Our scripture reading this evening is Hebrews chapter 13. Hebrews chapter 13. Let brotherly love continue. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Remember them that are in bonds as bound with them, and them which suffer adversity as being yourselves also in the body. Marriage is honorable in all and the bed undefiled, but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. 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. So that we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God, whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today, and forever. Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines, for it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace, not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein. We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat, which serve the tabernacle. for the bodies of those beasts whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin are burned without the camp. Wherefore Jesus also that he might sanctify the people with his own blood suffered without the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp bearing his reproach. For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come. By him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name. But to do good and to communicate, forget not, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. Obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves, for they watch for your souls as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy and not with grief, for that is unprofitable for you. Pray for us, for we trust we have a good conscience in all things willing to live honestly But I beseech you, the rather to do this, that I may be restored to you the sooner. Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. And I beseech you, brethren, suffer the word of exhortation, for I have written a letter unto you with few words. Know ye that your brother Timothy is set at liberty, with whom, if he come shortly, I will see you. Salute all them that have the rule over you, and all the saints. They of Italy salute you. Grace be with you all. Amen. So while we read God's holy word, the text for the sermon is verse one, let brotherly love continue. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ is the mediator of a better covenant that is established upon better promises. He is the supreme mediator, the most excellent mediator of the new covenant, a covenant so much better than the old. In the old covenant, God came down to meet his people with the law at Mount Sinai. He came with lightning and thunder. He came with fire. He came with darkness. He came with the ground shaking. And the law that he brought the people could not keep. The law that demanded that they love God perfectly and obey him perfectly. The people being sinners, all of them fallen in Adam could not keep that law. Therefore the way into God's presence, the way into the most holy place was closed to them. But the new covenant has been established. The covenant that is set forth here in Hebrews chapter 8, the end of the chapter, verses 10 and following, where God says, I will make with the house of Israel, this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their mind. and write them in their hearts, and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people. And they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. That's the new covenant. a covenant unbreakable, a covenant that continues in and through the exalted mediator Jesus Christ. That's been the message of the epistle to the Hebrews for 12 chapters. The excellency of Jesus, the new covenant that he establishes in his own blood. And now chapter 13 is the application of that truth to those who are in that covenant. That's traditionally, that's almost all the epistles are written. The doctrine is set forth, although there's plenty of practical material in there too, but the essence of the doctrine is set forth and then the spirit applies it to God's people. And that's what chapter 13 is. When the very first exhortation is, Brotherly love continues. You are now in this covenant, this new covenant with God. Christ has redeemed you. He has opened the way into the very presence of God. You are come not to Mount Sinai. You are come to Mount Zion. You have come to the city of God. You have come to the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to the church where all are firstborn. You have come to the place where the saints are justified and made perfect. in the very presence of God. Therefore, let brotherly love continue. There is obvious significance to the fact that this is the very first application of all of that doctrine that we have considered. The law of God has been put into your minds. The law of God is written upon your hearts. And what is the essence of that law? Love. Love. You children know that? Every Sunday, almost every Sunday, I summarize the law, the Ten Commandments, saying, this is the summary that Jesus gave us. Love God. Love your neighbor as yourself. And though the main commandment is love God, the reality is that that love for God is manifest in a genuine love for the neighbor. So here. We begin the list of exhortations. The exhortations are all standing alone. There's not a do this so that or do this because of that. It's just one after another, after another separate exhortations. And all of them based on the fact that you are in that new covenant. that God has established through Jesus Christ. And so the first exhortation we consider under the theme admonished unto brotherly love, admonished unto brotherly love. Well, notice in the first place, what is commanded? What does it mean? Let brotherly love continue. Secondly, what is the source of that? This brotherly love that God admonishes to us to have. And thirdly, why? is it commanded, admonished unto brotherly love. So we examine the admonition starting with the question then, well, what exactly is brotherly love? The Greek word, if you would take it and just transliterate the sounds into the English language, the Greek word here is Philadelphia. Philadelphia. I would pronounce it a little different. If I were saying it in Greek, I would say Philadelphia, but we'll just say Philadelphia. That's the Greek word. That's what William Penn named the city many years ago because he wanted it to be known as the city of brotherly love. That's what Philadelphia means, love of the brother. It's made up of two words. The Phil part is part of a Greek word, phileo, which means to love. And then the second part of Philadelphia is the word adelphos, which means brother. That's what the word means. Together, it's Philadelphia. So now you all know at least one Greek word. It's used only four times in the New Testament. One of those places is 1 Peter 1, 7, where we are told to add to brotherly kindness, Philadelphia, add to brotherly kindness, charity. And charity is there the word ordinarily used for love. As I said, the word love here is, this word is not used nearly as frequently. The word normally that expresses love, sometimes translated charity, is the ordinary word of expressing God's love for us and our love for God. That word, charity, is a word that expresses a love that's very sturdy, very strong. It's a bond. It establishes a bond between two people. This love does. The love that we're talking about, again, the other word for love, not the one in the text, the other word for love expresses the idea that you have made a deliberate choice to do good. It's a deliberate choice that you will give for the benefit of the other. And it expresses also that there is a desire to have fellowship together. That's in the ordinary word for love. Now, how is the word for love in Philadelphia? How is that word different? In a sense, it's weaker, and in another sense, it's stronger. It's weaker in the sense that this word, the word brotherly love in chapter 13 here, it does not have the idea of a deliberate choice that you say, this is what I'm going to do. It's a logical, it's a choice that I'm deciding to do. I will do good to that person. From that point of view, it's weaker. It doesn't have a bond idea there. But from another point of view, it's stronger as far as the enthusiasm of the love. It's expressing a strong attraction. It is more spontaneous. Rather than a deliberate choice, it's just simply that there is this love here. There is this attraction here. The love of the text, interestingly, combines with 15 other different things, as it does here, love for the brother, that indicates that we could have a certain kind of love for many different things. Some of them are good, some of them are bad. Let me give you some of the examples of that. There's the love of goodness. becomes a word. A love of the husband, Titus 2, what older women are to teach the younger women, surely by example, showing them what it is to love your husband. There's a love of men, which is philanthropy. There's the love of self. There are those who are lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. 1 Timothy 3 contrasts that. There's the love of strife. There's the love of hospitality. That's the word that we'll encounter in verse two. There's a love of being first. There's a love of wisdom. Phil philosophy, love of wisdom. There's the love for children. There's a love of honor. Those are all kinds of things that the heart can be attracted to here. the word is love of the brother, love of the brother. And note, interestingly enough, that that other word for love, the word sometimes translated charity, that word is never combined with all these different things. You don't have love for goodness, love for self, love for honor. With that word, that's different. It is God's love for us. Now, maybe this helps if you understand that God's love for his son, Jesus, is usually this other stronger word, sometimes translated charity. But it's also here. God has a delight in his son. He has a delight in him. And the word used in the text is there. Generally speaking, then, the word that it's the first half of Philadelphia, that word for love, is demonstrated in kindness, in kindness, a genuine liking of the other person, desiring to be with and enjoying fellowship. But who are the brethren then? of the brethren is the word Philadelphia. And the Greek here is only three words. Very, very, very brief. The Philadelphia remain. That would be the literal translation. The Philadelphia, love of brethren, let it remain. and it's just one Greek verb there. But it's the Philadelphia, it's the biblical love of brethren, the God honoring, God commanded love for the brethren over against many other false kinds of love of brethren. The unbelieving world has a kind of love for brethren. They can organize groups that stand together. They're unified. We're brothers. Labor unions can have a brotherhood. Members of a secret society like a Masonic Lodge, they're united in brotherhood. College fraternities and then even those who are united in vile sexual sins like child pornography or homosexuality. There's a certain brotherhood there. There's a certain watching out for each other. The text says, no, not that. Not the world's idea of brotherhood. 1 Peter 3 says, love the brotherhood. The brotherhood. So it's not the world's, and yet now to get the sense of it, could the text, let brotherly love continue, be a general just kind of be nice to everybody? We are, after all, to love our neighbor as ourselves. We are to love our enemies, but That word, love your neighbor and love your enemies, that's the other word. That's the word that indicates I make a determined choice to do good. So I'm going to show love, even if it's an unbelieving neighbor. I'm going to do good to that neighbor. That's my deliberate choice. The word in the text is not used for that. We are not to be attracted to the world and enjoy good fellowship with the world. They are not our brothers. The Bible forbids that. James 4 says that fellowship, friendship with the world is enmity with God. And for 2 Corinthians 6, be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. They're the children of darkness. Their father is the devil. They are not our brothers. So the word Philadelphia, love of brothers, is not a general admonition to love your neighbor. The brother in Philadelphia is a fellow believer. What makes a person a brother? What makes a person a sister? It's family. We're in the family of God. God is our father. Jesus is our elder brother. We are of the same family. Predestinated unto the adoption of children, redeemed in Jesus Christ, given the life of Jesus Christ, given faith in Him, you can see this is a brother or a sister because of their walk, because of the way they talk. This is Fellow saint this is a brother or sister in Christ Therefore it refers to any and all Christians to Christians not merely to Protestant Reformed members not merely to members of this congregation it's broader than that and yet this is where it starts doesn't it and it's where we have the closest brotherly love because of how much we share. We share the same beliefs, we share the same basic walk of life, and therefore the love that we have can be very strong here. Brotherly love, Philadelphia. Let brotherly love continue. Let it continue. The verb continue is more often translated abide or remain. And the idea is it's not a visit where you come and you go, but you dwell there. You live there. It stays. Let brotherly love stay there. Abide. What does God want to see in a church? where Philadelphia brotherly love continues, where it abides. He will see members honoring each other, putting the other first. He will see a love that manifests itself in genuine care and concern for the other members of the body, not pretended, but genuine. Earlier in the book, Paul wrote to the Hebrews, telling them that God will not forget your labor of love as you ministered to the saints. You ministered, you served fellow saints. That's the idea. It's the kind of activity that you see in Acts chapter two after Pentecost, when people didn't look at their possessions as something just for them, but it was something that they were delighted to be able to give to others and to let them use it for their benefit, where they would go from house to house and they would visit, even sharing meals together in each other's homes. That's the kind of love, the kind of unity that this expresses. Where brotherly love continues, there is there is genuine warmth. There is true sympathy. There is compassion for each other. There is a joy in being together, a joy in being able to assist someone else in a major way or a small way. Other passages in Scripture help us. Romans 12.10 says, Philadelphia, using that word, Philadelphia is described as being kindly affected one toward another. Kindly affected one toward another. And Paul's description of his attitude to the Thessalonians In 1 Thessalonians 2, verse 8, he says, "...being so affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you not the gospel of God only, but our own souls, because ye were dear unto us." That captures it. That's brotherly love. And, of course, we have the well-known, beautiful chapter, 1 Corinthians chapter 13. And even though that's not the word fill for Philadelphia, that's the word charity. Yet you can't separate the two, as we'll see. And so listen, listen to what love is like. In 1 Corinthians 13, beginning at verse 4, charity suffereth long, and is kind. Charity envieth not. Charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things, endureth. Therefore, in a congregation where brotherly love abides, there will be peace. There will be unity. No one is neglected in the congregation. Let this remain, let it abide in the church. Beloved congregation, I am thankful to God that by his grace, you are a church of Philadelphia. That I can preach to you this Text not as a rebuke Not saying you have a long ways to go here folks you need to get going on this But rather with the admonition let it continue Let it continue By the grace of God Philadelphia characterizes this congregation It's manifest in its office bearers, let me tell you that. Elders who care for this church, who are willing to spend themselves to assist with counseling, cheerfully teaching catechism, cheerfully doing family visitation night after night, deacons who are eager to help anyone in the congregation, but also look forward to assisting saints on the other side of the world, as they will take up the work in the Philippines. That kind of brotherly love flows throughout the congregation. There is a care here, a genuine care that is manifest, a care for widows and widowers, a genuine care for their welfare, for their health, for their spiritual and their physical needs, a care for the single people of the congregation, how they are doing, a care for the youth, their lives, their directions, their activities, and a care for families, care for marriages and for children in the family. There is a care for each other that comes out very clearly. When God brings trouble and hardships, when help is needed, then this admonition is something that we're following. Let brotherly love continue. It's a care that extends outside of our church. many different causes we collect for them and the congregation gives generously to people we do not even know who have help, who need help. We still need the admonition. We'll talk about that in the third point. But again, I say, I'm thankful for the grace of God given So that Philadelphia, love for the brethren does abide here. What then is the source of that? The source obviously is God's love for us. Love is an attribute of God. God is love. God is love within himself as we've examined the doctrine of the Trinity and this morning as well, looking at God's life within himself. God is merciful within himself, but he surely is a God of love and fellowship. The three persons, one in essence and therefore never in disagreement, never, but they're also united in that eternal bond of love. They seek and delight in each other. And God takes that love that he has within himself and he bestows it upon his people. That amazing, infinite, eternal and unchanging love. Because it is an attribute of God, it's powerful. It's a powerful love. It's a love that draws us to God. It's a love that changes us. It's a powerful love. It changes us. God's love is manifest in Jesus Christ. Over and again, the scriptures emphasize that it is a giving love, a giving love. Romans 5, verse 8, But God commendeth his love toward us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. That's how God commended, commends his love to us. Look at Jesus. John 316, the passage the Armenians love to quote, but it's so beautiful, take hold of it. God so loved the world, so means in this manner, God in this manner loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. This love, is not merely manifest in the cross. This love is poured out into our hearts. That's Romans 5, verse 5, poured out into our hearts by the Spirit who is there in the heart. And when the Spirit is there giving that love of God in our heart, it means He makes us to know that we are loved of God. And that same powerful love of God makes us able to love Him and then to love each other. That's God's powerful love. Jesus emphasizes the calling to love each other so strongly. He was almost ready to go to the cross and he said, no, I have a commandment. I don't want you to forget that you love one another as I have loved you, that you love each other. Again and again, he said that the day before he was crucified. And 1 Thessalonians 4 verse 9 demonstrates that connection between brotherly love, Philadelphia, and the love of God, because 1 Thessalonians 4 verse 9 says, but as touching brotherly love, and that's Philadelphia, as touching brotherly love, you have no need that I write unto you, for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another. with the other love now, that determined, strong bond of love. God has told you to love each other, so you know that brotherly love, of course, has to be found among you. The source of our loving each other is the love of God in our hearts. But of course, it's not only the power of love, but it's the power of grace. It's the power of grace, the grace particularly of humility, humility, putting ourselves and putting rather others ahead of ourselves, self-denial, so contrary to our natures, esteeming other better than themselves, This brotherly love for a fellow believer is something that should be very much kindled when we see the work of God's grace in the fellow saint. When we see that work of God, that attracts us. We love to see that. And that creates a bond there. That creates an affection for and a desire to be kind to the other person. That's what we delight in. Personalities do not get in the way because it has nothing to do with personalities. It's not that we're going to show brotherly love to those who are fun, to those who are popular. It's fellow saints. It's fellow members of the body of Jesus Christ. We're loving sisters. We're loving brothers. And within a family, if the family, if everything is right as it should be, there is that natural. Delight in each other. To have a family reunion and get to see people you haven't seen for a while, and and again, if things are right in the family, what a joy. That's that's what we're talking about here, just a natural attraction, joy in each other. That's the family of God. Again, scripture is so strong. 1 John, especially the epistle of love. 1 John 3.16, hereby perceive we the love of God. Because He laid down His life for us, we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. For the brethren. In chapter 5, verse 1, this profound statement, listen, whosoever believeth that Jesus is Christ is born of God. You believe in Jesus, you're born of God. You've been born again. Who begat you? God did. Keep that in mind. Because it goes on to say, everyone that loveth him that begat, everyone who loves the God who begat, loveth also him that is begotten. If you love the God who begat you, you will also love the one, the other people that God begat. Regeneration. You'll love that person, too. Personalities have nothing to do with it. We're in the same family. And then, of course, we need the strong warnings, don't we? And John gives it to us in 1 John 4. 20, If a man say, I love God, but hateth his brother, he is a liar. He that loveth not his brother that he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? He sees the work of God in this individual and says, I hate him. And how can you say you love God whose work is in him? This commandment have we from him that he who loveth God love his brother also. But this has to be concrete. As John says in 1 John 3, verse 17, Whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him. That's how the love of God is manifest in helping, giving, to each other. This is the source of brotherly love. It's God's love for us. So why then do we need this admonition? The text says, let it abide. Let it continue. which implies that it's already there. And as I said, it absolutely is here in this congregation. So why do we need a sermon on this if it's already here anyway? Let me give you four reasons. First, the admonition is for each and every one of us And perhaps not everyone in the congregation is demonstrating brotherly love. We all need to hear it. We all need the admonition, therefore, to examine ourselves and say, am I? Am I demonstrating brotherly love? Is that my life? Am I continuing, am I abiding in that activity of brotherly love. The admonition comes to every one of us. We examine ourselves. Is this true of me? What is my attitude toward fellow Christians? What is my attitude toward the people in this church? And then beyond that, to any Christian that I meet. For any who are reluctant to show it, the admonition says, yes, you too. You too. This is for all of us. Let brotherly love continue. So that, first of all, is for all of us to examine ourselves. Second, the danger is that not all the members are the object of brotherly love. Perhaps the congregation as a whole does demonstrate tremendous brotherly love but there may be some who are neglected. Some members who are overlooked. Acts 6 speaks of the fact that when the apostles were distributing the money to the widows, some of the widows were being neglected. That was not deliberate, but it happens. It happens. And Paul to the elders of Ephesus in Acts 20 said, Be sure that you have care for the weak. Be sure that you have care for the weak of the congregation. So perhaps some experience tremendous concern and care and affection from the congregation, but others maybe do not. And so the admonition is, let it continue across the board. to any and every member of the congregation or Christian outside of this congregation as well. So that's secondly. We all need to examine ourselves, are we? Secondly, is everyone the object of our brotherly love? Third, the necessity is simply that the reality is no one No one does this all the time. Continue in. Let it be constant is the idea there, never ending. And so we need to be inclined to it. We need to look for opportunities because it isn't constant, not in anybody's life. Fourth, God gives us the admonition so that it may grow, so that it may grow, that it may abound, that people of God, you can never have too much. You can never have too much love. You can never have too much brotherly love among Christians. Let it abound, let it grow. For the Hebrew Christians, you can see this was an important word for them. They had experienced much trouble and sorrow in their life. They were persecuted, they were hated, they were reproached. It would be easy for them to become somewhat bitter, to be very guarded, not to think that this was an important thing in their life. What's important, obviously, from the first 12 chapters is stand for the truth. Be faithful to Jesus Christ. Don't let anybody draw you away from him. Absolutely true. All of that is true. But the text says, don't forget. About brotherly love. That. Is absolutely important. particularly now when those whom they meet on the outside of the church would be attacking people on the inside of the church and saying, you go to church with that person. That's who you associate with. And that of course is the devil's tactic all through history and still today. There is any number of people that would love to tell you evil stories about other members of the church or other Christians. And then when you hear that, you're not inclined to brotherly kindness, are you? And so we need to hear this, as the Hebrews needed to hear this. Stand for the truth absolutely, but let brotherly love continue. Ultimately, we all need this because we're prone to the opposite. We simply are. Pride lives in the heart of every one of us. And this is manifested in self-love, seeking of our own, seeking the good of self, maybe the good of family. Let somebody else worry about the rest of the people in the congregation. Brotherly love is not natural. Sin is. Jealousy and envy They can grow without even trying. We want other people to serve us, not serve them. We need the admonition. But while we're talking about why, those are all reasons why I need to hear it, why you need to hear it. But there is something greater than that. and that is God. Love is the chief characteristic of the Church of Jesus Christ. We saw that in the text that we considered for family visitation, where we were told, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on bowels of mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering, forbearing one another, forgiving one another. That sounds like brotherly love, doesn't it? And above all these things, put on charity. When Paul lists the different aspects of the Spirit's work, the fruit of the Spirit, number one, love. and kindness and so on. Paul writes of the importance of that beautiful, in that beautiful chapter on love, when he says, though I speak with the tongue of men and of angels and have not charity, I'm become as a sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal. Though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains and have not charity, I am nothing. Though I bestow all my goods to the poor and though I give my body to be burned and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. Love is a mark of a disciple, as Jesus said. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one toward another. In this world full of hatred, and you only have to look at any kind of media and you see hatred, hatred, hatred pouring out in our society. The church is a place of love. Absolutely. You are in a new and unbreakable covenant. Jesus Christ is the most excellent mediator of that covenant. You know the love of God displayed clearly in the cross put into your hearts by the Spirit. And now God says to all of us, let that be manifest. Let the love of God, let the love that manifests itself in brotherly love abide. Amen. Let us pray. Father in heaven, we thank Thee for Thy love for us. We could not live without it. We absolutely could not live without it. And in spite of our sinfulness and our unworthiness, we pray, Lord, continue to manifest it to us. Make it to be something that flows out of our own lives and is clearly evident here in this congregation. and in the whole of our life, this beautiful gift of brotherly love. We thank Thee for that in Jesus, in whose name we pray. Amen. We sing of that in Psalm 133C, the third selection of 133. Behold how pleasant and how good that we one Lord confessing together dwell in brotherhood, our unity expressing. Both stanzas of 133C. ♪ Behold how blessed and how good that we are, Lord, come fasting together. ♪ Our U.S.D. expressly ♪ ♪ This time we o'er the land would say ♪ ♪ The seal of our nation ♪ ♪ That for its hopes of stewardship of perfection ♪ ♪ That we are born from Christ's feet ♪ ♪ To Bethlehem dwell in brotherhood ♪ ♪ Our unity expressing ♪ ♪ This I will do from here and there ♪ is ♪ We the worthy hosts of old in honor have been born ♪ ♪ And thus the Lord these days be known, who in this place be born ♪ The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.