sat down on the right hand of
God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool, for by one offering he hath perfected, cleansed,
redeemed, made righteous, sanctified forever them that are sanctified." Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1.30,
of God are we in Christ. who of God is made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification and redemption. And he said,
I sanctify myself that I might sanctify my people. I set myself
apart, come down from heaven, take upon myself human nature,
set myself up as a sacrifice, a sin offering, in order to set
them apart in grace and love. He sanctified us. How? Verse 12, with his blood, with
his own blood. This is so important. Not just
with blood, but with his own blood. Hebrews 9, let's look
at this. He didn't just sanctify us with
blood. That's what Aaron did. He took
blood, not his, but an animal, into the holy place. But Hebrews
9, 11 says, But Christ being come, a high priest of good things
to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made
with hands, that is to say, not this temple, this building, watch
it now, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his
own blood, he entered in once, not often as the high priest,
but once into the holy place, heaven. having obtained eternal
redemption for us. Oh, how clear it is. How glorious
it is. Wherefore Christ also, that he
might redeem us, purify us, sanctify us with his own blood, suffered
without the camp. As the bullock of old, unclean. When they took that bullock out,
Killed it, put its blood on the mercy seat, took it outside the
camp and burned its carcass because it was unclean. And wherefore
Christ suffered without the gate because he was unclean. That's
the reason the Father turned his back. My God, why have you
forsaken me? Your sins have separated you
and your God. Not his own, but ours, which
he made his own, separated him from God. And he had to die without
the walls, without the camp. So therefore, let us go unto
him. Let us go unto him. He said,
come unto me. Come unto me, all you that labor
and are heavy laden. I'll give you rest. Let's go
unto him. On that last day of the feast, he stood and cried,
if any man thirst, let him come to me. They had come to Jerusalem. They'd spent three days there.
They had offered sacrifices and gone through the ceremonies.
They were going home now. He said, if you're thirsty, come
to me. So let's go to Him. Let's go
to Him without the camp, without the camp of religion, outside
the ceremonies and circumcision and rituals and special days
and Sabbaths and all these things. Let's leave those things. God
has taken away the first. Establish Christ. Let's go to
Him. Without the camera. Now watch this. Bearing his reproach. If you'll turn to Hebrews 11,
I'll show you a picture of this. Bearing his reproach. In Hebrews
11, it says of Moses, verse 24, By
faith Moses, when he was come to years, he was no child. He was 40 years old. When he came to the earth, he
refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He made
a choice by God's grace, but he made a choice. Choosing rather
to suffer affliction with the people of God. He said, I won't
be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. I choose to suffer
affliction with the people of God. I choose to be identified
with the hated, despised people of God. I choose to be identified
with the message of grace, the gospel of God's love in Christ. I choose not to enjoy the pleasures
of sin for a season. Why? He esteemed, esteeming the
reproach of Christ, the reproach of Christ. That's what we're
talking about here. Crucified Savior. Salvation by
the blood. Greater riches than the treasures
in Egypt. or he had respect under the recompense
of a reward. By faith he left Egypt. He went
out of Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king. He endured
as seeing him who is invisible. And that's what it's declaring
here. Christ suffered without the gate,
bearing our sins. Let's go to him. Let's go outside
the camp. and be willing to bear his reproach.
Now verse 14. Why? Because here, on this earth,
we have no continuing city. There's nothing here in this
world and on this earth. Everything here is vanity. That's the conclusion which Solomon
came. Here was a man to whom God granted
the greatest greater than any other man. The Lord came to him
and said, ask of me what you will. Ask
of me what you will. And Solomon said, Lord, one thing
I desire above everything. Now you think about this. Doris
and I were riding along in the car and she had a Reader's Digest
reading and she said, let me give you a quiz. I said, And
that was on the quiz. If you had a wish, one wish, one thing you desire above everything
to be granted, what would you ask for? Solomon had that put to him by
God. You know what he replied? Give
me wisdom. Wisdom. Well you say give me
Christ, Christ is wisdom. Christ is wisdom. Give me wisdom.
And this man to whom God gave wisdom, when he tried everything,
he tried wealth, he tried riches, he tried knowledge, he tried
building great things, cities, he tried everything. And then
when he got through trying it all, he said, it's all vanity.
Vanity of vanities. You know what he said? Vanity
of vanities. So everything here is the passion
of this world fadeth away. God's going to destroy this earth. So we have nothing here, but
we listen. We seek one to come. We seek
a city. We seek a city. Our Lord talked
about it in John 14. You know this without turning
to it, but let's turn and read it. John 14. He said, and you know I read
about it there in Hebrews 11, Abraham was looking for a city
who was builder and maker of God, looking for his kingdom. And here in John 14, our Lord
said to his disciples, let not your heart be troubled. You believe
in God? You do believe in God, don't
you? Believe also in me. In my Father's house are many
dwelling places. We're not talking there about
mansions as we know about it, palaces and big houses. We're talking about that dwelling
place that I read about in 2 Corinthians 5 a while ago. If our earthly
house be desired, we have a dwelling place, a building, not made with
hands, eternal in the heavens. Not that we would be unclothed,
but clothed upon with mortality. and life. And so when we lay
this body aside, we go to be with Him and we have a dwelling
place already prepared. And that's what our Lord, in
my Father's house, are many dwelling places. Not made with hands, but a building
of God. And that's what He's saying here.
I go to prepare that dwelling for you. by my blood, by my death,
by my sacrifice, I prepare a place, a dwelling for you, a place for
you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, a dwelling for you, an inheritance for you, you see, a reservation, you have
a place reserved by Him, through Him, because of His love and
grace and blood. I'll come again and receive you
unto myself, and take you to that place, and seat you in that
place prepared." And we seek the city. We seek the city. That's what he said. This world
is not our dwelling place. It's temporary, just like he
said about Abraham. He never owned anything. God
promised him a land, but he never owned any of it. And he went
through like a pilgrim, sojourner, with his sons, Isaac and Isaac's
son. And dwelt in tents. He looked
for a city. And we're looking for a city.
See that? We seek a city. Alright, verse
15. And by Him, by Christ, we go
to Him, and we go to Him because there's nothing here. That's
why we go to Him, because there's nothing here. We go to him because
he's preparing for us a place. We go to him because we seek
a city. We go to him. And by him, look
at verse 15. Therefore let us offer the sacrifice. Let us offer a sacrifice. Now
let's read this. These two verses. Let us offer
the sacrifice of praise to God continually. That is the fruit
of our lips by giving thanks to his name, and to do good and
communicate, forget not, for with such sacrifices God is well
pleased." Now if you were going to speak on those two verses,
how would you proceed? Well, here's the way I proceed.
We're talking about offering sacrifices. And the only people
who can offer sacrifices are priests. And those sacrifices
are offered to God. So we'll go back to the Old Testament.
In the Old Testament, priests offered sacrifices to God on
behalf of the people. Turn to Hebrews 5. Let's read
about it here. Hebrews 5. Hebrews 5. For every high priest,
Hebrews 5.1, taken from among men, is ordained for men in things
pertaining to God. that he may offer both gifts
and sacrifices for sin, who can have compassion on the ignorant
and on them that are out of the way, for that he himself also
is compassed with infirmity. These priests weren't perfect.
Christ did. And by reason hereof he ought
as for the peoples also for himself to offer for sin. And no man
takes this honor to himself, but he that is called of God,
as was Abraham. These priests offered sacrifice.
Now what's the next verse? So also Christ glorified not
himself to be made a high priest, but he that said to him, Thou
art my son, this day have I begotten thee. He, by God, was made the
high priest. They were pictures in touch.
He was a priest after the order of Melchizedek. And these priests
came to God with blood sacrifices and offerings. And then Christ
came. and fulfilled all those so that
those priests are no more. They are no more. He's the high
priest. He offers one sacrifice, one
atonement, one sacrifice of reconciliation. Now then, he's made us priests. He's made us kings and priests
unto God. You're a priest, I'm a priest.
And we offer sacrifices, not blood. His sacrifice is the only
one that's needed. So we offer sacrifices. And these
two verses give you three types of sacrifice that we offer. Look
at verse 15. So by Christ, our high priest,
let us offer to God three sacrifices. Here's the first one. Sacrifices
of praise. Praise God. I'm a priest, you're
a priest. We were singing, we were praising
God while He goes, you let us in singing. We were offering
praise to God. Priest of God. Kings and priests.
Royal priesthood. He said you are a chosen generation,
a royal priesthood. That's king priest. He has made
us under our God kings and priests. And we, a priest offers a sacrifice. And so we bring the sacrifice
of praise. That's the reason I tell everybody
here when we're worshiping God, and I come up here and I announce,
let's turn to number 400 and somebody saying, I will sing
of my Redeemer. Get you a book and sing of the
Redeemer. Praise God. You're a priest. What's a priest without a sacrifice?
What's a priest who stands with his arms folded while everybody
else is coming to God? You say, I can't sing. You can hum. You can mouth the
words. You can praise God. Isn't that
right? Where's the priest? He said,
let, therefore by him, let us therefore offer the sacrifice
of praise. Now, if you're not a priest,
don't come. If you don't know him, don't praise him. If you
don't love him, don't praise him. But if you do, praise him. Bless the Lord, O my soul. All
that's within me, bless his holy name. Just don't be spectators
in a worship service. Stay home. That's too hard, isn't
it? No, it's not. It is not. If you're in a worship service,
worship. That's right. God's offended when you don't. He's offended. Praise. Now, what's
the second sacrifice? Look at verse 15. Offer the sacrifice
of praise to God continually. Don't ever stop. That is the
fruit of our lips. Your lips. The fruit of your
lips. See, that goes back to the first
fruits. When the people of Israel planted a garden, it was understood. When you went out and gathered
the first ear of corn, the first sheath of wheat, you took it
to the temple. Isn't that right? The first fruits
you gave it to God. And that's what these lips are
supposed to do. The fruit of our lips. Giving
thanks to God. Thank you. Thank you. Carolee and Marty play a song,
how long has it been? How long has it been since you
said, thank you? Lord, I thank you. Thanksgiving
ought to be the easiest thing in the world for a believer.
Under God, everything we have, God gave us. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. In everything
give thanks. That's what scripture says. Come
before God, let your supplication be done with what? Thanksgiving. who sacrifices the fruit of our
lips. Well, you thank Him for me. I'll
thank Him for me. You thank Him for you. You thank
Him. And then here's the third one,
verse 16. To do good. To do good. To help others. To relieve the
unfortunate. To relieve the distressed. to
do good and to communicate. What's to communicate is to give,
is to share what you have. God didn't give us what we have
to lavish it on ourselves. He gave it to us to communicate,
to share with others. I don't forget to do that. For
with such sacrifices, I'm reading the Bible now, you listen to
me, for with such sacrifices God is well-placed. Almighty God is well pleased
when you praise Him, when we thank Him, and when we help somebody
else, lend a hand or give or help somebody. That's a sacrifice. And I tell you, with that, God
is well pleased. Now that's what that says. That's
what that says. Don't forget. Verse 15 says,
offer the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving with your lips. But while you're doing that,
don't forget to act and do good. Don't forget. Because that's
part of it. Okay. Verse 17 now, let's look
at this one. Obey them that have the rule
over you. We talked about that this morning.
Our pastors and our elders and our teachers, submit yourselves. They watch for your souls. They
watch for your souls. When I read that, I thought of
a verse in 1 Timothy. 1 Timothy chapter 4, verse 16. I thought about what Paul said
to young Timothy when I read this. Remember our preachers and pastors
and teachers and our elders and other visiting preachers that
preach the Word to us. They watch for our soul. Look
at verse 16 of 1 Timothy 4. Take heed, Timothy, to yourself and to your doctrine. Continue
in them. For in so doing, in doing this,
you'll both save yourself. and them that hear you. And they watch. They watch for
themselves and watch for you and they watch what they preach
and they got to give an account to God. I found an article in a publication. I get a paper from England Brother
Bill Clark has been associated with this paper for many years. It has a circulation of about
300,000 in England. It's a religious
paper, Evangelical Times. And the headlines caught my eye. And I read this article and I
cut it out and brought it to read it to you. Most unusual. most unusual. And it fits right
here. These men that preach must give
an account. And you must give an account
for what you hear. And I've had to give an account
for what I preach. But their headline says, Vicar. That's what they call pastors
in the Church of England, the Vicar. Vicar. I'll use the word pastor. Because
that's what he is, he's a pastor of a parish, a vicar. Here's
the headlines, pastor apologizes for preaching nonsense. Now that
caught my eye and I thought, I'm going to read it. He apologizes
for preaching nonsense. A pastor has publicly apologized
to his congregation for preaching nonsense. Reverend Marcus Ronchetti,
who has been pastor of All Saints Church in Worthing since 1997
years, has begged forgiveness in a farewell letter to his congregation. He admitted in the letter that
he had not been a very good pastor. And I asked your forgiveness
for all the times I haven't met your expectations. for the nonsense
I preached and for the untidy leadership that has caused all
of us to struggle. Mr. Ron Chetty said he had tried
to please all people and all ages in his sermons and he ended
up preaching absolutely nonsense. Isn't that something? Now then, let's say to one another,
let's preach the Word of God, let's hear the Word of God, as
those who must give an account. He's given an account to some
people, but there's an account in coming that's a whole lot
more serious than this. That's sad, isn't it? I feel for him. I feel for them. had to listen to his nonsense. Look at verse 17 again. Now,
listen to them, obey them, follow them that have the rule over
you, that preach to you the word of God. Submit yourself. They
watch for your souls as they that must give an account, that
they may do it with joy and not with grief. That's unprofitable
for you. Now, brethren, verse 18. Paul says pray for us. Pray for those
who preach. Pray for us. The work of the
ministry is so important to all of us, to me and to you. And
we ought to be praying that God will bless the preacher so that
we may be blessed. Whoever stands in this pulpit
or any other pulpit, let's pray for them. That God will speak
to them and make them His spokesman, His ambassador to us. Let's pray
for us. that we may have a good conscience
in all things, willing to live honestly, truthfully, before
God and before men, declaring the Word of God. And I beseech
you rather to do this, pray for me that I may be restored to
you the sooner. Somebody asked Spurgeon one time,
I read this in his autobiography, somebody asked him one time,
said, To what do you attribute the success of your ministry,
your preaching? If you picked out some single
thing that you felt like contributed to the success of your ministry,
you know what he replied? My congregation prays for me. That's what he said. They pray
for me. I tell you, when your doctor
is going to operate on you, you pray for him, don't you? I do.
I pray for God to give him wisdom and a steady hand and knowledge
of what he's about to do. Well, when I operate on you on
Sunday morning, Sunday night, you pray for me that God give
me a steady hand and a steady heart. Pray for Cecil when he
gets up here and for John and Bob and Ron and Frank and the
others who preach today. Pray that God will give him a
steady hand, steady heart, clear mind, bold, bold heart and backbone. Pray for him. Because it's only
as God blesses him that we're going to be blessed. Pray for
Mike as he sings, as he selects his songs. It's only as God blesses
him that we're going to be blessed. Now that's just so. And that's
the reason Paul says, pay for us. That we may have a good conscience,
and all things, willing to live honestly. And I beseech you,
verse 19, to rather please do this, that I may be restored
to you the sooner. We have enemies. And I'm not
talking about flesh enemies, I'm talking about Satan. We wrestle
not against flesh and blood, that's not our enemies at all.
We care not what men think. Satan, he doesn't want the gospel
to be preached. It's his kingdom we're invading.
It's his armor we're destroying. It's his possessions that we're
reclaiming. And he puts up a fight. So we
better pray for each other. We better, alright, here's the
clothes. Paul had told them to pray for
him, now he's going to pray for them. Listen. He's going to pray
for them. Now, the God of peace. He is
the God of peace. That brought again from the dead.
He's the author of peace. He brought again from the dead
our Lord Jesus Christ. Made peace for the blood of his
cross and raised him from the dead. That great shepherd of
the sheep. Through the blood of the everlasting
covenant. Make you perfect, mature in every good work to do His
will. Working in you, not just for
you, but in you. Not as far as, but in us. Working
in us that which is well-pleasing in His sight. Back there in verse
16, those three things were read. He sacrifices, God is well-pleased. May He work in you that which
is well-pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ. to whom
be glory forever and ever. Now brethren, verse 22, we need
to look at this. I beseech you brethren to suffer
to accept this word of exhortation. Isn't that what he's saying Cecil? Suffer to be so. Accept it. Receive it. We don't preach down
to people and we don't rebuke them and reprove us and those
things to hurt These exhortations are to help, so receive it. Receive
this exhortation. I've written a letter to you
in a few words, and know that our brother Timothy has been
set free, sat at liberty, been in jail and has set him free,
with whom if he comes shortly I'll see you. Salute, salute
those that have the rule over you. Salute the pastors and elders
and preachers and teachers and all the saints. Tell them all.
Paul says, hello. God bless you. And the folks
down here in Italy, they salute you. So grace be with you all. Amen.