in the book of Hebrews chapter 13 and the Bible reads let brotherly love
continue be not forgetful to entertain strangers for thereby some have
entertained angels unawares remember them that are in bonds as found with
them and then which suffer adversity as being yourselves also in
the body marriage is honorable in all and a bed undefiled but
horror-mongers and adulterers God will judge let your conversation be
without without covetousness and be content with such things as you have for
yet 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 on to you the Word of God
whose faith follow consider considering the end of their conversation Jesus
Christ the same yesterday and today and forever be not carried about with
diverse and strange doctrines for it is a good thing that the heart be
established with grace not with meats with which not which have not profited
them that have been occupied therein we have an altar where they have no
right to eat which serve the tabernacle for the bodies of those
beasts whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin
or burned without the camp wherefore Jesus also that he might sanctify the
people with his own blood suffered without the gate let us go forth
therefore unto him without the camper in his approach for here have we no
continuing city but we seek one to come by him therefore let us offer the
sacrifice of praise to God continually that is the fruit of our lips giving
thanks to his name but you do good and to communicate forget not for with
such sacrifices God is well pleased obey them that have the rule over you
and submit yourselves for they watch for your souls as they that must give
account that they may do it with joy and not with grief for that is
unprofitable for you pray for us for we trust we have a good conscience and
all things willingly to live honestly but I beseech you that rather to do this
that I may be restored to you the sooner now the God of peace that
brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus that great Shepherd of the
sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant make you perfect in
every good work to do is bull working in you that which is well pleasing in his
sight through Jesus Christ to whom be glory forever and ever amen and I
beseech you brother and suffer the word of exhortation for I have
written a letter unto you in few words know you that our brother
Timothy is said at liberty with whom he come shortly I will see you salute
all them that have the rule over you and all the Saints they have Italy
salute you grace be with you all amen spray we thank you dear Lord we thank
you for the book of Hebrews dear God we thank you for the King James Bible
thank you for this wonderful church you have given us dear God we thank you
for our pastor please bless him tonight as he preaches your word on
to us in Jesus name we pray amen amen okay tonight we are concluding the
book of Hebrews chapter 13 and last week I went over chapter 12 and
there's a few verses that I left out from the sermon because I wasn't able
to finish I'm going to do that by way of introduction tonight and then we'll
jump right into Hebrews chapter 13 so let me make a couple points here by
way of introduction first starting off in Hebrews chapter 12 if you look at
verse 26 that says whose voice then shook the earth but now he has
promised saying yet once more I shake not the earth only but also heaven and
this word yet once more signifies the removing of those things that are
shaken as of things that are made that those things which cannot be shaken may
remain wherefore we receive a kingdom which cannot be moved let us have
grace whereby we may observe God acceptably with reverence and godly
fear for our God is a consuming fire and basically what this passage is
saying at the latter end of chapter 12 it's really given us this picture of
separation and sifting through the New Testament essentially what God is
saying here through the Apostle Paul in chapter 12 is that the New Testament
is essentially shaking the Old Testament of things that don't really
matter anymore so if you're to look at a sandbox for example and a filter
and you throw in all types of elements there you got seashells you got trash
you get all kinds of things you know and when you start shaking it from
the sand only that which is of substance will remain right that which is
waiting will actually remain well the picture that he's giving here is that
now that the New Testament has been instituted God is shaking the earth
right and what happens when he shakes the earth well now the meats drinks
and diverse washings and cardinal ordinances have been done away with
they're essentially that which is being done away with it's falling
through the shaking of the voice of the Lord and only that which is
important remains right in the New Testament and in fact he says in verse
number let's see here verse 28 wherefore we receive a kingdom which cannot be
moved let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with
reverence and godly fear so he's basically saying you know that which is
most important is going to remain and this is great proof to show that
salvation has always been the same because if it was different in the Old
Testament than it was in the New Testament would have fallen through the
cracks as soon as God shook it through the New Testament but of course the
separation and the sifting that God did through the New Testament removes
only the ritual laws the purity laws the meats drinks and diverse washings
and the kingdom of God is that it's the only thing that remains there okay
the things that existed even prior to the institution of the Old Testament so
God removing the Old Testament ordinances but retaining the figures of
the truth so to speak and of course when you look at the Old Testament if
you're to be a believer in the Old Testament you're looking through a glass
darkly so it's as if you're looking through a sandbox and you're
trying to make out what's in that sandbox what are the figures in that
sandbox but it's kind of it's kind of filled with a lot of sand so you can't
really make out the images thereof until it's shaken and all the sand is
removed then you see what Jesus Christ then you see what you see that God's
intention for the Gentiles was for them to be saved and to be a part of
the people of God you see God's will being revealed in the New
Testament through the shaking from the voice of the Lord so that's what
it's referring to there and let me read to you a verse here in Matthew
chapter 13 and verse 47 it says again the kingdom of heaven is like unto a
net that was cast into the sea and gathered of every kind which when it was
full that they drew to shore sat down gathered the good into vessels but cast
the bad away so shall it be at the end of the world the angel shall come
forth and sever the wicked from among the just and shall cast them into the
furnace of fire there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth so aside
from the fact that God is obviously removing these Old Testament ordinances
because of the fact that the figures of the true Jesus Christ is the
fulfillment of that you know he's also removing these fake believers right these
Jews according to the flesh that although in the Old Testament were the
people of God if they didn't believe on the Lord Jesus Christ in the New
Testament guess what they're gonna be cast away they're gonna be shaken
out because at the end of the day the true people who are the people of
God who actually believe on the Lord would accept Jesus Christ as being the
Savior you understand and of course we see that throughout the Gospels and the
book of Acts then when Christ is preached you basically sift through
believers from non-believers doesn't matter if they say they believe in God
and they believe in the law of Moses if they rejected Jesus they didn't
really believe to begin with right and so a sifting and a removal of those
things has taken place in the New Testament and that is what that
remainder of that passage is teaching there pretty cool now the next thing I
want to mention here by way of introduction is actually the end of
the book of Hebrews chapter 13 the let the latter end of the chapter if you
look at verse 22 it says and I beseech your brethren suffer the word of
exhortation for I've written a letter unto you in few words and what
I want to mention here is what I kind of been reiterating over last couple of
weeks and months preaching to the book of Hebrews and that is that I believe
that the majority of the book of Hebrews was actually a sermon that the
Apostle Paul preached maybe at some synagogue and I've given reasons why I
believe that one in particular is the fact that you know this epistle is
written to not a church of Galatia not Philippi not a geographical area
it's literally written to a people group and it says that it's called you
know we call it the the epistle to the Hebrew so he's not addressing a
particular church he's addressing a people group that quite frankly can be
found in a synagogue which is where the Apostle Paul would often go to preach
so this very male what you know the the first I believe ten chapters is
potentially the Apostle Paul preaching a sermon at a synagogue towards the
Hebrews and the reason I believe it's the first ten chapters is because
chapters one through ten really have this collective idea right that Jesus
Christ is superior to everything in the Old Testament and every chapter just
basically kind of carries forth continues on from the previous thought he
says that he's better than the angels he's better than the mediators
he's better than the high priest and it's just really hammering in this
thought but not only that but you know chapters one through ten is really
systematic when it comes to the doctrine I mean there's a lot of
systematic teaching in those first ten chapters very deep another reason why I
believe it's a sermon from the first ten chapters it's because of the fact
that in chapter five he's talking about Melchizedek and then he kind of
just kind of veers off and he's like you know seeing that you're dull
of hearing you know because he wants to talk about Melchizedek he's like
senior dull of hearing and he starts rebuking whoever is the recipient of
it and the reason I believe it's a sermon is because I have a tendency to
do that and I think pastors have a tendency to do that you know they're
preaching on a particular subject but they feel like they're losing the crowd a
little bit you know the people they have that that fluoride look you know I
mean they're just kind of like it's too cold or it's too hot you know
whatever you guys complain about you know or you're hungry or whatever so
then you know he sees that and then he just like I have many things to say
into you but seeing that you're dull of hearing you know you need me you're
you need milk and not strong me and he's just starts ripping into them
all the way into chapter 6 and you know so that that kind of is an indicator
that it's potentially a sermon because he's saying it like it's a sermon
another reason why I believe it's a sermon from chapters 1 to 10 is because
throughout those chapters you'll see the Apostle Paul quoting scripture but
he's not necessarily referencing it he's like it's safe in another place
you know and I'll do that too you know sometimes I'll quote scriptures and
I'll say you know from the book of whatever and chapter I don't really know
exactly where but you're just kind of shooting off the hip just kind of
quoting scriptures so it has that tone of being preachy now I do believe
that chapter 11 12 and 13 though we're actually written afterwards so once
chapter 10 was finished that's like the end of the sermon okay and chapter
11 12 and 13 is more extra tative so chapters 1 all the way to 10 is very
much like rebuking he's like teaching systematic doctrine he's going really
deep on Old Testament and then chapter 11 is like the Hall of Faith you know
I mean and how we were to continue in the faith and he's very nice right in
those chapters okay but here's proof here's my last proof that these last
few chapters are written and the first ten are possibly a sermon that he
preached they were written later on afterwards and that is verse 22 because
he says I beseech you brother and suffer the word of exhortation for I've
written a letter unto you in few words now would you really consider 13
chapters few words a letter of few words no that's a that's a lot okay now
obviously chapter 11 through 12 or 13 excuse me is a lot but it's less than
chapters 1 through 13 you understand and so I think he's going out of his
way to say you know I've written a letter unto you in few words and he's
like allow the word of exhortation which obviously the last couple
chapters have been extra tative in nature whereas the previous chapters
were very much him rebuking now this isn't either here nor there it
doesn't change anything it's just interesting to note there that when you
read the book of Hebrews because I don't know if you've ever had this but as I
read I'm like this is such a unique book the audience is very unique it's not
being written to a church it's not even being written to a specific person it's
just like a group of people so where is this where did this happen you know
what I mean like where are they gonna be reading the epistle to the
Hebrews but it's potentially a sermon that he preached at a synagogue where a
lot of Hebrews would be and that's why he's talking about that and so
that's the proof as to why I believe the first 10 chapters is potentially a
sermon and the last three chapters is actually a conclusion to the letter that
he's carrying over from the sermon that he preached in chapter one through
two from chapters one through ten so let's get into chapter 13 now the
first couple verses here is just a lot of exhortation about various
different topics but it's all under the canopy of listen to this of just
loving the brethren because you know he's just finished rebuking them saying
they're gonna be chastised as well and then he just finishes off by
saying like hey just make sure you have fervent charity one to another and in
fact verse one says let brotherly love continue okay and what he's saying there
is basically what he says in a lot of his epistles which is that they should
be kindly affectionate one toward another you know an honor prefer one
another just being loving towards the brethren and that is an important
principle right there because you know as a church it's easy to really focus
on doctrine because that's important it's important to focus on soul winning
because that's important it's important to focus on just the the details
of the ministry but sometimes one thing that gets kind of pushed to the side
is having fervent love towards the brethren right just being kindly
affectionate towards the brothers and I'm preaching to myself here because
you know that's something that doesn't necessarily I don't want to say it
doesn't come naturally to me to be affectionate but you know I'm not a
mercy I'm not necessarily naturally an exhorter I'm all about hellfire and
brimstone the world's gonna end we're all gonna die but hey we're going to
heaven so you know stop being such a baby about it and don't be a wimp and
you know get your rear end in church and stuff and we need that but
we also need brotherly love as well right we need to be kindly affectionate
one toward another and that is the banner that we should always carry as
Christians as well and I think obviously we could do both and he
tells them there hey make sure that you have brotherly love one toward
another be kindly affectionate and then he gets into the practicality of how to
make sure brotherly love continues with Christians first two says be not
forgetful to entertain strangers for thereby some have entertained angels
unawares now in the first two chapters I explained that it's possible
that these angels that are being referred to in the book of Hebrews is
actually referring to actual messengers people men of God who are either soul
winners they're out preaching the Word of God because angel means messenger
okay an evangelist the messenger a soul winner of some of sorts and
verse two can actually fall into the interpretation of that category now I
could also fall into the category of referring to a celestial body right you
know this could be referring to the fact that it's it's telling us here that
we need to make sure that we're hospitable towards just everyone
because you might get yourself a celestial body one day you know just
kind of showing himself as a person and then you know God's testing your
for whatever reason and we do have examples of that in the Bible you have
Abraham for example he entertained entertained strangers unawares and
obviously a concept like this is is very much something that was prevalent
in Bible days right because in Bible days people were very hospitable in the
sense that if you had a stranger come by and keep in mind that that didn't
happen very often right if you're living in the middle of nowhere
you're in the desert you know it's very rare that you're just gonna have
people coming through but it would happen where people would pass by and
it would be a very Christian or just you know kind thing to do to welcome
them into your home wash their feet give them a meal maybe even if you're
possible provide preventer for their animals and their livestock if they have
any and then even give them a place to stay for the night that was just
like a hospitable thing to do and that's that was a common practice in
Bible days and so you can see how this instruction could be hey make sure
you entertain strangers unawares because God could be sending you an
actual angel to kind of test you out but I would more readily say that this
is probably referring to a soul winner a person when it talks about an angel
because it's in the context of loving the brethren okay and he's saying there
you know let brotherly love continue and then he gives some practical ways
in how to do that and he says in verse 2 don't forget that when you're
entertaining strangers some of those people might even be believers and in
fact it might even be soul winners okay there might be preachers of the
gospel and so make sure that you're hospitable to everyone because you
might even come across someone who's actually serving God and and they're in
need of something the Bible says in Romans 12 verse 13 distributing to the
necessity of the Saints given to hospitality 1st Peter chapter 4 verse
number 8 says and above all things have fervent charity among yourselves
for charity shall cover the multitude of sins use hospitality one to another
without grudging meaning you should be hospitable and don't be all mad about
it either yeah I guess you could come in oh you want water or something or
what do you want oh you're hungry okay oh man okay oh you needed to go to the
hospital all great you know it's like you know don't make sure that when
you're being hospitable you have a cheerful countenance about it okay don't
make it like as though you're being forced to do something this should come
out of a heart of sincerity of love that wants what benefits their
brethren and in fact in James chapter 2 the famous passage verse 15 says if a
brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food and one of you
saying to them depart in peace be warmed and filled notwithstanding give
them not those things which are needful to the body what doth it
profit so obviously one of the major themes of the Bible particularly in the
New Testament is that we should go out of our way to meet the needs of the
brethren right and if you are a person that has faith you're a safe
person your faith profits you alone in Christ right gives you salvation however
it doesn't profit anybody else if you don't add works to that okay and that's
what that's what James 2 is really talking about is that you're supposed
to add works to your faith in order to profit those who are naked and
destitute of daily food so if you just say be warmed and filled how's that
gonna help them you understand be hospitable have fervent love towards
your brother let brotherly love continue and if someone comes by and
they need something at your home or maybe they're broken down and obviously
you know in the day and age in which we live we don't really see that a
whole lot we as a church kind of do because we do have people come through
here and obviously we need to make sure that you know whoever we're
talking to are is definitely in need they're not just trying to buy
themselves a 40 you know down the street or whatever because that is the
case but you know we've had instances where people come and they're like hey
we're just I'm struggling right now and I typically tell them like well we
only help church members like we had someone recently come and you know
they were reaching out for help and I was like what is exactly that you
want and he's like well I just need help to get my family back in you
know a shelter of some sort and I said well you know we only help
Christians who go to our church like our church policy is that we only help
believers who actually attend our church we don't just help anybody you know and
I said but if you're hungry are you hungry we'll give you some food you
know and he's like yeah I'll take it and I'm like all right well I'm gonna
give you some food but first you got to listen to this man preach to you
for a little bit okay and so brother Jesus came out and said preach the
gospel to this guy then give him some in and out cards or whatever and let
them be on their way and so that's not gonna happen all the time but you know
there's instances where we should reach out and help someone if they are in need
and discern if this person actually has a need we don't want to just be cold
hearted towards just everyone because obviously we've there's so many
charlatans out there and people who are just they see church as an ATM or
they're trying to take advantage of people that if you're not careful you
could just be shut off towards everyone and just think well everyone's bad
you're throwing out the baby with the bathwater interesting everyone has an
nefarious agenda but you know there might be someone out there who's just
down on their luck and they're looking for actual help and I'm not saying you
you're gonna pay for their rent or whatever but you know what just tell
them like hey I'll get you a meal but you got to listen to me preach
the gospel to you okay and you know and listen to this and obviously
you're not buying their time but hey take advantage of the opportunity you
have to give the gospel to them they get saved and they get a meal out of it
too and who knows you might run into someone who actually has saved and they
might need help and that's an opportunity for you to exercise
brotherly kindness okay and so let brotherly love continue he says and
he's basically telling us that you know there might be opportunities where
someone knocks on your door and they're in need of something or they
you know they've been broken down obviously use discernment but just
realize that there are opportunities to be a blessing to believers out there let me
a couple passages here from Matthew chapter 10 verse number 40 it says he
that receiveth you receiveth me and he that receiveth me receiveth him that
sent me he that receiveth the prophet in the name of a prophet shall
receive a prophets reward and he that receiveth the righteous man in the name
of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward is basically
saying hey if you help a messenger of the gospel a prophet of the Lord you're
gonna get a reward for that it's not gonna go unnoticed if you let brotherly
love continue towards a stranger meaning a person you don't know
understand and of course we have the example in Luke chapter 10 where God
literally tells his disciples whatever house you go into you know eat
whatever's before you if they offer you a meal eat it you know for the
laborers worthy of his hire and I've had instances I remember in times past when
I'd go out soul winning and a person would say you want to come in and have
lunch with us and I'm just like I was a starving Bible college student
I'm like yes absolutely and just eat whatever was before me and I was
thankful for it you know and so and you know you'll have instances and
I'm sure you've experienced this if you've gone soul winning long enough
is that they'll offer you a bottle of water during the summer or
something and you know most people who do that obviously they're doing it out
of the kindness of their heart but I guarantee you there's believers out
there that know like I'm gonna get myself a quick reward or you know these
are the messengers of the gospel these are the angels unawares and so I
want to make sure I'm a blessing to them and receive it okay let them be a
blessing he says in verse 3 remember them that are in bonds as bound with
them and then which suffer adversity as being yourselves also in the body so
he says let brotherly love continue how well number one obviously by being a
blessing to those you come across who are in need but he also says by having
empathy and compassion this is what verse 3 is talking about you know
remembering them that are in bonds meaning remember those who are
incarcerated and obviously in these days there's probably a lot more
believers are incarcerated for their faith and there is now but he says the
principle that he's trying to get across here is that you need to be able
to put yourself in someone else's shoes okay because he says them which
suffer adversity as being yourselves also in that in the body so in other
words he's saying you know when you hear about someone going through a hard
time don't just brush it off you know hurt with them weep with those that
weep mourn with those that mourn and not just have empathy but have
compassion as well what is compassion compassion is when you have empathy
and then you want to do something about it understand it's like empathy is just
like you feel bad for the person you feel hurt for that individual but it
motivates you to actually go out and do something about it to be a
blessing to them in a small way a way that can help them and whatever
adversity that they're in and so never lose the virtue of being
empathetic and compassionate one toward another we live in a very cold
world okay and I know myself if I'm not careful I can allow my heart to get
cold fast because there's so much evil out there you know I mean there's so
many wicked people out there system is wicked the world is wicked there's
just a lot of evil out in this world and if I'm not careful I can allow my
heart to become hardened towards people right but it's important that you know we
remain empathetic towards the hurts of others and you may think to yourself
yeah but you know people have screwed me over so many times though and that's
why I don't like to help anybody you know what I mean because people have
just defrauded me and so but you know what the principle still there
though and in fact you know that the Bible teaches us that even if someone
does that to us we're still obligated to give the next person the benefit of
the doubt and do it again even if we're defrauded again now obviously have some
wisdom and don't keep helping the same person out right if you have one
person that does you wrong and then you just persist to help that same
individual and they keep doing your own you're just lacking wisdom and you're
not very smart okay what I'm saying is if you have a person that defrauds you
financially with possessions you know obviously wisdom says I shouldn't trust
this person again in the future if they ever ask for help right but that
shouldn't keep you from helping someone else in the future who might
be in the same situation so don't allow the reputation of the previous
person affect a future opportunity to be a blessing to someone else okay you
know don't become this this person who just doesn't trust anybody it's like
well I can't trust anybody therefore I'm never gonna go out of my way to
help anybody it's not the right attitude to have God wants us to be
empathetic and compassionate and make sure that we are you know putting
ourselves in the shoes of those who are suffering adversity weep with them
that weep mourn with them that mourn let me read to you from Matthew 25 verse
37 says then shall the righteous answer him saying Lord when saw we thee and
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 these sick
or in prison and came unto thee and the king shall answer and say unto them
barely I say unto you in as much as you have done it unto one of the
least of these my brethren you have done it unto me so there's a great
motivation to be a blessing to people even if the previous previous
person screws you over and that is that at the end of the day you're
doing it as unto the Lord okay and the Lord will never let you down you
the Lord sees the work that you're putting in he sees the blessing that you
are to people so even if you never get a thank you and the person defrauds
you he lies to you he steals from you or whatever maybe at the end of
the day you know do it as unto the Lord and at the end God will say you
did it unto me okay and so it's important for us to retain having an
empathetic attitude and having compassionate towards people and not
just become cold-hearted towards every person and especially have empathy and
compassion towards the brethren right towards the brethren towards the
unsaved you know don't allow yourself to just become hardened
towards people and look obviously you know you're driving down the street you
see drug addicts all over the place and it's easy for us to just be like
that idiot and you know what sometimes I do do that and it's true they are
idiots but you know what I do have some empathy for them as well because we're
not for the grace of God I might be there as well you know what I mean
and so you never want to become so cold-hearted that you look at an
individual and don't even see the soul that dwells within that body you
understand that is in need of salvation and look you know I spoke to a person I
think it was last week who came to our church he came here he didn't come to a
service but he came to the building and he was looking for the truth you know
he wanted to discuss the Bible he wanted to talk about salvation but
unfortunately his body was just wracked has been destroyed by alcohol
and he suffers from neuropathy and so alcohol just does not allow him to
really comprehend anything so it was hard for me to give him the guy was
giving him the gospel and he couldn't understand it and he's just like you
have to forgive me I have a problem with my mind my brain it just doesn't
comprehend I can't really understand and so as soon as you explain a
concept to him he says he does understand it and when you have him
repeated unto you he just like I don't know what to say I can't tell
you that's what alcohol did to him you know and I can sit there and say
what an idiot what a fool and you know what that might be true but it sucks
too though you know what I mean and you know it's a blessing to have
comprehension and so you know thank God that we have a mind of sobriety thank
God that God has allowed our mental faculties to operate on all cylinders
that we can read the Bible and understand it that we can hear
preaching and understand it because there's people out there and this guy's
not like a reprobate or anything like that it's just the effects of sin you
know when the Bible says that the God of this world had blinded the minds
it's not just through false religion it's through addictions and bad habits
that can cause them to really destroy their minds and their brains so
they can't comprehend even the simplest you know presentation of the
gospel and so have empathy towards people have compassion towards people
allow your heart to be softened towards individuals who are you know wracked
with sin who are destroyed by their sinful habits so let brotherly love
continue okay how do we do it not forgetting to entertain strangers
unawares be hospitable towards individuals remembering them who are in
bonds those who are being afflicted have empathy and compassion says in
verse number four marriage is honorable in all things in the bed undefiled
but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge so another way to love the
brethren is by loving your spouse and in this context it's referring to the
physical relationship you know the physical relationship between a husband
and wife has been demonized by this world it's been perverted by this world
and so to the point where Christians are just like oh that's so taboo you
know we don't want to talk that's only for procreation it's not for
pleasure or something like that no it's for both the Bible tells us that
marriage is honorable in all things in the bed undefiled and it's not even in
context of having children and just saying that it's honorable it's
undefiled and so you know it's important for us and of course what the
biblical teaching on this is is in first Corinthians chapter 7 that the
husband should render unto his wife do benevolence and vice versa and that
do benevolence is referring to that physical relationship okay not
defrauding your spouse not use it not weaponizing the physical
relationship against your spouse but making sure you render to your spouse
that do benevolence of that physical relationship because your body belongs
to them I know the world hates to hear stuff like that but it's fact my
wife's body belongs to me you can clip that and put that on YouTube if
you want but her body's mine you know what this body's hers too amen and so
it's it's saying here that you we need to have the right attitude towards
marriage and not view it as something that's icky or disgusting you know
you've allowed Hollywood to really you know twist what marriage is and
that physical relationship God is saying it's undefiled you know what
defiled is in the eyes of God whore mongers and fornicators because he
says whore mongers and adulterers God will judge he's not gonna judge the
the couple that is participating in the physical act of marriage not just for
procreation but also for pleasure because that's what it's there for he's
gonna judge the whole monger and the adulterer because that is a
perversion in the eyes of God it's wrong in his eyes and he says he's
gonna judge them for that whether through disease or through just the
the built-in consequences of being a whore and being an adulterer I mean
recently actually today I just heard about that stupid podcast to fit in
what the what's the fit pot what fresh and fit podcast these MGTOW
dudes okay they want to promote the family they want to promote marriages or
whatever one of them was just recorded on a phone conversation by his
mistress or whatever and she's like I'm pregnant he's just like well just take
the pill you know get an abortion she's like I'm not doing I'm not gonna
kill the baby you know she's like this is your baby he's like well I
don't want it so he's over here talking against abortion on whatever
podcast and this stinking grifter is phony all the while he's being a
little whore monger himself and then you know he he get the you know the
the product of that relationship is a baby and now he's just like well just
kill the baby because I don't want it you know it's wicked that's gonna judge
that guy he's gonna judge him he is gonna punish him for being such a
hypocrite but marriage is honorable okay and so all men if you have the
desire to be with a woman you should have the goal of getting married amen
one of the greatest accomplishments a man could ever attain this side of
eternity getting married is awesome you know it's like a it's like a badge of
honor for a man because you got something you got a girl like you who
you know I mean and to say I do and to stay with you for the rest of your
life crazy you know you should desire to do that if you have a desire to you
know be with a woman and you want that relationship then prepare for marriage
okay don't buy into this stupid faggoty MGTOW movement and this this
attitude well I just want to be a player or whatever I want to just have
my options over I want to be like a like a polygamist of sorts or
something I want to have multiple women I just get married to one woman okay
and stop being like these MGTOWs that you're just pushing marriage off until
whenever get married young man if you can look I got married when I was 29
unfortunately and the reason I say unfortunate because I wish it would
have been sooner you know I couldn't really control that okay you know I
had to wait about seven years or so but if we're up to me I would have
gotten married sooner and so it's always it's great I rejoice when people
get married at a very young age because of the fact that you know they're
are these sins of the youth that can catch up to you and you can avoid a lot
of those things these youthful lusts if you get married amen get married you
stay with your wife you have children you rejoice with the wife of
your youth have that goal in mind and don't view marriage is like oh man
it's just like the old ball and chain you know it's just man I got I'm just
got no freedom whatsoever oh yeah freedom to just sleep around with a
bunch of women and get all type of STDs and have a bunch of bastard
children oh great just wonderful Liberty there folks it's nonsense okay
don't buy into it marriage is honorable it should be desired it
should be prepared for it should be promoted it should be talked about you
know I prayed that the single guys in our church get married amen and I hope
you guys are preparing for marriage don't get all weird around me when I
ask you about it you know you try to get married or what I'm not saying I'm
trying to peer pressure people but you know you're a man answer me like a
man amen trying to get married yes sir all right you got you got someone
in mind no sir her or yes sir does she like you no sir whatever just give
me an answer you know be a man that has that goal in mind okay don't be a
child about it now if you're the type you're like well I don't really have a
desire to get married I'm kind of happy to be single right now and I don't
really necessarily have the desire then so be it you know but you know
what that's very far few and in between to be honest with you okay the
majority of men have a desire to be married that's just it okay marriage is
honorable bed undefiled keep in mind that if you want to be a little
whoremonger you want to be a little adulterer then God's gonna judge you
but if you want to have if you want to experience that physical
relationship with no judgment get married amen that's how it works verse
five says let your conversation be without covetousness and be content
with such things as you have for yet said I will never leave thee nor
forsake thee so that we may boldly say the Lord is my helper I will not
fear what man shall do unto me so what does this have to do with letting
brotherly love continue well what it's telling us here is not to be
covetous right not to covet someone else's possessions someone else's
spouse someone else's you know ox or ass as the Bible puts it in Exodus
chapter 20 and according to Romans chapter 13 when you love your neighbor
as yourself you fulfill the law and so if instead of like going down the
list like okay I can't murder I can't commit adultery I can't covet well if
you love your neighbor as yourself you fulfill the law and so the way you let
allow brotherly love to continue is by making sure that you don't covet what
they have right be content with what you have be satisfied with what you have
at the moment and it's not like you can't have more if it's within the
parameters of God's Word and God's will but just be happy with what you
have right now because the moment someone becomes covetous desiring
possessions desiring people desiring things that they should not have at this
moment then they start compromising to receive those things you understand but
if you have the attitude of you know what godliness with contentment is
great gain then you real and you realize you know what at the end of
the day I have everything I need because I have Jesus and Jesus said I'll
never leave you no forsake you then we could always remain content and
satisfied with what we have and if you have something that you want you can
patiently wait for it you understand and so beware of covetousness you know
beware of the will to be rich beware of having greed and avarice in your
heart a desire to have more when you're not supposed to now this is not
to say that you can't make more money in your business or at your job if you
get a promotion but do it justly amen do it honestly don't be crooked about it
don't be dishonest don't be a liar don't be a perjured person make sure
that you do things honest in the sight of all men in the sight of God
to obtain these things but keep your covetousness in control make sure
that you exercise contentment that's a great way to love the brethren you
said well I don't get it you know how do I love how does that make me love
the brother well if you're covetous towards your brother for things that he
has that you're not having the right attitude towards him you know you only
want the things that they have but if you're happy about the things that
they have and the fact that they have them even though you don't that's
brotherly love that means you could rejoice when they're more successful
than you you can rejoice if they make more money than you they get a new
car you can rejoice and instead of saying you know in other words don't be
a little hater I mean let me put into your in your terms my terms you
know covetous means like the command not to be covetous is basically don't
be a little hater you know because a hater is someone who's just like
hates on you for the things that you have because they want them and they
don't think you should have them and of course covetousness leads to what
what's another sin that we see in the Bible envy you begin to envy that person
and that's not right you know envying someone because of their status
because of their possessions you know because of their car because of their
house because of their spouse because of their lifestyle you should be able
to rejoice that they have those things even though you don't understand
and have sincere admiration towards that individual and what God has given to
them okay look at verse number eight oh I'm sorry verse number seven he goes on
to say here 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 now I forgot this guy's name but he's on Instagram and he does
these really stupid videos about the Bible because he makes himself like
really knowledgeable about the Bible his name is not coming to me right now
but he's he's an older white gentleman with the goatee he always has his fake
smile but he's really big on just like downplaying pastoral authority okay
and he's just like pastors have no authority and he's like tithing is
not biblical everything that's like biblical he's just completely against
okay and he's just one of the videos that he made is about pastors he's
just like pastors have zero biblical authority you know they're not even
necessary and obviously this is a guy who just you know despises governments
you know that's second Peter chapter 2 talks about but guess what here we
have an example of someone ruling over someone and this is in context of a
pastor because it says those who rule over you and it specifies it says who
have spoken unto you the Word of God is referring to the preacher the
pastor those in Ephesians chapter 4 who are perfecting you in the faith it says
that they rule over you now this ruling is obviously not with rigor it's
not referring to the type of ruling that you know a man just controls
every aspect and facet of your life it's just referring to the fact that
they kind of govern over use in spiritual matters understand they're the
ones in charge in the in the local congregation they're the ones who are
leading you they're teaching you the Word of God and at the end of the day
you know thank God that pastors exist because of the fact that if churches
didn't have pastors or if they if the office of a pastor did not exist
it'd be a complete circus you know why because God's institutions always
require one leader because it requires every institution requires one person to
say this is wrong and this is right because if you have a group of people
trying to come to a consensus of what is wrong what is right you're
gonna have ten different answers you're gonna have all these factions in a
church right so at the end of the day people can have their various
opinions on how they think a church should be run or what they think
should take place in a church but at the end of the day the one man can get
up and say I get it we all have different opinions but this is how
we're gonna do it because then if you would you spend this all this
time navel-gazing about who's right and who's wrong you're not gonna get
anything done whereas if the pastor says well this is what we're gonna do now
we can move on and just accomplish the work and obviously there are
unjust rulers out there right I mean I just got word today about a pastor
throwing out some church member over something that he'd even it wasn't even
like a sinful thing that he did he wasn't even doing anything he has like
no evidence for this excommunication and you know this particular pastor
he's a wicked person anyways and you know he is essentially you know one of
these rulers that kind of oversteps his boundaries understand and I've said it
before I'll say it again you know I'm not a Baptist police officer up here I
don't want to control what's going on in your homes and in your private
lives that's your business you know what I mean and you know but you have
pastors out there they want to get involved in that stuff though I don't
care for that you know why cuz I got enough problems in here you know I
mean I got to deal with things here why do I care what you do at home and
you know what if you're involved in something sinful well God's just gonna
have to take care of that cuz I'm not omniscient and so you know if he wants
to bring that to life and so be it but you know what I'm not the type to
say you know hear no evil speak no evil see no evil but you know what
whatever you do on your private time is your business and you know what I
don't care as long as you come to church you so when you're walking with
God you're keeping sin out of your life and you're improving as a Christian
what more can I ask for now obviously within the church certain parameters needed
to need to be followed amen certain policies need to be followed but you
know at the end of the day it doesn't go outside of the scope of what takes
place inside this church and let me just make myself clear I'm not saying
like oh yeah you know if you're drinking alcohol in your home that's
your business you know what I mean obviously that's wrong obviously that
merits excommunication but I'm not gonna go and ask you are you drinking
alcohol here in your house I'm not gonna take a poll here and be like hey
let's just be real honest who's smoking weed here who's fornicating is
anybody involved I'm not every week every month I'm not just like can you
sign this real quick just a little checklist of sins I just need to make
sure that you're not involved in this you know I'm not like investigating
everyone's personal life just so I can find something out you see what I'm
saying he said well how do you know them I don't until God reveals it not
through dream or visions but often what it is just a slip-up of someone
in church or something you know where someone just says something I'm just
like what was that like and then it's just like okay well God obviously
intended for me to hear that so that I can deal with it and you know
and move on from there so that's what it means to have rule ruling meaning
there's one person who's preaching the Bible here okay and expounding the Word
of God and when it comes to the essentials of doctrines but also making
interpretations of secondary passages as well creating a standard in the church
understand for ministry administrating the church you need a ruler to do
something like that and so what he's basically saying here is that you need
to keep people like that in mind right those who rule over you and he
specifies those who have preached unto you and he says follow them so it
sounds to me that God as much as he wants leaders he wants followers as
well and if you ever want to be a good leader good leader you need to be
a good follower first okay and this is a way to let brotherly love continue
because a hallmark of a good Christian is someone who's able to follow
following the Lord Jesus Christ and he hears this stupid phrase that
people say I don't follow man I follow the Lord Jesus Christ Jesus is a man and
Jesus ordained leaders to be followed you know oh you're oh you follow you
don't follow man you follow Jesus then obviously you have another Jesus
because the Jesus of the Bible told you to follow man you little rebel
verse 8 now he kind of gets into a different subject here he says Jesus
Christ the same yesterday and today and forever be not carried about with
diverse and strange doctrine so he gives a warning regarding being gullible
so he basically tells you know that the Hebrews make sure that you're not
just like buying into every popular doctrine out there you know diverse and
strange doctrine someone tells you that something's gonna happen on April
8th with the solar eclipse don't just believe it get all scared you know
the only regret I have about April 8th is that I'm not gonna be able to see it
I want to see it or however it is you see a solar eclipse or whatever
but I'm not just like at home twiddling my thumbs worried that some
some cosmic events gonna take place that's gonna affect my spiritual life
or something like that but you know what the world is filled with diverse
and strange doctrines and you know what there's an ear for for for
doctrines like that people who want to heap to themselves teachers having
itching ears they're going after fables all the time they always want to listen
to something new some new strange diverse doctrine that's not found in
the Bible give me just the Bible give me something that's solid that we
can see in the Word of God you know and he's saying what is he
basically saying he's saying you know be no more children tossed to and
fro carried about with every wind of doctrine a win you know win is
something that comes and goes understand he says don't be like these
Christians just they hop on some popular doctrine out there just because
it has like a million views and a thousand adherence to it or something
like that no doesn't say it in the Bible Euphrates River dried up now what
is he talking about specifically though because that's like a secondary
application but what's he talking about specifically he says fruit is good
thing it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace not with
meats which have not profited them that have been occupied therein so if
he's addressing Hebrews he's obviously talking about the meats drinks and
diverse washings because you still have Hebrews during this tail end of the
beginning of the New Testament excuse me where there's Hebrews that are still
following the Mosaic law regarding the dietary laws understand and they
actually think that that makes them more spiritual if they abstain from
certain meats if they abstain from shellfish and shrimp and pork and all
these things they think that that actually makes them more spiritual
well that's a diverse and strange doctrine because of the fact that
meats commend us not unto God the kingdom of God is not in meat or in
drink the Bible says you know all of those things were a shadow of things
to come that figured something spiritual that is no longer instituted
and it's just crazy to me but there's people that still buy into this stuff
even though we're already like 2,000 years into the New Testament Internet
and the truth's been probably and yet there's people out there like oh yeah
we should we should stay away from shrimp for spiritual reasons you
shouldn't eat porn for spiritual reasons even though the Apostle Peter
was given a smorgasbord of meats to eat from when is it Acts chapter 10 where
God brought down the the sheet knit at the four corners of all types of
unclean and delicious animals and here here's what God said rise kill
and eat it's like yes sir I've always wonder what this tastes like you
know and he's like not so Lord and now you know I have to be repeated three
times for him to get it you know and then finally he understood oh I can eat
this but there's a spiritual application behind it as well but the
point is is that you have people 2,000 years later still carried about
with these diverse and strange doctrines that somehow the food that you
consume makes you more spiritual or not you know and of course Jews and
all that and Hebrew roots movement and all that but yeah how about the
crunchy mamas of this world too I mean think about that it's just like
well if you consume all the seed oils and I'm not for seed oils but it
doesn't make you more spiritual less spiritual if you do you know bottom
line and and here's the thing you know one thing that I that I've learned
is that you have these people who are so strict about that stuff but it's
because they're so stressed about it though like it drives them mad and it's
almost like not almost it's counterproductive because there's no
soundness in the bones right they're constantly stressing about oh man does
this have this is this have that and then like you know the stress actually
makes them more unhealthy and I you know I've said it before and I'll say
it again you know I esteem someone who eats McDonald's but that is actually
reading their Bible their soul winning then someone who literally uprooted
their family to the middle of nowhere and lives a great holistic you know
crunchy life and doesn't even go to church understand and look don't get
me wrong I think you'd have both okay I think you can live a generally
healthy lifestyle but don't stress out about it because it's already
counterproductive if you do that you're going through all these lengths
and jumping through all these fiery hoops to get healthy and then you just
worry well does this have the red dye or what and you're just like scared you're
you're looking at like all these boogeymen and again I'm not saying that
that stuff is good for you so don't like quote me and say oh you for that
stuff I don't know anything about that stuff my wife takes care of that
but in either case I don't stress about it because stress can actually
make things worse you know you're stressing about eating healthy you
might as well just like eat a McDonald's double cheeseburger if you're
gonna stress that much bottom line don't be carried about with diverse and
strange doctrines and I guarantee you I could be wrong but you can quote me on
this about two and a half years from now these crunchy people are gonna
switch them to something else that's how it always is they just go from
one thing to the next they put out their books everyone buys them and
then they learn something new and then they get a bid then they get a
bandwagon a bunch of other followers who just buy into whatever it is that
they're saying you see what I'm saying now if that's your thing and it's
working for you amen if keto works for you amen hey if
carnivore works for you amen if a caloric deficit works for you amen
just at the end of the day just realize that none of those can make
you more spiritual now they can assist you in your body to have a more
clear mind and be more healthy which can aid later on in spiritual matters
because now you're not held down and you're just not always tired when you
read your Bible whatever it may be but at the end of the day God's not
looking down from above watching you eat you know heart and you know God
forbid like bull testicles or whatever and and think that he's just like this
guy's spiritual he gets it and I was like he gets it
liver Kings on split out wide open let that man eat as many bull testicles as
he wants because you know what he's gonna split hell wide open anyways you
know and and the dude in here who's eating a double cheeseburger is saved
by the grace of God you know there's a lot of weird doctrines out there and
obviously the major application he's given here is just that there's people who
have not profited in spiritually in those dietary laws if they didn't
understand that there were a shadow of things to come like imagine the person
that really thought that was doing something for them right but the person
who participated in those dietary laws but understood the spiritual
application to it they profited majorly right because they
understood like this is a foreshadowing of something but what
about the person who just abstained from and thought they were just a
better Israelite because of it or something dude you got you missed it
they didn't profit you okay I must hasten here let me let me just finish
up verse 10 says we have an altar whereof they have no right to eat which
serve the tabernacle so he's saying look just keep in mind that the altar
that we serve at in the New Testament the people who are following
these dietary laws they have no right to eat there why because they're not
saved so they make such a big deal about not eating in their temple and
making sure that you don't have to follow the temple they can say that as
much as they want but they're not even allowed in heaven at the altar of
God because they don't believe on Jesus Christ it says for the bodies of
those beasts whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest
for sin are burned without the camp wherefore Jesus also that he might
sanctify the people with his own blood suffer without the gate let us go
forth therefore unto him without the camp bearing his reproach and he
basically is teaching here that you need to be ready to bear the reproach
of Jesus Christ just as Jesus was sacrificed right physically on that cross
the Bible says that we are delivered all we're killed all the day long we
are delivered as sheep for the slaughter the Bible says and the
Bible tells us I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God the
present your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable to God so just as you're
just as Jesus suffered without the gate we need to bear that reproach to
and realize that everyone within the gate doesn't want us here everyone
within the world is not gonna love us people of this world are not gonna
love us and so we need to be ready to suffer that reproach because we are
also that sacrifice as well not for sins but just sacrifice on the altar of
just people who hate the Lord or despise Christianity verse 14 says for
here have we no continuing city but we seek one to come by him therefore let
us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually that is the fruit of
our lips giving thanks to his name but to do good and to communicate
forget not for with such sacrifices God is well pleased so he's saying you
know as we conclude the book of Hebrews he's obviously saying here that Old
Testament altar is done with that Old Testament sacrifice is done with now we
have a New Testament sacrifice which is Jesus Christ but even then you know
this New Testament sacrifice requires the sacrifice of the praise of God from
our lips right it requires our living sacrifice but also the ordinance of
just praising God showing forth the praises of him who had called you out
of darkness into his marvelous light so he's again going back to the
superiority of the New Testament over the old we don't need to bring an animal
sacrifice Jesus Christ has already sacrificed himself but also we don't have
to offer a sacrifice because we are the living sacrifice okay and then
lastly verse number 17 says obey them to have the rule over you and submit
yourselves for they watch for your souls as days that as they that must
give an account that they may do it with joy not with grief for that is
unprofitable for you pray for us for we trust we have a good conscience in all
things willing to live honestly but I beseech you the rather to do this that
I may be restored to you the sooner and let me just say this last thing
here before I conclude and what he's saying here in verse 17 is that you
know behave yourselves in church obey them to have the rule over you and
I've always wondered about this verse like does this mean like I'm gonna be
in heaven one day like Kelly Francescini yeah she was she's a good member
hi you know like you're just giving an account but that's not what it's
talking about at all I don't think we're gonna be going through like the
church membership in heaven like just giving an account kind of thing right I
think what this is saying is that the pastor gives an account to God
through prayer okay because he says they watch for your souls as they that
must give an account that they may do with joy not with grief for that is
unprofitable for you and then he says pray for us so when the pastor
prays for you what is he praying for you know you like if I and I'm not
gonna tell you what I pray for you about let's just let me just use an
example though okay let's just let's just use hike okay you know let's say
hike is just a just a bad church member you know just and hike hike is an
outstanding church member okay and so I don't want anybody to get the wrong
idea I'm just gonna use him as an example because he's just an easy
target okay what if I'm just I'm just praying to God I'm just like Lord
get this guy out of my church like I don't want this guy he's such a grief
unto me you know what I mean I mean pastors are allowed to do that you say
have you ever done that yes yes I have I've done that before and you know what
my pastor friends have done that too cuz you know sometimes church members
are grief no one here at this particular moment okay but yes there's
been instances where I'm just like I don't know what to do this person is a
grief where there's others I'm just like I thank God for this person they
refresh me they're an outstanding church member they are an asset not a liability
and Lord I thank God for this person you know that's profitable for the
person being prayed for and God's gonna bless that individual because I'm
giving an account to them right but then there's others just like Lord Lord
is this the messenger of Satan for the thorn in my I'm just kidding you
know I'm exaggerating here but there's others I'm just like man this person's
a grief of mine unto me and you know it's just I don't know what to do
with this person the more they're more liability than they are an asset
to our church you know they are as my father-in-law used to say they're
an energy taker not an energy giver right so that's what I believe it's
referring to here so this is a good encouragement for you to behave
yourself in church okay you know because you might make my prayer list I'm just
kidding there's people who have made my prayer
you know what God has answered my prayers in many of those instances
where I'm just like Lord and you know took care of them and remove
them from the role you know and and so he said you know and it says that
they may do it with joy not with grief I mean that speaks volumes to me
cuz I praise God for a lot of people most people in our church okay and the
grief part is very far few and in between so let me put your mind at
ease okay but you know there's times that I do rejoice and I'm just like
Lord I'm so or I just you know it's not like I'm on my knees praying but
like throughout the day I'm thinking about people unto the Lord you
understand what I'm saying you think about someone unto the Lord you're
just like man I thank God for this person person been such a blessing in
our church or maybe they're not necessarily a blessing but just their
growth is a blessing to me you know what I mean like the fact that they have
just grown in the faith you know when you have a new person come for
example and they just become faithful they're going soul winning they're just
quietly just attending services like that's a huge blessing to the pastor I
love that it rejoices my heart there's times when me and you Lisa's are
gossiping about you guys and you know we're just like you know man that
person has been really faithful and they've been coming and they've been
reading their Bibles or they made a comment about how they're trying to
witness to their friend or something I mean that like that brings a lot of
joy and rejoicing in my heart and so I bring that account unto the Lord I
say Lord this person is just doing a fantastic job or so blessed to have
this individual you know but there's others there are grief okay or I'm
just like you know what Lord you know I go through the list I'm like I pray
for them yeah I pray for them Lord um yeah God bless them Lord you know just
help them in their areas all right you know and just couldn't because it's
just their reliability sometimes okay and so that's unprofitable for that
person but I digress even though I can pray preach an entire sermon on this
okay he says now the God of peace verse 20 that brought again from the
dead our Lord Jesus that great Shepherd of the sheep through the
blood of the everlasting covenant make you perfect in every good work to do
his will working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight through
Jesus Christ to whom be glory forever and ever amen and of course he gets
into the verse 22 that we covered in the very beginning and so what are the
final words here the final words is simply this you know you gained a lot
of knowledge through chapters 1 through 10 now let's get some practicality in
our conduct thereafter right it's good to have the head knowledge of all the
systematic doctrine but then he finishes off the letter by saying let
brotherly love continue though and that's important because knowledge
puffeth up but charity edify it so you got knowledge great but you know
what you got to make sure you couple it with charity as well and don't
forget the brethren just because you have all the head knowledge here amen
let's pray father we thank you so much for your word so thankful for the
book of Hebrews what a blessing it has been to me and I hope to others as
well a lot of great truths in this book Lord and I prayed you to help us to
keep it in mind as we go through our lives Lord and I'm so thankful for our
church and for the most part pretty much everyone here Lord I praise God
for it I'm so thankful for our church members Lord they're not a grief
of mine and to me definitely the joy and rejoicing of my heart and I pray
that you continue to bless our church Lord with more members and more
spiritual growth and more knowledge of the Bible we love you we thank you
pray these things in Jesus name Amen
you