Turn with me, if you will, to the book of Hebrews chapter 13. Hebrews chapter 13. This morning we'll be covering verses 9 through 16 to bring this exposition of into like a final approach, as it were. Josh, he had done some research online and he texted me this week and he was like, you know, Josh, I'm sorry, my name is Josh. The other guy's name is Josh. If you wanna be on stage, your name has to be Josh, apparently, so. So the other Josh texted me, he said, hey, I was just checking, you've been in Hebrews since like 2014. And I was like, I'm going for 2017, you know, like trying to get all the way through, you know. So no, but we're coming in for a final approach here, the last chapter of the book of Hebrews. And in this passage, really in the book, it has some amazing, profound and beautiful realities. And in this passage that we'll deal with this morning, it's no different. Let me give you, let me explain to you what we're gonna talk about this morning. Here's my proposition. This is the point, I think, of the message, or at least the point of this passage. It's really the point of the whole book, but Jesus is the superior object of absolute devotion. Let me say that again. Jesus Christ is the superior, the only superior and absolute object of devotion. Let's read Hebrews 13, nine through 16 together. Let's just start in verse eight, because eight's awesome. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods which have not benefited those devoted to them. We have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat. For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp, so Jesus also suffered outside the gate, in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. Therefore, let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured, for here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. Through him, then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God. Now maybe I'm off, but I saw as I read this, as I studied it through, I kind of felt like there was a little undercurrent of, this idea of labeling something and having a sub-meaning. What's that called? I can't think of the word. Why can't I think of the word? You're famous for those kinds of jokes. Come on. Pun. Wow, I couldn't think of the word pun. I can't take credit for this pun, but I'll go ahead and give it to you. I can't make a pun about a rock because it's too hard. Sorry. Okay. That was his. That was his. I stole it from him. So if you liked it, I wouldn't have said it was his, but if you didn't like it, then it's all him. So there you go. And the him is David. We kicked him off the stage because his name isn't Josh. Sorry. Anyways, so there's this like, almost like this pun feeling where he's talking about food and eating and sharing what we have and the fruit of lips, you know? And so, so as I read this, I saw kind of this theme of the idea of eating, because as you look at the text and you see the, the, the proposition that I'm giving, the point that I'm giving is that Jesus is the most important and the absolute best thing to be devoted to. There are some people who devote themselves to food, but there are also hundreds, thousands, millions of other things that people devote themselves to. And so, in this condition, we're looking at the person who's writing this is saying, you know, look, there are people who are devoting themselves to dietary restrictions, maybe. or for other purposes or other things that are going on, but truly, honestly, the only thing that we ought to consume, the only thing that we ought to be devoted to in relation to what we eat is Jesus. The grace of God is the only thing that we ought to be devoting our hearts and our minds and our intentions to so firmly, that is the one point is Jesus. So, so he has this like, There's little things that kind of cropped up and I don't know, again, like maybe I'm off my rocker when I see those little things, but like, you know, the fruit of lips, you know, is the praise of God. The sacrifice then is the fruit of lips, sharing this idea of giving what you might have, you know, I don't know. So I kind of took that as like an outline, so to speak, you know, eating or consuming grace. We have to consume grace. There were actual temples, you know, in first century, when it comes to eating and things, actual temples. We don't have actual temples today, where there was actual animal sacrifices, where after the sacrifices were offered, the back doors were open and the meat were sold to the people. The Jews actually did the same sort of thing. They sacrificed real animals. They didn't sell the meat. They took the bodies outside. The scriptures clearly teach us that. But there's a point of connection there that sacrifice was something that was going on regularly. There is sacrifice that's going on today. There is false sacrifice, I would say. that goes on every day, whether it's in a Gentile or a non-Christian environment or in a Christian environment. There are sacrifices that are taking place in churches and outside of churches at this moment right now. And they are an expression of devotion to false things. And so this text is highlighting for us that even though there are so many distractions that this world has to offer, we must, with every fiber of our being, keep our eyes focused on the one thing that is worthy of the sacrifice of our praise, worthy of our consuming, worthy of our eating, and it is the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. To the Corinthians, Paul goes into great detail concerning how a Christian was to traverse a culture filled and steeped in that kind of sacrifice and yet still protect their conscience as well as the conscience of others. Here we have less of the protection against our conscience and more of instruction about our hearts. Among the temples and the meat carts, there were philosophies, there were ideas, circling everywhere, and today we have the same. Even though there are no slaughtered animals, there are still people that are slaughtering them in their hearts. They've got these philosophies that build constructs and ideas. In the current day, during this time, and before, one of those was the Epicureans. There was a guy named Epicurus. Epicurus, not Epicurus. That's what he was, he was curious, sorry. His philosophy was dubbed Epicureanism, named after the founder in 307 BC. So 300 years before Jesus Christ ever showed up on the scene, this guy's philosophy blossomed. And during the time of Jesus's day and Paul's day in that first century era, Epicureanism ran rampant. This is what the guy originally taught, okay? This is, he said essentially that The philosophy was that the greatest good, the greatest good that you and I or anyone else could experience would be to seek modest pleasure. Modest pleasure, that's what Epicurus said, in order to attain a state of tranquility. So that's what his teaching was 300 years before. And you know how long it takes for something to get way blown out of proportion? Apparently less than 300 years. In the first century era, This epicurean idea, devoting themselves to food so profoundly that there were actual places called vomitoriums. Do you know what a vomitorium is? Can you imagine what a vomitorium is? It's pretty disgusting. It was a house or a building designed for the express purpose of being bulimic on purpose just so that you could go back and eat more food. That's how devoted people were in this time and in this day towards the idea of satisfying the modest means that Epicurus came up with. Gone. But the same is true. The same is true in the house of God. Peter would come in the book of Acts, he had a dream where God showed him all clean and unclean animals and he said, rise, kill and eat. Here in the book of Hebrews, the author is speaking to the Jews, and many of them are still devoting themselves to these dietary restrictions, these laws according to the Old Covenant, the Old Testament, and be careful, watch out for this. And so laying that law upon others, and the writer here says, it serves you no good. It is of no value to you. Look again at verse 9, do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them. Whether you're outside of the camp, so to speak, whether you're a Gentile and you're being an Epicurean, or if you're inside the church and you're devoting yourself to abstaining from the safe And secure place is not in the extremes, but in the middle, where God has called us. Don't devote yourself to that kind of epicureanism, and don't devote yourself to this legalism. Devote yourself to Christ. Devote yourself to consuming grace. Philosophies such as hedonism and practices as binging and purging spun off from that philosophy of Epicureanism. So enthusiastic was it that people's whole lives became focused around how I could get enough money to get more food, to experience the pleasure of it, so that I could do it all over again. And you think, wow, that's really crazy. That's really out there. I can't believe they did that. But don't we do the same thing? Don't we as a nation, even ourselves, have such incredible credit card debt? Because I have to have the latest and greatest thing. The trifle has to come into my hand first. I have to stand in line for days so that I can get the new iPhone or the new Android. I don't think anybody stands in line for the new Android. I don't know. Maybe Android customers are more sensible. I don't know. But regardless, people are just, OK. Thanksgiving, day after, the day that we were thanking God, right? Hopefully, supposedly, for the blessings that he has. You know, Black Friday is not Black Friday anymore. It's Black Thursday night. Stores are opening that. I mean, it's like, we've lost our way. We're consumers. We're consumers of things and not consumers of grace. We must consume grace. The problem is that although we don't have these vomitoriums and these temples and these goddesses, images of Helen, we do have images. The same, if not worse, ideas and philosophies, we too must reject firmly and focus our attention. This is why the Holy Spirit had this text written for us. We're told here that the greatest good is not the seeking of modest enjoyment through the tongue, but rather seeking fulfillment and satisfaction in the heart in Christ. We're commended not to devote ourselves to food, to eating food, but to eating grace. Jesus said it clearly, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word. the mouth of God. So let's take a look again at our text and let's read verse nine again. Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings for it is good. It is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods which have not benefited those devoted to them. No matter what age we live in, no matter what people group we've been plopped down in, all peoples create and craft diets and teachings concerning those things that we hold dear. People have been devoting themselves to the way of eating. That is, in one way or another, they've been focused on what goes into the mouth so thoroughly that they miss the content of the heart. And it's the same today. It's the same today. Don't be shocked, okay? Now listen, I'm gonna say something. I think dieting is potentially very healthy. Watching what you eat, of course, all things in moderation, including moderation. No, just kidding. So don't get me here when I'm about to say I'm not saying we all need to go on the seafood diet, but we see food and we eat it. However, what I am saying is that if we're so concerned and so wrapped up in the food that goes into our mouth that we overlook the contents of our heart, we are in error. If I'm so concerned about making sure that I eat this and not that, or if I'm so consumed with the joy of eating this kind of food. I mean, it goes both sides. It's those people who go towards the negative side and those who go to the positive. I wonder which side I lean towards, right? I'm trying, trying. But the idea is, exactly what the scriptures teach. For bodily exercise profits little, but godliness profits in all things. Verse 9 says that it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods which have not benefited those devoted to them. Eat what you will, work hard at that and understand that the body that you have has been given to you and you are a steward of it. Train, eat, lose weight if you need to, gain weight if you need to. But devote yourself, devote yourself. Devote yourself to eating, to consuming God's grace. Devote yourself to Christ. and being godly more than you devote yourself to how carefully you watch your caloric intake. And one more thought, before we walk away from this, don't take what I'm saying to be an absolute like, you know, oh my goodness, the pastor said don't diet. No, but if we devote this much time, this much effort, this much discipline, or if we are not devoting any time, if we're not devoting any discipline at all, both sides are equally false, equally wrong. We have to be good stewards, but we have to keep all things in check with Christ. Now, that's the idea of food, but if we were to just spread it out past food a little bit, you say, okay, cool, yeah, I don't diet, I'm good. Or you're one of those heathens that doesn't diet, eats whatever they want, and loses five pounds, John Clark. Sorry to call you out. Eats a chili dog or a rice cake, doesn't matter. Right? It's people. I love you. I just hate your metabolism. I mean, I love it for you. See, right here in the pulpit, I am coveting. There you go. So just being honest. There it is. We have to devote our hearts attention not towards food, not towards external things, not towards philosophies or ideas or thoughts that this is going to be what helps me. This is going to be what helps me. This is all blended. This is going to be it. This is the thing. This is the deal right here. Oh, no, no. This is the thing. Because all things other than Christ will leave you empty. and leave you without any real satisfaction. Jesus Christ is what we must consume. His grace is what we must feast upon every day, every night. Let's look at verses 10 through 12. The author says, we have no, I'm sorry, we have an altar for which Those who serve the tent have no right to eat. For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp. So, Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. In a culture where sacrifice was normal, The author here points to a similarity between both sides, the Hebrews and the Gentiles. Then he continues to show and to push past those rudimentary similarities to the Hebrew sacrifices. He says, so here we have sacrifices, but then we come into the Hebraic sacrifice. And the difference there is that it is designed and purposed to point and picture the one that would come. So therefore, the Messiah who would come had to be taken out of the gate and sacrificed on the Father's altar, the cross. The philosophies of the age might seem agreeable to us. In that circumstance, what is the difference between the Hebrews and the Gentiles' different sacrifices? One is the object of their sacrifice, right? Obviously. So the object of our sacrifices as Christians might be a little different. than the world. They might look a little similar, the practices, the worldly things that they do, we might want to try and bring them into the church, and we might want to try and shape and mold how the church looks to kind of fit the culture to a certain extent, but then when it comes down time to understand the crux and the meaning of it, the external, the Gentile sacrifices to Helen and Zeus and all these different deities fundamentally was completely and totally, though they had some similarities, though people would obviously say, oh, you sacrifice? Oh yeah, we sacrifice. Oh, you do this? Oh yeah, we do that. which sounds very similar, ladies and gentlemen, to a lot of things that go on in churches. Oh, yeah, you like that kind of stuff? Oh, we like that kind of stuff, too. Oh, you want that kind of stuff? Oh, we want that kind of stuff, too. Oh, you got that. But the point, the object, the object of devotion is completely different. It is not the same. Though the actions may be something that we could look at and say, well, you know, that could work well, or somebody outside, oh, that kind of seems a little similar to us, maybe we should, we have to always remember to bring to the forefront of people's minds, no matter how similar we might feel or seem to them, the object of our devotion is an absolute, diametric opposition to their object of devotion. The object of devotion of the world is self. Hands down. But the object of our devotion why we do what we do, how we do what we do. It ought to always, as here with the sacrifices, it ought to always picture Jesus Christ, His gospel and His grace. So you say, okay, well, what does that have to do with what we're talking about here? Our individual and personal lives ought to be devoted to eating or consuming grace. of our collective lives when we come together and we want to decide how do we do what we do? Why should we do what we do? The purpose ought never to be, well, there's some similarities here in the culture. It ought to always be, how can we best picture the gospel? Here in this text, what the author does is he takes the Hebraic sacrifice and he refocuses it. He says, look, here's what that's about. Look at all the similarities. The blood is on the altar. The blood is the remission of sins. Hebrews 10 would say, without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins. And so we have the blood here and the body goes out to the side. Well, guess what? That's what happened with Jesus. And he focuses our attention that the Old Testament sacrifices were a perfect representation of what Jesus would come and do. Ladies and gentlemen, that's where our heart has to be. Our heart has to always be focused on what Jesus has done for us in the death of his son on the cross, the altar that the father had given so that he would lay down his life. That's the point, the point of life, the point of your life, the point of this church. Why we come into this room is for the purpose of pointing every single thing we do at the target of the gospel. If we're doing anything, if we do anything, or if we have ever done anything that does not point straight to Jesus, it's wrong. I require anything of you or if the church requires anything of me that does not point us to the cross. We are requiring what is not right. Well, all we're doing is we're making sacrifices to other deities. Making sacrifice to the law and not to the God of the law. We're making sacrifice to the culture, not the one who rules over the culture. Ladies and gentlemen, sacrifice here is beautifully pointed to Jesus. The practices of the synagogue and the practices of the temple were for the purpose of expressing Jesus. We ought to be the same. Everything we do ought to point to Christ. so as to enhance the ability that each one of us individually has of accomplishing our purposeful goal of consuming grace. Listen, on a personal level, what do you have to do? Do not be devoted. Look at verse nine. Do not be devoted. or carried away by strange teachings. Don't do that. Devote yourself to Christ. Devote yourself to the grace of God. Do not be consumed with consuming food in a certain way. Rather, devote yourself to Jesus. How do we do that? Well, the church comes in and pictures Jesus with everything that it does. Verse 13 through 14. Therefore, let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. You know, as I was outlining this, passage, I just called 13 and 14, the cost of the meal. We're consumed, the cost of the meal. Okay, so I like food. Anybody with me? All right, that's good. I like food. Okay, so one of the things that I enjoy is to, Sarah will make some brand new thing. We have it set up, not every Thursday, but many Thursdays. She'll make just something random and new. She's always concerned about doing something terrible and not doing something well, and I love it, even if it's awful. It's only been, and it's never been awful, it's only been like, eh, let's not do this, like one time. Watch it, right? No, it's never been awful, but one time, maybe one or two times, it's been like, yeah, this is good, but let's not do it again. Most of the time, okay, so she made this, we call pantry meals, you know, where you just look in the pantry and say, ah, I'm not going to the store. Do this, do this, this, this. And she threw it together, and she was like nervous about it, and she's like, here you go, and I'm like, okay, I'm eating it, and I'm like, oh my goodness, this is awesome. I was like, this is easily one of my top five meals ever, you know? And she's like, really? And I'm like, yes, make it again and again and again. Put it in the rotation, babe, you know? This is awesome. And she's like, that's good, because I just kind of threw stuff together. I was like, perfect. I love to go out to dinner. She doesn't really like to go out to dinner. I love to go out to dinner. I like to go to unique places. I don't like to go to Chili's and Applebee's and eat the same thing every time. I like to go to unique places, you know. I mean, if I had it my way, you know, anytime we went on to, not like that, I don't have it my way. But, like, the chain idea would be just, just burn them all, you know. It's like, let's have some unique stuff, you know. And a very good friend of mine, very good friend, gave Sarah and I gift certificates to, The Chart House, anyone ever been to the Chart House? It's really, really nice. It's beautiful. A lot of money to the Chart House. The Chart House is very expensive, so you need a lot of money to go there. And so we went there, and we just had a ball. I mean, we got some amazing food, an amazing dessert. I mean, just like, well, this is great. And then the check came. The check came. And I look at the check, and I'm like, But then I was like, ah, gift certificate, baby. There we go. And I laid that sucker down, and I was like, paid for, paid in full, yes. I think I even have like $3 left, so I'll go back there and get like an olive. I don't know. It's pretty expensive, pretty expensive olive. So they take it away. But as I pulled it out, I didn't have that bravado when I pulled out the certificate. I don't know why. Maybe you're not like me at all. Maybe when you have a gift certificate, you're like, yeah! And you throw it down. But whenever I have a coupon, because I do coupon at restaurants, just so that you know. I do. You have to, because it's so expensive. But you pull it out, and it's kind of like this, I have a coupon. It's like the shameful, like, I'm not really cheap, but please use my coupon. And with the gift certificate, I don't even know why, but I felt that same way. I felt that like, it's already paid for. Should I just pay with my credit card? And she's like, no, why would you do that? And I'm like, well, that's just the way it is, I don't know. So I went and I put it in, I closed it up, and I put it away, and I just look out the window, I'm talking. They come, they pick it up, and they carry it away. I'm like, ha ha. They come back and like, you have $3.27 left on this. I'm thinking, why didn't you just take it? Just charge me a little bit more. Don't bring that back. And so with all that, I just felt really weird. And it didn't last very long. I was really grateful. And don't get me wrong, if ever anybody wants to give me a gift certificate to the Chart House, I'll accept and I'll use it. But that's not the point. The point is, that I was satisfied, my wife was satisfied. We enjoyed this so much. The bill was already paid before we ever enjoyed it. It was paid in full, completely. There was even some left over, if you can believe it. But when it came time to present the certificate, I felt apprehension. Ladies and gentlemen, Jesus Christ paid to satisfy us completely. The check's already paid, it's already done, and yet, and again, maybe this isn't a reflection on you at all, maybe you would be happy to throw down all the gift certificates you have at one time. That's how I felt. I felt like this weird, like, I don't know. And the line is drawn clearly in my mind to the gospel. And it's like, why do I feel so awkward presenting the already paid certificate to people to say this, I have been satisfied. This person has paid my bill for me. Here, here's the payment. Why do I have a hard time sharing that reality with people when it comes to the gospel? Why do I have a hard time with waitresses? Like they care, you know. I can understand. But we have this mentality when it comes to the finished work of Christ. The cost of the meal is right there in verse 13. Read it again. Therefore, let us go out to Him outside the camp and bear the reproach Do you hear that? That's the cost of our satisfaction in the gospel. The cost is that we align ourselves with him. We have to pull out the certificate and show we have aligned ourselves with the one who has paid the bill. And I hope everyone in this room says, Josh, you're off your rocker. Why would you ever feel that weirdness about the certificate? Because here's the reality. Aligning myself with the one who's paid my debt ought to be a joy. It ought to be nothing but glory. And it should be me running around the chart house with the certificate in my hand. Somebody pay my bill! Somebody pay my bill! That's what it ought to be. It's a trivial, it's a trivial analogy. Please forgive me for the triviality of this silly restaurant thing when it compares to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The gospel is of infinite value. The gospel is of infinite satisfaction. I had to eat the next day. Well, maybe I didn't have to eat the next day, but I did. And I have to eat day after day after day after day after day But what Christ has done, he has done it perfectly, completely, forever. The payment, the actual pulling out of the certificate and handing it to the judge and saying, here is my get out of jail free card, judge. The cost of that is aligning ourselves with the one who paid the bill. Let's look at verses 15 and 16 together. This is, I mean, you could say this is a part of paying the bill, but I don't think that's the best expression for it. This is kind of like the, forgive the trivial, but it's like the tip. It's the tip. It's the stuff that you don't need to give, but you do because you're grateful. You know what I'm saying? At least that's the way a tip should work, right? And okay, so this is really, really bad. I'm not saying we're tipping God. Wow, that's just a really bad analogy. Maybe I shouldn't have used that at all. This is just the overflow after everything. It's the gratitude. It's the, how about this? Walking into the kitchen and expressing, wow, what a great meal. That's better. That sounds better than this is the tip to God. That's awful. Don't hear that. Don't hear that at all. Okay. This is just the overflow of the satisfaction. Verse 15 and 16. Through him, then, let us continually offer up. Hear that? Continually offer up. Continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God. That is the fruit of lips that acknowledge His name. Now stop there for just a moment. That acknowledge His name. This is what we ought to be doing. This is the after result of an amazing meal. Consuming the grace of God is something that once you have done it, you can't help but continually talk about it. The payment is that I align myself with Jesus. And even if that's not payment, it's just presentation of what He's already done for me. But then what is the result, what's the outcome of all of this stuff? It's a perpetual, a continual, an ongoing expression of praise and thanks all that he has done in and through Jesus Christ, the acknowledgment of his name, which is the acknowledgment of his fame and his beauty and his majesty. and expressing the satisfaction of your soul over and over and over again. And then it doesn't stop there because the sacrifice of praise that comes through grateful lips, that fruit that is produced, it does something as well as just speaks something. And the does something is in verse 16. And he says, do not neglect to do good. So here, what we're doing is we're saying, thank you, God, perpetually and continually offering up the sacrifice of praise, which is the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. And then we do something in result, and it's not neglecting to do good. We do good. And we share what we have. For such sacrifices are pleasing. to God. Through repentance and faith, you can have that bill paid. If you will turn from your sins and trust in Jesus alone for your salvation, then you can, and will, I tell you, be saved from your sins. If that's happened to you, then oftentimes we will say, what's the will of God for me? What is the will of God? What should I do? How should I? This is what you should do. Do not neglect to do good to others. Share what you have, for this pleases God. I want to please God with my life. Then do good and share what you have. Yeah, I know, but that's not, no. Should I be a missionary? Maybe, I don't know. Do good to people and share what you have. Well, you know, maybe I should be a pastor. Let not many of you brothers become teachers. Maybe I should, I don't know about the maybes, I know what the word of God commands. Do not neglect to do good and share what you have for such sacrifices, please God. There are hundreds, thousands, maybe millions of diets, physical, psychological, spiritual diets that people feast upon in the world. There are so many differing constructs and ideas and thoughts that people devote themselves to. that are of no lasting value. Bodily exercise profits little. Sure, worldly wisdom and common sense are the grease of the wheels of this world, helps things turn very well. But none of these diverse and strange teachings have the ability to really strengthen your heart. So verse nine says, only trusting, only believing, only relying upon Christ, His grace, only that is sufficient beyond compare to provide for all of those things that you need. I went through repentance, through the turning from our sins to trust in the living God, in the Jesus of the Bible. Through repentance and that kind of faith, when that happens, the payment is given to us. Certificate is handed. But the bill is still being paid by Christ. We need to be people that joyfully, gladly, dole out those same certificates to others. We need to be people who sacrifice, by the fruit of our lips, by the outcome of our lips, the praise of our God. We need to be people who are willing to be counted along with Christ in His reproach. Boldly sharing the reality of that reproach, what it wins for us. So that the grace of God the beautiful and matchless grace of God will be what we ultimately consume. Let's pray together.