Transcription downloaded from https://yetanothersermon.host/_/church4u/sermons/86543/without-the-camp/.

Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions.
Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt.


[0:00] Hebrews 13.10 We have an altar whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.

[0:17] ! For the bodies of those beasts whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest,! for sin are burnt without the camp. Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. For here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come.

[0:46] Our text raises some questions. What does it mean, what is without the camp? Why are we going to go there? The first thing we know here is guilt is without the camp. Guilt is without the camp. Without the camp is a place of his reproach. Without the camp is a place of judgment. Leviticus 24. We see when someone was guilty and judged, they were stoned to death outside the camp. Leviticus 24.13-15 without the camp. Without the camp, we see many signs of sin and shame. Without the camp were banished. The eunuchs, the illegitimate, the Ammonites and the Moabites, the Sodomites, the Harlots, the Lepers. You see all that in Leviticus 24. Sorry, Deuteronomy 23. Deuteronomy 23. We see all of these people were banished because they were guilty. There was some sign of sin. The leviticus would cry, unclean, unclean, without the camp. Without the camp was a place where there was dung, where there was defilement, where there was disease, where there was death.

[2:08] Without the camp. Those condemned to death were sent without the camp. Outside the camp to be stoned. Without the camp was a place for the shameful and the vile. Without the camp was a place of cursing, of punishment, of garbage, of dead bodies, the dead carcasses. The guilt and shame of sin is seen without the camp. It was here, without the camp, that the ashes from all the sacrifices were taken.

[2:37] Because of man's guilt and shame, we need an altar, a sacrifice, a sin offering. And the sin offering was finished there, without the camp. In Exodus 29 it says, but the flesh of the bullock and his skin and his dung were burned with fire without the camp. It is a sin offering. So there was a particular reason, a particular situation there that without the camp it represented sin and shame and guilt. The Israelites could eat the flesh of the flesh of many of the sacrifices such as the Passover lamb. There was a special offering that only the priests could eat. But there was one sacrifice that no one could eat of. One sacrifice that no one could eat of on the Day of Atonement. In Leviticus 16 verse 27, and the bullock for the sin offering and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the holy place shall one carry forth without the camp.

[3:47] And they shall burn in the fire their skins and their flesh and their dung. This offering was a special one. It represented the guilt and shame of sin. It was taken outside the camp and it was all burnt there.

[4:01] Now we read in the Bible, of course, the Lord Jesus was wrongfully declared guilty of blasphemy. And he was sentenced to die. Where? Outside the camp. Outside the camp. Because he was considered unclean because of his, what they considered his guilt. Guilt is without the camp. The Lord Jesus went there outside the camp, outside the camp, bearing our reproach, bearing our guilt and paying for it there. He was a curse for our sake. He was rejected of men.

[4:34] He was smitten of God. He was forsaken. He suffered and he died in our place. Where? Without the camp. You see, the guilt is without the camp. But thankfully, secondly, grace is without the camp. Grace is without the camp.

[4:52] Grace embodied in a person. Grace steps onto human, into human life. Grace steps into the body of flesh and goes without the camp.

[5:06] Grace, our Lord Jesus in his grace went without the camp to identify with sin, with sinners. Our Lord and Master, treated as an outcast, as a reject, despised. Grace is without the camp. Here we see grace outside the camp. Grace in the body of a man.

[5:29] A man counted as a common criminal. Grace. This man forsaken by his people. Humbled, mocked, degraded, tortured, nailed to a cross.

[5:41] Crushed under the wrath and punishment and curse of God. It was deliberate. Grace was without the camp. Wherefore, Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gates.

[5:56] Grace himself. He suffered without the gates. He shed his own blood. He sanctified his people. Why? For my sins, my Redeemer and Saviour and yours.

[6:09] You that loved him. Grace was without the camp. Our Lord Jesus offered up his own self by his grace as the sin offering for us.

[6:21] As he hung on that tree outside the gate without the camp. The altar for the red heifer was there, located at the Mount of Olives. The Lord Jesus is for us, the red heifer, that ultimate atonement. Not in a picture, but in reality. The Lord Jesus.

[6:41] And we are told to go to him there. To go to him there, without the camp. It follows that he must have been crucified somewhere near the altar of the red heifer. And we must join him there, outside the camp.

[6:55] Join him. Grace personified our Lord Jesus. We have seen guilt is without the camp. We see grace is without the camp. And then we see glory is without the camp. Glory, God's glory was evident outside the camp. In Exodus 33, Moses met with God outside the camp.

[7:17] And he meets with those still who seek him. The context earlier in Exodus 33 is of the great shame and guilt of the people of God.

[7:31] The Lord gave through Moses the Ten Commandments. And he came down. And the people were playing the fool and carrying on in sin and disgrace around the golden calf. Guilt was there.

[7:43] And Moses then, in Exodus 33, 7, it says, Moses took the tabernacle and pitched it without the camp. And it says, Moses took the tabernacle and called it the tabernacle of the congregation. And it came to pass that everyone which sought the Lord went out unto the tabernacle of the congregation which was without the camp.

[8:07] And it came to pass that when Moses went out unto the tabernacle that all the people rose up and stood every man at his tenth door and looked after Moses until he was gone into the tabernacle.

[8:20] And it came to pass that when Moses entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended and stood at the door of the tabernacle. And the Lord talked with Moses. And all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand at the tabernacle door. And all the people rose up and worshipped every man in his tenth door.

[8:40] So, the context in Exodus 33, as I say, there's the great guilt and disgrace of the golden calf. We see that in grace God visits. And we see that then Moses takes the tabernacle and is situated without the camp, outside the camp. And then the cloudy pillar comes. God's glory is evident. God's glory comes and the Lord talks with Moses.

[9:06] God in his glory showed up without the camp. God's glory showed up without the camp. And God's people gave worship. And he met personally with Moses as a friend speaking to a friend. And God wants us today, as his people today, to have that same reference to going outside the camp. To go forth unto him. In Hebrews 13, we read further how it was the sacrifice of praise. As we go forth unto him.

[9:36] What does it all mean? We could consider maybe the camp. We could reflect on it as the Old Testament. As the sacrifices of animals. Of the dimension of the law. Of the paradigm of the old covenant. Of the transfer of that into the new paradigm, if you like.

[10:02] Isn't this new fact word. Into that new dimension. Into that new experience. That new relationship. From law to grace. From works to salvation by faith. Entirely by faith. Not that salvation ever was by works.

[10:18] But we could stay in the comfort zone. But we could stay in the comfort zone of being in the camp. As it were. The comfort zone of religion. Of conventional thinking.

[10:29] But everything changes at the cross. When we see that Jesus went outside the camp. And he was despised there. Rejected. A man of sorrows. He was a reproach.

[10:40] As he became a curse for us. Outside the camp. Outside the camp is disgrace. And dishonour. And shame. That's what our Lord Jesus bore. What an awful sight it was.

[10:52] To see him. Humiliated. Degraded. Torn. And shredded. Bleeding. Counted amongst the transgressors.

[11:03] As a foul and vile thing. And the Bible says to you and me. Let us therefore. Go forth unto him. Without the camp.

[11:14] Bearing his reproach. For here we have no continuing city. But we seek one to come. How do we go outside the camp?

[11:24] In a figurative way we could see that the camp was a place of the law. Of works. Of the world. Of disobedience.

[11:37] Of never really measuring up. But when we go outside the camp. When we go forth unto him. When we see our Lord and what he did. When we go outside of the religious establishment.

[11:49] Of the system. Of conventional religion. And we go forth unto him. Some would consider it. That we're breaking tradition.

[12:01] But if we go forth unto him. Bearing his reproach. It goes on in verse 15. It says. By him therefore. Let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God.

[12:13] Continually. That is the fruit of our lips. Giving thanks to his name. But to do good and to communicate. Forget not. For with such sacrifices. God is well pleased.

[12:24] There's a transfer of those. Old Testament animal sacrifices. To that ultimate sacrifice of our Lord. And then we're called to offer up. Praise.

[12:35] The sacrifice of. Praise to God continually. The fruit of our lips. Giving thanks to his name. Thank God we live now. In the day of disgrace. We live now in the day of his great forgiveness.

[12:48] In the ultimate sacrifice was made. Without the can. In his great love. Grace came. And visited planet earth. In the person of his son.

[12:59] God incarnate. And we have now that great privilege. To go without the can. To see that everything was done. At Calvary's hill.

[13:10] Everything was done there. To save man from sin. And we are called to bear his reproach. The world would laugh and scorn. At such a faith.

[13:20] That doesn't rely on works. On doing anything. But relies entirely on his grace. On what he has done. And that by faith we can seek a city.

[13:31] Yet unseen. A city yet to come. And we can be that people that delights in him. And he receives our sacrifice of praise. Of giving thanks.

[13:44] What will we do? Will we go forth unto him without the can? Will we choose that path that is pleasing to him? He's calling us unto him without the can.

[13:57] In the sense of shedding religion. And conventional Old Testament kind of thinking. To realise that liberty.

[14:08] That gospel liberty that we have in Christ. To realise that salvation that's entire. That's complete. That's absolute. And it's got nothing to do with you or me. It's without the can that we must come.

[14:20] To acknowledge what he has done there for us. And friends we see. That guilt is without the can. Thank God that Jesus came where the guilt was evident.

[14:35] The outcasts, the rejects. The filthy and the vore. And we're amongst their number. He comes and he is counted as one of us. Yet without sin of his own.

[14:47] He takes our guilt and shame. And in grace he comes. And pays the ultimate price. The ultimate measure that had to be meted out.

[14:58] Was meted out to him. The wrath of God was vented. So we can have the grace of God today. And we see that glory is without the can. As Moses worshipped.

[15:09] As he separated from the abominations. Of the people that were dancing around the golden calf. The worship was outside of that.

[15:20] There was a godly separation unto him. And God's glory came. As the people praised. I'll ask the ushers to come. As we prayerfully join together in this now.

[15:32] And consider that. Consider that. Without the can. Outside the gate. Our Lord came. And was crucified. And then rose again. Triumphant. A life for us still.

[15:44] Praying for us even now. We'll pass the bread and cup and hold together. And let's just prayerfully wait for one another. Now. We have an altar.

[16:00] Whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle. We have an altar. For the bodies of those beasts whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin.

[16:14] Are burnt without the can. Just as that bullock was burnt without the can. The red heifer. And wherefore Jesus also that he might sanctify the people with his own blood suffered without the gate.

[16:31] He was treated like the lepers. He was treated as those who would cry unclean, unclean. He was treated as the apparently sinful.

[16:43] The Sodomites. The Harlots. The Eunuchs. The Illegitimate. The Ammonites. And Moabites. The symbols of sin. And he identified with us there. With our sin.

[16:54] Even if we're in that number. He comes and he identifies with us. With our sin. With our defilement.

[17:05] In grace he comes and he suffers without the gate. And then let us go forth therefore unto him without the gate.

[17:15] Bearing his reproach. The world will perhaps reproach you for the name of Christ. The world will mock and scorn. Loved ones may not understand your faith.

[17:28] Let us therefore go unto him without the can. Bearing his reproach. For here we have no continuing city. But seek one to come.

[17:42] The signs of sin and shame are without the can. Our Lord Jesus' cross is without the can. And we can worship him without the can.

[17:52] Come unto him. As he opens that new dimension of grace. That new dimension. That new realm. That new covenant. Of his grace is made available to us.

[18:05] And in picture form we're remembering it now. As we take the bread and cup. And reflect on his body and blood. That grace came.

[18:16] Without the can. Unto us. And was identified with sin. That in his body. Was our sin.

[18:27] Nailed there. Held there. By love. For us. When myriads of angels could have come. And set him free at any moment. Even from the garden.

[18:38] Yet he held back. And he went to the end. To the very end. He's calling us to go without the can.

[18:56] For present reproach. And yet future reward. Let us therefore go unto him. Without the can. To the ending.

[19:09]  To the ending.