Preparation for Communion

[0:00] Bibles or your devices and go to the book of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 13, Hebrews 13, if you're visiting with us, that black Bible in the chair in front of you, go towards the back, find page 177, 177 in that black Bible in the chair in front of you.

[0:27] Hebrews 13, I'm actually going to start reading verse 10, I'll read 10 through 16, as you're getting there, here and there, like every other month or something like that, I like to do a message that kind of zeroes in on the gospel, zeroes us in on the gospel because we're going to partake of the Lord's Supper this morning.

[0:57] So that's the method to my madness for why we're doing Hebrews 13, that's a short little passage, kind of takes the passage and helps you to focus on the gospel, focus on Christ and upon his death and upon forgiveness and compassion that's shown to us in the gospel.

[1:16] So that's why I'm doing this. Hebrews 13, starting in verse 10, we have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat.

[1:34] 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. Therefore, Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people through his own blood, suffered outside the gate.

[1:53] Hence, let us go out to him, outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For here we do not have a lasting city, but we're seeking that which is to come.

[2:07] Through him, then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God that is the fruit of lips, to give thanks to his name. And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for it was such sacrifices.

[2:22] God is pleased. The 2016 Republican National Convention will take place two weeks from tomorrow.

[2:36] When delegates of the U.S. Republican Party, they choose to part as nominees for presidents of the U.S., vice president in this year's election. The Democratic National Convention is a week later, 25th to 28th.

[2:49] I believe that Donald Trump will receive the Republican nomination, Hillary Clinton the Democratic nomination. You have the slogans of each, right?

[3:05] Donald Trump, make America great again. For Mrs. Clinton, her changes, fighting for us, I'm for America, stronger together, among other slogans.

[3:19] What if one of them had this slogan? Go and bear my shame. Wait, what did he just say?

[3:31] Go and bear my disgrace. Go and bear reproach with me.

[3:43] Go and bear my shame. You would say, what kind of a slogan is that? Would you like a president like that?

[3:56] What would you say to that? What would you be thinking? If they said, come and let's go and let's face rejection together.

[4:10] Would you like it if a king said that to you? That's the slogan for us as Christians, though.

[4:28] This is our slogan. Or this is the slogan that's given to us as Christians, I should say. Go and bear Jesus' reproach.

[4:43] Go and bear Jesus' reproach. You don't hear that every day, do you? When was the last time we heard a message on go and bear the reproach of Jesus?

[4:57] Here's some other phrases. Christian, go bear his shame. Go join Jesus in his sufferings.

[5:13] Christian, go with Jesus outside the camp. The tough, hard, difficult, painful, uncomfortable Calvary road. That's what it was like outside the city.

[5:32] Death was there. He was crucified there. And he faced disgrace.

[5:42] Because as the pictures will not depict this to you when they have pictures of Jesus hanging on the cross, they would hang there naked.

[5:56] And above them would tell treason or whatever else was their charges. So if you did this, you would be crucified and face shame and disgrace and suffocate to death with the birds eating the eyes out of your sockets.

[6:19] Interesting because the charge for Jesus was, this is Jesus, the King of the Jews. If you're going to follow Him, you're going to be like that. Death was there.

[6:36] This is what the writer of Hebrews is telling us. Notice what he says in verse 11. 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.

[6:54] He's reflecting back upon the day of atonement. The day of atonement, Leviticus 16, verse 27. Leviticus 16, verse 27.

[7:07] The day of atonement, they would do the sacrifices. The goat would be sacrificed. And then they would do all for that. Well, then they would take the rest of it. And they would take it outside the camp.

[7:19] So in the camp of Israel, that's where safety was. If you went outside the camp, that's where it was unclean. It was unclean out there.

[7:33] So that's why they would burn it outside the camp because that was unclean. It was horrible. It was disgraceful. It was shameful. So that's why when you were told, as a judgment, you were sent outside the camp, it was meant for you to be disgraced.

[7:50] to face shame. You were unclean. You needed to be purified.

[8:02] And then notice what the writer of Hebrews does here in verse 12. Therefore, Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people through his own blood, suffered outside the gate.

[8:22] When Jesus suffered and died outside Jerusalem, his offering was unclean, disgraceful, unholy, shameful.

[8:34] He was rejected. Because he was hung there, naked, disgraced.

[8:47] And yet, the paradox is that he did this so that he might make his people holy.

[9:01] his sacrifice sanctifies us. By his blood means by his life.

[9:16] There's not actual blood. So if you have a drop of blood, oh, it touches you. Oh, hello. I'm good. All right. That's not what that means.

[9:27] When it talks about blood, it just means his life. He gave his life. So his sacrifice has cleansed you, purified you, sanctified you, made you holy.

[9:43] This is the thing that blows our minds. Wait a second. His rejection means my acceptance. His uncleanness means my purification.

[9:54] His disgraceful, unsanctified, horrible death makes me clean.

[10:07] Yes, it does. So since Jesus died in that way, and for that purpose to sanctify his people, verse 13, hence, therefore, let us go out to him outside the camp bearing his reproach.

[10:37] Let's go there on to the Calvary Road where the reproaches. Let's go out to him and bear his reproach.

[10:51] He died to sanctify you. When you go, you go with the awareness that you were bought by the blood of the Son so you might be made holy.

[11:02] You have been changed. You're transformed. You're so different. So different that you're willing and wanting to say, I die with him. I die for him.

[11:17] That's what happens. He transforms you so that you say, I'm ready to be rejected. I'm ready to face the reproach.

[11:28] I'm ready to be disgraced and shamed just like him. That's why we read, If anyone wishes to follow after me, let him take up his cross daily and follow me.

[11:40] You must take up your own cross. He would, excuse me, he became a reproach on our behalf. So, why would you want to find solace or take refuge in rituals, places, stuff, the things of this world?

[12:08] If he died to change you, then you should be changed. With this Savior who died outside the gate bearing reproach, who died to sanctify you, to make you holy, to change you by his grace, go to him.

[12:31] Go out and bear his reproach. Go out and be shamed. Go out and be disgraced. Christ. This is crazy. But that's what it means to be a Christian.

[12:44] Okay, well, time out. So, we go looking for trouble? We go looking for difficulty?

[12:56] We go looking for problems? Well, unless I'm looking for problems, I'm not a good Christian. Is that what he's saying? No. That's not the point. It's about becoming a reproach on behalf of the gospel.

[13:12] It means you become a curse. In other words, you share in his rejection. That's what it means to follow Christ. To be a follower of Jesus.

[13:24] That's what it means to be his disciple. He sacrificed himself and so will I. Remember? Deny himself. Take up his cross and follow me.

[13:38] So see, when you partake of the elements, you are reminding yourself, I have forgiveness. I've been sanctified. I've been made holy.

[13:48] I've been changed. And then you say, here I am. Here I am. You have me. I'm going to go and share in your rejection.

[14:02] I'm going to go. I'm ready. Here I am. That's what you're saying. It's a reminder that this is what you're saying. It's a reminder of the gospel because you say, I repent and trust Christ.

[14:15] I surrender all. All to Jesus. I surrender. You have everything of me. Are you ready to share in his rejection?

[14:32] To be reproached? What might that mean for you? Maybe it means you don't get drunk with your buddies. Maybe it means you work that hard, difficult job versus quitting.

[14:45] Maybe it means the grace and the heartache versus I'm done. Maybe it means you're calling somebody to don't get that abortion and don't go do this.

[15:00] I know what pain's like. I know there's forgiveness. Don't do that versus, oh, it's your body. That's what you're told today, right? Have you been sexually abused?

[15:11] Maybe it means you're able to receive the healing from God's gospel word. Maybe it means you stay in that marriage versus you get out. Maybe it means you grant grace in that relationship versus forget you.

[15:28] Maybe it means that we graciously admit that we believe in male and female identity and biblical gender identity. You will face reproach for that if you do.

[15:45] These things, the opposites that is, these stand in contrast to the world. The world, they will attack you, insult you, disgrace you, abuse you, and shame you for taking the biblical stands that you take by the grace of God.

[16:05] They will say, you're a loser. But the writer tells us, the writer tells us how he died and why he died.

[16:20] He died lovingly, graciously, sacrificially, intentionally, purposefully. How? By sacrificing his own life through his blood. Why? To make us holy. Are you ready? Are you ready to face the reproach?

[16:33] He died to make us holy. To make us different. To transform us from this world. To turn us upside down.

[16:46] Moving us away from ease and comfort. I should go this way. Moving us away from ease and comfort. From seeking the paradise in the here and now.

[16:59] I'll get to that in just a moment. So God has us a radical, outrageous people who are ready to be curses.

[17:12] Not to maximize our comforts, but to maximize Jesus in your life. Are you ready to maximize Jesus in your life? If you're here, you're not a Christian.

[17:25] That's what it means to be a Christian. You're ready to maximize Jesus in your life. You say, Lord, I should be condemned. I deserve it.

[17:37] And yet, like we're saying, if you would count everything that I've done wrong, who could stand? But yet, there's forgiveness with you, God. God will forgive sinners through Jesus Christ.

[17:48] Come! Repent! trust Jesus alone, and He will save you. He will pour out His mercy on you. He says, come, share in my rejection, because I was rejected so you can be accepted.

[18:08] That's the gospel. a question, though. So we have here, let us go out to Him and bear His reproach.

[18:20] Well, how are we able to do this? How are we able to do this? That's why verse 14 is where it's at. Look at verse 14. For, when you see for, it gives you the reason.

[18:33] What's the reason we're able to bear His reproach? How are we able to do this? For, here, we do not have a lasting city, but we're seeking that which is to come. How are we able to bear His reproach?

[18:51] How are we able to share in His rejection? We have a kingdom focus. Here we have no lasting city.

[19:05] We long for the city to come. We long for Jesus. We don't find our satisfaction here on this planet. That should be our, we don't find our satisfaction.

[19:19] In this world, in this country, in this election. Well, Trump's going to be president, so now it's...

[19:32] Well, this person is going to be president, so now? Really? That's what you're thinking, Christian? That's what you think?

[19:44] What are you thinking? I get that. Go vote your conscience. Go for it.

[19:57] Do it. Vote your conscience. Yes. You see some clown in office, and you think, this guy's a clown. And you're like, what in the world is he doing? What in the world is she doing?

[20:08] And you want to vote him out? Go for it. Vote your conscience. But, we have to keep the eternal perspective. on the basis of verse 14, why did Jesus die?

[20:28] So that we would seek a paradise that is coming. So that we would stop pursuing paradise on this earth because we are so ravished by the paradise to come and so satisfied with the Lord Jesus.

[20:45] Are you so satisfied with Christ? Or are you just so satisfied with Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders?

[20:58] Or any other stinking delegate that's going to be there? Because that person is going to save this country.

[21:12] What? Go and bear Jesus' reproach. How much do you want that?

[21:27] This is the message to you, America. This is the message to you, Americans.

[21:39] Seek Christ. Seek God. Go outside the gate of health, wealth, and prosperity. Go outside that because we like it easy.

[21:55] I know I do. And go to a road that leads to Calvary, a road that's lined with corpses, with hardship, with pain, with people mocking you, with people hating you, with people making fun of you.

[22:18] You're that. You're that crazy Christian, aren't you? You Jesus freak. this is why Jesus died, to make you holy, to change you, to make us so different, drastically, radically, profoundly different, so different that you would rather suffer than fill yourself with the riches of this world.

[22:47] Are you ready for that, church? Are you ready for that? that's why Jesus died, so go. When you partake of these elements, you say, I'm going to go.

[23:05] I mean, just again, I'm ready, I'm going to go. I'm ready to face his reproach. I'm ready to face his rejection. I'm ready for that. Thank you, Jesus, for making me holy.

[23:17] Holy you have me. this is opposed to the message of the world.

[23:29] It stands in complete opposition. No one tells us this from the presidential campaigns, do they? Uh-uh. Vote for me.

[23:41] I'll make America great again. Vote for me, because I'm for America. I'm for the middle class. Not seek the city, which is to come.

[23:54] The writer of Hebrews has been saying this. He's been saying this to his readers. I'll put a few passages up here for you.

[24:07] Hebrews 10.34 For you showed sympathy to the prisoners, accepted joyfully the seizure of your property. Why did they accept prisoners?

[24:19] Are you ready for that? Are you ready for someone to take your property? Why were they able to have this focus?

[24:30] Why were they able to do this? Knowing, he says, that you have for yourselves a better possession and an abiding one. He rejoiced people because they knew they had a better possession.

[24:46] 11.24 to 26. By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to endure ill treatment with the people of God, than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, why was he able to do this?

[25:12] Why was Moses able to walk away from the riches and the treasures of Egypt and yet to be reproached just like Christ was reproached? Why was Moses able to do this? For he was looking to the reward.

[25:31] Chapter 12, verse 2. Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

[25:46] So as Jesus was hanging there on the cross, naked, disgraced and shamed, he had joy. What? That's crazy!

[26:00] For the joy set before him he endured the cross. He was looking to the reward. 13, 5, and 6.

[26:12] A couple verses above from what we read in our passage this morning. Let your character be free from the love of money. How are we able to be free from the love of money?

[26:27] How? How do we do this? Being content with what you have. How? For he himself has said, I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you.

[26:37] So we confidently say, the Lord is my helper. I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? I have such satisfaction in God.

[26:52] He is my helper. He is my joy. It's nothing. See, this leads us now to this other question.

[27:07] What is this hard, tough, Calvary road like? Is it joyless? No. It's a road of praise and a road of love.

[27:22] Notice verse 15 first. Through him then, so, through him, so we're, we're, we go and we're bearing his reproach.

[27:32] And now, through Jesus Christ, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God. That is, the fruit of lips to give thanks to his name. Friend, on this Calvary road, this hard road, we have lips that praise the Lord Jesus Christ.

[27:49] That's cool. The Calvary road is not an unhappy road. It's joyful. Why? Because it is filled with praise, thanks, joy, delight.

[28:00] He is always with me. There's joy on this road. There's thanks and praise because he's always with me.

[28:12] no matter the persecution, no matter the pain, no matter the hurt, no matter the cancer, no matter the job, no matter the hardship, Jesus will always be with you.

[28:29] Christian, his hand is outstretched to us, welcoming us, welcoming his people to join him.

[28:39] come, you will face my reproach and rejection, but you in the midst of that will have joy just like I had joy while I was on the cross. Why make America great again?

[29:00] This world will never give us the satisfaction that the Lord Jesus gives us. stronger together, stronger together in God's church with God's people, absolutely.

[29:19] Again, I'm not saying you shouldn't vote your conscience. Vote your conscience. You see this? Vote your convictions, vote that they should be this, and your convictions, this, and your conscience, vote according to your conscience, yes, go do it, but keep Christian members of Kotler Bible Church, friends, we must keep this eternal perspective.

[29:49] Do you realize I'm screaming at myself because I get so angry, I get so angry over this country, angry over these things that these people are doing, angry over the fact that they just sweep by abortion, and they don't care?

[30:09] Don't it make you angry? It makes me angry. And yet, we've got to keep that eternal perspective. We've got to say, Lord God, please, only you can change the heart.

[30:26] And Lord God, thank you that you've been so gracious to me, and you've changed my heart. We get too hung up on thinking this way, that we're made to be here in America forever.

[30:47] No, we are made to worship, serve, praise, give thanks to our awesome, loving, gracious creator. Right?

[30:57] He's paved the way for us in His Son. Go. Go. And it's not just a road of joy.

[31:13] It's not just a road that's filled with joy. It's a road, excuse me, it's a road of love, verse 16. And do not neglect doing good and sharing for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

[31:31] Not just a road of praise, but a road of love. Because with these kinds of sacrifices God is pleased. It's fruits, because these things are the works of God.

[31:45] Interesting here what He does. The writer of Hebrews says in verse 15, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name, the fruit of lips so is giving praise, and then He says those types of sacrifices God is pleased.

[31:57] He says, verse 16. So in other words, He's saying praise is a fruit from God, and also love is a fruit from God. God's producing that in us.

[32:09] You don't conjure it up on your own. He grows that in us. You plant a tree. You plant an orange tree, and out comes oranges, apples, strawberries.

[32:25] strawberries. You plant them, and then you pick the strawberries, right? And you bite into it, and it tastes like somebody poured two pounds of sugar on that strawberry.

[32:38] Oh, it's so sweet. Oh, my goodness, this is so good. You ever have strawberries like that? Mmm. Oh, they're so good. Right? And you say, who put sugar on these?

[32:49] Nobody did. It's all natural. Really? Give me some more of that. And then you pay for it later. Oh, my goodness, I ate way too many strawberries. No more of those fruit. They're really good though.

[33:01] Right? That's the fruit that God produces in us. A fruit of praise and a fruit of love where we are just loving each other.

[33:13] God produces this in us because He changes us. it's a joyful road and a love road.

[33:24] It's a happy road and a gracious road. In the midst of the reproach that we bear, God still gives us His grace.

[33:37] So are you ready? Are you ready to bear His reproach? Are you ready to bear His shame? So when you partake of the elements, let's remember, He died to sanctify me, to purify me.

[33:59] He was made impure so I would be pure. He was made unclean so I would be clean. He was just horrible and yet I'm pure now. Forgiven.

[34:11] Grace. And then as you're partaking of the elements you say, here I am. You have me. Do that in us, Father.

[34:27] Let us go out. Let us go and bear the reproach of Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. And by your life that you gave, we're clean, we're purified, cleansed, we're declared righteous because of what you have done.

[34:52] We trust in you. Take some time. Ponder, think.

[35:04] We've seen here in Hebrews 13. God's God's word and think.

[35:27] Think what we've seen in God's word if you would. thought. Thank you. Thank you.

[35:42] Thank you.