Amen. Well, turn with me tonight in
your Bible to the book of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 13.
It's good to see you. Good to welcome you all in the
Lord's name. Good to hear the rustling of the
paper. Good to have a few friends in
from Ballymena. Remember years ago St there?
I can't remember who but someone stopped me and asked me what do
you call a meal? Tea bag?
I was thinking Tatley and Pyjama.
And what's the name of that other one they make in Belfast?
Thompson's Tea. No Hebrews.
Hebrews. Hebrews 13.
Let's read the Word of God where chapter 13 we're going to read
from verse one and we'll read right through to the verse 15.
Let brotherly love continue. Be not forgetful to entertain
strangers, for thereby some of entertained angels unawares.
Remember them that are in bonds as bound with them, and them
which suffer adversity as being yourselves also in the body.
Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled.
But whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.
Let your conversation be without covetousness, and be content
with such things as you have. For he have said, I will never
leave thee, nor forsake thee, so that we may boldly say, The Lord
is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.
Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken
unto you the word of God, whose faith follow, considering the
end of their conversation. Jesus Christ the same yesterday
and today, and forever. Be not carried about with divers
and strange doctrines, for it is a good thing that the heart be
established with grace, not with meats which have not profited
them that have been occupied therein.
We have an altar, for off they have no right to eat which serve
the Tabernacle. For the bodies of those beasts
whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for
sin are burned without the camp. Where for Jesus also, that He
might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered without
the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto
Him without the camp, bearing His reproach for He.
Or have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come 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. We'll end the reading there at
verse 15, and we pray God will stand with His own approval and
blessing, this reading of His own precious and infallible
Word. Now, today, on Remembrance
Sunday 2025, the United Kingdom paused in a still silence.
Across cities, towns, villages, churches and even fields,
thousands gathered to stand in solidarity and silence to
remember our glorious dead of World War One, World War 2, and
all such subsequent conflicts around the world.
Together we united in common gratitude, respect and
reflection to remember those that gave their everything so we
could enjoy our cherished freedoms.
Now, I believe that the act of remembrance that we observed
this morning, and other churches as well, is deeply personal.
I believe that behind every puppy lies a story.
The same is true for every book and display.
We thank those who brought stuff and for the beautiful displays
this year. Take a look round before you go
home. Every pamphlet here, every medal
here, it points to something. There's a story behind it.
We're thinking about a family member who who died in the war,
a comrade who was missing in action, presumed dead, and Ian
carved onto a stone memorial or a cenotaph somewhere.
Each name, you see, is an individual life, and every
individual life has their own story, the the history of their
life, the day of their birth, the life that they live, the day
of their death. And those individuals, many of
them are now gone, but they're not forgotten.
The act of remembrance is also deeply powerful.
You see, it's a national collective act.
It's the country's way of saying a big thank you to all who died
for your service and your sacrifice.
It's a big thank you in memory of our glorious dead.
It's a big thank you to all who fought and survived and bear in
their minds and in their bodies even physical scars and mental
scars. To this day, I believe the act
of remembrance is also something that's very precious.
It's the right thing to do. And as I've told you often, it's
the biblical thing to do because the Bible resorts to remember
210 * 51 times. On top of that, it brings in the
word remembrance. One of the things we're to
remember is remember the battle. And of course we remember the
the greatest battle of all, especially the Battle of the
Cross. Jesus Christ emerged victorious
over death, sin, hail, and the devil.
But the Remembrance Act is not just a deeply personal thing,
deeply powerful and deeply precious, but it's also a deeply
painful thing. You see, today, thankfully, the
guns are silent in the Western Front.
But as we have stood in solidarity and silence, we have
thought of the human cost. How many died in World War One?
Hello to high estimate 15,000,000 to 40 million.
How many died in World War? 270 to 85,000,000, 21 to
25,000,000 were military and some 50 to 60 million were
civilians, men, women and children.
Not just painful in terms of death numbers, but think of
those who came home from the war injured, maimed for life.
Their life was changed forever. I often think as well of those
prisoners of war, Do you know that according to National
Archives, the British Exhibitionary Force, there was
something like 191,652 prisoners of war?
And if we were to add in the total of all sides in the
conflict, including the Germans, the PO WS would estimate to be
about 4 million. Now I want you to think with me
of the Royal Ulster Constabulary.
There's a beautiful uniform outside in the ports you can
look at coming in the 1st of June 1922 to the 4th of
November, 201. 319 officers were murdered, 10,000 were injured.
370 individual officers received a gallantry award, 712 for
distinguished service. Something like 1183 were forced
to move from their family homes and some were also abducted and
they became prisoners of the enemy and cruelly tortured and
eventually murdered and some were buried and their remains
have never been found. You look at Hebrews 13 for a
moment. Look with me at verse 3.
Listen to this verse. Remember them that are in bonds
as bound with them, and them which suffer adversity as being
yourselves also in the body. What is that verse telling us?
I believe it's saying this, and this is what it's said to me in
the week that has gone past. Remember the prisoners.
We are commanded here in Hebrews 13, verse 3 to remember the
prisoners. Out of the 210 things in the
Bible we are to remember, here's one of them.
We're to remember the prisoners in Hebrews 13.
We are given some very practical commands.
Hebrews 13, I should point out, remember rests in Hebrews
chapters 1 to 12. Hebrews 1 to 12 was largely
doctrinal. What follows the end is by way
of duty, and that's the usual pattern in the New Testament.
First doctrine, end duty. And if you just focus on
doctrine without duty, you'll discover that knowledge puffs
you up. And we have many professing
Christians sadly puffed up with just mere knowledge today.
On the other hand, to engage in duty to the neglect of doctrine
makes you like a solid biblical foundation.
And here in this chapter, after the doctrinal section, we've got
some practical duties and the main command.
Here's in verse one. Let brotherly love continue, and
some Wednesday night will preach again on that subject.
And this leads to two very specific things.
One, show hospitality, be not forgetful to entertain
strangers, for thereby some of entertained angels unawares.
And then the other specific command is remember the
prisoners. Remember them that are in bones
as bound with them, and them which suffer adversity as being
yourselves also in the body. That's what I want to think
about now. Remember the prisoners.
I want you to think of three things.
One, let's think of the people that are mentioned.
It says remember them that are in bonds as bound with them and
then which suffer adversity as being yourselves also in the
body. Underline the word in bones and
we'll ask ourselves who are these people?
And the simple answer is they are Christians who have been
imprisoned for their faith. They've been arrested, they've
been detained and they've been put into, we'll call it a 1st
century jailhouse. Now remember, the Bible is a
first century book and you've got to always see it and sense
it in the 1st century context. And if we were to examine the
book of Acts, we would discover multiple references there to
persecution of the church. Remember what we read in Acts
chapter 4? And the men that came out of the
temple, Peter and John, remember upon their arrest they were told
this, but that it spread no further.
Acts 417 among the people, let us straightly threaten them that
they speak henceforth to no man in this name.
And they called them and commanded them not to speak at
all, nor teach in the name of Jesus.
You see, that was a form of persecution, wasn't it?
And then we come to Acts chapter 8, and we read in verse 4, in
Acts 8 and verse 4, verse 3. And As for Saul, he made havoc
of the church, entering into every house and healing men and
women, committed them to prison. Therefore, they that were
scattered abroad went everywhere, preaching the word
right. You go right through the book of
Acts, and it's not my intention to do that, but just to show you
when we come to Acts 12 to give the action of Herod, James was
beheaded. Peter was put into prison.
And then further on then about Paul's arrest and imprisonment
and eventually making all the journey to Rome.
You see, there was persecution. This is what I'm trying to tell
you. In the early church, people were
arrested, people were put into prison, and people were being
sentenced to death. You've got to think of prisoners
in the 1st century, and according to Wikipedia, the
early Christians were heavily persecuted throughout the Roman
Empire right up to the 3rd or 4th century.
There was 10 periods of Christian persecution.
Nero AD 54 to 68. The Mission, AD 81 to 96.
Trajan, AD 98 to 117. Here's the fourth period of
persecution. Antonius Pius Marcus Aurelius
Antonius, 138 AD to 180 AD. The 5th was Severus AD 193 to
2:11. The next was Maximus 235 to 238,
then followed him was Desius 249 to 251.
The eighth period was Valerian 253 to 260, and then the 9th was
Aurelian 274 to 287. Did you know that during this
man's reign, 6666 men from the T Band Legion, they were
butchered, put to death, They refused to March over the Alps
and kill the Christians. They were Christians themselves,
and because they refused, they were put to death under
Euryalians, the Empire's orders. 6666 men of the T Band Legion.
And the 10th, of course, was Diocletian to 9, two to three O
4. Did you know that Diocletian
issued 4 edicts against the Christians?
Here's the first one. Christian churches were to be
closed and destroyed. Bibles were to be burned.
Christians of possession of power were to lose that honour.
Christians were to be put to death. 2nd edict involved the
imprisonment and torture of the leaders of the church.
The third edict had to do with the leaders of the Christian
Church. If they refused to sacrifice to
idols, threw them into prison and let them suffer cruelty and
torture. The 4th edict all Christians who
refused to sacrifice to the Empire were to be put to death.
Now you can read all about that in the Fox's Book of Martyrs.
And then we'll add into that over the centuries the
persecution of the Waldensians and the Abogenzies and the
Huguenots in France. And then we think about the
Ulster Plantation in 1641 where where 100,000 Protestants were
murdered. And then we think about the
Covenanters and the killing times in Scotland.
And then we think about the English reformers and the
persecution there right up to the 18th century.
Let's come into the 21st century, you know, according to
World Watch List 2025, 50 countries where Christians face
the most extreme persecution, where Christians are legitimate
targets of violence wherever they're found.
Men, women, boys and children, Girls, let me name them, some of
them, Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Somalia,
Afghanistan, Yemen, Laos, China, Pakistan, Vietnam, Libya, Cuba,
North Korea, India, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Kuwait, Indonesia,
Bangladesh. At this present time, some 310
million Christians face a very high and extreme level of
persecution. One in seven Christians
worldwide, one in five in Africa, two in five in Asia.
Last year, in 2024, according to Open Doors, 4476 Christians were
murdered, 7679 churches were destroyed, many other Christian
properties have been attacked, and 4744 pastors and church
leaders have been imprisoned. And for the past 100 years, some
2000 Christians have been martyred for their faith in our
world. Do you know that tonight
something like 66 governments around the world have restricted
religious freedom when it comes to Bible believing Christianity,
66 governments throughout the world are actively persecuting
the Christian and if we add it all up, not just those who have
an high extreme possibility of. Receiving a level of
persecution. But if we add in even some low
levels of persecution, then the total adds up to 380 million
Christians worldwide. 380 million Christians worldwide
suffer some form some level of persecution and discrimination
for their faith. Now let that sink in.
Let me repeat that 380 million of our brothers and sisters in
Christ are being persecuted across our world tonight.
And here's a call in the 1st century penned by the Apostle
Paul. But we have a duty for the
Church. And what's he telling us by way
of a commandment? This is not optional.
This is obligatory. Remember then that Arnn Borns is
bound with them and then which suffer adversity as being
yourselves also in the body. It's a call to remember those
that are chained and those that are being cruelly treated in the
prison house. It's interesting that we read in
the Gospel, the Gospel of Matthew, in Matthew chapter 25
and verse 35. This is what the Lord Jesus
said, For I wasn't hungered and you gave me meat.
I was thirsty and you gave me drink.
I was a stranger, and you took me in naked and you clothed me.
I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison, and she came
unto me. Then shall the righteous answer
him, saying, Lord, when we saw thee in hungered and fed thee,
or thirsty, and give thee drink, when so we thee a stranger, and
took thee inner naked and clothed thee.
Or when so we thee sick or in president came unto thee?
And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto
you, In as much as you've done it unto one of the least of
these, my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
You know there's a story told of a pastor.
Don't think he was here and carried off for in Belfast even,
but he was preaching one night in Mark chapter 4 verses 35
right through to verse 41 and he was preaching about the storm in
the Sea of Galilee and he was waxing elegant and he remarked
Jesus steals the storm in our lives.
You're going through a storm now Jesus can steal your storm.
Maybe you're suffering loneliness or maybe it's some
illness or maybe it's a misunderstanding or maybe it's
some sort of hardship or opposition or persecution.
Jesus can deliver you from every one of these storms.
Good preaching passionate. One man stood up in the
congregation, an old man. He was of Middle Eastern
descent, and he shouted up, and this is what he said.
I quote, my dear brother, if you have been persecuted like I
have, you would really know the meaning of this passage.
It is not that Jesus takes the storm away, but that you don't
need to fear the storm you face if the Lord Jesus is with you in
the boat. And he sat down.
There was silence in the congregation.
See the little chorus that we learnt in Colerie and in my day
with the Reverend White was there with Christ in the vessel.
You can smile at the storm. With Christ in the vessel.
Is Christ in your vessel, your life?
You know something of his companionship, you've been
converted to Christ and he comes and comforts you.
He counsels you, he cares for you.
See, that old man had a valuable insight.
So I I asked tonight, do you know Christ?
Do you love him? Are you trusting in him as Lord
and Saviour? The people that are mentioned,
those in bonds, I want you to think secondly.
Oh, the procedure that is highlighted, if you go back to
our text, it says remember. Now underline the word remember.
This is a command. I want you to feel the force of
this command. See, what does it mean?
A general precept would be, well, it means to recall to
mind, to think about the prisoners in the jailhouse.
It means that it includes that. But I want to tell you it's it's
much more than that. This is a very specific command.
It means not only to recall to mind and think about the
prisoner, but to also get into the habit of calling to mind the
persecution of the prisoner and those suffering adversity.
Literally the word remember means not just to recall to
mind, but make it your habit to remember.
Why did Paul write this? Was it because that the church
had neglected to do this? Was it because the church had
forgotten the prisoners and those that were suffering
adversity? What he's really saying is
remember the prisoner, those suffering affliction and not
only bring that to your mind, but didn't get into the mental
habit. Let this mental habit
characterise your love. You see, remember has the idea
and the concept of keeping something in your mind and it's
more than just a a mere mental action.
It's getting into the habit of not forgetting.
It's a bit like remember 1690 or remember, as I love to say, the
Alamo, not when you recall that to mind, but to act upon it, to
make it your daily mental habit to be concerned and care for the
prisoner who's been persecuted for his faith and those that are
suffering affliction. Recall the prisoner for your his
faith to your mind and as a result, be willing to respond in
an appropriate manner. You see, the Hebrews that Paul
was writing to had experienced great persecution.
The local church had experienced a lot of painful suffering.
If you want a record of that, look at Hebrews chapter 10 and
it says there in the verse 32. But call to remembrance.
Remembrance The former days in which, after ye were
illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions, partly
whilst we were made a gazing stop, both by reproaches and
afflictions, and partly whilst ye became companions of them
that were so used. For ye had compassion of me and
my borns, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing
in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring
substance. He encouraged them in verse 35
of Hebrews 10. Cast not away your confidence.
You see, Paul knew where the prisoners were.
Paul could name them. In fact, he did name one of them
one of the church leaders by the name of Timothy.
Did you know Timothy was imprisoned for his faith?
It says there in the book of Hebrews 13 verse 23.
Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty with whom, if
he comes shortly, I will see you.
Timothy was known for his shyness.
He was known for his weakness bodily, but even he, as pastor
of the church at Ephesus, ended up in prison.
Now let me just point out very quickly, there's no such thing
as prisons in the 1st century funded by the taxpayer or
Majesty's government. They had no such thing as been
given gift of clothes or food or medicine or any reading or
writing material that was dependent on the family, that
was dependent on friends and supporters.
And friends and supporters not only had to think about the
prisoner, but rise to a level of care and compassion that
resulted in loving action. And that's what he means by the
word remember. Make sure you get into the habit
of not only thinking about them, but but mentally acting upon
that information. Not just remember them and
recall them to mine, but become concerned enough to act.
You know that at one time, during the persecutions of those
10 persecutions that I've mentioned, the pastor was put in
prison along with the church leaders.
The church people did everything that they could to secure the
release. They offered money, a large sum.
They visited the judge, they wrote letters and they
protested, and they were all denied.
And everyone in the congregation decided that they would take
turns when going to the prison. And at night they slept outside
the cell door of the jailhouse out of loving concern for the
pastor and for the church leaders.
Of course, that kind of love is mocked Now.
Not everyone was in prison. Thousands of others were
mistreated. And that's what he goes on to
tell us. If you look with me at verse 3,
it says and them which suffer adversity as being yourselves
also in the body, they suffered adversity.
What did they suffer for the sake of Christ and the gospel?
Let me illustrate. They come home from church and
their home was looted and ransacked and all their
possessions were gone, and there were soldiers standing outside.
Many of them, when they were in worship, had the service
interrupted by the soldiers coming in to stop the service.
See, we think of persecution today.
We think of low levels of persecution and this is bad.
Of course, people ordered to put away their Bibles either in the
open air or in the park. I I'm thinking of one pastor, a
pastor Mick Fleming, who has a Bible verse John 3 and 16 in the
camper van. He was approached there on the
27th of October just recently by a police officer and told that
that text of scripture could be considered hate speech and he
could be up on a hate crime charge and he better take it off
his van now. He's a pastor, he works with the
homeless, he's involved in charity.
The police have been contacted in a place called Burnley and
they have said, oh, the officer was just acting in an advisory
capacity. See, that's the type of thing
that's going on. People are told in the open air
to stop praying outside abortion clinics.
People are told to stop preaching in the open air
because someone's offended and it's hate speech.
That's why I'm back down at City Hall and trying to hold an open
air there. Courthouses in America, school
houses have been ordered to take down the 10 commandments.
And that's all a form of persecution.
But listen to me carefully. Vast majorities of Christians in
the Western world know little about the terrible persecutions
of Christians in places like Nigeria.
Did you know that thousands of Christian villages in plateaus
of Kaduna, in Benue, in Tarabe State, lion ruins, do you know
that whole families have been murdered, fathers, mothers and
children? Churches have been razed to the
ground, mass graves have been dug.
You see the the war in Nigeria, you, you'll not hear this in the
news. It's, it's not merely banditry.
It's not a farmer's conflict. I want to tell you what it is.
It's a systematic extermination of the Christians and it's
designed to break with this resistance and it's designed to
ethnic cleanse areas of Christian influence and to clear
land for the advancement of Islam.
Since the year 2009, almost 70,000 Christians have been
murdered. Did you know that 8000 were
murdered? 2023 to 2024 and I stood in this
pulpit in October in 2025 and told you that 2000 had just been
murdered in one day or 24 hour, 48 hour period.
And who's doing the killing? The murdering Boko Haram aligned
with ISIS, faluni militia groups.
And you know what it is? It's a corporate genocide and
the world is silent. You're not hearing it in BBC,
you're not hearing it in the ATV and we have to ask why.
I want to tell you it's not just about the killings, it's about
the kidnappings. Young girls, teenagers, taken
from their parents, sold into slavery, turned into slaves for
the pleasure of wicked men. The Democratic Republic of
Congo, there's fifteen such kidnappings per day.
It's a tool of fear, and the Western world has a machinery of
silence. The BBC conductor videos about
Donald Trump, but they can't declare the truth about what's
happening in Nigeria or Sudan or any other place.
Do you know that in Sudan, in late October 2025, a teaching
hospital in Khartoum was attacked.
Dozens of incubators became coffins for newborns.
A week long siege. They cut off the power supply to
the hospital. Soldiers in that hospital were
murdered in their bed, along with nurses and the elderly and
the babies. The death toll in Sudan of the
civil war which against another genocide, 400,000 mostly
Christians, kidnappings, deaths, The thrift of aid that's coming
into the country. You're giving your money and
aid's been supplied and they're stealing it to sell it.
The closure of churches, beheadings, limbs Hacked Off 4
and 5 little boys and girls in Malaysia in 2009.
Two thousand Muslim militants targeted Christian villages.
Pregnant ladies were murdered, pastors were murdered,
kidnappings. It was wanton murder.
There wasn't a word. Did you hear it in 2009?
Do you know that in India a pastor was attending a
conference, some missionary society, I believe it was.
His name was Pastor Graham Stains.
Hope I pronounced it right. His six year old son.
They were outside the conference venue and for some reason, don't
ask me why, maybe it was shooting money, maybe they
couldn't find accommodation, but they were sleeping in their car.
You know, the Islamists came along and they set it alight,
burnt them to death. I want to tell you, I know time
has gone, but it makes us uncomfortable.
It makes me uncomfortable telling you, but I've got to
tell you we have to discover there's a cost of following
Christ. And as I've said, the vast
majority in the Western world, in the Christian Church, myself
included, know so little about what's going on in the world.
We've become indifferent. We've become anaesthetized and
apathetic. It's not that long ago in
Indonesia, the beheaded 3 little girls at 6:30 in the morning
with their Bible heading to a Christian School.
And why did they behead them? Because they had a Bible.
If you were coming down the killing your road and told if
you carry that Bible down the road and it's seen you're going
to be beheaded, I wonder what you would do?
What would I do belonging to a Christian School?
Do you know, they took the heads of those girls and they found
them near a police station and they had a written warning in
one of the heads targeting hundreds of other Christian
teenagers. And you know who's funding
radical Islam and radical amounts throughout the Middle
East and in England and in America, And I'll tell you,
Saudi Arabia, you know that in parts of East Africa, Christians
are forced to go to Muslim schools because the government
refused to let them have their own Christian School.
And they have to learn surreal law and they have to learn to
read the Koran. See, here's a command to
identify with the prisoner. This is the procedure.
We have to think about it. I pray that the Lord will help
us. One final thing, our time has
really gone and you've been so patient.
The programme to be employed. Notice these words it says here
in the text has bound with them and then which suffer adversity
has been bound yourselves also in the body.
What can we do? We identify with these folks.
We can pray. Pray for the church leaders.
Pray for the people. Pray for the protection of
church property. Pray for faithful pastors.
Pray for the born again believers to have safety and,
and, and have strength. Pray for those Christian
families who are under pressure to convert to Islam.
Protest. Amen.
Cathy. Lobby the government.
Write a letter, sign a petition. Put something into the press.
Contact international bodies. What can I do?
Preach the gospel. Be faithful to the great truths
found in Christ. Christ was born for sinners.
Christ lived the sinless life for sinners.
Christ died in atoning death for sinners.
Christ called sinners to repentance and faith.
Christ arose bodily from the dead and defeated sin and hell
in the grave. Christ is coming.
We're living in light of the trumpet.
The Bible says to whom the sun sets free, he shall be free
indeed. The end of World War One, World
War 2, they let the prisoners of warless.
Let's pray for the release of the prisoners held fast in
bondage to the devil. And we can also practise our
faith. We can give, we've already given
some money for the pencil cases and there's about 100 maybe in
50 of them. Now it'll go out to the land of
the Philippines. We could follow open doors.
I I just got brother Mark to help me to go into their website
stay informed and updated Voice of the martyrs international
Christian concern. We can identify with God's
people and as I close tonight identify with the Saviour.
Look at this verse as we finish it says in verse 20.
Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead.
Our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep through
the blood of the everlasting covenant, think of him who's the
shepherd of the sheep. Think of what he did, how he
suffered for us without the gate.
A perfect substitute, surety, sin, bearer, sin offering,
sacrifice and Saviour. Remember, we're all sinners.
You're a Sinner tonight if you're not saved, you've all a
soul more important than anything that this world can
buy. And you need a saviour tonight
and there is a saviour Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and you
can be saved if you come and repentance and faith in Christ.
We thank God for our freedoms, but what about the gospel?
Freedom has the sunset you free, you say?
I want to tell you young people tonight, many of you are not
here. The church is not boring.
I want to tell you, people have tell me that the church means
nothing and stands for nothing. Well I want to tell you this
church is different. We're going to practise what we
preach. We're going to pray and protest
God helping us. This is the programme I believe
to be employed as we remember the prisoners.
May the Lord take these few thoughts and bless them to our
hearts.