The Reproach of Christ — Carter Conlon

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The Reproach of Christ and the New Testament Church

Hebrews chapter 13, if you will, please. And you might want to put a marker in 2 Samuel in the Old Testament, too, as well. 2 Samuel chapter 9 is where we're going to begin there. Save you the time of finding it later on.

Hebrews chapter 13, 2 Samuel chapter 9. I'm going to be speaking on the reproach of Christ. Now, Father, I thank you, God, with all my heart. I know I have your word. You've spoken to me. I see this in my spirit that what you are speaking and where you are guiding your people.

I pray for the grace to preach it, to speak it in a way that it can be clearly understood. I ask, O God, that you give me the ability to live this as well. Lord, let the truth that's about to be expounded on be loved.

God, give me the ability and take me far beyond any natural ability that I might have to reason this or to speak it. Take me into the life of the Holy Spirit. God, I thank you with all my heart. Your kingdom will come and your will be done in Jesus' name.

Hebrews chapter 13, the reproach of Christ, beginning at verse 12. Wherefore, 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 here we have 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. Now, I want to start by just making a statement today that I believe that Acts chapter 2 is the pattern of the New Testament church.

I believe it with all my heart. Now, men may try to make the testimony of Christ into something other than what God intended it to be, and that, of course, is the dilemma when the human reasoning gets involved with the work of God.

But in Acts chapter 2, we see 120 people coming out of an upper room, a place of fear, a place where they're very well aware of the bloodlust of the masses who have freshly, as it is, crucified the Son of God.

Christianity is mocked, it's not popular. But in this particular room, the Holy Spirit came to a group of people who were willing to bear the reproach of Christ. Christ was a reproach at that particular time and in that society.

But a group of people in an upper room, and I do believe that this had to happen to them before the outpouring of the Holy Spirit would be given to them. We have today many, many people who go to many places, and they are baptized with something that they believe is the Holy Spirit.

But there's no desire at all in them to ever share in the reproach of Christ. Their testimony is largely ineffective, and in many cases, it's not only ineffective, it's detrimental to the cause of Jesus Christ.

But out of this room came 120 God-gripped people, and they stepped out of obscurity and into the marketplace. They were people of faith and vision who had been made to shine as lights in the darkened world.

And the Scripture tells us in the original Greek that they were speaking in known languages to the people who had gathered from around the world at this particular time in this location. And they were speaking the Megalios of God, which means the anticipated outworkings of the inward life of Christ that had now been given to them.

They were standing and making declarations, as it is, in known tongues that God had come to them. That Christ who created the universe was now living inside of them, that all things had now become possible.

And I do believe that the Holy Spirit had, without doubt, infused promises into the minds of many of these men and women who stood out in this marketplace and began making an open declaration. Their testimony was one that was not a shame-filled testimony.

They were willing to embrace the reproach of Christ, and God came and walked with them and honored them. I also believe that Luke chapter 4 and verse 18 is the believer's inheritance. I believe it with all my heart, not just because I see it theologically, but I have lived it.

And I continue to live it as a Christian person, not just as a preacher of the gospel. Where Jesus stood and said, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because I've been sent to heal the brokenhearted, to give sight to those that are blind.

That speaks to me of a spiritual blindness. Those who really don't have the vision that Paul had when he said, oh, to the Ephesian church, that you might see the exceeding greatness of his glory, who sits at the right hand of all authority and all power.

To set the captives free and to heal those that have been bruised. I believe this is the inheritance of the church. We're not supposed to be a people who are ordinary. We're to be extraordinary. By the promises of God, Peter says, we are made into partakers of the divine nature of God, which is freely given to us through Jesus Christ.

We are to be a people who are wondered at. We're to be people who are outside the kingdom of God, should be looking at you and looking at me and wondering, as they did in the early church. When the religious around looked at Peter and John and wondered, understanding that these were ignorant and unlearned men, but they spoke with such incredible reasoning power.

And there seemed to be something coming from their lives that religion never could produce. And they only took note. All they could say is these people have been with Jesus. That was the only thing they could say about them.

The Church’s Lost Inheritance and the Power of Sin

Now, the question arises, why do so many Christian people live so far beneath their inheritance? In our generation, I'm not saying this is the way it is all over the world. There are people living in victory in America, Canada, everywhere else.

But why does so many live so far beneath this inheritance? Why are so many not standing in the marketplace, God gripped and fellow workers, as it is taking notice that something supernatural is going on in their lives?

Why are so many joining churches where pastors boast that, well, we are a chronic care hospital for the sick? I don't see that in the Scriptures. I don't see that to be the testimony of Jesus Christ. Oh, sick people come in, but sick people don't stay there.

I see the miraculous happening. I see prison doors opening. I see wounded hearts being healed. I see in the New Testament pattern, people being given this incredible vision of Jesus Christ. And as they move towards it, to Him as it is, they are changed into the very thing that they're looking at from image to image and glory to glory.

I see former murderers now filled with compassion, thieves being honest and working hard with their hands. I see fearful people standing with an incredibly bold declaration of the gospel of Jesus Christ in their lips and emanating from their hearts.

But today we see a body of believers that is largely gripped, in many cases, by the fear of man. Gripped with a deep sense of inadequacy or self-loathing. So we now have to have courses on self-esteem and how to feel better about yourself and such like things.

I see people who are struggling with sin, and they never seem to overcome it. Year after year after year after year coming in the house of God. Testimony in the marketplace is not even an option. They're just struggling to get free from sin.

How is this possible when Romans 6 .14 tells us that sin has no more dominion over us? When the believer, the true believer in Jesus Christ, sin has no more dominion in your life. It doesn't mean we don't struggle.

It doesn't mean the devil won't come and tempt. But it does mean that the power of sin is broken. By the sin dwelling first by the blood of Christ and secondarily by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, the power of sin is broken.

So the question is, why are so many people in the professing church of Jesus Christ still under the dominion of sin? Now, in order to understand this, I want to take you back to an Old Testament story.

It will help, I think, bring it to light in 2 Samuel 9. And in 2 Samuel 9, we're going to begin at verse 6. And I'm going to speak about the people in this story as types. Now, Mephibosheth was the son of Saul.

Now, Saul was a fleshly, perishing kingdom. And before you came to Christ and I came to Christ, I don't care who your father was. If your father was not a Christian, you're coming from a fleshly, perishing place.

Each one of us, as it is with our Adamic nature, have need of a Savior. We have need of covering. We have need of strength. David is the type of Christ. He's in the lineage of Christ, the physical lineage.

And Jesus himself is called the son of David. Now, follow me with this. In 2 Samuel 9, beginning at verse 6. Now, when Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, was come to David. Now, think about the time you came to Christ.

He fell on his face and did reverence. Remember the day that you first understood that Jesus was a Savior and you were a sinner. And you needed God. And whether you did it physically or whether you did it in your heart, you truly did fall on your face before God.

I know I did. And if you've had a genuine conversion, there's something in you that you bowed, in other words. You bent your knee. Your pride was broken. You confessed with your tongue that you were a sinner and you needed a Savior.

Now, if you've never done this, it's very doubtful that you've ever had a genuine conversion. And he did reverence. He began to worship. And David said, or in this case it's not worship, but I'm speaking of it as a type of a sinner in Christ.

And David said, Mephibosheth, and he answered, Behold thy servant. Remember the first time God began to call you. He began to call your name. He began to speak to you about places He wanted to take you.

And impossible things that He wanted to do through your life. Do you remember these times? And perhaps some of you are living there right now where the Lord is calling you. And He's speaking to you of things that only you know.

Because only the Holy Spirit can reveal to you the things that God has chosen for you. And the pathway that God is taking you on. And you had this inner knowledge, and many of you still have it here in your heart this morning.

And David said to him in verse 7, Fear not, I will surely show you kindness for Jonathan your father's sake. I'll restore to you all the land of Saul your father, and you'll eat bread at my table continually.

And he bowed himself and said, What is thy servant that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am? Remember the awe and the wonder? I remember it when I came to Christ. Oh God, I was filled with wonder.

How could it be that you loved me? How could it be that you would go to a cross for me? And that there's a passionate love in your heart for me with all that I've done against you. And how I've so unrighteously spoken your name so many times.

But yet still, your love has been the one constant thing that has been before me and guiding me and leading me to where I am today. And Mephibosheth is invited to the king's table. Now Mephibosheth is lame on his feet, the scripture tells us.

And lame people were not allowed at the king's table. This is an absolute type of Christ. Remember in the Old Testament, a lamb that had any blemish could not be brought in and used as a sacrifice. And it was a common thing as it is, even under Old Testament kings, that people who had some kind of a blemish were not allowed into the court of the king.

And yet here's this man who's lame on his feet, sitting at the table, eating bread with the king as it is. Just like you and I are today. The tablecloth covering his lameness. And in our case, the blood of Christ covering our faults and our failures and our struggles.

Fully accepted as one of the sons of the king. Thanks be to God. And then the king called to Ziba, Saul's servant, and said to him, I've given to thy master's son all that pertains to Saul and to all his house.

Now God is a God who restores everything that's been lost. From the time of Adam, everything you've lost, everything the devil's tried to take out of your life. Everything he's tried to plant in there.

The Lord says, no, I'm going to take all that away and I'm going to restore it to you through Christ and through your new position in Christ. Everything that the enemy tried to take away from you, I'm going to give it back.

God is a restorer. And you see, that's part of the miracle. That's the Megalios of God. That's what gripped these 120 people. This awareness. Oh God, you're going to set me free from this. Lord, where I'm weak, I'm going to become strong.

Where I can't go, I'm going to go. What I can't say, I'm going to speak. What I don't know, you're going to reveal to me. Oh God, what a wondrous thing to be brought into such a kingdom. They couldn't contain it anymore.

They just simply came out of this upper room of fear, walked into the public marketplace, sharing the reproach of Christ. And who cares what anybody thinks? God has come into my life and God is guiding me.

I'm not ashamed of his testimony. I'm not ashamed of what he's doing within me. Now, the king called Ziba, the servant of Saul. Now, it's interesting because as we go on throughout this message this morning, you begin to realize Ziba was a corrupt man.

Now, Ziba was a liar. Ziba wanted the inheritance that the king was giving to Mephibosheth. And it's a type of... Believers have a dual nature whether you know it or not. You have the spirit of God within you who subdues an older nature.

And the old nature wants the inheritance. He wants the inheritance without submission. He wants the inheritance without any hardship. The old nature wants everything that God has. It's like the young son in the parable of the prodigal son who just said, Give me everything that is mine that I may go out and spend it on foolish living, self-consumption with my friends.

And the king called to Ziba, verse 9, and he said, I've given to thy master's son all that pertains to Saul and to all his house. Thou, therefore, and thy sons and thy servants shall till the land for him, and I shall bring in the fruits that thy master's son may have food to eat.

But Mephibosheth, thy master's son, shall eat bread always at my table. Now, Ziba had 15 sons and 20 servants. So technically speaking, Ziba is more powerful than Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth is lame. And there's no mention that, at least at this point, that there's very few, if any, that are actually associated or affiliated with him.

But Ziba, this servant at his house, has 15 sons and 20 servants. This is a man who has some influence, as it is, or a minimal amount of authority. So what keeps him now from overthrowing Mephibosheth?

Then in verse 11 says,. Then said Ziba to the king, according to all that my lord the king has commanded his servants, so shall thy servant do. And this is the point. You see, Mephibosheth is invited, received, he's covered, he's fed at the king's table.

Now, even though there's a corruptible man, and we know this, in his house, this man is kept in obeisance and made to be a servant by the word of the king. It's an amazing thing when you begin to put a marker there.

The Believer’s Inner Struggle and Freedom in Christ

Go with me to Romans chapter 7. Let me explain this a little better if I can. Paul the apostle talks about this same principle in the life of a believer in Jesus Christ. In Romans chapter 7, and in verse 15, it talks about this inner struggle that goes on in every life.

He says, For that which I do, I allow not. For what I would, that do I not. But what I hate, that do I. Now, some people never get beyond. That's their testimony. If we had a testimony meeting this morning, quite a large number of people would say, Well, here's my story.

You just read my testimony. The things I don't want to do, I do. Things I do, I don't want to do. Things I love, I found myself powerless to accomplish. The things I hate, I find myself doing. He says, Then if I do that which I would not, verse 16, I consent to the law that it's good.

Now, then it's no more I that do it, but sin that dwells in me. Now, Paul's saying there's a power of corruption within the life of a person that's not yet brought into a place where it's subdued by this new life and new nature in God.

I know that in me that is in my flesh dwells no good thing. For the will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. How many here today made New Year's resolutions over the years?

Oh, I'm going to be more generous. I'm going to be kind. I'm going, even as Christians in some cases, I'm going to forgive everybody. And you made this resolution with, Oh, you were so sincere until on the way home the taxi driver took a longer route than he should have to run up the meter.

And all of a sudden the kindness is gone and all this new patience that you were going to have is out the window and it's hopeless without the Spirit of God. The good that I do not, verse 19, but the evil which I would not, that I do.

Verse 20, it says, Now, if I do that I would not, it's no more I that do it but sin that dwells in me. I find then a law that when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man, but I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind to bring me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Then, thankfully, Paul doesn't leave it there, but he says, I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. I thank God that I have a word that God has spoken over this corruptible man and the authority of the king has come into this house and one stronger than the one that used to govern this life has come in and he keeps this wicked man in abeyance.

By the word of God and by the Spirit of God, I am no longer under the dominion of a carnal nature. I have a new nature now living inside of me because of Jesus Christ. Therefore, chapter 8, verse 1,. There is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. Verse 11,. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

Thanks be to God. This man Ziba in 2 Samuel chapter 9, although he was a wicked man and time will prove that, he was kept in abeyance by the word of God. He was kept in abeyance because Mephibosheth was at the king's table.

Now, you've got to follow the trend of thought that the Holy Spirit is leading me on or you're going to miss the point. He's at the king's table. The king has given commandment. Christ has given commandment that you're not under the dominion of sin.

The old nature can't govern your life anymore. He might be more powerful than you are, but there's one in you that's greater than he who is in the world. There's one in you that the word of God keeps in abeyance.

And I'm emphasizing the point because otherwise you won't understand where this message is going to go. In 2 Samuel chapter 15, back in the Old Testament, David the king is forced to flee Jerusalem. And we see it.

He's weeping and he's humbled. In chapter 15 and verse 30, it says, David went up by the ascent of Mount Olivet, and he wept as he went up and had his head covered, and he went barefoot and all the people that was with him covered every man his head, and they went up weeping as they went.

Now, he is reviled. Chapter 16 tells us that there was a man on a hillside called Shimei who was cursing him and throwing stones at him. Very much a Christ type. Now, David was aware that he carried upon himself the judgment for his own sin.

David had sinned against God. And because of this sin, he was forced to go outside of the gate as it is, outside to the city of Jerusalem, across the valley Kidron, weeping, being reviled, and the weight of sin upon him.

Now, in the very, very same way in our opening text in Hebrews, it tells us that Jesus, now not for his sins, but for our sins, he suffered without the gate. Jesus had to go outside of the gate. He went outside of the established religious norm as it is of the day.

He went outside of the place where everyone is using religion for their own glory and their own gain. He went outside of spiritual ignorance and selfishness and everything else that comes when people do not fully possess the heart of God.

He went out with sorrow in his heart very much in a similar way that David did. Now, with David were those who were loyal to him. Many loved him. And they knew that even though his reign seemed out of season, he was still the anointed king.

And folks, I want to tell you something. There are seasons. Paul says, preach the gospel in season and out of season. There are seasons in societies where it's even fashionable to be a Christian. And then there are times when it is out of season.

And we are rapidly now moving into an out of season time to live as a Christian. Now, most of you who work in the marketplace, you know what I'm talking about. The violence, the scorn now, the stone throwing, the heaping of insults, the impressions laid on you that you're some kind of an imbecile because you believe that there is a savior, there's a heaven, a hell.

You believe that society as we know it is coming to an end. And they cast all kinds of insult on you. And in 2 Samuel chapter 19, there's a story here that has always perplexed me. I never could really figure it out.

Now, it's when Absalom or this rebellion was finally overthrown and David comes back in to Jerusalem again. Now, it speaks of two things to me. Number one, Jesus is coming back soon. We can expect his return any day now.

He's coming back. There's going to be some very difficult times that you and I are going to have to go through, folks. We're all going to have to go through it. It's not going to be easy apart from the fact that Jesus Christ has promised to carry and sustain those who belong to him.

Very, very difficult days are quickly coming our way. Christ is coming back. But he comes back repeatedly to those that are his. He's coming back to you again. There are people here in this sanctuary that God's been trying to speak to you about some things, about your relationship with him.

And he keeps coming back to you time and time again. He comes back and tries to speak. And this time, he comes back and Mephibosheth comes out to meet him. And when Mephibosheth comes out to meet him, at the end of the encounter that David has with him, he says something very curious to him.

Now, Ziba had lied. Most commentators agree Ziba had lied. When David was going outside of the gate, Ziba came and made it appear as if he lied about Mephibosheth. I'm not going to go into the whole story.

And when they came back, David said to Mephibosheth, you and Ziba divide the inheritance. And I often thought, was David just tired? Was this a misjudgment on his part? Now, why would David, as a Christ type, tell Mephibosheth, who I'm speaking about as a type of a believer who was once covered at the table, divide the inheritance.

You go home and work it out with this corrupt man in your house. Divide it yourself. Figure out which part is yours and which part is his. And it's an incredible interaction when you see it as a type of Christ and a believer.

Now, verse 24 in chapter 19 says, Mephibosheth, the son of Saul, now here's why I believe this happened, came down to meet the king. He neither dressed his feet nor trimmed his beard nor washed his clothes from the day the king departed until the day he came again in peace.

And it came to pass when he's come to Jerusalem, verse 25, to meet the king, the king said unto him, Wherefore, when is not thou with me, Mephibosheth? Mephibosheth, why didn't you go with me? I had to go outside of the gate.

I was in a place that's not popular in society. I was in a place that only those who love me can go. Mephibosheth, I was kind to you. I covered you. I brought you to my table. I commanded this corrupt servant that I knew was corrupt in your house to be an abeyance to me.

I took authority. I gave you authority over this servant who was more powerful than you. And now, when the season came that you were called to go with me outside of the gate and into a place of weeping and misunderstanding, you stayed at home.

Mephibosheth, why didn't you come with me? And Mephibosheth says, well, you know, I didn't dress my feet. I didn't trim my beard or wash my clothes. And I began to think about this. Now, he is in a kingdom that's in complete rebellion now.

And to be in this place with the son of the king as it is rebelling against him, it could have cost him his life. How did he survive? What would he say if David's rebellious son came and said, Mephibosheth, why haven't you dressed your feet or trimmed your beard or washed your clothes?

Now, he's the type of a man who positions himself directly between two kingdoms. I want you to hear me on this. You see, if the son of David who's in rebellion comes, he could very well say, well, listen, I'm not trimming my beard.

I'm not changing my shoes. I'm not washing my clothes until you are established in your kingdom. And then when David returns, he said, well, I didn't trim my beard. I didn't wash my clothes. I didn't change my shoes until you have come back and retaken the kingdom.

And he's a man who's right in the middle. He's positioned himself for the best of both worlds. That's why much of the church in Western society is powerless. That's why there's so little victory. That's why people sit in houses and have to, week after week and year after year, have to nurse and nurture old wounds.

They live behind prison bars. They don't get free. And sin has dominion because they are positioned directly between two kingdoms. Coming to the house of God with this seeming devotion to the Lord, but having the same devotion to the things of this world outside of the house of God.

That's why there's such a powerless testimony in America today. That's why the church is a non-issue in this society. That's why voices of men and women of God are not heard anymore. Because they've positioned themselves between two kingdoms.

Yes, I want to go to heaven, but I want everything that religion and the world has to offer me as well. I want the two sides of the coin at the same time. But folks, it's not optional. That's why Jesus says to Mephibosheth, it's David, but it's the type of Christ in him.

I can see David staring at Mephibosheth. His countenance is not changing because he knows the truth. Mephibosheth starts to make excuses. Well, my servant lied. And of course, you know your servant is lame.

Can you imagine when Christ comes back and he looks at you and says, Why didn't you go with me? Well, you know, my father wounded me. Well, you know, my past and my background. You know how hard it is to get up and do anything.

You know how hard it is to, Why didn't you go with me, Mephibosheth? I believe that's going to be the cry of God's heart when he returns to so many of his people. Why didn't you go with me? Why didn't you come outside the city wall?

Why weren't you willing to share the reproach of a world that hates God and will hate those who truly represent him? There's no way around it, folks. And so David says to Mephibosheth, You and Ziba go home and divide the inheritance.

And it speaks to me of the person who never gets the victory. He's always fighting inside his own heart, inside his own mind, inside his own house, inside his own head. He never ever has the courage to come again into the marketplace and stand with a living testimony of the power of God in his life.

I'd rather die than live that kind of a Christianity. Elijah said to the people in 1 Kings 18 .21, How long will you halt between two opinions if the Lord, be God, follow him? How long, how long, how long will you stay in this place of playing both sides of the fence?

How many people, even sitting here today, are playing both sides of the fence, claiming to love God, coming in with this display of devotion, but yet you go home and you've got the same devotion to pornography, the same devotion to stupid television and talk radio, the same devotion to things that offend the very nature and character of God.

Going Outside the Camp and Bearing Christ’s Reproach

Hebrews 13 .13 says, Let us go therefore unto him without the camp bearing his reproach. Let us go. If we're going to be a church that has a testimony in our generation, we have to go outside of the camp, outside of all this religion that lives for itself and uses God for its own gain, seeks reputation, seeks power over men's lives, seeks all of these things that they think Christ is supposed to be giving them.

Go outside bearing the reproach. Now think of Jesus for a moment as he's taken outside the gates of Jerusalem. The whole religious system of carnality has now sunned him and is about to nail him to a cross.

He goes outside bearing the reproach of servanthood. Folks, in a world that seeks to dominate others, servanthood is a reproach in our generation. So many are using God to dominate other people's lives now, instead of serving.

He was the greatest among us. He's the greatest there ever will have been among us. Yet the Scripture says he made himself of no reputation and took upon himself the form of a servant. He himself said, the greatest among you shall be your servant.

The reproach of silence and suffering wrong when everyone is screaming about rights and vengeance, when a whole society now is gathering around ethnicity and warring and fighting just as Jesus said it would be in Matthew 24.

There are a people who will learn to go outside of all of this and suffer the reproach of silence and suffering wrong. The reproach of giving when so many are on the take now in our generation. Of giving as just simply giving themselves.

Of the reproach of biblical honesty in a time when evil is called good. We're living in a generation that is completely now inverting the law of God and making evil good and good evil. God help us to get out of this mixture.

God help us to take a stand for Christ in our generation. The reproach of surrender to the Lordship of Christ when so many are in rebellion and others are using them only for their own gain. The reproach, it's a reproach to a self-seeking generation when they look at a person who is willing to be given for the things of God and for the well-being of others.

The reproach of being there for the betterment of others when so few really care that you are even there. Think of the Son of God for a moment. How many were actually there? As God himself in the flesh is giving himself for this generation and so few at that time really care that he's even there.