OK, well, it's good to see you
all out this morning. Remember those who requested prayer. Fred
Cochran, for those who don't know, had a bad week last week. He went to the hospital with
a distended stomach. And they got that settled down. And they were checking on his
heart. And his heart has fatty tissue in the veins. So they're
not sure what they're going to be able to do. They can't put
a stent in him, but they don't know whether they can do open heart
yet or not. And then he was diagnosed with B-cell lymphoma, Hodgkin's lymphoma.
So he's got that. And that is a treatable and sometimes
curable lymphoma. It's one of the better kinds
to have if you're going to have it. But he's got that. That's why
he's been experiencing tiredness and weakness. And also, he's
got a pretty bad case of divertriculitis. But his legs are pretty good.
There's nothing else. But do remember him in your prayers. Hold up for him and Arlene. Also remember Dee Parks and Larry
Hill, Allie Smith. These folks have been added to
the prayer list. Did you have a question? Oh, okay. Okay. Seek the Lord's help for them.
Let's begin our worship service this morning with hymn number
200. Yes, Peggy. Remember Bear Johnson's family. Bear Johnson's family. I think I know her. OK. That's Bear Johnson's family
and Pam Driver's family to be added to this. They can also
remember Dee Parks. The cancer is growing. I don't
know. But believe it or not, he's preaching
this morning. But he's The prognosis is not good for
him. The type of cancer he has, if they can't check it in its
growth, it'll probably put him out of business pretty soon.
So remember him. He's a young man, got a wife and two children,
teenage children. Remember him in your prayers.
He's a fine young fellow. Remember also Sandy Moose as
they minister to him. Hymn number 222. There is a fountain
filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins. There is a fountain filled with
blood drawn from him. And sinners plunge beneath that
flood, lose all their guilty stains. Lose all their guilty
stains. And sin has plunged beneath that
flood, lose all their guilty stains. The dying thief rejoiced
to see that fountain Wash all my sins away. Wash all my sins away. Wash all my sins away. as he washed all my sins away. Dear dying lamb, thy precious
blood shall never lose its power. Will all the ransomed Church
of God be saved to sin no more? Be saved to sin no more? Some churches of God be safe
to sin no more. If since by faith I saw the strength
thy flowing wounds supply, ♪ Redeeming love has been my theme
♪ ♪ And shall be till I die ♪ ♪ And shall be till I die ♪ ♪ And shall
be till I die ♪ ♪ Redeeming love has been my theme ♪ ♪ Shall be
till I die ♪ ♪ When this poor lisping, stammering chunk ♪ ♪
Lies silent in the grave ♪ ♪ Then in a nobler, sweeter song ♪ ♪
I'll sing thy part to save ♪ I'll sing thy power to save. I'll sing thy power to save. And in a nobler, sweeter song,
I'll sing thy power to save. After scripture, reading, and
prayer, we'll sing number 126. If you have your Bibles, turn
to the 21st chapter of Leviticus. I'm going to read two sections of
Scripture here concerning the priesthood. The theme of this is much of
Leviticus is found in chapter 22 and verse 21. in a single
phrase, and whosoever offereth the sacrifice of peace offering
to the Lord to accomplish his vow of a freewill offering in
bees or sheep, it shall be perfect to be accepted. That's the profound
truth that covers all of Scripture from beginning to end. It shall
be perfect for God to accept it. And in chapter 21, in verse
1, it says, The Lord said unto Moses, Speak unto the priest,
the sons of Aaron, and saying to them, there shall none be
defiled for the dead among the people, but for his kin that
is near unto him, that is, for his mother, and for his father,
and for his son, and for his daughter, and for his brother,
and for his sister, a virgin, that is nigh unto him, which
hath no husband, for her may be defiled. But he shall not
defile himself, being a chief man among the people, to profane
himself. They shall not make baldness
upon their head, neither shall they shave off the corner of
their beard, nor make any cuttings in their flesh. They shall be
holy unto their God, and not profane the name of the Lord.
For the offerings of the Lord made by fire and the bread of
their God they do offer, therefore they shall be holy. They shall
not take a wife that is a whore or profane, neither shall they
take a woman put away from her husband, for he is holy unto
his God. Now I shall sanctify him therefore,
for he offereth the bread of God. He shall be holy unto thee,
for I the Lord shall sanctify you. I the Lord who sanctify
you am holy. Then in verse 16 it says, And
the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto Aaron, saying, Whosoever
be of thy seed in their generations, that hath any blemish, Let him
not approach to offer the bread of his God. For whatsoever man
he is that hath a blemish, he shall not approach, a blind man,
or lame, or he that hath a flat nose, or anything superfluous,
or a man that is broken-footed, or broken-handed, or crooked-banked,
or dwarf, or that hath a blemish in his eye, or scurvy, or scabbed,
or hath his stones broken. No man that hath the blemish
of the seed of Aaron, the priest, shall come nigh to offer offerings
to the Lord made by fire. He that hath the blemish, he
shall not come nigh to offer the bread of his God. He shall
eat of the bread of his God, both of the most holy and of
the holy. Only he shall not go into the
veil, nor come nigh unto the altar, because he hath the blemish
that he profaned not the sanctuary. For I, the Lord, do sanctify
them. Let us pray. Our Father in heaven,
We come in the blessed name of Jesus Christ the Lord, the only
name under heaven given above men where we must be saved. We
come with hearts of thanksgiving and praise for all you've done
for your people, the kindness and the mercy you've shown them,
the help you give them every day, the grace you've bestowed
upon them, We thank you that you saved them by your grace,
that you redeemed them by the blood of Jesus Christ, that you
have perfected them in Christ, and have made Christ to be under
them, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
We praise you, Father, that no aspect of our salvation was left
to us, but that you accomplished it all and did what you yourself
had required, and it's to come in the person of Jesus Christ,
take on human flesh, and die in the room instead of his people.
We thank you for that. We praise you for your continual
goodness to us. We pray for those who are sick
and going through trials and troubles. Remember, especially
Dee Parks, who's facing his cancer. Families who've lost loved ones,
we ask Lord your help for them. Pray for Fred, Brother Fred,
that you would be with him as he faces these several things
we ask lord that you would be with him and be with those doctors
and minister to him to find the right thing to help him and cure
him father we pray for ourselves this hour as we've gathered here
that you might be pleased to give us worship teach us thy
way cause us to walk in your statutes cause us to love you
and love one another we know this is only possible through
your grace and through your mercy So we ask for it. We beseech
you in the name of Christ to be gracious and merciful to us.
In Christ's name, amen. Hymn number 126. Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let
me hide myself in thee. Let the water and the blood from
thy wound inside which flow be of sin a double cure. Save from wrath and make me pure. ♪ Could my tears forever flow
♪ Could my zeal no longer know ♪ These poor sin could not atone
♪ Thou must save and Thou alone ♪ In my hand no price I bring
♪ Simply to Thy cross I cling ♪ While I draw this bleeding breath
♪ ♪ When mine eyes shall close in death ♪ ♪ When I rise to worlds
unknown ♪ ♪ And behold thee on thy throne ♪ ♪ Dark of ages cleft
for me ♪ ♪ Let me hide myself in thee ♪ Stephen, stand and receive the
offering this morning, please. Let us pray. Father, again we
approach in the name of Christ. We thank you for the unspeakable
gift of Jesus Christ. We know that you freely gave
him to us, and with him freely gave us all things. We have nothing. As we came into this world naked,
that's the way we'll go out. Everything that's comes in between
is by your mercy and grace. You have told us to seek ye first
the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all this other stuff will
be added to us. We thank you that you have so blessed us and
strengthened us in Jesus Christ and given us what we need. Now
as we return these gifts unto you let us do so with joy in
our hearts and with thanksgiving for the knowledge that we are
a privileged people privileged to be able to be a part of the
greatest thing that's ever been in this world and is preaching
the gospel here and in other places. Help us, Lord, to remember
that. We pray in Christ's name. Amen. you you This chapter here in Leviticus
covers the requirement of perfection for acceptance among the priesthood.
Christ's accomplishment of the required perfection for us and
also the undeniable fact of our utter sinfulness in every aspect
of our existence is taken care of by the fact that God has made
us his sons and daughters. in Christ before God the believer
is perfect before God. He's clean every whit and in
themselves the believer is nowhere clean and utterly imperfect on
every count. Paul made this clear in his final
summation of the life of the believer in Romans chapter 7 when he said, Who shall deliver
me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord, so then with my mind I serve the law of God, and with
my flesh I serve the law of sin and death. I want us to consider this truth
in light of the believer's relationship with God and God's relationship
with His elect. as revealed in the record here
given of the sons of Levi here in this chapter of Scripture.
This is defined by those who are said to be qualified for
the priesthood and those who are not. The ones who are qualified
for the priesthood, that is to say, to offer the bread of God,
picture Christ in His perfection as the perfect priest and our
estate in Him as perfect before God. and they define God's relationship
with His redeemed. The ones who are not qualified
for the priesthood, that is to say, not qualified to offer bread
unto God, as is spoken of in chapter 21, verse 17 and 21,
picture us in our sin, warts and all, and our relationship
with God. It pictures our relationship
with God. And we need to be clear on something. We need to pay
attention to this fact Nothing we are and nothing we
do or ever will do will ever affect a change in God's relationship
with us. We are accepted fully, unconditionally,
and eternally in Christ. He has always loved us. In fact,
when you look at the love of God in Scripture, it is almost
always in the past tense. He will always love us and nothing
can alter that to any degree. Nothing can alter that. Conversely,
everything we are and do or ever will do affects our relationship
with Him. His never changes. Ours never
stays the same. Every believer knows this by
his own experience. The old adage says you'll find
God right where you left Him, and that rings true. When we
take our eyes from Christ and begin to look inward, we find
ourselves in a world of hurt. We find that our thoughts are
not of God, but rather of ourselves, and soon we are occupied with
dark and vile things. and offering the sacrifice of
praise and thanksgiving is far from our thoughts. Our relationship
with God has changed over the years. When we cease to have
a vertical view, we set our affections on things of earth rather than
viewing Christ at the right hand of the Father, our horizontal
aspect causes us to begin to look for and find fault in others. Soon our perspective is warped,
and though we may endeavor to praise God, our praise is that
of a comparative nature. It sounds strangely like the
praise of the Pharisee in Luke 18, God, I thank Thee that I'm
not like other men. And this critical spirit affects
a change in our relationship with God, because we are in truth
offering our righteousness by looking at ourselves rather than
looking to Christ. all the while that we are in
this death-worthy state of mind, all the while, our blessed God,
our dear, loving Father, does not change one iota toward us. That's an amazing and a wonderful
truth. Paul said to Timothy, when we
believe not, yet he abideth faithful, he cannot deny himself. Needless
to say, this flies in the face of free will, works, religion,
and self-righteous religion, but that doesn't change the truth.
When Peter denied the Lord thrice, and when he left the fellowship
of the believers at Antioch for the table of the legalists, it
changed his relationship with God to the point that Paul said,
You despise His grace. But it did not change God's relationship
with him. God still loved Peter like He'd
always loved Peter, and that didn't change one bit. People
like to think when you do something, that's going to affect God's
relationship with you. I had a relative of mine one
time when I was lighting up a Camel Filter, say to me, you know,
if you put those things down, God will like you more. I said,
you don't know anything. When David lay in adultery with
Bathsheba, it changed his relationship with God, but did not change
God's relationship with him. when he confessed that he was
at fault. Nathan the prophet said, God's
put away your sin. God's put away your sin. Not
because he confessed, but God had already put away his sin.
We confess our sins knowing that he is just to forgive us our
sin. Why? Because we confess? No,
that doesn't do it. That doesn't answer sin. That
doesn't do anything about sin. That payment of sin is death.
How is he just to accept our confession? and cleanse us of
all unrighteousness, only just because God has been propitiated
by the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. He must be just
in whatever He does. So we confess our sins. That's
for us. We know what we are. We're embarrassed by it. We confess
our sins to God. That doesn't change Him toward
us. He forgives us because Christ has satisfied His law's demands
and His justice. The first thing I want us to
see is God's relationship to us as pictured by ALL the sons
of Aaron. Now, here's the thing to understand.
They're all Levites. They're all sons of Aaron. Therefore
they are members of the priesthood, whether they are blemished or
whether they are not. They are members of the priesthood. They are all sons of Aaron. They are Levites all. They are
what Peter calls the holy priesthood of God. That involves all the
elect of God. And all the elect of God are
perfect before God and imperfect in themselves. But God calls
them a holy priesthood, a royal nation that can offer ACCEPTABLE
SACRIFICES unto God by Jesus Christ. ALL the priesthood. It talks about the church. The
church is the priesthood. The priesthood. Being sons of
Levi, of Aaron, they are all priests by BIRTH. By birth. Nothing could change that unless
somehow they could go back in time and undo their nativity,
and that can't happen. If you've ever been born, you
can't be UNBORN. It's that simple. Their birthright
was the priesthood. This was their birthright. They
couldn't own land. They didn't have no property in Canaan. They
were the priesthood. Nothing could ever change that.
Though they may have touched an unclean thing or have some
blemish or defect or were crippled or lame or deaf or blind, they
were yet the sons of Levi and were therefore priests. As priests,
all of them were allowed to partake of the priest's food. Both those
who were without blemish and those who had blemishes were
said in this passage of Scripture to be able to eat the bread of
God. That is, the pierced loaves of
bread on the table of showbread. They were able to eat Christ
as the heavenly manna. This clearly declares that their
position was that of a birthright. This could not be attained to,
worked for, or personally merited in any way. They were born to
it, and if you're a child of God, you got what you got, and
you are what you are because you're born to it. You're born
into the kingdom. You're born into the royal family.
They, while receiving nourishment from the mother's paps, could
not eat the bread. And once mature, they could freely
partake. And Peter said it this way, for
everyone that is useful, that use of milk is unskillful in
the word of righteous, for he that is a babe. But strong meat
belongs to them that are full age, even those who by reason
of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
It is theirs by right. They're a priest by right. But when they're young, they're
not ready for it. because they could not partake
of the bread, did not exclude them from their sonship. That's
what I want you to understand. They were sons and therefore
priests by birth. Likewise, maturity to partake
does not make a son more of a son than a babe. Both were sons by
birth. This explicitly teaches that
the relationship of God toward His elect, they are sons and
they are daughters. You are sons and you are daughters. You don't become a better son
or a better daughter. You don't become a son or daughter
by something you did or did not do. That never changes. You are
a son. Why did God give you His Spirit?
Paul said He gave you His Spirit because you were sons. because
you were sons. Which came first? You are eternally
the son of God. That is what it says in Hebrews
chapter 2 and verse 14. Because the children were partakers
of flesh and blood, Christ also partook of the same. Now, what
is first in that situation? They were children. They were
children eternally and Christ then became flesh to be partakers
of what they suffered. They were always children. They
were always sons. These are typical and teach us
about our relationship with God. It's very important to understand.
Christ came and identified with His people. and teaches that
they were sons before the Spirit was sent to inform them of that
blessed fact. When the Spirit comes to the
child of God, He doesn't know He's a child of God. He has no
interest in the things of God. But when the Spirit of God, through
the preaching of the Gospel, comes to the Son of God, He doesn't
tell Him that He needs to do some things to find some things
out or to get some things. He tells them that they're sons. You're a son of God. How can
that be? By the blood of Jesus Christ.
That's how you became a son of God. This has been and always
will be the familial, loving relationship of God and His elect.
You're a son. You're a daughter. That'll never
change. You may do something awful. You
may turn into an axe murderer. I don't know what's going to
happen to you. I don't know what's going to happen to me. I know this, if God leaves
His hand from me in restraining power, there ain't nothing I
couldn't do. I got mad enough on the highway to pull a gun
and shoot people sometimes just because they pulled out in front
of me. You know, that's there. Why didn't I do that? It ain't
because I'm a good person. It's because God restrained me
from being what I really am inside. You don't become a murderer when
you murder. You murder because you're a murderer. That's why
you do it. You don't become a thief when
you steal. You steal because you're a thief. And that's what
we all are by nature according to Mark chapter 7. These are
things in this chapter that relate to the certain restrictions placed
on some of the sons of Aaron concerning offering sacrifice
to God. We find that in Leviticus 21,
verses 17 through 21, when it says, ìSpeak to Aaron, saying,
ìWhosoever he be of thy seed in their generation that hath
any blemish, let him not approach to offer the bread of God.î For
whatsoever man he hath that hath a blemish, he shall not approach
a blind man, or a lame, or he that hath a flat nose, or anything
superfluous, or a man that hath a broken foot, or a broken hand,
or crooked in the back, or a dwarf, or hath any blemish in his eye,
or scurvy, or scab, or hath stones broken. No man that hath the
blemish of the seed of Aaron, the priest, shall come nigh unto
offer offerings to God made by the fire, he hath the blemish,
he shall not come nigh unto the offer of the bread of God. He,
however, shall eat of the bread, he shall eat of the bread of
his God, both of the most holy and of the holy, only he shall
not go into the veil, that is, under the veil, as for the high
priest, nor come nigh unto the altar, because he hath a blemish,
that he profane not my sanctuaries. For I, the Lord, do sanctify
them." They're holy. They're holy. That talks about,
and that's teaching us about relationship. These are typical
and teach us about our relationship with God and that which abrogates
or hinders our capacity or inclination to worship Him. I will not venture
to make comparison between one believer and another because
I fear that I would pick out someone whom I think less of
and therefore fare quite well in the comparison. I also will
not build a straw man to slap around in order to exalt myself.
I only deal with my own experience and relationship to this text.
These blemishes and defects reveal to me that which often prohibits
me and prevents me from worshiping God. That's what they talk about,
the cares of the world. coldness, indifference of heart,
taking for granted the manifold mercies I receive every day,
discord among the brethren, my horrid selfishness, my despicable
pride. These are some, just some of
the blemishes, the flat noses, the broken limbs, the dwarfhood,
the scurvy and the scab that prevent me from praising and
thanking God. But it does not affect my sons
here. That's the wonder of this. That's the wonder of it. What
they do, however, is affect my enjoyment of my sonship. The
enjoyment of the salvation that God has wrought for me. It's
a wondrous dilemma that they keep me back from the privilege
that is mine to enjoy by birth. It's a wondrous dilemma. Perfect, yet perfectly needy. perfect yet perfectly needy because
of sin the old man that nature that carnal nature with which
we were born that remains in us the principle of evil the
law of sin and death and when we would do good evil is present
with us this dilemma exists thankfully Christ sits as our intercessor
because we need him to intercede for us he has made us perfectly
accepted though he has made us perfectly accepted John said
he intercedes with the father. Usually we think of intercession
when he's called Christ our advocate. We usually think of the advocate
in a legal sense, but he's not advocating with the judge. God
is the judge. He's advocating with the father.
This is a familiar relationship. A familiar relationship. Christ
sits as our intercessor, our mediator, because we need him
to intercede and mediate for us. though he's made us perfect before
God. It's a wondrous thing. It's a dichotomy, a strange thing. Thank God in this chapter we
can see Christ. All the acceptable priests picture
not us, but Christ. They are without spot and blemish,
therefore they can offer the bread of God, which by the way
must also be without spot or blemish and must be pierced.
Both the priest and the sacrifice must be perfect. That's the language
of God. The priest must be perfect and the sacrifice must be perfect.
And this is the wondrous succulence of the gospel. Christ is our
perfect sacrifice and our perfect offering. In Him we traverse
that great gulf fixed from the old covenant to the new covenant.
Oh, the perfect needy one, your great high priest has entered
into the veil for you and resides there as such. Such a priest
becomes us, it says, who suffered us to fulfill all righteousness. The law of the spirit of life
in Christ Jesus has made us free from the law of sin and death.
We are complete in Jesus Christ. This is the language of scripture.
We are frail. We are faulty. We are blemished
and broken. We are yet complete in Him. It
doesn't make sense to anybody but somebody whom God has given
faith to believe. Complete in Him. He has washed
us, justified us, sanctified us, made us accepted. We will
never come to judgment because as He is, so are we in the world.
And blessed thought, He intercedes for us today. He ever liveth
to intercede for us. Why? Because that old man that
so invigorates to sin, that dastardly dichotomy that dwells within
us that only death will deliver us from necessitates an intercessor. Job said that there were days
when an umpire, a mediator, somebody to speak to God for me. I need
it every hour. We are complete in Christ but
poor in ourselves. And look yonder, set your affection
on things above where Christ is, behold the Lamb. When I spot
or blemish the great high priest, the blessed one who manages all
our affairs from the right hand of his majesty on high, behold
the one who continually upholds you by his own power and by his
right hand of righteousness, the one who will never let you
go and never leave you, the one who saves to the uttermost of
them that come to God by him, the one who is the same yesterday,
today, and forever. the one who bears you up through
every difficulty and trial and danger that besets you, the very
one who will present you faultless, unblameable, and unreprovable
before the presence of God. Behold the great and mighty God,
the spotless victim, the divine high priest, and ye blemished,
broken-nosed dwarfs, ye poor, faulty priests. Your commission
is to come boldly, with boldness, to enter the holiest through
the blood of Christ. Present your bodies a living
sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, and offer, yes, offer. You can offer the sacrifice of
praise and thanksgiving to God continually. that is the fruit
of our lips giving thanks to his name because ye as living
stones are built up into a spiritual house a holy priesthood to offer
spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ what a
thing this life of the child of God is a perfect son who is
imperfect behold him despise the very thought of spotting
the pristine garment of his righteousness with the blemish of our insulting
flesh. Trust him and his mercy. Ye sons of God, you poor, faulty,
perfect sons of God. Father, bless us to understand
and pray in Christ's name. Amen.