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Hebrews 2020: We See Jesus ( Increment 327 ) - "The Outsiders are IN"
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The Outsiders are IN
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Pastor Brown
Fantastic. Pastor Brown, double duty today. I asked Pastor Brown to pray today not only because of his majestic gift of prayer, but because of his new hairdo. How about I, Pauletta, really, you know, don't read anything into my being here today. Doesn't mean Pastor Messick's going to retire. He's not going on a mission field. He's not too old to preach. Since the last time I saw you on almost a month ago. This is 24. 24 already. Wow. I have spoken a couple of times in public and both on occasions of honoring beloved people who have gone into the presence of the Lord. And first of all, Pastor Phil Henry, my brother in grace, and I were able to both speak at our beloved Aunt Linda Pam's Aunt Linda Phil's and mine beloved Aunt Linda's service. And there was a wonderful attentiveness upon both of our messages. He hit him high and I hit him low, as they say. But it was a wonderful privilege. And secondly, I want to assure all of you that the second time was last Saturday. Speaking in this place on behalf of our beloved brother Maurice DeSimone, who had a delayed service, I wanted to tell you today that you should not feel slighted because it was an invitation only service. But. And I had several laughs out loud about thinking about Maurice and just what he pulled off before he went into the presence of the Lord's glory. He knew that this was a limited space here and we did the service here. And you should not feel slighted because what he did was invite everybody he ever knew in his whole life to hear the word of God here, which was his dream, that all the people, family, friends, that he basically, that he and Phyllis ever knew in the past 60 years of their marriage and before would be gathered in this place. And it happened. And so I didn't really figure that out until afterwards, and I thought of Maurice and I had some very good laughs because that's what he did. He pulled off a spectacular stunt. And it seems like a good number of our phalanx are in heaven's table land now. They're graduating across the River Jordan into the heavenly promised land. I don't know if there's more of them there than here, but there's quite a number. On the same day that Linda Bucci went into the presence of the Lord, so did Rick Robinson, one of our special soldiers of Christ. And I call him a soldier of Christ. And he's been here almost for the full stretch of time that I've been here since I last saw you. Rick Robinson, who sat in this congregation for decades with his dedicated wife Pat, went into the presence of glory rick did on January 19, 2024. His wife Pat, his. His son Scott, his grandson Christian, his brother Jeff. And he has a wider extended family whom he loved very dearly. Rick was a veteran who served in Vietnam, who loved his family and his brethren in Christ. All of you, and the conversations I had with him, even especially those in which he was in tremendous suffering, he was so edifying and so bold and steadfast in the faith of Christ. He was, by unsolicited testimony of others, a man of God and by my testimony, a soldier of Christ in the greater war. By faith he coped and was victorious in fierce struggles, including the effects of Agent Orange, which are often quite terrible, and ptsd. We can't assess the greatness of a man or a woman in Christ without knowing the hidden struggles that he or she has endured, as well as outer adversities with which he has dealt, coped with and overcome, in Rick's case, by faith. But more than that, in Rick's case, by a faith that works by love, and in Rick's case, with the loving companionship and faithful care of a virtuous woman, his wife, Pat. Rick lived the life that is of most importance to God, because of most importance to God is not circumcision or uncircumcision in Christ Jesus, but a faith that works by love, which he demonstrated relentlessly and through, as I said, much adversity, he overcame it by faith. His marriage to Pat also had to endure together these adversities, and they overcame them together as a wonderful testimony of Christ in the church. He lived the life before us that manifested Christ. I'm speaking today about Rick because there will be a private burial for him and family with family, and he'll have full military honors at the National Cemetery of the Alleghenies in May. So I told Pat I wanted to speak of him today as Hebrews 11 keeps getting written in our time, paragraph after paragraph. Rick was a soldier who served with honor in the armed forces of the United States of America. And he was a soldier on duty who never left his six and never left his place, place in rank and in the front lines, who pleased his commanding officer, Jesus Christ, and of whom I, as one who gladly spoke the word of God to him, give an account today with joy before the Lord for him and before all of you. May our Lord Jesus Christ, Pat, and the family and God our Father, the God of all comfort, and the Father of Mercies. Who has loved us and given us eternal encouragement and good hope by grace, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good work indeed. Amen. Now we'll turn to Hebrews chapter 10. I'm going to call this message the the outsiders are in, and we're going to learn by the end that the insiders go out. I think you'll see what I mean. We're also going to be going to Luke 4:16. It's good to see you all, even though it only seems like a minute or two. So first of all, I want to start with a working translation of Hebrews 10:1 10 a very strong passage of Scripture for the law only a shadow of good things about to come, and not the actual essence of those things, with the same old sacrifices they continually offer year after year, can never make perfect or complete better those who draw near otherwise would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshippers once and for all purified, would no longer have a consciousness of sins. But with those sacrifices there's actually an annual remembrance of sins, for it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats as offered on Yom Kippur every year, it is impossible for them to take away S this is why and I want to focus on this centerpiece here. This is why. Coming into the world this is the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh into this earthly side of the integral cosmos through what we call the Christmas miracle. Coming into the world he that's Christ Jesus says, sacrifice and offering, meaning offered under the law, is not what you willed, but you've made a body for me. That's the incarnation. You are not pleased with holocausts and offerings for sin offered under the law. Then I said, look, I've come in the role of the scroll it's written about me to do, O God, your will. That's the order of the Greek in the quotation of Psalm 46:8, which is the Septuagint of Psalm 39:7 9. And that's where I want to focus. But here's the rest of this passage in verse eight in in the text above, where he said, sacrifices and offerings and holocausts and offerings for sin you haven't willed. He then says, look, I've come to do your will, the meritorious obedience of Christ. Thus he abolishes the first. That's the whole list of sacrifices, the first offerings made according to the law, the whole old covenant to establish the second, by which will we have been and are being sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ, once and for all. F apex keyword. Now, speaking of this in a roll of a scroll, we're speaking of the Bible as it appeared in the form in which Jesus read from it in a synagogue in Nazareth, which we're going to look at now. In Luke 4:16. The book of Isaiah, for example, was Biblio. It was a book, but it was formed by many scrolls that were rolled. Rolled scrolls. The scroll that contained Isaiah 61:1 and following, for example, was unrolled. It was given to Jesus Christ as he stood in the pulpit there, according to the custom, on the Sabbath day in his hometown, Nazareth. And he unrolled the scroll, quoted it, and sat down. It was the custom for the speaker to read, then sit down and expound the text. And so this is setting us up for Hebrews 10:7. Then again, I said, that's Messiah speaking through David's mouth. Look, I've come in a scroll of the book that's specifically the Old Testament scriptures, specifically the book of the Law, the book of the Covenant, as it's called elsewhere. It stands written about me. It stands written about me to do, O God, your will. Now here's another example where Jesus said, it is written about me in a roll of the scroll of the book. Jesus speaks of himself here, but he does so curiously with some outsiders. His first sermon in his hometown was where all of the congregation is waiting for the hometown boy. His first sermon goes like this. It says in Luke 4:16. And he, Jesus, again, this is my translation, came to Nazareth where he had been brought up. As is the custom, he entered the synagogue on the Sabbath day. He stood up to read, and he was handed the scroll. Biblio, same word used in Hebrews. The scroll Biblion of the prophet Isaiah. Unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written. Verse 18. The spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of Yahweh is upon me because he anointed me. Krio. There is the word from which we get the Christ, the Messiah. He anointed me. This is a proclamation of his own Messiahship, to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me. The word apostelo here is used significantly to proclaim release to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are shattered, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord, that being the real jubilee, which is not a year but forever in which all debts are forgiven. Slaves are freed throughout all the land, the animal kingdom freed and redeemed. The angelic realm redeemed. The Human realm redeemed. The universal realm redeemed. Verse 20. Then, after rolling up the scroll, he gave it back to the attendant and sat down. All the eyes of those in the synagogue were gazing at him. That should be happening here. All the eyes of this assembly gazing at Jesus. Looking unto Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who instead of the joy that was set before him in the heavenlies, endured the cross, thinking very little of the shame. And he's now set down at the right hand of the throne of God in the highest height of heaven. That's where we focus all our eyes all the time. And oh, how distractions are multiplying to keep us from doing that. Then after rolling up the scroll, he gave it back to the attendant and sat down. All the eyes of those in the synagogue were gazing at him. He began, it says, after being seated, that's when you begin your exposition of the passage. He began by saying, today this scripture has been fulfilled just as you heard it. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever. This is what I call the synagogue agog. The synagogue agog in so many words. Jesus said in the role of the scroll, just like he did in Hebrews, In a roll of the scroll it is written of me, as it was written of him in Psalm 39, 7, 9, or English 46, 8. So here it is written of him in Isaiah 61:1. And following in so many words. Then Jesus said, in the roll of the scroll of Isaiah, the roll of the scroll that contained Isaiah 61:1 2, which was a specific roll of the many rolls of scrolls, the many scrolled, the rolled scrolls that contained the book of Isaiah, it is written of me, just as in Hebrews 10, 5. And following he said, in a roll of the scroll of the Torah, specifically the Psalms, it is written of me, to do your will, O God. To do your will, O God. In the case of what is written of Jesus in the role of the scroll of Isaiah is that Jesus is the one who is the anointed, the Christ who was sent. He's called the apostle of our confession in Hebrews 3:1 to effect the release of all humanity. For all human beings are the poor. We are all the poor who are in need of the Gospel. All of humanity are the blind who. Who need recovery of sight in order to see Jesus. So we ask the question, who of all human beings was not born spiritually blind? Who of all human beings was not born poor? Despite appearances, despite symbols of prosperity, despite someone's stature or apparent strength, we're all Poor, we're all blind. All of humanity and all of creation in fact are captives, held as slaves to corruption and in need of release or liberation. All are oppressed and shattered under the weight of sin and the fear of death. Jesus is not speaking here merely of social reformation or of Marxist style utopianism. That's a terrible misinterpretation of his words. He is speaking of universal salvation. He is speaking of the liberation of all of creation, the redemption of all mankind, the redemption of all beings, animal to angelic. And even more, he's not speaking merely of the release of Israel from the oppression of Roman occupiers, but of liberation of all of humanity from the shattering oppression and slavery of sin. Only Jesus of Nazareth is anointed to bring this about. Only he is sent to accomplish this mission, sent as the apostle of our confession. He accomplished this as our great priest of our confession. Only Jesus of Nazareth is what Isaiah called in 9, 5 the messenger of God's great intention and the one who brings it to pass, who has in fact already brought about the radical alteration of the human and creational situation and who will bring about the radical salvific alteration of the universal and human condition. For to do God's will is to do the will of God, who wills the salvation of all and the liberation of all creation. Now the Holy Scripture, above all other descriptions, is the testimony of Jesus. The most important fact of bibliology, which is the branch of theology dealing with the Bible or the Scriptures, is that the Holy Scriptures constitute by the Spirit of the Lord, a witness to the divine disclosure of Jesus Christ, the eternal Word made flesh. Scripture in its totality is the testimony of Jesus. In every roll of every scroll of the book which we now have between the pages of a single volume. In every roll of every scroll of the book we call the Bible, Old and New Testament, it is written about him, Jesus, on whom every eye of every person in the synagogue at Nazareth was fastened. The synagogue that day became agog not just because of what he said about himself, but what he said about two other people. As examples, Naaman, the commander of the Syrian army who made a raid on Israel and took hostages, including a little girl whom he made a slave to his wife, Naaman, and to a widow at Zarephath outside of Israel, two outsiders. What offended them not only was his own identification of himself as the Christ, but of his including of outsiders in the redemptive plan of God, including a raiding terrorist commander from Syria who took an Israeli little girl as a slave for his wife and a widow at Zarephath. There were many widows at the time because of the famines that were all over the Mideast. But God did not send Elijah or nor did he send Elisha to a Jewish person, but to not Ammon, and nor did he send Elijah to any widow in Israel, but a widow outside of Israel in Zarephath. That's what offended them, that there was a salvation that would extend beyond the borders of Israel. Sort of like saying today that outsiders that are outside and stand outside the church are in in the redemption plan of God. This says a lot about our neighbor and about loving our neighbor. And the good neighbor in the parable of the Samaritan is Jesus Christ. And we have much more to say about that. The beauty of the neighbor, however we identify him or her, is that the neighbor brings us into the praise of God. And this is the year of the praise of God. And I'll be explaining that hopefully throughout 2024. So the synagogue that day became agog, which is full of eager anticipation of what the hometown boy was about to say. And their enthusiastic anticipation was realized and far exceeded. Jesus of their own little Nazareth announced to them that he himself was not only the messenger of the great intention of Yahweh, but the very Messiah, Yahweh himself in the flesh, who would bring it to pass. This great intention, the reconciliation of all things in the heavens and earth. Not only that, he announced to them that his purpose was salvific, saving one of our key words beyond the borders of Israel, as illustrated by his scriptural references to the needy widow at Zarephath in the land of Sidon, suffering from famine in 426 and of the cleansing of the leper Naaman from Syria, commander of the army of the king of Syria, 2 Kings 5:1 19 to 1 to 19 b. If you want to read about it, and it is edifying to read about it. And a leper who, by suggestion of a little girl whom he had taken and arrayed into Israel, made a slave of his wife. That little girl made a slave and a hostage to the wife of Commander Naaman, suggested to him that there's a prophet in Israel that could help him out, a prophet named Elisha in Samaria. The upshot of the story, Naaman was completely cured of leprosy, turned from idol worship to God, and acknowledged there is no God in the whole world except in Israel, the God of Israel. He acknowledged Jesus Christ, in other words, and recognized that the whole world was the beneficiary of his saving grace. So that's the upshot. If time were not too short. And I find myself out of time, not only in my study, but in preaching quite often. According to Hebrews 11:32, the writer of Hebrews actually said that if time's too short to mention this person, this person, this person, this thing, if time were not too short for me. To these two outsiders, witnesses from outside the church, we might call them today, we would speak in detail of the witness of Balaam, or Balaam, whose very name means foreigner, not an Israelite, who irresistibly blessed Israel, though he was paid a million dollars and commissioned to curse them. In numbers 22 to 24, especially numbers 22 6, 22 12, 23 1, and 20249 to 10. We could speak, if we had time, of Rahab the prostitute, who is enrolled in the role of the elders, who by faith obtained a good testimony. Not justification, but a good testimony, who received the spies sent by Yehoshua, Joshua, Jesus in peace. She received the spies in peace and didn't perish with those who disobeyed in the destruction of Jericho. She did not perish. Rahab's testimony being the high point in the list of personages in Hebrews 11, Hebrews 11:1 2. By it the elders obtained a good report. She is at the high point and peak of all these outsiders that became insiders, that became outsiders again because she was taken. After being taken out from Jericho, she was put outside the camp of Israel. And that wasn't a dishonor. Let us all go outside the camp bearing the reproach of Christ. And that's the story told. If we had. If our time was not short, we could say that in great detail, talk about her again. Rahab's testimony was the high point in the list of personages. In Hebrews. We could speak of Ruth, the Moabitess, a Gentile, and her faithfulness to the Israelitess. Naomi in Naomi's dishonor and humiliation. Ruth's identification with her. Ruth, who received the honor of becoming the ancestress of David and ultimately of Yahushua Mashiach, Jesus the Messiah, the great David himself. Matthew 15:16 and 116. From the New Testament, if time weren't too short, we could speak of the magi who came from the east with their offering to the Christ child. Matthew 21 and following. We could speak of the Roman centurion in Capernaum, who basically came from the west, who received from Jesus the commendation that he had faith, a faith that Jesus had not witnessed in Israel. Matthew 8:10. Jesus then followed up by speaking of the many. We like that word, the many who had come from the east and the west to sit at the messianic banquet table with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob in the kingdom from the heavens. Matthew 8:11. We could speak of the woman from Canaan with a demon possessed daughter, whom Jesus delivered from a distance to this woman outside the borders of Israel. Standing outside the church, even being reproached by the insiders, Jesus exclaimed, woman, your faith is great. Matthew 15:28. We could also speak of another Roman centurion who stood facing the crucified Jesus, who said, this man really was all along God's son in Mark 15:39. These are outsiders that are in. We should view everyone we see in this life outsiders or those who proclaim to be in the church as in and our neighbor, as Jesus Christ is our neighbor. A similar list of outsiders. I was enthralled by this. Reading it for the second or third time in a different context appears in Karl Barth's Church Dogmatics, Volume 1, Part 2, Pages 425 to 426, at the end of which Barth remarks that the most remarkable of all these biblical figures, which I'm calling outsiders, is Melchizedek. And that got my attention. That made me agog in the synagogue. And then he wrote this. It is not only legitimate but obligatory to regard the figure of Melchizedek as the hermeneutic key to the this whole succession. He had listed a whole bunch of outsiders. We could advance something also about if we had time, I'm speaking now, if we did have time, and our time weren't short, we could also speak of the special significance of Rahab, who again an outsider that became an insider, ended up outside the camp of Israel, according to Joshua, after being saved from the destruction of Jericho, which prefigured the destruction of Jerusalem, on the verge of which was the Epistle to the Hebrews. And this lands us squarely in Hebrews, where alone in the New Testament, Melchizedek is spoken of as the type of Jesus Christ himself. So this whole thing landed us right squarely back in Hebrews. But let's consider again go back to the synagogue in Nazareth. Every eye was on Jesus. It's no wonder that all eyes in the synagogue were fixed on Jesus. One day, every eye of every person in all of history, even the eyes of those who pierced him, and from all places, in all times, every eye will see him. Revelation 17 referring back to Zechariah 12:10 and Daniel 7, 13 and 14. Look, he's coming with the clouds and every eye will see him. And seeing him they will become the objects of his saving, justice and grace. As Jesus said in John 6:40, it's the Father's will that they see the Son and believe in Him. Seeing first, believing second. We have to recognize that we are born of God first and believe second. Anyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has already been born of God. You have to be born of God to believe in Him. Its grace that he causes our new birth and a gift of faith comes after that saving grace. I have more to say on that subject. If time weren't short for us today, I might even do a spiel on it. But I don't have time. Seeing the son in John 6:40 leads to believing in him and to being raised up on the last day according to the salvific will of God, the Blessed Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 1:3 2:1 Peter 1:3. Jesus says this within the context in John 6, in a context of referring to his flesh given as life for the world, John 6:33 and 651, and in the context of nothing being lost in John 6:12. And so to see Jesus Christ in the Context of Revelation 17, Isaiah 45 and Luke 36, to see him is to be saved by him is to experience God's salvation. Yeshua Yehoshua, Yahweh saves. To see him is to be saved and to see him results in believing in Him. You have seen and you believe. Thomas Blessed are those who believe not seeing, meaning not seeing with the eyes in their head as you just did, but seeing with the eyes in their heart. God sees fit on a given moment, on a given day, as he did with me, as he did with you, to reveal His Son to you when he reveals His Son to you. We are born of God not of our own will, but of God's will. And then he gifts us with faith and believing. We experience the kingdom of God in some measure believing we experience in some measure the life of the coming age. We do not receive justification by our believing. We receive justification by the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. Then we are gifted with the gift of the believing in which we may experience the joy and peace that is the experience of the kingdom of God. In Isaiah 45 all flesh shall see the salvation of God. And I've said many times before, even in a Christmas context, that means all flesh will experience the salvation of God. And you can even make that flesh, human and animal flesh, all flesh. Jesus became flesh to redeem all flesh. Not just all humanity, all humanity within a greater circle of all beings, rational and subrational and suprarational like the angels. Seeing God's salvation is experiencing God's salvation in the seeing of Jesus, whom we see now with the enlightened eyes of our heart. We do not yet see everything under his feet, but we do see Jesus crowned with glory and honor, and seeing him is our present salvation. So don't let anything distract you from the priority of gazing at him, anticipating, as I do daily and nightly anticipating his next word. I think the last breath I breathe before I go to sleep every night is, father, into your hands I entrust my spirit. Direct me in the way that I should go in your word. And wake up usually with some of that direction, sometimes without it, but just walking by faith. So let's consider as we close in this last part of the message, God's saving will, Hebrews 10:7. Let's pick up there again, and we're going to be going over this passage again and again, probably to do, O God, your will. God the Father had already called God the Son, God in Hebrews 1:8. Your throne, O God, he said to the Son, you, your throne, O God, is forever and ever. Now Jesus the Son speaks to the Father and says to do, O God, your will. After he says above in verse 8. That means above that verse in Psalm 39, 7, 9. After he says above, sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings you have not wanted nor taken pleasure in. And then there's a little parenthesis here where the PT that wrote Hebrews puts in his comment, and I love it, because he says, whichever are offered according to the law. That's what he doesn't want. He then says, look, I'm here to do your will. He abolishes the first and there's an argument that we could say the first covenant altogether in order to establish the second covenant. Is he speaking of Contextually this seems plausible, though we could also understand this to mean the end of the old cultus and with all of its offerings, or even the first being the sacrifices and offerings which God is not pleased or does not find propitiation or satisfaction in, replaced by the second will of God, which is his final will, and the satisfactory, eternally, universally efficacious sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Now look at verse 10. By which will God's will God's will or desire is for an efficacious and satisfactory sacrifice or offering his will always being redemptive and always universally so, by which will we have been sanctified. Now he's writing here about himself this pt. And probably to a little house church somewhere in the Roman Empire, possibly even in the confines of old Jerusalem. But he says we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all. And so let's consider another subtopic that I call we and the world. We and the world. The we here in Hebrews 10 we have been sanctified may well be compared with the US of 2nd Corinthians 5:18. You should be used to me correlating with that passage by now. The we I'll say it again in Hebrews 10:10 may well be compared with or even parallel with the us of 2 Corinthians 5:18 and the we us being sanctified compared with the us being reconciled to God through Christ. So in 2 Corinthians 5:18 Paul says God has reconciled us to Christ. But then in 5:19 he says he has reconciled the world in Christ. So the we and the us is a circle. In a bigger circle, the world, the outsiders also reconciled to God in Christ. And so there's also a bigger circle that we'll look at, but there's also a nucleus that's even smaller but includes and that's Jesus Christ himself right in the dead center, Jesus Christ and him crucified. And so now everything is from God, Paul says, or all of this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. We are that inner circle, the church. We could say today or in the Old Testament Israel, we were reconciled to God in Christ. We recognize this. But we've been given a ministry and a word of reconciliation to those in a larger circle because they too have been reconciled. The world has been reconciled to God in Christ. And so we go into that outer circle to tell them that we act toward them as if they they are reconciled, because they are reconciled even in the most what we would consider offensive and sinful, miserable people. We see the crucified Christ and they do us the service of showing us Jesus Christ's identification with us in our sinful misery. It is arrogant to say, there but for the grace of God go I. I would be that guy huddled up with a needle in his arm if it weren't for the grace of God. You are that guy. You are in that same need. You were in that same miserable need. I was in that same miserable need of mercy and grace. And that's Jesus Christ identifying with the lowest form of sinfulness in this life. That person should invite you to the praise of God, not because you're better than him and not him, and thank God I'm like other men, but that you are exactly like him. And in your sinfulness and misery, Jesus Christ became the crucified, nailed to the tree, despised sin itself, and that he identifies with that outsider, with you and with all the world. And all the world was reconciled to God in Christ, moving us all to praise God, not that we're not like that other guy, but that we are all together born poor and blind and redeemed by Jesus Christ. It invites us to the praise of God, not because we're not like that neighbor, but because that neighbor is just like us. And in fact, Jesus Christ identifies himself as that neighbor. Now, there's a lot to this thing about Jesus Christ becoming sin. And it's not just the cross. He became sin, and in becoming flesh, there's a lot more to it. If we had time and our time wasn't short, we could speak of it. We in the world. So this is in turn related to 2nd Corinthians 5:19. Look, 5:18, then 19. That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them. And he has committed the message of reconciliation to us. Now, with that comparison, we can't help but note that God has reconciled us to himself, may be represented in a circle within the larger circle in Christ. God was reconciling the world to Himself. And also in 1 Corinthians 1:30 it is of God that we are in Christ who made Christ to be for us. Reconciliation in this case made him to be for us sanctification, redemption, justification, or righteousness. And we're going to see that that also means reconciliation. And so reconciliation and sanctification and justification, all these theological doctrines. My question is, does God reconcile to himself in Christ without sanctifying the reconciled? Does he reconcile people to Himself without sanctifying them? Does he sanctify without reconciling us? And that doesn't seem to be feasible. How could he reconcile without sanctifying or sanctify without reconciling? And if he reconciled the world to Himself and us to Himself, then does he not sanctify the world to Himself and us to himself? And so again, does God reconcile to himself in Christ without sanctifying the reconciled? That doesn't seem to be feasible because it is the God of peace in Hebrews 13:20, who made peace by the blood of the cross of the Son of his love to reconcile all things to Himself, Colossians 1:20, conferring back to 1:13, who reconciles and sanctifies. There is no one that he reconciles that he does not sanctify. There is no one that he sanctifies that he does not reconcile. So if he reconciled the world to himself, as well as us to Himself, once for all, does he not also sanctify the world, set it apart to Himself? Moreover, it's inconceivable that God would sanctify without reconciling the sanctified. In this reasoning, it can be said that God, by whom we were sanctified by the body of Jesus Christ, is God by whom in Christ we were reconciled to God, and that the us who are sanctified and the we and the world who are reconciled are one and the same. Though there is in both cases a special reference to the initial intended audience. You're going to have this in print. You're going to need it, believe me. The New Covenant community is the us. The especially those who believe is the us. But God is the Savior of all human beings, especially those that believe. But there's a still more inner circle being Jesus Christ and him crucified, buried, raised from the dead, ascended, seated, enthroned, crowned with glory at the right side of the throne of God in the heavens. All that happened before the New Testament was written. None of that happened when the Old Testament was written. All of that happened when the New Testament was written. Jesus Christ and him crucified. But there's also a larger circle around the circle of the world and around the circle of the New Covenant community. Within that circle and around the circle, in the center of the circle of all circles, the Christ crucified, there is the larger circle of the triune God, of God being all in all and taking all into the ineffable fellowship of the triune God. That's astonishing. That's 1 Corinthians 15:28. On top of the realities of special and universal reconciliation and sanctification, there is the justification of all through the one righteous act of Jesus Christ, which may be put side by side with the sanctification of all through the offering of Jesus Body for us, as well as the pouring out of his blood for many, which is the giving of Himself as a ransom for all. I'm really stirring up all our doctrines here into one ambrosia concoction. It's intoxicating the sanctification of us belongs in the same larger circle of the reconciliation of the world, just as the we who are reconciled to God in Christ belongs in the larger circle as we who are justified by the faithfulness of Jesus. When I was looking for a Bible to give my grandson Adrian, I finally landed on the common English Bible. No translation is perfect, but this one verse nailed it for me to give it to Adrian. And it's Romans 5:1. This is how the CEB got it. Therefore, since we have been made righteous through his faithfulness, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ we have access by faith. And I noted that that means this access is subsequent to our justification into this grace in which we stand through him and we boast in the hope of God's glory. But here it is. Therefore, since we have been made righteous through his faithfulness, we have peace with God. Reconciliation. And reconciliation is meant there. If you don't believe it, look at verses 9 and 10 and 11 Romans 5 and then 5, 18 and 19. So we who are justified by the faithfulness of God in Christ and by the faithfulness of Christ to God for us are within the larger circle of the many who were made righteous through his act of obedience in Romans 5:19, through his doing of the will of the Father, which is universally saving will, and the all whom God justified and gave life through his one righteous act in Romans 5:18. On top of this, as we have seen with many examples, the reconciled people of God, whether Israel of the Old or the New Covenant Community of the New Testament, is simply a smaller circle within the larger circle that includes the world beyond the borders of Israel of the Old or the New Covenant community, or outside the church as we call it in the New Testament, represented in such biblical figures as the widow of Zarephath of Naaman, the commander of the Syrian army, and others which we've already alluded to, to which we may add Hiram, the king of Tyre, whose significant contribution to the construction of the Temple of Solomon is featured in the holy scriptures in 1 Kings 5:19, 9, 112 Corinthians 2 take that second Chronicles 2:3 and the Persian king Cyrus, whose anointing by Yahweh and God called him my shepherd, he called him my anointed one, and I have taken him by the hand. Cyrus, a Persian king, whose act of benevolence to Israel to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem under Yahweh's direction, as Yahweh held his hand, is notable in Deutero, Isaiah, Isaiah 44, 28 and 45. 1. And the book of Ezra, Ezra 1:1, 4, 3, 5, 13, 5, 13, 17 and 6, 35. And this redemption, this salvation, this salvific will of God includes the universe of proportionate being in all of its being and beings, including animal and angelic, over the course of all time, which God liberates into the freedom of the children of God. Romans 8:21. In fact, it's prophesied in the very last verses of deutero Isaiah in 5512, speaking of the redemption of all of creation. You shall go forth with joy and be led forth in peace. The mountains and the hills before you will break forth into singing. And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress, instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle. And it shall be as to the Lord, for a memorial for an everlasting sign which shall not be cut off. The new universe that God creates will never end. There will never be a new entrance of evil. There will never be a new fall of Adam. There will never be any entrance of anything that challenges the glory, the joy, the peace of all of creation in all of its times redeemed. Now, I've said all that that I've said today to say the outsiders are actually in. And so when we go out and say, be reconciled to God, we're saying, hey, outsider, you're in. And that's a reality in Jesus. In fact, it is the reality that is Jesus that will be demonstrated with the omnipotence of divine love. When our great archpriest, Jesus Christ, typified in the royal priest Melchizedek, appears a second time without sin and with salvation. Until then, with Rahab, let's go outside the camp bearing his reproach, I would look at Rahab and not say, there but by the grace of God go I. I'm not a male prostitute. She's a female prostitute. By the grace of God, I'm not what she is. And I thank you, God, that I'm not like other people like her. Instead I say, hey, Rahab, let's go together outside the camp bearing Christ's reproach. And so Rahab is a testimony of Christ. Melchizedek, a testimony of Christ. Naaman, a testimony of Christ. The widow of Zarephath. All the outsiders are in. In Jesus first sermon, he said, the outsiders are in. So I'm just imitating my Lord, walking in the steps of Jesus. What would Jesus do, I asked myself. Not Instead I say, magnify Christ in my body. Instead of trying to walk in his footsteps, I let him lead me by the hand. So with Rahab, let's go outside the camp in Hebrews 13:13, bearing his reproach, because here we have no continuing city, but we're on the way on a pilgrimage to a city that is builder and maker, is God, with 12 foundations. So let's go outside the camp bearing his reproach, so that as those inside, we may become honorable outsiders. Let's pray. Father, I thank youk, and I've done this many times before in my private study. I thank youk for Pastor Messick and his faithfulness and the teaching that he brought forth from this pulpit, under which I actually said wow out loud in my study. And I thank you for his willingness to stand in this pulpit and for the congregation to receive his word, even as in the case of Naaman, Naaman wasn't completely healed because of Elisha, but because of whom Elisha sent to him. And we thank you, Father, for this congregation. I do pray also, Father, that knowing that you have directed me to pick another message from the archives for this Wednesday, I pray that special attentiveness will be given to this upcoming message, whether in a group together or whether individually, that special attentiveness will be given to the one that I've selected this week to be on the website and to be listened to, for it is, of all messages, one of the most significant in all of our time, in 45 years of preaching, and certainly in all of our time in Hebrews. So grant us attentiveness. Father, I thank you for this congregation and pray for you to speak peace into each heart, peace into each home and relationship and marriage, divine solutions into the problems we're all facing. And, Father, that you'll speak health to those that are suffering illness, that you'll speak reconciliation to those who are experiencing a tearing in their relationship. That you'll speak peace and health and grace into every home of Tetelestai phalanx, wherever it's found, in all of our outreaches and everywhere. And I thank you for this privilege, and thank you for the privilege of being face to face with such a magnificent and attentive congregation today. In Jesus name, amen.