If you turn into your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 13. And I will only be looking at the first six verses of this passage. So let's begin by hearing the word of God and as it is revealed in the scriptures. Again, beginning in Hebrews 13 and 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 the bedded 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? Thus is the reading of God's word. This passage is a passage that I love, particularly because of the one phrase, I will never leave you nor forsake you, as you see in verse 5. And the fact that this is written at the end of this book, the book of Hebrews or the letter to the Hebrews is a letter most likely written by Paul to the Jews. who were essentially have grown quite a bit. There's been quite a bit of time between all of the, and many of the issues that are described in ACT until we come to this point. And as some would look at the Book of Romans as being a doctrinal statement, particularly to the Gentiles, Hebrews is often looked at as a doctrinal statement to the Jews. and both of them are applicable to all. It's not that the Hebrews is only for Jews and Romans is only for Gentiles, far from it. He addresses the promises of Abraham and so forth, and in Romans, and here he is again speaking of the church, and particularly in chapter 12 and verse 23 to the General Assembly, and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven to God, the judge of all, to the spirits of the just men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better than that of Abel." And so this book is declaring the new covenant, the new covenant in Christ. And as the apostle goes through many things, and our pastor actually taught through the book of Hebrews, I believe twice since he's been here, that it's a very significant book in describing to us, again, the work of Christ and how that Christ, as a priest, came and sacrificed himself so that we might have life and that life be in him. And so as a conclusion to that, we have chapter 13. And again, the chapters are not in the original text, but nonetheless, it does appear that there is a bit of a departure or a change here in terms of the letter. And if you notice the verse right before, verse one, for our God is a consuming fire, Obviously there's a whole text that's behind that, and that's not where we're going. But then the Apostle says, let brotherly love continue. Before I get into that particular part, there's a couple other passages that I just want to read regarding this whole notion of being forsaken. And we're going to be coming back to them, making reference to them. So if you want to turn to Joshua chapter 1, and Joshua chapter 1 and just beginning in verse 5 through 7. No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life, as I was with Moses. So I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses, my servant, commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. And then Psalm 118 and verse 6, which is actually ties to this passage, says, the Lord is on my side. I will not fear. What can man do to me? And then 2 Corinthians in chapter 4, verses 8 through 14 says, we are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed. We are perplexed, but not in despair. Persecuted, but not forsaken. Struck down, but not destroyed. Always caring about, in the body, the dying of the Lord Jesus. that the life of Jesus also may be manifest in our body. And so there are many references that speak exactly the way this passage does in terms of encouraging the believers to recognize that the things that we endure, the things that we experience, whether it be a matter of despair, forsakenness, or not forsakenness, but persecuted, or just we're thrown out. We're ignored. That is, in fact, part of our carrying the body of the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. And that's a very, in a sense, it's a difficult concept. On the other hand, it's not meant to be a difficult concept. Because what it says, as we endure injustice, we do that thinking of Christ, associated with Christ, we are no different than Christ. And so, in many ways, when the quote-unquote hard times come, we experience the same resolve regarding who God is, what God has done, and who we are in God. becomes all the more understood and known. And so the apostle then begins this by saying, let brotherly love continue. So in spite of whatever happens to us, in spite of all of the various things that can come against us, we are reminded to let brotherly love continue. And so what is brotherly love? It's the heart of what the apostle is saying. it is tied to, if you would, Hebrews 4.16, where he says, let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace in time of need. You see, that coming together in worship, which is what we're doing here, that coming together as a body before God is recognizing something about all of those things we experience. Namely, that they're shared. When one of the members of the body endures hardship, we all endure hardship. We all face the same thing. And it's in brotherly love that we share those things, that we carry those things with one another. Nobody is an island in the church. And so the thing that we're going to get to is I will never leave you nor forsake you, this promise of God. but this promise is to the church. Yes, it applies to individuals, but it's to the church. And he says then, do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some unwittingly entertain angels. Again, Hebrews is written to the Jews, And probably the thing that came to mind to most of them was the situation with Abraham and Lot where the angels came to visit them. It's accounted for in the scriptures. But it's also saying, hey, don't forget to entertain the stranger. And that is, we're not a closed door. We're not a group of people that meet together and we don't talk to anybody else. We don't say anything to anybody else. We're in a compound, if you would. But that we have an outreach, not just individually, but as a body, we have an outreach. And what's interesting is the whole notion of entertaining strangers is something that I was reading one of the commentaries that was Kelvin, I think. And he said, in our day and age with all these hotels, We don't have the same opportunity. And I'm thinking, wait a minute, that's 500 years ago. And so where are we today? I mean, we're all on our own. Our whole society is built upon the individual. And we have the stranger that comes into the church every now and then looking for a place to stay or whatever. This is not a shot at anybody, but what do we do? We will find you a hotel and we'll send you there, okay? And that's been a model that a lot of churches have followed. And yet, the notion of that stranger and entertaining that stranger is knowing, how does that happen? It happens because we know God is in charge. So we don't fear, as it were, to entertain the stranger. And it further tells us here that sometimes when you do, it's not a person. It's an angel. That's a whole other topic. I'm not going to go into that one today. And then it immediately says, remember the prisoner as if chained with them. Those who are mistreated, since you yourselves are in the body also. So not only just a stranger, but now we're being asked to go out of our way. And the time that this is written, who took care of the prisoners? Family. There was no family who took care of the prisoners. Pretty much no one. Okay? But the church, it was being exhorted to reach out to take care of those who are not receiving care. Then he says, marriage is honorable among all. That seems like it was just the rock dropped into the middle of this passage almost. The bed is undefiled, but fornicators and adulterers God will judge. So in saying this, it's more than speaking of simply the issue of whether or not somebody is complying with their marriage vows. This is really bringing the whole law of God clearly into perspective. That we are to, that marriage is an honorable thing, those things that God has established in terms of the institution of marriage stand firm. And they are not unchanged. And this, I believe, is particularly a passage that is probably aimed at the Jews. Because the Jews were insisting that so many things are changing here. This is not really Judaism, this Christianity stuff. This is different. And so this is a way to bring back that reality of what God has established. and that marriage is honorable. And marriage was not seen as honorable in all cultures at the time. In fact, in many cultures, it wasn't seen as necessary or had different concepts, different ideas. And the whole notion of fornicators and adulterers were probably seen more as being normal in much of the unreached, if I could say, areas of the world. And this is bringing back, hey, remember the Old Testament. it still applies. So this verse, I think, is more than just a matter of marriage is honorable among all. It is a loaded, connecting the work of Christ and our salvation and the life that we live back to the Old Testament. It's unchanged. And then again, it sort of repeats that same thing by saying, let your conduct be without covetousness. And again, we have a law of God, the 10th commandment, that says this. And it further exhorts us to be content with such things as you have. Again, that is what the law of God said from the very beginning. But then he adds, for he himself has said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you. And this is really the thrust of what I want to communicate in terms of this passage. And there's several things that we can consider. One is, what is this notion of being forsaken? The second is, what is the resolution when we feel we've been forsaken? And then what is the ramifications of not being forsaken? And when we say not being forsaken, we are going to immediately be going to our adoption. Because somebody who is adopted is not one who's forsaken. And so, what is this notion of forsaken? What's being said there in terms of that? And I think today there's a lot of images that we can come up with One of the ones that kind of immediately came to my mind was the young boy that was found by a border agent, and he was just wandering aimlessly. And I believe it was in Texas. He could speak English, but he was on his own completely. And the image of this young man and to what extent he was actually totally aimless and wandering is perhaps something that could be debated some, and how he got there, because his mother was actually involved in bringing him into the country. Nonetheless, you have this picture of this young man wandering a desert. no food, the clothing that he had was scarcely adequate to cover him even from the sun in the desert, and he had a look on his face that for all intents and purposes just screamed forsaken. I think in my own life, I was raised in a family of nine. I know some of you like that. And my parents, particularly my mom, would take us to Hudson's. And of course, in order to get to Hudson's, you have to live in Detroit and have to be born in Detroit. So you go downtown Detroit. to Hudson's, which was a department store, 12 stories high. Toy department was on the 11th floor. And it was easy for us to get lost. Our main occupation was going up and down this set of escalators. We would time how long it took and all that to get up and down these escalators. Sometimes that was more interesting than the toys. But all of us, I think, at one point can remember looking around and, hey, where's mom? I'm on my own here. And then you start looking, and then you think, well, I'll go search all the other floors. And then you go up to the fifth floor, and that's where the perfumes were, and it's like, ugh, nobody be up here. So you go to a different floor, and you were alone. Similar experience at Detroit Zoo. And again, we moved from Detroit when I was 10, so most of my memories are not as an adult. But that is a dreadful thing. When you're out there, particularly as a child, and you don't know where you're at, you sort of know where you're at, you might know what store you're in, but you have lost contact with that person who has a responsibility for your care and who happens to be a loving parent. And so that sense of forsaken is somewhat of what we're saying, but it's deeper than that too, because forsaken in the sense of being without God is far more significant. The illustrations don't even come close to what this aspect of being forsaken is, what it means to be forsaken by God. God is the creator, is the sustainer of all things. We know this to be true as the teaching of the church throughout the ages. We know God is all powerful, mighty, holy. We know that God set man on the earth for his good pleasure and glory. And so the concept of the idea that God has forsaken us is a dreadful thought. It is as an orphan, but it's worse than an orphan. Because there's no place in the sense that we can hide from God and yet we're forsaken. So we come to the resolution of being forsaken. and how it is that that forsakenness is removed. And again, sometimes we don't even have a concept or an understanding of forsaken until our actual adoption is realized. Did you ever think back like three, four years before you ever became a Christian and whether or not you thought things were sinful? Whether you thought things, whether you thought the issue of standing before God or any of that was a matter of concern? And it wasn't. But when we came to the knowledge And when the Spirit worked in us and showed us our sin, that we cried out to God, then we began to truly understand the weight of our sin. And the more we saw the cross and what Christ had to endure to cover our sin, again we had the greater depth of knowledge of that. And I don't think it's by any mistake at all that we have an account in Matthew 27 and 46 where Christ is on the cross and his cry is, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And at that moment, he is taking upon himself our sin. And Calvin makes a strong argument that this doesn't mean he ever lost faith, he ever lost trust in the Father, but it is in facing the reality of our sin and the need for the judgment to come against our sin and against us because of our sin, that this realization comes. of being forsaken. It reveals one of the greatest trials, and yet it also reveals one of the greatest victories brought through the Trinity. The notion that this would even be said is quite incredible. Now, the scriptures have many statements, and again, these are quotes from Old Testament passages regarding, I will never leave you, nor forsake you. We find that in Deuteronomy 31 and also in Joshua. So we have this encouragement, we have these promises, that we will not be forsaken, even though we have these rebukes, if you would, as in verse 29 of chapter 12, for our God is a consuming fire, and we have the expectation, if you would, of judgment when we sin. And yet, We have so many passages, Isaiah 49 verses 14 and 15. But Zion said, the Lord has forsaken me and my Lord has forgotten me. Can a woman forget her nursing child and not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, yet I will not forget you. God's promise. In Romans 8 and verse 15, for you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the spirit of adoption by whom we cry, Abba, Father. And so we have a resolution of our being forsaken. But the point is that even though we have that, we have that in Christ, he died for us, he bled for us, he brought to us by the Holy Spirit his salvation. And we have that now, we know it. And we know this wonderful promise that we can cry out to God, Abba, Father, And if you haven't caught on to Abba Father, that means you're adopted. You don't cry out Abba Father unless you're adopted. Ephesians 1.5, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace. by which he has made us acceptable in the beloved. So we do, in fact, have a resolution of any sense of our being forsaken. We are not forsaken. And what are the ramifications then of not being forsaken? In making a reference or a comment, Calvin, regarding this passage, verse 5 of chapter 13 of Hebrews, he says, we have the power to overcome fear when we feel assured of God's help. That is the ramification of not being forsaken. We become fearless. The reality of not being forsaken is nothing less than to know joy. It is our joy. We cannot be lost. We cannot be forgotten by God. We cannot be estranged by God. We cannot be separated from God. This is all true, and part of that But the greatest aspect of this reality of not being forsaken is that as we walk, as we live, as we breathe, as we work, as we play, as we dance, as we sing, anything we do, we do it as those who are in the presence of God. And Again, I've been part of a church that the presence of God was when you came in the church door, okay? And there were a greater presence of God in this spot or that spot, but that's not what the scriptures teach. It is in every area of our lives. And that's why I taught what I did regarding 1 Corinthians and chapter 3, which if you weren't there, you'll have to read it. Our reality is that we are no longer forsaken. And there's a passage in Isaiah that says, you will no longer be termed forsaken, nor shall your land anymore be deemed desolate, but you shall be called Hepzibah and your land Beulah. And the meaning of those words is that the bulla is, I believe I have this right, is married. And in terms of a bridegroom and that relationship, which again is speaking directly to what Christ did. on our behalf. The church is the bride of Christ, right? And that the chutzpah is that my delight is in her. So it's not just a matter that we are married and in Christ as his bride, as a church, but we are also his delight. And in that, as we pour those kinds of thoughts into our minds, we see what the application of all of this is, which is wherever you are in life, trust God. Whatever issues are pressing against you, trust God. Whatever trouble you face, trust God. We have a promise. God will never leave you nor forsake you. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we do thank you again for your grace, your mercy. We thank you for the promise, the promise that you will never leave. that you will never forsake us, that we can truly look to you in every situation in our lives, and that we can also have the freedom to do all things to your glory as we are in your presence at all times. And again, we thank you for your word and ask your blessing in Christ's name. Amen.