The Gathering Surf City

Alrighty. Wow.

I'm excited about this morning because
there's so many things that we

need to realize.

I mean,

it's September 1.

It's Labor Day weekend.

There's a pigpicking going on.

And we begin the last chapter of the
Book of Hebrews this morning.

We've been in Hebrews since January.

Actually, we've been in Hebrews
since last October.

We did a little survey of Hebrews,

which made me realize that we needed
to spend more time in Hebrews.

So we jumped into Hebrews in January
and have kind of taken it apart

piece by piece.

And chapter 13 is kind of the fun chapter
because it's in chapter 13 that

the writer of Hebrews and God
by inspiration is saying,

all right,

now this is what it looks like.

Okay, now when he says this
is what it looks like,

what he's saying,

this is what you look like.

Or at least this is what you're
supposed to look like.

All right,

so we're going to take three Sundays
to deal with just chapter 13,

because in summation,

God is really pointing out to us sort
of the goal of understanding

everything that is in
the book of Hebrews.

So I'm going to read
verses one to 14.

It's a long passage,

but pretty simple.

So here we go.

13 114.

Let brotherly love continue.

Don't neglect to show hospitality,

for by doing this,

some have welcomed angels as
guests without knowing it.

Remember those in prison as though
you were in prison with them,

and the mistreated,

as though you yourself were
suffering bodily.

Marriage is to be honored by all in
the marriage bed kept undefiled

because God will judge the sexually
immoral and adulterers.

Keep your life free from
the love of money.

Be satisfied with what you have,

for he himself has said,

I'll never leave you or abandon you.

Therefore, we may boldly say,

the Lord is my helper.

I will not be afraid.

What can man do to me?

Remember your leaders who have spoken
God's word to you as you carefully

observe the outcome of their lives,

attempt and imitate their faith.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday,

today, and forever.

Don't be led astray by various
kinds of strange teachings,

for it is good for the heart to be established
by grace and not by food

regulations, since those who observe
them have not benefited.

We have an altar from which those who
worship at the tabernacle do not

have a right to eat.

For the bodies of those animals whose
blood is brought into the most holy

place by the high priest as a sin offering
are burned outside the camp.

Therefore, Jesus also suffered outside
the gate so that he might sanctify

the people by his own blood.

Let us then go to him
outside the camp,

bearing his disgrace.

For we do not have an enduring,

for we do not have an
enduring city here.

Instead, we seek the one to come.

All right,

let's pray.

God, we thank you for your word.

And thank you,

God, that you have spoken.

Thank you,

God, that you teach us by your word,

your written word,

your living word.

God, we thank you that you have given
for us the priority of our lives.

God, let us hear from
you this morning,

and then,

God, let us surrender.

Help us to obey,

and we pray it in Jesus name.

Amen.

Last week in this hour,

I didn't do it the next 3 hours,

but in this hour last week,

my brain went over that way,

and I got lost in the story of Esau.

If you were here last Sunday,

you remember that Esau
was the oldest,

Jacob was the youngest,

Esau was the hunter.

Right? Esau was the one who went out
and killed game and probably had a

barbecue in his backyard.

Jacob, on the other hand,

hung out with mom,

learned how to cook,

had great recipes,

like the red lentil soup or stew or.

I called it beef stew last week,

and Esau came in from the hunt
and hadn't killed anything.

So he begged Jacob for
some of that stew.

Jacob said,

well, fine,

here's some stew.

But in exchange for the stew,

I want your birthright.

And Jacob,

I mean,

Esau was like,

well, what good is a birthright?

If I'm dead,

I'm starving to death.

Right? So he wanted to stew,

and so they traded off.

And so the whole message of that in
the text from last week in chapter

twelve was just simply,

you know what?

When we prioritize the things of this
world over the things of God,

because the blessing,

the birthright that Isaac was going to
offer to his sons was actually the

blessing of the promise of God that goes
all the way back to the covenant

of Abraham.

Well, that's what today's about.

I just wanted to go back
and cover that.

Guess what?

I don't have to do that
the next 3 hours,

because by the time I got to 925,

I knew what I was talking about.

But today,

this is the story of
sort of summation,

and it's the reminder of everything
that we've seen before.

And I've been over it with you guys.

Twelve chapters.

Actually, ten and a half chapters.

God points out everything he's done
from creation to kingdom,

all right?

And he points it all out
that he has spoken.

He has spoken in the past through the
prophets and through the angels,

but now he has spoken through Jesus.

And so in these last days,

he speaks through Jesus.

Jesus is the son,

the son of God.

He is the heir of all things.

You see,

he is the exact expression
of the essence of God.

He is the radiance of God's glory.

He is the king of Kingsley.

He is the highest priests.

You see,

the old testament points
all to Jesus.

Jesus is the creator of all things.

He is the sustainer of
all God's creation.

You see,

he is the highest priest.

And the whole Old Testament
system points to Jesus.

And so everything about ten and a half
chapters of Hebrews point us to

Jesus. And then the end of chapter ten
and chapter eleven kind of focuses

on those who have believed
and have trusted,

and they're not great people.

Some of them are tragedies,

but they had faith in God and
they lived out their faith.

And so we're told in verse in chapter
twelve that ours is supposed to be

a life of faith,

trusting what God has said,

trusting what God has done,

trusting the provision of
God for our salvation.

And so we get to chapter 13
with this great reminder,

let brotherly love continue.

And I'm like,

okay, so here you go.

We know the two great commands that
are reiterated by Jesus from

deuteronomy is that we're
supposed to love God.

Love God with all your heart,

soul, mind,

strength. Love your neighbor
as yourself.

I love asking people,

this is one of my favorite
questions.

What's the most important
thing in your life?

Well, you know,

we go through the list,

right?

Oh, you know,

my family.

And then I always want to ask,

do you act like it?

Right? Well,

what's the most important
thing in your life?

Well, God is.

Well, do you act like it?

Are your choices?

Is your behavior,

is your attitude that God is the
number one love of your life?

Is it reflected in your life?

I mean,

do people see that in the.

You see,

that's the big question.

I'm not talking about a legalistic,

you know,

kind of.

But I tell you from this
pulpit all the time,

I don't like to give you lists,

because if I give you lists,

here's what happens.

People say,

well, Pastor Bobby said,

if I did this and this
and this and this,

I'm good.

Guess what?

I can't see your heart.

I don't know the motivation behind
why you do the what,

but the truth is,

if it's not about our love for God and
our behavior being subsequent to

that love for God,

then we're wasting our time,

folks, okay?

Loving God and acting like it
is the core of who we are.

Let brotherly love continue.

That's the love.

Your neighbor.

You know what the brotherly
love thing is?

That's love within the body.

Why does God want us to love each other
more than we love anybody else

outside the body?

Because Jesus said they will know.

You are my disciples if
you love each other.

And the body of Christ is all in
each other's face all the time.

Y'all notice that?

Let brotherly love continue.

All right,

so here's what's happening,

y'all. We get a list today?

I've told you,

I'm not giving you a list.

But.

But if God gives us a list,

we'll pay attention to it.

Let brotherly love continue.

Right? Don't neglect to
show hospitality.

You know what we call hospitality
here at the gathering?

Coffee and cheez its.

The hospitality team right
outside the door there,

making sure you got goldfish
on some Sundays.

Right? But what is this
talking about?

This talks about being welcoming,

letting others see your love.

And what was it we were
told in John?

Is that how can we say we love God
if we can't love our brothers?

And if we're not loving
our brothers,

then are we not not loving God?

You see what I mean?

So the whole point of this thing is that
our love for God is expressed in

our love for each other
and hospitality.

And then they throw this in.

You know,

I've heard this since I was a kid.

For by doing this,

some have welcomed angels as
guests without knowing it,

right? And then I go,

I know everybody I talked
to this week.

It ain't none of them angels.

I am sure of it.

But you know what this is?

This is a reference back to Abraham sitting
in the door of his tent and

the angels and Jesus showing up and
him knowing he didn't know until

later who they were.

You see?

And that's sort of the picture and
kind of the idea here is that our

behavior, our approach,

is supposed to be one
of God's love now,

not like a checkbox.

Like, this is the legalism
or the phariseeism of.

Okay, I've done all those things.

What more can I do to inherit
the kingdom of God?

The rich man asked,

right? And that's not
what it is like,

all right?

I want to make sure that I'm being nice
to strangers because one of them

might have hidden wings,

you know,

like. Excuse me.

No, it's just an expression
of God's love that.

Yeah, might there be angels
in our midst?

Yeah, that's quite possible,

but I'm not looking for them because
every time I see angels in the

Bible, it says,

fear not because they are
fearsome creatures.

Okay? Remember those in prison
as though you were in prison.

Now, what's the idea?

You know,

somebody gets locked up,

you avoid them.

You know,

it's like Peter at the confession,

right?

Jesus is inside getting beat,

and he doesn't want to.

He doesn't want to get beat.

So. So he says,

no, I don't know him.

You know,

folks go into prison,

we're like,

ah, I don't have anything
to do with them.

Cause they did wrong,

and I don't want to get included
in their wrong kind of thing.

What he's saying is,

he says,

look, you remember those folks that
are in prison as if you were in

prison yourself.

Remember the mistreated.

As though you yourselves
were suffering bodily.

So see,

here's the list.

Brotherly love,

hospitality. Remember
those in prison.

Remember the mistreated.

Here you go.

Next one.

Ready? Marriage is to
be honored by all.

Marriage is to be honored.

Why God uses it over and over and over
again throughout his word as the

example of what it means to
be married to goddess.

This idea of the bride
and the bridegroom,

that picture of the fact that the picture
of wholeness and oneness that

we see when God says,

you know,

let the two shall become one,

a whole.

You see,

marriage is to be honored.

Man. Our culture,

and particularly the
american society,

is trying to pitch it out the window
like it doesn't matter.

Let's call anything marriage.

I'm sorry.

That kind of poked you a little bit.

Forgive me.

Cause the Bible says you have to.

The marriage bed kept undefiled.

Now we're on number five.

Marriage bed kept undefiled because God
will judge the sexually immoral

and adulterers.

Now, see,

I know we got kids in the room,

so I'm gonna walk real
carefully here.

But look what it's saying there,

all right?

We live in a society that exalts everything
ungodly when it comes to

human relationship between men and women
or anything else these days.

And this says right here,

God's going to judge it.

Now, it's Bible.

So I'm going to say this.

I love having folks sit in
my office and I say,

you know what?

Any kind of,

let's say,

intimate relationship
between whatever,

outside of marriage that honors
God is one of two things.

It's either fornication or adultery,

sexual immorality.

It's right there.

I can't avoid it.

Cause it's number six
five in the list.

God's giving us a list of behavior,

choices, actions that identify
us as kingdom people,

people who belong to God.

Okay, now,

this isn't a checklist.

I'm not.

Look, somebody left me a pen.

Probably me.

But it's not like we go,

okay, I did that.

I did that.

I did that.

I did that.

Remember what I said a minute ago?

And then we go to Jesus and say,

what more can I do?

No, it's not like that.

What it is is that if we love God,

if we're truly in love with God,

heart, soul,

mind and strength,

then this is what is produced.

This is what shows up in our
lives if we love God,

okay? This is how we behave.

If we love God.

Therefore, you can take the negative
side of that and say,

if I'm not behaving this way,

then the truth of the matter is,

I don't love God.

Isn't that tough?

Oh, that's harsh.

I'm glad we're at the
end of Hebrews,

aren't you?

Keep your life free from
the love of money.

Doesn't say,

keep your life free from money.

I know some rich folks,

right? But it does say,

don't let money be the
rule of your life.

When couples sit down in front of
my desk to talk about things,

I go,

you know what the two most common reported
problems in marriage are?

Those two.

The relationship between husband
and wife and money.

Two most commonly reported problems.

And you know what I tell them?

Communication is the conduit that
solves most of those problems.

But what happens is we kind
of stake our ground,

build our castle and defend it.

Careful. Keep your life free
from the love of money.

Be satisfied with what you have.

For he himself has said,

I will never leave you
or abandon you.

You know what that's saying?

Be satisfied with Jesus.

If you got Jesus,

that's all you need.

You don't need any more than that.

So then he goes unsafe.

Therefore, we may boldly say,

the Lord is my helper.

I will not be afraid.

What can man do to me?

See, the idea is that God is the one
who quote in proverbs three,

directs our steps.

Right. But I want you
to know something.

There's a word we use out there that
it has created a great deal of

theological, I'll just
say discourse.

It's really an argument,

but it's discourse.

That's the combination word.

Free will.

But let me ask you a question.

Do we have a responsibility to God?

A couple weeks ago,

I preached on the father's
expectation.

What does the father have a
right to expect from us?

I think there's a list here.

I got him numbered and circled
in my text this morning.

Brotherly love.

God expect brotherly love from us?

Sure he does.

Does God expect us to
show hospitality?

Sure he does.

Does God expect us to remember
those in prison,

to remember the mistreated,

to keep marriage honored,

to keep the marriage bed undefiled?

Right. Does God expect us to be
free from the love of money,

to be satisfied with what
we have in life?

You see,

what happens is we make gods
of these other things.

Instead of worshiping God.

We make gods of the relationships.

We make gods of the possessions.

We make gods of the pursuit
of those things.

And then he says again,

remember your leaders who have
spoken God's word to you.

When we get later in this,

there's another one that says,

obey your leaders.

But I think this precedes
it for a reason.

What this is actually saying is,

watch your leaders as you carefully observe
the outcome of their lives.

Imitate their faith.

This kind of follows,

and this is probably another one of those
references that lead people to

believe. Paul is actually the writer
of the book of Hebrews.

And if he is,

fine. But what he's saying right
here is like what Paul said.

Imitate me as I imitate Jesus,

right?

So we remember the bracelets,

right? The what would Jesus do?

Bracelet. And I love
that somebody said,

what did Jesus do?

Right?

Look back at what he
did and do that.

That's what God wants of us.

Jesus is the same yesterday,

today, and forever.

So those who have followed
the Christ,

the anointed one of God,

the promises of the messiah,

even in the Old Testament,

the by face that we saw in chapter,

you know,

this idea of following Christ in
our lives and living it out,

wow, man,

I looked at this thing for the last few
weeks as I was trying to put it

all together,

and I'm like,

man, I hate lists.

The expectation of perfection,

right? I mean,

if we take this list seriously,

then God expects us to be perfect.

Well, he did say,

be holy as I am holy.

And then he said,

because you can't.

Here's grace.

But he didn't mean for us
to use it as an excuse,

folks. Verse nine.

Number eight.

Verse nine.

It's number eight in the list.

Don't be led astray by various
kinds of strange teachings,

for it is good for the heart to be established
by grace and not by food.

Regulations, for those who observe
them have not benefited.

Right now,

this is where he's contrasting
the message of the Hebrew,

the letter to the Hebrews,

to a hebrew audience who get all bound
up by whether they eat bacon or

not. You know,

that's my joke.

Somebody yesterday said,

yesterday or Friday,

somebody said something said,

oh yeah,

that's got bacon in it.

You'll enjoy it.

That tells me that I mentioned bacon
too much from the pulpit.

But you see my point,

point is you can get bound up in the little
checkbox legalism of faith or

call it religion really,

because religion,

remember, is man's attempt
to get to God.

Our faith in Christianity is that God
came to us and provided a way for

us to go to God.

He takes us through the
heavens into heaven,

which is the dwelling place of God.

So when I look at this thing and don't
get caught up in all this checkbox

kind of faith,

because that's not faith at all.

If you get into checkbox obedience,

you're basing your faith
on what you've done,

not what God's done.

And yet we have a responsibility
to live out our faith.

See, there's kind of,

I like to tell folks,

you see,

it's just the same penny.

There's a heads and a tails,

okay? Because God has done so much,

we owe him in a way,

and that's a harsh word to use,

but, but the way I've worded it in the
past is Jesus gave his life for me.

Now I can give my life to
him and live it out.

That's what I can do.

I can do that.

We have an altar from which those who
worship at the tabernacle do not

have a right to eat.

Remember, this goes back to the whole
picture of Christ on the altar.

Christ, the highest of high priests,

brought his own blood to the altar
to bring about our salvation,

to redeem us,

to buy us back from death and sin.

This is the altar we worship at.

And then he reflects back to the bodies
of those animals whose blood is

brought into the most holy place by the
high priest as a sin offering or

burned outside the camp.

So why?

Why?

All right,

so one of the commentators I was listening
to this week makes this

distinction between the idea that the
blood stayed in the tabernacle at

the altar but the animal was
taken outside and burned.

Okay, so what are we supposed
to be connected to?

There's a picture that I see
oftentimes that has,

you know,

the cross and Jesus still
on the cross.

He's not there.

He was buried and he rose.

But the idea is that the
city or outside,

inside the gate represents a
religiosity kind of thing.

We go to Jesus because that's
what it says next he says,

therefore, Jesus also suffered outside
the gate so that he might sanctify

the people by his own blood.

So we are to be more connected
to the blood of Christ,

which has accomplished our salvation
and redemption and nothing,

the sin that we leave behind.

So you want to see the
list of expectations?

I'm going to go down in a minute,

because 13,

verse 13 says,

let us then go to him outside the
camp bearing his disgrace,

for we do not have an
enduring city here.

Instead, we seek the one to come.

So we have a responsibility to God.

It's not works.

Faith, it's not works.

Religion, it's not works.

Sort of checkbox.

Okay? As long as I wear
the right clothes,

as long as I sit in the same place,

as long as I walk down,

as long as I get in that pool or
as long as I check the boxes,

I'm good.

Remember, it's about a heart thing.

Where is God looking at you,

right?

Well, what is it that
God sees in me?

Does he see that I love him?

Does he see that I prioritize,

honor, and respect the things
that he prioritizes,

honors, and respects?

Right. I look at these
things and I go,

all right,

these are kingdom characteristics.

Do you look like kingdom?

Do I look like kingdom?

Here you go.

I'm in trouble in here.

Because it says,

remember your leaders who have spoken
God's word to you as you carefully

observe the outcome of their lives,

imitate their faith.

Folks, that's that double
responsibility,

that as a pastor,

I better do what I preach.

But I think that's one of the reasons
why across the body of Christ that

a lot of people don't mention that
they're Christ followers,

that they love Jesus because they're
afraid somebody's going to go,

oh, I saw what you did.

I heard what you said.

And you claim to be a Christian,

you know,

but this is the challenge for us,

is we're supposed to
look like Christ.

We're supposed to be imitating
the faith of those who are.

Are doing it.

Well, I know I've got some
godly mentors in my life,

some godly fellas and women
and mamas in church.

Okay? Can I call it that?

Mamas in the church that have mamaed
me ever since I left home,

man, every place I've ever been,

I got mamas,

you know,

but I look at that and I go,

okay, God help me.

Love the way they loved me.

God help me.

Love those around me the way
that you've loved me.

And then finally,

this is the.

I'm gonna go back through the list,

but this is the last of the text.

Go to Jesus.

So it says,

let us then go to him
outside the camp,

bearing his disgrace.

Folks, we follow Jesus,

who was convicted and executed.

And I laugh when I remember
the preacher who said,

why do we expect life to be perfect
in Christ when the one we followed

was murdered?

Right? We face a society
that hates us.

We face a culture that doesn't want to
hear from us and certainly doesn't

want to see us.

See, Jesus went through the heavens,

the veil into heaven,

the presence of God,

and he did it to take us there.

And it's not the pie in the sky,

in the sweet by and by,

it's that we get to be in
the presence of God.

Now, don't miss the opportunity.

If you don't know Jesus,

you need Jesus,

because that's the point of Hebrews,

and he is the object of our faith.

Brotherly love,

hospitality. Remember
those in prison.

Remember those suffering,

the mistreated.

Marriage. Marriage bed.

Don't love money.

Remember your leaders.

Don't be led astray by
weird teachings.

Right, let's see,

that's eight and nine.

Go to Jesus.

Run to Jesus.

There's God's list.

Hebrews, chapter 13.

And we're not even finished yet.

Okay, but it all starts with Jesus.

Pray with me.

Father, thank you for today,

and thank you for all that
you intend to do.

Pray, God,

that you'd watch over
us and care for us.

But God,

help us to pay attention.

Help us to pay attention to you.

God, help us to pay attention to those
that you put in our lives that are

paying attention to you.

God, help us to live the faith,

God, that you have given to us
and given for us to have.

And God,

let our lives be a reflection
of our love for you.

God, let people see our love
for you as we love them,

particularly within the
body of Christ.

Thank you,

God, that your love is
what started it all.

So we thank you for it.

In Jesus name,

amen.