Confident In Christ? Series

PTL! Through sermoncentral.com our messages from Hebrews alone has had so far about 15000 views from all over the world! Our top viewers last week are from the USA, Philippines, South Africa, India, Nigeria, Kenya, Canada, England, Ghana, Romania, Zambia, Australia, Zimbabwe, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and many more!!

Pray with me briefly about people from these countries….

As we are now in the last chapter of Hebrews, let’s us note…..

The Hebrews 2000 years ago who left their Jewish faith to be Christians were reminded that they have done the right thing which made them citizens of heaven, but while still on earth they were to mature spiritually and be doers of godly things! All of these instructions apply to all Christians, including us today! And so let us continue to learn from Hebrews 13…..

Read along with me Hebrews 13:1-6…..

This Letter to this Christian Church with mostly Hebrew attenders was written sometime between 64 – 100 After Christ. Some of the church members this letter was addressed to likely personally heard and witnessed Jesus Christ. Many for sure have heard of the Gospels written by the apostles!

And so, those Hebrews became Believers and Followers of Jesus Christ and they were confident to state in v5: Jesus Christ will never leave them or forsake them! (from Matthew 28:20 – a promise to Disciples of Christ)

in v6: That Hebrew Christian Church 2000 years ago were confident that Jesus Christ will always help and so no need to fear of man or the world! Mark 4:35-40…. Jesus told them they would go to the other side of the lake, but the disciples had fears due to lack of faith! If Jesus told us something, would we totally trust Him by faith no matter how fearful our situations my be? We are to totally live by faith in Jesus Christ!

And so, because of confidence in Christ, Christians are to:

v1….. Philapelphia (Greek word for loving like a close family) – caring, encouraging, helping, cherishing….

v2….. be hospitable to those you do not know (i.e. be friendly till…..)

v3: emphatize with those suffering, especially for people Christians could relate to

v4… God will judge all sexual immorality (as God sees it!) Remember that those Hebrew Christians were already instructed to pursue God’s holiness! What’s unholy in God’s sight regarding sexuality? We’ll discuss it more a bit more in our applications.

v5: simply do not “love” (covet) money or anything else except for God!

This passage is pretty straight forward isn’t it? Let us summarize it and note the applications for our lives today:

1. If we are Disciples of Jesus Christ (Believers and Followers), the Lord will always be with us to the end of the age! If we do not have complete belief and faith in Jesus Christ, we will never be motivated to do godly things! Non-Believers of Jesus Christ can not really tell what is godly and what is not! As a matter of fact, all non-Believers of Christ depend on ungodly things all their lives (I know I did before accepting Jesus Christ as my only Savior and Lord). The Good News is that God always desires for all people to come back to Him who is Holy through Jesus Christ!

2. God is faithful, so let us be faithful to Him by listening and following God’s Word (Hebrews 13):

v1: How well do we really know our brothers and sisters in Christ at church? How often do we pray for them?

v2: Do strangers see as approachable or distant? Do we see people as God sees them?

v3: We all should be praying on a regular basis for those we know are oppressed, even imprisoned! Who would they be??

v4: What do we know for sure that is sexually moral in God’s sight??

We need to be careful today of straying from God’s main moral view of sex, of a married couple of man and woman (God proclaimed this from the very beginning of Creation!)

God or Jesus Christ never ever promoted sex outside of marriage between a man and a woman!

v5: Anything we covet, especially money, more than God is an idol, which is a sin to God!

What is God telling you and me today? Let’s all take a moment to quietly ponder and pray about these things and make a recommitment to Jesus Christ as your Only Lord! Understand what Jesus said in Matthew 7:21-23 when He stated, “Why do you call me Lord when I never knew you!”