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.