Leaving a City to Gain The City (Hebrews 13:13-14) | Worship Service

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April 22, 2024

We are commanded to go "outside the camp" to the place where Christ is in the eyes of the world. Christians gladly bear the reproach of identifying with Christ. Our motivation and reward is a lasting city to come. An exposition of Hebrews 13:13-14. This stream is created with #PRISMLiveStudio

09:12: Well, this is a first. My iPad's locked. Hang on. There we go.
09:27: Hey, welcome to Kootenai Church. Would you please stand? And we're going to begin our service this morning with a call to worship out of 2
09:36: Corinthians and chapter 4, verses 16 to 18, and it says,
09:41: Therefore, we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.
09:51: For our momentary light affliction is working out for us an internal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.
10:03: For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
10:08: So this morning, let's sing and give praise to Christ, our hope, our King, our eternal rest, and sing together,
10:15: Christ, our glory. Our rest is in heaven, our rest is not here.
10:44: Then why should we tremble when trials draw near?
10:50: Be still and remember the worst that can come, but short ends our journey and hastens us home.
11:06: Christ, our glory, Christ, our hope,
11:13: Christ, our King forevermore.
11:20: Be still and remember the worst that can come, but short ends our journey and hastens us home.
11:37: No hour should be wasted on seeking our joy and placing our hope in what will be destroyed.
11:53: We look for a city that hands have not raised.
12:00: We look for a country that sin has not stained.
12:09: Christ, our glory, Christ, our hope,
12:16: Christ, our King forevermore.
12:21: We look for a city that hands have not raised.
12:31: We look for a country that sin has not stained.
12:42: Though trouble and anguish increase all the more, they cannot compare to the glory in store.
13:07: Come joy or come sorrow, whatever befalls, the light of the
13:15: Savior will outshine all them all.
13:22: Christ, our glory, Christ, our hope,
13:29: Christ, our King forevermore.
13:36: Christ, our glory, Christ, our hope,
13:43: Christ, our King forevermore. Christ, our glory,
13:53: Christ, our hope, Christ, our
13:58: King forevermore. Come joy or come sorrow, whatever befalls, the light of the
14:14: Savior will outshine them all.
14:19: Come Thou Almighty King, help us
14:35: Thy Name to sing, help us to praise.
14:42: Father all -glorious, Lord all -victorious, come and reign over us, ancient of days.
14:56: Come Thou incarnate Word, word of Thy mighty sword, our prayer attend.
15:08: Come and Thy people bless and give Thy word success,
15:14: Spirit of holiness on us descend. Come Holy Comforter, Thy sacred witness bear in this glad hour.
15:35: Thou who almighty art, now rule in every heart, and ne 'er from us depart,
15:44: Spirit of power. To three may one in three eternal praises be, hence evermore.
16:01: Thy sovereign majesty may we in glory sing, and to eternity love and adore.
16:18: With grateful heart my thanks
16:37: I bring, before the grave your praise I sing.
16:43: I worship in your holy place, and praise you for your truth and grace.
16:52: For truth and grace together shine, in your most holy word divine.
17:00: In your most holy word divine. I cry to you and you did say, your word of grace through courage gave.
17:29: The kings of earth shall thank you Lord, for they have heard your wondrous word.
17:37: Yea, they shall come with songs of praise, for great and glorious are your ways.
17:46: For great and glorious are your ways. O Lord enthroned in glory bright, you reign above in heavenly height.
18:14: The proud in vain your favor see, but you have mercy for the meek.
18:22: Through trouble though my pathway be, you will revive and strengthen me.
18:31: You will revive and strengthen me. You will stretch forth your mighty arm, to save me when my foes alarm.
18:58: The work you have for me begun, shall by your grace be fully done.
19:06: Your mercy shall forever be, O Lord my
19:12: Maker, think on me. Oh Lord, my Maker, think on me.
19:19: Your mercy shall forever be. Oh Lord, my
19:25: Maker, think on me. Oh Lord, my Maker, think on me.
19:34: You may be seated. Two quick announcements.
19:46: First, if you are registered for the women's retreat coming up this next week or weekend,
19:52: I think it's next weekend, is it? There are some final pieces of information that you will need.
19:57: So if you're registered for that, please stop at the foyer that is out in the sanctuary there and visit that table so that you can get the information that you need for the women's retreat coming up.
20:06: And then second, and this is something I mentioned at our annual meeting back in February, but I just want to remind you that this is coming up.
20:13: For those of you who may not know, tomorrow I'm leaving for the Philippines. I'll be there for two weeks and then stopping by Japan since I'm in the neighborhood on the way back before I come back.
20:23: So I'll be gone for three consecutive Sundays. And I would, if you think about me and Justin Peters and Andrew Rapoport, we were over there doing a series of conferences in churches and some church camp meetings, preaching
20:36: I think 12 times in 11 days or something like that. I wish it was all the same message, but it's not.
20:41: It's 12 or 9, 8, 9 different messages. And so I would appreciate your prayer just for stamina and safety and that the world doesn't fall apart while we're gone.
20:51: It would be nice. And then after that, I also mentioned back in February that I'm going to be taking a little bit of time off at the end of that.
20:59: Basically the rest of the month of May, I will be out of the pulpit, though I'll be here with you fellowshipping and worshiping on the weekends.
21:06: So we have some guest speakers lined up. David Forsyth is going to preach for us or for me, Jeff Miller, Gordy Hunt.
21:12: And then at the end of May, we got Justin Peters. He's going to be here for a Sunday in May. And then after that, an author whose book is sold in the
21:23: United Kingdom and Germany and Australia, the United States and Canada, three continents, which is almost half the continents on the globe.
21:30: You may have heard of him, Dave Rich. He's going to be with us. By the way, if you have any of his books, that will be your chance to bring that and have the author autographed by Dave.
21:41: And then after that, our conference, our equipping conference in June, Owen Strand will be preaching on a
21:48: Sunday morning. And then after that, I will be back in the pulpit. Turn now, if you will please, to Psalm 111.
22:06: Psalm 111 is our scripture reading. Not necessarily directly tied into the passage that I'm going to be preaching on this morning, but just a psalm reminding us of God's goodness and grace and compassion, the works of God.
22:19: Psalm 111. We'll read together the entire psalm.
22:27: Praise the Lord. I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart, in the company of the upright and in the assembly.
22:34: Great are the works of the Lord. They are studied by all who delight in them. Splendid and majestic is
22:40: His work, and His righteousness endures forever. He has made His wonders to be remembered.
22:46: The Lord is gracious and compassionate. He has given food to those who fear Him. He will remember
22:52: His covenant forever. He has made known to His people the power of His works in giving them the heritage of the nations.
23:01: The works of His hands are truth and justice. All His precepts are sure. They are upheld forever and ever.
23:08: They are performed in truth and uprightness. He has sent redemption to His people. He has ordained
23:14: His covenant forever. Holy and awesome is His name. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
23:20: A good understanding have all those who do His commandments. His praise endures forever.
23:27: Will you stand with me as we pray? Let's bow our heads.
23:36: Our Father, it would take us a thousand tongues and all of eternity to praise and adore
23:42: You and to recite Your good, compassionate, and gracious works. You have worked in creation.
23:50: You have created all things. You uphold all things by the word of Your power. You direct and cause all events that unfold in this world.
23:59: You are behind everything, upholding everything, and Your sovereignty rules over all. You do according to Your will in the hosts of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth.
24:08: There is no one who can ward off Your hand or hold You to account and say to You, What have
24:14: You done? But instead You rule all things with and by Your majesty and for Your glory and for the good of Your people.
24:21: And we thank You that You have brought us together, called us to trust in You, and made our eyes to see
24:28: Your beauty and Your glory and Your majesty and caused our hearts to rejoice in Your goodness and in Your salvation.
24:35: Thank You for bringing us salvation in Your Son. The greatest work that You have done is the redemption of sinners for Your own glory and for their good.
24:44: So we thank You for sending Your Son to suffer on behalf of unworthy sinners, to pay the price for our sin, our lying, our blasphemy, our idolatry, our lust, our anger, our wrath, malice, greed, selfishness, gossip, envy, slander, all of our many iniquities and transgressions.
25:04: And we thank You that You have laid upon Your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, the righteous One, all of the punishment for our transgressions.
25:11: And then that You have by faith imputed His righteousness to us, that we may stand in Your presence, fall less on that final day, with exceeding joy, not because we have been right or righteous, but because the righteous
25:24: One has suffered and died in our place, lived and risen again in our place as well.
25:31: So we thank You for Your great mercy. We rejoice in Your good works and pray that You would comfort and strengthen our hearts by Your grace today.
25:39: As we worship, we pray that You would grant us grace and strength to celebrate and to worship and to focus our hearts and our minds upon You.
25:47: We pray that You would direct our affections to Your heart and to You, to Your nature, and that we may be transformed by Your truth, by Your Word, and conformed to the image of Your Son, in whose name we pray.
26:01: Amen. And summer filled the earth
26:32: From everlasting You are
26:40: God We dwell beneath the stars in ancient skies
26:52: A thousand years are nothing in Your sight
26:58: From everlasting You are
27:06: God And all our days are held within Your hands
27:15: Your perfect love and favor have no end
27:22: We rest within the wisdom of Your plan
27:31: Everlasting God Hope, God, with joy and tragedy collide
27:45: And loss reminds us life is but a sign
27:50: From everlasting You are
27:58: God And all our days are held within Your hands
28:07: Your perfect love and favor have no end
28:14: We rest within the wisdom of Your plan
28:23: Everlasting God O God of light, our ways are known to You But by Your grace
28:44: You're making all things new So satisfy us in our numbered days
28:56: Establish every effort while we wait
29:01: From everlasting You are
29:09: God And all our days are held
29:25: Rest within the wisdom of Your plan
29:32: Everlasting And all our days are held within Your hands
29:40: Your perfect love and favor have no end
29:46: We rest within the wisdom of Your plan
29:55: Everlasting God In Isaiah chapter 53 and 10 and 11 it says,
30:07: But Yahweh was pleased to crush him, putting him to grief. If you would place his soul as a guilt offering, he will see his seed, he will prolong his days, and the good pleasure of Yahweh will succeed in his hand.
30:23: As a result of the anguish of his soul, he will see it and be satisfied. By his knowledge, the righteous one, my servant, will justify the many, as he will bear their iniquities.
30:34: We're going to end our music service this morning and sing together a song we sang last week, His Robes for Mine.
30:47: His robes for mine, a wonderful exchange
30:54: Clothed in my sin, Christ suffered neath God's rage
31:01: Draped in his righteousness, I'm justified
31:08: In Christ I live, for in my place he died
31:15: I cling to Christ and marvel at the cost
31:22: He took my place to save what once was lost
31:29: Bought by such love, my life is not my own
31:36: By grace, my all, shall be for Christ alone
31:50: His robes for mine, what cause can I portray
31:57: God's daunting law, Christ mastered in my stead
32:03: Faultless I stand, with righteous words not mine
32:10: Saved by my Lord's vicarious death and life
32:17: I cling to Christ and marvel at the cost
32:24: He took my place to save what once was lost
32:31: Bought by such love, my life is not my own
32:38: By grace, my all, shall be for Christ alone
32:51: His robes for mine, God's justice is appeased
32:58: Jesus is crushed, and thus the Father's pleased
33:04: Christ drank God's wrath, on sin then pride is done
33:12: Sin's wage is paid, propitiation won
33:19: I cling to Christ and marvel at the cost
33:26: He took my place to save what once was lost
33:32: Bought by such love, my life is not my own
33:40: By grace, my all, shall be for Christ alone
34:00: His robes for mine, such anguish none can know
34:06: Christ God's beloved, contempt as though his foe
34:14: He as though I, a curse had left alone
34:21: I as though he, embraced and welcomed home
34:27: I cling to Christ and marvel at the cost
34:34: He took my place to save what once was lost
34:41: Bought by such love, my life is not my own
34:49: By grace, my all, shall be for Christ alone
34:59: By grace, my all, shall be for Christ alone
35:11: Amen. You may be seated. Turn now, if you will please, to Hebrews chapter 13.
35:27: The book of Hebrews chapter 13. We're going to read together verses 7 through 14.
35:42: Hebrews 13, beginning at verse 7. Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you, and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith.
35:53: Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Do not be carried away by varied and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods through which those who were so occupied were not benefited.
36:09: 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 holy place by the high priest as an offering for sin are burned outside the camp.
36:22: Therefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people through his own blood, suffered outside the gate.
36:29: So let us go out to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come.
36:38: Let's pray together before we begin our study. Our Father, we ask now that you would open our eyes and our hearts to your word, that we may see the beauty of it, that your spirit would be our teacher to instruct us in the application of this word, that you would be glorified through the proclamation and preaching of your word, and that we, your people, as we submit our hearts and minds to the truth of Scripture, may render and give to you obedient hearts and obedient lives, that you may be glorified through your
37:10: Son and his sacrifice, and through our obedience and our bearing of that reproach of that sacrifice.
37:16: We ask this in his name and for his sake. Amen. Life is full of trade -offs.
37:24: We constantly have to make decisions on the basis of what we desire most, and when we make those trade -offs, we are always, in the moment of decision, trading or exchanging something that we value less for something that we value more.
37:38: And we do this every single day with the use of our time, our talents, and our treasure, always choosing that which we think is going to be most advantageous to us, either in the short term or in the long term.
37:51: Most often, we are willing to forego temporary pleasure or even enjoyment if we deem that the long -term benefit of that is worth the sacrifice.
38:01: We are willing to trade dessert every night if it means that we will be able to fit into that outfit on the special day.
38:09: We are willing to work the long hours and put in the overtime if we know that it will secure for us that family vacation at the end of the year or maybe even being first in line for a promotion or a raise.
38:22: And the decision to sin is the same kind of trade -off. We choose to commit iniquity in the moment when we regard the passing pleasure of sin as being of more value than saying no to that sin in the moment and the reward that would come for that in the future.
38:40: So every sin is a trade -off. We are taking something that we, in this moment, value more, that is the passing pleasure of sin, and we are willing to trade that, to take that in order to put up onto the altar and to destroy forever the reward that would come for being faithful and obedient in that moment.
38:58: We will satisfy and express our anger, our lust, our selfishness, pride, greed, whatever it is, rather than doing righteousness, if we will in the moment think that the payoff for that sin is greater than the reward for obedience.
39:13: Life is full of trade -offs. Sometimes we give up something in the short term in order to gain in the long term.
39:20: We sacrifice something now in order to have something in the future. And the believer with an eye to faith is willing to pay the price now for obedience and sanctification and pursuing holiness if he is convinced that that which he has fixed his heart and his mind on, his affections on in the future, is worth the sacrifice in the now.
39:42: Jim Elliot once famously quipped, He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.
39:48: He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. And there is such a trade -off mentioned in this passage that is before us, verses 13 and 14, which we just read.
39:58: Let's read those verses together. So let us go out to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach.
40:05: For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come. There is a trade that is being mentioned in that verse, verse 14.
40:14: We are willing to go outside of the earthly city. And this is a metaphor you're going to see in a moment. We're willing to go outside of the earthly city and bear the reproach of Christ in the near term.
40:24: If indeed we are able to gain and to keep that which we cannot lose, which is the eternal city or the lasting city which is to come.
40:33: We trade in time, we trade our embrace and acceptance with the world system for our acceptance in and our embrace with the city that is to come in the future.
40:47: We can choose to be accepted and rewarded and applauded by the world and by all the worldlings that wish to applaud us.
40:55: Or we can choose fidelity to Christ and receive the applause and the embrace and the welcome in the city which is to come.
41:03: That is the choice laid before us. And so the author here is asking his readers to make a trade -off.
41:09: To be willing to trade one thing for another. Go outside the city of man and bear the reproach of Christ.
41:16: And you do this because there is nothing here that will reward you or give you anything of lasting value and significance.
41:22: And instead, we are waiting or we have fixed our hope and our eyes upon the glory of the city that is to come.
41:28: The point of this passage, last week we looked at 11 and 12 more specifically and we kind of saw the picture that is being drawn there in verses 11 and 12.
41:39: 13 and 14 are the application of last week's study in verses 11 and 12.
41:45: In verse 11 and 12, the author there is describing that sacrifice reminding his readers of the sacrifice in the day of atonement who was killed in the temple but whose remains were taken outside the city and there they were burned and then buried.
41:59: That place outside the city was the place where sin was dealt with, where blasphemers were executed, where Sabbath breakers were executed.
42:06: Everything unholy and impure and defiling was taken outside the city gate. And so the taking of that sacrifice outside the city gate was a reminder to them that sin must be dealt with outside the city where God dwelt with His people inside the city.
42:21: They must be taken outside the city and there openly repudiated and burned because sin is that defiling thing that is taken outside the city gate.
42:29: So the author says, likewise, Jesus suffered outside the gate. The leaders of the nation of Israel exiled
42:36: Christ and took Him outside the camp, outside the gate where He suffered near the city and there they crucified
42:42: Him and there He suffered in the place where sinners would go to be executed. There they took Christ to be executed.
42:48: That's the analogy. And so our Lord was taken outside the camp to suffer and there
42:53: He was cursed for us, there He suffered in our place. There He was repudiated and rejected and scorned, suffering the treatment that we deserve.
43:02: And this is what we just sang here moments ago, His robes for mine, He treated as though He were
43:08: I and I treated as though I am Him. We exchange robes. He gets my robe of sin upon Him and bears the wrath of God.
43:16: I take His robe of righteousness upon me by faith and in that then I am accepted in the
43:22: Beloved and I stand in the presence of God, not just declared forgiven, but justified that is righteous in His sight because of what
43:29: Christ has done. Because He was taken outside the city gate and suffered in the stead of sinners and God poured out upon Him all
43:37: His wrath for the sins of any and all who will believe. He is able thereby to give by faith to His people a righteousness and a forgiveness that they do not deserve.
43:48: So He was taken to the place of scorn and repudiation and contempt and unholiness and uncleanliness and there
43:55: He suffered. As if a sinner, though He had a righteousness which was impeccable and a life that was unreproachable.
44:03: And yet He was reproached in our stead outside the city gate. So here now the author then draws the application to us, what are we to do in the light of that?
44:14: When you come face to face with the reality that somebody else has borne the sin that you deserve to bear for all of eternity before a holy
44:23: God and you realize that that person with his eye on you because he loves you and chose you in Christ before the foundation of the world, that that person who loves you like that, has that kind of compassion and affection, would himself live his entire life in obedience to the law and then die a sinner's death under the curse in an impure place, reproached in your stead, so that he could give you his righteousness by faith.
44:52: You don't have to work for it. You don't have to earn it. You can't merit it. You simply trust and believe.
44:58: Turn from your sin and trust and believe. When you realize that, that your righteousness is as unreproachable as his righteousness, because he was treated as a sinner in your place, and then you say, what must
45:10: I do? What can I do? What should I do? In light of that, the answer to that is in verse 13.
45:17: Let us go out to him, outside the camp, and there bear his reproach.
45:24: Verse 13. Why do we do this? The motivation? Verse 14. Here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come.
45:32: We are called to leave one city, that is the city of man, with all of its earthly treasures and promises and applause and accolades.
45:42: We are to turn our back upon that and go outside of that city to the place of reproach, and there we are to bear the reproach of Christ, the insult that it is to be called by his name, and having been there then, we are to stay there, outside of the city of man, because our hope is not in this world, our hope is not in these earthly cities, or any rewards that are even part of this world.
46:07: All of our reward, all of our inheritance is coming with the city which is to come. And therefore we are to go outside the camp to leave a city so that we may gain the city, the city which is the fulfillment of all cities.
46:20: So let's look at verse 13, what it means to bear his reproach, and then also today before we were done, we'll look at verse 14, the motivation for doing so.
46:29: The background of this statement in verse 13, going outside the camp to bear his reproach, we saw that there is a historical event,
46:38: Exodus 32 and Exodus 33, which are the historical background for this whole imagery that the author is using here.
46:46: It is Moses after leading the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt and through the Dead Sea, out at Mount Sinai, the children of Israel get the law, and Moses went up on the mountain, there received the law of God, thou shalt not, thou shalt not, thou shalt not, all ten of the ten commandments, and the rest of the law with the instructions for the tabernacle and the proper worship of God.
47:04: And meanwhile at the bottom of the mountain, the entire nation was there rejoicing and frolicking, and they had created an idol and said, this is
47:11: Yahweh who brought you up from the land of Egypt, which was a direct and overt and not even implicit or secret repudiation of that God who had led them out of Egypt.
47:22: And then Moses came down from the mountain and broke the tablets, and some people there were judged. But then it says in Exodus 33 that Moses took the tent of the
47:31: Lord and went outside the camp a good way off, and there he pitched the tent. And then when Moses would go out to the children of Israel, all the children of Israel could do is stand at the gate of their tent and watch
47:41: Moses go out to meet with God. So the entire nation had so defiled themselves that they had actually rejected
47:48: God. And Moses taking the tent of the Lord, the meeting place, and setting it up outside the camp a good way out, that was an indication that, not that God Himself was out in a place of uncleanliness and repute, but the entire nation had so repudiated
48:03: Him that He now could no longer and would no longer dwell within their midst. And instead, God is outside the camp where He has been rejected now by the entire nation.
48:12: That's the imagery behind this statement that Christ was taken outside the gate. This is exactly what the leadership of the nation of Israel did.
48:20: They had so repudiated God in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, that they had taken
48:26: Him outside of the camp and put Him out in the unclean place, and there they repudiated Him, there they cast
48:31: Him off and wanted nothing to do with Him. There they put Him in the reproachful place, the reproached place. And now the author is saying, if you want fellowship with that God, guess what?
48:43: You have to go outside the camp. God is no longer inside the city. You go outside the gate.
48:49: You must turn your back on those who have turned their back on Him so that you may have fellowship with Him in His sufferings.
48:55: That is the imagery behind this. Their high -handed act of idolatry and blasphemy had cut themselves off from God, and so God was now outside the camp.
49:06: And now in Christ, God is outside the nation of Israel, and He is calling all men, all nations to Himself.
49:13: They would not have Christ. They would not have the fulfillment of their sacrifices, but instead they wanted their animal sacrifices.
49:20: They would not have the perfect high priest, but instead they wanted their imperfect priesthood filled with priests who die constantly.
49:30: They would reject the substance for the shadow and the fulfillment for the type. And so the king, who was the descendant of David's throne, who now had come to fulfill everything and all the promises, they had rejected him and put him outside the camp.
49:44: And the author is saying, guess what? Now if you want a part in the promises of God, you must go outside the gate and there bear his reproach.
49:52: Notice that the author is speaking in a metaphorical sense. He is speaking as if Christ were at that moment outside the gate.
49:59: Let us go out to Him outside the camp as if He were actually there. He wasn't. He had long ago by the writing of this, ascended to heaven and taken
50:07: His seat at the Father's right hand. The author knows that, but he is describing this activity in a metaphorical language to go out to the place of reproach.
50:17: You go outside the camp to Christ. In other words, the national Israel, remember he is writing to Hebrews, to Jews who had long grown up into that old covenant system.
50:26: He is writing to national Israel and saying, God is no longer inside this camp now. Just as Moses of old, you must go outside the gate if you are to meet with your
50:35: God and that is in the person of Christ. Therefore, you must be willing, metaphorically, to go outside of the city of man or the camp.
50:44: This calls for a decision. They had to leave behind those who had repudiated
50:49: Christ. Religiously, here is what it would mean. And I want you to remember that before we get to what this looks like in our context, remember to put this back in their context.
51:01: These were Jewish Christians who had come out of Judaism with all of the sacrifices and the feasts and the festivals and all the ritual and the ceremony of Old Covenant Judaism, Old Testament Judaism.
51:13: And now they have come to faith in Christ and there is the allure to go back to that because they had endured afflictions and reproaches and sufferings already.
51:22: And now the promise is if you go back to that, things will get easier. It would be easier to be with your family if you could go back to your family religion.
51:30: It would be easier to kind of fit in with the in crowd if you are willing to go back to that old religious system that you had.
51:36: And the author is not just saying don't go back. The author is saying turn your back on all of that and be willing to go entirely outside of the gate and to reject all of that.
51:47: So, religiously, it would mean that they could continue with the temple and the sacrifices and the offerings and the bulls and the goats or they can leave all of that and have the fulfillment of the
51:59: Old Testament sacrifices in Christ. But they can't have both. You leave one for the other but you cannot put your foot in both of these worlds.
52:10: They could participate in all of the empty ceremonialism of the old covenant or they can have grace in Christ but they cannot have both.
52:19: You can have a gospel without circumcision or a gospel with circumcision book of Galatians but you cannot have both.
52:27: These things are antithetical to one another. Culturally, they can think that their Jewishness that's the right word no more necessary they can think that their
52:41: Jewishness is their righteousness or they can go out to the one whose unblemished righteousness can be theirs by faith but they cannot have both.
52:52: You cannot trust in your works and in Christ. You cannot trust in yourself maintaining your own steadfastness and hold on to Him by faith at the same time.
53:05: You cannot have a righteousness that is yours on the basis of your merit and your history and your traditions and your religious activity and be trusting in Christ at the same time.
53:15: These things are antithetical. Politically, they could seek all of the approval of the leadership of that rebellious nation or they could be accepted by God in Christ.
53:25: But they cannot have both. And this is the difficulty that they faced.
53:31: It would cost them. And they knew this because they had already paid some of the cost back in chapter 10 verses 32 and 35.
53:40: The author describes how they had endured a great conflict of sufferings and they had suffered imprisonment some of them.
53:46: They had become a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations. Their faith had already cost them.
53:52: And this is why they were tempted to go back to it. And the author is saying, don't go back. You can have one or the other.
53:57: Don't go back to that. Instead, turn your back on that and go outside the city gate to have fellowship with Christ.
54:05: It is not unusual for the heroes of the faith to suffer mocking and scourging and chains and imprisonment.
54:11: In fact, Hebrews 11, that great list of heroes of the faith, says that some of the saints were imprisoned for righteousness sake and put to death.
54:18: They were destitute, afflicted, ill -treated. Remember how the author describes them? Men of whom this world is not worthy.
54:26: That's what we have to expect. And so then in chapter 12, the author reminds us that those same afflictions that afflicted the heroes of the past will also afflict us as a wise and sovereign
54:36: God uses all of those afflictions to sanctify His people and prepare us for the reward that we have to come.
54:42: That's the chastening of chapter 12. So in our context, it will mean that you can have
54:49: Christ or you can have your false religion and your traditions and your manmade philosophies.
54:55: Or you can have Christ, but you cannot have both. Culturally, you can have the applause of the world.
55:02: Or you can have the applause of Christ, but you cannot have both. You cannot love
55:07: Christ in this world. You cannot serve Christ in this world. You cannot set your affections on this world and the life in the world that is to come because these things are antithetical to one another.
55:18: You can have your sin and pleasure now and suffer loss later, or you can gladly count all things to be lost for the sake of Christ now and gain an entire world and the city that is to come later, but you cannot have both.
55:37: Culturally, you and I live in a time when we are living on the fumes of a nation whose political system, whose culture, whose entertainment is coasting on the fumes of a
55:48: Judeo -Christian perspective that comes out of the Great Awakening and even the
55:53: Puritans before that. And we're just a vehicle that has run out of gas, coasting down the freeway, the engine is off, it's in neutral, and we are slowly, even more rapidly, beginning to realize that we are slowing down and we are using up all of the common grace capital that once we enjoyed in this nation.
56:14: Things are different than they were when I was a kid. I'm not that old. I'm not that old, but I remember a time when times were different, when it was culturally in to be part of some sort of a religious movement, and where everything around me was informed by a religious perspective.
56:33: Even atheists wanted good things and religious things for people. But we don't live in that world anymore.
56:40: Christianity is increasingly becoming counter -cultural, and so Christian, you better be ready to be ostracized from the culture, and from politics, and from entertainment, and even from the economy and the business if you are going to be faithful to Christ.
56:57: Jesus spoke about leaving family, and lands, and houses, and businesses for His sake.
57:04: In our nation, we have not yet been asked to do that. Barring some sort of a change, we are going to be not only asked to do that, but we are going to be forced to do that.
57:14: If the current trajectory continues, you will be forced outside of the gate. It will either be that or bow the knee to Caesar.
57:22: And being welcomed inside the gate will mean that you compromise, and that you capitulate, and that you bow the knee to the spirit of the age, and embrace everything that it demands.
57:34: There's coming a point where we are going to be forced outside the gate, and so I would suggest to you that you go ahead and embrace that with a smile, recognizing that when the world hates you, you're doing something right.
57:50: Embrace the reproach of faith. I said this over and over again when we were in chapter 11. Those who embrace and suffer the reproach of faith receive the reward of faith.
58:00: There's no reward of faith if you do not embrace the reproach of faith. So embrace the reproach that you may receive later on the reward.
58:09: You have need of endurance, the author says, so that when you have done everything that you should do, you will receive what is promised.
58:15: There is a reward that is to come, but not to those who are willing to stay inside the city of man and reproach
58:22: Christ who is outside the gate. Notice that the author does not encourage them to adjust their message, to tone down their rhetoric, find a way to make the message of the cross palatable to people.
58:36: It is offensive, so find a way to take away the offense and make it something that people will willingly embrace.
58:44: He doesn't encourage them to do that. He doesn't encourage them to make concessions for a seat at the political or social table.
58:51: He doesn't ask them to navigate the world's opposition and to somehow find a way to become acceptable in the eyes of worldlings and pagans who had cast off Christ.
59:01: Instead, he says to them, turn your back on the false religions, on sin, on its lusts, and care nothing for academic applause.
59:09: Give no heed to cultural commands and don't be allured by the praises of pagans, but instead be willing to step and go outside the gate where Christ is, where He bore your reproach before a holy
59:22: God, and there bear the reproach of Christ in the eyes of a sinful and rebellious world.
59:28: This is the exchange of the trade -off. Take the love of the world or take the love of Christ, but you can't have both.
59:37: Receive the applause of pagans or receive the applause of one who says, well done, good and faithful servant, but you can't have both of those things.
59:47: You must stay inside the city that will be judged or go outside the city where one who was reproached for you is and there be willing to bear the reproach that the world will heap upon you for His sake.
01:00:00: The word reproach that's used in this passage is a word that means an insult or a disgrace, and this is what the unbelieving world heaps upon our
01:00:08: Savior. They regard Him as worthy to suffer the fate of blasphemers and lawbreakers.
01:00:14: They impugned His reputations, His motives, His power, His lineage. They slandered His name. They blasphemed
01:00:20: Him. They still do today. His is the only first name that is worthy of being used in the eyes of the world as a swear word or coupled with the most profanest of profanities.
01:00:30: It's only Jesus whose name is taken and used that way. Nobody else. This has become habitual in our world, and a
01:00:39: Christian bears that name as a Christ one, one who follows Him and belongs to Him, and we want to bear that name well, and bearing that name will mean that we end up suffering the reproaches of the sinful and rebellious world, but we are willing to publicly go out and identify
01:00:55: Him, to go outside the gate where He is reproached and there gladly bear the reproach that the world heaps upon Him.
01:01:01: This is the choice we have to make. This is the choice we are faced with. They will call you a bigot, an unscientific fool, unenlightened, simple, naive.
01:01:13: The world will say that your morals are repressive and regressive, that your faith is simple and blind, that your priorities are out of step with the world, that you are a hindrance to the progress of technology and civilization and politics, that you are a sexist, homophobic, narrow -minded, intolerant, bigoted, self -righteous because you think you're right, you're anti -intellectual, anti -science and anti -technology and anti -progressive.
01:01:39: That's just a sampling of the calumnies and slander that they will heap upon you if you will be faithful to Christ, and regard
01:01:46: God's truth as true. Now you can embrace that, or you can try and seek to have their applause, but there will be no middle ground.
01:01:59: Jesus said in Matthew 5 verse 11, blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me, like the evil that I just listed for you.
01:02:09: Matthew 10, a disciple is not above his teacher nor a slave above his master. It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher and the slave like his master.
01:02:18: If they've called the head of the household Beelzebul, how much more will they malign the members of his household?
01:02:24: In Acts chapter 5 verse 41, they went on their way from the presence of the council rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for his name's sake.
01:02:33: This is the apostles in Acts chapter 5 willingly embracing the reproach of Christ.
01:02:42: Willing and glad that they could suffer for his name. First Peter chapter 4 verse 14, if you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed because the spirit of glory and of God rests on you.
01:02:53: Make sure that none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or a troublesome meddler but if anyone suffers as a
01:02:59: Christian, he is not to be ashamed but to glorify God in that name. The unbelieving world maligned
01:03:06: Christ. They called him an illegitimate child, an unclean Sabbath breaker, a blasphemer, a devil who worked his miracles by the power of Beelzebub, Satan.
01:03:16: They mocked him on the cross. He was the song of drunkards and those who sat in the gate spoke evil of him. The world today reviles and shames and maligns and insults and repudiates those who are outside the gate who bear that very same name.
01:03:28: They did this to Christ and rather than being ashamed of him, we ought to gladly go out and identify with him.
01:03:35: Now in terms of Christian obedience, let me just make a brief application here when it comes to identifying with Christ.
01:03:42: At the very least, this means that a Christian is one who should be baptized because that is the public declaration that I belong to him and not this world system.
01:03:54: That's the very first act of obedience. Now being willing to go outside of the camp is not only baptism, it's more than that but it is certainly not less than baptism because this is the public declaration of identifying with Jesus Christ that he has given to his church.
01:04:14: So, will you shy away from this, I'm not talking about baptism, will you shy away from this bearing the reproach of Christ in front of an unbelieving world?
01:04:22: Christ calls you to bear his name and endure the same insults that they heaped upon him and so if you want fellowship with him, then you have it outside the gate when you endure his reproach and you bear his reproach.
01:04:35: If you think this is too much of a cost to bear, if you think that you are not willing to pay this price and you will not go out to him but instead prefer the welcome of worldlings, then coward, shrink back to your own destruction.
01:04:50: If you will trade fellowship with the king for partnership with the world, then partnership with you shall have with the world and that for all of eternity.
01:05:00: That is the choice that he is asking them to make. If it's the company of pagans that you wish to keep, then you will have it with them forever.
01:05:06: But you cannot have their applause and the applause of Christ at the same time. That's the reproach we are called to bear.
01:05:13: Now verse 14, the reward, is it worth the suffering? The reward. Verse 14, we do this because we do not have here a lasting city, but we are seeking the city that is to come.
01:05:26: Now he hasn't mentioned in this passage which we read from the top at the beginning, verse 7 and following, he hasn't mentioned a city necessarily, so I think that there is here in the author's mind the allusion to Jerusalem, Christ suffered outside the gate.
01:05:39: The gate of what? The gate of a city. Which city? Specifically Jerusalem. I think Jerusalem is the center of the religious and cultural
01:05:47: Old Covenant community. It was that which was the center of Old Testament Judaism. The author is here using city now in two ways.
01:05:56: Number one, as a reference to worldly acceptance and worldly compatibility, but also as a reference to that entire
01:06:03: Old Testament covenant system. And he is saying you have to be willing to go outside of that and there embrace the reproach of Christ.
01:06:11: Our hope is not in earthly cities. Not in political centers like Boise or Washington, D .C.
01:06:17: or Jerusalem. These are not our cities. This is not our home. We are strangers here.
01:06:23: Those are the cities of men. And believers cannot possibly be comfortable in this world. It is impossible for a believer to be at rest entirely in this world and to be satisfied with what this world has to offer.
01:06:37: That cannot be because we are creatures of another world and our citizenship is not here. As I prepare to go to another country here tomorrow,
01:06:46: I am aware that probably 48 hours from now I am not going to be satisfied with that place that I'm going to.
01:06:52: Not going to because my citizenship is not there. It doesn't feel at home. I'm away from the people that I love and I care for.
01:07:00: I'm going to be in a strange environment, a place where I feel like a fish out of water. Culturally it's not my people.
01:07:06: Well on a microcosm the same thing is true with the believer. When we are in this world, the world is not our people.
01:07:12: This economic system is not our economic system. This home is not our home. These cities offer nothing to us.
01:07:18: The applause and approval of pagans, they should mean nothing to us. The disapproval of pagans should also mean nothing to us.
01:07:24: Because we cannot be at rest. We cannot be satisfied here. We cannot ultimately feel at home here because our home is somewhere else.
01:07:33: All of this is going to burn up. Everything is going to pass away. Every city on the planet is going to be destroyed and every nation that has ever existed and that exists now and that will ever exist will find its place in the history books somewhere as a footnote to the mention of that one great kingdom that is to come and the city that is to come.
01:07:54: The earthly cities say, come inside the city and we will welcome you. We will make, you make our people your people.
01:08:02: Our values your values. Our priorities your priorities. Our loves and affections your loves and affections.
01:08:07: And if you do that we will embrace you and we will welcome you in and we will give you applause and approval.
01:08:13: But we are not seeking that kind of a city. Instead we are seeking a coming city, the city which is to come, which the author has already mentioned back in chapter 11 and chapter 12.
01:08:24: It is not an earthly city. It is a city that all other cities portend.
01:08:30: They all point to that coming city, that great city. Every city that we are familiar with, all the glories of it, all the loves of it, all of the attributes of it, these merely point forward to that coming city that we will enjoy on that final day.
01:08:46: Hebrews chapter 11 verse 10, Abraham was looking for the city which has foundation, whose architect and builder is
01:08:52: God. Hebrews 11 verse 13, all these died in faith without receiving the promises but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.
01:09:05: For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return.
01:09:15: But as it is, they desired a better country that is a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their
01:09:21: God for He has prepared a city for them. These are the heroes of the faith, doing what they did, enduring what they endured, suffering as they did because they were looking forward to the city that is to come.
01:09:33: Hebrews 12 verse 22, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, to heavenly Jerusalem and to the myriads of angels.
01:09:40: That is what we want. That is our ultimate reward. So we look back, we are to turn our backs on the earthly Jerusalem, the earthly cities of our day and all that that means in terms of worldly acceptance and be willing to embrace the reproach of Christ because we look forward to the city which is to come.
01:09:57: A lasting city, an eternal city designed and built by God and into it no unclean thing, no defiling thing will ever enter.
01:10:05: The world ultimately can offer us nothing of eternal or lasting value, nothing. There is nothing you see around you other than people that will last forever.
01:10:17: Everything here will perish and will be burned up and the believer must fix their hope and their expectation on the city that is to come.
01:10:27: This world shames and repudiates everything of lasting significance and it approves and loves and promotes everything that is of passing temporal value.
01:10:36: The example we are given in Hebrews chapter 11 is Moses. Remember what Moses did, the parallels here.
01:10:42: The parallels here are stunning. In fact, as I read to you Hebrews 11 verses 24 to 26,
01:10:49: I want you to hear the words of this passage here back in Hebrews chapter 11, by faith
01:10:55: Moses when he had grown up refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to endure ill treatment with the people of God, that is going outside the city of his day,
01:11:06: Egypt, rather than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasure of Egypt because he was looking for the reward.
01:11:20: Moses left Egypt because he considered the reproach of being identified with the people of the
01:11:26: Messiah as being greater than all the treasures of Egypt and they were all at his disposal and he did this, the author says, because he was looking for the reward.
01:11:36: It's the same reward that you and I expect. It's the same reward you and I will give for faithfulness.
01:11:42: Faith says it is better to be with God's people in a wilderness than to be with God's enemies in a palace. You have to be willing to embrace that.
01:11:53: Eventually those outside the cities, those who are outside the city of men and the cities of men, they are the citizens of the heavenly city that is to come.
01:12:04: And eventually the doors on the earthly cities, the city of men, they will slam shut and the judgment of God will rain down upon them a judgment that will make
01:12:13: Sodom look like a day at the beach by comparison. And on that day you will be glad that you are outside the city and you will be glad that you went out to bear his reproach because here is the
01:12:25: Lord's promise, Revelation 22, 12 through 15, I'm coming quickly and my reward is with me to render to every man according to what he has done.
01:12:34: I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. Blessed are those who wash their robes so that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter by the gates into the city.
01:12:45: Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices lying.
01:12:55: Into that eventual city nothing impure or unrighteous will ever come. C .H.
01:13:01: Spurgeon said this, to this day the Christian's place is not to tarry in the camp of worldly conformity hoping perhaps
01:13:08: I may aid the movement of reform. It is not the believer's duty to conform to the world and to the world's ways and say perhaps by doing so I may gain a foothold and men's hearts may be the more ready to receive the truth.
01:13:22: No, from the first to the last day of the church of God, the place of witness is not inside but outside the camp and the true position of the
01:13:32: Christian is to go forth outside the camp bearing Christ's reproach. May God grant to you and I not only the willingness to do that but the strength to do it as well because here we do not have a lasting city but we are waiting for the city that is to come.
01:13:48: Let's pray. Our Father, we pray that you would make us men and women who gladly bear the reproach of your
01:13:56: Son. As you conform us to the image of Christ, we pray that we would have your strength to stand outside the gate and to gladly bear the reproach that is upon Him because He has borne the reproach that is due to us.
01:14:12: So we pray that you would strengthen us to that end and that you would be glorified through us as your people, as your church as we bear the name of Christ before the world and may the world give testimony to our holiness, our godliness, and our faithfulness by the slanders that they hurl at those who are faithful to your beloved
01:14:31: Son for it is in His name that we pray. Amen. Would you please stand as we end our service this morning with Let Your Kingdom Come.
01:14:42: Your glorious cause,
01:14:55: O God, engages our hearts.
01:15:00: May Jesus Christ be known wherever we are.
01:15:07: We ask not for ourselves, but for your repel.
01:15:15: The cross has saved us, so we pray, your kingdom come.
01:15:24: Let your kingdom come. Let your will be done so that everyone might know your name.
01:15:39: Let your song be heard everywhere on earth.
01:15:47: Till your sovereign work on earth is done.
01:15:52: Let your kingdom come. Give us your strength,
01:16:04: O God, at Christ's feet. Perform your wondrous deeds for those who are weak.
01:16:17: Lord, you just as you once, whatever the test, by grace will please your gospel fill our dying breath.
01:16:34: Let your kingdom come. Let your will be done so that everyone might know your name.
01:16:49: Let your song be heard everywhere on earth.
01:16:56: Till your sovereign work on earth is done.
01:17:02: Let your kingdom come. Let your kingdom come.
01:17:14: Let your will be done so that everyone might know your name.
01:17:25: Let your song be heard everywhere on earth.
01:17:33: Till your sovereign work on earth is done.
01:17:39: Let your kingdom come. May the grace of the
01:17:50: Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.