Amen. Oh, some good songs to think about mercy as we come to a sermon on God's grace and His mercy, which we want to certainly think about as we come to the Lord's table today. And as we do that, I want to remind you of where we've been. I mean, we've been in chapter 13 for a while and it's kind of been building. It really takes place after the call for faith, that God's people are saved or justified by faith and they are to live by faith and even to die in faith. If you've been reading that little Free Grace broadcaster that we've given you this month on death and dying, it has some excellent things to say about death and facing death and thinking about death rightly. And so all these things we do by faith. And we persevere by faith. And that's not new. That's the story of the Scriptures. That's the story of all of God's people throughout all time. They have persevered by faith. Chapter 11 is all about that. We come to Chapter 12 and some messages on stirring up your faith and strengthening that which is weak. Don't weaken that which is strong. Strengthen that which is weak. And persevere by faith. And we come to the end of that chapter, and there's a message on the unshakable kingdom of God. And praise God, His kingdom is unshakable. It's unlike any kingdom of this age. And in thinking about that, you might wonder, well, being members or citizens of that unshakable kingdom, how are we to live? How are citizens of this kingdom to live? What does it mean to be a citizen of an unshakable kingdom? What are the characteristics of that unshakable kingdom? And we spoke about the first one being love. Love is ever used to describe our God. And His kingdom and His people should be defined by love. Of course, that's what Jesus said, that this is how they would know us. This is how the world would recognize us, that we love each other. And so love is at the heart of who we are, and a self-sacrificial love at that. And then, so we saw that, and identifying with one another, that's really at the heart of what's being said there. Don't distance from one another, but fellowship, love one another. And then the second one we saw, we're a covenant kingdom. We are in a covenant kingdom. Why is it unshakable? Because it's founded upon, it rests upon God's perfect covenant. We just sang a song of covenant mercies, and how God has always kept his promise, always kept his word. His word never fails to stand. And that means we can trust His Word. And so covenant is at the heart of what we are and what we have. It's why we can say that we shall endure to the end if we are in Him. Because He who began a good work in us will see it through to the day of completion. He will finish what He started. And so, my friends, we can have confidence in this. Now, that covenant idea in the passage in 13 is dealing with marital fidelity. and not being involved in idolatry. And of course, we spoke about how these are Old Testament pictures of what it means to be unfaithful to the covenant that you're in. Over and over again, the picture in the Old Testament of the charge against Israel by the prophets was, you're like an animal in heat chasing after any other god. You're not faithful. And you fall into idolatry over and over again. And so we're given these practical concerns. Don't be unfaithful in your marriage. And also this other concern of not being idolatrous, like be devoted to the one true living God. And this is part of what it means to be in a covenant community, to be in a covenant people, to be blessed in the covenant of the Lord Jesus Christ, the new covenant, the everlasting covenant. We could go on and on here, but we are a blessed people. We should not forget it. And then last week we saw that it's a covenant of order. It's not a covenant of disorder. And that goes back to the king of the kingdom. The king is not shakable himself, therefore his kingdom can never be shaken. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, forever. We don't have to worry he's going to change and therefore the kingdom's going to change or the requirements are going to change or something like that. The requirement was ever grace and will always be grace. And so we can have a confidence before our king. His kingdom is unshakable because he is unshakable. And because of that, we remember that he's left us a church that should be unshakable. It's a human institution, right? Human beings are involved, so it's gonna have a little shakiness here and there. But we should remember the things that were handed to us, those doctrines, those beliefs that were once and for all handed down to the church from Christ to his apostles and his apostles down to us through the generations, collected in God's holy and inerrant word. And so we recognize this, that there is unshakable truths at the heart of what we are, who we are, at the heart of this kingdom. And of course, He's given us order. We thought of this last week in terms of elders and the remembrance there was as your elders change, you shouldn't fundamentally change. Your elders believe the truth, believe what they believed. Just because there's new elders doesn't mean everything changes. Jesus Christ hasn't changed. So if the church is changing, it's too shakable, right? To and fro, and that's the point. And we talked about that a little bit last week in terms of confessions and confessions being good guardrails to keep us within the proper framing. All right, well, as we come back today and we come to the Lord's table, we want to think about another aspect of this kingdom. It's a kingdom of grace. it's a kingdom of grace. There is no one in this kingdom except the king himself, who you could in any way say has any position in this kingdom by works, right? The king himself did a great work for us. He went to Calvary's cross and died for us, but none of us have done anything to earn a spot in this kingdom. It has been given to us by God's grace. And therefore, grace and mercy are at the heart of what it is to be a Christian or to be in this kingdom. It is a kingdom of grace and mercy. And of course, we said already, this is a table of grace and mercy. As we come to this table, we should be thinking very much about the mercy of God, the grace of God, His love for us, all these elements that we've been speaking of that define this kingdom that is unshakable. And so today, as we get ready to do that, I want to read the text again and think about our King who saves sinners by His amazing grace. I'm going to read from the beginning of the chapter through the 14th verse so we just hear all this that we just covered. Let brotherly love continue. Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by doing so, some have unwittingly entertained angels. Remember the prisoners, as if chained with them, those who are mistreated, since you yourselves are in the body also. Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled, but fornicators and adulterers God will judge. Let your conduct be without covetousness. Be content with such things as you have. For he himself has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. So we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper. I will not fear. What can man do to me? Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines, for it is good that the heart be established by grace, not with foods which have not profited those who have been occupied with them. 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. 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. Amen. I want us to think about three points this morning as we exposit this text. First of all, avoiding strange teachings. That's wise advice. Second of all, cherishing God's grace. And third, remembering Christ's atonement. I think we'll see all these things will help us as we come to the table today. So entering into this first point of avoiding strange teachings, our text begins immediately with this, having come right off the back of Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever, which we said ties in very well with the idea of remaining faithful to the teachings of the previous elders and carries right into this today. There's no need for new teachings. There's no need for various and strange new teachings, new doctrines. We don't need these things. Our author is reminding his recipients that they have all that they need. They've received the fullness of the apostolic teaching. They've received the faith once and for all handed down to the saints. It's sufficient. There isn't more needed. There isn't secret knowledge, gnosis out there that you need to complete your Christian walk. Now, again, he's been telling them this all along. In fact, John Owen said as we come to this passage we can wrestle with it, and many do. He said we must ever keep in mind the context of the letter and what he's been addressing all along the way. He's been setting up arguments in previous chapters to bring it all to a point here and to help us to understand this. And so he's reminding us here that they're not lacking anything. His argument has been all along they're not lacking in anything. They have the fullness of all that God has offered them. That all of that typology and shadow pointed forward to these things which you've received in Christ. By faith there's nothing left that you need. Now this might make us think, in a sense, of the calling out that Paul gave the Galatians, right? You were off to a good start, who tripped you up? Did you think that you started in grace through faith, but now you're going to be completed in works? That the race begins, entering it by faith, but now you've got to work your way to God's favor? No, he said that's a different gospel altogether. That's a gospel of Jesus plus something. Faith plus something. And the Bible's full of these arguments, isn't it? You had the Judaizers saying, well, it's faith plus circumcision, or it's faith plus some of the Judaic values and beliefs that we had, some of the traditions that were handed down to us. You must have all of those things together or it's not sufficient. And throughout all of Scripture, that is argued against, isn't it? I mean, from the Jerusalem Council, as that is being brought before the body to decide what is it we must say, And in the end, it's Peter who himself has just gone through this amazing 180 as he gets called to the house of Gentiles and just thinks, Lord, I can't do this. You can't ask me to do something that you've called unclean. And he says, do not call unclean that which I've said is clean. Go to this household and preach the gospel. Do this thing. And Peter knows instantly what he means. When they come and ask him to come, he says, let's go, let's preach the gospel. And God moved in amazing ways. And yet what we see here is, again, this easy return to the argument that, no, you need to add something. They dealt with Gnosticism in the early church at the ends, which is, yes, you need the gospel, you need Jesus, but you also need some secret knowledge that we have. And we can give to you for a certain price. very much like you think about our televangelists today, that what you really need to be healed is my prayers. And if you sow a seed of $100 or $500, I'll put you in my phone today, and I'll pray for you daily, and we'll see how amazing it is how quickly you're healed. You've got to buy something. You've got to purchase something in these systems. But the gospel is simply believe the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe what Christ did for you, that He is the fullness of all that has been promised throughout all the scriptures, that He is the subject of all the scriptures, the object of all the scriptures. He is the one it's all pointed to. And so I can imagine this author saying to this group of Hebrew believers, what tripped you up? We've heard you were off to a good start, you recognized the gospel, but now you're returning to those shadows. Returning to those shadows. It's not even a great parallel, but imagine going to Morton's or someplace, one of the famous steak houses, and they bring out your appetizer, and it's some little leafy thing, small thing. You're there for the steak. And then all of a sudden, the steak comes out, and you're like, you know what? Bring more of that leafy stuff out here. I'm not going to go back with you if you ever do that. I'm just going to tell you that now. The truth is, you're there for the meat, and that's his point. You receive the meat, the appetizers, the time-biting, until the meat comes to the table. Much like in our Christian walk, we're fed milk until we're ready for meat. Now you've been given the meat, this author is saying. You've been given the fullness of all that that pointed to and you're rejecting it to go back to the appetizer. What is wrong with you? I think that's very much the framing we hear from Paul in Galatians. What in the world is wrong with you? In fact, we know that in Galatians, Paul says, you foolish bumpkins, more or less, to try to put it in modern day southern English. He says something like that. You bumpkins, what are you thinking? It's not very kind, but they need a little slap in the face to remind them of the great heights from which they fall. And he says, listen, the gospel that you're accepting eagerly is a gospel of damnation. It's not good news at all. It's not a gospel at all because it sends you to hell. Because instead of relying on the grace of God, you believe that in the end you rely on your own works. Jesus is a good starting point, but it's up to me ultimately. My friends, that is not the gospel. That is not the gospel. And over and over, the Bible tells us that is not the gospel. It's a subtle and dangerous message that comes back time and time again. Legalism is based on it. Pharisaicalisms based on it. All these things are based on the idea that Jesus got us a good start, but we have to be the ones to save ourselves. The Gospel says differently. And so again, as this author comes to this, he says you need to be ever vigilant to defend the truth, because the truth, the Gospel, is unshakable and unchangeable as our King. Now, that means the Gospel is sufficient. It doesn't need to be updated age to age. It doesn't change. We don't need to revisit it. The gospel is the message of God's good news. It isn't up to you anyway. You can't earn it. You can't purchase it. You can't do those things. You receive it by faith through God's grace. And so my friends, we need to understand the importance of this because it's at the heart of what's happening here. Yes, we've heard the message of the gospel, but there are some things still lacking. What? Well, apparently, from what it says in this text, they think they need some of those ritual things they had in the Old Testament. We need to go back to the synagogue, too, and we don't want to miss Passover. The argument's logical. We've dealt with this throughout this letter. It's logical. But God gave us, God gave our people these things. Wouldn't it displease Him for us to just abandon them? Not if He called you to abandon them or to understand that they're made full in other things. The Passover pointing to what Christ alone as our Passover Lamb can do. What the Passover Lamb of the Old Testament could never do in terms of a permanent salvation. It gave a passing over and a remembrance of that event. But it pictured Christ coming. Paul says it directly. He is our Passover. He is the Lamb. Always pictured in Scriptures. So actually, if you go back to that Lamb, you dishonor Him. Because you say, that Lamb's not enough. I need that Lamb too. See, all these things are like this. All these things are not well reasoned according to the gospel. They're adding things that we need to do if we're to be saved. Now, my friends, is it good that we come to church? Yes. Are we saved by coming to church? No. Is it good for us to come to church? Of course. It's good for us. For one thing, right, to fellowship with believers, to hear the Word of God proclaimed, to learn doctrine. All that good. To sing together as God's people. All that good. To partake of the Lord's table, which we're not supposed to do individually. That's given to the church. And so all these things are good for us. But you're not saved by them. We're not saved by getting dunked in water up here, are we? We're saved as we put our faith in Jesus Christ. These other things follow as good, and I would even argue normal, right? These are things that should take place. But again, we need to recognize that we don't want to ever compromise the doctrine of saved by grace alone, by faith alone. And so as we think about this for a moment, why are they returning to Moses? There's something over here they need. Now, I believe There's no way we can settle this. I believe this is really the excuse that's outworked on why they're returning to the synagogue. They're returning to the synagogue over and over from the context of this letter because it's dangerous to be in the church. There is persecution against the church. Well, you don't want to look unfaithful. So you say, well, I need to go back to the synagogue. I need to start meeting over there. Why? Well, I already have Jesus. That's by faith. But to be a good Christian, you've got to be a good Jew. And to be a good Jew, you've got to be in synagogue. You've got to be taking of all these things the Old Testament ordains. Well, that's the argument of the Judaizers, is it not? That's the exact same argument dealt with over and over again in the New Testament. And over and over again, shot down, slapped down, put down. To where even Peter says, are we really going to ask these believers to take a yoke that neither we nor our fathers could bear? An unbearable yoke. Does it make sense that this is a part of the Gospel? Because if you can bear the yoke, you do have something to boast in, don't you? You do have something to boast in. Because I carried a yoke you couldn't carry, and I carried a yoke that Peter himself couldn't carry. He said he couldn't carry it, but I was able to carry it. You see, what the Bible tells us over and over again, God has knocked our knees out from under us. There is no way man can boast. What are we told in Romans 2 that the law was given, actually 3, the law was given that no man may boast, that all mouths must be silenced before God. Nobody can say, look, God, what I've done. Look how I've earned my place at your table. No one can do that. because God alone grants us a place at this table by His grace. It is not of work, but it is of grace. And that is given to us in Romans. If it's of work, it's of work, right? It's earned. If it's given to you as a gift, you didn't earn it. That's the very nature of those definitional terms. And so again, as we think about this for a moment, we recognize that he's saying, be careful here. Be careful here. Christ hasn't changed. Why do you need now to add these new things? He says, don't be carried away with various, varied, diverse, different, and strange. That Greek word is xenos. This is strange or alien, foreign doctrines. Now what's interesting is we all recognize if you're taking things from paganism, probably not a good idea. We wouldn't be surprised for him to call them xenos or to say these are alien or foreign ideas. But he's speaking about Judaism here. He's speaking about Old Testament ideas and saying they are strange and foreign to us. That these things are not a part of who we are or our kingdom at all. Because we have a different and more glorious kingdom. He's already made this point, a better covenant, a better king, a better mediator, everything better. We're not under those things. And then he goes on to say, listen, you can't be established by those things anyway. You can't be established by those things anyway. And that'll bring us to our second point. which is cherishing God's grace. Because when you think about this for a moment, that if these other things that we're asked to add on in some way reject or harm the grace of God by saying that we in some way earn our own favor, we in some way earn our own place, then they're to be rejected. They're to be rejected. And that's really the argument, I think, largely of this letter, is to realize what you have in the new covenant, in the gospel of Jesus Christ. And notice here for a moment, This is going to recur over and over to man in the New Testament and after the New Testament, even to our own day. Why? Because it seems good to man to earn something, to appoint what he built, right? We all do this. We like things that we build. We like things that we accomplish. It's natural to us. But the gospel isn't one of those things. We didn't create it. We didn't create our place in it. Again and again the Bible tells us that we must think rightly on this. Only God's grace is sufficient to save. So cherish it. Cherish it. In fact, many of the parables, we can't walk through them all this morning, but many of the parables are about learning to love God's grace. The parable of the day laborers is just one example, right? You agree to come and work in the morning and work all day for a certain wage. The master needs more workers, so he goes out a few hours later and hires other people for the rest of the day, a shorter work day, promising to pay them the same thing. And then at the end of the day, right, at the end of the day, you've got people coming just for a couple hours. We've got to get the job done. And at the end of the day, pays everybody the same. And those early workers are upset about it. We worked longer to get the same wage. He said, I gave you what I promised. And I gave them more than I promised. I heard a preacher say years ago, this is a test on whether or not you hate grace. And the truth is most of us hate grace, if we're honest about it. We have to train ourselves to think about grace and to love grace. What is it to me if God is gracious to others? He's been gracious to me. I didn't have a place at this table. He gave me a place at this table. So why will I hate if He's more gracious to someone else? I didn't deserve any grace at all. So my friends, again, we have to retrain ourselves to think about this and to love the grace of God that we don't earn our place here because as Paul says elsewhere, for by grace you have been saved through faith. And this not of your own doing, not of yourselves. That if it was of works, then you could boast. It's a gift. If it was works, you could boast. But this is that no man can boast. So what is established by grace and grace alone through faith, you didn't earn. That's the very point Paul gets at in those categorical gifts and wages argument in Romans. So what could obedience, if you will, to dietary laws add? What could it add? If you are saved by God's grace through the work of Christ, what could those Old Testament things add? In fact, a little CliffsNotes on this is just to read the verse. Because what does it say? It says, "'For it is good for the heart to be established by' what? Grace, not foods. Be established by grace, not these doctrines of foods which have not profited even those who have been occupied with them." Even those people who focused on them. Who would this be? The Old Testament saints were not necessarily profited by this. And certainly the majority of people who came and partook of those things, who didn't have faith in them, we know the larger external Israel, if you will, were not helped at all by these things. They just simply partook of these feasts and nothing happened. Nothing happened. But he says this, as we think about this and come to this, if it didn't help Old Testament Israel, And you can see he's saying all the people outside the church who are still in the synagogue, it didn't help lead them to Christ. What benefit is it for you who are in Christ? John Gill said this, Then, as they led to Christ," so that's what their purpose was, to lead to Christ, he's saying, "...and were guarded by believers. For they were of no advantage to hypocrites and carnal men. They could not sanctify, nor justify, nor cheer the spirit, nor establish the heart, and are of no manner of service at all since the death of Christ, whereby the whole ceremonial law is abolished." Think about this for a minute, what Gil's saying. The entire purpose of all those things was to lead you to Jesus. And now that Jesus is here, they have no effect whatsoever. There's no purpose in them. So you're wasting your time. You are wasting your time going back to the synagogue to cover all your bases. And what's worse is, it shows a wicked heart of unbelief. Think about that for a moment. That you feel you need to cover your bases. You're like, I'm not sure Jesus is enough. My friends, what John Gill said is well said. These foods cannot save in that covenant. They certainly don't save in the covenant that we are a part of in Christ. And in fact, the only thing they add is damnation upon your soul if you're trusting in those as your means of deliverance. or even to add to your means of deliverance. So again, what is said here is important. You must turn from those things. We're going to see him say it very clearly in just a second. Well, through typology, but we'll see it in just a second. So again, he says that not only do we not need those things, but there's even a greater separation between those old covenant pictures and us in the new covenant. What does he point to there? He says this, we have an altar. We have a place to go and be nourished. Now we might think he's talking about the Lord's table. He isn't. He's meaning that we have the thing that this is picturing as well, which is Christ himself as our nourishment. We feed upon Christ, which is certainly pictured at this table, and we come to do that spiritually at this table, but we want to recognize here he's really talking about the cross. He's talking about the cross as he speaks about this. We have something that feeds us that those who serve in the tabernacle have no right to eat. You're wanting to go back to them if they understood they'd want to come to us. But they have no right at this table. Now think about that contrast there. You're going back to eat from their table and they have no right to eat at this table. They have no right to partake of Christ, if you will, and Him crucified because they don't have faith by God's grace. And so we recognize here this important message of a distinction between these covenants. That's what we Baptists have held to from our earliest days. It's where Baptists came from, in essence. As we saw a distinction between the Old and New Covenant, that it is not one covenant of grace administered in two different systems, but it is one, an Old Covenant given to a nation in preparation for the covenant of grace coming in the New Covenant. He says, how in the world can you go back to a lesser covenant? How can you go back to a national covenant, temporary covenant? All this I point out over and over. Read II Corinthians 2-4. Paul says it directly there. Directly there. How can you want the partial when you have the fullness in Christ? And so as he has them think about this, those Old Testament priests that you're running back to, they can't even come to this table. They have no place at this table. And so my friends, rejoice in what you have. Rejoice in what Christ has given you. And then he says here something else that needs to be remembered as we go to our third point. which is we need to remember Christ's atonement, especially as we come to this table this morning. We should be very eager to do that. Because he finishes up reminding us of exactly how we got a place at this table by grace. Again, it isn't by works or it isn't by grace, right? We got a place at this table by grace through what another did. The work of another, not our work, but what Christ did on our behalf. Well, what is that exactly? Well, he wants us to consider it by thinking of the Old Testament picture he went to earlier. And again, I would ask you to remember he dealt extensively with Yom Kippur and the Old Testament priesthood and all of that systems we dealt pretty extensively in those things. And he goes back to that picture again. He says, think about this for a moment, because again, what served at their table? What are you eating on the feast? Well, you're eating maybe the meat of the Passover lamb, if you're going back for the Passover celebration or whatever it may be. He said, but once you think about the Yom Kippur picture, which we've already dealt with extensively. And again, this is where John Owen is arguing. You've got to keep the context of the whole letter together and think about the things that this author has already argued for us. He says, Yom Kippur pointed to Christ. The day of atonement was not sufficient. Why? We have to do it next year, and the next year, and the next year, and the next year, and the next year, ad nauseum, right? Until Christ comes, who is fulfillment of it, and picture of it, and the fullness or substance of it is Him. And then there's no more need for Yom Kippur, although many people believe that from the wording of this, Yom Kippur is still going on year after year in this day. So that would mean Hebrews was written early enough that the temple is still standing, and so forth. that he's saying, you're going back and being a part of this whole religious system that is no longer in effect. But what he wants us to think about in that Yom Kippur section is the way it takes place. Now this is a typological argument, but it's an important argument. He says this, what happened on Yom Kippur with the animals that were sacrificed? Well, we looked at this a few chapters ago, but I'll just refresh you. They take them in, they slaughter them, they let their blood in the temple, the blood is then applied inside the temple, and the bodies are carried outside the city, in the tabernacle outside the camp, and Jerusalem in the days that we're talking about, outside the city, the bodies are taken far away, and we know the whole scapegoat and all that, but the bodies are burned, right? The ones that were sacrificed are burned. outside the city, outside the camp, so that sin is not amongst the people. The whole ritual itself on Yom Kippur is a cleansing ritual. Cleansing the temple, cleansing the tabernacle before it, cleansing Jerusalem, cleansing the nation, if you will, so that they can remain in the land. It is not salvific. That's the point. It was never salvific. If we didn't know that reading in the Old Testament, we would come to the New Testament and Paul says, by the works of the law, no flesh shall be justified. It never was salvific. It cleansed the people so they could remain in the land. But here's the thing. The sacrificial animal was carried outside the city. It did not remain in Jerusalem. Now our author, inspired by the Holy Spirit, is going to be very clever here in what he wants us to think about. He's asked us to think about all the imagery we've seen all along. Well, wait a minute, Jesus, he was sacrificed. Obviously, that's where we're getting to. But where was his blood applied? Because in that image that you're giving us here on Yom Kippur, the blood was used inside the temple, in fact, in the holiest place. And what has our author already told us? Yeah, but that's not our temple. That's not our temple. In the New Testament, the temple is the people of God, the body of God, but even then the tabernacle where the blood is offered is not the earthly Jerusalem tabernacle, but the heavenly tabernacle, our author said, on which the earthly one was based and formed. It was the pattern for the one, because remember the whole thing where he goes back and says, Moses was taken off the mountain and said, make it to look like this, make the tabernacle to look like this, and he was shown the heavenly tabernacle. So Christ offered his blood not in the earthly Jerusalem tabernacle, but in the tabernacle of New Jerusalem, the heavenly tabernacle. Again, we dealt with that at length. If that's something you wanna, you can go back and look at those sermons online. But again, it's there. It isn't the earthly Jerusalem. And in fact, you've got something else to think about. Not only is blood not applied in the earthly Jerusalem temple, but Jesus, like those sin offerings, was carried outside the city. He wasn't crucified inside Jerusalem. He was carried outside the city like the sin offerings because He is our sin offering. One of the songs I wish we had done for today was that great hymn, I Lay My Sins on Jesus. That's really what we say when we come to this table. We lay our sins on Him. He is the one who bore our sins and went outside the camp. And so what does the author say? Let us then hurry into the earthly tabernacle or the earthly temple. No, that's not at all what he says. Listen to it again. Therefore, Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him. If we understood what he's saying, it'd be a little more controversial. You need to leave the earthly Jerusalem. You need to go to the heavenly Jerusalem. You need to leave the earthly Israel and go to the true spiritual eschatological Israel. You need to leave the old covenant and you need to go to the new covenant. You need to go out to Jesus Christ. For He alone saves. He is the fulfillment of all those things. For the aim of the law is Christ. All of it was pointed to Him. Anyway, you need to go out to Jesus. And what does it say there? if we didn't quite understand it. He says, rallying us together, therefore let us go forth to him outside the camp bearing his reproach, bearing his stigmata, bearing his marks, bearing the signs of Jesus. Am I going to be hated if I do that? Yeah. Small price to pay. In fact, the Bible tells us over and over, whatever it would cost us to follow after Jesus is a good investment, right? That you couldn't call a man sacrificial who found a great treasure in a field and went and sold all that he had to go buy the field so he'd inherit the treasure, which was far more valuable than anything he had to begin with. That's the gospel. Whatever it costs you to find the grace of God is a tiny, tiny investment compared to what is received in the gospel. And so again, we're recognizing this. Bear his marks. Identify yourself with Jesus. Don't be afraid of it. If it costs you something, let it cost you something. It's temporal anyway. And go out to Jesus, bearing his marks, bearing his reproach. And if we still didn't understand that that's what he's saying, if we still were kind of like, I don't know, I don't know, is that really what he's saying? What does he say in verse 14? This has been the message for multiple chapters. Abraham was not looking for the earthly Jerusalem. He was looking for the heavenly Jerusalem. He wasn't looking for cities that were made by human hands. He was looking for the city made by God's own hands. Over and over again it says they did not have a home because they were looking for something beyond this world. Now that's not some spiritual heavenly thing. That's the new heavens and the new earth. They're looking for the eschatological promises that God has made. Yes, it will be in a renewed earth, glorious for all eternity in which God will dwell with men and it will be the most awesome thing our mind could ever imagine. In fact, it's beyond, as Paul says. We can't imagine how glorious it's going to be. And that's something to think about because I see times in this fallen creation that it looks glorious. So imagine how much more glorious that day is going to be. He says, we're not looking for the earthly Jerusalem. This is the problem that kept happening in Jesus' ministry. When are we going to establish it and take back over and throw the Romans out? Over and over again. That's not the kingdom I'm talking about. I'm talking about an eschatological glorious kingdom, a new heavens and a new earth. And my friends, if we are in that, what are we looking for? Are we looking for these little trinkets of devotion? Oh, I've got to make sure I obey all these things in the Old Testament that didn't deliver anyone anyway. He says you have what you need. In Jesus and Christ alone, you have all that you need. You don't need to add anything to it. In fact, it's a sin to add anything to it. Come to this table, not because you're knocking the door down and making a way for yourself. Come to this table because Christ has invited you. He's invited you to come to this table if you are His. Come and partake of what He has done. As we partake of this table, remember it is by God's grace and grace alone that we have a place at this table. Do not trade that for lesser things.