Leave the camp and bear the reproach of Christ

Let's go to Hebrews chapter 13, verse 10, brothers. Let me tell you the origin of this text and why I have chosen it tonight. I was asking the Lord this morning, a text that I could use as a basis for tonight's meditation, which is obviously the time of Good Friday where we remember the crucifixion of Jesus and his sacrifice on the cross, his suffering and the implications that this has for our lives, and again, as sometimes happens, I don't know if it happens to another person who preaches or who teaches but a text immediately came to mind and when that happens I usually pay close attention to it. And although I have never preached on that concept, the only thing that came to me was the word of suffering outside the camp. And so I started looking for that text because I actually know about it, I've heard it before but I've never preached on it, I've never dwelled on that text so much and so I looked for a concordance and found where that text is. And I felt the Lord preaching about it, I didn't have a clear idea of which direction to go, but as I meditated on this passage, other things began to emerge, other connections, and that's what I want to talk about tonight.

And one of the words that comes to my mind is going out, going out. Christ went outside the camp, suffered outside the camp. In a sense, the Bible also speaks to us about leaving the camp and going to see what the camp is. But more than that too, I think the Lord wants us to meditate a little on the connection between the death of Jesus, his sacrifice on the cross, and also the symbolism that exists in the Old Testament with the Passover, with the lamb. paschal, with the shedding of blood, with the blood sacrifices that the Old Testament demanded as an anticipation of what Christ had to consummate completely when he was lifted up on the cross and shed his own blood.

And it's a connection that we sometimes understand as subliminally but we haven't, I don't remember that as a congregation, we took the time to further explore that connection. And I know that many of you who are new to the Gospel may not understand all of this, what was the connection between the bloodshed that Jesus performed on the cross and the sacrifices of the Old Testament. All these things are mixed up here.

Look with me, again, Hebrews, chapter 13 with verse 10, it says there:

"...We have an altar...we, the believers, are speaking, the writer of Hebrews says,...we have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat..."

There begins the writer of Hebrews a comparison that he makes many times through the book of Hebrews because it is a book written specifically for Christian Jews, who know the Old Testament very well and the writer of Hebrews, inspired by the Holy Spirit, is using the symbolic, ritual, sacrificial, liturgical language of the Old Testament and is showing how Christ, Jesus accomplishes everything, completes everything, fulfills everything. And the purpose of the writer of Hebrews is to show how Christ is the consummation of all that in the Old Testament is merely a symbol.

In other words, the thesis, so to speak, of the writer of Hebrews is that the entire Old Testament and especially those key texts that have to do with worship and sacrifice and purification from sins, all of that was just like a arrow that pointed and that prepared the sensitivity of the Hebrews and later of all humanity for the one who would consummate and carry out in his own person in truth everything that before was simply a symbolism.

In other words, it was as if the writer was saying, everything that happened before in the Old Testament was like a rehearsal, it was like a symbolic game, but Christ accomplished it all. And what was simply a shadow, a promise, a point towards, now in Jesus it becomes a reality.

And we who enter into that reality that Christ makes possible, have a privilege that no one else has had and certainly the old pact, the old system, the old drama there is no comparison, says the writer of Hebrews and says the whole word.

In other words, now those of us who are in Christ are living reality, we are living what God had been rehearsing for centuries and centuries and thousands of years before. The Old Testament is like a shadow of things to come, so says the writer of the New Testament. It's just a note. And that is where one sees how the Scripture is so real, so true, written thousands of years ago, the events of the Passover in the Old Testament when Moses and the Hebrews left Egypt, we are talking about 3,000 years ago, a thousand and peak of years before the sacrifice of Jesus was already given in the book of Exodus God was developing this symbolism. Which convinces us of this, the coherence of Scripture, how Jesus in his own life, in events of his life that we historically know to be real, incontrovertible, because very few people in history, historians or scholars are Christians or not, They deny that there was a Jesus, who died crucified on a cross, at least that. Even if they don't believe that anything like that was resurrected, they do know that there was a character named Jesus who carried out these things that the Old Testament foreshadows as a symbol of what was to come.

So one sees that from Genesis practically when Abraham, for example, is there in his drama of killing Isaac and is already ready to stab Isaac, he is rehearsing what God would have to do, to kill his own son, in that sense speaking, not letting him die, handing him over to die on the cross.

That is to say, the mind of God has always been thinking about what was to come, that sacrifice of Christ on the cross was like the consummation of humanity, it was the peak of all the drama of humanity that begins in Eden when man sins, breaks the law of God, breaks the law of God, the world enters this struggle and this brokenness that is sin and death, and the mind of God is continually thinking of that moment of redemption , that moment of crucifixion in which Christ had to pay the price, had to stand between us and the wrath of God and receive the blow of sin in his own person and then install a new epoch in history.

So, understand all this that is happening. This is very important because it convinces us, it convinces me at least that the Bible is not simply a collection of crazy books physically assembled on parchment, it is something that has internal coherence, its message, the themes, the symbols are pointing towards one thing.

So the writer of Hebrews says, begins by saying, “…. We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat…”

There are two things here, this to eat and an altar, etc. it reminds me of the holy supper where we eat the bread and the symbol of the wine that reminds us of the body of Christ broken on the cross, bruised, crucified and his blood shed for a redemptive purpose and when we participate in the sacrament we are remembering that sacrifice of Christ.

And I believe that the writer of Hebrews is saying that we believers, those of us who believe in Jesus have an altar, that moment in which we symbolically participate in the blood and body of Jesus, which is not like the altar of the tabernacle, is not like the altar not even of the temple, so beautiful that it is, where the priests enter. We have an altar that not even the priests have the right to eat from, because they do not know Jesus, if they know him they can participate in it, but we Christians can eat from something much more powerful, more significant, more real. We are participating in the truth towards which the Old Testament pointed with all its symbols. We have our faith, what we are enjoying now in Christianity is something much higher and that is the theme of the entire book of Hebrews.

It says, “…because the bodies of those animals whose blood because of sin is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest, are burned outside the camp…”

He's alluding to something there that I hope I'll take a moment to read what that refers to. It is saying, it is pointing us to Jesus, his sacrifice on the cross and it says, look, in the Old Testament animals were used, four-legged animals, sheep, goats, different types of animals whose blood was shed, they were slaughtered, and their blood was as the currency that was used to pay for the sin of Israel, of the Israelites. Every year a sacrifice of two goats and a lamb was made at the atonement festivals, and each of these three animals had a special function.

So, he says, look, in those days the bodies of those animals were brought into the sanctuary by the high priest and burned outside the camp. That's true. Leviticus says it, chapter 16, “….for this reason also Jesus, that is, due to that symbolism that was established by the Father in ancient times, for this reason Jesus to sanctify the people through his own blood….”

That is to say, the Lord Jesus now constituted himself in that lamb that before gave spiritual healing to the people of Israel and every year the same ritual had to be repeated, to pay the price again. It was like something continuous that had to be paid symbolically for the sins of the year of the people, and then the Lord constituted himself in that blood sacrifice. And then he does the same thing that was done, they do with him the same thing that was done with the lambs of the Old Testament and that is, they took him out of the city. That is, they exiled him. It was not worthy that this being, animal in the Old Testament, now human, divine in the New Testament, Christ Jesus, with all that sinfulness could not remain within the town. He was exiled as people in ancient times are exiled, they were expelled, they were expelled from citizenship. The Lord experienced the same in his person.

He who did not deserve such a thing assumes our sin on his body and is then cast out of humanity. He suffers outside the camp. In other words, the camp is the safe place where the family is, where the people are, where the citizens are. Now, he, like those goats and that lamb that were full of sin, because he was wearing it, the priest symbolically imposed his hands on it and by imposing his hands he threw all the sin of the people onto that animal, then it had to be removed because he was full of shame and full of sin. And so it says that Christ, look how the mind of God is, the Lord was crucified outside the city, where people were crucified, outside the city wall, he was crucified outside.

God already planned all this and the Lord in his person executed that of becoming exiled. The one who was the Son of man says, look, you don't even deserve to be a man, get out of our midst. You understand the sacrifice of Christ was so great. It was not only the physical cross, it was also the shame, it was being expelled, being thrown out, becoming so sinful that he did not deserve to be among human beings.

“…for which reason Jesus also suffered outside the gate to sanctify the people through his own blood…”

There's a consequence of that that I don't know if I should go into right now. It says, “…let us then go out to him without the camp bearing his reproach…”

Let me see if I remember, because that's important. That is the conclusion of everything. That is what it is up to us to do. There is a going out that we also have to do, as a consequence of Jesus leaving the camp. There is something that we have to do. There is a moral, ethical, behavioral, lifestyle implication. Because this is the thing, right? Notice, the Old Testament a symbol. Christ does it in his person and we also live it in our lives. We also have to in a sense be crucified. We in a sense also have to be buried, like water baptism, we go in, we go out. We too have to suffer outside the camp and we too experience resurrection like Christ Jesus.

Do you see? They are like three pieces, symbol, Old Testament, Jesus does it in his person and we also live it in our own lives and in our own way of living here on earth.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. And I forget, please remind me. Because we're going back for a moment because this is almost like a lesson rather on the Old Testament, New Testament, and connections and I don't want this to be lost so that we understand all of this that we celebrate and all the things that we do.

Look here, let's go to Leviticus for a moment, let's go to Leviticus first, Leviticus chapter 16. Look at what the writer of Hebrews is referring to, so that we understand this a little better, in chapter 16 he talks about the high priest, what should do, in verse 3 he says:

“… with this Aaron will enter the sanctuary, with a calf…. Aaron is the first high priest of the Hebrew people…. With this Aaron shall enter the sanctuary with a calf for atonement and a ram for a burnt offering..."

Who do you think that ram is, that calf in the New Testament? It's Jesus. Then he also says in verse 5:

“…and from the congregation of the children of Israel he shall take two male goats…. They were like goats more or less like this, although male goat sounds better…. For atonement and a ram for a burnt offering….”

So there are a number of things that I'm not going to read a lot about here, but the idea is that these animals are all to provide for the sins of the people of Israel and we are an extension of that people. So, it says here later in verse 15, because the passage is long, verse 15 says:

“…then he will kill the goat as an atonement for the sin of the people and take the blood behind the veil… the veil of the most holy place, he will take it to the most holy place…. And he will make the blood with the blood as he did with the blood of the calf and sprinkle it on the mercy seat and before the mercy seat…”

Look here, slaughter, take to the most holy place, before the very presence of God, according to Hebrew symbolism, and there sprinkle blood as a symbol of atonement for the sins of the people. All this in the New Testament, the Holy Spirit clarifies that it was all preparation for what Christ was going to do in his own person. It says further on, we go to verse 20, it says:

"... when he has finished expiating the sanctuary, the tabernacle of meeting and the altar he will bring the live goat...."

Look here, there are several animals, but don't dwell so much on the goat or the lamb, what matters is that all these animals are playing an expiatory role, a role of redemption, a role of taking over the sin of the people, a role of them stand in symbolism, in the place of the people and be slaughtered or their blood sprinkled, but the idea is so that the people do not have to pay with their own blood, these, God has said, I am going to accept the blood of these animals and the lives of these animals as an atonement, as a symbolic payment for your sin.

“…..And then, when he had finished expiating the sanctuary and the tabernacle of meeting and the altar he will bring the live goat….”, because there were two, one was sacrificed, killed, beheaded and his blood sprinkled, and there were a second animal that says, “…and Aaron shall place his two hands on the head of the live goat and shall confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel….”

What does the book of Isaiah say? It says, he bore our transgressions and for our sins he was scourged, he was sacrificed. That is he, the prophet Isaiah, centuries before Christ, before Jesus suffered all this, he is talking about the same thing. Throughout the Bible there is this idea of the blood and life of the animal that Christ is going to realize in his own person. He is that victim, but in this case, notice if before the lambs and these animals that were sacrificed did not have enough power, so to speak, to heal the sins of the people and of humanity, once and for all, that sacrifice had to be... you always had to do it over and over and over again, because the power ran out. It was only for a small town, but every year the price had to be paid again.

What happens now? God made it very economical in the end, who caught a lamb, Christ, perfect, God himself, imagine, what victim could pay? What victim was valuable enough to pay for the sins of all mankind: present, past, future in one fell swoop, once and for all, that would not have to be done continuously? It had to be infinitely valuable, yes or no? just imagine. If a lamb and two goats had to be sacrificed annually to pay the price for a little bit of humanity, as were the Jewish people, how much more, what could be offered to pay for all humanity once and for all, billions and billions and potentially billions of human beings. Because in Christ there is power to save all of humanity, if humanity wanted to, at any time in history, it had to be something very powerful and that is why I believe that it had to be perfect and God a man, because only God had the value enough.

And that is why I believe that the mystery of redemption and the mystery of the crucifixion God had to descend, God had to solve the problem. How do I become a man? How do I become mortal? How do I make myself capable of assuming on myself the price of all this humanity that I must destroy because my justice demands that I kill it because the wages of sin is death? And God had an idea, so to speak, and the idea was, I'm going to come down, I'm going to assume the form of a man, and I'm going to pay the price for all mankind. I am going to be that lamb, I am going to be that animal that does not have to be continually sacrificing, sacrificing, sacrificing animals. No, no, once and for all, and that is why he becomes the sacrifice par excellence, the total sacrifice.

In the Old Testament here in Leviticus what is being presented is simply how things happen, because you see? That's what happens, the difference is that when we are in Christ, brothers, everything is much easier. In the Old Testament they had to, look, shed blood, these poor men had to always be killing sacrifices, slaughtering meat. I imagine how that place in the temple must have smelled. Sometimes we think of the temple, ooooh, the great thing, but you imagine killing animals practically every day and every year and sprinkling blood and these men were more like butchers than priests, they had to kill and then they had to wash their hands and their suits were full of blood.

Listen to me, how difficult life is without Christ. How much effort does it take, huh? Martin Luther centuries ago, not Martin Luther King, but the other Martin Luther, the father of Protestantism, realized that, how difficult it was, a Catholic priest, a monk tried to do everything he could, sacrifices , genuflections, whipping, fasting, and still did not feel peace in his heart, he felt sinful. He knew that he was a sinful man until he finally discovered that salvation is by grace, that it is a gift from God, that it does not require so many sacrifices, that the Lord has already paid the price and all we have to do is enter into what God made and sign us and say, I receive it, I accept that this is for me too. And then you can have peace with God because Christ already made all the sacrifice, he paid the price.

Yet look here at all that it cost people in the Old Testament, all this sacrifice, all this effort, this continuous slaughtering of animals. God said, I am going to solve this problem once and for all, I will descend, I will take the sin of the whole world and I will pay the price so that already…

And I see that continually, brethren, in Christ Jesus we can find rest for our souls. Says the Lord Jesus Christ, take my yoke upon you because my yoke is easy and my burden is light. I think of this man, the paralytic by the pool of Betesta, thank you, we have a Bible scholar here. This paralytic is there and the Bible says that from time to time an angel came, don't explain to me how that happened, and stirred up the waters, an invisible angel I imagine, but when people saw that those waters began to move, they knew, the angel was moving it, and the one who threw the fastest was healed of his illness. The fastest, the most agile, the most alive, the most alert, and there was this poor paralytic, he had no one, even if he wanted to, even if he saw the water first, he couldn't jump because he couldn't move, that's why he was paralyzed . And for me that symbolizes the Old Testament, effort, you need strength, you need vigor, you need to be the one who starts things, the fastest, the strongest, the one who knows the most, like the Pharisees and Sadducees, those They are the ones who have access to the presence of God. And there's this poor fellow over there, geez, if someone would come and throw me in there when that water moved, how nice would that be. And Jesus comes and stands up and says, hey, would you like to be healed? He says, Lord I would love it but how, if I don't have anyone to jump me into the water. I can't do it because I'm paralyzed. The Lord says, no, man, it's a lot easier than that. He was simply healed and the man took his bed and walked away healed, without doing anything.

Do you see the difference? The difference was that. Before Christ passes by, this man needs strength, he needs to do things. When Christ arrives, he does it for that man and it doesn't matter that he is paralyzed. What's more, the more powerless he was, the better still because the Lord glorified himself in healing and saving him, and showing his grace. That it was not due to work, it was not due to speed, it was not due to force, it was not due to agility, it was not due to being alert, it was simply because the Lord wanted to heal him and had the power to do so.

And for me that has always been the difference. That event has been like the difference between what the Old Testament was before Christ came and what it is when Christ comes: effort before Christ, with Christ, grace and healing from him, not from us. And so that's all the writer says is that, look, we have a much better pact, we have something that not even the priests would have given anything in the Old Testament to be able to be where we are. And that is why he despises Jesus, he is despising the richest, most beautiful, most powerful thing in all of human reality. The Lord does it.

That is why, brothers, if you are troubled, if you feel burdened by your sins, if you feel that you do not have peace, you are losing it, because the Lord has already paid the price. Something is wrong, you have to tune in to the station of grace that is Christ Jesus, you have to learn to rest in the Lord. If you are struggling, if you are struggling with something in your life, look, I know we all sin, we all have our burdens, our struggles, find your rest in him… I'm not saying, keep sinning, keep doing what you want , but don't be lacerating yourself, don't be condemning yourself, don't always be depressed because of what happened before, because of what they did to you, because of what you didn't achieve, because of the failure you had, because of this or that rest in Christ. He paid the price already. If your life is a life of anxiety, look, ask the Lord to give you rest because Christ died for that.

The problem is not, oh, the Gospel had told me that I was supposed to have rest and no…. No, the problem is, look within yourself and find the safe place in Christ Jesus. Because the problem is not Christ, and he did what he had to do. In Christ Jesus we enter into rest, into the grace of God.

And again, I'm not saying we play with sin. No. I'm saying that when you're doing all you can and you're doing your part, and you're seeking healing, holiness, pleasing God, look, do what's on your part and then rest in the one who paid the price now The Gospel is not to be suffering. The Gospel is not to be in anxiety. The Gospel is not about living for works and making sure we do enough for God to love and accept us. He already accepted us. Now, since he accepted us, we now have to do everything possible to please him, because he has already done so much for us that how can we despise so much love and kindness and so much sacrifice, if he already paid the price.

So, for me, holiness is not so that God loves me, so that God likes me. No, it is because God already loves me, and because he already likes me, because he is already the sacrifice, he is the lamb. He paid the price, now he wants you, as a consequence of everything he did, of all that effort, that you now enter into the rest that he made possible. And so then, you see, all of this is here. It says, in verse 21, I'm still in Leviticus 16:

“…and Aaron shall place both his hands on the head of the living goat and confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, all their transgressions, all their sins, thus placing them on the head of the living goat and send it into the wilderness for hand of a man destined for this…”

Go? Get him out, get him out of town. Take him out of where comfort and human warmth is and throw him to wander in the desert with all that sin that he has on him, that filthy animal now, infinitely filthy. Take him out, as Christ was taken out of the camp and says:

“…and that he-goat will bear upon himself all their iniquities to an uninhabited land and he will let the goat go through the wilderness and then, in verse 27 it says, and they will take them out of the camp….”

Where do we hear the word camp and out of camp? Back in Hebrews when we begin to read.

“…and the calf and the goat slain for sin shall be brought out of the camp…”

Because there were two more animals, one symbolically placed their hands on it and released it to wander through the desert carrying the sin of the people. There were two who had been sacrificed, their blood sprinkled on the altar, the life, which was being paid for the sins of Judaism and all the Hebrews. Those two animals that had been slain as Christ was also slain.

“…. the calf and the goat immolated for sin whose blood was taken to the sanctuary to make atonement and they will burn their skin, their meat and their dung in the fire, and in verse 30 it says, because on this day atonement will be made for you and you shall be clean from all your sins before the Lord….”

You see how God was rehearsing and carrying out all this in the Old Testament so that Christ would make it a reality. Says:

“…. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of the calf sprinkled on the unclean sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God will cleanse your consciences of dead works so that you may serve the living God…”

Glory to the Lord. Brothers, you understand, this clearing your consciences, elsewhere the writer says that the sacrifices could not clear people's consciences, that they could be calm before God. It was something purely symbolic, animal, material, physical, but Christ is supposed to clean us inside too.

So if your conscience is tormented by sin, if you are full of doubts, will God love me, will he not? I'm going to hell, won't I? Look, rest because the sacrifice of Christ already cleanses you too and simply what you have to do is enter into what the sacrifice of Christ makes possible. Verse 15 says:

“…. So that is why he is the mediator of a new pact so that death intervening for the remission of the transgressions that were under the first pact, those called receive the promise of eternal inheritance….”

That in Hebrews, chapter 9. So, we could continue but I'm going to leave it there. We could continue because if you go to Exodus, chapter 12, I think it is, you are going to find the Passover there. Do you know that we are in Passover time for the Jews? I think Easter was on Tuesday of this week, pasaj, for the Hebrews. They are still celebrating the Old Testament Passover. And the Passover you will remember was to remember that time when God was going to kill the firstborn of the Egyptians and told them, so that the Hebrews, the firstborn of the Hebrews are not killed, take a lamb and put blood on the lintels of the sprinkle the door, the door frame, with blood so that when the angel of death, who is going to be killing the firstborn of the Egyptians, passes through a door and when he is about to enter he sees blood painted and passes over, passes through high.

The word passover, in English, is to pass over, to go on, I thought so but I wasn't sure, to go on. For a moment it seemed strange to me, to go on long, I've said it so many times but like… I don't want to say nonsense, to go on long. Passover, in the original Hebrew, pasaj, is what that means, to go on, to pass. The angel seeing the blood...

And you see, look, do you think that God could not make that angel know, look, these are the addresses, you are not going to kill these people's children. God can do that and a lot. No, he wanted to set a precedent. Go? Because the mind of God thinks so. listen to me, how many things will there be in Scripture that we don't even understand that God put them there for something.

That's why I would talk to someone the other days and say, look, the Bible is a multi, multi-dimensional book. Musicians can pass through here. The Bible is a multidimensional book, it has many dimensions. The usher brothers, please, get ready because we are going to make our own offering, the Lord made his, but we are going to have an offering too.

Look, the Bible is a multidimensional book where there is a text that we read and understand that it is the text above, but below God is speaking so many things that we do not even understand. In the Old Testament God was establishing something there, that blood, he wanted, he said, I want humanity to know that I have been thinking of my Son, the lamb. This lamb, not only the blood was used for that, but it was also eaten because Christ is also flesh and blood that we can also ingest symbolically and gives life and gives food and gives sustenance.

So, this paschal lamb was also a symbol of Jesus. He is the paschal lamb and that is why in another text, which I do not have time to explain, in Luke 22 or 21, I believe it is the Lord at this time about two days before being crucified, 2 or 3 days at the time of the passover, he said, how much I have wanted to eat this passover with you because I will not eat it again until all things are consummated, until I return. Because the Lord was eating the last Passover and he was going to be the last Passover, he was going to be the last lamb that the Passover was really going to have meaning. After that, the Passover lost its meaning, the Jews celebrate the Passover but they do not understand that their lamb has already been sacrificed. They are still waiting for their lamb, they do not know that the lamb is long gone.

Now, when Christ comes again to eat the bread and drink the wine, it is to celebrate the supper of the lamb and of the church. That's why he says, I won't eat it again until I come back. So, all these things, I encourage you, what I want, brothers, is that we understand when we celebrate this Good Friday, the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, we speak of Christ as the lamb, his shed blood, we eat of the bread, the drinking of the wine, the fact that we say that he bore our sins, that he was sacrificed for our transgressions, that our sin was put on him, when we see that he suffered outside the wall, all these things God had already painted it in the Old Testament. That is for me one of the things that proves in a conclusive way that Jesus is who he says he is, the Messiah, he fulfilled all these things, all these symbols. Now we enter into reality, we enter into the reality of Christ Jesus and I know that you have not reminded me of what I told you to remind me because you want it to end, but I am going to read it anyway because I promised myself that I would. to do, I do not want us to also lose the ethical implications, brothers, behavior and our lives, I cannot fail to point this out. In chapter 13 again, from Hebrews it says in verse 13, it says;

“… Let us then go out to him outside the camp… he is outside the camp, let us also go outside the camp bearing his reproach because we have no permanent city here but we are looking for the one to come. So let us always offer to God through him, a sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name..."

What is the writer saying here? Hey, don't back down and simply say, oh, how good Jesus was, look at the poor thing, how he suffered, how he gave his life, how he suffered for us. He says, no, it's not that easy like that. You go out too. What does that say to you Christian? Look, a worldly Christian is a contradiction, you know? A Christian living in the comfort of the world inside the camp is a contradiction. Our place is outside the camp.

You've heard that hymn that says, can't the world be my home, can't the world be my home. We've turned it into a funeral hymn for you know what? that is a hymn for today too and for you and me. The world cannot be your home. The camp is not your dwelling place. The word says that we are foreigners and pilgrims. We live outside the city, we seek a city not made with the hands of men. You have to live like an exile too. You are in the world but you are not of the world. You can't fall in love with the world. Your affection cannot be in the world because like Christ you also have to suffer outside the camp.

It is what it says here, it carries the reproach of Christ, that is actually, it's the punch line. Everything else there is that goes. That you also have to exemplify in your life. And brothers, I tell you, we don't know, I don't know what I'm saying at this moment because if I knew I think I would live differently. Look, you and I have to surrender everything for Christ Jesus.

Look, if God gives you money, if he gives you beauty, if he gives you prestige, if he gives you a beautiful house, if he gives you a latest model car, enjoy it but very lightly, don't get attached to them, you know? Because none of that is truly yours, none of that should touch you inside, if you are going to enjoy it, enjoy it very tentatively and always keep it on to the Lord, if he wants to take it from you, give it to him right away, you know? And don't fall in love with anything and feel like you're such a big deal because you have this, you have that, because the world is not your home, nothing in this world belongs to you, your place is to stand outside the camp and bear the reproach of Jesus Christ in your heart, in your mind.

What you enjoy in this world is nonsense, you don't get attached to it, you don't love it, you don't feel like a big deal because you have it, and it doesn't depress you because you don't have it, because all of that is rubbish. You are on your way to the real city. You are outside the camp. We have to be out of camp mentally, emotionally, spiritually 24 hours a day because that's what Christ did on the cross. He suffered.

I think you and I need a lobotomy, open heart surgery right now because whatever you're attached to, anything that gives you pleasure in this world and makes you feel like it's mine, if not I'm going to die, get it out, that's a cancer, that's not from God, that's not your identity. You are outside the camp, that is your continuous state.

And it also says that you give the Lord fruit of lips worthy of your calling. In other words, holiness, a life that is worthy of the calling that we have. Purity, cleanliness, because the call is so high and we have to be different from the world. The circle is complete, the sacrifices as a symbol, Christ performs them, we continue it, we incorporate it into our lives.

Are you willing to suffer outside the camp? Are you willing to leave the comfort of the world's acceptance and know that if you live according to the example of Christ, the world will want you to leave the camp and you will have to. If you haven't come out of camp in your mind tonight, come out of camp like Christ and bear the reproach of Christ in your life too.

Let's lower our heads. Let us lower our heads and understand what the Lord accomplished on that cross, something so great, something so precious, something significant, my brothers, we will never be able to understand everything that was in God's mind when he invented this drama of the cross. I thank God because he was not content to leave us in the death of our sin, he did everything that had to be done and today I simply enjoy the sacrifice of Jesus.

Lord, we want to be like Christ. I want to be like Christ. I want to give you, I want to give you everything I love, everything I adore, everything I value, any appetite Lord, I give it to you, we give it to you tonight. Help us live outside the camp. Help us to carry out the symbolism of the Old Testament in our lives as Christ carried it out in his life and to live the reality that you drew thousands of years ago.

Let this church and this one who preaches and all of its leaders and all of our program and all that we do, Lord, and all that is preached and taught in this church and lived, reflect that fruit worthy of lips that confess in name of Jesus and that this is a church that is characterized by the delivery of everything that people love and adore at the feet of Jesus, a church that is in the world but is not of the world, a church that lives every day outside the camp. Help us to live outside the camp, help us to leave the camp in our minds, in our spirit, Lord, and we ask for a holy people, a people that lives with its eyes fixed on that city not made with the hands of men, that eternal city where You wait for us, Lord.

And make us effective for this world so that many can know Christ as Lord and savior. Thank you Jesus for your sacrifice on the cross. Thank you for what you accomplished. Thank you for your death. Thank you because you are the lamb, you are the goat, you are that animal that became unclean even though it was perfect, it had no defect, it was spotless and you became a sin for me. Thank my Lord. We want to be imitators of you tonight and every day of our lives. we bless you Thank my Lord. In your name, amen and amen. Amen and amen.