Well, good evening, everyone. If you would open your Bibles with me to Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10. We begin our reading in verse 14. And as you're turning, let me, a couple of announcements probably goes without saying, but there will be no service here next Wednesday, Christmas Eve. So everyone can enjoy time with your families. We have our men's lunch tomorrow at noon. Hope y'all can come. And Moose Park's surgery to remove his thyroid went very, very well. They took it in two lymph nodes, and they think there's no more cancer, so he'll need no more further treatment. He did try out his voice today, and he said his voice sounds a little different because they had to cut the nerve leading to his vocal cords. But after kind of trying that out, he's not supposed to talk for seven days. But that won't be the hardest part of his recovery. He will not be allowed to enjoy a cigar until Sandy tells him he can. So who knows how long that will be? He's worried. But he promises he'll be good. But it sounds like the initial surgery went well, and he's home and resting tonight. So we're thankful for that.

Hebrews chapter 10, we'll begin our reading in verse 14. For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us. For after that he had said before, this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my laws into their hearts and in their minds while I write them and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say his flesh, and having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for he is faithful that promised. And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another. And so much the more, as you see the day approaching." And we'll end our reading there.

All right, Sean. If you would, turn in your hymnals to song number 93, Hark the Herald Angels Sing. 93.

Hark the herald angels sing, glory to the newborn King. Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled. Joyful, all ye nations, rise, Join the triumph of the skies, With angelic hosts proclaim, Christ is born in Bethlehem. Hark the herald angels sing, glory to the new born king. ? The newborn King ? ? Christ by highest heaven adored ? ? Christ the everlasting Lord ? ? Late in time behold him come ? ? Offspring of a virgin's womb ? Veiled in flesh, the Godhead see, Hail the incarnate Deity! Pleased as man with men to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel.

Hark the herald angels sing, glory to the newborn king hail the heaven-born prince of peace hail the son of righteousness Light and life to all He brings, risen with healing in His wings. Mild He lays His glory by, born that man no more may die. Born to raise the sons of earth. Born to give them second birth.

Hark the herald angels sing, glory to the newborn King. Come, desire of nations, come fix in us thy humble home. Rise the woman's conquering seed, bruising us the serpent's head. Adam's likeness now efface. Stamp thine image in its place. Second Adam from above. Reinstate us in thy love. Hark the herald angels sing. Glory to the newborn king.

Okay, if you would now turn to song number 340. We'll sing Nearer Still Nearer.

340. Nearer, still nearer, close to thy heart.
Draw me, my Savior, so precious thou art.
Fold me, oh, fold me. close to thy breast.

Shelter me safe in that haven of rest. Shelter me safe in that haven of rest.

Nearer, still nearer Nothing I bring, naught as an offering to Jesus my King.
Only my sinful, now contrite heart

Grant me the cleansing thy blood doth impart. Grant me the cleansing thy blood doth impart.

Nearer, still nearer, Lord, to be Thine.
Sin with its follies I gladly resign.
All of its pleasures, pomp and its pride,
Give me but Jesus, my Lord crucified.
Give me by Jesus, my Lord, crucified.

Nearer, oh, sorry. Oh, nearer, while life shall last.
Till safe in glory my anchor is cast
Through endless ages ever to be
Nearer, my Savior, still nearer to me.
Nearer, my Savior, still nearer to thee.

All right, let's open our Bibles now, if you would, to Exodus chapter 29. Exodus 29, we'll read the first nine verses.

And this is the thing that thou shalt do unto them to hollow them, to minister unto me in the priest's office. Take one young bullock and two rams without blemish, and unleavened bread, and cakes unleavened, tempered with oil, and wafers unleavened, anointed with oil, of wheat and flour shalt thou make them. And thou shalt put them into one basket, and bring them in the basket with the bullock and the two rams. And Aaron and his sons thou shalt bring unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and shalt wash them with water. And thou shalt take the garments, and put upon Aaron the coat, and the robe of the ephod, and the ephod and the breastplate, and gird him with the curious girdle of the ephod. And thou shalt put the mitre upon his head, and put the holy crown upon the mitre. And thou shalt take the anointing oil, and pour it upon his head, and anoint him. And thou shalt bring his sons, and put coats upon them, and thou shalt gird them with girdles. Aaron and his sons, and put bonnets on them, and the priest's office shall be theirs, for a perpetual statute and thou shalt consecrate Aaron and his sons."

Thank God for his word. Let's bow before our Lord together.

Our Father, how grateful and thankful we are. How can we begin to thank you, Father, for all of your blessings to your people that flow to us through our Lord Jesus Christ? How we thank you for his obedience, which is our only claim to righteousness. We thank you for his precious blood. It's the only plea that we have, the forgiveness of our sin. We thank you, Father, for your electing love, that you chose a people unto salvation. For we freely admit we never would have chosen thee unless you chose us first. We never would have loved you unless you first set your love upon us and drew us to your son with your everlasting love.

Father, we thank you for your mercy and your grace. We thank you for your keeping power. We thank you for your patience with sinners, your pity to us that you remember that we are but dust. Father, we thank you. We thank you that you've given us this opportunity to meet together, to open your word and to have Christ preached to us. And Father, I pray that you would enable us by faith to see the Lord Jesus Christ, that you would thrill each heart here with one more view of Christ our Savior. Let us leave here rejoicing and having such confidence in our Lord Jesus Christ, and let us leave thankful. Father, make us a grateful and a thankful people. Oh, how you've blessed us. It's beyond measure.

Father, I pray you'd bless us as we look into your word. Don't leave us to ourselves. Father, don't leave me to myself in this hour. Enable me to, by the power of your spirit, rightly divide the word of truth, to preach Christ, and to get out of the way. And don't let your people just hear the words of a man, but Father, speak to our hearts by your spirit, we pray.

Father, we thank you for this place, we thank you for a family of believers that you've brought together. Father, I pray you'd bless us for many, many more years to come, that you keep your gospel here, that you would enable us to show our love one to another, to encourage and be a help one to another. Father, we lay out our hearts before you, ask that you would bless us in the future as you have in the past. All these things, Father, we ask and we give thanks in that name which is above every name, the name of Christ our Savior. Amen.

Now I've titled the message tonight, A People Consecrated to Christ. Last week I talked about Christ being consecrated to save a people. Now this week I'm going to use the same text and show a people who are consecrated to Christ.

Now, Probably when we think about a believer who's consecrated to Christ, the first thing that comes to our mind is some sort of super Christian. They're more fanatical, they're more dedicated, they live on a higher spiritual plane than I do. And that's not true at all. Every believer is consecrated to Christ. And it's not by anything that we've done. It's not by the strength of our faith or our fervor in religion. We're consecrated to Christ by what Christ has done for us and in us. And if Christ, the son of God, is the one who consecrated us to him, I'd say we're consecrated, wouldn't you? We're secure in him.

Now let me remind you what I told you last week, this word hollow in verse one. He said, this is the thing that thou shalt do unto them, to hollow them, to minister unto me. That word means to dedicate. It means to set apart. When the father elected a people into salvation, he dedicated those people to himself. He set those people apart to himself, to be in his son. Those people, they're dedicated. They're set apart from all of Adam's race to be saved from all of their sin by the son of God. To be made righteous by his obedience, to be forgiven by the shedding of his blood, to be cleansed from all of their sin by being washed in the blood and the water that flowed from his side.

They're consecrated to Christ by the father so that the son is everything to them. He's everything in all of their salvation. In verse nine, the word consecrate at the end of the verse, thou shalt consecrate Aaron and his sons. That word means to fulfill or to accomplish or to complete. When the father elected a people to save, he elected, or he dedicated a savior to save them. He gave his people to his son, and in the fullness of time, the Lord Jesus Christ came, and he fully saved every last one of those people from all of their sin. And when God's ready to wrap this creation up, all of those people that the father chose in election before time began are all gonna be brought to the father. The son's gonna bring them to the father and say, father, you gave them to me. Here they all are. I redeemed every last one of them and not one of them will be missing. And you know why? Because they already belong to God. They belong to God from all of eternity.

Now, do you think he's gonna let anything happen over the course of human time to stop those people from being brought to him? Of course not. See, if God has consecrated us, Set us apart to be His, we'll be His, and we'll be with Him where He is.

Now this ceremony to consecrate the priest, I took this last week to show Christ being consecrated, how it is He saves His people from their sin. But this is also a picture of a people being consecrated to Christ, by Christ, by what He has done for them and in them.

Now look back a page or two at Exodus chapter 28, Here's the first thing. All of God's people are consecrated to Christ by divine election. Chapter 28, verse 1. And take thou unto the Aaron thy brother and his sons with him from among the children of Israel that he may minister unto me in the priest's office, even Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar, Aaron's sons.

Now God's the one who chose Aaron and his sons to be the high priest. He chose them from among Israel. That's the same way the father chose a people to save. Before he created anything, the father elected a people. He chose a people out of Adam's fallen race, and he chose them unto salvation.

Now he chose some. He didn't choose all of Adam's race. He's not going to send his son to die for all of Adam's race. He chose some out of Adam's fallen race, and he passed others by. The preeminent examples I could think of in scripture are Jacob and Esau. Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated. He chose one, he passed the other by, didn't he?

The other example I can think of is Moses and Pharaoh. God raised up Moses so he could show his glory in redeeming his people and delivering them from Egypt. And he chose Pharaoh to raise him up, that he glorify his justice in destroying him. He chose Moses, pass Pharaoh by. And you know what? That's God's crown rights to do with his own as he pleases, because he's God. He has the crown rights to do that.

Right from the very beginning, before anything was ever created, we see this. Salvation is by the will of God. It's all by the will of God and it's not in any way by the will of man. If you have any will and any desire to be saved on God's terms by the Lord Jesus Christ, by Him doing it all for you, by you taking your place before God as a guilty, dirty, filthy sinner and begging God for mercy for Christ's sake, if you have any desire for that at all, you know why you have that desire? God Almighty put it in you. It was his will first and he put it in you so that your will matches his will. That's exactly why.

So salvation began with the father. Now this is the almighty, the king, the God of heaven and earth. He dedicated a people unto himself. He chose a people to be saved by his son so that his son would be glorified when he saved them. There's no other way they could be saved. The son's got to do it all for them.

Now, here's my question. If the father chose you, he dedicated you and set you apart to be his, is he going to lose you? Can anything happen to override the will of God? Of course not. And if the father chose you and he made his glory depend on your salvation, is he gonna fail to save you? Not one bit. Then you're consecrated, aren't you? You're consecrated by an act of God.

Now second, look back in our text, chapter 29, every believer is consecrated by the sacrifice of Christ. He says in verse one, and this is the thing thou shalt do unto them, to hollow them. so that they're able to minister unto me in the priest's office, take one young bullock and two rams without blemish."

Now, rams and bullocks were used for all different kinds of sacrifices in the Old Testament. But when I think of a ram, rams were used for all different kinds of sacrifices now, but the thing that immediately comes to my mind is that ram is a substitute. Abraham took that ram, caught in the thicket behind him, caught by his horns, and took him and offered him up in the stead of his son Isaac. That ram is a substitute. That's what Christ is for his people. He's our substitute.

And the bullock, the bullock is a strong animal. They used them to be able to do the hard work of plowing and pulling wagons and doing the work that they needed to do. And that bullock just has the personality to just keep patiently plugging along, patiently plugging along, doing all the work that needs to be done. That's Christ our Savior. How patiently he endured the heavy, heavy, heavy burden in order to save his people from their sins.

And verse 10 gives us a hint of how he's gonna do that. And thou shalt cause a bullock to be brought before the tabernacle of the congregation, And Aaron and his sons shall put their hands upon the head of the bullock, and thou shalt kill the bullock before the Lord by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

Now look down at verse 15. And thou shalt also take one ram, and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands upon the head of the ram, and thou shalt slay the ram, and shalt take his blood and sprinkle it round about upon the altar.

Now that's a picture of Christ our Lord Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of this bullet and on the head of that ram, symbolically transferring their sins and the sins of the people to that animal. And then that animal was killed for those sins. He had to die for those sins. And that's just exactly what the Son of God did for sinners like you and me.

This is the most amazing story that's ever been told. I guess I say this all the time. I never want us to talk about the blood, to talk about the sacrifice of Christ, to talk about his great love for his people that moved him to be sacrificed, to make his soul an offering to God for the sins of his people, that we talk about that so often that every single time those words escape our lips, our hearts ought to skip a beat and we ought to find it hard to breathe. I mean, this is the most glorious, wonderful story that's ever been told.

The sin of God's elect was not symbolically, but literally transferred from a sinful people to the Son of God, to the Holy Son of God, so that their sin became his sin. Now, he didn't commit it. That's foolishness. But their sin became his sin. The Father made it so, and then he, He had to die. When sin was found even on the Son of God, the Father put him to death as a sacrifice to pay for the sin of all of his people.

So the Father chose the people. He elected them unto salvation, made them his. Christ purchased those people. He redeemed them. He purchased them with his precious blood. That means we're twice consecrated. If you can say that we twice belong to God, we do. All of God's people do.

Now, I got the same question I asked you earlier. If you're twice consecrated to God by the Father's election and the Son's sacrifice, can you ever be lost? Is there any way any of God's people could be saved today and lost tomorrow? No. We're consecrated to God. And you start to see the pattern here. It's because of what God did for us, isn't it?

Now, the third thing, every believer is consecrated to Christ. by believing Him. Look at verse two in our text. An unleavened bread and cakes unleavened, tempered with oil, and wafers unleavened, anointed with oil, of wheat and flour shalt thou make them, and thou shalt put them into one basket, and bring them in the basket with the bullock and the two rams.

Now this unleavened bread, these cakes unleavened, tempered with oil, bread is meant to be eaten. It's meant to be eaten. It's not meant to be looked at. It's not meant to be a decoration. It's meant to be eaten, isn't it? And this matter of eating, eating this bread, eating the bread of life, it's a picture of believing Christ.

Let me show you that in John chapter six. John chapter six. Let's look first at verse 40. And this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life, and I'll raise him up at the last day.

Now look over at verse 47. Fairly, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life. Now the subject that the Savior's talking about here is faith. It's believing on him. That's the subject, isn't it? Okay, verse 48. I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven that a man may eat thereof and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.

The Jews therefore strove among themselves saying, how can this man give us his flesh to eat. Then Jesus said unto them, verily, verily, I say unto you, except you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life. And I'll raise him up at the last day.

Now the Lord is not talking about cannibalism here. I mean, that's what those Jews thought. Are we going to eat his body? Are we going to drink his blood? That's gross. The Lord's not talking about cannibalism at all. The subject is believing Christ. It's union with Christ, and he's using an example of something we all understand, eating bread. You eat bread to sustain your life. When you eat bread, it becomes part of you. The Lord's just using an example of eating, just something so simple as eating bread. And it's a picture of believing Christ. And if we believe Christ, we have union with Christ. We're one with him.

Verse 55, for my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me, and I in him. As a living father has sent me, and I live by the father, so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Not as your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and are dead. He that eateth of this bread shall live forever. Now if you believe Christ, and the example is eating, if you believe Christ, you're one with him. You're one with him just as much as the bread that you ate for dinner will soon be part of your body. It'll be converted to flesh and blood and cells and organisms in your body. The same way that the food that we eat becomes one with us, If we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, we're one with Him, one with the Son of God.

Now that's a statement. I mean, that's a statement. Me? I know myself. Me? One with Christ? One with the Son of God, the one that God sent to save me? Yes. I couldn't believe it except the Savior said it. Yes, one with Christ. And every believer is one with Christ. So that when the Father sees us, you know what he sees? Christ. He sees one person. He sees Christ. He doesn't see me in Christ. Then he'd be seeing two people, wouldn't he? No, we're one. He sees Christ. When the father looks at every believer, all he sees is his son.

Now that's being dedicated to Christ. That's being hollowed and dedicated to Christ. And this is what every believer believes. They put this bread back in our text, all in one basket. That's a picture that salvation is all in Christ alone. And I don't care where you find them, every believer is consecrated to Christ, to Christ, so that they have one object of faith. They don't believe Christ plus something else. That's not being consecrated to Christ. If you know somebody that says, well, I believe Christ, but I gotta do my part, that's not being consecrated to Christ. The person who has one object of faith, and it's Christ alone. That person is consecrated to Christ, and that describes every believer.

You know, we talk about the simplicity of the gospel. It doesn't just mean that the gospel is simple to understand, although it is, isn't it? The gospel is very simple to understand. It means the singleness of the gospel, that the subject of the gospel is Christ alone. That's the only subject And that's the subject that every believer feeds on. There's consecrated to Christ so that they feed on him alone.

Then fourthly, we're consecrated to Christ when we're washed. Verse four in our text says, and Aaron and his sons, thou shalt bring unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation and thou shalt wash them with water. Now this is important to know. It's Moses who washed Aaron and his sons. Aaron and his sons didn't come to the labor and wash themselves. Moses washed them. He said, thou shalt wash them. And when they were washed with this ceremonial washing, then they were consecrated to the office of priests. Well, the Holy Spirit takes the elect of God, all those for whom Christ died, and he washes them. He washes them in the blood, in the water that flowed from the side of our Savior. And when he washes us, it's not a ceremonial washing, where just the outside is washed, but the inside is left filthy. He washes us through and through into blood and the water, the double cure, blood that justifies, water that sanctifies, water to make us sinless, or blood to make us sinless, or blood to pay for our sin, water to make us sinless. so that we don't ever sin again. We don't ever mess it up again.

And after they were washed, then the priests were anointed with oil. Verse seven, and thou shalt take the anointing oil and pour it upon his head and anoint him. Now, when you put this washing with water and the anointing oil together, you know what you have? You have a picture of the Holy Spirit birthing all of God's people again in a new birth. Let me show you that in Titus chapter three. Titus chapter 3, verse 4.

But after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done. See, we didn't wash ourselves, did we? We didn't do these works of righteousness and wash ourselves. It's not by works of righteousness which we've done. but according to his mercy, he saved us. Isn't that the summation of the whole gospel? He saved us. Period. He did it all by himself. He did it with no help from us. He saved us.

By Now, he did it with means. According to his mercy, he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. Whenever God saves someone, they've been washed. They're regenerated. They're born again by God the Holy Spirit. They're born again with a new nature. That's the nature that believes God. That's the nature that trusts Christ. That's the nature that cannot sin. And that's the nature. when this flesh dies, will go straight into the presence of God because he's already accepted. He's already perfect. He doesn't need to go through any change. That nature that's born of God goes straight into the presence of God the moment this flesh dies.

Now let me show you something very interesting. First Corinthians chapter three. First Corinthians chapter three. You know, how important is this matter of the new birth? How important is this matter of a believer having two natures, the nature of the flesh, the nature of the spirit? How important is it that the spirit dwell in our hearts? Well, I'll tell you this, there's no salvation without it. There's no awaking in God's presence of the likeness of Christ without it.

1 Corinthians 3, verse 16. Know ye not? that ye are the temple of God. And here's why you're the temple of God. The spirit of God dwelleth in you. Now, if any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy, for the temple of God is holy, which temple you are. Now, if almighty God has made you to be the temple of God, because his spirit dwells in your heart, that you take him everywhere you go. You're consecrated to God, aren't you?

Now look over Romans chapter eight. I'll show you again now how important this matter is. Romans chapter eight, verse eight. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. If I just got one nature, the nature of the flesh, I don't care how much I've educated it, how much I've washed it with water, how much I've perfumed it and ribbons in the hair. If you're in the flesh, you cannot please God, but you're not in the flesh, but in the spirit. If so be that the spirit of God dwell in you. Now, if any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his. But if the spirit of Christ dwells in you, you belong to God. You belong to Christ, and he's never gonna let you go.

Now I wanna show you something else that is so precious. Look at Psalm 133. Those of you who have been around long enough to remember Brother John Flamming, heard Brother John quote this psalm more than once. When a believer is anointed with the oil of the Holy Spirit, that the Spirit dwells in us, We're consecrated to Christ, but you know, that also makes us useful to each other and to smell good one to another. It sure does,

Psalm 133. Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. It's like the precious ointment upon the head that ran down the beard, even Aaron's beard that went down to the skirts of his garments as the dew of Hermon as a dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion, for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life forevermore.

This ointment that they poured on Aaron's head to anoint him, it smelled good. It wasn't just Crisco oil, you know. I mean, this, it smelled good. When the Holy Spirit of God anoints us and causes us to be born again and he dwells in us, that makes us useful. and pleasant one to another. Isn't that something? That was just a blessing to me. I hope that comes across and blesses you like it did me.

Here's the last thing. A believer is consecrated to Christ when we're dressed like Christ. Earlier in this chapter, Exodus 29, verse 5 and 6, it talked about taking all these high priestly garments the miter and the golden crown is that golden plate that said holdings to the Lord and the ephod and the curious girdle of the ephod and the breastplate. Those were all particular to the high priest. Only the high priest wore those garments.

But look now at verse eight. And thou shalt bring his sons, and ye shall put coats on them. And thou shalt gird them with girdles, Aaron and his sons, and put the bonnets on them, and the priest's office shall be theirs for a perpetual statute, and thou shalt consecrate Aaron and his sons. Now, Aaron was consecrated to be the high priest, but his sons were also consecrated to be priests, and they were dressed just like their daddy.

Now, they didn't wear the breastplate, they didn't wear the ephod, they didn't wear the bells on the hem of their garments and the gold of mitre that said holiest to the Lord, but they had that same white shirt. in pants. They had that white girdle. They had a white bonnet, which is a turban, but it didn't have the plate on it that said, Holiest to the Lord. But Aaron was dressed just like that too. And then he put all those other garments on top of those white garments, which are pictures of the holiness of Christ.

So Aaron's sons, they weren't as glorious as the high priest was, but they were dressed just like him, weren't they? white holiness, a picture of the holiness of Christ. And that's every believer. We're dressed just like Christ. And I remember saying that one time and a man got all over me saying, you know, you're saying you're a little God, you're saying you're as glorious as Christ. You don't have to look at me for one second to know good and well I'm not saying that. Of course there's no believer as glorious as Christ our Savior. All the glory belongs to him, all his glory.

But every believer is dressed in Christ's holiness. Not just outside, not just a holiness covering the filth of my sin, but through and through, made holy. And every believer now is consecrated to be a priest unto God. And that gives us two great advantages. that the children of Israel never had. You think about the children of Israel, how dependent were they on that high priest? He had to do everything for them. They couldn't offer a sacrifice. They couldn't go into the Holy of Holies. They couldn't go before God. They always had to have the priest to do that for them.

But now, after Christ has died, risen and ascended back to the Father, every believer is a priest, a priest unto God, and there's two great advantages. There's probably more, but I thought of these two. Every believer is a priest who offers sacrifices. Let me show you that, 1 Peter 2. Now we don't offer a blood sacrifice, do we? There's no need for that anymore. Christ has already offered that sacrifice. Where there's already been a sacrifice for sin, there's no more sacrifice needs to be made, but we still offer sacrifices.

1 Peter 2 verse 5. Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood. And here's what that priesthood does, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Now, we're to offer spiritual sacrifices. What is that? What are these spiritual sacrifices we're to offer? The writer of the Hebrews tells us. Hebrews 13, verse 15. By him, therefore, Let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name.

These are the sacrifices that we can offer. We can't offer a blood sacrifice. We can't offer a sacrifice that puts away sin, can we? But we sure can use our lips to praise God who did it for us. We can use our lips to say, thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord, to live our lives before men, before men and women who don't know Christ at all, who don't know anything about it, but to know This is a thankful man, a thankful woman. This is a person that they're not proud. They're humble. They always say everything I have, God gave me. I didn't earn it. I didn't do it. I didn't deserve it. God did it for me. God gave me.

And boy, if you want to sit down and, boy, let me tell you about the reason I have a good hope. Oh, let me praise the Savior. How he took me. How he loved me when I was unlovable. How he took my sins. away from me, put them away by the sacrifice of himself. He revealed himself to me by the preaching of his word. He uses his word. And when I when I hear that word preached now, I see Christ just as clearly as if he was right here. I believe him. I love him. I wouldn't have salvation any other way. I love to be saved by Christ alone, without any help from me, without any input from me whatsoever. I love it. That's praising his name.

Oh, let me pray. Let me thank him. I mean, what do you have that you earned? Huh? Not one blessed thing. God's blessed us. He's blessed his people with everything he has. Every spiritual blessing that he has for a sinner, he's given to his people through his son. Everything. He's not withheld anything. He's not holding anything back.

Our girls were in for a couple days, and I was, I mean, kind of serious, kind of joking, telling them about all the things that they're going to inherit from me and Janet, you know, when we die. And, buddy, let me tell you, if it's anything of any value, it's going to be sentimental value, you know. I was kind of joking with them. But those things, they ain't going to get until I die. God's not holding anything back. He's given it to you all now. All of it. And on top of that, is there a person here tonight that didn't ride here in a comfortable car? Is there a person here tonight that came here hungry tonight? And if you are, is there food to eat at home? When you go home, it's kind of warm tonight, but if it gets a little cool, your furnace is going to kick on and keep you warm. Huh? You're healthy enough to be here tonight. God's given us jobs. He's given us friends and family. Now what do you lack? Thank you, Lord. And if anybody here ever is hungry, you tell me. You won't be when you go home. We'll take care of you. I promise you that. I promise you we will. Thank you, Lord. And if the Lord would give us the opportunity to help somebody, When you say thank you, Lord, it's not look what I did. It's thank you, Lord, for giving me a chance to give me this opportunity to help somebody. Thank you, Lord. Oh, it's the fruit of our lips.

And here's the second great blessing every believer has. You're a priest unto God. You know what that means? You have access to God. All the children of Israel did not have access to God in that Holy of Holies. Just the high priest, not even his sons, just the high priest, one man, the whole nation, and that just one day a year. When he took the blood in and sprinkled on the mercy seat, every believer has access to God 365 days a year, 24 hours a day.

Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews 10 verse 19. Having therefore brethren boldness, confidence, liberty, freedom. You have the freedom to enter into the holiest of all by the blood of Jesus. Nobody under that Mosaic law ever had that freedom. If you are consecrated to Christ, if God saved you, given you faith in Christ, you have liberty to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say his flesh, and having a high priest over the house of God.

See, Christ is our high priest. All his people are priests, his children. Let us draw near, draw near to him with a true heart and full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from the evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water and let's hold fast. If we're consecrated to Christ, he'll make sure we do this. We'll hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering. For, not because I'm a super Christian, not because I'm consecrated to Christ, not because I have such strong faith, for he's faithful. He's faithful that promised.

See, all of this, all of this being consecrated to Christ, that's what the Lord did for us. That's what he did in us, and that's being consecrated to Christ, and that's every believer. From the youngest one to the oldest one, that's every believer. And I wanted to be able to preach that message so that you who believe leave here tonight with such confidence, such absolute confidence, trusting your soul to the Lord Jesus Christ. And if there's any that don't believe, I want you to hear this message and be drawn to Christ so that you're confident to come to him with full assurance of faith that he is able to save even me.

All right. I hope the Lord bless that to you. Let's bow together. Our father, how we thank you that in your mercy and your grace and your power, you've consecrated a people to yourself. Father, I pray that you would do this for each one of us here. We can't do it for ourselves, but Father, if you would consecrate us to you by giving us faith in Christ, to be able to hear the gospel and believe and feed on our Lord Jesus Christ, that by the power of your spirit, you'd cause us to be born again so that we would trust you and believe you.

Father, we make use of this great blessing that we have access to come before the throne of grace at all times and to pour out before you and before others, before anybody else who will listen, the fruit of our lips, our praise and thanksgiving for everything that you are and everything that you've been pleased to do for us by your mercy and by your grace. Father, bless us for Christ's sake, I pray. Amen.

All right, Sean. If you would, turn in your hymnal to song number 118 and stand as we sing when I survey the wondrous cross.

118. When I survey the wondrous cross,
On which the Prince of Glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And poor contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
save in the death of Christ my God.
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood.

See from his head, his hands, his feet.
Sorrow and love flow mingle down.
Did e'er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?
were the whole realm of nature mine,
that were a present far too small.
Love so amazing, so divine
Demands my soul, my life, my all