Our reading from God's word today is from the book of Hebrews, chapter 13. That's the 13th chapter of Hebrews. We'll be starting at verse 7, going through verse 14. So let's listen to the words of our great God. You can raise the dead to life. Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow considering the outcome of their conduct. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines, for it is good that the heart be established by grace, not with foods which have not profited those who have been occupied with them. We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat for the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin are burned without the camp. Therefore, Jesus also that he might sanctify the people with his own blood suffered outside the gate. Therefore, Let us go forth to him, outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come. You may be seated. Let's pray together once again. O righteous Father, of all of your promises, they are yes and amen in the Lord Jesus Christ. To the amen of you, O God. And so we pray that we might sing a new song, for we are a people who do sing a new song that you've given us, O Lord, For it is the Lord Jesus Christ that came, lived, was slain, was buried, but did not stay buried, rose from the grave, and ascended to the Father, and sits at your right hand until the enemies be made a footstool for his feet. And so we pray to You, O Lord, that we would be those who follow the Lord Jesus Christ outside the gate. We would look to Him by faith, no matter the trial or the circumstance. And we would look to You now that You might guide the one preaching that he would give you the glory in the preaching of your word, and he would open our eyes, remove any stone in our hearts, and give us ears to hear your word. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, the title of the sermon this morning, Following Christ Outside the Gate, As we've embarked on this study of the book of Hebrews, or the epistle to the Hebrews, you remember that the theme has been, especially through the first half of the book, Christ's superiority over all, over all the old covenant shadows and types and promises, the fulfillment of them all. whether it be the temple and the priesthood or the sacrifices and the city of Jerusalem or a king and kingdom. All of it is for us to see as new covenant pilgrims that we are on route to a heavenly Jerusalem and we are citizens of that place. The point it gives time and time again, the warning about those who would drift, those who would neglect so great a salvation of those who would not grow up, of those who would even be tempted to apostatize. The point it gives is don't give up. Don't give in to doubt. Don't give in to fear or fatigue, but to be encouraged and to heed these parting exhortations at the end of the epistle to the Hebrews. Three points this morning, if God should bless and we're able to finish them all. First of all, in verses seven and eight, eternal, unchangeable Lord ministering through men. an eternal, unchangeable Lord ministering through men. First of all, we see it's the Lord's history of redemption that's at work, just by way of review in Hebrews 11, for example. Remember, we started there with Abel, just outside the garden. And you see, all were trusting in their covenant Redeemer, and that in various ways, by type and shadow, and God's directing everything that occurred. We find they were trusting in their covenant redeemer, this one people that are unfolded in this chapter 11 of Hebrews. And you'll recall at the end of that chapter, the last two verses, 39 and 40, where it talks about, and all of those who died in faith, it says, and they were not perfected, or in other words, were not complete without us, without us of the new covenant. And so here in, we recall chapter two of Hebrews, there we found a lot of things that were given, but it talks there of the first, one of the first warnings that are given. And let me read one through four of chapter two. It says, do not, we must give more earnest heed to the things we've heard lest we drift away. For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? Which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard him. God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders with various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit according to his own will. So taking us back to the time of the Lord Christ himself and his apostles, and saying there that the testimony was given. And so building on that, and that's what it's referring to here, I believe at first in verse 7, of our text chapter 13. Remember those who rule over you who have spoken the word of God to you with faith, whose faith follow considering the outcome of their conduct. You could also read that as those who have ruled over you. And notice the whole thing begins with the Lord as those who were sent. And so this, all of this history of redemption, all of this Christ and the apostles, and then this personal witness is given. That's what it says in that chapter two. Remember those who, beginning with the Lord, and bear witness, bore witness to what Jesus Christ had done. Their personal witness, the written witness of all the scriptures of the New Testament. It was confirmed in that God bore them witness with the signs of the apostles, as Paul would call them in 2 Corinthians 12, 12. And he talks about how God bore witness to them as being apostles by these signs and wonders. But they would diminish. And so as we think of this, it says that we should give more earnest heed. So all the more we should give ourselves unto the witness that was given from the beginning. And it says here, these are they who are ministering to you, have ministered to you, and now there's still the ministry that continues. The Lord working in the history of redemption. But then it goes to those who are also ministering to them, and then we carry on into our day as well, of course. As those who are ministers of the gospel called and equipped to lead the flock of God. As you read these verses 7 and then on to 8, it says, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever. What is the connection? The connection is entirely this. the Lord Jesus Christ, and it hearkens both to his eternality, he is eternal from everlasting to everlasting, he is the first and the last, the beginning and the end, who was, who is, who is to come, the Almighty, but he's also here as brought forth as immutable, that is, unchangeable. The same yesterday, today, and forever. So the same one who ministered through these, gave witness through These apostles, the one who was ministered in their midst here, these Jewish Christians, I don't know if you remember, but when we introduced the book, we talked about who were these people? Where were these people? Very possibly, they were there somewhere adjacent to Jerusalem. This is written while the temple is still standing, but probably just a couple of years or three years while it's still standing. In other words, not long before Jerusalem would be destroyed. And, obviously, there were Hebrews speaking to those who were Jewish, and there are many who have the theory that those who are ministering here that it's addressed to, many of them were those converted priests that the Book of Acts talks about, for example. Well, that would make a lot of sense, wouldn't it? Of all that's taken place. But the same Lord who ministered then, it says, He doesn't change, and so He continues to minister today, even in our day. And that's the point it's making. It's that Christ's sheep, remember what Jesus said in John chapter 10, verse 27. My sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me. The voice of Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd, goes forth even today. In fact, over in 1 Peter chapter 1, we brought it up in Sunday school, 1 Peter 1 verses 10 through 12, it talks about the prophets of the Old Testament. And it said there that those prophets who were prophesying about Jesus to come. In the Old Testament, it says the Spirit of Christ was speaking through them way back then. And so in the New Testament when Jesus comes and he says, my sheep hear my voice, the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ speaks yet today through his sacred scripture. And so as we hear the voice of the minister just declaring what is recorded here in scripture, expounding what God has told us in his word, the voice of Christ resounds in our midst even today. And so when it says here that these are leaders or rulers in your midst, you know, if you look over in verse 17 and verse 24, same chapter 13 here, it says, obey those who have the rule over you and be submissive for they watch out for your souls as those who must give an account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief for what would it be that would be unprofitable for you? Startling. and sobering responsibility, to say the least. And more will be said about this later on. But verse 24, same idea, greet all of those who have the rule over you, and the saints from Italy greet you. And so when you're looking what it's talking about, we're scared, and we say, wait a minute, what do you mean, rule and that kind of thing? It says leadership in my New American Standard, and it does. Those who lead you, it means both. It's delegated authority. And notice it says there's to be a steadfast example, another sobering idea. But Peter, if you were to read, not right now, but in 1st Peter 5, 1-4 later on, Peter goes through this as a fellow, he says, a fellow elder, a fellow episkopos, overseer, a fellow leader in your midst. He says how one is to do it, not under compulsion, that one is to do it as an example to the flock, not as an overlord, a tyrant, a dictator. but one leading the sheep. I've told you before, some of you know that Stow Long, I'll just number the story so I can just quote out the number because you're used to it, of my being with this man overseas, Jean-Pierre de Levante, that was a shepherd. It struck me. I wasn't raised around sheep. I was around cattle, and they're not like sheep. And he would, as a shepherd, he had all of these big fields. This was down in the southern part of the Congo where he had all these under-shepherds under him. But when Jean-Pierre came along, he was the chief shepherd, the one who taught all of these Congolese how to be shepherds. And as he would go along the spine of this high ground, he would just speak. And all his sheep that were under these under-shepherds would file in behind him. And you could see it, hundreds of sheep behind him. He didn't get behind them and drive the sheep. You know, with cattle, you can lead them till the end of your life. They'll never follow. But you have to drive the cattle, but not sheep. You lead. And they would follow him and just file in behind because they heard the shepherd's voice. You see, those who are Jesus' sheep recognize the voice even through the mouth of a minister. Through the word, you see, and it is the word of God where he's speaking to us, and that's why we expound and declare and proclaim the word of God here and the word of Christ. And so it's there that we see his ministering in the midst of his people. And, you know, I'm reminded, if I may share this, 1 Corinthians 3, I'll just give you the verses, verses 6 and 7, and then verse 9. And it's interesting how the Paul is talking there, because people were dividing in the Corinth, you know, that I'm of Paul, I'm of Cephas, I'm of Apollos, and all of these things. And Paul says, you know, who am I? Who is Apollos? We're no one. He says, I planted Apollos water. Paul being the evangelist, the apostle, evangelist, missionary, and Apollos being the pastor. He says, I planted, Apollos watered, but God's the one who gave the increase. The one who planted and watered or nothing, it's God who must make it happen. And you see, that's the point that would be behind this as well. And so, Jesus Christ, who's the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow, He's the one working today at this very moment, right here in our midst through His Word. That's why we should take it seriously. If it were just me speaking and just my word, I understand. Who is He? And you would be right. But if it's the Word of God, quite another story. That's why it adds that those attributes of God, of the Lord Jesus Christ here. For us to take the word that's written thousands of years ago as that which is alive and current and powerful even today, yea forever. And so the Word here is mentioned as it goes without saying that there should be faith to receive the word in faith as the Lord's word. not just as a messenger, but as the Lord's word. Let me illustrate this. Remember Peter was preaching. He was preaching about the Lord Jesus Christ. And remember he said that, you know, you are the one who put him to death by wicked hands and the leaders of this, this land and the Romans, you know, and they were, and as he was preaching to them, you remember what happened? How did they react? They yawned and said, Oh, not again. No, they didn't. It says they were cut to the heart. And they said, what must we do? You see, that's when we know. When we're touched in the heart and the mind and in the very soul that God is speaking here. Jesus said in John 6.63, he says, my words, they are spirit and they are life. We must receive them that way. That's what this is getting at. You see, the ministry of the word The Lord's the same. He hasn't changed. Just as powerful, just as mighty, just as alive today. And so that's it, the eternal, unchangeable Lord ministering through men. But let me hasten to my second point. Doctrinally anchored minds, grace-established hearts, verses 9 and 10. doctrinally anchored minds, grace-established hearts. As I look here at verse 9, it says, do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines. For it is good that the heart be established by grace, not with foods which have not profited those who have been occupied with them. We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat. First of all, In verse 9, what is he getting at with a different altar and all of that sort of thing? Well, obviously being the, this is to the Hebrews, it is the former system, the former belief. The idea of approval of others. He says they have no right to eat of this. And so it's contrasting, isn't he? He's contrasting those who are associated with the temple of those who are with the sacrificial system as opposed to Jesus Christ. Jesus is all sufficient. Jesus as the temple. Jesus as the high priest. Jesus as the sacrifice. Jesus as the king. Jesus is everything. Remember? And he says this former system, the old covenant belief system, you're looking for the approval of your families, of your friends, because If you go back to that system, they'll accept you. Or maybe you're looking for, for rewards. You will not be persecuted. We've already seen here how there was persecution going on. And we know the earliest persecution and the strongest initially, at least was Jewish against the Christians. Remember Paul, he started out as Saul of Tarsus, the monster persecuting the church. And so those who were merely Old Covenant Jewish priests, for example, he's getting at the former ceremony. How many were drawn back to say, I want to go back to it, everything that's going here. Notice I had there in the temple, and there in the beautiful ceremonies that were involved, and we had all of the pomp and circumstance, and we had, you know, the sounds of the trumpets, and we had all of the temple, and all of its glory, and the beauty of it all. There was this outward beauty, and this temporal carnal, what do you want to say? wonder that was involved in people's lives, that it made them feel like it was fulfilling. Yeah, it felt great. But if you turn away from Jesus Christ and you turn back to that, and you think that's what we need, the outward glory, the outward beauty, and that ceremony, then you're missing the gospel. That's why this is written against it. But get the underlying principle. of wanting to turn back and go back to the former, to please your old chums, or even family members, Christ's hidden heavenly glory. Notice here it's talking about the heavenly Jerusalem, the heavenly glory of Jesus Christ. How many of you have seen Jesus Christ in all his glory? I mean personally seen. You say, I've read Revelation chapter 1. But I haven't seen it. And you think of, look at everything he described. He said, how many of these people were in caves and wandered in deserts and in skins and were worshiping in these kinds of circumstances? How can you say that's more glorious to be in a mud hut than to be in a glorious cathedral? Today we even, well, I guess it's defunct now, but even have a crystal cathedral. And you see, it was because we look through faith what the Scripture says and accept it by faith, and that's what this is aiming at. And so, Christ's hidden heavenly glory is by faith. In the biblical apostolic testimony, that's what we embrace as true and real, and it's only through the eyes of faith that we are anchored. what he has promised and what he has done. You know it's an idolatrous heart that's always unstable, always easily straying, drawn away from Christ while pretending to draw closer to him. And so think of the Passover. Look what it says here about the altar. Those people with all that pomp and circumstance, those with the outer glory of the temple. Remember, I told you the years about when this took place. Let's say 65, just to be round numbers. The surrounding of Jerusalem by the armies of Rome was in 66. And what would happen in 70 to that temple? Do you remember? It was utterly destroyed. No, I want to go back. It's beautiful. It's glorious. I'm leaving Christ behind. That's why the warnings don't draw aside, don't neglect, don't drift. And so he says the altar. to eat from the altar. Think of the Passover. Remember, Jesus died on the Passover Eve. Jesus was the one who was probably dying about the time that they were putting to death the Passover lambs. And as you think of those Passover lambs, And you think of the sacrifice as an eating of the sacrifice of Passover. You remember what it says elsewhere in Scripture as you think of 1 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 7. And it makes all this relationship of what Jesus Christ did. Christ, our Passover, died. Therefore, put out the old leaven and turn to Christ. He is our Passover. The Passover that took place in Egypt with the Israelites was glorious. Think of that night. All the Jews trusting in the Lord and believing the word through his prophet Moses and got the Passover lambs and slew the lambs and spread the blood on the lintel and on the doorposts. And they stayed within the shelter of the blood covered home. And the death angel passed over the Jews in faith, and even Egyptians who believed and did it. But he destroyed the firstborn of the unbelievers. All the picture, Christ the firstborn through his death, Christ the lamb, his blood, there's our rescue, the shelter from the wrath of God, the one who bore it. It says we have an altar to eat from that they have nothing to do with. They go through the tides and the shadows that now that Jesus Christ has died, as we've seen in Hebrews, once for all time, it says it's an abomination to go back. It is a denial of the sufficiency of the blood of Christ. It is a denial of that once for all time sacrifice of Jesus Christ. In Hebrews, remember chapter nine? In chapter nine, beginning in 14 and going to 15, when you look in the verses previous to that, it says the blood of lambs, bulls, and goats, and ashes of a heifer were only sufficient for temporarily cleaning the flesh. Then in verse 14, it gives an awe-inspiring description. It says that Jesus Christ, now listen, he was the high priest who offered his own blood through the eternal spirit to God the Father. You getting this? In other words, within the persons of the Godhead, the Trinity, the Holy Trinity himself, here is where The real sacrifice took place. You're going to tell me that's not good enough? I need to go back to the type and shadow of an animal? You see, why God says no a thousand times, no. We have an altar to eat from they know nothing of. That's unstable. That's like Esau trading in all his birthright for a bowl of stew. So anchored doctrinally, not being to and fro, it's describing here the idea of doctrinally, yes, doctrine matters. Yes, theology matters. It means our minds are fully persuaded of these things. Here is truth. Here is that which matters. I remember reading in chapter 5, this is reviewed I guess today. Remember in verses 10 through 12, where there it talks about those, even though by now you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you all over again the basics, the elemental things of the faith. You see, that's, those are they who are prone to instability. That's why in the very next chapter, chapter six, it talks about those who having received all of this teaching and participated in all of this wonder and having been exposed to all of this in the glory of the word of God, and then to turn away. It's impossible to renew them under repentance. And so here it tells us, beloved, That we, it's teaching us that we need to be anchored. That we need to be stable. We need to be fully persuaded without doubt, in other words. You remember we were going through Ephesians 4 here a month or two ago. And in case you've forgotten, I'll remind you with a couple verses. that were there in that, it will strike your memory right away. It talks about, you know, that we need to take heed to this unity of the faith, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, that means fully complete, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that we should no longer be children. tossed to and fro, carried about with every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men and the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting. There are lots of false teachers out there just waiting to lead you astray. Anywhere you go on the internet, you'll find it, you'll hear it, you'll see it. Oh, the anchored full persuasion. It has similar language in that Hebrews 5 text I mentioned. It says that you should not feast on milk like a baby, but feed on the meat of God and his doctrinal truth. And so anchored doctrinally is the idea Remember over in James chapter 1, talking about prayer there, but also in regard to God's truth, and it says, not to be like those who are unstable in all their ways, like a wave driven by the sea, you know, waves of the sea driven by the wind and tossed, but anchored in him, in other words. Hearts Filled with grace, it says, filled with, in other words, in submission to Jesus Christ, filled with Jesus Christ, the spirit of Christ within us. You know, in the new covenant, as we've seen in chapters eight and chapter 10, remember what it says that I will write my law upon your hearts and upon your minds. And he says, it won't be like the old one where I led them by the hand. And even though I led them by the hand, they fell away. He says, this one you will not break. Why? Because God will do the internal work in our very hearts. Think of it, beloved hearts, filled in submission to Christ Jesus. That we might have Him as our joy and our song. Their stability. These folks that are writing here at the very end, Last words of saying, listen to everything I've said. Drive home your anchor. Fully persuaded. And the glories of everlasting heaven that will come into an everlasting new creation. Don't trade that for the poultry things of this world. We'll deal with that in a moment. Let me just go about some interesting things, perhaps it might help. It uses the word establish. May your hearts be established there. It's bebayao. I'm sure all of you wanted to know that. And the word here means, yes, establish is fine, but the whole point here is to make firm. In other words, to make sure. So our hearts are settled, that it is a matter of firm, it's certainty in our hearts. Someone was sharing their testimony here in our church, and you all know her, and she was saying, talking about her salvation and about this gospel in her faith, she said, I knew that I knew that I knew that kind of a heart, you see. And so it causes us no longer to be vacillating. But what does cause a person to vacillate? What causes a person to be shifting in faith and in life? Unbelief. Doubt. As you consider these matters, think of ignorance. Sometimes it's people just don't know that they don't know. And that's why you're easily led astray. That's why they get off the milk and get on the meat. So not unbelief and doubt and ignorance, but just some people are followers that are easily influenced. Well, let me give six things to be aware of that are enemies of stability in the faith. First of all, Those who believe there is no objective proof, or truth, excuse me. All is personal opinion. You ever heard that? You show someone something out of scripture, and obviously what it's saying, and what is their retort? Well, that's your opinion. What? Let's reread it, you know. And you go through it again. Here's the Lord saying it plainly. Well, yeah, but that's your interpretation. Well, that's your truth. That's not my truth. What? Those are people that are lacking a belief in objective truth. can't go into that further today, but there's secondly those who are, well, like these folks, some of them, comfortable with their past, their tradition in the past, and that comfort was so profound that they really were comfortable in that, and they really liked it, and they really miss it, and that sort of thing. So they want to go back to that old comfortable tradition they had Now they don't want to necessarily dig deep and examine those things by the Bible. They're just comfortable with it so they go back to it. That's one type of comfort. Here's another kind of comfort that can do it and maybe it's comfortable because, you see, I can go back to what I was with or to other things. Maybe it's a way to something else because over there they don't tell me about my sin. I can be comfortable with this sin. By the way, It's not sin. Not really. I mean, I mean, it's, it's just, you know, these narrow minded people that are not understanding that we, we have a, we live in different times and we have an open way of looking at these matters. And then if we want to say anything, it's a disorder, but not a sin, you see. And so no conviction and no suffering either. Don't want to hear about that. I want to be comfortable. Well, the epistle to the Hebrews wasn't teaching that, was it? The confiscation of your goods, be willing to die for Christ, etc. But there's another thing that causes people to vacillate, and that's pride. Pride. We were talking about people that are odd. Do you know anybody who's odd? Well, I'm really setting you up. We were talking about, you know, here's a disorder for you, the odd oppositional defiant disorder. You ever heard of that one? This one's actually pretty accurate. But you see, those who would, because of pride, they oppose or defiant against an unteachable. Oh. The crime of being unteachable. The Lord called them stiff-necked, didn't he? In the Old Testament they were like that. Some are unstable because they go after that which is faddish. By that, I mean they're restless for the latest. They want change. They like things that constantly be different, you know, and have different things going on. And what are they doing? But they're trying to fill the void and the emptiness with that which is just new. And once that wears out, then they'll find something else that's new. And they never fill it because they're not filling it with the fullness of Christ. They're filling it with the stuff that is merely the new thing that glitters. And finally, and certainly it's borne out here, any of these things, by the way, can be applied to any of us at any time. And that's why we are to beware of them. And that is peer group pressure. Think of these, let's say these people were priests. They had a place of importance, they had a place that was, you know, they were unique, they were Levites, they were only the tribes, and had 24 orders of these priests, and you had to be a part of one of those orders, and you had a responsibility in the temple on occasion, and also in synagogues you would minister, and as you would look, you see that these, you had friends, and you had family, and you had colleagues that look up to you. By the way, do you have any friends, family, or colleagues? So in other words, any of these stumbling blocks can apply to us who aren't priests. Well, we're a kingdom of priests, a holy nation, I give you that, but you know what I'm saying. Instability. Have you ever wrestled with being tossed to and from? Unstable. Well, my third point is verses 11 through 14, and that is bearing our heavenly Lord's reproach. Verses 11 to 14, we'll just have time to touch on it and close. For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin are burned outside the camp, or in this case, outside the city. Therefore, Jesus also that he might sanctify the people with his own blood suffered outside the gate. Let me come to that for now. Why in verse 11 does it say that these bodies, these are sin offerings. They take the blood and they offer the blood and they burn the bodies. Why? They take them outside the camp or outside the city to burn. Why? Because they're unclean. They're polluted. They've had sin associated with them. You put the hands on the animal and confess the sin, the sin imputed to that animal, and therefore the animal is killed and the satisfaction is made no longer in the new covenant. But Jesus Christ did that. And so that pollution of that animal or of the sin and of death is, don't want it to pollute the city. So you take it outside the city, outside the camp and do it there. And it says, therefore, Christ suffered outside the camp. What is the point it's making? You see, beloved, it's harkening back to things like you'd find in Neviticus 16. We're talking about the day of atonement. Remember in the day of atonement on those, those two goats that would be brought, you know, one of them was the goat of atonement. The other goat was the scape goat. And you see the way you would atone for the sin, and we don't have time to go through it at length, but you got the same thing, imputing the sin to the hands on the head of the goat, and confessing the sins, slaying the goat, catching the blood, putting blood on the mercy seat. Ultimately, there were several things that were involved, you know the idea. High priests performing it. And the corpse burned because bearer of sin defiled. You don't want to defile the camp. Take the corpse and burn it out. But the other one upon whom the hands were laid, the scapegoat, it was there taken, led by someone outside the camp, and thereby picturing, by metaphor, carrying the sins of the people outside the camp. All of that. God gave to foreshadow what Jesus would do. Jesus was sent outside the gates to be crucified because the Jews considered him to be unclean, polluted, false messiah, blasphemer, you know the whole thing. And there to die outside as a criminal to be the scoffed at by everyone who went by. But New Testament gives us expression. He was raised to demonstrate his righteousness. Remember Romans 1, 4? He was raised by the spirit of holiness and declared openly to be the son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead. But we all think of that Leviticus 16, that substitutionary or vicarious atonement, that Jesus Christ is the one who fulfilled the day of atonement. Second Corinthians 5.21, you all know it by heart. God is who is talking about God made him who knew no sin to become sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in him. Or Galatians 3.13, another one we all know. It says, Christ became a curse for us for it is written, curse it is everyone who hangs upon a tree. You see, the curse took place there where God poured out His wrath and Christ satisfied it, propitiation, there at that cross. Our substitutionary atonement, there He bore the sin, and yes, the pollution of it all. Ours, He had none. Outside the gate. They considered him because he died on a cross outside the city as unclean, like a leper, polluted. They had to keep that pollution, that uncleanness from their city of Jerusalem. But you see, beloved, Jesus Christ, satisfied, paid in full for all his elect, all is redeemed there. In verse 13 then, He says, therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp bearing his reproach. The reproach being his considered accursed. You talk to Jews people today and try to evangelize and that's going to come up. He was accursed. He died on a tree. And this is its application. And so it says, go out to him. In other words, it's a lesson. It's a divine summons. Flee to Christ outside the camp. Identify with Him. Beloved, when we identify with Jesus Christ. We die with Him, we're buried with Him, raised with Him. Of course, that's saving faith, union with Christ. But it also means in a practical sense, all of those who are the enemies of the cross, all of those who are the scoffers of today at your job, those who are your neighbors who are anti-Christ, those who are in our society who are in darkness and death. Don't you dare cower in fear. and say, okay, try to avoid problem. I like comfort. I'll compromise, I'll give in. It says, no, you go outside the gate and you bear His reproach. Remember, He bore our reproach. You get the play on words there? And we bear His reproach. That's the idea. And then finally in verse 14 it says this, In this life, on this earth, we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come. Well, no continuing. In other words, it's not eternal. They're speaking here of Jerusalem in the case that they were facing. They thought, we don't want to defile it. We're going to flee back to Jerusalem. You know, when right before the, as the armies were going through the parts of Galilee and Samaria and that sort of thing of the Romans on route to Jerusalem, everybody was fleeing out of the countryside, fleeing to Jerusalem for sanctuary. And as they fled to Jerusalem, Jesus had told his church in Matthew 24, Luke 21, Mark 13, you can read it there. He said, when you say, Luke especially, when you see the armies surrounding the city are about to flee, don't even go back into your home for your stuff, flee to the mountains. And the Christians did. And so all these have fled to be safe. They thought this is the city of God. They didn't realize they had defiled it by the murder of the one true Messiah. He was already defiled. Their sacrifices after his sacrifice were all cursed because they were a denial of Christ once for all sacrifice. And so, In Hebrews chapter 11, remember, because it speaks of an eternal city, no lasting one here, it says of Abraham. Even he, way back 2000 BC, he was looking for a city with foundations whose builder and maker is God. Not one here on earth, but an everlasting heavenly city. Galatians 4 describes a present Jerusalem there in Galatians, as opposed to the heavenly Jerusalem. It says the Jerusalem, it compares it to Hagar and Sarah. And it says that Hagar was a slave that bore the child, and Sarah was the wife and the child of promise. And it says they represent two cities. It says that Jerusalem below, and you can read this in Galatians chapter 4, verses 24 and following. And it says there that she's, that's equivalent to Hagar. This is a city that's enslaved. But we belong to this city, the heavenly Jerusalem. There's our mother. And so, in all of these texts, you see, we could go on and on. We already saw in Hebrews 12 that we have come to this heavenly Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, to the myriads of angels, and the church of the firstborn, and to the blood of the new covenant that speaks better than that of Abel, the spirits of just men made perfect. So, there's home. And we covered here a few weeks ago, Revelation 21. There's the heavenly Jerusalem. You see, here's the thing. Everybody thinks you're going to heaven forever. No. Absent from the body, present with the Lord. That's called the intermediate state. When Jesus comes, we get a glorified body. Well, then don't we go to heaven? Not exactly. The present heavens and earth are burned up. And we get a new earth and heaven descends like a bride prepared for the bridegroom. And here we live forever. In conclusion, let me share something with you. about this unclean thing in the city and how things can be reversed. And everybody was thinking, you know, that be safe. Remember what it says, you know, that we have no lasting city here, not an eternal one. Jesus, same yesterday, today and forever. Remember 1 John 2, verse 17, is it? It says, this world is passing away and the lusts thereof. I was reading in Josephus, and Josephus was a Jewish, he was Pharisee, he was a priest, and he was one who was captured during the wars, the Jewish wars of 66 through 70, when Jerusalem was destroyed. And he was a historian, he wrote all of these things down. And this is the way he described it. He talked about the rejection of Jesus. You know, the rejection of Jesus Christ was foretold, you know, and that's not what he talks about. But he talks about the destruction of the city. And this is what he said. Now, this is, by the way, you've got to remember, Josephus was not a Christian. OK, just so you, I didn't put him up to this. He says, and this is a quote, I cannot help but think after talking about the destruction of the city. I cannot help but think that it was because God had doomed this city to destruction as a polluted city and was resolved to purge his sanctuary by fire. You talk about irony. Beloved, any shortcut, anything we think we would gain in this world by trading what we have instead of Christ, even our lives, he who will lose his life will find it. And the one who would deny the Lord Christ and attempt to find his life will lose it. And so all of us must learn what it says here. All else must shrink in significance. Go outside the gate to Christ bearing his reproach. May God grant us the grace for it. Amen. Let's pray together, man. Our Heavenly Father, we know that our faith does not rest upon cleverly devised fables, but upon your revelation in word and spirit by the apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus as its cornerstone. Lord, increase our faith. Remove any shadow of doubt. Cause us to take heed to your sure word and mercies until the day dawns and the morning star rises in our hearts. Sanctify us by your truth and add to our faith, virtue, knowledge, and love. Lord, strengthen our confidence in you and in your truth as an anchor. And as Hebrews would say, an anchor within the veil. the veil of the one who rules as king, mighty sovereign forevermore, you. Our Heavenly Father, through your truth, we realize you call us to yourself. You do so decisively that everything we are and everything we do and everything we have is invested with a special devotion and dynamism that's lived out in response to your holy calling. And so may you encourage the souls of your saints. May you lift up the hands that have drooped down in fatigue at our sides. May you grant courage to the fearful and stability to the wavering. And may we find our sufficiency, all sufficiency, in Jesus, the Christ, the Son of the living God, in whose name we pray. Amen. Now receive the benediction of the Lord. Now peace unto the brethren, and love and faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen.