1. "This life is a time and place of spiritual warfare. Whole churches have been taken down, lost in unfaithfulness to the message of Jesus Christ."

2. "We are to be a community of people who have been loved and so we love each other. And that love cascades down these first several verses."

3. "We as Christians, particularly as those who have been so outside from God by our alienation from him by our sins, we of all people are to show that extraordinary love for others who are not like us."

4. "Marriage is present and real and necessary. Marriage is a good gift from God, not to be represented as a kind of moral second class for those who are not spiritually strong enough to be virgins. That's a distortion of the Bible's presentation of humanity."

5. "Friends, what's the worst they can do? Kill our bodies. And what's he gonna do? Raise up our bodies. So even the worst they can do is not something that will finally defeat God's goodness and kindness towards us."

6. "Our basic attitude needs to be either to trust the leaders or replace them. But don't acknowledge them and then not follow them."

7. "The greatness of the news of Christmas is not just about the gift given, but about the burdening, condemning sin taken away."

8. "Surely the reproach of the world is always better than to be reproached by God Himself at the judgment. We may still have fear of man, but we need to make sure that our fear of the Lord is even greater and puts the fear of man in perspective."

9. "This city that you would think about disowning Christ to gain the respect of, this city won't last. Why would you give everything away for a city that will vanish when you have through Christ the lasting city, the everlasting city?"

10. "Lord, help us to hear your promises from the future so that we will get there safely."

Observation Questions

1. In Hebrews 13:1-2, what two types of love does the writer command believers to practice, and what surprising outcome does he mention as a possibility when showing hospitality to strangers?

2. According to Hebrews 13:4-6, what three areas of life does the writer address with specific commands, and what promise from God does he provide as the basis for contentment?

3. In Hebrews 13:7, what three actions does the writer instruct believers to take regarding their past leaders, and what specific characteristic of these leaders does he highlight?

4. What declaration does the writer make about Jesus Christ in Hebrews 13:8, and how does he contrast this with the "diverse and strange teachings" mentioned in verse 9?

5. According to Hebrews 13:11-13, where were the bodies of sacrificial animals burned, where did Jesus suffer, and what does the writer call believers to do in response?

6. In Hebrews 13:14 and 17, what does the writer say about earthly cities, what does he say believers are seeking instead, and what responsibility does he assign to church leaders regarding the souls of their members?

Interpretation Questions

1. Why does the writer of Hebrews connect the command to love strangers (hospitality) with the example of entertaining angels unawares, and what does this suggest about how Christians should view every opportunity to show love to outsiders?

2. How does the promise "I will never leave you nor forsake you" (verse 5) serve as the foundation for both contentment and fearlessness, and why would this promise be especially meaningful to Christians facing persecution or financial hardship?

3. What is the significance of Jesus suffering "outside the gate" (verse 12), and how does this detail from the Day of Atonement ritual help explain what it means for believers to "bear the reproach he endured" (verse 13)?

4. Why does the writer emphasize that "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever" (verse 8) immediately before warning against "diverse and strange teachings" (verse 9)? What does this suggest about the relationship between Christ's unchanging nature and doctrinal faithfulness?

5. How does the contrast between having "no lasting city" here and seeking "the city that is to come" (verse 14) shape the way Christians should respond to pressure to compromise their faith for worldly acceptance or security?

Application Questions

1. The sermon mentioned that we all have people we avoid telling what we really believe religiously to escape awkward conversations or lost opportunities. Who in your life are you tempted to hide your faith from, and what specific step could you take this week to more openly acknowledge Christ before them?

2. Hebrews 13:3 calls believers to remember those in prison "as though in prison with them." How might you practically identify with and support a Christian who is currently suffering—whether through illness, job loss, family crisis, or persecution—in a way that shares their burden this week?

3. The sermon emphasized that contentment comes from trusting God's promise to never leave or forsake us rather than relying on money. What is one area of your finances or material possessions where you are tempted toward anxiety or discontentment, and how could meditating on God's promise change your attitude and behavior?

4. Verses 7 and 17 call believers to remember past faithful leaders, imitate their faith, and obey current leaders. Who is a Christian leader—past or present—whose faithfulness you should intentionally remember and imitate? What specific aspect of their life or teaching could you put into practice?

5. The sermon defined worldliness as knowing "no truth for which it is worth suffering" and declining "to be a fool for Christ's sake." In what area of your life—at work, in your neighborhood, or among family—are you most tempted to soften or hide biblical convictions to avoid reproach? What would it look like to bear that reproach faithfully?

Additional Bible Reading

1. Genesis 18:1-15 — This passage shows Abraham's hospitality to three strangers who turned out to be angelic visitors, the very example referenced in Hebrews 13:2 as motivation for showing hospitality.

2. 1 Timothy 6:6-19 — Paul's extended teaching on contentment and the dangers of loving money directly parallels the exhortation in Hebrews 13:5-6 and provides further instruction on how to be rich in good works.

3. Leviticus 16:20-28 — This passage describes the Day of Atonement ritual, including the burning of sacrificial animals outside the camp, which forms the background for understanding why Jesus suffered "outside the gate" in Hebrews 13:11-12.

4. 1 Corinthians 12:12-27 — Paul's teaching that when one member of the body suffers, all suffer together expands on the call in Hebrews 13:3 to remember those who are mistreated as if sharing their condition.

5. Hebrews 11:8-16 — This passage describes Abraham looking forward to the city with foundations whose architect and builder is God, providing the fuller context for the "city that is to come" mentioned in Hebrews 13:14.

Sermon Main Topics

I. The Reality of Spiritual Warfare and the Challenge of Keeping Faith

II. Be Careful What You Love: Love the Right Things (Hebrews 13:1-6, 15-16)

III. Be Careful Who You Obey: Obey the Right Leaders (Hebrews 13:7, 17)

IV. Be Careful What You Hate: Bear the Right Reproach (Hebrews 13:8-14)

V. The Call to Persevere Toward the Everlasting City (Hebrews 13:18-19)

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Detailed Sermon Outline

You should also know after a long struggle with my own faith, I no longer identify as Christian. I'm not atheist and I don't subscribe to anything else. I'm just me. Perhaps blinded by a lot of pain. It's not a rash decision on my part.

I also have no plans to steer anyone away. This is just my journey.

I wonder how many times you've had a formerly Christian friend write you lines like that.

High profile cases of discovered hypocrisy, preachers falling away, religious musicians getting less and less religious as they become more and more popular.

At the same time, we have to admit that the match of religious faith versus the world is not clearly a blowout for the non-religious team. How many months do we have multiple people here being baptized? We've been praying this fall for Sharif and others who are running great risks in following Christ.

Surely you've had some conversations even in the last few weeks about what this person or that is willing to give up in order to continue following Christ.

Maybe these are some of the issues you've been thinking about yourself.

This life is a time and place of spiritual warfare. Ben Lacy in his excellent message on 2 Peter 2 and 3 last Sunday represented that to us so well. He captured the storm of 2 Peter 2 and then the survival through it, the holding on in chapter 3. Well really chapter 13 of Hebrews follows on from that very well. We, as we were thinking last week, whole churches have been taken down, lost in unfaithfulness to the message of Jesus Christ.

And we too, as a church, and as individuals know something of the religious cross currents that are operating in our own lives. The book of Hebrews that we've been studying this year has traced out challenges to Christ that some first century Christians were feeling. It appears they had run into some difficulties for following Him. We know that in Jerusalem, James and Stephen were martyred, as was of course Jesus Himself. And we know that there broke out a general persecution of the church.

We can read about that in Acts 6 and in Acts 7 and 8, a persecution of which Paul, remember, was said to be one of the leading persecutors.

In such trying times, the writer lays out three chief concerns to keep their eyes on if they were going to keep going as Christians. Grab your Bibles and turn to Hebrews chapter 13. If you're using the Pew Bible provided, you can turn to page 1009, page 1009. If you don't have a Bible, you can easily read. Feel free and take the red copy there from our church as a gift to you.

We're in Hebrews chapter 13, the first 19 verses.

Let brotherly love continue.

Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and as those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body. Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. Keep your life free from the love of money.

And be content with what you have, for he has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.' so we can confidently say, 'The Lord is my helper. I will not fear what man can do to me.' Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the Word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods which have not benefited those devoted to them.

We have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat. For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp. So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through His own blood. Therefore let us go to Him outside the camp. And bear the reproach he endured.

For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.

Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God. Obey your leaders and submit to them, For they are keeping watch over your souls as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you. Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a clear conscience, desiring to act honorably in all things.

I urge you the more earnestly to do this in order that I may be restored to you the sooner. Friends, I'm going to suggest we look through this passage with three points in mind. Three points in mind all really answering the question, how do we keep going as Christians? How do we keep going as Christians? One, be careful what you love.

Two, be careful who you obey. Three, be careful what you hate. Let me just fill those out for you a little bit more. Number one, be careful who you love. Love the right things.

That's really the first six verses. And then again, verses 15 and 16.

Second point, be careful who you obey, that is, obey the right leaders. That's verses 7 and then 17.

And then three, be careful what you hate. That is, bear the right reproach. That's verses 8 to 14. It's right in the middle. I pray these instructions will be used by God's Spirit to prevent you from ever moving over into blind unbelief.

But God will use this to encourage you, to keep going toward that everlasting city that we've come to in Christ. So the question before us for our time together this morning is, How do we keep going as Christians? First answer he gives here that the writer says, number one, be careful what you love. Love the right things. Things.

That's these first six verses and then verses 15 and 16. Brothers and sisters, he says, are the right thing to love there in verse 1 he starts out, the chief and fundamental command is right there in verse 1, Let brotherly love continue. This is what's supposed to set us apart from the world around us. Peter wrote about making every effort to supplement godliness with brotherly love. John wrote that we know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brothers.

By this we know love, that He laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. So it begins here. Now as we've worked through Hebrews this year, I know that a number of us have felt theologically challenged. It's a thick and rich book in considering the atonement that Christ has made for us. But here, friends, at the end it comes with a practical punch of love.

We are to be a community of people who have been loved and so we love each other. And that love cascades down these first several verses of chapter 3. Continuing following the way of Christ would mean continuing following the way of love. That brotherly love in verse 1 is matched by the stranger love in verse 2. Literally it's philos, philos, love, love, adelphoi, brothers.

Zenoys, strangers. So love of brothers, love of like. Okay, maybe that's one of the themes you like in Christian nationalism. Okay, but then there's also this love of strangers. Philozenoys, we as Christians, particularly as those who have been so outside from God by our alienation from him by our sins, we of all people are to show that extraordinary love for others who are not like us.

It's what the ESV here translates as hospitality there in verse 2. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unaware. So we fill up our own, there's nothing wrong with loving your own family. We also fill up others, love others. The father of the faithful, Abraham, had provided a model of this in Genesis 18, when he invited three men standing in front of him to lunch.

He asked them to eat with him. He showed them hospitality. He was loving strangers. And he himself was blessed by it because come to find out, those were angelic visitors. That's probably why the writer here mentions this entertaining angels unawares.

It's this enchanting detail which if you've read the story in Genesis 18, every reader would have in mind. It fixed their story in their minds from the first day. That hurt it. So love seeks out those in need.

And so too in verse 3 we see he mentions those in prison, those who are mistreated. Look at verse 3, Remember those who are in prison as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated since you are also in the body, that is, you are subject to physical ills and physical trials. Probably especially having in mind imprisoned Christians. Just like Christ had urged His followers to remember those in prison in Matthew 25, the least of these, His brethren. Back in chapter 10 of Hebrews, verse 34, the writer had mentioned their compassion on some in prison.

He had mentioned their own struggle with sufferings in chapter 10, verse 32. Perhaps some of them were being imprisoned for being Christians. And, of course, prisons at the time didn't have any food service, so if you were there for too long, you could literally starve. Paul, when he's writing to Timothy, thanks him for the ministry of Onesiphorus who came to him in Rome. He writes about this in 2 Timothy, chapter 1.

And Onesiphorus made sure that Paul didn't die of hunger when he was in prison in Rome. So one implication of their mutual love was the way the whole body would groan under the suffering of just one part of it. And isn't this what Paul wrote of in 1 Corinthians 12? If one member suffers, all suffer together. If one member is honored, all rejoice together.

Isn't that why we publicly covenanted with God and each other again last Sunday night to bear each other's burdens and sorrows. That's what we do as a local church. We intend, imperfectly as we do it, to enflesh this very truth. So, friends, just very practically, what about you? Do you spend any time praying for those who are in trouble?

Some people have been surprised to find verse 4 in this list, spouses included. But this is such a basic part of human society that we can hardly conceive of a society of love if this divine gift were not recognized and received. God instituted marriage at the beginning of creation in Genesis chapter 2 verse 24, where a man and a woman become one flesh. And he says that it is to be held in honor among all.

Now, that wasn't perfectly the case under Rome's rule back when Hebrews is written. And friends, it's not the case here in America either under our current laws. Indeed, just this last week in Congress, a bill was passed which hides what we understand as biblical marriage mixed together with other relationships.

Some of which we would even think by their nature are wrong according to the Bible. But it's all covered with this one word, marriage, in the law of our land right now. At the same time, the Supreme Court is hearing a case, at least one, which may have implications for this. Did I misunderstand one associate justice's remarks seeming to equate a biblical view of marriage with racism, morally? Friends, this is the land that we're in right now.

Marriage is not being held in honor by all. But we need to know that marriage is present and real and necessary. So in the American history in the past, slavery could attack the institution of marriage, but could never finally kill it. People kept getting married. There are amazing stories of faithfulness against all odds and circumstances.

Why? Because the people were so virtuous who were married? Maybe in part. But also because the way God has made us, marriage is part of the reality of what God has made us to be as men and women in His image. Marriage is present and real and necessary.

Marriage is a good gift from God. Oh, friends, if you're visiting today, you're Roman Catholic. You're very welcome here. We're glad you're here. I just have to say one thing I've never understood about your church is its confusion and even antipathy toward marriage.

Why see marriage as a lower moral order? Why not allow the elders and priests, the pastors, to be married? Marriage is a good gift from God, not to be represented as a kind of moral second class for those who are not spiritually strong enough to be virgins. That's a distortion of the Bible's presentation of humanity. Marriage prevents sins of fornication and adultery.

It works to preserve a holy and pure relationship between the husband and the wife. It propagates those made in God's image. And by so doing, ultimately it propagates the Church of Jesus Christ. God is using it to bring about the full number of His chosen people. It presents pleasure with the purpose of lifelong committed love.

And it presents a preview of an even better love eternally in heaven, a world of love where love of like and even more unlike is fitted together even more perfectly forever. Marriage is a good gift of God's. And we will be blessed as a nation in so far as we recognize that.

Young couples, we have so many of you here in our congregation, and what a privilege it is to be entrusted by the Lord with so many who are just beginning to undertake this lifetime of faithful love. It's a stewardship from the Lord, and we take it very seriously. I wonder if you're taking it seriously spiritually. Are you investing time in your marriage? Are you thinking about it spiritually as you should?

Have you found an older couple to invest in, that you can be getting to know and letting them get to know you. You know, we provide premarital counseling so that you can get to know your potential spouse better. We also provide counseling for married couples specifically so that you can help to live out the truth of this verse. We also even have small groups just for young married couples. I don't know if you noticed, but we're a church that doesn't like dividing off in demographic groups very much.

We allow a little bit of it. We have some special sections. Basically, people want to know what our men's ministry is. You're at it right now. This is the men's ministry.

People want to know what our women's ministry is right here. 10:30 Sunday morning, our women's ministry. How about our youth ministry? This is it, the main show right here. 10:30 Sunday morning.

We really do a lot of things together. But we do also have them going on again on Sunday night at 5:00 and on Wednesday night Bible study at 7:00. But we do have four newly married people, special small groups, because we know the challenges and the importance of foundations of the marriage at early stages. So Joseph Thigpen will stand up right now. That's Joseph Thigpen, right over here.

If you have not found a young married couple group and you would like one, talk to Joseph. He's the man to coordinate those for you. Again, last week we considered God's word in his condemnation of the ungodly. In Sodom and Gomorrah. We thought about that in Ben's message in the morning and Zach's message in the evening.

Well, here in this passage we see very clearly the simple statement, God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. Friends, that's just a truth. It's not subject to what party is in control of a legislative body in any nation of the world, or who has picked any justices on any court. This has absolutely nothing to do with that. This is an assurance from the Creator and Judge of the world that He will judge all those who are sexually immoral and adulterous, whether they are King David or a president.

If it's against the law or if it's enjoying the law's temporary favor, God's rule will finally and forever reassert itself.

And when we're thinking about love, you've got to see verses 5 and 6 here. Part of our ability to love comes from our contentment. He mentions in verses 5 and 6. Look down, chapter 13, verses 5 and 6.

Keep your life free from the love of money, and be content with what you have. For he has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. So we can confidently say, the Lord is my helper. I will not fear. What can man do to me?

Friends, Christians should not be characterized by the love of money. I love the way the Holy Spirit moved Paul to write about this so clearly over in 1 Timothy chapter 6. If you want some more to look at this afternoon on this, 1 Timothy 6:6-10, Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.

But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires, that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains. Friends, the Lord is saying here in Hebrews 13 that we don't need to rely on money to never leave us or forsake us. Or to be our forever helper, because the Lord himself is that.

The Lord will be what we need. Spurgeon has a wonderful section meditating on this. He says at one point, just at the end of a beautiful section of reflection on this, Others may forsake us for different reasons, but he, the Lord, never will. If the Lord stands at our right hand, we can well afford to see the backs of all our friends, for we shall find friends enough in the triune God whom we delight to serve. Friends, the promise that the Lord made to Joshua, he makes to all of his children.

And having God's help, you can be fearless in regards to men, because what's the worst they can do? Kill our bodies. And what's he gonna do? Raise up our bodies. So even the worst they can do is not something that will finally defeat God's goodness and kindness towards us.

So that kind of confidence you can share what you have. That's how I think verses 15 and 16 fit in.

With these first six verses. The writer returns to this theme down in verses 15 and 16, and he calls them to continually offer up sacrifices of praise to God. In this case, sorry, those of you who love Christian worship songs and hymns, I don't think that's what verse 15 is about. Continually offer up sacrifices of praise to God. Never have the praise music off in your car.

You know, no, it's not saying that. You can have it on, but that's not what this verse is about. I think he doesn't mean songs here. He means sharing with others. Look at it in context.

Verse 15, Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God. That is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. Okay, so lips, I know, oh lips singing, singing, ah, but it's lips that do what? It's not talking about singing so much, it's acknowledging his name. That is Romans 10, confessing him.

So he is our Lord. Okay, what's the fruit of that kind of speech? What's the fruit of that speech? Not that speech, what's the fruit of that speech? Well, it's verse 16.

Do not neglect to do good, to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God. Not neglecting to do good, sharing what you have. That's the fruit of the lips of those people who acknowledge God. That are pleasing to God. So if you want to keep following Christ, love the right things.

Number two, also, if you want to keep following Christ, be careful who you obey. Obey the right leaders. Readers of this letter and this chapter particularly have long noticed the two similar pairs of sentences in verses 7 and 17. Let's look at verse 7 first. This seems to be those who first taught them the way.

And have now finished their race. Look at verse 7, Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the Word of God, consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. So he calls them to remember as if these leaders are no longer there. And he refers to the outcome of their way of life as if they had finished the course, maybe joined the chorus of the faithful up in chapter 11, those people who had finished. So these who are first to be remembered, taken note of, and then are to be considered, spend some time reflecting upon them and their way of life.

And finally, when their ways, their patterns are firmly fixed in your mind, then imitate their faith, he says. So for you, recover by remembering. It may take a little work, the older you are. Remember. But then, when you've got it there, Clearly, consider, all right, stare at it a little bit, consider.

And then when you've considered, imitate. Do the same. That's what you wanna do. You know who it is who's taught you the way of the Lord. Imitate their faith, he said.

Notice again that the leaders he's specifically bringing to their attention, calling up out of their memories are specifically the leaders who who did what? Look there in verse 7, they did what?

Spoke to you the Word of God. Friends, this is what the good pastor gives himself to do to you. This is what we prepare for and pray for and live for. We try to shape the life of the church so that it will have a central place for the Word of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords being read out and explained and declared and applied to people. Specifically to you.

So have you understood that this is what the local church is to be and this is what the local church leaders are to do? The local church is to be led by those people who are gifted and qualified to teach God's Word. There may be other things that you've appreciated about this pastor or that you've had in the past, but the one activity that God's Spirit especially directs your attention to is how he has spoken to you God's Word.

Notice there in verse 8, the marvelous statement, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

We sing this time of year, King forever, ceasing never, over us all to reign. This King's word does not change. I think this gives us some insight into the challenge this church in Jerusalem was facing. It seems like some had been teaching different doctrine than what they had first heard that led them to Christ. It seems like some were teaching not the Word of God, but some new thing.

So this letter was coming to them to remind them that there had been and there would be no change in the gospel of Jesus Christ that they first heard. Kids, if I can have your attention for just a minute. Glad you're in here, glad you pay attention as much as you do. I'm impressed by it. Kids, let me just urge you to look at this verse seven, climb over every part of it, look at it, make sure you understand it.

You're in the phase of life where you're hearing about Jesus and what it means to follow him for the first time. That is a wonderful time of life. For many of you, your parents are the ones who told you about Jesus Christ. That's why you're here at church right now. So let's take for me, my parents were not telling me about Jesus Christ.

I didn't have that. I had to learn about it from other people. But you are being told by your parents. That's wonderful. You should thank them for that.

Or maybe there's another Sunday school teacher or somebody else here in this church who's told you about following Christ. Maybe you should find them after the service and thank them. Because that's one of the greatest things anyone could ever do for you. So if you see them here today, go up and thank them. And thank your parents when you get home.

And friends, young friends, yeah, people like your age, Davis, keep watching us. Keep watching us, because we intend to be like these faithful people that you might go through a few years where you think you don't believe, I understand, I used to be an agnostic. Keep watching us. When you get back, Lord willing, we'll be here. We want to keep following Christ.

We want to show you the way to a good and fruitful life. That's what we intend to be in your lives. So if you want to keep going in your relationship to Jesus Christ and you're following Him and being a disciple, You'll normally need not only the body of the church, but you will have a particular need and dependence upon the leaders of your local church. That's why when you move someplace else, you are wise to check out the sermons, check out the statement of faith, see what the church teaches. These teachers, they, here we, are the ones whom God has called to teach his word and to care for his sheep.

So brothers and sisters, thank God for those he sent to share the gospel with you and to teach you the Word. I wonder about each one of you, can you remember those Christians who first preached His Word to you? Honor God and them by following their example.

He also, though, down in verse 17, speaks of those who are currently keeping watch over their souls. And that seems to be the difference between verse 7 and verse 17. Look down at verse 17.

So just to sort of make this real, so I can remember, and I'll probably tear up just so I'm going to be older. I remember faithful teachers like Harold Purdy, pastor of First Baptist Church in Madisonville, Kentucky. Pastor Wally Thomas, pastor of First Methodist Church in Madisonville. Back then, Methodist churches preached the gospel, you know. Ed Henninger, pastor at Blaxton Memorial Presbyterian Church, so I had a great Baptist and a great Methodist and a great Presbyterian pastor who were all just loving the Lord and teaching his word really faithfully.

So they have left a deposit in my life that you guys are still benefiting from, though except for occasional illustrations for me, you've never heard their names. That's the function we want all the pastors you ever hear to have. In your own way, in your own role in life, that's the function we want you to have. And the people whose lives you influence. So when you're 40 or 60 or 80, people look back and say, oh yeah, she was crucial in my life.

He showed me how to follow the Lord. And verse 17 is the continuation of that. Obey your leaders and submit to them. For they are keeping watch over your souls as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.

So here the writer is bringing the ministry of the word sort of up to date in the sense of pointing not merely to those who first brought them God's word, but those who were still bringing them God's word. And these leaders, he was saying, should be obeyed. Now that's not a very American word. It's not a very Baptist word. It's not a very congregational, we vote on everything word, but it's a Bible word, obeyed.

That's what he says here, you should do. Now, could the author be any clearer? He says to obey, and he says to submit, obey to them, he says, submit to them. Clearly the author knew these leaders and he trusted them. The leaders of this church were not leading them back to the temple sacrifices.

Those had been some aberrant leaders and he's fighting against their influence.

By supporting the orthodox leaders who were clearly the main teachers of the church. This didn't mean, of course, that he was telling these Christians to become their menial hand-waiters. No, the seriousness of the topic in mind is clear. Whatever this is has to do with the account that the leaders will give, and it's intended that that account is given to God. It's something that if it's performed well would be of advantage to them.

So nothing trivial comes to mind when we think of giving an account to God.

No, these are substantial things. This brings to mind the most significant things that the leaders of the congregation had charge of, and that is the teaching of God's Word. So he's exhorting them to obey them particularly in heeding their faithful teaching of God's Word, and especially of the Gospel, and not go wandering out into some resuscitation of past forms of food laws and sacrifices, which all pointed to Jesus the fulfillment who had come.

Does this have any wider implications? Well, I think it does, in that it's always helpful for us Christians to have in mind the seriousness of positions of authority in the church, particularly in matters of teaching. What is it James said in James 3:1? We who teach will be judged with a greater strictness. The account that we preachers must give is finally Not to you, though we do have some mutual accountabilities, but it is to God.

So if our work is done well, it will be to your advantage. And if it's not done well, it will just as surely be to your harm. So in order to help us, you should obey so that our work will be a joy, and even more importantly, our accounting to the Lord one day about you. Will be a joy. Oh, Lord, let me tell you what I can see you've done in Ava's life, or in Jacob's life, or in Marco's life, or in Sam's life, you know, or in Abby's life.

You want that just to be a joyful recounting that the elders can give to the Lord one day. Or practically, I can tell you this congregation has on the whole been an absolute joy to pastor. This congregation filled with, I think, an unusually high percentage of type A persons are just unusually kind and even docile before the Word of God. Not that you don't ask questions and sometimes disagree, but it has been a wonderful experience to know that you are trying to do the same thing that I and the other elders are trying to do, which is understand God's Word and believe it and practice it. This is one of the reasons, let me just say to those of you who are visiting, You're very welcome to be here.

Let me encourage you to be in regular attendance at a church. Because this command makes no sense if there's not regular church membership. If there's not a church you're regularly at and you're committed to, then this command to obey the leaders is just kind of what, whatever channel I flip to, whatever church I walk past, whoever I happen to hear preaching on the mall, what am I supposed to do? No, this is presuming that you are regularly at one place that you have agreed with. In the way they teach the Bible, and therefore you are happy to submit yourself.

So for our own congregation, one thing this would mean for us is that in our members meetings we want to be careful how we speak. We want to speak in a way that builds up the body. Things that come before us in members meetings are usually more serious. Some of them are more clear, some of them are not so clear. On the things that are very serious and very clear, we're usually not going to have discussion.

Because we're all agreed on them. So for example, it would be very serious if we thought about should we continue to require belief that Jesus is God in order to be a member of our church? Well that'd be a very serious matter and it would be a very clear matter. The answer is yes. But should the elders here ever start teaching you that we don't need to do something that is clear in Scripture but that's very serious that is where our polity really comes into play.

That's where you, the congregation, swing into action as the emergency break, preventing us from careening over the Episcopalian and Presbyterian heresies that they are unprotected from by their polity. And that's where you, the Congregationalists, get to jump in and go, We can stop the elders and the pastors. We understand Jesus is divine. I know that a PCUSA church may not be able to say that anymore. ELCA church may not be able to say that.

Some United Methodist churches can't unless they're in Africa. But we, we here in this congregational church, if you try to go in an unbelieving direction, we, the congregation, will stop you, the preachers. Praise the Lord for that kind of congregationalism. In that sense, our health resides ultimately in you, which is why it is so much in all of our benefits for us to teach you as well as we can. That's why we work so hard.

Because honestly, if I'm in a Presbyterian church, it's nice if you guys agree with me, but you don't have to. I just need the elders to agree with me. But in a congregational church, you've all got to agree, at least on the main things, not every detail, but on the main things. So that's going on here. But there's also then the matters that come before us in members meetings that are serious, but they're not clear.

Like should we acknowledge this person as an elder? Or should we affirm this person in membership or let that person resign? Should we allocate this serious expenditure?

Well now, that's where it's really most important for you to listen to the elders. That's really why you have elders. This is the very circumstance where the elders most particularly serve the church. Rather than the church attempting to act as a committee of the whole, where 700 people will then investigate something and try to come up with, which you could do, the elders do that kind of work. Can answer questions, but then the elders lead in exactly that way.

Information gathering has gone on, prayer, many factors have been considered. If you have more questions about this, please talk to any of us elders about this. But our basic attitude needs to be either to trust the leaders or replace them. But don't acknowledge them and then not follow them. If you're going to disagree with the elders on a recommendation from them, you should have a good reason to do so, because we as a congregation have recognized that God has called the elders.

To serve our church in this way. And from the life of Jesus to the letters of Paul to our own experiences, we all know that leadership is service. So plot to encourage your leaders, especially in this city where authority is so much esteemed in titles and words, but often dishonored in practice and in the true attitude of people's hearts toward those in authority. Strategize to make the church leaders' work not burdensome, but a joy. And you realize this submission to the elders includes among it the elders.

So some elderships practice unanimity on all decisions. They will wait until the elders are united before they act. Our constitution does not require that, and I think it's manipulative. I don't like that. I think it's well-intended, pious, but manipulative.

I think it doesn't encourage true, honest conversation. So we operate largely simply by majority vote. The Holy Spirit of God speaks to us by 15:14. You know, we just, and hey, I gotta tell you, this last Thursday night, there was like a 10 to 3 vote. I was in the 3.

I think God spoke. There it is. I'm now with the 10. You know, it's okay. Yes, I trust the Lord in this.

Elders have to do this too, so this is not just for you guys. This is what we think the Bible teaches. Now we're not voting on the Trinity. You know, these are matters, these are matters of pastoral discernment and discretion, where reasonable people can disagree. And that's where you want leaders humble enough to be able to vote clearly one way, and when they see everybody else somewhere else going like, okay, I could be wrong on this, I'm now going with them.

That's what we practice in our church. I think this kind of submission will make the elders a blessing to you. So, dear flock, you belong to God. You don't belong to me. You don't belong to this set of elders.

So, we elders can serve you as elders only because we realize this. You're not ours. You're Christ's flock. We recognize that we will return you into His care, that ours is a temporary charge in stewardship. And that we will have to give an account of it.

That's our calling, that's our charge from God. So much more that we can say here, but if you wanna keep on following Jesus, be careful who you obey. Pick your pastors very carefully. Finally, if you want to keep on following Jesus, number three, be careful of what you hate. What I mean by that is what you can't stand or can't bear.

That is, you need to bear the right reproach.

And that's really the heart of our passage right here in verses 8 to 14. It starts with those verses we've already noted, verse 8, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

He's unchanging. These Christians had no need to try to shape their faith to their times, as if Jesus were not the point of all the Old Testament practices and prophecies. They all pointed to Him. He will not change. And so his worship needs no change.

There's no need for them to return to the now spiritually defunct temple. That's why he says in verse 9, Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings. For it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them. So don't be led around by this changing teaching. Oh, let's go back to the temple.

No, he says, verse 10, We have an altar from which those who serve the tent that is the tabernacle, now the temple, have no right to eat. And this is the real table turn in the passage on what some of them thought was the case. He's saying that, look guys, really our altar is the more exclusive one. You were thinking maybe it's the holy of holies in the temple that only one priest can go into only once a year. Or if you look at the Day of Atonement in Leviticus 16, there you have sacrifices and the bull that's sacrificed, they can't even eat the meat.

They have to drag it outside the city as part of the guilt offering. We have the better sacrifices, he's saying. We have the more exclusive table. Last Sunday night we shared together the feast of the Gospel Passover where the table didn't become our altar. But it was provided and furnished with signs from the true altar, that is Christ's sacrifice of himself.

And no one can have a part of the altar of Christ who would replace him with observing food laws and the temple sacrificial altars. That's what these Christians were thinking about doing. Verse 11, For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp.

You can go back and read about this in Leviticus 16, this particular details in verse 27, Leviticus 16, it's talking about the Day of Atonement, where we see that none of the bull's flesh was eaten, but instead God had instructed them to have the bull's body burned outside the camp, outside the gate. That is showing it is morally abhorrent, away from people. But now here in our passage in verse 12, so Jesus also suffered outside the gate, in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. John Piper did a wonderful message on this at T4G a few years ago. So if you haven't heard that, go find it.

He meditates the whole time on that phrase, outside the gate, go with Jesus outside the gate. So outside the gate is the reproach that Jesus bore from the people. And he's saying, if you would follow Christ, you must be willing to endure similar reproach. So Christ's people feed on Christ's sacrifice by faith. Of course, as we read back in chapter 10 of Hebrews, it's impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

John the Baptist said of Jesus, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Friend, this is the root reason why Cyber Monday and Black Friday fertilize our economy. This is what this seasonal celebration from Christmas parties to caroling, to our own Christmas tea last Saturday, to carols on the hill tonight, all the way to your own tree and exchanged presents on Christmas are all about. It all comes from the sins of the world. And the seriousness of the sins of the world, the world's problems with God and Jesus Christ coming as a solution to that problem, to take away the sin of the world.

The greatness of the news of Christmas is not just about the gift given, but about the burdening, condemning sin taken away. Friend, this is the good news we have that Christmas is a secular echo of. We rejoice that this unseparable, irredeemable situation we were in of us and our sins before a holy God has been, it looks like, genuinely fixed by the Son of God. Jesus himself has taken this on for us. He's died as a sacrifice completely sufficient.

And if we merely trust in him, give ourselves to him, then his righteousness is counted as our own, his goodness, his trust, his holiness and love, all counted as our own. And we're accepted by God as people in his image as we were made to be. That's the good news that we have. When God raised him from the dead and the risen Christ presented this sacrifice to his heavenly Father, it was accepted. Here are some Christians thinking about going back to the Jewish temple in order to partake of their feasts and festivals, and yet in the most important one of all, They couldn't take part.

It didn't save anyway. And yet here in the Christian church we partake of one feast, that feast of Christ's body and blood given to us, taken up by faith for our salvation. This is the only truly saving feast, and it's the one that no one can partake of unless by confessing their faith in Jesus Christ as God's only Son. Friends, in these verses in the middle of our passage, verses 9 to 12, the writer summarizes the contrast he's been drawing throughout this letter. He says there's a strange teaching that's been affecting some people in your church that they should avoid.

It's this teaching that replaces God's grace, the heavenly altar, the one true sacrifice of Christ in His own blood with... and I'm being serious here... ceremonial food. Priests, earthly priests, high priests that die, they don't last forever, and the blood, get this, of animals, all leading to people who aren't really made truly holy anyway. Who would make such an exchange?

That would be truly strange. The Levites who served at the temple had no authority to serve at this altar that we Christians have. We Christians have an altar they don't. A strength they don't. A priest they don't.

A sacrifice they don't. A change in our lives they don't. It's never what we take into our mouths that changes us, whether it's Passover bread or a mass wafer or communion last Sunday nights. But it is God's grace in our hearts by faith in Christ that changes us. Verse 13, therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured.

This is why we follow him and bear the reproach. And friends, it cost them reproach. We see some of them were in jail. Some of them had their goods confiscated. They were concerned about persecutions.

They were enduring for following Christ. And they were wanting to avoid those persecutions. And you know what that feels like. There are people you don't tell what you really think religiously, so you will not have awkward conversations with them. So you might not lose some opportunity.

So before you feel very self-righteous toward these people in the book of Hebrews, look in the mirror. I think we all know what this feels like. Now the writer is saying that you must be very, very careful. If you want to continue following Christ, we have to be very careful of what we hate. That is what we live to avoid.

Or put it the other way, we have to be very careful of what reproach we will bear. Christ was literally led outside the city to be crucified. That physical location stood for the rejection of the Jews of their long promised anointed king. And now Christ's followers from among his own people were facing the same kind of reproach that Jesus himself faced. The glimpses that we've seen throughout this book of suffering and persecution suggest that some of these Christians were paying very real, even high cost for their Christian faith.

And some of them frankly were wondering, are the costs too high? I've followed for 15 years. I think now is about the time for me to check out. I played this thing out. There were good parts to it, but on the whole the cost is getting too high.

So I think I'm gonna do something else. But friends, surely the reproach of the world is always better than to be reproached by God Himself at the judgment. We may still have fear of man, but we need to make sure that our fear of the Lord is even greater and puts the fear of man in perspective. It reminds me of the quotation in the final book of our church's internship program that our interns are reading right now over this weekend. It's by Ian Murray.

It's called Evangelicalism Divided and the quotation is about worldliness. Worldliness, Murray writes, is departing from God. It is a man-centered way of thinking. It proposes objectives which demand no radical breach with man's fallen nature. It judges the importance of things by the present and material results.

It weighs success by numbers. It covets human esteem and wants no unpopularity. It knows no truth for which it is worth suffering. It declines to be a fool for Christ's sake. Worldliness is the mindset of the unregenerate.

It adopts idols and is at war with God.

Friend, what about you this morning? Maybe you've not slipped into full-fledged self-conscious worldliness, but how are you reluctant to be treated as an outsider?

Where are you finding the pressure points in your own soul? How's that affecting your continuing to faithfully follow Christ? Have you thought about finding a less demanding way of living this life? Just for today, or maybe just for this week coming up?

Don't be fooled. As our author goes on to put it in verse 14, For here We have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. Friends, this city that you would think about disowning Christ to gain the respect of, this city won't last. Why would you give everything away for a city that will vanish when you have through Christ the lasting city, the everlasting city? That's the city that we come to.

The same one that Abraham was looking for back in chapter 11, looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. This is the city we've already come to, he said up in chapter 12 verse 22. We've come to Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and innumerable angels in festal gatherings, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant. So Abraham and Sarah, we're looking for the city that you and I now inhabit spiritually. Paul says in Ephesians 2 that God raised us up and seated us in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

And someday we will inhabit that very city physically. But we will not be confused by this worldly cities. Neither by Jerusalem and its temple, or Washington and its apparent power today, no city in this world is lasting. No city in this world is worth our ultimate allegiance. That belongs only to the city that is to come.

Jonathan Keesling pointed out to me this week that when Lloyd Jones went to begin his pastorate at Westminster Chapel, London, he was supposed to begin with an induction service on September the 4th, but the day before, that was a Monday night, the day before Britain declared war on Germany, and they canceled all the services fearing German bombing. But after a week, they decided to go ahead and have services normal the following Sunday, September the 10th. So Lloyd-Jones preached his first sermon as their pastor that night, and he preached on Hebrews 13:14, For here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come. That's the kind of message you want to give less than a mile from Buckingham Palace, in the capital of a nation that just declared war within enemy bombers' reach. In this world we have no lasting city, but we have a city whose builder and maker is God.

Friend, if you want to keep following Jesus, you need to get in mind what is the right reproach to bear, and you need to be willing to bear that reproach.

We should conclude. So if you want to keep on following Jesus, be careful about what you love, be careful about who you obey, and be careful about what reproach you choose to bear. Because friends, we too are in spiritually dangerous days, aren't we? We're not finally home yet. I wonder how many of you know that we've had a member of this church, a staff member, become an atheist while he was on staff.

It was a while ago now. It's only happened once. But it did happen. The point is not who it was, but that it happened.

On the other hand, we've seen by God's grace scores of atheists and agnostics become Christians, including some of you, like Ryan Townsend, who's now the head of 9 Marks, or yours truly, who's preaching this message.

The question I've probably been asked most at the door this year is, who wrote Hebrews? You ever going to talk about who wrote Hebrews?

Well, here's the problem with this pulpit. I tend to talk about what's in the Bible.

We don't know who wrote Hebrews. We can't tell. It doesn't say. It's very early. I think it's almost certain it's before 70 A.D.

I think the temple's existence, the temple that was destroyed in 70 A.D. seems to be presumed in the temptations that some of them were feeling. But exactly how early we can't say. But friends, if this congregation was in Jerusalem, they knew, and many of them may have even seen the crucifixion of our Lord himself. They'd seen the martyrdoms of a number of his followers, like Stephen and James. But they had also seen the current wasn't going just one way.

God was clearly at work and on the move. Supremely, of course, was Christ's resurrection and His ascension and the pouring out of the Spirit at Pentecost. We know that thousands believed in Christ then. And we read a couple of chapters later in Acts 6:7, a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith. And, of course, that most famous persecutor of all, Paul, actually became a Christian and a missionary to take the gospel around the Mediterranean world.

Oh, friends, just a little warning. If you're here and you're not a Christian yet and you think, yeah, I can't wait to get out of this Christianity thing, you might be a preacher in a Baptist church one day.

He became the author of almost half the New Testament, perhaps even this letter. A few of the clearest words we have from the writer here in verses 18 and 19, he has these two requests for them to lift up to God in prayer. One in verse 18, Pray for our actions. And two in verse 19, Pray for our return.

Perhaps he wants to be back home with the people he knew best. The church he loves most to continue on to that city that is to come. Friends, a good home church is a good place for you and me too, if we want to keep going as Christians, loving the right things, obeying the right leaders, even shaping what it is that we most want to avoid, preparing us to bear the right reproach.

Let's pray together.

Lord God, we praise you for revealing yourself to us through the Lord Jesus Christ. We would bring you our lives as praise offerings to you. Lord, give us lips that speak the truth about you and the fruit of those lips and lives of sharing love. Help us to give out of our confidence that the mansions of the blessed are in front of us, that the perfect rest is yet to come but will certainly come, that our brief time swiftly passing in this world is a time to be used for you. Oh Lord, help us to hear your promises from the future so that we will get there safely.

We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.