Hebrews 13

CHAPTER 13THEME: LoveAs we have said, chapter 11 is the faith chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews; chapter 12 is the hope chapter; and chapter 13 is the love chapter. Another outline that has been suggested for this section is as follows: chapter 10 the Christian’s privilege; chapter 11 the Christian’s power; chapter 12 the Christian’s progress; and chapter 13 the Christian’s practice. That is not the best outline, but it is good for chapter 13in chapter 13 we will see the Christian’s practice.

Hebrews 13:1

SECRET LIFE OF THE BELIEVER"Brotherly love" should be translated as brother love. The writer of this epistle is writing primarily to Hebrews, but what he has to say has application to us. Both Jew and Gentile have been brought into one body, the body of believers. The cement, the Elmer’s glue, that holds us together is brother lovenot brotherly love, but brother love. We are not to love like brothers, but we are to love because we are brothers. Now if you are a child of God you are my brother. I get many letters that say, “I am a black person. But I listen to your program and I want you to know that I am a believer and I love you.” I appreciate that so much. What difference does the color of the skin make when we are children of God? When He has given us new hearts and washed us white as snow, we are brothers, we are in the family of God, and we are to love one another. I like to illustrate the Christian life as a triangle: The Christian life is a life of faith and of love toward God and of love toward others. “Let brother love continue.” Now here is stranger love

Hebrews 13:2

“Some have entertained angels unawares.” The word angel may refer to superhuman beings or it may refer to human beings who are messengers from God. The same word is used to address the leaders of the seven churches of Asia Minor in chapters 2 and 3 of the Book of Revelation, in which I take the position that the “angels” are human messengers; that is, they are the teachers or leaders of the churches being addressed. The writer mentions that there are those in the Old Testament who “entertained angels unawares.” Abraham was one of them, and Jacob was another (although he didn’t do much entertaining that night as he was too busy wrestling!); Joshua also entertained an angel. The basic thought of this verse in the Hebrew epistle is that we are to extend love to strangers by showing hospitality to them. We ought to be careful that our love is exercised with judgment, but we need to recognize that there are folk around us to whom we could be very helpful. We should extend our love to them, and in doing this we might meet some very wonderful people.

Hebrews 13:3

Paul himself was in bonds. He knew a great deal about that, and so he says, “Remember the needy and those in trouble. Show love to those who are in need.” You see, the church is a bodywhen one member suffers, all of us suffer. When I was seriously ill sometime ago I had the opportunity to experience this myself. A letter from one dear lady caused me to shed tears: “Dr. McGee, I’m inactive now, and I’m not able to do anything. I prayed to God that I would be able to take your disease upon myself so that you could go on with your ministry.” May I say to you, we don’t find that kind of spirit in every church or every group of believers, but we need it and I thank God there is a lot of it around. We talk a great deal about the Christian fellowship which we have in our little group meetings or around the banquet table. But what about the poor saint who is off yonder lying on a bed and whom no one has visited? Many of you could have a wonderful ministry visiting the sick and lonely. This is the brother love that he is talking about here. Brother love is not something that takes place only in the church or in little groups that meet together. There has been a new phrase coined in our day: “body truth.” Gracious, that truth has been in Scripture all these years; it is not something new. And you exercise that body truth by going out there to that individual who is in need. We do not hear that aspect emphasized very much today.

Hebrews 13:4

“Marriage is honourable in all.” The writer is condeming asceticism here. Young man, if you find a Christian girl who will have you, get married. Young lady, if you find a Christian fellow who will have you, get married. I believe that God will lead you to the right one, if you are willing to be led in that way. Marriage is honorable in all, and sex is to be exercised within the framework of marriage. God gave marriage to mankind for the welfare of mankind. I know I sound like a square, because this idea of living together without being married has become very commonplace, but I must tell you, young person, that you will surely pay for it if you attempt to live together outside the bonds of marriage. The home is the very center of the whole social structure, and it is the very center of the church. “And the bed undefiled.” There is nothing wrong with sexexcept that it is being taught too much in our schools today. When I was in London sometime ago, I learned that they were going to cut down on teaching sex. They found that it led to more rapes in the schools than ever before, and they felt it to be responsible for an epidemic of venereal disease. “But whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.” “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Gal_6:7). This is very severe, but after years in the ministry, I have watched many Christians who have tried to get by with sexual sins, and I do not know of any who have been able to do it. Maybe they have not been detected, but they have not gotten by with it; God has judged them.

Hebrews 13:5

“Your conversation” means your manner of life. Don’t be known as a moneygrabber, as one who puts the almighty dollar above almighty God. He may not make you a millionaire, but He will never leave you or forsake you. Isn’t it wonderful to have Him say that to you? It does not matter who you are or what you do, if you have responded in faith to the Word of God, you have been brought to the place where you can know that He will never leave you or forsake you. I have a notion that I have friends today who would forsake me, and I may have relatives who would forsake me. But the Lord Jesus will never forsake me. I hope you have Him on your side.

Hebrews 13:6

The Hebrew Christians in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria were going to face punishment and trials in the next few years. They needed to remember that God was not going to forsake them, and that they could say in spite of what happened, “The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.” It is interesting to note what happened when some of the prisoners of war finally were able to return home after the war in Vietnam. During the war, many radicals in the United States were concerned over the fate of the POWs, and they made trips to Vietnam and led protest rallies on their behalf. But when the POWs were released, very few of the radicals showed any interest in them. When the prisoners of war came back to this country many of them testified that they had turned to Jesus, and it was Jesus who helped them. Of course, the news media didn’t like that or want to talk about that. But Jesus never forsook themHe stayed with them and saw them through.

He is the one who will see you through, too. I don’t think the radicals or the politicians will help you much. I am tired of listening to them. I want to listen to Jesus, because He will never leave me nor forsake me.

Hebrews 13:7

SOCIAL LIFE OF THE BELIEVERThere are some ministers who use this verse and say that the members of their church are to obey them. However, it seems rather that the thought here is of leadership. He is speaking of spiritual leaders, and spiritual leaders are to lead folk to Christ. If a man is presenting Christ and is attempting to bring people into the presence of Christ, then that is a man to whom you should be loyal. But to be loyal to a man simply because he is the pastor of a church is not what Paul is talking about at all.

Hebrews 13:8

“Jesus Christ.” There is no accident in the Word of God; that is, no word is ever used carelessly. Jesus is His human name; Christ is His title, that which speaks of His deity. Jesus is the name which links Him with mankind. It identifies Him as the most wonderful person in this world. Jesus, Name of sweetness, Jesus, sound of love; Cheering exiles onward To their rest above. Jesus, oh the magic Of the soft love sound; How it thrills and trembles To creation’s bound. Author unknown How wonderful Jesus was as a person when He was down here. People crowded around Him because He was so human. The mobs followed Him and they loved Him. It was the teaching of Jesus they hatedit was not Jesus the man. He was wonderful, my friend. Christ is a title which speaks of His messianic mission to this earthHe is God manifest in the flesh, “Jesus Christ"how marvelously these two are meshed together here. He is Jesus Christ, and He is the same. I feel inadequate to deal with this very marvelous verse, but I do want to say that it has probably been misapplied as much as any verse in the Word of God. There are many who use this verse and say, “When Jesus was here nineteen hundred years ago, He performed miracles; therefore we ought to perform them today. He healed nineteen hundred years ago, and so we ought to be healing today. He is still in that same business.” Jesus Christ is the same, but we need to understand how He is the same. He is the same in His character, in His person, and in His attributes, but He is not the same in place or in performance. When I was in the land of Israel I didn’t see Him over there. I saw very little evidence at all of Him in that land. Over nineteen hundred years ago He was in Bethlehem as a little baby, but He is no longer a baby and He is not in Bethlehem. Later He was a little boy playing in the streets of Nazareth, but I didn’t see Him.

I saw a lot of little boys, but He was not one of them. A few years later as a man He walked through that land, and He did heal. I was in Jerusalem and I saw Golgotha, but there is not a cross there and He is not on a cross today. The whole thought of this epistle is that He is now at the right hand of God: “…We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens” (Heb_8:1); and we are to look “unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith …” (Heb_12:2). He accomplished our redemption nineteen hundred years ago, and He sat down at the right hand of God. Right now He is up yonder, but some day He will come as the King to the earth to establish His Kingdom.

He has not yet called His church out of the world, but some day He will do that. You see, Jesus is not the same in place and performance, but He is the same in His attributes. When He was here nineteen hundred years ago, He was God who came down to our level. When I have been in the land of Israel and have considered that fact, I have truly marveled at it. He came to a place where there was no great wealth or pomp or ceremony. He did not come to Rome, the center of power and government. He did not come to Athens, the great cultural center. He did come to an insignificant outpost of the Roman Empire, and He came to the level of the common man. Because we are often afraid that we will be misunderstood when we speak of Christ’s humanity, we do not emphasize it as we should. Rather, we emphasize His deity, and we need to do that because the liberal speaks of nothing but His humanity, and even that he does not truly understand. But in His humanity, I think that Jesus was the most attractive person who ever walked this earthnot because He was God, but because He was a man, a real man. Have you ever wondered why the crowds were attracted to Him and followed Him? He was strong but gentleso gentle that little children came to Him. However, He could drive the money-changers out of the temple and they ran for cover, because He was man enough to put them out. Also He was attractive. He had what we call today charisma. People followed Him because they loved Him, and they knew they were in the presence of a man who was a man.

In Capernaum He healed a leper and then had to leave because the crowds pressed around Him, so that He couldn’t even continue His ministry. Even publicans and sinners came to Him, which was the thing that so angered the religious crowd. If He came to your town todayI hate to say thisI don’t think He would come to your church. I have a notion you would find Him where the crowd is; He would be mixing with people and probably holding a child or two. When He went to Jericho at the end of His ministry, again we find that the crowds lined the way so that little Zacchaeus had to climb up a tree in order to see Him, but even there our Lord stopped and brought him down out of the tree. How sensitive the Lord Jesus was to human need, and how wonderful He was in His person! I want to say something very carefully: it was the person of Christ that appealed; it was not His teachings. His great declaration that He was going to die to redeem men was not popular. At the very beginning of His ministry, it was His teaching that offended. He taught that He was the Bread of Life and that He had come to give His life that men might have spiritual food, and added, “Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.” And John’s record tells us, “From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life” (Joh_6:65-68).

The crowd narrowed down, and only twelve stayed with Him. Why? Because of His teaching. And actually Simon Peter rebuked Him when He spoke of His impending death, “…Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee” (Mat_16:22). Even His loyal disciples didn’t like that kind of teaching. When men came into contact with the Lord Jesus Christ, they found grace and truth; they found sweetness and strength; they found meekness and majesty; they found light and love.

He appealed to men, but when he died on a cross that cross became an offense. The Cross is still an offense, but Jesus is still attractive. It is said that when Savonarola in the city of Florence went before the great populace and said, “Be free,” they applauded him. But when he said to them, “Be pure,” they ran him out of town. They refused his teaching when it did not appeal to them. The Lord Jesus said to men, “You have to turn from sin. You cannot live in sin. I have come to make you free, but I will have to give My life for you and you will have to come as sinners to Me.” And sinners camewhen men were desperate, they would come to Him. I believe that is the only way men will come to Him even today. I wish that I could present Him as He really was nineteen hundred years ago when He came to this earth. How wonderful He was! Today, your sorrow is His sorrow, and your joy is His joy. He will be the same in the future"the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever.” He is never going to change. Some day we will be in His presence. How wonderful that will be! Before we leave this subject, let me share with you an excerpt from a booklet written by Dr. C. I. Scofield, entitled The Loveliness of Christ: First of all, as it seems to me, this loveliness of Christ consists in His perfect humanity. Am I understood? I do not now mean that He was a perfect human, but that He was perfectly human. In everything but our sins, and our evil natures, He is one with us. He grew in stature and in grace. He labored, and wept, and prayed, and loved. He was tempted in all points as we aresin apart. With Thomas, we confess Him Lord and God; we adore and revere Him, but beloved, there is no other who establishes with us such intimacy, who comes so close to these human hearts of ours; no one in the universe of whom we are so little afraid. He enters as simply and naturally into our twentieth century lives as if He had been reared in the same street. He is wonderful, my friend, and you ought to know Him. Paul, who came to know Him, found that even at the end of his life he wanted to know Him better. He said, “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection …” (Php_3:10). Today my one ambition is to know Him and to get out His WordI cannot think of anything better to do.

Hebrews 13:9

It is amazing that most of the cults today go in for special diets. I believe that food is important as far as the health of the body is concerned, but it has nothing to do with your relationship to God. Paul wrote, “But meat commendeth us not to God: for neither, if we eat, are we the better; neither, if we eat not, are we the worse” (1Co_8:8). He is saying the same thing here. Do not go off into these strange cults and teachings in which diet and ceremonies and rituals and little study groups are supposed to make you a super-duper saint. Nothing in the world is going to build you up but the Word of God. The Word of God will build you up if it brings you to the person of Christ, and only the Holy Spirit can take the things of Christ and make them real unto you.

Hebrews 13:10

A comparison is being made here between what Israel had under the old covenant in contrast to the better things of the new covenant. Believers today have an altar, but this altar is not the Lord’s Supper as some people have mistakenly interpreted it to mean. We do not have a material altar with a local address, but we have an altar which is in heaven. It is the throne of grace up yonder. It was a throne of judgmentHe condemned us therebut now that the blood has been placed there, we can come and find grace and salvation. I would like to say at this point that Christian fellowship is not a church banquet. For years while I was in the ministry I heard it said: “Come to the banquet. We are going to have some marvelous Christian fellowship.” No, you’re not, my friend. You are just going there for a good time and to fill your little tummy. The only place you can have real Christian fellowship (koinonia) is around the Word of God. It is the Word of God which brings you to the person of Christ and enables you to see Him in all His glory. It is then that you will have fellowship and a good time with other believers. Our Lord is wonderful, my friendit is terrible to pass Him by.

Hebrews 13:11

The writer is referring to the sin offering. When Christ died it was for the fact that you and I are sinners. Not only do we commit sin, we are sinners by nature, and He took our sins on Himself that He might give us a new nature.

Hebrews 13:12

Jesus died outside the city. Why? Because He was the sin offering. The sin offering was taken away from the temple and “burned without the camp.” Jesus was our sin offering, and He paid the penalty for our sin.

Hebrews 13:13

The writer is saying to these Hebrew Christians, “Don’t mind leaving the temple. Don’t mind leaving the rituals. Those things are not helpful. Go to HimGo to Christ.” My friend, we, too, are to go to Him. We are on our way to a heavenly Jerusalem. This is real separation he is talking about here. Today we put the emphasis on separation from; we are separated from somethingthat is, “I don’t do this and I don’t do that.” Real separation is not from; it is unto. Paul said he was separated unto the gospel, separated unto Christ, separated unto the Word of God. In fact the word Hebrew means the “one who crossed over.” Abraham was called a Hebrew because he had come from the other side of the Euphrates River, signifying that his old life was gone.

The children of Israel crossed the Red Sea, and they were delivered from slavery; they were redeemed, and a new life was then possible. Then they had to cross the Jordan River to live in the Promised Land, the land of Canaan, the kind of life that we also should live down here. We are to go “without the camp, bearing his reproach.” The Hebrew Christians hated to leave the temple and their religion. Many people today are wrapped up in “churchianity,” thinking that because they are members of a church they are saved. They need to get away from ritual and religion and come to Christ. Come to Himthat is real separation, and that is real salvation.

Hebrews 13:14

Again the writer makes it clear that we have nothing permanent down here.

Hebrews 13:15

SPIRITUAL LIFE OF THE BELIEVERA child of God is a priest today and can bring sacrifices to God. There are four sacrifices of a believer. (1) You can sacrifice your person (see Rom_12:1). Someone has said, “When one truly gives himself to the Lord, all other giving becomes easy.” (2) You can sacrifice your purse (see 2Co_8:1-5). If He doesn’t have your purse, He doesn’t have you. (3) You can offer the sacrifice of praise, which we find in this verse: “By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.” (4) Finally, you can offer the sacrifice of performance or doing good, which we find in the following verse

Hebrews 13:16

When you took that basket of fruit over to that dear, lonely, and sick child of God whom everyone has forgotten about, you were a priest offering a sacrifice to God. It was well pleasing to HimHe took delight in your doing that. Again I must refer to the time when I was seriously ill and flat on my back. At that time I received many letters from folk who were lots worse off physically than I was. They wrote lovely letters, and every one of them was a sacrifice. And many folk helped me in a tangible way, and that too was a sacrifice well pleasing to God.

My friend, if Christianity does not walk in shoe leather it is no good at all. The Lord Jesus is up yonder at the right hand of Godthat is where He is as Head of the churchbut His feet are down here right where the rubber meets the road. He wants Christianity to be in shoe leather, and He would like to walk in your shoes.

Hebrews 13:17

We had this same thought in verse Heb_13:7. If your pastor is a man of God who is teaching the Word of God then you are to obey the Word of God as he has given it to you. It would be better to not hear the Word of God, than to hear it and not obey it.

Hebrews 13:18

“Pray for us.” Evidently the readers of this epistle knew the writer, and I believe the writer was Paul. “For we trust we have good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly.” It is wonderful to pillow your head at night with a good conscience, a conscience enlightened by the Word of God. A great many people are not walking in the light. “If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1Jn_1:6-7).

Hebrews 13:19

This statement also makes me believe that Paul wrote this epistle. Apparently he was in prison at this time, and he is saying to these Hebrew Christians, “I want to come back and be among you again"after all, he was a Hebrew himself.

Hebrews 13:20

BENEDICTIONNow we come to the benediction, a benediction which I have used thousands of times in my ministry. “That great shepherd of the sheep.” The Lord Jesus is here called the Great Shepherd. In Psalms 22 He is presented as the Good Shepherd, and in Joh_10:11 He calls Himself the Good Shepherd. As the Good Shepherd He gave His life for the sheep. As the Great Shepherd He is the one who perfects the sheep and builds them up. We see that here and also in Psalms 23. He leads us beside the still waters and leads us to the place where the grass is good and green and very tender, that is, to the Word of God.

Then in Psalms 24 He is presented as the Chief Shepherd. “And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away” (1Pe_5:4). He died in the past as the Good Shepherd; He is the Great Shepherd today; and He is coming some day as the Chief Shepherd for His sheep. He started out with one hundred sheep, and do you know how many sheep He is going to have with Him in heaven? Ninety-nine? No. He is going to have all one hundred sheep with him there. “Through the blood of the everlasting covenant.” Christ’s blood is the basis of every covenant God has ever made. “Make you perfect"this has been the purpose of the Epistle to the Hebrews. We have been told, “Let us go on to perfection.” He means for us to go on to maturation, to being full-grown children of God. It is marvelous to admire a little baby lying in the crib, but if you come back in twenty years and he is still lying there, saying, “Da-da-da,” something is radically wrong. There are a lot of such saints who need to come to maturation, to grow up, and the Epistle to the Hebrews will help them to do that. “In every good work to do his will.” What is the important thing for a child of God? To do His willto allow Him to work His will in your life, “working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”

Hebrews 13:22

Notice how personal this is. I have to smile when he says he wrote this “in few words.” To my judgment this is a long letter, but he calls it “few words.”

Hebrews 13:23

Again, this sounds like Paul. Apparently Timothy had been in prison. A note in my Bible at the bottom of this chapter says, “Written to the Hebrews from Italy by Timothy.” That is not part of the text, but it is some man’s interpretation. This man could be wrong, and I could be wrong in saying that Paul wrote this epistle. The important thing is that the Holy Spirit wrote it and that He takes the things of Christ and shows them unto us.

Hebrews 13:24

The writer was in Italy, and so was Paul. He closes this epistle with a wonderful benediction, and I will close with it also. I cannot improve on it because it interprets itself