Christian Ethics (Part 2) - [Hebrews 13:1-ff]

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ based on the theme of Galatians 2 verse 5, where the

Apostle Paul said, But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

In short, if you like smooth, watered -down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn't for you.

By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we're called by the divine trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her

King. Here's our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth. I don't know if you know John Murray.

He was a Scottish theologian that taught at both Princeton and at Westminster Seminary Philadelphia, and he was pretty tough.

And so a student took a theology exam and he didn't do very well. And so this theology student complained to Professor Murray.

Here's how Professor Murray responded, quote, Mr. Neum, I am not in the least bit interested in what you think, but I am keenly interested in finding out if you know what

God thinks. The stunned student replied evidently, thank you, and then later said it was a turning point in his life.

I also remember the story about John Murray, who was very stern, like I said, and he lived in the dorms in Westminster, Philadelphia, and some of the young men who were students were roughhousing in the hallway, hitting his wall, his living room wall.

And so he opened up the door just a little bit, took his glass eye out that he lost in the war, held the glass eye out, turned it both ways as if looking at the students, and then brought it back in and shut the door.

They were quiet after that. I'm not in the least bit interested in what you think, but I'm keenly interested in finding out if you know what

God thinks. That's what we've been after over this trek over the years in the book of Hebrews. If you have a

Bible, please turn to the New Testament book of Hebrews, a pastor preaching a sermon.

It's a letter sermon, and we get to understand what he's trying to tell us about Jesus, the high priest.

Now, to catch us up, because we're in chapter 13, I'd like you to go to chapter 1, and I'm going to read one verse per chapter to kind of summarize the book, and I'm going to do that for lots of reasons.

It's a longer book, so it's good to have a summary, but also it's just a good exercise to rehearse these truths, since if we just go to chapter 13, it's like we're listening to the practical application of a sermon and not hearing the bulk of the sermon or the body of the sermon.

Things go before chapter 13, and you might do this on your own sometime.

There are other verses, of course, to read, but I'm going to read one verse per chapter in Hebrews to just catch us up to speed.

Hebrews chapter 1, verse 3, he, Jesus, is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.

After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.

And the rest of the book continues that theme that Jesus is superior, he is exalted, and he is to be worshiped.

Chapter 2, verse 17, to be our representative, he can't just be

God, he is God, but he must take on human nature, the God -man, so he might represent humans, so he might redeem them.

And chapter 2, verse 17 says, therefore, he had to be made like his brothers in every respect so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God to make propitiation or to assuage the wrath for the sins of the people.

It's one thing to be divine, and it's another thing to be divine and human so you could really understand from the human perspective what it's like to live on earth and how difficult and therefore

God, the son, can be very merciful and faithful as he takes our punishment.

Chapter 3, verse 12, what's the response to such a great savior? Well, chapter 3, verse 12 tells us, take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil rather unbelieving heart leading you to fall away from the living

God. The response to this, Jesus, is faith. The opposite would be unbelief, and this is binary.

You can't say, I kind of will believe, or on certain days, you are either for Jesus or you are against him.

And so you're supposed to be believing in this Lord because the options are dreadful if you turn from this living

God. Chapter 4, to summarize the book, one of our favorite verses is found in verse 16.

Remember, as we come to this passage, when you would go to a throne room back in the Near Eastern days, when you'd go to a throne room in Judaism, it was always to get justice.

It was always to get judgment. It was always to be condemned. But because of what Jesus has done, that's not the case for us.

Let us then, verse 16, with confidence, draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

What a savior. Chapter 5, verse 5, did Jesus just push himself into this role?

Did he just make himself this? Pharisees thought so, but it was God the Father who gave him this great responsibility.

So also Christ, 5 -5, did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, with this wonderful Psalm chapter 2 quote that's in this book over and over and over, you are my son, today

I have begotten you. Chapter 6, verse 19, we have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul.

Does your soul need reliability? Does your soul need a firmness and a rock and stability in a crazy world?

Yes, and we have this sure anchor, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain.

Chapter 7, verse 25, what is Jesus doing now? On earth he paid for our sins.

On earth he lived perfectly underneath the law for us. What's he doing now? Is he doing anything?

It says in chapter 7, verse 25, consequently he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, here's what he's doing now, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

I think it was Donald Gray Barnhouse who said, God saves those in the gutter most to those in the uttermost.

And I thought that's exactly right, that's a good way to remember that. That the Lord Jesus is the perfect prayer partner.

As a high priest should be praying, the Lord Jesus excellently does that. Chapter 8, verse 12, we come to the new covenant.

The old covenant is gone. It's been replaced. The first covenant is obsolete. And here we have the new covenant with maybe the pinnacle of what happens in the new covenant.

Chapter 8, verse 12, I will be merciful toward their iniquities and I will remember their sins no more.

Dear Christian, God doesn't remember your sins at all. They're gone. As far as the east is from the what?

West. I remember one guy said, why doesn't God say, as far as the north is from the south? And he said, could it be?

Because if you go north long enough, eventually you go south. But if you go east long enough, you still always go east.

I thought, well, I don't know if that's true or not, but it makes good preaching. So chapter 9, verse 14 and chapter 9 and 10 are very important, especially if you have

Roman Catholic friends who think that Jesus needs to be sacrificed over and over and over on altars every week or every day.

There's a finality to the death of Christ. It was since he was so great, his death, in fact, was so great and it did not need to be repeated.

Chapter 9, verse 14. How much more will the blood of Christ that is his death, vicious death, vicarious death, who through the eternal spirit, so now we have the son,

Christ, the spirit, offered himself without blemish to God, that is the father, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living

God. Believer, your faith is a faith that's been granted to you and planned for you and accomplished for you by the triune

God, God, the father, God, the son, God, the spirit. Chapter 10, verse 12, as we're just reading one verse per chapter as a good review to hear the early part of the sermon, so we understand the last part of the sermon.

Hebrews chapter 10, verse 12, again, the finality of a single sacrifice, but when

Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.

And then just two more chapters, chapter 11, verse six, the response is found again positively while, while Hebrews 30 was negative.

This is positive. We go from unbelief to belief, Hebrews 11, six and without faith that is trusting in God and resting in him, relying on him, receiving him.

It is impossible to please him for whoever draw near to God, whoever would draw near to God must believe that he one exists and that to, he rewards those who seek him.

And then chapter 12, finally, verse two, it wasn't that long ago when we look to this great Jesus, he says in verse two, looking to Jesus, the founder, author, hero, and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endure the cross, despising the shame and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

And so now we come to chapter 13 and chapter 13 has the commands. It has the imperatives.

Since God has saved you, since he's redeemed you, since he's a good and faithful savior, how should we respond?

Well, we're, we're trusting in him and we're believing him, but now that we're Christians, we ought to obey him. We ought to live holy lives.

We ought to seek to honor him by keeping his word. Now, remember the unbeliever gets some of these commands and they would have to perfectly obey these commands to get in.

But since we're in, we as sons now and daughters want to obey, but we're not trying to obey to stay in or to get in.

It's because we're in. And so you can just see like Paul does with Colossians, you hear about who Jesus is, therefore walk in a manner worthy.

Paul does that in Colossians and Ephesians and we see it here in the book of Hebrews as well. There's a tie into chapter 12 and you can see it in verse 28.

This is probably where the chapter should really begin. And remember no chapter divisions in the original, therefore 1228, let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken.

And thus let us offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and awe for our God is a consuming fire.

Let brotherly love continue. It seems abrupt when you look at the chapter break, but it's really not.

God is a, a holy God, a transcendent God. And even for us as Christians, he's a consuming fire.

He's, he should be treated with reverence and awe. He just is not to be some kind of flippant thing. Our father in heaven, he's a holy

God. Hallowed be thy name. And so we want to make sure we see these commands in light of Jesus, the high priest, and they could probably be framed by this.

What does that look like to live by faith? This is what it looks like to live by faith, trusting in Jesus and now obeying his commands.

Let me give you a little bit of a review of the first five with some more practical application and then we'll get into number six.

There's about 10 commands in this chapter. We'll let's look at the first five just again, quickly.

Number one, let brotherly love continue. Now remember how neat this is chapter 12, some things aren't going to continue.

The world's going to be over. The world's going to be done. There's going to be a cataclysmic washing away of everything by fire.

And since the world's going to end, what should I do? The world's not going to remain. What should remain?

Brotherly love, Philadelphia love. We have one father. We're united by the

Holy Spirit. And so we're brothers and sisters in Christ. Every Christian is a brother or a sister in Christ.

It's a different word, but the idea is the same. The fruit of the spirit is love and we're to love one another.

We looked at that quite a while last week. Richard Sibbes says no man can love a saint as a saint, but a saint.

Since we come from the same womb spiritually, we ought to love. Jesus said, by this, all men will know that you are my disciples.

If you have what? Love for one another. The world might not remain, but brotherly love should.

And by the way, I was thinking about how does this flesh itself out in a local church? I have to think one of the most brotherly loving things we do at this church that I'm so proud of and excited about is our moving ministry.

How many people here have been moved by the people at BBC? So many. No, no, I'm not talking about moved like you feel in a burning in your bosom.

I mean, really physical boxes moved. That's what I'm after. And you know, we could be more loving and show more brotherly love.

But when I watch the moving ministry, I get emails, by the way. I can't believe how loving this church is because these people just showed up.

And by the way, if you show up to move, good job. If you're a dad and you've got kids, that should be something you regularly do because it's an easy way to go show love to people.

You teach your son and or daughters what to do and you move them hands on. You get to know brothers and sisters that way.

I love it when it comes to that. The other day, I got an email from someone and you did too. You can use our dumpster, they said.

And then so many people from BBC use their dumpster that they had to order another dumpster. And so I thought that was like holy waste, right?

A holy dumpster stuff. So I went over to Ken Alor's and dumped off a truckload. And then Mike Landadio and his wife thought this is a good ministry for us, too.

I went over and dumped some stuff over their house. Who's next? The idea is you just think, you know what?

How would I treat my brother or sister, physical brother or sister? So I just want to be on the lookout for them. Because remember the context here.

The context is there's persecution. The context is if you're a Jew and you turn your back on the temple, your

Jewish family is going to hate you. Your Jewish family is going to persecute you. Your Jewish family isn't going to love you.

So who will? So if their real parents aren't going to love, if they have not just been kicked out of the synagogue, but they can't even buy food.

They can't even buy things. Who's going to help them? And so since Jesus loved, we ought to love too.

Number two, show hospitality. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unaware.

So love brothers. And then there are other people that aren't brothers, but they're just strangers and you want to love them as well.

You'd want to put them up overnight and you'd want to have a place for them to stay because inns weren't good. Inns were sleazy.

Inns were where prostitutes were. And so now you should be gracious to people who need a place to stay.

Paul says in Romans 12, practice hospitality. Did you know elders are supposed to be hospitable?

First Timothy chapter three. Why? Because it's a good thing to do, but it's also supposed to be something that other people say, well, they opened their home.

I ought to open my home. And the benefits, by the way, we don't do it for the benefits.

I know we do it to the honor of God. But remember Kim, when we had Dr. Block over, remember Daniel Block? And he was here doing a

Bible conference and he came over to our house one day and was helping with the garden and other things. And it was nighttime and I said to Dr.

Block, I said, would you mind giving a family devotion to my family? We'd like to have Bible time at night.

Would you give a family devotion? He said, I'll never forget it. He goes, okay.

He was thinking. He paused again and he looked over at Luke and he goes, how old are you, Luke? And of course,

Luke, you know, I'm eight, Dr. Block. And he goes, there was a boy in the

Bible named Josh, Josiah, who was eight years old. And I just thought, you know what?

What could have been the option? My house isn't clean. Don't have any room.

When Kim and I had the 1 ,100 square foot home in North Hollywood, the Cooleys have been there. We have 25, 30 people jammed in there and we just minister to people.

I think at this church, what we need is, I need a few more houses where people could say, we'll open up our home to have a

Bible study. And then we need some teachers, but we'll be the host home. And you could teach your children, here's what we do.

Here's how we honor these people. Here's how we get ready. Dad and mom have to make sure everything's taken care of and they have to get their relationship right because you have to serve other people.

So it has all these functions to help. That would be a wonderful thing at our church to have our homes open more, whether you have a lot, whether you don't have a lot, whether it's that clean or not clean.

I prefer it be clean, but it doesn't have to be, is my point. Opening up your homes and showing hospitality to strangers.

We had so many people come to our North Hollywood study. Remember, we had like Hell's Angels kind of guys coming and the neighbors were thinking, who are these people?

And I wanted to say to them, they're heaven's angels. They've been saved. I had homeless people come over.

We had the Cooleys come over. There's all kinds of people. We opened up our home too. And then you just serve them and you love them and you treat your children and train them.

I mean, you train your children and tell them, this is how you treat people. Open home policy.

Bible study host, we need. Those who are hosting Bible studies, thank you. Well, number three, remember the prisoners.

Those who are in prison as though in prison with them and those who are mistreated since you also are in the body.

So some of these leaders, they got arrested and other Christians got arrested and you needed to go there back in those days to give them food and clothing and other things because they didn't get three meals a day in the jail.

And you say, well, I can't really go to places now. But remember, you could say a good way to remember someone in prison is to pray for them.

I also think here at Bethlehem Bible Church that we need a prison ministry. Did you know there is a prison jail in West Boylston?

There's not one in Clinton. There's not one in Leominster. There's not one in Fitchburg. There's probably one in, is there one in Worcester?

I don't, but there's one in West Boylston or on the line close enough. Is it technically West Boylston? And I have here at the church, 25 men that know how to preach.

And I would love to help you men start a prison ministry where we can go there because typical prison ministries are not focused on the glory of Christ Jesus.

It's about experience and hyper charismatic, this, that, and the other. That's typical ministry at a church, at a prison.

To remember, to be bound with them like you are bound with them. What a great expression that is.

I know a rest home ministry. We have a rest home ministry that does a good job. That's, I'm not trying to say people at rest home are in prisons, but the same idea is there.

They're pretty much stuck. And I think we've got 25 preacher here, young preachers.

I think we need more than one rest home ministry because we don't need to have the piano and everything else. But just a guy standing there every single

Saturday or once a month saying, I want to tell you who Jesus is. I had a professor named

Dr. Professor Antoya. Steve had him too. And when he got ordained, they said, what if we don't ordain you?

What are you going to do? He said, I'm going to go preach. Rest homes, funeral homes, someplace, I'm going to go preach.

Say, well, there's only one pulpit at Bethlehem Bible Church and usually Abendroth's in it. That's true. But there's lots of pulpits out there where you could go ahead.

And just with the same attitude of remembering people in a ministry in jail, even at a rest home ministry are assisted living.

Number four, let marriage be held in honor among all. What does it say in verse four? And let the marriage bed.

We looked at this last week. The actual act itself is undefiled for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.

And so simply the writer is saying in a culture that it's crazy with sexual sin. You've been bought with a price.

Ephesians chapter, excuse me, first Corinthians chapter six would talk about that. And so then flee immorality. That doesn't mean that you say, well, some religions teach that sex is only for children.

There should be no pleasure involved. It doesn't say that. It doesn't say that somehow celibacy is at the top of the list.

No, no, it says that this is undefiled and that it should be honored. And this is one man and one woman in marriage.

Everything else doesn't count. It's not real marriage. And that you should not be buying into licentiousness that the world sells and pornography and everything else and flirting online and texting people you ought not to.

And the list goes on. No coveting your neighbor's wife, but also you should not be involved with some kind of like, you know, this is wrong and dirty and I'm ascetic now.

And I just live the higher life. He said, no honor it. And by the way, then he says at the end of verse four, he doesn't say, and if you're a

Christian, if you sin sexually, it's covered. He's just in preaching mode. It's true that God forgives sexual sins of Christians, but here he doesn't give any kind of, he doesn't, you know, let up on the gas as it were.

For God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. So dear friend, since he will judge that, run from that kind of sin.

That's the point. It is the Lord Jesus who brought before he was incarnate, who brought,

I believe Eve to her husband, Adam, Genesis two, ordaining marriage.

Even before the fall, it is a place of honor and a place of anything but dirtiness.

Song of Solomon extols sexual joy in marriage. Proverbs chapter five does as well.

But for those who are sexually sinning, God will judge that sin.

And then number five, finally with a little bit of practical and some review. Number five, it says, be content.

And he quotes Joshua one and Psalm 118. Of course, he's preaching to Jews. So he quotes Old Testament.

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, for the first time, I think in the New Testament, the Lord is my helper. I will not fear what can man do to me.

True or false, you brought nothing into this world. True or false, you'll bring nothing out of this world.

So be content with what you have. It's okay, you have a little or you have a lot. At the end, it doesn't matter because the issue isn't about money.

God's never gonna leave you. He will never forsake you. He's putting his character on the line.

Jesus said, do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourself treasures in heaven where moth and rust do not destroy, where thieves do not break in and steal.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. And now we move to some new ground.

Number six, remember your leaders. Hebrews 13, seven and eight.

Let me read verses seven and eight. Remember your leaders. Verse seven, remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God, consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. Now, when you take a look at that passage there, right in the center of verse seven, consider the outcome of their way of life.

Some think, and there could be truth to this, that the leaders back in these days had either been martyred or would be martyred or have been put in jail.

Their life has come to an end or would come to an end. And you need to watch them to see how they've suffered so that you can suffer well.

One of the things God wants every Christian to do is persevere to the end. How do you persevere to the end?

Well, God uses certain things, and here's one of the things he uses. Leaders that have taught you the

Bible, less than perfect, less than sinless, but they've taught you the

Bible. And when things come their way, health issues, financial issues, all kinds of struggles, they keep believing.

They're good models of what it means. Though he slay me, yet I'll trust in him. Now, maybe some of you have thought about some old pastors that you've had or old leaders.

Or maybe if you're a lady and you've got a Titus 2 lady that discipled you and taught you, and she had miscarriage after miscarriage and had a stillborn and all these other things.

And you just think, you know what? While she's not the Lord, she did what? What does the text say?

Those who spoke to you the word of God. These aren't people that spoke to you sports scores. They knew all about music.

They could know about music, that's fine. But what did they do? They stood up in the pulpit and what they gave you was the word of God.

They sat around a table with you at tea and they opened up the scripture. And you say, who are those people in my life that I ought to just think about a little bit?

It's just a command. When's the last time you thought, what's going on in some leaders lives that I've had in the past?

Or I have now. And I just watch them and I think, you know what? What's the text say? Imitate their faith.

Now you could imitate their faithfulness, but they were trusting in Jesus no matter what.

They didn't go off the rails at the end of their life. They didn't say, you know what? This is too hard. God isn't any good.

He can't be trusted. Paul or whoever the writer is here in the book of Hebrews wants you to recollect things.

He wants you to pay attention to things. He wants you to recall those leaders. Why? A, it's a command, but it's gonna help you persevere because if they can persevere, you can too.

Because it's not about them. It's about the object of their faith. So the ESV, it seems like there's three commands.

There's only really a couple. Remember, consider, and imitate. That's what you're supposed to be thinking when it comes to leaders.

To consider, to look at the outcome of their way of life, to observe carefully, to look at again.

What did we say when we were kids? Take a picture of what? It lasts longer. Just pop culture, just, you know, it's part of it.

You watch somebody's life and you think, yeah, they have some dips and I know them so well. I know they're far from perfect and I've seen their foibles and their sins.

But overall, they're walking by faith. You ought to be remembering those people from start to finish their life.

Whether it was martyrdom here, whether these leaders are dead, it almost seems like they are. Those who spoke to you, something happened to them.

So whether they're speaking to you or whether they spoke to you, you think I ought to remember those leaders. He says, remember leaders in seven.

I think in 17, he says, obey your leaders. Later on, he says, greet your leaders in verse 24.

Think about them. The word consider in Hebrews seven is also used in Acts 17 when

Paul went to that city full of idols, Athens. And he said, for a while I was passing through and examining or considering the objects of your worship.

So many issues that pastors have, so many problems in the world and they just keep believing and you remember them so you keep believing.

That's the point. Don't follow some kind of pastor because he's a celebrity. Don't follow some kind of leader online because he's got a big reach.

Don't follow somebody who's got their own ideas and they teach their own things and it's just the personality cult.

By the way, this is why some here, I don't think, most here won't do it.

But I can just imagine some people will go, I'm not going back to church. Why bother? I gotta wear a mask, it's horrible.

Fogs up my glasses. I can get everything I need to get out of the video. But you know what you can't get?

Besides A, obeying what the Lord Jesus said to corporately worship and B, to watch leaders.

To watch them go, you know what? I see what they're doing. I think about our own leaders here.

You think, okay, Scott Brown, all the problems he has with being, having headaches and sick and everything else.

And you know, when I think of Scott Brown, I just think, faithful. Faithful he's here, whether he feels awful or not.

And you'll never know he feels awful unless you ask him. And by the way, if you do, he'll always say yes. Not because he's trying to say it, but he just is always feeling awful.

Our Pradeep and his health issues. Think about Steve, his dad has died recently. His wife's had cancer.

And I have not heard Steve say yet, you know what? I got the wrong end of this deal. God has not kept up his promises.

Those are the kinds of things you look at. What are the leaders in your life doing so that you can remember their life?

You can't see them on TV. If your favorite leaders in all the world are internet people, then you're not thinking rightly.

These are real people right in front of your very eyes. And by the way, if you're a leader, this should motivate you to go, people watch what

I do. By the way, this would be a good thing to put on somebody's tombstone, would it not?

If you were a leader or a preacher. Something about speaking the word of God to you and finishing well and imitating their faith.

Very, very important. Look to the leaders who believe in spite of, who trust the

Lord in spite of, who talk about the goodness of the Lord, even when they're hurting. Yes, but you know what?

I know some leaders, they've got sin. You know what? I've had some great leaders. They're dead.

Isn't there a leader without sin that we could look to? Isn't there a leader that never dies that we could look to?

Isn't there an irreplaceable leader? And the answer is verse eight. People just put this verse up, you know,

I love every verse, but verses out of context don't help me. This is not about tongues were for yesterday, now for their today.

Healing people organically was for yesterday, now they're for today. It's in the context of what?

Leadership. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

It's right there in context for all to see. I will fail you. I have failed you. Jesus has never failed you, nor will he fail you.

Isn't that good to know? Because the faith that you're supposed to imitate in leaders is a faith where they're looking up to the

Lord. And leaders that don't point you to Jesus aren't leaders. They're wolves. Think, you know,

I had some of these great leaders and they died. Jesus is alive.

I had some great leaders, and kind of the more I got to know them, kind of had some more chinks in their armor, and I didn't really like what everything

I saw. Yes, true. Yeah, but things could get even worse in this world, and we're going to need to have exemplary leadership to get through.

I know, and Jesus never changes. He is immutable. He is unchangeable. I love to say to kids, you know, thinking about root words.

What's the root in immutable? And they'll say, what? Mute. And they're like, what are you trying to teach me about Jesus?

He doesn't talk. No, no. And then I have to revolt. I have to resort to Pastor Mike mode, where I go teenage ninja.

Mutant. Yeah, mutant. You're fired. They change.

God never changes. Churches change. The economy changes. Presidents change.

Your pastors change. Your elders change. Not always for the good, but no matter what,

Jesus will not change. I know I promised eternal life, but something else came up.

That's not our Lord Jesus. He is the same. And don't you love it that it's both Jesus and Christ stressing

His humanity and His deity? The God -man never will change. No matter what comes your way, you can trust in Him.

He's the same. And by the way, this isn't just some little slogan, same yesterday, today, and forever. Who was and who wasn't is to come.

What's it mean? Think about it for a second. He's the same yesterday. The same

Jesus in the gospel who was kind and touched the leper. The same Jesus in the gospel that stilled the storm on the sea.

The same Jesus who said, your mother -in -law is sick, I'll heal her. The same Jesus that says, you demons, you bow at my feet.

The same Jesus that says, your will, Father, not my will must be done, and I will go to the cross.

The same will where Jesus said, I could call down not just one angels, but a myriad of angels to destroy you.

That same Jesus is the Jesus today. So you can trust Him. He's the same yesterday.

The work that He did on the cross. What does God require of you? Obey the law. So we didn't obey, so He obeys for us.

That work still is... It's good. It counts. The same yesterday,

His work that He did on earth. His sin bearing where He died on the cross, His resurrection.

All that relates to His mediatorial work, His advocacy on earth.

What about today? Oh, I already gave you a hint when we looked at the verses in Hebrews, one verse per chapter.

What is Jesus doing today? He's seated at the right hand, and He's doing what? He's praying.

So His life on earth doesn't change. His prayer life doesn't change. By the way, how would you like to have a prayer life that was perfect and it never changed?

Because just when you have a couple good days of prayer, then you're off. I don't know, watch the MasterChef the next day.

I mean, I have no idea what you're doing. I know what I do. And not just yesterday, not just today, but when?

Forever. The priesthood of Jesus, the Melchizedekian priesthood, is an eternal priesthood.

Hebrews 5, Hebrews 6, Hebrews 7. He's not going to change. You can trust in Him. And while leaders come and go, this leader won't.

He is the first and the last revelation, one who is, who was, and who is to come.

Yeah, but the world is chaos. I need a rock. I present to you Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever.

There's riotings in the street. I present to you the Lord Jesus. Read the

Gospels and you'll say, you know what? That's my Lord. Not because I made Him Lord, because He is.

And He opened my eyes. Now, I know what you're asking, or maybe you could be asking, or maybe you should be asking.

Look at the end of verse 7, and imitate their faith. What about Jesus? Am I supposed to imitate leaders faith?

But what about Jesus's faith? Should I imitate Jesus's faith? Did He believe? Did Jesus trust

His Father? Did Jesus yield Himself to the Father? Did Jesus say, I'm just going to entrust my soul to you.

I'm going to have this faith that you're going to not fail me. The answer is yes, yes, yes, and yes.

Did Jesus have a faith that said, I know I'm sinful. And you've said, if you believe in what

I've done for you, I can be saved. Did Jesus have that kind of faith? Absolutely not. So as Turchin said, there's a special faith.

That's what we have. Knowing we were sinful and are sinful. Trusting in the sinless one. That's a special faith.

But Jesus didn't have that. He had a general faith. Trust. So when people say, I can imitate the faith of my pastors.

But how can I imitate the faith of Jesus? He wasn't sinful. You can imitate His trust of God. And you can see that trust in Gethsemane.

You can see that trust on Calvary and everywhere in between. Jesus trusted

His Father. Jesus entrusted Himself to the Father's heavenly care.

Number seven. Don't be led away by food devotion. Verse nine.

These are all commands that come at the end that tell us how to live our lives in commensurate with our calling as Christians.

Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods which have not benefited those devoted to them.

This is amazing. Additionally, as we see the bridge between seven and eight, eight is going to tie us to nine.

What you believe about Jesus is going to determine what you eat. Now, what I'm not talking about, let me make this clear.

I'm not talking about preferences. If you have a preference and you want to be a vegan, fine. Remember, Jesus has declared all foods what?

Clean. Acts 10 has happened. It's a false teacher that says certain foods can't do this, that or the other spiritually.

So I'm not saying if you want to be, what are some of the weird things out there now? If you want to be keto, if you want to be carnivore, if you want to be paleo, if you want to be,

I don't care what those things are. If you say that's just my preference, fine. If you think you're strengthened in your heart by that spiritually, you've been led away.

Because what's the text say? Don't be led away by diverse and strange teachings. There are people out there who are trying to teach this stuff.

Because by the way, it's easier. What's harder? Husbands, love your wives like Christ loved the church or eat keto.

Well, maybe for some of you, it's both as hard. I don't know. But I know if I just ticked it off, hey,

I ate the right thing, God must be pleased. And you can imagine Old Testament Judaism propping in here, filtering in, you got to eat the right foods or else.

I'm not talking about diet. I'm talking about if you think that what you eat helps you spiritually, you've been led away.

You're not strengthened by foods. You're strengthened by grace. Now, the tie into verse eight is simple.

Jesus's life of law keeping put into your spiritual bank account. Our sin put into Jesus's spiritual bank account.

That means positively, he's obeyed. Negatively, he takes our sins.

And therefore, when God sees us, we're in Christ and we are accepted, we are justified. We aren't going to say, you know what?

God will like me more if I don't eat bacon. I know you will like me more if I do eat bacon because I'd be happier.

But the tie into Jesus and his work determines what you eat or don't eat when it comes to spiritual issues.

Now, here's what happens all the time. I've seen it come and go for 23 years. Some kind of weird

Old Testament diet for Israel will be a bestseller. And you'll think if you do it, you're going to be either healthier or more spiritual.

The maker's diet. I think that's the big one now. Just for fun this week, go to a supermarket and go to the bread line, the bread aisle.

And if there's an arrow going this way, just walk this way, right? Doesn't that work?

It seems consistent. And go to the bread section and go to the

Ezekiel 4 .9 bread section. 4 .9, you know what Ezekiel 4 .9

bread, if you're spiritual, you eat it, right? Here's the thing.

You take Ezekiel 4 .9, wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet and emmer and put them in a single vessel.

When I first read that, I thought it said mullet. There were quite a few mullets when I first got here at BBC, but they're kind of gone. But this is millet.

If you like Ezekiel 4 .9 bread, fine. Eat as much as you want. But it's not going to help you spiritually. It's not going to strengthen you.

And by the way, would you just at least be consistent in the aisle? And here's what I want you to do. Walk backwards in the aisle, look at it, take a picture and then laugh your head off because these verses follow that.

During the number of days that you lie on your side, 390, you shall eat it. So maybe that's why it's a good diet because you're just laying on your side the whole time.

And the food that you eat shall be by weight 20 shekels a day. Day to day, you shall eat it and you shall drink by measure the sixth part and you shall eat it as a barley cake, baking it in their sight on human dung.

Don't forget the butter. Don't be carried away as passive.

It means there's teachers who are saying the only way you can be spiritual or the way to be spiritual, the jet fast toward a way to be spiritual is to eat the right foods.

That has nothing to do with it. Zero. You want to be strengthened? It's by the Lord Jesus and faith in Him.

The grace for your heart and your soul is not found in foods. Say, well, it is spiritual in the sense that, you know,

I just don't want to drink canola oil every day and ruin my body. Okay, I get that.

And you say, well, I'm just, I can't just be gluttonous and, you know, just be overweight and no good for anything and this, that and the other.

I'm not talking about health issues. I'm talking about spiritual issues. Say, well, it seems like, you know, it's just some kind of legalistic teaching.

Here's how I would summarize what I'm trying to say. Dear Christian, do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good that the heart be strengthened by grace, not by foods which have not benefited those devoted to them.

And by the way, some of us turn food into an idol.

You see what the passage says? Devoted. What do idols want? What do gods want? They want attention.

They want thoughts. They want planning. You say, you mean I can't plan a meal?

Of course you can plan a meal. But if your life is all devoted to food and everything else because you think somehow it's right or spiritual or anything else,

I have a different devotion for you. Don't be devoted to this.

Over and over and over, food laws come and go. Jesus says all foods are clean.

Don't buy into this. It's just so easy if I just eat the right foods, then I'm going to be spiritual.

You want to be strengthened? Paul said this in Romans 16. Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ.

Bless you. The centrality of Christ's sacrifice should make it so you don't get carried away.

All these teachings, the Weigh Down Diet. Remember the Weigh Down Diet? That was way back a long time ago.

And everybody's like, I'm just going to do the Weigh Down Diet. I don't care that the lady who wrote it doesn't believe in the Trinity. Okay.

Go back to the store for four nine bread and see how we do. And you know, they cover it with this

Old Testament stuff. See what God was doing. I've even heard people say, you know what?

We shouldn't have pork today because it wasn't even food then.

Now he says Jesus declared all foods clean and pork isn't even food. So we shouldn't even be eating it. Well, why did

Jesus, why did the Holy Spirit say don't eat pork if they didn't think it was food? And I know some of you are very thinking, you know what?

I don't want to kill animals in this whole deal with animal killing and slaughterhouses and factories and everything else.

I'm sure there's a long way to go in that. But don't forget, dear Christian, if you want to eat tofu, it comes from a big field.

And you know how many animals they have to kill to keep off that field so you get your tofu? They're killing your animals one way or the other.

One, you just feel good about it. And the other one, you can point at everybody else saying, how can you eat that cow? You want to be a vegan?

You want to be a vegetarian? Great. I don't care. Unless you think it has to do with your spiritual walk.

That makes sense. Okay, aren't you getting hungry for lunch? Dietary laws.

I guess we could start having pot provinces once the governor says we could start doing that. We could have like a keto time.

We could have a paleo time. Wouldn't that be fun? Who would not show up?

Don't. All right, here's my summary. Don't have food be a religion for you. It's a commodity.

It's to be used. It's to, have you ever prayed? Lord, we bless this food. Give us strength for our bodies. What? To do the work of the ministry.

To serve other people. To love other brothers. To be hospitable. Don't obsess about food all the time.

I know we have to eat it. I know we have to buy. I know we have to plan. We have to go to the grocery store. I'm not saying anything like that.

But don't fall into this trap where false teachers say, you know what? You can have your heart strengthened by food.

It's a lie. I guess that's good enough for you.

The Lord Jesus gives us these laws through the spirit of God. Not because he's trying to tell you no.

And don't have any fun. And I'm just a God that says no to good things. That's the lie of Satan to Eve.

And eventually to Adam. That God's withholding things through these laws. No, no. God knows what you need.

And he knows what's best. And for you to have a whole life, a shalom life, a peaceful life. The best life that you can have on earth now before you get to heaven.

Is when you obey these laws. Because they're good for you. Yes, they glorify God. But he knows what you need.

He knows what I need. So pretty much today we talked about leaders and food. And now let's pray.

Thank you Father for your word. Thank you for your son. The ultimate hero. The ultimate leader.

The Lord Jesus Christ. Would you protect us from somehow giving more thought and devotion to foods than we ought?

Would you protect us from leaders not living a life commensurate with their calling.

And then having us not think about leaders. But especially the ultimate leader. The Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you

Lord for your word. In Jesus name. Amen. Check us out online at bbchurch .org