WWUTT 1892 Let Us Go Outside the Gate (Hebrews 13:10-16)

In Hebrews 13 we are told that Jesus was sacrificed outside the gate, so therefore let us go out to him outside the camp bearing his reproach.

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When We Understand The Text, a daily Bible study in the word of Christ, that men and women of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Tell your friends about our ministry at www .utt .com. Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky. We're back to our study in Hebrews chapter 13. I'm going to pick up where I left off yesterday.

So let me start in verse 9, I'll read through verse 19 in the Legacy Standard Bible. Hear the word of the

Lord. 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.

We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no authority to eat.

For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as an offering for sin are burned outside the camp.

Therefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people through his own blood, suffered outside the gate.

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 one to come.

Through him, then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name.

And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account, so that they will do this with joy and not with groaning, for this would be unprofitable for you.

Pray for us, for we are convinced that we have a good conscience, desiring to conduct ourselves well in all things.

And I urge you all the more to do this, so that I may be restored to you the sooner.

Alright, coming back to verse 9. I had read through verse 9 yesterday, but we're going to head the section up with this particular verse.

For the preacher says, don't be carried away by varied and strange teachings. Now it would be easy to tie this into, like say, the exhortation that's given in Romans 16.

I urge you brothers to keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and stumblings contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them.

For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ, but of their own stomach, and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting.

It would be easy to say that this instruction here in Hebrews 13 .9 is like that one in Romans 16, but they're actually different.

The statement in Romans 16 is more general concerning any kind of false teaching that may cause division, but there appears to be something very specific about the warning that's given here in Hebrews 13 .9,

especially when you consider the audience. In Romans, the audience is largely

Gentile. Now there are Jews and Gentiles together, and Paul does address, you know, some differences between Jew and Gentile understandings of the application of the gospel in his letter to the

Romans, but here in Hebrews, who's the audience? I mean, we're talking almost exclusively to Hebrews.

Now most of my listeners, including myself, are likely going to be Gentiles. We don't have a

Jewish background, we're of a Gentile background, and yet we have seen through this scripture how it applies to us.

So Hebrews is certainly not something, well, whoever is a Jew would read Hebrews. All of us need to recognize how

Christ is the fulfillment of the Old Testament. But as the audience, as we understand the audience, we know what the original author's intent was to the original audience, so we recognize that they're

Hebrews. We're going to see here there's a specific false teaching that the preacher means to address when he says, don't be carried away by varied and strange teachings.

Because where he goes from there is to say, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace.

We're talking about the gospel and the origin of that grace who is our Lord Christ.

It is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace. What did Paul preach in Ephesians 2 .8?

For it is by grace you are saved through faith. So it's good to be strengthened by grace.

It's just by belief in Jesus Christ, period. Not adding in works to all of this.

We are strengthened because we know the grace of God that has been given to us through Jesus Christ our

Lord. It's be good, it be good, it be good. It is good to be strengthened by grace, not by what?

Not by foods. So what was the false teaching that was being confronted here? That you have to eat certain things in order to be holy.

And the preacher here is saying, no, no, no, that does not make us, we are not any holy if we eat or if we abstain.

That does not change the condition of the person. As he goes on to say, through which those who were so occupied were not benefited.

Those who have been so occupied with what to eat and what not to eat, have they become all the more holy by following that?

No. As Paul said to the Romans, the law was powerless to save us.

It did not make us holier before God. It instead exposed the fact that we're unholy, that we've been unable to keep the law of God.

That's more the function of the law is to expose that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

So it's not through the keeping of the law, even the dietary laws in Leviticus 11, that one is made holy.

Those laws were given for a particular purpose, which has been fulfilled in Christ.

Or even Jesus said in Mark 7, he declared all foods clean. So we know that from the teachings of grace.

It is by the grace of God that all foods have been declared clean and you and I can enjoy bacon now.

Amen to that. So it is not through following dietary laws that one is going to be made holy.

Those who impose such things, they've not benefited from those laws. Verse 10 says, we have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no authority to eat.

You cannot come and eat at that table just because you keep certain laws.

You have not been made worthy to eat at that table by your keeping of the law.

Our being made worthy to come to the table of the Lord is done by Christ.

It is because he has washed us, has sanctified us, has clothed us in his righteousness that we may come to the table of God.

But those who are still trying to gain their righteousness by the law, which they can't do, they have no authority to eat at the table that we get to eat at.

Even those who serve the tabernacle, right, they're still following the laws that were given pertaining to the tabernacle, ceremonial cleanliness, and things like that.

They don't have any access to this table that we're a part of, the table of the

Lord. That same table where he sat with his own disciples and broke bread among them and said, this is my body given for you, and that he passed the cup saying, this is my blood that has been poured out for you, the blood of the new covenant for the forgiveness of sins.

This table we're all sitting at, and we are partaking of it in remembrance of those things that Christ has done and even what he is doing and is going to fulfill, ultimately, when we're gathered with him in glory and we eat at the wedding feast of the lamb.

This is but a small taste, kind of a promise of those things that are to come.

But we have been gathered and welcome to this table through Christ who loves us, who gave himself for us.

As the preacher goes on to say, verse 11, for the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as an offering for sin, they are burned outside the camp.

So here's an illustration that is being given to us here. How is it that we have come into the presence of God and been invited to become part of this table?

We've gone out. We've gone out of the city. We've gone out of the world. I'll make those ties here in just a moment.

That's the illustration that's being given. So just as the sacrifices were burned outside of the camp, so Christ was sacrificed outside the gate.

Christ even shows a fulfillment in that sense, being the greater sacrifice, an argument that's been made earlier in Hebrews.

But we see that all the more fulfilled in the sense that, you know, the leftover stuff would be burned outside the camp.

So Christ was sacrificed outside the gate. So we must, therefore, also go outside.

That's the direction the preacher is going here. Verse 12, therefore, Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people through his own blood, suffered outside the gate.

So let us go out to him outside the camp bearing his reproach.

Now, there are a few ways that we might be able to apply this. I think the most direct way we could apply it is that we're going outside of the ceremonial law.

We're going forth from the ceremonial law. We don't need to keep that anymore. It was not for us to be purified by it anyway.

It could not make us holy. It could not give us right standing before God because we were incapable of keeping the law of God.

These things were meant to point to one who was going to fulfill these things, and that is Christ. He has fulfilled the ceremonial law.

All of those things have been accomplished in Christ. The law pointed to him. He fulfilled it.

He is our sacrificial lamb. He is the greater mediator, as we've read through Hebrews.

He is the great high priest who does these things on our behalf. And so we go out from the ceremonial law to Christ, and through Christ, we are made worthy to enter into that holy place, into the presence of God.

So that's first of all. I think that's our first connection there is that we go out from the ceremonial law.

Secondly, we go out from sin. We are not to walk in our sins any longer, in the passions of our flesh, in the ways of this world.

I don't want to go there yet. I was going to say the ways of this world. I'm not going there yet. Hang on to that one. Let's just focus on the sin portion.

We go out from sin. We are no longer enslaved to sin. John 8, 34,

Jesus said, truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.

Is that who we are? Are we subject to sin rather than subject to righteousness?

Paul talks about this also in Romans chapter 6. The one who is regularly committed to sin is still a slave to sin.

And we are not to submit the members of our bodies to unrighteousness, but rather to righteousness.

So we're to be a slave of righteousness. We're to do those things that are pleasing unto the

Lord, not those things that are sinful in rebellion against God and his law.

So it's interesting to kind of put these things side by side, because I said to you first, we go out from the ceremonial law, but in also going out from sin, we would uphold, we would keep the moral law.

Paul even says in Romans 3, do we overthrow the law by this faith? By no means. On the contrary, we uphold the law.

And later on in chapter 13, he says, love is the fulfilling of the law. Jesus said that all the law and the commandments are bound up in these two commands, that you love the

Lord, your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and you love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commands hinge all the law and the prophets.

So if we're doing that, if you're loving God and you're loving one another, then you're not doing the other things that the law prohibits.

Correct? Like you're not murdering your neighbor if you're loving them. You are obeying your mom and dad or honoring them if you love them.

You are not committing adultery. And we've had the warning previously in Hebrews 13 that marriage is to be held in honor among all and the marriage bed is to be undefiled.

OK, so we've had that instruction even here in Hebrews 13. If we love our spouse, we love the

Lord and we love our spouse. Then we're not jumping into anybody else's bed. If you love others, then you're not going to cause them to sin in this way by fornicating outside of marriage.

If you love others, then you are not jealous of them or greedy of them or envious of what they have.

You're thankful unto God for what he has given you. If you love others, then you're not slanderous about them, lying about them and spreading malicious gossip.

But you would speak favorably of others. You would be encouraging you with your words rather than tearing others down.

So all of this, again, to tie into the fact that in Christ, we go out from the ceremonial law and we go out from sin.

We are obedient unto the Lord. We are subject to Christ and his ways.

So, again, first of all, we're going forth out of the ceremonial law to Christ who is outside the gate.

We're going out from sin. Thirdly, rather, this is the world one. I said I didn't want to jump into the world real quick, but now

I'll put it right here. We go out from the world. We who are in Christ are called his church.

In Greek, that's ekklesia. Do you know what ekklesia means? Ekklesia means a gathering or an assembly called out.

So as the church, we have been called out just as Israel was called out of slavery in Egypt.

So we have been called out from the world. We who are in Christ were previously enslaved to the world.

We were part of the world. Titus 3 -3 says that's exactly who we were. We were just like the rest of them, enticed by our own passions, enslaved to various passions and pleasures, hated by others and hating one another, just like everyone else in this world.

But we have been called out from the world to Christ. So we go out from the world that we may not look like the world any longer.

We look like strangers to everyone else in this world. They think it completely odd and peculiar that we live the way that we do, and we don't join them in their flood of debauchery.

As it says in 1 Peter 4, they're going to malign us just because we won't be like them. But we're not to be like them.

We are in the world, but not of the world. So we go out from the world to Christ.

And then fourthly, we also need to go out from ourselves. Jesus said in Luke chapter 9 that if anyone would come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow after me.

Whoever would love his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

And it's going on from there, verse 25, that he says, what is a man profited if he gains the whole world or forfeits him?

But then he loses and forfeits himself. So we have both of those that are mentioned. They're going out from the world and even going out from ourselves.

We don't do this for ourselves, for our own glory. We live unto the glory of God, going out to Christ, proclaiming and exalting his name.

So once again, this illustration of going out to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach means we're going out from the ceremonial law.

We're going out from sin. We're going out from the world. We're even going out from ourselves. Hebrews 13, 14 says, for here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the one to come.

Now, the interesting thing about that statement is that's calling back to stuff that we've heard already in Hebrews. In fact, a lot of what we're reading here in this section of Hebrews 13, like from verses eight on, is almost summarizing things that we've previously read in Hebrews.

Let me remind you of verse eight again. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. You could draw that conclusion just from chapter one.

Verse nine, do not be carried away by varied and strange teachings, for it's good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods through which those who were so occupied were not benefited.

Then this section that's right here, this argument that's been made through most of the body of Hebrews, that Christ is the fulfillment of all of this.

So we go out from that to Christ who is outside the camp bearing his reproach.

People are going to hate us for this. They hated Christ and put him to death. But Jesus said in Matthew 5, blessed are you when they hate you and call you all kinds of names and accuse you falsely of evil for my sake.

For they did the same to the prophets who were before you. Great is your reward. So we rejoice in these things with Christ bearing his reproach.

And then you have this statement in 14. We do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the one that is to come.

And again, that's what we read in Hebrews 11. Remember what it was said about Abraham and the other

Old Testament faithful. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own.

And indeed, if they had been remembering that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return.

But now they aspire to a better country that is a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their

God for he prepared a city for them. And that statement which was made in chapter 11 is now being applied even to us in chapter 13.

For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the one to come.

So we go out from the world to Christ and we will receive the eternal perfect city that he has built.

Verse 15, through him, then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God.

That is the fruit of lips that confess his name. So may all the words we say, everything we say be honoring and glorifying of God.

This is much like Romans 12, one in view of God's mercies. Let us present our bodies unto the

Lord as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to him. This is your spiritual act of worship.

Same sort of thing is being said here through him. Let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God.

The fruit of lips that confess his name. Verse 16, and do not neglect doing good and sharing.

For with such sacrifices, God is pleased that we may care for one another and grow with one another in this faith that we all profess.

Now I'm going to stop there. We get to verse 17. That's where I'm going to pick up tomorrow. Obey your leaders and submit to them for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account so that they will do this with joy and not with groaning for this would be unprofitable for you.

I really think the section ends there in verse 16. 17 is another statement, but it comes back to verse 7.

So I want to talk about that again and we'll wait to pick up the lesson there tomorrow. God willing, we'll be finished with our study of the book of Hebrews.

Let me pray for you. Heavenly Father, I thank you for these words and I pray that these listeners will have discerning hearts to understand your word and know how to apply it, that we may live unto your will each day, going out from the ceremonial law or any kind of law we think we need to follow in order to gain sanctification, in order to become holy.

The law does not make us holy. Christ makes us holy. So we go out from those things to Christ.

We go out from sin, no longer enslaved to sin, but doing righteousness, those things that are good and pleasing unto the

Lord. May the listeners, may they go out from the world, no longer living as the world or desiring the things of the world, but desiring

Christ. And also that you bring us out of ourselves, that we would not be living for ourselves, but living unto the

Lord as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to you. May the fruit that comes from our lips confess your name.