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Going Out To Jesus · Stornoway Free Church of Scotland - Sermons

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We're singing, first of all, to God's praise in Psalm 84.
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Psalm 84, that's on page 112.
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And we're singing verses 1 to 7.
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How delightful are your dwellings, O Almighty Lord, to me!
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For your courts my soul is yearning, in your house I long to be.
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Heart and flesh cry out aloud, for the true and living God.
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Even sparrows find their dwelling, and the swallow builds a nest.
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Near your altar, Lord Almighty, where her offspring may have rest.
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Blessed whose home is your abode, they are ever praising God.
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These verses to the end of verse 7.
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How delightful are your dwellings.
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How delightful are your dwellings, O Almighty Lord, to me!
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For your courts my soul is yearning, in your house I long to be.
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Heart and flesh cry out aloud, for the true and living God.
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Even sparrows find their dwelling, and the swallow builds a nest.
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Near your altar, Lord Almighty, where her offspring may have rest.
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Blessed whose home is pure abode, they are ever praising God.
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Blessed are those whose strength is in you, those who have a pilgrim's mind.
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Whoo, spreading whose full Catalonia and Wed Polize 고
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sullery and red hair, they Ephesim, precis�, colonoscow, ies, axing in you,
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blessed Michaela!
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Where they He Kristolad!
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Hä�us Gabriel 161
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Hope your children haremроде Vouismas
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みます
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ませんし
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Let's join together now in prayer. Let's call upon the Lord in prayer.
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Lord God, Almighty our Father in heaven, we come to address you tonight as our God,
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as we always do when we come to worship you. For we acknowledge that you are our God,
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and we give thanks that you take us as your people in covenant with you.
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We bless you tonight for this renewed opportunity we have to gather together in praise and worship,
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to call upon your name and to come to hear your word. And we thank you, Lord, for all that you mean
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to us as we prepare once again to remember the Lord's death in the Lord's Supper. We give thanks
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for your wisdom and kindness in providing us with such a means of grace, a means and an ordinance
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that accompanies the regular preaching of your word. And it sets forth the beauty and the
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sufficiency, the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. And we ask, Lord, that as we prepare for it and
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as we anticipate tomorrow coming to sit at the Lord's table again, may we find, Lord, the preciousness
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of the Lord and of his death made clear to us once again and made indeed increase in our estimation.
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We ask, O Lord, that we will know of you meeting with us, of the calling of your Holy Spirit upon us
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to draw us to yourself. And we ask that each one who comes and intends to come to the table
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will come, Lord, not trusting in themselves or fearful because they find themselves unworthy.
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Help us to come trusting in you as our foundation. Help us to come believing in the worthiness of the
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Lord and that it is our responsibility and privilege to show that we accept that worthiness
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by coming to do as he requires. We thank you, Lord, today for all the blessings that we receive from you.
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And we ask that you would help us as we confess our inability to number them. Help us, Lord, to
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therefore conclude that it shows your worthiness to be praised. So bless us here, we pray tonight,
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and bless us as a congregation at this juncture once again. And we thank you, Lord, that we can look
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back upon many times of blessing in the past, that we can recollect the ways in which you have blessed
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us and kept us and helped us hitherto. And we pray that we may draw strength from this renewed occasion,
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and especially from the Lord's Supper itself again. And enable us, Lord, to be encouraged and encourage
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us one of another as we come together. We thank you that your people form a spiritual family that you
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have called together, that you feed as they come together to worship under the Word and as they
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come to sit at your table. O Lord, our God, we pray that you would dispense to us the blessings that
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have accrued through the death of Christ. And we pray as we come to remember him in his death,
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that we may, Lord, truly meet him in the power of his risen life, that through your Holy Spirit,
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O Lord, you would draw near to us and show to us once again our great need of all that is set out on the
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table representing the Lord in his death. Lord, we pray that you would encourage us and enable us to help
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one another as we come on this pilgrimage that we've been singing about, a pilgrimage that goes on until
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we come to the heavenly Zion, until we come to appear before God. And we pray that our time in this world may be a
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time when we'll use all the means you have given us, O Lord, to progress in that way, to find strength
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for the journey, to cope with all the difficulties and overcome them as we come with our desire tonight,
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Lord, that as we lay our concerns before you, so you'd assure us that you are able to meet us and meet
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all our needs. Bless, we pray, any whose thoughts tonight are on coming to the Lord's table tomorrow
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for the first time. We give thanks that there are such among us, Lord. We pray that you would encourage
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them. We pray that they may find, even through this time of worship this evening, further confirmation
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to the comfort of their hearts. We ask, O Lord, that you would speak to them and draw them.
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And we pray that we may rejoice in seeing others joining the number of your openly professing people.
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And we pray, O Lord, that this may be an occasion when we will have such rejoicing,
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when we will be able to say that the Lord is indeed at work among us. We ask for your blessing to be
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with those tonight who have challenges and difficulties in their lives that they may feel
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they cannot share with others and come to open their hearts to others. We pray that you would bless
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them and pray that you would draw near to them to encourage them, O Lord. We pray that you'd bless
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those who mourn the passing of loved ones. We ask, Lord, that you would draw near to them,
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those who have come in this past week to lay to rest the remains of loved ones. We ask,
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Gracious One, that you would bless them and comfort them and show to them your ways and give to them
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what we are unable to give ourselves, that comfort and consolation that derives from the energy of your
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Spirit, from the work of grace in their hearts. We pray, too, for those who are ill. We pray for those
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who are seriously ill tonight, those who are laid aside and appear to be approaching the end stage of
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life in this world. Gracious Lord, bless them, we pray, with the grace required, that we all require
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to take that great step out of time and into eternity, out of this world and into that world to come,
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out of this world where we know you but faintly compared to being in your presence in eternity.
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O Lord, our God, we pray that even as we come to remember them before you, you would help us to
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consider ourselves, too, so that we may realize that our days, too, are fast hastening on.
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We thank you that you have given us such means as the Gospel and the Lord's Supper,
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so that we may be strengthened and may be prepared by your Holy Spirit's ministry
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for that time for ourselves when it comes also. Bless, we pray, all who are preparing for worship
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tomorrow in the various congregations in our presbytery and throughout the church, throughout
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the world. Indeed, O Lord, we pray that your Holy Spirit may be active on the Lord's day and may
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draw many to yourself. We pray that many will come to regard this coming Lord's day as a day of liberty,
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a day of deliverance, and a day of being ushered into the freedom with which Christ makes us free
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and brought to those wonderful places where the Lord Himself presides and feeds His people.
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So, we ask that you would continue to bless us as a congregation, bless our young people once again
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as we pray for them, for our children, for our young ones, for our young adults. Remember them,
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we pray, as they witness the table of the Lord and all that is said in regard to it and all that is done
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laid on their young hearts, we pray. Give them even through witnessing such things for themselves that
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they may come to have that desire in their own hearts, that they too will join the number of
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your people, that they will turn their back to living for this world and will come to look forward
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to being servants of Jesus Christ. Remember, we pray each and all who at this time, Lord, are preparing
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for also to preach your word. We ask that you'd bless them here in our own midst, be with Scott at this
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time and be with all others, Lord, like him who are preparing and training for gospel ministry.
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We ask that you would continue to provide for them and to encourage them each and every day.
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And so, go before us now, we pray, O Lord. Hear us in this our prayer and continue to bless us
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through this service for Jesus' sake. Amen.
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We'll sing once again to God's praise, Psalm 63 this time. Psalm number 63, that's again in
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Psalm 63. O God, you are my God alone. I seek your face with eagerness. My soul and body thirst for you
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in this dry, weary wilderness. I've seen you in your holy place. Your power and glory held my gaze.
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Far better is your love than life, and so my lips will sing your praise. Psalm 63, the verses 1 to 8.
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Again, we stand if you can to sing.
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O God, you are my God alone. I seek your face with eagerness.
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My soul and body thirst for you in this dry, weary wilderness. I've seen you in your holy place.
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Your power and glory held my gaze. Far better is your love than life, and so my lips will sing your praise.
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I'll bless you, Lord, throughout my life. And raise my hand to you in prayer.
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My joyful lips will sing your praise. My soul is fed with riches fair.
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Upon my bed, I lie awake. And in my thoughts remember you.
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I meditate throughout the night. And keep your constant love in you.
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Because you are my help alone. In shadow of your wings I'll sing.
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You hold me up with your right hand. Do you, O God, my soul will cling.
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Let's read God's Word together now from the Epistle to the Hebrews.
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And chapter 13, the last chapter of that letter to the Hebrews.
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So that's Hebrews chapter 13.
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Let brotherly love continue.
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Keep your life free from love of money.
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Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings.
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For it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods which have not benefited those devoted to them.
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We have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat.
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For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp.
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So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood.
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Therefore let us go out to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured.
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For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.
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Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God.
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That is the fruit of our lips that acknowledge his name.
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Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.
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Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls as those who will have to give an account.
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Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.
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Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a clear conscience desiring to act honorably in all things.
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I urge you the more earnestly to do this, in order that I may be restored to you the sooner.
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Now may the God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep,
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by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good, that you may do his will,
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working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ,
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to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
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I appeal to you, brothers, bear with my word of exhortation, for I have written to you briefly.
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You should know that our brother Timothy has been released, with whom I shall see you if he comes soon.
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Greet all your leaders and all the saints. Those who come from Italy send you greetings.
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Grace be with all of you.
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And again we pray for God to bless to us this reading of his word.
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And before we turn to a few verses from this passage, let's sing again to his praise.
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This time we're singing in the Scottish Psalter, on page 382.
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That's Psalm 107.
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We'll sing verses 1 to 8.
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Praise God for he is good, for still his mercies lasting be.
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Let God's redeemed say so, whom he from the enemy's hand did free,
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and gathered them out of the lands from north, south, east, and west.
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They strayed in deserts pathless way, no city found to rest.
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And so on through to the end of verse 8.
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Psalm 107.
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Praise God for he is good.
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Praise God for he is good.
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For still his mercies lasting be.
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Let God's redeemed say so, whom he from the enemy's hand did free,
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And gather them out of the lands from north, south, east, and west.
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They strayed in deserts pathless way, no city found to rest.
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For thirst and hunger in them face, their soul when slates them pressed.
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They cry unto the Lord, and he them frees from their distress.
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Them also in our way to walk, that brightest he did guide,
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That they might to a city go, wherein they might abide.
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So that men to the Lord would give grace for his goodness then,
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And for his works of wonder done, and to the sons of men.
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Let's turn down this evening to a verse or two we find in Hebrews 13.
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We're going to look at verses 13 and 14.
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We can read at verse 12.
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Well, these verses on the immediate context there, as you can see,
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Recreate for us a very important scene in the New Testament.
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That, of course, being the scene at Calvary, the scene of the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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And it is something, as these previous verses show, that fits in and indeed fulfills what the Old Testament ritual showed,
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When the bodies of these animals that were devoted to God,
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Those that were brought into the blood, brought into the holy places by the high priest,
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The bodies are burned outside the camp.
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That's something that goes back to the Acts of Exodus 29, verse 14,
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Where the Lord gave instruction that that was to be the ritual.
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The bodies were to be burned outside of the camp, because they were regarded as unclean.
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The blood was used in the ritual of blood shedding and sprinkling of blood and so on,
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Prefiguring the death of Christ.
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And that was done, as it says here, outside of the camp, outside the gate, it says there in verse 12,
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As far as Jesus once, as he fulfilled that Old Testament ritual.
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So, Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people.
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Therefore, let us go out to him outside the camp.
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So, he's using different words there, outside the gate, outside the walls of Jerusalem,
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Literally, as where the cross was situated, not inside, but outside the city,
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Which is really now taking us back, as it were, to the scene at that moment.
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Because the Word of God is what it is, a very reliable word to us,
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As it brings us and describes to us and recreates the scene to us,
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What it's really doing is taking you and I back, as if we were standing there
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And watching what was happening with the crucifixion of Christ.
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It's just as real, it should be just as real to us,
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As if we had been standing there literally on the occasion it took place.
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And as it's placing us here at the scene,
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So, it's actually calling on us in a spiritual fashion
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To do what was done then by going out to the cross physically.
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Those who were actually going to stand in the vicinity of the cross or nearby the cross.
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And spiritually, that is what it's calling on us to do,
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To actually come to associate with Jesus,
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Come to actually stand by the side of Jesus crucified,
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Come to actually show that this Jesus, this cross, this death,
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Is the death that is so vital and valuable to us,
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That we go and stand by it in terms of embracing it spiritually for ourselves.
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And that's why the Hebrews are addressed here.
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The Hebrews were obviously facing some difficulties
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In following their faith in the Lord,
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Probably through the persecutions that they were suffering.
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And it appears that some might have even had the idea
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That it might have been better going back to the Old Testament ways after all.
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And that it would be better to have something that you could see physically
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Rather than have the spiritual sight by faith of the cross and of Christ as a person.
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And the writer to the Hebrews is assuring them that that is not the case.
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That we have the advantage, that we have the benefit of looking back on this
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That has happened historically at Calvary.
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And therefore we can come to that as the way in which God has revealed in Jesus
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His love for His people by giving Him to the death that He died on the cross.
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And that's really what we're anticipating, of course, remembering tomorrow at the Lord's Supper.
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So that there's a real way in which, a very real way in which spiritually the Lord's Supper too
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Is actually itself as it sets out for you there, the bread and the wine that's used in the Lord's Supper.
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In a sense that too is taking you back to Calvary.
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Taking you back to what you find even in these verses in Hebrews 13.
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And it's placing you there so that you're saying,
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Well, I see this in front of me in the Lord's Supper.
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I know what it represents.
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And it's so precious to me.
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And as I do this, and as I reach out and take the bread,
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And as I reach out and use the wine and take the wine,
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Well, I am associating with this Christ.
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I'm identifying with this Jesus.
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I am saying about these elements and what they represent,
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Especially in the death of my Lord.
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That is where I'm taking my stand.
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That's where I want to be found.
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And that's where I want to be seen as one of His people.
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So, there are two things, briefly, I want to just take from the passage tonight.
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First of all, there's an emphasis on leaving the city,
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Which would be Jerusalem, literally.
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Leaving the city to go out to Jesus.
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And secondly, looking forward to the city where Jesus now is.
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We have here no continuing city,
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But we are seeking the city that is to come.
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The one that is to come in heaven.
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So, in a sense, it's a tale of two cities.
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The city of Jerusalem, which represents, really,
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All that's associated with rejecting Christ.
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With putting Him outside.
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With not wanting to be associated with Him.
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And spiritually, you can relate to that,
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Because, in a sense, that's what this world is.
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That's what the world in which we love is.
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That's what worldliness itself is.
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That's what our natural condition and our fallenness and sinfulness wants to do with Christ.
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And what it's saying here to the Hebrews is,
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Well, you've got to leave everything that's associated with opposition to Jesus,
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With enmity against Jesus,
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With rejection of Jesus.
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You've got to walk away from that.
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And you've got to go to Himself.
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And you've got to take and embrace His death as the basis of your new life.
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And as I say, that's what, in a sense, is actually done in the Lord's Supper.
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Every time we have the Lord's Supper and we partake of it,
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We're reenacting, if you like, that walk out to Jesus
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And taking all that it means to us in His death,
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All that He means to us to ourselves, yet again.
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Now, you notice here,
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Therefore, in verse 13,
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Let us go out to Him.
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And therefore, there ties up the previous verses for us.
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This is the conclusion, having stated what He said there in the previous verses.
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Therefore, seeing this as the case,
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Let us go to Him outside of the camp and bear the reproach He endured.
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And as I said, Jesus was placed outside.
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And that itself is symbolic.
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Because it's really as someone rejected by the authorities of the time, literally,
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Rejected as a possible Savior or Messiah.
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He is placed outside.
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They don't want Him.
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That's not…
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He doesn't fit with their expectations.
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He doesn't actually measure up to what they regard or think a Messiah should be.
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He has come.
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They've heard Him.
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They've seen His miracles.
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They've done all…
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They've had all of that in terms of their advantage and their privilege.
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And still, by and large, most of them say,
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No, He's not for us.
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We don't have any king but Caesar.
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That's what you find written in the gospel records, of course.
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But when we think about Jesus being placed outside,
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and the cross being placed outside,
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and the death of Jesus taking place there,
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that, of course, in the teaching of the Bible,
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is something that represents His being made a curse by God Himself.
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Everything that was associated with being crucified was regarded as cursed.
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And in Paul's letter to the Galatians,
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you'll find that mentioned in chapter 3,
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that Jesus was made a curse for us.
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For it is said, it is written,
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Cursed is everyone who hangs upon a tree or is hanged on the cross.
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That's what that means.
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And so, when you think about Jesus outside the walls of Jerusalem,
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at a distance from Jerusalem,
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outside of the camp,
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outside of those that rejected Him,
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placed outside,
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primarily it's to be thought of as an act of God.
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Because what happened was,
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of course, that God,
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having laid our sins upon Him,
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regarded Him in our place,
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as the one to bear the penalty of sin,
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the penalty that was due to sin.
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And as we go, therefore,
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and remember where Jesus died,
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and what that represents,
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that it was outside,
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we'll see in a moment how that
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actually connects as well with
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His own words on the cross.
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My God, my God,
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why have you forsaken me?
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Why am I outside?
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Why am I actually out of your favor?
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Why have you rejected me?
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Why have you forsaken me?
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And that itself is something you carry with you
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to the Lord's table,
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because the Lord's table,
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in a sense, as we said,
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is something of a reminder,
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or even a reenactment of this scene,
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as if you are physically going out to Him.
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Spiritually, that's what you're doing.
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When you come to take your place
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at the Lord's Supper,
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you're really saying,
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this is where I must be.
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This is where I want to be.
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This is what my remembrance of Him is about.
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I remember Him,
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and I love Him as the crucified one,
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as if He were still hanging on the cross.
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You take your place
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at the side of the cross,
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in the vicinity of the cross,
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and you accept that as God's basis
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of new life of righteousness for you.
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So, He's saying,
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let us go to Him.
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Let us go out to Him.
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Let's go to where He is.
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What you do, in other words,
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privately in your heart by faith,
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that's what you're doing
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when you embrace Jesus.
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This is the Jesus you're embracing.
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Not any modern versions of Christ
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where certain parts of the Bible
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are just excised or cut out
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that don't seem to fit the thoughts of today.
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You take the Bible at face value.
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You take what it tells you about the Lord.
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You embrace the Lord
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as described in the Word of God,
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which you regard as reliable and accurate
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as to who He is
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and what He has done
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and why He has done it.
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And you say,
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that's the Lord that I need.
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That's the Savior I need.
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That's the Savior I embrace.
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That is the Savior I love
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to remember as to His death
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by doing it in the Lord's Supper.
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And so you see,
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as you remember the Lord's death,
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you are remembering Him
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as He is represented and shown here,
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crucified for you,
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placed outside,
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made a curse,
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bearing the sin of His people,
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meeting the penalty
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that God must visit sin with.
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Let us go out to Him.
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You've done that already.
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You've taken the biggest step already
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in going out to Him spiritually
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by accepting Him
35:15
as He's offered in the Gospel.
35:17
And it's a natural progression
35:19
of that step
35:20
to actually come to the Lord's table
35:23
and remember Him there.
35:25
In a sense,
35:26
that's part of the going out
35:28
you've already done.
35:30
You've already come
35:31
to stand by the cross,
35:32
to accept,
35:33
to embrace this Christ,
35:34
to place your trust,
35:35
your confidence,
35:36
your faith in Him.
35:38
And you're showing that now outwardly
35:39
by coming once again
35:41
to the Lord's table
35:42
or by coming
35:43
for the first time
35:45
to the Lord's table,
35:47
to the Lord's Supper.
35:48
I remember Abraham
35:51
in chapter 11 here of Hebrews.
35:54
We find him described there
35:56
in chapter 11,
35:56
verses 8 to 10,
35:58
as somebody who obeyed
36:00
when he was called
36:01
to go out to a place
36:03
that he was to receive
36:04
as an inheritance.
36:05
And he went out
36:06
not knowing where he was going.
36:08
By faith he went to live
36:09
in the land of promise
36:10
as in a foreign land,
36:12
living in tents with Isaac
36:13
and Jacob,
36:15
heirs with him
36:15
of the same promise.
36:18
But you see,
36:19
what he's saying is,
36:20
by faith he obeyed
36:22
when he was called
36:23
to go out.
36:26
There's a going out
36:26
in association
36:28
with trusting in Christ.
36:30
There's a going out
36:31
from this world,
36:32
a going out from
36:32
the life that we had
36:34
as we were born
36:35
into this world,
36:36
the life of the fallen sinner.
36:38
We go out from that.
36:39
We go out from the world,
36:41
from the values of the world,
36:42
from what the world sees
36:43
as important.
36:44
And we walk out
36:46
from that
36:48
to the cross of Christ
36:49
and embrace him
36:50
and say,
36:51
no, this is where
36:52
I take my stand.
36:52
This is my foundation.
36:55
And this is where
36:56
we find represented
36:58
in the Lord's Supper
36:59
that going out
37:01
that's already taken place
37:02
in your heart
37:03
when you came
37:04
to embrace the Lord,
37:06
to stand by his side,
37:07
to leave
37:08
the city of this world,
37:10
if you like,
37:11
to go to him.
37:13
And you see,
37:13
it's also saying,
37:14
bearing the reproach
37:15
that he endured.
37:18
The older translation
37:20
has bearing his reproach.
37:22
It comes to pretty much
37:23
the same thing.
37:25
What is the reproach
37:26
that he endured?
37:27
Well, it's the stigma,
37:28
it's the shame,
37:29
it's all that's mentioned there
37:32
at the beginning
37:33
of chapter 12,
37:34
for example,
37:35
where in verse 3,
37:37
you consider him
37:38
who endured from sinners
37:40
such hostility
37:41
against himself
37:42
so that you may not
37:43
grow weary
37:44
or faint-hearted.
37:46
It's all that's associated
37:47
with the humiliation,
37:49
the shame,
37:50
the hostility
37:51
of sinners
37:52
against himself
37:53
as it's mentioned there.
37:55
That's what he experienced
37:56
for you.
37:57
That's what he did for you.
37:58
That's what he took
37:59
to himself for you.
38:01
And when you come
38:02
and realize
38:02
that going out to him
38:04
is not going to be
38:05
something different
38:07
and kind
38:08
from what he did for you
38:09
because that reproach
38:10
that he met with
38:11
is the same in kind
38:13
as his people meet with
38:14
as they make it known
38:16
that they've gone out
38:17
from the world
38:17
and come to the cross.
38:21
Bearing his reproach,
38:25
being prepared willingly
38:27
to come by associating
38:29
with Christ,
38:31
to be thought of
38:32
by the world
38:33
as no longer fit for purpose
38:35
for their company.
38:38
It's something that
38:39
in being rejected
38:41
by the world
38:41
follows the pattern
38:43
the Lord himself
38:44
experienced
38:45
in his own going out.
38:48
And so he's saying
38:49
bearing his reproach,
38:51
the reproach he endured,
38:53
the reproach the same in kind.
38:56
Just think of how willingly
38:58
the Lord went out
39:00
to the cross
39:01
for you,
39:02
for his people.
39:04
Just think of how he
39:05
committed himself
39:06
wholeheartedly
39:07
and fully
39:08
and was not deflected,
39:10
not even for a split second
39:11
from going out
39:12
to that cursed death
39:13
of the cross.
39:17
Early on in his ministry,
39:19
Satan had attempted
39:20
every way he could
39:22
and that's quite considerable.
39:25
in that temptation
39:27
that you find
39:28
mentioned in the Gospels,
39:30
Matthew 4,
39:32
what was the devil's attempt?
39:36
What was he trying to do?
39:38
What was his aim?
39:40
What was his purpose
39:40
in that temptation of Jesus?
39:43
Well, you can actually
39:44
see it even from
39:45
one of the three temptations
39:47
that are mentioned
39:48
when the devil said to him,
39:50
all of these kingdoms,
39:51
as he took him to see
39:52
all the kingdoms of the world,
39:53
all of these will I give you
39:56
if you fall down
39:57
and worship me.
40:00
What is that about?
40:02
It's the devil saying
40:04
to the Lord,
40:05
look, you don't have
40:05
to go through the cross,
40:07
you don't have to go
40:07
through the difficulties,
40:09
you don't have to go
40:09
through the trials
40:10
that you're presently enduring.
40:12
Here you are
40:12
in the wilderness,
40:13
you've been here
40:13
such a long time,
40:14
you're starving,
40:15
you're hungry,
40:16
you could easily
40:17
turn these stones
40:18
into bread,
40:19
as he said
40:19
in one of the other
40:20
temptations.
40:21
Why go on with that?
40:22
Why not just do
40:25
what I say?
40:26
Why not just do
40:26
in obedience to me
40:28
and I will give you
40:29
everything you want?
40:32
You see,
40:32
there's the powers of evil
40:34
ranged against
40:36
the Son of God
40:37
in our nature
40:38
and in His life
40:40
of obedience
40:40
for His people.
40:42
These are the amazing,
40:45
unfathomable challenges
40:47
that He faced
40:48
from the devil.
40:48
None of us
40:49
has been through
40:50
such incredibly
40:51
complex
40:53
and deep temptation,
40:56
but He dismissed him.
41:00
He was determined
41:01
at every step
41:02
that He would die
41:05
the death He came
41:06
into the world
41:06
to accomplish.
41:09
And so He's saying
41:09
to you tonight,
41:11
I have done all this
41:12
for you,
41:13
and now
41:14
you're doing this
41:16
for me.
41:17
You're doing this
41:18
in response to
41:19
my going out
41:20
to the cross
41:21
for you,
41:22
crucified there
41:23
for you,
41:24
made a curse
41:25
there for you,
41:26
leaving the approval
41:29
of the camp,
41:30
leaving the approval
41:31
of the city,
41:33
and going out
41:34
to the cross
41:34
and to the curse
41:35
and to the stigma
41:36
and to the shame
41:37
of the cross.
41:38
Remember they said
41:39
about Him
41:39
when He was crucified,
41:40
come down from the cross
41:42
and we will believe you.
41:43
You made yourself out
41:44
to be someone,
41:45
the Son of God.
41:46
Now we'll believe you
41:47
if you come down.
41:48
And of course
41:48
they didn't understand.
41:51
But you understand.
41:53
You understand
41:54
why He just couldn't
41:55
come down
41:56
from that cross,
41:57
why He was committed
41:58
to the death
41:59
of the cross.
42:01
It was so that you
42:02
and I would be saved,
42:03
would be redeemed,
42:05
would be brought
42:06
to have eternal life.
42:09
And now He's saying,
42:10
let us go out to Him
42:12
bearing the reproach
42:14
He endured.
42:16
After all,
42:17
supposing we were
42:19
to suffer
42:20
all of our Christian lives,
42:23
the kind of suffering
42:24
that you find
42:25
even in those
42:26
who are solely persecuted
42:28
in other parts
42:29
of the world today
42:30
above what we actually experience
42:32
in whatever persecutions
42:33
we have.
42:34
But supposing you had
42:35
all of that persecution,
42:38
it's a small cup
42:40
in comparison.
42:42
with what Jesus suffered.
42:48
And when we think
42:49
of going to bear
42:49
His reproach,
42:52
bear the reproach
42:52
He endured,
42:54
that reproach
42:55
that we experience
42:56
will never measure up
42:58
to the reproach
42:59
that He experienced.
43:01
because all of what He suffered,
43:06
He suffered
43:07
in all its intensity
43:08
so that we would be delivered
43:11
from the curse
43:13
of God.
43:15
So let us go out to Him
43:17
bearing His reproach.
43:19
Again,
43:19
if you cast your mind
43:20
back to chapter 11
43:21
where it speaks
43:23
to the same of Moses,
43:24
Moses also by faith,
43:26
when he was growing up
43:29
in verse 24,
43:31
He refused to be called
43:32
the son of Pharaoh's daughter,
43:34
choosing rather
43:35
to be mistreated
43:36
with the people of God
43:37
than to enjoy
43:38
the fleeting pleasure
43:39
of sin.
43:40
And then look next
43:41
what it says.
43:42
He considered
43:43
the reproach
43:44
of Christ
43:45
greater wealth
43:47
than all the treasures
43:48
of Egypt.
43:49
for He was looking forward
43:51
to the reward.
43:53
That's an amazing statement.
43:54
Here was Moses brought up
43:56
in Pharaoh's palace,
43:58
brought up with access
43:59
to all the riches
44:00
of Egypt
44:01
that would be given to him
44:03
were he to remain there,
44:04
were he to continue
44:05
as the son of Pharaoh's daughter.
44:07
Instead,
44:08
what did he do?
44:08
He walked away from that.
44:10
He went out from that.
44:12
And he went out
44:12
to align himself
44:14
with the persecuted people
44:15
of God in Egypt.
44:17
But that's not the only thing.
44:19
it says,
44:19
though the language
44:21
that's used there
44:22
is most interesting
44:24
and significant.
44:25
He considered
44:26
the reproach of Christ
44:28
suffering for his God,
44:30
he considered that
44:31
greater riches
44:33
than all the treasures
44:34
of Egypt.
44:35
In other words,
44:36
what's that saying to us
44:37
is here is Moses saying
44:39
about all these treasures
44:40
of Egypt,
44:40
yes, I can have that.
44:41
I don't want them
44:42
because suffering for God
44:45
is of greater value.
44:47
And that's what it's like
44:50
when you come out
44:51
on the Lord's side.
44:54
The Lord is convincing you
44:56
and laying on your heart
44:57
the same fact.
45:00
The sufferings that I endure
45:01
and I may need to endure
45:03
as a Christian,
45:04
even if I don't know yet
45:05
what they're about,
45:07
they have a value
45:08
which all the treasures
45:10
of this world
45:11
can never give you.
45:12
because they are
45:14
sufferings for him.
45:16
They are bearing
45:16
his reproach.
45:19
They are part and parcel
45:20
of following Christ.
45:24
And you might be saying tonight,
45:26
well, I wish I could do that,
45:27
but I would rather wait
45:30
until my faith
45:32
is somewhat stronger.
45:33
I'm not sure I can just
45:34
cope with that yet.
45:36
Maybe here and that's what
45:37
your thought is
45:39
of going to the Lord's table
45:40
and maybe even
45:43
you're coming to
45:43
the Lord's table
45:44
having been there before
45:45
and still lamenting
45:47
your, what you see
45:49
as your weak faith
45:51
and you're saying
45:52
you're tempted
45:53
by the devil perhaps
45:55
or your own mind
45:55
is saying,
45:56
well, maybe I shouldn't
45:57
go this time
45:57
the way I feel about myself.
46:00
Maybe I should just
46:00
stay away this time.
46:02
Well, listen to what
46:02
Matthew Henry says
46:03
in a wonderful book
46:05
called
46:05
The Communicant's Companion.
46:06
You say your faith is weak,
46:11
pious affections are cool and low,
46:13
your resolutions unsteady,
46:16
and therefore you keep away
46:17
from this ordinance.
46:19
That is like a man should say
46:21
he is sick,
46:22
and therefore he'll take no medicine.
46:25
He is empty,
46:26
and therefore he'll take no food.
46:28
He is faint,
46:29
and therefore will take no cordials.
46:33
This ordinance was appointed chiefly
46:35
for the relief of such as you are,
46:39
for the strengthening of faith,
46:41
for the inflaming of holy love,
46:44
and the confirmation of good resolutions.
46:48
In God's name, therefore,
46:50
use it for these purposes.
46:52
Pine not away in your weakness
46:55
while God has ordained strength for you.
46:59
Die not for thirst
47:00
while there is a well of water
47:04
beside you.
47:06
He meant by that the Lord's Supper.
47:09
A well of water to refresh you.
47:12
A source of spiritual food
47:13
to strengthen you.
47:16
A means of comforting you
47:17
so as to console your heart.
47:20
Well, that's what Matthew Henry was saying
47:22
going outside the camp
47:25
to Him bearing His reproach.
47:27
All the sufferings,
47:29
whatever they may be,
47:30
small or great,
47:31
are part of God's program
47:34
of your sanctification,
47:37
of your improvement,
47:39
of your consolation,
47:40
of your eternal happiness.
47:43
Let us, therefore,
47:44
go out to Him
47:45
outside the camp.
47:48
And now, briefly,
47:49
secondly,
47:50
we find here
47:52
looking forward to the city
47:53
where Jesus now is.
47:55
For here we have no lasting city,
47:58
but we seek the city
47:59
that is to come.
48:01
And if you think of that literally,
48:02
in those days,
48:04
the writer was talking there
48:05
about the camp
48:06
or the Jerusalem,
48:08
the city of Jerusalem.
48:10
He's saying,
48:10
you can remain there,
48:11
it's not going to last.
48:12
And of course,
48:12
Jerusalem was destroyed
48:16
virtually by the Romans
48:17
in 70 A.D.
48:18
But when you come to apply
48:20
this spiritually,
48:21
what is it really saying
48:23
to us spiritually?
48:24
It's saying,
48:24
this world is not going to endure.
48:26
Living for this world
48:27
is going to be a disastrous
48:28
decision on your part
48:30
and a disastrous choice.
48:33
So when you leave this world
48:34
and you leave everything
48:35
that's associated
48:36
with rejection of Christ
48:37
and you go out to Him
48:38
and you come to the Lord's Supper
48:40
as itself an extension,
48:43
if you like,
48:43
of that going out to Him,
48:47
what you're saying is,
48:48
well, I'm seeking the city
48:50
that is to come.
48:52
I'm seeking the city of heaven.
48:55
Not seeking in the way
48:56
that you don't know much about it,
48:58
but seeking it
48:59
because God describes
49:00
something of it for you
49:01
in His own Word
49:03
in the Scripture.
49:03
Because everything you have
49:05
in the city of this world
49:07
is fleeting,
49:08
not only fleeting,
49:09
but uncertain,
49:10
uncertain to fall.
49:12
It looks stable,
49:13
but it's resting
49:15
on the fault line
49:17
of God's judgment
49:17
and it's not going to last.
49:22
And that's why
49:23
you've left that city.
49:25
That's why you've gone
49:26
out to the cross.
49:28
Because you're convinced
49:29
that to be in this world
49:31
and to belong to this world
49:32
spiritually, morally,
49:34
is going to be caught up
49:36
in the destruction,
49:37
the terrible destruction
49:38
of God's judgment.
49:39
But to leave that city,
49:43
to leave that condition,
49:44
to leave that state,
49:46
to go out to Jesus,
49:47
to associate with the cross,
49:49
to trust yourself to Him,
49:51
to embrace that crucified Christ
49:53
as crucified for you,
49:56
that's to show
49:57
that you are seeking the city
49:59
that is to come.
50:01
And you want to express that
50:03
on this occasion anew
50:05
by going to take this communion
50:07
yet again
50:08
or for the first time.
50:11
You're not saying of yourself,
50:12
I'm worthy of this.
50:13
You're not saying of yourself
50:15
that I can do this.
50:18
I have the strength
50:19
to do this myself.
50:20
I can manage this on my own.
50:22
It's just something
50:22
I want to do.
50:24
You're not saying that.
50:25
You're saying,
50:25
He has done it for me.
50:27
He's done everything I need
50:28
to make me right with God.
50:31
And it's the least I can do
50:32
now to go to the table
50:35
to show that my trust is in Him,
50:38
that I'm looking forward
50:39
to the city that has foundations
50:41
as builder and maker is God.
50:46
And that's why it says
50:47
we're seeking one to come.
50:51
You see, again,
50:52
going back to chapter 11,
50:53
it's such a wonderful chapter 11,
50:55
isn't it?
50:56
All these examples of faith
50:58
and different ways
50:59
in which their faith was expressed.
51:02
In verses 13 to 16,
51:04
I often read this
51:05
when we come to funerals,
51:07
especially funerals
51:08
of the Lord's people.
51:09
These all died in faith.
51:12
Chapter 11, verse 13,
51:14
These all died in faith,
51:16
not having received
51:17
the things promised,
51:17
but having seen them
51:18
and greeted them from afar
51:20
and having acknowledged
51:22
that they were strangers
51:23
and exiles on the earth.
51:24
For people who speak thus
51:26
make it clear
51:27
that they are seeking
51:29
a homeland.
51:31
And if they'd been thinking
51:33
of that land
51:33
from which they'd gone out,
51:35
they would have had opportunity
51:36
to return.
51:38
But as it is,
51:39
they desire a better country.
51:41
That is a heavenly one.
51:42
Therefore, God is not ashamed
51:44
to be called their God,
51:46
for He has prepared for them
51:48
a city,
51:50
a lasting residence,
51:52
an eternal abode in heaven.
51:56
And all the way through
51:56
these few verses,
51:57
you can see various things
51:59
that tie in with what we're seeing
52:01
here in Hebrews 13.
52:03
They're seeing things
52:04
by faith from a distance.
52:06
They were not yet in the city
52:08
that is heaven, of course,
52:09
but they were looking forward to it.
52:11
They're making it clear
52:12
that they are seeking a homeland.
52:14
If they'd been thinking
52:15
of the land from which
52:16
they'd gone out,
52:17
they would have an opportunity
52:18
to return.
52:19
That's how it is for yourself,
52:20
by going to the Lord's table,
52:22
by doing what you're doing
52:23
in obedience to Christ,
52:24
you're actually making clear,
52:25
I don't want to return
52:26
to the world.
52:27
I don't want to return
52:28
to what I was.
52:29
I don't want to return
52:30
to my lost condition.
52:32
I don't want to return
52:33
to my unforgiven state.
52:35
I don't want to return
52:36
to that position I had
52:37
where I was either at enmity
52:39
with God consciously
52:41
to myself or not.
52:43
I don't want to return
52:44
to that.
52:44
That's in the past.
52:46
That's the city
52:46
that's going to be destroyed.
52:48
That's where God
52:50
has taken me out from.
52:53
But I'm looking forward
52:54
to that city that is to come.
52:58
The city that has foundations
52:59
of which He is builder
53:01
and maker.
53:03
Therefore,
53:04
I want to go to the Lord's table,
53:06
not because I'm good enough
53:07
in myself,
53:09
but because it shows
53:10
that I love Him
53:11
who is good enough.
53:13
And that He's done all this
53:15
so that I could come
53:16
and look forward
53:17
in faith and hope
53:19
to that city
53:20
that has foundations.
53:22
Now, we could think of
53:23
what it says there
53:26
in verses 11,
53:27
verses 13 to 16
53:28
of chapter 11,
53:29
as using all the means
53:32
available,
53:34
and same here
53:34
in chapter 13,
53:36
we're seeking the city
53:38
that is to come.
53:39
What does that mean?
53:40
Essentially,
53:41
it means using every means
53:43
that God has given us
53:44
to make our way towards it,
53:47
to actually finally enter it.
53:49
Not by our own merits.
53:51
That's on the merits of Christ.
53:52
But we're using everything
53:53
God has given us
53:55
so as to progress
53:56
on that journey.
53:58
And one of the wonderful things
54:00
that God has given us,
54:02
the ordinance of the Lord's Supper,
54:04
is designed to strengthen us
54:06
for that journey,
54:08
to strengthen our hope,
54:09
our faith,
54:11
our belief in Him.
54:14
Think of the banquet
54:16
that's awaiting
54:16
the Lord's people
54:17
in glory,
54:18
the marriage supper
54:20
of the Lamb,
54:20
as the book of Revelation
54:21
calls it.
54:23
And you can think, really,
54:24
of the Lord's Supper,
54:26
if you like,
54:28
as the starter course
54:30
for that great banquet.
54:33
We're coming to this world
54:35
just to take the starter.
54:37
It's a wonderful starter,
54:38
especially for all
54:39
that it represents.
54:41
But as you come
54:42
to take the Lord's Supper,
54:43
as you sit there
54:44
and eat this starter course,
54:46
if you like,
54:46
what it's saying to you is,
54:48
well, isn't the banquet
54:49
going to be magnificent?
54:52
If the starter is this good,
54:53
what's the main course
54:54
going to be like?
54:56
And when you come
54:57
to take that starter,
54:59
you're really feeding
55:00
your own hopes
55:01
and your own faith
55:02
of sitting at
55:04
that marriage supper
55:05
of the Lamb
55:06
whenever that day will come.
55:10
And so going out,
55:12
going out and taking
55:14
the Lord's Supper,
55:14
coming out on the side
55:16
of the Lord yet again
55:17
or for the first time,
55:19
is really an indication
55:20
that you're looking
55:21
forward to that
55:23
marriage supper
55:23
of the Lamb.
55:26
You're saying to the Lord,
55:27
thank you, Lord,
55:28
for this starter course
55:30
that you've given me.
55:31
It's sufficient for me
55:33
as long as my life
55:34
remains in this world.
55:38
But I long to have
55:39
the main course in heaven.
55:42
And this starter course
55:43
gives me a taste
55:44
of what that main course
55:47
is going to be like
55:48
when I see you
55:49
face to face,
55:51
when I'll be in
55:52
your very presence,
55:53
when I'll sit down
55:55
and when you will wipe
55:56
every tear from my eyes,
55:58
when you will lead me
55:59
to living fountains of water
56:00
as my pastor in heaven,
56:02
but I want to experience
56:05
something of it,
56:07
something of a foretaste,
56:08
however small,
56:10
while I'm in this life.
56:12
And I want to do it
56:13
in the way Jesus himself
56:15
has designed
56:15
in this Lord's Supper,
56:19
anticipating the marriage supper
56:20
of the Lamb.
56:23
I'm sure you've read,
56:24
most of you at least
56:25
have read The Pilgrim's Progress
56:26
probably more than once.
56:28
And you may recall
56:30
that when
56:30
The Pilgrim Christian
56:32
came to the point
56:33
where this burden
56:35
that was strapped
56:35
to his back
56:36
fell off,
56:37
it rolled down the hill
56:38
into a sepulcher,
56:41
recreating the scene again
56:43
of the Lord's cross
56:45
and death
56:45
and followed by
56:46
the resurrection,
56:47
that's where he lost
56:48
his burden,
56:49
that's where all the burden
56:51
of his guilt
56:51
and his sins fell off.
56:53
And it says then
56:55
that Christian rejoiced.
56:59
He sang.
57:02
And this is what he sang.
57:04
Thus far did I come
57:06
laden with my sin,
57:08
nor could aught else
57:10
ease the grief
57:11
that I was in,
57:13
till I came hither.
57:15
What a place is this!
57:17
Must here be the beginning
57:19
of my bliss?
57:20
Must hear the burden
57:22
fall from off my back?
57:23
Must hear the strings
57:25
that bounded to me crack?
57:27
Blessed cross!
57:29
Blessed sepulcher!
57:32
Blessed rather be
57:33
the man that here
57:35
was put to shame
57:37
for me.
57:40
This do
57:41
in remembrance
57:43
of him.
57:46
May God bless these
57:47
thoughts on his word.
57:48
we'll conclude
57:49
by singing to his praise
57:51
in Psalm 119.
57:56
This is from the Scottish
57:57
Psalter, Psalm 119,
57:59
at verse 172.
58:04
My tongue of thy
58:05
most blessed word
58:06
shall speak and it confess,
58:08
because all thy commandments
58:09
are perfect righteousness.
58:12
Let thy strong hand
58:13
make help to me,
58:14
thy precepts are my choice.
58:15
I longed for thy salvation,
58:18
Lord,
58:18
and in thy law
58:20
rejoice.
58:21
So on down
58:22
to the final verse,
58:23
I like a lost sheep
58:24
went astray,
58:25
thy servants seek and find,
58:28
for thy commands
58:29
I suffered not
58:30
to slip out
58:31
of my mind.
58:33
These four verses
58:33
in conclusion.
58:34
my tongue
58:39
my tongue
58:41
of thy
58:44
most blessed
58:46
word
58:48
shall speak
58:51
and it
58:54
confess,
58:57
because
58:58
gates
59:06
our
59:07
lerin
59:08
sons
59:15
our
59:19
Palestina
59:19
Só 8
59:24
Thy peace that are my choice.
59:31
I long for thy salvation, Lord,
59:41
and in thy glory rejoice.
59:49
O let my soul, your bondage child,
1:00:00
give praises unto thee,
1:00:06
O let thy judgment, gracious,
1:00:17
be helpful unto me.
1:00:24
I like a lost sheep went astray,
1:00:35
Thy servants seek and find,
1:00:42
O thy commands.
1:00:47
I suffer not to slip out of my mind.
1:01:00
I should have said,
1:01:03
if there are any visitors with us
1:01:04
who are communicants in full communion
1:01:06
with their own congregations
1:01:07
and in good standing,
1:01:09
they're very welcome to come
1:01:10
and join us at the communion table tomorrow.
1:01:12
And if you want to take a token with you
1:01:15
just to show the elders
1:01:15
that you have a token to go to the table,
1:01:19
we'll be pleased to do that for you.
1:01:21
Now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
1:01:23
the love of God the Father,
1:01:25
and the communion of the Holy Spirit
1:01:27
be with you now and evermore.
1:01:29
Amen.
1:01:30
Amen.