Our reading today from God's word is from the book of Hebrews, the book of Hebrews chapter 13. We will be starting at verse 1, going through verse 10. So let us listen to the words of the living God, who raised us from spiritual death to spiritual life. Let brotherly love continue. Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing, some have unwittingly entertained angels. Remember the prisoners as if chained with them, those who are mistreated since you yourselves are in the body also. Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled. But fornicators and adulterers God will judge. Let your conduct be without covetousness. Be content with such things as you have. For he himself has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. So we may boldly say, the Lord is our helper. I will not fear. What can man do to me? Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith followed considering the outcome of their conduct. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever, do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines, for it is good that the heart be established by grace, not with foods which have not profited those who have been occupied with them. We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat. You may be seated. Amen. Let's bow before our Lord once again in prayer. Our Heavenly Father, as we have sought to sing your praise, draw near unto you in prayer. have both responsibly read your scriptures together and heard them read to us. We're mindful of the promises that you give, Father, how you indwell your people by your Spirit, that we each one individually become, as it were, a tabernacle of the Holy Spirit. And together, Father, as we join In this spiritual exercise, offering spiritual sacrifices unto you, as 1 Peter 2 would describe, we realize we draw nigh unto you. You tell us in chapter 10 of this same book of Hebrews, Father, that we ought to come boldly before you. And so, Father, we do so. We do it with the blood and righteousness of Christ alone as a basis, the entry, the right to come to you. But father in him, we have every right for you have adopted us into your family. And so those father who received him, you gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe on his name. So as your children, father, In the spirit of adoption whereby we cry unto you, Abba, Father, we come unto you with our worship. It is not merely a formal exterior exercise, may it not be so. But Father, we seek to draw nearer unto you with our heart, not just with our lips, to worship you in spirit and in truth. And so, Father, as we come to this time of your holy scripture and its exposition and application, Father, how we lean, rest, depend upon you. Not just to speak externally, Father, but to cause your holy scriptures that are alive to work in our innermost being. to cause us to be conformed to the image of Christ, to cause us to bow before you, to cause us, Father, to be those who rejoice in the promises we find therein, to those who are delighted, Father, to hear your commands that we might know how we might be used of you and your hands. And so, Father, as you've told us in your scripture, Who is there who speaks and it comes to pass unless you, the Lord, have commanded it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both good and ill go forth? O Father, I pray that it would be for benediction, for good, that it would go forth. May there not be any here, Father, who would turn a deaf ear or a hard heart or a stiff neck to what your word would tell us, but we would delight in what you would say. You say, Father, whoever speaks, let him speak as it were the utterances of God. Whoever serves, let him do so by the strength which you supply. And so, Father, in all these things, we ask that you would do precisely that, that you would be glorified and that Jesus Christ would make his glories to be known to his children, his saints here, your children. We, the church, the body of Christ, may it be built up, edified in this occasion, we ask in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. As we come to chapter 13 of Hebrews, At first blush, you might be tempted to think it's just now it's a laundry list of final words to say with no order, no intent. But nothing could be further from the truth. The title of the sermon this morning is Walking in God's Love. And as we have seen here in the book of Hebrews, The Lord, in this sermon really, as we see a distinct change in format take place here in chapter 13, you have to understand that as we brought up in the early time of our study, perhaps it's not fresh in your minds. But the first 12 chapters of Hebrews are really a homily, or in other words, a sermon. And they're addressed, as the book's title would indicate, to the Hebrews, to Jewish converts, to Christ. In fact, many have written that, especially because of all of the subject matter that is addressed and the language that's specifically used, that it's very likely that those, or at least a large portion of those, who are being addressed here are former priests themselves. Well, you can imagine, these or they, that you can see why they would be rejected or even persecuted by their fellow Jews for their faith in Jesus Christ. Fellow priests looking at them as traitors, having abandoned the one true way whereby God may be approached, God may be worshipped, God may be atoned. And so that would be no more, wouldn't it? And that's what the book of Hebrews has been showing us. No more temple, no more sacrifices, no more ceremonies, no Sanhedrin, no kosher foods, no Jerusalem. Because all of that leads us and is fulfilled in and is a type of Jesus Christ and His saving work. He fulfilled it. It even uses language that's very strong, doesn't it, that says we're not to go back to those things. It says, like in chapter 6, they crucify Christ afresh and put him to an open shame if they were to go back to those sacrifices. Or it even says in chapter 10, you will recall, if one were to go back to the temple and look at another mediator, a high priest or any priest, or another sacrifice to be done, Passover, Day of Atonement, any day, And to do them over again, that would be, as chapter 10 drives home, trampling underfoot the Son of God, and considering the blood whereby he was sanctified, an unholy thing. Serious indeed. So they're caught. I know these things, I was trained in these things, I love these things. This is my reason for being that I had before, and now it's all in Christ. The glory of the temple, now you want me to look at a temple, is at the right hand of the Father and I. Forgetting. The temple on earth was patterned after the vision given to Moses on Mount Sinai. Make everything according to the pattern you see in heaven. That's what the temple is merely a shadow of. And the temptation is to go back to the shadow, to go back to the type and abandon the fulfillment and reality in Christ. And so he says, that's why so frequently he says, don't neglect so great a salvation, don't turn away, don't go back. Because to do so is to reveal oneself in apostasy as having never known him at all. And so the words here bring us to this time of encouragement. There can be no compromise with the old covenant and going back. Maybe doing half new covenant, half old, no. All the way Christ alone. There's where your faith is. It says, remember in the, in description, that long chapter on faith, it shows that it always was about faith alone in Messiah alone in our substitute alone. It was always about that. And talking about those people, they were not complete without us of this time, including Gentiles who are believers in Jesus Christ. And the city that we glorify, we're part of, we're citizens of. We're not citizens of this city down below, the Jerusalem here. We have here now no lasting city. 1314, it's there. But we are citizens and part of the heavenly Jerusalem. And as we saw last week, even that city will come to a new creation earth. Everything that can be shaken will be shaken and removed. We inherit a kingdom that's everlasting. that heavenly Jerusalem would descend into a new creation earth and here God will dwell in our midst and that temple you're so fond of and you love so much will be no more for God himself will be right here among us. And so it sets the glories of the reality in Christ before our gaze and theirs. And so this morning I would like for us to look really at just three verses. Verses 1, 2, and 3. And consider these three points. And it centers upon the love of God. The love of God now that binds us to Him. The love of God that is in Christ. The love of God that we owe Him so much and everything for. And so let's begin, first of all, in verse one, God's new covenant family, let brotherly love continue. His new covenant family, as he's been developing in the last, well, ever since chapter eight, especially of Hebrews and through chapter 12, where Christ in the blood of the new covenant, it speaks better things than that of Abel there in the heavenly Jerusalem now at the right hand of the father. And so God's New Covenant family, it says, let brotherly love continue. You know this word, brotherly love. You may not know it. But there's a city in America named after that. It's Philadelphia. Philo or Philo has the idea of love, this kind of love. And Adelphos is brother. So Philadelphia is brotherly love. Now, by the way, that includes sisters too, in case you're wondering. But it's that kind of a love, that kind of a relationship, a family relationship, and a love among a family. That's what it says. So Philadelphia. Well, why Philadelphia? Well, first of all, we are beloved of God. It's God. He's the one who set his love upon us, it says, in various places, even before the foundation of the world. Remember, we've seen before how in regeneration that here we are in this state of deadness, this state of total depravity, this state of total inability. But God, who's rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even while we're dead, he's made us alive, for by grace you're saved. And so when you see this read in the scriptures about the love of God, it's not something that's just ethereal and nonspecific. It is very specific, it is very real, and it has eternal consequences. Beloved of God, but beloved as we've sang in Holy, Holy, Holy, you know, there's a hymn of the Holy Trinity. We are beloved of God the Father, first of all. As I've already mentioned here, God the Father setting His love upon us, this gracious Father, the one who set His gracious desires upon us and loved us, not because we were lovable, even before we existed. And so when we think then of this relationship, it is a love that is in terms of He is our Father and we as His children. So there is a context in which this love is is here communicated to us and enjoyed by us. It's a father's love for his children and his children for their father. But secondly, it's this love of God is also in the Son. We've seen so much about Jesus Christ as the Savior and the mediator. So much of Jesus Christ of his voluntary condescension to God to become incarnate. of he is the one who endured the insults, even in this chapter, it talks about, in chapter 13, it talks about Jesus Christ suffering outside the camp or outside the city. Why would he do that? Because there's where you sent the off-scouring, the criminals, those who were the rejects in the garbage, and their die. in our place, though. And so we see this salvation of Jesus by Jesus Christ. And we see that here, the Son, we are in union with the Son. So we become sons and daughters in the Son, Jesus Christ. And so we see the Father, and the Son, and the love that's exhibited here, and Christ who willingly and lovingly endured the insults, endured the pain, endured death, and rose again from the dead, and ever lives to make intercession for us. Yes, a lot's involved, but it is in love that he does so. But thirdly, there is God the Holy Spirit. When you think of the way the Holy Spirit is described, like in Galatians 4, you've got this connection between the Son and God the Holy Spirit. And where it says the spirit of the Son is here working to communicate, we have the spirit of the Son crying out, Abba, Father. We have the spirit of adoption that's described in that text, Galatians 4, but also Romans 8, that says we are adopted into the family of God. So you and I are not natural sons and daughters of God. You say, that doesn't sound good. Hang on. What I just described, though, is a solution to that. One Son forevermore, God the Son, Jesus Christ in his incarnate form. And so we see the Holy Spirit, he is the one who indwells us, he's the one who seals us to the day of redemption, he is the one who we are given this spirit of adoption whereby we have all the rights of children of God in Christ by the Holy Spirit. because of God's grace. We are indeed, and that's just the highlights, beloved of God. Well, because we are beloved of God, you can look in places like Ephesians 2, for example, and see that we are the household of God. Elsewhere it says that we, all the family of God in heaven and on earth, So what we've been looking at here in these texts of seeing all the saints on high all the way, it starts with Adam and Eve going all the way to the end of the age. All of those who are believers in Jesus Christ and the promises of God, the covenant purposes of God, and the sacrifice as a substitute. Looking to him, the true God, all of those in that category through faith alone, by trusting in him. You see, all of these it says. or the household, or the whole family of God. All of those in heaven, and all the family of God on earth. One family. And so beloved of God, and the family of God, a household of God through faith alone, all by his sovereign grace. And furthermore in union with Christ. Let me give you a verse you all know by heart. just to try to hang it together, and that's Galatians 2.20. You know this one that says, I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. In the life I now live, in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. And so when we're talking about that union with Christ, We're so identified with Him in solidarity with Jesus Christ. When He died on that cross, we died with Him, in Him. When He was buried, we were buried in and with Him. We were raised in Him to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus. It is at that time of regeneration, through the effectual call and through faith alone, trusting in Him, resting in Him, reliance absolutely on His person and work that That is the moment when we are in history of our lives and salvation history and experience. We are then united to Christ, justified forevermore. And since that's the case, did you get that part where Christ liveth in me? If you were to look in that same book of Galatians, and I've got just recommended and you go look later on, It talks about in the fruits of the Spirit. You remember that? In the fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5, begins in verse 22, and goes following that. You know this. What does it say? For the fruits of the... What are fruits, by the way? These are the things that are produced, in other words, by the Holy Spirit. These are the things that are are caused by God the Holy Spirit within us. So because Christ dwells within us, because we're in Christ, then God the Holy Spirit will produce these things. And what is the first thing it mentions? Love. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self-control, the whole thing. There it's all of God. But notice he produces love in us. We're talking about love here in this thing, brotherly love. And so he's the one who is to, we owe to this being produced within us. Remember Romans 5, 5, it says, the love of God is shed abroad or poured out in our hearts. It's his love. And so in verse 25, it says, if we live in the spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. And so connecting that here with verse 1 and the idea of love, the first fruit of the Spirit, love. Here, specifically, love for the brethren. If you were to look at that same chapter of Galatians 5, in verse 6 it says, for in Christ Jesus Neither circumcision or uncircumcision avails anything. In other words, whether you're a Jew or Gentile, it's not that which is done according to the flesh that matters. Your racial identity, your bloodline, that is not what makes any difference at all. That's hard to take for these former priests or former those who are identified with everything Jewish. But it says it's not that. But it's faith. And that faith is working through love. And so when we're looking at the concept that we have here, the power of God, in other words, all this identity that's new that you and I enjoy in Jesus Christ that's forevermore, is in the love of God. Here, in union with Christ, by the grace of God, in this triune God and His love, And out of gratitude for His grace, we show the love of God to our brothers and sisters in Christ. You remember what John had to say about this in 1 John? I know I'm turning you everywhere, but that's okay. I want you to remember these. Write them down. 1 John 4. And if I begin here in verse 9, it says this, In this the love of God is manifested toward us, that God has sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be a propitiation, that is to say, a sin satisfaction. for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. He, you know, this gets so strong in the, in the first John, if I were to back up to verses, uh, seven and eight in the same chapter four, it says this beloved, let us love one another for love is of God. And everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God for God is love. In other words, as it says there and exhorts us here in Hebrews to let brotherly love continue. First John would say, and by the way, it's not the only place, he says it numerous places in that epistle of John. It says there, if we do not love the brothers and sisters in Christ, then we don't know him. And you can see why, can't you, of everything I've already led us through. Our entire connection with the Holy Trinity, the union with Christ, the family of God. The fact that we are indwelt by the spirit of adoption, that we are those who have the fruits of the spirit and love, and therefore this faith that we have in Christ, this identity, this new life that is ours is expressed. This faith is expressed in a loving way. towards those, our brothers and sisters. If we really believe, in other words, putting it in a nutshell, if we really believe that we are the family of God, it's saying, and if we truly believe in Him and we love Him, therefore, and we believe in Him, therefore we will love one another. This is what it means. Philadelphia, brotherly love. for the family of God. Notice he says, let it continue. Not a spark in the pan, not, well I liked them yesterday, but they've been on me, so I don't love them anymore. Tell me something, any of you ever had family members that were not 100% perfect? Only my family did, I was the black sheep. Well, not the only black sheep, I have brothers, sisters, but anyhow. Hard to love. You ever do something that would make you hard to love? Do something wrong? Do something that was hurtful? Do something that would be shameful? You go through the whole list and you say, well, you know, I love them, but you know, you don't know what they did. You know, I can't love them anymore. And then before long, usually, sadly, it's not always true. You come around and your love is not broken. You repair the breach in the bowl and you love again. Why? Because you're family. Well, that's for blood family. But what about a family that has God, the eternal spirit, dwelling within us? How about a family that has Jesus Christ, the Redeemer, who loves us and we have all the blessings of God in Him? How about the family that has God as their Father? How can we not? continually love one another. That's the message of verse one. I hasten to verse two. Number two, remember the brotherly love was Philadelphia? Well, this is Philoxenias. You hear the similarity? I love it. I just ask that because I love to watch you grin. There is a phila, there is a love. Xenias isn't brethren, it's just the opposite. These are those who are strangers. In the New King James translation, I think some of the others have the same thing. It's the idea of love for strangers. That's what the word means. So you have love of the brethren, Philadelphia in verse 1, and you have love for strangers in verse 2. And so, as it reads here, it says, do not forget to entertain strangers, for by doing so, some have unwittingly entertained angels. Now, Philoxenia. Remember who we're talking about? Hebrews. These are not just Hebrews. Remember who were the first, and by the way, ardent fervent persecutors of the New Covenant Church listed in the New Testament. Who were they? Were they Romans? No. Were they Greeks? No, they came later. Who were the first and continual persecutors of the followers of Jesus Christ, of the believers in Jesus Christ? It was the unbelieving Jews. Do you think these Jews who were converted to Jesus Christ, they said, Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus is Messiah. He is the Christ. Jesus is the one who was born of a virgin, truly. All the rumors you've heard are lies. He's the one who fulfilled all righteousness, the only sinless one. He is the one who went to the cross. All those sacrifices we used to do, they're obsolete. They're meaningless now. Jesus Christ has fulfilled all righteousness here. He rose from the dead. Jesus Christ is risen and alive and everlasting life and the promises of God are sealed in Him alone. And He's at the right hand of the Father. Oh, that was said at His trial. That set Him off. They said, that's enough. Kill Him. And these people, to say, acknowledge that He's sitting at the right hand of the Father, interceding. And by the way, there's more. He's coming back. And He's going to make all things new. and he's going to judge every unbeliever. You think they accepted that nicely when these Jews said that? Remember chapter 10? We were reading in chapter 10, and it said there in verse 32, recall the former days in which after you were illumined, in other words, you were first regenerate, you understood the gospel and believed. So back to verse 10, 32, after you were first illumined, you endured a great struggle with sufferings, partly while you made a spectacle. You were made a spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations, and partly while you became companions to those who were so treated. For you had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven." That's quite a lot. If you were to look at, and we didn't discuss this at great length, we touched on it a bit at the beginning of our study in Hebrews. But most scholars are agreed that those to whom this was written were in Palestine, perhaps even in Jerusalem. When it says those who are of Italy greet you, it doesn't mean that these folks are from Italy. It means the writing took place probably from Italy, perhaps Rome, who knows. But the whole point here is, these are folks that knew, that were in the vicinity where the unbelieving Jews were. Remember Saul of Tarsus and what he did? And it says, see, remember that. Well, Hebrews persecuted, and the Jewish infiltrators, remember you see that in Galatians 2, what is it, 4 or 6, where it says, there are those that came in secretly to spy out our liberty. Jews who came in and found out, what? You mean they're not eating kosher? You mean they're fellowshipping with Gentiles? You mean we don't have a priest that's mediating this? You go through the list. They came to spy out our liberty. And so do these. The idea here is, in Romans chapter 12, 20, I'll just let you look it up later, it says something that's extraordinary. It says, if your enemy, in thinking of this idea of being a friend to strangers and feeding them and that kind of thing, if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If your enemy is thirsty, give that one something to drink. And so when you're thinking of this idea, let me give you an illustration. There was a bishop or a pastor by the name of Polycarp, I've told you about him, in Smyrna. Revelation 2 talks about Smyrna. This was the persecuted church that's being addressed, you know, and Polycarp was one of those persecuted for sure. And they sent him because he would not, you know, offer sacrifice or incense to the to the Caesar, by that time it was Caesar worship, and this is around 155. And so they come to get him, they send two soldiers to get him, and Polycarp says, come on in, and he prepares a meal for them. And he says, do you mind if I pray first before you take me? And so, sure, they're eating anyway. So they eat the meal that he's prepared for those who have come to take him to be executed. Isn't that a lot like what we're reading here? And so here are the friend to strangers, and yes, even enemies. And it says, we should have love for strangers. You know, I think my time is fleeting. Let me just illustrate it by an extraordinary account of love for strangers, like this is describing, in its extreme sense. Jesus gave a parable in Luke chapter 10, one you're familiar with. It begins in verse 30 and follows after there. And it talks about a man who was from, a Jewish man who was from Jerusalem and he was waylaid on the road and the robbers took everything he had, but they didn't, they weren't satisfied with robbing him. They had to beat him and leave him unconscious, wounded, bleeding on the road. You remember this, right? And it says a Pharisee, Jesus said, a Pharisee came along. Oh, I'm not going to touch this unclean man. He's got blood all over and stuff. So he walks on this side of the man. After him, a priest comes along. Same idea. Oh, I don't want to be defiled or unclean. So he goes around the other side of the man. Now let me ask you something. Is that a love, a love for the brethren, a love for the neighbor? No. And then a guy that was considered a dog by the Jews, he was a Samaritan. A Samaritan man saw the man and had compassion for him. And he bound his wounds, and he picked him up, and he put the man on his own donkey, and he rode to an inn that was along the way. And there he cared for the man. And then when he had to leave in the morning, he left the man there under the care of the innkeeper, and he gave the man money, two denarii. It was two days' wages. And he said, look, would you care for this man? I'm going on this journey. I'll come back. When I come back, if it's more money needed, I'll give you more money then. love for strangers. No wonder this is something God must enable us to do. It says that angels were entertained unawares. Now you're probably thinking, I know who he's talking about, Manoah. Is that who you're thinking about? Maybe it's Gideon. I know that you're probably saying, well, doesn't the pastor know about Abraham? Yes, I know about Abraham. In Genesis chapter 19, remember 18, you remember that a pre-incarnate Christ, Jehovah, shows up, Yahweh, with two angels. They look human, just normal human to Abraham and Sarah. And he stops them on the road, and they ask him to join them, and they hurriedly prepare them a meal. And God has deliberately met with Abraham to tell him what he's about to do. He sends the two angels ahead, remember? They're to go to Sodom. And the Lord tells him everything that's to take place, remember? So here, Abraham had no idea who he was speaking to. And the Lord says, you know, this time next year, your dear wife, this little flower of 89 years, is going to have a baby. And you, 99, next year you're going to have a baby. Sarah laughed. That was a rendezvous with God. He didn't know it. He just was extending love to strangers. And by the way, even Lot did the same thing. When the angels came down, Lot saw the angels come into the square. He knows what these corrupt degenerates are going to do to those angels, or he thought just men. And so he calls them into his home, and he prepares a meal for them, and he wants them to stay in his home. Why? To protect them. Love for these strangers. He had no idea they were angels. And so the point it's making here is love for strangers is something God looks upon with favor. You know, a shared meal is an extension of that kind of thing, too, that we have here. I think one of the most, in modern parlance, example of people I know specifically. who will deliberately, they'll prepare turkeys, or they'll prepare ham, or something on, you know, at various times, especially at the holidays, you know, where people are feeling lonely, like at, you know, Thanksgiving, Christmas time, or whatever. And they'll, you know who they give them to? They have these people come in their home, or they'll take them to them, and they'll eat outside at park benches, or something like that. With them, it's to the homeless. And their love for these strangers, it puts me to shame. And I stand in awe. That's the kind of love you see, the love of God. That's why I started where I did. You see, that kind of a love, that love that is the fruit of the Spirit. Oh, think of God's glory in all of this. But thirdly, the thing I hasten to is verse 3. of chapter 13. Remember the prisoners as if chained with them. And you could add, it's understood the way it's constructed. And as if those who are mistreated, you with them too. since you yourselves are in the body also." Love. Yes, love for the brethren to continue. Yes, love for strangers. But here, love for prisoners. Love for prisoners. It says, remember, by the way, that's the way it starts. It uses, at least in the Greek text especially, it is bear in mind or bring back to memory or remember those who are in prison. as if chained or bound with them. We've already looked in chapter 10, remember? It says, remember when you were first converted, remember there was the outrage, remember that they confiscated your property, and they put you in chains or in bonds, and they bound you and put you in prison, and remember how you were mistreated? You were made to be the laughing stock and the scoffing block of everyone around you. but you willingly went through this thinking that your reward of eternity is better." And it says, remember them. You were once there. That's where it talks about bonds or prisoners. But it also talks about it in chapter 11, remember? In chapter 11, it's right across the page in my Bible. In verse 36 it says, speaking of all these things of people that were followers of God, Old Testament, As well as new and faith in the Messiah to come and his sacrifice. It says in verse 36, others had trials of mockings and scourgings. Yes, of chains and imprisonment. Look at verse 38. Of whom the world was not worthy. You see, beloved, this is the view of God. And it says, remember these people. Any of you ever heard of, you know, they had something in the Middle Ages especially, and even in Renaissance times, if you want to call it a Renaissance with this in mind, and that is they had a place where they would put people in a dungeon that was down there, was dark, it was filled with rats, it was filled with all kinds of smelly things, and horrible place, and they would leave you there to rot. It was called an oubliette. Maybe you don't know French. Oublie is the verb to forget. In other words, this was a place where they threw you in and forgot you. He says here, those who are prisoners don't forget him. As if chained or bound with them like we just described. And it says also, as if mistreated with them. Any of you ever read any of the books by Richard Wurmbrandt? You know, the founder of Voice of the Martyrs? Or was it Romania, where he was? He was in the first time, I think, something like 15 years. And the second time he was in, I forget, it was somewhere around 8 or 10 years. A long time altogether. And he describes everything that he went through. And they had these daily beatings. I don't have time to describe them, don't want to anyway. And they would torture them, and they would daily, you know, taunt them. They'd give them drugs in their food to mess with their mind, and they'd play music that would keep them from being able to sleep, and they would have spies that would come into the prison and try to get them to talk so they could bring them more charges against them. And they'd mistreat them in every way possible. The food that would be disgusting to begin with, there would be very little of it, and there were skin and bones, and it was freezing outside. really cold in the winter and here they had no heat and they had no mattress and sleeping on the concrete floor, you get the picture. Remember those in prison as though mistreated with them. That's the picture. And of course it's talking about especially those who do so for Christ. You know there's a strange and popular belief nowadays, in America especially, that we Christians will not have to suffer, that we will escape suffering, that we will not face that which is even the ultimate sacrifice. The Bible never promises that, never even says anything like it. In fact, quite the opposite. Remember what Jesus said, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. And so, beloved, when he says, remember those in prison, this is what it's talking about. You read time and again in the New Testament of the apostle Paul, especially with Peter, as well as in John. Also, all of them in prison and thinking of James and others, all the apostles who faced this persecution. Read Fox's Book of Martyrs and see how each of the apostles, with the exception of John, came to their end violent. but for the cause of the gospel of Christ. And so Paul, remember in, what is it, in Ephesians 3, I think it's the first verse, he says, I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ, for you, the church of Jesus Christ. And it was worth it. But what was going on? You know, if you look in the Romans 1.16, many of you know it by heart, it says there, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. I am not ashamed. Ashamed of the gospel, ashamed of Christ, ashamed of His calling, ashamed of His church, ashamed of His people. I am not ashamed. not ashamed of his prisoners either. In 2 Timothy chapter 1, let me read verses 13 and following, if I may. You ever heard of Onesiphorus? Onesiphorus, hold fast the pattern of sound words which you've heard from me and faith and love which are in Christ Jesus, that good thing, which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. In this you know that those in Asia have turned away from me, among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes. The Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often, listen, he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains. But when he arrived in Rome, he sought me very zealously and found me. And the Lord grant to him that he may find mercy from the Lord in the day, that day, the day of judgment, his return. And you know very well how many ways he ministered unto me at Ephesus. He was not ashamed of my chain. In fact, when he came to Rome, he searched me out, Paul says. And Onesiphorus ministered unto me. He visited me, he brought me food, he gave me a cloak, he gave me the parchments, whatever it was, all of these things mentioned in Second Timothy. He didn't forget. And so in conclusion, the gospel of redemption, beloved, what is it about? Well, if you were to look at Jesus Christ as he was, you remember he was in the synagogue of Nazareth. And there in that synagogue that was hometown territory, was it? He takes a part of Isaiah chapter 61 and he reads. And this is what he chooses to read and he says, this is fulfilled. In your hearing, he reads this, it's verses 18 and 19 of chapter 4 of Luke. The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has appointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted and to proclaim liberty to the captives. And to recover sight to the blind and set at liberty those who are oppressed. To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. I'm reminded of The gospel in its purpose. We see the exodus as being a type of this, where those in bondage were set free. We look at our baptism and what does it talk about at all? The whole chapter of chapter six of Romans, where it describes our baptism. It says that you and I are no longer slaves. We're set free. We're set at liberty in Jesus Christ. When Christ called Paul, He said, I'm calling you and sending you to the Gentiles to open the eyes of those who are blind and are in the bondage of Satan and to set them free. Beloved, setting free the prisoners is what the gospel is all about. Those in spiritual bondage. And so as we think of this spiritual reality of union with Christ, whether it is brotherly love or it is love for strangers or love for the prisoners, he says, just as you yourselves are in the body. It could mean the physical body, it could be that. In other words, here you are in the flesh, you can identify, you can empathize, that's the idea. with what it must be like to be in prison. You can empathize of being a stranger. You can empathize of being those persecuted and not felt as a brother, but having the brotherly love of the church. You're in the body, or it can also mean the body of Christ. The body of those who are loved. Loved by their brethren and sisters. loved even when strangers by other Christians, and loved even if imprisoned for the cause of Christ. It's not meritorious works at all that are described, but if you were to look in Matthew 25, and because time's up, I won't turn there, but read later, verses 34 to 40, Jesus says when he comes again on that day, he separates his sheep from the goats. His sheep on his right hand. He says, you know, I was hungry and you fed me. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was in prison and you visited me. They said, Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or naked or in prison and did all of those things? He said, in as much as you did it unto one of these, my brethren, you did it unto me. You didn't merit it, but you did it because the love of God was shed abroad in your hearts. All of those in Christ through faith alone. This is what God forms in us. This is why Hebrews, as it draws to a close, leads us here. It is as we do it unto him. Amen. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, May we see how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And so you, O Lord, whom you have called, children of you, are children of your promise. Children grafted in, oh Lord, for people in the world that work with grafting and plants and you are the one who is the ultimate grafter into the vine. And so we praise you and thank you for what you have done in Christ for your people for all time. From Adam to the last one that you bring in before you return, we praise you and thank you that you have included us as your children. And we pray, O Heavenly Father, that if there be anyone here or anyone who hears this, who do not know you, we pray that today is the day that you would graft them into your vine, into your family, making them children of promise, children of you, oh God, we pray in Jesus' name, amen. Now receive the benediction of the Lord. Now peace to the brethren and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen.