speak disrespectfully to or
of her husband as it is for a man to take another woman on the
side. The two things go hand in hand. Wives, reverence your
husbands. Husbands, love your wives. Take
your marriage vow seriously. Let marriage be held honorable
and highly esteemed in all things. Your marriage, be it, is honorable. And there's never an excuse,
religious, personal, or otherwise, for a husband neglecting his
wife or a wife or husband. Love means you keep yourselves
from sexual promiscuity. Boy, that's a pretty word, isn't
it? Let's call it what it is. Whoremongers and adulterers God
will judge. God will judge. And then in verses
five and six, Paul speaks of contentment rising from assurance. Let your conversation be without
covetousness. Don't be greedy for wealth, position,
for fame, for all those things men seek after. Let your manner
of life be without covetousness and be content with such things
as you have. Brotherly love will flourish
where contentment lives. And it will die where covetousness
thrives. Be content. Be content. Well,
preacher, how can I be content? Because God has said, I will
never leave thee nor forsake thee. If you could read this
sentence in the Greek language, the original language, it reads
very strangely. He has five negatives in the
sentence. Five of them. The Lord says here, I will not
never leave thee, nor never forsake thee. Never. I'll never do it. I'll never do it. And it's repeated
five times in the scriptures. First time he find it is back
there where God spoke to Jacob in Genesis 28. Jacob is headed
for a man. He's headed for years of trouble
and God said that's alright. I won't leave you I'll never
leave you. I never forsake you You're gonna
think I have sometimes and it's gonna look like I have sometimes
I'll never leave you I never forsake you next time he said
it he said it to Moses Just before he called him up to the mountain
to kill him He's I'll never leave you nor forsake you And next
time he read it, the Lord spoke it to Joshua in Joshua chapter
1, just before he had to go face all, all the nations of that
heathen land on the other side of Jordan. And then the next
time, he said it to Solomon. God spoke by David and he said,
Solomon, my son, God puts you on your throne to rule all this
people. And he has sworn, saying, I'll
never leave you, nor forsake you. And then he said it to Bob
Duff. I'll never leave you. Never. Well, I believe I can be content
with that. I believe that'll work, so that we may boldly say,
we may confidently say, the Lord is my helper. And it just doesn't
matter what comes down the pike. The Lord is my helper. It doesn't
matter how things go as far as I see them. The Lord is my helper. It doesn't matter who opposes
me or who's with me. The Lord is my helper. I will
not fear what any man in any way can do to me. And then he
gives us another word of admonition. In verse 7, the Holy Spirit calls
for us to remember God's servants as rulers worthy of allegiance. Remember them which have the
rule over you. Pastors are not puppets. They're
rulers. They're not demagogues. They
are rulers who rule as governors and guides. The word would be
better translated, governors or guides. But they rule the
house of God well. How is that? Who has spoken to
you the word of God? Oh, I've given you God's word
tonight. And I haven't given you something
for you to consider. I haven't given you something
to obey. I've given you something to heed. Well, I believe I'll think about
that a while. Go ahead if you ought to. Or
heed it. Who's spoken to you? The Word
of God. Whose faith? The doctrine of faith? Follow. You heed that Word of faith that
comes from this Word. But in the context, it has to
be more whose example of faith and faithfulness. Oh, my God, I need help because I'm
responsible. I'm responsible. I'm responsible to sit before
this assembly. an example of faith and faithfulness. I'm responsible for everyone
who comes under the influence of my being to set before them
an example of faith and faithfulness. So he says, remember them. Pray
for them. Care for them. Know them that
have the rule over you, whose faith follow. Follow them. Whose
faith follow. And my pastors told me to persevere. My pastors told me to love my
brethren. My pastors told me to set Christ
before me. My pastors told me to set my
heart on Him. My pastors given me the Word
of God. And He set before me this end. Christ and glory. and everlasting life. Believe I'll follow. Believe
I will. Amen.