Pray: that Jesus be exalted and that we be obedient to the voice of Christ that calls outside the camp

[Hebrews 13:9-16] “Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them. We have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat. For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp. So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through His own blood. Therefore let us go to Him outside the camp and bear the reproach He endured. For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. Through Him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge His Name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.”

Tonight we’re bringing the book of Hebrews to a close and the Arrived Series, where we have seen from Hebrews 12-13 that Christianity is not just what we have come from but what we have come to. We have seen that we have arrived at the Lion’s love, meaning, now in Christ God is our Father and He loves us with tough love that even when we are persecuted or suffer it is all love from God. We have seen that we have arrived at the City of the Living God, not Mt. Sinai, and here in Christ’s unshakeable kingdom there is joy and worship and life, and by faith we are already here. Last week we saw that we have arrived at a new way of living because we are new creatures and being new creatures we look to Christ and love insiders (brothers and sisters in Christ) outsider, and we hold marriage in honor, hate sexual immorality and the love of money, are content because we have Christ, the Greatest Treasure, and we submit willingly and joyfully to church leadership so that they can watch over our souls. And tonight, we come to one last thing we have arrived at and it is this: We have arrived to go outside the camp.

Retreat or Risk It All
For the believers hearing this letter read out loud, this was the make or break part of the book. In truth, it’s felt like the whole book has been a make or break calling to come completely to Jesus, but there is something here in what the author will say that will make or break these people. How these people respond to the closing part and sum of the message will determine everything for them, and for us it is no different! God will not allow us to get away with ignoring Him here and as real and pivotal as this message was for them, so it is for us.

David Platt, at the SBC Convention this year summarized what the author of Hebrews was saying to the people here, and said they were given two options: 1) They Can Retreat From the Mission God Had Given Them or 2) They Can Risk Everything in the Mission. We can go outside the camp toward the need of the lost and dying world or we can retreat to comfort and waste our lives, yes, God will forgive us if we fail to go, but we might be just like the nation of Israel and suffer to perish in the wilderness and God pass this generation by for one that will rise up and follow. So here in these verses is a call to retreat or risk it all. We can stay in the camp or we can go outside the camp.

But before we get outside the camp, we need to first see what kind of people Christ creates…

1. Jesus Died to Set Apart a People Like Himself: “So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through His own blood.”

The first thing we see in these verses is that “Jesus suffered outside the gate” and we need to understand what this means, because in the next verse the author will call us to go outside and suffer with Him. So when Jesus suffered outside the camp what does that mean? If we could sum it up in a word, it means rejection. For the nation of Israel, the camp was to be a sacred, holy, and clean place while outside the camp it was dirty, unholy, and unclean. If you were diseased or sick or impure you were supposed to be outside the camp, because God’s presence was in the camp dwelling among the people. So for Jesus to suffer outside the camp means that during the suffering of His cross in the shedding of His blood He became the most horrible and wretched person ever because there He took on Himself all the diseases of sinful humanity. It was there that He became a curse by hanging on a tree and took upon Himself all the curses of the law for disobedience. It was there He was rejected by the nation of Israel, rejected by His disciples, and ultimately and this is the worst…rejected by God the Father as He poured out His Holy Anger on Him. “He was despised, and rejected, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief…the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” This is what it means by the words, “Jesus suffered outside the gate.”

The second thing we need to see is the reason Jesus suffered outside the gate and it is this: “to sanctify (or set apart) the people through His own blood.” There was a reason for this kind of suffering for Jesus, and the reason was to set apart a people like Himself! Now I’m saying “like Himself” for a reason and it is this: when Jesus sets us apart (or sanctifies us) He doesn’t just set us apart from the world, but He sets us specifically apart to Himself. In sanctification, we behold the glory of God and are transformed into the image of Jesus. The work of sanctification is to be more like Christ, which leads to the work and goal of glorification which is that we will be like Jesus. 1 John 3:2 says, “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is.”

So if in sanctification we are becoming more like Jesus, that means that not only are we becoming more like Him in His love, and speech, and obedience, and passion but we are becoming more like Him in His suffering. If we are truly being sanctified and set apart to Jesus and becoming like Him then we should be sharing more in His sufferings, for that is how we see Him on earth. Jesus died to set apart a people like Himself, and these people He has sanctified by His blood will be like Him! His blood is effective in creating a people like Himself who risk their lives for the sake of others!

And Jesus said it this way before He went outside the gate, in Matthew 10:24-25: “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the Master of the House, Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of His household.” He knew what His blood would accomplish. He knew the kind of people it would create: people like Himself. He freed people by His blood to suffer with Him and like Him. And now, number 2…

2. Jesus Now Calls His People to Come to Him: “Therefore let us go to Him outside the camp and bear the reproach He endured.” When the author of Hebrews calls his congregation to go to Jesus outside the camp, he has in mind two camps: the camp of compromise and the camp of comfort. First…

1) The Camp of Compromise: For this group of Christians, this was first of all a call to leave the camp of compromise and identify fully with Jesus Christ. Some of these Christians found it easier to blend in among the Jewish community, continuing to practice the traditions handed down to them and keep their commitment to Christ quiet. But they must leave the camp and claim Christ. They were to be bold in their association with Him confessing allegiance only to Him! Echoing in the call to leave the Camp of Compromise are the words of Hebrews 10:39 “But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.” For some of you, this might be the step God is calling you to tonight…commit yourself fully to Him! Stop dabbling in the world and in sin, you can’t serve two masters, you’re compromising! Leave the camp of compromise and sell out to Jesus!

2) The Camp of Comfort: For this group of Jewish Christians this call to come to Christ outside the camp and suffer, was secondly a call to leave comfort and safety and go forward in the mission of reaching non-Jewish people with the Gospel. In other words, it was a call to go out to the Gentiles, to go to Judea, and Samaria and to the ends of the earth and make disciples.

This is a dangerous call from Jesus that most people and even some Christians try to silence. It will be a lot easier for you in this life if you ignore what Jesus is saying here, but it will not be easier for you in the life to come. The author is calling us to turn our ear to the Voice that is calling outside the camp, (listen even now) and the Voice is the cry of Jesus and He’s saying, “Come to Me! Come to Me!” And outside of the gate His arms are not free, and His body is not clean, but His arms are nailed to a cross and body is battered in blood! He’s saying, “Come to Me here!” He’s not calling us to safety and comfort and ease…He’s calling to us outside the gate, outside the camp to bear or literally to sustain reproach! It will be constant!

You know this would be a lot easier if the author left off the words “…and bear the reproach He endured.” Here’s what we have to remember though, we have to remember that we’re going to Him! This is the key to going outside the camp. Yes, He is calling us to come outside the gate where our lives will be lived in sacrifice, where the unclean are, where it is dangerous, where the godly are persecuted, and where some are even killed, but we’re not to be focused on those things, our attention is to be directed toward Him! When we go, we go to Him!

So, if this is where Christ is and where He’s calling us then why don’t more people who swear allegiance to Christ live their lives in radical, risk-taking ways? I believe Hebrews 13:13 would answer that people simply don’t want Him! Now, no one in here wants to admit that they don’t really want Jesus. It’s not cool to say you don’t want Jesus, but by open confession and repentance that this is the truth, it might be the very thing to save you from nothingness and waste. But really, do you want to be with Him? Do you want Jesus not just in the glories and rest of heaven, but in the horrors of the cross’s rejection and suffering? How bad do you want Him? How desperate are you for Him in His offer?

He’s calling us to Himself out there, will we answer His call? Will we risk everything or retreat? I say we risk everything and that He is worth it. And the author gives us one more reason and instruction to get us to Him…

3. Go To Him Looking to the City that Lasts: “For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.” Here’s the deal, we will go to Jesus and bear the reproach He endured when the city that lasts means more to us than this one. When we talk about the City that lasts we’re talking about Mount Zion, the City of the Living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, where innumerable angels are in festal gathering, where the Church of all those written in the Lamb’s Book of Life are in perfect righteousness, and most importantly where God, the Judge of All is, and where Jesus the Lamb Slain is in full glory giving light to the city and soaking His people in His presence. This is the city that is to come! This is the city we are to look forward to and seeking, but you will not give a glance to that city as long as you are mesmerized by the glitter of this one. Let me ask you a question: what do you have here that can be compared to what you will have there? The obvious answer is nothing! Nothing compares! So seek the city that is to come.

The eternal city where Christ is in full glory and where you will be like Him must be on your heart or else you will make this city home; you will settle! Don’t comfortable in a world and a city that will be completely destroyed! Christian this is not your home! “But as it is, we desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called our God, for He has prepared for us a city.” (Hebrews 11:16) Our desires are not meant to be fulfilled here, but will be fulfilled in the city Christ has prepared for us, and if we desire that city more than this one, the God will not be ashamed to be called ours! So we must live and seek and desire the city that lasts!

Now I know what some of you are thinking… “Brett don’t be so radical! If you talk like this people will just be miserable here or else they will not have good jobs or care about school and they will just live in tents and be viewed as weirdos and will not reach the city for Christ.” My answer to that is this: First of all, me nor any other preacher or person will ever be more radical than what Christ has called us to, and we’ll never stand before God and He rebuke us for being to radical! Second, our enjoyment of this present city should not be an ends but a means. We should love and enjoy the city and do good to the city and live in it and have homes and jobs, but we should do this as a means to make the name of Christ known and praised in the city. We don’t have homes and jobs and go to school just to live the middle-class comfortable American dream, we do these things for the sake of the Gospel and the city that is to come! For some of you who are smart, going outside the camp, may include for you taking tougher classes and maybe studying medicine or molecular biology so that you may have money to assist the local church and missionaries and possibly go there yourself, but don’t make the making of money and ends, it won’t last. Make and use the money for the means of the city that is to come!

Another objection I’ve heard from people is this: “If I think too much of the city that is to come then I look forward to that and I don’t do anything here.” Another way people talk about these people is this: “They are too heavenly minded to be of any earthly good.” My answer to that line of reasoning is this: You can never think too much about the city that is to come! You can never seek it hard enough! You can, however, think wrongly about it, but you cannot think too much. That’s the problem. People who believe focusing too much on the lasting city is damaging to earthly life really are not seeking the right thing. They are looking to the lasting city to escape this present life and when they think of the city that is to come they are not thinking about the God of that city who left heaven and came to earth to suffer, and there’s the problem. If you’re seeing it rightly and seeking it hard you will run to Christ outside the camp and join with Him in reproach and you will do much here. In fact, it is those who are most heavenly minded who are of the most earthly good. So what city are you living for and will you live for?

Howard Guinness asked of students a long time ago this, “Where are the young men and women of this generation who will hold their lives cheap, and be faithful even unto death, who will lose their lives for Christ’s, flinging them away for love of him? Where are those who will live dangerously, and be reckless in this service? Where are the men of prayer? Where are the men who count God’s Word of more importance to them than their daily food? Where are the men who, like Moses of old, commune with God face to face as a man speaks with his friend? Where are God’s men in this day of God’s power?”

For the Global Purposes of God
Two years ago, when we started this series, there were 5 reason for why we began this series and with this text in mind, knowing we would eventually get here, my prayer and reason for this series is that God would alert some and many of you to God’s global purposes in the world and perhaps send some of you to join in Christ’s mission of making His Name great among the nations as a career. This is what I said…

“I am praying that God will call many of you through the teaching and preaching of Hebrews to share in Jesus’ sufferings in the purposes of God, especially in world missions. I want God to send out “his chosen warriors to do battle with the infidel hosts. And what if you should die? With the Spirit of Christ inflaming your hearts, you should go forward, your courage not damped nor your fervor stilled---each one of you counting it an honor to die for Christ throwing yourself into the discord of sinful humanity determined to win for Christ, and spread His name throughout the whole earth, or else to perish in the attempt.” (Paraphrase of Spurgeon)

I am praying for you that Hebrews 13:12-14 will be the music to which you march into the world for Christ. “So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through His own blood. Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.”

Oh, that you would bear the reproach He bore, knowing that whatever suffering or shame you might endure will be nothing compared to the wrath He bore for you. Oh, that would seek the city that is to come and stake your lives upon the rock, the precious cornerstone of Jesus Christ. Nothing here lasts! Nothing! This youth group won’t last! This church building won’t last! Your schools won’t last! These mountains outside won’t last! The seas won’t last! And to think these little insignificant self-centered kingdoms that we build will last is laughable before an eternal King who’s Kingdom has no end! Oh, when we don’t seek the lasting city and care about our own it is like feverishly building a sandcastle in the shadow of the soon to crash Tsunami of God’s eternal kingdom! Fasten your life to what lasts! Shore yourself on the sure rock of Jesus Christ and eternal salvation!”

My prayer is still the same and the call still stands, and with fresh force tonight. Maybe God is pulling your heart to do work like Jonathan is doing, maybe even for the rest of your life. Or maybe God is pulling your heart and calling you to a new level of radical, risk-taking obedience in His mission. Whatever the pull and whatever the call…you will need the Christ of the book of Hebrews to equip you in the task.

Hebrews 13:20-21 “Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the Great Shepherd of the Sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.”