WEBVTT 00:00:07.839 --> 00:00:09.679 Well good evening, Church. 00:00:10.480 --> 00:00:11.119 Good evening. 00:00:11.199 --> 00:00:12.160 It's good to be with you. 00:00:12.720 --> 00:00:19.839 First of all, before I say anything else, I want to I want to thank Pastor Jesse and Pastor Ryan for just giving me the opportunity to be out here. 00:00:20.160 --> 00:00:21.760 It's always a privilege to be with you. 00:00:22.000 --> 00:00:23.760 I've really grown to love this church. 00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:32.799 I was actually just telling someone a few days ago, one of your teens, that uh should I I join the mass exodus that is currently leaving California right now. 00:00:33.039 --> 00:00:35.520 Uh and I somehow ended up in Northern Virginia. 00:00:35.759 --> 00:00:38.560 It's good to know that there's a church for me here. 00:00:38.799 --> 00:00:40.079 And so I want to thank you for that. 00:00:40.159 --> 00:00:46.240 You guys have always been so welcoming, and I'm especially grateful tonight to Jesse for giving me the opportunity to share God's word with you. 00:00:46.320 --> 00:00:48.079 That is that is always a privilege. 00:00:48.320 --> 00:00:49.920 Uh we had a great time this week. 00:00:50.000 --> 00:00:52.000 Uh I loved being with your teens. 00:00:52.079 --> 00:01:05.120 We got to look at the book of Judges for four sessions, looking at uh the the darkness of sin, how awful it is, how devastating sin is in our lives, how destructive it is. 00:01:05.359 --> 00:01:16.719 But but really, I hope what they would take away from it is that against the backdrop of human sin and how destructive it is, we see the magnitude of God's grace. 00:01:17.200 --> 00:01:26.799 That no matter how bad our sin is, no matter how far away from God we run, no matter how steeped in our rebellion we are, God continues to have grace for us. 00:01:27.040 --> 00:01:32.719 And so we had a great time this weeking, just again and again and again being reminded of the gospel. 00:01:33.519 --> 00:01:45.920 And this evening, uh my desire to for you tonight is that we would be reminded that the gospel, it does come at a cost, but it's a cost that is well worth paying. 00:01:46.640 --> 00:01:53.920 It was uh on May 10th, in 1983, that Alexander Soltsinitsyn gave a speech upon receiving the Templeton Prize. 00:01:54.000 --> 00:02:01.120 It's a prize which uh celebrates the application of science and technology to answering some of the deepest questions in life. 00:02:01.359 --> 00:02:16.479 And Soltsinitsyn, you might be aware, he he wrote the Gulag Archipelago, in which he he chronicled some of his experiences having been in a communist gulag for years and the the the terrible uh things that he saw. 00:02:16.560 --> 00:02:27.360 And and in that speech he's trying to he's trying to explain, he's trying to explain how something so evil and so vile like that could even come about. 00:02:27.439 --> 00:02:30.719 And he and he says a statement that I find I've found so profound. 00:02:30.879 --> 00:02:33.360 He says this, this is his explanation. 00:02:33.840 --> 00:02:36.319 He says, Men have forgotten God. 00:02:36.800 --> 00:02:39.199 That's why all this has happened. 00:02:39.439 --> 00:02:49.120 Today's world has reached a state which, if it had been described to preceding centuries, would have called forth the cry, This is the apocalypse. 00:02:50.800 --> 00:02:56.319 And then he says this, then he says, Yet we have grown used to this kind of world. 00:02:56.719 --> 00:02:59.280 We even feel at home in it. 00:03:00.560 --> 00:03:03.439 He said those words 40 years ago. 00:03:04.560 --> 00:03:10.800 Can you imagine what he would say today if he looked out across the landscape of our of our country? 00:03:11.840 --> 00:03:23.280 I think sometimes as Christians, we we look at the society that we live in, we look at the culture that we are part of, and I think at times it can certainly feel as though we are in the midst of the apocalypse. 00:03:23.439 --> 00:03:31.759 It feels as though the world is being turned upside down, as though our culture is completely backwards, as though everything that that ought to be has been inverted. 00:03:32.240 --> 00:03:35.039 Right is wrong, good is evil. 00:03:35.199 --> 00:03:50.800 I think it's a generation we live in that the prophet Isaiah would have said these words to Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. 00:03:52.159 --> 00:03:58.879 I I think as plainly as we've ever been able to see it, we see that men and do indeed love the darkness rather than the light. 00:04:01.599 --> 00:04:10.879 And yet I I think that Soltsenitsin uh he's cognizant that there's there's a danger there. 00:04:11.360 --> 00:04:19.759 And I think there's a danger even for Christians living in this kind of backwards culture, and that's that we would we would begin to feel at home in it. 00:04:20.639 --> 00:04:26.000 That we would grow accustomed to the the backwardness of it all. 00:04:26.160 --> 00:04:32.639 That that because this place is, in a sense, our home, it would begin to feel like home, and we would grow comfortable. 00:04:33.360 --> 00:04:38.879 And I think we have to realize that the comfort for a Christian can be a very dangerous thing. 00:04:39.199 --> 00:04:44.639 Comfort for a Christian can be a very dangerous thing because I think that comfort can become an idol. 00:04:46.240 --> 00:05:02.319 And I think though this isn't historically true, I think for the church in America, this is really the first time where Christianity wasn't broadly acceptable to society, where Judeo-Christian values weren't generally accepted by the greater population. 00:05:02.560 --> 00:05:14.959 For the really the first time in our short history, it's becoming increasingly uncomfortable to be a Christian who stands upon the Word of God, who believes every word that God has given us in the scriptures. 00:05:17.279 --> 00:05:27.839 And I think what we see so often is that Christians have have grown so used to being comfortable that they're willing to compromise to maintain it. 00:05:29.519 --> 00:05:35.920 I think that's one of the dangers when comfort becomes an idol in your life is that it will tempt you to compromise. 00:05:36.879 --> 00:05:41.279 And I imagine if we're honest, we've all been tempted to compromise in this way. 00:05:41.439 --> 00:05:46.879 Maybe it's the temptation to keep silent when those those hot button issues pop up. 00:05:47.040 --> 00:05:52.639 Something that you know that God's word speaks to, but that you know the other person in the conversation won't appreciate. 00:05:53.040 --> 00:06:02.160 Maybe it's the temptation to avoid those hard questions and the natural ire that will be returned towards you if you give a biblical answer. 00:06:02.560 --> 00:06:10.879 Maybe it's the temptation to give half answers, to to share the the pleasant part of the truth, but but not so much the unpleasant parts of the truth. 00:06:12.399 --> 00:06:19.040 I think there's a temptation to avoid the shame that comes with following Jesus. 00:06:20.560 --> 00:06:26.959 I think it's a temptation that will only increase as time goes by. 00:06:28.319 --> 00:06:37.040 You know, this letter, the the epistle to the Hebrews, was written to a congregation that I don't think is all that different from where we find ourselves today. 00:06:37.199 --> 00:06:47.120 This was a young group of believers, fresh converts who had come out of Judaism, and they are beginning to feel the cost of following Jesus. 00:06:47.600 --> 00:07:02.079 We know that he's writing this letter to a group of people who are who are wondering, who are wondering whether a life of discipleship to the Lord Jesus Christ is really worth it, because they're they're starting to feel the squeeze of social persecution. 00:07:02.319 --> 00:07:09.040 Some of them have been ridiculed in public, some of them have felt that public scorn that comes along with standing for truth. 00:07:09.279 --> 00:07:15.360 Some of them have even had their possessions taken from them, some have even been thrown in prison. 00:07:16.079 --> 00:07:26.480 And as he writes this letter, he writes to a group of believers that are struggling, that are wrestling with doubt, and they're wondering if it wouldn't be worth it to just go back. 00:07:27.759 --> 00:07:39.759 They're beginning to wonder if they've made a mistake, if it's worth it to follow Jesus, if it's worth it to pay the cost that comes when you carry your cross. 00:07:40.240 --> 00:07:42.000 And so they're being tempted to go back. 00:07:42.079 --> 00:07:44.639 And we see this even in chapter 13 of the book of Hebrews. 00:07:44.720 --> 00:07:47.040 And you can go ahead and flip there if you haven't already. 00:07:48.079 --> 00:07:52.720 But in Hebrews chapter 13, we see this command that the author gives in verse 9. 00:07:52.800 --> 00:07:53.279 He says this. 00:07:53.360 --> 00:07:57.759 He says, Do not be led astray by diverse and strange teachings. 00:07:57.920 --> 00:08:04.240 For it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them. 00:08:04.399 --> 00:08:20.800 It seems as though one of the things that was being, that was a temptation to these young believers, is to go back and to participate in those ritual meals in Judaism that had been for the people of for the Jewish people a means of grace. 00:08:21.040 --> 00:08:22.480 I I think it's it's something like this. 00:08:22.639 --> 00:08:24.000 The idea is that you know what? 00:08:24.319 --> 00:08:41.679 You can keep your Christian faith, but if you'll just be a little more accommodating to the beliefs of those around you, if you'll participate with them, if you'll be a little more tolerant, if you'll if you'll be more accepting of what they believe, then it'll be easier for them to accept you. 00:08:44.799 --> 00:08:47.519 In some ways, I think it's parallel to the temptation we feel today. 00:08:47.600 --> 00:08:53.600 If you would just be a little more tolerant, people wouldn't be so mad at you all the time. 00:08:54.960 --> 00:09:02.639 If we could just be more accommodating to the beliefs and the practices of the culture around us, we'd be more acceptable to society. 00:09:02.799 --> 00:09:07.120 Because today, really, it seems like the only sin is to call sin. 00:09:09.600 --> 00:09:10.000 Right? 00:09:10.080 --> 00:09:14.320 The only thing that can't be tolerated is to be intolerant. 00:09:16.000 --> 00:09:18.080 I think these believers were feeling the same thing. 00:09:18.240 --> 00:09:41.360 They had family and friends and coworkers who were pressuring them to give in just a little bit to the society around them, to just adopt just uh just some of the customs of the people around them so that they could be a little more acceptable, a little less anti-cultural, and they're wondering if it would be worth it to avoid the ire and the scorn and the shame and the persecution that they're beginning to face. 00:09:43.120 --> 00:09:50.080 And so this author writes this letter because he has a message to these young believers. 00:09:51.440 --> 00:09:53.440 And his message is simple. 00:09:54.240 --> 00:09:55.840 Jesus is better. 00:09:56.799 --> 00:10:00.480 And his message in our passage tonight is also simple. 00:10:01.200 --> 00:10:03.519 He says to go outside the camp. 00:10:04.240 --> 00:10:06.080 To go outside the camp. 00:10:06.399 --> 00:10:07.759 Let's read these verses together. 00:10:07.919 --> 00:10:09.519 Hebrews chapter 13. 00:10:09.759 --> 00:10:12.240 I'll begin reading in verse 10. 00:10:12.960 --> 00:10:22.399 Hebrews chapter 16, beginning in verse 10, the author writes, We have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat. 00:10:22.799 --> 00:10:31.120 For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp. 00:10:31.759 --> 00:10:38.399 So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. 00:10:39.200 --> 00:10:46.159 Therefore, let us go to him outside the camp, and bear the reproach he endured. 00:10:46.559 --> 00:10:52.159 For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. 00:10:53.120 --> 00:11:02.000 Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is the fruit of lifts that acknowledge his name. 00:11:02.320 --> 00:11:08.559 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God. 00:11:10.159 --> 00:11:20.240 You can see the central command, and this is really, in many ways, the final ultimate exhortation that this author of the Hebrews is giving to these believers. 00:11:20.399 --> 00:11:21.759 This is how he closes his message. 00:11:21.919 --> 00:11:28.559 One last appeal to them to hold fast to Jesus, to not go back, to not capitulate to the culture. 00:11:29.039 --> 00:11:30.960 In his command, we see it in verse 13. 00:11:31.039 --> 00:11:35.279 It's this it's let us go to him outside the camp. 00:11:36.480 --> 00:11:44.879 Now, if we had been walking through the book of Hebrews from the beginning, we would see that this is a this is a rhetorical strategy that the author has been using from the beginning. 00:11:45.039 --> 00:11:56.559 He often uses space and location and movement as a as a way to describe the Christian life, as a metaphor for discipleship. 00:11:56.799 --> 00:12:07.120 In chapter 4, he calls his listeners to strive to enter into that rest, that rest that is only found in faithfulness to God. 00:12:07.360 --> 00:12:15.679 In chapter 11, he calls believers to emulate Abraham, who went out to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents. 00:12:16.320 --> 00:12:24.559 In chapter 11, he writes of those saints of whom the world was not worthy, who were wandering about in deserts and mountains and in caves of the earth. 00:12:24.799 --> 00:12:29.360 And so often his focus, his focus is where these believers are going. 00:12:30.000 --> 00:12:37.120 Chapter 10, verse 19, he says that they are to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus. 00:12:37.519 --> 00:12:45.039 In chapter 4, he exhorts them to draw near to the throne of grace, to find mercy and help in a time of need. 00:12:45.360 --> 00:12:53.039 In chapter 6, he tells them to leave the elementary doctrine of Christ behind and to go on to maturity. 00:12:53.600 --> 00:13:09.919 Repeatedly throughout the book, he calls us to draw near, to draw near to God, to draw near to God, to enter into the presence of God because of the access, the unfettered, amazing access to God that we have been given through the blood of Jesus Christ. 00:13:10.000 --> 00:13:16.399 So time and time he says to them, approach the throne, draw near, enter into the holy places. 00:13:17.200 --> 00:13:22.480 And I think that's what makes the exhortation in chapter 13, verse 13 so strange. 00:13:23.519 --> 00:13:28.879 Because for the entire book, he's been telling them to go in, to go in, to enter, to draw near. 00:13:29.039 --> 00:13:32.000 And he closes his book by saying to go outside. 00:13:33.039 --> 00:13:35.360 To go outside the camp. 00:13:36.399 --> 00:13:46.559 One scholar remarks, he says the author has structured this homily, this message in such a way that one would have expected it to reach its climax in a call to enter. 00:13:47.279 --> 00:13:50.480 Yet instead he calls his listeners to exit. 00:13:51.919 --> 00:13:59.200 And it's true that this apparent change in direction has confused a lot of commentators and a lot of scholars over the years. 00:14:00.000 --> 00:14:16.159 Early on, the Jewish commentator Philo saw on this, because he was so heavily influenced by Neoplatonic philosophy, he saw this as a command to to allow the spirit to transcend the physical body, to reach enlightenment and salvation. 00:14:16.480 --> 00:14:29.120 Other, even more recent commentators believe that the author of Hebrews is calling Christians to reject sacred spaces, to reject the holy places, and to embrace the secular, literally to embrace the world. 00:14:30.080 --> 00:14:31.440 Which I think is strange. 00:14:31.679 --> 00:14:36.559 I think that John would have something to say to that, like, do not love the world or the things in the world. 00:14:38.000 --> 00:14:53.200 But you see, I think what I think both these both these commentators get wrong is they miss the the weight that that phrase outside the camp would have carried to a group of people who were very familiar with their Old Testament. 00:14:53.600 --> 00:14:55.919 Remember, these were Jewish converts. 00:14:56.080 --> 00:14:58.080 They had been steeped in Judaism all their lives. 00:14:58.159 --> 00:15:07.360 They were familiar with the Old Testament, and though the phrase outside the camp is not found anywhere else outside of this passage in the New Testament, it's all over the place in the Old Testament. 00:15:08.000 --> 00:15:13.440 And so I think if we'll go back to the Old Testament, we can see what exactly the author is describing for us. 00:15:13.679 --> 00:15:20.000 The phrase is used 29 times in the Old Testament, almost all of those in the first five books of the Bible. 00:15:21.200 --> 00:15:41.440 Once it's used in the book of Joshua, but otherwise it's always used in the Torah, in the first five books of the Bible, and predominantly in the books of Leviticus and Numbers, in those, in those passages, in those texts that describe the Levitical system and the sacrificial system that tell the people of Israel what it takes to remain in the presence of God. 00:15:43.519 --> 00:15:48.320 Occasionally it's used in a maybe a positive sense. 00:15:49.120 --> 00:15:56.480 Moses is commanded to move the tent of meeting outside the camp, and there he goes to meet with God and to speak to God. 00:15:56.720 --> 00:16:06.320 It's there that the seventy elders of Israel who are called and selected, they go out to the tent of meeting and they are consecrated, and the Spirit comes upon them and they begin to prophesy. 00:16:06.559 --> 00:16:19.519 But I think even in those cases, the greater context reminds us that the reason that the tent of meeting was moved outside the camp is because the nation of Israel had built a golden calf, an idol that they were worshiping. 00:16:19.600 --> 00:16:23.919 And so it's probably, it's probably more an act of judgment than anything else. 00:16:24.639 --> 00:16:34.720 So no matter how you understand the way that those passages use the phrase, predominantly, when it is used, it's used in a very negative sense. 00:16:36.159 --> 00:16:40.159 Outside the camp is the place of death. 00:16:40.399 --> 00:16:54.240 Remember the nation of Israel in the wilderness on their wilderness wanderings, and even in the city of Jerusalem, they they operated on a spatial gradation of holiness. 00:16:54.720 --> 00:16:59.600 The presence of God was in the center of the camp, and that was the holiest place in the holy of holies. 00:16:59.679 --> 00:17:11.119 And then you move out a little further and you're in the holy place, and then you move out a little further and you're in the tabernacle, and then you move out a little further and you're in the greater camp of Israel, and then you move all the way out, and you're outside the camp. 00:17:11.200 --> 00:17:14.319 It's as far away from the presence of God as you can get. 00:17:14.960 --> 00:17:24.480 Because nothing unclean, nothing impure, nothing that is marred by the stain of sin can dwell in the presence of God. 00:17:24.880 --> 00:17:27.359 And so outside the camp, it's the place of death. 00:17:27.440 --> 00:17:40.799 And we see, even in our passage in chapter 10, we see that it's outside the camp, or in verse 11, excuse me, where the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned. 00:17:40.960 --> 00:17:43.200 They're burned outside the camp. 00:17:44.000 --> 00:17:57.359 So the idea is that as the Israelites would bring sacrifices to the temple, to the tabernacle, those sacrifices would be altered and the blood would be spilled, and that blood would be used to sanctify the people, to make atonement for sin. 00:17:57.839 --> 00:18:14.160 And certain sacrifices, parts of the animal would be used to feed the priests or to enjoy a meal in the presence of God to signify that there was peace between God and man because of the sacrifice, but the rest of the animal would be taken outside the camp and it would be burned. 00:18:15.519 --> 00:18:18.880 Because outside the camp was the place of death. 00:18:19.599 --> 00:18:27.680 Outside the camp was where the skin and the flesh of the bull that had been offered as a sin offering were taken, and they were burned outside the camp. 00:18:27.839 --> 00:18:41.119 In Leviticus chapter 4, verse 12, we see that the skin of the bull and its flesh and its head, its legs, its entrails, and its dung, all the rest of the bull, everything not used in the sacrifice, was taken outside the camp and burned. 00:18:41.440 --> 00:18:52.319 The idea seems to be that because sin is so serious, that the body of the animal that became the sacrifice for sin could not stay in the camp of Israel. 00:18:52.559 --> 00:18:57.680 It had to be removed into the outer places outside the camp. 00:18:58.240 --> 00:19:01.680 Outside the camp was also the place of impurity. 00:19:02.240 --> 00:19:13.759 It was outside the camp, the camp, where those Israelites who had some sort of ritual uncleanness, some sort of ritual purity, were cast out until they became ritually unclean. 00:19:14.000 --> 00:19:30.400 So when Aaron's sons, Nadab and Abihu, offer strange fire to the Lord and they're consumed, Moses commands his cousins to drag their bodies and their corpses out away from the sanctuary, because corpses were a source of uncleanness, and so they could not stay in the camp. 00:19:30.640 --> 00:19:32.799 So they were moved outside the camp. 00:19:33.039 --> 00:19:42.720 In his regulations for lepers in Leviticus 13, the Lord instructs Moses that the one who is found to have leprosy shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease. 00:19:43.119 --> 00:19:46.799 His dwelling place shall be outside the camp. 00:19:47.680 --> 00:19:50.720 Because leprosy was a source of uncleanness. 00:19:50.960 --> 00:19:57.440 And so that person, the leper, could no longer dwell near the presence of God amongst the people of God. 00:19:57.759 --> 00:20:01.920 He was relegated outside the camp, the place of impurity. 00:20:02.160 --> 00:20:14.319 Any Israelite who had been rendered unclean by a nocturnal omission must go outside the camp until evening of that day, and then he could be rendered clean by a ritual washing, and he could re-enter the camp. 00:20:15.200 --> 00:20:26.880 Leviticus chapter six, verse eleven, we see that even the priests' linen garments, rendered unclean when the priests handle the ashes of the burnt offering, their garments were to be put outside the camp. 00:20:27.759 --> 00:20:33.039 And so outside the camp is a place of impurity, it's a place of uncleanness, it's a place of death. 00:20:33.680 --> 00:20:36.240 It's not the place that you want to be. 00:20:36.960 --> 00:20:39.279 It's also the place of judgment. 00:20:39.759 --> 00:20:47.920 In Numbers chapter 15, verse 35, it's there that the people of Israel are instructed to stone a man who is guilty of gathering sticks on the Sabbath. 00:20:48.319 --> 00:20:50.799 They're to stone him outside the camp. 00:20:51.039 --> 00:20:55.279 Leviticus chapter 24, verse 14, they stone a man who has blasphemed the name. 00:20:55.359 --> 00:20:57.440 They stone him outside the camp. 00:20:57.759 --> 00:21:07.839 Numbers chapter 31, verses 13 through 18, we see that the Israelites they are instructed to slaughter Midianite men and Midianite women who had been brought back as spoils of war. 00:21:08.079 --> 00:21:12.400 It's an act of judgment and it's to be done outside the camp. 00:21:14.559 --> 00:21:24.720 So outside the camp is a place that is associated with death, with uncleanness, with judgment, shame. 00:21:25.920 --> 00:21:31.920 If you're an Israelite, outside the camp is not the place you want to be. 00:21:33.680 --> 00:21:42.799 So you can imagine this young congregation of Jewish converts reading this exhortation to go outside the camp. 00:21:42.960 --> 00:21:45.039 And it would have been shocking to them. 00:21:45.440 --> 00:21:51.200 Because they'd grown up all their lives thinking that outside the camp was the one place that they did not want to end up. 00:21:52.240 --> 00:21:55.119 And yet that is where God calls them to go. 00:21:55.440 --> 00:21:59.839 And so I think we need to ask ourselves the question why does he call them to go outside? 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:01.119 Outside the camp. 00:22:01.359 --> 00:22:18.160 Why does he call this young group of believers to go outside the camp if that is the place of shame, if that's the place of rejection, if that's the place of separation from the people of God, if that's the place of judgment, the place of death, the place of impurity, why does he want them to go outside the camp? 00:22:19.359 --> 00:22:21.440 I think the answer is simple. 00:22:22.400 --> 00:22:24.000 It's because Jesus is there. 00:22:25.920 --> 00:22:27.039 It's because Jesus is there. 00:22:27.200 --> 00:22:28.079 Look at verse 13. 00:22:28.240 --> 00:22:33.839 Therefore, let us go to him outside the camp. 00:22:34.559 --> 00:22:37.519 Let us go to him outside the camp. 00:22:37.759 --> 00:22:42.640 I think we need to recognize the transition that happens from verse 12 to verse 13. 00:22:42.799 --> 00:22:44.000 Something significant. 00:22:44.640 --> 00:23:02.720 Something significant has developed in the author's mind in verses 11 and 12 that leads him in verse 13 to say, therefore, in light of what I've just said, in light of the connection that I've just made, in light of the historical redemptive significance of what I've just said, you need to go outside the camp. 00:23:03.680 --> 00:23:07.599 So what is it, what is the what is it that's happened that is so significant? 00:23:07.759 --> 00:23:09.680 And we see it in verse 12. 00:23:11.680 --> 00:23:17.359 So Jesus also suffered outside the gate. 00:23:28.160 --> 00:23:40.720 In the real historical event of Jesus the Messiah being marched outside the city of Jerusalem to be crucified on a cross to pay for the sins of his people. 00:23:42.319 --> 00:23:46.880 You see, what he's saying is Jesus was marched outside the camp. 00:23:47.039 --> 00:23:56.960 Jesus was taken to the place of impurity and uncleanness and judgment and sin and death because Jesus became sin on our behalf. 00:23:57.920 --> 00:24:02.400 Jesus absorbed the shame and the guilt that was ours. 00:24:02.640 --> 00:24:06.160 Jesus was treated as a sinner, even though he had never sinned. 00:24:06.240 --> 00:24:16.559 And so when Jesus hung on the cross, he became the unclean, impure sinner that he was not. 00:24:19.440 --> 00:24:29.920 What the author of Hebrews is saying is that Jesus, in order to accomplish our redemption, he had to go to that place of judgment. 00:24:30.559 --> 00:24:33.039 He had to go to that place of shame. 00:24:33.680 --> 00:24:37.680 He had to be scorned and rejected and despised by men. 00:24:40.960 --> 00:24:43.759 He had to do all of that for us. 00:24:44.640 --> 00:24:52.079 You see, the reality is that all of us were outside the camp, and Jesus had to go outside the camp so that we could come in. 00:24:53.519 --> 00:25:01.759 The author's earlier exhortations to draw near to the throne of grace, to enter the throne room of God are only possible because Jesus went out. 00:25:02.799 --> 00:25:05.519 He went outside the camp so that we could come in. 00:25:07.359 --> 00:25:16.319 And so what the author's saying is, you too need to go outside the camp, because that's where Jesus is, and that's where salvation is. 00:25:16.640 --> 00:25:22.000 He went outside the camp in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. 00:25:22.480 --> 00:25:28.880 I think it's a reference to the Day of Atonement ceremony in which two goats would have been brought as an offering. 00:25:29.119 --> 00:25:39.599 One goat, the priest, the high priest, would lay his hand on, and on it he would confess the sins of the people, and then that goat would be sent outside the camp, out into the wilderness, bearing the sins of the people. 00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:46.559 And then the second goat would be slaughtered, and its blood would be used to sanctify the people from their sin. 00:25:46.640 --> 00:25:55.599 And the remains of that goat and the remains of the bull that had been used to sanctify and consecrate the holy place, they would have been taken outside the camp and they would have been burned. 00:25:55.759 --> 00:25:59.359 But that was the way that sin was atoned for. 00:25:59.599 --> 00:26:01.359 That was the way that sin was dealt with. 00:26:01.440 --> 00:26:11.359 And the author of Hebrews is saying the temple, the tabernacle, animals, blood sacrifice, and altar, those things are no longer the way that we deal with our sin. 00:26:13.039 --> 00:26:17.279 The place of atonement is no longer the tabernacle, it's now a person. 00:26:17.920 --> 00:26:23.039 And so if you want your sin to be dealt with, you have to go to him outside the camp. 00:26:24.319 --> 00:26:28.319 He says, Go outside the camp because that's where Jesus is. 00:26:28.640 --> 00:26:29.839 That's where he is. 00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:31.839 He is outside the camp. 00:26:33.200 --> 00:26:40.000 You see the temple and all its sacrifices, all its rituals, all of it pointed to a better sacrifice. 00:26:40.240 --> 00:26:54.960 Hebrews chapter 9, verses 24 through 26, for Christ has entered not into the holy places made by hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. 00:26:55.359 --> 00:27:05.359 Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood, not his own, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. 00:27:05.599 --> 00:27:14.640 But as it is, he has appeared once for all, at the end of the age, to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. 00:27:18.480 --> 00:27:27.920 Jesus went outside the camp and gave his body as a sacrifice on our behalf. 00:27:29.359 --> 00:27:35.839 His blood was shed, and it is that shed blood that makes atonement for our sins. 00:27:37.519 --> 00:27:42.960 Because the author of Hebrews has already told us that without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. 00:27:44.160 --> 00:27:46.960 The ancient Israelites understood that. 00:27:47.359 --> 00:27:53.359 Because every year, year after year after year, they would offer animal after animal after animal. 00:27:53.680 --> 00:28:00.079 And the very nature of these repeated sacrifices reminded them that the blood of bulls and goats could never take away sin. 00:28:01.680 --> 00:28:06.799 But when Jesus came, he offered a once-for-all sacrifice. 00:28:08.000 --> 00:28:14.240 And with that one sacrifice, he paid for the sins of his people completely and fully. 00:28:14.480 --> 00:28:17.759 Nothing left to be paid, nothing left to be done. 00:28:19.599 --> 00:28:25.759 And the author to the Hebrews is reminding this young congregation, wondering if following Jesus is worth it. 00:28:25.839 --> 00:28:30.319 He's telling them, look, following Jesus is worth it. 00:28:30.640 --> 00:28:33.839 Because only with Jesus is there salvation. 00:28:34.720 --> 00:28:38.000 Only with Jesus is there atonement for your sins. 00:28:38.240 --> 00:28:40.640 Only with Jesus is there sanctification. 00:28:40.880 --> 00:28:44.559 Only with Jesus is there forgiveness of sins in new life. 00:28:46.240 --> 00:28:51.519 If you turn your back on Jesus, you forfeit all his benefits. 00:28:52.880 --> 00:28:57.359 And so you must go to him where he is, outside the camp. 00:28:57.759 --> 00:28:59.839 Because that's where salvation was wrought. 00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:01.599 That's where atonement was made. 00:29:01.759 --> 00:29:07.359 And so we go outside the camp because that's where Jesus is, and that's where salvation is. 00:29:10.880 --> 00:29:12.079 I don't know all of you. 00:29:12.480 --> 00:29:13.519 I'm from a different place. 00:29:13.599 --> 00:29:22.000 I'm from a faraway land called California, a strange, strange land that's even more backwards than everybody else's. 00:29:23.200 --> 00:29:24.880 So I don't know all of you. 00:29:24.960 --> 00:29:25.839 I don't know where you're from. 00:29:26.160 --> 00:29:28.240 I don't know why you're here tonight. 00:29:28.640 --> 00:29:30.960 I don't know what you think about everything that I'm saying. 00:29:31.119 --> 00:29:32.640 I just want you to know this. 00:29:33.279 --> 00:29:38.880 If you're here tonight and you have never put your faith in Jesus Christ, then you are this very moment lost in your sin. 00:29:40.240 --> 00:29:44.240 Because the Bible tells us that every single one of us, we were born sinners by nature. 00:29:44.400 --> 00:29:47.519 We have proved that we are sinners by choosing to sin. 00:29:49.119 --> 00:30:00.480 And because a holy God resides in heaven, a holy God who created this world and who created us to be His and to serve Him, because He is holy, He cannot stand the sight of sin. 00:30:00.559 --> 00:30:06.400 And so all of us, sinners by nature and sinners by choice, we cannot be in the presence of God. 00:30:08.240 --> 00:30:10.880 And one day our sin will be judged. 00:30:13.599 --> 00:30:18.720 If you are here tonight and you have not put your faith in Jesus, then you stand under the wrath of God. 00:30:19.039 --> 00:30:21.839 A holy God who will deal with your sin. 00:30:24.640 --> 00:30:34.799 But you see the good news that the author of Hebrews is trying to drive home to these believers and to us is that when you put your faith in Jesus, then your sin has been dealt with. 00:30:35.359 --> 00:30:36.480 Past tense. 00:30:37.359 --> 00:30:39.519 Once for all sacrifice. 00:30:50.480 --> 00:30:55.680 He went to the place of death, the place of shame, the place of uncleanness, the place of judgment. 00:30:55.839 --> 00:31:00.000 He did it all on your behalf so that you would not have to suffer that fate. 00:31:00.240 --> 00:31:02.720 So that you would not have to suffer the judgment of God. 00:31:02.880 --> 00:31:04.799 So that you would not have to suffer the wrath of God. 00:31:04.960 --> 00:31:06.640 Jesus did that for you. 00:31:06.880 --> 00:31:20.160 And if you even this very night would put your faith in him and turn away from your sin, you can receive the salvation, the atonement, the sanctification that he purchased on the cross outside the camp. 00:31:23.039 --> 00:31:25.440 That's the free offer of the gospel. 00:31:26.720 --> 00:31:29.119 We sang about it in songs tonight. 00:31:29.519 --> 00:31:35.759 When we survey that wondrous cross, it reminds us of what Jesus has done for us. 00:31:37.519 --> 00:31:38.079 Right? 00:31:38.400 --> 00:31:47.680 No list of sins I have not done, no list of virtues I've pursued, no list of those I am not like could earn myself a place with you. 00:31:49.119 --> 00:31:52.240 My righteousness is Jesus Christ. 00:31:53.839 --> 00:31:57.599 My debt was paid with Jesus' death. 00:31:58.559 --> 00:32:04.400 My weary load was borne by him, and he alone shall give me rest. 00:32:07.839 --> 00:32:10.720 We go outside the camp because that's where Jesus is. 00:32:11.759 --> 00:32:13.279 That's where salvation is. 00:32:14.240 --> 00:32:24.880 The free gift, the free offer, the gracious offer of forgiveness of sin and everlasting life in the presence of God, beholding the face of Jesus Christ. 00:32:25.039 --> 00:32:32.640 That face that Pastor Jesse talked about earlier, that face that as we behold him, we become like him, day after day, from one degree of glory to another. 00:32:32.799 --> 00:32:38.960 There will come a day when believers in Jesus will finally be like him because we will see him as he is. 00:32:41.279 --> 00:32:47.279 All that can be yours if tonight you put your faith in Christ and you go outside the camp. 00:32:52.640 --> 00:33:04.960 The reason the author of Hebrews is telling us this and those believers this truth is because when you go to Jesus outside the camp, it does mean that you have to leave the city behind. 00:33:07.039 --> 00:33:11.839 It means you have to be prepared to leave your comfort behind. 00:33:12.799 --> 00:33:18.559 To leave that which is familiar to you behind, to leave your reputation behind. 00:33:20.079 --> 00:33:25.279 It means you have to be willing to leave your life behind to go outside the camp. 00:33:26.319 --> 00:33:35.200 Because he also says that when we are to go to him outside the camp, verse 13, we go there and we bear the reproach that he endured. 00:33:35.599 --> 00:33:37.440 We bear the reproach that he endured. 00:33:37.519 --> 00:33:39.519 So what is it that we do outside the camp? 00:33:39.680 --> 00:33:42.400 We bear the reproach that Jesus bore. 00:33:42.720 --> 00:33:50.240 In Hebrews chapter 12, verse 2, that we're told that for the joy set before him, Jesus endured the cross, scorning its shame. 00:33:50.319 --> 00:33:53.839 That word scorning can have the idea of giving no regard to. 00:33:56.000 --> 00:33:58.000 And we're to do the same thing. 00:33:58.319 --> 00:34:03.759 We are to endure the reproach that Jesus endured. 00:34:04.079 --> 00:34:05.119 We're to bear it. 00:34:05.279 --> 00:34:10.000 And I would even say, the author of Hebrews would say, we're to embrace it. 00:34:12.159 --> 00:34:26.719 I think far too often our response to the ire of the world, our response to the rejection of the world, our response to that social pressure is to try and maneuver and manipulate to get away from it, to avoid it. 00:34:26.960 --> 00:34:29.760 And that's why we don't always speak up when we should. 00:34:29.840 --> 00:34:33.280 That's why we we try to couch things in more gentle terms. 00:34:33.440 --> 00:34:36.800 That's why we're, that's why we feel the temptation to compromise. 00:34:37.039 --> 00:34:39.119 Because we don't want the reproach. 00:34:40.159 --> 00:34:45.440 And the author of Hebrews says, rather than run away from it, you need to embrace it. 00:34:45.920 --> 00:34:47.920 Because that's what Jesus did. 00:34:48.719 --> 00:34:51.760 We're to bear the reproach that Jesus endured. 00:34:52.000 --> 00:34:55.840 Jesus promised us that in the world you will have tribulation. 00:34:56.320 --> 00:35:03.199 In John chapter 15, he says, If the world hates you, know that it hated me before it hated you. 00:35:03.440 --> 00:35:06.480 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. 00:35:06.719 --> 00:35:12.559 But because you were not of the world, because I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 00:35:13.039 --> 00:35:16.400 Remember what I said to you a servant is not greater than his master. 00:35:16.559 --> 00:35:20.000 If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. 00:35:22.480 --> 00:35:24.000 That's a promise. 00:35:25.119 --> 00:35:28.159 Right, we we love to talk about the promises of God. 00:35:28.400 --> 00:35:32.559 But sometimes I think there are certain promises of God that we don't like to talk about as much. 00:35:33.599 --> 00:35:38.079 Like the promise that the world will hate us. 00:35:38.719 --> 00:35:45.119 The promise that there will be tribulation in this life, the promise that we will face persecution of some kind and some degree. 00:35:48.960 --> 00:35:54.400 Something I tell myself often, I I have to rem because I look, I I like comfort. 00:35:55.039 --> 00:35:56.239 I'm not against it. 00:35:57.039 --> 00:36:02.159 I like recliner chairs and couches and warm homes. 00:36:02.320 --> 00:36:04.960 One of the hardest things about this weekend is that I came from California. 00:36:05.039 --> 00:36:06.000 It's warm there. 00:36:06.639 --> 00:36:08.239 It's not warm here. 00:36:08.639 --> 00:36:09.440 It's just not. 00:36:09.519 --> 00:36:10.159 I don't understand. 00:36:10.239 --> 00:36:11.280 It's so cold. 00:36:11.519 --> 00:36:13.360 I don't know why you guys do it. 00:36:14.719 --> 00:36:16.239 I I like comfort. 00:36:16.400 --> 00:36:17.039 I do. 00:36:17.920 --> 00:36:20.800 It's natural for me to seek comfort. 00:36:20.960 --> 00:36:24.800 It's also natural for me to avoid discomfort. 00:36:25.199 --> 00:36:35.760 And so sometimes I have to I have to ask myself, when was the last time that I felt even the slightest shred of persecution? 00:36:36.079 --> 00:36:45.440 Maybe that's a too strong of a word, but when was the last time that I felt the reproach of someone who didn't like the truth that I clung to or the beliefs that I held? 00:36:45.519 --> 00:36:50.400 When was the last time that I experienced any sort of tribulation or persecution? 00:36:50.639 --> 00:36:53.119 Look, my life's pretty easy, I'll admit it. 00:36:54.000 --> 00:37:06.480 But I think if I am being a Christian seven days a week, 365 days a year, if I'm being a Christian all the time, wherever I am, at some point, I should get a bad reaction from somebody. 00:37:06.800 --> 00:37:11.519 Not because I'm being a jerk, but because I'm speaking the truth. 00:37:13.119 --> 00:37:20.239 And because men love the darkness rather than the light, at some point I should find somebody who doesn't like the light. 00:37:22.320 --> 00:37:32.320 I just wonder when the last time, when was the last time you had an uncomfortable conversation with someone about the truth of the gospel or the truth of God's word, what it says. 00:37:34.400 --> 00:37:47.519 Sometimes we can get so locked into our Christian bubble, our our our comfort zone, our safe space, that we forget that we even put in this world for a mission. 00:37:48.639 --> 00:37:52.880 That part of following Jesus is taking up your cross. 00:37:53.199 --> 00:37:57.920 The part of following Jesus is bearing the reproach that he endured. 00:37:58.159 --> 00:38:04.800 That part of following Jesus is accepting the scorn and the ire and the rejection of the world. 00:38:07.920 --> 00:38:10.639 See, far too many of us want to be accepted by the world. 00:38:10.800 --> 00:38:15.119 We haven't yet accepted that we will always be rejected by the world. 00:38:18.719 --> 00:38:29.519 And so for these young believers who are being tempted to try and accommodate the culture, to try and adopt some of their practices, to just tweak things a little bit. 00:38:29.760 --> 00:38:36.239 Just a little bit, a little bit of compromise to make their lives more comfortable, to make them more acceptable to the culture. 00:38:36.400 --> 00:38:41.920 The author of Hebrews says, don't run from the uncomfortable situations in life. 00:38:42.079 --> 00:38:42.800 Don't run from it. 00:38:42.880 --> 00:38:44.320 Don't run from the shame. 00:38:44.559 --> 00:38:46.079 Don't run from the reproach. 00:38:46.239 --> 00:38:47.119 Embrace it. 00:38:47.280 --> 00:38:50.480 It's what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. 00:38:58.320 --> 00:39:01.920 It's what it means to go to him outside the camp. 00:39:02.159 --> 00:39:05.760 It means to bear the reproach that he endured. 00:39:07.840 --> 00:39:13.760 He reminds us that in verse 14, we don't have here a lasting city. 00:39:15.039 --> 00:39:17.599 We have here no lasting city. 00:39:18.320 --> 00:39:20.559 This is a theme that he's drawn on several times. 00:39:20.719 --> 00:39:27.840 The idea that this life is a pilgrimage, it's a sojourn, it's a it's a temporary ride through this temporal realm. 00:39:29.599 --> 00:39:31.760 This place is not our home. 00:39:34.320 --> 00:39:36.239 I think that's hard to hear sometimes. 00:39:37.760 --> 00:39:39.920 Because I think a lot of us like this place. 00:39:41.679 --> 00:39:46.559 You know, I again uh it's cold here, but otherwise I think that Northern Virginia is a nice place. 00:39:48.800 --> 00:39:50.559 We we like where we are. 00:39:51.760 --> 00:39:53.280 Life is pretty comfortable. 00:39:53.360 --> 00:39:55.360 We have a lot of creaturely comforts. 00:39:55.599 --> 00:40:09.679 And that the people around us are generally nice, and so we we buy homes here and we we plant rooms here, and we we fill we fill the uh our homes and our lives with memories of fond memories of of this life in this world. 00:40:09.760 --> 00:40:11.679 We it's hard to be here to tell. 00:40:11.840 --> 00:40:14.719 It's hard to hear that this world is not our home. 00:40:18.079 --> 00:40:21.840 But the reality is that this life comes to an end. 00:40:24.400 --> 00:40:26.639 And we don't have a lasting city here. 00:40:28.320 --> 00:40:30.320 We seek the city that is to come. 00:40:32.559 --> 00:40:34.480 He says we don't have a lasting home here. 00:40:34.559 --> 00:40:38.400 We don't have a city here, but verse 10 he says we have an altar. 00:40:39.920 --> 00:40:41.119 We have an altar. 00:40:43.199 --> 00:40:49.039 What he's saying is we have something from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat. 00:40:49.119 --> 00:40:51.519 In other words, he's saying there are two groups of people. 00:40:51.840 --> 00:40:55.360 There are those who are with Jesus who have an altar. 00:40:55.519 --> 00:41:07.119 That is, they have atonement, they have a sacrifice, they have salvation, they have a pathway opened up to the God of the universe because of the work of Jesus Christ. 00:41:07.599 --> 00:41:13.519 But those who are not with Jesus, those who have not gone out to him outside the camp, they don't have the altar. 00:41:13.840 --> 00:41:16.159 They have no right to eat of it. 00:41:16.480 --> 00:41:19.440 Because they have no part with Jesus. 00:41:20.719 --> 00:41:26.639 And so he's saying, yes, you'll have to leave the city behind, but you'll have an altar. 00:41:28.000 --> 00:41:33.679 And there is a city that is to come, whose builder and founder is God. 00:41:38.320 --> 00:41:43.840 It reminds me of the old hymn, take the world, but give me Jesus. 00:41:44.480 --> 00:41:46.239 Take the world but give me Jesus. 00:41:46.400 --> 00:41:49.760 All its joys are but a name. 00:41:50.239 --> 00:41:53.840 But his love abideth forever. 00:41:54.400 --> 00:41:56.639 Through eternal years the same. 00:41:59.760 --> 00:42:03.199 I think we sing it sometimes, I think, we sing those words. 00:42:03.360 --> 00:42:05.760 I just don't know if we actually mean those words. 00:42:09.280 --> 00:42:13.280 Can you say, take the world, but give me Jesus and mean it with your whole heart? 00:42:15.920 --> 00:42:17.840 I'll be honest, I hope I can. 00:42:19.360 --> 00:42:20.559 I hope I can. 00:42:21.360 --> 00:42:24.639 By the grace of God, I hope I can. 00:42:26.800 --> 00:42:31.679 I think far off far too often we don't think about the cost of following Christ. 00:42:33.360 --> 00:42:50.559 We grow comfortable, we grow apathetic, and we forget that Jesus and being a follower of Jesus means that there will be rejection and there will be persecution. 00:42:51.440 --> 00:42:54.559 But it's worth it because we have an altar. 00:42:55.920 --> 00:43:01.760 Because we're with Jesus, because He's made a way for us to know God. 00:43:05.440 --> 00:43:09.519 And so the author tells us don't run away from the rejection of the world. 00:43:09.599 --> 00:43:10.719 Don't run away from it. 00:43:10.800 --> 00:43:12.000