We finish up Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 13, the last six verses from verses 20 through 25. If you'll turn in your Bible to that, I'll make numerous references to it. I will pray first. Heavenly Father, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable unto you, O God, for you are a rock. our fortress, a mighty fortress in our salvation. I pray that Andy White would diminish, that Jesus Christ be raised, and that your people would gain the benefit of your word through this preacher. We make this prayer in Jesus' name. Amen. This is God's Word in all its ways and of great benefit to God's people. This great closing chapter of this great work in our New Testament is sort of like housekeeping. He's bringing to mind several things. He has exhorted about love among the brethren and hospitality to strangers. He seeks to have the love that binds everybody together. He talks very clearly about prayer, that the verses that preceded these verses here, and now he says in closing this wonderful benediction in last words, verses 20 through 25. Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead that great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. But I urge you, brethren, bear with this word of exhortation, for I have written to you briefly. Take notice that our brother Timothy has been released, with whom, if he comes soon, I will see you. And greet all your leaders and all the saints. Those from Italy greet you. Grace be with you all. Amen. What do you say? My last words before retirement to this congregation. You're probably aware that most of the founding fathers of this great nation of ours were evangelical Christians and gave testimony to the fact that it was Jesus Christ would be the center of their lives and the center of this country's life if we were to have a future of freedom and prosperity. Two of these great men were of the Adams family. One of them was John Adams. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died on July 4th, 1826, 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. On that last day, this is what John Adams said, his last words. There were some other words, they weren't sure what he said, but these are the last understandable words of John Adams, President of the United States. Oh, yes, it is the glorious 4th of July. It is a great day. It is a good day. God bless it. And God bless you all. Now, his son, John Quincy Adams, was also president, as you're aware. And he died on February 21st, 1848, and his last words were, this is the last of Earth. I'm content. men who knew first and foremost that Jesus Christ was their Lord and Savior. Can I offer you a blessing today? Often in these New Testament letters, you'll see in the New Testament, they conclude with a blessing at the end, a benediction. And often in this pulpit, we have used these benedictions. We're going to use this one again in a minute here, verses 20 and 21. And Jesus gave a blessing and a command to his followers in his last words before his ascension unto heaven. What about for you? Will there be a benediction for you today? And will you receive his benediction and God's blessing? Believer, receive today the benediction from your God from whom all blessings flow. There are cords of love which bind us together forever. You'll see him speaking about this in these verses about love. Let love of the brethren continue, he starts this chapter with. And he tells us in priorities to make the main thing the main thing. That we need to always maintain our priorities. And that we should pray and pray some more. He says in verse 18, pray for us. And then he says in 19, I urge you all the more to do this. And now it comes his final words from this letter here. Now, benediction is the combination of two words. Ben or Benny generally means good and diction, of course, means speech or words. So you have the combination of good words. good things to say as you're concluding the matters. And that's really what we have here is a benediction where God is pronouncing through his servants, for God's people, good words. Now, I cannot emphasize one thing from my public ministry here and throughout my life. One thing. That the benefits of God, the blessings of God are received. Not earned. It is all by grace. It is all by grace. It is all by grace. This message has four parts, and we're just going to work through the verses one in a row here. And here's the four parts to this message. First, receive the blessing of God. Receive the blessing of God. Secondly, receive the exhortation of the word of God. Thirdly, receive the challenges of ministry and finally receive the grace. from your God. First, receive the blessings of God, this great benediction in verses 20 and 21. Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Wow, what final words are these, full of hope and wonder. God, tonight we're going to look at the benediction that God gives us in number six that he gave to Moses to speak to the people. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and to grace you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. God commanded his servants to bless the people, to tell the people receive this blessing, the blessing of God. Now, first, who is it that is blessing you? He says the God of peace. It is God who brings peace through Christ. It's evidence of the love of God here, the great shepherd of the sheep. We are familiar with the 23rd Psalm, of course, and Jesus was saying, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. So you'll see the blood of the covenant spoken about here in this blessing. Now, the God of peace, he brought up from the dead, the shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenants. And our Savior has a name. Look at verse 20. His name is Jesus. There is no other name. I don't know why. We tiptoe around this fact that there is only one name given among men by which we might be saved. No matter how wishful thinking by your neighbors, how good they are, or how sweet your family is, or how nice things that you think they did, they are lost without the name of Jesus. There is no other Savior but Jesus Christ, and by that great name, all the benefits and blessings of God flow. Jesus is our Lord and our Savior. In Colossians 1, Paul writes this way, for it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, speaking of Christ, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross. And through him I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven. Understand who it is that gives you this great blessing. It is not the man of God at the close of the worship service when he raises his hand and pronounces the benediction. He is speaking the blessing of God, of God himself for his people. It is God's desire that you be blessed. Now, what does God do for us? Look at verse 21. And I'm saying he does for us right now. May this God of peace equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. What does He do for you? He gives you the gifts of the Holy Spirit. He gives you His power through the Holy Spirit. He gives you His grace and the ability to love your enemies and to be kind to those that are harsh and to be a witness for Jesus Christ and to give you the words to speak. It is God equipping you for all these good works. It is Him who is working in us. What? In every good thing. What did I say? Your ability to work for the kingdom of God comes from receiving from God. Not your brilliance, not your talents, but God's blessings on you to receive, and He uses your talents and your gifts for the work of the equipment. He's saying, may He equip you for this good thing, and there's only one conduit. He says it again in verse 21, through Jesus Christ. It is through Jesus Christ that you're good. Listen, we've got enough geniuses around here. What we need are servants. We need men and women to say, I don't care if you want me to sweep the floor. God, I am your servant. I will do what you have me to do in whichever way you have me to do it. It is not my goodness or my brilliance. It is through His grace, through the power of Jesus Christ. It's wonderful the way that the book of Hebrews ends here in these verses, but if you go all the way back to the opening verses of Hebrews, you'll see how he starts this great letter. Hebrews chapter 1. Listen to this great beginning of this book that speaks so wonderfully about Jesus Christ and His supreme place in the universe. Hebrews 1, 1 through 3, God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers and the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days He has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things and through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature and upholds all things by the word of His power. When he had made purification of sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become as much better than the angels, as he has inherited a more excellent name than they, to whom be the glory forever and ever. That is the one purpose of your life. The purpose for missions is not to win people to Christ. It's not to heal the sick and to help the lame and to feed the poor. It is to give God the glory. But in all those things, God is glorified. And as we go out for Christ, it is for the purpose of giving glory to God through those good works that God calls us to. The reason for Princeton Pharisee Church is not for your comfort. It's not for your care. The reason for this church is the glory of God. Now, He cares for you and the pastors and the elders and the deacons should care for you and your needs and help find the needs met in Christ. Yes, but that is not the purpose of this church. The purpose of this church is to give glory to God. And in that, of course, we benefit. Well, I would ask you today before I move on to my second point, has the blood work of Christ been for you? Can you say that that blood on that cross was shed for me, that that work was for me. And I, because of the mystery of God's love in Christ, can say I am saved by his wondrous work of blood. Wow. Your salvation is received, it is not earned, and you also work. by grace received. In our confession, us Presbyterians in the Westminster Confession, it defines justification as an act of God's free grace. There's a point in time when you are not a Christian, and there's a point in time when you are of the redeemed, and it says our sanctification is a work of His free grace. So you're not dependent upon your brilliance, or your effort, or your energy, or anything else. You're just dependent on God, and you receive, say, God help me. I yield to you that I might be of your service today and receive this great benediction. Receive God's blessings. Now, second point is to receive the exhortation of the word. Now, I get this out of verse 22 where this writer says to this congregation, those that he wrote this letter, but I urge you, brethren, bear with this word of exhortation for I have written to you briefly. Now, exhortation, of course, is what I'm doing now. That is, it's an expression, hopefully true to the Word, that you're receiving from God of His Word, right? That's what an exhortation is. I give you what I think the Scriptures teach, and you say, yes, I accept that as the command and as the way of God. It is not my words, of course, that are important, but the Bible's words. We don't make suggestions. We don't take a poll. How many want to do this? We exhort the congregation. And certainly this is the Word of God. Mine aren't. I'm not inerrant. But this is, receives the exhortation from the Bible. Clear and true. Notice the earnestness of his desire here at the close of this great letter. He says, I urge you. Now, Weiss, when he translates it, even makes it more graphic. He translates it, I beg you please. If I had a word for you, I beg you please to receive the Bible as God's exhortation for your life. You are going to mess up your life if you think you know better than the Bible. You're going to end up in a mess. in a pickle. If you don't believe that God's word is true in all his parts and you can trust it and you're going to live it. You must receive the word. Not argue with it. Now, that doesn't mean you can't raise questions to understand better, to say, God, I don't understand how this works, but you're going to the Lord in faith and saying, God, explain this to me. We got this verse here, and I've got this verse here. I don't understand these things. Yes, you certainly need to ask of God that, but not to come as a skeptic with cynic questions. I'm not going to take that. I mean, I was talking to somebody recently, living in sin, not married, Christians. And I say, well, what part of the Word of God don't you understand? Do you expect God's blessings when you overtly and deliberately disobey what God commands? Receive it as it is from the Word of God. Receive God's Word. Thirdly is receive the challenges of ministry. Notice how practical matters come up in verse 23 and 24. Take notice that our brother Timothy has been released, with whom if he comes soon I will see you, greet all your leaders and all the saints, and those from Italy greet you. These are obviously personal notes. These are challenges here. He says, take notice that our brother Timothy has been released, Perhaps he's in jail and been persecuted and they're about to let him out. And he's asking that the leaders of the church be respected. Now, let me ask you something. Are your pastors perfect? Of course not. You've had pastors in the past that are not perfect. You've got one now. He's for another couple of hours that's not perfect. And you will call a man who is not perfect. Are your elders perfect? Are your deacons perfect? Are your church leaders perfect? Then why are we so critical? Why do we expect those that God puts in the position of the church to be so perfect and never make you mad, never to get selfish, never to get angry, never to do something dumb? Why do you expect that of your leaders? Shame on you. The church will never be the church of Jesus Christ and His honor if you go around with a critical eye toward your leaders. We're called to submit to our leaders in the church. Timothy, what, do you think Paul was perfect? Do you think Peter was? Well, there you go. Betrayed his own Savior. Do you think Moses was perfect? There was only one perfect man. It was the Lord Jesus Christ. And he asked for you to receive, Timothy, you need to receive these men as they are, as God has called them, and to pray for them, and to love them, and to hold them up. And so I would say this in reflecting on these things, that for a church to be strong and to grow, the beginning point is submission, not brilliance or self-will. I'll say that again. For a church to be strong and to grow, the beginning point is submission. Not brilliance. Not self-will. I'm going to do it my way. If they don't do it my way, I'm going down the street. No. It is submission. Say, God, you've got me here. Help me. Help me be a blessing to my leadership. And if they're wrong, help me to go to them in love and gentleness. And say, what about this brother? For a church to be strong and grow, it must be a community of mature believers. striving together for one purpose, and that is the glory of God and His kingdom. All the church and all the challenges, it is not easy. Church is the most difficult organization in the world. Most frustrating organization, I would say, as a pastor of 30, 40 years. But you know why? Because it is the focus of Satan's attack. Right here is where the kingdom of God is built. Right here. It is through the church that God brings in the kingdom. No wonder we have such trouble. Because we are the focus, the bullseye for all the forces of darkness and he'll creep his sneaky little dirty fingernails in between us through conflict or through dumb mistakes or through theological nitpicking or whatever it is. Satan wants to destroy the church of Jesus Christ. But you know what? The Lord Jesus is stronger than any army of Satan. I appreciate and cate us to the many words of affection that have been expressed to us over the last couple of months, and particularly in the last week or so. And I say this with love. Maybe you're too dependent on me. Maybe the weakness of Princeton Church is that you're too dependent on a pastor. And when the pastor leaves, it's like a disaster. It's like, what are we going to do? We can't be a church. Maybe that's one of your weaknesses. You're too dependent on this one guy. That you're not stepping up to the plate. Give me one of them. I'll hit a finger out of the park. I'll do that for you. I'll learn how to do that. Give me a pitch. I'm ready to go. The challenges of ministry are very difficult and we have wept together. I know we have wept together through difficult times. But I also know the blessings that I've seen in this church as God worked through you and me in the building of his kingdom. If you get a chance, stop by my former office and look under the glass. I was showing somebody earlier this picture of it must be 300 children standing on the steps over here during a vacation Bible school in 1951. That is the heritage of this church. We have a wonderful heritage. From day one, this church has sent missionaries and evangelists around the world and has never let up, ever. For 60 years, this church has stood for the gospel here in our own community with children and around the world. Now, finally, I say, do you receive the grace of your God? And that is this last verse, a very simple verse. It's only five words in our in our translation. Grace be with you all. What more possibly can I say than that? What could be possibly more helpful than that? What possibility could be more powerful than that? And so I want to finish And one of the books of the Bible that I preached through, it took me about three years, I think, reading from Ephesians, this great prayer of Paul's in my declaration to you of the grace of God, Ephesians 2, the first 10 verses. It declares the wonder of his grace that is received by faith. And you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you formally walk according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formally lived in the lust of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy because of his great love of which he loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ. By grace, you have been saved and raised us up with him and seated us with him in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come, he might show the surpassing riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk. in them. Grace to you all, he says. May God's grace be to each of you this day until the day of our grand reunion in Christ. Receive this wonderful grace. Receive the blessing of God. Receive the exhortation from his word. Receive the challenges of ministry and receive the grace from your God. Precious ones, believers in the grace of Christ, you must receive before you can do. Before you can be full, you have to be filled. Receive Christ's grace that you may act and that you may serve. Is there one here today that knows not this grace of Christ? Somebody asked me, are you going to give an invitation? There's still a little Baptist in me, you know. I would invite you. If you've heard messages for 40 years that don't understand that you received the gift, I invite you to now. The gift of salvation. For those of us that are of grace, receive his benediction. Before you can go, you have to be sent. Before you can be full, you have to be filled. Receive his grace and power today. John Adams and John Quincy Adams knew how to die. Their last words were what was on their heart. God bless you all. This is the last of earth. I am content. And drifted off into the eternal rewards. Yeah, there comes a time for final words. And here they are. Grace be with you all. Heavenly Father, Thank you for the grace, mercy, and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that great Shepherd of the Sheep of the Blood of the Covenant. Thank you, O God, for your care and willingness, O Lord, to love us in this degree. Help us, O Lord, to run the race with perseverance, to throw off all the encumbrances that so easily entangle us, and let us run that race, Lord. Let us run with perfection. Let us run with grace. Let us run with power. Let us run unto the Lord Jesus. the author and perfecter of our faith. We make this prayer in Jesus' name. Amen.