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Let's take our Bibles and turn
to the book of Hebrews, chapter 13. Today we'll begin reading
in verse 7. Remember those who led you, who
spoke the word of God to you, and considering the result or
the outcome of their conduct, imitate their faith. Jesus Christ,
the same yesterday and today and forever, Do not be carried
away by varied and strange teachings. For it's good for the heart to
be strengthened by grace, not by foods through which those
who were so occupied were not benefited. We have an altar from
which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat. For the
bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy
place by the high priest as an offering for sin are burned outside
the camp Therefore, Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people
through His own blood suffered outside the gate. So let us go
out to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach. For here
we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which
is to come. Through Him, then, let us continually
offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of
lips that give thanks to His name. And do not neglect doing
good and sharing, for with such sacrifices, God is pleased."
This is the word of the Lord. A 1994 study in Switzerland focused
on this question, whether, quote, a person's religion carried through
to the next generation, and if so, Why? Or if not, why not? So that was the study question. Whether a person's religion carried
through to the next generation, that is to his children. If so,
why? If not, why not? In an article
on that study, the writer says there's one critical factor.
And it's overwhelming. And it is this. It is the religious
practice of the father of the family that above all determines
the future attendance at or absence from church by the children. How big of an effect is it? If
a father does not go to church, no matter how faithful his wife's
devotion is, only one child in 50 becomes a regular worshiper.
If a father goes regularly, regardless of the practice of the mother,
between two-thirds and three-quarters of their children become churchgoers. If a father goes but irregularly
to church, regardless of the wife's devotion, between half
and two-thirds of their offspring will find themselves coming to
church. A non-practicing mother with
a regular church attending father will see a minimum of two-thirds
of their children ending up in church. In contrast, a non-practicing
father with a regularly attending mother will see two-thirds of
their children never darken a church door. If his wife is similarly
negligent, that figure rises to 80%. What the study shows is something
that we all know and that is that there is no doubt that there
is life changing power in an example. Now fathers, I hope
that you heard those statistics because your example to your
children is very powerful, even more powerful than that of a
diligent, devoted, praying mother. And so, the Apostle Paul put
it like this, 1 Corinthians 11, 1, be imitators of me, just as
I also am of Christ. The power of an example In Hebrews
chapter 11, which we spent quite a bit of time in, we saw the
hall of fame of faith. And in that, what the writer
did is he held up Old Testament models or examples who pointed
to a life of faith in the promises of God. In a very real sense,
Hebrews 11 is all about the power of an example of a life well
lived. Now, ultimately in Hebrews 11,
The ultimate model or example wasn't Abel or Abraham or even
Moses, but ultimately Jesus Christ, upon whom we are to fix our eyes
as the author and perfecter of faith, Hebrews 12, 1 and 2. As we proceed into chapter 13,
the church's worship agenda, We are seeing what the writer
is unfolding for us in how to live a life to the glory of God. And so we come now to another
part of the puzzle of how to live a life to the glory of God.
And it is another call, in a sense, to consider and to imitate the
life of others. But this time, in Hebrews 13,
7, we don't have famous Old Testament saints who are inscripturated
in the pages of our Bibles, but rather we have actually just
ordinary people who are unnamed, who at some point led these people,
taught them the Word of God, and exhibited a faithfulness
to the very end. of their life. In this text,
in this chapter, we see that leadership is an important factor. In verse 7, we focus on past
leaders. Verses 17 and 24, the writer
focuses on present leaders, but here the call is to think about,
remember, consider, and then imitate the faith of those who
have gone before you. It's actually three commands
in verse 7. And the three commands actually
are quite simple and straightforward. One, remember. Two, reflect.
And then three, imitate. And so let's begin first with
remember your leaders. Now, the writer here gives a
two-fold description of the people that are to be considered or
to be remembered. First, it is those who are your
leaders, or more better, those who led you. Now it doesn't say
specifically that they were elders or that they were apostles, but
the word is actually used, the same word is used in Acts 15
and verse 22, where it says that the apostles chose from among
the leading men, Paul and Barnabas, to go on a missionary journey.
And so the word is somewhat generic, but the idea is that these men
who are to be remembered were recognized leaders in the church. It is very, very possible that
these were the men that God used to establish the very founding
of the church. So they were leaders, but notice
the next description. They were those who did what?
Who spoke the Word of God to you. In other words, what marked
these men out is the fact that not only did they lead the church,
but more importantly, they led it by preaching and teaching
the Word of God. You might remember back in chapter
2, the writer makes this observation. He asks the question in chapter
2 and verse 3. How will we escape if we neglect
so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken
through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard. The leaders that the writer is
talking about may very well be those mentioned in verse 3 as
those who actually heard the gospel from the Lord Himself
and then in turn brought the gospel to these people. The leaders
that he's talking about are those who were the ones who initially
evangelize them, initially brought the gospel to them and then taught
them and built them up in their faith. Now, the writer says commands
remember them. It's present tense verb. And
so the idea is don't just recall them once a year, but rather
to continually bring them to mind, bring them up afresh as
it were, recall them, recall their message, recall their lives,
recall the impact that they had in those early days on you. There are people like that in
your life that you look back and you think of the impact that
they had. the words they spoke, the lives
that they lived, the writer says, remember them. Philip Hughes
puts it like this, he says, our author is in effect making a
further appeal to his readers to recall the former days, 1032,
when they had given earnest and enthusiastic attention to the
teaching of these leaders. And so the writer is calling
back, and he may well have been one of those leaders at that
time or at some subsequent time, but basically the writer is telling
his readers, think back to those days when you first heard the
Word, when it first came to you in power. Think back to those
days when the Gospel made an impact on your life and it changed
you, and God used these men to lead you and to teach you. Remember
them. Bring up the impact and the example
of their lives afresh. And then he says, to reflect
on the outcome of their conduct. Reflection or consideration,
in other words, is the way that they are to be remembered. And
this too, by the way, is a present tense word. And the idea is to
examine, to observe carefully. And so the writer's calling on
them to actually give careful consideration to these men who
had such a huge impact on their own lives. And here's what they
are to examine and to carefully observe. The outcome of their
manner of life. The outcome, the end, the result,
the implication is probably the successful outcome. In other
words, as the writer points these readers back to those who originally
led them and taught the word of God to them, he can actually
identify that they had a successful outcome to their life of faith. In other words, they finished
the course. They finished the race. They finished well. I'll never ever forget in the
year 2001 or sometime around there, we had Pastor Albert Martin
come and preach for us. And somebody asked Pastor Martin,
how can we pray for you? And he was in his late 60s at
that time. And I'll never forget the way
that he actually answered that question. How can we pray for
you? He says, pray for me that I will finish well. Because many men start out well,
but not nearly as many finish well. The writer could say, think
back to those who led you and taught the word of God to you
and consider the outcome of their life. They finished the race,
they finished well and consider the outcome of their conduct. In other words, not only think
about what they taught you, but think about the way that they
lived in front of you. Think about the manner of life.
Think about not just what you heard, but also what you saw. My former pastor and seminary
professor, Jim Andrews, has preached for us before. Jim used to tell
us in seminary, you have to understand this, your life will be a mantle
of credibility to the message that you preach. Your life is
a mantle of credibility to the message that you preach. That's why Paul could actually
tell Timothy in 1 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 16 to make sure that
he gives careful observance to both his life and his doctrine. For in doing so, Paul tells Timothy,
you will save not only yourselves but those who hear you. Notice,
it is life and doctrine coming together that God uses to shape
us and to mold us and to grow us. And so the writer says, you
look at these men, you recall them, think of those who led
you, think of those who spoke the word of God to you, and consider
the outcome of their manner of life. Think about their teaching
and the way that they lived. Now, from what the writer says
here, we can conclude that these men have actually passed off
of the scene by now. It's very possible that some
had been martyred, but for sure all of them died in faith. In the year 2000, John Scheffer
and I were in Orlando at a Ligonier conference, and James Montgomery
Boyce was supposed to be one of the keynote speakers at that
Ligonier conference. And he actually died the night
before the conference started of a bout with pancreatic cancer
that took him very, very quickly. And I will never forget the words
of R.C. Sproul as he stood up and he
said, our dear brother and my close
friend, Jim Boyce, died in faith. died in faith. That's what these
people are supposed to look back on. They are supposed to look
back on these men who actually lived out their faith. Now notice,
this is not the idea of just look at the mere morality of
these men, although they were most definitely moral, but the
idea is that you are to look at what their faith in God and
His Word produced in their life. It's not just simple conduct,
it's conduct that came from their faith and so these men were faithful
to Jesus Christ they were faithful to the message of Jesus Christ
and they were faithful to their flock all the way to the end
whether it was through martyrdom or whether just simply dying
through natural causes they all lived their life well before
God and died well also Peter O'Brien puts it like this. They
not only proclaim the word of God, they adorned the gospel
of Christ by their faithful lives. So the writer says, remember
them, consider, reflect on the outcome
of their conduct. And then the third thing he tells
them is imitate their faith. Now, the whole idea of imitate
is the idea of follow a pattern. And in fact, this too is a present
tense command. And right here in this text,
we actually have the New Testament concept of discipleship. Discipleship is the idea of patterning
your life after a model in front of you. And the writer says,
now you, after you recall them, after you think about what they
taught you, after you think about how they lived and how they died,
imitate their faith. imitate the content of what they
believed and imitate the life that flowed out of that commitment
to faith. In other words, when he says
imitate their faith, it is imitate the truth that they preached
and the truth that they lived. The call here is not to some
sort of superficial mimicry. The idea is to see the patterns. see the priorities, see the convictions
of a life well lived, see the grace of a death well died and
let those things, let what you saw and heard shape and impact
and mold your life. And then we have verse eight.
There's no connecting little conjunction, there's no, there's
actually not even a verb. We have this, this marvelous
statement in verse seven about those who led them. And then
all of a sudden the writer just inserts abruptly and literally
it goes like this, Jesus Christ, yesterday and today, the same
and for ever. Now, you know that we can't go
past this verse very quickly and so this will be our text
for the Lord's Supper, alright? But the writer doesn't just put
it in here willy-nilly, he puts it in here for a very specific
reason. In other words, it actually is
serving a function, and I would say that there's a twofold emphasis
following the idea of remember those who led you, spoke the
word of God to you, considering the outcome of their manner of
life, imitate their faith. The writer then inserts this
with great vigor, Jesus Christ, yesterday and today, the same
and forever, and he does it for two reasons, and actually, 13.8
is connected to what precedes and to what follows in a profound
way. I take the verse to basically
mean something like this. Listen, those men who led you,
those men who taught the Word of God to you, Those men who
lived their life before your very eyes, they were the very
kind of men who lived with the confidence that God would never
leave them nor forsake them. And the very same Christ who
upheld them, who led you, is the same Christ who is with you. The same Christ that sustained
them, the same Christ that preserved them, the same Christ that caused
them to end well, the same Christ who was with them day in, day
out till the end of their lives is the very same Christ who is
with you today. I think there's a second emphasis.
And that is this. and the same message, the same
message of Christ that they preached. You must hold on to today. The same word that they preached
to you yesterday is the same word that you must hold on to
today. Notice verse 9, don't be led
away by varied and strange teachings. In other words, listen, Christ
is not only with us today like he was with them, but the very
message that they preach, that's the message that we hold. That's,
by the way, why we sang faith of our fathers. The same thing they believed.
We believe. 13.8 is, in a sense, a confession. It's the sum of the message. And I would take, and we'll unpack
this at the Lord's Supper, but I would say the idea is, listen,
there is a constancy to the truth of Jesus Christ. The message
of Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever. And so
in remembering their leaders, in reflecting on their lives,
and imitating their faith, ultimately they are focusing on Jesus Christ
and His Word, which, by the way, is where all good leaders will
point those who follow them. Good leaders do not point to
themselves. Good leaders point to Jesus Christ. And so he says, listen carefully,
the very same Christ that upheld those men who finished well,
is the same Christ who upholds you. The same Christ that they
preach, that you believe, that is the message that you need
to hold on to today. And so once again, Peter O'Brien
says, the Christological confession would remind them that the same
Christ who was real to them at the beginning when their former
leaders were with them is seated in heaven and rules continually.
Their circumstances and perspective may change, But Jesus Christ
and his gospel do not. What a wonderful passage. What a great way to start the
new year. Think about those who led you,
spoke the word of God to you. Reflect on the life that they
lived and the outcome of their manner of life. And then imitate
their faith. Why? Because Jesus Christ, yesterday
and today the same and forever. As I thought about this passage
this week and tried to reflect on it and think about the way
that God could use it with us, there were two things that seemed
obvious to me by way of application. And the first is this. We need
models of faithfulness to Jesus Christ and to his word. We need
models of faithfulness to Christ and to his word. Now, I believe
that we need heroes. As Christians, we need heroes.
Let me just give you a caveat, and that is most of your heroes,
if not all of them, should be dead. There's a very simple reason
why most of them should be dead. And that is because you know
how they finished. You know how they finished. Hebrews 11 reminds
us that we need heroes. Hebrews chapter 13 in verse 7
reminds us of the power of an example lived before us. There is a motivating power to
an example lived out before our eyes that we can see. Buzz Aldrin, you know the name? He did something like walked
on the moon. Topps Trading Cards, you know
Topps Trading Cards? Make baseball cards, football
cards. They decided to do an American Hero series and they included Buzz Aldrin
in the series. And instead of being honored,
He sued TOPS for using his picture without his permission. We don't really have a whole
lot of heroes today. I mean, let's face it. You're hard-pressed
to find anybody in Washington DC who is worthy of emulation,
right? We don't have statesmen anymore.
That's a thing of the past. We have self-serving politicians.
We don't have all that many great heroes. Now, when I was a kid,
there was something that would stir my soul. I didn't know Jesus,
but there was something that would stir my soul. You know
what it was? Davy Crockett. Some of you chuckle about that,
but I want to tell you, I think that there's actually a God-ordained
reason why Davy Crockett stirs the souls of little boys. I would take my Walt Disney record
with Fess Parker on the front in his buckskins and his coonskin
cap, some of you know, and he's holding old Betsy right up above
his head. Davy Crockett, King of the Wild
Frontier. And I would take my little corner group bed and I
would turn it into an Alamo, and I didn't have a musket but
I had a repeating rifle, which seemed to me would have really
helped those guys. And I would put that record on,
and I would listen, and then listen, and listen, and all the
way to the end. And you know what would invariably happen?
That record would come to the end with him being one of the
last defenders of the Alamo, and I'd weep every time. Why? Because of courage, because
of faithfulness, because of laying your life down when you didn't
have to for a greater cause. God's actually wired us to be
stirred by the courage and the faithfulness of others. There
is a reason why you love Narnia. And there is a reason why when
you're watching the Lord of the Rings and Gandalf comes down
off of that mountain in the east with that whole multitude of
that army following him to come to the rescue, there's something
about us made in the image and likeness of God where our hearts
are stirred. Rescue, deliverance by a hero. You're designed They have heroes. You're designed to look at the
lives of others and to be stirred by their faithfulness and to
be stirred and motivated by the things that they have done. I want to challenge you for this
new year. I want to challenge you. Pick up a biography of a Christian
man or woman. If you're lacking in ideas, in
feelings and faith, there is an appendix that is a bibliography,
two pages chock full of ideas. Read about those who have gone
before us. This year I've decided David
Livingston is my guy. Brought the gospel to Africa.
No small feat. to great sacrifice to himself. Read about somebody. Young women,
what do you know of Ann Judson? What do you know of Amy Carmichael? Pick up the biography of a saint
whose life was lived to the glory of God and who did great things
for God and God did great things through them to the glory of
His name. Read about a great saint and
I promise there is something that will happen and that is
God will stir your soul as that saint points you to greater faithfulness
to Jesus Christ. When I think back over my Christian
life, the times where I have grown the most, there is a common
denominator. And that is that God was using
the life of some saint in my life, whether it was a living
saint or through the pages of a biography that changed my life. I can remember reading biographies
of Spurgeon or Jim Elliot or George Whitfield or Jonathan
Edwards and having my own heart stirred to greater godliness.
Why? Because they are the ones who
point us to the author and finisher of our faith. Young people, start reading Christian
biography. Do you know how blessed we are
to live in a time where there is more stuff available than
you will ever have time to read in your lifetime? And there are
biographies that are designed for kids that are just beginning
to read all the way up. Pick somebody and make them your
companion for the year. And considering the outcome of
their conduct, imitate their faith because their faith will
invariably point you to the author and perfecter of faith. But there's something else about
this passage that we dare not miss or neglect. Not only do we need examples,
not only do we need models, but the fact is, is that we ourselves
need to think about the model that we are leaving to those
who will come behind us. Steve Green sang a song years
ago, may those who come behind us find us faithful. We actually
need to consider and to contemplate the kind of example that we ourselves
are leaving to those who will follow. Our children? What kind of model or example?
Is it true that our kids would be able to say, for my mom or
for my dad, The reality of Jesus Christ yesterday and today, the
same and forever was so formative, was so powerful that I look at
the outcome of their life and I am stirred to imitate their
faith. Or will it be the case? That our kids will look at us. and say they sure talked the
talk, but they never walked the walk. I didn't see the reality
of Christ in them. I didn't see the reality of godliness
in our own home. I heard talk about godliness,
but it was lacking the power. By the way, if that is the example,
God is more than able to overcome our pitiful, pathetic examples
and to do something in our children. But let it not be said that if
they are followers of Christ, that what their underlying motto
is, I want to be a Christian, but not like my mom or dad. We need to seriously contemplate
what we believe and how we live it. We need to seriously consider
whether or not Hebrews 13, 7 would be able to be said of our children
regarding mom or dad. I will tell you this week, I
have felt the weight. Being a pastor, one who speaks
the word of God to you, the realization that one of these days I'll be
dead and gone. Only God knows when that is. But what we do know is that at
this point there's one generation, and if God gives me three score
and ten, then there will be another two generations of children that
are raised up in this church under the ministry of the word. Will they be able to say, I'm
considering the outcome of his life and I can imitate his faith? I so desperately want that to
be true. Yes, I want the kids to think
about how fun I was and how I would tickle them and do things like
roll up a blanket and throw it as hard as I could and knock
little Douglas Manzano clear off of his feet and to have that
just be a memory. There are kids, I've given wedgies
to kids that have been nothing less than nuclear wedgies and
they are emblazoned in their minds. but there has to be something
more. I don't want them just to think
back and say, wow, he really was competitive at
the annual softball game. Want them to be able to say,
you know, he pointed me to Jesus Christ.
and he did it faithfully all the days that God gave him. Don't you want to leave an impact
on the coming generation? Make no mistake about it, people
are looking at you. People are looking at you to
see your kids are looking at you, your neighbors are looking
at you, the people that you work with are looking at you and the
question is, what kind of example are we leaving them and are we
pointing them to the unchanging Christ. If the only thing people will
be able to say about you is that you were fun to be around, then you will be the most miserable
failure as a follower of Jesus. If our lives are to be lived
for the glory of God, We need to have good models of those
who have lived the faith before us, who loved Christ, who lived
for Christ, who served Christ, and who died in the faith. And we also need to seriously
contemplate what kind of legacy we're leaving behind those later
generations. May God, in this new year, Help
us to remember often, reflect frequently, and imitate consistently
the faith of those who live out the reality of Jesus Christ,
yesterday and today the same and forever. Let's pray. Father, we thank You for Your
Word and we thank You for the faith of our fathers, those who
have gone before us. And Lord, we ask that we would
take this to heart. We pray, Father, that truly we
would be the kind of men and women who have godly examples
to which we look Pray that we ourselves would
be godly examples. And Father, for those who are
here today who are without Christ and without hope, we pray that
today would be the day where they see Jesus, the author and
finisher of faith, and bank all of their hope on him. And we
ask it for his everlasting praise. Amen.
Remember and Imitate Worthy Leaders
Series An Exposition of Hebrews
| Sermon ID | 13111213551 |
| Duration | 40:19 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday - AM |
| Bible Text | Hebrews 13:7-8 |
| Language | English |
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