Good morning to everyone. See all the Jack Pine savages made it to church today. He didn't let snow stand in your way. I was thinking about how we often use the snow as a metaphor, a picture for being washed from our sins. We could be made white as snow. And last night when I was out plowing, I was thinking about Romans 5, where it says, "where sin abounded, grace abounded much more," and the snow just was everywhere abounding. So this is a picture of God's grace and love for us.

We're going to continue our study in Hebrews 13 this morning, and it's really a bit of a technical study in parts. I want to impress upon you, hopefully this morning through the text, how verse 1, what we looked at last week, "Let brotherly love continue," how this doctrine, this truth of love in our lives, God's love poured out into us, flows then into a righteous life and actions through the members of our body. 

So I want you to see that flow. We're not going to spend a lot of time on these commands. We're going to talk about those a little bit, but I want you to see how the battle of the Christian life works out. So we're going to look at that particularly in James 1, an instructive passage, and look at how God intends for His love to be manifest back to Him and to others through our lives. 

We are continuing our study in this 13th chapter, and it's really the application section of the letter. We've studied a tremendous amount of doctrine concerning Jesus and the New Covenant in His blood. We've seen how much better Jesus is than all the aspects of the Old Covenant, how His sacrifice is better, how His priesthood is better, and how He has brought a better covenant built on better promises. 

This came to a real focal point in the contrast in chapter 12 as we see the author addressing the concern of his readers, their fear of persecution because of their confession of faith in Christ. The main message of that chapter was that they should really fear going back to the law, going back to the temple sacrifices, trying to justify themselves by keeping the law of Moses, and that they have nothing to fear in holding fast to Jesus Christ. 

We're going to see that truth reiterated in our text today, that there's nothing to fear in Christ. The Old Covenant given at Sinai was a terribly frightening thing, and to live under the law, to seek to justify yourself by the works of the law, as these Hebrews were considering, is the most frightening place to be. But to come to the mountain of Sinai, the law, is to come to a fearful and terrifying place with only judgment and condemnation, for the law brings only wrath. 

But to come to Zion, to come to the church of the firstborn, to just men made perfect, to Jesus and the New Covenant, is to leave the realm of fear. It's to find peace, joy, and security in Him through faith. The contrast is so vivid and so important, and that's the author's message to these Hebrews through the course of chapter 12. Now coming into 13, we see instruction and exhortation concerning Christian living in rapid-fire succession. 

The author gives commands to manifest love toward others in our lives, to let brotherly love continue. And then he gives us some practical exhortations for the believers in this community and for us as well. Last week, we looked at the importance, the centrality of love in the scriptures and in the Christian life. Today we will see that love manifest out through us to others through practical application is God's will and intent for our daily lives. 

Let's look at Hebrews 13 verse 1. He writes, "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?'" 

Well, I've given you three points on your outline. First, we're going to look at love manifest. Second, content in Christ, and third, no fear. We're going to spend the vast majority of our time on this first point, love manifest. 

We looked last week at the command in verse 1, "Let brotherly love continue," and we saw in John 13 that Jesus gave us a new commandment in the New Covenant: "Love one another," He says, "as I have loved you. Love one another." The New Testament is replete with teaching and instruction concerning love. To love one another, Jesus said that by this the world will know that you are My disciples, that you love one another.

Love, biblical love, the kind of love that Jesus demonstrated at the cross, is a uniquely Christian thing. The man in Adam cannot love; he is completely dominated and controlled by indwelling sin and is utterly and completely selfish and self-centered. Listen to Romans 8:7. It says, "Because the carnal mind is enmity against God." This is speaking of the man in Adam. The carnal mind is at enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

But the very essence of the gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ, and regeneration and new birth, recreation, is that Jesus has dealt with the sin that indwells us, condemning sin in the flesh, so that for the very purpose that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. And we saw last week in Romans 13:8 that the righteous requirement of the law is love, that love does no harm to a neighbor, that love fulfills the law.

The author writes to these Hebrews, "Let love continue." It's so important for us to understand that this love is something that we have, that God has given to us in our regeneration, our salvation, our union with Jesus in His death, burial, and resurrection. Romans 5 says that God has poured His love out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. The very love of God, the very love of God that He demonstrated in the sending of His only begotten Son, the love made manifest at the cross of Calvary, the love of God has been poured out into our hearts.

We have love for God. We love Him because He first loved us. We have love for the brethren. This is how we know, John says, that we are the children of God because we love one another. The love of Christ is what constrains us, what compels us to live for Him; it's what He has done for us, how He has saved us by His death, burial, and resurrection, how He has changed us by giving us a new spirit and a new heart and has come to live in and through us. 

As we abide in Him, it is such a contrast with the Old Covenant law. To be honest with you, I can't get over it. I hesitate to move on from it, and that's why you're getting another message about it. But what I so strongly desire for you to see is that the contrast of chapter 12 between the Old and the New Covenant and the truths of this New Covenant in Christ's blood are the very foundation, the undergirding that not only gives us power and capacity to live out a life of love but also brings a sense, a reasonable, logical nature to the commands. 

God's not asking us to do something that we can't do or that is contrary to who we are. He has poured His love out into us so that we might love one another. When we talk about do not fornicate, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not lie, if you love your brother, then the law is fulfilled through your life. 

I want to read several verses from the New Testament so that we might see the pervasive nature of love and how, being in us, being the very character of who we are in Christ, must be made manifest through us to others. Listen to these just a few of the many that are there: "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples if you have love for one another." 

"This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you." "These things I command you, that you love one another." "Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another." "Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law." 

"For you brethren have been called to liberty only do not use your liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another." "With all lowliness and gentleness, with long-suffering, bearing with one another in love." "And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all just as we do to you." "But concerning brotherly love, you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another." "And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works." 

"Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit and sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart." "Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous, and above all things have fervent love for one another, for love will cover a multitude of sins." 

"This is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another." "And this is His commandment, that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another." We could go on and on and on and on. 

He has put His love in us. He has made known to those who believe the mystery of the new covenant, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. We have so many scriptures explaining, teaching, giving us the truth, the doctrines of the fullness of this salvation in Jesus, which we have experienced through faith. The only reasonable result, the only way to respond to the grace in which we now stand is, "Thank you! Thank you, Jesus!" 

And that is why we have a great desire to serve Him. That is why we have a great desire to tell others about Him. God has put that in us; the love of Christ compels us. So it is our deepest conviction, our greatest desire to love one another, and the most wonderful news is that I can, through Christ, do this. I can keep the law of Christ, the commandment of the New Covenant. I can believe Jesus, and I can love others. This is my privilege and my joy, my very purpose in this life as long as God has me here. 

We're studying in 1st Corinthians 9 on Thursday nights. I just want to show you a very interesting little tidbit there. In 1st Corinthians 9 at verse 19, if you'd turn over... 

In 1st Corinthians 9, Paul has been teaching in chapters 8 and 9 all about sacrificing your liberty in Christ for the sake of your brother. So he's been talking about how God has ordained that the man who preaches the gospel should live by the gospel, that the pastor should be paid, but he says that he has foregone that going into this new territory in Corinth so that he would not undermine the gospel for their benefit. 

That he would lay aside that liberty; he would not exercise his right. In verse 19, he says, "For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all that I might win the more. And to the Jews, I became as a Jew that I might win Jews. To those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law. To those who are without law, as without law..." And look at what he says here, "...not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ, that I might win those who were without law."

To the weak, I became as weak that I might win the weak. I've become all things to all men that I might by all means save some. Paul says it's not that I am without law; I am under the law of Christ. Remember, John told us the commandments of the New Covenant are not burdensome. They're the very thing we want to do. 

Paul always refers to himself as a bondslave of Christ. Jesus is our master; Jesus is our Lord. We were slaves to sin, but now we are slaves to God in Christ. So Paul says, "I'm not under the law of Moses, under the bondage to that system, which I could not keep, which Peter said we cannot bear. But I am under the law of Christ to believe Him, to trust Him, to look to Him, and to love one another." And that is the fulfillment of the law in my life—love toward God and others. 

So as we move on from verse 1, we see a series of commands that are a manifestation of this love, which is in us, reasonable service in light of who we are and what we have in Christ. Look at verse 2 of our text again, please. He says, "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 also in the body." 

"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.'"

We might read these commands, do not commit adultery, or God will judge adulterers, those kinds of things, or many other commands in the New Testament, and we might say to ourselves, "See, we're still under the Ten Commandments, we're still under the moral law of Moses." But that's not the case at all. It's not that our lives will be inconsistent with the moral law, for this is simply a manifestation of the character, a representation of the nature of God. 

And love manifest in and through our lives will result in us being conformed to the likeness of Christ; we will be Christ-like. But here's the important distinction: to make the law, the moral law, or any law the focus, the goal, is to doom us to failure. Holy living, conformation to Christ-likeness, love manifest in our lives cannot come through law-keeping. Rather, it must be a focus on a looking to and abiding in Jesus through faith. 

The law causes us to focus on ourselves, on our performance, on our relative goodness or badness, and this leads to all kinds of disappointment. But focus on Jesus, focus on who He is, what He's done, His name, His promises to us, causes an outpouring of love and thankfulness toward Him and love toward others. 

I want to try and make this practical. How can I be hospitality-minded? You know, it says you've got to entertain strangers because you might be entertaining angels. That's a reference back to Genesis, where Abraham had entertained the men, and it turned out to be angels. You never know who's coming. Like Phil Robertson always says, you have to cook some extra food because how else are you going to have a plate for someone if they show up? 

He might have even said, "shows up." How can I be hospitality-minded? How can I have empathy for my fellow man, especially my persecuted brethren, to pray for them? You know, we don't have Christians being put in jail in our communities, but around the world, they are. How do I remember them, make mention of them, pray for them? If I have an opportunity to visit them or minister to them in some way, how can I honor my marriage, love my wife, and give my own life for her? 

How can I be content? What an amazing, important question. How can I be intent? How do I win the battle of this Christian life? There is a battle, is there not? I mean, if you're going to war, would it not be most important to understand the nature and the point of the battle? If we were to fight the battle at the wrong point, the wrong place, would that not doom us to failure? 

I was reading this week about one of the great turning points of the Revolutionary War that founded this country and gained our independence from England. It was on August 27th, 1776, and Washington had suffered a series of defeats, and he was backed up against the river at Brooklyn Heights. His only course of retreat was across the river to the island of Manhattan, and the British had dug trenches all around the American troops to the river, and they were waiting for the British ships to close in behind them. 

Then they were going to destroy the United States Army, the American Army, the Revolutionary Army, and end the war. In a series of providential events, the winds did not blow enough to move the ships, and Washington started to move his troops across the river in boats in the cover of darkness. And when the sun began to rise, there were still many troops who had not been moved, but then a thick fog settled in, which allowed the rest of the troops to cross the river. 

When all had cleared and the sun had risen, the British went in to finish off the American Army to win the war. They charged in to fight the battle at that point, and when they got there, Washington and his men were no longer there. This surprise allowed George Washington to regroup and preserve his troops to fight on and eventually defeat England, gaining our independence. Fighting the battle at the right point is crucial to victory, and a wrong calculation, an element of surprise, can turn an entire war in the course of history. 

And so it is with the battle of the Christian life. If we are to have consistent victory, we must understand the nature of the battle. We must fight at the right point. God's plan for victory in the Christian life is a focus on Jesus, believing Jesus, and allowing Him to live His life through us, to manifest His love in and out through us to others. 

It's not God's plan for us to look to a set of external laws to conform us to the likeness of Christ. Rather, we see the nature of the battle is not external, not in the members of our body, but this is only the manifestation of the battle. The battle, my friends, is in the mind. The battle is in believing, reckoning what God says to be true, and yielding to His life and power in us. 

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 10 that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. There's a lot of high things in our world, isn't there? Every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. 

If we see the battle as one of trying to produce holiness in our members, and by our members I mean our hands, our mouth, trying to fight the battle at the endgame by the law, then we will fail. In our text, the author says, "The marriage bed is undefiled, but fornicators and adulterers will be judged." 

Remember, this is all coming out of chapter 12 and the contrast between law and grace, old and new covenants. If we're trying not to commit adultery, if we're fighting the battle at this point, trying to keep the law, we will find that the battle is already lost, that we have walked right into a trap, unable to have victory. 

You see, the battle's in the mind. To believe Jesus, to reckon myself dead indeed to sin, to take every thought captive to the truth, to the obedience of Christ. So I have a thought, I have an emotion; what do I have to do? I have to take that thought captive to the truth, which means I have to know the truth, which means I have to be immersed in the truth, but I have to put it in its proper place according to the truth. 

One of my favorite passages that explains this is James 1. I'd like for you to turn over to James 1. Now, we might not think of James as an epistle heavy on grace, but right here in the first chapter, James explains the nature of the battle of the Christian life and how important this is. 

James 1:13. Please pay attention. Try and follow me here. "'Let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. And when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.'" 

James starts out using the metaphor of a trap or a baited hook, like in fishing, where we put a worm or a leech on a hook and we drop it down in front of the fish's face and we entice him, right? The fish does not see the hook but only the bait. It looks good. It smells good. It believes that taking that bait will somehow satisfy some desire that he has. But when he takes that bait and attempts to consume it, the hook is driven into his mouth. He's caught; he's trapped. 

Notice in verse 14, it says that sin begins when he's drawn away by his own desires. The word translated "desires" here really speaks of lust—that which rises up in a man, a feeling, an emotion, a desire coming from the sin that still dwells in us. He believes that this sin will somehow satisfy his desire. And verse 14 tells us that each one has his own lust, his own weakness, his own strong attractions. It's different for me than it is for you. 

But the beginning of sin always starts with a rising up of a feeling, an emotion, a lust to do or to have something. We can see something that entices us, that draws up that lust. So this is what happens in a man in this world. He's enticed. But here, my brothers and sisters, is where the point of the battle is. This is where the battle takes place. 

Here's where we have a choice. You see, the lust, the desire, is always a good desire, a God-given desire which has been twisted or marred by indwelling sin. A desire for sex is God-given; it's a blessing within the context of marriage. The marriage bed is undefiled; it's good here in the context of marriage for many reasons. It is in fact a gift of God, and blessings come through it in the confines of marriage. 

But fornication and adultery are a twisting, a misapplication of that God-given desire, and they result in all kinds of judgment. This is very practical. If I have a lust rise up in me, if I see something that appeals to me, appeals to my desire, and it's not my wife, then at this point in my mind, I have a choice. James says in verse 15, I can take that lust and allow it in my mind to conceive. 

And here he shifts the illustration from fishing or trapping, in the sense of a baited trap or hook that deceives and takes captive, to that of conception and childbirth. Hear me now. Sin is not a series of actions that I need to control outwardly as the law would dictate or as religion would prescribe. The battle's not fought at the point of engaging my members in sin. 

If I covet, as the author goes on to forbid in our text, the battle with stealing cannot be fought at the point of taking something with my hand. At that point, the battle has already been lost. Rather, the battle must be won inwardly in my thought processes in the mind. So here we are at the point of the battle. I have a feeling; I have an emotion, a lust rise up in me as a result of a baited hook. 

Then in my mind, I can either take that thought captive, reckoning myself dead indeed to sin, or I can choose to begin to rationalize my sin, start to think how good it will be, how much pleasure it will bring, how much I deserve it, and how it really won't hurt anyone. If in my mind at this point, I choose to rationalize my feelings, I choose to reject God's truth and His Word, then James says at this point, sin is conceived. 

Just like when a baby is conceived inwardly and begins to grow, the point will come where labor will come upon that woman, and the baby will be born. So James says if when we are enticed by our own desires, we choose to rationalize our sin and make a decision in the mind to commit that sin, then it is conceived, and it will be carried out through our members. 

This is such an instructive passage because it really illustrates and shows the point of the nature of the battle. There's a desire, a lust, an emotion. There is a deception in the mind, a rejection of God's truth, and then there's a conception in the will. The desire is not sin, but if it's not rejected, put in its place, guided by truth, then the mind begins to deceive itself with lies, and the result is conception in the will. 

And if this happens, James says, there will be the birth of sin in action in our members. Sin will manifest itself out through our body because of what has been conceived in the mind. 

So what's the opposite of this? When the author of Hebrews, building on the great truths of the contrast between law and grace, when he says, "Let love continue," and then he tells us how to manifest that love in this series of commands to exercise hospitality, keep yourself sexually pure within the confines of marriage, do not covet, but be content with the things you have, what is he really saying? 

He's saying that love is the key, and love is manifest in all these things that we do in the ways we relate to God and one another. Love is the fruit of the Spirit. Love is the command of Christ in the New Covenant. Love does no harm to a neighbor. Love has been poured out into my heart. Love is alive and well within me in the person of Jesus Christ.

So how do we manifest love? We manifest love by winning this battle in the mind before the conception in the will. We take every thought captive to the Word of God, the obedience of Christ. What this book says is right. And I have to be committed to obeying and believing what God says. Do you see the battle? 

The battle is between, is what God says is right? Or is what I feel and what I think and what the world says and what everyone says is right? That's the battle. We reckon what God says to be true. If I'm drawn away by my own lust, I say in my mind, "Romans 6, that's what I say; I died to sin, I'm alive to God, and now my desire and my purpose is to live for Him. His love compels me." 

If I do this, if I know God's truth about who I am in Christ, what I have in Him, and if I choose at the point of the battle in my mind to reckon these things to be so, then righteousness will be conceived in the will, and the fruit of love will flow out through my members. Isn't that amazing truth? Isn't that a liberating, exhilarating doctrine for understanding the battle of the Christian life and experiencing consistent victory as I see the love of Christ manifest through my life to others as I believe and abide in Him?

Now quickly I want to just pick up our last two points. First, the author tells us that we should find our contentment in Christ. Verse 5, "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.'" 

How can I have peace day in and day out? How can I avoid coveting, trying to find fulfillment in the things of this world, in the satisfaction of my lusts? The answer is finding contentment in Christ. Be content with such things as you have, for notice the length, "For He Himself has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.'" 

Isn't that enough, my friends? Jesus is ours forever. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. He will never leave us or forsake us. He will keep His promises for today and for eternity. His grace is sufficient for me. I have more in Him than I could ever lose in this world. He has given to me all things that pertain to life and godliness. 

Do you see that Jesus is enough? And really, He's all that we have. Nothing is certain in this world; riches, health, our very breath. Who knows when it will vanish away? But Jesus is forever, and He's all that we need. I was thinking of Paul in Philippians 4, where he talks about the Philippians giving him a gift of money and taking care of him. He says, "It's good that you did this. I know you wanted to do it, but you lacked opportunity." 

He says, "Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am to be content. I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things, I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." 

Paul had a rough way to go, would you agree with that? Shipwrecked, stoned, hungry, naked, beaten, in peril of the Jews, in peril of the Gentiles. I mean, this guy lived right in the midst of persecution and controversy continually because he was so laser-focused on Jesus Christ and preaching the gospel. But yet he says he had to learn to be content. It was not something that just came naturally to him. He learned through all of his sufferings that Jesus is enough.

And so whether we are abased or abound, rich or poor, hungry or fed, we must learn to find our contentment in Christ. This is the only place of peace and the only way to keep ourselves from trying to find meaning and contentment in the temporal things of this world. We see in our text love manifest and we see contentment in Christ, and finally, in verse 6 of our text, we see the last point: no fear.

"So we may boldly say, 'The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?'" This is such a great question to ponder. Why is it that we do not need to fear if we are in Christ? And the author here really wraps up this whole message back through chapter 12. They were afraid. Afraid of the religious leaders of Israel, afraid of the priests, of their communities, friends, even family because of persecution as a result of their profession of faith in Christ.

But the thing they should really fear is going back to the law, is rejecting Christ and His graced gift of eternal life. And so in verse 6 we see a powerful truth. "We may boldly say, 'The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?'" What a practical truth for these Hebrews. What can man do to me? 

Man can persecute me; he can kill me. That doesn't really matter because the Lord is my helper. He's my advocate. He stands with me. He lives in me. He's my helper. I shall not fear. Did you know that with the Lord I am a majority? If it's just me and the Lord, we're a majority. No one can stand against the Lord. No one can thwart His promises. No one can thwart His purposes for me. With Him, I cannot fail.

He's my Savior, my helper, my counselor, my deliverer, my friend. Whatever temporal thing I might lose because of Christ in this world, I have gained so much more in Him for today and for eternity. There's no fear in love because perfect love casts out fear. There's no fear for those who come to Mount Zion, who come to Jesus in faith and the New Covenant in His blood. 

It is His love that compels me. It is His love that has been poured out into my heart. And it is the desire that He has given to me to see that love manifest through me to others as I rest, content in Christ, without fear. These are amazing promises, my friends. Amazing promises only found in Christ.

Let's close in prayer. 

Father, we're so thankful for Your Word, Your truth, all these doctrines that are so clearly laid out through the entirety of Your Scriptures that we can study and renew our minds to, and continue to just be immersed in the truth, that we might take every thought captive in the battle of the Christian life to manifest righteousness in our lives. Help us to understand that the battle is won in the mind in choosing to believe You and depending on You as we apply Your Word, Your truth to every aspect of our life, to every thought, and take it captive to the obedience of Christ. 

In His name we pray. Amen.