An Holy Priesthood

Q: What does the Bible say about being a priest?

The Bible teaches that all believers are a holy priesthood, called to offer spiritual sacrifices to God through Jesus Christ. According to 1 Peter 2:5, all believers in Christ are considered a holy priesthood. This means that every Christian, regardless of their perceived spiritual maturity, has been made a priest unto God. As priests, we are commanded to offer spiritual sacrifices, which are considered acceptable to God through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. This highlights the profound privilege that comes with being in Christ, where every believer can worship and serve as a spiritual priest, fulfilling God's purposes.

Q: How do we know that all believers are priests?

The Bible explicitly states that God has made all His people priests, as shown in 1 Peter 2:9. In 1 Peter 2:9, we see a powerful affirmation that believers are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood. This holy identity allows them to worship God directly. Unlike the Old Testament priests, who were of the lineage of Aaron, all Christians, through faith in Christ, have direct access to God and are called to serve Him in a priestly manner. This New Testament priesthood signifies that every believer can actively participate in offering spiritual sacrifices, which is a significant aspect of their identity in Christ.

Q: Why is spiritual cleansing important for priests?

Spiritual cleansing is essential as it signifies acknowledgment of sin and the need for God's grace to serve Him. In the biblical context, spiritual cleansing is a prerequisite for being a priest before God. This cleansing involves recognizing one’s sinfulness and need for atonement through the sacrifice of Christ. As evidenced in Leviticus 8:6, the priests were first washed with water, symbolizing their need for purity. The ultimate cleansing comes through the blood of Jesus Christ, which each believer must identify with in order to be fit for service. This act of confession and identification with Christ’s sacrifice prepares the priest to offer acceptable worship and service to God.

Q: What does it mean to offer spiritual sacrifices?

Offering spiritual sacrifices entails dedicating our lives and worship to God, reflecting His glory through our actions and heart. Spiritual sacrifices, as mentioned in 1 Peter 2:5, encompass all forms of worship and service rendered to God. This could include acts of praise, thanksgiving, prayer, and living a life that reflects the character of Christ. These sacrifices are not merely ritualistic; they stem from a heart transformed by grace. Since believers are clothed in the righteousness of Christ, their entire being can be an offering to God, demonstrating obedience and love. This concept highlights that true worship is about the disposition of the heart and not merely external actions.

Q: How are Christians consecrated as priests?

Christians are consecrated through the blood of Jesus, which enables them to serve God effectively. The consecration of priests in the Old Testament involved the application of blood, symbolizing sanctification and equipping them for service (Leviticus 8:23). In the New Testament, believers are consecrated by the blood of Christ, emphasizing their separation for God's service. This spiritual consecration means believers are equipped by the Holy Spirit to live in obedience and devotion to God. Eager to hear God's Word and act accordingly, Christians embody their priestly role as they minister to others and glorify God in every aspect of their lives, reflecting His holiness.

the book of 1 Peter chapter 2. Let's read the first five verses of
1 Peter chapter 2. Wherefore, laying aside all malice
and all guile, hypocrisies and envies in all evil speakings,
as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may
grow thereby, if so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious,
to whom coming as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men,
but chosen of God and precious. Ye also, as lively stones, are
built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual
sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. I want to talk
to you this morning about and holy priesthood. I think last Sunday morning our
subject was a peculiar people. This morning, a holy priesthood. First off, by way of introduction
to the text, let me say that there never was anyone ordained
of God by God, sent of God, to discharge the functions of the
priestly office on earth, save Aaron and his sons. That is to say, that there is
no such thing as a priest on earth except in the sense of
Now, in the sense of the text, all believers in Christ are priests. The Bible says that God hath
made us kings and priests unto himself. So, there is no such
thing, then, as a priest here upon this earth, except in the
sense of the text, that all believers our priests in Christ Jesus. Now, nobody, unless he can show
his descent or ancestry from Aaron, unless he can trace his
pedigree to the ancient source, and that ancient source is God
himself, he has no right, absolutely no right to exercise the priestly
office here upon this earth. As I've said, and I think you
understand what I'm saying, that there's no such thing as a priest
upon this earth, except as stated in the sense of the text, that
we are, as believers, all priests unto God. That is, the feeblest,
the least member of the household of God. The least member in the
family of God is as much a priest unto God as the apostle Peter
was a priest unto God here in the first epistle of Peter. Now,
as I said, everyone in Christ is a priest unto God. Now, he
is a spiritual priest. because he worships in a spiritual
temple, he stands at a spiritual altar, he offers up a spiritual
sacrifice, and he wears spiritual clothes. Now, if you'll look
at the text one more time, in light of what I said, it says
an holy priesthood to do what? to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God. That is, our
sacrifices are made acceptable unto God by and through the sacrifice
that we offer, which is the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, over here
in the thirteenth chapter of the book of Hebrews, is another
verse that I want to read to you, Hebrews 13 and verse 15. In light of what we have said,
we have already said that everyone is a spiritual priest who is
in Christ Jesus because he worships at a spiritual temple, he stands
at a spiritual altar, He offers a spiritual sacrifice and he
wears spiritual clothes or spiritual garments. Now listen to this
15th verse. It says, By him, that is, by
the Lord Jesus, therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise
to God. By him, by the Lord Jesus, therefore
let us, that's the ever-believer, everyone in Christ, every spiritual
priest, let us, this is not only his responsibility, this is not
only his duty, but this is his blessed privilege, let us offer
the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, perpetually,
that is, at all times. in all places, under all conditions
and circumstances, is the spiritual priest to offer up the sacrifice
of praise unto God. That is the fruit of our lips
giving thanks to his name. Now, the Bible says, and I think
you'll agree with me, that the song of heaven And all of those
upon the earth that are truly saved is this. He hath made us
kings and priests unto God, and we shall reign forever. Now, that's the introduction
to the text. We are Priests unto God, spiritual
priests unto God. Well, listen, to understand this,
we've got to turn to the book of Leviticus, chapter 8. For
this reason, now while you're finding that, we're going back
to chapter 8 of the book of Leviticus for this reason, to find out
how priests were made under the law. If we are all spiritual
priests now, which we are, there's no, have I made myself clear? There is no such animal on the
top side of God's green earth now that has a right by way of
authority, by way of assent, to function as a earthly priest
upon this earth. apart from those that are made
spiritual priests. And every believer, every believer,
everybody, it doesn't make any difference as to the understanding
that he has or the lack of understanding. Everybody that's in Christ, it's
not what he knows, it's where he's at. If a man is in Christ
Jesus, of course he knows something to be there. But if he's in Christ
Jesus, the feeblest member of the family of God, the feeblest
member of the household of God, is a spiritual priest. And it's his privilege. It's
his duty. He's commanded by God to do what? To offer up spiritual of praise
continually unto God. Now, in light of that, Leviticus
chapter 8, we are going to find out how the priests were made
under the law. And maybe it will help us to
see what the text means when it says that we are a holy priesthood. Have you found Leviticus chapter
8? The first thing I want you to
notice is this. In the third and fourth verse,
it says that the whole assembly is gathered at the door of the
tabernacle. They are gathered there not because
Moses just went out and decided that it was a time for service. I think we'll have a service
at the door of the tabernacle on Wednesday night. Moses called the children of
Israel from the least to the greatest. from the feeblest to
the most mature of the congregation of Israel and told them to gather
at the door of the tabernacle because God had authorized him
to say so. It says in verse number one,
this is the authority for the gathering, the Lord spake unto
Moses saying this, Take Aaron and his sons with
him, and the garments, and the anointing oil, and the bullock
for the sin offering, and the two rams, and a basket of unleavened
bread, and do what? Take Aaron now and his sons,
and gather about all the congregation together, all of them together.
Get them all out there. And I'm sure that when Moses
said, this is what the Lord told me to tell you that He wanted
you to do. And I'm sure that they all dusted,
if they were sitting down or in their tents or out doing some
work, whatever they was doing, they dropped everything because
God had commanded Moses to tell them that he had an appointment
with them at the door of the tabernacle, so there must be
something important that's about to be relayed or conveyed from
the mouth of Moses by God unto them. And so they gathered themselves
there for a reason. It's important, I think, that
we see what this reason is. This is the reason for the gathering
of all the children of the congregation of Israel at the door of the
tabernacle. Because every one of them now,
as I said, from the feeblest to the most mature member of
that congregation, was about to have the blessed privilege
Just underscore that word privilege. You're here because it's a privilege
of God. You're not here because of some
particular debt that God owed you and decided that he'd pay
it. You're here to worship God this
morning because it is a privilege! It's a privilege! As a matter
of fact, it's a privilege to do anything for God! That's a
privilege! Just think of it! You and I this
morning, worms of the dust, come tonight, will you come tonight
and let me preach to you from 2 Samuel chapter 2 and verse
number 8, where it speaks of the character and the position
of men outside of the Lord Jesus Christ. Beggars sitting on the
dunghill. That's what we are. Beggars sitting
on the dunghill. And it's a privilege for us as
beggars to do anything for God. To join in together here to sing
a hymn to the praise of God. Join in together and just listen
as the Word of God is being read from the Bible. That's a privilege.
If you've got the idea that to do anything for God is because
it's something that you owe to God or God owed to you, you've
missed it all. It's a privilege to do anything
for God. It was a privilege here for these
people. They gathered here at the door
of the congregation and the reason is that every one of them will
have the privilege to look upon the One. who was about to be
entrusted with the charge of the most important interest that
they could possibly have. They was going to be allowed
or privileged to look on every movement in this solemn and most
impressive occasion of the clothing of the priest or the making of
a priest. And that's what we're interested
in, the making of a priest. What does it mean? What's involved
in the making of a priest? If we're all spiritual priests,
What's involved in it? What did it take? Who makes the
spiritual priests and so forth? So this is the reason that they're
gathered here. Each one has his or her place
from the lowest to the highest of this congregation. To be permitted
to gaze with these eyes upon the person of the high priest
and upon the sacrifice which he is to offer. Each one in this
congregation of the children of Israel that were gathered
at the door of the tabernacle had his or her own particular
need. Now, that being so, the God of
Israel would have everyone to see and to know that his need
or her need was fully provided for by the high priest who stood
before the God of Israel. Now all of this is but a shadow
of the divine reality. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
divine reality of the shadow. offering in the Old Testament
is merely a symbolic picture of what is about to come or to
be displayed in the fullness in the person of the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
Holy One. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
Anointed One. He is the mitered one. He has the turban of beauty and
glory upon his head. He is the girded one. What I'm saying is that this
high priest, Aaron, who was to be made a high priest by God
through his servant Moses, was a picture of The great high priest,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, let's see how these priests
were made under the law. We've seen here why the door
of the tabernacle is the meeting place of the children of Israel.
Why were they there? They're getting the privilege
now. They're going to enjoy seeing the clothing, the making of a
priest who holds their highest interest in his hand. Here's
the one that goes before God himself as their representative. And they're going to see how
the beauty and the glory of this priest. They're going to see
that all of their needs, which is known by God, will be fully
met in him that God hath made a high priest who will stand
before him. Well, the first thing in this
eighth chapter, It says in, let's see, in verse number six, it
says that, I'll read verse five, and Moses said unto the congregation,
this is the thing which the Lord commanded to be done. I mean, there's no option here. There is certain rules with exceptions. Offhand, I can't think of one
right now, but there is certain rules with exceptions, but as
far as I can see, this is a rule without exception in the Bible.
There is no alternative here, because the Lord has commanded
this thing to be done, and so it's about to be done. And the
first thing that is to be done in the making of a priest Keep
in mind, we're talking about a holy priesthood. I've already
stated, and I think proved beyond a shadow of a doubt, that every
believer is a spiritual priest. Alright, listen. It says the
first thing in the making of a priest was that he must be
cleansed. Verse number 6, And Moses brought
Aaron and his sons, and washed them with water. Now this is
one cleansing here, a cleansing in water, several times. In chapter 8 here, you'll find
that a second cleansing was also needed, and a second cleansing
was theirs, and that cleansing was by blood. Look in verse number 2. Take
Aaron and his sons with him, and the garments, and the anointing
oil, and a bullock for the sin offering, Notice, two rams and
a basket of unleavened bread. Well, in verse 2 then, it says
that they brought a bullock for a sin offering, two rams, and
it goes on, and I'll read it to you in a minute here. It goes
on and says, with the blood of one of those rams and the blood
of the sin offering, they sprinkled upon them and the altar that
that they might be cleansed before God. Well, what does all of this
say? What is the application to my
heart here this morning? Well, number one, if anyone desires
to be a priest before God, he must be cleansed first. Notice that Aaron and his sons
put their hands upon the ram, confessing their sins unto God,
acknowledging unto God their sinnerhood, acknowledging as
they put their hands upon the head of this ram, that this ram,
what it was about to receive, they ought to receive. And anytime
in the Old Testament when the offerer laid his hand upon the
head of the victim, or upon the head of the sacrifice that was
about to be offered, he was identifying himself with that victim. He was saying, I'm a sinner.
I'm a sinner. I need to be cleansed. And the
only way that I can be cleansed is through the death of a substitute. That's the only way. And that's
the only way now. If anybody here has an interest
in being a spiritual priest unto God, number one, Number one,
he's got to be cleansed. He's got to acknowledge his sinnerhood
before God. It's not enough. I know that
this type of thinking runs rampant in our society, in our day, in
churches and out of churches, that all we must need or experience
is some vision Or watch some television program
that says something like this, now God loves you, I love you,
and this program and this staff loves you, and so all you've
got to do now is to respond to that love and you become a Christian. There's no truth to that. No
truth to that. A man, in order to be a spiritual
priest unto God, he's got to be cleansed. He's a sinner and
he's got to acknowledge that. And he can't acknowledge it until
he feels it. He's got to feel it in his breast. He's got to feel it in his heart. He's got to feel the weight and
the guilt of sin in himself before he'll ever confess that God's
right in what God said about him. He'll never confess that
until he feels it. The heaviness of it, the burden
of it, the guilt of it. I'm not talking about you spoke
hastily to your wife this morning before you come to church or
you criticized the children or something like that before you
came to church and you got a guilty conscience. I'm not talking about
a guilty conscience because of something you said to your wife
or something you said to your children or something you said
about someone else. I'm talking about a guilt that
is guilty because you've sinned against God. That's the kind
of conscience that I'm talking about. You've got to be made
to feel like David when he sinned against Uriah and Bathsheba and
he was caught up in his sin. And Nathan came along and spake
a parable to him and pointed out his guilt. And you know what
he said? He said, against thee only. He didn't say anything about
Bathsheba. He didn't say anything about
Uriah, although he did sin against him. But his main concern was
that he had a guilty conscience toward God because every sin
is against God. Every sin. It's against God,
and we'll never acknowledge our sinnerhood until we find out
the guilt of sin. What is sin? What sin really
is? Sin is not just stealing a watermelon. Sin is not just smoking a cigarette. That's not what it is. Sin is
rebellion against God Almighty. That's what sin is. It's the
transgression of the law of God. It's trying to push God off of
the throne. Being guilty of rebellion against
God. And realizing our guilt and who
it's against and when we feel the weight of that. then acknowledge
it and lay our hand upon the sacrifice. The first thing, Bob,
that takes place in the making of a priest is his cleansing. And the first thing that's going
to take place if any man has a desire to be a spiritual priest,
to offer the sacrifices of praise with his lips continually unto
God, is he's going to have to be cleansed. He's going to have
to lay his hands. upon the head of the ram." Verse
22, look at that, "...and he brought the other ram." That's
the second ram of verse 2. In verse 22 now of Leviticus
8, "...he brought the other ram, the ram of consecration, and
Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the ram,"
and that wasn't all now, "...the sacrifice must be slain. And he slew it! He killed it! The sacrifice must die! Aaron and his sons put their
hands upon the ram, confessing their sins. And the ram was slain,
and the blood sprinkled upon the altar. Now, if we're God's
priests, we've got to lay our hand upon the Lord Jesus Christ
We've got to identify with the sacrifice. We've got to receive
the sacrifice as our substitute. Trust Him in His blood. We've
got to know who the sacrifice is. Now listen to me. Listen
to me. I know everybody believes in
Jesus. I know that. You can't find anybody that doesn't
believe in Jesus. But what Jesus are you believing
in this morning? Now listen, you've got to know
who the Lord Jesus Christ is. Now, for this reason, if you
find out who He is, find out who the Lord Jesus Christ is,
then you'll understand why the value is placed upon His sacrifice. If you find out who he is, it's
finding out who he is that gives value to his sacrifice. If you
don't know who he is, if Jesus is just a figment of your imagination,
if he's just some little old boy that was born over in Israel
2,000 years ago, Jewish, people are not too concerned about whether
he was virgin born or not. There's not too many people that's
interested. Whether the Jesus Christ was
virgin born or not, there's a few seminary professors in some of
these seminaries that say that he's the product of an illegitimate
reunion between a man and woman. But for the most part, what I'm
trying to say is nobody's mad at that Jesus. Nobody's mad at
him. The Jesus that people is mad
at is the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, who he is? He's the Lord
Jesus Christ. Jesus doesn't save anybody. It's
the Lord Jesus Christ that saves people. That fellow said to the
apostle Paul, he said, what shall we do? Paul said, believe on who? On
the baby Jesus. No, he said, Believe on the Lord,
Jesus Christ, and thou shalt... You've got to find out who he
is. When I say Lord, I'm not just taking the word Lord over
here and putting it by itself and saying, well, here is one
who is uniquely different from everybody that ever lived, and
that's all. Although he was uniquely different
from anyone that ever lived. But there's more to it than that.
He is uniquely different because He is God. The Lord Jesus Christ
is God in human form. That's who He is. He's God. The
little baby, 20 inches long, that was born over there in Bethlehem's
manger was God already, 20 inches long. He is God. Now listen,
and I'm going to tell you this. This Jesus God has raised him
from the dead. You've taken him with wicked
hands and you've killed him. You've crucified the Prince of
Light. That's the talk. The issue that
God has right now with this world is this. It's my son! You've killed my son. You've
killed my son. That's the issue. It's not going
to the beer joint. That's not the issue. Drugs,
that's not the issue. The issue is you've killed my
son. That's the issue. Killed his
son. God raised him from the dead. And God said this. God said that
I have turned over lost stock and barrel, everything under
the earth, in the heaven, and on the earth, I have given unto
him all flesh. All flesh is in the hands of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now this is what men don't like.
This is the Lord Jesus Christ that men hate and despise when
they find out, or when they hear, that their destiny is in the
hands of Him whom God has turned over all flesh. And He can do
with them as it pleases Him. Now, brother, that's what makes
people mad. Now, folks in there, you can't do that. Don't God
give everybody a chance? That's what people say. Doesn't
God give everybody a chance? Answer that question this way.
Salvation is not by chance. Salvation is not by decision. Salvation is not by works. Salvation
is by the grace of God. And if you find out what the
grace of God is, you'll see that salvation isn't by chance. You'll
see that the Bible says that He giveth life unto those that
He hath purposed to save before time ever was. I'm telling you
this morning, brethren, there's a whole lot in this business
as receiving Him as the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm not talking
about the Lord as everyone on the radio and the television
opens their programs by saying, we believe that He is Lord. And that's all that's ever said
about the Lordship of Christ. And when they want to praise
Him as Lord, they all clap their hands. Let's give the Lord a
big hand. And they clap their hands, and they lift their hands
up to the Lord. That has nothing to do with what
I'm talking about, about the Lordship of Jesus. He's Lord! Do you understand
me this morning? That your destiny, your soul,
is in the hand of this Lord Jesus Christ! And He can save you,
or He can damn you at His pleasure. That's the Lord Jesus Christ. He's not obligated to do anything
for you. When you hear that God's not obligated to do something
for you, it makes you mad, doesn't it? It makes you mad. You say,
That's not the God that I worship. The God that I worship, He gives
everybody a chance and He's obligated to do something for people. He
has to do something for you. He doesn't have to do anything
for you except send you to hell. That's all God has to do for
you is send you to hell. That's what you deserve. You
deserve to go to hell. You ought to have been in hell.
I should have been in hell. Fifteen, nine years ago I would
have been in hell. You ought to have been in hell.
We all ought to be in hell. God owes nothing to us. It's
free sovereign mercy. That's what it is. Sovereign
grace. If we're God's priests, that's
the first sign. If you're going to be a priest
to God, you've got to be cleansed. You've got to be cleansed. There
ain't no getting around about it. You say, well, listen, you
mean I come to church every time the door is open and be baptized,
etc.? Any hypocrite can do that. Any
hypocrite can do that. I'm talking about being cleansed.
I'm talking about laying your hand upon the head of the sacrifice
as a needy, guilty, God-hating sinner. I'm talking about identifying
with Him, recognizing who you are, being made aware of the
fact that you're guilty, you killed God's Son. That's what
I'm talking about. Listen to me now. God will have
no priests in His sanctuary who have not been cleansed with the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't care what people say.
Folks say, well, that fellow was saved out there. Someone
told me not so long ago, said, well, a fellow was in the foxhole
out there, and he died for his country, and they just thought
Troy was saved. Well, that sounds good. That
sounds good. And maybe he was saved. I don't know, but I'm
going to tell you this. He wasn't saved apart from the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. I'll not set in on judgment of
him there, but most people, you know, their salvation is such
a fictitious thing, you know, Well, I'll just turn in this
direction and that's all there is to it. Listen, they'll be
gone and have no priests! None! None! None! In his sanctuary
except those that have been cleansed by the blood of his Son, the
Lord Jesus Christ. And the second thing now in the
making of a priest under the law is that they were clothed.
Verse 13. They were clothed. And Moses
brought Aaron's sons He brought Aaron's sons and he
did something for them. Now notice. He brought Aaron's
sons and he said, now boys, I got something for you here. I got
you, I got you. E-P-H-O-D. How do you pronounce
that, Pat? Ephod. Well, I've been saying
that all along. I was afraid I'd mispronounce it. Ephod. A garment. A coat that comes down over their
shoulders to their knees. He didn't say, now I brought
you an ephod, now here you take it and put it on. Or you hold
that coat and hold the arms out while your brother puts it on. Notice, it says, and Moses brought
Aaron's sons and put coats upon them. He put the coats upon. It wasn't a do-it-yourself. It
wasn't you cooperate with me in this task. You help me clothe
yourself. That's the way the salvation
is of our generation, is that it's a cooperation. You do so
much, and God will do so much, and you put them together, and
the end result will be, it'll result in salvation. That's not
the salvation of the Bible. The salvation of the Bible is
that God starts it, and God finishes it, and God does all in between. Alpha to Omega, all God. It is from eternity past to eternity
to come. It is God in order that he might
receive all the glory. Not just part of it, but all
of it. He'll have it all or he won't
have any. Alright, it says that the first
thing or the second thing after they were cleansed, put coats
upon them. Alright? However clean they were. Now, they must be cleansed with
water. They must be cleansed with blood. Looks like they're clean. Looks
like they're clean. All right, let me put it in this
area here. Now, here I say that if you trust
in the Lord Jesus Christ and come to Him as a poor sinner,
helpless and hopeless, no help in yourself, nothing in my hand
I bring. I'm trusting in the Lord Jesus
Christ. I'm trusting in Him alone. And
I tell you, if you'll do that, if you'll do that, then He'll
forgive you of your sins. Of your past sins, of your present
sins, and of sins to come. He'll forgive all your sins.
You say, well, that's good. What else do I need? Well, you
need something else. You say, you're cleansed, you're
cleansed, but you need something else. You've got to have a suitable
coat. You've got to have a righteousness
that meets the demand requirements of God's holiness. Listen to
me now. You heard me preach from this
before, this text. Where it says in this same book,
the book of Leviticus, it shall be perfect to be accepted. God demands perfection. You must be perfect in order
to be accepted by God. God will not accept 99% perfection,
or 99 and 999 tenths perfection. God will only accept perfection. It must be, this is the word
of God, this is what God said. He said it must be perfect to
be accepted. How can I be accepted then who
is imperfect from the soles of my feet to the crown of my head? Inwardly and outwardly I am corrupt
and polluted, and I cannot do one single solitary thing that
is not tainted with self and sin. I can't do anything for
God Almighty. There is nothing that I can do
that will be accepted by God if it must be perfect to be accepted. I must have the perfection that
God requires. The perfection that God requires,
He also freely gives in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. How
are you accepted? You're not made acceptable. That's not what it says. It says
that you are accepted in the Beloved. Not made acceptable,
but accepted in the Beloved. Accepted in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's your perfection. That's
the right you need. You need the imputed righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. What man is that? The man that
has the imputed righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ unto
himself. That's the code. Listen to me.
First you've got to be cleansed. First you've got to be cleansed.
And then secondly, you've got to be clothed. Clothed. However clean they were, they
must be suitably clothed. Put coats on them. The coat is
a priestly robe, and everyone who ministers at the altar must
have a priestly robe. You must have it. You've got
to have it. A spiritual priesthood to offer
up spiritual praise with your lips, spiritual sacrifices at
the spiritual altar, at the spiritual temple, with spiritual garments
under God. You must be clothed. You must
be cleansed! You must have spiritual garments. You say, well, I don't have to
believe all that, do you? Well, I don't know, but once
you hear it, then you've got a problem. I don't know prior
to the time you haven't heard it, but once you hear it, once
you hear it, then you're faced with it. Then you've got to do
something about it, because it's truth. All right? Listen. put coats on him. I said, it's
a priestly robe. And I said, it was a coat hanging
from the shoulder on down. So every believer is then to
put on the imputed righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, given
freely by God to the poor believing sinner at his conversion. Before you can officiate as a
priest, I insist you must be robed in the righteousness of
the Lord Jesus Christ. We come to him as we are, poor,
hopeless, helpless, needy sinners, and he clothes us with his righteousness. I must hurry on. The next thing
was a girdle. It says put coats on the them
and gird them with girdles. Put a girdle on this fellow.
What was that for? I've often wondered about that
word girdle in the light of male masculinity and macho and you
know, I wonder about that girdle business. Well, let me tell you.
These people back then wore loose flowing garments. and it couldn't
move quick because they'd trip. Well, you know, man, if you try
to wear a woman's housecoat or something, no one does that here. But if you try to do that, if
you try to do that and it's buttoned up, you know, properly, you're
going to have a difficult time moving quick because you're going
to tramp on the tail of that garment. And that's the kind
of garments that they wore, male and female alike back then. And they couldn't move quick.
So they must have a girdle. garment close to the body, Pat,
in order that they could move quick and do what? And be ready
at all times. Be ready! So we, as spiritual
priests, we are to be at all times Ready, we are to have our
loins girt about, always ready. We are to be at all times ready. We are to have our loins girt
about, always ready, instant to obey the Word of God. Thirdly was the bonnet. Now the
bonnet was a turban. It was for the glory and beauty
of him who wore it. You see, He, the Lord Jesus Christ,
is our glory and He's our beauty. We're now looked upon by God
Himself as if we were indeed the Lord Jesus Christ. When God
looks upon the poor believer, He sees him in Christ. Let me tell you this. Let me
say this. Maybe this will help you see what I'm talking about.
God sees us in Christ. God forgives us for Christ's
sake. God blesses us for Christ's sake. There is nothing that you can
do apart from Christ. Nothing. As a matter of fact,
God would not touch you or He would not touch me. He would
not speak to me. He would not speak to you. He
would not touch us with a ten-foot pole apart from our blessed substitute. We are one with Him. And he looks upon the believing
sinner as he does his son. So the Barnett is the priest's
glory and his beauty. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
glory and our beauty. Now listen. Not only did he have
a bonnet on, but that something else must take place. They were
anointed. Aaron had the holy oil poured
upon his head until it run down to the skirts of his garment.
Now this anointing This anointing here, though we've been washed
and though we've been clothed, but we must yet be anointed.
Now what is this anointing? Well, if I preach, if I preach
without the anointing, without the Holy Spirit, if I preach
without the Holy Spirit, It's all vain. It's all vain. It will
not amount to anything. It won't amount to a single solitary
thing if my studying, if my praying, if my preaching, if my service
is without the anointing of the Holy Spirit of God. It will amount to nothing. That's
right. And most of my preaching and
most of my service has been, as I view it, with very little. if any, of the anointing of the
Spirit of God. I desire it. I'm not talking
about speaking in other tongues. I'm not talking about that. I
want to preach with power. I want to preach that the Word
of God may be effective in the hearts of those that hear. For what reason? For their good
and to the honor and the glory of Him who loved us and washed
us and loosed us from our sins. Alright, they were anointed,
now they are consecrated. Look at verse 24, and I'm in
a hurry here. Verse 24, they are consecrated, now Moses touched
the priest on the right ear with blood. And now what does it say?
And he brought Aaron's sons, and Moses put of the blood upon
the tip of their right ear. and upon the thumbs of their
right hands, and upon the great toes of their right feet, and
Moses sprinkled the blood upon the altar round about." That
has to do with the consecration of these priests. We have seen
thus far from Leviticus chapter 8 how God made priests and clothed
priests under the law. He has given the congregation
a look at this priest that has their best interest, the interest
of their soul in his hands. He's seen, they've been able
to look upon the beauty and the glory of his high priest. We've
seen some connection to this and the spiritual priesthood
of every believer. Alright, now they've got to be
consecrated, just as you and I must be consecrated. And this
is the part that's sadly lacking in the lives of most of us right
here. What does it mean when Moses
touched the priest on the right ear with blood? What does that
mean? Well, it means this. For the Christian, it means that
he must be consecrated to God by blood on his ear. It means
that we are to be eager to hear his word. That is the symbolic
significance to the touching of the ear with blood. That we're
to be eager, you and I, eager, eager, ever eager to hear the
Word of God, to where it comes from. Oh, to hear God's voice
speak. It's like the little boy I told
you about in Mr. Spurgeon's congregation. He sat
up on the front row, close as they could get with his grandmother,
all the time, and had his hand up over his ear like that, listening
and listening. He'd done it day after day and
day after day. And his grandmother said, John
said, why do you do that all the time? He said, Mr. Spurgeon
says that God speaks to men, and he said, I won't be listening
when He speaks to me. My soul, that's what it means
when it says, put that blood, consecrate that ear. Eager to
hear the Word of God. Eager to hear. Most of us are
not. We could care less. We could
care less. Say, well, we're going to have
a church service. Well, we're going to have one this Wednesday
night. This Wednesday night we're going to have a church service
right here. And we're going to have Brother Darwin Pruitt. He's
coming up this way and he said he'd like to stop and worship
with us. How about preaching for us? Fine preacher. Y'all
have heard him. And Brother Bruce, he's coming.
And I said, well, we can have two services, two short half-hour
services. And these men, if I'm not greatly
mistaken, will preach to us the Word of God. This Wednesday night,
I'd like for all of you to come back this Wednesday night to
hear these two fellas. Get that blood on your ear that you might
be eager, eager to hear the Word of God. spiritual priest. He's eager to hear the Word of
God. Why? There's other things important
in his life. He's got to make a living, I don't deny that.
He's got to make a living. He's got to work every day. There's
sickness, I don't deny that. But over and apart from all of
that, this is first and foremost. Why? Because it has to do with
his what? His never-dying soul. Huh? These other things, you're going
to die. You just mark that down, you're going to die, and I'm
going to die, and we're all going out there at six feet. If someone has to give us the
property or give our wit of the property, they'll find property
to put us down there. We're going to die. But oh my,
that you and I might be consecrated and have the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ on our ear. Huh? Listen, does not the Bible
say, blessed are the people who know the joyful sound? Blessed
are those people. Listen, they only recognize the
joyful sound because the blood of the sacrifice has been on
their ear. Does not the scripture say in
John chapter 10, My sheep hear my voice. How come they hear
his voice? Because they are his sheep. How
are they his sheep? Because they have been cleansed. Because they have been clothed. because they have been anointed,
because they have been consecrated. My sheep hear my voice, and they
follow me. The reason they follow is because
the ear has the blood of the sacrifice on it. God said to
Moses, Moses get them boys over here. Get Aaron and his sons,
they're the priesthood. Nobody else from that time until
right now, nobody has the right to be an earthly priest except
in the confines of the Aaronic priesthood. Nobody. You've got
to be a member of Aaron's family. You've got to trace your lineage
clean, and then it would be nullified. It wouldn't be no good because
that thing's all changed. But anyhow, Bring them out there,
all of them. Get them boys in there and take
the blood of the sacrifice and put it on the wreath. My sheep hear my voice and follow
me. Many voices in this world. Many voices. Better be sure what
voice you're listening to. God's sheep hear His voice. That's
what it says. Virgil, that's what it says.
It says, my sheep hear my voice, and they do what? And they follow
me. They hear his voice and they
follow him. My sheep do. Because the blood
of the sacrifice has been on their ears. Give them a listening,
a lot of people can't hear. You say, well, preacher, how
come this building is not loaded down? How come the windows are
not loaded down? Because the ear hadn't been consecrated
with the blood of the sacrifice. If it ever happened. If God ever makes His Word live
among us, I'm telling you, they'll knock the door down of this building.
They will. Hearing about the sacrifice.
They've got to hear. Man's got to hear! While a man who's had
his ear touched with the blood of a sacrifice, he'll drive 150
miles to hear the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. He'll do it.
He'll go through thick and thin, and he'll go and listen because
it's his bread! It's the children's bread he's
got to have or he's going to die! He can't eat. Someone told me, said, there
are lots of good churches out there. That's right. I know they
are. I know they are. There's lots of good food out
there in the garbage can, but I'm not going out there to get
it. I want the gospel, the pure, unadulterated gospel of the sovereign,
free mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the only thing
that will do my soul. That's the only thing that will
help this poor sinner. All right. Too much time. Too much time. Alright. Blood on the ear. Blood on the ear. Next in order
was blood on the thumb. What's that mean? That means
that consecrated his hand. You see, the hand represents
our active powers. What's that mean? Well, there's
some things we can't touch or some things we can't handle.
Some things, brethren, we just can't get our hands in. You know
what I'm talking about? There's some things you just
can't mess with. There's been times I'd just like to hit a
fellow right in the mouth. You understand what I'm talking about?
And sometimes I'd like to just lift a fella right off his feet
if I could do it. But I can't do it. I can't do
it. You say, well, do you have...
Yeah, I have those feelings every once in a while. You do too.
You say, well, scoot over, preacher. Well, you see, the hands have
been consecrated. And we can't do it. We can't
do it. We want to do it. Well, I ought not to say this.
I'm going to say it anyhow. At times, you know, I wish I
could cuss. I mean, cuss somebody out. Can't
do it. You say, well, I wouldn't think
you'd know. Yeah, I know some cuss words. I know some probably that
you don't know. Yeah, I know some. You say, well, you say
them in your heart. Well, God forgive me. That's
all I can say there. You see where I'm going, Tim.
There are certain things you'd like to do. Sometimes you're
frustrated. You're in a corner. You don't
know which way to turn. You've got to have some relief. You're like a tank full of power. And you're just going to ignite
it and blow up. Tear the top off of something.
Can't do it. Can't do it. Why? Because you're
dumb. you see, have been consecrated
with the blood of the Lamb. You can't have no hand in that. Well, since the hand is consecrated
by the Lord Jesus Christ, by the blood of the cross, well,
then all that the hand does must be pleasing to God. It wouldn't
be pleasing to God for you or for I to cuss somebody out, or
for you and I to start a fight, or for you and I to do anything
like that. It just wouldn't be pleasing
unto God, so we can't do it, and we won't do it by the grace
of God. by the grace of God. And I'm
not saying because a man does it, there's no grace in him.
That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying if we don't do it,
it's by the grace of God. You have the potential. You have
the potential. You've still got the same bad
heart that you had when you started. It's still just as bad now as
it was then. You haven't improved much, if any, none. All right,
next comes the foot. Put the blood on the big toe.
That is, the feet must be set apart from God. Can't go. Some places other people go,
you can't go and you don't want to go because it would be for
the dishonor of God Almighty, you wouldn't go there. So the
foot, the thumb, the ear must be consecrated by blood, you
see. You can't go there. A fellow
can't go where the Word of God's not preached. You can't go there
where the Word of God's not preached. You can't go there. You just
can't go. What business would you have
there? When you go where the Word of God's not preached in
a religious sense, what you're saying, and I'm not saying that
everybody's got to do what I'm doing. I'm not saying that at
all. But you just can't do it because you can't lend your influence. You can't do it. You can't do
it. Well, I'm going to quit. I've got lots to say here. I'm
going to quit anyhow, it's a good place, it's a good place.

An Holy Priesthood

What does the Bible say about being a priest?

How do we know that all believers are priests?

Why is spiritual cleansing important for priests?

What does it mean to offer spiritual sacrifices?

How are Christians consecrated as priests?

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An Holy Priesthood

What does the Bible say about being a priest?

How do we know that all believers are priests?

Why is spiritual cleansing important for priests?

What does it mean to offer spiritual sacrifices?

How are Christians consecrated as priests?

Sermon Transcript

About Scott Richardson

Comments

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