When you hear the word priest,
what do you think of? When you hear the word priest,
what comes to mind? I dare say that the first thing
that comes to your mind is a religious man dressed in some kind of religious
garb who is looked upon by men as a priest between men and God.
Let me tell you what ought to first come to your mind. Christ
is our priest. And we are the priest of God
in, by, and with him. One of the most little understood
and appreciated facts of divine revelation is the priesthood
of every believer. Priests are a chosen family of
people who live continually upon the altar of God in the holy
place with everything provided for them by God, serving God. God's people are God's priest. Now having said that, let me
state emphatically, we recognize no earthly priesthood. The very
thought of calling a sinful man a priest is blasphemy. It is the height of sinful pride
and blasphemy for any man to call himself a priest, a mediator,
an advocate, or a father confessor between God and men. We're taught
plainly in the scriptures to call no man father because God
alone is our father. We're taught plainly to call
no man master because Christ alone is our master. We should
call no man holy or reverend because our savior's name alone
is holy and reverend. Call no man priest because Christ
alone is our great high priest. There is only one Mediator between
God and men, and that one Mediator is Jesus Christ, the God-man,
our Redeemer. Not Mary, not the Pope, not some
sissified-looking man in funny-looking clothes. Brother Don, you ought
to have more respect for the papists than that. I can't express
my contempt for the papists who pretend to be priests, who pretend
to stand in the place of Jesus Christ between God and men. I hold them in utter contempt. One of the pastors, Brother Todd
Nyberg, called me just the other day and asked me if I thought
Babylon sitting on seven hills was Rome and Antichrist. I said,
of course it is. Of course it is. Antichrist includes
much more, but there's no question that Rome and Romanism is Antichrist
religion. It is not to be looked upon by
you and I as Christianity in any way at all. He who is our
priest, must be able to stand in the holy place on his own
merit before God. He must have a sacrifice that
God will accept for the ransom of our souls. He must be a man
who is himself God. He who is our advocate with the
Father must himself be perfectly righteous and one whose righteousness
avails for us. He who is our mediator must be
the man who is God's own fellow, and Christ alone qualifies. Jesus Christ alone is our great
High Priest. However, our Lord Jesus is a
priest of such merit and efficacy that He has, by the merits of
His blood and righteousness, by the power and grace of His
Spirit, made all who trust Him kings and priests unto God. You don't need to turn there,
just listen to this. In Revelation chapter 1 the book
of Revelation opens with God's saints worshiping the Lord Jesus
and adoring Him who hath made us kings and priests unto God
the Father. Peter tells us we are a holy
priesthood. Just a few verses later he says
you're a royal priesthood and holy nation of peculiar people. My subject tonight is God's people,
God's priest. Our text will be Leviticus chapter
six, verses 14 through 23. Now listen carefully while you're
turning there. All who are saved by the grace of God, every sinner
saved by the grace of God, enters into that which is within the
veil by the blood of atonement. and does business with God Himself
in the holy place. being accepted in, by, and with
the Lord Jesus Christ as God's priest. Therefore we are bidden
to come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy
and grace to help in time of need. We're given boldness to
enter in to the holiest by the blood of Jesus Christ. That's
what we're told in Hebrews chapter 10. Aaron the high priest could
go into the Holy of Holies. Only the high priest once a year
could go into the Holy of Holies. There where God's Shekinah glory
dwelt between the cherubs upon the mercy seat. Aaron could go
in there once a year with the blood of the Paschal Lamb and
there be accepted of God. No one else could. Aaron representing
our Lord Jesus Christ. And now we believing on the Lord
Jesus come to God. with no mediator except Christ
himself. Come to God as one with Christ
himself and are continually welcome at the holy place. Living continually
in the presence of God, in the presence of the very glory of
God, living continually upon the things of God. Now let's
look at Leviticus chapter six. In this passage of scripture,
God the Holy Spirit gives us a beautiful, instructive picture
of the believer's priesthood in Christ. I pray that God the
Holy Ghost, whose word we have before us, will be our teacher.
Let's begin reading at verse 14. This is the law of the meat
offering. The sons of Aaron shall offer
it before the Lord before the altar. And he shall take of it
his handful of the flour of the meat offering, and of the oil
thereof, and all the frankincense which is upon the meat offering,
and shall burn it upon the altar for a sweet savor, even the memorial
of it unto the Lord. And the remainder thereof shall
Aaron and his sons eat. With unleavened bread shall it
be eaten in the holy place. In the court of the tabernacle
of the congregation shall they eat it. It shall not be bacon
with leaven. I have given it unto them for
their portion of my offerings made by fire. It is most holy,
as is the sin offering and as the trespass offering. All the
males among the children of Aaron shall eat of it. It shall be
a statute forever. in your generations concerning
the offering of the Lord made by fire. Everyone that toucheth
them shall be holy. And the Lord spake unto Moses,
saying, This is the offering of Aaron and of his sons, which
they shall offer unto the Lord in the day when he is anointed,
the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour for a meat offering
perpetual, half of it in the morning and half thereof at night. In a pan it shall be made with
oil, and when it is bacon, thou shalt bring it in. And the bacon
pieces of the meat offering shalt thou offer for a sweet savour
unto the Lord. And the priest and his sons that
is anointed in his stead shall offer it. It is a statute forever
unto the Lord. It shall be wholly burnt. For
every meat offering for the priest shall be wholly burnt. It shall
not be eaten. What does all of that mean? How
is it applicable to you and me today? Let me show you three
things. First, in verse 14, Aaron and
his sons were required to bring their meat offering to the Lord.
They did so as an act of publicly avowed consecration. They bring
their offering publicly. all the congregation of Israel,
as an act of publicly avowed consecration to God. This is
the law of the meat offering. The sons of Aaron shall offer
it before the Lord before the altar." Throughout the Scriptures,
Old Testament and New, Those who believe God, by one means
or another, publicly identified themselves with God, with the
Christ of God, with the revelation of God in the gospel and with
his people. By one means or another, those
who believed God publicly identified themselves with God, his people,
his son, his gospel. In the Old Testament, those who
were the sons of Abraham were circumcised by their father and
thereby identified as God's covenant people. They were also, by that
circumcision, given assurance that they had to themselves all
the blessings of the covenant God made with Abraham. Now that
circumcision, in spite of what papists and Protestants who follow
papists would tell you, has nothing to do with baptism. That does
not give any basis at all for baptizing babies and pretending
that they're born again. Circumcision portrayed the circumcision
of the heart. the work of God the Holy Ghost,
by which in the new birth, when the Spirit of God gives a sinner
life and faith in Christ, he seals to that chosen, redeemed
sinner all the blessings of the covenant and identifies to the
sinner that he is one of God's covenant people. The sacrifices
that were offered. were sacrifices publicly identifying
with Christ, the one promised and pictured in the sacrifice.
Every time one brought a sacrifice when he acted in faith. And I
recognize that the vast majority of the Jews, like most religious
people in every age and to this day, just went through the ceremonies
of religion and had no regard for what those ceremonies represented.
But for the believing, For those who knew God, when they brought
a sacrifice, every sacrifice they brought represented the
Lord Jesus Christ. And they, bringing that sacrifice,
publicly identified themselves with the Lord Jesus, their Savior,
trusting Him and Him alone as Savior. In the New Testament,
believing sinners confess the Lord Jesus Christ in what we
call believer's baptism. Baptism for believers only. The believer comes and in the
waters of baptism is buried and risen again symbolically with
the Lord Jesus, attesting to God and to all before him, I
belong to God. Now should anyone think that
such public confession, such a public identification with
God, with Christ, with the gospel, with the people of God is insignificant? Go back to Exodus chapter four
and ask Moses about it. Moses refused or neglected because
of his wife to have his son circumcised as God required. And God met
him in the end. And God said, Moses, you're gonna
circumcise this boy right here, right now, or I'll kill you.
And Moses circumcised his son at the commandment of God. The
priests were required to take the meat offering from the Israelite
who brought it. And taking that meat offering
to solemnly present it before the Lord, before the altar of
the Lord in the view of all the congregation. This meat offering
symbolized that the man himself and all that he possessed, his
body, his property, his soul, his very life belong to God. He takes the meat offering before
the congregation and offers it before the altar and he says,
I belong to God. That's what we do in our public
identification with Christ. He says, by that offering, I'm
not my own. I've been bought with a price.
I do this day publicly declare that I've given over my life
and the rule of my life to God my Savior and my Redeemer. I urge you, my brothers and sisters,
Every time you have the privilege of joining a newborn babe in
Christ as they're baptized, every time you observe the ordinance,
make the fresh confession from your own heart. My God, I hereby
declare, I have given over my life and the rule of my life
entirely to my Redeemer. I've been bought with a price.
I'm not my own, I belong to God. God give us grace every day and
throughout the day to renew that vow of consecration to God we
took before men in believers' baptism. My life, my all, I give
to thee, thou Lamb of God who died for me. O may I ever faithful
be my Savior and my God. Now look at verses 15 and 16.
Here we see the acceptance of the worshiper in the acceptance
of his offering. And he shall take of it his handful
of the flower of the meat offering and of the oil thereof and all
the frankincense which is upon the meat offering and shall burn
it upon the altar for a sweet savor, even the memorial of it
unto the Lord. The flower obviously portrayed
Christ Jesus, the bread of life, and his body given for our life. Hold your hands here and turn
to John chapter six. I want you to see this. John
the sixth chapter. Our Lord Jesus speaks in verse
48, He says, I am the bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna
in the wilderness and are dead. Verse 50. 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. Now
he's not talking here, Mark, about the Lord's table and eating
the bread or drinking the wine at the Lord's table. He's talking
about faith in Christ. By faith, we take the Lord Jesus
in all his obedience, in all his person, in all his sacrifice,
and take him as our own as a man eats bread. and taking in bread
by the mouth, everything of value in the bread goes into the body
and is yours permanently. We take Christ Jesus in by faith. And eating this bread by faith,
the life of God is ours. We are made partakers of the
divine nature. Back in Leviticus 6, the oil
was an emblem of God the Holy Ghost. Our acceptance with God
is in no way the result of the Holy Spirit's work of grace in
us. It is a great mistake a very grave error to think that our
acceptance with God is determined by the work of God the Holy Spirit
in us. That is not the case. Our acceptance
with God is an eternal acceptance. We're told in Ephesians chapter
1 that we were from everlasting accepted in Christ the beloved,
accepted in him as the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Our acceptance is all together in the person of our mediator,
our representative, our surety, the Lord Jesus Christ. But no
man knows anything about that acceptance. No one has any knowledge
of God's electing love. No one knows that Christ has
redeemed him with blood atonement until God the Holy Ghost comes
as symbolized by this oil and brings the oil of grace and pours
it in. Giving us life and faith and
as he gives us life and faith in Christ Believing on the Son
of God he seals to us all the blessings of the covenant and
declares that we're God's so that the believing sinner Looks
up to Christ as God the Holy Ghost gives him faith and he
comes to God Rejoicing to call the Holy Lord God my father with
confidence We are made in Christ Jesus to be accepted of God,
made by the Holy Ghost to trust the Lord Jesus Christ, through
the word of truth preached to us, the gospel of our salvation,
and believing on the Lord Jesus, sealed with that Holy Spirit
of promise. The frankincense, a fundamental
offering. represented the sweet incense
of Christ's merit interceding for us. Once the Holy God has
called us sinners, though we are, giving us life and faith
in Christ, the believing sinner is thereby assured of acceptance
with God. assured of acceptance with God,
not because of anything done by Him, felt by Him, known by
Him, or experienced by Him, but only because of the sacrifice
God has accepted, the merit and mediation of Jesus Christ the
Lord. So the sinner, being born of
God, ceases to look to himself. He ceases to look to himself,
his works, his experience, his knowledge, and he looks away
from self to Christ. And looking to Christ, he looks
to that sacrifice God requires. And the sacrifice God requires
of you, God accepts for you. You understand that? And as long
as we look to Christ, look to Christ alone, we come to God
with full assurance of faith. But pastor, I don't have that
assurance. I know why. I know why. Because you still look to yourself. It is ever the nature of our
flesh Our idolatrous flesh to look to self. We want to find
something in ourselves to commend ourselves to God. And if you're
honest, if I'm honest, we find nothing
in ourselves. Because I think you're the oldest
fellow here. Nothing in you ever will make
you acceptable to God. And you know it better than anybody
else. Nothing. Not a thought, not a work, not
a prayer, not a desire. Because everything about us is
marred with sin. We look out of self to Christ
the Lord. And we have as much confidence
to come to God by faith in Christ as Aaron, God's high priest,
had to go into the holy place. His boys Nadab and Abihu were
killed in that place. And Aaron went right back in.
He went right back in because Aaron carried what Nadab and
Abihu refused to carry, the fire that God had lit. and the sacrifice
God had given Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. He alone is what we
bring to God for acceptance. And when we do, we can say with
Paul, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?
It is God that justifies. Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even
at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for
us. Oh, my soul, believe what God reveals. Until God, in his
holiness, justice, and truth, can reject his Son, he can't
reject any sinner who comes to him with his Son. That's the assurance God gives.
The meat offering burned upon the altar with the sweet savor
of the smoke of the frankincense as a memorial to the Lord declared
both the complete consecration of the worshiper and God's acceptance
of him and his sacrifice. With the memorial offering as it was taken and burned The
worshipper saw a sight that must have refreshed and overwhelmed
his soul. He saw the altar of God smoking,
and he smelled the sweet incense. And breathing the smoke of the
incense, he breathed the fresh air of God's approval. Smell the sweet incense. Do you
hear the voice of God? God says, I approve, I accept,
you're welcome. Oh, how his soul must have shouted
with joy. I will also clothe her priest
with salvation, God says, and her saints shall shout aloud
for joy. Look at verse 16. And the remainder
thereof shall Aaron and his sons eat. With unleavened bread shall
it be eaten in the holy place. In the court of the tabernacle
of the congregation they shall eat it. That which remained of
the burnt offering, of the meat offering, was the priest portion. It was to be eaten with unleavened
bread, God specifies eaten in the holy place, and it was to
be eaten upon holy ground. since that which was burned with
fire was holy, that which remained was holy. There was nothing impure,
nothing defiling about it, no leaven in it. Here is a ransomed
sinner standing upon a holy ground, feasting before the Lord. When
the Lord Jesus Christ was offered as a burnt offering and a sweet
savor to God in our room instead, that which remained, his body,
his church, was made pure and holy before God, justified and
freely admitted into communion and fellowship with the Holy
God. In Christ, we are made worthy worshipers of God. Paul warns
in 1 Corinthians 11 that if any man eat and drink the bread and
wine of the Lord's Supper unworthily, he eats and drinks damnation
to himself. What does that mean? Most people,
most Protestants and most Baptists, follow the path of the Papist
and they'll tell you, you've got to do this just right. If
you don't have the right thoughts, don't have a clean heart, and
you've got any hidden sin or any secret sin, then you eat
and drink damnation to yourself. That's not what it teaches. That's
not what it teaches at all. To eat and drink unworthily is
to eat and drink without faith in Christ. But we come believing
on the Son of God. and eat the bread and drink the
wine, worthy of God's acceptance. He has made us meet to be partakers
of the inheritance of the saints in life. So now we are worthy
to come to God, worthy to come to the holy place, worthy to
bring our petitions to God, so worthy. So worthy, so perfectly
worthy that we don't have to beg for or in any way doubt our
acceptance with God. Worthy before God, worthy as
His Son. The holy place where the priests
were required to eat this bread, the meat offering, was the court
of the tabernacle. There stood the altar and the
labor. It is called the Holy Place for
the same reason that Peter called the Mount of Transfiguration
the Holy Mount. For the same reason that the
spot of ground where Moses stood before the burning bush was called
Holy Ground. Like those priests of old eating
the sacrifice in the Holy Place. You and I, as God's priests,
stand in the Holy Place upon Holy Ground in Christ. bathed by His Spirit in the new
birth, bathed by His Word effectually applied to us, bathed in His
blood. Here we stand before God, the
place of sacrifice, before Christ our altar, the place of cleansing
where the labor is. This is the door of heaven, the
door of the tabernacle. This is the place of forgiveness
where God says, I'll meet you. This is the place of God's presence.
This is the place where God makes himself known. This is the place
where God communes with men. Not this place, not this physical
place, but this place, Jesus Christ the Lord. Here we're forgiven. Here we're accepted. Here we're
cleansed. Here God makes himself known. Now look at this third thing
in verses 17 through 23. The Lord God plainly declares
that the salvation portrayed in this and in the other sacrifices
is the gift of God. Verse 17. It shall not be bacon
with leaven. I have given it unto them for
their portion of my offerings made by fire. It is most holy. as is the sin offering and as
the trespass offering. This bread was not to be treated
as ordinary common bread. God required that no leaven be
mixed with it. What? No leaven mixed with it? Why? Because unleavened bread, representing
God's gift, could be no mixture of works with God's gift, Christ
Jesus the Lord. As we eat unleavened bread at
the Lord's table, and we refuse to call any other method of receiving
the Lord's table the Lord's table. As we drink wine, fermented,
purging it of the leaven, and refuse to call the observance
of the Lord's table in any other way the observance of the Lord's
table. Why? Because there is no mixture
of the leaven of our filth with Christ's sacrifice. No mixture
of the leaven of the filth of our self-righteousness with Christ's
sacrifice. No leaven of the mixture of our
corruption with Christ's sacrifice. He's the heavenly gift, the gift
of God to his people. The sweetness and joy expressed
in Hannah's song was not found in Samuel, but in God who gave
him. So Hannah sang, my heart rejoices
in the Lord. My horn is exalted in the Lord. He is our portion. He is our
gift. He is the portion of our inheritance. He is our lot given to us freely. Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable
gift. God's salvation in Christ. Indeed, Christ himself is the
gift of God to be enjoyed by his people. The Lord God declares,
I have given it as their portion of my offerings. God thereby declares, now listen
to me. God thereby declares, I have
given it as their portion of my offerings. God thereby declares
that all that is in Christ are community goods belonging equally to God and
his people. Christ is a community property
belonging equally to God and his people. Listen to the scriptures. All things are yours for ye are
Christ and Christ is God's. Oh, what joy there is here. We and God find satisfaction
in and feed upon the same bread Christ Jesus the Lord. If ever
a sinner comes to experience the bountiful free grace of God
in Christ, he will leap and dance before the ark of God as David
did. What grace is here. The smallest service done for
Christ. The slightest gift offered to
God by Christ Jesus. God declares to be most holy. These were just small cakes of
flour. Just small cakes of flour. Do
you remember what unleavened bread tastes like? We take it
every Sunday night. It just, there's nothing appealing
about it. I never would want any, in any
other circumstance, except eating the Lord's table, unless I were
in a position where I had no means to preserve other bread.
Who would want to eat unleavened bread? Only in the worship of
God at the Lord's table. There's nothing appealing about
it. These were just small cakes of bread. Yet God counted them
as valuable in His sight as the sin offering and the trespass
offering. Do you see that? God says it
is most holy. This bread is as holy as the
sin offering. This bread is as holy as the
trespass offering. God Almighty takes The slightest
thing we give Him by Christ Jesus and declares it as holy as Christ
Himself. If a man offers so much as a
cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, he'll not lose
his reward. This widow comes and brings her
two mites. It's more value than all the
gifts everybody else brings. She takes it just looking to
Christ. That poor woman, washed and cleansed
by the blood of Christ, brings an alabaster box of ointment
and gives it to the Savior, doing for Him what she could. That's
all. Nothing great. Nothing significant. Nothing anybody would brag about.
In fact, everybody who saw it slandered her because of her
doing it. Nothing anybody would approve
of except the one for whom she did it. Oh, children of God,
what grace there is here. God accepts anything and everything
we offer Him, including ourselves, and declares it is most holy,
as holy as the sin offering, and as holy as the trespass offering,
as holy as Christ Himself. Nothing evokes reverence and
awe like a free gift of great value, a sacrifice given in love,
grace, and kindness. So it is with the gift of God,
Christ Jesus. Look at verse 18. All the males
among the children of Aaron shall eat of it. It shall be a statute
forever in your generations concerning the offerings of the Lord made
by fire. Everyone that toucheth them shall
be holy. The gift was eaten with great
reverence. The man eating the gift knew that God reckoned him
to be holy because of Christ. Touching the bread of life, eating
the bread of life, Christ Jesus, we're holy. Nothing is more blissful
than the assurance of our acceptance with God and nothing more awesome. I sat here waiting to preach
as we read scripture and prayed and sang together, begging God
to take this worthless man and speak by his word so unfit, so
utterly unfit. But nothing, nothing is more
delightful, nothing more blissful than the assurance that my acceptance
with God and my service to God and its acceptance. is not because
of my fitness, but because of Christ's fitness. Acceptance
with God by Christ Jesus. This is an awesome thing. Bethel
was the gate of heaven, the house of God. No place, however, was
more dreadful, more consuming to proud human flesh, more demanding
of reference. Being reckoned holy, God's people
are a holy, royal priesthood. We are anointed of God for holy
service in the place of God. Look at verses 19 through 23.
As priests, with God's anointing, anointing that only Christ can
give, we have the Holy Spirit, an unction from the Holy One.
The Spirit of God, and by the Spirit of God, we offer a continual
sacrifice to our God. Look at verse 19. And the Lord
spake unto Moses, saying, This is the offering of Aaron, and
of his sons, which they shall offer unto the Lord, in the day
when he is anointed. The tenth part of an ephah, thine
flower for meat offering, perpetual. A perpetual offering. Half of
it in the morning, half thereof at night. We bring our offerings to God
as gifts. Whatever we bring, whether it's
the gifts you bring here on Sunday morning to support the ministry
of the gospel, or whether it's a work performed for the benefit
of one of God's people, or a gift you offer in the service of the
Redeemer, we bring our gifts with willing hearts. because
God accepts such things as we are by Christ Jesus. God's priests bring their gifts
of worship with preparation. This bread was to be baked, baked
thoroughly, and God's people prepare themselves, not thoughtlessly,
but with preparation, we seek to serve our God. Children of
God, make that a matter of concern to yourself. Look for ways to
serve the Savior. Look for ways to serve his kingdom. Look for ways to serve his interest.
Now look at verse 21. In a pan shall it be made with
oil, and when it is bacon, thou shalt bring it in. And the bacon
pieces of the meat offering shalt thou offer for a sweet savor
unto the Lord. Our worship is accepted to God
as it arises from and is accepted an offering fully consumed by
God upon the altar. Look at the next line, verse
22. And the priest of his sons that is anointed in his stead
shall offer it. It is a statute forever unto
the Lord. It shall be wholly burnt. Another
priest takes what these priests bring and burn it before the
Lord. For every meat offering for the priest shall be wholly
burnt. It shall not be eaten. The sacrifice,
he says, is for God alone. It's for God alone. Lindsay, we do nothing for God
that we don't do just for God. Nothing. Nothing. Oh, but this serves people here,
but I did it for God. I did it for my Savior. Oh, that's
so helpful to me. I'm thankful. But I did it for
God, for my Savior, in the worship of God. This sacrifice, this
offering is just for God. And now, we who fully deserve
God's wrath have free, permanent access to God by Christ, our
priest, as priest of the Most High God. offering him sacrifices
of praise continually, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to
his name, doing good, communicating and forgetting not. For with
such sacrifices, God is well pleased. You mean, you mean God,
God Almighty, is well pleased with what I've been doing here
these last few minutes? Is that possible? You mean God Almighty
is well pleased what we've been doing here, singing his praise,
that prayer you offered, we offered with you? You mean God's pleased
with that? You mean God's pleased with what
Ruth just sang and we sang with her the praise of our God? You
really think God's well pleased with that? Yes, sir. Yes, ma'am. well-pleased for Christ's sake,
well-pleased with you, well-pleased with me, and well-pleased with
any two bites you're inclined to bring to Him. We are God's
priests. We live in the holy place, in
God's immediate presence, depending on God for everything. feeding
upon the bread of God, Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, His life
of obedience, His death of atonement. Are you hungry? Come and feast. Feast upon the sacrifice. And as you do, feast as a priest
accepted of God. Amen.