Same Savior, Same Lord - Hebrews 13:7–16

I’ve been thinking lately about all the changes going on, in and around our congregation. Changes in jobs, homes, sending kids off to college, children being one grade further along in school. At GS, changes in location, staff, responsibilities. Also, changes in our country.

The reality is that things change. And we naturally change, affected by inside and outside influences. Of course, some changes are good. But we are all guilty of changes for the worse. Changes that are sinful. Suffering can change us. Disappointment can change us. Our feelings change, our mood changes. Wants and desires change and produce sin.

But Jesus Christ came into the world to fulfill the law of God without the kind of inward change that produces sin. Jesus was fully man, yet He was steadfast in the truth and unwavering in godly obedience. He was able to do so because He was also fully God according to His divine nature and He was empowered by the Holy Spirit according to His human nature. God the Son was unable to be changed before, during, and after His earthly life.

Being God, Jesus is immutable as we proclaimed earlier in worship today: the same as us in the ways that we needed Him to be the same; and He is different from us in the ways that we needed Him to be different. Same in that he was a regular person like you and me; different in that He was able to live and die in our place to be our Savior. For all those who have gone on before us in life, those who were saved by His grace and who walked with Him by faith, Jesus was who He promised He would be.

And here is the point that the writer of Hebrews is making in verses 7-16: Jesus will be to His people today who He was to His people in the past, because He does not change.

But who was Jesus to them, and who is He to us today? There is an outline prepared for you on page 6 today in your WG. Jesus was, is, and will continue to be the One who stabilizes His people through faith, renews His people with hope, and propels His people to love.

Now, in verse [7], this writer tells his listeners “Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God.” He seems to have in mind those who first told this church the gospel, those who perhaps founded the local church, those who taught them the truth. And also, those who lived out the gospel before their eyes. Look at the rest of verse 7, “Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.”

When I was a seminary student, I had a professor who would sometimes ask a funny question. Whenever the name of a now-deceased figure in church history would come up, he would ask a student, “Would you name your son after him?” The implication was, if the church leader in question had remained faithful to God until the end of life, it would be a good idea to name your son after him; but if the man had not remained faithful, it was a bad idea. Therefore, it’s best to wait until a church leader is dead to decide if you will use their name for your son or daughter.

Wait and see how they finish life, literally, here in verse 7, look at where they stood with God at the end of their lives. And if they finished well, if they remained faithful to God, then mimic their faith in Jesus. Copy their faithfulness. Be like them in godly obedience. There is power in the model.

And remember, it is often easier to start strong than to finish strong. Life will be difficult, temptation awaits at every turn. One opportunity after another to indulge in sin, to put aside self-discipline, to shrug off endurance and to give in to the idols of the age. It has always been like this for the people of God.

Does anyone come to mind who mentored you in the faith and has passed on now? We are a young church, of course. I’m the first pastor. But many of you had pastors and other leaders or mentors in the faith at various times, ones now passed away. One who kept the faith, living in the world but not of the world. How did they do it? They looked to Jesus Christ, and notice verse 8, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Jesus stabilized those dear believers of the past through faith.

Therefore, you also must look always to Him, and verse [9] Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings.” There were in the first century, and there continues to be, always some fad, some interesting trend, some new and sophisticated knowledge attempting to put forth this generation as smarter and more spiritual than all the rest. Don’t fall for that.

Redemption by the grace of God has always been and always will be enough. As I’ve said before, salvation has always been by grace alone through faith. Those who lived before the coming of Jesus knew this, and the grace of God shaped their lives. They looked forward to the One to come; we look back on the One who has come.

God’s gracious salvation steadies us in a sea of inward and outward change. Do not underestimate what growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ will do to your soul, regardless of outward circumstances. Notice the rest of verse 9, he says, “for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace.” Earlier from Romans 5 we heard an assurance of God’s pardon for the sins of His people. It says that through Jesus we have “obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand.”

At the core of ourselves - what the Scripture often calls the “heart” - it is the grace of God, the unmerited favor of God that comes to us through faith in Jesus Christ, that stabilizes the believer through the ups and downs of life and produces a life of faith that pleases God. We can truly know God and have peace with Him by grace alone through faith; we are who we are and have what we have by God’s grace.

We grow spiritually by grace, “not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them.” This was apparently a strange teaching gaining traction at that time. Know this: in every age there are impostors compelling the church to turn from Jesus and from grace. The food referenced here seems to be related to the Jewish ceremonial laws which were abrogated or done away with through the coming of Jesus Christ. In Old Covenant times, foods were labeled “clean” or “unclean” by God.

Since the coming of Jesus, foods are no longer “clean” or “unclean” or make a person clean or unclean by eating them. Only by trusting in Jesus Christ can a person be made clean before God. Only by grace through faith can a person grow in true, God-glorifying spirituality.

The food in view in verse 9 is related to the Jewish sacrificial system. That’s why he brings up the altar in verse 10. The OT book of Leviticus explains that one kind of offering to God was the peace offering. The peace offering was unique in that part of it was eaten by the worshipper. Leviticus says that when the peace offering was made, the priests had a right to eat a portion.

This was a way that God provided for them. But a person would not be more spiritual by eating that food. And with the appearing of Jesus Christ in the world - the true and final Lamb of God - that old system is obsolete, that altar is ineffective, and those priests are in opposition to God.

But notice verse [10] We have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat. The altar, so to speak, on which our sacrifice was given was the cross. Our high priest Jesus carried out the sacrifice, and the sacrifice was Himself. “Those who serve the tent” are the Jewish priests. Without faith, they can have no part in what Jesus has done. They depend on the old system, which only foreshadowed the work of Jesus.

In verse 11, the writer shifts from the peace offering to the Day of Atonement, the yearly offering for sin. When animals were sacrificed, notice the verse, “the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp.” The blood was used in worship; the body taken away and destroyed. This symbolized a death in place of those who were forgiven and that the substitute who died in their place was unclean and cast out.

The Hebrew people practiced this tradition according to God’s command; but with the coming of Jesus, he fulfilled all of it once and for all. Notice verse [12] So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. Jesus was taken outside of Jerusalem and put to death, treated as unclean.

Remember again the point being made by the Hebrews writer: this whole great work of Jesus for salvation was the hope of those now with God in heaven. The saving work stabilized them; let it stabilize you. In it they found rest; find your rest in it today. It is a work of God’s grace, we receive it by faith alone, and this relationship with God is our anchor. It is our firm place to stand. It is our rock. Jesus stabilizes His people in every age through faith.

Also, He renews His people with hope. Look at verse [13] “Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured.” For these first-century believers hearing the book of Hebrews, there was a cost for following Jesus. They were no longer welcome in the Jewish temple, and were perhaps rejected by Jewish friends and family. These were among the reasons many were tempted to leave the church. Jesus bore reproach; in other words, He carried the disgrace of our sin against God.

And He was insulted and disgraced in the eyes of His countrymen and fellow Jews as well. So Jesus understands being an outcast, a foreigner, a stranger, out of place and far from home. Jesus’ hope was in what was to come.

With that hope He was renewed on His mission, and with hope in Him, His people are renewed. We can “go to him outside the camp,” so to speak, because, verse [14] “For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.” It’s fascinating; outside the camp with Jesus is where lasting hope dwells. It was alright for them to cast Jesus out of the holy city; He was on His way to a better city.

Has your hope been in things of this world? We naturally slip into thinking and living that way. We start changing for the better, then start changing again for the worse. Has your hope been in a person, whether a spouse or a parent or a child or a friend? You can lose any of those. Has your hope been in a place or a possession, an accomplishment or a goal? It will all pass away.

There are so many good relationships and things in this world, but none of them are forever. Only Jesus prepares a place with an everlasting hope, a destination with no more tears and pain. No more nagging questions. No more confusion over the direction you should go. No more longing for people or circumstances to change.

Jesus has secured eternal favor with God for sinners like us. He was cast out as shameful for shameful ones like you and me. He emerged from it all as the victor; He will never die and neither shall our hope. In every age, Jesus has renewed His people with this hope. It is worth going to Him outside the camp, but the earthly city is fading and will one day fall.

Now look with me at these last verses: [15] Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. Sacrifices to take away sin are no longer required, but sacrifices are still in order. Love pours out from the heart that is strengthened by God’s grace. Real love: the kind of love born from the understanding that no religious word or deed earns God’s favor. This is freedom from fake love, from pretend love. This “sacrifice of praise to God” is essentially an offering of thanksgiving.

Have you ever received a gift which was unexpected and so humbling that you wanted to give the person something in return? You wanted to get rid of that vulnerable feeling, that embarrassed feeling that you have inconvenienced or burdened the other person somehow. But the giver did not give you the gift looking for something in return. What is appropriate is simply genuine thanks.

Those who are stabilized by faith in Jesus and renewed with hope from Jesus should speak words of thanksgiving to God for who He is and what He’s done, all of which is encapsulated in His holy name. We praise His name. Romans 5 says, “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Where love was poured in, love pours out. Jesus propels us, He moves us to words of love, and also, acts of love.

Look finally at verse [16] “Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.” Such “offerings.” Doing good works, not to earn from God but as a response of thanks. Sharing, not to get from God but to honor Him who gave all to save us.

Why do you say and do good things? Is it love of God, or is love of self veiled as love of God? This really shames us. We can clean up our outward lives, but our motives reveal the true self.

As we go to the table of the Lord this morning, we find freedom from that shame. We look at the only One whose words and deeds were always, always, born out of God-centered love. Jesus is a worthy Savior to trust and a worthy Lord to obey. He was, is, and will continue to be the same Savior and Lord that He has always been.

As we partake in His Supper, we participate in something similar to that OT peace offering. How so? Well, when the peace offering was given, the worshipper received back part of the sacrifice to eat. It was a symbol of fellowship with God, like eating a meal with God. As we eat the bread and drink the cup, we partake of the sign and seal of Jesus’ sacrifice, the symbol and assurance of our fellowship with God and one another through the saving work of Jesus.

Can you say, from the heart, only Jesus? Only Jesus? Have you been thinking that there are other things you must do or say, but now you see, it’s only Jesus? Confess to Him that you are a sinner, trust in Him, abandon Your sin, and follow Jesus.

Let’s bow in prayer.