No Fear
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1 Let brotherly love continue.
2 Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
3 Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.
4 Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.
5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
6 So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.
This passage contains the greatest promise we have in Christ. Mainly it is the greatest because it incorporates all of the promises of God into one. I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. This comes from the passage that we are looking at in Joshua in our mid week Bible study.
5 There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.
9 Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.
18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
And it is because of this great promise that we can boldly say “The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.”
As we approach the end of this great letter the Apostle is giving his closing admonishments which follow on from the previous chapter.
28 Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
29 For our God is a consuming fire.
So because we are heirs of this immovable Kingdom let us have grace whereby we my serve God acceptably.
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
So How do we serve God?
Love One Another
Love One Another
1 Let brotherly love continue.
First and foremost the way that we serve God is by loving one another. This is not speaking of those without the church, although we are to have love for those who are not a part of the church. This love is specifically love for others within the body of Christ. This was the command of Christ.
34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
Be Hospitable
Be Hospitable
2 Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
The first instruction related to those within the church and the second to those without. Strangers in the Hebrew context referred to the gentiles, people of other nations.
11 Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;
12 That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:
13 But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
14 For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
15 Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;
16 And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:
17 And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.
18 For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;
But we are to show hospitality to strangers that is those who at least as far as we know are not fellowcitizens. Firstly because that is our instruction, secondly because we don’t know if perhaps that may receive Christ. and thirdly because in so doing some have entertained angels unaware. Such as Abraham who had three strangers come to his tent and he served them and it turned out that two were angels and one was God. Or Lot who also showed hospitality to the two angels not realising and it was those two angels that led him out of Sodom and saved his life. We serve God by showing hospitality.
34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
Remember the Afflicted
Remember the Afflicted
3 Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.
Here we are instructed on how to respond to those in the church who are suffering. Remember those who are in prison, not because of crimes they have committed, although we should visit those as well, but this refers to those who were imprisoned for the gospel and for Christ. There are right now many who are in prisons because of the faith in Christ and we are told here to remember them as if we were in prison with them. Now thats difficult when we are speaking of people who we don’t know. This was a bit closer to home for these Hebrews as no doubt they know people either from their own congregation or for else where that were in prison for there faith. But even though we may not know them by name we should be mindful of them and pray for them and those martyrs who die for there faith and their families. Lets not just put them out of mind because they happen to be out of sight but lets keep them in our prayers.
And those which suffer adversity. Now here perhaps we find a closer application. We know people that are sick or having some trouble. we should remember them do not forget them, pray earnestly for them as though it was you who suffered. Because we do suffer. when one member of the body suffers we all suffer.
26 And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.
Honour Marriage
Honour Marriage
4 Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.
As he is dealing with relationships he now touches on the most sacred of relationships. Marriage is the most important relationship we have outside of God. God established the marriage relationship as the first human relationship. He saw that it was not good for man to live alone and so God made woman. This is the relationship which is at the foundation of all human relationships. It is the fabric that holds our civilisation together. And It is the modal of Christ’s relationship with His church. As it is mentioned here, it is not marriage as defined by the New Zealand government rather it is the union between one man and one woman.
The instruction given here could be read as a statement that marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled. However in the context it seems preferable to read it as an instruction to keep marriage honourable in all and keep the marriage bed undefiled. As it follows on to give warnings to whoremongers or fornicators and adulterers which will be judged by God. Sex is reserved only for the marriage relationship. It is a special privilege and a gift of God reserved for married couples and is honourable within that relationship. However sexual relationships outside marriage dishonours marriage, your spouse, and God and it defiles the marital bed. Even though the world thinks lightly of these things God will call it out for what it is, fornication or adultery and he will judge it.
Be Content
Be Content
5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
Let your conversation or rather your walk or your life be without covetousness or more specifically without the love of money which is the root of all evil. We currently live in a culture that is obsessed with the two things he has just mentioned. Sex and money. But what he is suggesting here is a life that is balanced and upright in regard to sex and free from the obsession with money. Money provides us with security. If we just had a little bit more money then we would not have to worry about the bills, we could do the things that we wont to do and have the things that we want to have. But it’s always just a little bit more. I remember hearing about a study that was done a while back that was looking at happiness and money and from the thousands they surveyed for all different socioeconomic backgrounds they found on average almost everyone thought that they would be happier if they made $5000 more a year. See it’s never enough. We tend to live to our means. If you get a raise you quickly find a way to spend a bit more. But the apostle instructs us to be content with such things as we have right now. Not with what we had or with what we will have but with what we have now.
11 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.
12 I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.
13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
So why can we be content with what we have? Because of this wonderful promise.
5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
6 So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.
We don’t have to look very long and hard at human history to know that man can do horrendous things to his fellow man. Just consider the holocaust and the wicked way that the Jew were treated. They were tortured treated like animals, worst even and killed. These Hebrews had suffered affliction and the spoiling of their goods. So how is it that he can say I will not fear what man can do unto me? Because the very worst they can do is take your life. But we have the promise that Christ will never leave us or forsake us not even in death.
31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.
34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
So then I can boldly say I will not fear what man shall do unto me for the Lord is my helper and He will never leave me of forsake me.
Can you boldly say this? Only if you know Him as your saviour and then you will know also that He will never leave or forsake you.