Okay, if you wish to follow along
turn to Leviticus chapter 8 Leviticus chapter 8 I do want to read my
text this morning. It's only only 12 verses Leviticus
chapter 8 and the Lord spake unto Moses saying Take Aaron
and his sons with him, and the garments, and the anointing oil,
and a bullock for the sin offering, and two rams, and a basket of
unleavened bread. And gather thou all the congregation
together unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And Moses did as the Lord commanded
him. And the assembly was gathered
together unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
And Moses said unto the congregation, This is the thing which the Lord
commanded to be done. And Moses brought Aaron and his
sons, and washed them with water. And he put upon him, that is
just Aaron now, the coat, and girded him with the girdle, and
clothed him with the robe, and put the ephod upon him. And he
girded him with the curious girdle of the ephod, and bound it unto
him therewith. And he put the breastplate upon
him, also he put in the breastplate the urim and the thummim. And
he put the mitre upon his head, also upon the mitre, even upon
his forefront did he put the golden plate, the holy crown,
as the Lord commanded Moses. And Moses took the anointing
oil, and anointed the tabernacle, and all that was therein, and
sanctified them. And he sprinkled thereof upon
the altar seven times, and anointed the altar and all the vessels,
both the laver and his foot, to sanctify them. And he poured
of the anointing oil upon Aaron's head, and anointed him to sanctify
him. title for this morning and my
subject from this text Leviticus 8 1 through 12 is the tabernacle
and the high priest. Now you understand these things
stand out in the context of these 12 verses. The tabernacle and
the high priest equals the gospel and Jesus Christ. Before I go
any further, you ever Remember meeting a new parent. You've
got a newborn baby and that baby is maybe, I don't know, one,
two, three years old, whatever they are. You meet that parent
and that child has maybe just spoken its first words. Or maybe
just taken its first few steps. And you meet that parent and
they just go on and on and on about that child's first words
or maybe that child's first steps. Then you meet them maybe a week
later. What do they still talk about? They talk about that child's
first steps or that child's first words. You know why? Because
it means everything in this world to them. That is a part of their
life. But I'm here to say that for
believers, for those that are born of God, Jesus Christ is
not just a part of our life. According to the Apostle Paul
and I'll just give you a quote of part of a verse in Colossians
3 and verse 3 He said when Christ who is our life That's what it
means to be saved That's what it means to be born of God Christ
becomes your life in the present sense False religion always speaks
about having Christ as your life somewhere down the line or maybe
somewhere or at some time in heaven. But Jesus Christ is the
life of God's people now. Having said that, I just have
three things to try to give you this morning. Most of my time
will be spent on the third one. But here's the first thing. When
you consider this historical account. Now this is the first
actual historical statements made in the book of Leviticus.
Up till now, the first seven chapters are what God said to
Moses to tell to Israel. Now you actually see something
historically occurring. But Mason, that makes it no less
inspired and no less exactly accurate than any other portion
of the scripture. Now, in this historical event
we have here. We see that according to chapter
8 and verses 1 through 5, all true worship had the tabernacle
at its center. Where were the people commanded
together? What were the people commanded
to gather around? The tabernacle. And if you go
on and read the rest of Leviticus and Numbers and Deuteronomy,
all throughout the sojourn of the children of Israel through
the desert, through the wilderness, the tabernacle was always the
central place of worship. Moses commanded the people to
do what? Come to the tabernacle. Now, first of all, Christ's person
and work is central to all true worship. I'll just give you this. You know I was off for a couple
Sundays because of my recent surgery. So I, like any other
foolish individual, decided I was going to watch some preaching
on TV before we actually came on TV. There was a man who preached
for about 25 minutes. 20 minutes, and I'm not exaggerating,
for 20 minutes, he used the philosophy of this world to try to encourage
those he was preaching to to just do the right thing. Now
that's what he did. In the last five minutes, he
said something along this line, now I'm going to speak about
Jesus Christ, but I won't take long on this. Now that was his
word. And for about five minutes, he
spoke about Jesus Christ and the message closed. I remember
another individual, and of course I was told this, but I was told
this by the people that actually heard it, that one preacher one
time got up in the Sovereign Grace Conference and said, this
is years ago, he said, we gotta get past this thing of Jesus
Christ. For God's people, there is no getting past Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is central to all
true worship. Consider just these examples,
not necessarily trying to just quote passages of scripture.
Think of the city of Corinth. It was the center of commerce
and wealth. but it also was the center of
idolatry and paganism and some of the most base practices known
to man. And the Apostle Paul said this
to the Corinthians, that when he first came to see them, when
he first began to preach among them, he said, I determined to
know nothing among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified. You see, if I can lead a man
away from idolatry, but that man is not led to bow to the
feet of Jesus Christ, I have improved that man's station none
at all. If I can lead a man away from
drunkenness and fornication and idolatry, if I can lead him away
from all those things, he may find some temporal benefit. He
may find or she may find some temporal benefit, but they will
find no spiritual benefit unless they are led to bow to the feet
of the person and work of Jesus Christ. So much so that the Apostle
Paul put it this way to the Thessalonians. He didn't say you turned away
from your idols and you turned to God. That's not the way he
put it. He said, you turned to God from
idols. And I remember Earl Cochran saying
this years ago, something along this line. The reason it says
it that way is not just because it's true, that is true. But
if we had to turn away from all our idols first, before we turn
to God, we'd never get to God. We'd never get to God, because
even now today, I find things rising up in my old wicked heart
that are idolatrous. Things that I try to let compete
with the person of Jesus Christ. As a matter of fact, when you
go through Paul's letter to the Corinthians, the first one and
the second one, he deals with many corrupt practices. Does he not? He deals with fornication. He deals with adultery. He deals
with idolatry. Mason, he deals with all those
things. But if you go back and read both letters again, and
God gives you eyes to see, you'll see that Jesus Christ is the
center in all those things throughout both those epistles. in the book
of Ephesians. Paul said, this I say therefore
and testify in the Lord that you walk not as other Gentiles
walk. So he's talking about what, Ellen?
Walk. But then you look at the very
passage itself, Jesus Christ is the center of that admonition. Because he says, if you've been
taught of Jesus Christ as the truth is in Jesus Christ. If you're not encouraged to turn
away from sin because of the personal work of Jesus Christ,
then you've never really ever heard the gospel. Think of another
one. In the Philippian epistle, chapter
1, verse 27, when the apostle Paul encourages, admonishes,
those people to have a conversation, a certain way of life. He says,
let your conversation be what? Let it be as becometh the gospel. Look at the epistle to the Hebrews.
The whole epistle is Christ is superior. He's superior to angels. He's superior to the law. He's
superior to Moses. He's superior to Aaron. Christ
is the center of everything, just like the tabernacle was
the center of all true worship in that day. Here's just one
more. You remember the small epistle? We use that word epistle. It's
fine. Word just means letter. You remember
the letter of the Apostle Paul to Philemon? It's a personal
letter from one man to one other man. Now, it is brought into
the sacred canon because God deemed it to be a part of the
sacred canon. But it was just a personal letter
from one man to another man about a third party and how this third
party should be received and forgiven. And in the 25 verses
that that small letter is divided up into for us, Jesus Christ
is referred to 10 times. 10 times in that personal letter.
And not only that, in the actual letter we see Paul emulating
the personal work of Jesus Christ on behalf of Onesimus, do we
not? We see him say to Philemon, yes
he wronged you, but you owe me a lot. And I tell you what, if
he owes you anything, and evidently Onesimus probably owed him a
good deal. He said if he owes you anything,
what did Paul tell him to do? You put that on my account. Now folks, that's the gospel.
We owe God a lot because of our rebellion against him. Yet Jesus
Christ stepped in the gap and said to the Father, whatever
they owe you, put that on my account. And Mason, he actually
paid that debt for his people. So again, All true worship has
the tabernacle as its center. But not only that, here's the
second thing. All true worship had the high priest as its head,
didn't it? You know, it's amazing, if you
go through and read Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, the priests
are doing most of the work, the daily, everyday work. But the
high priest is still the center of all of it. And once a year,
and only once a year, and only one man was actually allowed
to enter into the actual presence of God. And you know who that
was? The high priest. Who is first? mentioned here at the tabernacle. Yes, Aaron and his sons are brought
in. They are washed with water. But
who is clothed with majesty and honor first? The high priest
is. So all true worship had the high
priest as its head. You can see that clearly in chapter
8, verses 6 through 12. Now listen to this. Here's the
New Testament equivalent to that. Ephesians chapter 1 and I'm breaking
in to the middle of Paul's words, but it will it deals with what
I'm talking about here verse 20 which he wrought in Christ,
that is, God the Father, which he wrought in Christ when he
raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand
in heavenly places, far above all principality. And you remember
Joe's message some time back. It wasn't on this passage in
particular. We're just talking about the same thing. That's
much more than just height up here. far above all principality,
and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is made,
not only in this world, but also in that which is to come, and
hath put all things under his, that is Christ's, feet, and gave
him to be head over all things to the church, which is his body,
the fullness of him that filleth all in all. I'm reminded when
I read that, when I read that of Clay Curtis and the assembly
up there in New Jersey and they were seeking to move out of the
firehouse that they were holding their meetings in and found another
building that they were seeking to buy. And of course they had
to go to the bank as most of us would do and try to secure
the funds to be able to buy this new building that is least new
to them. Of course, the banker, doing his job, wants to try to
make sure everything's secure and upfront and honest. And who takes care of things?
Who's in charge in this area, that area? And Clay said, well, when it
comes to the preaching of the gospel, he said, I'm in charge.
He said, well, who watches over you? He says, the Lord Jesus Christ
watches over me. You see, I had an individual
ask me, who's in charge in your church? Jesus Christ is in charge
in our church, if it is indeed a church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Somebody says, well, he's not
there to oversee things. Oh, yes, he is. Oh, yes, he is. Yes, he is seated
up there. But Mason, we're all also taught,
Roy Jr., we're also taught that Christ himself, in the person
of the Spirit, dwells in our very bodies. So again, all true
worship had the high priest as its head. Now here's the third
thing. And as I said, I'll spend most of my time here. Now as
I go through this, I will mention some things that are not mentioned
in our text, but they are certainly in the Word of God. And I'm not
going into lengthy details in some of these things, but consider
this. Let's now just consider the high priest's clothing. Just
his clothing. It must have been most impressive
to look at. Don't you figure? It was designed
to be most impressive to look at. It was designed that way. Think of it as gold. It has precious
stones, and these stones are engraved by master engravers
with names upon these stones. Twelve stones set at the breastplate,
two stones, the urim and thummim, one on one shoulder and one on
the other shoulder. So you have this gold, you have
precious stones, you have fine white linen, you have blue and
scarlet, and all of these things are woven together and in different
vestiges and these blue and scarlet are woven into these other vestiges. There is pomegranates and there
is bales, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, with fine gold work
and fine embroidery and fine engraving. It had to be magnificent
to see. First thing here. Jesus Christ
is fit for God's service in all that he is. And that's what God
was doing with Aaron the high priest. In type and in shadow,
he was fitting Aaron the high priest as a physical, visible
manifestation of the fitness of Jesus Christ to approach God
on behalf of men. Think of it. Christ is fit in
his deity and his humanity. Both! His deity didn't fit his
humanity and his humanity didn't fit his deity. He is fit in his
deity and his humanity. Both! The scripture tells us
he was that holy thing that was born of Mary. Now listen to me. God did not come into existence
by Mary. The God-man came into existence
by Mary. So, Roy Jr., that lets me know
that his humanity was holy. Holy. He's fit in his deity. He's fit in his humanity. He
is fit in his soul and spirit. That is, excuse me, that immaterial
part of the creation that makes up what man is, soul and spirit. He's fit in soul and spirit but
he's also fit in body. In body. He is fit in his thoughts
and he is fit in his deeds to actually accomplish the service
of God. Is that not magnificent? It is
magnificent. But there's more than that. Turn
to Zechariah chapter 6. Zechariah chapter 6. This is
an amazing thing. Zechariah chapter 6. It's near
the end of the Old Testament. Listen. Verse 9 of Zechariah
6. And the word of the Lord came
unto me, that is to Zechariah saying, Take of them of the captivity,
even of Heldah, and of Tobijah, and of Judiah, which are come
from Babylon. And come thou the same day, and
go into the house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah. And take silver
and gold, and make crowns, and set them upon the head of Joshua
the son of Josedek the high priest. And speak unto him, saying, Now,
you remember the context. They have come back from Babylonian
captivity. They are beginning to build the
walls and the new temple, which was not nearly as impressive
as the first temple, but yet was impressive to those that
had never seen the old temple. But look at what he's told to
tell the high priest, that is, the actual high priest of that
day. and speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts,
saying, Behold the man whose name is the branch. He shall grow up out of his place,
and he shall build the temple of the Lord." Is he talking about
that physical temple in that day? No. Is he talking about
some physical temple in some other day? No. Paul says in the
New Testament that believers are the temple of God. That's the temple that this branch
would build. Even he shall build the temple
of the Lord and he shall bear the what? The glory, the glory
and shall sit. Now here is something that was
never heard by Israelites before. You had men who could be prophets
and still be kings. You had men who could be prophets
and still be kings, but you never ever had a man who was a priest
who could be king. until we hear of this one right
here. David was a king and a prophet, but he were no priest. Abraham
was a prophet and he was a priest, but Abraham was no king. But
here's one who's going to be both what? Priest who shall build
the temple and shall what? and shall sit and rule upon his
throne, and he shall be a priest upon his throne, and the counsel
of peace shall be between them both." Here is one who reigns,
and that's what it's talking about. Jesus Christ is no figurehead
king. He actually reigns upon his throne. And Mason, here's one who reigns
to see that his priestly work is carried out to its full end. That's glorious. That is glorious. But it's even more. Even more
than that. Christ is fit for sinners fit
for sinners to be accepted on His behalf. Paul tells us in
his letter to the church at Ephesus that believers, those who were
chosen in Christ before the world began, that we are accepted by
God how? We are accepted by God in the
Beloved. God has never accepted not one
individual ever born to Adam and Eve in this world. He's never
ever accepted anyone in themself. Anyone who's ever and will ever
be accepted of God, received into his presence with joy and
happiness, must be accepted in Jesus Christ, the beloved. Here's
the second thing. Remember this impressive high
priest. Here he is with all this clothing
on. Just magnificent to look at. Think about this. Christ is absolute sanctification
and consecration. Now, we read sanctification,
we see it mentioned three times in Leviticus chapter eight, verses
one through 12. We didn't read of consecration,
but you will read that later on in the chapter. Think about
it. Christ is absolute in sanctification and consecration. As I mentioned,
Luke 135, that holy thing. The angel speaking to Mary. That
holy thing that shall be born of thee. We see there his absolute
sanctification. But we also read of his consecration
in Luke 2 and verse 52 that even when he was 12 years old he increased
in what? Wisdom and stature and favor
with God and men. So he is full, absolute sanctification
and he is also active consecration. He is, in other words, intrinsic
sanctification and active consecration in all ways. Now I may get into
that later on in this series. I'm not for sure yet, so don't
hold me to that. But we need to know the difference
and remember the difference between sanctification and consecration. And let me show you both in the
New Testament. Turn to John chapter 8. Remember what I just said. He's fit. He's fit. And he has
absolute sanctification and consecration. But it's more, he has intrinsic
sanctification and active consecration. John chapter 8, and there's just
two verses here, 28 and 29. Then said Jesus unto them, when
ye have lifted up the Son of Man, notice the title that he
gives to himself here, when you've lifted up, not just, not the
Son of God, though that's true, Mason, that's true, but here
he makes it a point to mention that even his humanity, When you've lifted up the Son
of Man, then shall ye know that... What's the next two words? Notice
the third one is in italics. It doesn't destroy the text,
but it can convolute a little. What did Christ actually say?
Then you'll know that I am. Mason, he just declared his deity.
he just declared that he is absolute absolute sanctification he didn't
have to be sanctified he is intrinsic sanctification because he is
the thrice holy God Almighty himself and so authoritative
is this that when he pronounced just those two words which is
the actual name of God given to Moses. Who's gonna send, who
am I gonna say that sent me when Moses was sent to the Israelites?
God said, you tell them that I am sent you. You tell them,
you remember what happened in the garden? When they said, we
seek for Jesus Christ. Are you Jesus Christ? You remember
what he said? He said, I am. And you know what happened to
him? Remember that whole group, that whole mob fell down backwards
because Mason, he said at that time, in absolute authority. But look, then said Jesus unto
them, When ye have lifted up the Son of Man, then should ye
know that I am, and that I do nothing of myself, but as my
Father hath taught me, I speak these things. And he that sent
me is with me, and the Father hath not left me alone. Here
we see his active consecration, for I do always those things
that please him. We're not sanctified by what
we do, but there is a consecration in what we do. Jesus Christ is
glorious. He is magnificent because he
is intrinsic holiness or sanctification and he is also active consecration. Now number three, however, we
begin to look at Aaron, And I have to admit to you, I would love
to have seen that. Mason, I wouldn't even mind if somebody made up
a replica and I could see it today, but I don't know that
we really could make it so it really looked like it looked
by those master craftsmen that were amongst those Jews in that
day. But be that as it may, there is an immense difference between
Aaron's glory and Christ's glory. An immense difference. Think
about it. Aaron's glory was physical. It actually could be seen, correct? It was meant to be seen. It was meant to be heard. I remember
Earl preaching about when the high priest began to do this
work, his actual work. And those bells were on the end
of that white linen garment that he had underneath all this other
glorious gold and blue and scarlet and all these precious stones. And you could constantly hear
that tinkle, tinkle, tinkle, tinkle, tinkle, tinkle. Why?
That was meant to be heard, right? to let those people outside the
congregation, outside that tent there, know He's still alive. God's still accepting the sacrifice,
which means even more, God's still accepting me. And it was
meant to be seen and heard. But Christ wasn't. You know that? Now turn to Isaiah
chapter 52. It's actually prophesied that
Christ wasn't. His glory was not meant to be
physically seen. There were a few folks that got... Jack, they got a little taste
of that. You remember Peter, James, and John on the Mount
of Transfiguration? They got a little bit of that.
You remember those people in that garden? Rebels. Rebels against
God. They were, Judas was right amongst
the midst of them. And they felt that glory when
they fell down backwards, when he said, I am. Yes, that did
happen, but listen to what the prophecy of Jesus Christ is.
Isaiah 52 verse 13. Behold, my servant shall deal
prudently. He shall be exalted, and extolled,
and be very high. Now here is talking about his
actual crucifixion. As many were astonished at him,
his visage was so barred, more than any man, and his form more
than the sons of men. Now think about it. Jack Meadows,
they tortured him. And they beat him so badly that
he could not even be physically recognized for who he was physically. Right? They, in human language,
they tortured him to death. They did not simply kill him
in some, what we try to say, humane way. How do you really
kill somebody in a humane way? Come on now, but I don't want
to get into that kind of thing. They beat him so you couldn't
even recognize who he was. And look, but more, so shall
he sprinkle many nations. The kings shall shut their mouths
in him, for that which hath not been told them shall they see,
and that which they had not heard shall they consider. Who hath
believed our report though? It is in the question. Chapter
53 verse 1. And to whom is the arm of the
Lord revealed? They've seen this happen, did
they not? Did they all fall down and recognize
him immediately as I am? No, they did not. Look. For he
shall grow up before him as a tender plant. What's that really mean?
Let me give you at least one part of what it really means.
When that plant first begins to spring up, You may not really
know for sure what it is, right? The tares and the wheat, they
say, look just like Mason when they first start to pop up. He
shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of dry
ground. Now look at this. He wasn't even
a handsome man. That's what the Bible says. He
wasn't meant to be looked at and adored for his physical beauty. His beauty is all inside, veiled
in His human flesh that looks just like mine and your human
flesh. And He hath no form nor comeliness. And when we shall what? See Him,
there is no beauty that we should desire Him. You see it? Now, that's not the way I would
have went about it. Would you? I would have picked
the most handsome, charismatic physique that I could find. I
would make him well endowed with human, manly strength and a voice
that just sounded about above everybody else. He says, he's
not even wore bruisery. You see, men are trying to paint
Jesus Christ in some physical light, where men and women somehow
have some physical attraction to Him, and that's what false
religion does in our day, and they do not declare the glory
of God in the person of Jesus Christ, veiled in very commonly
human flesh, but oh, if God ever peeled that back, and let us
see who He really is, we will, by God's grace, bow down before
Him. And when we see Him, there is
no beauty that in Him, no beauty that we should desire. He is
despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows. I wouldn't
have done it that way, but God knew this is the only way it
can be done. God knows this is the only way
because God intended for himself to be worshipped in the person
of Jesus Christ Look and acquainted with grief and we hid We hid
our faces we hid we hid our faces from him he was despised And
we esteemed him not hmm Think of it. Even our Lord Jesus Christ's
brothers and sisters, we might would say half brothers and sisters. Ellen, they did not recognize
him for his grandeur and his majesty. It says in the New Testament,
at least in the beginning, even after he started his public ministry,
that his brothers, James, Jams ease what about maybe pronounce
that they didn't believe in him why because you can't just see
him physically This is what the world says. Well if Jesus is
real. Why don't you just come down
here again? He will one day But if you ever see him, what it's
going to be is you're going to see that old tabernacle, that
old goat skin building out there in the wilderness. And God's
going to peel back just a little for you and let you see a little
bit of the inside of that glorious building. God's going to let
you get just a little glimpse of Aaron, the high priest, in
all his glory. His brothers didn't get it. His
sisters didn't see it. I love what Tim James says. in the life of Jesus Christ up
until he was 30 years old, because it said he started his public
ministry when he began to be about 30 years old. So, Linda,
he was right around 30 years old when he began his public
ministry. We're only given two accounts concerning anything
of those 30 years. That's when he first was born,
I said two, when he first was born, when he's just in between
one and two years old, and then once when he was 12 years old.
And that's all we're given of his earthly life up until he's
30 years old. And I remember Tim James saying,
what was he doing during those 30 years that we don't know nothing
about? What was he doing? He said, he was being perfect.
He was being perfect, but he didn't stop there. He said, and
nobody caught it. You think about that. I am prone
to think that holiness grandeur must be somehow outwardly visible. That you could somehow sense
it. Don't you sometimes think that way? And today we see certain
people wear their clothes, their hair a certain way and they think
that's what? Holiness. And it has nothing
to do with holiness. He lived for 30 years and his
brothers and sisters didn't catch who he was. The religious of
his day didn't see who he was. The politicians of his day didn't
see who he was. If Pilate had truly known who
he was, he'd have bowed down before this man and said, I must
needs worship you. But he didn't see it. He was so, what is truth? And then thought he could go
over to a basin of water. and do some little ceremony and
wash his hands and clear himself of the guilt of the body and
blood of Jesus Christ. They couldn't see it, could they? But John says there's some people,
there's some people that did see it. John chapter one, listen
to what John writes. John chapter one. Speaking of
Jesus Christ, John writes these words in verse 10. He was in
the world, and the world was made by Him. What's he saying? It's simple enough. He's Creator
God. He was in the world and the world
was made by him. And the world knew him not. He came into his own. What's
that? He's talking there about Jewish people. He came into his
own. But what did they do? And his
own received him not. And then that blessed But as
many as received him, to them gave he power that is both might
and right, power to become the sons of God, even to them that
believe on his name. But this is a certain kind of
believing. Do you hear me? It's a certain kind of believing.
There's a believing that's a false believing. There's a faith that's
of the flesh. even to them that believe on
his name which were born out of blood, nor the will of flesh,
nor the will of man, but they're born how? They're born of God. And the word was made flesh and
dwelt among us and then notice the first thing he says when
he puts it in the quotes. And we beheld his glory. See it? And we, when nobody else
could see it, when nobody else could see it. And we beheld his
glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father. And then
he continues on, full of grace and truth. In other words, to
truly believe, that is to behold his glory. Men and women cannot
truly believe until they're born of God. And if they're born of
God, and they must be born of God first before they believe,
and if they're born of God first, they will believe, and they therefore
behold His glory. True belief is preceded by birth
of God. Someone says, you put it all
in the hands of God. I hope you're really starting
to see that. Now listen to me, I'll close
you with this. This is a question I want to ask myself. May God
call each and every one of us here this morning, anyone who
hears this at some later time in some other venue. Here's a
question I need to ask myself. Is my believing the result of
birth by God? Because there were many who believed.
It says they believed. I've heard men try to explain
that away. Don't try to explain it away. There were many who
believed and just moments later wanted to kill Jesus Christ.
There is a faith that is dead faith. There is a faith that's
worked up in human emotion. And it may even believe the facts,
but it doesn't see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. I must have this question answered
for me. Is my believing the result of
birth by God? False religion. Antichrist religion
teaches if you believe you'll get the new birth. That is a
lie. That is a lie. You must be born
to believe. So in other words, how do I know
that my believing is an act of being born of God? I'm going to give you just three
things. I'm trying to keep it brief, so maybe our shoe-nailed
minds can kind of get a hold of it. If I've been born of God, if
I truly believe, then again I go back to what I first began. Christ
is my life. I cannot, I will not, I will
not, I will not do without Him. I must have Him and His commandments. His commandments rejoice my heart. Isn't that what the psalmist
said? His commandments, to me, if I'm truly born of God, Roy
Jr., if I truly believe God, having been born of God, His
commandments are not grievous to me. When He says do this,
I'm happy if He enables me to do this, right? If He says let
go of that, let go of that. I'm happy when He enables me,
and I'm not saying there's never any difficulty, I'm just saying
I'm happy when He enables me to let go of that thing. You
see what I'm saying? He said, I got a yoke that men must wear.
Isn't that what he said? He said, my yoke is easy, and
my burden is light, if you've been born of God. You try to
put that yoke on, I don't care how much you profess to believe,
it will be a physical, mental, psychological, and spiritual
burden to you if you try to put on the yoke of Jesus Christ,
apart from being born of the Spirit of God. Eventually you'll
get tired and you'll throw it off. You'll buck and kick against
it. But if God Almighty has given
you new birth, then Christ Jesus becomes your life. And His commandments
rejoice your heart. Secondly, you will be like the
one man whom many of the Jews actually kicked him out of their
synagogue. It was what men did to him. This man was born blind. That means really he had never
seen anything ever at any time. And Jesus Christ came by and
he gave that man sight. And when the Jews began to question
him, he said, I don't know much about it. They said, well, he's
a sinner. He said, whether he be a sinner or not, I don't know.
Didn't you tell what he said? I don't know. I don't know much.
He's saying this. I don't know much about this
man. But here's what I know. I once was blind, and I'm going
to ad-lib, but I know this was in his soul. I once was blind,
but bless God, now I see. Now, I don't care how much you
see. You cannot convince a blind person
of what that's like to see having been blind. But if God ever gives
them sight, they're gonna know exactly what you're talking about.
And when he's seen men, when he's seen men, he only seen them
how? Vaguely. Vaguely, did he not? And he said, I see men as trees. How did he know what that was?
See, he's just supposing now. He'd never seen a tree before.
But once he said, it was like, okay, I see things. Something's
going on out there. But guess what? Jesus Christ
did not leave him there, did he? He came back to Christ after
they had kicked him out. Christ came back to this man
who was blind and had now sight after they kicked him out of
the synagogue. And that's what religion will
do to you and me whenever we truly are given sight to see
Christ. They will kick you out. They
want your religion next to their religion. That's another way
to tell whether you're truly born of God. They kicked him
out, and Christ came back, and the man actually gazed upon Christ. He said, do you know who Christ
is? Christ asked him, do you know who Christ is? He said,
well, Lord, I don't know who he is. He said, it's the one
you're talking to right now. You see, Christ was that which
really was meant for him to see. See, you've been born of God,
you know there'll come a time, I don't care if you remember
it vaguely or distinctly, there will come a time when, bless
God, you are blind and God opens your eyes to the truth of the
personal work of Jesus Christ. And I'm not asking you to put
all your hope upon some event that happened way back yonder.
Even if you can't remember that very well, you know one thing,
I know I was blind one day, bless God, even today I what? I see. And here's the third thing. Something
happens in those who are born of God. Something happens where
there's a reversal of this thing called hate versus love. Did
you know that? Hate versus love. Before we were
born of God, we loved ourselves. We loved the things of this world.
We loved false religion. We may have loved morality. We
may have loved immorality. We may have loved both. We may
have tried to have our cake and eat it too. We loved everything
else other than who? Christ, as Christ is revealed
in this book. We may have even loved another
kind of Jesus, but he wasn't the one in this book. Oh, we
loved everything except the true Christ of God. When we first
began to really hear, one of the first things you begin to
realize is I hate that. When before you paid no attention
to the fact that you hated it. I remember the first time I ever
began to hear it, and I only know that now makes it I even
feel I couldn't have said it then because I really didn't
understand it then. I can only say it later. The
first thing God began to show me was not how glorious he was.
I was beginning to see some of that, but I began to see how
nasty and corrupt I was. I began to see how much I was
hating what was even written in this book, and I was supposed
to be a preacher of it. As the Apostle Paul put it in
Romans chapter 7, what I used to love, I now hate. What I used
to hate, I now love. And if that's never taken place
in your life, you've never been born of God. Now, if you love
something, just a something, if you love something, even just
a something, what are you gonna do? You're gonna spend time with
it. You will spend money on it. You
will spend emotion on it. It will be your life. I've used this illustration before. I tell my wife, I love you. And
I spend all my time fishing, working, staying away from her,
making all kinds of excuses to go everywhere and be everywhere. She is not. Is she supposed to
believe me when I tell her I love her? Oh well, he says he loves me.
He's a liar. Right? He's a liar. If you don't follow Christ, if
you don't follow with Christ's people, I don't care how much
we claim to believe God, we are liars. But if you love Christ,
and if you love his people, And if you love his gospel, you are
born of God. I don't care how faulty you are. And Mason, I can't explain that
any further. You know that? I can't explain it any further. It's just the way it is.