Keith Battle - Potpourri 13 - Part 2

This is our lesson. We’re in a series called Potpourri 13. It is a study of the book of Hebrews, chapter 13. The reason why we call it Potpourri is that there are so many topics; it is like potpourri. Potpourri is a variety of things; it’s a medley of topics. Hebrews 13 cannot be summarized by one theme; it’s potpourri. Today, we’re going to look at verses four, five, and six in Hebrews chapter 13. Last week, we talked about angels visiting your house and treating people with love and care, especially those in trouble and those in prison. Today, we’re going to look at Hebrews 13:4 to 6. Let me start reading, beginning at verse 4. It says, «Give honor to marriage and remain faithful to one another in marriage.» The New Living Translation, while the King James Version says, «Marriage is honorable above all, and the marriage bed is undefiled.» A lot of people have misinterpreted that phrase, «the marriage bed is undefiled.» They interpret it as a statement of fact instead of what it literally is: an exhortation. An exhortation means the marriage bed is supposed to be undefiled, and it remains undefiled through purity. Some people have interpreted that the marriage bed is undefiled, meaning you can do whatever you want sexually as long as you’re married. That’s what I used to say—most men take that interpretation. «Hey, we’re married, we can do whatever.» That’s what you call hermeneutical violence; it is a bad interpretation. But let me go back to the first part: «Give honor to marriage and remain faithful to one another in marriage.» God will surely judge people who are immoral and those who commit adultery. Verse 5: «Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have, for God has said, ‘I will never fail you, I will never abandon you.’» Verse 6: «So we can say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me? ’» I’m going to stop right here; that’s going to be our focus. My subject today is «Hold On.» Just reach out to a couple of people around you in your environment. Touch them on the elbow or something and say, «Hold on. Hold on.» At least to three or four people, say, «Hold on. Hold on. Hold on.» What you don’t realize is that when people come to church, they sometimes feel like giving up. They feel like throwing in the towel; they feel like handling things their way. They’re tired of doing it God’s way, and sometimes they need to be reminded to hold on. It may look dark; it may not look like it’s going to work out; you may not even be able to see your way out, but God wants you to hold on. Hold on! Don’t give in; don’t give up. Somebody here might be suicidal—hold on! Somebody might be homicidal—hold on for sure! Sometimes we get tired. I don’t know if you’ve ever been sick and tired, especially when you’ve been doing what you believe you’re supposed to do, and people keep doing whatever they want to do. Sometimes it’s hard to get up and say, «You know what? I’m going to come to church today. I’m going to give the preacher a chance.» You’re going to that church where you can wear whatever you want, but if something doesn’t happen, I know what I’m going to do. I already have a plan, and God sent me to tell you to hold on! Hold on! The word «hold on» means to do it God’s way when you feel like you’re running out of time, patience, or hours. God just wants to give you a little more patience to hold on because He’s going to do things that you cannot do. The people that the writer of Hebrews is writing to are a group of people who are being persecuted. It’s hard for us to understand what it’s like because they are being persecuted because of their faith. Most of us have never been persecuted for our faith. They were persecuted to the point where they were beaten because of their faith. They had their property taken from them because of their faith, and they were put in prison. In fact, we often hear about people being jailed because of their behavior, but they were put in prison for their beliefs. When you get tired and have bad things happening to you—when things are happening because of faith—Jesus says, «Whatever you do, don’t leave me. I got you; hold on! Don’t leave me; I got you!» We see in chapter 10, verses 32 to 36, what they were experiencing. It says, «Remember the early days when you first learned about Christ? Remember how you remained faithful even though it meant…?»