Sermon #97 Hebrews
Notes
Title: Without
the Camp—With the Savior
Text: Hebrews 13:11-13
Subject: Bearing Christ’s Reproach
Date: Tuesday Evening –
Tape # W-31a
Introduction:
The title of my message tonight is Without the Camp—With the Savior, not
“Without the Camp,” but Without
the Camp—With the Savior.
I know a good many who take great pride in being “without the camp,”
after a fashion. But that is all that can be said for them. They are “without
the camp” in exactly the same sense that one might say a Mormon, a
Russellite, or a Hindu is without the camp. They seem to think that godliness
and gossip, holiness and haughtiness, separation and isolation, are all
synonyms. They think that meanness and meekness are
the same thing. Merely being “without the camp,” is meaningless. We must
be found “without the camp;” but we must be found “without the Camp”
with the Savior. That is the instruction of our text.
(Hebrews 13:11-13)
"For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the
sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp. (12) Wherefore
Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered
without the gate. (13) Let us go forth therefore unto him without the
camp, bearing his reproach."
Let’s look at these three verses
together and seek grace from God to hear and heed the instruction here given by
the Holy Spirit.
Proposition: As the Lord
Jesus Christ voluntarily identified himself with us, bearing our reproach for
the salvation of our souls, let us ever go forth unto him, bearing his reproach
for the glory of God.
The Day
of Atonement
I. First, the apostle Paul
points us once more to typical sacrifices of the Old Testament offered
unto God on the day of atonement (v. 11).
The opening word of verse 11 (“For”), refers us back to verse 10. There Paul spoke of Christ
our Altar, that Altar which we have in heaven by whom we come to God. Here he
speaks of the sacrifices offered on that old, carnal altar. As that altar was
typical of the true Altar, all those sacrifices were typical of Christ, our
one, great, sin-atoning sacrifice.
(Hebrews 13:11)
"For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the
sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp."
The bodies of those animals, which were sacrificed year
after year as a sin-offering for the priests and the people of Israel, were
completely burnt without the camp of Israel—“without the camp,”
the place of uncleanness—“without the camp,” the place of God’s
curse—“without the camp,” the dwelling-place of lepers.
·
The sacrifice was chosen.
·
The sins of the people were imputed to the innocent victim.
·
The blood was carried by the priest into the holy of holies
and sprinkled upon the mercy-seat.
·
The body of the slain sacrifice was burned without the
camp, symbolizing the wrath of God against the cursed thing.
Now, look at verse 12.
The Sufferings of Christ
(Hebrews 13:12)
"Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his
own blood, suffered without the gate."
II. Here, the Holy Spirit shows us the parallel
between the burning of those sacrifices on the day of
atonement in the Old Testament and the sufferings of the Lord Jesus
Christ our sin-atoning sacrifice for us.
·
“Wherefore”—In order to fulfil the type.
·
“Jesus also”—Jesus is the name given to the Son of
God when he became the Son of Man to make the sons of men the sons of God.
(Matthew 1:21)
"And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name
JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins."
·
“That he might sanctify.”
·
“The people.”
·
“With his own blood.”
·
“Suffered.”
·
“Without the gate”—Outside the gates of Jerusalem—Out in
the place of uncleanness—Out in the place of God’s curse—Out where lepers
dwelt!
Now, let me pause here for a little
while, and talk to you about the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ.
“In
evil long I took delight,
Unawed
by shame or fear,
‘Til
a new object struck my sight,
And stopped my wild career.
I
saw One hanging on a tree
In
agonies and blood
Who
fixed His languid eyes on me,
As
near His cross I stood.
Sure
never till my latest breath
Can
I forget that look.
It
seemed to charge me with His death,
Though
not a word He spoke.
A
second look He gave, which said,
‘I
freely all forgive.
This
blood is for thy ransom paid.
I
die that thou mayest live.”
Thus,
while His death my sin displays
In
all its blackest hue,
(Such
is the mystery of His grace),
It
seals my pardon too.
With
pleasing grief and mournful joy
My
spirit now is filled,
That
I should such a life destroy,
Yet
live by Him I killed.”
I want to show you what I can of the
sufferings of our all-glorious Savior, in his body, in his heart, and in his
soul, when he endured the wrath of God for us as our Substitute.
I
do not know what hell is, or where hell is; but I do know
this: -- This Book talks about a place, a state of existence called hell. In
that horrid, horrid place men and women will suffer the infinite wrath of God
forever in their bodies, in their hearts and in their souls. Your heart is
enmity against God. Your body is the instrument by which you live in defiance
of the Almighty. And in your very soul you have despised him. Therefore, as you
have sinned in body, heart, and soul, you must suffer the wrath of God forever
in hell, in your body, in your heart, and in your soul, unless you repent and
trust the Son of God as your only and all-sufficient
Lord and Savior.
However,
in order to redeem and save his people from their sins, it was necessary for
the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, to suffer all the terror of God’s holy
and horrid wrath against us in his body, in his heart, and in his soul. That is what Isaiah describes for us in Isaiah 53. Isaiah
53 is quoted more often in the New Testament than any other portion of the Old
Testament. Here the Son of God is set forth as the sinners’ Substitute, making
atonement for our sins by the sacrifice of himself.
It
is hard to believe that this incomparable prophecy was written by a man who
lived 750 years before Christ came into this world. Nothing can
explain the existence of this prophecy, except the words of the apostle Peter, “Holy men of God spake as they were moved
by the Holy Ghost.” I defy those infidels who deny the inspiration of Holy
Scripture, who deny that this Book is the very Word of God, to explain the
existence of Isaiah 53. As you read the words of this chapter, you might almost
think you are reading the report of a man who was standing by when the Son of
God died upon the cursed tree. But these are the words of a man who lived
almost a millennium beforehand! Isaiah, the prophet of God, wrote of the
sin-atoning death of the Lord Jesus Christ, and did so with precise detail and
accuracy, because God the Holy Spirit inspired,
breathed out, the words as he wrote them. Nothing else can explain this
prophecy.
In order to redeem and save his chosen
people, the Son of God had to suffer all the consequences of our sins to the
full satisfaction of divine justice as our Substitute, in his body, in his
heart, and in his soul. That is what I want to talk to you about in this
message. May God the Holy Spirit speak by me through his Word to your hearts
for the glory of him of whom I now speak.
A.
THE SUFFERINGS OF HIS BODY (Isa. 52:14)
I have told you before that the chapter
division between Isaiah 52 and 53 is very unfortunate. Whenever you read Isaiah
53, you should always begin with chapter 52 at verse 13. Read verse 14 with me.
Isaiah
52:14 "As many were
astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more
than the sons of men."
No man can read of the sufferings of
Christ and not be astonished, astonished that any man could inflict such cruel
barbarity upon another, or that any man could endure such agony. And when you
realize that the One who suffered on that day of all days was and is the holy,
immaculate Son of God in human flesh, you are all the more astonished!
Ever
remember that the sufferer Isaiah here describes is both God and man. Our Savior had to be a man. Otherwise, his sufferings
would be of no benefit to man. Man had sinned. So man must suffer. Man had
sinned. So man must die.
·
No animal
sacrifice would do.
·
No angelic
substitute would do.
·
Certainly, no
animal sacrifice would do.
·
Only an innocent,
holy man could be our Redeemer.
But the man who redeems us must also be
God. Else his sufferings and death could not have satisfied the infinite
justice of God. God could not suffer, and man could not satisfy; but the
God-man both suffered and satisfied.
Without question, many place too much
emphasis upon the physical, bodily sufferings of Christ, trying to get people
to feel sorry for poor Jesus. Clearly, that is not my object. Jesus Christ did
not die as the helpless victim of circumstances. He is the God of
circumstances. Let us weep for the sins that made his death necessary. But he
does not need or desire our pity. In fact, he plainly said, “Weep not for me, but for yourselves, and
for your children.”
Yet,
it is quite possible for us to place too little importance upon our Lord’s
bodily sufferings. The Word of God records the physical, bodily sufferings
of Christ in great detail in all four gospel narratives, in several of the
Psalms, and here in Isaiah 53, as well as in numerous other passages of the Old
and New Testaments. Here Isaiah tells us what our Savior suffered for us. In
Psalm 22 David tells us what he said as he suffered the wrath of God for us.
These things are recorded by divine inspiration for our learning and
edification because it is important for us to know what the Son of God suffered
for us at
On the night of the Passover super, when
our Savior instituted what we call The Lord’s Supper, breaking bread, drinking
wine, praying, and singing with his disciples, an all night vigil began.
·
The Supper was followed by our Lord’s last discourse (John
14, 15, 16).
·
Then came his great high priestly
prayer (John 17).
Our Lord said to his disciples, “Because I have said these things unto you,
sorrow hath filled your heart” (John 16:6). “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in
me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and
prepare a place for you, I will come again to receive you unto myself, that
where I am there ye may be also” (John 14:1-3).
Then, the story continues. We piece it together from the accounts of Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and John.
·
The Arrest in
·
The Arraignment before Annas, then before Caiphas, then
before Sanhedrin
·
Next, the Lord Jesus was taken by Roman soldiers to Pontius
Pilate.
·
Pilate sent him to Herod, the ruler of
·
Herod sent him back to Pilate, the Governor of Judea.
·
At last, Pilate condemned the Son of God to be crucified,
and gave him into the hands of cruel, barbaric Roman soldiers....
“Pilate delivered Jesus to their will" (Luke
·
The Mockery
·
The Beatings
·
The Infamous Parade
·
The Crucifixion at
The scene at
·
“I thirst!”
·
The Vinegar and Myrrh
·
The Burning Fever
·
The Excruciating Pain
Let us never speak lightly of the
sufferings of our Savior in his body! But there is much more. Isaiah also talks
about...
B THE
SUFFERINGS OF HIS HEART (Isa. 53:3)
Isaiah
53:3 "He is despised
and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as
it were our faces from him; he was
despised, and we esteemed him not."
Our Lord was outcast by men, betrayed by
his friend, denied by his disciple, forsaken by his companions, tortured and
nailed to the cursed tree; but he cried “reproach
hath broken my heart” (Ps. 69:20), and that heart was broken for me. I want
to know something about that too. I want to know my Savior “in the fellowship of his sufferings!”
1.
“He was despised and rejected of men” (John
·
His own countrymen!
·
His own brethren!
There was no room for the Son of God in
the inn, in the streets of this world, in their temple, or in their world.
There was plenty of room for his miracles, but not for him, for his acts of
mercy, but not for his doctrine!
2.
“A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.”
·
His Trials And Temptations.
·
The Slanders Of Men.
·
The Unbelief Of His Disciples.
·
The Souls Of Men - “Moved
with compassion.”
·
The Sorrows Of His Friends - “Jesus wept!”
3.
The
Anticipation, The Heart Breaking Anticipation Of
4.
The Mockery Of The Soldiers!
·
The Crown Of Thorns
·
The Purple Robe
·
The Reed Scepter
·
The Jeering Taunts
5.
The Songs Of The Drunkards And Harlots -- The Spit!
Don’t ever imagine that words do not
hurt. If they hurt the Son of God, they hurt us far lesser men!
6.
The Denial By Peter And The Forsaking Disciples!
·
“We hid, as it
were, our faces from him!”
·
The margin reads, “He hid as it were his face from us!”
7.
“He was despised, and we esteemed him not!”
The Son of God suffered all this for us.
Yet, we who now believe once esteemed him not. “We esteemed him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted!” Had he
not himself given us faith, we would forever have esteemed him not!
Illustration: -The
Scarred Mother.
“My Daddy died for me.”
All these things tormented our Savior’s
heart. Yet, even when his heart broke with reproach and shame for us, his heart
was upon us (Psa. 69:6-9; 11-12, 14-20).
Psalms
69:6-9 "Let not them
that wait on thee, O Lord GOD of hosts, be ashamed for my sake: let not those
that seek thee be confounded for my sake, O God of Israel. (7) Because for thy sake I have borne reproach; shame hath covered
my face. (8) I am become a stranger
unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother's children. (9) For the zeal of thine house hath
eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon
me."
Psalms
69:11-12 "I made sackcloth
also my garment; and I became a proverb to them. (12) They that sit in the gate speak against me; and I was the song of the drunkards."
Psalms
69:14-20 "Deliver me out
of the mire, and let me not sink: let me be delivered from them that hate me,
and out of the deep waters. (15) Let
not the waterflood overflow me, neither let the deep swallow
me up, and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me. (16) Hear me, O LORD; for thy lovingkindness is good: turn unto me according to the multitude of thy tender
mercies. (17) And hide not thy face
from thy servant; for I am in trouble: hear me speedily. (18) Draw nigh unto my soul, and
redeem it: deliver me because of mine enemies. (19) Thou hast known my reproach, and my shame, and my dishonour:
mine adversaries are all before thee. (20) Reproach hath broken my heart; and
I am full of heaviness: and I looked for
some to take pity, but there was none;
and for comforters, but I found none."
Still, there is
more. Isaiah also speaks of...
C. THE
SUFFERINGS OF HIS SOUL (Isa. 53:10-11)
Isaiah
53:10-11 "Yet it pleased
the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to
grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD
shall prosper in his hand. (11) He
shall see of the travail of his soul, and
shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify
many; for he shall bear their iniquities."
I understand the biblical doctrine of
the atonement.
·
The Sin Offering
·
The Paschal Lamb.
·
The Prepared Body (Heb. 10:1-14).
“Without
the shedding of blood there is no remission,” not because God is vengeful and
cruel, but because he is good, righteous, and holy.
I understand the agony of our Savior’s
tormented body.
I can even understand the torments of
his broken heart to some degree.
But here, we have come to something I
simply cannot comprehend - The sufferings of our Savior’s holy soul (Isa.
53:10-11).
Isaiah
53:10-11 "Yet it pleased
the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to
grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD
shall prosper in his hand. (11) He
shall see of the travail of his soul, and
shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify
many; for he shall bear their iniquities."
“Much
we talk of Jesus’ blood,
But
how little’s understood!
Of
His sufferings so intense
Angels
have o perfect sense.
Who
can rightly comprehend
Their beginning or their end?
`Tis
to God and God alone
That their weight is fully known.
See
the suffering Son of God-
Panting,
groaning, sweating blood!
Boundless
depths of love divine!
Jesus,
what a love was Thine!”
1.
The Son of God
was made to be sin for us!
Our sins were imputed to the Son of God!
That fact in itself is overwhelming. But I am certain that there is more to the
sufferings of our Lord for us than the mere legal, or forensic term
“imputation” implies. His heart was not broken simply because he was made to be
legally responsible for the debt of our sins. Our sins were not pasted on him,
or merely placed to his account. The Lord Jesus Christ was “made
to be sin for us!”
2.
When he was made
to be sin for us, the Lord God made his soul an offering for sin! -- Substitution!
3.
When our Savior
was most perfectly obedient to God as our Representative, his Father forsook
Him!
“God forsaken of God, my God, no man can
understand that!”
-- Martin
Luther
4.
“He (God
the Father) shall see of the travail
of his soul and shall be satisfied!”
The Father’s justice is satisfied by the
Son’s sufferings unto death for the salvation of his people.
5.
“He (The
Lord Jesus Christ) shall see of the
travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied.”
The cross of Christ shall never be
discovered a miscarriage!
6.
“He shall see his seed.”
·
Justified
·
Sanctified
·
Glorified
Hebrews
12:1-2 "Wherefore seeing we
also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside
every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, (2) Looking unto Jesus the author and
finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him
endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand
of the throne of God."
7.
“He shall prolong his days.”
That is to say, He shall live again!
8.
“The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.”
John
17:2 "As thou hast
given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as
thou hast given him."
Revelation
10:1-3 "And I saw another
mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as
pillars of fire: (2) And he had in
his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth, (3) And
cried with a loud voice, as when a
lion roareth: and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices."
9.
“By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify
many, for he shall bear their iniquities.”
Why did the Son of God suffer all this
agony of body, of heart, and of soul?
·
To Satisfy Divine Justice!
·
To Put Away Our Sins!
·
Because He Loved Us!
Will you yet hide your face from him,
despise him, and esteem him not?
If you now look to him and trust him,
Jesus Christ suffered all this for you! God help you to trust his darling Son!
I wish I could convince you just how willing God is to save sinners for
Christ’s sake.
Illustrations: The Indian Leper
- “Help me! Help me! Somebody,
please, help me!”
The Handkerchief
In the light of these things, I have
some questions for you, my brothers and sisters in Christ,
and for me...
·
Is anything too much for us to suffer for Christ?
·
Is any sacrifice too great for us to make for him?
·
Is any devotion to the Son of God extreme?
That is the basis of Paul’s appeal in
Hebrews 13:13
Our
Reasonable Response
(Hebrews 13:13) "Let us go
forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach."
III. Third, since Christ so
willingly bore our reproach and suffered the wrath of God for us, let us go
forth unto him without the camp bearing his reproach.
Since we have such an altar and
sacrifice as Christ, sanctifying us by his own blood, which he entered with to
God, when he suffered without the gate, we ought and must go forth out of the
camp unto him, who was cursed for us, that we might be blessed Galatians 3:13,
in faith and love; not ashamed of, but glorying in his sufferings, and
following and imitating of him, patiently and boldly bearing mockings,
revilings, scourgings, sorrows, and all persecutions, his cross, for his sake,
making him in all our example (1 Pet. 2:21 4:12-19).