Word of Salvation – April 2026
Outside The Camp
Sermon by Rev. John Westendorp on Hebrews 13:11-14
Reading: John 19:16b–30; Hebrews 13:1-16
Singing: BoW.306 Your will be done the Saviour prayed
BoW.300 Ah, dearest Jesus
BoW.297 My song is love unknown
BoW.305 O sacred head now wounded
Theme: As Jesus suffered as an outcast to make us holy so we are to go to Him and bear the abuse He bore.
Introd: When I think of the word REJECT there are two things that readily come to mind for me.
The first is the Reject Shop at the Mall. That has always seemed a little ironic to me.
Why go to the trouble of buying rejects? Don’t rejects belong in our garbage & recycling bins?
Okay… the Reject Shop has some good things and often at bargain basement prices.
But the idea of shopping at a Reject Shop always makes me smile just a little.
The other image the word REJECT brings to my mind is the IVECO factory in Dandenong Victoria.
In the 1960’s I did an apprenticeship there – at the International Harvester truck factory.
As part of my apprenticeship I worked for some months in their Inspection Department.
All kinds of new components for trucks were tested and checked there.
Some tests were quite scientific – we had a machine to do metal Rockwell hardness tests.
Other tests were crude: whether something could be smashed with one hammer blow or two.
Painted items were checked to see how easily the paint came off.
But outside the Inspection Department were bin, after bin, after bin with all kinds of rejects.
Well, Good Friday is about Jesus The Reject. Hebrews 13 makes that very clear.
So our aim this morning is to understand why Jesus is pictured in our text as The Reject.
And we’ll want to see what that means for us on this Good Friday.
A] JESUS SUFFERED OUTSIDE THE CITY GATE.
- There is one very important point we must keep in mind this morning.
The book of Hebrew is the New Testament’s commentary on the Old Testament – esp. the Torah.
That gives us an important clue to understanding why the writer pictures Jesus as ‘The Reject’.
Our text speaks of Jesus suffering ‘outside the city gate’ and that we must go Him ‘outside the camp’.
Well, that expression ‘outside the camp’ occurs 29 times in the Bible.
And 26 of those are in the first five books – the books of Moses, the Torah.
We don’t have time to do justice to all those instances but let me give you a quick Cooks Tour.
The skins and other offal from Israel’s sacrifices had to be taken… “outside the camp”.
So too, were the ashes of their sacrifices taken “outside the camp”.
And – not surprisingly – their ‘toilet facilities’ were “outside the camp”.
But it wasn’t only what we would regard as waste or rubbish that was taken outside the camp.
Some people ended up there too.
Two sons of Aaron were struck down by the Lord God for offering unauthorised fire on the altar.
Their cousins were told to carry their bodies… “outside the camp”.
Capital punishment took place “outside the camp”. We are given two instances of that.
Lepers… for the duration of their leprosy… were told to live outside the camp.
It was also a place of banishment.
So when Miriam rebelled against Moses she was banished for seven days “outside the camp”. Bodily discharge, making a person ritually unclean, meant spending time “outside the camp”.
Excommunication from the community meant being banished to live “outside the camp”.
Anything that was under God’s curse was a reject and belonged “outside the camp”.
But ‘outside the camp’ was also where ritual purification took place – with the ashes of a red heifer.
Which is probably why Rahab the Harlot from Jericho and her family were put outside the camp.
- So why do we have all this emphasis in the books of Moses on what takes place ‘outside the camp’?
Well, in several instances we are given an explanation.
And the explanation is that God is present among His people within the camp.
For example, the case of bodily discharge that made a person unclean: The Lord tells Moses:
“Send them outside the camp so they will not defile their camp where I dwell among them.”
Of course there are also other reasons why in some cases this makes good sense.
Leprosy is contagious… and isolation is virtually mandatory.
That’s particularly true for a society with primitive health care facilities.
But that’s not the key reason.
God’s presence among His people makes the camp of the Israelites a holy place.
What was true of the camp of Israel in the wilderness was also true later in Canaan
In the Bible Jerusalem is the holy city. It’s made holy by God’s presence.
God had an address on earth – the holy of holies – the inner sanctuary of the temple.
So whatever was unholy or ritually unclean was banished outside the city.
By the time of Jesus there was a special garbage dump for that in the valley of Ben Hinnom.
In O.T. times it had been a place of child sacrifices to the idol Moloch.
But it had been desecrated and turned into Jerusalem’s rubbish dump.
It was the place where everything unclean and unholy was taken.
A place of flies and smouldering fire! Colin Buchanan has written a song ‘Outside The Camp’.
He talks about the vultures there picking over the bones.
But then something very telling happens in the teachings of Jesus.
When Jesus wants to describe what the everlasting torment of hell is about He uses that image.
The garbage dump outside the city walls – now called Gehenna – the place for God’s rejects.
- That takes us to the grand climax of that expression “outside the camp”.
More than two dozen times we have this idea of rejection – especially in Exodus, Leviticus & Numbers.
Two dozen times we see that what is offensive to God’s holiness must go “outside the camp”.
And now here in Hebrews 13 it all climaxes in the person of Jesus.
Here is the last time the Bible uses this expression of rejection and it is applied to Jesus.
Don’t you find that a staggering picture, when you stop and think about it?
Here’s the grand climax of the Bible’s imagery of rejection – and the climax is Jesus.
Jesus the Reject..! And we wonder how that can be. Jesus, The Reject? Surely not..!.
I could understand it if God treated me as a reject. I fail the Lord so often.
Perhaps you could understand God treating you as a reject.
We fall so far short of the perfection that God demands… we belong in that garbage dump.
But Jesus…? He’s the sinless God-man whom no one could ever accuse of wrongdoing.
And now this is precisely the point that our text in Hebrews 13 wants to get across to us.
On Good Friday the sinless Christ is – as it were – taken out to the garbage dump.
Listen again to the words of our text: “And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate…!”
And it links it to what the High Priest does in burning sacrificial animal bodies outside the camp.
So behind those few words lie all those O.T. expressions of rejection, banishment and isolation.
In effect, it is saying to us: This is what Good Friday is all about.
Let your mind be filled today with a picture of The Reject Shop…
Or with the image of bins full of rejected components from a truck manufacturing plant.
Good Friday is about rejection.
And if you want to know why… then I have a very sobering answer for you.
You and I were the unholy misfits, deserving the exclusion and isolation of the garbage dump.
But now Jesus is our sin-bearing substitute… Jesus took our rejection upon Himself.
B] JESUS FULFILLS THE DAY OF ATONEMENT.
- There’s another context that we will need this morning to understand our text.
A second context is the purpose of this letter to the Hebrews. Why was the book of Hebrews written?
Very early in the piece there were Christians who found it tough going to be a Christian.
I mean to say, would you find it easy to follow Jesus if you were persecuted for doing so?
What if a Christian profession of faith cost you job opportunities… or your livelihood?
In ch.12 the writer tells these folk: you haven’t yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.
Here were people who had come out of Judaism and who had embraced the good news of Jesus.
But Christianity was not yet a recognised religion… Judaism was.
So this letter was written to Hebrew people who wanted to give up on Christianity.
It’s just too hard… and so they wanted to back into Judaism.
And now the writer of Hebrews tries to persuade them that doing so would be a huge mistake.
That helps us to understand so much in this book.
For example – early in the book the writer tells us that Moses was a wonderful leader.
But then it argues the point that Jesus is a far, far greater leader.
The writer admits that the Old Testament held out to people a wonderful hope.
But he argues that Christians have a far more wonderful hope in Jesus.
He admits that God’s covenant, His partnership with Israel, was a wonderful thing.
But he insists that the new Partnership we have with God through Jesus is far better.
Do you get the point? Hebrews is saying: Yes, often it’s tough being a Christian…but hang in there.
In the end it will all prove to be well worthwhile.
Listen to how the writer puts it Hebrews 10:35….
“So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere…
so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised.”
- This also helps us understand why Hebrews talks so much about sacrifices.
It traces the importance of that whole O.T. sacrificial system with all its various sin offerings.
It highlights something that the O.T made abundantly clear.
That without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
Atonement has to be made if you want a relationship with almighty God.
You cannot simply waltz into the presence of the Creator of the universe if…
…if your sin has not been dealt with by atoning sacrifice.
But… now remember… this is written to people wanting to quit Christianity.
They are wanting to go back to all those O.T. animal sacrifices.
Every morning… and every evening… another lamb slain on the altar in the temple.
And if you messed up badly… then you had to bring another special sin-offering.
But then the writer seems to blow that whole O.T. sacrificial system out of the water.
Listen to the words of Hebrews 10:4…
It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
Did you hear that… did you understand that?
It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
What does that do to the whole Mosaic Law about the O.T. sacrificial system?
There are chapter after chapter of detailed instructions of sacrifices in the Books of Moses.
And the words ‘sin offering’ occurs 89 times in Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers.
But what’s the point? Hey: It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
What a powerful reason not to go back to Judaism but to stick with Christianity.
- But it leaves us with a problem: why did God give pages and pages of detailed instructions?
So detailed that it has turned many people off Bible reading.
They read through Genesis okay… and the first dozen chapters or so of Exodus are fine.
But then they got into Leviticus with all its detailed sacrificial rituals – and it is just too much.
In fact don’t we have a serious problem this morning? An apparent contradiction?
OTOH without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
OTOH It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
Well the beauty of our text is that It solves that dilemma for us.
That OTOH there is no forgiveness without the shedding of blood.
That OTOH it is impossible for animal sacrifices to take away sin.
The writer in these verses focuses on the O.T. Day of Atonement (the Jews called it Yom Kippur).
In fact, Jews today still celebrate it – some time during October.
It was the time of the great annual sacrifice. The most important sin-offering of the year..!
You can read all about in Leviticus 16.
Verse 11 of our text sums up what happens:
The High Priest carries the blood of the sin offering into the most Holy Place.
While the carcase of the victim was burned outside the camp.
The sacrificial blood was then poured out on the lid of what was called The Ark of the Covenant.
That was to make atonement for the sins of the people.
But did you notice that when the writer describes the sacrifice of Yom Kippur he skips that bit.
There is no mention of blood being poured out on the lid of the Ark.
Instead the writer skips straight to Jesus…
and that He suffered as The Reject “outside the city gate’.
Do get the point? Jesus is inseparably linked to the sacrifice of the Yom Kippur ritual.
Why? Because every sacrifice on O.T altars pointed to Jesus.
He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
And if that’s the case, why on earth would you want to give Christianity the flick?
C] WE MUST NOW GO TO HIM OUTSIDE THE CAMP.
- So… what’s the lessons for us on this Good Friday?
Well, the writer draws three very practical lessons from this teaching about Jesus, the Reject.
First there’s this amazing reality that The Reject becomes the Redeemer.
That’s why this day is now known as Good Friday.
You might ask: how can this day on which Jesus was crucified be called GOOD Friday?
Just think about it: the day of the gravest miscarriage of human justice ever perpetrated.
The sinless son of God… the perfect God-man… condemned by a kangaroo court…
Executed as a common criminal. And we call that GOOD…???
No. We need to think differently – Jesus becomes The Reject – in my place.
The hymn writer put it well:
Bearing shame and scoffing rude / in my place condemned He stood.
Sealed my pardon with His blood / Hallelujah, what a Saviour!
That doesn’t make it just a GOOD Friday… that makes it a VERY GOOD Friday.
But… a word of warning! There is nothing automatic about this.
It requires a response from you. You need to go to Him outside the camp.
And then the writer links that to a lovely promise: that you will then find the lasting city to come.
The holy city in which there will never be any more rejects.
- But the writer ties that in very closely to a second practical application.
Why do we have to go to Him “outside the camp”?
Why can’t we just invite Jesus to come into our lives and leave it at that?
No. The writer talks about us going out to Him…to that place of rejection.
In fact the writer spells it out for us loud and clear.
We go to Him ‘outside the camp’ bearing the disgrace that He bore.
The paraphrase version of the Bible, The Message, by Eugene Peterson puts it like this:
We go to Him outside the camp: taking our share in the abuse of Jesus.
Think about how relevant that is for these Hebrew people who wanted to quit Christianity.
They wanted ‘out’… it was all getting too hard. And sometimes we can relate to that.
But the writer is saying: Don’t give up… instead identify with Him… with The Reject.
The world rejected Jesus Christ… and it is going to treat us just as it treated Him.
And why on earth would we balk at suffering with Messiah Jesus?
He suffered rejection for ME… He went out to the garbage dump for ME?
He literally went through Hell for me.
So why would I then not go to Him outside the camp…
…identify with Him …and be prepared to cop the abuse that He copped?
- There’s just one other very practical implication from all this in our text.
Outside the camp was also the place associated with purification.
The ashes of the Red Heifer for purification were kept outside the camp.
Rahab, the Jericho Harlot and her family were kept outside the camp.
After their purification they became part of God’s people.
And Rahab even came to have a place in the Family Tree of Jesus.
So too Jesus does not only become The Reject on Good Friday to atone for human sin.
Hebrews 13 also talks about Jesus making the people holy through His blood.
We who trust in the saving work of Jesus are a HOLY people.
The Bible calls us SAINTS. That’s what you are if you go to Jesus outside the camp.
If you identify with Jesus The Reject… you are a saint. Holiness is now a reality.
Would you like to know what that holiness looks like?
I can show you;
because this chapter of Hebrews spells it out in some detail.
The purpose of the writer in this chapter is to spell out the practicalities of Christian living.
I could easily spend another half hour preaching about those practical expressions of holiness.
If you’ve still got your Bible open – just look at them.
Vs. 15 – it includes worship – the fruit of lips that confess His name.
Vs. 16 – holiness does not forget to do good and to share with others.
Vs. 17 – it has proper respect for leaders and those in authority.
Vs. 18 – it includes prayer and intercession for others.
And all those holy things become possible because of Good Friday.
Don’t give up on Jesus… don’t give up on Christianity.
It’s Good Friday… Jesus faced rejection so that you and I might find acceptance.
It’s Good Friday… Jesus went out to God’s garbage dump to make us holy
Hallelujah! What a Saviour!