Good evening. I want to ask you if you would turn to your copy of God's Word to Hebrews 13. Page 1,009 in your pew Bible. You didn't bring your Bible tonight, but I'd ask you to turn there if you would. If you're visiting with us this evening, we are in a series of sermons taken from the 13th chapter of Hebrews and titled, Let the love of the brethren continue. Let the love of the brethren continue. That is the overarching command of this 13th chapter. It is a command that is explained in 13 excertations that follow that first verse. Andrew began two weeks ago, Andrew Holbrooke, pastor Andrew Holbrooke, describing the culture of the times. And Bernie Lawrence last week continued with the first excertation in verse two concerning hospitality. So my task tonight is to take the second excertation in verse three. Let's read it together. Remember those who are in prison as though in prison with them and those who are mistreated since you also are in the body. Let's pray together. Father, I pray that the meditation in my heart and my lips, the words of my lips would be pleasing to you and that you would use this to grow your people to encourage them with hope and to do a work of grace throughout the world. In Jesus name, amen. Let me read it again as it is translated from the original. So we have a clear understanding of it. Be mindful of those who are in bonds or bound as bound with them and of them that suffer adversity or are pressed with evils as being yourselves also in the body, literally translated. Now before we look at this passage in its applied meaning, I want to remind us of this overarching command to let the love of the brethren continue in these 13 excertations. Loved ones, these are not natural for us. Let the love of the brethren continue is not natural for us unless we recognize that we have to start from a true foundation and have a power to carry it out continually and faithfully and that power comes from above. The writer implies first that there is a foundation we operate from to carry out these excertations and that is the gracious adoption that we have into the family of God. When we are converted, when we are saved, when we believe in Jesus Christ, we are taken into and made brothers and sisters in the same family. The writer John says this in first John 3.1. See what kind of love the Father has given us that we should be called children of God and so we are. When we are aware of these deep and growing family ties, we will be more faithful to these 13 excertations including the one tonight to remember those who are bound. It is also a grace of the Holy Spirit. Love is a fruit of the Holy Spirit loved ones. This is not naturally in us to remember those in bonds unless the fruit of the Holy Spirit love wells up within side of us. It is thirdly displayed this let the love of the brethren continue. It is displayed in our great hero of our faith, Jesus Christ. John again says in 1 John 3.16, by this we know love that he laid down his life for us and we also to lay down our life for the brothers. And lastly, it is also a new commandment to love one another. 1 John 2.7, beloved I'm writing to you no new commandment but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard at the same time. It is a new commandment that I am writing to you which is true in him and in you because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. What is that new commandment? Verse 10, whoever loves his brother abides in the light. For us to practice let the love of the brothers continue and its 13 excertations. John says when that is practiced it is a testimony to the world that we are his disciples. John 13, by this all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. And so without those motivations that we are adopted into this family the grace and power of the Holy Spirit producing love in us are Savior's example and his new commandment to love one another. These excertations quite frankly are impossible for us to maintain with any faithfulness. Now let's look at the verse 3. Remember those bound or in prison. The first question we need to ask ourselves is this who is the writer referring to when he says those that are bound. To be faithful to the text it is clearly a reference to believers. Fellow brothers and sisters bound as a direct result of their love for Jesus Christ. While Bernie spoke of exercising hospitality to strangers in verse 2 last week this excertation is to sufferers. Strangers were unknown, sufferers are known. Now at this point if you would give me the opportunity to say a few things about our growing and what I believe effective prison ministry here at Christ covenant it is vital it is biblical and it is necessary and it affords us an open door for the gospel. I am so excited in many are of the many of you who are involved in nearly 500 students currently in prisons around the country. Grading their papers, sending letters of encouragement, mentoring them through our denominations prison ministry, Met Noia. I am also grateful for your involvement in the jail ministry in jail central and in north county. We have evangelistic studies that are going on there each week with men and women that are incarcerated for crimes they have committed awaiting trial. I have been told by the chaplain there that our average length of stay in jail in Mecklenburg county is 270 days. I have been told recently that one has been in there nearly six years. I am thankful for our close relationship with chaplain Frank Telleriko, the north county jail chaplain. He has opened the door for us to serve and distribute good books and bibles last week and intentionally visited Frank. He took me on a tour of the north county jail. He told me there was there an open door to impact them with the gospel at the point of their greatest need. He said there exists in the context of the jail great religious confusion. As an example he said on Tuesday there is a Catholic Bible study, Tuesday night Pentecostals, Jehovah witnesses on Wednesday, Wednesday night the prosperity gospel teaching, Thursday a good solid Bible teacher, Thursday night Greek Orthodox Friday Muslims and Saturday Pentecostals. There's great religious confusion. As I was leaving the prison last week I met two Mormons that were checking into the jail to teach for the afternoon. His parting words to me Frank said this, if there are more Christian volunteers there would be less room for inherent teaching. Mark Casson is one of our faith promised missionaries supported by our church and is serving our entire denomination through the ministry of Metinoya and he tells me that there are approximately 2.3 million people that are incarcerated in the US. If you add to that those who are approlled are on probation it rises to nearly 7 million. The national average is about 66% of released offenders will return to custody within the first three years of release. That number drops below 10% for those who become Christians or are Christians with regular and strong faithful mentoring. There is a clear biblical responsibility toward those in jail in prison but our text in Hebrews is directed towards those who are bound and suffer for the gospel's sake. These brothers and sisters are to be we are to be mindful of. Some were in prison, some were condemned to salt mines of Rome, some were troubled and afflicted by slander of their name, their reputation, some lost personal goods or jobs or pleasures and privileges that all free people possess. Such were the readers of this first letter in such as the cases I speak tonight in our world. So many examples I was overwhelmed in our current day. There are so many I could not know I didn't know which one to choose so I picked one. It has been sporadically in our news. I will say that recently I read of one woman who was a professor at a major university who has talked about written a book about how we Christians make too much of the persecution around the world. But as I began to look into this and read about this, I'm amazed. Here is one case. The wife recently of an American pastor, he's an American Iranian pastor imprisoned in Iran for his Christian beliefs delivered in impassioned plea to foreign diplomats gathered in Geneva, begging them to press the Islamic Republic to free your husband. Knock May, Abdini, whose husband Said is serving an eight-year prison sentence in Teran's notorious Evan prison told members of the United Nation Human Rights Council to join her in crying out against his persecution. She said, quote, my husband is an American citizen, a loving father of our two young children. He's been held in Iran's brutal Evan prison because of his faith. Without a voice to fight for his freedom, she said in testimony Tuesday morning, I must therefore be his voice. Representatives of member nations as well as non-government organizations were on hand. She said that her husband has suffered long stints in solitary confinement and according to his families and attorneys in Iran's beatings and torture at the hands of jailers and fellow inmates inside the brutal gulag. For months, he's reported been suffering from serious injuries from his beatings with no proper medical attention. Experts consider the condition so extreme that this pastor's eight-year term is seen as a veritable death sentence. His wife said Said is not guilty of violating any Iranian law, instead he's being held as a prisoner of his conscience because he has exercised his fundamental human rights and converted from Islam to Christianity. Please join me, she says, and calling for his release, not just for my family, but also to spur the action of human protect human dignity, freedom and expression and religious tolerance around the globe. Closed quote, there are untold masses, friends suffering in the name in the same way and in even greater ways. In the writer of the Hebrew says, remember, be mindful of those who are bound. I see four aspects to this exhortation. The first one is this, the focus of the exhortation. It is upon those who are bound for their faith in Jesus Christ. Secondly, the action required in the exhortation to be mindful of them. Third, the manner of our action as if we were bound with them. In fourth, the motive of our action because we are in the body. First, the focus of our exhortation is I have previously stated those in prison mistreated for their faith, for their love for Jesus Christ. That is the focus. Simon Kistemacher says this in his commentary and this, travelers came to the homes of the recipients of Hebrews and received hospitality. By contrast, the author now admonishes his readers to leave your home. Go to the prisoners and empathize with them. They can't come to our Christian home for hospitality. So we must go to the prison cell. To be in prison was and is a punishment and it carries with it a dishonorable title. But in the New Testament, when certain, when a certain clause is added, prisoner for Christ, it was made honorable. A badge of special honor. This kind of punishment for the profession of being a Christian occurred in the cruel world of the day and it continues unabated in our day. And so the focus of this exhortation is on them that suffer for the sake of Christ. FF Bruce says this, the readers had at one time endured a great conflict of sufferings. As her author puts it, using an athletic metaphor, they had met the challenges of these sufferings as good athletes of Christ and stood firm. Those of them who had not personally been exposed to suffering showed their solidarity with those who were directly attacked and so shared the public scorn. When some of their number were in prison, the others did not shrink away from visiting them. Although Bruce says in this way they ran the risk of being in prison themselves. Prisoners who had no means of their own were liable to starve unless friends brought them food and whatever form of help they required throughout the whole age of the imperial persecution of the church. The visiting of their friends who were in prison was a regular, though dangerous duty of Christian charity. Yet let us never forget that the Word of God is never bound. Satan in this fallen world are never able to obscure the light of the gospel and will never be able to. Brothers and sisters may be bound, but not the Word of God. So we must take into serious consideration that we may indeed be called to this kind of suffering. In our faithfulness to the scriptures, our boldness to the proclamation of the one true King Jesus Christ, our risk ourselves of taking the gospel throughout the strong holes of the world put us in danger. And yet we should not be surprised. Paul writes the Timothy saying, indeed all who desire to live a godly life in Jesus Christ will be persecuted. In the sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, blessed are those who are persecuted for righteous snake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you and others revolue and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad for your reward and is great in heaven for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. John Owen writes in his commentary on Hebrews, it is better, more safe and honorable to be in bonds with and for Christ than to be at liberty with a brutish, raging, persecuting world. The focus of the exhortation is upon those bound for their faith in Jesus Christ. What is the action that is required in this exhortation? It is to be mindful of them, he says. It is just as a reality, it is just a plain reality for us that we are apt to forget Christ's prisoners. That's just a reality. We all do this, and so let's admit it. And so we are to remember them. But what does it mean to be mindful of them? What does that mean to remember them? It is more than just to call them to mind, though that is part of it. It is in the first place to care for them. Paul wrote to the Philippians from a prison cell. In Philippians 4.10 he said, I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. There is secondly a caring compassion extended to them as if you were in prison with them. It is a great relief to innocent sufferers that there are those who really pity them and have compassion on them. Although there is no actual tangible help able to be given. I hope you heard that. This is just a human need, and it is expressed profoundly in Jesus Christ's own suffering. The Psalmist prophetically writes, in Psalm 69.20, reproaches have broken my heart so that I am in despair. I looked for pity, but there was none, and for comfortors, but I found none. Thirdly, to remember them means to pray for them. This is a part of it. This is maybe the primary way we are to show are remembering in a common cause that we share with them. Assisting them, finally, if possible, through means available to us, it is often I understand a request of prisoners for Christ to attend to the care of their families, their wives, their children. And finally, if the Lord would allow us to visit them when possible, which by the way Jesus Christ says is like unto visiting him in prison. Matthew 26, 36, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me. There are special opportunities sometimes only for a select few to travel to dangerous places to encourage those bound for their faith in Christ. Many of you may not know, we just sent somebody for that very cause, one of our elders, to encourage a group of people who are suffering great persecution for their faith. John Owen makes an interesting comment on this. He says, while some are tried in their state of bondage, those that are at liberty are tried in their faithfulness to remember. And usually, more fail in the neglect of their duty towards sufferers than fail on account of their suffering. Loved ones, we cannot forget those bound for their faith. The focus of the exhortation, those bound, the action to be mindful of them, thirdly the manner of our action, as if bound with them, as if bound with them. There is a certain in real union or connection with those bound for their faith that we have with them. We are in the same body. This is what Paul says, there's this mysterious union with those around the world who share our faith and belief and love in Christ. Paul says it to the Corinthians in chapter 12 that there may be no division in a body but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers all suffer together, if one member suffers all suffer together, if one member is honored all rejoiced together, there is a certain real unity or connection with those bound for their faith. There is also a union or connection of the body of Christ. There is a connection of sympathy and compassion. Listen, when you read or hear or hear the stories of those that are suffering, our minds are really affected with grief, concern, heartache, at the hearing of fellow brothers or sisters in prison for their faith. We are sorrowful at their sufferings, as if they are our own, as if we feel the chains ourselves and see the prison cell and door with our own eyes. There is also a union or connection of interest in the same cause. We that are free are equally engaged in the same great cause of the gospel. As those that are in bonds, we have that commonality with them.
So the focus is those bound, the action to be mindful, the manner of our action as if bound with them. And lastly, the motive of our action. The writer says, because we are in the body, I've mentioned this union with them being in the body of Christ, but there is another aspect of this. A motive related to our present freedom. You see, when the Lord chooses to take Saeed or any of the other millions of prisoners for their faith, when He chooses to take them home, to free them from their present sufferings, their incarceration, their mistreatment, afflictions, they will be free indeed, where none of what this world throws at them can touch them. They are safe and they are resting in the presence of God. Brothers and sisters, we share in the same state of this natural life with them, equally exposed to all the sufferings of this fallen and sinful broken world. You and I have no assurance that we or our children or grandchildren will be exempted from profound suffering for our faith. Owen writes that while we have our human eyes, all tears will not be wiped away from them. We are not only exposed to afflictions during this life, but we need to live in continual expectation of them, not to expect our share of trouble and persecution is a false security. It is our proper motive. It is a proper motive for remembering those that are bound because we are in the body as they are. We are just like them, journeying through this life as exiles, sojourners, pilgrims, and possibly in the providence of God for you and I to rarely experience being tried or persecuted for our faith, or as we have heard, face to face with a condemning mob ready to throw us in prison for our faith as some others in this world have experienced. That is the motive that we are in the body with them. We share in this great cause and we ourselves are exposed to this suffering, persecuting world. It may happen to us, and so that is a motive to remember them. And so where does that leave us? Let me suggest several things to consider in closing several practical things and then a few hypothetical ones. Number one, we need to as a church to have a keen eye and a listening ear to all those involved in the front lines of ministry, both locally and worldwide, to remember those in bonds and when it is in our ability to help if we can. Our eyes and ears need to be in tune to those that are suffering persecution, whether it is in your office or somewhere between the China Burma border, where 75,000 kitchens face extermination unless God intervenes through his people.
Number two, God may be calling a few of you to serve as a legal advocate, attorneys to those who are in prison throughout the world for their faith. And we need to pray that God would lead you to develop the skills and savvy to advocate for those imprisoned and mistreated for their faith. Maybe God is going to call you to do that. A few of you. Thirdly, God calls many of us, many of us to respond and correspond with prisoners around the world unjustly treated for their faith. May I encourage you to pick up a copy of a magazine that we have out here in this part of the lobby in the South lobby called Prison Letter Writing Kit. Prison Letter Writing Kit. In here you'll see stories of the many prisoners around the world. There are times when they receive these letters of encouragement. There are other times when they don't, but they do get through sometimes I've been told. I've talked to the folks that send these out and there are ways to help change the very culture of where they are imprisoned if we would write letters and encourage them in their jail cell. So pick up a copy of this. If you don't get there's not enough out there then call our outreach admissions office. We will get them to you, but we need to pray for them. We need to pray for their families and we need to write letters of encouragement to them. Fourthly, God may give a few of us the rare opportunity to visit a prisoner of the gospel that happened recently because this is a public sermon. I will not mention who went, but one of our own elders had the privilege to go and administer to a group that is being exterminated. It was not a safe situation for this gentleman to go. He was covered in prayer and God protected him, but there are places and times and things that we may be able to do to encourage these folks and go to them and see them. There's others that go visit regularly. We need to pray for them. They have rare occasions to do that and as in the Hebrews day, they are risking imprisonment and danger. Let me give four hypothetical ones to consider and then we'll pray. If one of our pastors or missionaries, Rowan, were arrested for preaching the gospel or preaching the faithfulness of God's word, would we visit them, would we visit them our own risk? And would we work to free them from chains? What if a fellow church member lost his job, was blacklisted because of his open witness for Christ? Would you sacrifice and continue to give to the deacons or through the deacons to help them during their unemployment? When a new Christian speaks boldly for their faith in their office and your office and comes under ridicule and rejection, will you stand up and openly and verbally and forthrightly support them inside with them? And lastly, if the IRS said to us, fine, no more tax exemptions for those tithing to churches or Christian ministries who preach against this or that, would we continue to sacrificially give?
Here are the current data this year. It's all over the map, but 100,000 to 175,000 Christian martyrs this coming year, the voice of the martyrs. Users of the prison alert from voice of the martyrs, this have sent encouraging letters and petitioned officials by the masses to date some 93,000 government officials emailed, 282,000 encouraging letters written. It does have an impact. From voice of the martyr, your involvement is evidence to our persecuted family that they are not forgotten. Often the oppressors will try to brainwash these Christians into believing that they are forgotten that they are not loved and that no one knows about them. Through this isolation and loneliness, the devil can pray upon their faith. When a prisoner learns others are protesting on their behalf, or when they receive your letter, they know someone cares. Your involvement can result in better treatment for a prisoner. The authorities in many nations are very sensitive about their image of broad. When they realize that outsiders are monitoring a prisoner's situation, conditions may be improved. Remember the prisoners and those that are mistreated for their faith as if in prison with them because we are in the body. Let's pray. Father, we want to pray tonight for those who are undergoing tremendous persecution even at this moment. We ask that you would sustain them, strengthen them, give them endurance in faith and hope and joy as suffering saints that they may wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. We pray, Father, that you would work even through governmental agencies and advocate groups and religious freedom watchers to secure the comfort and care of these prisoners for their faith in countries around the world. We also pray for those who are new believers even in our own offices and homes and neighborhoods who are ridiculed for their faith. May we stand beside them. May we recognize our union with them in this great cause of the gospel and our care and compassion for them let us initiate taking care of them and helping them. We pray, Father, that our letters sent to these prisoners around the world would be great encouragement to them. And we pray, Father, that if you would bring upon us a great suffering and persecution for our faith that we might remain faithful and true and that we might be hopeful and that we might be prepared and ready to continue to do the work of ministry as you did through Paul and many of the scriptures writers while they were in prison for their faith. Father, help us tonight by the understanding that we are in a family together, that the power of the Holy Spirit is in us, creating love and harmony and desire for unity in the body, that we might heed this exhortation for the glory of God, for the help of these dear people. We do pray for our prison ministry and jail ministry that you would continue to use them as an open door for the gospel to those that are incarcerated in need Christ, do a work of great revival in those places in Jesus' name and for His sake. Amen.