Avoiding Spiritual Disaster
Hebrews 13:4-6
April 10, 2016
If you weren’t able to be with us last week, we have now entered
A NEW AND ALSO THE FINAL SECTION of this book of Hebrews.
It is the practical application section of the book.
Nearly every New Testament writer follows this same pattern.
They will give you a section on doctrine and then a section on application.
And obviously this makes perfect sense, since action is based on belief.
Bad behavior can always be traced to bad doctrine.
If you don’t believe right, you won’t live right.
So you must get the doctrine correct first,
And then you address the actions that follow.
That is what is now occurring in Hebrews.
• We spent 12 chapters explaining why Jesus is the greatest person to ever come across the stage of humanity.
• We saw how His salvation is perfect and without equal, and we repeatedly saw the dangers in neglecting this salvation.
• But now, the writer has finished the doctrine, and he has given his final invitation to those on the fence.
So he begins to address those who have decided to follow Christ
And begins to explain to them how they should live.
Last week we looked at the chief Christian command, and that is LOVE
It may seem sort of like a VBS level topic,
But nothing could be farther from the truth.
Love is the chief Christian characteristic.
In fact, if you don’t have love, the Bible says you don’t know God.
And so we were reminded right out of the gate
That regardless of how difficult things may be,
That is never an excuse to just retreat back into your hole
And ignore others entirely.
The writer reminded us that
• Regardless of your suffering, you must “Let love of the brethren continue.”
• Regardless of how scary the world is you must “not neglect to show hospitality to strangers”
• No matter how busy or distracted you become we must “remember the prisoners, as though in prison with them,”
To sum it all up, the writer reminded us to put others first.
It is a simple command that we start learning in the very first Sunday School classes, and yet it is enormously difficult to obey.
The denial of the flesh is a constant battle,
And yet if we are to live like believers in the world,
It is a battle we must fight and win.
• We must learn to sacrifice self for the good of others.
• We must learn to put others first.
• We must demonstrate love.
It’s easy to see why this was the first point of emphasis.
After all, both Jesus and Paul said that loving your neighbor as yourself
Is a fulfillment of every command in the Law.
IT IS A BIG DEAL.
Well THIS MORNING we move on to the next area of concern.
The first dealt with things you should do,
Now the writer deals with AREAS YOU SHOULD AVOID.
To be specific we are going to talk about areas
That can be a certain SOURCE OF SPIRITUAL DISASTER for you.
The writer of Hebrews likes to use analogies.
In chapter 2 he used the analogy of a ship sailing for the harbor, and referenced the danger of failing to enter it.
Hebrews 2:1 “For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it.”
In chapter 12 he used the analogy of a race, and the danger of stumbling in the middle of it.
Hebrews 12:15 “See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled;”
The topic this morning would definitely fit into both of those analogies.
We are talking about things that can easily cause spiritual shipwreck.
We are talking about things that can easily cause you to stumble in your race.
What are those things?
SEX & MONEY
Obviously neither of those things are bad in and of themselves,
But both have been the cause of more crashes
Than almost any other forms of temptation.
It is the dangers of sexual immorality and greed.
In fact, just to sort of give some perspective to what makes these two such potent issues.
These two sins are the tell-tell signs of a false prophet.
2 Peter 2:12-16 “But these, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed, suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong. They count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are stains and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, as they carouse with you, having eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having a heart trained in greed, accursed children; forsaking the right way, they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; but he received a rebuke for his own transgression, for a mute donkey, speaking with a voice of a man, restrained the madness of the prophet.”
Peter speaks of their “eyes full of adultery”
Or love of “the wages of unrighteousness”.
Jude 14-23 “It was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.” These are grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts; they speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage. But you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, that they were saying to you, “In the last time there will be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts.” These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit. But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. And have mercy on some, who are doubting; save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.”
Jude speaks of these men who follow their own “lusts”
And who flatter for an “advantage”.
That means that these two sins
Have been the cause of more wrecked ministries than any other.
In addition, these two forms of temptation snare more genuine believers
Than any other temptation I can think of.
Tragic is the list of believers who have shipwrecked their faith and their lives
Because of one of these two issues.
So you can understand why the writer would bring them both up here.
WE ARE TALKING ABOUT THE DANGERS OF TEMPTATION.
And can I enlighten you to something here?
The church spends a great amount of concern on the idea of persecution.
Believers are continually worried about the threat of persecution.
Isis, or Islam, or even being shunned by their contemporaries.
I don’t think it’s far-fetched to say that
The church really seeks to avoid persecution.
But…
TEMPTATION HAS ALWAYS BEEN
A FAR GREATER THREAT THAN PERSECUTION.
Persecution threatens to kill your body…
Temptation threatens to kill your soul…
Jesus said:
Matthew 10:28 “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
You ought to be far more concerned about overcoming temptation
Than you are about avoiding persecution.
Even take the Lord’s Prayer.
Jesus didn’t say anything about praying to escape persecution,
But He did talk about the necessity of praying to overcome temptation.
Matthew 6:13 “And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’]”
History has proven that the church has thrived during times of persecution, and been nearly decimated during times of temptation.
Take this letter is written to Hebrews who are currently being persecuted,
But the writer just told them to love anyway; to open their doors to strangers anyway; to associate with the persecuted anyway.
Nothing about the first 3 verses in this chapter suggested that the writer had any notion that these Hebrews should try to avoid persecution.
In fact he commanded them to push forward in spite of it.
But temptation is an entirely different issue.
You have to treat it like the most lethal of dangers.
You must be on constant guard against it.
Don’t let temptation be the undoing of your life.
1 Corinthians 10:12-13 “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall. No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.”
• Paul reminded us that all men are susceptible to temptation.
• Paul reminded us that all temptation is common.
• Paul reminded us that all temptation is escapable.
That means you are going to face it,
It is going to be the same thing everyone else faces,
And because of the grace of God, you are able to resist it.
Well this morning let’s visit these two highly common
And highly dangerous temptations that we must overcome.
#1 SEXUAL IMMORALITY
Hebrews 13:4
“Marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled;”
You and I know that it was God who instituted marriage.
We’ve all read Genesis 2 about how God saw that man needed a “suitable helpmate”
And how God took one of Adam’s ribs and formed a woman.
It was God who instituted marriage.
Jesus taught:
Matthew 19:4-6 “And He answered and said, “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE, and said, ‘FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH’? “So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.”
That means that the natural attraction that a man has for a woman
And a woman has for a man is perfectly normal.
God created man and woman with that natural attraction.
And the confines where man and woman
Can satisfy that natural attraction
Is the confines of marriage.
In fact Paul wrote:
1 Corinthians 7:1-5 “Now concerning the things about which you wrote, it is good for a man not to touch a woman. But because of immoralities, each man is to have his own wife, and each woman is to have her own husband. The husband must fulfill his duty to his wife, and likewise also the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; and likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Stop depriving one another, except by agreement for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer, and come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.”
Paul even writes later in the chapter that
“it is better to marry than to burn with passion.”
THE POINT IS that marriage is from God
And therefore marriage is important.
Therefore, “Marriage is to be held in honor among all”
That is, marriage is to be viewed as sacred.
AND THIS COMMAND IS APPLICABLE ON A NUMBER OF LEVELS.
One is because some had adopted this notion
That marriage was somehow wrong.
Paul referenced them.
1 Timothy 4:1-3 “But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron, men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth.”
Paul knew that because marriage was ordained by God
That there would be some who would assault it and even forbid it.
Paul knew the dangers here.
• Certainly it is not a sin to be single, or to remain single,
• But there are some who cannot handle being single.
• They need marriage as a safe-haven.
I think the Catholic church has proven this many times over,
As they have forbade priests from marriage
And then had to deal with numerous sexual scandals.
It is important that everyone realizes that marriage is a good thing
And for many, marriage is a necessary thing.
So to dishonor marriage by forbidding it is obviously a sin.
But that’s not the issue that the writer is most concerned about here.
Clearly the writer of Hebrews is concerned about adultery.
He is concerned that people will not value the sanctity of marriage.
• You will either have people who will engage in sexual relations without being married.
• Or you will have a person who is married stray from their spouse to have sexual relations with someone else.
• Or you will have a person who is single disregard the covenant of another and have sexual relations with someone else’s wife or husband.
No matter how you slice it, it is to fail to “honor”
What God instituted when He created marriage.
God created marriage and He intended for it to be sacred.
He even devoted two of the Ten Commandments to this issue specifically.
Exodus 20:14 “You shall not commit adultery.”
Exodus 20:17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
You can read Leviticus 18 and get a detailed list
Of all the people you should not have sexual relations with.
(mother, sister, granddaughter, step-sister, aunt, daughter-in-law, sister-in-law, multiple family members, unclean women, neighbor’s wife, homosexuality)
God is specific.
“Marriage is to be held in honor among all”
If you are not married to someone
Then they are to be considered as absolutely off limits.
“the marriage bed is to be undefiled.”
To defile the marriage bed is to disregard the sanctity of it.
To defile the marriage bed is to disregard the purity of it.
God intends that marriage be sacred.
That applies to your marriage and to your neighbor’s marriage.
1 Thessalonians 4:3-8 “For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God; and that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification. So, he who rejects this is not rejecting man but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you.”
Do not defile the marriage bed.
AND THE REASON IS EXTREMELY CLEAR.
“for fornicators and adulterers God will judge.”
Do not be lulled to sleep or fooled here.
• “fornicators and adulterers” will not escape.
• “fornicators and adulterers” will not go unpunished.
Paul wrote:
1 Corinthians 6:9-10 “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.”
Granted our world is quickly throwing modesty and shame out the window,
But regardless we would still say that sexual sins
Are the ones kept most private.
• Affairs are typically secret
• Pornography is viewed in privacy
• Sexual immorality is cloaked in darkness
And this gives the sinner the feeling of privacy, like no one knows,
Or like they’ll never be caught.
I’ve had many conversations with youth and parents of youth
Regarding cell phones and things of this nature.
There is an app that kids get called “Snapchat” that automatically deletes a photo just a few seconds after you view it.
It gives the feeling of privacy.
Send or view a picture with no consequences.
But you always get caught, and there are always consequences
Because God sees it all.
You may fool me
You may fool your parents
You may fool your spouse
But you cannot fool God, He knows it all,
And He vows to “judge” those who commit such sins.
There is no getting away with it.
TURN TO PROVERBS
READ: Proverbs 5:1-23
But wait, the writer of Proverbs isn’t finished yet.
READ: Proverbs 6:20-35
No, he’s still not finished
READ: Proverbs 7:1-27
Do you get the point?
There are no secrets
(even this youth was being watched out the window by someone else)
All things that are hidden are revealed.
God sees all and God vows to judge adulterers and fornicators.
NOW THIS LAW IS UNIVERSAL TO ALL MEN.
That is to say, both believers and unbelievers alike fall under this warning.
But certainly the writer of Hebrews is more concerned
About those who claim to be believers.
For an unbelieving adulterer is bad enough,
But how much more heinous is it when someone who claims to be a Christian begins to engage in sexual immorality.
IT IS COMPLETELY DISHONORING TO CHRIST!
1 Corinthians 6:15-20 “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? May it never be! Or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her? For He says, “THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH.” But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him. Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.”
All men should abstain from sexual immorality if for no other reason than the fact that God will judge all who do it.
But the believer should especially abstain
Since not only does it bring judgment,
But it also disregards the commitment that was made to Christ.
That is why Paul told the Ephesians:
Ephesians 5:3 “But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints;”
And the Colossians:
Colossians 3:5-6 “Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience,”
Sexual immorality is an enormous temptation
And it is wrecking lives everywhere.
It wrecks marriages
It wrecks children
It wrecks congregations
It wrecks souls
It dishonors Christ
It promises judgment
Avoid this disaster, avoid sexual immorality.
“Marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled; for fornicators and adulterers God will judge.”
Now let’s look at the second (and equally dangerous) temptation.
#2 GREED
Hebrews 13:5-6
He starts by saying, “Make sure that”
That is another way of saying, “Check again” “Look again”
(You may have this and not even realize it)
“Make sure that your character is free from the love of money”
There is another big temptation.
And just to make sure you don’t try to pass it off as somehow not as bad as adultery, let me read that verse in Colossians one more time.
Colossians 3:5-6 “Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience,”
Both sins are listed there as that which brings “the wrath of God”.
And let me make sure you understand something right out of the gate.
“love of money” is not limited to the rich.
Can it be a problem of the rich? Oh absolutely!
The rich young ruler went away sad when Jesus told him to sell all his possessions.
To that Jesus responded:
Matthew 19:23-24 “And Jesus said to His disciples, “Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. “Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
James spoke of the rich:
James 5:1-5 “Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth-eaten. Your gold and your silver have rusted; and their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure! Behold, the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields, and which has been withheld by you, cries out against you; and the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wanton pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.”
You should know that being rich is not a sin, but those who are rich had better be ready to answer two questions from God.
1) How did you get your money?
• James said that this guy withheld the pay of his laborers.
• The idea is that their wealth was obtained immorally.
• They did something they should not have done to obtain their money.
How did you get yours?
(stealing, gambling, cheating)
2) Why do you still have your money?
This is the question the rich young ruler wouldn’t have wanted to answer.
He may have come into his money honestly,
But he maintained it because he wouldn’t give it to the poor.
James said that this rich man stayed rich by hoarding his wealth
Even to the point of it no longer being worthy anything.
Both of those questions are looking to find out
If a person loves money or not.
• Do you love it so much that you’d act immorally to obtain it?
• Do you love it so much that you’ll neglect others to keep it?
There is the danger.
The rich can most certainly struggle with greed.
That is why Paul said:
1 Timothy 6:17-19 “Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed.”
If you’re rich, you’d better be generous and eager.
Proverbs 11:4 “Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, But righteousness delivers from death.”
That is to say money won’t do you any good in the judgment.
But it is not as though the rich are the only ones who struggle with greed.
Just because you don’t have money doesn’t mean you don’t love it.
A poor man can simply be a greedy man without opportunity.
Sometime read Matthew 6 where Jesus warns about two major sins.
• THE WEALTHY WARNING where Jesus warns about storing up treasure on earth.
• THE WORRY WARNING, where the poor are so consumed with acquiring money that they can’t focus on anything else.
Both are the same sin from different perspectives.
This “love of money” is dangerous
Paul wrote:
1 Timothy 6:6-10 “But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment. For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content. But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”
Did you see what loving money can do?
• It can cause you to “wander away from the faith” and “pierce [yourself] with many griefs.”
Write down in your margin 2 KINGS 5:20-27
And go read about Elisha’s servant named Gehazi and how his greed caused him to act immorally and ultimately to be afflicted with leprosy.
“love of money” is dangerous.
That is why the writer of Hebrews said, “Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have;”
Why should you be content?
“for He Himself has said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,”
That is to say, God has promised to take care of you.
He didn’t promise to make you rich, He promised to always provide.
Matthew 6:25-33 “For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? “Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? “And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? “And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. “But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! “Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ “For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
The point is clear isn’t it?
To worry or to love money or to be discontent
Is actually a slap in the face to your Provider.
And if you live your life seeking and loving money,
It is an indicator that your trust is not in God.
The writer of Hebrews said to stay away from “love of money”
(6) “so that we confidently say, “The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What will man do to me?”
So that you can confidently declare to all men that your faith is in God.
When you are always worried about and seeking money,
It sure is hard to tell other people about how much you trust God.
Do you see the problem?
Sexual Immorality dishonors God’s covenant
Greed dishonors God’s provision
BOTH BRING ABSOLUTE AND CERTAIN JUDGMENT
These temptations are spiritual train wrecks
That you and I must avoid
So that we may effectively honor God and avoid judgment.
