Hebrews chapter 13, just a reminder we're not going to be meeting for about a month. So we left Solomon on his throne in 1 Kings chapter 2. So God willing in a month we will come back to Solomon on his throne and begin to consider Solomon's reign as the king over Israel. But tonight our focus is in the book of Hebrews, specifically chapter 13.
I'll read beginning in verse 1. 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 my 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 follow, considering the outcome of their conduct.
Jesus Christ is 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.
For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin are burned outside the camp. Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore let us go forth to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach. For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the One to come.
Therefore, by Him, let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. Obey those who rule over you and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give an account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you.
Pray for us, for we are confident that we have a good conscience in all things desiring to live honorably. But I especially urge you to do this, that I may be restored to you the sooner. Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do his will, working in you what is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
And I appeal to you, brethren, bear with the word of exhortation, for I've written to you in few words. Know that our brother Timothy has been set free, with whom I shall see you if he comes shortly. Greet all those who rule over you, and all the saints, those from Italy greet you. Grace be with you all.
Amen.
Scripture Reading: Hebrews 13
Now, the doctrinal portion of the book of Hebrews ends in chapter 9, chapter 10, and following are the practical chapters or practical application of everything that has preceded. And chapter 13 is the final chapter, obviously. It contains general exhortations in verses 1 to 6. instruction on community relationships with leaders, guarding against heresy, suffering for Christ, and the believer's sacrifice in verses 7 to 17. There is a request for prayer by the author, I believe it's Paul, in verses 18 to 19, his prayer for them in verses 20 to 21, and then a final appeal and salutation in verses 22 to 25.
So that's the larger context
Introduction
Our focus tonight very specifically is on verse 3. Remember the prisoners as if chained with them, those who are mistreated, since you yourselves are in the body also. What we find in this briefer section in verses 1 to 6, there's an emphasis upon love, hospitality, compassion, fidelity, and contentment. Now, I want to bring this to our attention because we do try to pray for the persecuted church.
We try to make this a regular pattern or habit on our Wednesday night services and on Sunday morning services. The 13th of this month is what they call International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church, and I think it's good for us to rehearse why it is we do that. Why do we pray for the persecuted church? Why would we pray for one of our own if they had been arrested for preaching the gospel and they were presently in a prison?
We ought to pray for them, and this text calls us to do so. So I want to look at two things tonight, the context of the command, and then secondly, the content of the command, and then seek to draw out some practical application.
Context of the Command
But note the context, specifically in verses 1 to 3. The apostle says, let brotherly love continue. The fact that he says it's to continue is a good sign. The implication is that it's there, it's present among the people of God, and so he highlights them or exhorts them to let it continue.
This is always important for churches. You may be doing what you're supposed to do, but we still need to be reminded. We need to be encouraged. We need to be exhorted so that we'll persevere.
It's oftentimes the case that we go in fits and starts. We'll love a brother or we'll love the people of God for a Sunday, and then we fall back into our own ways. No, we need to be encouraged We need to persevere and we need to be consistent and faithful in these particular things. So he says, let brotherly love continue.
That's the overarching or general exhortation in this particular section. Now there's two specific applications or two specific target audiences that he wants this love to continue toward.
Love for Strangers
In the first place, we are to love strangers. Verse 2, ìDo not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels.î Probably the implication there or the particular illustration is when Abraham met those three men and he entertained them, not, you know, doing a song and a dance, but killing food for them and fixing it for them and providing for their needs. There was a love shown, demonstrable through the action of preparing meals for these particular men. And then
Love for Suffering Prisoners
the second specific exhortation in terms of loving is to love sufferers, and that's what verse 3 indicates. Remember the prisoners as if chained with them, those who are mistreated, since you yourselves are in the body also. So if we don't remember the prisoners, if we don't pray for prisoners, if we are not concerned with the suffering among us, then arguably we are not letting brotherly love continue. This is not an optional command.
It's not something that the super spiritual in particular churches undertake, but it's for all the people of God to make a priority in their lives. We are to let brotherly love continue. Certainly we love our families, certainly we love our church, certainly we love the various persons in our lives that are valuable to us, but the apostle wants us to extend ourselves, not just to love those who are near you, not just to love those who are within your own context, but rather to love strangers, those who are perhaps difficult to love because you don't know them, you don't know what they're about, you don't know if you click with them, nevertheless you are to love them. As well, we are to love the prisoners.
We are to love those who suffer for the cause of Christ.
Content of the Command
Now, let's look at this particular command specifically.
The Duty: Remember with a View to Action
Note the duty involved. We are to remember them. Now, one famous dictionary defines it this way. Remember to care for them.
It's not just remember that they're there, but remember in order to try and help them. It's remember with a view to taking action. Remember for good, to remember in a way which will benefit the person concerned in some way or other. Perhaps someone has asked you before, will you remember me in prayer?
You say, yes, I'll remember you in prayer. If you don't pray for them, then you haven't remembered them in prayer, you see? It's not just saying that I will recall that there is this particular situation, but I will undertake, insofar as I am able to, to try and alleviate the problem that's involved, be it prayer, be it some other type of tangible ministry. We see the verb used in various places, specifically in Luke 23 at verse 42.
The thief on the cross told Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. I doubt that the thief was concerned that when Jesus came into his kingdom, he would just remember that there happened to be this thief hanging on the cross next to him. No, it was remember me with a view to helping me. Remember me with a view to care for me.
The Apostle Paul in Galatians 2, when he's highlighting the fact that he met the Jewish leaders or the Jerusalem leaders of the church, and they said to Paul and his companions, they desired only that we should remember the poor, the very thing which I also was eager to do. Again, he's not just saying, we remember that there were poor people out there. But when you trace through the book of Acts and you look at the epistles in light of the book of Acts, Paul is doing something very specific and tangible, and he makes good on what he's doing in Acts chapter 21. There was a prophet by the name of Agabus who prophesied that there was going to be a famine in Judea, and that did take place.
That actually occurred. So Paul went to the Gentile churches and he asked them to cough up. He asked them to give their dough, give their money. He specifies or spells this all out in the book of Romans in chapter 15.
If the Gentiles have benefited from the Jews, now that the Jews in Judea are in trouble, the Gentiles ought to dig deep and ought to give money to try and alleviate the poor people suffering famine conditions. So he's not saying, I was just eager to remember that there were poor people out there, No, I was eager to remember that there were poor people out there with a view to helping them, a view to caring for them. Another thing we ought to observe with reference to the command itself, remember, is that it's a present tense verb. That means it indicates a continual action.
You're not supposed to just remember this on a Sunday morning or on a Wednesday night when we read Voice of the Martyrs. Now, thankfully, God willing, that's a means and a help to all of us to try and keep these things before our minds and hearts, but it ought not to be the case that, you know, Monday and Tuesday and Thursday, Friday, Saturday, we give no thought whatsoever to anybody but ourselves. No, we're really supposed to remember those who are in chains. It's a present, a verb that indicates a continual action.
As well, the implication involved. Now, generally, let brotherly love continue. I said the implication is that brotherly love was there, but they're being exhorted and encouraged to keep on in it. The fact that he says, remember the prisoners, might indicate that it's easy to forget them.
It's easy to not remember them. In fact, John Owen makes this observation. He says, it seems those that are at liberty are apt to forget Christ's prisoners, that they had need to be enjoined to be mindful of them. In other words, they had to be told to remember the prisoners.
Owen also makes this very perceptive observation. He says, usually more fail in neglect of their duty towards sufferers and so fall from their profession. Imagine that, somebody falls from their profession because they weren't consistent in remembering the prisoners. He goes on to say, well let me just read it again because you got to feel the whole sense here. usually more fail and neglect of their duty towards sufferers and so fall from their profession than do so fall under and on the account of their suffering.
In other words, more often it is the case that persons fail to remember and therefore fall from their profession than actually fall from their profession because they're suffering. See, it's easier to suffer than even remember those who suffer. That's the nature of the command. We are to remember.
The Objects: Prisoners for the Gospel
Now, notice the objects we are to remember. Remember the prisoners. The original audience would be able to identify with this reality. Look at Hebrews 10.
Hebrews chapter 10, specifically verses 32 to 36. They knew what it was like to suffer persecution for the cause of Jesus Christ. But recall the former days, 1032, in which, after you were illuminated, you endured a great struggle with sufferings, partly while you were made a spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations, and partly while you became companions of those who were so treated. For you had compassion on me and my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven.
Therefore, do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward." So there is this emphasis or there's this idea, even within the context of the book itself, that these were realities. People were suffering. People were hurting. People were in prison.
People had their stuff confiscated. People had discomfort inflicted upon them as a result of their commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the background to all of this is broad. I think we find it already in Genesis chapter 3.
God says that He will put enmity between the seed of the woman and the serpent. It's a God-imposed enmity. There's an antithesis between those who are in line with the devil and those who are in line with Christ. You see it already after Genesis chapter 3.
Cain murders Abel. Why is that? Because Cain was a God-hating rebel and Abel feared the Lord. And then it just rolls on from there.
The people of God are targeted. They are persecuted. They suffer. Notice the various places in the New Testament that highlights this reality for the people of God.
Matthew chapter 5. We'll just look at a few here. There are plenty that we could look at in terms of the reality that the people of God oftentimes suffer for the cause of God, and those who are not suffering ought to remember them, ought to seek to encourage them, and ought to bring them before the throne of grace. It's our responsibility.
It's a command. It is an application of the love that we are supposed to demonstrate. Jesus said in John 13, 35, "...by this all men will know that you are my disciples." If you're a Reformed Baptist, if you study the 1689 Confession of Faith, if you come on Saturday morning and study Berkhoff's system, no, "...by this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." And it's easy to love people that we love. It's more difficult to love the strangers and the sufferers, and this is precisely what the apostle is saying.
In other words, get our eyes off of ourselves, get our eyes off of our immediate context, and get our eyes onto something that God says is necessary. Notice in Matthew 5.10, Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven.
For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Now many of you might not know this, but C. H. Spurgeon suffered a lot.
I mean, he wasn't in, you know, Iran, he didn't get his head chopped off for the cause of the gospel, but the press, the secular press in London at that time used to continually poke fun at him. They used to, persons outside of sort of Reformed and Baptistic circles used to consistently attack him. I mean, he suffered a lot for the cause of God and truth. His faithful wife, Susie, commissioned a man to print this out on a great big picture, a great big framed thing, and put it up above their bed so that when he got up in the morning and he was sitting there putting on his socks or whatever Spurgeon did to get himself ready for the day, he could refresh his thoughts or he could refresh his heart with a view to this particular promise, blessed are you who are persecuted for righteousness' sake.
Notice in Acts chapter 5, we could spend all night in the book of Acts just to indicate the persecution and the suffering that the faithful people of God undergo as a result of the gospel of the Lord Jesus. But just specifically, Acts 5 verse 40, this is when the apostles are told not to preach the gospel. Gamaliel says, you shouldn't do this. You shouldn't oppose this.
And then in verse 40, it says, they agreed with him. And when they had called for the apostles and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus and let them go. So they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. And daily in the temple and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.
Acts chapter 12. Acts chapter 12. Remember when the two sons of Zebedee come to the Lord Jesus and say, grant, Lord, that we may sit on your right and on your left when you come in your kingdom. And Jesus says, you don't know what you ask.
Are you going to undergo the baptism that I undergo? Are you going to drink the cup that I drink? And they said, oh, we're able to do so, Lord. And then Jesus does say, you will indeed be baptized.
He's not talking about water baptism. He's talking about baptism with suffering, baptism with pain, baptism with hardship. Now, those two sons of Zebedee were James and John. Here's that particular James, and here's what he got in the early church, Acts 12.1.
Now, about that time, Herod the king stretched out his hand to harass some from the church. Then he killed James, the brother of John, with the sword. And because he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to seize Peter also. Now, it was during the days of unleavened bread.
So when he had arrested him, he put him in prison and delivered him to four squads of soldiers to keep him, intending to bring him before the people after Passover. So one man is butchered. Another man is in prison. Notice in Acts 14, first missionary journey by the apostle Paul.
First, Acts 14, specifically verse 19. Then Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there, and having persuaded the multitudes, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead. However, when the disciples gathered around him, he rose up and went into the city, and the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe. Now note verse 21.
And when they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch. strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, we must, through many tribulations, enter the kingdom of God." I suppose that when Paul preached that, nobody raised their hand and said, what do you mean? What do you possibly... Paul was just stoned. That takes an effect or an impact upon a man.
And when he stands up and he's bearing on his body the brand marks of Jesus, and he says, we must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God, his body's preaching the same message. And so you don't have to, you know, ask, what do you mean by that? They knew exactly what he meant by that. If you follow the rest of the book of Acts, you see Paul the apostle very specifically on the run, under arrest, all sorts of things.
I think he summarizes it well in 2 Corinthians 11. 2 Corinthians 11, beginning in verse 22. Again, just showing you that the early church knew something about prisoners for the Lord Jesus Christ They knew something about persecution and suffering. The Apostle here tells them to let brotherly love continue, and one of the concrete illustrations of that love is the fact that they would remember the prisoners. 2 Corinthians 11.22, are they Hebrews? So am I.
Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I.
Are they ministers of Christ? I speak as a fool, I am more. Now, you've got to remember what Paul's doing in 2 Corinthians. Persons had come along and basically put down Paul to the Corinthian church.
They had come along and they had said, he's not really in this for your well-being. He likes money, and he likes prestige, and he likes power, and he's just trying to use you. So 2 Corinthians, in many respects, is Paul's defense of Paul. He's not defending himself because of his honor and his integrity.
He's defending himself because of the Corinthians. He preached the true gospel to them. And if they now believe that the apostle was a fake, a deceit, or a fraud, they would reject the gospel that he preached. That's why 2 Corinthians sounds apologetic. not apologizing, not I'm sorry, but a defense of Paul and his ministry.
And this is precisely what he's countering here. These super apostles that had come in, these super men, these eminent ones saying how great they were. And so Paul is saying here, they think they've got something, here's what I've got. Again, not so that he can parade himself and his accomplishments, but so that the Corinthians will believe the gospel that he himself preached.
It says, are they ministers of Christ? I speak as a fool, I am more. In labors more abundant. You know what else Paul got besides what these super apostles had?
He says, I had more in terms of this, but he says this, in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure. In prisons more frequently, in deaths often. From the Jews five times I receive 40 stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods.
We read this stuff, we don't really ponder it. I don't know that I could take one lash from a whip and be happy afterwards or be worshipping and praising. I'd probably need time in ICU. to lick my wounds." Do you see what he says? Five times he received 40 stripes minus one.
Three times he was beaten with rods. That's probably a reference to the Roman magistrate. Remember that the Jews were under the law of God. The law of God specified You are not supposed to exceed 40 lashes.
That's why they went 40 minus 1. We don't want to get anywhere near violating the law of God. I mean, the fact that they're beating and scourging an innocent man didn't really comport, but we're not going to go over 40 here. But when these Romans administered the rod, I don't think they cared one whit about the Mosaic law and its stipulation concerning no more than 40.
So we don't know how many times these Romans beat Paul in terms of the actual number of strikes. But he says, three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I've been in the deep, in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren, in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness, Besides the other things, this just kills me, what comes upon me daily, my deep concern for all the churches. Not only am I beaten up, I'm worried about you Corinthians because you're actually entertaining these guys instead of listening to the gospel that I preach to you. I'm out there getting hammered and I have to deal with you because you're listening to these liars that have come in.
I think this would be a good passage when we feel like, you know, nobody has ever suffered like we do. You know, my life is full of toil and tribulation and difficulty and nobody has the aches and the pains that I suffer with. Just open 2 Corinthians 11, 22 and following and let that minister to your soul. Look at what the apostle went through for the glory of God and for the good of the churches.
He says, Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation? If I must boast, I will boast in the things which concern my infirmity. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying.
And Damascus, the governor, under Eratos, the king, was guarding the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desiring to arrest me. but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped from his hands." I mean, if we get bumped from, you know, preferred seating somewhere, we get a little bent out of shape. The Apostle Paul is being lowered out of a city in a basket and escaping through a window in the wall. I mean, this is real. This is what the church has historically known.
I would argue, I haven't done the research, I'm sure there's data that may support this, probably what we experience here in Canada and in the United States over the last couple hundred years is unprecedented in terms of a lack of harassment on the church. I mean, I'm not saying it's not growing. I'm not saying that there's not, you know, it on the horizon. I certainly think that if things keep going the way they're going, we better be a lot more schooled in this theme than we already are.
But brethren, I mean, we really have a lot of freedoms and a lot of liberties, and we're still lazy and apathetic and so lacking in terms of zeal and commitment. I mean, we have been given much. What does God say? He who's been given much is supposed to produce much, not just to abuse it and neglect it and not use it.
I mean, it's just amazing the good things we have. And yet, boy oh boy, we just can't come to church because, you know. My pinky hurts. I just don't understand some of the mindset that we go through.
Anyways, back to Scripture. 2 Timothy 3.12, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Another is 1 Peter 4.12-19. But you get the point. The objects we are to remember are the prisoners, those people who suffer for the cause of God and truth.
Now, they're prisoners for the gospel. Peter makes that distinction. Notice in 1 Peter 4. just kind of alluded to it, but look at something here. This is something where the people of God need to take heed as well.
Notice in 4.12, Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you as though some strange thing happened to you. You know what Peter's saying? Expect it. If some bad things happen to you for the cause of Christ, don't freak out.
You really ought to be more surprised that nothing bad ever happens to you for the cause of Christ, right? I mean, this is what he says. Do not think it's strange. If there's trial because you're faithful, that's not the odd thing.
That's normal. You see, this world hates God. This world is against Yahweh and against His Christ. This world raises its fist at God.
This world cannot get to God and throw Him off of His throne, so they will take His representatives, His followers, His people, and they will try and dash them onto the ground. So, it really ought not to surprise us. But notice what else Peter says, we are to exult in it. Exult, E-X-U-L-T.
That means to rejoice in it. Notice in verse 13, but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. Sounds like Peter was paying attention when Jesus taught the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus spoke Matthew 5, 10 to 12 in the hearing of Peter, and this passage certainly indicates that Peter understood.
Notice as well, verse 14, "...if you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their party is blaspheme, but on your party is glorified." Now, Peter now says, you need to evaluate the cause of your suffering. So expect it, verse 12, exult in it, verses 13 and 14, but evaluate its cause, verses 15 to 18. Let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people's matters.
Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter. Sometimes people come home from work and they say, wow, my co-workers are so mean to me because I'm a Christian. Maybe it's not because you're a Christian, but because you're a busybody. Peter's saying you need to evaluate its cause.
It may not be that you're as faithful as you think you are. It may be that you're just obnoxious. You're offensive. Instead of working, you're whining, grumbling, moaning, and complaining.
And if they don't like you as a result of that, don't boast in being a Christian. Don't bring that discredit upon our dear Lord, who tells you whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your mic. You ought not to be the whiner at the lunchroom, you ought to be the faithful employee. So, evaluate its cause.
If you're in prison for murder, yeah, we're going to remember you for sure. God grant them repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus. But when the Apostle is telling us in Hebrews 13, remember the prisoners, we are to assume from the rest of the Bible, they're prisoners for the cause of God and truth. because they're murderers or rapists or pedophiles or something like that. Again, we could still visit and remember and all that sort of thing, but the point in Hebrews 13 is that brethren you love are now in the pokey because of their commitment to the Lord Jesus.
And then if you're interested, the last E in that section is entrust yourself to God. Verse 19, therefore, let those who suffer, look at this, according to the will of God, She can't believe I'm going through this. It's according to the will of God. Is there anything that happens outside of the will of God?
Do you live in a world, a universe governed by chance or fate? No, you live in a world governed by God. How does God execute his decree? Through the works of creation and providence.
All things happen according to the will of God. I mean, look at this passage. Again, I don't know how anybody could ever balk against sovereignty. Therefore, let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good as to a faithful Creator.
Isn't that a beautiful implication as well? You're suffering, you need to commit your souls to God in doing good. You're suffering. What's the temptation or tendency when we're suffering?
Whining, grumbling, complaining, sniveling. No, no. You're supposed to do good even when you're suffering. You mean I don't get a break?
I'm going through these hardships. Can't I just chill out? No. Doesn't matter that you're suffering.
It's according to the will of God and you're still supposed to do what's good in trusting your soul to this faithful creator. So there's quite a theology of suffering that we could develop in the scriptures. But back to Hebrews 13. So we see the duty to remember, it's a remember to care for them, remember with a view to taking action.
The specific persons we are to remember are the prisoners, those who are mistreated. And then
The Reason: Solidarity in the Body
notice in the final place with reference to the command, the reason we are to remember. says, remember the prisoners as if chained with them. In other words, see yourself in solidarity with them. And he develops this a bit further. Those who are mistreated, since you yourselves are in the body also.
Now this could mean you're in the body, you know what it's like to be physically deprived. You're in the body, you know what it would be like to have your goods confiscated. You're in the body, you know what it would be like to be, you know, close to dying for the cause of the Lord Jesus. That's certainly there.
I mean, I think if I consider Asia Bibby, for instance, and she's been away from her family for however long, I'm in the body. I know what that would be like for me to be away from my wife and kids for that long. That's certainly something that we identify with. Or it could be the reference, I think, in light of what he's already said, as if chained with them, since you yourselves are in the body also.
The solidarity of the church. In other words, if one of us suffers, we all suffer. Doesn't the Lord Christ identify with this church? Isn't it beautiful when Jesus comes to Paul on the road to Damascus?
Well, at that time, Saul of Tarsus, and when Saul says, Who art thou, Lord? What does he say? I am Jesus, whom what? whom you are persecuting. It's an amazing statement, isn't it?
At that point, Jesus had been enthroned at the right hand of God Almighty. Jesus comes and makes an appearance to the Apostle Paul, and he tells him, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. What's the implication? Jesus says, if you persecute my church, you are persecuting me.
If you persecute Asia Bibi, you're persecuting us. If you persecute someone in our local body, you have all of us in your crosshairs. And so therefore, we are in the body also. We ought to therefore uphold brethren that suffer.
The language of Romans 12.15 I think is very appropriate. Rejoice with those who rejoice. If somebody came here tonight and said, I need to share something. I found a sack of money and the police said that I could keep it because it had been drug dealers and they got caught and they're all gone.
We'd probably say, that's great, good. We would rejoice in that. Hopefully, we wouldn't begrudge you and go home and whine about it. Why can't I ever find money?
No, we would rejoice with those who rejoice. But it goes on to say, and weep with those who weep. Brethren, that's not just, again, for a few in the church. Well, you know, they got a ministry of weeping, and they really sympathize, and they're compassionate.
This is for all of us. Let brotherly love continue. I don't know why we oftentimes think, well, there's elders that will do that, or there's deacons that will do that, or there's really spiritual people in the church, or there's these people that are... No, it's for all of us.
Do you understand that? The commands that come to us in the New Testament aren't specifically directed at one group of people. It's like Jude 3. This is just an illustration.
Is that to the pastors? To the seminary professors? To the doctors? It's for every Christian.
We're all supposed to do that. 1 Peter 3, always be ready to give a reason for the hope that is within you, in meekness and fear. He's not addressing, okay, I'm talking to the rabble, but now I'm going to talk to the right reverends, and here's what you need to do in terms of your... No! It's all of us that are addressed in the New Testament Scriptures, and all of us need to let brotherly love continue.
We need to illustrate or extend this love to strangers and to sufferers. And the specific reasons are given to us by the Apostle as if chained with them, since you yourselves are in the body also. I think both things are appropriate. Think about what kind of a hardship it would create to you if you were taken out of your home and you were put into a prison.
That would really be a terrible thing, wouldn't it? Again, I can't identify with that. I don't know what it's like to be Asia Bibi. I don't know what it's like to not come home at the end of the day to a wife and kids.
It's just foreign. But this is happening to people all over the world as we sit here tonight. I mean, our problem is, wow, that rain's pretty loud tonight. I don't know if I'm going to hear it.
He's got a bit of a cough. Brethren, there's real life suffering all over the place. And what the Apostle says is that we need to let brotherly love continue. And one of the means by which that brotherly love continues is to remember the prisoners.
Remember them.
Application
Now, as I said, some practical application. Some examples, in case we haven't given enough, let's look at some Old Testament examples of suffering. This is right there in the book of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 11, 35b-38. As I suggest, or as I submit, these people reading the book of Hebrews would have seen, would not have had to be saying, whoa, what do you mean?
There's prisoners? Of course they knew this. Look at this. The people of God were mocked and scourged.
Again, just going to quickly glance through Hebrews 11, 35 to 38. The people of God were chained and in prison. Joseph was in prison. Micaiah the prophet, 1 Kings 22.
Jeremiah the prophet. Could you imagine putting your filthy mitts on Jeremiah to chain and imprison him? I mean, this was the weeping prophet. This is the man who composed Jeremiah and the Lamentations.
How do you take that man and put him in a prison? You've got to be a wretch. And then the people of God were stoned. Paul the apostle, we just saw it in Acts 14.
Zechariah the priest, 2 Chronicles 24. Tradition says that Jeremiah was stoned in Egypt by the apostate Jews. Remember, Jeremiah ends up in Egypt. Well, tradition suggests that he was stoned there by apostate Jews.
Now, the apostle here says the people of God were sawn in two. I mean, the godless are imaginative in the way that they dispatch the people of God. They saw them in two. I mean, this really shouldn't be surprising to us over the last couple years watching or seeing these ISIS videos where they just cut heads off.
I mean, that's just the reality. The wicked despise the righteous and will do horrific things. Now, I remember when I first started going through the book of Hebrews, got to Hebrews 11, I would read in my Bible reading the sawing in two, and there's no marginal reading or no note or any particular reference there, like who it was. Commentators pretty much suggest that it was Isaiah the prophet.
Again, I mean, could you imagine taking that man, Isaiah the prophet, the man who penned Isaiah 53 and sawing him in two? That's criminal on a whole host of levels. I mean, that's just as reprehensible as it gets. The people of God were tempted, probably tested is the idea behind the word there.
And then the people of God wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented, of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains and dens and caves of the earth. something we just really don't identify with. I mean, this is, you know, so not the way it is in Canada and in the U.S. We have homes and stability and clothes and comfort and warmth.
If it gets cold, we turn on the heat. If it's hot, we turn on the air. We need milk or water, there's a box that always has it. If that box runs out, we go down to the big box at the end of the block and we can purchase one, and it's not that much.
I mean, come on, in the grand scheme of things. This is what the people of God suffered. Philip Hughes in his excellent commentary on the book of Hebrews says, the language is vividly descriptive of the savage indignities and severe hardships which men and women of faith have been willing to endure rather than deny the truth by which they have been liberated. It depicts, moreover, the fierce hatred of the unbelieving world in its guilty hostility to the truth as it ruthlessly hunts and assaults those whose trust is in the immutability of the divine promises." I think he's brilliant there.
It points out, yes, the hostility and the enmity and the wretchedness of men, but the faith of the people that endure that. And why does the book of Hebrews tell us they did that? Because they counted the reward of Christ better. It wasn't just, you know, I just love to suffer.
I just love pain. I just, you know, torment me, torture me. I mean, Hebrews 11, where it speaks of Moses, he chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin. Why?
Because he esteemed the reward greater. The people of God always have better in their future. That's why they'll go to prison. That's why they'll be sawn into.
That's why they'll get stoned. That's why they'll wander in goatskins and sheepskins and be destitute and be mocked and be stoned and be skirted, all that. because Christ is altogether lovely and chief among 10,000. I mean, did you get that in Acts 5? They were beaten, and what did they do?
They rejoiced that they had been counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. I mean, that's what's behind this. Yes, the enmity, the wickedness, the world, the antithesis, even wrought by God himself in the garden at the very beginning, but it's also a display of the faithfulness of those prisoners who are now in chains. We need to remember them.
We need to thank God for them. I mean, I think we've got the wrong heroes today. We pay guys, you know, billions of dollars and, you know, wear shirts with their names on them because they can throw a ball. And you got the people of God that are like faithful unto death and nobody knows their names.
It's really, you know, we ought to teach our children who the real heroes are. The real heroes are in our church that are faithful, they're consistent, they do what God says. Those are heroes, not somebody that can, you know, hit a puck. I mean, as noble as a task as that might be, it is nothing compared to the faithfulness of God's people.
Practical Benefits of Obedience
And then some practical benefits of obedience to this command. When we actually take Hebrews 13.3 seriously, when we remember the prisoners, what are some practical benefits?
Prisoners Are Easily Forgotten
Well, in the first place, we need to remember the prisoners because they are easily forgotten. You've heard that adage, out of sight, out of mind. I think abortion is the same thing. Most of us don't look at pictures of abortion.
Most of us don't educate ourselves on abortion. It's out of sight, out of mind. We don't pray against abortion and abortionists because we don't think about it. Well, perhaps we ought to think about it.
Write it on our, you know, daytimers or put it in our iPhones and, you know, the alert. Think about these. We live in a God-hating world where babies are being murdered, where, you know, the elderly are now being murdered, the infirm are being murdered, and where people are in prison for the Lord Jesus Christ. If it's out of sight, it's out of mind.
Jesus Commends Remembering Prisoners
Secondly, we need to remember the prisoners because Jesus commends this activity. He commends this. We're going to see this in Matthew 25. Jesus says, I was naked and you clothed me.
I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me. Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me." Now brethren, I preach justification by faith every week. I saw a quote by Luther, I preach justification every week because my people keep on forgetting it.
I think that's a good way to approach that. Justification by faith, by grace through faith alone. But that does not militate against or disregard the place of good works. It is justification by faith alone in Christ alone that's the foundation for the works that follow.
If we don't have this, we won't produce that. This doesn't get us to heaven, but it's the evidence that by God's grace we're going to heaven. And this is what Jesus says, I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me.
I was in prison and you came to me. This is what Christ commends as well. Remember the prisoners in order to pray for them. When you remember them, hopefully you'll remember them enough to say, oh Lord, please bless Asia and help her to get out of this predicament.
Fourthly, remember the prisoners in order to give tangible aid to them. Say it wasn't Asia Bibi over in Afghanistan or Pakistan, and it was Cam Porter in a prison in Vancouver. Drive there and bring him something warm. Drive there and feed the guy.
I mean, we really are supposed to do those sorts of things. Fifthly, remember the prisoners in order to visit them, just to go and see them. You don't have to talk to them, counsel them, just go visit them. I mean, anybody who's been in the hospital or anybody who's sick knows the value of somebody who's come to visit them.
It's just a blessed thing. Remember the prisoners in order to write to them. That's a legit thing. I remember years ago, we need to get this back.
Youth group night, we would just write to prisoners. We'd get lists and write to prisoners. That's a good thing. Or write to magistrates and tell them to let them go.
Remember the prisoners in order to demonstrate Christian compassion. Remember the prisoners in order to help them to persevere. I gotta think, if I was in the prison and they said, hey, you got five letters from, you know, I don't know what a Chilliwack is, but you got five letters from there, and, you know, five people saying, you know, press on, brother, be faithful. I mean, what would that be like if you were in their situation?
And then remember the prisoners in order to pray for their persecutors. I mean, Saul of Tarsus was on his way to do serious damage to the church. Praise God that Jesus came and saved him. Now, I think we can pray for either A, their salvation, or B, their restraint.
And that restraint may come via punishment, so I think that's a legitimate expression of an imprecatory prayer. As well, remember the prisoners to express the love that is the identifying mark of the believer. And then A.W. Pink makes an observation that I think is golden.
He says, remember the prisoners to get our eyes off of ourselves. If you haven't figured it out, you probably will at some time. Self is the greatest enemy in the Christian life. I mean, we've got the world and we've got the flesh and we've got the devil.
The devil might be busy on a given day and not messing with us. We might be on a desert island somewhere and not have the world, but we got us. No matter where we are, we got us. And we got enough in us to be just as terrible as we could possibly be.
Put us in the best environment, Adam in the garden, we will sin. Put us in the worst environment, we will sin. It's just an inevitability. But it gets our eyes off of self.
Do you know what you're not thinking about while you're praying for the persecuted church? You're not thinking about yourself. Pink says, most reprehensible and unchrist-like is that selfish callousness which says, I have enough troubles of my own without concerning myself over those of other people. Putting it on the lowest ground, such a spirit ministers no relief.
The most effectual method of getting away from our own sorrows is to seek out and relieve others in distress." That's a great lesson. You got problems? Go serve somebody. Go help somebody.
Go do something nice. Look at 2 Timothy chapter 1. 2 Timothy chapter 1, the example of Anesiphorus. 2 Timothy 1.15, This you know, that all those in Asia have turned away from me, among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes. The Lord grant mercy to the household of Anesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chain. See, this is probably what lay behind Paul's statement in Philippians 1.
Some preach Christ with goodwill, with heartfelt joy, and others out of envy and spite. People were ashamed of Paul because he was in chains. Right? They were ashamed of the apostle because he was in prison.
He knew why he was in prison. He wasn't there because he was a wrongdoer. But not Onesiphorus. He was not ashamed of my chain.
But when he arrived in Rome, he sought me out very zealously and found me. The Lord grant to him that he may find mercy from the Lord in that day, and you know very well how many ways he ministered to me at Ephesus. So those are some things that we ought to consider with reference to the practical benefits. And one final observation.
Grace Available to Sufferers
We need to consider the grace of God available to sufferers. The grace of God available to sufferers. My wife and I had a very excellent time this morning. We went and we got sworn in. as Canadian citizens.
And one of the things that the judge did not say is that you will never have persecution in Canada. You will always be left alone for your Christian faith. No, there's no promise. Judge couldn't give it.
The whole system can't give it. The Lord Jesus has never given it either. We need to understand. There may be suffering.
And I know we suffer. I'm not neglecting the physical pains and the trauma. You know what I mean. you know, breathing down on our necks in terms of prison, hardship, deprivation, confiscation of goods and property. Owen says, with reference to this potential inevitability, he says, it is better, and I hope we all agree, more safe and honorable to be in bonds with and for Christ than to be at liberty with a brutish, raging, persecuting world.
Better to be in bonds with and for Christ than to be at liberty with a brutish, raging, persecuting world. We need to understand that God does give grace in times of suffering. Turn to Acts 7. Acts chapter 7.
I love the way that Stephen finishes his sermon. It's also intriguing the way he begins his sermon. Look real quick at 7.2. Brethren and fathers.
He didn't come right out of the gate with what he does at the end. So brethren and fathers, but as he's rehearsing the history of Israel and their continual rejection of the prophets, culminating even in what's going on with him, he brings it home in 51 and says, you stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute?
And they killed those who foretold the coming of the just one, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it. Now, do you think they all love that? He just called us stiff-necked and uncircumcised and heart and ears. What a nice Bible study that was.
No? When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart and they gnashed at him with their teeth. See, in Acts 2 they were cut to the heart and they cried out, what must we do? And Peter says, repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.
Not so here. They're gnashed, or rather they're cut to the heart, but instead they respond with venom and rage. They gnashed at him with their teeth, notice, but he being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. You see the grace that God gives to sufferers.
And notice it's the triune God. All three persons of the Godhead are present at the stoning of Stephen in this instance. He's filled with the Holy Spirit, he gazes into heaven, he sees the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. Why is Jesus standing?
Doesn't the book of Hebrews make much out of the fact that once Jesus finished his redemptive work on behalf of his people, he ascends on high, he sits at the right hand of God Most High. I mean, there's a big theological distinction there. The high priest on the Day of Atonement would go into the Holy of Holies, he'd offer up the sacrifice, and then he'd get out. He didn't sit out on the mercy seat.
He didn't chill out. He didn't, you know, do anything that would cause him to linger in there. He did his business and he got back out lest he should die. The book of Hebrews says that Christ sat down after his work.
It's to illustrate the theology of the completion of the once for all sacrifice. Doesn't mean Jesus never stands up because we see that in fact he does. Gil, I think, is right when he says that Jesus standing here evidences or indicates two things. In the first place, it indicates to Stephen Jesus' willingness to receive him unto himself.
That after he goes through this ignoble death, after he suffers the stones of these violent men, Christ is there to receive him into his presence and into his glory. He'll also suggest that Jesus is standing in judgment over these wretched men, because it's a tribunal. Stephen's before the Sanhedrin. This is a religious court.
They have him in the dock. But Jesus' standing is suggestive of the fact that it's them who are on trial, and it's them that are ultimately going to pay. But all that to say that God gives grace to sufferers in the midst of their trials and difficulties, and the final thought we ought to entertain is that the Lord Jesus is worth suffering for. The Lord Jesus is worth suffering for.
Whatever they may throw at us, whatever difficulties we may undergo, whatever hardship, if it's state enforced, state imprisonment, heads chopped off, whatever it may be, Christ is altogether lovely and chief among 10,000, and he is worth suffering for.
Closing Prayer
Well, let us pray. Our Father, we thank you for the Word of God, and we pray that you would help us to let brotherly love continue, not just among those whom we know, but among strangers and even to prisoners, God. Give us grace to remember these things, to read these voices of the martyrs, to read other reports that we find even on secular news nowadays, God. I pray that these things would affect us, that we would be prayerful, that we would consider such things. and that it would have that beneficial effect to take our eyes off of ourselves at least for a few moments during the day.
We ask that you would go with us now and watch over us, bless and protect your people in this church, and we pray through Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.