I invite you to turn with me this morning to Hebrews 13. Hebrews 13. Hebrews 13. This morning we will read from verses 10 through 15. Hebrews 13, 10 through 15. Would you stand with me for the reading of God's word? Hebrews 10 versus, Hebrews 13, rather, verses 10 to 15. If you are following along in the Pew Bible, this is found on page 1,384. Page 1,384 in the Pew Bible, Hebrews 13, verses 10 to 15. And here the word of God says, 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 sanctuary by the high priest for sin are burned outside the camp. Therefore, Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood suffered outside the gate. Let us Go forth to him. Therefore, let us go forth to him, outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come. Therefore, by him, let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God that is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name. Thank you. This is the word of the Lord. You may be seated. I would appreciate your prayers for grace on my behalf, even as I preach the word. I can always use your prayers as I preach. But I need your prayers in a particular way this morning. I have a very painful and distracting canker sore on my tongue. So every syllable that I utter this morning is an act of agony. Can we be grateful even under those kind of circumstances? There are many people that deal with far worse than I have this morning and they deal with it every day. Can we be a grateful people not only when times are good but when times are bad? Can we be thankful when we are full and can we be thankful when we're hungry? Can we be thankful when we have a good job and when we've been laid off? Can we be grateful when we have money in the bank account and when we are overdrawn from the bank account? Can we be grateful when our vehicles are running properly and can we be grateful when our vehicle is on the hoist in the mechanic shop? The answer to that is that if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you can always be grateful. In fact, this morning, I title the message, Unceasing Gratitude for Unbelievable Grace. Whatever else may be going right or wrong in your life, You have, if you are a believer, grace that is yours from Jesus Christ. Let me talk to you a little bit this morning about the background of the book of Hebrews. The book of Hebrews, as the name would suggest, was written to Hebrews. It was written to Jewish believers. people who were from the Jewish background that had made professions of faith. And as we read the book of Hebrews, we find that these people had actually suffered greatly for their profession of faith. Some of them had been thrown into prison. Some of them had had their belongings looted. And they made a very valiant stand upon their profession of faith initially. But it seems that as the persecution has gone on, as it has just kept on grinding on them, and just continually, the pain and the difficulty of it all, has made some of them consider going back. Going back from profession in Christ to the old system of Judaism. Going back to the old sacrificial system, to the old covenant laws. This was the temptation. The author of Hebrews writes this book to remind them of the supremacy of Jesus Christ. And to remind them that if they go back they may prove themselves to be unsaved and never be able to return. So in many ways it is a very sobering book. But it's also in other ways a very encouraging book as it points out that Jesus Christ is supreme over all things. And those who are in Jesus Christ have blessings that should not be traded away. The passage before us speaks of continual praise and thanks. We see that in verse 15, don't we? Therefore by him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God. That is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. We are called by Christ. In other words, we offer praise by and through Christ. He is the one who provides us access to the Father. We offer praise by Jesus and we are called to do this continually. A series of questions I asked you at the beginning of this message. Can we thank God in good times as well as bad times? The question is answered here in this command. We are commanded to continually offer the sacrifice of praise. That is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. So if we're told to always be praising and thanking God, why should we always be praising and thanking God? Well, if we were to study the entirety of scripture, there are many reasons that we could give. But if we look in this immediate text before us, the author of Hebrews gives us two very important, very powerful things that we can be thankful for, no matter what the circumstances of our life are. If our circumstances are persecution or freedom, we can give thanks and praise for these things. What are the things that the author of Hebrews says that we have that we can always give thanks for? There are two things. One, we have an altar. Two, we have a continuing city. We have an altar and we have a continuing city to come. Or, if I could put this another way, we can thank God for the sacrifice of Christ, and we can thank God for the city that is to come. Look at it with me in the text. First, we can thank God for the sacrifice of Christ. Where would we be without the sacrifice of Jesus? Look at it with me there again in verse 10. We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat." What altar is this? Well, it's referring to the cross, to the sacrifice of Jesus. We know this because, as we look at verse 12, we see, therefore, Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Jesus sacrificed himself for us. And that is something for which we can be eternally and continually thankful. I want you to see with me that the sacrifice of Jesus is an incredible sacrifice. It is first of all a sacrifice that separates. It's a sacrifice that separates. Look at verses 10 to 12. 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 sanctuary by the high priest for sin are burned outside the camp. Therefore Jesus also that he might sanctify the people with his own blood suffered outside the gate. Now some of this may seem very mysterious to us. But there is a historical background to what the author of Hebrews is saying. He says we have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat. And then he goes on to give details about a sacrifice that would be taken outside the camp and burned. What is all this about? Well, in the Old Testament, one of the ways that God provided for the priests and the Levites was that most of the sacrifices, there was a portion of that sacrifice that the priest could take home. That would be his food. There were certain portions that were left to the priest, and that was one way of God's providing for the priest. But there was a sacrifice. Any sacrifice in which blood was taken inside the sanctuary, inside the holy place, those bodies of those animals would actually be taken outside the camp and burned. We read about this, for example, in Leviticus chapter 16. In Leviticus chapter 16, the sons of Aaron have actually just perished for offering profane, strange fire before the Lord. And God comes and gives some particular instructions about sin offerings in which the blood would be collected and put upon the mercy seat within the sanctuary. And those animals, there would really be three animals that would be sacrificed that day. There would be two lambs or rams rather goats and one bull. One of the goats would be would be sacrificed but would not be burned outside the gate. Two of the sacrifices, one goat and one bull, would have blood taken from them and put upon the mercy seat. And those bodies then would be taken outside the camp and burned. Those two animals, the priests had no right to the bodies of those animals. Now, the author of Hebrews here makes the point that those Old Testament sacrifices whose blood was offered in the sanctuary and whose bodies were burned outside the camp pointed forward to Jesus. That is, they were the shadow, but Jesus was the reality. When Jesus came, the Old Testament system, the Old Covenant system would pass away because it had been fulfilled in Jesus. Of course, the altar in mind here is the altar of the cross. And the point that's being made here is that those who persist in clinging to the old covenant have no right to partake in the saving graces that come from the sacrifice of Christ. So in the Old Testament, the priest could not partake of the sacrifice that was burned outside the gate. In like manner, those who hold fast to the old covenant way, instead of trusting in Jesus, have no right to partake of that sacrifice of Christ that happened outside the gate. All of this to say, brothers and sisters, the sacrifice of Christ separates believers from unbelievers. There is group A who has no right to eat of the altar, has no right to partake of the grace of the sacrifice of Christ. Why? Because they're clinging to an old system. They're clinging to themselves. They're not clinging to Christ. On the other hand, those who have turned from their sin to trust in Christ, can partake of the saving grace of Jesus. Notice then that the sacrifice of Jesus divides the world into two categories. Those who have the right, those who do not have the right. Those who are saved and those who are unsaved. Unbelievers have no saving interest in the cross. Now this is important. I need to ask you this. Have you trusted in Christ? Have you placed your faith in Jesus? As long as you hold on to something instead of Jesus, as long as you cling to that, instead of going to Christ, believing in Christ, you have no saving interest in Him. You remain lost. But those who have entrusted their souls to Christ have in Him grace and mercy. One of the symbols that the Lord left for us that we can remember His sacrifice by is the Lord's table. Now, we don't believe that these elements here are the literal body or blood of Jesus. All they do is represent and remind us of the sacrifice of Jesus. However, if you have attended our Lord's table services, if you have been here for communion, you will know that I always do something called fencing the table. And what I mean by that is I say that you are welcome to stay for the communion service if you're not saved. But if you have not trusted Jesus, we ask that you not partake. Why is that? Well, because this is the Lord's table. It's for the Lord's people. And there is a sense in which those who have not partaken of Christ by faith have no right to partake of the elements that point forward or that point to His saving death. Only those who repent and believe the gospel can partake in Christ. So the sacrifice of Jesus is a sacrifice that separates. It divides the lost from the saved. It divides the believing from the unbelieving. It divides those who would trust in themselves from those who would trust in Christ. The sacrifice of Jesus separates. The sacrifice of Jesus also sanctifies. Do you see it there in the text? Verse 12, therefore Jesus also that he might sanctify the people with his own blood. suffered outside the gate. There's a sense in which this is only leaning a little bit further into that first point. The sacrifice of Jesus not only makes a distinction between the lost and the saved, but the sacrifice of Jesus makes men holy. Jesus' sacrifice is one that sets his own people apart. both positionally and then as time goes on progressively as people become more and more like Jesus. And there is a day that we can look forward to in which we will be perfectly like Christ because we will see Him as He is. And what a day that will be. If we look at the book of Hebrews and take a survey of how the word sanctify or sanctifies is used, it's used in more than one sense. It's used in the sense, for example, Hebrews chapter 2 verse 10, the sense of being progressively made more holy. It's also used in the sense of finality in Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 10. That is, that we were sanctified by the offering of Jesus once and for all. But furthermore, in that same chapter, it then goes back to the progressive sense of sanctification in verse 14. In other words, this is my point, the sacrifice of Jesus saves you. And in saving you, it sets you apart as His own people, but it also begins to do a work in you to make you look more like Jesus. At what kind of cost did this happen? What was the price that was paid to set us apart, to save us, set us apart as Jesus' people, and then began to do that work in us. What was that price? It was His own blood. So, at our, in our house, we have a number of these plush Minecraft toys. Now some of you know what Minecraft is, some of you don't know what Minecraft is. Minecraft is a video game where Kids can build all kinds of things. They can face all kinds of different sort of challenges that just naturally come up in the game. Different dangers that can just happen. But the great danger, or one of the greatest dangers in the game, is the Ender Dragon. The Ender Dragon is this great flying beast that's very difficult to defeat. Well, at least I've It would be very difficult for me. John's defeated the Ender Dragon many times, but it would be very difficult for me to defeat the Ender Dragon. So, a few months back I went to a flea market and I saw that they had one of these Minecraft plush toys that we didn't have yet. It was a plush toy of the Ender Dragon. I bought that plush toy of the Ender Dragon for way too much. But I knew that Judson would enjoy playing with that Ender Dragon. And I would enjoy playing with the Ender Dragon toy with Judson. So I paid a lot of money for that. Now, one of the things with kids when they, you know, get toys like that especially they're young, they don't have any real realization of the value of it. And the other day I saw Judson pretending to defeat the Ender Dragon at the end of the game, and he was beating on this plush toy. And I was like, oh man, do you know how much I spent for that stupid thing? You gotta treat that thing a little bit more nicely. I don't wanna spend that much money again. When it comes to our salvation, Jesus paid a price that he will not spend again. He spent a once for all price. Sam, if you can't pay attention, I need you to sit in another seat, okay? He paid a price that he will only pay once. He paid with his own blood. Let us never ever look with coldness upon the sacrifice of Jesus. Jesus' sacrifice is a sacrifice in which He shed His own blood. But not only that, we should never look with coldness upon holiness. Jesus died not only to give us fire insurance, He died to make us holy. I fear sometimes when I see the very foolish views that some people have about sanctification and holiness. As though holiness and sanctification is somehow optional in our life with Christ. While we believe in Jesus, that's good. But you know, we don't really need to take holiness all that seriously. My friends, Jesus died not only to save you from the penalty of sin, He died to save you from the power of sin. We should never look with indifference upon holiness. I wonder if I were to ask you today how seriously you take your walk with God. How often do you think about growing in grace? How often do you think about growing in holiness? And what kind of steps are in place in your life to help you grow in grace, to help you grow in holiness? God is at work in you to make you more holy. His Spirit is at work in you. But He also calls you to work. God works, and we work. We work because God works, but we cannot simply say, well, God's at work, I don't need to do anything. Paul told the Philippians, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure. Brothers and sisters, Jesus' sacrifice separates the saved from the lost, but it sanctifies. May we take holiness seriously. But it's also a sacrifice that summons us. We see that in verse 13. Therefore let us go forth to him outside the camp bearing his reproach. Now, the immediate application to this is to the Hebrew believers who are tempted to go back to the old system of laws and sacrifices. And the author of Hebrews is saying, don't go back! If you go back into that camp, you are not going where Christ is. Leave that camp to follow Christ. There is an application for all of us, though. We may not be tempted to go to an Old Testament system of laws and sacrifices, although some in our society may be tempted that way. I say that by experience. We had a couple that came here for years, at least half of the year each year, because half the year they spent here, half the year they spent in the Philippines. But this couple left Ennerdale to go to a system, a religious system, that basically said, well, Jesus is the Savior, but you have to keep the laws of the Old Testament. You have to keep the laws about how you dress. You have to keep the laws about what you eat. You have to keep the laws of when you have feasts and festivals. And they said, Ennerdale has gone away from God because they're not keeping these laws. And I talked to this man and I said, you need to read the book of Galatians again. Don't go back. The same point could be made right here. You don't go back to that kind of a system. Now you may not be tempted in that way. But there is a temptation that presents itself to all of us And that temptation is this, to hold on to something other than Jesus. We may see in the world around us that conservatism in general, and Christianity in particular, Evangelical Christianity most particularly, faces more and more hostility. And we may, in looking at the social dynamics around us, say, well, I don't know if it's worth it to keep following Jesus. I don't know if it's worth it in light of what kind of persecution I may one day face. I don't know if it's worth it. I actually have told you before of a student that I had, a former student that I had, that said that he did not want to become a Christian. And he had two reasons, but the top reason that he had was that he did not want to face persecution. On some level, he recognized that what was being said in the Bible was true. He recognized that what the scriptures said about the way of salvation, the only way was Christ. He knew all of those right answers. But he said, I don't want to trust in Jesus because I don't want to face persecution. Second reason he had was because he didn't want to miss out on any fun. Well, the author of Hebrews does not try to bypass that issue, but he faces it head on. He says, Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach." The author of Hebrews doesn't say, well, if you come to Jesus, everything will be fine. Everyone will love you. Everything will be smooth. Just come to Jesus, and everything will be wonderful. He actually says, come to Jesus. But when you come to him, you'll bear his reproach. There is joy in the presence of Christ, but there is reproach that comes from following Christ. In some parts of our world today, that reproach is so much more intense than we think we might face here. We think we've been really horribly persecuted if someone posts something in reply to the scripture we put on our Facebook page. Or someone says something about not agreeing with our beliefs and we feel like we've been horribly done by. There are places around the world where our brothers and sisters in Christ are being pillaged, kidnapped, raped, and killed. Following Jesus can end very badly. But the author of Hebrews says, still go to Jesus. Don't go back. Go to Jesus. The sacrifice of Jesus separates the lost from the saved. The sacrifice of Jesus separates, but the sacrifice of Jesus summons us to Christ. What's so good about going to Christ if persecution comes? What's good about going to Christ is that you are there with Christ. We think about the presence of Christ, and who Christ is, and how great He is. Maybe there's someone that, in your life, you like to spend time with, and that person, you know, when you are with that person, the time just flies, you enjoy so much time together, there's blessing, just being with that person. How much greater to be with Christ forever? The sacrifice of Christ, summons us to Him. We can thank God for the sacrifice of Christ. A sacrifice that separates, sanctifies, and summons us to Him. But that's not where the author of Hebrews ends his note of praise, is it? He said we have this altar. But he also says, in verse 14, that we have a city. Look at it with me there in the text. For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come. Now when the author of Hebrews writes this, the city of Jerusalem was still very intact. And the Old Testament system of sacrifices was still thriving in the temple. But there will be a day coming very shortly in which Titus would come, the Roman commander, he would fight against the people of Jerusalem, and he would destroy the city of Jerusalem. This is exactly what Jesus would prophesy, or Jesus had prophesied. That when that happened, the temple would be brought low, not one stone would be left on top of another. So there's a very real sense in which this would be literally fulfilled as far as Jerusalem was concerned. We don't have a continuing city. In a few years, this city of Jerusalem is going to be gone. But the author of Hebrews is not just speaking of one city at one time in history. There's a deeper reality that lies behind this. What the author of Hebrews is saying is that we have no continuing city. None of us have anything in this world that continues and is eternal that we can cling to, like Jesus. Now you look at whatever things that you think of physically in your life are positives. And those things will one day be no more. I was looking, I have to take my suit to the cleaners, I have a black suit, I need to take it to the cleaners. And I was looking at it as I was taking it off the hanger and it's kind of getting threadbare in a few sections. It's starting to wear out. I've gotten a lot of use out of that suit over the years. And it was a pretty good suit for a pretty fair price, but it doesn't last forever. That paycheck you got last week, that's not gonna last forever. Your home, your vehicle, the things of this life don't last forever. Here you have no continuing city. But that's not where he ends, is it? He says, here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come. Brothers and sisters, if you have trusted in Jesus, you can thank God for the continuing city that is to come. What city is he referring to? He's referring to the new Jerusalem, to heaven, to glory. This is what he's referring to. Heaven to come. Here we have no continuing city, but there is one coming. How certain is this? Well, we see how certain it is by the way that he expresses himself. We seek the one to come. In other words, this city is coming. Now we probably have all experienced promises that have been made to us that never came to fruition. Things that have been told us And in the end, didn't come to pass. Or maybe there were things that we were promised, and they did come to pass, but then when we received them, they really weren't all that impressive to us. The heavenly city, glory that awaits us, is not going to disappoint us. Remember one time, that years back, some of you might remember, that there would be these companies that would mail you, buy X number of things and you get a free gift. Just fill in this card and then send it away and then it comes back and you get the free gift. I remember one time doing something like that and there was a free gift that came with it and it was a blanket and they hyped this up, this blanket is wonderful. and got back, it was small, it was thin, it was kinda, well, I did get what they promised, but it really wasn't all that impressive. When the Bible promises us glory to come, none of us are gonna get there and say, oh, I was expecting something better. That's nice, but, you know, it could've been a little nicer. None of us are gonna say that when we get to glory. We will be continually amazed day after day after day without end about the greatness of heaven. And as well, notice that this is an eternal city. Like the heaven that awaits us is not some temporary fleeting thing. Here we have no continuing city. We don't have an eternal city here, but we seek the one to come. The continuing eternal city that is to come. This is an amazing thing. Maybe we have all enjoyed something that was very enjoyable in that moment, but it couldn't last. So yesterday, I took a drive, me, John, Claire, and Joel took a drive. And we actually drove all the way up to Blue Mountain, drove around in the Blue Mountains there. And the color there is beautiful this time of year. Incredible. Glorious. And that was an enjoyable time. But you know what? We still had to drive back to Toronto. You might not have noticed, but Toronto is not quite so beautiful. as mountains covered with trees whose leaves have changed. We enjoyed that. It was glorious, but it ended. Heaven never ends. And our enjoyment of heaven never ends. Keep your eyes on heaven to come. Now, sometimes in the midst of the difficulty and disasters of life, we have a tendency to lose sight. We have a tendency to lose sight of the sacrifice of Christ and all of the graces that are ours because Jesus shed his blood for us. And we have a tendency to lose sight of heaven and all the glories that await us. How can we keep remembering But one of the ways that we can keep remembering is to be continually praising and thanking God. If you are continually, if you are in that habit of continually thanking God for the sacrifice of Jesus and for the city to come, you're not likely to lose sight of those things. If days go by, where you haven't thanked God for the graces that are yours because of the sacrifice of Jesus. If days go by that you haven't thanked God for the city that is to come, it's no wonder that you lose sight of those things. Thanking and praising God is an aid to remembering. In Randy Alcorn's book, Heaven, he tells a story of Florence Chadwick. So in 1952, Florence Chadwick stepped off of Catalina Island into the Pacific Ocean. And her intention was to swim from that island to mainland there of California. Now, Florence Chadwick had already been a very accomplished swimmer. She had already at this point swam the English Channel both ways. She was the first woman to do this. But as she left Catalina Island and got into the waters to swim to mainland California, the weather was rather foggy. A wet, foggy day. It was chilly. In fact, she had boats that were accompanying her on her swim, and at times she even had a hard time seeing some of the boats that were accompanying her. Still, in spite of the cold, in spite of the foggy conditions, she continued swimming for 15 hours. There, she began to feel the weight, the difficulty of this task, and she told her mom, who was in a boat alongside, I want to get out of the water. And her mom said, no, no, you can make it. You can make it, Florence. Just keep going. You can make it. But finally, after 15 hours, she was just emotionally and physically exhausted and she stopped swimming and they brought her into the boat. It was only after she had gotten into the boat that she realized that she was only about a half mile away from the mainland. The next day there was a press conference And Florence Chadwick said this, all I could see was the fog. She said, I think if I could have seen the shore, I would have made it. Brothers and sisters, there's a shore to come. There's a land that is fairer than day. And by faith we can see it afar. Keep trusting. Keep running. Keep looking. Keep longing. Keep praising. Keep thanking. It will be worth it all when we see Jesus.