If you can turn your Bibles with me to Hebrews chapter 13. And we're going to be reading from verse 10 through 14. And yes, we're going to be covering all of it today. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 13 verses 10 through 14. Reading out of the NASB. We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat.

For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high priest as an offering for sin are burned outside the camp. For Jesus also that he might sanctify the people through his own blood suffered outside the gate. So let us go out to him outside the camp bearing his reproach.

For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we pray for deeper understanding. We pray for grace to cause us Lord God to think more deeply of who you are. That your word would have its effect in our hearts and in our lives.

We entrust this time to you asking for your blessing upon it. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. You know, one of the blessings of living in the United States as a Christian is whenever we travel or, you know, we spent so many years out in China trying to share the gospel with Chinese students who grew up under the communist regime and they were never taught about Christianity.

There's some kind of religion and yet they practice Christmas. So they have Christmas trees and gifts and stockings and Santa Claus and so they have all the decorations but they've never really been taught what these holidays mean. So whenever we go, obviously it's illegal to outright share the gospel with them, especially to minors, but it's not very hard to share the gospel because all we have to do is share about American holidays.

And so we would teach about history and various things and about grammar but we would always make sure that we have one class at American holidays and obviously we would share about Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas. And so whenever we teach that, the gospel is going to come out, right? And they say, "Hey, you're not supposed to share the gospel." I say, "Oh, we're just telling them what Christmas is about." They say, "You're not supposed to talk about the resurrection." I say, "Oh, we're just talking about Easter." And so that's how we're able to share the gospel in all these years coming in and out of China because it's embedded into this culture, the Judeo-Christian principles and things.

Even though we may be moving away from it today, it's embedded into the culture. And that's one of the benefits of being in a culture where even around us today, we have so many people practice Christmas, almost the whole world practices Christmas, not really understanding the significance of what it is.

And that's why we want to take advantage of that, that while we celebrate Christmas, it's easy to ask. Sometimes it may be hard to ask, but do you want to hear about God? But when everybody's celebrating Christmas to say, "This is what Christmas means," right? And so the door kind of is open for us to be able to share the gospel.

The reason why I share that is because Christmas is probably the most, I don't know if you want to call it important, but the most celebrated, that we make the biggest deal about Christmas. You see it in decorations, commercials, everything that we do. Our longest break, holiday break, is during the Christmas break.

The Jews also had something like Christmas in their culture. And what they had was the Day of Atonement. So Day of Atonement was their biggest holiday. So they would have the Passover, and that Passover would bleed into the Passover through the Day of Atonement. And so they would take sometimes weeks and weeks off, sometimes months off, in order to travel to get to Jerusalem.

And so it was embedded into their culture so that every year they would share this with one another and remind each other of the significance of this. So at the center of their culture, this Day of Atonement was embedded for a particular reason. So here in Hebrews 13, 10-11, it says, "We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat." Let me stop right there.

If you studied with us the book of Leviticus, that's where the priests actually got their food. People would bring sacrifices, and they would take their livers and parts that they would normally not eat and take the meat part of it, and that portion belonged to the priest to eat.

So when he says, "We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat," it's specifically relating to the sacrifice of the Day of Atonement. Because that offering, they were not allowed to eat. Every other offering they were. So he's specifically referring to that.

And then verse 11, he said, "For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high priest as an offering for sin are burned outside the camp." Again, any Jew who read that would right away understand he's referring to the sacrifice made on the Day of Atonement.

Most of you probably have heard the significance of this day, but I want to emphasize for you just how important this day is. So if you can put up the chart for me, the next one. So this is the chart of the tabernacle. So right in there you have the rectangle, and that's the tabernacle.

So those of you who have bad eyes, that's what it says. And then the 12 around that are the 12 tribes. So those are the names of the tribes there. If you read the book of Numbers, that's exactly how the tribe was organized. So every time that they settle in, they are to be in that order.

And so the tabernacle was right at the center. So whenever they moved, they would march like military, one tribe after the other. And then when they would settle down, they would put the tabernacle and everybody would settle. So every time they settled in for any period of time and the tabernacle was established, that's what the Israelites looked like in 40 years in the desert.

In the 40 years while they were in the desert, obviously God placed a tabernacle in the center for a reason, because everyone had equal access to the tabernacle. So at the tabernacle, what was at the center of the tabernacle? The sacrifices, right? The whole purpose of the book of Leviticus was to give instructions on how to give sacrifices to be able to draw near to God.

In the sacrifices, what's at the center? Those of you who are studying with us in Leviticus, they have atonement. So if you remember, as we studied through the book of Leviticus, Leviticus is designed, is instructed to us in a chiastic format. So some of you who are A students may remember that.

So if you can put up the chiastic structure, this is basically the outline of the book of Leviticus. Okay, and this is one of those books that a lot of Christians who've been Christians for many years still are very mystified by it because it's hard to understand. But when you understand what God was doing in the book of Leviticus, it really is very, very important in understanding what's happening in the New Testament.

He writes it in a chiastic form. So chiastic form basically means that it's kind of like the crescendo, right? Those of you guys who are into music, which I am not, but I know enough about to know what a crescendo is. Crescendo is basically you're kind of, the music is playing and it's building up to a peak, right?

And so that peak, you're supposed to, you'll normally hear the drums or the music getting a little bit louder, or if you're playing the guitar and at the peak of it, you get the cymbals go boom. And that's the crescendo. And so when you think of the music, when there's a crescendo in the music, you know, like that's kind of like the peak.

So the chiastic structure of a book is kind of like a crescendo. So everything is building up to the center. So the main point of the book of Leviticus crescendos at chapter 16 at the day of atonement. And then after that, it kind of re-explains the different laws pointing back to the day of atonement, how this ought to be practiced.

Now why is this so important? Because at the center of Israel was the tabernacle. And at the center of the tabernacle was the sacrifices. And at the center of the sacrifices was the day of atonement. Now at the center of the day of atonement was the two sacrifices, the two goats that was offered up.

And one was offered up and the blood that the goat would shed, the high priest would take that, take it into the Holy of Holies and sprinkle the mercy seed, which he could only go in once a year, symbolizing that the blood of this goat is going to cover the mercy seed and atone for the sins of Israel where there was inaccess.

And all of this is role-playing so that we can understand that blood had to be shed for the purpose of access to God. The second goat, where we call the scapegoat, where Aaron, the high priest, would put both hands on it, representing the sins of Israel, and take that goat outside the camp and remove it far, far away.

They said over 10 miles away so that they could no longer see it and cast it outside the camp. So what it symbolized in the day of atonement was because of the sacrifice of this goat that sins of Israel is cast out of Israel. So when the author of Hebrews says here, "We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat," the Israelites would have right away understood he's talking about the day of atonement.

What I just shared with you isn't just about the book of Leviticus. What about these two goats, one sacrifice and the other goat being cast out of the camp is not only at the center of the tabernacle, it's not only at the center of the day of atonement, it's at the center of redemptive history.

All of this is to point to Christ in what He was going to do. So as the day of atonement and the sacrifice crescendoed on that sacrifice, all of redemptive history crescendos in Christ's sacrifice on the cross. And then after that, everything in the Old Testament is the preparation for Christ coming in His death.

Everything after the Gospels is pointing back to the cross of what happened and the effects of that. So all of this is being role-played to point to Christ. And that's what He means by that those animals whose blood is brought into the holy place by high priests as an offering for sin and burned outside the camp, was taken outside the camp, and He says, "Therefore, Jesus also that He might sanctify people through His own blood suffered outside the camp." In other words, He's saying, "Jesus is the fulfillment of that act." That's what He's saying.

Everything that you've been learning about this was about Christ being taken outside the camp. But you know what's interesting about this is that book crescendos and then it turns back, but the end of the book of Leviticus in chapter 26 ends with a warning of blessing and cursing, that if you obey, that here are the blessings that will come to you, and if you disobey and break the law, then here are the curses that will come to you.

But the interesting thing about this is there's about 13 verses that talk about God's blessing, and there's over 50 some verses that talk about God's curse. If you read through the book of Deuteronomy, you see the similar breakdown where you'll see a couple chapters about God's blessing and many, many chapters about God's curses.

It's almost like God already knew where they were headed, because everything that He's doing with the nation of Israel, it says it is a shadow of the reality to come. And so we already know that God gave them the law for what purpose? So that they can obey and have life?

No. He said God gave the law so that you may understand sin to be utterly sinful. So everything that He's doing here is kind of a role-playing so that when Christ comes, that people would understand the curse that they're under. And Israel's whole history is to demonstrate that so that it can point to the reality in Christ.

So what I want to do this morning is look at the text that He's referring to, look at the blessings that He desires for us, and the curse He says that we're going to be under. In Leviticus chapter 26, verses 1 to 13, and it summarizes in three ways.

One, God will provide a rain in their season so that they will bear much fruit. Two, verse 6 through 8, God will give them peace in the land. And then three, verse 9 and 10, God will grant them to be fruitful and to multiply because He will walk among them.

When you summarize the three points of God's blessing, what does it sound like? Think for a second. Critical thinking for a minute. What does those blessings sound like? You're going to be fruitful, you're going to multiply, right? And the Lord is going to be among you. Sounds like the Garden of Eden, right?

That was God's intent. He said, when you are obedient and God blesses you and His presence is among you, that everything you do, you're going to be fruitful, you're going to multiply because the Lord is with you. But then He turns immediately to verse 14 to 39 and He warns them, but if you do not obey, the curse of God will be upon you.

In verse 14 and 16, it says this, but if you do not obey me and do not carry out all these commandments, if instead you reject my statutes and if your soul abhors my ordinances so as not to carry out all my commandments and so break my covenant, I in turn will do this to you.

Now I want to emphasize here that each one of these warnings, these curses, emphasizes God saying, I will do this to you. You know, again, we're in a culture where we want to minimize God's culpability to His punishment so He created heaven, but we kind of minimize hell. God blesses and He shows grace, but in kind of like judgment, it kind of just happens.

So God's judgment is Him just not blessing you. That's not what it says. He said, I will bless you if you obey my commandment, but He says, I will curse you if you disobey. So I want you to notice that there's five separate phases of God's curse in chapter 26 and each one of these curses, He emphasizes, I will do this.

So the first phase comes in verse 16 and 17 and He says, I in turn will do this to you. I will appoint over you a sudden terror, consumption and fever that will waste away the eyes and cause the soul to pine away. So you will sow your seed uselessly for your enemies will eat it up.

I will set my face against you so that you will be struck down before your enemies and those who hate you will rule over you and you will flee when no one is pursuing you. I think this section can be summarized by God disturbing their peace. The shalom is broken.

The Sabbath is broken. And that's exactly what the Bible says. As soon as Adam and Eve rebelled against God, the Sabbath that God took them into was broken. So from that day on, mankind is walking around. We buy homes. We put money away in our bank accounts, all of it in order so that we may have some peace.

We look for jobs. We pursue, we fight, we struggle. And at the core of it, we're trying to reestablish a Sabbath that was broken. But God says when you disobey, your peace doesn't come from living in a peaceful country or not being in war or having a nice home to stay.

He said the peace is disturbed because of sin. Because true peace is only found in Christ and when he's there. So when he says, I will take away my presence, he said even when the enemy is not pursuing you, you will flee. Because your peace has been disturbed. And he said that's the first thing that will happen.

No sense of security. There's always sense of anxiety. Even when there is no turmoil, there is a sense that something's going to happen. So when you're rich, you're afraid that you're going to lose your money. And if you don't have money, you're afraid that you're not going to get it.

And so no matter what financial situation you're in, there's never any peace because true peace can only be found in the presence of Christ. And so he says, when you rebel against me and the curse comes upon you, peace will be disturbed. But secondly, verse 18 to 20, he says, but when that happens and you don't recognize that and you don't repent, you don't turn to me, he says in verse 18, I will, if they do not turn from their sins and after the first set of judgment, the punishment will increase sevenfold.

So it's not level one and level two. He says, no, I've given you opportunity, but I really want you to know how serious this curse is. And he says it will increase it sevenfold. And then he says, verse 19 and 20, he says, I will break down your pride of power.

I will also make your sky like iron and your earth like bronze. What he means by that, he's going to dry up the sky and the ground is not going to bear any fruit. So there's going to be famine in the land. Your strength will be spent uselessly for your land will not yield its produce and the trees of the land will not yield their fruit.

Do you remember in Genesis chapter three, when God brings curse upon mankind, he says to Adam that you will work the ground by the sweat of your brow and all it's going to produce is thorns and thistles. And after that, you will go back to the ground and you will die.

So he's describing exactly the warning that he gave and said, this is going to happen. He said, this is going to be fulfilled. You're going to labor all your life and you're going to feel like you're not making any progress. And he said, it wasn't simply because you made the wrong decision.

It wasn't simply because you didn't buy the right stock. He said, it's because you rebelled against me. And then he says the third one, verse 21 to 22, if you still will not repent, he says in verse 21, I will increase this judgment, these plagues sevenfold according to your sins.

Verse 22, I will let loose among you beasts of the field, which will bereave you of your children and destroy your cattle and reduce your numbers so that your roads lie deserted. Do you remember at the Garden of Eden, what Adam and Eve was doing? He said they were laboring and the animals would come to them and he would name these animals.

So not only were they living in peace, Adam and Eve were ruling over the animals because God told them to, to be fruitful, to subdue the land. Instead, these very creatures that God created for our enjoyment in creation will turn against you, he says, and they will reduce the number of people.

They will attack you. The very creation that God created for his glory is going to turn against you. Fourthly, verse 23 to 26 is after all of this, you still will not repent. He says, God will act with hostility against them and will strike them sevenfold for their sins.

Verse 25 to 26, I will also bring upon you a sword, which will execute vengeance for your covenant. And when you gather together in your cities, I will send pestilence among you so that you shall be delivered into enemy hands. When I break your staff of bread, ten women will bake your bread in one oven and they will bring back your bread in rationed amounts so that you will eat and not be satisfied.

He said he's going to, if after all of that, you don't recognize that this is a judgment coming from God. He said, I will bring upon you pestilence. I will bring upon you a pandemic. And in that, it's going to lead to financial ruin where you're not going to be able to find bread to eat.

He said, but even after that, you don't recognize the curse that you're in. He says in 27 to 39, he said if the previous judgment does not bring them to repentance and God will act wrathfully and will punish them sevenfold. So seven times seven times seven times seven times seven.

He says, I will bring it in order for you to repent. And then verse 29, he says further, you will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters you will eat. That's like unbelievable. People of God who saw miracles with their own hands, who crossed over the Red Sea, who've eaten miraculous bread and quail.

They've seen the 10 plagues, the God conquering the enemies, that they are going to degenerate to the point where they're going to practice cannibalism to their own children. It's unbelievable that they would fall this far. If you read anything about the Old Testament, you know that this actually happened in Israel's history.

This actually happened in Israel's history, exactly as God said. Further on he says, anyone who's left in verse 39, so those of you who may be left will rot away because of their iniquity in the lands of the enemies and also because of the iniquities of their forefathers, they will rot away with them.

As horrendous as this thing is, does this remind you of anything else in the scripture? Judgment sevenfold, sevenfold, sevenfold, sevenfold. Yeah, book of Revelation. Book of Revelation tells us that the judgment starts with seven seals. At the end of that, there's going to be seven trumpet judgments. After that, there's going to be seven bowl judgments.

Every judgment is increasing in manner year after year after year after year. All that he is warning them to the nation of Israel, all that has happened to the nation of Israel, all was a shadow, shadow of the reality that's coming at the end. So if you obey and repent, this will happen, but if you do not, here's what's coming.

But if you notice, every one of these warnings ultimately is to bring them to repentance. If after you've seen this and you do not repent, if after the suffering you do not repent, if after you experience hardship, you do not repent, after you've gone all that and you still will not repent, the true judgment doesn't come with warning.

It just happens. The white throne judgment comes, and there's not a lot of talk after that because it's over. Because either you're in heaven or hell at that point. And so all of this is role-playing for the gospel that we are preaching today. In Galatians chapter 3, 10 through 13, Apostle Paul summarizes all of this, and he says this, "For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse.

For it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law to perform them.' Now that no one is justified by the law before God is evident, for the righteous man shall live by faith. However, the law is not of faith.

On the contrary, he who practices them shall live by them." And then verse 13, "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. For it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.'" All that drama of the sacrifices, all that drama of the Day of Atonement, every single year sacrificing that goat and then allowing that scapegoat to go, all of it was to point to what Christ was going to do on the cross, that He became the curse for us so that we might become the righteousness of God.

And that's what He means in Isaiah 53 in the Old Testament, speaking about their Messiah, He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And like one from whom men hide their face, He was despised and we did not esteem Him. Surely our griefs He Himself bore, our sorrows He carried, our curse He carried.

Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. Years ago, before my father passed away, he had a heart attack. And so we took him to a hospital in Corona and he was there probably about 10 days recovering. And so we were bringing him back home and I happened to live in Corona at that time.

And so we had a nice backyard, so we kind of let my dad rest there in front of the pool, just enjoying and just relaxing before he can go home. And so by that time, you know, our children were very young. So my oldest was probably no more than four, at most five years old, and they didn't know how to swim yet.

And so after we were resting, we all went inside to eat and only Jeremy, my oldest, my father was sitting outside and as we're inside, we hear this large splash. And we knew it wasn't Jeremy because it was a pretty large splash. And then we all in shock went out thinking something bad happened.

And we got out just in time to see my dad in the pool, pulling Jeremy out of the water. And again, he had a heart attack and he was coming, he was just resting in our home and he was soaking wet. And so we saw him grab him from the back of his shirt and just pulling him out of the water.

So obviously we're all shocked. And if my dad wasn't sitting there, Jeremy would have drowned. He said, my dad just turned his head. He said he was in the water just floating like this and didn't know what to do. So he would have drowned. So we're all in shock.

You know, it's like, oh my gosh, you know, is Jeremy okay? Oh my gosh, is my dad okay? And we're trying to take care of them. Jeremy comes out of the water and shakes off the water. He turns around and says, thanks, Harabuji. And he just walks in. He had no idea what happened.

He almost died. If Harabuji wasn't sitting there, he would have drowned because we're all inside. And all he knew is, thanks, Harabuji. And he just walked inside, just changed his clothes, went out playing and ate and ran with the other kids. And to this day, like we freaked out because of that.

So we started locking our doors and we made sure none of our kids went out. And they said, we're never going to buy a house with a swimming pool again, you know, because we were so shocked by that. We were traumatized by that experience. But Jeremy is like, thanks, Harabuji.

Now because he was young, he was a kid, he didn't know what just happened. And to this day, he doesn't have any traumatic experiences. You know, I asked him after the first service, do you remember that? He's like, oh yeah. You know, you almost died. He's like, yeah. Because it wasn't traumatic for him.

He just got a lot of attention that day. You know. The reason why I share this is because what is the purpose of the crescendo? Is to bring attention to the peak. See, everything that God has been doing was to prepare for what he was doing at the cross so that we don't just come along and say, you know, God loves you, has a wonderful plan for your life and he died.

Oh, okay. Thank you. Part of the reason why the sacrifice of Christ and him taking the curse upon himself is because we don't fully understand the curse that we are under without Christ. Everything that he mentions there about lacking peace, working hard, and everything turning into thorns and thistles, enemies coming after us, pestilence coming, fear of death, meaninglessness.

All of this is a description of mankind outside of Christ that you and I deserved. And he played this drama out in the nation of Israel year after year after year, animal after animal after animal, so that it would be so saturated in their psyche that when Christ came that they understood that he came to take away that from me.

So that at his death there would be celebration and praise. But because the nation of Israel did not understand, they praised him going to the cross, but they abandoned him when he was at the cross because they did not understand what was happening. But the question is, do you understand?

Do we understand that everything that was written here was ultimately for us? So that we would respond to him by saying, "Hallelujah! Thank you for saving me!" Do you remember? Do you remember what it was like before you knew Christ? Have you forgotten? Maybe some of you just kind of grew up in the church and maybe there's a deep memory, but I think most of us have some recollection what it was like when you didn't know Jesus.

How desperate you were. How lonely you were. How hurt you were. How bitter you were. How angry you were. Maybe some of us have forgotten what it is that we have been saved from and what it is that we have been saved to. And that's the whole point of what he's been trying all, saying all this time.

Why would you go back to the old system when all of that was to prepare you to bring you to Christ? All of Hebrew is to prepare for this passage so that you and I can understand and celebrate and to worship. That's what he means when he says, "Live up to the gospel that's been given to you.

Don't ever forget. Don't ever forget." That's why he says, because Christ has done this and he took the curse that you and I deserved, he says in verse 13 and 14, "So let us go out to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come." As Christ came outside the camp, he turned what ought to have been a curse into the greatest blessing of mankind.

He took what anybody, every time in the Old Testament when it says he was taken outside the camp, that was the ultimate judgment to any Israelite. You can be reprimanded, you can be disciplined for a period, but once they go outside the camp, there's no hope. So every time, only the harshest punishments were given outside the camp.

And it was not by accident that Jesus was dragged outside of camp at Golgotha. And he says as he was crucified, as he took on the curse, as he took on our sins, he reverses this curse at the cross and he turns it into a blessing. Drinking the blood and eating the flesh, as Jesus says in John chapter 16, would have been the most sacrilegious thing that a Jewish rabbi would ask of his disciples.

And yet he says if you do not eat of my flesh and drink of my blood, you have no relationship with me. So he took one of the most sacrilegious things and turned it into a place of life. He says he who seeks to be the greatest in the kingdom of God will be the least.

Think about how much we're trying so hard to get ahead in life, to buy a better house, to have better vacations, and we get trapped in this rat race and Jesus comes in and he turns this rat race upside down. And he who tries to be the greatest will be the least, and he who is the least will be the greatest in the kingdom of God.

We try so hard to live and make something of ourselves and he says he who finds his life will lose it. He who loses his life for my sake will find it. Only Christ has that power to change the curse of man into the blessing of God. Those of you guys who are old enough remember the disaster that happened in Chernobyl reactor.

Some of you guys may have read about it, some of you guys lived through it. Not that you were there, but you're old enough to remember when that happened. In 1986, April 26, one of the reactors blew up and all kinds of radiation leaked out of this nuclear reactor.

And out of that, over 31 people died directly, and since then they have counted, they believe it's much more than this, but they said that over 20,000 people contracted cancer as a direct result of this leak. Over 40 years later, they're still afraid, they don't know how long this effect's going to be, but to this day, they're not going to plant there because they don't know how much radiation is still stuck on the ground because it didn't just affect the air, it affected the building, it affected the cattle, it affected the roads, it affected the plants, it affected everything.

So even 40 years later, you would be out of your mind to buy property there, but if you see pictures of Chernobyl, they've been trying hard. They rebuilt the infrastructure, they rebuilt the buildings, they're trying to get people to come back, and the property is cheap. You can understand why it would be so cheap, but they can't get people to come back.

Nobody in their right mind, unless they were born into that, no one's going to move to Chernobyl. Only missionaries would go a place like that to bring the gospel. We can understand why people would not move there. We can understand why people would not invest there, because it's been affected by radiation.

When he says, "Christ went outside the camp to reverse this curse," and he invites us all to come outside the camp, he's basically telling us all of creation is under the condemnation of this sin. It's under a curse. So why would you invest and build and place your hope, no matter how cheap the property is?

Because all of this is condemned. That's exactly what it says in Romans 8, 20 to 24, "For the creation was subjected to futility not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from enslavement to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God." All of creation has been directly affected by the sin of mankind.

And he said, "God will restore it when man is restored." And that's why he says, "Come out. Come out." If you recognize the curse of mankind, he said, "Come out." Because the place that you envy, the place that you covet, the place that you are putting your hope in, has been condemned until he restores it when he comes back.

So in other words, invest in eternity. Come out. How much of our struggle and anxiety, marriage problems, relational issues, are directly linked to us coveting this condemned world? See, the Israelites, they prided themselves of Jerusalem. This is the city of God. This is where the Messiah is going to come.

And that's why they were celebrating, "Hosanna, Hosanna," when Christ came. Because they thought he was going to reconquer Jerusalem in the name of God, and they were going to be the top dog. And when Jesus gave himself up, they could not understand. Why would you do that? You're finally going to answer our prayers.

Finally we're going to be on the top. And Jesus becomes a servant to the point of death. They did not understand that our real sin, our real problem, was not the economy, was not the Roman government, but it's ourselves. We have been corrupted by our own sins. And the only answer to that is Christ crucified.

That's why he says in 1 Corinthians 15, 19, he says, "If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are all meant most to be pitied, to come out, to come out." Even if you work hard, make the right investments, put away enough money, and you become wildly successful and you become the top dog, we become the top dog on a dong hill that has been condemned.

The reason why I think some of us don't get affected by this is either we have been so saturated with temptation of this world, and it's become so mundane that it's hard for us to muster up any emotions because we've become so inoculated by the truth that we profess to believe.

Or we don't really believe this, and we're trying to pretend like we believe it. So we're trying to pretend and go through the motions. But if you really believe this, how can this not affect you? How can we be so concerned about making it in this world? How can we be so concerned about building on land that is contaminated by radiation?

Come out. Come out. Come to Christ. Find His refuge in Him. Embrace the Christ who reversed this curse. In Hebrews 11, 13-16, it says, "All these men and women of faith have died without receiving the promise, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth, for those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own.

And indeed, if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them." Let's live consistent with what we profess, because the whole world sees it.

You know, when we live in hypocrisy, everybody else notices first before we do. We sing songs, memorize scripture, we celebrate, we tell people to come to church, but non-Christians see right through our hypocrisy. You don't really believe what you're trying to tell me. Because if you're telling me to come outside the camp, why are you in the camp?

If you believe that blessing is outside the camp, why are you fighting so hard to make it inside the camp? To come out. To come out. Our refuge is with Him. Our life is with Him. Our life is now hidden with Christ. But when He comes in glory, we will be glorified with Him.

So during this Christmas season, let's redeem what God has implanted in our culture. Let's redeem this opportunity so when people ask us, "Why do you celebrate Christmas?" that we can tell them the hope that we have in Christ. Yes, we'll buy gifts, we'll celebrate, we'll get together with our brothers and sisters and family members.

But in the midst of all of that, let's not forget why we celebrate. Christ came, He who knew no sin, became sin for us so that you and I may become the righteousness of God. And let's have every part of that make an impact in our hearts and in our lives.

If you would take a minute to pray with me. Again, as our worship team leads us, if I can ask you to take a minute to surrender your life to Christ, what have you coveted in your heart that's squeezing out and quenching the Holy Spirit? Coveting isn't just about material things.

You can covet other people's affections. You can covet your leisure time. You can covet material things. You can covet other families. You can covet the past. You can covet the future. But when coveting takes hold of our hearts, it squeezes out the powerful work of Christ. So let's come before the Lord and surrender.

If we really believe that Christ is life, does our life reflect our confession? So let's take some time to pray and to reflect and to surrender as our worship team leads us.