Hebrews chapter 13, as Pastor Cam mentioned today, is the international day of prayer for the persecuted church. I thought it would be good for us to look at the scriptures, specifically Hebrews 13 and verse 3, and to see that this is not just a daily thing we do once a year, but we ought to remember those in chains. We ought to remember those who are suffering for the cause of Christ. The tense of the verb that is used by the Apostle, remember, means it's a continual action.
So in many respects, one day a year is a crock. We ought to be, as God's people, mindful of our brothers and sisters who are suffering. So I'll pick up reading in Hebrews 13 at 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.
I will not fear. What can man do to me? Amen. Well, let us pray.
Our Father, we praise you and we thank you for the written word of God. We thank you that all scripture is given by inspiration of God and that it's profitable. for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. We pray that you would thoroughly furnish us unto every good work. Help us, our Father, to take to heart the admonition here in Hebrews 13.
Help us to remember your people who are throughout this world suffering for the cause of Jesus Christ. Help us, God, not to be so selfish and so self-centered as so often is true of those in the West. We just pray that You would forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness and cause us to take every thought captive to the obedience of Jesus Christ. We thank You, our Father, that the Word of God is going forth throughout the earth.
We thank You that Your Word is running swiftly and being glorified. We thank You that men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation are coming to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. We pray that You would embolden Your church cause them to reflect on that great promise of our Savior who said the gates of hell shall not prevail against her. We ask, Father, that you would just encourage your people, build them up in their most holy faith, and use them to propagate the glorious gospel of free and sovereign grace.
We ask now, Father, that you would help us as we look to your Scripture, and we pray through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Introduction to Hebrews 13
Well, in the particular context here in Hebrews chapter 13 verses 1 to 25 in chapter 13 are some concluding exhortations, some requests and some final greetings. So the bulk of this particular book is taken up with the glory of Jesus Christ as the high priest of the new covenant. The bulk of the book describes how we come out of darkness into marvelous light. And then these latter chapters apply that.
Remember back in Hebrews chapter 10, verses 19 and following, he says, Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he consecrated for us, that therefore follows an exposition of the priestly office of our Lord Jesus Christ. So the truth is, is that when we come out of darkness into marvelous light, Jesus has crown rights over us. Jesus commands us how we are to function in this world. He commands us how we're to think.
He commands us how we are to live. And in Hebrews 13, the author is concluding with some very vital elements of biblical religion. As we look at the context specifically, we notice a general command in verse one. Hebrews 13, verse 1, let brotherly love continue.
That is an emphasis throughout the New Testament. We are to be lovers of the brothers. We are to love those for whom Jesus died and rose again. In fact, John the Apostle in his first epistle makes it very clear that this is one indicator, one way that we know we have passed from death to life if we love the brethren.
If we don't love the brethren, than we haven't passed from death to life. His logic is simple. How can we say we love God who we can't see if we don't love our brother who we can see? So the broad text or the broad command in chapter 13 of Hebrews is to let brotherly love continue.
And then he gives two specific applications. Notice in verse two, he applies this to strangers. Verse two, do not forget to entertain strangers for by so doing, some have unwittingly entertained angels. I believe the reference there is to Abraham with those three men who were ultimately angels of the Lord.
The idea is that we are to be benevolent. We are to be kind. We are to be compassionate and loving. We're to be others minded.
So let brotherly love continue with a specific application to strangers, to those who are outside of our normal circles. And then he applies it to sufferers. Let brotherly love continue for the stranger, and then in verse three for the sufferer. Verse three, remember the prisoners as if chained with them.
Those who are mistreated, since you yourselves are in the body also.
Three Considerations Announced
We're going to take up this command under three considerations. The first, the duty to remember. It is a command. It is an imperative.
You don't have the right to live your life as if Hebrews 13.3 doesn't exist. You don't have the right to be selfish and self-centered. You don't have the right to be negligent of the fact that our brethren are suffering throughout the world for the cause of Christ. So the duty to remember, the objects we are to remember, and thirdly, the reason we are to remember.
And then we'll conclude with some application.
The Duty to Remember
But notice, remember. The verb used means this. It means remember to care for them. Remember with a view to taking action.
It's not just an assent. Yeah, I think somewhere out there, somebody is having it bad for the Lord Jesus Christ. No, you remember with a specific reason, with concern. Remember them for their good.
To remember in a way which will benefit the person concerned in some way or other. This was the verb or the word used by the thief on the cross when he said to Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. He was not hoping that Jesus would be in his kingdom and say, you know, I met a man while I was on the cross. He was a nice fellow.
No, he meant remember me with the thought and the intention to do good to me. The same thing is brought out in Galatians 2 and verse 10, when the apostle Paul highlights his meeting with the Jerusalem leaders. And he says that they described, or they said to Paul, they desired only that we should remember the poor. Again, not just the idea that there's poor people out there.
If I asked all of you, you could say that. Yes, I have a mental ascent. I know enough. I read the papers.
I see the streets. And I understand that there's poor people out there. No, Paul says that we remember the poor, and then he says the very thing which I also was eager to do. Probably in view was the poor in Judea.
Remember that Paul busied himself going to several Gentile churches, collecting monies so that he could go back to the churches in Judea and bring them tangible aid. So it wasn't just a remembrance that they were suffering. No, it was a remembrance with a desire to do good to their souls, to do good to their bodies. Remember to care for them.
It's already mentioned. It's a present tense, which indicates continual action. That's why the whole idea of having one day out of the year when we, you know, sort of submit ourselves and we give time to think about Brethren in North Korea or in India or in Sudan or China is really a crock. It's almost as bad as having one day out of the year that in that one day we remember aborted babies.
Brethren, these things ought to be in our hearts and our minds. You have to find our vent and our prayers to God. Remember that scene in Ezekiel chapter nine, when the prophet has a vision. He sees six men with slaughtering weapons appear before him.
And then there's one man clothed in linen. He's got a writer's ink horn. Then he hears instruction from the throne room that one man with the writer's ink horn is to go around and mark the foreheads of those in Jerusalem who sighed and cried over the abominations in the land. He's told to go out and find people who care.
Go and find people who are perplexed about the idolatry and the bail worship and the apostasy and defection that is going on. And then he sends those six men with slaughtering weapons behind them to do what? To kill them. Those who didn't, not them who had the mark, but those who didn't bear the mark.
Those who had no mark on their foreheads. Those who didn't sigh and cry over the abominations in the land. Those six men with slaughtering weapons were to destroy And then perhaps most penetrating in that vision is that the prophet hears God's instruction to begin at my sanctuary, begin in the church. Could it possibly be the case that the church cares little to nothing about aborted babies?
They care little to nothing about prisoners? They care little to nothing about those who are suffering for the cause of Christ? Those living under communistic regimes? Those who have to fear for their lives for simply professing faith in Christ?
It's not doing God a favor when we have one day a year where we say, oh, yeah, I'm going to remember those four people and I'm going to feel bad for them. This needs to be in your heart. It needs to be in your mind. It needs to be in your life.
It needs to be an expression of who you are as Christ's people. Remember them. You remember all kinds of other things. You remember everything that makes you happy.
You remember everything that makes you healthy? You remember everything that makes you joyful? You need to take to heart these brethren who are suffering for the cause of Christ. It's simply inexcusable that we are not more conscious of what's going on in this world.
Jesus, our Lord, taught us to pray that God's will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Well, in heaven, they're not cutting the tongues out of professing Christians. In heaven, they're not lopping off feet from preachers. In heaven, they're not butchering little babies in their mother's wombs.
And if Christ taught us to pray this way, then certainly wants us to remember that and to care for that and to do what we can in order. call upon God to render justice. So there is a duty. It is not enough to simply give a verbal assent that we know somewhere in this world Christians are suffering. We are to remember them with a view to doing something about it.
The Objects to Remember
And secondly, the objects we are to remember, the prisoners, those who are mistreated. The original audience that the apostle is writing to would know something about this. Turn to Hebrews 10 for just a moment. Hebrews chapter 10.
This audience was no stranger to suffering. Hebrews 10, verse 32, but recall the former days 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 in my chains and joyfully accepted the pondering 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.
For you have need of endurance so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise. So they were no strangers to suffering themselves. They were no strangers to the reality that people they knew were in trouble. And so he calls upon them, remember the prisoners, and I like this, as if chained with them.
Why? Because we're so selfish that we need to imagine that it's us that is being brutalized. Wouldn't you want somebody, if you were being brutalized, to imagine they were right there with you, as if mistreated with you? That lends itself to an urgency.
It lends itself to a seriousness. It lends itself to actually remembering them. To identify with your brothers and sisters in such a way that you don't think, well, next November, I'll get ready for the International Day of Prayer for the persecuted church. Next November, I'll do a little research and see just how bad it is for the brothers and sisters who are suffering.
No, imagine that you're being mistreated. Remember that statement that Jesus said, treat others as you want them to treat you. You need to consider the fact that brethren are suffering and you need to remember them as if you yourself were chained with them. This speaks to the unity of the body as well.
It speaks to the fact that Jesus Christ is head of a universal church of which we are all members. And if one of us suffers, we all suffer. Christ identifies in that manner when he comes to Saul of Tarsus in Acts 9, when Saul says, Who art thou, Lord? He says, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.
What an amazing statement. When you persecute the church, you are persecuting the Lord Jesus Christ. So if you're persecuting our brethren in North Korea, you are persecuting the church of Jesus Christ. So remember the prisoners as if you were chained with them.
And then as well, we need to
The Seed of the Serpent and the Woman
remember that there's a great big antithesis that occurs between the believer and the unbeliever. Start out in Genesis 3, 15. God said there would be enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. And we see that enmity fleshed out throughout history, don't we?
Don't we? We see it in Genesis 4, when that murderous, wretched, ungodly Cain destroys his brother Abel. We see it with Lamech, we see it with men throughout history, warring against the seed of the woman, warring against Christ's people. This is what we are to expect in this current world.
But the apostle doesn't say, well, just expect it, but don't do anything about it. No, remember that as if you were chained with them, pray for them, care for them, love them. The children of the devil hate God. So what Edward said, God is on his throne, the children of the devil hate him, but they can't get to him to rip him off of his throne.
Don't think for a moment, brethren, if unbelievers had their opportunity to ascend into heaven, they wouldn't take God off the throne and dash him down. That's what they do now through his people. They can't get at God and choke him out. They can't get at God and cut off his limbs.
They can't get at God and gouge out His eyes, so they do it to His people. You are foolish to think otherwise. You are living in a fantasy world if you do not see this antithesis that exists between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman. By that, I mean the wicked and the righteous.
Can somebody turn on this fan, please? Thank you. Anyone? The controls are right over there, up high.
The one on the right, I think, is this upper fan here. So there's an antithesis. Remember the prisoners as if chained with them, those who are mistreated.
The Reason to Remember
And then notice, thirdly, the reason we are to remember. Remember the prisoners as if chained with them, those who are mistreated, since you yourselves are in the body also. Isn't it a Christian response to do this? Isn't it just sickening and wicked not to do this?
What does Paul say in Romans 12, 15? We're to rejoice with those who rejoice. Somebody comes marching into church on a Sunday and says, I got a promotion at work, and we've been praying for that. We all rejoice, don't we?
If somebody comes marching into church and they say, I lost an arm, or I lost a limb, or I lost a loved one, or some bad calamity happened, we weep with those who weep. It's not just our local church here. You need to weep with those who weep in other parts of the world. There are fathers being executed for their profession of faith in Christ, leaving wives and children.
There are being or there are those being brutalized, young girls being raped and brutalized because they're from Christian families. It is a difficult Christian response to weep with those who weep, to care about these things, to take notice of these facts. To realize we live in a world wherein the heavens declare the righteousness of God, but the streets manifest the brutality and the sinfulness of men. Are we those who sigh and cry over the abominations in the land?
If those six men came in right now with slaughtering weapons, would we have to run and hide? Would we have to go get guns and defend ourselves against these men sent from God to execute us because we don't care? How many times can a man turn his head and pretend he just doesn't see the suffering that's going on? Remember them.
It is a Christian response to identify with our suffering brethren and to consider what it means to be separated from family. Isn't that the argument? Remember the prisoners as if chained with them. Remember the prisoners as if now their wives and children are on their own.
Remember the prisoners as if now they have to function without feet. Remember the prisoners who have to function without a tongue. Remember the prisoners who have to function in a manner that we know nothing about. Remember that.
Enter into that. Understand something about it. Again, this isn't just Jim Butler on a rant. This is Hebrews 13, 3.
It is a continual activity. You are to remember the prisoners. Notice the clause. He says, you yourselves are in the body also.
Again, the idea being the unity of the body. When one suffers, we all suffer. When one rejoices, we all rejoice. There is that solidarity.
You know, I think it goes even further than that. Goes even beyond that. since you yourselves are in the body also." Suffering hurts, doesn't it? Losing a limb for the cause of Christ, I don't know because I have mine, must hurt. These brethren who are suffering are not disembodied spirits.
They're not just sort of floating around trying to do good for the cause of Christ. They are men and women, boys and girls, who have blood, who have veins, who have pain nerve endings. They have all these things. They're in the body and they suffer atrocity.
I mean, some of us, brethren, let's just be honest. We get a little bit of a head cold and we are just done. We get a little bit of a turmoil and we fall apart. We hear anything that loves us just a little bit the wrong way and we just stress out.
Imagine losing your husband or your father. Imagine having the news that your daughter was raped because you're Christians. Imagine somebody you know and love that was beheaded because they were faithful unto the end. You need to think about that.
You need to realize also you're in the body and these things can happen to you too. You need to pray for them, hoping and praying that they in turn will pray for you. So that's the command. It's very simple.
It's very easy. It doesn't take a lot of exegesis to understand what's involved here. Remember the prisoners as if chained with them, those who are mistreated, since you yourselves are in the body also.
Application: Examples and Benefits
By way of application, I want to look at a few examples of suffering and then some practical benefits to obeying this command.
Biblical Examples of Suffering
First of all, some examples in the Bible. In the Bible, Hebrews 14, we alluded to, I'm sorry, Acts 14, verse 22, the apostle Paul took as his text in preaching in Derbe, we must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God. Now, for any of you have been here for any time, you know what I'm about to say. The people that he was preaching to didn't have to say, hey, Paul, what do you mean?
Hey, Paul, what are you talking about? Hey, Paul, we just don't understand. Oh, they understood because Paul bore in his own body the brand marks of Jesus. In fact, just prior, the day before, Paul gave that sermon on Acts 14.22.
We must, through many tribulations, enter the kingdom of God. He himself had been stoned. Not in the 21st century North America version. He didn't go out for an all-nighter or for a bender.
He was stoned with stones. Men picked up big rocks to throw at him to try and kill him. This happened at Lystra. Such to the point that his companions and the others thought he was dead.
They dragged his body outside of the city, supposing him to be dead. It's an amazing statement. It says the next day, or actually that day he went back into the city. I'm no strategist, but Paul, that doesn't seem prudent to me.
They just stoned you with stones and you're going to go back into the city? Yeah, I am. And then the very next day he set out for Derby. Now, Derby, mind you, was about 60 miles from Lystra.
That always amazes me. We get a cold and we can't walk to the sink to get a glass of water. Again, I can only reflect on what a baby I am. If I am sick, I ask my wife, could you please do this for me?
Could you please serve me? You adopt the sick voice just to be convincing. You put on the act. You're really sick, but you want to make sure you gain from this exchange.
This man was stoned to the point where people thought he was dead. The next day, he's up. He's walking, not on a bike, not on a skateboard. He's not rollerblading his way to Derby.
He's not taking a little plane. He's not taking a train. He's not on the Derby bus. He's not on a trolley.
He walks to Derby. So when he hobbles up there and he takes us his text, we must, through many tribulations, enter the kingdom of God. No one, I guarantee you, said, what's he talking about? They saw it in his limp.
They saw it in his bruises. They saw it in the fact that he himself had experienced tribulation. Isn't that what he says at the end of Galatians? From now on, let no one trouble me.
He doesn't say it in a proud way. He says, I bear in my body the brand marks of Jesus. How do you know that Paul was a Christian? He bears in his body the brand marks of Jesus.
Sinclair Ferguson, in his little exposition of the Sermon on the Mount, says, did you imagine the day when Paul, the great missionary and apostle, came to visit the churches in Galatia? And some of the kids said, hey, Paul, let's go for a dip in the lake. Paul takes off his outer garment. There you see Galatians 6 emblazoned in his flesh.
You don't have to ask him, what does that mean? Don't let anyone bother me anymore, for I bear in my body the brand marks of Jesus. It was not uncommon in those days to suffer for the cause of Christ. In fact, Paul lays down this principle in 2 Timothy 3.12.
Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. But turn back to Hebrews chapter 11 for just a moment. Hebrews chapter 11, a passage we looked at on Wednesday night. We saw in this passage the realism of the Christian life.
The honesty of God in relating these things to us.
The Suffering Catalogue of Hebrews 11
Notice in Hebrews chapter 11, verse 32, and what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, clenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens, women received their debt, raised to life again." That's great, isn't it? Isn't that amazing? The amazing successes of faith.
Don't you love reading that? I do. It's beautiful. It's wonderful.
Look at what these brothers did. God takes unlikely people like Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah. He takes unlikely David and Samuel and the prophets, and he raises them up, and he does mighty things with them. The operative word here, of course, is faith.
By faith, they subdued kingdoms. By faith, they worked righteousness. By faith, they obtained promises. By faith, they stopped the mouths of lions.
Remember that, Daniel? And the angels did. Right? We like to think of it as Daniel in the lion's den, but the angels were in there protecting Daniel from these vicious lions.
Hungry lions, too. It's an amazing picture. Let me just gloss over that. It's in our memory bank.
Yeah, that's cool. It's amazing. I don't want to get near a hungry dog, let alone a den of lions. Lower me down in there.
I'm going to be freaking out. Daniel goes in there and God preserves him. This is the amazing successes of faith. You read through the Bible, you see those mighty exploits.
You see the Apostle Paul going from city to city, victorious and triumphant. No. Weak, trembling, fearful. but preaching and God blessing and saving sinners. You know, faith isn't just demonstrated in the amazing successes.
Faith is operative in the sufferings as well. This is why the health, wealth, prosperity gospel is garbage. It's heretical. It is sinful.
It cannot justify Hebrews 11.35b to Hebrews 11.38. Notice, others were tortured. Not the non-faith havers. No, it's by faith they were tortured.
You see, that same faith that wins great successes under God is the same faith that garners torture under God. That same faith which shuts the mouths of lions is the same faith that leads one to the death by lions. That same faith that goes into the fiery furnace and is not burned up is the same faith demonstrated by Thomas Hotz when he was burning to death for the cause of Christ, and he raises his stumps and he bangs them together and he says, Christ is Lord of the fire. I defy anybody to stand there and say, well, he doesn't have faith.
Butchery. It's vicious. It's wicked. It's ungodly.
By faith, others were tortured, not accepting deliverance. Notice that they might obtain a better resurrection. Well, just change your mind. Just recant.
Luther, just tell us you didn't write these books and everything will be just dandy. Here I stand. I can do no other. Unless I am convinced by Holy Scripture, my conscience is held captive by the word of God.
These men were offered deals. They were offered plea bargains. You just relax on this worship of Yahweh and we'll let you go. No, they didn't accept deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection.
Notice in verse 36, still others had trial of mockings and scourgings. Boy, if we're out on the road and someone gives us the finger or says anything untoward to us, we're offended forever. They're being mocked for the cause of Jesus. They're being scourged.
That means having their backs whipped or the rest of their bodies whipped. You know it says in Isaiah 53 with reference to Jesus, by his strikes we are healed. You know what the strikes are? They're scourge marks.
When Paul says, I bear in my body the brand marks of Jesus, they're scourge marks. Our brethren have suffered these things throughout the ages. Notice, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. We reflected on a few of these men on Wednesday night.
Remember, Micaiah the prophet. Ahab wants to go into battle. Jehoshaphat says, check with the prophets. He checks with all the prophets on the payroll who tell him exactly what he wants to hear.
Jehoshaphat, being a bit more careful, said, well, isn't there anyone else? Isn't there another prophet? Ahab says, yeah, there's this guy, Micaiah, but I don't like him. He doesn't tell me what I want to hear.
So he calls for him. What's Micaiah say? You've got to get it, brethren. There's irony.
There's joking in the Bible. Micaiah said, yeah, the Lord has told me that you're going to go into battle and be victorious. He's probably going... at the time. Ahab has to reprove him.
Didn't I tell you? Tell me the truth. Yeah, here's what's going to happen. You're going to go into battle and lose.
You're going to be the loser. You are going to be defeated. So what's Ahab do? Send someone over there, smack him in the face, put him in the prison and feed him bread and water until he dies.
Micah says, well, that's the way it goes. It's by faith. This is what people get serving Christ. If you signed up just to stop the miles of lions and quench the violence of the flame, if you signed up just to subdue kingdoms, if you signed up just for the triumphalism and all the victory that you see played out in the Scriptures, there's another angle that you need to be aware of.
Notice in verse 37, they were stoned. Zechariah the priest, 2 Chronicles 24. History and tradition says Jeremiah the prophet. God forbade the people of Judah to go into Egypt.
The prophet told them, do not go into Egypt. What did they do? They went into Egypt. And they took Jeremiah with them.
And tradition tells us Jeremiah kept preaching to them, so they stoned him to death. We don't want to listen to what he has to say, so let's stone him to death. Notice the next one here. We're tempted.
We're slain with the sword. They wandered about. I'm sorry. Verse 37.
They were stoned. They were sawn into. Mentioned on Wednesday night, just having done a bit of study tradition again in history tells us you ready. This is Isaiah, the prophet.
Under King Manasseh. I hope that hurts you like it hurts me. The author of Isaiah 53, the one who penned the servant songs of Jehovah, the one of whom this world certainly was not worthy because he preached Jesus Christ with utter clarity, was sawn in two. That's heartbreaking.
By faith. were tempted, were slain with the sword. They 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. Hughes 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 and its guilty hostility to the truth as it ruthlessly hunts and assaults those whose trust is in the immutability of the divine promises. Brethren, that is just a few examples in the Bible. You know, many scholars have called the 20th century the most bloody in the history of the Christian Church. Martyrdom was not confined to the first century or confined to the several centuries B.C., but rather it is operative today.
It is going on right now. Any given Wednesday night or Sunday morning prayer meeting, we try to read these things. We try to learn about people in various parts of the world suffering for the cause of Jesus Christ. Again, women being butchered, men being butchered, children being butchered for the cause of Christ, being imprisoned, being chained, being tormented, or perhaps they're being ejected from their houses or their businesses.
You know, they raise our taxes a little bit. I'm not here to advocate, you know, arbitrary tax raises. I can get just as worked up about some of that stuff, too. But you know, our taxes go up and everybody freaks out.
They haven't taken our houses away. They haven't taken our businesses away. We're not living under some Muslim regime that tries to extort us for the faith in Jesus. Brethren, that's what people get today.
North Korea is a place where you don't want to be. But there's Christians there. The oppressive hand of Islam. They're not peace loving.
It's not like they all just want to sit around and sing Kumbaya. Wherever they have the dominance, the people of God suffer. Same with Rome. They don't just want to get together and sing Kumbaya here in North America.
When they have supremacy of dominance, Protestants suffer. Hindus. I always thought Hindus and Buddhists just bang their tambourines and sung, you know, whatever love songs in their orange sheets. That's not true.
It's an amazing thing. Remember what the scripture says concerning Herod and Pontius Pilate. Formerly, they didn't like each other. But when it came to targeting Christ, they were at one with one another.
What does Psalm 2 say? Why do the nations rage and the people plot of vain things? All these nations who can't get along with each other are unified in their aggression to God and the land that sits upon His throne. Muslims, Buddhists and Hindus in India are seeking to destroy the people of God every day.
There was a video that went around recently that showed something of what our brethren in India get being beaten with sticks to death. It's not something we see. We see some brutal crime, there's bad things, there's a lot of wickedness even in our part of the world. But for the most part, you're not walking to Walmart and seeing some Christian being beat to death for being a Christian.
Right? So let's be very careful about how much we complain about our woes, our sorrows, our trials, and our difficulties. In many respects, brethren, we have it very Very good.
Ten Practical Benefits of Remembering
So what's some practical benefits? I know this is going to blow your minds. I don't generally like to do this, but I have 10. Don't shut down.
Don't say it's hot. I want to get out of here. No, no, no. Just stay with me.
If this is a command in the scripture, you need to pay attention. Remember the prisoners. 10 practical benefits.
Benefits One Through Three
The first, remember, because prisoners are easily forgotten because they are out of sight. Right? I'm convinced it's this way with abortion. I'm convinced that when you hear about abortion on a Sunday morning, you say, man, it is bad.
It is horrible. It is wicked. But then Monday through Saturday, it's easy to forget. You don't go to the abortion clinic.
You don't read the literature. It's not in your mind. It's not in your sight. It's easy to forget about those silent sufferers.
Well, the same is true with some poor brother living in North Korea who is in prison because he got caught with the scriptures. We just don't think about it. I'm not saying we're Satan. I'm not saying we're the Antichrist.
I'm simply saying we need to consciously stir ourselves up to remember them. Because out of sight is out of mind. Secondly, remember them because Jesus commends such a mindset. Remember in Matthew 25, when the Son of Man comes, He'll gather the nations before Him.
He'll separate the sheep and He'll separate the goats. One of the items of commendation, not condemnation, He says in Matthew 25, 36 and 40, 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, in as much as you did it to one of the least of these, my brethren, you did it to me. Right, Jesus commends it. Don't cut it short.
I never think about the poor or about the suffering. Jesus commends it. He speaks well of it. Thirdly, remember them in order to pray for them.
If you're not remembering them, you're not praying for them. It's an interesting way that our psychology is. If I don't remember something, I'm not going to pray for that something. If I don't remember the fact that there are brethren suffering throughout the earth, I'm not going to pray for them.
Chances are we'll remember them and still not pray, but having that information and knowledge will hopefully move our souls to go and pour out before the throne of grace on their behalf.
Benefits Four Through Six
Fourthly, remember them in order to give tangible aid to them. Remember them in order to give tangible aid. That means money. That means time.
That means energy. It means resources. Remember the old story with George Whitefield. Him and Benjamin Franklin were quite good friends.
Benjamin Franklin, a convinced deist. That means he did not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. He rejected Christianity, but he had a good friendship with Whitefield. There was a time that Whitfield was going to preach, and at the end of his sermon, Whitfield was going to ask for money for the orphans.
Whitfield started orphanages in America. He would take ship rides, come over to America, he would visit these orphans, he would bring money to them, and he made sure that everything was going according to plan. So Benjamin Franklin went into that meeting resolved, not to believe the gospel to be sure, but not to give a cent to Whitfield's orphans. And so as Whitfield preached, and then as Whitfield made his plea on behalf of the orphans, Benjamin Franklin just starts emptying his pockets, just starts dumping the money out.
He said, I couldn't resist. I couldn't resist. I think in some respects, Benjamin Franklin puts a lot of us to shame. He wasn't a Christian.
He did it with wrong motives. But he gave. We as Christians, hearing about these things, ought to think about ways to seek to alleviate some of the suffering. I know many years ago, when our church had a youth group prior, we had a letter-writing night.
That's what I'd like to see more of with the young people here. Write letters to these brethren. I mean, VLM oftentimes gives you names and addresses of where people are. I've got to imagine, if I'm sitting in a cell, you know, however many miles away, and some young Christian writes and says, look, we prayed for you on Friday night, and I wanted to write this letter to encourage you, man, I'm happy getting an email during the week.
That's nice. I've got to imagine if I was over in a situation like that. Remember them in order to give tangible aid. Remember them, fifthly, in order to visit them.
You may not be able to go to some of these places. You may not be able to go to North Korea. You might be able to do something, though, in some capacity, in some way or manner. Six, remember them, as I already mentioned, in order to write to them.
Right to apostate government officials. Right to men who govern in regimes that are wicked and heinous to Christians. Why not? We have that freedom.
We have that liberty. It's not subversion. It's not treason. We're able and free to do such things.
Benefits Seven Through Ten
Seventh, remember them in order to demonstrate Christian compassion. It's a great therapy involved in caring for other people. I know we think therapy is only about people caring for us, but that's not the case. Eighthly, remember them in order to help them persevere.
Imagine that. Some poor brother suffering in a cell somewhere many, many miles away. You write him a letter and it says, brother, I'm praying for you. I want to encourage you.
I want to persevere. I want you to persevere. I remember many years ago, it was one of the first couple of years that we were here. Somebody I never met wrote me a long letter calling me to persevere.
They had heard of a reformed Baptist pastor who fell into sexual sin, who committed apostasy, and who was basically outside the church. This person heard of that. They took pen to paper and wrote me a lengthy letter. And the substance of that letter was persevere.
Don't give in. Don't stray to the right. Don't stray to the left. Persevere.
I'll tell you, that was a great boon, a great benefit, a great blessing to realize somebody I never, ever met took the time to write and say, don't do that. Ninthly, remember them in order to pray for their persecutors. Yes, pray that God will save their persecutors. Yes, pray that God will have mercy on their persecutors.
Many are the stories where people have witnessed the suffering of Christ's people and that has spoken volumes to them such that they then ask questions. They come to know the Savior through that effective witness. So pray for the salvation of those who persecute them. But you can pray also.
And I know there are wings of the evangelical world that disagree with this, but Scripture supports it. Pray for justice. Pray for justice. God either saved them or stopped them.
God can stop a man by breaking out his teeth. Just like saving him. Oh, you can't say that. Psalm 58 does.
It's an amazing thing to me that the souls of just men made perfect in Revelation 6 are under the throne under the altar, and they cry out to God. Let me just read it for you. Again, I think this is such a foreign and contrary position to much of evangelicalism today, that we would actually pray that God would mete out justice upon his enemies. The Bible is full of it.
Not in some vindictive, oh, this guy cut me off in the road. Get him, God. No, not at all. But when there's communistic regimes and there are persons that are persecuting the Church of Christ, God save them or stop them.
Revelation 6, when he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice saying, how long, O Lord, holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth. Isn't that incredible? I don't say, Lord, just do good things to them.
Smile, persecutors. God loves you. Avenge them. This is not a foreign concept biblically.
You remember that classic passage in Romans 12 where Paul tells us not to avenge ourselves? What does he say? Give place to wrath. How do we do that?
One way is by singing the Psalms. That's why much of, I'm not here to say all of, but much of Christian music today does not reflect the biblical masculinity of the book of Psalms, where there is a clear demarcation between the righteous and the wicked, and where the righteous cry out to their God to vindicate his holy name. See, much There are many today who wouldn't want to sing Psalm 94 and dedicate it to the abortionists of this world. God of vengeance, O Jehovah, God of vengeance, O shine forth.
Brethren, this is how we give place to wrath. And if you trace the argument in Romans 12, because you're going to say, if you've got this mindset, give place to wrath means you don't want it. No. Do not avenge yourselves.
Don't get guns and go to the leader of North Korea, shimmy your way in, sneak, paint your face, go in there like an Ihad and take the knife off of your right side and plunge it into his belly. You're not supposed to do that. For Ihad, it was legit. For you, not so much.
Not at all. Don't want to give you any wiggle room there. Not at all. Do not make yourself a knife if you're a lefty and, you know, put it on your right side, sneak your way into the king's quarters and say, I got a message from the Lord for you.
But you give place to wrath. How do you do that? Well, you follow out the argument in Romans chapter 13, and God has instituted capital punishment in society for those who engage in evil works. Why?
Because he is an avenger, the civil magistrate, to execute God's wrath. So it's not just stop thinking about it. No, it's give place to biblical wrath. Call upon the Lord God to execute justice and judgment upon those who would persecute the people of God.
Imagine if somebody came into your house and brutally raped your wife or your children or committed some heinous crime. Would you just tell them on their way out, smile, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life? You wouldn't do that. You would seek to subdue them. for justice sake.
And then tenthly, remember them in order to get your eyes off of yourself. Remember, this is a practical benefit. If I were to ask you in your most honest time, what's the biggest problem in your life? I think you'd say selfishness.
How dare you? I know that's my biggest problem. We live in terms of us. The world revolves around us.
Remember, there was a Copernican revolution in the realm of science and ecclesiology. People thought that the earth was the center of the universe and that everything rotated around it. And then there was a man who came and said, no, the sun is the center of the universe and everything rotates around it. geocentrism or heliocentrism. That's the official language for those positions.
We're all self-centrists. We like to think that the world revolves around us. And one of the best ways to avert such wicked, sinful, godless thinking is to put in our minds and hearts the needs of others. The concerns of others.
A brother or a sister in another part of the world. The world does not revolve around you or me. Listen to what A.W. Pink says with reference to this situation.
He says, most reprehensible and un-Christ-like is that selfish callousness which says, I have enough troubles of my own without concerning myself over those of other people. I have enough troubles of my own without concerning myself over those of other people. I don't have time to think about this. I don't have time to obey Hebrews 13, 3, because I'm much more important.
My needs, my desires, my hurts, my pains, my agonies. I'm not minimizing that. I pray for all of you. You can't say, oh, this guy doesn't.
I pray for everyone in this room. I actually care that you have hurts and pains and trials and issues. My encouragement to you is to stop thinking and focusing and obsessing about your trials and issues and hurts. Think about others.
It's a blessed tonic. He says, putting it on its lowest ground, such a spirit ministers no relief. Now get this. This is pink.
The most effectual method of getting away from our own sorrows is to seek out and relieve others in distress. Isn't that beautiful? You want help in life? Go help somebody.
You want some alleviation to your suffering? Go alleviate somebody's suffering. See, what's going to happen is not that it's going to magically vanish. It's what you're going to see.
Man, a lot of people have it a lot worse than I got it. Praise God. Forgive me for being such a whiner. That's what this attitude imbibes in the obedient one.
Remember others. Care for others. Think about others. Paul was able to make a commendation about Onesiphorus.
He said, everybody in Asia has turned away from me except Onesiphorus. He found me and He refreshed me. He cared for me. When everyone else was defecting from the Apostle Paul, this one man, Onesiphorus, that's a good name, ladies.
That's a good name to consider for the fruit of your womb. I told my daughter the other day, Jael is a great girl's name. We've just been studying the judges in the book of Hebrews, right? Jael with the tent peg.
When she's growing up, you get her own little tent peg. Just kidding. Everybody's going to go out of here. This guy is jacked.
Onesiphorus. He found Paul and he refreshed him. Paul speaks on the inspiration of the spirit about that man and what good it did for him. Brethren, those are some practical benefits.
The Gospel Call
And then in terms of the gospel, don't you see in this passage and what we read in Hebrews chapter 11, there is an implication that we must draw. The Christ of the Gospel, the Christ of the Bible, the one who lived in obedience to the Father's law, the one who died as a sacrifice and a substitute at Calvary, the one who rose again on the third day and ascended on high, the one who now currently reigns at the right hand of God Most High, this Christ is worth suffering for. You cannot escape the implication. This Christ is that glorious.
If you're not a Christian this morning, you're reading these things, seeing people sawn in two, being destitute and afflicted, wandering around without any clothes, wearing sheepskins, living in dens, being thrown into lion's dens. You're wondering what's the attraction? It's the one whom Solomon says is altogether lovely and chief among ten thousand. It is the Jesus Christ who lived and died and rose again so that we might have everlasting life.
He is worth suffering for. The apostles were beaten. And when they left that place, according to Acts 5, they rejoiced. Why?
Because they were sadistic and they liked physical pain? No, they rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name. They rejoiced because God had seen fit to give them something that He would give them the grace to endure. This Christ is worth suffering for.
This Christ is worth living for. This Christ is worth dying for. So if all of this seems a bit weird and a bit odd, I call you today to believe on this Christ. To believe on the Lord Jesus as the Bible sets him forth as the only Redeemer of God's elect.
Look to Him and look to Him only. and pray to God most high that you will delightfully serve him all your days. And remember, please remember the prisoners as if chained with them. Those who are mistreated since you yourselves are all are in the body also. Well, let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the fact that it's speaks to every area of our lives. And we do pray that you would forgive us, God. So often we don't always pray for the persecuted church.
So often we... are negligent to read these updates and these concerns about our brothers and sisters. Help us, Father, to truly remember, to engage in this activity, not just as a church, but as private individuals, as Christians in our homes, our families. And God, grant us the grace to do this for your glory and for your honor, to pray for these brethren, that they will persevere in the midst of great trial and great difficulty. And we ask through Christ our Lord.
Amen.