Hebrews 13:3-16 – Faith and Actions: A New Perspective

SPEAKER 03 : 0:01

How firm a foundation, ye saints, of the Lord is laid for your faithful.

SPEAKER 02 : 0:17

Hebrews 13.8 says, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Such a great verse, isn’t it? But as we’ll find out, it’s not only one of the most popular verses in Scripture, but it’s also one of the most misapplied. Welcome to Through the Bible. I’m Steve Schwetz, inviting you aboard the Bible bus for another great adventure in God’s Word. So grab your seat, get comfortable, because today our teacher, Dr. J. Vernon McGee, is going to examine the meaning and proper application of Hebrews 13.8. and will put to rest some of the misconceptions that we so commonly hear. It’s a great message, and it’s a full one, so I don’t got a lot of time, but we recently received this letter from a listener that I’d like to quickly share. “‘Greetings from Boston. I first heard about your program from a website that presented the salvation message, but at the time I was part of a cult and did not have ears to hear it. A while later, when I was broken in spirit, I welcomed Christ into my heart.’ I’m so grateful that I have found grace in the Lord’s eyes, and I listen to you every day on my iPhone. I also enrolled in your world prayer team and feel especially edified while hearing from listeners who once hated Christ but now love him. It helps remind me that anybody can become a new creature in due time. May your ministry abound until our Lord returns. Well, if any of you would like to join this listener and me and thousands of other Through the Bible listeners in praying for God’s work around the world, stay with us because I’m going to share more about the World Prayer Team after Dr. McGee’s message. Now for a sneak peek, you can also check out ttb.org forward slash pray. Now let’s prepare our hearts to receive God’s word. Heavenly Father, may your word speak to our hearts. Help us to change our attitudes and actions in response to what we hear. In Jesus’ name, amen. Here’s Dr. J. Vernon McGee with our study of Hebrews 13 on Through the Bible.

SPEAKER 01 : 2:11

Now, last time I got rather hurriedly into the 13th chapter, and this 13th chapter is the great love chapter. We think of 1 Corinthians 13, but here’s another love chapter. Chapter 11, faith chapter. Chapter 12, here the hope chapter. Chapter 13, the love chapter. This brings us to the secret life of the believers here in this first section. Then we have the social life of the believers, and then the spiritual life of the believers given to us here. He has made it now abundantly clear. That you and I, and he’s writing primarily to the Hebrews, but it has application to us. Both Jew and Gentile today have been brought into one body, the body of believers. And the cement, the Elmer’s glue that holds us together is brother love. Not brotherly love, but brother love. We are brothers. And we’re not to love like brothers, but because we are brothers. We emphasized that last time. Then he said we are to extend this love to strangers, and that can be shown in our hospitality toward them, our attitude toward them. Then he mentions the fact that some have entertained angels unawares. Abraham did, we know, and Joshua did, and there were others. Then here in the third verse, and I think probably I should turn to this third verse again and read it. He asks that they remember them that are in bonds, is bound with them, and them which suffer adversity, being yourself also in the body. That is something that’s neglected today. We talk a great deal about Christian fellowship around a banquet table or that we meet in a group. But what about that poor saint today that’s off yonder lying in a bed somewhere and no one’s been visiting them and Many of you could have a wonderful ministry along that line. And that’s what he’s talking about. This is brother love, not something that you talk about in the church or in some little group you get in. I’m getting a little weary of that today. All of this business of, well, they’ve coined a phrase, which is actually not a new phrase. They call it body truth. Well, gracious, my friend, that’s been in the Scripture all these years. But you exercise that body truth going out there to that individual out there. We hear very little about that today. Then he talks about marriage. That is the very anchor of the social structure. And this, of course, is very personal. Marriage is honorable in all. He’s condemning asceticism here. If you can find a girl that’ll have you, young fella, get married. And young lady, if you can find a fella that’ll have you, get married. That is, if he’s the right one, of course. I believe, frankly, that God will lead you to the right one if you’re willing to be led that way. And he says in the bed, undefiled, but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. And that’s very severe after quite a few years in the ministry. I’ve seen even Christians that have tried to get by with this. I don’t know any of them that have been able to get by with it. Maybe they haven’t been detected, but they sure didn’t get by with it. God will judge them. And so it actually condemns that which is laxity and lust. Now, he says, let your conversation, your manner of life be without covetousness. Don’t be known as a money grabber, as one who puts the almighty dollar above almighty God. And be content with such things as you have, for he hath said, I’ll never leave thee nor forsake thee. He may not make you a millionaire. but he’ll never leave you nor forsake you. And we can say today, the Lord’s my helper, and I’ll not fear what man shall do unto me. And then remember them which have the rule over you, who’ve spoken unto you the word of God, whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation. I know that there’s some ministers that use this, that say that the members of the church should obey them. I rather think that the fault here is that of leading. They are spiritual leaders, and spiritual leaders are to lead folk to Christ. And if a man is presenting Christ… and attempting to bring people into the presence of Christ, then that’s the man I would say you should be loyal to. But to say you’re just to be loyal to a man because he happens to be the pastor of a church, that just doesn’t happen to be true. And that’s not what Paul is talking about here at all. Now, I come back to the verse where I left off last time. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday to today, and forever. And I want to say to you, I feel inadequate to deal with this very marvelous verse. The first thing I want to say is this. that this verse has probably been as misapplied as much as any verse that’s in the Word of God. There are those that use it today. They say, well, Jesus was here 1,900 years ago, and he performed miracles. We ought to perform them today. He healed 1,900 years ago, and so we ought to be healing today, and that he’s still in that same business. Now, let’s understand how he is the same. He’s the same in his character and in his person and in his attributes. But he’s not the same in the place that he was and performance. Now, I just came back from Israel recently. I didn’t see him over there. And by the way, I saw very little evidence of him in that land. But 1900 years ago, he walked through that land over there and he did heal. 1900 years ago, he was in Bethlehem. A little baby, but he’s no longer a baby and he’s not in Bethlehem. 1900 years ago, he was a little boy playing around the streets of Nazareth. I walked down the streets of Nazareth. I didn’t see him. I saw a lot of little boys, but he’s not there. I was in Jerusalem and I saw Golgotha. And there’s not even a cross there today. And he’s not on a cross. The whole thought of this epistle is that he is at the right hand of God, seeing that we have a high priest. yonder at the right hand of God and looking under Jesus. He’s the author and finisher of our faith. He did that 1900 years ago and he sat down at the right hand of God. Now right now he’s up yonder and someday he’s going to come as the king, but he hasn’t come yet as the king to the earth to establish his kingdom here. And he hasn’t called his church out of the world yet, but he’s going to do that. But he is the same in his attributes. Now, in that light, let’s look at him. We mentioned last time that these two names are given here, Jesus, Christ, the same. Well, Jesus is that human name that was given to him. Christ is a title, speaks of his messianic mission to this earth, that he is God manifest in the flesh. And it’s marvelous how these two are brought together here, Jesus Christ. How wonderful these two are meshed together here. He is Jesus Christ and he’s the same. Now, when he was here 1900 years ago, it was God who came down to our level. When I’m in that land, I marvel at that. He came to a place where actually there was not great wealth and pomp and ceremonies. He didn’t come to Rome, the center of power and government. He didn’t come to Athens, the great cultural center. He did go to Jerusalem, the great religious center of that day. But he came down to our level. He was a human being. And I want to say this concerning his humanity, because many of us today are so afraid of that we will not be understood, that we don’t emphasize the humanity of Christ, we emphasize the deity of Christ. Well, that needs emphasizing today because the liberal talks nothing but the humanity of Christ, and I think he misses that. And this is what I mean. I think that Jesus was the most attractive person that ever walked this earth. And I’m now talking about, not because he’s God, because he’s a man. I think he was a real man. Have you ever noticed that the crowds were attracted to him? The crowds followed him. He was strong but gentle. Little children came to him, but he could drive the money changers out of the temple, and they ran for cover because he was man enough to do it. He was a real man, and he was attractive. He had what we call today charisma. People followed him because they loved him. They were in the presence of a man that was a man in Capernaum. You remember he healed a leper and then had to leave because the crowds came around him and they crowded him so he couldn’t even continue his ministry. Publican sinners came to him and that was the thing the religious crowd went after him about. You know, if he came to your town today, I hate to say this, But I don’t think he’d come to your church, and I don’t think he’d come to my church either. I don’t think that’s where he’d go. I have a notion you’d find him down where the crowd is. He’d be mixing with the crowd. These little children came to it. I marveled at that. And you remember when he went through Jericho at the end of his ministry, we find there that the crowds lined the way and little Zacchaeus had to climb up a tree. And our Lord stopped, you remember, and brought that fellow down out of the tree. How wonderful the Lord Jesus was in his person. But now I want to say something very carefully, and it’s this. It was the person of Christ that appealed. It was not his teachings and his great declaration that he was going to die and he’d come to redeem man. That was not popular. And you’ll find that at the very beginning of his ministry, that it was his teachings that offended. He talked about he was the bread of life and that he’d come down to give his life that men might have spiritual food. Then he said to them over in John 6, chapter 65, he said, therefore, I said unto you that no man can come unto me except it were given him of the Father. And from that time, many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. Now that crowd narrowed down, and only twelve stayed with him. Why? Because of his teaching. It is said that Savonarolo in the city of Florence went before the great populace, and he said to them, Be free! And they applauded him. And then he said to them, be pure. And then they ran him out of town. They didn’t want his teaching unless it appeals to them. And the Lord Jesus said to man, you have to turn from sin. You can’t live in sin. That I’ve come to make you free. But I’ll have to give my life for you. And you’ll have to come as a sinner to me. And sinners came. And when men were desperate, they would come to him. And I believe that’s the only way they’ll come to him today. Oh, I tell you, friends, he was a very wonderful person. Someone has put it like this. Our blessed Lord combined in one two natures, both complete, in perfect manhood all sublime, in Godhood all replete. As man he entered Canaan’s feast, an humble guest to dine. As God he moved the water there and changed it into wine. As man he suffered weariness and rested on a well. As God he pierced a sinner’s heart and saved her soul from hell. As man, he climbed the mountains high, a supplement to be. As God, he left the place of prayer and walked upon the sea. As man, he wept in heartfelt grief beside a loved one’s grave. As God, he burst the bands of death, almighty still to save. As man, he lay within a boat, overpowered by needful sleep. As God, he rose, rebuked the wind, and still the angry deep. as man he yielded to his foes, submitting to be bound, as God his presence overawed, and threw them to the ground. Such was our Lord in life and earth, in dual nature one, the woman’s seed in very truth, and God’s eternal Son. O Child, O Son, O Word made flesh, may thy high praise increase, Thou wonderful, thou mighty God, eternal Prince of Peace. May I say to you, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday. Now, this is what he was yesterday. But you know, he’s up under God’s right hand today. He still wants little children to come to him. He still has his arms out for them and sinners can still come to him. And he can still say, even to the one that’s gone to the very depths, go and sin no more. I can free you. And if the son make you free, you’ll be free indeed. You can come to him. A great many people feel gingerly going sometimes into church or into meetings. They feel like they’re with a bunch of goody goodies and we have to be very careful. You know, if Jesus was there in that meeting, I think you’d hear his laughter. And I think you’d fall in love with him as a person, as a man. There’s been something said about him, and very frankly, I spoke against it when I first heard it. But it’s gotten me to thinking it was said by one of these radicals in the East. He called Jesus a revolutionary. I don’t like that. That’s not true. But he said Jesus was a gutsy person. And my, oh, he’s been criticized for that. And I join that criticism. I’ve been thinking it over. Let me say this to you today. I don’t agree with it. Did you know that if we really presented Jesus as he really was, he’d appeal to the radical today? Jesus was a man. And he’s the same today. But he’s God. He could weep at a tomb because he’s human, but he could say to Lazarus, come forth. And may that same one today meet you in your need. He can sympathize with you. He can weep with you. He can laugh with you. But he can save your soul. I wish that I could present him. Like he really was 1900 years ago when he came to this earth. How wonderful he was. And your sorrow is his sorrow. And your joy is his joy today. And he’s going to be the same in the future. Same yesterday, today, and forever. He’s never going to change. Someday we’re going to be in his presence. And how wonderful that’s going to be. Now let me move along. My, I got bogged down here, but this is so wonderful. Verse 9, it says, “…be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines, for it’s a good thing that the heart be established with grace, not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.” Isn’t it amazing that most of the cults go in for diets? And I believe in a diet. I think food is pretty important as far as the body is concerned. It has nothing to do with your relationship with God. Paul says, whether you eat meat or whether you don’t eat meat, meat won’t command you to God. And that’s what he’s trying to say here. Don’t go off in these strange cults. And this strange teaching that we have today, that diet and ceremonies and ritual and going to some little group and studying some little something today, and we got a lot of those abroad, that that was going to make you a super-duper saint. My friend, nothing in the world is going to build you up with the Word of God. And the word of God won’t build you up unless it brings you to Christ. And only the Holy Spirit can take the things of Christ and make them real unto you. Now he says here, we have an altar whereof they have no right to eat, which serve the tabernacle. May I say to you, fellowship actually is not at a church banquet. If I may put it like that, we always hear that today, and I heard it for years as a pastor. Come to the banquet. We’re going to have some marvelous Christian fellowship. No, you’re not. You’re just going there for a good time, and you’re just going to feel your little tummy. That’s what you’re going to do, my friend. May I say the only place that you can have fellowship, that is the word koinonia, is when you are around the Word of God, and the Word of God brings you to the person of Christ, and you see him in all of his glory. Then’s when you’re going to have a good time. Our Lord was wonderful, friends. It’s terrible to pass him by. Now, will you notice here in verse 10, we have an altar. Whereof? And here’s a comparison made between what Israel had under the old covenant in contrast to the better things of the new. Believers have an altar, not the Lord’s Supper, not a material altar with a local address, but we have an altar. The throne of grace up yonder was the throne of judgment. He condemned me there. But also when the blood was placed there, I could come and find grace and be saved. Now, for the bodies of those beasts whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin are burned without the camp. That means they’re consumed. He’s speaking of the sin offering here. Wherefore, Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate. He was outside. Now, Jesus died outside of the city. He was the sin offering. Remember, the sin offering was taken away from the temple out yonder. Jesus was our sin offering and paid the price. Now he says, let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp bearing his reproach. Don’t mind leaving a temple. Don’t mind leaving a ritual. Don’t think these things are helpful. Go to him. Go to Christ, for here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come. We haven’t anything permanent here. That’s been made clear to us. By him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually. That is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks in his name. Actually, a child of God can bring a sacrifice. And this is now the spiritual life of the believer. There are four sacrifices of a believer. Three of them are here in verse 15. By him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God. Now, praise… is a sacrifice, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to him. And I didn’t mean to say the others are here, but verse 16 says, but to do good and to communicate, forget not, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. So that what we have here is four things. You can sacrifice your person, And someone has said, when one truly gives himself to the Lord, all other giving becomes easy. The second is your purse. And believe me, if he doesn’t have your purse, he doesn’t have you. And praise, that’s mentioned here in verse 15. And then performance. That is doing good. When you do good, that’s a sacrifice of a child of God. Now, I see our time is up, and it was my full intention to finish this chapter today, and therefore the epistle to the Hebrews. But friends, I got bogged down there at verse 8, that wonderful verse, and I didn’t treat it adequately. Oh, if I could only make him as wonderful as he is to you. Everybody had turned to him, but I just didn’t quite do that. But I will finish Hebrews next time. Until then, may God richly bless you, my beloved.

SPEAKER 02 : 24:02

Has your faith been renewed or strengthened through our time in Hebrews? Well, if so, tell us about it because we love to get your notes and then hear the stories of what God is doing in your life as we study his word together. You know, you can leave a message in our app by clicking on feedback and then you can just use the speech function to write that in real quick so you don’t have to use your fingers and thumbs to try to type that. Or you can always write to us at Through the Bible, Box 7100, Pasadena, California, 91109. Or in Canada, Box 25325, London, Ontario, N6C 6B1. Or even easier, you can email BibleBus at ttb.org or leave a message at 1-800-65-BIBLE. And maybe we’ll even share your story to encourage others studying along with us. Now, as I mentioned at the beginning of our study, if you’d like to travel the world on your knees with us, asking God to transform the hearts and lives of the people we meet along the way, then you need to sign up for our world prayer team by visiting us at ttb.org forward slash pray. Jesus made it all.

SPEAKER 03 : 25:26

All to him I owe. Sin had left the prince of sin. He washed it white as snow.

SPEAKER 02 : 25:46

Well, ride the Bible bus for five years and you’ll be amazed at what God teaches you from his word about what it means to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. It’s a blessing that keeps on going. That’s what we believe at Through the Bible.