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Quiver of the two families that
we added their children to membership by means of baptism today. Praise
God for His blessing upon the house of God. Of course, that
psalm was written by Solomon, so ultimately it's about the
temple and the church, which is the temple of God, and the
many that are found within it, the church that speaks with the
enemy in the gate. Today's sermon text is found
in Hebrews 13. I'll be preaching in verse 22. But I'll read in
context verses 22 to 25, the concluding portion of this sermon. Please stand for reading of God's
Word. Hebrews 13, 22 to 25, And I beseech
you, brethren, suffer the word of exhortation, for I have written
a letter unto you in few words. Know ye that our brother Timothy
is set at liberty, with whom, if ye come shortly, I will see
you. Salute all them that have the
rule over you, and all the saints. They of Italy salute you. Grace
be with you all. Amen. Let's pray. Father, we
thank you for this text of scripture. Help us, Father, to understand
it and have our lives transformed by it. We thank you, Lord God,
for your most holy word. Help us to be attentive to its
proclamation today in Jesus' name. Amen. Please be seated. The word Islam means essentially
submissive. It has its origins in an Arabic
word meaning peace, but primarily a peace that's obtained through
the submission of one party to the other. So submission is really
the catch word of Islam. The word Muslim means one who
is submissive. And so that's essentially what
this false religion proclaims is submission to the will of
Allah. Now, I believe that God has kind
of brought this counterfeit religion up for the purpose of causing
us to recognize our own sinfulness. It's like the Assyrians being
raised up by God. And I think it is, of course,
no small thing that the names Islam and Muslim are intended
to, if we understand language, to make us think about submission.
And I think that the improper submission on the part of Islam
is still intended by God to get us to understand how the core
of the Christian faith is a proper submission to our God. So today's
sermon on bearing with being submissive to the word of exhortation
can be seen in this light as an essential element of what
I think God is chastising his church and his people across
the world through the voice of Islam today in. You know, they
have five specific tenets or duties, the five pillars of Islam.
One is confession or profession of faith in one God and in Muhammad
as his prophet. The others are prayer five times
a day, the giving of alms to the poor, fasting during the
month of Ramadan and the Hajj or pilgrimage to Mecca. And we
can sense in this some disciplines of the Christian life that really
are disciplines of one's life that really can be mirrored in
what we are supposed to legitimately do in the context of Christianity. Prayer, confession, or profession
of faith in God and in Jesus Christ, the true son of God,
not Muhammad, of course, these are disciplines that we're supposed
to engage in. And we live in a world that's
become fairly, at least in the West, fairly radically undisciplined. And so this particular counterfeit
religion can appeal to people who are looking for a form of
discipline. Now, it's an ungodly discipline. It's goofed up. The
month-long pilgrimage, there's debates going on this week over
whether or not, not the month-long pilgrimage, but the month-long
month of Ramadan and fasting. The question is, can they smoke
or not? Are cigarettes okay to have? You know, they can't have
food or sex or drink during the daylight hours for an entire
month. And so this immediately shows us a distinct difference
between it and Christianity, where, you know, in the Old Testament,
there are 80 days of feasting and one, the Day of Atonement,
one day only of fasting. Fasting is a discipline that's
been part of the Christian life, but it is certainly not to have
the kind of preeminence that it has in Islam, nor is it a
fasting from one's body to become totally spiritual. The idea of
fasting from sexuality for a month is also rather odd. In any event,
I bring up this issue because I think that this idea of submission,
Islam, these are big letters again, you know, Dorothy Go Home,
big letters in the sky to us, what is God telling us? Well,
I think in part He's trying to tell us that we should be those
who are more properly submissive to Him and we're not, and so
He kind of shoves our face in it through this false group of
people who proclaim submission. Now, I'm talking already about
the specific verse 22, but I want to put in a little bit of context
on the handouts. There is a fairly familiar closing
pattern to New Testament books, and this is found in 1 and 2
Thessalonians, Galatians, Philippians, 2 Timothy, 1 Peter, Ephesians,
where you have a concluding exhortation or series of statements, very
practical exhortations, followed by a benediction, then some personal
greetings and information, and then a brief blessing. That's
what we have here. We saw in the beginning of chapter
13 a long set of specific reflections, I think, on Commandments 6, 7,
and 8. Put in the positive, however.
And then we saw the benediction in verses 20 and 21. And now
we've got this greetings and personal information, and then
we'll have a brief blessing at the end. So this is a fairly
common pattern of all of chapter 13. And because it's somewhat
common, I think we should pay attention to it a little bit.
And now, on the next stage of the outline, I show that what
we have here, particularly in Hebrews, now the verses we have
before us are after the concluding exhortation of benediction. So
parts one or two of this common pattern are then followed by
parts three and four, greeting and a brief blessing. And I've
expanded this out a little bit. There's four verses and they
each have something distinct. Verse 22 commends the sermon
to them. That's the specific Note after
the benediction that he commends the sermon to them. Verse 23
passes on information. They may want to know about Timothy.
Verse 24 extends greetings from the writer and from his associates
to the rulers and to the church, and then the brief blessing in
verse 25. So I wanted us to at least spend
a couple of weeks talking about these things, and what I'll talk
about today is verse 22, the commendation of the sermon to
the hearers. And then the next time I'm in
this pulpit, which should actually not be for three weeks, Next
week, I'll be in Moscow for the Frasier wedding and attending
church there and not be here. In the following week, Bubu will
be preaching. I'll be here, but I won't be
preaching. But then on the 22nd, when I return, we'll take up
this idea of these personal greetings. Why does that happen? I think
it's interesting. It's always sort of, I've always found it
kind of fascinating at the end of New Testament books, these
mentions of people. I think we should give it more
than just a passing glance. I think it's very significant
for reasons we'll talk about in three weeks. But today, I
want to talk about this commendation of the sermon. So, under general
comments now of the text, this is a sermon. You know, what he
actually says here, he uses a phrase, the word of exhortation. I beseech
you brethren, suffer the word of exhortation. So, the word
of exhortation which he has spoken in few words. This is summing
up the entire sermon. And this same phrase is used
one other place in the Scriptures. In Acts 13, verses 15 and 16,
we read that after the reading of the Law and the Prophets,
the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them, that's Paul and Barnabas,
saying, Ye men and brothers, if ye have any word of exhortation
for the people, say on. Then Paul stood up, and beckoning
with his hand, said, Men of Israel, and ye that fear God, give audience.
So in the synagogue, we had this word of exhortation. So the Scriptures
would be read. And then different rabbis or
teachers would be invited to give a word of exhortation, a
sermon in other words, a homily, taking the scriptures and applying
them to the particular context of the people. And so for that
reason, you know, this particular, what's normally called an epistle,
It's kind of interesting, it sort of starts like a philosophical
discourse with the discussion of Jesus, then it turns into
a sermon, and at the end it sort of looks like an epistle because
there's greetings and salutations, etc. But this is a word of exhortation,
it's a sermon, it's a homily, it's an articulation of a piece
of scripture made applicable to those that were there who
would have it read to them. So, this word of exhortation
is an idiomatic expression for a sermon that follows the reading
of the Bible just like we do. And that's why we do it, because
this seems to be not only present in the synagogue by description
and acts, but here we're explicitly commanded to have words of exhortation
that take the scriptures and expound them. Up to the fourth
century, bishops were ordained with a word of exhortation referring
to the homilies. So the early church also picked
up the same terminology to refer to sermons. Paul tells Timothy
in 1 Timothy 4.13, until I come, give attention to reading, to
exhortation, and to doctrine. So the reading of the word, and
then the word of exhortation, applying it, and then also teaching
people basic doctrine. So this sermon, first comment
is this is a word of exhortation, talking about the whole sermon.
And notice that the whole sermon then is set in the context of
being an exhortation. It's not primarily about intellectual
truth, there is that there, there's lots of doctrine. But the whole
point of the sermon is exhortation. It's to get them to change something
about their lives, to keep doing something that's right, to stop
doing something that's wrong. There's a pastoral concern in
the entire purpose of this sermon. Notice also that he says he's
written this in few words. Few words. Well, it doesn't seem
like few words. If you were to read this aloud
at a normal pace that people could listen to and take notes
on, it'd take about an hour or so. And so, you know, we could
say that this is justification for one hour of sermons because
that's what it was. Now, it doesn't mean they have
to be an hour. They can be much shorter. And
people would disagree with the one hour length. But clearly
in this context, the writer of the sermon says, hey, it was
only an hour long. Not that long. On the other hand,
it's long enough to where he urges them to pay attention to
it and to keep what he said in their minds afterwards. And so
it's an exhortation to sort of think about these things longer
than just while it's being delivered or given. I mentioned on the
outline the big pulpit. You know, when we first came
here, the Lutherans had a small pulpit there and a big pulpit
here. And some of us thought, well, it must be the small pulpit
where you preach, the big pulpit where the word is read. But no,
it was reversed. The word was read from the small pulpit in
a Lutheran church and the big pulpits where the pastor preaches.
Why? Because the pastor is seen as the voice of Christ, taking
that word and making it applicable in the context of this age, of
this setting, to this people. And so the word becomes expanded,
more glorified, so to speak, applied to people. Now, you know,
this writer is writing saying, you know, you're supposed to
pay heed to what pastors preach. That's one way to kind of paraphrase
what he's saying. John Calvin noted this in his
commentary on this. Let us hence learn that the scripture
has not been committed to us in order to silence the voice
of pastors. So because you have the printed
Bible now, it doesn't mean you're not supposed to listen to pastors.
And that we are not to be fastidious when the same exhortations often
sound in our ears. So number one, he says, pastors
are important, this inspired word of God tells us. Number
two, he's telling them basically one thing over and over again.
So Calvin says we shouldn't be fastidious when we have the same
exhortations often sound in our ears. For the Holy Spirit has
so regulated the writings which he has dictated to the prophets
and the apostles, that he detracts nothing from the order instituted
by himself. And the order is that constant
exhortations should be heard in the church from the mouth
of pastors." Constant exhortation should be heard in the church
from the mouths of pastors. So we kind of cycle material
from the pulpit because that's what the Holy Spirit says. to
do. That's what the author of this
sermon is doing, and he urges them to listen to him. Now, what
I want to do is talk about specific words that are used here in verse
22. I beseech you, brethren, suffer
the word of exhortation. So, beseech, brethren, suffer,
and exhortation are the four words that I want to focus on,
and that's what we'll do now. And under specific comments,
then, the first of these four words that we're going to talk
about is beseech. This word, beseech, means to
address, to speak, to urge somebody to an action. I beseech you to
do something. I urge you to listen, be attentive,
do what I'm asking you to do here. So, to beseech. And this
word is used a couple of times in Hebrews. First, in chapter
3, verse 12, they are told that they are to beseech one another.
Verse 12 says, take heed, brethren. Now, that title, brethren, is
used here. It's used four times in Hebrews.
in 22 as well as here and in this section we're going to see
the same word beseech the beseeching brethren takes us back to this
chapter 3 verses 12 and 13. Take heed brethren, lest there
be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief and departing from
the living God, but exhort one another, beseech one another
daily while it is called today, lest any of you be hardened.
through the deceitfulness of sin. So this beseeching that
the pastor is doing to them, the same word is used for what
they're to do to one another in normal life. So he urges them
to beseech one another. Made this point several times
in the last six months, but this class we're doing Sunday morning
in Sunday school, Crucial Conversations, you know, what they found was
the best companies, it's a book really for business, but has
application for other discussions. But they found that the best
companies are the companies where, you know, not just the managers
take care of problems, but where everybody is concerned with everybody
else. Everybody is exhorting, beseeching
each other to avoid the deceitfulness of sin, for instance, in Hebrews
3. So while the pastor beseeches
you, part of the beseeching of this sermon is that you would
beseech one another in the context of your lives. And that doesn't
mean just people in your family. It means people in the body. He's addressing a church. Ask
yourself, when was the last time you urged somebody to be careful
about sinfulness or sin? Or you exhorted them to do what's
right? Beseeching one another daily.
You thought this would go on every day. We need words of beseeching
and exhortation and encouragement. And we're to hear those things
from one another. Okay? This is what it says. Beseech
one another daily. The same idea of exhorting one
another is given in Hebrews 10, 24 and 25. Let us consider one
another to stimulate unto love and to good works, not forsaking
the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but
beseeching one another, exhorting one another is the King James
translation, beseeching one another, so much the more as you see the
day approaching. So here, we are to be beseeching one another,
what? To go to church, in the first
instance, that's what's being talked about. Don't forsake the
assembling of yourselves together. The supra-synagoguing, the worship
service of the church, where temple and synagogue, which were
apart for the Old Testament, come together now because of
Jesus coming and the world being fixed. So we're to beseech one
another. So if somebody's missing from
church, it's not ultimately my job to give them a call and say,
are you okay, are you sick? You need encouragement to go
to church every Sunday. That's your job, too. See, you're
to be beseeching one another in terms of specifically not
forsaking the assembling of yourselves together. So if you notice somebody
gone for a while, don't hope, don't call me and say you looked
into it. I probably will. I probably will. That's what
I do, too. But you do it, too. That's what it says. Beseech
one another. He's saying, I beseech you, brethren,
you know, to to suffer this word of exhortation. Keep doing what
I'm exhorting you to do. And here, that very word is used
just a couple of times in Hebrews. And those couple of times, it
broadens it out to say that we're to beseech one another. We're
to beseech one another. We're supposed to talk to each
other. Secondly, the author also uses this word as he beseeches
them to utter words for him and attend to his words. In verse
19 of chapter 13, I beseech you the rather to do this, that I
may be restored to you the sooner." And he's talking here about praise.
He says, pray for me, right? And I beseech you to pray for
me. So I beseech you to use words
to God for me. That's in verse 19. 20 and 21
is the benediction. And 22, he goes back to using
the same word. It's only used four times in
this whole epistle. And two of those times are right
here within four verses of each other. He beseeches them to pray
for him, to use words for him to God. He places a benediction
upon them, and then he beseeches them to hear his words in the
sermon. So, you see the significance.
There's a little structure here, beseeching, beseeching, and in
the middle, benediction. The benediction is to the end
that we might indeed do that stuff, that we might obey the
beseeching to be in prayer, and we might obey the beseeching
to hear his words. So, this obligation to us, the
author beseeches us to utter words for him and to attend to
his words. So, beseeching. And, the second
word, that's beseeching. And it's significant, very easily
applicable. That's what these words of exhortation
are supposed to be like. They take the scriptures, they
help you understand them, they're simple. And the simple truth
is that we need to hear them over and over again because we
tend not to do them. We tend to stop beseeching each other.
We tend to stop beseeching each other in terms of being careful
about sin or being at church. And we tend to stop praying for
our pastors and we tend to stop listening to their words. That's
what we do. So we're being besought to do
that in this text. Now he beseeches, he says, I
beseech you brethren. Fourth use of the term here in
this sermon, brethren. We've talked about this before.
You know, it's a great term. I'm trying to, I'm not doing
a very good job, but I think it's one that ought to be on
our lips occasionally. Remember when we talked about
this months ago? I'm coming to remind you of what's
in the sermon, because that's what he says to do here, to teach your
brother to, you know, suffer, to remember and do the exhortations
that I've given you. And by way of example, he's encouraging
us to address each other as brothers and sisters. Now that's a good
thing to do, right? Call each other Brother John.
Brother Sue. Brother Matt. It's a good thing
to do, to remind ourselves of that relationship, the tightness
and closeness of the relationship that we have. Words change things.
And when our words speak words of friendship, love, connectedness,
it'll increase friendship, love, and connectedness. Now, I want
to point out a couple of things about the other places this word
is used. It is first found in Hebrews 3, verse 1. And I think
it's significant. He says where for holy brethren
partakers of the heavenly calling consider the Apostle and High
Priest of our profession Christ Jesus take heed. Okay, so he
says, I'm sorry to take heed is a different verse. So he the
first address of them is brethren are as holy brethren partakers
of the heavenly calling. And so when we address each other
as brothers, it reminds us of our consecration and our being
king's children. We're all princes and princesses.
We're partakers of the heavenly calling. We have high status. And we don't give that high status
to just anybody. Not everybody can come to this
table and eat with the king as the king's children. So the term
brethren is not, you know, we think of it as kind of getting
on the common ground, kind of lowering down. Yeah, we're brothers.
But it's just the reverse, really. The first usage of a thing is
important. And the first usage of this term
in Hebrews tells us of the exalted nature that we have as brothers. He calls them holy brethren,
partakers of the divine calling. And that should be our attitude
toward each other. We're addressing King's children
in our homes. This would get rid of a lot of
rancor between siblings. If they understand, they're talking
not to their brother in the lowest sense, but their brother or sister
in the highest sense. This is a child, a prince or
princess, a child of the king. And the king doesn't like it
when you speak poorly to the holy brethren who are partakers
of the divine calling. So, we exalt the idea of brotherhood
to something above common level. Then in Hebrews 12 verse 1, take
heed brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of
unbelief. So, the next occurrence of brothers in verse 12 of chapter
3 rather, in verse 1 of 3, he calls them holy brethren, and
then 11 verses later, take heed lest there be in any of you an
evil heart. So while we're partakers of divine calling, we exhort
each other on the basis of that, not to enter into sinfulness,
not having an evil heart of unbelief. And then finally in Hebrews 10.19,
the third usage, the fourth is the verse before us in 13.22,
but in Hebrews 10.19, having therefore brethren bold us to
enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. So brethren,
brethren, brethren, brethren, four times, all set in the context
of the holy brethren, and yet holy brethren who need exhorting
to not walk in unbelief. So brothers, he beseeches them
as brothers. And then he says, what does he
tell them? Well, he beseeches them to suffer. To suffer means to
bear with something, to bear under something, to hold up,
to hold oneself erect, firm, to suffer, to be enduring of
a thing, to sustain, to bear, to endure. And this word is not used very
often in the New Testament, and what I've given you in the outline
is kind of a survey of how the word is used with most of the
occurrences being found here. And first of all, so what are
we supposed to bear with? Well, here it's the word of exhortation,
but it will help us to see what other things we're supposed to
suffer this same word is attached to. And in 2 Corinthians 11,
1 to 4, The word here has to do with
the right teachers versus the wrong teachers. Paul versus the
fools. Verse 1 of 2 Corinthians 11.
Would to God you could bear with me a little in my folly. So he's
writing to Christians, but they are not really bearing with his
word of exhortation. And he's telling them, bear with
me. Take those words of exhortation. Don't treat it as a light thing.
Be firm and erect. in the context of my instructions
to you. He says, I wish you could bear
with me. Indeed, he says, bear with me, says it a couple of
times there. And then he goes on to talk about what their problem
is. And then he goes down in verse. He says in verse four,
if he that comes preaches another Jesus and we have not preached,
or if you receive another spirit which you have not received or
another gospel which you have not accepted, you might well
bear with him. He says, your problem is, you're
bearing with certain people, you're putting up under them,
but you're not putting up under the right people. So what does
that mean? It means we tend to, in our fallen
state, bear with fools, and we don't tend to bear with the godly.
It's weird, but that's what we do, I think, according to this
text. Verse 19 is a phrase that's come into the English language,
ye suffer fools gladly, in the King James Version. We tend to
suffer fools gladly. Well, we shouldn't have to. The
Bible says we're supposed to differentiate the sort of teachers
that come to us specifically. There are some we should not
suffer. We should not stay under their teaching. We should not
give them respect. We should not listen to them. And there
are others that we should. There's a differentiation of who we should
suffer under and who we shouldn't. In Psalm 15, one of the very
entrance requirements of God, I think there are ten of them,
one of the, you know, Some of the most obvious things we're
supposed to do to get in the front doors of the church to
worship, that's what Psalm 15 is about, are people in whose
eyes a vile person is condemned, but he honors them that fear
the Lord. We tend to do the opposite. We tend to honor the ones that
don't fear the Lord, because I don't know why. I'm not sure
what that is. Maybe it's because we want to feel their glory.
I don't know. But we tend to do that. And we tend not to honor,
not to hold up, protect, and defend the integrity of men that
honor God. We suffer fools gladly, Paul
says. So what are we supposed to suffer? Well, the word of exhortation
comes from teachers, and we're supposed to differentiate. There
are vile people, and then there are people that fear God. We're to despise the one and
to honor the other. We're not to suffer fools gladly.
We're supposed to rebuke them. But we are supposed to suffer
the proper teachers, those who are those that honor God. Make
it a commitment today as you come forward with the offering
to differentiate between people. We tend to go out of our way
for some reason to treat people that are cantankerous better
than the people who are nice, godly. I don't know why that
is. We have a positive obligation, Psalm 15 says, to honor those
that fear God. It's rather astonishing to me. That, you know, I see, you know,
both in pastoring, but in my work in the CREC, you see lots
of situations. And you see lots of situations
where people are putting down pastors. And what happens is
people all sort of step back, sort of let the stuff fly. Well,
we don't want to get mixed up in that. No, you're supposed
to get mixed up in it. You're supposed to come in, and if you
know a guy's God, you're supposed to say it. And if a whole bunch
of people did that, these controversies would go on a lot shorter than
they tend to be because everybody backs out, lets the fray go at
it, and they don't step in and honor the godly. And in fact,
they go out of their way to be nice to the guy that's making
the trouble. That's wrong. It's just plain wrong. You're
not to suffer fools gladly, and you are to honor those that fear
God. I praise God for the men that step up. In the context
of my ministry here for over 20 years, I praise God for the
men and women who have stepped up for my reputation and my honor. Not because of me, but because
I try to do things that please God, and you're always going
to suffer reproach from people for doing that. And it's important
that we understand we're supposed to suffer certain people and
not suffer others. We're going to suffer sound doctrine.
2 Timothy 4.3, for the time will come when they will not endure
sound doctrine. That time has come. I mean, this
is a time in the history of the world when people are not that
interested in doctrine. They're not going to suffer,
bear up, be erect under sound doctrine. No, doctrine gets all
wishy-washy here, there, and everywhere. But we've seen in
Hebrews the pastoral concern, whoever wrote this thing, led
him to give all kinds of complicated doctrine to lay people And they
were supposed to... He beseeched them to suffer this
word of exhortation, including those doctrinal elements of it.
We are supposed to train ourselves to be erect, stand up straight,
and understand, and suffer under, endure teaching in sound doctrine,
and make it part of our lives. And third, we're supposed to
suffer persecution and tribulation. 2 Thessalonians 1, verse 4. We
ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your
patience and faith, in all your persecutions and tribulations
that you endure." It says endure, but the same word, suffer. We're
supposed to suffer the right teachers, not the wrong ones.
We're supposed to suffer sound doctrine. And we're supposed
to suffer or endure under tribulations and persecutions, different things.
Tribulations is tough stuff that happens. Persecutions are things
that happen to you because of the faith. But either way, you've
got hard things going on in your life, That's something you're
supposed to suffer under. Well, how? Well, it says that
you do this and you're commended for your patience and faith.
So, you have faith that God is sovereign and moving and is loving
you in the midst of trials and persecutions, tribulations, and
that gives you patience through them. And this is a good thing.
I know, you know, every Sunday somebody's suffering. Somebody
out there is hurting. Somebody had something bad happen
to him this last week. Broken relationship, bad health,
whatever it might be. Some of us have had bad health
for many, many years. God calls you to endure it, to
be strict, stiff rather, erect, upright, even under the difficult
health problems the Lord God may give you, the difficult financial
problems, the difficult personal problems. Endure it. God says,
be submissive. His hand is overseeing all this
stuff. He calls you to faith that that's
the truth and patient, enduring, and suffering under difficult
things. And then finally, we're supposed to suffer each other. I didn't pick these up. It's
just what the Scriptures say. The other usage of this word
is we're supposed to bear with one another. It's repeated twice
in Colossians 3, 13, Ephesians 4. Colossians 3.13, bearing with
one another, forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against
another, even as Christ forgave you, so also you must do. Ephesians
4.1-3, I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you, so
he's beseeching him, to walk worthy of the call with which
you are called, with all lowliness, gentleness, with long-suffering,
bearing or suffering with one another in love, endeavoring
to keep the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace. So we're
supposed to suffer each other. We do that, right? We make each
other suffer. That's the way it is. And that's the context here.
It's not, you know, when people are being good. It's when they're
being bad and need forgiveness from you. That's when you're
supposed to endure with them and be patient and to suffer
them. So we're to suffer the right
teachers, not the wrong ones. We're supposed to suffer sound
doctrine. We're supposed to suffer under trials and tribulations.
And a lot of times those trials and tribulations are living with
people that are the very people we are supposed to call brother
and sister in the Lord. We're supposed to suffer each
other. Don't think it's weird, you know,
if relationships are hard for you, you know, and you get sideways
with people at church or other Christians, you know, and, man,
there must be something wrong. No, there's nothing wrong. God
is calling you to bear up with one another, to bear with each
other's sinfulness, frailties, stupidity. I know you bear with
me a lot. Every Sunday, the Lord trains
you how to bear up with one another, because I get up here and do
stupid things. That's just what happens. I began to learn to
get used to that years ago, making mistakes in the public officiation
of worship, or saying stupid things in the sermon, or when
I'm talking to people. But you bear up with that, because
you love me. We're to love one another, and
we're to bear up with each other as well. So, you know, this term
here that he says, he beseeches them to suffer. beseeches them
as brethren to suffer and to be erect, to bear up under certain
things. And here it's the word of exhortation.
But that's, you know, if you connect the dots on these verses
where this verse is used, the word of exhortation is given
through the teachers who are supposed to suffer, not to the
ones who are not. And that word of exhortation really becomes
very personalized. It's incarnate in the person
that's sitting behind you in the pew. So it all hooks up together. We're all living epistles, as
it were, living testimonies of Jesus Christ. And so we're to
suffer with one another just as we suffer the word of exhortation,
and we're to suffer it when those people disappoint us as well.
Understand your own faults, be forgiven, be humble-minded, be
tender-hearted, forgiving as you've been forgiven, suffering.
And then finally, exhortation. So, here specifically, that it
suffered the word, a specific word, the word of exhortation.
So, let's go through this quickly. The word here is paraklesis,
and this word is actually used a number of times in the New
Testament, 29 times specifically. It means to exhort, admonish,
encourage, a calling near, a summons of someone else, persuasive discourse,
stirring a draft. This is from Strong's Dictionary.
Instructive, admonitory, conciliatory, powerful, hortatory discourses,
sermons, in other words. So here, the word is specifically,
the exhortation is this sermon, but in a generalized way, paraklesis
is used in different ways in different places. Now, in Hebrews,
It's used, first of all, as an exhortation in Hebrews 12, verses
4 to 8. You have not yet resisted unto
blood striving and sin, ye have forgotten the exhortation, the
paraklesis. So here's this word. The word
of exhortation very explicitly here is tied back to this verse,
because this verse says you've forgotten the exhortation, the
paraklesis, which spoken to you as unto children. What was it?
My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord. So here,
clearly, the word of exhortation, the paraklesis, involves exhortation
to hold up in the midst of chastening from God. And he goes on to talk
about that. So here, the word clearly has this connotation
of a corrective action to us to hear and be submissive to
chastisement. It's difficult things. So we're
being exhorted. The paraklesis here means we're
being challenged to keep going, to remember the exhortation.
When you get spanked, it's okay. Dad loves you. That's the exhortation. And there are a number of exhortations
we've been given in this book. I've got them on your handout.
Remember, this book has been, it's difficult for many people
to outline because the exhortations are not in set places. They're
sort of sprinkled throughout, but they are strong, right? You
know, we've had exhortations about God being a consuming fire,
and, you know, if you... you have to be careful because
you'll reach the point of no return, and then repentance will
be impossible for you. Or, you know, you're going to
die in the wilderness like those other guys died in the wilderness
on the day of provocation. So there's strong exhortations
here that are telling us to pay close attention to things. And
I've got them on your handout. In chapter 2, verses 1 to 4,
after he says that Jesus' name is above the angels, well, the
application of that is in verse 1, "...therefore we ought to
give them more earnest heed to the things which we have heard."
If Jesus' name is higher than the angels, then we better listen
to the voice of Jesus, because if they didn't escape, he goes
on to say in chapter 2, if they disobeyed the voice of angels,
which are the mediators of God's law, how are we going to escape
the one who speaks from heaven? So, you know, the first exhortation
we received in this epistle was to pay close attention to the
words of Jesus Christ, and the words of Jesus Christ specifically,
that the Holy Spirit was speaking to them through the preaching
of this sermon. And so we're supposed to pay
close attention to the word of Christ who is above the angels. That was the first thing we were
exhorted to do in chapter 2. Another exhortation we had was
found in chapter 3 verses 12-15. We were supposed to pay close
attention the signs of unbelief and the deceitfulness of sin,
and thus avoid being killed in the wilderness. Verse 12, take
heed brethren, same phrase, listen up, take heed, lest there be
in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the
living God, but exhort one another daily while it is called today,
lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. He's
using wilderness illustration. Now look, he's saying, you want
to press forward, you don't want to pull back. You want to press
forward and the reason why you might have a heart of unbelief
is the deceitfulness of sin. So we've been exhorted and I
exhort you again today to listen to suffer this exhortation that
we are called to number one, pay careful heed to what the
Scriptures say and what the pastor says in the sermon and number
two were called to pay careful heed to beginning signs of the
deceitfulness of sin in our life. If you're living with some small
sin, take heed. The exhortation of this epistle
was that small sin could begin to grow into a heart of unbelief
and you'll die in the wilderness. Your bones will be out there,
not the promised land. God exhorts us to do that. Listen
to the Bible. Know the Bible. Hear the words
of Jesus, because when He tells you a thing, He will reward you
in terms of obedience to it, but He will punish you for disobedience. And then be careful, because
unbelief can come into your heart when you live with sin, when
you let sin go on in your heart. Don't do it. Don't do it. Well, I've gotten along with
it this far in my life. No, you haven't really. Your
heart's getting colder and colder to Jesus, whether you know it
or not. This epistle, this sermon says, the word of exhortation,
you're supposed to suffer, listen to, and be erect under. You are
exhorted to not put up with the deceitfulness of sin in your
life. Not a little bit. Root it out. Third, we're exhorted
to labor to enter God's rest. In Hebrews 4, let us labor therefore
to enter into that rest, lest any man fall to the same example
of unbelief. For the word of God is quick
and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. All things
are naked to you. He's going to kill you with that
sword if you don't pay attention to this one. And this one says,
go to church on Sunday, keep the Sabbath day. Remember the
Sabbath day to keep it holy. Keep the Christian Lord's day.
That's what it is specifically. Now it's broader than that. It
has whole life implications. But look, that's what he's talking
about. Don't fail to enter the rest. There remains, he says
in this section, a Sabbath keeping for the people of God. Enter
that rest. You're supposed to be diligent
to enter that rest. You're supposed to work hard.
I listened to a band. I saw a video on TV the other
day. A band that one of my children likes. It's called Taking Back
Sunday. I don't know if they're any good,
bad. I have no idea. I don't know
what their lyrics, nothing. But I do know that I went to
Wikipedia. I thought, well, that's an interesting name, because
that's what this church has been about for 20-odd years, taking
back Sunday. And as I looked at Wikipedia,
they said, I don't know if it's true or not, they said that the
lead guitarist said it refers to an act of the will and trying
to make the day special. It's supposed to be a day to
hang out with friends and family. The lead guitarist says, you
know, like the Bible says, the lead guitarist says in Wikipedia.
Well, that's right. And I don't know about anything
else about the band, but I love the name. That's who we should
be taking back Sunday. I, you know, I am convinced that
if we fail to take back this day, we're going to accomplish
nothing else. We are living in totally secularized,
every day is as another, nothing special, nothing holy, nothing
set apart. That's the world we live in now. And if we can't set aside one
day, what can we do? Hebrews says, that's where it
begins. That's how you enter into the rest of your life. If
you don't take back Sunday, you're supposed to labor, to be diligent.
You know, people in this church, people in churches across the
country, even churches that are quasi-committed to the Lord's
Day, they do a lousy day of preparing for it. You know, people in this
church, they get home, they don't get enough drinks in the cupboard
to feed this or that person, and they run up to the store.
What is that? It's a failure of preparation. You know, Saturday, or the day
before the Sabbath and the Gospels, is called the day of preparation.
Your whole life is supposed to focus around Lord's Day. It's
supposed to be set apart by Sabbath, by Christian Sabbath, Christian
Lord's Day. This is how we're going to lead this world back
to a recognition of the blessedness of God and the rest we have in
Jesus Christ. This is supposed to be a delightful
thing. Praise God. Roseanne forwarded me an article
from Veritas Press. I think I might have mentioned
before their last issue, before this one, talked about the implications
of Homo Adarons, a worship model for education. And this issue
talks about the importance of the Sabbath or the Lord's Day.
Greg Strawbridge has a nice article in it, and they say that it's
their policy at Veritas, as it is here at King's Academy, no
tests on Monday. They're trying to take what little
steps they can to reform their educational practices so that
the Lord's Day will be set aside as a whole day. Take back Sunday. One of the expectations that
we're to suffer under, and which you're supposed to suffer under,
that you'll be hearing from me till the day I die, will be an exhortation
to take back Sunday. Make preparation so it's a day
of rest. And eventually, let's close down
the marketplaces in Oregon City because nobody wants to go there
on Sunday. We don't got to pass laws at that point. People don't
want to do it. They prepared. They bought what
they need on Saturday. They prepared for the day. You
know, it's hard for us, isn't it? It's hard for me. I've been
trying to do this 20-some years. You get home, 3.30, 4 o'clock,
5 o'clock, whatever it is, if you're not invited to somebody's
house and you didn't have them over to your house, what do you
do? Well, you tend just to slide into what you do the rest of
the week. It's hard. Don't feel bad about that. I
mean, you're doing well to spend the four or eight hours that
comes with all this thing that we're doing. That's great. I'm
not trying to make you feel guilty, but all I'm trying to say is
that's an indicator to us of how difficult it is to set aside
a time of special focus interest on the work of the Lord Jesus
Christ in a relaxation and taking hands off of our lives. It's hard to do that. I think
it's easier for our kids, hopefully. It should be. Take back Sunday. We are encouraged to do that.
That's one of the major exhortations of this entire book. Fourth,
to be diligent, not slothful, become teachers and rulers, thus
avoiding an irrevocable apostasy. Chapter 5, 11 through 6, 10,
this is probably sort of, we said before, this is one of the
main themes of Hebrews, to go on to perfection and maturity.
And this is one of the scariest passages of Hebrews. It says,
you know, it's impossible to those who were once enlightened
and have tasted the heavenly gift were made partakers of the
Holy Ghost and have tasted the good word of God and the powers
of the world to come, if they shall fall away to renew them
again to repentance. You can't bring them back at
a certain point. Irrevocable. Irrevocable apostasy. It's going to happen. What's that a result of? Well,
the positive thing that you're not doing when you slide toward
that is you're not pressing on to maturity. That's how the section
starts in 511, of whom we have many things to say and hard to
be uttered, seeing you are dull of hearing, for when for the
time you ought to be teachers, you have need that you be taught
again. In verse 14, strong meat belongs to those that are of
full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised
to discern good and evil. To rule, to take the tree of
rule, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil like Solomon,
to be able to rule well requires exercise of our senses with the
Word of God, and that produces ruling ability. So what's positively
commended to us, we're back there in that section of the book,
God said, now look, you're supposed to be teachers. Him says, some
of you, all of you are to be teachers in some way, not babes
needing basic instruction again. And He says, you're supposed
to, by the time you're getting older, you're supposed to discern your
senses so you can be rulers. He says, you're dull of hearing.
And then later he says, don't be slothful but diligent. Dull
of hearing is related to this word for sloth. We've been exhorted
by this sermon, and he tells us now to suffer under this exhortation.
Don't settle for some kind of median life where you're not
a teacher to other people and you're not a ruler in some sphere
of influence. That's what we're supposed to
be going for. It's hard work. You've got to exercise your senses.
You can't be slothful and kicking back and relaxing all the time.
You're not supposed to be. This is the word of exhortation
we're to suffer under. Brethren, I urge you, I urge
myself. We press toward the mark of maturity.
We move forward. That's what God wants to do with
us, right? He's going to perfect those things that concern us
so that we can be teachers and rulers in the world. What do
we read in Psalm 127? Our children will speak with
the enemy in the gate. Teaching and ruling brought together
in the exercise of dominion. That's what we've been exhorted
to do. Now, if you're not doing that in your life as a result
of being in these sermons, correct. This is what Paul, this is what,
no, this is whoever wrote this sermon, this is what they're
exhorting us to at the end, to suffer the word of exhortation.
And one of the most powerful exhortations he gave them was
to be teachers and rulers and not to suffer irreversible apostasy. Five, to hold fast our profession
of faith under trials and not suffer the severe judgments of
God. So now, it's the difficulties that come of being in a little
church, a little movement in the midst of a largely secularized
culture, like they were, like we are. Trials and tribulations
come to them. Trials and tribulations come
to us. And we were exhorted to hold fast the profession of faith
under these trials. And again, He threatened severe
judgments to us. And then number six, to obey
the call of him who now speaks from heaven. And it kind of ends
where it began, the last exhortation. Our God is a consuming fire.
Mount Zion is no nicer place than Sinai. It's more dangerous.
God now speaks from heaven. Beware if you don't hear his
voice of exhortation. These are the exhortations. that
this book of Hebrews brought to us. These are the ones we're
to suffer under. But this same word, this same
word paraklesis, is also given to us as consolation. Those are all uses of the term
of exhortation to us, but it can be used in terms of consolation.
We read in verse 18 of Hebrews 6, that by two immutable things,
this is the witness of God, two things, it's impossible for God
to lie, we might have a strong consolation who have fled for
refuge to lay hold under the hope set before us, which hope
we have as a sure anchor of the soul. Second Thessalonians 2,
16 and 17. Now our Lord Jesus Christ Himself
and God, even our Father, which hath loved us and hath given
us everlasting consolation, paraklesis, same word, and good hope through
grace, comfort your hearts, establish you in every good word and work.
Second Corinthians 1, 1 to 7, all about comfort and hope. He
says, Verse 3, blessed be the God, even the Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all. Comfort,
Pericles, who comforts us, same word, in our tribulations, that
we may be able to comfort, Pericles, them which are in any trouble
by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted by God, for as
the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation, Pericles,
shall abound by Christ. And whether we be afflicted,
it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual
in the enduring of the same sufferings which we all, foe, suffer. It
is your consolation and salvation." Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
Ten times or so, Pericles is not now exhortation in the sense
of buck up, It's paraklesis in the sense of be comforted. This
word is a two-sided coin. On one side it means exhortation,
but on the other side it means consolation and comfort. The source of paraklesis is the
paraclete. the paraclete. This is used four
times in the Scriptures, five times in the Scriptures, and
the four times that I've listed on your outline are found in
the Gospel of John, where the Holy Spirit is described as the
paraclete, the comforter. Now, the source of both sides
of the coin to be kept erect under the beseeching the exhortations
of the Epistle and to be comforted by the consolation that's in
Christ. Both those are two sides of the same coin of the work
of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the paraclete,
the comforter, but also the strengthener, the encouragement. When we baptize
the babies, remember, by way of picture we reminded ourselves
we're anointing their spine, their backbone, as well as their
heart. The Holy Spirit is the one who
indwells us, who brings us both stiffening of our backbone, so
we can do what God wants us to do, to bear up, to take back
Sunday, to be teachers and rulers and governors, to be careful
not to slide into sinfulness and to exhort each other to the
same. And as well, that same Holy Spirit brings us the comfort,
the consolation, the other way this word is used, from the beginning
of the New Testament to the end. Both the same word, two implications
of the same text, the same specific word, two works of the Holy Spirit
who comes to us specifically to strengthen us as the people
of God and to comfort and console us as well. 1 John 2 verses 1
and 2 says the basis for this. The Holy Spirit is the one who
comes to us and accomplishes these things in us by bringing
us things of Christ. And the fifth occurrence, the
last occurrence of paraclete is found in 1 John 2, 1 and 2.
My little children, these things write I unto you that ye sin
not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate, a paraclete, a one
who produces paraclesis with the Father, Jesus Christ the
righteous. Every Lord's Day is a celebration
of the grace of God that Jesus Christ has died for our sins.
He's the paraclete as well. He's the paraclete in the sense
of the advocate with the Father that allows then the Father to
send us the Spirit who encourages us and comforts us in the very
same action. The Lord God wants us to be a
powerful dominion people. He's given us the Spirit of the
Lord Jesus Christ, the Spirit of the Father. to guide us into
truth, to strengthen us, to comfort us in difficulties that we might
be strengthened for the tasks that He's given us to do. The
word of exhortation in Hebrews is the means whereby the Holy
Spirit builds His people up into the conquering army they are
to be. I want to quote finally from 2 Maccabees 15 verses 8
to 11, and I know this is an apocryphal book, intertestamental
book, it's not inspired, but it catches the flavor of all
of these truths coming together, I think, in this sermon. It catches
the flavor of what happens to a people that are submissive
to that exhortive Word of God. They're the ones who will conquer
for the Lord Jesus Christ. They're the ones who will be
strengthened, not with the curved sword to cut people's necks off.
but strengthened with the word of Christ, and thus conquer in
that word. Second Maccabees 15, 8 to 11,
Wherefore he exhorted the people not to fear the coming of the
heathen against them, but to remember the help which in former
times they had received from heaven, and now to expect the
victory and aid which should come unto them from the Almighty.
And so, comforting them out of the law and the prophets, and
withal, putting them in mind of the battles that they won,
afore He made them more cheerful as a result of that. We're reminded
of the battles that God has won for us. and he exhorts us and
makes us comfortable and cheerful. And then verse 10, And when he
had stirred up their minds, he gave them their charge, showing
them therewithal the falsehood of the heathen and the breach
of oaths. Then he armed every one of them,
not so much with defensive shields and spears and bucklers as with
comfortable and good words. Besides that, he told them a
dream worthy to believe, as if it had been so indeed, which
did not a little rejoice them. The Lord God comes to us with
words of encouragement, making us strong and victorious warriors
for Him, not so much through shield and buckler, but through
words of exhortation that charge us and comfort us at the same
time, and thus equip a people who know that the victory is
ours. God has raised up the opponents of those who are falsely, supposedly
submissive, but they're submissive to their own vanities instead. And we know that the true vision
for the future lies in the Lord Jesus Christ and His empowered
church, those who are besought and obey to keep under, to suffer
the words of exhortation of the Holy Spirit that comfort us as
well. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the
Spirit. We thank you that we have an advocate, a paraclete
with you, and on the basis of that he has sent us the Holy
Spirit. May we be attuned to the work of the Spirit in our
lives, encouraging, exhorting us to put off sinfulness in any
form, to not be drawn into unfaithfulness and unbelief through sin, but
rather to exhort each other to take back Sunday as then the
model for the rest of our Christian lives, that we may indeed take
back the world for you. In Jesus' name we ask it. Amen.
Bearing the Word of Exhortation
| Sermon ID | 1040612842 |
| Duration | 56:22 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | Hebrews 13:22 |
| Language | English |
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