Hebrews

And, if you have a Bible, then do turn with me at Hebrews and chapter 13.

Now we've been working through this chapter, a little bit more slowly than the other chapters in Hebrews because we wanna really apply, what the word of god has been teaching us. So, Let's read this together and then Pete's gonna come and, preach to us. From verse 1. Keep on loving 1 another as brothers and sisters. Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers for by so doing, some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.

Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison and those who are ill treated as if you yourselves were suffering. Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure. The god will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have because god has said never will I leave you, never will I forsake you. So we say with confidence, the lord is my helper.

I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me? Remember your leaders who spoke the word of god to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by eating ceremonial foods, which is of no benefit to those who do so. We have an altar from which those who administer at the tabernacle have no right to eat. The high priest carries the blood of animals into the most holy place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp. And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gates to make the people holy through his own blood.

Let us then go to him outside the camp bearing the disgrace he bore. For here, we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come. Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to god a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others for with such sacrifices God is pleased. Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account.

Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no benefit to you. Pra for us. We are sure that we have a clear conscience and desire to live honorably in every way. We're coming to the end of our, of of our series in in Hebrews. I think we're only gonna probably only have, another sermon, in this, which will be next week.

So that's when we're sort of finish finish Hebrews. Maybe there's another 1 we we'll we'll see. But we're coming to an end. And he's he's really brought a a lot of theology about who Jesus is, what he's come to do, really understand some really deep stuff, explaining what the old testament is about. It's all a picture of Jesus.

This drawn us to this chapter where he's been really practical. This is now in the light of who he is. We don't just sit and do the same stuff. There's there's these practical things. And really, he's gotta the question or at least the question I want to ask, and I think you'll see, where he's got us.

The question I want to ask is, is this now as we draw sort of, to a close of this, is, would you summarize your life as appraiser. Are you a praising person? Are you appraised the lord person? Yes. We've got 1 here.

Praise the lord person. Are you? Look at verse 15. Because this is where we're landing here through Jesus. It's always through him.

Therefore, let us continually offer to god a sacrifice of praise belips that openly profess his name. Now I don't think that's just talking about saying praise the lord. Some people will do it. Depends what your culture is. It's not just the words.

But it's that in the center of your being is appraise the lord. There's a continual sacrifice of praising god, and your lips are speaking out verse 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday today and forever. And that life is gained not just words, but it leads to verse 16. And do not forget to do good and to share with others for with such sacrifices, god is pleased. They're not just empty words.

It's not just empty praise. It's a praise that produces on your lips from your very heart this flowing, fruitful words that actually then go into action for people around us that we're gonna do good. We're gonna share with others. And the lord Jesus Christ and god the father and god the Holy Spirit are pleased with that type of of of lifestyle. So it's not just empty words.

Now what makes a praising person? How'd you become 1? Do do you wanna become a praising person? Well, how are you gonna become 1? How are we ever gonna become a praising person?

Here's my 1st point. You don't have to bear with me here. Eat the right food. Eat heart food. Eat the right food.

Now what food does a praising person feed on? What's gonna sustain a praising life? What's gonna give energy to a praising life? Look at verse 9. Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teaching.

It is good for your hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by eating ceremonial foods, which is of no benefit to those who do so. So he's talking about this food that I think will wreck a praising life that will wreck you praising god. There's food that you can intake that's gonna shrivel up and make your lips dry, and stop you from doing good and sharing a life with with others. And there's food that's gonna grow in you, a praising heart. It's gonna go to the heart, and the lips will come out praising the name of Jesus, and you'll share with others.

So the question is, How is your diet? What are you eating? It's sort of a question that people are asking all the time. What what are you actually eating? Now last time, if you can remember, which was a couple of weeks ago, I was trying to show you from this passage, the instructions that he gives about responding to good teachers.

You get it in verse 7. Look at verse 7. Remember your leaders who spoke the word of god to you, consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. And we were seeing that a good teacher is someone who is taken up with the word of god, and they're speaking the word of god to you, and the word of god is all about Jesus. That's what the whole book of Hebrews is saying.

And you get verse 8 This is what they're teaching you that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday today and forever. And then we saw in verse 17, another thing about leaders, have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority because they keep watch over you. The word is soul. They keep watch over your soul. As those who must give an account, do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden for that would be of no benefit to you.

And then we saw in verse 24 greet all your leaders and all the lord's people. So what he's describing here is is a is a community of people with leaders and and and those of us that are being led, there's a community of people that are committed to the word of god. That means they're taken up with the lord Jesus Christ. That's what they're banging on about all the time. That's the big teaching.

And that community watches over our soul being a member of the community is that we're having our souls watched over. And when we know they're watching over us because they're good leaders telling us about Jesus, there's a joy. There's a joy. So a good leader is establishing us in the grace of the lord Jesus Christ. That's the food they should be supplying.

Look at verse 9 again. Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for your hearts to be strengthened by grace. There's opposites there. Don't be carried away.

We were seeing that last time. This chaff that's blown away. Don't be carried away by these strange teachings, but be strengthened. It's the opposite to being blown away. It's establish, get rooted, be stable.

Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings, It is good for your hearts to be strengthened by the teaching, which is grace. That's why if you're following along verse 17, it's no benefit for anyone that's unsubmit it sub submissive. To a community, to leaders that are really trying to get you to the phonetically, Jesus. It's just no benefit to you. And the same word is used, it's no benefit to you if you follow these false teachers that are talking about ceremonial foods.

No benefit. Won't be a benefit to you. Now these false teachers, for want of a better word, they will feed you food, or they'll somehow add to the food that will invent eventually take away from the food And it's of no benefit whatsoever. Don't be carried away. Don't be carried away.

Be established. Junk food. Bad for your heart, he's saying. It's gonna clog up your arteries. It's gonna give you some constipation.

If it doesn't give you constipation, you'll have diarrhea. And if you've got diarrhea and constipation, it's hard to praise anybody, isn't it? Yeah? You're just looking for the toilet roll or the toilet. And he's saying, don't eat the food like that.

There's all sorts of tray strange teachings, and there always has been, and there always will be, teachings that pervert the truth, and what they really do The big thing behind the false teaching is they don't really go for the heart. They concentrate on externals. And when OSA external is not not a moral life, we'll see that in a minute. But religious externals. Christianity, true Christianity, is not a religion of religious externals.

It's just not. It's not about rights and ceremonies. It's about the heart. It's about the heart. Christianity is a spiritual religion about the heart.

Now these teachers were telling these 1st century Hebrew Christians that in order really to be a proper Christian. In order to fit in with other people around you, you wanna part partake in the ceremonial foods. It's a Jewish thing. You wanna you wanna do all the Jewish rituals. And the whole letter of Hebrews is about don't go back to that.

D don't rely on that. Hebrews chapter 10. Verse 1, the law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming. Not the realities. Don't go and live in shadow lands.

We've seen that. Paul writes to, the colossians, a group of people meeting in colossi writes this, do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink or with regard to a religious festival. Or a new moon celebration, or even a Sabbath Day. These are, listen, shadows of the things that were coming. The reality, however, is found in Christ.

Don't go back to the shadows. Don't go back to the outward external. Imagine you're hungry. Anybody hungry? Yeah.

Well, he's a canard. He's always hungry. You're I think always hungry. If I remember rightly, you're hungry. You get a lovely menu.

Someone gives you a lovely menu. It's beautifully printed. It's got lovely design of the restaurant on the outside. You open it up, and it's just just wonderfully illustrated, lovely, nicely written. And, it's it's it's re it's really good.

And there's descriptions of the food that you could order. You know, tender, 24 week dried, wagyu beef. I I don't know what that is, but I've heard of it. Comes it's a free ray from free range cows that roam the devonshire hillside and eat only the best of grass. Yeah?

Plum sauce made from a single plum picked by a single human hand, from a farm in Norfolk and reduced with the best of French wines. You know, it's delicious stuff in there. There's all these flavors described and they're mouth watering, and you think that's delicious. But it's in the menu. The point of the menu is you look and then order the real thing.

You don't eat the menu, do you? You don't say take the food away, leave the menu. In fact, the funny thing is when the food comes, the menu goes. We'll see that in a minute. It's funny, isn't it?

The waiters always take the menu away? There you are. You've seen the pictures maybe. I mean, I know you don't really get pictures in those posh restaurants of the food, but in a British calf, you get a picture of an egg, bacon, and a sausage and beans, don't you? Who actually takes those pictures?

Nikki you're a photographer. Right? Have you ever taken a picture of bacon and eggs? Yes. She's the woman.

She's the woman. Number 7, please. Yeah. Double sausage. No.

But, you know, anyway, it's this delicious food. And, you know, you don't it's you don't leave it on the menu. It's just a shadow. And this food, that shadow, that picture of the food will not benefit you in the slightest. Listen to Paul in 1 Corinthians 8.

Food does not bring us near to god. Can you get it plainer? We are no worse if we eat it, and no better if we do. If we don't. What if ever way around it is?

It doesn't it's it's it's of no benefit. Religious false teachers are always bringing us into religiosity. The gospel, the good news of Jesus directs us to what Christ has done, and the response to what Christ has done is that we live a praising life and therefore we care for others. The human heart is something about us. We like religion where it gravitates the human heart to performance based religions because there's something measurable about it, isn't it?

If I can just do a ritual or if I can just eat the right food or not eat the right food or whatever it is. If I can do that, I feel I've achieved something. Therefore, I must be right with god. He must be happy with me because I did that ritual right. I didn't eat that food.

I did eat that food. And it makes me feel that I've done something. The Bible teaches that our standing before god is entirely of grace, and ceremonies and traditions and ritual performances you might do, but there have no benefit to you. Listen to Romans again. Paul is writing this in Romans chapter 14.

For the kingdom of god is not a matter of eating and drinking. But of righteousness, peace, joy in the Holy Spirit. You see, that's the Christian life. Righteous by god made a peace by Christ, and there's a joy in the Holy Spirit. The heart is strengthened by the grace of god revealed in Jesus.

Look at verse 9 again. Let me just keep reading it. Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts, here's the hard food, to be strengthened by grace, not by eating ceremonial foods, which is of no benefit to those who do it. Grace.

Now let's be careful because we can turn grace into some kind of abstract lump of theology. It's not that. It's really shorthand for the whole book, and the whole book is all about, guess who? Jesus, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever. That's what it's all about.

We're strengthened, we're fed, why not theology, but by the person of Jesus. And who is he? Well, he's the 1 who finished the sacrifice for us. We've seen that in this series. We have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

It's been done. We know that Jesus is the 1 that intercedes for us, prays for us, ongoing relationship, bringing us before god the father. Hebrews 7, therefore, he is able to save completely. Those who come to god through him because he always lives to intercede for us. It's a living Jesus.

That's the grace. Continually looking at his children and praying for us. That's why he came to Paul at the right time. He's calm. He came to Paul into that, little room that he was in overlooking a field.

Jesus came and took him into seething, looking at his people. And he's able to sympathize with our weaknesses. We saw in Hebrews chapter 4, for we do not have a high priest who is unable to feel sympathy for our weaknesses, but we have 1 who has been tempted in every way just as we are yet without sin. Paul says in titus that its grace It's grace that teaches our heart to say no to ungodliness. You wanna live a life that pleases god, a life that is a sacrifice to praise of god.

It's grace. That teaches us, not rules, not laws, not rituals. It's grace that helps us to be self controlled. It's grace that helps us live godly lives. You see that in Titus too.

So what are we eating? Are we still just going back to look at the menu? Are we trying to eat the menu? Are we arguing over the menu? Is it really 24, week old, waggle, whatever it is, beef?

Is that plum really plucked by 1 single human hand? Or are we feeding? Have we made an order? Have we had priced in our hearts? Have we said, I put aside the menu, and I want Christ.

I want the food. I want grace. Grace doesn't just lead us to the door or even just lead us through the door to god. And then leave us with rituals and rights and rules and things to follow. Grace is a continual feeding on price.

Once and before all sacrifice that we're continually reminded of. Ever fresh. Hebrews 4, let us then approach god's throne of grace with confidence, not arrogance, not confidence in ourselves, that's arrogance, but confidence in what he's done. Let us approach the throne of grace with confidence. Listen, so we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

If you know the story of the Israelites, in the wilderness, they received manor, they received bread every day. They weren't supposed to stockpile it. They gathered it fresh every day. It's an amazing thing. Jesus Christ is the same.

Yesterday today and forever, that's who we feed on, brothers and sisters, feed on him what he's done for us. That's my 1st point. Eat the right food for heart, heart food. Here's my 2nd point, and it's the same as the 1st. But it's a little bit different.

Go to the right table for this prepared food. You get this prepared food from the right table. It's the altar. It's an altar of acceptance. Look at verses 10 and 11.

We have an altar from which those who minister at the tabernacle have no right to to eat. The high priest carries the blood of animals into the most holy place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burnt outside the camp. It's a strange little bit of teaching going on here, and it can be confusing. But if you know the Old Testament, then it it's it's obviously a great help. If you realize that you're acceptable to god through what Christ has done, you will praise.

It's all him. Praise the Lord. You'll be a praise the lord person. If you think that, actually, what I need to do is lots of rights and lot of religious things, and then god will please be pleased with me, you will either be arrogant self righteous, look at me, I've done it, and I'm better than those who don't. Or more likely you'll be absolutely stuffed and say I fail my own rules and my own rituals.

So eat from the right altar, eat the right food, heart food from the right alter, alter. And I think that's what this sort of rather alien section is about, alien to us because we we may not know the Bible so well. So let me just go through it quickly. In the past, god god set up this whole system which was always a picture of how we sinners, those of us that have done wrong, can come to god, can be made right with god. So it's like the menu.

It was always a menu This is a picture. This is the menu. These are the words of what is to come. The waiter will bring this. So originally, it was a tabernacle.

The tabernacle was sort of a tent in the middle of people. It's a bit like if you've imagined Glastonbury with all of the tents around the the big, the big stage. But you've got in the center, you've got this tent. It's the tent of meeting. It's representing where humans can meet god.

It's right there in the middle, and all the people of god camped around this tent. And there were lots of types of daily sacrifices that were bought, but the big 1 was a yearly sacrifice, you could read about it in leviticus 16, was called the day of atonement. The day of at 1 moment. The day when sinners, people, and god can be at 1, where they can be together, where they can love each other, where they can be in the family, where god can be the father. So you've got this day of atonement.

And what happened there was a priest high priest representing the people all camped around around the tabernacle remember would bring blood of an animal. The animal represented the people that without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins, that an animal dies in the place, gives its life up in its place for us. Someone needs to answer something or go to bed or something like that. Yep. No 1.

There's a thing going. It's gone. It stopped. They ring back again in a minute. So, there's the priest.

There we go. They're ringing back. They've sent a message. It's not important. It'll be something like you can get bananas from the marketplace.

Anyway, so the priest let's go back to this. The priest brought the blood of an animal representing, died in our place, and goes into the holy place where god is represented. The altar is there. It's called the mercy seat, and blood was put on the mercy seat. Now in the case of this sacrifice, The body of the animal was not eaten by anybody.

Some sacrifices they act, but not this 1. The body was taken outside the camp. The blood that brought atonement that brought us right with god, is there where god is, and the body is taken out of the camp. Now outside the camp means the removal from the people. It's the place of curse.

It's away from the events that happen. Now all of this says this writer is a picture of Jesus to the Messiah and what he did on the cross. So look at verse 10 again. We have an altar from which those who minister at the tabernacle have no right to eat The high priest carries the blood of the animals into the most holy place as a sin offering. See that?

But the bodies are burned outside the camp. We have an altar. We have a table. The table we go to is now the lord Jesus Christ. We enter god's presence, not by eating ceremonial food, but by the blood of Christ.

The ceremonial food never brought you to god. And even in this very special sacrifice of atonement you didn't eat, even there, the blood did its work, and the body was cast away. So the ceremonial food never brought you to god, never made you right with god. That's the point he's making. It's the blood of Christ that has made you right with god.

Now he then says, an application. Now leave the camp then. Now it's been done once and for all. He's already had this argument. They used to have to do it every year, but now it's done.

You can leave the camp. Now you can go out and you can leave. The high priest has done his job. You now can live in the world. Look what he says again.

Let me just read it again just to rub this in. The high priest carries the blood of the animals into the most holy place as a sin offering. But the bodies are burned outside the camp. And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. Let us then go to him outside the camp.

Jesus was crucified outside the city wall, outside of Jerusalem, the world rejected Jesus. The religious establishment rejected Jesus. The crowds mocked Jesus. And the author is saying, now you go away from that religious system that mocked him you go outside the camp. Then verse 13, let us then go to him outside the camp bearing the disgrace he bore.

Jesus has fulfilled all of the levitical sacrifices and rights. He's taken away the sin, now go and join him outside of that system. Once and for all, no need to go there again into the camp. So there is no place for the Christian to follow any old testament sacrificial system. There's no benefit to it anyway.

It never really did that anyway. It was only the menu. Pointing forward to the reality to come. You've gotta stand outside your religion, he's saying. Say goodbye to that system of rights and externals.

Go out and follow Jesus. Jesus puts it in another way. He talks about new wine that's, you know, fermenting and don't put it in old wineskins. They used to use goat skins, for for putting wine in. But if you have an old wineskin, it's hard, and it's brittle, You put new fermenting wine into an old wineskin, and it blows it apart.

And Jesus says, you can't put new wine, the new wine that he brings, the heart stuff that he brings, and mix it with an old wineskin, old religion, the old covenant. Doesn't work. It blows it out. When the food arrives, remember, the waiter takes the menu away. Why would you keep reading it?

You taste it, don't you? Go outside the camp. He says. Go where Jesus is outside the camp. The Christian Life is not a call for us.

To go back into religion, to go back into the religious camp. It's a call to go and be the despised and rejected as Jesus was despised and rejected. You see the world quite likes religion. And we're very tempted by religion. The world doesn't mind people that have rights and rituals and ceremonies.

They think that's quite may not be for them, but they think it's quite nice that people have that. And you won't be despised and rejected if you say my religion is to do this and have these rights and stuff. But he's saying you will be rejected. But don't worry about rejection. Because you won't be rejected in the enduring city, verse 14.

For here, we do not have an enduring city. Here, the city's gone, but we are looking for the city that is to come. You might suffer disgrace for having what people would call a low religion. Don't you do this at Cornerstone? Don't you do this in your evangelical church?

And you may have to suffer disgrace for that. What are you? What sort of minister are you? I've had it all my lie or or my, you know, as I've been a minister. What sort of minister are you?

Oh, low church, are you? Yes. Thought so. What university did go to? Oh, I didn't go to 1.

Yes. Because low church don't need intelligent people, do they? That's how it goes. And you'll find it's despised. Where's the ritual?

But we've got a city to come. A city Paul Brown has been taken to. And it goes on forever. Don't worry about disgrace. It's only for a little while.

Okay. So I wanna come to my 3rd point. When you eat the right food, from the right altar, with is Christ and all that he's done and not going back to religion and going back to the menu. When you eat the right food, from the right table, then you'll offer the right sacrifices because 1 part, you'll see the enduring city that is to come, the hope, and you see what Christ has done. So here's my 3rd point, offer the right sacrifices.

Look at verses 15 and 16. Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to god a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of lips that openly profess his name, and do not forget to do good and to share with others. Well, with such sacrifices, god is pleased. Now some of you know this, some of you be interested in this, some of you won't, but it's still worth knowing what's going on. In the Christian world, the broad Christian world, and even, unfortunately, in what we would call bible following Christian world, there's a thing called embodiment that is coming into into the thinking.

It's becoming really big. It's people saying they want to embody They they misinterpret a a a passage, really, from Paul who talks about beating the body into submission. If you read what he's saying is, what he's saying is my whole life is committed to preaching the gospel. That's what he's saying. I've I've given my life to preaching the gospel.

He's not actually hitting himself. That's just absurd. But this embodiment and what people are saying is that if you really wanna grow as a Christian, you need to submit your actual body to outward religious signs and religious acts. I was listening to a podcast where a very famous supposed evangelical man, big podcaster, likes to call himself an influencer. He was making these points.

He's saying that what you need to do is to put yourself, like, under the sign of the cross. It's quite a good thing to do. You go like that, he's saying. And that puts you outwardly under the sign of the cross. They talk about kneeling.

For prayer, it's a humble. It's you're humbling yourself. They talk about ash on the head. They talk about prayer beads. This man actually was believe it or not was telling us that prayer beads are a good thing.

They talk about bowing to an altar. They ring bells to announce that Christ is coming or the Holy Spirit is coming when they take the Lord's supper. There's religious smells and candles because that helps with the atmosphere. There's church buildings that are made with an altar. We have an altar that's Jesus, but they have an altar.

There's a priest behind the altar or a worship leader that that brings god into our presence, brings us to god. And that's embodiment. It's embodiment. You're physically doing this stuff. Now I know some of this can be quite offensive because some of you may say that I like it.

We can even do this with the lord's supper funny enough. Something that we are told to do It is an ordinance. It's not a sacrament, but it is an audience. God actually tells us to do that. The only things Jesus tells us to do that were really outward are to love and serve people.

We'll see that in a minute, but it's baptism, and it's the lord's supper. We're gonna do that in a minute. But even with the lord's supper, people make it a very mystical thing where Jesus simply says, do this in remembrance of me. And Paul says, we do it in remembrance of Christ to proclaim his death until he comes. It's all about what Jesus has done, who he is, and he's coming back.

It's remembering it and applying it to our hearts and our minds. It's the brace that feeds us. But embodiment, it looks so good. What is wrong with crossing yourself? What is wrong with putting ash on your head, having prayer beads, kneeling?

Well, Jesus said be very careful when you do that sort of thing outwardly. There's at least a warning by him in the sermon on the mound. Be very careful you're not doing that before men. So that's at least a warning. Hebrew says it's of no benefit.

So can you do it? I guess so. If you wanna put Ash on your head to remind yourself that you're a sinner, you can do. But it's a no benefit. It doesn't really help, and you don't certainly do it as a church group.

That's weird. Jesus says you do that sort of thing in your closet with yourself. So we need to be very careful here because we're being drawn into outward, external, religiosity. People say, don't they? When they go into a lovely church building, and there's some lovely buildings, aren't there?

Or you feel the sense of god here. No, you don't. It's just a nice, cool building. God's no more there than he is in this in this refractory. You see what it means?

You see how we So let's have the proper embodiment. What's the proper embodiment that when we've eaten from the right table and we've eaten grace, the real embodiment that Jesus tells us about is in verse 5, 15. Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to god a sacrifice of praise, the fruit that lifts of lips that openly profess his name. That's what we are doing. That's the embodiment.

It's it's offering god praise, and notice it's through Jesus. Everything is acceptable through Jesus. Only through him. It's not what I do. It's not some ash on my head.

It's not that I crossed myself. Everything is acceptable. We are acceptable to come to god through Jesus. Our worship is acceptable only through Jesus. Through Jesus, our prayers are acceptable through Jesus.

Our praise is acceptable through Jesus. And then he spells out what our praise really is, the fruit of lips that openly confesses name. The name above all names. Jesus the same yesterday today and forever. That's our heart.

That's our praise. We speak about him to each other. That's embodiment. Be filled with the spirit who tells you about the lord Jesus Christ. We speak to the world.

It's evangelism. We preach to a world that's lost and confused and needs to come to Jesus. You don't need religion. You need Jesus's righteousness. There was an old preacher, Philly Sunday.

Yeah. Talk like this. You don't need religion. You need righteousness. You don't need religion.

You need the redeemer. You don't need jags because you need Jesus. You don't need rum. He was really anti alcohol. You don't need rum.

You need Bureau or whatever it is. You don't need rum, you need righteousness. That's right. That's right. Jesus is the 1.

Jesus is this is where we speak about. Our lips are confessing Jesus. When the world rejects us, doesn't mind us being religious, but when we say Jesus, they get really upset. We preach Jesus. We speak Jesus.

Our lips are about Jesus. Sometimes you just physically can't do it at work because you'll get into all kinds of trouble, but your heart wants to talk about Jesus. Have the name of Jesus on your lips. This is why men come to the men's thing. Come and bring your friends.

That's here. I'm gonna show them who the real man is, and it's Jesus, from someone. That's the embodiment on the lips, but also good works. Look at verse 16, and do not forget to do good and to share with others. For with such sacrifices, god is pleased.

From praise to partnership with others. Those who have received grace become gracious to others. Those who have received mercy become merciful. If you notice that religion that goes down the the, outward can become so hard. And suddenly you find people that do these incredible, sort of religious acts.

You suddenly, they are exposed into massive massive abuse of people. It's because it's all outward. It's outward. It's not the heart. It's taking wrong, the beating of the body.

It's embodying the outward instead of really a heart change. The sign of the cross on our lives is that we love other Christians. We wanna preach the good news to Jesus. The sign of the cross on our lives is that we love and serve and wash feet. A heart, strength of by grace, becomes an open hand, and wonderful lips to other people.

Christian love is visible, practical sacrificial. So here's my question and I'll finish. Are you a prasar? You praise the lord? You wanna praise the lord.

If you wanna praise the lord, you look to the lord Jesus Christ and what he's done. We're gonna do this now in the lord's supper. You look to what he's done, and that affects your lip and your life. And you don't need this outward religious rituals. Let's pray over to Rory.

Well, as Pete said, we're gonna take communion down, which is a really good way to respond to what we've heard. We're gonna celebrate and remember, what the lord Jesus Christ has done for us. That's who we wanna profess. That's who we wanna focus on. And, we wanna remember what a great sacrifice he made for us.

He went outside the camp, and he was, executed on a cross. And that's where we must go now, with our with the disgrace that he bore as we've just, read. Father, we thank you so much, that Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. And we thank you that it wasn't through ceremony lacks that we do that we are right with Jesus and right with you. But is by Christ doing all the work for us by the blood of our great and precious savior, are we made right with you, and so, helps to be those who dine on Christ.

Who go to the right altar outside the camp to Christ at the cross. And so may we, as we focus on Jesus now, may we encourage 1 another to take his name upon our lips? And live lives that are reflective of our precious savior Jesus. So we do pray these things in his name.