true Christianity, true Christianity. And there's a vast, vast, vast
difference between true Christianity and what men and women call Christianity
in the world around us, secular as well as religious. True Christianity
recognizes no earthly order of priest, none at all. The very thought of a man being
called a priest is blasphemous. It is the height of sinful pride
and blasphemy for any man dare presume to call himself a priest,
a mediator, or a confessor between God and men. And it is just as
arrogantly proud and blasphemous for a preacher to act like a
priest though he doesn't use the words to call himself such.
We call no man father because God alone is our father, and
our Lord forbids that we do so. We call no man master because
Christ alone is our master, and our Lord forbids that we call
another our master. We call no man holy or reverent. We don't do it. People ask me
all the time, and they find out I'm a or doctor, or what should
I call you? I just say call me Don, or most
anything else, just don't call me Reverend. Holy and Reverend
is his name. How dares a man take his name
for his own? Call no man priest. No man. Not a Pathist priest, not a Hindu
priest, not a Tibetan priest, not a Protestant priest. called
no man priest, because Christ alone is our great high priest.
The scriptures are plain and clear. There is only one mediator
between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. Not Mary, not the
Pope, not some sissy-eyed looking man dressed up in funny looking
religious clothes. He who is my priest must be able
to stand in the holy place on his own merit before God, and
no man can do that. He must have a sacrifice that
God would accept for the ransom of my soul, and no man has it. He must be a man who is himself
God, and no man is except the God-man Christ Jesus. He who
is my advocate with the Father must be perfectly righteous himself,
one whose righteousness is of such infinite merit, value, and
efficacy that it will stand me in good stead with God and make
me righteous as well. He who is my mediator must be
the man who is God's own fellow. Jesus Christ alone is that man. He alone qualifies as our priest. Yet our Lord Jesus He who is
our priest. He is a priest of such infinite
merit and efficacy that he has, by the merits of his blood and
righteousness, and by the power of his saving grace, made every
believing sinner to be kings and priests unto God. Turn with
me for a moment before we look at our text. I want us to look
at two texts. Revelation chapter one. Revelation one. All who believe God, now listen
to me, all who believe God are priests unto God. Now there's
lots of talk these days in some religious circles about the priesthood
of the believer. Father Bob, before God saved
him, was a member of that convention that's real popular around here.
And they used to have a squabble, still have them, about inspiration
scriptures. They'd fight every few years
about whether or not this is the word of God. And then they'd
have a squabble about ordaining homosexuals or ordaining women.
And they would defend, each camp defended itself, we believe in
the priesthood of the believer. And by that they meant to say,
we can believe, do, or say anything we want to say because we believe
in the priesthood of the believer. Now, that is not the priesthood
of the believer taught in this book. Believers are priests unto
God. Let me show you. Revelation chapter
1 verse 4. John to the seven churches which
are in Asia, grace be unto you, and peace from him which is,
and which was, and which is to come. That is from the eternal.
And from the seven spirits which are before his throne, the perfect
spirit of God. And from Jesus Christ, who is
the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead, the
prince of the kings of the earth." Now look at this, "...unto him
that loved us, washed us from our sins in his own blood, and
has made us kings and priests unto God our Father." Look at
1 Peter chapter 2, the second chapter of 1 Peter, verse 9. To you who believe Christ is
precious, and to you who esteem him precious, the Lord Jesus
Christ declares to us by his servant, ye are a chosen generation,
a chosen body of living men and women, a chosen people, a chosen
race, a chosen generation. you a chosen generation, a royal
priesthood, a holy nation. Now this is what that tells us.
All who believe on the Son of God, believe on him by the operation
of God's mighty grace, because the Lord God chose them in eternal
election. And as he chose Israel to be
his peculiar nation, typically, representatively, ceremonially,
in the Old Testament, he chose them to be his holy nation because
he made them to be a picture of you, the true Israel of God,
his holy nation. We who believe are God's Israel. We who believe are Abraham's
seed. We who believe are those to whom
the blessings of God were promised in Abraham and promised in Christ
before the world began. And those who believe are God's
priests. Priests. Priests. What does that mean? All who
are saved by the grace of God at the beginning of faith, this
is where faith begins, at the very beginning of faith, enter
into that holy place behind the thick veil where was the ark
of the covenant and the mercy seat and God dwelling in his
glory, where only the high priest could go once a year, every believer
at the beginning of faith. goes into the holiest of all
and begins to live before and do business with God Almighty
on the basis of blood atonement. That's what priests do. That's
what priests do. I call you who are yet without
life in God, who are yet without faith in Christ, who yet live
in your stubborn, obstinate rebellion and unbelief, I call you right
now to come to Christ. To come to God by Christ. Come
to God by Him who alone can bring you to God. It will do you absolutely
no good to come to me. I can't save you. It will do
you absolutely no good to go to a preacher, or to a soul winner,
or to walk down the aisle of the church, or to kneel at some
imaginary altar, or to say the sinner's prayer. Go to God! Go to God! That's an act of faith. That's the very beginning of
this priesthood. of men and women who enter into
that within the veil by the blood atonement of Christ in the holy
place, confident of acceptance because of the blood. But preacher, I don't feel. That's
got nothing to do with this. Preacher, I just feel so lifeless. That's got nothing to do with
this. I feel so dead. That's got nothing to do with
this. You don't know what's been going
on in me. That's got nothing to do with this. By the instance,
our acceptance with God in the holy place depends on Christ
alone. That priest went into the veil,
in behind the veil, with the blood of atonement on one day
every year, with the blood of Paschal Lamb, and as long as
he came in with that blood in his hand, by the way which God
had ordained, with the garments God had ordained, there was no
possibility that he wouldn't come out again. No possibility. Because he went in there as God's
priest, with God's sacrifice, and was accepted. Will you hear
me now? You come to God, casting the
weight of your immortal soul on Jesus Christ alone, robed
in the garments of salvation, robed in his righteousness, washed
in his blood, trusting him, not yourself, not yourself, not your
words, not your feelings, not your knowledge, trusting him.
You come in by him and you'll live forever. Life is yours. because you're a priest unto
God. All right, now with that in mind,
let's turn and see a picture of this, Leviticus chapter six.
If you're taking notes, the title of the message today is God's
People, God's Priest. In this passage of scripture
here in Leviticus six, verses 14 through 23, the Holy Spirit
gives us a beautiful, instructive picture of the believer's priesthood
in Christ. As we go through these verses,
let me call your attention to three things. In verse 14, we
see an act of consecration. In verses 15 and 16, we see the
acceptance of a worshiper. And then in verses 17 through
23, the gift of God. All right, here's the first thing.
In verse 14, we read, and this is the law of the meat offering.
The sons of Aaron shall offer it before the Lord before the
altar. Now I remind you this is talking
specifically about instructions given to the priest who do business
in the holy place. To the priest who minister before
the court of the Lord or in the court of the Lord before the
door of the tabernacle. The previous passages dealing
with these offerings have been talking about the one who comes
and brings the offering. Now the instructions all given
to the priest. Here we see the act of consecration. Aaron and his sons were required
to take the meat offering from the one who brought it, and they
would bring the meat offering to the Lord as an act of publicly
avowed consecration. They came and brought the offering
to the Lord, and from that meat offering they took out their
portion as an act of life before God. Now, throughout the scriptures,
Those who believe God, by one means or another, have always
identified themselves with Christ, with his people, and with his
gospel in a public manner. Throughout the scriptures that's
the case. Nowhere in this book, now please understand and hear
what I'm saying. Baptism, church membership, those
things have absolutely nothing to do with us receiving and having
the benefits and blessedness of God's salvation. They have
absolutely nothing to do with the accomplishment of salvation
or the grace of God coming to us. Nothing at all. But nowhere
in this book, nowhere in this book, Old Testament or New, is
anybody ever referred to and spoken of as a believer who had
not publicly identified with Christ and his gospel and his
people. Nowhere. Nowhere. Just is not
found. Just is not found. The children
of Israel were circumcised. Now that was not a picture of
baptism. That was a picture of regeneration. The cutting away
of the foreskin of the flesh. The cutting away of the filth
of the flesh. It is a picture of the work of God's grace within
us. And yet, even if a man were to
be proselyted into the kingdom of Israel, he must be circumcised
as well, thereby identifying himself with the people of God.
In the New Testament, We come into the family and kingdom of
God publicly, confessing our faith in Christ by believer's
baptism. Those who believe on the Son
of God are commended of him, commended of him. to confess
him in baptism. By baptism we symbolically wash
away our sins. By baptism we symbolically draw
a line in the sand and say all my previous life, all my previous
works, all my previous religion was just dead works and sin and
fit for hell. is the way our walk with Christ.
We identify with his gospel, with his people, and with him.
Confession that this is the only way by which sinners can be accepted
with God, through the death, burial, and resurrection of an
all-sufficient substitute who has satisfied the justice of
God for us. In church membership, you'll
recall that the Apostle Paul, when he was converted by God's
grace, assayed to join himself to the disciples. He found the
people of God and assayed to unite with them in a public manner
so as to identify himself with God's people. You see, this is
sort of like marriage. Sort of like marriage. As a matter
of fact, when some of you men talked to me, some of you are
still here. talking about coming down here as your pastor a long
time ago. I said, find out everything you can about me, from friend
and foe, because we're getting married and I don't believe in
divorce. That's what church membership is, it's commitment. A man loves
a woman, he marries her. He gives her his name, his honor,
and the commitment of his life. That's what love is, it's commitment. A man who will not marry a woman
doesn't love her, he uses her. And any woman who is willing
to have that is an absolute fool. Just an absolute fool. But where
there's love, there's commitment. And if God's people... Right.
No, that's not right. God's people do love each other.
They do love each other. And they're committed to each
other. And they make a commitment to which they oblige themselves
publicly, uniting together in one cause. Should anyone think
that such public confession Such a public identification with
God's people is insignificant. I suggest you read Exodus chapter
4 and ask Moses about that. Ask Moses about that. Because
his darling, sweet wife, Zipporah, the wretch, because she didn't want her boys
to be circumcised. That man, man alive, what an
unbelieving woman can do with a man. I mean, a man. Where is a man like Moses? A
man. A man who dared walk into Pharaoh's court and demand of
Pharaoh that he surrender God's people. A man. But he didn't
want to offend that woman. So he refused to have his boy
circumcised. And God met him in a motel room and said, you'll
either cut their foreskin off right now or I'm going to kill
you. One of the two. you're going to identify yourself
and your own with my people and my ways. Here the priest was
required to take the meat offering from the Israelite who brought
it and solemnly present it before the Lord before the altar. That
is to say in view of the congregation of the Lord so that this is done
publicly. The meat offering symbolized that he and all that he possesses,
his body and his property, his soul, his life, his family, his
all, belong to God. He publicly declared to God and
to all his people. Many of you have done the same. I have by this act publicly declared
to God, to my family, to the world, that I am no longer I've
been bought with a price, locked, stock and barrel. I belong to
Jesus Christ, the Son of God. All right, secondly, look at
verses 15 and 16. Here we see the acceptance of
the worshiper. He was accepted, and we know
that he was because his offering was accepted. Verse 15. He shall
take of it his handful, and of the flower the meat offering,
and of the oil thereof, and all the frankincense which is upon
the meat offering, shall burn it upon the altar for a sweet
savor, even the memorial of it unto the Lord. Now, as you know,
the oil was an emblem of God the Holy Spirit, used as such
throughout the scriptures. Well, what's that got to do with
our acceptance? Nothing really, nothing. Our acceptance with
God is not the result of the Spirit's work within us. It's
nowhere taught in the scriptures. Our acceptance with God is not
the result of our being born again. It is not the result of
our being sanctified in the experience of grace. It is not the result
of our growing in grace. It is not the result of our loving
God. Our acceptance with God was accomplished
by Jesus Christ, the Lamb slain at the foundation of the world,
and we are plainly declared to be accepted in the beloved from
eternity in Ephesians 1.6. But this acceptance cannot be
known or enjoyed until God the Holy Spirit comes in almighty
grace and pours in the wine of his life and the oil of his grace
in the sinner's hearts. And as soon as he comes in regenerating
grace, calling us to life and faith in Christ, as soon as he
causes the sinner to look to Christ, the sinner, oh my God,
I miss it. I'm accepted! Accepted! Because of Jesus Christ the Lord. Accepted. That means God Almighty
smiles on me all the time. Accepted. Highly favored of God. That's the word. The frankincense
upon the meat offering represented, of course, the sweet incense
of Christ's millet. Interceding for believers in
heaven. Sometimes we get the idea that the Lord Jesus, I don't
know where we get such silly notions, but God do, we get them
from religious customs and traditions that have nothing to do with
his book. We get the idea that somehow the Lord Jesus is, as
a priest in heaven, is just, you know, he's pleading and wrestling
and crying and trying to get God to protect his people and
do this and do that. I don't read in this book of
any priest in the Old Testament saying a word when he stood before
the altar. Not a word. After he made atonement,
he came out and said, the Lord bless you and keep you. He put
out blessedness, but he didn't say a word while he's performing
the work of a priest. All he did was brought the sacrifice
God required. Sitting in glory, the Lord Jesus
Christ, by the merit of his blood, by the merit of his righteousness,
perpetually offers the incense of infallible intercession on
our behalf, seeking from God everything God purposed for us
before the world began. Now, with that being said, The
believing sinner is thereby assured of acceptance with God because
of Christ. God spells the sweet incense.
Either I'll take Dodd-Portner or I'll take David Peterson too. Accepted! Accepted! How could? Because Christ died for me. Because
Christ gave me his righteousness. Because Christ, my substitute,
is accepted. this meat offering burning upon
the altar with the sweet flavor 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. Now let me show you where I'm
going with this. When the memorial offering was
taken and burned, The worshipper saw something and smelled something
that must have refreshed, invigorated, revived, and utterly overawed
and overwhelmed his soul. He saw the altar of God smoking. And he smelled the sweet incense
put on the sacrifice. And breathing the smoke of the
incense, he breathed the fresh air of divine approval and acceptance. You remember
what we read in Psalm 132? His saints shall shout for joy. Oh, bless God. I'm accepted. I've accepted. Who is he that condemneth? It's
God that justifies. It's Christ that died. Look at
verse 16. And the remainder thereof shall
Herod 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. Now that which remained of
the meat offering, the priest portion, was to be eaten unleavened
in the holy place, that is, as it were, upon holy ground. You see, since that which was
burned with the fire was holy, that portion of the meat which
was consumed on the altar, that was holy. Since the part was
holy, then the remnant that remained as the priest's portion was also
holy and must be eaten unleavened. There was nothing impure nothing
defiling, nothing corrupt, nothing, nothing at all in that meat offering,
which was the priest portion, which gave any indication of
any judgment, disapproval, or condemnation. Here's a ransom
sinner standing upon holy ground, feasting on the bread of life,
Holy Grail. Now, people these days use that
word holy so flippantly, nobody has any idea what they're talking
about. It is used here with regard to the door of the tabernacle,
that holy place, the court of the tabernacle, in exactly the
same way as Peter used it when he spoke of the Mount of Transfiguration
being the Holy Mount. In exactly the same way as the
word is used in Exodus chapter 4, I believe it is, no, chapter
3, where God spoke to Moses out of the burning bush and told
him, take off your shoes because you're standing on holy ground.
Now, the Mount of Transfiguration was no more holy in itself, essentially,
no more holy and mysterious than Grandfather Mountain down in
North Carolina. No more holy. The ground where Moses stood,
that bush burnt, was no more holy than the ground up in my
garden. It's just dirt. It's just dirt. But why is it
called holy? Because God was there. That's all. This is the place
of God's presence. Here in the court of the tabernacle,
this is where the altar is of sacrifice by which God accepts
sinners. This is where the labor is, where
cleansing is ceremonially represented. And the Lord God says to the
priest, he says, now you stand here, holy in my presence and
feast on my son. Feast on the feast that I provided.
This holy place is the place of divine revelation and divine
communion. It is the door of heaven, the
door of the tabernacle. It is the place of divine forgiveness. I'll write another one last thing.
I'll have to hurry. Verses 17 through 23. Here the Lord God plainly declares
that the salvation portrayed in the sacrifice, in this sacrifice
and in the others, is the gift of God. Verse 17. it shall not
be baked with leaven. I have given it unto them for
their portion of my offerings made by fire. It is most holy
as the sin offering and as the trespass offering." If I don't
finish through the rest of this passage, I want you to get this
The bread was not to be treated as ordinary and common bread.
God required that no leaven be mixed with it. It was to be eaten
unleavened. Specifically, it is said to be
eaten unleavened because I have given it. It represented God's
guilt. All its sweetness, all the savor,
all the relish that the bread had in the mouth of the one eating
it, alone from the fact that it was derived from God's hand. Now that's where the relish and
the sweetness and the savor of God's salvation is found. It's
God's gift. God did it. God gave it. Salvation
is the gift of God. It doesn't take much thought
or examination to discover that the gift of God here is the Lord
Jesus Christ and God's salvation in him. He is our portion and
he is our salvation. It is my portion, or it is the
priest's portion. I have given it to him for his
portion. The Lord is my portion, saith
my soul. Thou art the portion of mine
inheritance. Thou art my portion, O Lord. This is the good gift of God.
Oh, if you knew the gift of God. If you knew the gift of God. Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable
gift. God's salvation in Christ is the gift God has bestowed upon us and
given to us to be enjoyed by us. Did you ever look in the scriptures
and see how frequently, how often the Lord God urges, admonishes,
and even commands us to rejoice in Christ? Speaks of the joy
of faith. The Holy Spirit is spoken of
as the comforter. The ministry of the word is a
ministry of comfort to the hearts of God's people. How contrary
that is to the vast majority of religious things. I had a
fellow sitting out on the side of the garage one day, sitting
out on the porch there. They were sitting there talking. He
was in one of these strict, legal, beat you up every Sunday churches.
And he thought he was speaking You know, real spiritual. He
said, Oh, Brother Don, every time I go here to Pastor Bridge,
I come out so beat down. So beat down. And I said, I quit
taking the beating. I quit taking the beating. Why
go? That's not the purpose of the
gospel. The purpose of the gospel is to call sinners to rejoice
in. and enjoy God's salvation with
the blessed comfort of sin forgiven. Oh, there's so much here. The
Lord God says, I have given it as their portion of my offerings. And thereby he declares that
Christ, listen now, hold on to your seat. He declares
that Christ is a community of goods held in common by God Almighty
and all his people. See if I can make good on that,
1 Corinthians chapter 3. All things are yours for ye are
Christ's and Christ is God's. This is their portion of my offerings,
God says. what joy there is here. God and
his people find satisfaction in and feed upon the same bread,
Christ. If ever a sinner comes to understand
and to experience anything of the bountiful free grace of God
to poor, hell-bent, hell-deserving sinners in Jesus Christ, He'll
leap and dance before the ark of God like David of old. What
grace there is here. Listen now. The smallest service
done for Christ, the slightest gift offered to God by him, is
declared by God himself to be most holy. These were just little cakes
of flour with no sugar, with no icing, just baked cakes of
flour, just baked cakes of flour. And the Lord God says, this meat
offering is most holy, just like the sin offering and the trespass
offering, just as holy. just as holy. Do you see what he said? Whosoever
shall offer a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple not
lose his reward as one of God's. The widow cast in her might.
I know she cast in all her living and it was a great sacrifice
but It wasn't much. Oh, it's much in God's eyes.
Don't misunderstand me. But who can do anything with
two pennies? God can. God can. And God said she's given
more than anybody. That woman brought her alabaster
box. Broke it open and anointed the
Lord for his burial. Folks began to criticize and
cart and yack and carry on, and the Lord said, you leave her
alone. She did what she could. It's most hopeless. Our gifts,
our worship, our songs of praise, our prayers, our faith, whatever
is done for Christ. as marred and corrupt by our
sinful hands as it is, as self-serving as it often is, as full of our
lust as it often is. I wish that weren't the case,
Merle, but that is. That's the way it is. But God says it's most holy. as holy as the sin offering and
the truth passed offering, as holy as the blood atonement of
God's own Son, by whom we are accepted. Holy, holy. Now, nothing evokes reverence
and awe like a free gift a free gift
of great value, a sacrifice that cost the giver much, given only
because of love. Verse 18, all the males among
the children of Aaron shall eat it. It shall be a statute forever
in your generations concerning the offering of the Lord made
by fire. Every one that touches it shall
be whole. The gift was eaten with great
reverence. The man eating the gift knew
that God reckoned him to be holy because of his connection with
the sacrifice. God reckons us holy because we're
in Christ, that's all. And nothing is more blissful
than the assurance of our acceptance with God. And Lindsay, nothing is more
awesome. Do you remember Bethel? This is the house of God. But
Jacob said, how dreadful is this place? How awful is this place? Nothing evokes reverence like
such a gift. Do you remember when David was
fleeing from Absalom and he was hiding out? like a wanted man. He just sort of expressed a sigh,
just a longing of his heart. He said, oh, I'd sure like to
have a drink of the water from one of the wells down yonder
back there. And some of his valiant men heard it. And they sneaked
through the night, hazarding their lives, and went down and
got David a drink of water and they brought it back to him and
said here it is. Can you imagine the joy? Oh my soul, what have you done
for me? You risked your lives to bring
me a drink of water just because that's what I needed to refresh
my soul. David said, I can't drink that.
I poured out right here on this ground as an offering to God. Our God gave his life for us. And by his life's blood atonement,
we are accepted. Oh, God. Let me honor you then. being reckoned holy, God's people
are a holy royal priesthood. In verses 19 and 20, their people
anointed, anointed by God the Holy Spirit. They bring their
gifts of worship, of bowing their consecration to God. And these
priests bringing their gifts bring them fully prepared. God
required that nothing should be baked there, but you bring
it already prepared. God won't be served half-heartedly.
He won't be served with your leftover time and your leftover
efforts and your leftover gifts. You can pretend and soothe and
pacify your conscience with those things until you go to hell if
you want to. God Almighty is going to be served by a people
who make effort to serve him, who prepare to serve him. Verse
21, we see that our worship, praise, gratitude, and devotion
to God arises from and is accepted because of an offering fully
consumed by the fire of God's holy wrath. That was Christ the
Lord. And then in verse 22, We read 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 holy burnt for every
meat offering. For the priest shall be holy
burnt. It shall not be eaten. That speaks
of Christ alone. We come to God, centered as we are, and freely give ourselves to
him and find acceptance in him and
with him because Christ has consumed his wrath. when he was consumed body and
soul by the wrath of God. He so fully satisfied the justice
of God that there's no possibility of
condemnation for any sinner for whom he died. Oh preacher, reckon
I might be one of them? Is it possible for me, for me to stand before God with
no condemnation and no possibility of it? Well, let's see. Let us therefore come freely
to the throne of grace by the merits of Jesus Christ, our great
priest. that we may obtain mercy, find
grace to help in time of need. Come to it. Come to it. Believe it. And as surely as
you do, I'm here to tell you, He redeemed you. And you go your way justified. Amen.