If you would, let's open our
Bibles to Hebrews chapter 13. Hebrews 13. As you're turning, I'll make
a few announcements. This evening, Lord willing, I'll
be preaching at Todd's Road Grace Church. I'll cover your prayers
as we travel and preach. Next Sunday, Lord willing, Pastor
John Chapman will be here to preach for us. He's going to
be in town celebrating his parents' 70th wedding anniversary. That
doesn't happen very often, does it? He's going to be in town. I have prevailed on him to agree
to preach for us. We'll look forward to that. Also,
this coming Saturday, a week from yesterday, we're going to
meet here at 530 with our teenagers, 13 through high school. I'm going to have, I don't know
what you call it, a lesson. I'm going to have a time to talk
to them for a few minutes. And then we're all going to go
out and eat and do something fund together, which Sabrina
is organizing. I don't know what that is, but
it's going to be great. So I look forward to getting
together with that group at 530 here at the church next Saturday. All right. Hebrews 13. We're
going to begin our reading in verse seven. Remember them which have the
rule over you, who has spoken unto you the word of God, whose
faith follow. considering the end of their
conversation. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today and
forever, be not carried about with diverse and strange doctrines. For it's a good thing that the
heart be established with grace, not with meats which have not
profited them that have been occupied therein. We have an
altar where all they have no right to eat, which serve the
tabernacle for the bodies of those beasts whose blood is brought
into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin. are burned without
the camp. Wherefore, Jesus also, that he
might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without
the gate. Let us go forth, therefore, unto
him without the camp, bearing his reproach. For here we have
no continuing city, but we seek one to come." We'll end our reading
there. All right, let's stand together
as Sean leads us in singing our call to worship. Once my self-righteous soul relied
On my own works with hellish pride. But now in air my soul
sings praise, Each note shall echo. God's free grace was grace
that quickened me when dead, and grace my soul to Jesus led. Grace brought me pardon for my
sin, and grace subdues my lusts within. Tis grace that sweetens
every cross, Tis grace supports in every loss. In Jesus' grace my soul is strong,
Grace is my hope and grace my song. Tis grace upholds when
danger's near, By grace alone I persevere. Tis grace constrains my soul
to love, God's grace is all they sing above. Tis thus alone of
God I boast, and tis alone in Christ I trust. For all that's
past, grace is my theme. For what to come is still the
same. In countless years of grace I'll
sing, adore, and bless my heavenly King. I'll cast my crown before
His throne, And shout, free grace, free grace alone. If you would, please turn to
page 474 in the red hymn. Not have I gotten, but what I've
received Grace hath bestowed it since I have believed. Boasting excluder, pride I abase. I'm only a sinner saved by grace. Only a sinner, saved by grace
Only a sinner, saved by grace This is my story, to God be the
glory I'm only a sinner, saved by grace Once I was foolish and
sin ruled my heart, Causing my footsteps from God to depart. Jesus hath found me, happy my
case, I now am a sinner, save my grace. Only a sinner saved
by grace. Only a sinner saved by grace. This is my story, to God be the
glory. I'm only a sinner saved by grace. Tears unavailing, no merit that
I. Mercy had saved me, or else I
must die. Sin had alarmed me, fearing God's
face. But now I'm a sinner, save thy
grace. Only a sinner, saved by grace
Only a sinner, saved by grace This is my story, to God be the
glory I'm only a sinner, saved by grace Suffer a sinner whose
heart overflows, Loving his Savior to tell what he knows. Once more to tell it would I
embrace, I'm only a sinner saved by grace. And if you would now please turn
to page 296. you All the way my Savior leads me,
what have I to ask beside? Can I doubt His tender mercy,
who through life has been my guide? Heavenly peace, divinest
comfort, here by faith in Him to dwell. For I know what e'er
befall me, Jesus doeth all things well. For I know what e'er befall
me, Jesus doeth all things well. All the way my Savior leads,
Cheers each winding path I tread, Gives me grace for every trial,
Feeds me with the living bread. Though my weary steps may falter,
And my soul a thirst may be, Gushing from the rock before
me, blow a spring of joy I see. Gushing from the rock before
me, blow a spring of joy I see. All the way my Savior leads me,
O the fullness of His love. Perfect rest to me is promised
in my Father's house above. When my spirit, clothed immortal,
Wings its flight to realms of day, This my song through endless
ages, Jesus led me all the way. This my song through endless
ages, Jesus led me all the way. Our pastor has asked that we
read this morning from 2 Corinthians 6. Turn to 2 Corinthians 6. And we'll begin our reading in
verse 14. Be ye not unequally yoked together
with unbelievers. For what fellowship hath righteousness
with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light
with darkness? And what concord hath Christ
with Bilal? What part hath he that believeth
with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple
of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the
living God. As God has said, I will dwell
in them and walk in them and I will be their God and they
shall be my people. Wherefore, come out from among
them and be separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean
thing, and I will receive you. And I will be a father unto you,
and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. May
the Lord bless his will. Our Almighty God in heaven, we
come before you this morning So thankful that through an eternal
union to our Lord Jesus Christ, we can approach you as sons and
daughters, and that we might call you our father. Lord, we
pray that you would help us to leave behind that yoke of bondage
to our old man. Leave us not yoked to this world. Leave us not yoked to our own
works of righteousness that are but filthy rags. Father, but
cause us to take on the yoke of Christ, to cling to his righteousness,
to look to him in all things as our Savior. Father, we pray
that you would bless this congregation. Lord, we pray for our children
here. You're such a blessing in this
world, Lord, but beyond that, we pray that you would show them
mercy, you would show them their need for Christ, that you would
cause them to run to Christ, to cling to Him, to look to Him
in all things. Father, give us the ability as
elders to give them an example, to show them that we never outgrow
our need for Christ, that we're never righteous on our own, that
we're always dependent on Him. We're but men. more sons and
daughters through Christ. We pray that, Lord, as our children
grow and go out into the world, that you would continue to hedge
them about, that you would cause them to seek out where they might
sit under the gospel, and that you would give them husbands
and wives that fulfill that wonderful picture of union with Christ. Father, we pray for this service
here this morning. Lord, you've brought us here. We pray that we are truly meeting
in your name, that we're seeking Christ, that one or two are gathered
in his name, that you'd send your spirit to be among us, that
you would anoint the the lips of our pastor, that you would
give him a message from thee, that you would give us hearing
ears and receiving hearts, that we might be as sheep looking
to our shepherd. And as we go out into this world,
Lord, we pray that we would point other sheep to the shepherd. You might use us to call your
sheep into this local fold. Lord, bless the word here. For
many, many years to come. Calls this. This building to
be a light in this community that shines forth. The word. The living word, our Lord Jesus
Christ. Call centers into this fold.
What we ask here, Lord, we ask for local congregations throughout
this world. Many we know, and Lord, we're
confident, many, many more we don't. We know that you would
not leave yourself without a people. We pray that you would continue
to call sheep into your local folds and that we might rejoice
together in the love of Christ. Lord, leave us not alone. Cause us to look to Christ. We
ask all these things in his name. Amen. Jesus King Near the cross There a precious
fountain Free to all a healing stream Flows from Calvary's mountain In the Christ of the Cross Be
my glory ever Till my raptured soul Near the cross, a trembling soul
Love and mercy found me There the bright and morning star Sheds
its beams Christ of the cross be my glory
ever till my raptured soul shall find rest beyond O Lamb of God, bring its scenes
before me. Help me walk from day to day
with its shadows on me. Christ of the cross be my glory
ever the golden strand just beyond
the river. In the Christ of the cross be
my glory ever. All right, if you would open
your Bibles with me again to Hebrews chapter 13. Hebrews chapter 13. I titled the message this morning,
Christ Outside the Camp. Not just outside the camp, but
Christ outside the camp. And the first thing I want us
to see this morning, I want us to see three things. The first
one is this. I want us to see the picture of the atonement
for sin. In Hebrews chapter 13, verse
11. For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the
sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the
camp. Now the sacrifice that's being
talked about here is the sin offering that was offered on
the day of atonement. And you can read the instructions
for that sacrifice in Leviticus chapter 16 this afternoon if
you would like. But this sin offering was, there
was a bullock and there was a goat, both offered as sin offerings
on the day of atonement. The sin offering was killed and
was sacrificed for a specific reason. It was for the uncleanness
and for the transgression of the people. And God did this
to show us clearly, now there's got to be death for sin. There's got to be death. If the
sinner is going to live, there's got to be a sin offering to die
in his place to pay for his sin. You and I cannot approach God. Because of our sin, we cannot
approach God as we are. If we're going to approach God,
there's got to be blood. Got to be blood to atone for
sin. So the sin offering, the bullock
and the goat, not only were those animals killed and sacrificed,
but the high priest would take their blood. The blood of the
bullock and the blood of the goat was taken into the Holy
of Holies. And the high priest would sprinkle
that blood with his mercy or with his finger upon the mercy
seat. And that blood was also applied
to the brazen altar where the sacrifice was made. God said
there's got to be an atonement made for the brazen altar. Well,
why would the brazen altar have to have an atonement? It can't
sin. God said it was to cleanse that brazen altar from the sin
of the people around it. And the only atonement, the only
cleansing there could be from that sin is blood, the blood
of the sin offering. God accepted the blood of those
animals as a sin offering, as atonement for the sin of the
people. But now that was just in picture, wasn't it? All this
animal sacrifice was, was a picture of Christ. It didn't actually
atone for sin, did it? Well, no, they had to do the
whole ceremony all over again next year because it didn't take
away sin, the sacrifice of that animal. It was just a picture
of Christ who was to come. And when all this was finished,
The offering had been, the sacrifice had been killed and offering
made unto God, the blood had been sprinkled. When all that
was finished, the bodies of this bullock and this goat, something
had to be done with them. But the bodies of those animals
were taken outside of the camp and they were burned up. Now
we looked last week about how we have an altar that the high
priest and his family would eat of the meat of the sacrifice
offered unto God, but never the meat of the sin offering, ever.
It was all taken outside the camp and burned because that
whole animal was considered to be unclean. It was unclean. So the man who carried those
bodies outside the camp and who burned them before he could come
back into the camp, he had to wash because symbolically, ceremonially,
he'd been made unclean because of these sin offerings. Now,
what is the significance of all of that? What is the significance
of all this going on outside of the camp? What shows us how
much God hates sin. Outside the camp is always a
picture of sin and uncleanness. You know, people lived in the
camp. The children of Israel lived
in the camp. Each tribe had their area where they would live, you
know, around the camp. Well, who lived outside the camp? Lepers. lepers had to go outside of the
camp. And anytime anybody would get
within earshot of them, they had to cry unclean, unclean,
don't come near me. The leper had to be outside the
camp. He couldn't be inside the camp because if he was, he'd
infect everybody else with his disease. And leprosy in scripture
is a picture of sin, how, how corrupting, how infecting sin
is. So something that was full of
sin or something that was considered to be unclean always had to be
taken outside the camp. God can't have it in the camp
of his people. All that was given to us as a picture of atonement
in Christ. Atonement through the sin offering
of Christ. So here's the second thing I
want us to see. I want us to see Christ fulfilling the picture
of atonement for the sin of his people by his sacrifice. Verse
12. Wherefore Jesus also, that he
might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without
the gate. Now Christ suffered outside of
the camp. He suffered outside of the gate
of the city of Jerusalem. Now why did he do that? It was
to fulfill the picture of atonement through the sacrifice of the
sin offering. Christ's death was much more than a picture
of putting away sin. Christ died as the sin offering
for his people. and his death, his sacrifice,
his blood actually eternally put away the sin of his people.
Christ's suffering outside of the camp shows us how serious
the father was in the sacrifice of his son. Christ's suffering
outside of the camp shows us how fully and completely Christ
suffered all of the wrath of God against the sin of his people.
Christ was actually made sin for his people. This is not a
symbolic thing. God didn't treat him like he
was sin. He was actually made sin. And that's why he had to
suffer outside of the camp. He had been made unclean by the
sin of his people. Before anybody goes crazy, I'm
not saying Christ committed sin. I'm not saying his soul was stained
with sin or anything like that. It simply means this, that when
Christ was made sin, the sin of his people actually became
the sins of the Savior. He called them mine, iniquity. They belonged to him. And the
Savior felt everything that sin is, with the exception of the
commission of it. He felt the shame of sin. He
said, my iniquity is so great. I can't even look up. I can't
even look up to my father because of the shame of sin. He felt
the guilt of sin. He always called his father,
father. What did he call him at the cross? My God, my God, my God, why hast
thou forsaken me? He called him my God because
he's being judged by the father. He's guilty of sin. He felt the
guilt of it. He felt the uncleanness of sin,
the defilement of it. Only the Lord Jesus Christ can
really know what the uncleanness of sin really feels like. Because
he's the only one who's holy. He called himself a worm. He
said, I'm a worm and no man. I'm despised of the people and
of the father because of the uncleanness of sin. The horrible,
awful, uncleanness. I just can't think of the right
word to describe the grossness of being made sin. And Christ
was made sin. He had to suffer outside the
camp now because he was cut off from the father. The father turned
his back on his son. He abandoned him because of sin. He withdrew his loving presence
from his father. Now we say the father turned
his back on his son or he abandoned his son. That didn't mean that
the father completely withdrew himself from Christ at Calvary,
does it? No, because he didn't. The father was there. He gave
his son the full presence of his justice and his hatred, his
wrath, his fury against sin without a hint of mercy, without a hint
of love, because he had been made sin. You're the people. We're crying away with Him. Crucify
Him. Put Him to death and give us
Brabus. We won't have Him. And the Father said, Amen. I
won't have Him either. Christ had to suffer outside
the gate. Outside of the city. Outside
of the camp. Because He had actually, literally
been made sin. Alright. Someone might be wondering,
Frank, why are you going to all the trouble of bringing all this
up? Don't you know that people hate
hearing that? People are going to twist this around. Why go
to all the trouble of bringing this up? Isn't Christ being made
sin? Isn't that some deep doctrinal
thing that only smart people talk about when they're all alone?
Why bring out this point? Isn't Christ being made sin to
God's little lambs, His sheep? Why do that? I'm glad you asked. Let me tell you. I point all
this out. because this is the comfort and
this is the assurance of salvation for God's sheep. If Christ was
literally, actually made sin for me, then brother, my sin's
gone. Christ took it away and the Father
will accept me. If my sin is gone, Almighty God
is pleased with me if Christ took my sin away. If my sin is
gone, God has saved me and He will never cast me out. Now that
is exactly what the sacrifice of Christ accomplished. I want
to hear that again, don't you? Next Sunday, we're going to hear
that. In some form, we're going to hear that. Next Wednesday,
we're going to hear that. Christ took my sin away. He took the sin of His people
away. The sacrifice of Christ, our sin offering, put away the
sin of His people. How do I know that for sure?
Well, it says right here in our text, Christ suffered outside
the camp so that he would sanctify his people with his own blood.
Now, the word sanctify has two meanings in scripture. Number
one, it means to be set apart for holy use. And number two,
it means to be made holy. In Ephesians chapter five, the
apostle talks about Christ sanctifying himself. That he gave himself
to sanctify his people. To present them to himself as
a perfect people, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing,
but that it should be holy, blameless, without sin. That's what sanctification
is, is to be made perfect. Without spot or wrinkle or any
such thing of sin, is to be made perfect. Christ willingly was
made sin. He willingly, knowing what it
would cost him, suffered outside of the gate. So that. He might
sanctify His people with His own blood. That's why Christ
did it. That was His purpose. That's what He meant to accomplish
when He went to Calvary Street. Now this is the question. Did He get the job done? Did
He do what He set out to do? Did He? I set out to do things
I can't do. Did the Savior do that? Could
he do that? Did he die that he might sanctify
his people? Did he get the job done? Well,
Scripture says he did. Look back a few pages of Hebrews
chapter 10. Scripture says he did. The Father
said he did. Hebrews chapter 10, verse 10. By the witch will, we are sanctified. How? Through the offering of
the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Verse 14, for by one
offering, not many, many, many offerings on the day of atonement,
not offering both a bullock and a goad, by one offering, he hath
perfected forever them that are sanctified. Christ sanctified
his people by his sacrifice because of who died. Because the perfect
son of God, the God man died and his blood put away the sin
of his people. Christ sanctified His people
because He suffered until the sin of His people was gone. Now remember the bodies of that
bullock and that goat. The man, when all the ceremony
of that day was done, he would take the bodies of those animals
of the sin offering, take them outside the camp, and he'd burn
them. He'd stand there and he'd burn
them till those bodies were gone, till they were reduced to ash.
And that fire pictured the wrath of God's sin, or the wrath of
God that burns against sin. His hatred burns against sin.
Well, the man took those beasts out to burn them. He had a fire
going. The fire eventually went out,
didn't it? When did it go out? When there
was nothing left to fuel the fire. The body of the animal
was just reduced to ash. There's nothing left to burn.
When that was accomplished, The man could wash and he could go
back inside the camp. All that is not meaningless ceremony. It's a picture of Christ suffering
to sanctify his people. Christ suffered outside of the
camp. He burned under the fire of his
father's wrath against sin. Until finally, there was no more
fuel left to fuel the fire of God's wrath. There was no more
sin left to fuel the fire of God's wrath. And then the fire
went out. The suffering was over. Christ
gave up the ghost and died. Not when he was reduced to nothing.
Not when he was reduced to ash and he wasn't there anymore.
But when the sin of his people was gone, put away by his sacrifice,
then the fire of God's wrath went out. Christ was still there. He gave up the ghost. And when
they laid him in a tomb, his body didn't decay because there's
no sin there to decay. And he was raised from the dead
three days later. Why? Sin was gone. Death could not hold him because
the sin that had been charged to him was gone. The Lord Jesus
Christ is the only sacrifice ever offered who consumed the
fire. Normally, the fire consumed the sacrifice. But when Christ
offered himself, the sacrifice consumed the fire by taking away
the sin that made God angry. And now God's people are sanctified. Whoever it is Christ died for,
they're sanctified. Their sin is gone. They're clean
and they're washed. And now they can come into the
presence of the father boldly by a new and living way through
the sacrifice of Christ, our savior, the sacrifice of Christ,
our sin offering. So that's the picture of atonement.
And that's Christ fulfilling the picture of the atonement
through the sin offering. But here's the third thing. There's
always a reaction to that gospel. There's a reaction of God's people
to the atonement of Christ. Verse 13, Hebrews chapter 13. Let us go forth therefore unto
him without the camp bearing his reproach. Now, the camp in
the Old Testament and Jerusalem in the New Testament, that was
where all the religious ceremony went on in the camp of the Old
Testament. That's where the tabernacle was.
The temple was in Jerusalem. That's where all the religious
activity happened in all the sacrifices, all the ceremonies
that were required of the people by the law. All that kind of
activity was done in the camp, in the city. is all the motions
of the law which God required. And He required them because
they pictured Christ. He didn't require those things
because men could make themselves accepted through these animal
sacrifices and these ceremonies. God required them all as pictures
of Christ to tell us somebody's coming so we don't have to do
this anymore. Somebody's coming to complete this once and for
all. Well, now that Christ has come,
He suffered. He's died. He's risen again.
That law is finished. He did away with the first that
he might establish the second. Now there's no more need for
the law. Now there's no more need for ceremonies to be pictures
of Christ. We don't need the picture anymore
because now we have the real thing. And we go back and study
these Old Testament pictures. We're studying the picture to
see the person, to see the actual person. Now we have the Savior. all the law and all the ceremonies
pointed us to. Now, the law is finished. The
law is finished. I wish I could make this point.
The law is finished. Don't try to come to God through
you keeping the law anymore. Don't try to come to God through
religious ceremony anymore. It's all finished. God clearly
showed us that. I mean, it's just unmistakable.
When Christ died, what happened when he gave up the ghost? What
happened in that temple where all the religious ceremony goes
on now? They're getting ready for the Passover. I mean, this
is a high day. At that time, what happened?
Christ gave up the ghost, and what did God do? He took hold
of that veil that separated the holy place from the holy of holies,
and he rifted in two from top to bottom, showing us that the
way to God is now wide open. The high priest could only go
in there one day a year, not without blood. The blood of the
sin offering. And only the high priest could
go in there. God tore it in two, from top to bottom, to say the
way is wide open. You come to God. You come into
the presence of God through the blood of Christ. And you'll live. You'll live. We don't need an
earthly high priest offering earthly sacrifices anymore. Because
the one sacrifice for sin has already been offered by Christ
the Savior. Now, you come to God by Him,
and you'll be accepted. You come to God in His obedience,
not in your obedience to the law, in His obedience. You come
to God by His blood, and you will be accepted. God also showed
us this. Now, the law is finished. The
way to come to God through the law is finished. You can't come
to God in the camp anymore. You can't come to God in the
city of Jerusalem anymore. God showed us that. I mean, he
showed us that so we ought never be mistaken about this. Just
a few years after Christ died, you know what God did? He sent
the Romans to destroy Jerusalem. They destroyed that temple. Now,
apparently they left part of a wall of that temple still up. I guess. I mean, people tell
me that wall is part of the original, you know, temple. I don't know.
Maybe it is. But they tore everything else
down. And I'm not so sure that wall just wasn't a wall somebody's
out. I don't know. Maybe I should have said that.
That's just my speculation. But they tore it all down. Now,
aren't you glad that you don't need that building to come to
God anymore? God tore it down. If we needed that building to
come to God, if we had to be in that city to come to God,
we couldn't come, could we? The building's torn down. But
we can come to God boldly, confidently. through the sacrifice of Christ
and will be accepted. See the camp and the city, those
are pictures of place where the works religion still goes on
today. These places are popular. These
places of works religion are popular. They're popular with
men and they're revered by men, just like Jerusalem was popular
and it was revered by those old Jews. My goodness, they still
revere that one wall. I mean, they think they can go
to that wall and write their prayer down on a little piece
of paper and stick it in that wall and God will hear it. Like he
can't hear me praying here in Ashland, but if I write my prayer
down and stick it in that wall, God will hear it. It's revered
by men, isn't it? You know why that's revered by
men? Because men still think they can come to God by something
they do on this earth. Men still think there's something
earthly that they can do. They still think there's something,
a place that's special on this earth where God will hear them,
where God will accept them because it's a place on this earth. That's
the reason why all works religion, I don't care how you package
it, what name you put on it, what different things you require
of men, all works religion is very popular with the flesh. Because it appeals to the flesh.
Give me something to do. Give me something to do. That
appeals to the flesh. It just feeds everything the
flesh naturally wants and believes. I remember being a little boy,
hearing Brother Henry, he used this example. I heard other preachers
use this example too. He said, if you fill this aisle,
ground glass and told people you've got to strip naked and
crawl on your hands and knees that whole length of that aisle
on all that broken glass to get to Christ, to be saved. People
do it in a heartbeat. And I thought, boy, I would.
I would. But nobody will just do nothing
but trust Christ, will they? Not unless God gives them a new
nature, they won't. This camp, this camp of man's religion,
cannot come to God that way. Matter of fact, you never could.
It's always been in Christ. It's always been in Christ. If
you're going to come to Christ, I say this, and I guess every
message I ever preach, I'm telling you, you come to Christ. Right
now, where you sit, you come to Christ. You submit to Him.
Right now, do it. Don't wait till later. Right
now, come to Christ. But if you're going to come to
Christ, I tell you what you're going to have to do. You're going
to have to leave your works behind. I mean, you got to come to him
with nothing, nothing. You're going to have to leave
the camp of man's works religion. You got to do it. You got to
go outside the camp. Now, the important thing in this,
please get what I'm saying. The important thing is don't
just go outside the camp. You notice I titled the message
Christ outside the camp, go to Christ. Don't just leave the
camp of man's religion, because if you do that, you know what
you probably do? You probably just go to another camp. You've
got to leave the camp. You know, there's a group of
people that I think they think they're real clever. I know they
think they're real clever. And they say we're outside the
camp. That's what they call it. We're outside the camp. That's
our name. They're outside the camp of all
religion. They're the only ones that are
right. And anybody who disagrees with them in the most minor point
of doctrine is an absolute idiot and they're to be ridiculed by
these people who are outside of the camp. You know, like being
separate from everybody in the human race somehow makes you
better and more holy. To take pride of being outside
of the camp and hating everybody else, that is not what the writer
is talking about here. You got what I'm saying? That's
not what he's talking about. The key to being outside of the
camp is to go to Christ. To go to Christ. Go outside the
camp because Christ is outside of the camp. Wherever He is,
you go to Christ. You go to Christ. The key is
being outside of the camp so we'll be with Christ. The key
is leaving the camp of man's works religion so we go to Christ
and have salvation in Him. Cleansing Him. Not in our works.
But in Him, the salvation really is as simple as coming to Christ. It's believing on Christ and
leaving all of our works behind. Leaving all trust in anything
about me behind and trusting Christ to be all. To be all my
righteousness, to be all my sanctification, to be all my wisdom, to be all
my redemption, to be all my forgiveness. It's trusting Christ to be everything
I need. I don't need anything else. And
I ask you, I mean, I know the answer, but I'm going to ask
it anyway. Why would I want to trust in my works? Well, I could
trust in Christ. Why would I want to? I'm sinful. All I can do is sin. Aren't you
thankful to be able to trust Christ? Oh, I'd much rather trust
him, wouldn't you? Salvation is leaving all the
motions of man's religion. It's all the motions of our right
doctrine, it's all the motions of our ceremony and form and
going to Christ, trusting Christ. And coming to Christ gives us
something far better than those Old Testament priests had. You know, the person is always
better than the picture. Those Old Testament priests,
they had the picture. They would eat of the sacrifices,
but never could they eat of the sin of Never, ever, ever could
they eat of the sin offering. But you come to Christ by faith
now. You do eat of the sin offering.
You partake of the blessings of the sin offering. The believer
lives feeding on Christ. And what that means is simply
we live believing on Christ. Feeding on Christ is believing
him, having union with him and living in him. See, it's Christ
who gives the believer life and we have life because we believe
Christ. Well, that spiritual life is sustained, it's strengthened,
it grows by continually feeding on Christ, by continually believing
in Christ. You come to Christ and you keep
coming to Christ. You keep looking to Him. Now,
this just is obvious. If you're going to come to Christ,
you've got to leave man's religion. You've just got to do it. If
you're going to go to Christ, you've got to leave where He's
not and go where He is. I mean, is that too obvious? But you be warned. Coming to
Christ is going to cost you. It's going to cost you. It's
going to cost you pride in yourself. It's going to cost you trusting
in yourself. It's going to cost you everything
you thought was good and honorable and commendable about you. It's going to cost you all that.
You're going to have to leave all that behind. But there also will be a cost
in this world in coming to Christ. Coming to Christ is a 100% complete
spiritual blessing. But there will be a cost to this
world. And that's alright. That's alright. I want to identify
with Christ no matter. No matter the cost. Don't you?
I want to identify with Him in believers baptism. Because number
one, that's his commandment. Number two, what a beautiful
picture of being redeemed through the death, the burial and the
resurrection of Christ. I want to identify with that.
And I want to identify with Christ, my savior in this world. I want
to identify with him. He's my bridegroom. I want to
identify with him. But that's going to cost you
in this world because this world hates Christ. The world hates
the gospel of Christ. that says that salvation is all
in Christ. Now you can say, oh, it's Christ
plus your good works and Christ plus your morality and Christ
plus this, that and the other. And they don't hate you. But
you say it's all Christ. Now you got a problem. Now you
got a problem. The world hates the message of
salvation by grace alone through faith alone. So they'll hate
you if you believe them. So when you leave the camp of
man's religion, the camp of the legalists are going to tell you,
that you're an antinomian. Now, an antinomian simply means
this. It's somebody that doesn't care about the law, that doesn't
care about the moral law and thinks keeping the law doesn't
matter. They think it doesn't matter how you live, you know.
If you're saved by grace, well, that's just sin that grace may
abound, you know. I mean, who cares how much is sin? Now, it's
all right to be called an antinomian. Anybody that believes the gospel,
I mean, you're going to be called an antinomian. It's okay to be
called that as long as you're not one. as long as you're not
one. Now, anybody who believes Christ
is not going to be an antinomian. They're going to love the law
of God. They're going to love to follow Christ. But that's
what they're going to call you. And now you're going to be slandered.
When you leave the camp of man's religion, the camp of Pentecostals
are going to call you lifeless. They're going to say, why? You
don't care about the Holy Spirit. You know, you don't care about,
you're just lifeless, you know, spiritually lifeless if you don't
work miracles and speak in tongues and things. And that's okay for
them to call you that. As long as you're not lifeless,
I mean, it's OK for them to say you don't care about the Holy
Spirit as long as you do care about the Holy Spirit. And anybody
believes Christ is not going to fall into that. If you love
Christ, you're going to love the Holy Spirit because Christ
and his spirit are one. Father, Son and Holy Spirit are
one. If you believe Christ, of course you're going to love the
Holy Spirit. He's the one who gave you life. He's the one who
gave you faith. He's the one who revealed Christ
the Savior to you. So of course you're loving. It's okay to be
called that as long as you're not. And then I don't know what
to call this. This seems to be the prevailing
attitude of the world. If you leave man's religion,
the camp of everything is okay as long as you're religious.
The camp of, you know, we're all going to the same place.
We're just taking different routes to get there. That camp will
call you a bigot. You believe that Christ died
for his elect and only for his elect and that the only way a
sinner can be saved is by believing on the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And not just any Jesus now, because there is another
Jesus. You can't be saved by believing
another Jesus. It's the Lord Jesus Christ, as
he's been pleased to reveal himself in this book. Not the way we've
made him up to be, not the way different religions have made
him up to be, but by what this book says he is. If you believe
that, you're going to be called a bigot. And that's all right. That's all right. That's all
right, number one, as long as you're not a racial bigot. As
long as you're not a bigot because people have different skin color
and different tone than you, it's all right as long as you're
not one. And it's all right as long as you're not a spiritual
bigot. You know, I want to be as narrow on salvation as God
is, as God is in this book. No more and no less. And if the world thinks I'm a
bigot by that, That's all right with me. If they think I'm small
minded by that, that's all right with me as long as I'm not. See
that? And then if you leave the camp
of man's religion, the camp of the deep theologians, they're
going to call you simple minded. They just say that gospel is
too simple. And you run into that. I've run
into that in this very room, this auditorium. I've run into
that. Man, so smug. Oh, so smug. Stood in this room,
just smug, smart. Knew Brother Henry. He said,
yeah, Brother Henry, he preached the gospel. He said some things,
but he was too simple. He was too simple. There's more
to it than what he said. It goes a lot deeper than that.
And he just, you know, like didn't understand it as well. Somebody
as smart as me. That's all right. That's all right. I know. I know, but it's all right. It's
all right. Tell you what? I'll take the simplicity of Christ. I'll take the simplicity of the
gospel. Every day of the week and twice
on Sunday, more than something that impresses a man thinks it's
deep theology. I'll take Christ every day. I'll give you an example. Just
the trap that they pull you in with this Intellectualism. They want to just get down to
the very moment a person was justified. They want to argue
about when was that all accomplished? Brother, let them have it. Don't
argue with them. Tell you what I want you to give
me. Give me Christ so I can rejoice in him who justified a poor sinner
like me. That's what I want. That's what
I need. So bearing some reproach for Christ, for His sake, from
those folks, that's fine with me. And then you, it's fine with
me. You think about this. Christ our Savior bore the reproach
of my sin before His Father. That's too deep, too grand for
me to ever be able to grasp. But from what little bit I know
about that, That makes it seem to me a small thing to bear the
reproach of Christ before this world that doesn't know Him.
I mean, does that make sense? And you know what? Who cares
what this world thinks? There's nothing this world has
that the believer wants anyway. Look what he says in verse 14.
For here we have no continuing city. We're not looking for a
place to stay here, but we seek one to come. I tell you the camp
I want to be in is the kingdom that's coming. the kingdom of
our Lord Jesus Christ. And I really don't care one bit
what this dead, sinful world thinks about me believing Christ.
I mean, I really don't care one bit. Now, I don't care. I mean, the least little bit
what this world thinks about me for believing Christ. Now,
I want them to think I'm a pretty nice guy. I want them to think
I'm honest. I want them, you know, I mean,
you ought to care what people think about you, your reputation.
but not for what they think about you for believing Christ. Cause
this world's wrong, but everything's spiritual anyway. I mean, I'd
kind of be worried if they all love me for what I, what I, what
I preach and what I believe. Cause this world is wrong on
everything that's spiritual. So who really cares what they
think? So here's the belief, the believers reaction to seeing
the Christ sacrifice sanctified me by his sin offering. Look
at Acts chapter five, you know, the apostle Peter, said in 1
Peter 4, verse 14, if you be reproached for the name of Christ,
happy are you. You ought to be happy if you
bear the reproach of Christ in this world. He said, happy are
you. Here in Acts 5, verse 38, the apostles had been detained
and they were trying to decide what to do with them and the
teacher Gamaliel is speaking to these men in verse 38, Acts
5. And now I say unto you, refrain
from these men and let them alone. For if this counsel or this work
be of men, it'll come to naught. But if it be of God, you cannot
overthrow it. Lest happily ye be found even
to fight against God. And to him they agreed. And when
they had called the apostles and beaten them, you know, they
whipped them and beat them. They commanded that they should
not speak in the name of Jesus and they let them go. And they
departed from the presence of the council rejoicing. These men were just beaten. They
were treated horribly. And they departed from that council
rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his
sake. They rejoiced that they were
counted worthy to bear reproach for Christ's sake. And daily
in the temple and in every house, they ceased not to teach and
preach Jesus Christ. And that's the believers reaction
to seeing Christ, his, my sin offering, sacrifice for me who
put away my sin. I'm going to go to him. I mean,
I can't help it. I'm going to go to him. I just don't really
care what the world's going to going to call me. The names are
going to call me the sticks and stones. They're going to throw
at me. That's fine. Just give me Christ. I'm going to follow
him. I'm going to keep believing him. I'm going to keep preaching
him. I'm going to keep looking to him. What else I got to preach? Who else do I got to look at?
What other camp am I going to go to? I'm going to go to Him. By God's grace, I'm going to
go to Him. I hope the Lord will bless that. I hope that was plain. And the Lord will use it to make
us go to Christ. Let's bow together. Our Father,
oh, how we thank You for Christ our Savior. Now we thank you
for the one who in love that cannot be calculated,
to take the sin of his people in his own body on the tree and
offer himself body and soul to God to suffer and to die, to
by his blood, by his death, put away the sin of his people and
to sanctify them, to make them holy and accepted in thy sight. Father, how we thank You. Father,
I pray You'd bless Your Word as it's been preached, that You'd
cause it to bring glory to the name of Your dear Son, our Lord
Jesus Christ. Father, by Your grace, give us
eyes of faith that see something of the glory of Christ our Savior
and cause us not just to go to Him, to walk to Him, but to run
to Him, to flee to Christ, to find in him everything you require
and everything we need. Father, bless us for Christ's
sake. Bless your word for Christ's
sake, we pray. It's in his glorious matchless
name we pray and give thanks. Amen. All right, Sean, you come
lead us in a closing song. We would turn to number 187,
lest be the tie that binds. Blessed be the tie that binds
our hearts in Christian love. The fellowship of kindred minds
is like to that above. Before our Father's throne, we
pour our ardent prayers. Our fears, our hopes, our aims
are one, our comforts and our cares. We share our mutual woes,
our mutual burdens bear, And often for each other flows a
sympathizing tear. When we asunder part, it gives
us inward pain. But we shall still be joined
in heart and hope to meet