Has anyone else noticed that 2020 has been quite an unusual year so far (and there is still a presidential election to come!). COVID, civil unrest, and deep division. In light of it all, we ought to be asking ourselves and each other, “how do we live as faithful Christians right now?” In an increasingly secular age, an age of deceit, how do we faithfully serve our King and bear fruit for his glory. God is up to something. He wants to get our attention. He wants to help us to be faithful and live for him. And this morning’s text is a great help. 

Am I a Soldier of the Cross (Isaac Watts):

Must I be carried to the skies on flowery beds of ease, while others fought to win the prize and sailed through bloody seas?

Communicates two opposing visions of the Christian faith: One sounds so good, but is deadly and dead wrong. The other sounds daunting, but is glorious and gloriously right. Our Lord did not say, “Behold I send you out as sheep in the midst of green pastures”, but “I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves.” The Lord did not say, “In this world you will have ease, more comfort and security” No, he said, “You will have trouble.” He did not say, “Hey everyone liked me, so they will like you too,” but “If the world hates you, know that it hated me first… and since you are not of the world, it will hate you…”

Jesus did not say, “Blessed are you if everyone speaks well of you and likes you,” but “Woe to you if all speak well of you and blessed are you if you are persecuted for my sake”. Jesus described the Christian this way, “Deny yourself, take up your cross (instrument of execution) and follow me,” and “the road is narrow and hard that leads to life and there are few who find it…” 

We need to be reminded of these things. And get it in our text today.  There is one command. It’s the main point and the rest supports it. And the command is this: “Move toward risk and sacrifice and need and suffering and love with Christ rather than ease and comfort and compromise. 

It seems like the entire book of Hebrews can be summed up in these verses: Looking to Jesus and the perfection of his work as our high priest, and forward to the future paradise of God, “choose the way of sacrificial, risk-taking love rather than comfort seeking, security ensuring self-preservation.” In other words, choose the fight, choose to sail through bloody seas rather than flowery beds of ease.

At some point those who insist on flowery beds of ease will compromise their allegiance to Christ.  The devil paves the road of ease with all kinds of reasonable explanations and plausible reasons to stay there.

And so, the main point is in verse 13: Christian, choose the Calvary Road, which is a road of suffering, risk, sacrifice, and love rather than the road of security, ease, and self-preservation. And then verses 12 and 14 (sandwiching) give two supports or reasons for living this way. This text is so relevant for the day in which we live. So let’s jump in. I want you to see where I am getting this in the text.

MAIN POINT: Choose the road of suffering and reproach with Jesus (verse 13)

Therefore, let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured.

Let us go outside the camp. This is our path. It’s described as outside the camp; outside of the familiar and comfortable.

Let us go to HIM… outside the camp - in other words, this is where Jesus is. John 12:24-26: 

Truly, truly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies it remains alone; but if it dies it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world, will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also.

Bearing the reproach he endured 

Reproach - denounced, insulted, reviled. Isaiah 53:3 says Jesus “was despised and rejected…” NT Church - revival, but often great hostility (Acts 5, Acts 15 - Ephesus), 1 Peter 4:14. What happened when John the Baptist said to Herod, “You cannot have your brother's wife, it is unlawful”? His head was cut off. 

Now, why would anyone choose to live this way? Well, we are given two strong reasons (verses 12 and 14).

REASON ONE: The Death of Christ

The first reason is in verse 12 and it has to do with the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ:

So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood.

Notice, this verse tells us how Jesus died and why he died. How Jesus died - outside the gate, outside the city of Jerusalem. Remember, he was marched up the hill of Calvary or Golgotha and crucified. Verse 11 helps us understand the point. It says that under the Old Covenant, the bodies of the animals which we sacrificed were carried outside the camp (outside the community of Jews) and burned. This was in order to ensure that there was nothing that remained that would defile the offering to God. That our text points this out, shows us that all the OT sacrifices and offerings were ultimately pointing to Jesus. He is the all-time sacrifice for our sins. 

Now, this is significant for a number of reasons. It shows us what kind of Savior he is (all nations, not just Jews - he suffered outside the gate). It fundamentally changes how we worship God (not in Jerusalem or at the Temple, but we gather to Him). But I think the main point the author is seeking to draw out here is the significance of the scandal of Christ’s death, the scandal of the cross. Not one person looking on at the scene of the cross, on that terrible hill of Calvary thought, “That’s heroic”! If you had been there, you would have been pulling your hair out at the horrific sight. And yet, on this side of the cross, because we know the purposes of God and what Christ accomplished, it is glorious. Think about the cross. As Christians, we say this tortuous death is our life. For those who don’t believe, the cross is only foolishness (Tim C.). But for those who are being saved, it is the power of God and wisdom of God. 

Verse 12 also tells us “why” Christ died.  Here it is: “In order to sanctify the people through his blood.” 

• The people - not every person in the entire world. The people refers to His people. His chosen people. Those who come to God through Christ. 
• Sanctify. The word means set apart for a holy purpose. Jesus suffered outside the camp for this purpose. To make us different. 
• Think about this. In the NT, believers are called “saints” over and over again. This ought to stun us! It is more than just a static designation. Well, we are saints. It’s more. We ought to look at one another and offer to God our lives and say, “We are your chosen, sanctified people who exist for you!” You know what this means? We no longer belong to ourselves. We belong to God. We belong to Christ!

So putting verses 12-13, it says: So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people. Therefore, let us go to him, outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. 

REASON TWO: Glorious Future

We know it is a reason because verse 14 starts with the word “for”:

For, here we have not lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.

What reason are we given here for choosing a radical life of sacrifice and risk-taking and love rather than a comfortable, easy, pain-free life? A love for “the city to come”. The word “seek” carries with it the idea of craving. We crave the city to come. We crave the paradise that awaits us in the future and we are seeking it. 

But there is the other side too. Here we have no lasting city. This is not paradise. And we shouldn’t seek to build paradise here in Ankeny or in Iowa or anywhere on this present earth. Are you seeking God’s paradise? Do you crave it? I call it paradise because that’s what the bible calls it. Revelation 2:7 says, 

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

We’ve seen this pattern several times in Hebrews. Choosing sacrifice now because of the hope of future reward. Or simply put, living for eternity; having an eternal perspective. 

Remember: Hebrews 10:32-34, Hebrews 11:24-26 (Moses), Hebrews 12:2 (Jesus), Hebrews 13:5-6 

Beloved, do you realize this is out in front of us? Let’s go to Christ outside the camp.

Jesus is calling you: “Come to me on the Calvary road. Come to me at Golgotha.”  Come to me on the road of sacrifice and risk and suffering and love. What an invitation. This is where Jesus is - on the road of risk and sacrificial love! 

I think that     And if you are yielded to the Lord and seek him, he will make it clear what this means for you. But one thing is for sure. The Lord Jesus is calling us to revolt against the status quo. Let’s go to him, outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city to come.

CT Studd: One life to live, will soon be past. Only what’s done for Christ will last. And when my last breath, how happy I’ll be, if the lamp of my light has been burned out for thee.