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I'll be here, won't you?

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Would you take your Bible now please and turn with me to Revelation chapter 1.

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We're looking together at this subject of the names of believers, that is those titles

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or names given to us in the New Testament.

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And this evening we look at this interesting title found in verse 6 of Revelation 1, that

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we are priests unto God.

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It says, and He has made us to be a kingdom, priest to His God and Father.

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To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever.

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Amen.

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When we see this name, priest, the word immediately creates certain mental images.

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We think of a select group, for example, within a church.

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When we hear the word priest, we think of cloistered halls, of secrecy, of ritual, of

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a particular color style perhaps, or of black suits, maybe colorful vestments.

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And yet all of those mental images are out of step with the New Testament concept of

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what a priest is.

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A priest is one who is involved with the worship of God.

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I believe it can be correctly said that the Christian life is a life of worship.

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Worship being defined as giving God the honor to do Him because of who He is and what He

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has done.

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The priesthood of the believer, that is our worship of God, should be extended to every

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realm of life, including on the one hand our daily routine.

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For in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 31, the apostle says, whatever you do, whatever

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you drink, whatever you eat, do it all for the glory of God.

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Whatever is a part of your daily routine, let that be an act of worship because for

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us there is not that which is sacred and then that which is secular, but everything about

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our lives is sacred because we have been set apart as priests unto God.

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So every part of our daily routine is to be an act of worship.

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But then in 1 Peter 4 11, he says more specifically that in the use of our spiritual gifts, we

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are to worship God.

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He says, whoever speaks, let him speak as it were the utterances of God.

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Whoever serves, let him do so as by the strength which God supplies.

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Now why should he do this?

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Why should each one who has received a special gift employ it in serving one another as good

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stewards, the manifold grace of God?

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Well he says, so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.

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Why are we to exercise our spiritual gifts to one another?

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So that God may be glorified, so that in our doing that we will worship God and give him

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the honor and the glory that is due him.

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We should remember that in the old time, under the old covenant, that was Israel's purpose.

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May I take you back to the book of Exodus for a moment, to chapter 19.

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We come here to that fearful scene at Mount Sinai as God spoke to his people and to their

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leader Moses.

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In chapter 19 of Exodus in verse 5, this is what the Lord says to his people, now then,

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if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, then you shall be my own possession

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among all the peoples, for all the earth is mine.

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And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

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These are the words that you shall speak, says God, to the sons of Israel.

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He says, you shall be to me a kingdom of priests.

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You will notice that's very similar wording to what we read about ourselves in Revelation

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1 verse 6.

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Israel's purpose was that as a nation they were to be priests worshipping God on behalf

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of the entire world and it would seem that to some degree in the millennial kingdom to

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come that will be the role of the Jewish people, those who have been saved.

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They will enter into the kingdom to serve as priests.

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Now there will be certain ones who will act in bringing the sacrifices to that millennial

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temple, which by the way I see as being literal, that is a literal temple and literal sacrifices.

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They will be offered in remembrance of the great sacrifice offered by Jesus Christ much

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as we observe the Lord's table together now.

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Those animals that will be brought in sacrifice then will be in remembrance of his sacrifice

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for our sins once and for all.

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But according to Isaiah 61 and verse 6, there will be a role for the nation of Israel acting

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as priests unto God in that time period.

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But in this period of time when the nation of Israel has been set aside and God is doing

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a new thing and calling out a people from Jews and Gentiles alike for his name, we who

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are saved are called a priesthood.

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And our priesthood is a holy priesthood.

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Keep your finger here in Exodus because we're coming back to Exodus 29 in just a minute.

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But go with me to 1 Peter chapter 2 where again we see some words about our priesthood.

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I'm thinking of 1 Peter chapter 2 and beginning with verse 4 where he says,

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And coming to him as to a living stone rejected by men, but choice and precious in the sight

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of God, he says, You also as living stones are being built up as a spiritual house for

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a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

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Now he really incorporates two pictures here.

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He says in the first place that we are a spiritual house.

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God does not dwell now in a temple in Jerusalem.

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God does not in fact dwell in this building.

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He is here when we are here and he leaves with us.

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For we are a spiritual house in which God dwells and we are like living stones being

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built.

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And I think that can well be applied to a local assembly, a local church that we as

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a local expression of the universal body of Christ are being built up and built together.

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We are living stones and each of us plays an important part in that construction of

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the house where God lives.

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But he says not only are we the temple, the house, but he says as well we are the holy

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priesthood.

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By holy he means set apart.

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Not that we are sinless.

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We know that we are not.

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Sin still dwells in us and we still do sin.

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But we are a holy priesthood in the sense that God has set us apart for this special

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purpose and therefore we want to live pure and godly lives.

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All believers are priests unto God in this age.

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You will notice that he does not speak here about a particular class of Christians.

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He does not isolate a certain group of men or of women for that matter who are to act

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as priests.

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But he says all of us are living stones and all of us are a part of this holy priesthood.

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I would like to talk tonight first about our consecration to the priesthood.

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How is it that we, all of us, are fitted to serve the Lord as priests?

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Now I want you to go back to Exodus with me to chapter 29.

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We are going to see here the establishment of the Aaronic priesthood in the days of Moses.

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This is how those priests were fitted for that service.

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We are just going to select verses for time's sake out of chapter 29 which will begin with

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verse 4.

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He says, Then you, Moses, shall bring Aaron and his sons to the doorway of the tent of

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meeting, that is the tabernacle, and wash them with water.

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And you shall take the garments, which have been described before this, and put on Aaron

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the tunic and the robe of the ephod and the breast piece, and gird him with the skillfully

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woven band of the ephod.

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And you shall set the turban on his head and put the holy crown on the turban.

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Then you shall take the anointing oil and pour it on his head and anoint him.

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And you shall bring his sons and put tunics on them.

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And you shall gird them with sashes, Aaron and his sons, and bind caps on them.

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And they shall have the priesthood by a perpetual statute.

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So you shall ordain Aaron and his sons.

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Now it seems to me that there were four steps in the consecration of these people to the

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priesthood.

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First, they had to be born into the right family.

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They didn't have a choice about that.

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Either they were born as sons of Aaron and the tribe of Levi or they weren't.

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But they had to be born, first of all, in the right family.

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Secondly, they had to be washed.

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Thirdly, they had to be properly attired in the robes of one who was a priest.

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And finally, they were anointed with oil.

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In those four steps, certain people were set apart as priests unto God, unto the Old Covenant.

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Now there are parallels that are striking, which apply to us today showing that we, in

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a similar way, are consecrated or fitted for our priesthood.

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In the first place, we have to be born into the right family.

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The family that one has to be born into in this age is the family of God.

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It is not enough to be born into a Christian home or to have a certain ancestry, but one

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has to be born again spiritually through faith in Jesus Christ.

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One has to be born into the family of God and be his child.

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Secondly, he has to be washed from defilement.

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One reading of Revelation 1-5 is that he has washed us from our sins by his blood.

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In 1 Corinthians 6-11, after talking about some of the ungodly people in the world, including

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those who were guilty of sexual sins, those who were thieves, swindlers, etc., he says,

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and such were some of you.

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But he says, you were washed.

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You were justified.

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You were sanctified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

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When you and I were saved, God bathed us, as it were.

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He washed us from our defilement so that we are then fitted to live as priests.

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In Titus 3-5, he speaks about the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy

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Spirit.

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So, we have been washed from our defilement in the eyes of God.

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Thirdly, we have to be properly attired, and our attire is righteousness.

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We are found in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, according to Philippians 3-9.

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We have laid aside self-righteousness, which comes through the works and the ritual of

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law keeping.

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We have forsaken that, realizing that we can never earn our own way, and having trusted

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Jesus Christ, we are, as it were, now robed in his righteousness.

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We are found in the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, says the Apostle

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Paul.

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So, we've been properly attired.

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And finally, we have also been anointed.

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First John 2-27 says that we have received an anointing from God, and he identifies that

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anointing as the Holy Spirit.

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Now, more particularly, in the Old Testament, the priests, when they were anointed, were

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anointed on their right ear, on their right thumb, and their right big toe.

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Those three spots were anointed by oil, indicating that whatever they were to hear, whatever

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they were to do, wherever they were to go, they were to remember that they were priests

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unto God, anointed to that special service.

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And may I say to you, my fellow Christian, that we have been anointed by God so that

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whatever we hear, whatever we do, wherever we go, we cannot escape the anointing that

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we have received of him unto our priesthood as well.

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And so, just as fully as those priests were consecrated to their priesthood, so have we

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been consecrated to our priesthood.

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And just as Aaron was the high priest of that order, so we have a high priest in our order,

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and that is Jesus Christ.

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He is the final, eternal, great, high priest after whom we serve.

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What are our privileges as priests?

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Certainly those people of the Old Covenant had certain privileges, for it was they alone

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who could enter into the area of the Tabernacle and more specifically enter into the Holy

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Place.

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You will recall, of course, that the Tabernacle, the tent of meeting, was 15 feet wide and

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45 feet long, and that two-thirds of that was called the Holy Place.

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In the outside of that tent, there was a brass altar where sacrifices were brought.

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Between that brass altar and the door leading into the tent was a laver.

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Now, we get our word lavatory from that same word.

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It was a place for washing.

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Before they could enter into that tent, they had to wash themselves.

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And then they would enter into that first compartment, and all who were priests could

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enter into that part.

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In there on the left side was a magnificent golden candle stand.

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And on the right side was a table with the loaves of showbread.

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And then up toward the curtain, which divided the larger compartment, the holiest, from

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that cubicle called the holiest or the Holy of Holies, up near that curtain was an altar

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for incense, which was offered up in worship to God.

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Inside this inner compartment was the Ark of the Covenant.

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And only the high priest was allowed by God to enter into that compartment.

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And then, but once a year on the Day of Atonement, very select, isn't it?

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And very ritualistic, all of it highly symbolic.

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Those who were set apart as priests could enter into a certain part of it, but only

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the high priest into that final compartment where the Shekinah, the glory, dwelt above

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the altar, or rather above the Ark of the Covenant.

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Now, what privileges do we have as priests?

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Well, in contrast to that priesthood, where the priest could only go so far, but then

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were separated from God, from His very presence.

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You and I are privileged by the Lord to enter into the very Holy of Holies, to what is described

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in the New Testament, the throne of grace.

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That veil has been separated.

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It has been broken, torn in two, so that no longer are we required to stay outside of

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God's very presence.

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But as priests unto God, we may come unto God Himself.

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We have free access, according to Ephesians 2.18.

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By Him we have access.

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In chapter 5, verse 1 of Romans, He says that we have access, by faith, into this grace

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in which we stand.

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Christ, our great high priest, has gone before us and opened the way so that now we may come

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into the very Holy of Holies.

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Don't ever take for granted what a privilege that is.

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We talked this morning about the fact that our privileges do not guarantee automatically

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blessing from God.

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We can't take for granted our privileges and waste them.

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And this is one we may waste.

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And what a tragedy if we do.

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If we neglect the holiest, if we fail to come to the throne of grace to obtain mercy and

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find grace to help in the time of need.

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Do you come into God's very presence daily?

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Is there a time set apart when you consciously, as a priest unto God, enter into the Holy

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of Holies, as it were, and there pray and commune with the Holy God of the universe?

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That, my friend, is your privilege.

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Please do not abuse that.

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Please do not overlook that privilege.

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But on the other hand, make use of it.

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Come before Him with thanksgiving.

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And so our privilege is that we have free access to God, but it also includes the fact

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that we will reign with Christ in His administration.

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Would you go back to 1 Peter 2, 9, just to pick up a thought with me?

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This is a little further down in the chapter that we read from a few moments ago.

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He says in verse 9 of 1 Peter 2, but you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood.

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A royal priesthood.

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Now before He said we're a holy priesthood, but now He says we are a royal priesthood.

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Now what does royalty do?

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Tell me.

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It reigns, doesn't it?

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Royalty reigns.

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That's why it's called royalty.

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He says that as a priesthood, we are royalty.

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There are a couple of thoughts connected with this found in Revelation 5, 10 for one, where

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He says, and thou hast made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God.

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Now notice the similarity here to Exodus 19 where He spoke to Israel.

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Except here He speaks to believers, those who have been saved by the blood of the slain

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lamb of God.

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And He says, thou hast made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God.

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And notice the next sentence.

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And they shall reign upon the earth.

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Now if you look at the context here, He is talking about those of us who have been saved

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in this age, the church.

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And He is saying that we are a kingdom, we are priests unto God, and we will reign upon

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the earth.

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A similar thought is found in chapter 20 verse 6.

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Jesus Christ is both prophet, priest, and what?

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And king.

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He is a priest after the order of Melchizedek.

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Melchizedek, the name, means what?

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King of what?

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Of righteousness.

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And He served as a priest under the most high God in the Old Testament.

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That Melchizedek, which is a type of Jesus Christ.

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So Jesus Christ is a priest, but He is also a king.

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And beloved, we are priests unto God, but we will serve somehow and some way in the

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administration of the kingdom of our King, the Lord Jesus Christ, when He reigns on the

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earth.

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We are going to come back to the earth during that thousand year millennial reign of Christ

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and serve with Him in His governing of the nations.

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That's your privilege because you are a royal priesthood unto God.

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We must go on to talk just briefly now about the sacrifices.

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One sacrifice is found in Romans 12.2.

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What is it?

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12.1 rather.

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Present your what?

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Your bodies, a living sacrifice.

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The Lord Jesus Christ was not only the sacrifice, but He was the priest as well who offered

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up His blood.

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You and I are also both sacrifice and priests.

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We do not sacrifice ourselves in death for sin as Jesus did.

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That was a price He alone could pay.

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But we sacrifice our bodies in life as priests.

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We offer up our bodies as living sacrifices to God.

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How does that apply?

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Well, it means that when God wants to deliver a message to somebody, this is the tongue

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He is going to use.

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When He has a word of encouragement or of rebuke, this may be the tongue He will use.

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When He has some encouraging deed He wants to perform, these are the hands that He wants

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to be made available to Him.

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When I offer my body to Jesus Christ, it means I am saying, Lord, use me in all of my capacities

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in what I can do, what I can say, what I can create.

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In any way I can serve, I am a living sacrifice, use me.

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Are you offering up your body daily to the Lord?

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Or are you offering up the members of your body to sin, to serve sin?

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We can do that, but what a tragedy.

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And how fruitless it is.

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Oh folks, how important it is that each day, if not in word, at least in spirit, we present

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our bodies to God as part of our priesthood.

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That body is a living sacrifice to God.

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We are saying, God, this body is your body, live in it.

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Express your life through it.

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Express your holiness in my body.

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I present it to you as a living sacrifice.

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But then in Hebrews chapter 13 we have some concentrated words about sacrifices.

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We looked at these a year ago this very month.

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Let's just review them.

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One sacrifice is our bodies as living sacrifices to the Lord.

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In Hebrews chapter 13 and in verse 15 he says, through Jesus Christ then let us continually

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offer up a sacrifice of praise to God that is the fruit of lips that give thanks to his

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name.

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There is no place for murmuring and complaining amongst us who are Christians.

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There's not a place for a griping word.

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When I gripe, I'm in the flesh.

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When I complain, that is not a sacrifice unto God.

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It is a fulfillment of self.

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I am to offer unto God words of thanks.

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I am to offer up the sacrifice of praise.

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I'm to put my lips to work saying, Lord, thank you.

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Are you thankful?

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Do you tell the Lord you're grateful?

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That is a sacrifice that you're to offer as a priest unto God.

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In verse 16 he says, and do not neglect doing good.

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Here we have our service for the Lord.

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In Philippians 2, 17 the apostle pictures himself in his service as an offering being

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poured out on behalf of the Philippians.

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What a graphic picture that is.

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He says, I am like a sacrifice in my service for you.

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What I do in your behalf is an offering being poured out before God for his praise and his

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glory, your service for the Lord.

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What you do for him, that becomes a sacrifice that you offer as a priest unto God.

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Do you have that attitude about it?

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Or is it something you do to have to get done?

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You've committed yourself to it and I guess you're going to have to do it no matter what

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or what will people think.

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What funny attitudes we sometimes get about serving Jesus Christ.

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And then he says, do not neglect doing good and sharing.

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And here he has in mind a financial sharing, our giving.

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Again in Philippians chapter 4 this time, the apostle makes a reference and I need to

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read that.

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He says, but I have received everything in full and have an abundance.

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I am amply supplied having received from Epaphroditus what you have sent, a fragrant aroma, an acceptable

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sacrifice, well pleasing to God.

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You see what he's saying there?

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He's saying you Philippians in sending that gift, in sending that missionary support,

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you have actually offered unto God a sacrifice which produces an aroma like incense which

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comes up before God and pleases him well.

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Do you look at your giving that way?

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Your giving for the Lord?

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Let us never begrudge what we give to Christ.

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If we do, what we give is meaningless anyway.

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But rather as we give, let it be with a willing heart and with a joyful heart that we have

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the privilege of giving to God.

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And then let us realize that when we do that, we are offering up a sacrifice that causes

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God to be well pleased.

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It's a sweet aroma to him.

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Remember in our stewardship campaign as we talked about the various aspects of our stewardship,

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one of our key phrases was not equal gifts but equal sacrifice.

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You see it's that which pleases God.

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When it is a sacrifice to us, when it is something that costs us, when it is taking from perhaps

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what I want and saying, Lord, nonetheless I'm giving this to you, then that becomes

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to God an acceptable offering and is a sweet aroma to him.

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Let me close with just two applications.

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Number one, as priests unto God, we need to be regularly cleansed for service.

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Do you remember this brass laver that I mentioned that stood between the brass altar and the

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entrance into the tabernacle?

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That brass laver of water became a place where the priests would wash themselves before they

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entered into the tabernacle so that they would be free from any defilement.

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That is a picture, beloved, of our being cleansed from the defilement of our daily lives.

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The cleansing, the offering for our sins was offered once for all and pictured in this

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brass altar where the blood of God's Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ, was shed for us.

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That offering never needs be repeated, but as we come into the presence of God as priests

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and do our service, we need to daily cleanse ourselves.

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That is pictured, by the way, in John chapter 13 when Jesus was washing the feet of the

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disciples.

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Remember, Peter said, Lord, you're not going to wash my feet.

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And Jesus said, if I don't wash you, Peter, you don't have any part with me.

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He used a word there which meant if I don't bathe you.

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And the import of that is that we have no part in him unless we have been bathed or

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completely washed from our sin through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

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That is our salvation experience.

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But then Jesus went on to tell Peter that he needed to be washed, not bathed, but washed,

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have his feet washed.

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And Peter said, Lord, wash me.

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Just wash me.

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And you see, while we have received once and for all that cleansing from the stain of our

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sin, you and I still do commit sins, don't we?

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And our fellowship with God is interrupted by that.

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And we need to be washed at this brass labor.

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We need, in other words, to come before God in confession.

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The moment we are aware of any defilement of thought or of action, we need to come before

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God right then as priests unto God and wash ourselves by confessing our sin to God, acknowledging

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it, admitting it, owning up to it before Him so that He can cleanse us faithfully and justly

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as He's promised to do, 1 John 1.9.

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And so that application is be careful to be regularly cleansed for your service as a priest.

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Because finally, I want to warn you against presumptuous service.

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I realize we're a little over time.

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I'm going to take about two minutes and we'll finish.

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But Leviticus chapter 10 is my thought here.

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I hope that was not hyperbole when I said two minutes.

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Leviticus 10 verses 1 and 2, now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective

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fire pans.

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Are you all there?

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Leviticus, did I say something wrong?

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Did I say Leviticus?

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Okay, I hear some still turning yet.

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Leviticus 10 verses 1 and 2, now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective

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fire pans and after putting fire in them placed incense on it and offered strange fire before

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the Lord, which He had not commanded them.

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And fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them.

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And they died before the Lord.

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And Moses said to Aaron, it is what the Lord spoke saying, by those who come near me, I

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will be treated as holy.

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And before all the people I will be honored.

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So Aaron therefore kept silent.

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Number one and number two sons had just died.

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And Aaron was not to grieve because they had transgressed presumptuously in their service

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for the Lord.

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Now you put it all together here with some other texts and here's apparently what happened.

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Just before this fire had come down from heaven and started on that brass altar.

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And they and their service in the tabernacle and offering up incense were to take fire

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from that altar, fire which had come from heaven and to go in and offer it before God

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in burning their incense.

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But instead these two men got fire somewhere else, not from that altar.

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Furthermore there is a suggestion because of what is said later here in this text that

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the two men had been drinking.

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And that carelessly in their drunkenness they took this strange fire into the holy of holies

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where they were never to go in that order.

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And having transgressed and gone with strange fire into the very presence of the holy God

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where the Shekinah was, God struck them dead immediately because they transgressed.

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Now beloved there is a lesson there for you and for me.

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We dare not be presumptuous in our service of a holy God.

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When God was initiating that age with Israel, He evidenced His holiness by the killing of

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these two men as a reminder to beware that He is a holy God.

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When God was instituting the new age after Pentecost, there were two other people who

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died, Ananias and Sapphira, who were careless and untruthful in their service for God and

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being presumptuous thinking that they could fool God and pretend to be something that

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they weren't.

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God struck them dead as an example to us in this age that He is a holy God.

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So let us not think that we can be careless and fool around with sin and like those two

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men defile ourselves with intoxicants and think that somehow we are going to please

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God.

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Let us not think that we can treat God as common and that this priesthood that we have

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is anything less than a holy priesthood for God is holy and He says, be ye holy in all

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manner of conduct.

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And Peter goes on to say, so if we call on the Father who judges every man according

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to His work, let us conduct ourselves in this pilgrimage with fear, realizing the holiness

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of the God that we serve and that we call our Father.

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Let's pray.

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I don't know where you are tonight, but God knows.

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And likely you know where you are in your walk with Him.

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And like those two careless men, you may be presumptuous and thoughtless and careless

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as a Christian.

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I am not in a position to say to you, God is going to strike you dead.

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He may.

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He warns us of that.

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There is a sin unto death which applies to a Christian.

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It's physical death.

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But I am in a position to warn you that careless living receives His chastisement and His judgment.

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How much more for our good is it that we judge ourselves and confess our sins, that we be

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not judged with the world?

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If you need to do business with God as a priest, because you are a priest unto God, will you

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do that tonight?

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Father, I pray that every one of us will understand the solemn and holy purpose you have for us

460
00:41:11,840 --> 00:41:13,960
in our priesthood.

461
00:41:13,960 --> 00:41:29,820
May we see it as the important duty and privilege that it is and keep our lives in check and

462
00:41:29,820 --> 00:41:41,640
offer up faithfully the sacrifices that you have commanded of us as priests in this age.

463
00:41:41,640 --> 00:41:51,440
Wherein we may be short tonight, wherein we may be less than we know we ought to be, and

464
00:41:51,440 --> 00:42:00,640
we are living unfaithfully, at that point bring conviction and give us hearts of repentance

465
00:42:00,640 --> 00:42:03,900
and confession.

466
00:42:03,900 --> 00:42:10,440
Thank you for this blessed and glorious privilege that is ours in Jesus' name.

467
00:42:10,440 --> 00:42:12,040
Amen.