Amen. Well, good morning to you. And good morning to those who are joining us online. Would someone mind, Hunter or Taylor, since you're walking, would you shut those back swinging doors for me? Thank you, sir. It can be a little distracting. If you have your Bibles this morning, of course, I hope that you do. I invite you to turn with me to the book of Hebrews. I can't even find Hebrews this morning. There it is. Go to James and take a left. Hebrews chapter 13. I'm excited every week that the Lord allows me to stand and preach His word, but if I were to be honest with myself, I may be a little more excited this morning. We're kind of coming to an end of this first six verses here that we've been working diligently through for however many of these past several weeks. And to a degree we have kind of gone through each of these verses and gone to other scripture to see what the Lord means on these topics and these issues of hospitality and love and morality and marriage and all these things. Because as I was reminded this morning, we often, if not always, we do always lack the same contextual background that the original audience had. So it is important for us at many times to do some additional homework. And so this morning, hopefully this journey, these past six weeks will pay off as we come to the end of this paragraph, if you will, that starts in Hebrews 13, one and ends in verse six. And so let's read these first six verses, then back up a little bit. It says in Hebrews 13.1, Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body. Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. Keep your life free from the love of money and be content with what you have. For He has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. So we can confidently say, the Lord is my helper. I will not fear. What can man do to me? Let's pray. Lord, as we come to this text this morning, as we've come to You so often already, and as we continually come to You because our need for You never expires. And so, Lord, now we pray as we come to this text that by the Holy Spirit that you would help us to see and to receive your word this morning. And not just to receive it, but to respond to it. Thank you for your holy and perfect word and how that you'll use it today. In Christ's name we do pray. Amen. So as we finish up this section, just a brief recap, a brief for sure, that the writer of Hebrews here, obviously the author is the Holy Spirit, that he was reminding the church of what it looks like and what it means to walk out their faith. If you have a subtitle there, it may say something like sacrifices pleasing to God or worship that is pleasing unto the Lord. So ultimately this picture that he's painting is he's walking through these first especially five verses is a picture of being a living sacrifice as Paul says in Romans chapter 12 verse 1 that I appeal to you brothers and there are more sisters I put you brothers and sisters therefore but the church by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God which is which is your spiritual worship and so ultimately this These first five and six verses here are reminding the church what it means to please the Lord through sacrifice, through worship, to walk as unto the Lord. And we know we see also in Paul in Corinthians, it says whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you drink, whatever you do, do it as unto the Lord and to the glory of God. It is this reminder ultimately of what a believer looks like. Now we we've walked through these these past six weeks and we know that we don't embody these perfectly in any regard but we have a desire to walk in these. We have a desire and really you could kind of put it in five five categories here that we've walked through, we should have a desire that brotherly love continue. That we have a love for the brothers and sisters in Christ, for the church, for those who are in the Lord. There's this overwhelming love and connection that is not found in anything other than Christ. That we should have a desire not to neglect hospitality towards strangers because Christ showed hospitality to us while we were strangers. And so as believers, we should have a desire to remember the brothers in prison and who are persecuted, as we'll look at again this morning. Because again, it's this love that unites us, it's this love that motivates us. And we should also have a desire to esteem marriage and flees sexual morality even in our culture that screams of this immorality and diminishes marriage as believers we hold it high in high regards because it was instituted by the Lord and thus we desire not to defile it And then fifthly, as we looked at last week, that we should have a desire to avoid covetousness and be content. That we should have a desire to free our life from the love of money, as verse 5 says, and to be content with what we have. That's easy, right? All these things are easy, right? We can just do these in our own strength because we're church members. No, we know that. And hopefully in North Hills, we know how silly that is. And hopefully you would run me out of here if I didn't correct that. Because we know only by the Holy Spirit can we pursue these desires. Only by the strength of the Holy Spirit and for the glory of God can these things be true of us. But to kind of bring it in summary, Jesus says in John chapter 13, 34 and 35, he says this, says a new commandment I give to you that you love one another just as I have loved you and you also are to love one another by this all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love one for another and we see In these first five verses, it's all about how we love one another and how we love the Lord and how we walk in that love. And this is how we are known as the people of God, as the church, and how we love one another. Now this is both what Jesus says here, and even as we look in 13, this is both a promise and a problem. And I'm gonna, if you're, especially on video, if maybe you're listening, I'm putting air quotes, okay? Problems, we know ultimately it's not a problem, but we're gonna, it's a perceived problem. This promise that Jesus gives, that by our love, by how we interact with one another, how we love one another, we will be known. We will be made out to be his disciples. It is both a promise and a problem to be known as a disciple of Jesus. Going back to, I know we're finished in Hebrews, we've been here for over a year, but if you remember back from the very beginning, if you were to go to Hebrews chapter 1, and maybe you have some kind of introduction up there that gives you some base information, but Hebrews was written sometime between 60 and 70 AD. Now, so it's always important to remember the context. And so as the writer here of Hebrews, authored by the Holy Spirit, as he's writing this to the church and to churches, and to ultimately, as we know, the Lord to give to all believers in the centuries and millennia to come. But especially in this context in which it was written, it was a very difficult time to be known as believers. It was a very difficult time to be known as Christians, or as they were called, part of the way. They followed Jesus. And it was even, as we know, in the beginning when they used the term Christian, it was a mocking statement to be a little Christ. And so it was a very difficult time to be known as a Christian. And so here the writers say, let these things, let brotherly love and hospitality and marriage and your view of money, all these things shape you. Because if these things truly shape you, if you allow the Spirit to conform your life to these truths right here, you will look different. You don't have to wear a t-shirt that says, I love Jesus. You don't have to put an ikthus fish on your car. Some of you younger people say, what's an ikthus fish? It was all the rage in the 90s, okay? You put a little Christian fish on the back of your car, and you drove like a maniac, and it caused people to doubt who you were, right? Such a long time ago. But you don't have to do these external things to show that you're a believer because you will be known as followers of Christ by how you love others and how you live out these commands of the Lord. So again, this is a promise and a problem. So why is it a problem to be known as the disciples of Jesus? We know it's not truly a problem, but how could it be a perceived problem? How could these verses be taken with fear? Because ultimately when it comes to it, he says all these things. He says, I will never leave you or forsake you. So we can confidently say, the Lord is my helper. I will not fear. What can man do to me? And so what's this context? Why would they be fearful to live these things out? Why would they be fearful to be known as the church? And so during this time of this decade from 60 to 70 AD, there was the thing known as Nero's Circus. I was reminded of this this week, and it's very helpful to understand this backdrop, if you will. Nero's Circus, and you can Google if you want to and get some more information this week, or look up some history books, but it started ultimately as an elaborate racetrack. that I believe it was Calgula, and it started, and then Nero finished. It was a place for games to be had, for them to race their chariots. If you're going back from the 90s, maybe the 80s, is that Ben-Hur, is that the 80s? In the 80s, if you've seen Ben-Hur, that was kind of the context of Nero's circus, a place where these chariot races would be held, and all these games would be had. Well, he would have more than just games that we would enjoy to see. There was this reality there, and I don't want to dive into it too much because it's not the point this morning, but it was the place that became a mass grave for believers. that they would bring Christians, and a lot of times we think it's the Colosseum that they bring Christians to these games, and I'm sure they did at times, but the majority of Christians who were persecuted for their faith and became martyrs who died, they died in the arena of Nero's circus. And so this is a place that he would torture Christians and kill Christians and do untold horrors to Christians simply because they were known to follow Christ. And these are becoming known as Christians. They're a part of the way. And so how did these Christians become so hated by Rome? How did it become a reality for them to be brought into Nero's circus, into this very public arena, and to be horribly murdered and butchered? Two things I'd present to you. First of all there will always be enmity between Christ and culture. There will always be a division between those who follow Christ and those who don't. I don't care what kind of culture you're in. We'll talk about being post-Christian this morning but whatever culture we find ourselves in there will always be enmity. Because Jesus promised that in this world there will be trouble. Last week we read the words of Paul that says, what fellowship does darkness have with light? And the answer is none. There will always be enmity. And Jesus even said, I came to bring a sword. I came to divide those who follow me and those who do not. And so there will always be enmity. There will always be division between Christ and culture. But secondly, specifically, in 64 AD was what we call the Great Roman Fire. And it's just that. It was a great fire in Rome. And it burned a large portion of Rome down. It started in a particular part of the city and it just spread and spread and spread. It was very difficult to put out. And some would say it's still, even today, one of the greatest fires that we've ever known in history. It destroyed much of this great city. It brought unparalleled damage. Some would say Nero even said it himself, and that's not for here. Don't know. But do know this, and what history reflects, is that Nero took the opportunity to blame it on the Christians. He blamed this fire in Rome on the Christians and said it was their fault, making them public enemy number one. And so Christians became even more hated, both by the state and the public at large. So I say all this to give you a little historical backdrop, not just so you can go Google Nero and look at these things, but to know why they were hated. To know why it was difficult for them to be outed, if you will, in the public arena. Why it was difficult for them to walk in such a way. Why there would be fear attached to that. and why there is this reminder for them not to fear, as we'll see in just a moment. So it wasn't culturally cool to be a Christian and hear the writer of Hebrews saying to the church, live your life in such a way that not only does it honor Christ, but it makes it clear that you belong to him. And I often wonder, and wonder myself as well, at work, you know, to those at work, do they have to look at your car to know if you're a believer? Do they have to look at your T-shirt? Do they have to look at your Facebook activity and see if you checked in a church on Sunday? Are we known as following Christ by our life? Are we being a light in a darkened world? And are we an aroma amongst the stench of death? I won't throw one of my children under the bus, so they'll remain anonymous. But we like candles in our house. I love candles. And I received a candle for Christmas this past Christmas, and I was excited. It took me a few days, remember, to take it to work, and I finally took it to work. Big candle, good-sized candles, had three wicks in there. I couldn't wait. I'm going to turn, I'm going to open this lid, I'm going to light all three of these wicks, and it's going to smell wonderful. in here. So I do that, big old candle I put on my desk, light it up, all three burning bright. Not a single smell. Like, what? It's from Dollar General. I was like, that's a horrible candle. But it was a thought, I felt loved, and it's still sitting on my desk, and it burns brightly. But there is this idea of aroma, right? And we know what it's like to smell this aroma, because whether you see a light in a darkened place or you smell something that's out of context, you're drawn to it. And Scripture says that we are to be an aroma of the Lord. We're to be a light in a darkened world. And so when you do this, whenever you are a light and an aroma, you cannot hide. Because when the candle works and you smell it, oh, what's that smell? or if you're in a darkened room and all of a sudden this light, you're immediately drawn to it. It cannot be hidden. And Jesus is clear of that. So to be exposed in this climate that is hostile towards Christianity, it should have been terrifying. It should have been very fearful. It should have kept those, if you're not living by the Spirit, it should have kept them at home and hiding their faith. But God, but God provides a way. As he finishes these first five verses, right in the middle of verse five, we said last week we're going to kind of transition with it. He says, keep your life free from the love of money and be content with what you have. He gives us this promise. And it's very clearly attached to verse five by keeping your life free from the love of money. But it's also, I believe, it hinges this whole thing and encompasses all of these truths. He says, I will never leave you nor forsake you. "'cause I will never leave you nor forsake you.'" In this verse, we have a very rare Greek grammar construct, if you will. And if we don't kind of take a moment to understand it, to do a little translation work, we kind of miss what's happening in Hebrews 13, five. And I don't want us to miss it because it is so beautiful. If you were to kind of give it a decent, not perfect Greek translation, You could say this, never not you will I leave, nor never not you will I forsake. We have a lot of teachers in here. And if you're a teacher, especially if you teach English, your mind may just explode. He said, there's a lot of negatives in that sentence. I can't even keep up. He said two, three, four, five, six, seven. Never not you will I leave, never not you will I forsake. So that may create some grammatical dissonance for our English teachers. And I just made that word up, so. For in English, we know this as kids, you don't have a double negative, right? And I may have just said one, I don't know, don't track me this morning. But in English, we don't speak double negatives because it's bad English, it's poor grammar, and it just doesn't work. And so good English teachers teach us not to do double negatives. But in the Greek, it means something vastly different. In Greek, they didn't have the same English teacher. They didn't have the same construct, the same structure, and the same rules. In the Greek, whether it was positive or negative, whenever you repeated a word, or repeated an idea, or repeated a phrase, it emphasized it even more. A common example that most of us are familiar with, when you look at God, and He's holy, it doesn't just say He's holy, it doesn't just say He's holy, holy, it says He's holy, holy, holy. And that is the greatest attribute of holiness that you can give. It's the same three times. So He is holy, holy, holy. And so we see that this, to repeat a word, repeat an idea, to repeat a sentiment, It conveys its importance. So the author here, the Holy Spirit, through the writer of the Hebrews, he is conveying in the most emphatic way possible that God will not abandon us. He says, never not you will I leave, nor never not you will I forsake. Now, if you add those up, and again, it gets a little sloppy, because as I'll read from Charles Spurgeon here in just a second, it's not a perfect translation. But when you look at this, what we see is not just a double negative or even a triple negative. We see five negative words in this half verse right here, in five negative ways. So he is emphasizing in the most emphatic way possible. And through this, he says, I will never leave you. I will never, never leave you. I will never, never, never, never, never leave you. I will not forsaken you. I will not abandon you. There is no reality in the original Greek audience here. There's no way that they could have read this, heard this, and not understood what it meant. It was this resounding clarity that despite the fears that may would come with being outed as a Christian and living as a Christian and living through this sacrificial way that's pleasing unto the Lord, that there was no fear because He would never leave them. He would never forsake them. He would never abandon them. A couple of examples of the classic hymn, and I believe we're singing it at the end of our service this morning. How firm a foundation It says this, it says, the soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose, I will not, I will not desert to its foes. That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake, I'll never, no never, no never forsake. And I know we, I hope that intellectually we understand this and we agree with this. I know that truth and we talk about that often, but we need to be reminded of that God will never forsake us, that he has sent Christ, Christ to redeem us and to save us and to keep us and never leave us. So, well, you don't know how bad I've been since I was baptized. You don't know how bad I was been till I trusted the Lord or what I've done or how, whatever, he'll never forsake us. He keeps us. Charles Spurgeon said it very well. He actually entitled his sermon, Never, Never, Never, Never. Very original title, but as original as mine. And he says this, Charles Spurgeon, the Prince of Preachers, he says, I have no doubt that you are aware that our translation does not convey the whole force of the original. And he's speaking specifically of Hebrews 13.5 here. and that it would hardly be possible in English to give the full weight of the Greek. We might render it, he had said, I will never, never leave thee. I will never, never, never forsake thee. For though that would not be a literal, but rather a free rendering. Yet, as there are five negatives in the Greek, we do not know how to give their force in any other way. He goes on to say, "...two negatives nullify each other in our language, but here in the Greek, they intensify the meaning following one after another." Wow! Right? Such a promise of God that as He commands believers not to shrink back from the culture, and not to shrink back from their identity and who they are and how they are to live and how they are to walk. He does so as he promises his perpetual presence. He promises that he will never leave them, that he will be forever ongoing with them. That's also why it's attached to verse five here, to keep your life free from the love of money and be content with whatever you have. For he said, I will never leave you or forsake you. So don't worry about what you do or do not have because you have Christ. You have His presence. You have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. What more could you want? What more hope could you ask for? Which brings us to verse 6. So, and so it can also be translated, therefore, and one of our favorite words in North Hills is therefore, right? Haven't asked you in a while, when we say therefore, we ask, what's it there for? So I will never leave you nor forsake you. Therefore, we can confidently say. So because this is true, all of this stuff from verse one through five, all of these truths, all of this, hey, this is how we live a life that's pleasing unto Christ. This is how we walk in obedience to the Lord. This is how we live lives that are sacrificially pleasing unto God. This is what a believer looks like. This is how we are a light in the world. This is how we are in a roma and a stench of death. All these things are true. And I'll never leave you, I'll never forsake you. So because all of this is true, he quotes this wonderful verse from Psalm 118. The Lord is my helper. I will not fear. What can man do to me? Now, if you go back and say, well, man can do a lot. They're in a culture, they're in a time where they may be even while they're listening to this and reading this for the first time, maybe they can hear the screams of other believers in Nero's circus or in the arena. Or maybe just that past week, a loved one had been martyred for their faith. So if you were to ask them outside the context of this verse in the hope of Christ, they could say, what can man do to you? They could give you a very graphical account of what man could do to a believer. They give you a very graphical account of how one becomes a martyr. It seems like man can do a lot. He can mock, he can ridicule, he can take away one's freedoms. You can persecute, you can punish, you can imprison, and even put to death. So man can do a lot. But yet, the passage here says, what can man do to me? So flippantly, if you will, go with me to Luke chapter 12. A couple passages we're going to turn to. Luke chapter 12, starting in verse 4. Jesus says this, I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who can kill the body and after that have nothing more they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear. Fear him who, after he is killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him. And so Jesus reminds us, what's the worst that man can do? Worst he can do is kill us. That is the absolute worst that can be done, is lose your physical life. And he says, but really, who to fear is he who can throw one's soul into hell, who can cast them out. And man cannot do that. So we look to the Lord and trust Him. For what can man do to us? A few books over, 2 Corinthians. Chapter 4. A little more specific. Paul gets here to the church at Corinth, starting in verse 7. He says, but we have this treasure and jars of clay. to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. And so he's setting this passage up right here with, we have this treasure and these vessels, these jars of clay, our bodies, the physical bodies that we inhabit. He says, we are afflicted, in verse 8, in every way, but we're not crushed, perplexed, but we're not driven to despair. We are persecuted, but we are not forsaken. Go back to Hebrews, for He'll never forsake us. We are struck down, but we are not destroyed. Always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. So we endure all this stuff so that the life of Christ may show, so that the light who is not us who is Christ, so that the pleasant aroma who is not us but is Christ may be manifested and be revealed to a lost world that's around us. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you. So what can man do to us? And I would say, to a degree, it is flipping, right? What can man do to us? How can they harm us? How can they touch us? Whenever God is our helper, when He is our refuge, when we know the person of Christ and we trust the person of Christ, and He has been broken, He has been afflicted. And He says, come, bring your burdens to me. When God is sovereign over everything that ever happens in our life, every single thing that God is sovereign over, every hurt, every pain, every moment, not just in our life, but in the believers in the first century here. Every believer and every non-believer, God is completely sovereign over every single thing. And so what kind of, what better helper can we possibly have than a sovereign God who reigns over every molecule of the universe? So if that's your helper, if it is God who is helping you, how much sense does it make when he says, I will not fear for what can man do to me? What a precious and powerful promise given to the church during a very dark and difficult time in church history. They needed that hope. And the Spirit is pointing to the hope we see through Hebrews. We see other examples of this. We see their houses being raided, their stuff being taken away. They're losing their rights and their privileges and their belongings. We see for the sake of the gospel, it means nothing. I would say that by by no means in my estimation at least that in the United States are we living in a time like the early church sometimes we like to think we are but when you especially you study church history and even history in general you see the the atrocities that believers faced and we know there's many atrocities even now around the globe that believers are facing just because they are Christians and just because they are following Christ. However, our country and our culture are becoming less and less favorable towards Christians. We realize this. This is not up for debate. It's not an issue. It's just a fact. We are quickly becoming, as a country, or have become in many regards, a post-Christian nation. I don't like usually getting into these kind of topics and ideas, but the post-Christian is summarized to refer to a nation that no longer is favorable towards Christianity. And we can get into a lot of discussions on nation, politics and Christianity and our faith is never meant to be legitimized by politics and by policy and all that. God doesn't need anything else other than himself. but we definitely have been a country, at least for a while, has been favorable. And we know that we now live in a, and it's becoming ever, ever more increasing, not just in recent events, but in recent years and decades. It has been a slow, at times, fast downward spiral. And for many, that brings fear. For many, it brings despair. For many, it brings uncertainty. And although we're not the same level of distraught and the same level of distress and the same level of death and destruction that we see in the first century, for us it's very real. And so how do we handle it? How do we process that? We need the right people in office, right? We need the right policies passed, right? We need the right whatever. We need to protect our freedoms, protect our rights, protect whatever. No, that's not what we need. We need to look to the one who is sovereign. We need to look to the one who is our only true helper. We need to look to the one who will never leave us and will never forsake us. Never, never, never, never, never. That's not a politician. It's not a policy. It's not a preacher. It's not a person. Except Christ is the only one who will never leave us and never forsake us. There are many professing believers who do despair during recent political events and how timely for our text this morning, right? Politics are on everyone's lips and minds and news feeds and screens. Not that I have to say it I don't know what's going to happen the next four months next four years four weeks. I mean goodness four hours the rate we go to tell what's going to happen at the end of the day. You don't know what's going to happen. But I know that I will not fear and I know God's people do not have to fear for I know that man has no power over me. regardless of our context, regardless of our situation, regardless of how difficult it becomes in our country to live as a believer. And it may not change drastically this year, the next four or five, six years. But we'd imagine at some point it's going to be very difficult to live as a believer. And it may be in four months. It may be this year. 2020 may just been a warm up. But if it is, we will not fear. For we look to Christ. That is where our help comes from. Not in knowing the future, not in knowing what's ahead of us, but knowing that in every day, in every moment, we can look with hope, full of hope, to Christ. And I know that the Lord is my helper. And I know that my God will never leave me, will never forsake me. And in the most emphatic way possible, in a beautiful language He has told us. that there's no way it will happen, that we are His and He is ours. And that is our hope this morning. So as we go throughout the day, and it's not just politics, it's life, right? It's work, it's family, it's children, it's conflict. It's all the things that swirl around us that we do not have to fear. We do not have to figure it out. But by faith, we look to the Lord and trust Him. and recognize that he is our helper. Let's pray this morning. Lord, I thank you for this morning. I thank you for this opportunity to turn towards your word and this truth, Lord. And God, there's always heavy hearts in a room like this. And we need to be reminded each and every Sunday of how you care for us and you provide for us and you protect us and you keep us. Lord, as we come to the communion table this morning, as we remember what you have done through your broken body and your poured out blood. And we'd be reminded, Lord, of the call to join you in your sufferings. And what we do look forward to the day where there's no more death and pain and hurt. The one day that we eternally reign with you. In the absence of sin and the full presence of your kingdom. Help us to respond to you in faith this morning, Lord, as we look to you in trust and faith. In Christ's name, amen. Amen. Before we partake in communion, let's stand together and sing this song, Afflicted Saint to Christ Drawn Near. Afflicted Saint to Christ drawn near Your Savior's gracious pride His faithful word you can believe, that as your days your strength shall be. Your faith is weak, your foes are strong, and if the conflict should be long, the Lord will make the tempter clean, that as your days your strength shall be. So sing with joy afflicted one, The battle's fierce, but the victory's won. God shall supply for that you need, Yes, as your days, your strength shall be. Should persecution, rage, and flame still trust in your God? In fiery trials you shall see that as your taste, your strength shall be the same. So sing with joy of Capernaum, God shall supply all that you need, for as your days your strength shall be. When called to bear your weighty cross, For sore affliction, pain, or loss, For deep distress, or poverty, Still as your days your strength shall be. God shall supply all that you need, yes, as your days, your slain shall be. God shall supply all that you need. Yes, as your days, your strength shall be. young we see.