back to index2021-12-5 Following Jesus Outside the Camp
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If you can turn your Bibles with me to Hebrews chapter 13. 00:00:15.480 |
And we're going to be reading from verse 10 through 14. 00:00:19.800 |
And yes, we're going to be covering all of it today. 00:00:22.240 |
Hebrews chapter 10 verse 13 verses 10 through 14. 00:00:35.480 |
We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat. 00:00:40.560 |
For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high 00:00:44.160 |
priest as an offering for sin are burned outside the camp. 00:00:49.040 |
For Jesus also that he might sanctify the people through his own blood suffered outside 00:00:54.840 |
So let us go out to him outside the camp bearing his reproach. 00:00:58.800 |
For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come. 00:01:05.040 |
Heavenly Father, we pray for deeper understanding. 00:01:10.200 |
We pray for grace to cause us Lord God to think more deeply of who you are. 00:01:15.440 |
That your word would have its effect in our hearts and in our lives. 00:01:19.280 |
We entrust this time to you asking for your blessing upon it. 00:01:27.720 |
You know, one of the blessings of living in the United States as a Christian is whenever 00:01:34.220 |
we travel or, you know, we spent so many years out in China trying to share the gospel with 00:01:40.720 |
Chinese students who grew up under the communist regime and they were never taught about Christianity. 00:01:48.720 |
There's some kind of religion and yet they practice Christmas. 00:01:53.660 |
So they have Christmas trees and gifts and stockings and Santa Claus and so they have 00:01:58.160 |
all the decorations but they've never really been taught what these holidays mean. 00:02:02.900 |
So whenever we go, obviously it's illegal to outright share the gospel with them, especially 00:02:07.840 |
to minors, but it's not very hard to share the gospel because all we have to do is share 00:02:14.140 |
And so we would teach about history and various things and about grammar but we would always 00:02:18.440 |
make sure that we have one class at American holidays and obviously we would share about 00:02:25.140 |
And so whenever we teach that, the gospel is going to come out, right? 00:02:27.520 |
And they say, "Hey, you're not supposed to share the gospel." 00:02:29.800 |
I say, "Oh, we're just telling them what Christmas is about." 00:02:32.120 |
They say, "You're not supposed to talk about the resurrection." 00:02:34.480 |
I say, "Oh, we're just talking about Easter." 00:02:36.560 |
And so that's how we're able to share the gospel in all these years coming in and out 00:02:40.040 |
of China because it's embedded into this culture, the Judeo-Christian principles and things. 00:02:46.040 |
Even though we may be moving away from it today, it's embedded into the culture. 00:02:51.360 |
And that's one of the benefits of being in a culture where even around us today, we have 00:02:57.640 |
so many people practice Christmas, almost the whole world practices Christmas, not really 00:03:01.880 |
understanding the significance of what it is. 00:03:03.720 |
And that's why we want to take advantage of that, that while we celebrate Christmas, it's 00:03:10.000 |
Sometimes it may be hard to ask, but do you want to hear about God? 00:03:12.440 |
But when everybody's celebrating Christmas to say, "This is what Christmas means," right? 00:03:18.360 |
And so the door kind of is open for us to be able to share the gospel. 00:03:22.160 |
The reason why I share that is because Christmas is probably the most, I don't know if you 00:03:28.640 |
want to call it important, but the most celebrated, that we make the biggest deal about Christmas. 00:03:33.080 |
You see it in decorations, commercials, everything that we do. 00:03:37.120 |
Our longest break, holiday break, is during the Christmas break. 00:03:41.860 |
The Jews also had something like Christmas in their culture. 00:03:53.000 |
So Day of Atonement was their biggest holiday. 00:03:56.240 |
So they would have the Passover, and that Passover would bleed into the Passover through 00:04:04.040 |
And so they would take sometimes weeks and weeks off, sometimes months off, in order 00:04:09.960 |
And so it was embedded into their culture so that every year they would share this with 00:04:15.320 |
one another and remind each other of the significance of this. 00:04:19.280 |
So at the center of their culture, this Day of Atonement was embedded for a particular 00:04:27.960 |
So here in Hebrews 13, 10-11, it says, "We have an altar from which those who serve the 00:04:37.740 |
If you studied with us the book of Leviticus, that's where the priests actually got their 00:04:43.980 |
People would bring sacrifices, and they would take their livers and parts that they would 00:04:47.020 |
normally not eat and take the meat part of it, and that portion belonged to the priest 00:04:52.160 |
So when he says, "We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right 00:04:56.360 |
to eat," it's specifically relating to the sacrifice of the Day of Atonement. 00:05:04.000 |
Because that offering, they were not allowed to eat. 00:05:09.760 |
And then verse 11, he said, "For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into 00:05:13.880 |
the holy place by the high priest as an offering for sin are burned outside the camp." 00:05:19.480 |
Again, any Jew who read that would right away understand he's referring to the sacrifice 00:05:28.880 |
Most of you probably have heard the significance of this day, but I want to emphasize for you 00:05:35.960 |
So if you can put up the chart for me, the next one. 00:05:42.180 |
So right in there you have the rectangle, and that's the tabernacle. 00:05:45.220 |
So those of you who have bad eyes, that's what it says. 00:05:48.880 |
And then the 12 around that are the 12 tribes. 00:05:54.440 |
If you read the book of Numbers, that's exactly how the tribe was organized. 00:05:58.320 |
So every time that they settle in, they are to be in that order. 00:06:02.640 |
And so the tabernacle was right at the center. 00:06:05.320 |
So whenever they moved, they would march like military, one tribe after the other. 00:06:10.360 |
And then when they would settle down, they would put the tabernacle and everybody would 00:06:14.920 |
So every time they settled in for any period of time and the tabernacle was established, 00:06:18.560 |
that's what the Israelites looked like in 40 years in the desert. 00:06:23.720 |
In the 40 years while they were in the desert, obviously God placed a tabernacle in the center 00:06:29.200 |
for a reason, because everyone had equal access to the tabernacle. 00:06:34.960 |
So at the tabernacle, what was at the center of the tabernacle? 00:06:41.520 |
The whole purpose of the book of Leviticus was to give instructions on how to give sacrifices 00:06:51.360 |
Those of you who are studying with us in Leviticus, they have atonement. 00:06:56.880 |
So if you remember, as we studied through the book of Leviticus, Leviticus is designed, 00:07:05.640 |
So some of you who are A students may remember that. 00:07:09.560 |
So if you can put up the chiastic structure, this is basically the outline of the book 00:07:15.400 |
Okay, and this is one of those books that a lot of Christians who've been Christians 00:07:19.220 |
for many years still are very mystified by it because it's hard to understand. 00:07:24.760 |
But when you understand what God was doing in the book of Leviticus, it really is very, 00:07:30.560 |
very important in understanding what's happening in the New Testament. 00:07:35.760 |
So chiastic form basically means that it's kind of like the crescendo, right? 00:07:42.760 |
Those of you guys who are into music, which I am not, but I know enough about to know 00:07:48.120 |
Crescendo is basically you're kind of, the music is playing and it's building up to a 00:07:54.360 |
And so that peak, you're supposed to, you'll normally hear the drums or the music getting 00:07:58.880 |
a little bit louder, or if you're playing the guitar and at the peak of it, you get 00:08:07.240 |
And so when you think of the music, when there's a crescendo in the music, you know, like that's 00:08:13.720 |
So the chiastic structure of a book is kind of like a crescendo. 00:08:22.600 |
So the main point of the book of Leviticus crescendos at chapter 16 at the day of atonement. 00:08:30.160 |
And then after that, it kind of re-explains the different laws pointing back to the day 00:08:35.120 |
of atonement, how this ought to be practiced. 00:08:41.040 |
Because at the center of Israel was the tabernacle. 00:08:44.400 |
And at the center of the tabernacle was the sacrifices. 00:08:47.960 |
And at the center of the sacrifices was the day of atonement. 00:08:52.160 |
Now at the center of the day of atonement was the two sacrifices, the two goats that 00:09:00.180 |
And one was offered up and the blood that the goat would shed, the high priest would 00:09:06.600 |
take that, take it into the Holy of Holies and sprinkle the mercy seed, which he could 00:09:10.800 |
only go in once a year, symbolizing that the blood of this goat is going to cover the mercy 00:09:17.300 |
seed and atone for the sins of Israel where there was inaccess. 00:09:21.540 |
And all of this is role-playing so that we can understand that blood had to be shed for 00:09:30.080 |
The second goat, where we call the scapegoat, where Aaron, the high priest, would put both 00:09:36.800 |
hands on it, representing the sins of Israel, and take that goat outside the camp and remove 00:09:44.480 |
They said over 10 miles away so that they could no longer see it and cast it outside 00:09:50.000 |
So what it symbolized in the day of atonement was because of the sacrifice of this goat 00:09:59.900 |
So when the author of Hebrews says here, "We have an altar from which those who serve the 00:10:04.680 |
tabernacle have no right to eat," the Israelites would have right away understood he's talking 00:10:13.560 |
What I just shared with you isn't just about the book of Leviticus. 00:10:18.400 |
What about these two goats, one sacrifice and the other goat being cast out of the camp 00:10:26.000 |
is not only at the center of the tabernacle, it's not only at the center of the day of 00:10:29.740 |
atonement, it's at the center of redemptive history. 00:10:35.480 |
All of this is to point to Christ in what He was going to do. 00:10:41.560 |
So as the day of atonement and the sacrifice crescendoed on that sacrifice, all of redemptive 00:10:49.040 |
history crescendos in Christ's sacrifice on the cross. 00:10:54.360 |
And then after that, everything in the Old Testament is the preparation for Christ coming 00:10:59.840 |
Everything after the Gospels is pointing back to the cross of what happened and the effects 00:11:06.120 |
So all of this is being role-played to point to Christ. 00:11:10.520 |
And that's what He means by that those animals whose blood is brought into the holy place 00:11:14.760 |
by high priests as an offering for sin and burned outside the camp, was taken outside 00:11:19.600 |
the camp, and He says, "Therefore, Jesus also that He might sanctify people through His 00:11:27.080 |
In other words, He's saying, "Jesus is the fulfillment of that act." 00:11:35.000 |
Everything that you've been learning about this was about Christ being taken outside 00:11:40.560 |
But you know what's interesting about this is that book crescendos and then it turns 00:11:47.040 |
back, but the end of the book of Leviticus in chapter 26 ends with a warning of blessing 00:11:54.160 |
and cursing, that if you obey, that here are the blessings that will come to you, and if 00:12:00.200 |
you disobey and break the law, then here are the curses that will come to you. 00:12:06.000 |
But the interesting thing about this is there's about 13 verses that talk about God's blessing, 00:12:12.720 |
and there's over 50 some verses that talk about God's curse. 00:12:16.840 |
If you read through the book of Deuteronomy, you see the similar breakdown where you'll 00:12:21.080 |
see a couple chapters about God's blessing and many, many chapters about God's curses. 00:12:27.200 |
It's almost like God already knew where they were headed, because everything that He's 00:12:33.060 |
doing with the nation of Israel, it says it is a shadow of the reality to come. 00:12:39.040 |
And so we already know that God gave them the law for what purpose? 00:12:48.320 |
He said God gave the law so that you may understand sin to be utterly sinful. 00:12:54.760 |
So everything that He's doing here is kind of a role-playing so that when Christ comes, 00:13:01.320 |
that people would understand the curse that they're under. 00:13:05.360 |
And Israel's whole history is to demonstrate that so that it can point to the reality in 00:13:13.580 |
So what I want to do this morning is look at the text that He's referring to, look at 00:13:18.660 |
the blessings that He desires for us, and the curse He says that we're going to be under. 00:13:25.280 |
In Leviticus chapter 26, verses 1 to 13, and it summarizes in three ways. 00:13:31.040 |
One, God will provide a rain in their season so that they will bear much fruit. 00:13:36.280 |
Two, verse 6 through 8, God will give them peace in the land. 00:13:40.960 |
And then three, verse 9 and 10, God will grant them to be fruitful and to multiply because 00:13:47.640 |
When you summarize the three points of God's blessing, what does it sound like? 00:13:58.880 |
You're going to be fruitful, you're going to multiply, right? 00:14:08.680 |
He said, when you are obedient and God blesses you and His presence is among you, that everything 00:14:16.160 |
you do, you're going to be fruitful, you're going to multiply because the Lord is with 00:14:21.120 |
But then He turns immediately to verse 14 to 39 and He warns them, but if you do not 00:14:30.000 |
In verse 14 and 16, it says this, but if you do not obey me and do not carry out all these 00:14:35.600 |
commandments, if instead you reject my statutes and if your soul abhors my ordinances so as 00:14:41.480 |
not to carry out all my commandments and so break my covenant, I in turn will do this 00:14:50.360 |
Now I want to emphasize here that each one of these warnings, these curses, emphasizes 00:15:00.720 |
You know, again, we're in a culture where we want to minimize God's culpability to His 00:15:07.320 |
punishment so He created heaven, but we kind of minimize hell. 00:15:12.000 |
God blesses and He shows grace, but in kind of like judgment, it kind of just happens. 00:15:17.380 |
So God's judgment is Him just not blessing you. 00:15:20.920 |
He said, I will bless you if you obey my commandment, but He says, I will curse you if you disobey. 00:15:28.920 |
So I want you to notice that there's five separate phases of God's curse in chapter 00:15:34.600 |
26 and each one of these curses, He emphasizes, I will do this. 00:15:41.040 |
So the first phase comes in verse 16 and 17 and He says, I in turn will do this to you. 00:15:47.880 |
I will appoint over you a sudden terror, consumption and fever that will waste away the eyes and 00:15:56.720 |
So you will sow your seed uselessly for your enemies will eat it up. 00:16:00.880 |
I will set my face against you so that you will be struck down before your enemies and 00:16:07.120 |
those who hate you will rule over you and you will flee when no one is pursuing you. 00:16:13.760 |
I think this section can be summarized by God disturbing their peace. 00:16:23.400 |
As soon as Adam and Eve rebelled against God, the Sabbath that God took them into was broken. 00:16:30.240 |
So from that day on, mankind is walking around. 00:16:36.240 |
We put money away in our bank accounts, all of it in order so that we may have some peace. 00:16:46.480 |
And at the core of it, we're trying to reestablish a Sabbath that was broken. 00:16:49.640 |
But God says when you disobey, your peace doesn't come from living in a peaceful country 00:16:54.760 |
or not being in war or having a nice home to stay. 00:16:58.840 |
He said the peace is disturbed because of sin. 00:17:02.460 |
Because true peace is only found in Christ and when he's there. 00:17:05.600 |
So when he says, I will take away my presence, he said even when the enemy is not pursuing 00:17:15.320 |
And he said that's the first thing that will happen. 00:17:22.860 |
Even when there is no turmoil, there is a sense that something's going to happen. 00:17:27.960 |
So when you're rich, you're afraid that you're going to lose your money. 00:17:31.640 |
And if you don't have money, you're afraid that you're not going to get it. 00:17:35.680 |
And so no matter what financial situation you're in, there's never any peace because 00:17:39.940 |
true peace can only be found in the presence of Christ. 00:17:42.920 |
And so he says, when you rebel against me and the curse comes upon you, peace will be 00:17:49.120 |
But secondly, verse 18 to 20, he says, but when that happens and you don't recognize 00:17:54.200 |
that and you don't repent, you don't turn to me, he says in verse 18, I will, if they 00:18:01.280 |
do not turn from their sins and after the first set of judgment, the punishment will 00:18:09.600 |
He says, no, I've given you opportunity, but I really want you to know how serious this 00:18:16.840 |
And then he says, verse 19 and 20, he says, I will break down your pride of power. 00:18:21.640 |
I will also make your sky like iron and your earth like bronze. 00:18:26.080 |
What he means by that, he's going to dry up the sky and the ground is not going to bear 00:18:32.840 |
Your strength will be spent uselessly for your land will not yield its produce and the 00:18:37.800 |
trees of the land will not yield their fruit. 00:18:40.480 |
Do you remember in Genesis chapter three, when God brings curse upon mankind, he says 00:18:45.940 |
to Adam that you will work the ground by the sweat of your brow and all it's going to produce 00:18:54.640 |
And after that, you will go back to the ground and you will die. 00:18:58.480 |
So he's describing exactly the warning that he gave and said, this is going to happen. 00:19:05.480 |
You're going to labor all your life and you're going to feel like you're not making any progress. 00:19:09.900 |
And he said, it wasn't simply because you made the wrong decision. 00:19:13.120 |
It wasn't simply because you didn't buy the right stock. 00:19:16.360 |
He said, it's because you rebelled against me. 00:19:19.420 |
And then he says the third one, verse 21 to 22, if you still will not repent, he says 00:19:24.060 |
in verse 21, I will increase this judgment, these plagues sevenfold according to your 00:19:30.180 |
Verse 22, I will let loose among you beasts of the field, which will bereave you of your 00:19:36.140 |
children and destroy your cattle and reduce your numbers so that your roads lie deserted. 00:19:41.220 |
Do you remember at the Garden of Eden, what Adam and Eve was doing? 00:19:45.980 |
He said they were laboring and the animals would come to them and he would name these 00:19:52.740 |
So not only were they living in peace, Adam and Eve were ruling over the animals because 00:19:57.780 |
God told them to, to be fruitful, to subdue the land. 00:20:01.580 |
Instead, these very creatures that God created for our enjoyment in creation will turn against 00:20:08.300 |
you, he says, and they will reduce the number of people. 00:20:13.380 |
The very creation that God created for his glory is going to turn against you. 00:20:18.220 |
Fourthly, verse 23 to 26 is after all of this, you still will not repent. 00:20:23.500 |
He says, God will act with hostility against them and will strike them sevenfold for their 00:20:29.220 |
Verse 25 to 26, I will also bring upon you a sword, which will execute vengeance for 00:20:36.340 |
And when you gather together in your cities, I will send pestilence among you so that you 00:20:42.680 |
When I break your staff of bread, ten women will bake your bread in one oven and they 00:20:48.180 |
will bring back your bread in rationed amounts so that you will eat and not be satisfied. 00:20:54.580 |
He said he's going to, if after all of that, you don't recognize that this is a judgment 00:21:08.920 |
And in that, it's going to lead to financial ruin where you're not going to be able to 00:21:18.980 |
He said, but even after that, you don't recognize the curse that you're in. 00:21:24.900 |
He says in 27 to 39, he said if the previous judgment does not bring them to repentance 00:21:31.780 |
and God will act wrathfully and will punish them sevenfold. 00:21:36.260 |
So seven times seven times seven times seven times seven. 00:21:39.980 |
He says, I will bring it in order for you to repent. 00:21:42.920 |
And then verse 29, he says further, you will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of 00:21:53.640 |
People of God who saw miracles with their own hands, who crossed over the Red Sea, who've 00:22:04.660 |
They've seen the 10 plagues, the God conquering the enemies, that they are going to degenerate 00:22:09.580 |
to the point where they're going to practice cannibalism to their own children. 00:22:14.660 |
It's unbelievable that they would fall this far. 00:22:18.040 |
If you read anything about the Old Testament, you know that this actually happened in Israel's 00:22:22.900 |
This actually happened in Israel's history, exactly as God said. 00:22:27.580 |
Further on he says, anyone who's left in verse 39, so those of you who may be left will rot 00:22:32.540 |
away because of their iniquity in the lands of the enemies and also because of the iniquities 00:22:37.100 |
of their forefathers, they will rot away with them. 00:22:42.380 |
As horrendous as this thing is, does this remind you of anything else in the scripture? 00:22:49.420 |
Judgment sevenfold, sevenfold, sevenfold, sevenfold. 00:22:56.660 |
Book of Revelation tells us that the judgment starts with seven seals. 00:23:03.660 |
At the end of that, there's going to be seven trumpet judgments. 00:23:06.060 |
After that, there's going to be seven bowl judgments. 00:23:09.300 |
Every judgment is increasing in manner year after year after year after year. 00:23:15.820 |
All that he is warning them to the nation of Israel, all that has happened to the nation 00:23:19.720 |
of Israel, all was a shadow, shadow of the reality that's coming at the end. 00:23:27.300 |
So if you obey and repent, this will happen, but if you do not, here's what's coming. 00:23:34.320 |
But if you notice, every one of these warnings ultimately is to bring them to repentance. 00:23:41.740 |
If after you've seen this and you do not repent, if after the suffering you do not repent, 00:23:45.680 |
if after you experience hardship, you do not repent, after you've gone all that and you 00:23:50.600 |
still will not repent, the true judgment doesn't come with warning. 00:23:56.360 |
The white throne judgment comes, and there's not a lot of talk after that because it's 00:24:01.300 |
Because either you're in heaven or hell at that point. 00:24:04.160 |
And so all of this is role-playing for the gospel that we are preaching today. 00:24:11.700 |
In Galatians chapter 3, 10 through 13, Apostle Paul summarizes all of this, and he says this, 00:24:17.240 |
"For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse. 00:24:22.060 |
For it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the 00:24:28.700 |
Now that no one is justified by the law before God is evident, for the righteous man shall 00:24:35.820 |
On the contrary, he who practices them shall live by them." 00:24:38.420 |
And then verse 13, "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse 00:24:46.740 |
For it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.'" 00:24:51.060 |
All that drama of the sacrifices, all that drama of the Day of Atonement, every single 00:24:56.860 |
year sacrificing that goat and then allowing that scapegoat to go, all of it was to point 00:25:03.380 |
to what Christ was going to do on the cross, that He became the curse for us so that we 00:25:14.320 |
And that's what He means in Isaiah 53 in the Old Testament, speaking about their Messiah, 00:25:19.420 |
He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. 00:25:26.500 |
And like one from whom men hide their face, He was despised and we did not esteem Him. 00:25:32.640 |
Surely our griefs He Himself bore, our sorrows He carried, our curse He carried. 00:25:40.700 |
Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. 00:25:49.180 |
Years ago, before my father passed away, he had a heart attack. 00:25:56.080 |
And so we took him to a hospital in Corona and he was there probably about 10 days recovering. 00:26:01.900 |
And so we were bringing him back home and I happened to live in Corona at that time. 00:26:06.260 |
And so we had a nice backyard, so we kind of let my dad rest there in front of the pool, 00:26:11.580 |
just enjoying and just relaxing before he can go home. 00:26:14.700 |
And so by that time, you know, our children were very young. 00:26:17.340 |
So my oldest was probably no more than four, at most five years old, and they didn't know 00:26:23.220 |
And so after we were resting, we all went inside to eat and only Jeremy, my oldest, 00:26:29.060 |
my father was sitting outside and as we're inside, we hear this large splash. 00:26:35.460 |
And we knew it wasn't Jeremy because it was a pretty large splash. 00:26:38.660 |
And then we all in shock went out thinking something bad happened. 00:26:42.660 |
And we got out just in time to see my dad in the pool, pulling Jeremy out of the water. 00:26:50.420 |
And again, he had a heart attack and he was coming, he was just resting in our home and 00:26:56.660 |
And so we saw him grab him from the back of his shirt and just pulling him out of the 00:27:03.140 |
And if my dad wasn't sitting there, Jeremy would have drowned. 00:27:08.140 |
He said he was in the water just floating like this and didn't know what to do. 00:27:15.300 |
You know, it's like, oh my gosh, you know, is Jeremy okay? 00:27:20.340 |
Jeremy comes out of the water and shakes off the water. 00:27:32.540 |
If Harabuji wasn't sitting there, he would have drowned because we're all inside. 00:27:40.380 |
And he just walked inside, just changed his clothes, went out playing and ate and ran 00:27:45.020 |
And to this day, like we freaked out because of that. 00:27:48.620 |
So we started locking our doors and we made sure none of our kids went out. 00:27:52.100 |
And they said, we're never going to buy a house with a swimming pool again, you know, 00:28:04.700 |
Now because he was young, he was a kid, he didn't know what just happened. 00:28:11.320 |
And to this day, he doesn't have any traumatic experiences. 00:28:14.500 |
You know, I asked him after the first service, do you remember that? 00:28:27.820 |
The reason why I share this is because what is the purpose of the crescendo? 00:28:36.460 |
See, everything that God has been doing was to prepare for what he was doing at the cross 00:28:41.740 |
so that we don't just come along and say, you know, God loves you, has a wonderful plan 00:28:48.380 |
Part of the reason why the sacrifice of Christ and him taking the curse upon himself is because 00:28:59.540 |
we don't fully understand the curse that we are under without Christ. 00:29:06.220 |
Everything that he mentions there about lacking peace, working hard, and everything turning 00:29:11.900 |
into thorns and thistles, enemies coming after us, pestilence coming, fear of death, meaninglessness. 00:29:21.060 |
All of this is a description of mankind outside of Christ that you and I deserved. 00:29:27.940 |
And he played this drama out in the nation of Israel year after year after year, animal 00:29:34.020 |
after animal after animal, so that it would be so saturated in their psyche that when 00:29:39.580 |
Christ came that they understood that he came to take away that from me. 00:29:46.820 |
So that at his death there would be celebration and praise. 00:29:52.220 |
But because the nation of Israel did not understand, they praised him going to the cross, but they 00:29:56.860 |
abandoned him when he was at the cross because they did not understand what was happening. 00:30:06.020 |
Do we understand that everything that was written here was ultimately for us? 00:30:13.100 |
So that we would respond to him by saying, "Hallelujah! 00:30:24.440 |
Do you remember what it was like before you knew Christ? 00:30:30.860 |
Maybe some of you just kind of grew up in the church and maybe there's a deep memory, 00:30:35.060 |
but I think most of us have some recollection what it was like when you didn't know Jesus. 00:30:57.380 |
Maybe some of us have forgotten what it is that we have been saved from and what it is 00:31:05.380 |
And that's the whole point of what he's been trying all, saying all this time. 00:31:08.940 |
Why would you go back to the old system when all of that was to prepare you to bring you 00:31:14.620 |
All of Hebrew is to prepare for this passage so that you and I can understand and celebrate 00:31:25.240 |
That's what he means when he says, "Live up to the gospel that's been given to you. 00:31:35.140 |
That's why he says, because Christ has done this and he took the curse that you and I 00:31:39.460 |
deserved, he says in verse 13 and 14, "So let us go out to him outside the camp, bearing 00:31:47.500 |
For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come." 00:31:52.800 |
As Christ came outside the camp, he turned what ought to have been a curse into the greatest 00:32:04.300 |
He took what anybody, every time in the Old Testament when it says he was taken outside 00:32:08.500 |
the camp, that was the ultimate judgment to any Israelite. 00:32:13.300 |
You can be reprimanded, you can be disciplined for a period, but once they go outside the 00:32:20.340 |
So every time, only the harshest punishments were given outside the camp. 00:32:26.180 |
And it was not by accident that Jesus was dragged outside of camp at Golgotha. 00:32:31.980 |
And he says as he was crucified, as he took on the curse, as he took on our sins, he reverses 00:32:41.020 |
this curse at the cross and he turns it into a blessing. 00:32:46.900 |
Drinking the blood and eating the flesh, as Jesus says in John chapter 16, would have 00:32:51.340 |
been the most sacrilegious thing that a Jewish rabbi would ask of his disciples. 00:32:57.860 |
And yet he says if you do not eat of my flesh and drink of my blood, you have no relationship 00:33:02.620 |
So he took one of the most sacrilegious things and turned it into a place of life. 00:33:10.440 |
He says he who seeks to be the greatest in the kingdom of God will be the least. 00:33:15.060 |
Think about how much we're trying so hard to get ahead in life, to buy a better house, 00:33:20.620 |
to have better vacations, and we get trapped in this rat race and Jesus comes in and he 00:33:29.980 |
And he who tries to be the greatest will be the least, and he who is the least will be 00:33:36.880 |
We try so hard to live and make something of ourselves and he says he who finds his 00:33:41.180 |
He who loses his life for my sake will find it. 00:33:46.220 |
Only Christ has that power to change the curse of man into the blessing of God. 00:33:54.140 |
Those of you guys who are old enough remember the disaster that happened in Chernobyl reactor. 00:34:01.140 |
Some of you guys may have read about it, some of you guys lived through it. 00:34:04.740 |
Not that you were there, but you're old enough to remember when that happened. 00:34:09.580 |
In 1986, April 26, one of the reactors blew up and all kinds of radiation leaked out of 00:34:18.580 |
And out of that, over 31 people died directly, and since then they have counted, they believe 00:34:24.580 |
it's much more than this, but they said that over 20,000 people contracted cancer as a 00:34:32.900 |
Over 40 years later, they're still afraid, they don't know how long this effect's going 00:34:38.300 |
to be, but to this day, they're not going to plant there because they don't know how 00:34:44.100 |
much radiation is still stuck on the ground because it didn't just affect the air, it 00:34:48.100 |
affected the building, it affected the cattle, it affected the roads, it affected the plants, 00:34:55.200 |
So even 40 years later, you would be out of your mind to buy property there, but if you 00:35:00.980 |
see pictures of Chernobyl, they've been trying hard. 00:35:03.900 |
They rebuilt the infrastructure, they rebuilt the buildings, they're trying to get people 00:35:13.540 |
You can understand why it would be so cheap, but they can't get people to come back. 00:35:18.820 |
Nobody in their right mind, unless they were born into that, no one's going to move to 00:35:23.900 |
Only missionaries would go a place like that to bring the gospel. 00:35:30.020 |
We can understand why people would not move there. 00:35:32.380 |
We can understand why people would not invest there, because it's been affected by radiation. 00:35:41.060 |
When he says, "Christ went outside the camp to reverse this curse," and he invites us 00:35:47.680 |
all to come outside the camp, he's basically telling us all of creation is under the condemnation 00:35:58.100 |
So why would you invest and build and place your hope, no matter how cheap the property 00:36:08.380 |
That's exactly what it says in Romans 8, 20 to 24, "For the creation was subjected to 00:36:12.260 |
futility not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation 00:36:17.580 |
itself also will be set free from enslavement to corruption into the freedom of the glory 00:36:25.540 |
All of creation has been directly affected by the sin of mankind. 00:36:28.900 |
And he said, "God will restore it when man is restored." 00:36:37.820 |
If you recognize the curse of mankind, he said, "Come out." 00:36:42.940 |
Because the place that you envy, the place that you covet, the place that you are putting 00:36:47.420 |
your hope in, has been condemned until he restores it when he comes back. 00:37:00.820 |
How much of our struggle and anxiety, marriage problems, relational issues, are directly 00:37:12.660 |
See, the Israelites, they prided themselves of Jerusalem. 00:37:23.940 |
And that's why they were celebrating, "Hosanna, Hosanna," when Christ came. 00:37:27.620 |
Because they thought he was going to reconquer Jerusalem in the name of God, and they were 00:37:35.860 |
And when Jesus gave himself up, they could not understand. 00:37:48.780 |
And Jesus becomes a servant to the point of death. 00:37:53.060 |
They did not understand that our real sin, our real problem, was not the economy, was 00:37:58.740 |
not the Roman government, but it's ourselves. 00:38:07.820 |
And the only answer to that is Christ crucified. 00:38:13.380 |
That's why he says in 1 Corinthians 15, 19, he says, "If we have hoped in Christ in this 00:38:17.700 |
life only, we are all meant most to be pitied, to come out, to come out." 00:38:28.740 |
Even if you work hard, make the right investments, put away enough money, and you become wildly 00:38:34.940 |
successful and you become the top dog, we become the top dog on a dong hill that has 00:38:46.780 |
The reason why I think some of us don't get affected by this is either we have been so 00:38:52.300 |
saturated with temptation of this world, and it's become so mundane that it's hard for 00:39:00.060 |
us to muster up any emotions because we've become so inoculated by the truth that we 00:39:09.380 |
Or we don't really believe this, and we're trying to pretend like we believe it. 00:39:17.460 |
So we're trying to pretend and go through the motions. 00:39:22.980 |
But if you really believe this, how can this not affect you? 00:39:28.180 |
How can we be so concerned about making it in this world? 00:39:35.300 |
How can we be so concerned about building on land that is contaminated by radiation? 00:39:57.380 |
In Hebrews 11, 13-16, it says, "All these men and women of faith have died without receiving 00:40:03.820 |
the promise, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance and having confessed 00:40:08.740 |
that they were strangers and exiles on the earth, for those who say such things make 00:40:12.820 |
it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. 00:40:16.580 |
And indeed, if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would 00:40:25.460 |
But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. 00:40:29.780 |
Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for 00:40:38.260 |
Let's live consistent with what we profess, because the whole world sees it. 00:40:46.580 |
You know, when we live in hypocrisy, everybody else notices first before we do. 00:40:53.180 |
We sing songs, memorize scripture, we celebrate, we tell people to come to church, but non-Christians 00:41:02.320 |
You don't really believe what you're trying to tell me. 00:41:06.420 |
Because if you're telling me to come outside the camp, why are you in the camp? 00:41:10.700 |
If you believe that blessing is outside the camp, why are you fighting so hard to make 00:41:29.100 |
But when He comes in glory, we will be glorified with Him. 00:41:33.860 |
So during this Christmas season, let's redeem what God has implanted in our culture. 00:41:40.840 |
Let's redeem this opportunity so when people ask us, "Why do you celebrate Christmas?" 00:41:44.620 |
that we can tell them the hope that we have in Christ. 00:41:46.660 |
Yes, we'll buy gifts, we'll celebrate, we'll get together with our brothers and sisters 00:41:52.660 |
But in the midst of all of that, let's not forget why we celebrate. 00:42:00.260 |
Christ came, He who knew no sin, became sin for us so that you and I may become the righteousness 00:42:08.780 |
And let's have every part of that make an impact in our hearts and in our lives. 00:42:19.880 |
Again, as our worship team leads us, if I can ask you to take a minute to surrender 00:42:32.740 |
your life to Christ, what have you coveted in your heart that's squeezing out and quenching 00:43:04.500 |
But when coveting takes hold of our hearts, it squeezes out the powerful work of Christ. 00:43:15.420 |
If we really believe that Christ is life, does our life reflect our confession? 00:43:22.600 |
So let's take some time to pray and to reflect and to surrender as our worship team leads