The Hebrew Epistle

… ...of them in the epistle to the Hebrews, which we have to take first. In that case, it will be the second chapter of Hebrews. Hebrews 2, verse 11. Hebrews 2, verse 11. And again, Chapter 4, verse 12. Hebrews 4, verse 12. ...of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Seeing then we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like us, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Chapter 10. Chapter 10, verse 18. Chapter 10, verse 18. Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath dedicated for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh. And having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed in pure water. Now verse a couple or two in chapter 11. Chapter 11, verse 4, 5 and 6. By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous. God testifying his gifts, and by it being dead, yet speaking. By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death, and was not found, because God had translated him. For before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. Without faith it is impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and he is awarded of them that diligently seek thee. Now the last chapter, chapter 13. I think I'd like to read verse 8. I think I'd like to read verse 8. Jesus Christ was saved yesterday, and today, and forever. Verse 13, let us go forth therefore unto him without the cap, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come. Now would you just turn for four verses I think in Psalm 22. Psalm 22. Verse 20. Psalm 22, verse 20. Deliver my soul from the sword, my darling from the power of the dog. Save me from the lion's mouth. For thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorn. I will declare thy name unto my brethren. In the midst of the congregation will I praise thee. Verse 25. My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation. I will pay my vows before them that fear him. Verse 27. All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord. And all the kingdoms of the nations shall worship before thee. Last verse. They shall come and shall declare his righteousness unto all people that shall be born that he hath done this. I'll take you back to Hebrews. A way of introduction, you hardly need this though. I'm no believer in introductions really because it often puts many things out of the minds of the brethren. But it's just as well perhaps to rehearse at least what we've been taught. That is, in chapter 1 we get the glories of the Son of God. And in chapter 2 the glories of the Son of Man. Of these twin pillars we might say has been erected the wonderful, gracious, wonderfully precious edifice which we now call the Hebrew Epistle. I might say, beloved saints of God, that the Hebrew Epistle is weighty with glory. And I remind you, dear hearer, that the Spirit of God will keep your eye where he is. The intention of the Spirit of God in the book of Hebrews is to keep your eye where he is in the glory. And if by any chance he takes your eye down for a moment, say to look at Melchizedek or Abraham or one of the patriarchs, he'll have you back again in a moment. Because you see the man in the glory supersedes all those who are introduced in the letter. So you'll not be surprised then as we make progress, God helping us through this epistle in the way we have had it brought before us, you'll not be surprised to find that the Spirit of God will keep your eyes on the precious, glorious Christ in the presence of God. This is essential, it should be so. Because the epistle to the Hebrews, you see, is written with the thought of separating us. The idea, of course, is that we should be detached from all that is around. And the Spirit of God knows only too well that the sure method of detaching your affections and mine from all that is going on around us is to have them attached to the man who is in the glory. The scriptures I've brought before you, beloved saints of God, together with Psalm 22, I had thought would be presented in the manner of what the Ecclesiastes call a threefold code. In the book of Ecclesiastes we read that a threefold code is not readily broken. And I'm pretty sure, beloved saints of God, that the threefold codes which the Spirit of God brings before us in the epistle to the Hebrews will certainly not readily be broken. I doubt if they ever will be broken. So the threefold codes are presented to us and we are introduced to the epistle to Hebrews in this threefold manner, we might say. First of all, that we are brought face to face with prophecy. Then we are brought face to face with exhortations. And then finally, as far as we're concerned tonight, we are brought face to face with the testimony. How this is presented in a threefold manner, God helping us, we will see as we come to them. Time flies, as you know, all too well. We must keep our minds very steadily on what is before us. And so I want to draw your attention, having told you already that the Spirit of God will occupy us in a threefold manner, both in prophecy. I didn't say I feel in picture, because in chapter 11 I read to you three out of the many pictures that are presented. Three is enough to form this threefold code. And they are in line with what is in our minds tonight. And so we will plunge, I think, straight away to chapter 2. And there we shall see that the Spirit of God comes before us in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ in three quotations. First, which deals with his walk. Second, which deals with the question of his saving. And the third, which deals with this question of his being a witness. But before we get to this, beloved, there is a little verse in verse 11. And I was lying awake last night and this verse came before me. And you know, I said, Lord, could I, dare I tell the dear saints of God anything about this verse? Would it be right, do you think, beloved saints of God, to draw your attention to chapter 11? It's not really in the subject, I know. But you know, it struck me very wonderfully as I was lying awake last night. And that was that there is one who will walk with me. There's one who is not ashamed of me. This brought, as I'm lying there in my bed, this brought the old Norfolk dialect back to me that my mother used to use. And when I was a young man, or a boy rather, she used to call me Shucky. I don't know if you understand what Shucky means in the Norfolk dialect. Untidy, if you like. Untidy. And even today, beloved saints of God, it's not unusual for me to hear somebody say I wouldn't be seen walking down the street with you. Well, beloved saints of God, I'd like to tell you this. There's a fearless man in the glory who's not ashamed of me. Now isn't that marvelous? You sit there tonight, beloved, and you think of this. There's a man in the glory who's not ashamed of you. And why isn't he? Because, beloved, he's divested you of the rags that would have dishonored you. And he's clothed you in the best robe that he's proud of you. Beloved saints of God, if you're clad with the best robe, this precious Christ will never be ashamed of you. He never will be. You may feel, and I often feel, that you sometimes put the old dirty rags on again. But the point is, beloved, he's done a world, and in the sight of God, he's clothed us. And I think we can take up mercy then. The one who has sanctified, and those of us who have been sanctified, he's not ashamed of us. He's not ashamed of us, beloved saints of God. If I had nothing else to say tonight, and you took this home to your heart, what appeal have you to rest your head upon, beloved? There's a man in the glory, and he's not ashamed of me. My brethren might be ashamed of me sometimes. My relatives might sometimes be ashamed of me. But him, never ashamed of me. And why? Because I'm different from others. No, beloved, because he's done a work that has made me like himself. That's why. No need. There's nothing for him to be ashamed of, beloved saints of God. Because through his precious death and uprising, he so cleared us utterly in the sight of God. He's given his flesh, you'll remember, to remove the old man. He shed his precious blood to deal with our sins. And then he has presented that flesh of his for us to have communion and fellowship with. He's done everything. Oh, his purest name, beloved saints of God, should fill your heart and mine with sheer delight. And so may I just close these sort of introductory remarks again on this verse by telling you that it strictly speaking is not exactly what is before us, but you know, beloved saints of God, it set my heart beating so happily last night that I thought, if I possibly could, I'd like to pass it on to you. What do you think of this, Jesus? What do you think of this man in the glory of a saviour? I'll never be ashamed of him. I'll walk with him. Well, we're coming to this question of walk with him is quite vital. And in the matter of walk, you'll remember the examples we looked at in Hebrews 11 includes Enoch, of whom it is said that he walked with God. And the walk of Enoch was such as it pleased God. And you know, beloved saints of God, you and I, we are called to walk down here. But not walk just anyhow or with any body. Beloved, you're called to walk with Jesus. That's the point. You're called to pass your life through this scene in company with the Lord Jesus Christ. And so if I almost immediately turn you to chapter 4, it is simply because the time demands that we make the move onto what I call the exhortations of Hebrews. There are plenty of them, I dare say. I'm concentrating on this chapter 4, because here again you have a three-fold chord. You notice the word of God, the high priest himself, and then the throne of grace. It doesn't ever occur to you what marvelous provisions the blessed God has made to see you through the wilderness. Not only have we the companionship of the Christ, but he's made these provisions for us as we make our journey down here upward, one trusts, to the place where ultimately we shall find ourselves. So he has made this three-fold provision for us. First of all, you notice in verse 12, it's the word of God. I haven't got a great deal to say about any of them. Again, time wouldn't permit, but these are very familiar things to you. The word of God, it says here, is quick and powerful. That is, it's living, it's energetic. In our English language today, we use the translation of the Greek word, energy. That is what the word is here. The word of God is a living word. It's an energetic word. It'll go right down deep inside the body. Now we talk about x-rays. I've got nothing in this. You may go on the table to have an x-ray if you like, and the photograph will be produced. But for love of the saint, the word of God will set you in and out, through and through, spirit, soul, and body, so to speak, in such a way that no human contrivance could ever think of doing it. The word of God, it says, is quick. That is, it's a living word. It's an energetic, powerful word. It's a sharp word. Have you noticed it? Have you noticed how the word of God is likely to cut the one who uses the sword? Have you noticed that? You've got to be very, very careful, beloved saints of God, how you handle a two-edged sword, because you might find yourself very badly cut. Inadvertently, perhaps, but you know, that's the risk you take, if you use the word of God. It's a double, it's a two-edged sword. It's a double-mouthed sword. That's what the word really means. That means it drinks blood up on both sides. And so it's not a light thing, beloved saints of God, to use in this pilgrim pathway of ours, this word of God, this living, powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, word of God, which has the ability to pierce and divide asunder soul and spirit. I wonder, beloved saints of God, how you could distinguish between the soul, the life of man, I think the Greeks always called it the substitute, do you remember? And the soul and the spirit. As far as I know, there's no means of dividing between the soulish man and the spiritual man, other than the word of God itself. And the word of God is so constructive, beloved, it's so living, so operative, so powerful, I almost say so dangerous, that it divides asunder. It goes right down into your innermost being, and it brings up before you, and the purpose, well I know that you might be in the presence of God, of course, but it brings up before God all those little hidden things, perhaps that somehow or other you haven't been aware of, but the spirit of God, using the word of God, make you conscious, beloved saints of God, that there was something within that needed attention. And the spirit of God comes on the scene, and there it is, it does its work. But may I add this, the objective is that you and I should be entirely set free in the presence of the blessing God. Now I mustn't tear you on the sword, but take you to the next point, that is, a great high priest. You know, it never says this of Aaron, it says he's a high priest, as far as I know he's never called a great high priest, or even a great priest, that I'm not sure, but our Lord Jesus Christ is called a great high priest. This is in verse 14, seeing that we have. I wonder, beloved, beloved saints of God, whether you realize that we have. Notice the present tense, this possessive thing. We have it. We have what? We have a great high priest. I know very well you have a saviour, because as I've listened to you on many and many occasions, you're always talking about your saviour. Rightly so, blessed be his holy name. But he's something else. Here, he's something else. He's a great high priest, and there's a living man in the glory tonight. He's concerned about your welfare and mine. In fact, as a matter of fact, he's there just because of you, and because of me. He's up there representative. He bears us upon his shoulders, if you will, if you'd like to go back to the figure, and he bears us upon his breasts, so that as far as you and I are concerned in the pilgrim pathway, you have the gigantic support of the great high priest, because you're upon his shoulder, and you have all the depth of his love, because you're born upon his heart. Did I say a little while ago something about the companionship of the Christ? We know very little indeed about it. Very little. If I only knew a tide of how he loved us, or loved me, or loved you, I'm sure it would revolutionise my whole outlook. As a man, beloved, one feeds on it, one meditates upon it, one so rejoices in the thought of it. There's a man in the glory who is concerned about me. Pardon my putting it that way, but you know as well as I do what I mean is, he's concerned about you. You're sitting there, you've got your Bibles open, you're probably looking this way. May your heart, beloved saints of God, travel upward for a moment. There's a man in the glory who is concerned about you. He's acted at this very moment representing you. You're born on his shoulder, you're born on his feet. I don't know, beloved, what more to say about it. I have to leave it with you. Others will be able to develop this wonderful theme, but you know if I'd been alive on the day of Pentecost, I'm sure my ear would have caught the sound of the bells as they were ringing. You remember 3,000 people were converted on that day. There was a man active up there and there's a spirit of God active down here. It was on the day of Pentecost that it was indicated there was a living man in the glory. Otherwise there would have been no spirit of God down here. Otherwise there would have been no fruitful God, there would have been no testimony either and there was both. The third chord then in our little three-fold chord here we just touched upon the word of God, we touched upon the great priest who as we are told is the son of God and the result of knowing him there we are exalted to hold fast. Who wants to let go? Who wants to let go of a man like this? Of course you wouldn't want to let go. Hold fast says the spirit of God. Now then, we are told in verse 15 that this high priest is not one who is untouched but we are told another very important and solemn thing that he was concerned he was apart from sin. He is not here beloved saints of God he is in the glory. Do you know what it says about him up there? I tell you one thing first that it says about him it says he died out of he has gone out of the sea beloved I know he died because of many reasons but when he died beloved he went out of the sea. Now do you know what it said of him where he is? I got into trouble one Lord's Day morning many many years ago because I was unwise enough to get out and read it and perhaps say something about it. You do foolish things when you are young as you do when you are old of course. But this beloved saints of God this man in the glory may I tell you what the Bible says about him when he has died out of the sea it says he is holy harmless undefiled this is where I got into trouble I tell you honestly I got into real trouble because I said he was separated from sinners a brother immediately got up and followed me in the morning and said he never was with sinners he was always separated from sinners well one does not deny that it says so here my beloved when he died out of the sea he has finished he has gone back no question of sin ever going to enter the throne of grace oh we are turning too long aren't we on this let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace perhaps just leaving this threefold call by pointing out it doesn't say come to the high priest do you notice that I am not saying we ought not to know how to use the high priest and I sometimes wonder whether we do know how to use him in the problems and difficulties of our Christian lives isn't it marvellous come boldly unto the throne of grace what characterises this throne not judgement now grace what is grace oh you get all sorts of definitions about the meaning of grace I am only going to suggest a very simple one being a simple man I will tell you grace is just the outtelling of the love of God love in activity that is what grace is grace actually goes back and brings about all that is in the heart of the flesh of God it is worthwhile to go to the throne of grace you think well the exaltation is here in the love of grace of God you got these three aids for your Christian pathway you got the word of God you got the great high priest and you got the throne of grace so we will have to pass along very clearly that this chapter we have been considering is concerning our walk our walk through the and on the desert pathway our pathway through the wilderness I was much interested some time ago in noticing that there are three occasions when the question of our walk is taken up I don't know if you recall may I just recite them we are exalted to walk we are exalted to walk worthy of the Lord and the way we are told we can walk worthy of the Lord is to be down here for him producing fruit and growing that is how you are that is how you walk worthy of the Lord you grow with the saints of God and the knowledge of holy and divine things and the knowledge of two of us purest men and you produce something down here for him that is the Christian walk that is the Colossian side of it chapter 2, 12 I believe it tells you to walk worthy of God why should you walk worthy of God who says Paul to the Thessalonians because you are coming into the glory of the kingdom it lies ahead so walk worthy of God and then finally when a moral question is raised that is in Ephesians 4 it tells you to walk worthy of your vocation and if there were a time beloved saints of God it would be very well worth your moments spent in turning over and seeing the amazing simplicity of walking worthy of your vocation and seeing the stuffing results we are told that we are all baptized into one body there is one body we are not asked to do anything but to maintain it we are told that there is in so many words one body not only one spirit but one body and this we are to recognize and walk in the light of and we are told that there is one faith and this we are to pursue with all the energy that the blessed God would give to us however this is walking down here the one characteristic feature of walking worthy of your vocation beloved saints of God is that you walk in lowliness this is emphasized in Ephesians 4 to walk lowly you don't regard you don't pay attention to a certain person named Abigail now you remember Abigail she is a type of the church as you know her husband was not a nice man at all Navel was his name a foal by name and a foal by nature as Mr. Houston used to say well this foal by nature he refused the little movement that David made towards him all these kindnesses he showed towards his husband and he said oh is this David David got to hear of it and David set out to have his revenge do you remember now this is what struck me about the story I do say you have noticed it because I am no cleverer than you but this is what you will notice if you read the story a little bit carefully not all to destroy it it says Abigail went down now this is astonishing David goes down Abigail goes down and the result peace if you only go low enough beloved saints of God there will never be a question of friction there can't be David has only to go down Abigail has only to go down and meeting there in the plain so to speak well that's the beginning of the story may I turn you to what was the next 10 Hebrews 10 the the scripture in Hebrews 2 that would be in line with this would be the mention of the Lord concerning his brethren I declare thy name unto my brethren the picture in Hebrews 11 of course would be Abel Abel teaches us from the very beginning this is teaches us the right method of approach Cain teaches us the wrong he says of Abel that God accepted him he says of Abel that it was a suitable sacrifice and we leave it there beloved I'm saying this that Abel's method of approaching God was a right method and it obtained its objective he had the approval of God in what he did now I'm turning you now to Hebrews 10 to draw your attention to one or two features there first of all is the new company that is the brethren have you looked upon yourselves then there's another new there's a new way in verse 20 there's a new appeal in verse 22 and then I want to take you over to Psalm 22 where you'll find a threefold cry from the cross answered by God with a threefold answer of mercy and glory however at the moment there's a new company in chapter 10 verse 19 of the threefold call in introducing this question of approach and it isn't within my promise tonight to touch upon it except to draw your attention to it because the spirit of God is very particular about this question of approach and if you read chapter 10 you'll discover and there's nothing new because JND said it over a century ago in chapter 10 you get the will of God not a good conscience a purged conscience you know you can't be a worshipper without a purged conscience so is it surprising that the spirit of God should go to great lengths to so to speak summarise the will of God and then the work of Christ and then the witness of the Holy Spirit you and I know nothing of these things until the spirit of God has come down and told us so you get the will of God to sing below you to lay hold of precious saved truth what the will of God really embraced and then you read the work of Christ which made this will available so to speak and then you read of the witness of God the Holy Spirit so that you and I are in the good of it well having said so much then let's have a look at 10.19 having therefore brethren having therefore brethren boldness to enter I really ought to take you perhaps I will in mine because I'm sure we shouldn't have much time to turn to it can I take you in thought to Psalm 22 at least even if I don't turn you to it because it's vital to the verse that is before us having therefore brethren boldness to enter I talked if you remember a little while ago it was called the psalm of the smitten shepherd I was thinking tonight coming down alone in the car that perhaps you could look upon the first 21st verses as David in it and you could look upon the remaining of the chapter as Solomon in it and this is quite important to see this you see David was the man of war David was the man who reduced all the enemies and you ought to remember he made three applications to the truth he wanted to be delivered from three things if I can remember them without turning to them the first was deliver me from the sword whose sword free Zechariah to find out if you don't know the sword of Jehovah raised against his fellow deliver me from the flesh and then he says deliver me from the dog we read of bulterbation I know but you know the dog scattered about the gentile dog yapping at his feet ridiculing frowning dressed mocking deliver me says he from the dog and then finally Satan himself deliver me three cries he made what did the blessing of God do what did Jehovah do in reply to this cry from his beloved son we get into verse 22 you remember it says he's hurled on the horns of the unicorn the transgressing judgment has done it worse paid the price he has finished the work there's nothing left at all to be done so what does he say in resurrection solemnized if you like the glory of the kingdom he says I'll declare thy name unto my brethren Joseph Brethren beloved saints of God you remember we started somewhere with brethren didn't we he says to Jehovah he says I'll declare thy name unto my brethren you remember that when Solomon had finished building the house of the Lord he built himself a house what is it it took him 13 years why did it take him so long we might have thought he had wasted his time over his own or was rather too elaborate edifice nothing of the kind there's far more going into the house of Solomon his own house I mean than went into the house of God I can't stop except to throw this out to you beloved saints of God the reply the solemonic reply to the Davidic request if you like Solomon's own house my brethren and then you may recall that he not only built a house for himself but he built a house in the forest of Lebanon he built it for Israel you know beloved saints of God it means these things to bring before you the amazing outstanding glory of this purest man why there's not a vestige of glory beloved saints of God that doesn't belong to him if it's an assembly glory he has his own house if it's a congregation so to speak it's Israel he has a house for Israel what about the poor Gentiles oh says Solomon I can't take my Gentile wife to Jerusalem I have to build her a house and so he builds a special house for the daughter of Pharaoh and so you see why the psalm ends all the ends of the earth it says come and praise him oh beloved saints of God I don't think you and I can be the bridegroom as we often say of the bride not only is he the head of the body so to speak and he is Lord and what not in Christianity but beloved the spirit of God through the Old Testament has far far more to say about the glories of the kingdom than it has to say about the glories of the church and why because this rejected man this despised Nazarene this one of whom it was said was the king of the Jews why beloved that's the very title that's going to take him into the kingdom the cross beloved is the door into the glory of the kingdom so you could go on could you enhancing the glory of this man as far as we know it and how little we know indeed of the place that he fills and will fill this is what is upon one's heart of the book the place which he will fill beloved saints of God when he's here you know he hasn't got the throne of his own at the moment he's sitting on his father's throne but the day is coming when he'll have the throne of his own he's going to sit upon his throne all the gentiles beloved are coming and bowing to him oh what a day of bliss and joy it's going to be when the once despised rejected Nazarene comes into his own and says I will sing to Jesus that you don't talk about and sing to and that brings me really to the whole burden of what was upon one's heart about this matter and that is he says I will sing have you ever sung with Jesus beloved just to be serious just in a very brief moment have you ever sung with Jesus do you realise do you know that he died to reduce a company of worshippers the choir master the chief musician and there he is in the glory and why is he there beloved saints of God if you read John 17 you will know very well that he is withholding from you and me but he does envy so to speak this leadership because it is to the honour and glory of him who sent him the father's name and he said I will sing praises he's going to sing praises of his people I plead beloved saints of God you have opportunity tomorrow God willing I would plead beloved saints of God that you give this purest man this great musician opportunity to lead your praises in the remembrance of the precious Christ in his death do you think he doesn't know of course he knows I remember many many years ago I told a little tale of Kilkeel you won't mind my repeating it I'm sure it was a rehearsal of a world famous orchestra it was a rehearsal being held in London under a very famous conductor and there they were going away and the conductor was there with his wand as we call it and he's keeping time and all of a sudden the whole band stopped where's the piccolo where's the piccolo what piccolo I said windy, reedy, insignificant little is heard beloved in the ear of the world renowned conductor Mr. Piccolo and beloved saints of God if you pray this music in the morn you may think little is he knows but there's an attuned ear in the glory that will miss your little music man here's a wonderful thing you and I come together to respond to his invitation and then have provided to us the opportunity of getting in behind him so to speak and listening as he directs the praise and the worship to the Father and then to the worship and now thirdly to the witness and I believe the spirit of God I don't say these are the only things he has in mind but I'm quite sure these are three of the outstanding features the spirit of God has in mind when he directed the writer to put this letter out to the Hebrews now you must recall that there were many converts from among the Jews in those early days and you can understand why the letter was written to them you don't need me to tell you it was to wean them away from a system that was now defunct it had come to an end the death of Christ as we get closer down and now the spirit of God is using the writer of this epistle and bringing them outside well if you want to be inside with him in worship you have to be outside with him in witness nothing difficult about that you wouldn't imagine would you a heavenly pathway being carved through the world the campus it's called here well living in days far far worse than the days that pertain here and ordained by God it was truly a campus they'd be brought out of it nowadays beloved saints of God we're merely pretending about these things last century gave birth to an outstanding religious movement men like Keeble you remember Cardinal Wiseman and others like those they all contributed to this what they called histrionic religion they were not a little bit concerned about men's or women's souls that they should do some that is they should go into the churches and pay attention to what was going on in fact if you've ever read the Oxford tracts and I don't advise you to because you'd be wasting your time but if you've ever read some of the Oxford tracts you would read this in one of them at least he says we have our we have our gym palace owner he says down in London and he has lovely glass lights he says we must be incredible fools if we can't do the same in the name of religion and then he says take the old fellows he says or those great friendly societies he says they have big bands they have big marches they have great big banners why can't we do this and attract men who don't want religion why can't we do it to attract them into the church and so beloved last year we saw the birth of so much life of so much that was contrary to the mighty God so you might say if it wasn't actually formed then it was certainly energized by these people out of which as you know you grew the Anglo-Catholic movement a movement of priests and monks my brother was a Trappist monk and he was an Anglo-Catholic priest and for those saints of God there is nothing more obnoxious than the way they treat the purest precious Jesus God tread underfoot the blood of the Son of God and for scorn upon the Holy Scriptures beloved saints of God let us listen to this appeal in the matter of this threefold demand for a witness here the first thing beloved saints of God that will is requisite for being here for him as a witness is that we should be obedient this is the very first feature that is called for the Word of God as taught by the Spirit of God we ought to be obedient to that because it will give us a glimpse of the church as it was formed we shall see it in all its pristine beauty we shall see it there on the day of Pentecost beloved and all the beautiful features of Christ coming up you remember how they kept all those things the communion and the breaking of bread and prayers and so on and then we look round and we say where is it today no how can you draw the comparison so the first thing is that we should have this give place to the Word of God as inspired and taught by God and the second thing is I think that we should have Christ as our objective because you notice here it says in verse 13 let us go forth I believe half all trouble in the past beloved saints of God has been to find something but what is brought before us here go forth therefore unto him beloved where do you think he is where is he do you think he is in the camp when he died outside of it you have got to go to him and all you have got to do you leave the camp behind without any question whatever it is you don't have to define it and I wouldn't attempt to define it but I say beloved saints of God and then I shall pay attention it is really covered in part one I suppose I shall pay attention to the exhortation of the spirit of God which goes with this so then let us go forth where is Christ placed and I put the question just once more where is he beloved saints of God is he in the system of others is he where a man stands between the soul of another man and God because that is the camp we have a priest between the soul of another man and God that is the camp an old brother in the maze prison in Belfast he said I heard the catholic priest saying to the dying hunger striker Johnny can you hear me Johnny your sins have begun that is the camp beloved that is the camp taking the place of the precious of Jesus and his work if a man a priest must come between your soul and God that is the camp it is designated here as the camp well what are bearing his reproach easy job no not an easy thing at all beloved saints of God you see if you want the riches of heaven you have to put up with the poverty so to speak of the earth if you want acceptance there where the Christ of God is you have to be prepared not a nice thing not an easy thing not an easy thing to to describe really because we all come across it in some small major order but there it is it is the principle that really matters to our souls tonight and that is we are to go to him where he is we can thank God that we belong to the place where he is but this is practicalism this is a practical desire all you need to do is to follow this man on this heavenly pathway with reproducing those moral features which were seen in the full gospel as he walked out here and you will find there is no problem at all about leaving the camp because more likely than not the camp will leave you it is a dreadful thing to be crucified have you ever thought of that have you ever weighed Paul's words he said I am crucified in Christ and he said the world is crucified unto me what an awful shambles it is we don't know what crucifixion is only as we read about it it is a shocking dreadful shameful thing the world says Paul is crucified unto me and I unto the world well there we are we have got an elementary attempt perhaps to cover a vast and important epistle but nevertheless this is the man of whom it is all about either way it is we enjoy him and down here we follow him and as a company of people we wait for him soon by the saints and God the pathway is over and you and I will be able to share one with another all that precious richness of glory which it is to be with thee where I am that they may behold my glory can we finish by singing number 15 number 15 God that hath engaged our hearts in Christ by the will of his Son thy love of holy joy for us joy which he for us as well …