Remember those in prison as if you were bound with them, and those who are mistreated as if you were suffering with them.Remember those who are in bonds, as bound with them, and those who are ill-treated, since you are also in the body.Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; them that are ill-treated, as being yourselves also in the body.
3 sermons cite this verse
… not get blind spots is Hebrews 13 3 fellowship exhort one another every day as long as it's called today that none may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin in other words Keller says you've got to have some people in your life who exhort you daily because sin will always blind you. The deceitfulness of sin always blinds you. So who is it in your life that actually is authorized to come talk to you, look at you, really rake you over the coals if necessary? I see some heads nodding. Hopefully you guys have had people like this. Hopefully you have people like this in your life? Maybe you've given this counsel to others. I hope so. But this is not Keller's last word. Here's how he continues. He says, as time went on though, here's what has to happen. You can hide even from people like that. I realized that midway, he says. You can still do bad things. You can still have an affair. You can still do things, still get hooked on pornography. You can hide. And also, there's another problem, is that it's very difficult to make friends like that if you lose them. If somebody dies or moves away or that kind of thing, it's very difficult in your 50s and 60s, your 40s, 50s, and 60s, to go out and get another person like that. And then Tim kind of stumbles over his words. He says, therefore, and he pauses and he says, oh, the prayer life. I'm sorry. And not just praying …
… It is totally biblical. Hebrews chapter 13, verse three, Remember those who are in prison as though in prison with them. And those who are mistreated, since you're in the body, you have a body. Paul had a body. We have bodies. When he talks about being whipped, we're supposed to get in the skin. Okay, so let's try to do that for the next few minutes. On this first point, countless dangers or continual relentless afflictions. So there's about eight texts to read to you, and you can follow with me. So chapter 1, verse 5, we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings. Not a little bit, a lot in his sufferings. Verse 8, same chapter, we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. for we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. He doesn't want us to be ignorant of that. He wants us to know that. That happened. Chapter 2, verse 4. I wrote to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain, but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you. …
By a Church being thus formed in order to its being built up, something more is needed. We cannot build without union. A house is not a load of bricks, neither is the Church a mere conglomeration of human beings. A house must have its doors, its windows, its foundations, its rafters and its ceiling. So a Church must be organized—it must have its distinct offices and officers, it must have its departments of labor—and proper men must be found, according to Christ's own appointment, to preside over those departments. Our Savior was raised up on high to receive gifts for men and to give gifts to men. And those gifts are first, Apostles, then pastors and teachers, and Evangelists, and so on, "for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." Some of the old Roman walls are compacted with such excellent cement that it would be almost impossible to separate one stone from another. In fact, the whole mass has become consolidated like a solid rock—so embedded in cement that you cannot distinguish one stone from another. Happy the Church thus built up, where each cares not only for his own prosperity, but for the prosperity of all—where if there is any joy in one member, all the members rejoice, and if there is sorrow in any one part of the body, all the rest of the body is in sorrow, too, "remembering them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body." And yet, what are some churches but semi-religious clubs, mere conventions of people gathered together? They have not in them that holy soul which is the essence of unity! There is no life to keep them in entirety. Why, the body would soon become disjointed and a mass of rottenness if the soul were not in it—and if the Spirit of Christ is absent, the whole fabric of the outward church begins to fall to pieces—for where there is no life, there can be no true union! …