Alright, go back to Hebrews 13
with me. Hebrews 13. Read verse 13 with me again. Hebrews 13, verse 13. Let us go forth therefore unto
Him, speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, without the camp, bearing
his reproach. God wrote this book, the Bible,
to declare His Son. That's why He wrote it. The Lord
Jesus Christ set forth His Son. And the Scripture says in the
volume of the book it is written of Him. Christ cried that. In the volume of the book it
is written of Me, Lo, I am come to do Thy will, O God. And what
is that will? to save a people that God gave
to him, to come and save sinners that were given to him by the
Father. And when he came, when the Lord Jesus Christ came to
this earth, he cried out, if any man thirsts, let him come
to me. That's what Cupra said. If any man thirsts, let him come
to me. He cried out, come unto me, all
ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. Labor
and heavy laden, come to me." And at the end of this chapter
and all the way through this book of Hebrews, we are exhorted
to go to Him, to come to Him. We may come freely, come boldly.
He says all the way through this book, let us come boldly, therefore,
to the throne of grace. Let us go to Him. That is the
message tonight. Let us go to Him. All right?
Very simply. To whom we go, why we go, where
we go, and how we go. Okay? To whom we go. So let's therefore go unto Him. Let's go forth therefore unto
Him. Look at John chapter 4 with me.
John chapter 4. Most people, no matter what religion
they have, go to their respective places. of worship, places of
worship. The Muslims go to Mecca. The
Jews go to Jerusalem. The Catholics go to their cathedrals. The Baptists go to Bethlehem. When I was in Crossville, there
was a big, one of these mega so-called churches there. Huge
monstrosity. You've seen them. They're everywhere
in big, larger cities. And they had a huge billboard
advertising, Sleigh Ride to Bethlehem. A big Southern Baptist so-called
church. And had a big billboard, Sleigh
Ride to Bethlehem. And they had a bunch of makeshift
sleds. There was no sled and no snow.
And Bethlehem ain't within a million miles of there, but they filled
that place up. On Saturday night, we were going
to the church house to worship the Lord, to preach the gospel. A few, a little small crowd of
people going to worship God, rejoice in Christ, and do away
with all that flesh. But while they packed them in,
I mean, they just were packed in to go on a sleigh ride to
Bethlehem. If that weren't so sad and foolish,
it would be funny, wouldn't it? People go to their places of
worship, don't they? They have their respective places.
Well, look at John chapter 4. This woman whom the Lord met
at the well, that's what she thought at first in verse 20.
She said, Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you say
that in Jerusalem is a place where men ought to worship. The
Lord said unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh when ye shall
neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the
Father. Ye worship ye know not what. We know that what we worship
for salvation is of the Jew. The hour cometh, and now is,
when true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father seeketh such to
worship Him." Who's the truth? Christ is the truth. Look at
verse 28. Well, the woman, after the Lord revealed Himself to
her, the woman left her waterpot. She went her way into the city.
Now listen to her. She's not talking about a place
of worship, is she? What's she talking about? Him. She said,
come, see a man. It's not this the crowd. I think
we ought to change our vernacular a little bit and not say, won't
you come to church with us, but rather come, let's go worship
the Lord. Let's go worship the Lord. That's
what a friend of mine used to say to his children. He taught his children that.
He would say on the Lord's Day, he'd say, look, it's time to
get up, let's go worship the Lord. Go worship the Lord. And I'll tell the rest of it.
Children are so honest, you know. Pagan and heathen, but honest. And that little boy, one Sunday
morning, his father woke him up and he said, I don't want
to go worship the Lord this morning. I pray that he will now. He's
probably in his twenties now. But anyway, true worship is in
spirit, not flesh, not what fleshly means, but in truth. That is,
we worship through God's Word, God's Gospel, and concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ who is the truth. At this time of year,
Most are especially caught up in these traditions, aren't they?
Idolatry, flesh. They say things like, let us
go to the nativity scene, let us go hear the Christmas cantata.
Brethren, let us go unto Him. Let us go unto Him. All right? It's Him we come to.
It's Him we go to see. Why do we go? Let us go, therefore,
unto Him. Go back to the text, Hebrews
13. Why do we go? Why do we come
here to this place? We come to worship. We come to
find grace to help in time of need. We come to Christ. I didn't plan this. You know,
Brother Gay preached very recently from Revelation 22, let us the
Spirit and the bride say, Come. Him that is thirst, come. And
then Brother Mike, I believe, preached from John 6, didn't
he? On coming to Christ, didn't he? Come to Christ. I didn't
plan this, but at the mouth of two or three witnesses. So let
us go, therefore, unto Him. Why? Look at verse 15. By Him,
or that is by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, let
us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually. That is the
fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. We come to worship
our Father through the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks. That's
why we come here. That's why we come into this
house. We sing that song, don't we? Let us come into this house,
gather in His name, to worship Him. We have come into this house
and gathered in His name to worship Him, to worship Christ the Lord. That's why we come, to offer
the sacrifice of praise to God, praise unto Him who sent His
only begotten Son into this world, Him who loved us and washed us
from our sins in His own blood. That's why we come continually,
every time. No other reason but to worship
God. other places to go for entertainment
and recreation and so forth. This is a house of worship. Our Lord said, My house shall
be called a house of prayer. Prayer is another form of worship.
To offer the sacrifice of praise by Him in Jesus Christ, by the
authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, by the permission of the Lord
Jesus Christ, He said we may come boldly, come freely. to
offer the sacrifice of prey. Now, he says there's something
we can offer. What is it? Well, I'm going to
say this again. It always bears saying, but we
don't come to God with our works. The song is, In my hands, no
price I bring. We don't come to God like Cain
of old, with works, with things that we have done to recommend
us to God. That doesn't recommend us to
God. Only one way we come to God. We don't come, we come one
way. We come by faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ, like Abel. There are two religions, works
and grace. Man's works, Christ's works,
right? Man's will and this and that
and the other, Christ's blood and righteousness. We come one
way. Through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because there's
no remission of sins without the shedding of blood. We come
by blood. We come by blood. So we come by him. That's what
that means. By him, therefore, let us offer
the sacrifice of praise continually. To whom coming? Peter said to
him. To whom coming? The fruit of our lips, he said.
the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. While the
name of God is on most people's lips right now in blasphemy,
oh my, let us offer to God, let us make mention that His name
is exalted and offer to God praise. While the world is taking His
name in vain, oh, may we give thanks unto His holy name, that
name which is above every other. Here is our prayer. O God, we
come to You this day in praise to You for sending Your blessed
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to put away our sin. Lord, we give
thanks to You, O God, for our Blessings in Jesus Christ. Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ according as
He has blessed us with all spiritual blessings and heavenly things
in Christ Jesus. Thank you, God, for that unspeakable
gift. Let us offer contendum that praise
and thanksgiving. So why we go to the Lord Jesus
Christ is to worship Him, to give thanks, to find grace, to
help in time of need. We come to Him. to find grace
to help in time of need. We are a poor and needy people. And He's the God of all grace.
And He and He alone can help us. So we go to Him. He's like
Joseph, isn't it? I heard you heard that story,
son. He's like Joseph. See, Joseph is in charge of all
the storehouses. Our Lord Jesus Christ has all
the storehouses of mercy and grace And all spiritual blessings
are given to Him. So we go to Him. We go to Him
for water to wash. We go to Him for blood to sanctify. We go to Him for strength, for
comfort, for peace, for courage, for faith to keep us walking,
to keep us running this race. So that's why we go, to worship,
to find grace to help. Where do we go? Where is the
Lord? Well, look at it here in our
text. In verse 13, Let us go, therefore, unto him without the
camp." Without the camp. Read those again with me. The
bodies of those beasts that were sacrificed, whose blood is brought
into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, they're burned
without the camp. Wherefore, Jesus also, that he
might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without
the gate. So we go forth therefore unto
him without the camp. Now what does this mean? Most
of you know this. But go back to Exodus chapter
3. Exodus chapter 3 is where this is, we'll first hear of
this. The word Exodus means going out. That's what the term actually
means. In Exodus. Here's what our Lord said to
His people then and now. Israel then and true Israel.
He says in Exodus 3 verse 8, the Lord said in verse 7, The
Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which
are in Egypt. You know that Egypt represents
the world. It always has. Egypt always has represented
the world, all that's in the world. Egypt had everything that
the world had to give, didn't it? John said, all that's in
the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the lust
of the pride of life, that's what's in Egypt. Man's religion
is in Egypt. Many gods are found in Egypt.
Any kind of god you want would be found in Egypt, right? Idolatry,
pageantry, ceremony, anything and everything was found in Egypt,
wasn't it? That's the world. All right?
Our Lord said in verse 7 here, I've surely seen the affliction
of my people which are in Egypt, in the world, and I have heard
their cry by reason of their taskmaster. I know their sorrows. And I am come down to deliver
them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that
land." That's why the Lord Jesus Christ came down here, to deliver
us from what Scripture says is this present evil world. Look
at verse 17 and 18. Our Lord said, I will bring you
out of the affliction of Egypt into the land of the Canaanites,
and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites,
and the Jebusites, unto a land flowing with milk and honey.
And they shall hearken to thy voice, and thou shalt come, thou
and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt. And ye shall
say unto him, The Lord God of the Hebrews hath met with us,
And now let us go, we beseech thee, three days' journey into
the wilderness." Why? That we may sacrifice to the
Lord our God. So that's where we go. And then all through the Old
Testament is what the writer of Hebrews said. is they would
take the bodies of those sacrifices outside the camp and burn those
offerings. And the Scripture says the Lord
Jesus Christ was actually taken outside of town to Golgotha's
Hill, which was outside the gate, and sacrificed or crucified on
Calvary's tree. And He says to us, though, let
us go therefore unto Him without the camp. without the camp, outside. And this is all so typical. In fact, this was written years
after the Lord had ascended to heaven, right? So the Lord is
seated in heaven. And yet He says then, let us
go therefore unto Him without the camp. Without the camp. Outside of the world and all
that's in the world. Outside of the religion of the
world. Outside of mainstream religion, like Egypt, with all
its flesh, with all its wood, hay and stubble. And as I said,
there's never a time of the year when it's more prevalent than
now. Outside of Broadway religion,
didn't our Lord say, There's a way that seems right, but the
end is destruction, and that way is the broad road which leadeth
to destruction, didn't it? That many go therein. Broad way
religion. And we need to go the straight
and narrow way where a true people worship God, rejoice and cry,
and no flesh. No flesh. We don't use flesh.
No symbols. No props. No religious paraphernalia,
no idols, no flesh, because they that worship, worship in spirit. All you need to worship God is
a Bible and the Holy Spirit, man to preach it. So let us go
therefore unto Him without the camp. Something I thought about, the Lord gave both a tabernacle
and a temple, didn't it? To worship. The place. That's
the place that the Lord had chosen. And those are pictures of the
Lord Jesus Christ. The tabernacle is a picture of
Christ. And the temple is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything
in it. That's why He gave it. Because we don't worship God.
God does not worship with men's hands. God does not worship with
things. But they're all symbolic. of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, the tabernacle was a temporary
structure, wasn't it? The temple was a permanent one. The tabernacle was a place, a
temporary tent in the wilderness because Israel was traveling
at that time, weren't they? Israel were strangers and pilgrims
going through the wilderness of sin, weren't they? Traveling.
And that tabernacle went with them. And they would erect that
tabernacle. And they were strangers and pilgrims. So what does it say about us? That's what this book said. We're
strangers and pilgrims here, aren't we? We have here no continuing
city. No continuing city. We're strangers
and pilgrims traveling through this world. And we don't need
elaborate buildings. Just temporary structures. Just
a roof over our head. And we literally, and the church
everywhere, spends most of the money that comes in for one thing,
preaching the Word. The Word go out not only from
this place, but from missionaries and over the TV and radio and
so forth. But then there was a temple,
wasn't there? That's when Israel was at rest,
when Israel was in Israel, and the Lord This was during the
time of who? When was the temple erected?
Solomon, the son of David. Solomon, okay? And during Solomon's
time, for 40 years there was peace and rest and Israel was
all there, weren't they? They were all there. And there
wasn't even an arrow that flew through the air. And it says,
every man dwelt under his own vine and fig tree because the
son of David was reigning and ruling and on the throne. They
had a permanent, gorgeous, beautiful house of worship where they all
gathered together. under the son of David. Now you
tell me what that represents. Our future state with the Lord
Jesus Christ. But until then, we're strangers
and pilgrims traveling through it, okay? And the reason the
Lord tore down those temples is to show us we have here no
continuing city. No continuing city. No. And besides,
we are the temple of God. Anyway, we're the temple. All
right. All right. Where do we go? Outside the camp. Outside the
camp to him. Outside of mainstream religion.
Outside of organized religion. Outside, away from all this flesh
and all this stuff that's an abomination to God Almighty.
To worship the Lord Jesus Christ. And how? Verse 13, bearing his
reproach. bearing his reproach. If we come out from among them,
and the Lord said that, didn't He? Come out from among them
and be separate, saith the Lord, and I'll be your God and you'll
be my people. Come out from among them. If we do, and when the
Lord saves us from our sins and from this present evil world
and brings us out of the camp, Out of the camp, we will bear
his reproach. Our Lord said, marvel not, brethren,
if the world hates you. They hated me. And he said, they'll
hate you. Here's what they said then, and
they say now. And I'll tell you what the Lord
says in answer to it. They said then, and they say
it now, you're too narrow. This is too narrow. What did
our Lord say? Our Lord is the one that called
it narrowed. You all think this few are going to be saved, don't
you? No, we didn't say that. The Lord did. Many are called, but few are
chosen. At any given time, the people of God are in the minority.
The truth is in the minority at any given time during history.
However, all those people taken throughout time and eternity
will equal a people as the sands of the sea and the stars of the
sky. A people that no man can number. Many, many. But at any given time, they're
few. But the way is narrow, our Lord
said it. Straight is the gate and narrow
is the way and few there be that find it. We didn't say that,
the Lord said it. I'm not trying to be exclusive. Just true to
his word. True to his word. They said then
and they say it now. that everybody is wrong? You
think you're right and everybody's wrong? No. But I'll tell you
what God said. Let God be true. And every man
a liar. Every man. They said then, and
they say it now, there are many faiths, there are many ways to
God. Right? That's what they say. But no, what does our Lord say?
There's one Lord, one faith, One way, he said, I am the way. You're talking about narrow.
I am the way. There is no other way to God
but by me. There's salvation and neither
is there salvation in any other. There's none other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. The name, what's
that name? The Lord Jesus Christ. One Lord, one way, one faith. One faith. One baptism. There's no second baptism. All
right. And they say this, don't they?
They say all these people can't be wrong. Surely all these people
can't be wrong. That's what they said when Noah
was getting on that ark, wasn't it? You know they said it. Eight people? Come on. And there's
Matthew, Henry, I think it was calculated there were as many
as 7 billion people, something like that, on the earth at the
time. Men lived hundreds of years, were populated, populated. And
8 people? Come on. Come on. Well, what did our Lord say?
When He comes, what did He say? As in the days of Noah, so shall
the coming of the Son of Man be. Didn't it? That's exactly what
he said. He said, when the Son of Man
has come, shall he find faith? What faith? The faith. The faith
of God's elect. The faith once delivered to the
saint. The only saving faith there is in Christ alone. Shall
he find that faith on the earth? Yes, he will. But it will be
like the scattering of corn, the Scripture says, on a mountain
top. Here a little, there a little. They say this, well, you know,
love is the answer. That's the answer. For the Lord
Jesus Christ said, except a man hate his father and his mother
and his husband or wife or son or daughter, he cannot be my
disciple. Let somebody explain that, huh?
He said that. How many people are aware of
that? We know what that means. It means love Him supremely. So much so that men think you hate others. My, my. So by
God's grace, let us go, therefore, unto Him. Go unto Him without
the camp, bearing His reproach. By Him, therefore, let us offer
the sacrifice of praise to God. Worship God continually every
time we meet for that reason through the Lord Jesus Christ.
in His name. Christ and Him crucified. That
is, let's offer the fruit of our lips. We don't bring anything
but praise and thank-giving in His name. But go on here. He says, to do
good, and we're told throughout Scriptures, aren't we, to do
good? Let us do good unto all men, but especially them of the
household of faith. To do good. And what is a good
work? I'm reminded especially of one
time when the Lord said about a woman, she had done a good
work. Remember that? Men call a lot of things good
works and they have good about them. But the good work is whatever
is done for Christ's glory and honor like that woman took that
alabaster box. She sacrificed. That is, it was
very costly to her. It costs her a great deal to
confer this on the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's a picture,
isn't it, of those who sacrifice for the preaching of the gospel
unto Christ's honor and glory. That's a good work. That's a
real good work. Because what we want more than
anything else, not only for His glory, but for men to be saved. And to communicate. That's what
communicate means. To give, forget not, forget not. Four, with such sacrifices, God
is well pleased. Oh my, well pleased. That's why
God is so well pleased with His Son. This is my beloved Son in
whom I'm well pleased. Did He do a good work? Oh my.
Did He communicate? Did He give? Oh, greater love
hath no man than this. He gave Himself. He laid down
His life. God is well pleased with that. For God loveth a cheerful giver. Alright, stand with me. Our Lord and our God, we do want
to do what You've told us to do, what You've given us leave
to do, what You bid us to do. Let us go therefore unto Christ
Your Son. outside the camp, without the
gate, bearing his reproach. Lord, in a day when men bring
great reproach upon Your Name, Your Word, Your Son, His work,
let us glorify the day. Let us bear that reproach like
Moses of old who esteemed the reproach of Christ, greater treasure
than all the riches of Egypt, esteeming the affliction with
the people of God, great riches. Oh Lord, give us that heart,
that spirit, that attitude, bearing his reproach for the glory and
honor of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us come freely, come boldly
to the throne of grace that we might find help at the time of
need. For you have given us leave to do so. You've told us to come
freely. Come freely. Come one. Come all. Whosoever
will. So let us take you at your word
and come. Give him thanks. fruit of our
lips. We do give You thanks, Lord,
for every good and perfect gift through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Bless these people, Lord. Bless Your people everywhere
for Christ's sake. It is in His name we are met
here tonight. Amen.