Demonstrations of Christian Love - Part 2

Well, if you would take your Bible, turn back to Hebrews chapter 13. I did say we'll be in verses 1 to 6, but we'll only cover verse 3 and the beginning of verse 4. I will mention quite a few of the scripture. You can write those down, get those from me, get my notes if you need them to study on your own. Now, last week we started this portion of scripture with a question. What is the most important possession and pursuit in the Christian life? Another way of asking it, what should be the Christian's greatest pursuit and possession in the Christian life? Well, we saw that Jesus gave us the answer and the answer is love.

In Matthew 22, verse 36, on one occasion we see that one of the teachers of the law approached Jesus and asked him a question. Teacher, what is the greatest commandment in the law? But that was a dishonest question because in asking it he was trying to trick and trap Jesus into contradicting the scripture. It wasn't just this one religious leader but it was the entire religious body who was involved in that trap. Well, Jesus answered saying, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind." This is the great and first commandment.

And then he goes on in verse 39 to say, "And the second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself." So clearly, Jesus answers our question. Jesus says, "The greatest, most important possession and pursuit in the Christian life is a love for God that encompasses all of our heart, all of our soul, all of our mind." And coming out of that greatest love, which is the second most important possession and pursuit in the Christian life, is a love for our neighbors. A love for our neighbors. Look at how these two commandments are connected and how one tells off on the other.

If we love our Lord with all our heart, soul, and mind, we will desire and work to love our neighbor as ourself. That is because the whole of Bible Christianity, which includes loving our neighbor, comes out of this all-encompassing love for God. Loving our neighbor as ourselves is a natural spiritual result of true Christianity, which comes out of this all-encompassing love for God. And if we do not seek to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind, we will not love our neighbor as we should. And if we do not love our neighbor as we should, that proves that our love for God is lacking, it's defective, it's off. Something's wrong.

But if we do seek to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, we will seek to love our neighbor. If we do desire and work to love our neighbor, that proves that our love for God is as it should be. Of course, we are never perfect in all of these things, we are sinners. Redeem sinners, yes, but we are sinners, we are sinners. So back to our question, what should be the Christian's greatest pursuit and possession in the Christian life? We clearly see that the answer is love.

Our greatest pursuit should be this all-encompassing, this preeminent love for God that is proven by a love for our neighbor that is like our love for self. I know I often reference William McDonald's Believer's Bible commentary, it's a great devotional commentary. Honestly, we should go beyond that. But I love what McDonald says here, and I'm quoting, "We should frequently ponder the words, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" Think about that statement.

"We should frequently ponder," I'm going to add to that, "We should frequently think about, pray over, ponder, meditate over the words, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" And he goes on to say, "We should think of how very much we love ourselves." Oh, now William McDonald is getting personal. "We should think of how very much we love ourselves and how much of our activity centers around the care and comfort of self." "Then we should try to imagine what it would be like if we showered that love on our neighbors, then we should do it." Oh, that is a lot to ponder over. That's a lot to think about.

Donald is saying we should truly recognize how much we love ourselves and what that looks like, and then we should work to show that same love towards our neighbors. I challenge us, let's meditate on that portion of the message. Let's talk about that with our spouse, how we love ourselves, what that looks like, and how we can shower that on one another. But there are always some who have reasons for excusing themselves from this kind of love. Some will say, "My work keeps me from really engaging people and loving others like this." "I just don't have the time or the energy.

I am consumed with my work and business." Others will say something like this, "I don't have the time because I give all of my time and my love and my energy to my family." Others will say, "That's really not my personality, pastor. People and getting close to people calls me anxiety." Some will say, "I have been burned by people in the church, so I just do not get close to people anymore." Well, here is where I will turn over to a passage that will help us. This is James chapter 2. It's just a couple of pages over in my Bible. You may want to turn there. James 2, 14 to 18. You know these verses.

James says, "What good is it, my brothers?" Of course, he is talking to Christians. "If someone says he has faith but does not have works, can that faith save him?" "If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, 'Go in peace, be warm and filled,' without giving him the things needed for the body, what good is that?" "So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead." Verse 18. "But someone will say, 'You have faith and I have works.

Show me your faith apart from your works and I will show you my faith by my works.'" Now, let me give you my translation of those verses with what we are studying this morning. If you, if we are too busy with our job and career to love our neighbor as ourself, if we love and devote our energy and all of our love to our family, and that would not allow us to love our neighbor as ourself, if your personality and anxieties won't allow you to engage with others and love your neighbor like we see here in the Scripture, if your past disappointments and even deep hurts keep you from loving your neighbor as we see here, your faith is dead.

If that describes you, if that describes us, your faith, our faith is dead because true Bible Christianity produces Christian works. And the most important Christian work is loving our neighbor as ourself because God's love abides in us and God's love compels us to do so. Remember what Jesus said, church? Let's let this sink in. We need to go pray over this. "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind." This is the great and first commandment and the second is like it, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Matthew 22, 37 to 39. Listen to verse 39 in the Amplified.

The second is like it, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." That is unselfishly seek the best or higher good for others. And look at what our verses in Hebrews have to do with the first and second great commandments. Jesus established love for God and love for our neighbor as the two great commandments. There's no disputing it. And the exhortations and standards that we see here in verses 1 to 6 are inseparably tied to the two great commandments. If we love God as we should, we will love our neighbor as we should.

And if we love our neighbor as we should, we will demonstrate that love by first loving the brethren, second loving the stranger, that's showing hospitality, next loving the suffering, even the prisoner, then loving marriage, fifth loving sexual purity, last loving God's provision, therefore loving God. These are what I see as the demonstrations of Christian love. The demonstrations of Christian love. That's the title of the message. Demonstrations of Christian love. And this morning's message will be a part two because last week we covered two of the six commands here.

So let's go back to Hebrews and let's read the verses again and then we will look at how we'll approach the message. Verse 1, Hebrews 13, "Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some of entertained angels unaware. 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 marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.

Keep your life free from the love of money and be content with what you have, for he has said I will never leave you nor forsake you. So we can confidently say the Lord is my helper, I will not fear what can man do to me." Again, here we have six exhortations that the author gave these believers and this church and these are standards for all of us to live by. Now notice, in love, and really it is impossible to live out these exhortations without love. Last week we covered the call to love the brethren in verse 1 and the call to love the stranger. That was hospitality.

Now if you did not get that message you need to, because this all goes together, and this morning we will cover the next two. The love, the call to love the suffering, and the call to love and honor marriage. So, let us get started. Number three, we are continuing with that outline. Number three, the call to love the suffering. The call to love the suffering. Now notice the author says to remember those in prison. And just like with loving the stranger, we must understand what this meant for them and their context and their day.

The prisoners the author was referring to were primarily fellow Christians who had been in prison for their faith in Christ, maybe even for preaching Christ. No doubt the original recipients of this letter had people in their mind when they read or they heard the letter. But history tells us that first century prisons were horrible places. The first century Jewish historian Josephus describes prison, imprisonment, and treatment of prisoners as very, very harsh. And we would even say inhumane, especially by the standards of our day. Prisoners were bound in chains, they were in bonds, they were in iron shackles.

In our study in the book of Hebrews, we saw that the Apostle Paul was bound in stocks in the Philippian prison, in the inner cell. Prison could involve harsh physical labor, food and treatment were poor, and the treatment depended on those who were in authority over them. Many times the authorities and prison guards were unjust and very corrupt. Trust and fair treatment was arbitrary, and prison was often just a holding place or a detention center where judgment by execution awaited.

Most in prison did not even have their basic needs met, so they depended on people outside to provide basic items like food, clothing, coverings, medicine, and especially encouragement. Sometimes those needs were not met at all. Some in prison were abandoned even by friends and family because those on the outside feared that identifying with those in prison could put them at risk of imprisonment as well. So notice the call. This is a command that the author gave this congregation. He called them to remember or to be mindful of those in prison. He called them not to forget them or ignore them, but how?

He says as if you were in prison with them. Look at verse 3. Remember those who are in prison as though in prison with them, with them. This means that they were to so identify with those in prison, they were to have such a love, care, and compassion for them that they felt and reacted as if they were in that suffering with them. And to do that to me, and I guess I'm using my imagination here, they were to approach these matters saying and asking things like this. If I was in shackles, how would I want to be cared for? If I was sick in prison, how would I want to be cared for?

If I was cold, naked, and hungry while in those prison shackles, how would I want to be cared for? If I was beaten and made to endure harsh prison labor and feared cruel prison authorities, how in the world would I want to be cared for? So they were to treat those in prison as they would want to be treated. MacArthur calls this the principle of Jesus' golden rule. The principle of Jesus' golden rule. We see this in Matthew 7, 12, which says, "So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them. For this is the law and the prophets." But why? Why? He goes on to give them what I see as the why. Really this is motivation.

He called them to see that they were all in one body. Look back at the verse. This is at the last portion of verse 3. "Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and also who are mistreated, since you also are in the body." Here he called them to see that those being mistreated, this means oppressed, this means even to be tortured, that they were of the same body. But what does this mean? Yes, he was calling them to identify with those in prison as if they were physically there with them, suffering with them. They certainly could have followed them into prison as well and suffered the very same fate.

But I think he was aiming at something else here. I believe he was reminding them that they were of the same spiritual body. They were of the body of Christ. And being of the same spiritual body, they were to identify with and suffer alongside those brethren suffering in prison. Listen to what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12, 26. "If one member suffers..." Well, who is the member? Is this a member of the church? This is a member of the body. All of chapter 12 is about instruction on the body of Christ.

"If one member of the body of Christ suffers, all suffer together, for if one member is honored, all rejoice together." And practically speaking, look at how this would have been fleshed out. They were to feel deep brotherly love and concern for them. Why? How? Because they loved the brethren and they were called to do so. Their brothers that they loved deeply were suffering. And they were suffering with them because they were of the same spiritual body. So this means they were to always remember them in prayer. In private prayer, family prayer, public prayer.

This means they were to remember them by providing them with the practical aid and relief no matter the cost, no matter the risk. Simply, they were to remember and never forget their suffering brethren in prison, all while knowing that a part of their own body, the church, the body of Christ was suffering. And they were to support them physically, emotionally, and spiritually in every way that they could. Not out of obligation now, but out of love. Out of love. But notice how this relates to us. Think about the cultural differences.

I really do not think we have any within our church that are in prison right now for their faith or preaching the Gospel. I can't think of anybody. So how does this relate to us? Do we just skip over this? I think about those in our church who are suffering. We have folks in our church who are suffering. If we do, and we do, then we should identify with them just like we see here. We should react and treat them just like we see here in verse 3. If our brothers and sisters in this room, in our small group, within our fellowship suffer, we should suffer alongside with them.

Think about brothers and sisters who have suffered and could be suffering. Look around the room in your mind and heart. Again, step back after the service and ponder the congregation. First of all, we could be suffering soon, maybe just like them. We could be in a similar set of circumstances in the near future. Maybe we have been just like they are in the past, in the near past. And second, we are one with our brothers and sisters. We are one in the body of Christ. And if they suffer, a part of our body suffers. Listen again to what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12, 26. "If one member suffers, all suffer together.

If one member is honored, all rejoice together." And Luke Church, how much of a risk and sacrifice did these saints take to live this out? For us, how much of a risk is it for us to live this out for the suffering in our church? Compare the risk. This reminds me of a testimony I heard from a lady, an average Christian lady in one of our incrementary churches. She described what took place when one of their children was diagnosed with cancer. She said for a couple of years, it was really touch and go if their child would live.

They have quite a few children, and they were right in the middle of raising their children, some older, some younger, and homeschooling them. And she said for an entire year, as she walked out the door to take their child to cancer treatment, battling for their child's life, as she walked out the door, members of their church walked in. Someone schooled their children for a year. Ladies washed, cooked. She said, "My husband and my other children never missed a meal." For one year, the members of our church came. Our children were schooled. Our yard was cut. The clothes were washed. They were folded.

Nobody went without a meal while I fought in the hospital for my child's life. That's called loving the brethren. That's called loving the suffering. Now, I may get in a little bit of trouble for calling some names here. Evan and Devon have some difficult times coming. Everybody here knows that Allie Jane is facing some very difficult surgeries. They'll be suffering. I don't think they should miss a beat. They'll be suffering. I don't think they should miss a beat. Look, if we take too much food to them and they've got to freeze it and eat it later, that's good. Evan should walk outside and say, "Guys, quit mowing my yard.

I got it now." We should live this verse out, not just with the Evans and Devans, but with all who are suffering, and not just the suffering. When ladies have babies, when people have surgeries, when people are traveling out of town, when any difficulty or strain comes on the life, on the home, on the marriage, any kind of suffering at all comes, we should run to the rescue out of brotherly love because we love the suffering. Those are our brothers and sisters. Now, before we move on, I want to take a little liberty with the verse now. I want to read verse 3, and I want us to kind of put this in context.

Remember those who are in our church who are suffering. Let's remember them as if we are suffering with them. Since you are in the same body, the body of Christ, you are brothers and sisters. So the call to love the suffering with brotherly love that we learned of last week. Next number 4, I want us to see the call to love marriage. Verse 4, the call to love marriage. Now here we will not cover all of verse 4, just the first part, but look at verse 4. The English Standard Version says, "Let marriage be held in honor among all." Let marriage be held in honor among all. The Amplified says it well. Marriage is to be held in honor among all.

That is regarded as something of great value. Now, there's one initial observation that I want to make before we get into the verse. Notice this is positive. This is very positive. This is nothing negative. This is just positive. Marriage is to be honored as something very positive. In the church, notice how most of our culture view marriage as something negative. Just look at how many do not get married. Just look at how many just live together instead of honoring the institution of marriage. Listen to how many, if not most, speak of and represent marriage as something negative. Your coworkers, many of them do that.

Even people in your family on social media. Oh, these celebrities. Don't look up to celebrities. Those are fake people. I am convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt, if they live next door to you, that'd be the worst neighbor in the neighborhood. Don't look to celebrities and what they say about marriage. Many of them have been married 4 or 5 times. Don't look at the news outlets. Look around you in the world. They always portray marriage as something negative. And any negative voice about marriage in children, that's not from God. Psalm 127 verses 3 to 4 say that children are a heritage, an inheritance, a blessing from the Lord.

Now I've got a lot of ground to cover here and I want to start off by looking at what it means to love and honor marriage and who this applies to. And then we have quite a bit of other teaching to go along with it. First, this word honor. This phrase held in honor, I believe the New American says the same thing as the English Standard. It means to be esteemed. It means to see as precious. It means to view as of great price and value. A couple of questions to ponder. What in your life do you see and treat as something of great value and precious? Your job, your career, your savings in retirement, your home, your car, your truck.

Men, what about your boat? What about your deer hunting? What about your guns, your land, your 401k, your career? What about your name and reputation? Ladies, what about your looks, your reputation, your popularity, your family? What in your life do you see and treat as something of great value and precious? Now notice the seriousness of this call. One commentator said we should probably see this as an imperative. Meaning that this is a very strong command to honor marriage. And look, folks, if we honor marriage and we see it as something precious and something of great value, we will never use the word divorce. Please listen to your pastor.

Never use the word divorce. Second, who is this call in command for? The verse says that marriage is to be honored and highly valued by all. Well, who is all? Is this just all married couples, all adults, only women? One scholar I read pointed out that within the language here, it may be in the masculine as in marriage should be honored by all men. But it may be in the neuter as in marriage is to be honored in all circumstances by all. This is really simple church. Marriage in the institution of marriage should be honored and seen as something great of great value by all. All means all.

Men, you are teaching your children, especially your boys now. Your boys look at you in a different way. You are teaching your children how you view your marriage by how you treat your wife, how you treat your marriage, how you treat your home. Ladies, you are teaching your children, especially your daughter. See, your daughters look to you in a different way. You are teaching your children how you view your marriage by how you treat your husband, how you treat your marriage, and how you treat your home. Men, do you honor the institution of marriage by how you value yours, especially how you value your wife.

The way you love and honor your marriage and your wife should prove beyond a doubt that you esteem highly marriage, the institution and your marriage. Ladies, do you honor the institution of marriage by how you esteem your marriage, especially your husband. The way you love and honor your marriage and your husband should scream to the world that you esteem your marriage. And dads, moms, if you want your children to honor and value marriage, it starts in your home in your marriage. You should be instilling this into their hearts and into their thinking. And some of you are first generation Christians, and you can't point to your parents.

Now I want to go a little bit deeper here, a little wider. Then I'm going to come back to honoring and placing value in the marriage. First, I want us to look at its owner. I want us to see who owns the institution of marriage. God created marriage and established it in the Garden of Eden with the first husband and the first bride. That was Adam and Eve. And God performed the very first marriage ceremony, and that may surprise some of you. Listen to Genesis 2, verse 18 to 24. "Then the Lord God said, 'It is not good that man should be alone. I will make a helper fit for him.'" Some translations say suitable for him.

"Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all livestock, to the birds of the heavens, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. In the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man, he made into a woman and brought her to the man.

Then the man said, 'This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man. Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.'" This simply shows that God created marriage, he gave marriage, and he owns it. And look folks, if he is the owner and he is, then no man, and certainly the church, we have no right to do with it as we please. Second, its purpose. I want us to see the purpose and purposes of marriage as seen in the Scriptures, and there are more than one, there are several.

First of all, marriage is for the propagation of children. Yes, children. Before the fall of man, just after the creation of man, God called mankind to be fruitful and to multiply. In Genesis 1, 27, we see that God created man in his own image. In verse 27 and 28, we see that God blessed them both male and female. And in verse 28, God says, the Scriptures say, "And God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.'" So marriage is for the purpose of children. Children.

Now, I want to pause here before I continue. There are always some in our midst that battle with infertility. I never want to preach and teach in such a way that that shames you. We are fallen creatures. Sickness is a part of life because we are fallen. And also sometimes we cannot understand the providence of God. So if you cannot have children biologically, it does not mean that somehow, some way you are cursed of God. No. But marriage is for the propagation of children. Second, marriage is for companionship for mankind. Before the fall of man, just after the creation, God shows us that Adam was alone.

Although the creation, including man now, was perfect, man was alone. And man was unhappy about it because nothing in the creation corresponded to him. But see, God had a plan. Genesis 2.18 says, "Then the Lord God said, 'It is not good that man should be alone. I will make him a helper fit for him.'" So marriage is for companionship. Marriage is a cure for loneliness for men and for women. Third, marriage is for preventing sexual sin. God created man and woman as sexual beings. And intimate relations between man and woman is not a sin. Intimate relations is a sin. It is sinful before and outside of the marriage union.

But within the marriage union, intimate relations is a good thing. God created those things to be good. But back to the fact that mankind are created as sexual beings. Sexual temptations are very real and a part of life. And the Scriptures tell us that God provided a way to prevent sexual sin. That's marriage. Listen to what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 7, 2 to 3. He's writing to the church of Corinth now, believers. "But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.

The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights and likewise the wife to her husband." And then later on in verse 9 of chapter 7, Paul says, "But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion." So marriage is to prevent sexual sin. And then fourth, the last purpose I'll mention. Marriage is to reflect and fall the glory of God. Of course, all things in the believer's life should bring glory to God. Let me repeat that. All things in the believer's life should bring glory to God. We see that in 1 Corinthians 10, 31.

Paul says, "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." All to the glory of God. And this verse that speaks to the glory of God in marriage and the verses that speak to the glory of God in marriage are Ephesians 5 verses 31 to 32. Paul says, "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife and the two shall become one flesh." This mystery is profound. And I'm saying it refers to Christ and the church. This means that marriage is a picture. Marriage is a shadow pointing to a greater, more glorious reality that is Christ's sacrificial love for his church.

And when a husband loves his wife as Christ loved the church, and when his wife respects and submits to him, their marriage is a demonstration of the gospel. Therefore, their marriage brings glory to God. So marriage is to reflect the glory of God. Here's a heavy question for you to ponder. Does your marriage bring glory to God? Does your marriage bring glory to God? I can tell you one indication that it does not is if the structure of your marriage is out of order. Husbands, you are to lead your wives. Wives, you are to submit to their leadership and respect them in it.

So many homes do not bring glory to God because the roles in the order is flipped and reversed and it's all confusing. So look at the purpose or purposes of marriage. Marriage is for the purpose of children and companionship. It is not good for man and woman to be alone. And it is good that the earth should be filled with children and happy marriages. I do not care what the environmentalists say. God said fill the earth. It is good that the world should be filled with children and happy Christ-centered marriages. And marriage is for the purpose of preventing sexual sin and providing the proper place for intimacy.

But most importantly, marriage is for the glory of God. And look folks, God has the right to establish those standards because He created marriage. He owns the institution. And we will give an account to God for what we have done with the institution. And look church, 99% of the people in the world hate what I have just taught. They hate it and they seek to destroy it. Pay attention. 99% of the world hate what I have just taught. But as a church, it is our responsibility unto God to cherish the fact that God created marriage and He gave these purposes for marriage. These realities should be the very fabric of our being.

And we are to instill these things deeply into the hearts of our children. Maybe we need to do a marriage series for children. And look church, we must defend the institution. And we must defend our own marriages. Our children and the marriages that God has given us, they are a gift from God and we must defend them and protect them and even maybe go to war for them. I remember about 22 years ago when I was in the hospital right after Annie was born, our first. I have told this story before. Annie was a little bit jaundiced and I was holding her with the window of the room behind me and the sun was shining in on her little body.

And I had told my pastor, "Don't come to the hospital. Don't come." And he didn't, but he called me. And I will never forget, he said, "Chris, just remember she doesn't belong to you. She's been loaned to you." I've never gotten over that. That has echoed in my heart and mind for years. My children are not my own. They never were. They were just loaned to me. Now listen to your pastor. Listen to Pastor Chris. Your marriage is not your own. It is given to you. It is a gift. You will give an account for it. It is on loan to you. It belongs to God. I'm going to keep going here a little. Have you ever noticed that we don't do baby dedication?

Most Baptist churches do baby dedication. I'm not really against it, but I hate what I saw for years. I saw moms and dads parade down front holding their babies and I saw pastors lead them in a prayer and oath of dedication. And they hardly ever came back to church. I call that lying. I ran from that. I'm not against baby dedication. But long before we do baby dedication, we're going to do marriage dedication and parent dedication. Then we can do baby dedication. Our marriages are loaned to us. We will give them an account.

But there's a little more application that I feel deeply impressed of God to give you and this has been on my mind all week. We must honor marriage before we come to the marriage altar. We must not dishonor marriage through sin and immorality before we come to the marriage altar. Now let me pause here. I know that there are some who come to faith in Christ later. When you come to faith in Christ, there is forgiveness. Those sins can be placed as far as the east is from the west. So if you committed sin and you did things wrong before you came to faith in Christ, I'm not trying to beat you up. I'm not trying to shame you.

Don't go home and say the pastor was aiming at me. No, I love you. But we must honor marriage before we come to the marriage altar. We must not dishonor marriage through sin and immorality before we come to that marriage altar. And we must honor marriage at the marriage altar and in the marriage ceremony by having Christian marriage ceremonies before God and before God's people. And I believe the best place to do that is in the church. For Christians, the marriage should be a Christian ceremony for and before God's people because marriage belongs to God. He has given it to us. It is a gift.

I know pastors who will not do a marriage outside of the church. I'm not saying that I won't. And look, church, you cannot honor marriage at the marriage altar and have a Christ-honoring wedding service if you've been living in sin and dishonoring marriage before. I was a youth minister for 10 years and I used to get a lot of calls from some of my old students wanting me to do their marriage ceremonies. I don't think I did any of them because in conversation they would begin to tell me how they're dishonoring marriage and I would tell them my standards and they would just back up.

Look, church, please do not ask me to lie at the marriage altar. Don't ask me to lie at the marriage altar and in the marriage ceremony by asking me to stand here and proclaim that the two coming to be joined in holy Christ-honoring matrimony when they've been dishonoring marriage all along. Let me repeat that. Don't ask me to lie at the marriage altar and in the marriage ceremony by asking me to stand here and proclaim that the two coming to be joined in holy Christ-honoring matrimony have done it right when all along they've been dishonoring marriage all along. Look, church, there are three altars.

There are three altars that I am called of God to stand behind. As a God-called minister of the gospel, I stand behind three altars, the preaching pulpit, the marriage ceremony pulpit, and the funeral service pulpit. And I will not stand behind those three pulpits and lie. I have been asked to do so, but I won't do it. I won't do it. Now, I'm not talking about perfection, no. And I'm not talking about pre-salvation sins that are forgiven, no. I know Christians can suffer, yes. That's when those kind of things come out during marriage counseling.

Some of you here came to faith in Christ and came to salvation, and you made many mistakes and committed many sins. I'm sorry for that. You were sorry, and you were repentant about that. Praise the Lord. This is what I'm saying. We honor marriage. It's of great value. It is God's, and we are called of God to honor it and value it. Marriage is given by God for many, many good reasons, but the most important is that it is meant to honor God and glorify God. Therefore, we honor and esteem marriage before we come to the marriage altar, and if we do, we can honor and esteem marriage in the marriage ceremony. It'll be a great celebration.

And then we can honor that marriage every day after. So here in verse 4, the beginning of verse 4, we see the call to honor and esteem marriage. This is God's standard and our calling. And I want to close quickly by reminding us of the context and the background of these verses. From chapter 1 to 11, the author gave this church and those believers the deep doctrine and theology of Christ, the mediator of the New Covenant. He was calling them to see and to hold onto now the supremacy of Christ. And starting in chapter 12 and through chapter 13, the author gave them the practical.

He was calling them to live out all of the doctrine and the theology that he had taught him, and he was showing them what that looked like. He gave them practical teaching, very purposeful, and they needed this. And with those Old Testament saints of God that they knew, loved, and respected as great motivation, they were to run their race of faith well, even through trials, even through sufferings, even through prison and persecutions, and even under the discipline of God. And they were to live all of this out, all while understanding that they were citizens of the heavenly Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem.

Then he transitioned to explaining how they were to live. In their local congregation, in their personal everyday lives, he gave them six commands. These are six standards for the Christian life. Again, demonstrations of love, demonstrations of Christian love. And look, folks, with God's love abiding in us, we can spend an entire lifetime living these things out. Perfectly no, faithfully yes. Lord, I thank you for how relevant these verses...