Amen. Please remain standing and take your Bibles and turn to the book of Hebrews. The book of Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 13. Before we read this final chapter in the book of Hebrews, let's go to the Lord one more time in prayer. Heavenly Father, we come before you as fallible men. Sinners. Finite. Lord, nearsighted to spiritual things. We praise You for the Lord Jesus Christ and our union that we have with Him. That bond of fellowship that we have to You, the Triune God, through Your blessed and beloved Son, the Lord Jesus. We praise you for that relationship and we praise you for the Holy Spirit and his application of the work of grace and salvation. Lord, we come to this book now with faith and we're asking for the enlightenment of your Holy Spirit. We are asking you to send your Holy Spirit to us that He would enlighten our minds to see Jesus like we've never seen Him before. that we would see this glorious, redeeming Savior, this glorious Mediator. O God, we pray that You would continue to remove the veil, continue to take away the blindness, Lord, continue to show us His glory, Lord, continue to show us His majesty and His perfections, Lord, that You might cause our hearts to soar to greater obedience. O Lord, we pray that You would take Your Word and that You would inscribe it upon our minds, that we might practice what we hear. We pray these things in Jesus' name, Amen. Now, the reading of Hebrews chapter 13. Let love of the brethren continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it. Remember the prisoners as though in prison with them, and those who are ill-treated, since you yourselves also are in the body. Marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage band is to be undefiled, for fornicators and adulterers God will judge. Make sure that your character is free from the love of Bunny, being content with what you have, for he himself has said, I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you. So that we confidently say, the Lord is my helper. I will not be afraid. What will man do to me? Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you, and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Do not be carried away by varied and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, through which those who were so occupied were not benefited. 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 holy place by the high priest as an offering for sin are burned outside the camp. Therefore Jesus also that he might sanctify the people through his own blood suffered outside the gate. So let us go out to him outside the camp bearing his reproach. For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come. Through Him, then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name. And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you. Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a good conscience, desiring to conduct ourselves honorably in all things. And I urge you all the more to do this so that I may be restored to you the sooner. Now the God of peace who brought up from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus, our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. Amen. You may be seated. We know that the book of Hebrews is concerned with the superiority of the Lord Jesus Christ. That the author of the book of Hebrews sat down at his desk and began to pen how Jesus Christ is superior over everyone and everything. But that wasn't the purpose of his writing this epistle. The purpose for him to write this epistle, the reason the writer felt he needed to explain the superiority of Jesus Christ, is because the church, the Hebrew church, was wavering. They were stumbling in their walk of faith. They were considering giving up the race of faith. Out of love and tender affection, the Apostle sits down and he pens this letter in order to encourage them to continue in this race. To continue under the persecution that they were experiencing. To continue in their love and adoration of Jesus Christ, even though their brothers, physical brothers who were Jews, even though their spiritual brothers, the Pharisees, rejected Christ as God's Redeemer and Messiah. He writes to them the superiority of Jesus Christ so that they may see His glory, so that they may see His majesty, and so that they may have the fuel and the tenacity to hold on to what they had confessed, what they had put their faith and trust in. You see, beloved, The Jews actually considered Christians in the first century to be atheists. They didn't have God. The Jews considered the Christians to be atheists. You don't have God. You don't have a worship. You don't have a ceremonial worship. You don't have a tabernacle. You don't have a priesthood. And you've got to have a priest to go to God. You've got to worship God the way God has prescribed it. You've got to have a sacrifice and you've got to have. Beloved, all of these things, and they told the Christians that they didn't have any of those things. And that's the reason the author takes 13 chapters to explain the superiority of Jesus Christ and how many times that he has said throughout this epistle, we have a high priest, we have a cleansed conscience before God. And now he says in verse 10, we have an altar. an altar that those who still continue to serve the tabernacle have no right to eat. We have something that they don't have. They have the husk, the empty husk, the tithe. They have the shadow. They don't have the reality. You have the reality, beloved. That's why we've spent – this is the fourth sermon on these five verses of Scripture explaining the superiority of the priesthood of Jesus Christ. And he's done this in a cyclical fashion throughout the book. He's done this time and time again in order to stir up faithfulness, in order to conjure up within them gratitude, a love that deepened their love and affection for Christ so that whenever they faced these difficulties, and some of them were already beginning to face great difficulties, we read about it. But beloved, this epistle was written at the threshold of the Jewish war, the persecution under Nero, And Nero was a monster, a maniac, a bloodthirsty God-hater, Nero was, who found great joy in lighting up his garden with live Christians. Now what does it take to face that kind of persecution? What does it take? What kind of encouragement do you need, beloved, knowing that you could possibly go to your death for the faith that you have in Jesus Christ? What encouragement would you need in order to stay true in time of hardship? Would you need to hear about how God loves you? Would you want to hear about all of the flower and the beds of ease that Christianity ushers and brings into the life that so many people tell us today? That if you'll just be a Christian, all your problems will go away. That if you'll just put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, your bank account will grow. You won't get sick anymore. Beloved, all that's hogwash and error. What he's encouraging these Hebrew Christians to do is to stand fast in that persecution, pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ, because he said, look at your Savior, look at your model, look at your truest example, because he endured great hostility and persecution himself. He endured the mockings of sinful men. He endured a mock court who tried him as a criminal even though he was innocent. He endured the plucking out of his beard, the shoving upon his head the crown of thorns. He endured all the cursings. He endured being rejected by his brethren. He endured being rejected by his family. Even upon the cross, they hurled insults at him and mocked him. The writer says, look to Jesus. I mean, beloved, what are we to take out of this? He says that Lord Jesus Christ is everything you need. He's not only provided that cleansed conscience. He's only not only provided that access to the throne of grace, that the Lord Jesus has paved the way. He's gone before us as the forerunner, as the first fruit of the resurrection of the dead. And he has ushered us into the presence of God. And we have been a we had that access. And not only that, we've been accepted by God. We stand before God, justified by the blood of Christ. We stand before God just as if we have never sinned. Is that what you need? Does that encourage you to fight sin in your heart? Does that encourage you to mortify the flesh? Does that encourage you to continue to press down and put down the old man and to kill those sinful habits? Does that encourage you, beloved, to love righteousness, to love justice, to hate everything that opposes Christ? Does it encourage you to do that? I'm here to tell you that if that's not the result of the vision that this book has painted of you of the Lord Jesus Christ, you haven't heard the message. You haven't seen this Jesus. Because when you see this Jesus with the eyes of faith, you cannot help but stand fast in difficult times. Beloved, when your eyes of faith gaze upon this Savior, You stand, and you say, what can man do to me? What's the text say? What can man do to me? I have Christ. Who will I fear? If you kill me, you're just going to usher me into the presence of my blessed Savior. If you torture me, I'm just glad that I could be counted worthy enough to suffer as Jesus suffered. Beloved, we all need a dose of Jesus Christ. We need a glorious, majestic, powerful picture of our Redeemer and King. And that's how he's closing chapter 13 of the book of Hebrews. Again, he begins expounding for us the high priesthood of Jesus Christ. And he again is telling them, you lack nothing. You have everything you need. You lack not one thing, beloved, to stand before God and to be counted as righteousness. And there's nothing else more important than that. I'm going to tell you, there's nothing more important than standing before God and being accepted. Listen to me. No man on his deathbed ever wants to work another hour, pick the weeds out of the garden, go fishing, go hunting. No. When a man's on his deathbed, he's thinking, am I right with God? I'm fixing to stand before Him. And when I stand before Him, will I be accepted or will I be rejected? You see, beloved, that's the most important thing, that a man find acceptance before the face of God. And those who continue to worship God in the old ways, after the Lord Jesus had established the apostles to go out and preach the Kingdom of Heaven, And he attested to the authority of the apostles with signs and wonders and miracles. That is, everywhere these apostles went, he demonstrated that they were sent by Christ because they exhibited great power over death. They raised the dead. They healed the lame. They healed the sick. They caused blind eyes to see. That is, Christ testified that these are my messengers and they come preaching to you the kingdom of heaven. Embrace their message. See this Christ. See the Messiah. See the Lord Jesus. He's the fulfillment of all of those Old Testament promises, as Paul says in Corinthians chapter 1, that Jesus Christ is the yes and amen of the Bible, referring to the Old Testament. You see, last week I only dealt with one point. I went back and listened to the sermon, and I got so carried away on the introduction, I only made one point. So today we're going to deal with the other point. But I'm here to tell you what a glorious Savior we have. Amen. And I want to reiterate what I've already said before in previous sermons. You have given up nothing compared to Jesus to follow Him. What is it? Think about that. Meditate upon that. You have given up nothing to follow Christ. He's everything. You have gained everything when you embrace Jesus. When you received the gospel and you put your faith in Him, you received absolutely everything. You became an heir of the gospel of grace. You became an inheritor of all the promises and the blessings found in Jesus Christ. You've been sealed for the day of salvation. You've been given His Holy Spirit. You've had His favor placed upon you. Beloved, whenever those old habits whisper in your ear, Whenever that old lifestyle whispers in your ear, you need to remind yourself you have an altar, you have a Savior, you have a priest, you have a sacrifice, you have a mediator, you have a prophet, you have a priest, and a King who is divine God. You need to remind yourself of that and let that be your encouragement. We'll continue understanding the book of Hebrews. Last week we talked about the book of Hebrews sets forth basically two things. That is, when he sat down to pen the letter, he basically had two objectives. Number one, to steer the Hebrews from false doctrine. to steer them from accepting that worship that God no longer accepted anymore. God no longer accepted ceremonial worship. God no longer accepted... I mean, after the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, after Jesus has shed His blood and been resurrected from the dead, that demonstrating that God had accepted His sacrifice and His ascension into heaven, Beloved, God never accepted another bull, another goat, another lamb, another dove. God no longer accepted any of those shadowy types of sacrifice because the Lord Jesus had shed His perfect blood. Lord Jesus, had redeemed and paid for all of the sins of God's people. So that's what he wanted to do. He wanted to show them. He wanted to steer them away from embracing somehow some quasi-form, either going back to the ceremonial law altogether, or like some of them during that time, actually did both. They were kind of riding the fence, so to speak. Half of them worshipped on Saturday, and then they would worship on Sunday. They were confused. They didn't know what to do. Paul was preaching one gospel, and then those quote, super apostles in 2 Corinthians would come preaching another gospel. Telling them they needed to be circumcised. Telling them they needed to embrace the ceremonial law. Telling them they needed to continue to do all these things plus Jesus. It's Jesus plus nothing. It's only Jesus. It's all about Jesus. You don't need anything else but Jesus. He's everything you need. Boys and girls, listen to me. All you need is Jesus Christ. That's it. All you need is to embrace the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, as your Master, as your Lord, and then follow Him. Act like Jesus acts. Walk the path that Jesus walked. But we also know that there's a second reason that the writer penned the book, and he wanted to warn These Hebrews, from not heeding the words of Christ's true apostle. This is important. Christ had testified that he had sent out his apostles, his disciples, to preach the message of the kingdom. And that all of those that embraced that apostolic message, embraced all those promises promised in the Old Testament, They were made sons of the kingdom, heirs of the covenant of grace because they listened to the apostles message. That means the apostles spoke infallibly concerning Christ in his church and man's state before God. They weren't adding, they weren't just, it wasn't just an appendage to the Old Testament, they were revealing the mind of Christ The mind of God that these apostles was preaching that this Jesus is the one that God promised in the Old Testament. And if you rejected the apostles' message, you were rejecting Christ. If you rejected the message of the apostles, you did not receive Christ. Now you need to understand that. And this is an epistle of warning. The book of Hebrews. contains some of the most unrivaled warnings in all of the New Testament. It has in it a series of warnings that are meant to stir up faith, to stir up obedience. to stir people up into being, to take their eyes off themselves, to take their eyes off their circumstances and to place them on Jesus Christ and to walk through these hard times faithfully. It was meant to actually put the fear of God in you. And the book of Hebrews contains severe warnings. In fact, many commentators rightfully call it the epistle of warning. We're going to look at some of these. In fact, we're going to look at all of these because I think it's important for us to realize This is the message. You know, embracing the gospel, oh, it may be optional in the sense that it's freely offered, and you can accept it or reject it, but understand this, those who reject it, damnation. There's not a second way. There's not an alternative Savior. There's not an alternative message. There's only one Savior, one faith. One God. One Kingdom. One Covenant. Hebrews 2, verses 1-4. Let's refresh our memories with these warnings, even though we've been through the book. It's been a while since we've looked at some of these. But Hebrews 2, verses 1-4 contain the very first warning of this epistle. And I'll read it to you. Chapter 2, verse 1, For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it. For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? For after it was first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard, God also testifying with them both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by the gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will." We see here that error and apathy are like a swift running river. Error and apathy, beloved. Error and doctrine. In practice, apathy concerning the things of God is like a raging swift river. that you can't escape if you're in the river. You're always being bombarded by error. You will always be bombarded by the old man, that sin principle that the Lord left within you to be apathetic to these things, to think, you know what? Hey, we get an hour's worth of preaching on Sunday morning and that's quite enough for me. I'm a very spiritual person. An hour is an overload for me. Beloved, that's apathy. That's being apathetic. That's being lethargic to your need and the message of the gospel. You must understand that error and apathy is always tugging at your heels. It's always pulling on your coat. It's always willing to overtake you. But you must be diligent. You must, as the text says, pay much closer attention to what you have heard so that we do not drift away from it. Truth is fixed, beloved. It stands firm. It never moves. But we move. And that's the intention of the passage. Truth doesn't drift away from us. There's no neutrality. Truth remains fixed. And what are we to do? We are to be ever so diligent to cling and hang on to this truth and not be so apathetic that we just meander on down the river without even knowing it. into error, lethargy and apathy. One day we wake up and Jesus just isn't that meaningful to us anymore. You know what? Preaching doesn't hold the same fire and doesn't stir my heart anymore. The things of Christ no longer encourage me to obedience. Oh, I know all about that. You see families like this. You know, parents, young families, I want to encourage you this morning. You have a lot on you. You're raising children, you're having babies, and it's hard and it's difficult. And sometimes you just, you want to throw your hands up in the air and you go, man, I keep telling these kids over and over and over, they're not learning, am I doing something wrong? No, you know what? You could be doing everything right, but you're training sinners. You're raising up the covenant of grace. You're raising up church members. You're teaching them how to put off sin and put on righteousness. You're teaching them to embrace Jesus Christ. And the natural man doesn't want to do any of that. You learn early on to have their own wills. And sometimes it can frustrate you when you have one, maybe two, three or four or five. I want to encourage you because I see many young families. And they do well at first. And they're bringing their children to church. They're diligent. I mean, they've made this determination, we are going to be in church and we're going to be diligent to the gospel. We're going to focus on Jesus. Then after a few years, children get about four or five or six, they begin to be occupied with so many other things. They allow, you allow yourselves to be occupied with other things, beloved. And then you're not in church as much. Children are getting older, and you know what? They've learned about 10 catechisms. You're doing great. They've got a few verses under their belt. They don't mind praying at dinner. They don't mind praying when they go to bed. And you're thinking, I've done pretty well. We don't need to go to church this morning. We can stay at home, maybe read our Bibles and pray together. All of a sudden, they're 7, 8, 9, and you become more apathetic to the things of God. And you know what? Sturmans, don't scare your heart anymore. And you know what? Now you've let your little boy and your little girl go off for the weekend with other folks that don't believe the gospel at all, are basically nominal at best, Christians. You let them make friends with people that have no love for the gospel at all. Oh, they say Jesus. They say the name Jesus. They say they believe the gospel. And yes, they're members of a church. But you wouldn't know they love Jesus by talking to them. You wouldn't know they love Jesus by the way they discipline and train their children, by the things they watch, by the activities they have. Why do we? You know, it's having a family. It's having a life so encumbered with so many other things that may be good. But where's Christ? The next thing you know, they're teenagers and they're just gone altogether. They may be even going to a different church and you every now and then go. Then what happens to that generation? You see, beloved, apostasy doesn't happen overnight. Apostasy is gradual. It happens over time. And the next thing you know, that grandfather, that grandmother is bouncing a child on their knees that don't even know the name of Jesus. Oh, now Jesus is just a bedtime story. Now Jesus is just a little ditty when they sing. Now Jesus is more just a figment of some storybook character than He is a Savior and Mediator and Prophet, Prince and King. There's a huge difference. Understand that. There's a huge difference. And the Lord has called us. Young parents, I'm emphasizing you because you have so much to do. Don't get sidetracked. Don't encumber your lives with so many other things right now. Right now, you need to be focused on Christ and your children. Other things will come. You're not going to have these children forever. Understand, we're in the current of the river, and if you're not careful, we'll drift away from it. And it's an ever-present danger. Matthew Henry said this. He said, you must be diligent in esteeming Christ. He said, you demonstrate your understanding and grasp of the prize of salvation. Christ, in His Word, must be our source of daily meditation and imitation. He goes on to say this, we must retain them in our hearts and affections, in our memories, and let them regulate our words and actions. Beloved, the truth of God's Gospel, the message, the mediator, the person and work of Jesus Christ must govern Everything we say and do. Everything. I mean every activity as well. Will this activity hinder my church attendance? Will this activity hinder my commitment to prayer in the study of God's Word? And you know what? It may be a very good activity. But when you stand before God, He's not going to care whether you play softball, baseball, fish, hunt, He's going to wonder, what did you do with Jesus? Let's go to the second warning in the book of Hebrews found in chapter 3. This is a very long warning. As I understand it, it goes from chapter 3, verse 7, all the way in to chapter 4, verse 2. Now, some break it up, but I have all this as one particular warning. And the basis of this warning is this. Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts. This is the basis of this warning. Today, if you hear the voice of the Holy Spirit, do not harden your hearts. Beloved, as we'll see as we go on through the book of Hebrews, as we've already noticed about the preaching of the gospel, that's how we hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. That's how we hear the voice of Christ, is through the preaching of His message, the preaching of the gospel. And He says that when you hear His voice, and you harden your heart, you are on the road to apostasy. You are on the road. You are on the path. You are on the way to apostatizing from Jesus Christ. Israel was notorious for worshiping God with cold hearts. Oh, they offered sacrifices. I mean, they went and performed their duties But God was always rebuking them. Read the prophets. God says, I desire mercy rather than sacrifice. You bring your lambs, you bring your goats, you bring your doves to me, but your heart's far from me. You don't love me. You don't find me adorable. No, you want to just offer your sacrifices and you want to keep on sinning. You don't want to turn from your sin and embrace Me as Savior and your God. Israel was notorious for that. Notice what the text says in Hebrews 3, verse 10. It says, "...therefore I was angry with this generation and said, they always go astray..." Where? "...in their hearts." It's amazing how we can see it under biblical preaching. every Sunday and still continue to go astray, is it not? To continue to see and to have apathy for the things of God. It's possible, brethren. It is possible for you to sit here Sunday after Sunday and attend the Bible studies with a cold heart, and God would be angry with you for that. Because He wants your heart. They always go astray in their hearts. Beloved, check your hearts this morning. Hebrews chapter 5, our third warning, chapter 5 verse 11 through chapter 6 and verse 8. I'm not going to read this whole warning. I'm just going to tell you the gist of it. Hebrews chapter 5 verse 11 through 6, 8 has as its emphasis becoming dull of hearing and falling away. They once were babes in the gospel. They confessed the Lord Jesus Christ and they were babes in the gospel. Then they grew up to maturity and now they were considered to be babes again because they stopped doing those things that made them mature in the faith. And you know what? When they stopped doing it, they did not remain mature in the faith. They began backsliding. That's where we get the whole idea of backsliding. You can backslide, beloved. And that's why he says in verse 14, he says, but solid food is for the mature who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil. They could no longer discern what was good doctrine and bad doctrine because they were no longer walking in the light of the gospel. They were no longer practicing the things that they knew to practice. And you know what happens? then you become suspect of error. When you stop practicing what you know to be true, what you know to be right, when you stop imitating Jesus Christ and you stop being diligent, hanging on to Jesus Christ for truth and justice, then you are suspect for error and then you no longer can discern between what is false and what's true. You were tossed to and fro like a small child. Remember the book of Ephesians? That's why he gave you pastors and teachers, so that you wouldn't be children. You know, these children are precious in the sight of God. And in fact, there's a great warning given to adults who mislead children, because you know what? You can tell your child one thing, and here comes this savvy teacher, Bible teacher, and he comes and tells your child another thing that's false, but your child, he's won his heart, he's won his mind over, and he begins winning over the heart of that child, and he's able to lead that child right in there. And the Bible says, this is what Jesus said, he said, it'd be better if a millstone was tied around that man's neck and he was cast into the sea than to mislead one of my little ones. Michael's children are gullible. Children are impressionable. And they are a huge responsibility. They are a great responsibility for parents and a church. That we would impress upon them the truth of Jesus Christ as prophet, priest, and king. That they would hear it here, and that they would grow up in this fellowship. So many people today are so program-oriented and minded. If the church doesn't sing certain kind of praise songs, if the church doesn't have certain kind of functions for the children, they don't desire, they don't want that church. But listen to me, beloved. Those children are being misled left and right. And you may be solid as a rock. Of course, that's questionable, depending on where you go to church. And you may be teaching your child how to pray. You may be catechizing your child. But when that child goes under other influences, they're being tugged to and fro. And that's not healthy for the child. No, this warning tells us that we must maintain the battle, we must maintain the fight. If we do not, we will become dull of hearing. And then when the pastor preaches some profound doctrine, like Jesus being the successor to Melchizedek, you'll understand it. You won't be like this congregation who goes, I don't understand Melchizedek. These things are too deep for me to understand. You see, you'll understand deep doctrine when the pastor preaches and teaches it in chapter six. In verse 7 and 8, he gives this illustration of what happens to those who don't pay attention to the Word of God. He gives this parable and he says, for the ground that drinks the rain which often falls on it, it brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God. But if it yields thorns and thistles, it's worthless and it's close to being cursed and it ends up being burned. He says, listen, if you drink in the Word of God and it produces fruit, It changes your practice. It helps you kill and mortify sinful habits and desires." He said, then you're drinking in the Word of Grace and you've accepted it by faith. He said, but if that same message you drink in produces nothing, thorns and thistles, there's no habitual practice to righteousness, there's no glorious understanding of the majesty of Jesus Christ, there's no turning in your heart for spiritual things, then he said, you're only worthy of being cursed and cast into hell. I think we understand the Hebrews is a book of warning. Severe, stiff warnings are given to a people who are considering leaving Jesus Christ and going back to a worship that God no longer accepts. Well, let's continue. Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10. This is our fourth warning. Chapter 10 and verse 26. Here in this verse 26 down through 31, he says, for if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins. If we go on sinning after receiving the knowledge of the truth, he says, how much severer punishment do you think he deserves? What punishment do you think the man deserves who's trampled under his foot the blood of the covenant? Who has regarded unclean the sacrifice of Jesus Christ? Who has insulted the Spirit of grace? What do you think he deserves? Well, look at verse 31. For it's a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. That person who insults the spirit of grace, who tramples under the blood of the covenant, who regards the sacrifice of Christ unclean, will reckon with God. Chapter 12, verse 15 and 17, our fifth warning. Or excuse me, chapter 12, verse 14, verse 15 through 17, our fifth warning. He says, See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God, that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled, that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it. with tears. He says, see to it, this is the warning folks, see to it that no one comes short of the grace of God. Look around you. You have a brotherly responsibility to those people around you in your congregation to see to it that none of them become apathetic and lethargic to the things of Christ. That when you don't see them being stirred up by the message of grace, you go to them and you make sure that if you can help them, you help them. You ask them. Brother, I don't see you on fire like you used to be. I don't see you being steered by the message of Christ like you used to be. What is the problem? He says, you see to it that no one comes short of the grace of God. He also says, be on guard against people, church members who are always embracing some vain philosophy or idea that isn't scriptural, and is always trying to pull you aside and whisper in your ear some schism, trying to start some schism in the church. Be on your guard against those who would pit you against this other brother. He says, be on your guard against bitterness and divisive people. Be on your guard against immoral people. who don't think they have to obey the law of God after coming to the gospel of grace. Be on your guard against those immoral people, because they trample under their foot the blood of the covenant. They spurn His Holy Spirit. Brothers and sisters, our last warning found in Hebrews chapter 12, verse 25 through 39. See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking, for if those who did not escape, when they refused Him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from Him who warns from heaven. And His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heaven. This expression, yet once more, denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken. as created things, as those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude with which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence in all. For our God is a consuming fire." In this text of Scripture, we have the reconstruction of preaching. That is, it's by the preaching of the gospel that God reconstructs this earth. to His will and to His glory. The message of the Gospel shakes the foundation of everything that's not according to Scripture, that's not God honoring. He says, you see to it that you don't refuse the message. See to it that you don't refuse Him who is speaking. Notice the thread of continuity. through all these warnings. What is it? Obey God, listen to Him, hear His message, and strive, do everything humanly possible by His grace, by the power of His Spirit, not in your own strength. It's not by might. It's not by power. It's by my power, says the Lord. It's under the power of the Holy Spirit that you can strive to please God in all that you do. This is the warning given to us. He says, for our God is a consuming fire. It's amazing that most people think that that phrase is in the Old Testament. It's not. It's right here. in the book of Hebrews. You know why? Because to reject so great a salvation is to provoke God to the greatest wrath and anger. The rejection of His Son stirs God to greater wrath and anger than anything else. That's why at His baptism, when the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus in the form of a dove, and the clouds rolled back, God said, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him. Hear Him. Listen to Him. Listen to Him. It's easy to see why the Hebrews is called the Epistle of Warning. Brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the two passages of Scripture last week as we begin relating to Jesus Christ as our High Priest, as our glorious High Priest. Last week we looked at 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 16 and 17 where it says, all scripture is inspired of God and is profitable for teaching and instruction and rebuke, correcting, training in righteousness. That means the ceremonial laws. That means all of those things that pointed to Jesus Christ in the Old Testament are profitable for us to understand them, because if we understand those ceremonies, if we understand that ceremonial law, we'll have a brighter and a clearer understanding of Jesus Christ. And we'll have a better understanding of our own sin and how wretched we truly are. Luke chapter 24 and verse 27. I gave you the wrong address last week. where Jesus says to those on the road to Emmaus, beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all of the Scriptures. Beloved, I said it last week and I'll say it again, wherever you cut the Bible, wherever you slice the Bible, it bleeds Jesus Christ. It speaks of Christ. And that's why when most people read the book of Hebrews today, they don't understand it. You know what they say? I mean, you know, you're excited and you're fired up and you tell people, hey, our pastor is preaching through the book of Hebrews. You ought to read the book. It's a phenomenal book. It's a glorious book. It explains Jesus Christ. It sets him forth like no other book in the New Testament. It's glorious and you'll enjoy it so much. And they go home and they read the book of Hebrews and they're scratching their head. And they come back to you and they say, I'm sorry, but that was the hardest book I ever read in the New Testament. And I don't understand it. All this ceremonial language and sacrifice and blood sprinkling and tabernacles and altars and Melchizedek. I'm like, Melchizedek? But you see, they don't understand it. And the reason most Christians don't understand it is because they've never been taught and instructed in the ceremonies in the Old Testament. Because when the Apostle wrote these things, these people were reading it in that ceremonial language and they were going, that's Jesus! That's Jesus! That's Jesus! That's Jesus! We see Jesus! Now I understand. Now I know why the priest did it this way. Now I know why he wore this robe. Now I know why this sacrifice meant this. Now I know what the day of Pentecost actually means. Now I know what the tabernacle feast means. I see Christ in all of those things. Which brings us to our text, right? Verse 10, we have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat. For those bodies of the animals whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high priest as an offering for sin are burned outside the camp. Therefore, Jesus also, that he may sanctify the people through his own blood, suffered outside the gate. So let us go out to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come." You see? Beloved, much of the confusion among the apostolic church was the relationship it had between the old administration and the new. Read Paul's epistles. He's trying to straighten out their understanding of the ceremonial law. Because there's a lot of Jews that wanted to embrace the ceremonies along with Christ, and Paul says you can't do that. That's a different gospel. That's not my gospel. That's not the gospel that I received from Christ personally. That's not the gospel I preached to you. That's not the gospel that you embraced. You see, much of the New Testament is written with that tension in mind, and we need to understand that. These apostles were trying to help these new Christians find their way in the faith. Even though there were many false teachers out there, seeking to divert these Christians, seeking to shipwreck them in the faith. The first recorded Presbyterian meeting found in the book of Acts was a meeting over whether or not, whether the Gentiles needed to be circumcised as long with believing in Christ. Now, that was the very first Presbyterian meeting in the New Testament. Will we require these Gentiles who embrace Jesus to be circumcised? And of course, all of those apostles and elders that met at that Presbyterian meeting said, absolutely not. They don't need to be circumcised. They just need Jesus. They need faith. Paul in Romans says that if you live by circumcision, then you must obey the whole law. Romans 2 and verse 25, he says, circumcision is only of value if you keep all of the law. So you can't embrace Christ and the law. You can't have it both ways. Romans 2, verse 29, Paul rightly instructs them that circumcision of the flesh wasn't what God solely intended. God required that they be circumcised of the Heart! That's what it says in the Old Testament. That's what God says in Deuteronomy 10 and Deuteronomy 30. He says, I desire for you to be circumcised, not just of the flesh, but of the heart. That means beloved. When he talks about it in that language, what he is saying is, I desire that your heart is bent toward me. You love me. You know what it is to love somebody? You can't get off your mind. I know some of you have been there. Hopefully, you still are. You know what it means to love somebody and to burn in your heart? You can't wait to talk to them. You can't wait to see them. You can't wait to get a note from them. I mean, that's what it means. God is saying, I desire a circumcised heart where you were once far from me. Now you've been brought near by my Son. And you love me. And you know what? Here's the thing. You know, a lot of people, when they miss church, They think the elders are upset with them. And that's just not reasonable and that's not the case. There's providential reasons, but you can always tell the people when they miss church. A question that I always like to ask is, but did you want to be there? See, that's the whole intention. You know, you may be providentially hindered at times, but you are just, your heart turns because you can't be in the presence of the elect of God. You can't be in the house of God. You can't be under the preaching of the gospel. You can't have the sacrament of the Lord's Suffering. Your heart burns because you want to be there and you can't be there. There's a huge difference than people that can't be there and they go, oh well, la-dee-dah, next time. It's a big difference. Brothers and sisters, are we confused about the ceremonial law? I mean, the writer of Hebrews has used it throughout the book. Paul even uses ceremonial language in the book of Romans. But are we confused about it? What place does it have? Do we understand that Christ is the fulfillment of the law? I'm just going to give you a couple of A couple of indicators to let you know that the ceremonial wall has been fulfilled in Jesus. And you need to understand this, because you're going to have brothers and sisters out there who are going to be confused about this. You're going to have dispensationalist friends who believe that there's going to be a tabernacle or another temple built, and they're going to offer more sacrifices, and you need to help them out here. There are not going to be any more sacrifices. If there are, God's not going to receive them. Any sacrifices that is offered after Christ's sacrifice is an abomination to God. Okay? So let me give you several reasons why we know that the ceremonial law has been fulfilled or abrogated in Jesus Christ. First of all, the Bible plainly teaches it, but it teaches it in both the Old and New Testaments. The Bible teaches this in both the Old and New Testaments. I'm going to give you passages of Scripture and you can go read this, but Hebrews chapter 9 and 10 are all about how the ceremonial law of the Old Testament was temporary. It was designed by God to give away to Christ. It was not designed to be permanent. It was designed to only be a temporary worship for the people of God. So it was not designed to last forever. Many of the rabbis even taught that the ceremonial law would give way to the Messiah. But the problem was most of those Pharisees didn't see Jesus as the Messiah. So ceremonial law remained in place for them. But how do we know this as Christians? Well, first of all, the ceremonial law is temporary by nature. By nature. And that means in its makeup, the ceremonial law is temporary in its makeup. And I'm just teaching you all of this to point to the glory of Jesus Christ. It's temporary in its nature, that is this where the moral law is grounded in the character and nature of God. The ceremonial law is grounded in his will, not in his character, not in his nature. The moral law is grounded in God's character and nature. Thus, the moral law never changes. The moral law remains the same, but the ceremonial law is grounded in the will of God. It was God's will that that first administration of the coming of grace worship him through types and sacrifices in a priesthood. That means this, beloved, you're always going to keep the moral law. Every man is bound by the moral law in every age, every person, no matter what. But not so with ceremonial law. It was for a time and for a season and it gave way to the fulfillment of it. That is, the ceremonial law derives its authority from God's will, requiring changes as circumstances change. Let me give you two examples of it. The first example is, whenever Israel went into the land of Canaan, the very first place of worship was with the tribe of Benjamin, in the place of Shallow. But God changed that. You see, God never changes His moral law, but He can change the ceremonial law. God changed the place of worship from the tribe of Benjamin and the place of Shiloh to where? The tribe of Judah and Bethlehem, Mount Zion. That change did not conflict with God's character. Let me give you another change. If you go to Hebrews chapter 7, we're not going to turn there. If you go to Hebrews chapter 7, he talks about Jesus Christ being the change of law in the priesthood. The moral law never changes. But you see, you had to be a Levite to be a priest, to be a high priest. You had to be of the lineage of Aaron. Jesus wasn't a Levite. He was not of the tribe of Levi. He was of the tribe of Judah. But what did God do? Psalm 110, verses 3 and 4. He made an oath that Jesus Christ would be priest forever. He made a change. And that change did not frustrate His character. It wasn't against His nature. He made a lawful, legal, willful change in the ceremonial law. God can do that. Secondly, the ceremonial law is grounded on the promise God made concerning a Savior and is no longer needed once the promise is fulfilled. That is, when God made a promise in Genesis 3.15, I'm going to send to you a Savior. He will crush the head of Satan and Satan will bruise his heel. Then what God began to do is unfold what this Savior was going to look like, what he was going to be like. How the devastation of sin, so on and so forth, all pointing to the ceremonial law. But when that promise was fulfilled, there was no longer a need for the neon sign. There was no longer a need for the shadows. There was no longer a need for everything that pointed to Jesus because He's here. Theologians said this, with the passing of reason, that means the reason for the ceremonial law, passes away of the law itself. There was no longer a reason for the ceremonial law because we have Jesus. Thirdly, the very performance of the law, the very performance of the ceremonial law itself proves that it was only, it was temporary and for a short time. because of the place of the worship, being a tabernacle and a temple, being a geographical location. So many Christians today focus upon the land of Israel. Listen, beloved, I'm going to simplify every bit of this. That's not God's intention. God's just not happy and pleased with some little bitty piece of land in the Middle East. Adam forfeited the whole world when he fell. And God's only happy with the whole world. What Adam failed to do, he's now doing through Christ, as far as the curses found, beloved, Jesus is redeeming not only mankind, but this earth, the whole earth. So you see the temporariness of the tabernacle and the temple, this geographical location. Jesus said in John, he said, people must worship me in spirit and in truth. Let's not just go into a place. Romans chapter 12, I mean, Romans chapter 4, verse, I believe, 13, where it talks about Abraham is the heir of the world, not Israel. Proving that the ceremonial law was giving way to something greater and larger, Christ. The people. Where are the priests to offer sacrifices? They're done away with. God destroyed the temple in A.D. 70. No one even knows now. There's no Israel, nobody, no Jew knows where the Levites are. They're gone. They're so intermingled and so intermixed, they can't have a line of Levi any longer. That means they will never again have a priesthood, according to their law, if they don't embrace Jesus and the sacrifices. All transitory. The Bible continually says the blood of bulls and goats did not take away sin. Only Jesus could take away sin. Not only that, one of the most prized of all sacrifices was the red heifer. It's gone too. It's no longer needed. It was God's prized sacrifice, but there is no longer a red heifer anymore. Even though they're trying to do everything they can to breed a new red heifer. Because they think somehow God's going to be pleased with this red heifer. Beloved, He's only pleased with Jesus. The whole Bible points to that. The Old Testament teaches the abrogation of the ceremonial law. Psalm 110, verses 3 and 4. Jeremiah, chapter 31, verses 31 and 32. You could go to Isaiah. You could go to Ezekiel 18, 16, 36. All throughout, the Old Testament talks about, there's a day coming when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel in Judah. There's a day coming when I will write my law upon their hearts and upon their minds. Beloved, all pointing to a day when there's going to be a different effectual administration of the gospel of grace. Everybody here should say amen to that. Because, praise God for Christ. We see the New Testament teaches this in Galatians chapter 4, Ephesians chapter 4, Colossians chapter 2, Ephesians chapter 2, The New Testament teaches it as well. Sixthly, the scope of the ceremonial law was narrow. Beloved, this is where you need to understand theology. Seriously. You know, most people read their Bibles, they read devotionally. Well, that's fine. That's fine. You've got to also read it theologically. That is, the New Testament begins like this. And as it gets closer to the New Testament and to Christ, it expands and expands and expands. The ceremonial law was narrow, but now under Christ it has expanded to the whole world. Not only are little boys in the Old Covenant were circumcised, now both little boys and little girls are both sprinkled under the waters of baptism. Both receive the sign of the Holy Spirit and the sign of their need for regeneration. You can get that. The Old Testament teaches that the ceremonial law was fulfilled and abrogated in none other than Jesus Christ. None other than Jesus Christ. Beloved, This passage of Scripture in Hebrews chapter 13 verses 10 through 14 teaches us that Christ is our great High Priest. And those who continue to serve the tabernacle have no right to eat of Him. Beloved, do you understand what he's saying? He says those who have dedicated their lives to the temple, to the worship of God and the ceremonial laws, he says that person who has dedicated himself to that shadow has no right to Christ if he seeks to hang on to that shadow. Christ is our public person who, in the name of the guilty, deals with an offended God. for reconciliation by sacrifice which he offers to God upon an altar, being called to that office by God." Beloved, Jesus Christ is our great high priest who reconciles us to God. Christ excels Aaron and all the other priests. He excels them in His person because He is God. He excels them in His installment. And as his installment as a priest, because God made an oath with Jesus that he would be a priest forever according to the priesthood of Mel Kinsey. Nobody's coming behind Jesus. Nobody's coming behind Him. He's it. He's been installed permanently as our great high priest. He excels Aaron and all the other priests in the efficacy and the perfection of his sacrifice. You know, the Bible says the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sins, but the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses our conscience from all sins. Those sacrifices that Aaron and the high priest offered did not take away sin, but Jesus takes away sin. What does verse 12 say? Therefore Jesus also that he might sanctify the people through his own blood suffered outside the gate. He offered Himself up in His human nature, up to God, as a payment for the sins of His people. This offering was on the altar of His divine nature, which gave His sacrifice infinite value and efficacy. Brothers and sisters, when the Bible says that Jesus Christ is our altar, it means exactly that, that we have an altar. And that is when Jesus offered Himself, His human nature was sacrificed for the sins of His people. Yet in his divine nature, made that sacrifice acceptable and efficacious because he's both God and man. This sacrifice was not only upon the cross, but it was his whole life. Read Isaiah 53. Jesus began offering himself up as a sacrifice when he was incarnated in the womb of Mary. All throughout his life, he was being offered up as a sacrifice to his father, which culminated in his death, burial, and resurrection, and ascension into heaven, which God accepted. Verse 13 says, let us go up out to him outside the camp bearing his reproach. This propitiation, this offering up of Jesus himself, beloved, even though it's enough to take away sin, it's enough to save God's people, there is something that we must do. We must embrace him by faith. We must identify ourselves with Jesus. We must not shrink back in the time of difficulty and hardship. We must not be fair-weather Christians. We must not only serve Christ when it's easy. We must serve Christ when it's difficult to serve Christ. That's what being identified with Jesus means. So let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach. Jesus bore our reproach. Let us bear His reproach. If they blasphemed His name, so let them blaspheme our name, beloved. But let us stand for truth in a culture that loves death. Let us stand true in the midst of churches that don't love truth any longer. And let us bear the reproach of Christ and His kingdom. The Hebrews had to be willing to leave those things that were highly esteemed among men, but not God. The Hebrews highly esteemed the tabernacle and the worship and the sacrifices. Oh, they highly esteemed the garb of the high priest. They highly esteemed all of their ceremonial pomp and pagesty. But we must understand now that Christ has come, we must reject all worship that seems glorious to man. But it is an abomination to God. If God hasn't prescribed it, he doesn't accept it. You remember that. If he hasn't prescribed it, he will not accept it. He will not look at you and go, well, he means well. He will not do that. They needed to identify themselves with the reality of God's promise and salvation. They needed to go to Jesus. They were told they didn't have a God. We started off our message with that. They were told they were atheists. They were told they didn't have a priest. They were told they didn't have a sacrifice. But what's the conclusion of that now? They do. We do. You do. Those who embrace Christ have an altar. They have satisfaction for sin. They have acceptance before the throne of God. They have justification. They have adoption as sons of God. And they have sanctification that God requires. Nothing else, not your intellect, not how good you are, not how much money you give, not in your good intentions. Don't rest in anything other than the personal work of Jesus Christ. This is what it means, boys and girls. Listen up. It means when you go to Christ, you say, I am unworthy to cling to you, Jesus, but I'm trusting in you and you alone because I have absolutely nothing to offer you. Boys and girls, that's what you say. I have nothing to offer you, but I cling to Jesus who paid it all. Be willing to forsake everything that is esteemed highly by men. Beloved, be willing to forsake all those things that even just decent men think are good, but are abominations to God. Be willing to live as though this world means nothing to you. Look at verse 14. For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come. Be willing to live this life as though this world and its influences have no part in your life. That the only thing that matters to you is Christ. Christ in His justice, Christ in His righteousness, Christ in His kingdom. Don't let this world or Satan or your sins hold your affections captive. Set them free with Christ. Beloved, He's worthy of your love. He's worthy of your time, your devotion, your money, everything you have. He's worthy of it a thousandfold. Let us go outside the camp and identify ourselves with Jesus. Let's pray. Father, we thank You so much for Jesus, that He is our altar, our sacrifice. He is our great mediator who intercedes on our behalf, who continues day and night to intercede for us on our behalf before your glorious throne. We thank you so much for Christ. We praise you, O God, for your covenant of grace. We praise you for the Holy Spirit and we pray, Father, that you would impress upon us these things, that we would not so easily forget them, that you would not allow the trials and temptations of this life to come and rob us of these glorious truths. Lord, but we pray that we would devour them and eat them and hide them within our hearts, that we might meditate richly upon Christ and benefit from His mediation daily. We pray and ask these things in Jesus' name, Amen.