“WITHOUT THE CAMP WITH CHRIST” (Heb 13:11-13)
June 22nd, 2003
Int. This phrase, "Without the camp" is found 21 times in O. T. and twice in N. T. (Heb 13:11,13)
1. The Tabernacle was located without the camp. (Exo 33:7) "And Moses took the tabernacle, and pitched it without the camp, afar off from the camp, and called it the Tabernacle of the congregation. And it came to pass, that every one which sought the LORD went out unto the tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp."
2. Sacrifices were made without the camp. (Lev 4:12) “Even the whole bullock shall he carry forth without the camp unto a clean place, where the ashes are poured out, and burn him on the wood with fire: where the ashes are poured out shall he be burnt.”
3. Our Lord was crucified without the camp. (Jn 19:16-17) “Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him away. And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha:”
4. (Heb 13:11) “For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp.”
5. Modern preachers have discovered a very easy way of religion.
6. There is a method by which a man may attain to great reputation as a Christian, and yet avoid all the trials of the Believer’s estate.
7. Let him believe that a lie is the truth.
a. (Isa 5:20) “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”
8. Let him just go with the popular wind or tide and everything will be alright.
a. (Ex. 23:2) “Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest judgment:”
b. Houston Post 9-25-93 “Ed Young, president of the S. B. C. plans big dance: “G. Harvey’s shimmering paintings come alive as costumed characters step out of the life-sized canvases to sing and dance as they might have at the turn of the century America.
Friday and Saturday—Oct 1st & 2nd at 7:30 P. M.----Reserved seats #12.00...Call (713) 365-2401.
9. But is this the Religion found in the Scriptures?
a. (Mt 7:13) “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:”
b. The Bible speaks of persecution, suffering, reproach and contending even unto blood, striving against sin, wresting and fighting, struggling and witnessing and being faithful even unto death.
10. Our Lord didn’t say, I send you forth as sheep in green pastures, but as sheep in the midst of wolves. (Mt. 10:16)
11. Jesus warned His would be followers (Mt 10:22) “And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.”
a. J. C. Ryle in a sermon on Perseverance, said: “You may doubt the reality of your own conversion. Yet fear not, neither be afraid. It is not the quantity of a man's grace, but on the truth and genuineness of it, that the promise rests. ... Wherever sin is truly repented of, Christ is truly trusted, and holiness is truly followed, there is a work which shall never be overthrown. It shall stand when the earth and all the works thereof shall be burned up.
12. The Prophet Amos warned: (Amos 6:1) “Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria, which are named chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel came!”
a.. THOMAS WATSON: "How soon are we broken on the soft pillow of ease! Adam in paradise was overcome, while Job on the dunghill was a conqueror."
b. Richard Allestree said: "We much mistake the design of Christianity if we think ti calls us to a condition of ease and security."
13. Isaiah described the Messiah: (Isa 53:3) “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.”
a. If you will serve Jesus, you will surely discover: (Mt 10:24) “The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his Lord.”
b. (John 15:20 ) “If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep your's also.”
c. (Jn 17:14). “I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world .”
d. (1 Pet 4:1) “Forasmuch ... as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind.”
14. No man can be a soldier and stay on the battle front long without getting some fighting in.
Ill. There was once a King that threw a great party and welcomed everyone by looking at their hands. If their hands were rough from hard work, they were seated first and then the ones that had it easy were later seated.
a Ever since Cain and Abel divided the first family into two camps, “The flesh lusteth against the Spirit. “ (Gal 5:17)
b. Our Lord warned: (Mt 10:34-35) “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.”
1. C. H . S. M & E. pg. 727 Dec 28 P.M. “The Christian will be sure to make enemies. It will be one of his objects to make none; but if to do the right, and to believe the truth, should cause him to lose every earthly friend, he will count it but a small loss, since his great Friend in heaven will be yet more friendly, and reveal himself to him more graciously than ever.”
c. The true Christian life is not one of ease, but one of cross bearing, contention, strife and rebuke and suffering, and striving against sin.
d. Roger Benard, being threatened whipping, stocking, burning, answered: "I am no better than my Master Christ, and the Prophets which you fathers served after such short, and I for his name's sake am content to suffer the like at your hands." So immediately he was condemned, and carried to the fire."
I. CONSIDER THE BELIEVER’S PATH (Let us go forth without the camp) (Vr. 13)
A. NOTICE THE WORDING OF THE COMMAND...(Outside the camp) not (Inside) trying to reform it.
1. John Owens says: “Let us ‘keep on going’ out there to Him...if a separation has to come between Judaism and Christianity, let us ‘give up Judaism, and go out to Christ....”OUTSIDE THE CAMP.” an d take our stand with him there on Golgotha, BEARING HIS REPROACH as Jesus Himself endured the Cross, dispising the shame.”
2. Luther understood this while many thought that they could remain within the Church and reform it.
a. Later, 283 would die in one year at the hands of “Bloody Mary.”
3. The cry of the Scriptures is: “Come out of her, let ye be partakers of her plagues.” (Rev 18:4)
a. F. B. Meyers said: “It is often argued that we should stay in the midst of churches and bodies whose sins and follies we deplore, in the hope of saving them for God.and man. And such reasoning has a good deal of force in the first stages of declension. A strong protest may arrest error. A vigorous policy may stop the gangrene. But as time advances, and the whole body becomes infected and diseased; when the protests have been disregarded, and the arguments trampled underfoot; when the majority have clearly taken up their position against the truth; when her sins have reached up to heaven, and the plagues are about to befall-there is need for another policy; we have no alternative but to come out and be separate, and not touch unclean thing. "Let us, therefore, go forth unto Him without the camp, bearing his reproach."
4. Let us not tarry within the camp of “worldly conformity.”
5. Lot was told to get out of Sodom, not try to reform it. (Such a move will cost one dearly)
6. Some remain in liberal churches in our community where the truth is butchered each Lord’s day—all because of family ties.
B. ABRAHAM WENT FORTH WITHOUT THE CAMP. (Gen 12:1-3)
C. WHAT IS MEANT BY THIS GOING FORTH WITHOUT THE CAMP?
1. It means a clear and open profession of faith in Christ.
2. (Mt 10:32-33) “Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.”
Isaac Watts wrote:
“Am I a soldier of the cross, a follower of the Lamb.
And shall I fear to own His cause or blush to speak His name?”
3. (Mk 8:38) “Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
a. Can you imagine a soldier refusing to wear his uniform?
b. Can you imagine a man saying he loves Christ and then blush to own Christ before men?
1. The wise are ashamed of it, because it calls men to believe and not to argue;
2. The great are ashamed of it, because it brings all into one body.
3. The rich are ashamed of it, because it is to be had without money and without price;
D. EVERY CHRISTIAN IS TO GO FORTH WITHOUT THE CAMP AS TO THE COMPANY HE KEEPS.
1. This doesn’t mean we are to enter the monastery.
2. This doesn’t mean we are not to do business with the world.
3. It simply means that our “FELLOWSHIP” is to be with those that love the Lord..
4. Paul warned: (1 Cor. 5:11) “But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.”
5. (2 cor 6:17) “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,”
J. C. Ryle-Practical Religion..(S-2-6) pg. 184 "The World."
a. : "Do not attend a church which prefers science to Scripture, reason to Revelation, Theories to Truth, Culture to conversion, Benevolence to Blood, Goodness to Grace, Sociability to Spirituality, play to praise, Profession to possession, programs to power, reformation to Regeneration, good to God, speculation to salvation, jubilation to justification, feeling to faith, paralysis to peace, politics to Precepts.”
E. THE CHRISTIAN IS TO GO FORTH WITHOUT THE CAMP AS TO HIS PLEASURES.
1. That which pleases the worldly man should make the Christian sad.
2. The carrion which delights the crow will disgust the dove. (They feed on pure grain).
F. EVERY NATION HAS IT RELIGIONS.
1. America has it’s “Charismatics ”
2. Ur of the Chaldees had its religion in the days of Abraham, and he went forth without the camp.
3. Jerusalem had it’s perversion of true religion in the days of Christ and He reproved them for it too.
II. THE BELIEVER’S PILOT (Path) “LET US GO FORTH THEREFORE UNTO ‘HIM’.
A. IT MEANS, FIRST. TO HAVE FELLOWSHIP WITH HIM. (Mt 6:33)
1. A man may forsake all the world’s religions and still come short of what Paul commanded here “Unto Him.”
2. Jesus was despised; he had no credit for charity; He was mocked in the streets of Jerusalem.
3. Therefore,. If we take the smooth road, we can have no fellowship with Him.
4. There must be a like experience in fellowship. (Phil 3:10) “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;”
a. (Ps 69:20) “I looked for some to take pity, but there was none.”
b. (II Tim. 4:16) “At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me.
5. If we bear our cross; there will be some callouses from bearing it. (Lk 9:23) “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.”
Ill. A friend, visiting at lighthouse, lately, said to the keeper, "Are you not afraid to live here?" It is a dreadful place to be constantly be in." "No," replied the man; "I am not afraid. We never think of ourselves here." "Never think of yourselves! How is that?" The reply was a good one. "We know that we are perfectly safe, and only think of having our lamps burning brightly, and keeping the reflectors clear, so that those in danger may be saved." That is what Christians ought to do.
B. OUR TEXT URGES US TO GO FORTH UNTO HIS TRUTH.
1. We are to seek to know the truth and cherish it and denounce error at all cost.
a. (Prov 23:23) “Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.”
1. Truth is the purest, the most powerful, and the most enduring thing in the Universe. Truth makes God to be God and when God came in the flesh, the brightest crown He could place upon His head, the noblest name He could give to His personality was "The Truth." (Jn. 14:6)
2. Our old religious back-ground must bend to the Word of God.
a. John Trapp says: "Doth the truth report well of a man? Then he need not care what the world can say."
C. OUR TEXT MEANS TO GO FORTH TO CHRIST BY WITNESSING TO THE WORLD.
1. (Mt 28:19-20) “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”
a. Henry Martyn said: “The Spirit of Christ is the spirit of missions, and the nearer we get to Him the more intensely missionary we must become."
b. Jacob Chamberlain said: "Every church should support two pastors: One for the thousands at home and the other for the millions abroad."
III. THE CHRISTIAN’S PRIORITY (Path, Pilot)( BEARING OUR LORD’S REPROACH)
A. THE MAN THAT WILL DARE STAND ON THE WORD OF GOD WILL BEAR HIS SHARE OF REPROACH.
1. Some stand for nothing. They are in the church, but like the beast, clean and unclean in Noah’s Ark.
2. B. B. Warfield said: "It may sometimes seem difficult to take our stand frankly by the side of Christ and the Apostles. It will always be safe."
B. THE MAN THAT WILL DARE TAKE A STAND WILL BE CALLED A BIGOT.
1. The word “bigot” took its name from the following story: “A certain protestant nobleman being commanded, in order to gain his lands, to kneel down, and in some way or other commit the act of idolatry towards the host, said, when he came at last to the point....”By God, I will not.” and they called him from then on a “By God” which later came to the word “bigot”
2. (Acts 26:24) “And as he thus spake for himself, Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee mad.”
C. CONSIDER THE REPROACH THAT JESUS BORE WHILE ON THIS EARTH.
1. (John 7:12) "And there was much murmuring among the people concerning him: for some said, He is a good man: others said, Nay; but he deceiveth the people."
a. Bibliotheca Sacra: "One has only to turn to the seventh chapter of the Gospel of John to find, in the appraisal of Christ there, ample illustration of the manifold Jewish conception of Messiah: “He is a good man”; “Nay, but he deceiveth the people”;
b. “Do the rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ? Howbeit we know this man whence he is: but when Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence he is”;
c. “When Christ cometh, will he do more miracles than these which this man hath done”;
d. “Of a truth this is the Prophet”; “This is the Christ”; “Shall Christ come out of Galilee?”; “Never man spake like this man.”.
2. (Luke 23:5) "And they were the more fierce, saying, He stirreth up the people, teaching throughout all Jewry, beginning from Galilee to this place."
3. (John 10:30-33) "I and my Father are one. {31} Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him. {32} Jesus answered them, Many good works have I showed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me? {33} The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God."
a. All the liberals and cults are still throwing stones at our Lord for this statement.
4. (John 10:20) "And many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye him?"
5. They said the same thing about John for following Jesus.
a. (Mat 11:18) "For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil."
6. Next time the going gets rough; just remember your Lord.
IV. THE CHRISTIAN’S PURPOSE FOR GOING WITHOUT THE CAMP. (His path, pilot, priority)
Int. Our text says: “Let us go----THEREFORE, THEREFORE, THEREFORE----“
A. LET US GO BECAUSE JESUS WENT WITHOUT THE CAMP.
1. Satan tried to persuade Him to do otherwise. (Mat 4:8-9) "Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; {9} And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me."
2. The Jews tried to persuade Him otherwise...(John 6:15) "When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone."
a. This was because of the loaves and the fish.
b. It is the same today.
B. JESUS SET APART HIMSELF BY GOING WITHOUT THE CAMP.
1. That He might sanctify His people, He suffered without the gate (camp) (Vr. 12)
2. Our Lord’s separation was in order that His people might be separated.
3. The Head is not of this world, and neither shall the body be part of it.
4. The world rejects Christ, and shall the world receive His people?
a. (John 15:19) "If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.”
“His oath, his covenant, his blood,
Support me in the raging flood;
When every earthly prop gives way,
This still is all my strength and stay.”
C. THOSE WHO GO WITHOUT THE CAMP WITH CHRIST WILL HARDLY BE INVITED TO APPEAR ON THE NATIONAL TALK-SHOWS.
1. They will more like suffer persecution and reproach for Christ.
Conclusion: The Covenaters and the Martyrs tell us in their diaries, that they were never so happy as when they were in the dungeon alone with Christ for company, nay, their best days were their days of burning at the stake....they called them their wedding days, and went to heaven singing and chanting the triumphal pean, as they mounted their chariots of fire.