Well, It's Been Nice Talking With You

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Hebrews 13:1–25 ESV
1 Let brotherly love continue. 2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. 3 Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body. 4 Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. 5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” 6 So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?” 7 Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. 9 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. 10 We have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat. 11 For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp. 12 So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. 13 Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. 14 For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. 15 Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. 16 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God. 17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you. 18 Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a clear conscience, desiring to act honorably in all things. 19 I urge you the more earnestly to do this in order that I may be restored to you the sooner. 20 Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, 21 equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. 22 I appeal to you, brothers, bear with my word of exhortation, for I have written to you briefly. 23 You should know that our brother Timothy has been released, with whom I shall see you if he comes soon. 24 Greet all your leaders and all the saints. Those who come from Italy send you greetings. 25 Grace be with all of you.
Hebrews 13:1–6 ESV
1 Let brotherly love continue. 2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. 3 Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body. 4 Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. 5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” 6 So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”

God Keeps to the End

What a promise we have at the end of this section. Verse 5 tells us to say confidence
Hebrews 13:5 ESV
5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
When you realize what this verse means, it puts the rest of this section in perspective.

Be content not envious

We have no reason to be envious of others if we know the Lord is going to provide for us. We have no need to worry about giving to others who are in need since He will provide for us. We need to care for our brothers and sisters in Christ who have are going through rough times and minister to them with what God has blessed us with.
If we are satisfied with what we have, then we won’t be concerned with what others have. We will be content with where we are.
What does it mean to be content?

content - noun-a state of satisfaction. adjective - in a state of peaceful happiness.

When we want something others have, it can cause a lot of anxiety in our lives. We are trying to figure out how we can have what others do with what we have. When we become envious or covet what others have, we lose our satisfaction with what God has blessed us with. We will constantly think about how we can get what we want instead of being okay and enjoying what we have.
Philippians 4:11–13 ESV
11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. 12 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. 13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
1 Timothy 6:6–8 ESV
6 But godliness with contentment is great gain, 7 for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. 8 But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.

Claim this promise, and you have your fortune

If we can claim this promise given to us in verse 6, we have everything we need. We will have our fortune. God will see fit to take care of us. He will give us everything we need, not what we want. What we need. Now let’s take a look at the actual verse. We’ve talked a lot about it, but there is something lost in our interpretation from the Greek to our language today.
Hebrews 13:5 ESV
5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
If we were to read the last part of this verse and use the actual Greek meaning it would read like this.

“He himself said, I will never, never desert you, and I will never, never, never abandon you.”

When we are trying to put this into English, when we use a double negative, they cancel each other out. In Greek, they emphasize the negative even more. The five negatives in this sentence are supposed to build on each other letting us know our God is never going to leave us. It may seem He might hide His face from us for a little while, but He will never, never, never, never, never abandon us.
Hebrews 13:7–19 ESV
7 Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. 9 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. 10 We have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat. 11 For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp. 12 So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. 13 Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. 14 For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. 15 Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. 16 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God. 17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you. 18 Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a clear conscience, desiring to act honorably in all things. 19 I urge you the more earnestly to do this in order that I may be restored to you the sooner.

Worship the Unchangeable Christ

Why should we worship Christ? He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. He will never change. He is the solid rock we can build our faith on.
Psalm 18:2 ESV
2 The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
Matthew 7:24–27 ESV
24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”
Isaiah 28:16 ESV
16 therefore thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion, a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation: ‘Whoever believes will not be in haste.’
We know what He expects from us. And in knowing His expectations, we also know He will forgive us. Once again referring back to the previous section, we know He will never leave us nor forsake us. If He has said it, then this will never change. For those of us who are believers, we have this promise.
1 John 1:9 ESV
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Psalm 103:10–12 ESV
10 He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. 11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; 12 as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

Joyfully bear Christ’s reproach

As we build our faith on the Rock which will never change. We look at the one who built their house on the Rock, they were able to withstand the storms which came against it. However, the person who built their house on the sand in the scripture, their house was unable to stand against the storms which came.
If we have built our faith on the Rock of Jesus Christ, the Cornerstone God provided for us, we will be able to stand the things the world throws at us. We must have our faith built on this Rock so we can make our stand for our God when we are confronted with what the world wants to do. We must go outside the walls of the city, of the church, and stand for our faith. Our city here it temporary. We long for the city which will be our permanent dwelling place. Why should we care about what the sinful world cares? Our reward lies not here, but in an eternal place where we will be able to take those rewards and lay them at the feet of our Father God.
Let’s go back to the Old Covenant where the bull which was offered for the sins of the people. All the priest used of the bull was it’s blood. It was the blood of this animal which was offered as atonement for the peoples’ sins. The carcass had to be carried outside of the camp and every part of it burned until there was nothing left. it was up to the priest to see that this was done. The distance it was carried is said to have been around four miles.
Where was Christ crucified? On a hill, outside the city walls. Did it just so happen that this was the way the Romans would handle this punishment. The sin offering that was offered in the New Covenant followed suit with the old. God’s plan from the beginning of time to when Christ offered himself for us.
I have made the point before that when Christ took on our sins, His Father had to turn His back on Him. It was the first time in history that Christ was alone. Through the shedding of His own blood we have redemption.

Praise God continually with a childlike faith

This is the reason we need to praise God with a child-like faith.
Children take everything we tell them and they will believe it.
April Fool’s Day with kindergarten when I was student teaching.
When I told the kids I had a holes in my shoes, they were sad. You could see the look on their face immediately change. They were all about “getting Mr. Morgan” to “we need to go this man a pair of shoes.”
They will take you at your word. They don’t need proof. They believe automatically. Somewhere that changes to when we are adults, we are skeptical about a lot.
Matthew, Mark, and Luke talk about this kind of faith specifically.
Matthew 18:3 ESV
3 and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Mark 10:15 ESV
15 Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”
Luke 18:17 ESV
17 Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”
We as believers need to take God at His Word. We don’t need to question. We need to know He is the God who will never change. Once again, He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. We see what He has done through out the history of the Bible, as well as through the history of the church. We have so many people who have laid down such a great legacy for us, why should we question?
Just a really quick side bar:

What type of legacy are we leaving those who follow us?

We need to make sure we are sharing with the next generation of how God has worked through and in our lives. I’m not just talking about your children who need to hear from you as parents. I’m talking about all the people of our church sharing with our kids how God has worked in and through your lives. If we don’t do this, they won’t see this importance and the legacy begins to crumble.
Hebrews 13:20–25 ESV
20 Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, 21 equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. 22 I appeal to you, brothers, bear with my word of exhortation, for I have written to you briefly. 23 You should know that our brother Timothy has been released, with whom I shall see you if he comes soon. 24 Greet all your leaders and all the saints. Those who come from Italy send you greetings. 25 Grace be with all of you.

Try to Glorify God

In the final words of this book, the writer is trying to remind the readers that God has equipped them with all they will need in order to do what He has called them to do.
I living out our lives as children of the almighty God, we should do what we can with our lives to glorify Him. He is the One who will guide us through our lives if we will depend on Him and listen to the sweet still small voice which is there.
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