Okay, well, if you would take your Bibles, please, and turn to Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12. We're going to be continuing on from last week in our study of how to joyfully serve God. This is part two, and we trust that the Lord will help us and aid us as we come to his word. Hebrews chapter 12, verse 28 and 29, and then we're gonna dip in to chapter 13 and read verses one through three. And I will trust to give a brief overview for those who were not with us last week. And then we will get into the remaining portion of this study here. How to joyfully serve God. Well, Hebrews chapter 12, verse 28 and 29, and then into 13, one to three. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear, for our God is a consuming fire. 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 Well, we've got four points tonight. The first two points I will go through very quickly because it will be an overview of what we went over last week. But the four points are these with reference to how we can joyfully, joyfully serve God. We want to look at the basis of being able to serve God. Secondly, the manner or spirit with which we are to serve God. And then really what this study is about tonight some evidences of serving God joyfully, and then fourthly, and finally, serving God joyfully by serving men without respect of persons or partiality. So those are the four points that we'd like to go over here this evening. If you would just look at your scripture, the scriptures there in verse 28, it says, therefore, since we're receiving a kingdom, and this receiving of a kingdom Dr. Gill says this, a man is said to receive this kingdom when he is delivered from the power of darkness, is regenerated, and has the blessings of grace actually bestowed upon him. So when we think about the basis of actually being able to serve God, if we're not regenerate, if we don't have the Lord, if we're not born again, and if we're not saved, we will not be able to serve God. And this is interesting, isn't it? Because in Matthew 7, you know the passage well. where people say, Lord, Lord, we did this and we did that. There's a sense of serving, isn't it? It looks like they're serving. But if a person doesn't have the Lord and is not saved, then they cannot serve the Lord. And they certainly cannot serve him acceptably and reverently and with godly fear. So the basis of being able to serve God is regeneration. You should be encouraged about that. And the reason you should be encouraged about that, and we ought to be encouraged by that, is because we actually are capable of serving God. Think about that. That's a staggering thought. We're actually capable of serving the creator of the universe. And we do this on the basis of being regenerated. I'm moving along quickly here on the basis of being able to serve God. Notice here that this kingdom This regeneration, it cannot be shaken. That ought to encourage us as well. That ought to give us a spring in our step because none of us who are in Christ who have been regenerated can be plucked out of the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ. All for whom the Father sent the Son to die for, the Lord Jesus shed his blood for. The atonement was successful and the atonement accomplished exactly and precisely in everything that the Father sent the Son to accomplish. None can be plucked out of Christ's hands. You can read about that in John chapter six. And then notice here, as we continue on in verse 28, let us have grace by which we may serve God acceptably and so forth. Let us have grace. This has the idea of holding fast to something. And that's referring, I believe, to holding fast to the doctrines of grace. that we're saved by grace through faith by Christ on the authority of scripture for the glory of God. We who are depraved and dead spiritual corpses, God unconditionally for no cause in us, elects us and predestinates us. And then Christ comes and dies for us. And then the spirit irresistibly calls us. And then we are preserved on to this day. We're to hold fast to those things. We're not to let them go. We're to hold fast to them. And this is the gospel. So the basis of being able to serve God is that regeneration. That we're regenerated, and that gives us the ability to actually serve God. Well, what about the manner or spirit, point two, in which we are to serve God? Again, we addressed these things last week, so I won't linger on them. But notice here that we are to live out our lives and serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. We touched on Jeremiah 9, where it speaks about the wisdom of the world and the riches of the world and the might of the world. And as believers, we can pray that the Lord would help us to use wisdom in a right way, to use our might in a right way, and to use our riches in a right way. And that we would serve and glorify God and that we would know him, because ultimately that's what we need to be glorying in. So what is the manner or the spirit? Well, it must be acceptable, it must be reverent, and there must be an awe about and who God is. Think of some of those scripture verses that speak about God, who humbles himself to make heaven his throne, and make earth his footstool, that he actually condescends to consider us this holy, holy, holy God who is our Lord and our Savior. Well, when we talk about the manner or spirit, we also have to consider that serving God implies something. And it implies good works. It's really something that is expected, isn't it? And it's all by virtue of Christ. Now, we, of course, don't do good works to be saved. We, having been saved, are capable of doing works. Why? Because we have a basis. We're regenerated. We have Christ within us and we're actually able to purposely strive toward that chief end of life, which is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. We touched last week again upon a few things in regards to the manner or spirit with which we're served to God just by way of quick summary here. It's moment by moment, isn't it? Moment by moment we need to be in that spirit of utter dependency upon God. and relying upon Him every moment. And we read that hymn moment by moment as we're kept in the Lord's love. We're His workmanship, aren't we? It's not all left up to us. If it were left up to us, we would be in deep, deep trouble. But it's not all left up to us. We have a Savior. We have our God. And He tells us, the Lord says in His prayer, that without Me, you can do nothing and nothing means nothing. Our sufficiency, 2 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 5, our sufficiency is of God. That's where it comes from, that's the source, and that's who we need to go to, to be utterly relying upon Him. So be encouraged. Salvation is of the Lord. Our walk in that salvation is of the Lord. We're not alone, and we can truly praise God for these things. Let us move then and now having given a brief summary of last week of how to joyfully serve God. What are some evidences then of serving God? This really hits home, doesn't it? When we start to just look and say, well, are there evidences in my life that I'm serving God? And I'm gonna even push that envelope even further. Are there evidences in our life that we joyfully serve God? Joyfully serve God. Or do we serve God with gritted teeth and so on? But no, we ought to serve God joyfully. I wanna emphasize again that none of this is meritorious. None of this is unto salvation. No, we're saved unto not by doing good things, not by serving God. No, we are saved, the basis is regeneration so that we can then go out and serve God. Note verse number one there. of chapter 13 here in Hebrews. Notice, one of the evidences of serving God is brotherly love. Let brotherly love continue. I hope when you read that, you immediately think of 1 Corinthians 13, as we're talking a lot about basis, the basis of things tonight. And 1 Corinthians 13 is that agape love, that sacrificial love. and the fragrant of expression of that sacrificial love, why it is brotherly love. It's sort of like the feet, if you will, on agape love. It's the wheels on that machine that enable us to do the things that we ought to do. I really kind of jumped off of the page as I was studying this passage here. Let brotherly love continue. That implies expectation. There's this, the Apostle Paul, who I believe wrote Hebrews under the inspiration of God, he just is expecting this, that we are in brotherly love. We are executing brotherly love. We are showing brotherly love. And isn't it easy to show brotherly love? I mean, we don't even have to try, do we? It just comes natural to all of us. Not to me, not to any of us. We need the Lord's grace for this. And the wonderful thing is, is that this has been poured into us. Would you turn with me to Romans 5, just for a moment, Romans 5. This is such an important point here because sometimes we perhaps look at ourselves and we can become very discouraged because we know deep down that we don't show brotherly love like we ought to. In fact, just last night I was gently rebuked by one of my children for just taking a minute out and just essentially showing I needed to show brotherly love and so we need this we need grace for this but look at Romans 5 verse 5 now hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us you see it's the love of God has been poured into us we are capable of exercising this fragrant expression of That's Dr. Peter Master's term, and I like it a lot, concerning brotherly love, this fragrant expression of agape love, is this brotherly love, and we're to continue in it at regeneration, this love has been poured into us, and we therefore have the ability to actually exercise it. And like I've often said to the family, to myself, that when the air conditioning is on, When our stomachs are full, when we're sitting in our living room having family worship and everything is just comfortable, it's really easy, isn't it, to exercise that kind of love. But what about when the temperature is really hot and when things are not going our way and when we're annoyed or tired or probably a little bit like I was yesterday as we were putting Christmas lights up. And well, that's when we really recognize that we're so lacking in these things. But the root is there where we can still, by God's grace, exercise this. Well, again, how can we exercise brotherly love? How can we actually do this? We might say, well, it sounds very good. Well, again, brothers and sisters, don't be discouraged because this has been poured in. This is alien to us. It is being given to us. It is there. and it can be exercised by God's grace as we depend upon him as Jerry Bridges, perhaps in another context more with the sovereignty of God, but I think it fits in here. He speaks about having utter dependence upon God to do the things that we must. I really like that. Utter dependence upon God to do the things we must. There's God's sovereignty and our utter dependence upon him And then there's our responsibility to do the things that we must in utter dependence upon God. I like that a lot and I think he absolutely nails it. Well, what are some other evidences? One here, brotherly love. As we see, it's got to continue. But I think also that the Lord would give us to have contentment in all providential climates. Now, are you a content person? Are you a thankful person? Look at situations and circumstances, and are you always content in them? I have to confess that there are times when I am not. I am not content. But again, we can be encouraged. Do you remember the words, again, of the Apostle Paul in Philippians 4? He said, in verse 11b, that I have learned that whatever state I am there with to be content. I take great encouragement in that. That the Apostle Paul learned these things, and that is something. that we need to learn as well. But let us remember that godliness with contentment, 1 Timothy 6, 6, is great gain. It's a great thing to be godly and to be content. And these are some of the evidences of serving God joyfully, that we're contentment, that we are learning, that there is some growth, and that we recognize the gain of being godly and of being contented. We've also got to exercise. We're thinking here about the evidences and really looking hard at ourselves and saying, well, do I have some evidence at least, a little bit of evidence of serving God joyfully? Is there any evidence of that in my life? And here are some things that we're trying to point out. Well, one of the evidences is that we're actually exercising our service for God. What do I mean by that? Well, if you would turn with me to John 13, John chapter 13. John chapter 13 this is so instructive the Lord is the one speaking here in this in the scriptures that is to say the Lord Jesus Christ of course all of scripture is God breathed but here in John 13 John 13 verse 12 to 15 follow with me if you would in your copy of God's word John 13 verse 12 to 15 so when he that is the Lord Jesus had washed their feet, taking his garments and sat down again, he said to them, do you know what I have done to you? You call me teacher and Lord, and you say, well, for so I am. If then your Lord and teacher have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I've given you an example that you should do as I have done unto you. As I thought about this passage of scripture, I thought about two aspects of feet being washed. The one part is when you wash somebody else's feet. You're giving, aren't you? You're giving. And the other aspect is when your feet are washed and you're actually receiving. And as I thought about that, I thought, isn't there a wise check and balance here? between those two things. And I thought about Philippians 2, 4 that says, look not out only for your own interests, but also for the interests of others. So it's not that we're not to consider our own interests, but as we do, make sure you consider other people's interests too. You see, this is an evidence of serving God joyfully, when we're considering the interests of others, not just our own things. And how often do we get those things kind of out of whack. And you know sometimes it's not always easy to receive a feet washing is it? It's not always easy to receive something from somebody else. But when we don't receive that gift from another person, from another believer, we're actually robbing them of something. And so we need to be asking the Lord to serve Him joyfully in an ironic kind of a way by actually receiving good things from other people. That's okay to do that. Let it be in check and balance. Make sure that as well, you are in the habit of washing other people's feet. Have you ever thought what that must have been like? The dusty roads of Galilee. Somebody sits down, and I just have this imagination of somebody with, I always think of it a white towel for some reason, and it's kind of over your neck, and somebody just sits down, and there you are on the floor. They're not looking at you, they're not giving you any attention, and their feet are dirty and sweaty and stinky and horrible. And there you are washing them. This is, I think, the picture here. And then that person just gets up, doesn't thank you, goes over, their knee kind of hits you in the chin probably, and you know, the bucket falls over, and there you are. This is washing feet. And if you think about it, sometimes in the church, this is what we're called to, to love one another. But as we do that, as unto the Lord, we're actually serving God. And the Lord can help us to do that joyfully. Well, it's pretty tough to wash people's feet on a continuous basis if we're not doing it unto the Lord. How we need grace for this. We cannot do this on our own. We just simply can't. But the grace is there, the love of God. This love has been poured in to every believer and it is there. And we're to exercise that by his grace in utter dependence on him to do the things that we must. This is living. the Christian life, and then to be gracious, to receive benefits and blessings that come to us, but keep those two things in balance. Colossians 3.17, you don't need to turn there, but you may if you wish. Colossians 3.17 I think is so very helpful in this regards, and whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus. It's the only way you can do such things, isn't it? It's the only way we can do such things. doing it as unto the Lord, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. Here are some more evidences then. This contentment in all providential climates, this serving God, learning to serve Him more, recognizing the great gain in being godly and content, exercising our service to God, washing feet, receiving our feet, being washed from time to time, keeping these things in check, and balance, not just looking out for our own interests, but also for the interests of others, but all in utter dependency upon the Lord. To do it thankfully, and to do these things joyfully, we need God's grace. I just cannot emphasize that enough, because if we go out thinking to ourselves that we can just do this of our own accord, we are dead in the water. It just can't be done. Oh, when the air conditioning's on, I concede, Yes, we can for a little while, perhaps, but we need that grace. And we can see in the world, can't we, that that grace is not there. And we see this all the time with unbelievers. But sadly, with ourselves at times, we have to confess, oh Lord, failed so terribly in this, but oh, let me learn. Help me, aid me, and give me grace to serve you joyfully. And the grace is sufficient because it is of God and that is where it is born. Well, fourthly, serving God joyfully by serving man without respective persons or partiality. Notice here and back in Hebrews 13 in verse number two, do not forget to entertain strangers for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels. What does this mean? I think first off it means we're not to forget hospitality. We're to be hospitable to one another. We're to be friendly. Remember Proverbs says, if you want to have friends, show yourself to be friendly. Let us be friendly. Let us be hospitable. Let us care for others and consider others. And notice it's not just to angels, but verse three, remember the prisoners as if chained with them. Those who are mistreated since you yourselves are in the body also. That's quite a contrast, isn't it? An angel and a prisoner. They're in very different social classes, if you will, aren't they? And here, these two are spoken of being next to each other. And I think we are being taught here that as we seek to serve God and do so joyfully, we must not do so in partiality. What does this mean for us today? Well, I think what it means for us is we've got to be very careful that we don't set up people who perhaps are very intellectual or perhaps wealthy or highly educated or maybe how they dress or what they look like and all those sorts of things. This is partiality. And then we gravitate. We've got to be careful. We've got to be careful. And we gravitate over here and gravitate over there. And it doesn't mean you can't have a special friend, but In general, we're brothers and sisters, there's neither Jew nor Greek, we're all one in Christ and we're all blood purchased for there are no degrees at all in justification, is there? No degrees whatsoever. We can't be more justified and somebody else can't be less. We're saved, we're serving the same master and we are to love one another, whether they be as it were angels or prisoners. And certainly when it comes to prisoners, I think also there is a deliberate emphasis here on prisoners, literally chained. We are praying tonight for voice of the martyrs and for those who are persecuted. It is good to remember them. It's easy for us in a situation like this, and bless the Lord for this wonderful situation. And in this room that we're in here tonight, having this study, it's a blessed thing, but we mustn't forget those who are chained, those who are persecuted, and we're to pray for them, and we're to remember them. and we're to remember those who are afflicted on our home turf, those who are hurting and sad, and those who maybe need a word of encouragement. Perhaps they're prisoners in different ways, and maybe they don't have physical bars placed upon them, but perhaps they are prisoners in other particular ways. So the Lord so needs to help us in these things, but as we do not set others up and have partiality, this is one way which we can serve God and do so joyfully without respect of persons. James 2 verse 1 to 5, we don't have time now to go there and go through this, but that's a really good text to visit and to linger in with regards to partiality and respect of persons. It's so easy for us to fall into that, isn't it? And the Lord needs to keep us from that. Let's just turn to Galatians 3 verse 28, because I think this really just absolutely ties the knot on this here. There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither slave nor free. There is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. That's the reason, isn't it, why we aren't to have partiality? We're one. We're the Lord's. We're His. And may the Lord help us to love one another. Well, here are some reasons, or here are some some evidences we've spoken about concerning joyfully serving God, and I wanted to re-emphasize that none of these things are meritorious. I know I've said that, but I do need to re-emphasize it. None of these things are meritorious. It doesn't, as a saved person, depend upon a good week or some good performance. It's Christ in us. It's all what He has done. It's all His working and His doing. And by God's grace, we're then able to actually do good works, and we can praise the Lord God for that. And as we go through life, back to Hebrews 13, as we go through life, and I didn't spend time on this, I missed it again tonight, and I didn't want to. I'll just touch on it briefly, and then we close shortly here. Verse 29, for our God is a consuming fire. I believe that this brings remembrance to the incident in Leviticus 10. concerning Nadab and Bihu. They had offered, they had offered strange fire. You may turn there if you wish. Leviticus, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, chapter 10. And they had offered, they had offered strange fire and they were killed. They were killed as a result of that. What a fearful fearful thing happened to them. And the thing is, is that they had disobeyed God by not only using fire from the brazen altar from the tabernacle. This was the issue. So their fire had been taken from some other source. And the point is, is that God is holy and we must come to God through Christ alone. So these men here, Nadab and Abihu, they were killed in the presence of the Lord because they offered up strange fire before God. It's a very serious thing. This brings us back, doesn't it, to verse 28. How we're to serve God in this way, acceptably and with reverence and with godly fear. We've been saved. We've been redeemed. The Lord has purchased us and we don't want to offer up anything before the Lord that is not pleasing in His sight. Now, The truth is, is that there are times when we do not serve the Lord as we ought. We do not behave ourselves as we should. And so praise God that we can come to the Lord and we can confess our sin before Him. We have that advocate in heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit within us takes our prayers and presents them faultless before Him. And we have that advocate in heaven who takes our sins away so we can truly praise God for those sins. So may the Lord help us through life. to serve Him well, and to finish well, and to run the race well by His grace and enabling. Well, as we finish off here tonight, we've considered in this little study, part one and part two, over the past couple of weeks, of how to joyfully serve God. We've talked about the basis of being able to serve God. We've spoken about the manner or spirit in which we are to serve God. some evidences that we are joyfully serving God, and then serving God joyfully by serving man without partiality. And may the Lord help us in this. And my question to you tonight, are you weary? Are you weary of serving? Have you reached that point where you just feel like you just cannot serve anymore? You're just spent. You're just tired. Well, sometimes you do need to take a break. And sometimes you do need to just get off the highway and pull to the side. You know like when you're driving along the highway and there's those coffee spots or in the UK when we were driving along they would have these really neat kind of coffee places and you would just feel like just getting off that motorway and going in and having some tea or something like that and just having a break. Well there are some times when you just need to take a break. But I'll tell you this, whatever the Lord calls you to do, That's the key. The need is not always the call, but whatever God calls you to, he will always give you the grace to do it, no matter what it is. So as we look to the Lord, do not get weary. In Galatians chapter six, this is addressed and this is spoken of. Do not be deceived. God is not mocked for whatever a man sows that he will also reap. So we want to make sure we're reaping good things for he who sows to his flesh or sowing good things rather that we might reap good things for he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption but he who sows to the spirit will of the spirit reap everlasting life and let us not grow weary while doing good. What does that tell us? That tells us that we're prone to weariness when we're doing good. I'm gonna say that again, that tells us that we're actually prone to getting weary when we're doing those good things. But don't grow weary. For in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. And how do we not lose heart? By continually looking to the Lord and asking the Lord, Father, here's a need. Are you calling me to that need, Lord? The Lord may not call you to that need. And if that's not the case, that's okay. But if He calls you to it, He'll give you the strength, launch into it by His grace, and just do what you're supposed to do by His grace enabling. And this is how we function in the Christian life. And then one more text, and then we close here. This is such an encouraging text from 1 Corinthians 15. And verse 58 says this, therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast and movable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor, now get this, in vain in the Lord. Isn't that wonderful? When you're doing anything unto the Lord, and he has called you to do it, it's not in vain. You know those times when you've spoken to somebody, maybe a parent, maybe a loved one, maybe a friend, maybe somebody at work, and it just seems to go nowhere. And it's month after month maybe, or year after year as the case may go. Don't forget this, that your labor is not in vain. It's not empty. Press on. Move forward by His grace and be encouraged in the Lord God for He is the one who sees all these things and is well pleased. Well, I'd like to close with a reading or a statement rather from the Valley of Vision and it's called Refuge. Just listen to these wonderful words prayed long ago by a Puritan. O LORD, whose power is infinite and wisdom infallible, order things that they may neither hinder nor discourage me, nor prove obstacles to the progress of thy cause. Stand between me and all strife, that no evil befall, no sin corrupt my gifts, zeal and attainments. May I follow duty, not any foolish device of my own. Permit me not to labour at work which thou wilt not bless, that I may serve thee without disgrace or debt. Let me dwell in thy most secret place under thy shadow, where is safe and penetrable protection from the arrow that flyeth by day, the pestilence that walketh in darkness, the strife of tongues, the malice of ill will, the hurt of unkind talk, the snares of company, the perils of youth, the temptations of middle life, the mournings of old age, the fear of death, O Lord, I am entirely dependent upon You for support, counsel, consolation. Uphold me by Thy Spirit, and may I not think it enough to be preserved from falling, but may I always go forward, always abounding in the work You give me to do. Strengthen me by Thy Spirit in my inner self for every purpose of my Christian life. All my jewels I give to the shadow of the safety that is in thee. My name anew in Christ, my body, soul, talents, character, my success, my wife, my children, friends, work, my present, my future, and my end. Take them. They are thine, and I am thine, now and forever." Well, let's pray. Dear God in heaven, we thank you so much that because of the Lord Jesus Christ and what he has done and his perfect work and his blood work that was done at Calvary, his resurrection. Lord, we thank you that we can actually serve you when we are yours, when we are regenerated, when we have believed on you and trusted you and when our sins have been forgiven and your righteousness has been imputed to us and we're adopted. O Lord, may we look to you. May we love you. Help us, O Lord, in the day-to-day grit and grind of life, O Lord, to serve you with a right spirit, to be thankful, to be joyful, to remember that we are your workmanship, that our sufficiency is of God, and that without you we can do nothing. Help us to be encouraged in these realities. And Lord, may we, O Lord, exercise by your grace that brotherly love, that agape love that has fragrant expression, And we pray, O Lord, that you would help us to do so in utter dependence upon you. Lord, we confess that there are times when we have respected people, when we have been partial. Forgive us and cleanse us. Help us, O Lord, to remember those that would be high up and those that would be low down in the stations of life. Help us to know that in Christ there are no degrees of justification. Help us to remember that in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, but we are yours. and we are all headed to the same celestial city that you have purchased. And Lord, I pray that you would help us not to be weary in serving you. Lord, help us, I pray, to check our motives and to do everything as unto you. Then we won't need the well done of man. We won't need, oh Lord, to be patted on the back. Lord, those things are nice to receive and encouraging to be sure, but Lord, ultimately, we must do everything as unto you. Not unto men, but unto you. We need grace for this, Lord. Thank you that the grace is there. for our sufficiency is of you. So go with us now, Lord. Help us, aid us. Lord, without you, we can do absolutely nothing. And we just pray that you'd be with us throughout the remainder of this week, and that you would help us to serve and honor you in all things. And it's in Christ's name we pray, amen.