Good morning. It's a great morning. We have a lot to be thankful for. I want to say a special note of appreciation for what was said and shared at the Breaking of Red service at 9.30 this morning.
Also, I want to say a special thank you to the McDonald family for putting up with me. I've appreciated their hospitality and I have honestly been looking forward to coming and sharing with you this morning. There are a lot of things that I'd like to say. So bear yourself, burrow into your seats and get comfortable because we'll have you at least for supper time.
I would like you to turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Hebrews, chapter 3. My intent this morning is to honor the Lord Jesus, to draw our attention to him, one that is described as all together lovely. Song of Solomon describes him as his mouth is most sweet. He speaks gracious words, does all things well.
We do well to think about him this morning. But not just in theory, but in practice. We might respectfully ask ourselves the question, so what after we look at the things we want to mention initially, you could ask yourself politely, kindly, so what what difference does this make when you wake up tomorrow morning, when you go through the paces of daily routine, when you enter into work time, leisure time, social time and so on. What difference does it make?
It makes a lot of difference. Hebrews, chapter 1, looking at verse 1 and 2. Wherefore holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of our profession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to him that appointed him as also Moses was faithful in all his house. Now we could keep reading, but simply for time's sake, you might just turn over to chapter 4 and begin reading at verse 12.
Hebrews 4, says, for the word of God is quick, living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing a sunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow and is the discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Seeing then that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession, for we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
And before we consider the subject matter, let's just bound together and look to the Lord in prayer. Our Father, we thank you this morning that we have a great Savior, great beyond our ability to understand, great because of who he is in his essence, great because of what he has done and is doing and will do in time and eternity to come. It's our desire this morning to honor him, to take that posture of heart to sit at his feet and behold him, and to wonder at his grace and his will for our lives as we go through the paces of our three score and ten or what time God may give us. May the Spirit of God open our hearts in a fresh and personal way to your truth.
May we carry it home in our hearts and in our heads. May it be evident to others as we journey through this day that we have been in the presence of God, that we have sat at the feet of the Lord Jesus, and that to some degree we've been perfumed with the wonder of his person. May you capture our hearts affection, but we pray together in Jesus' name, amen. Sometimes I've said to our students that heaven is really going to be like theology class.
Now there are some of you that may question that, but it's true. Heaven is going to be like theology class because we will be learning about God through all of eternity. How great is our Savior? Well, the Bible gives us a little glimpse.
He is the eternal Son of God, not that he ever became the Son, but he was always the Son, the Son of God. We know from John 1 and verse 3 that he's the Creator. Colossians 1, 16 and 17 tells us that he's both the Creator and the Sustainer, one who keeps the planets and their orbits and their place, and one who puts the little subatomic particles together, buzzing around their nucleus. He is the Creator and the Sustainer of all things.
We know from Scripture that he is the lover of the whole world. That's a hard thing to think of. We think of some of the political tyrants that have come and gone on the world scene. He is the lover of the whole world.
And we know that from 1 John 2, verse 2 and so many other verses as well. He's the one who tasted death before every man in Hebrews 2 9, a bitter taste, tasted death for every man, woman, every human being, every person. And he is the one who is also our great high priest, one that we read about in Hebrews 3 in verse 1. The New Testament describes him also in a variety of other ways.
He's the shepherd of the flock. It's a good shepherd, great shepherd, chief shepherd, but he's the shepherd. He is the shepherd, the one who is superintending, feeding, resting, directing, administrating in our lives. He's the vine to the branches.
He's the cornerstone to the building. He is in fact the author of eternal salvation, eternal salvation. We read in Hebrews 3, the comparison between our great high priest and Moses. Now Moses was not a high priest.
It was Moses's brother, Aaron, that was the high priest in the Old Testament initially. We might consider him as our great high priest, the Lord Jesus, your great high priest and mine. The New Testament and the Old Testament really fit together so well. We know from Romans 15 and verse 4 that the things that were written previously were written for our learning and our profit.
So by comparing Aaron, the great high priest in Exodus 28 with Jesus, the high priest in the New Testament, we can find both some similarities and dissimilarities. Both were high priest and Jesus of course continues in that realm. Consider with me just for a moment that Aaron was the high priest because God through Moses appointed him. It wasn't because he woke up one day and filled out a job application and said, I'd like to be the high priest.
He was there by divine appointment. That was God's choice. Jesus also, the incarnate son of God, was appointed to be our high priest by the triune God. He was of course in agreement with that.
Aaron had to be clean. He had to be a clean high priest. And we know again from Exodus 28 that he had to be washed. By dissimilarity, by contrast, Jesus was without sin.
In him was no sin. We know that from 1 John chapter 3 verse 5. He is the holy, spotless, undefiled Lamb of God. Jesus has a far greater priesthood than what Aaron ever did.
Aaron's priesthood would come to an end when death occurred. But for Jesus who lives in the power of an endless life, his priestly ministry to us has no end. It's endless. Aaron was questioned.
Sometimes people didn't like his ministry. They questioned him. They accused him. They said, ye take too much unto yourself.
We're all holy. We're all special. The fact is God vindicated him. Isn't that what they said to Jesus?
John chapter 7, they told him he was demon-phossessed. Didn't they cry out to him, crucify him? Yes they did. Freely, openly, crucify him.
They questioned him. They challenged him. They rejected him. And yet he was faithful in all of his work as Moses was faithful in all of his house.
Now there are so many things that might be said. But I'd like you to consider not only their qualifications, divine appointment, holy, clean, vindicated even though some questioned his position and his work. But I'd like you to consider their functions for a moment or two. Aaron went once a year into the holy of holies.
He went there hesitantly. They had bells on the bottom of his robe, on the hem of his robe. And the significance of that was so that they could hear these little bells ringing. And they would know that if they could hear those bells ringing, then the blood sacrifice was accepted by God.
If it was not, his life would have been taken. Secular history tells us that they tied a rope around his ankle so that if the sacrifice was not accepted, they could pull him out and get the body out of the holy of holies. But for Jesus, he didn't go in once a year, sprinkling the blood on and before the mercy seat. He went in once.
With Aaron, he went in to remember the sins of the people, whereas Jesus went to remove the sins. There's a vast difference, of course, between simply remembering their sinfulness and removing their sinfulness. When Jesus offered his blood as the sacrifice for our sins, the Bible tells us that he sat down. Hebrews 10, verse 12.
There were no seats in the Old Testament tabernacle in the holy place or in the holy of holies. The symbolism being that work was not completed, so they were not to rest. But Jesus, because he finished the work of our salvation, could sit down and rest on the basis of having removed our sins. We know from Numbers 16 that Aaron, on at least one occasion, interceded for the people, the people who were sinful.
And that's exactly what Jesus does. Don't we read in Isaiah 53 and verse 12 that he intercedes for the transgressors? Yes. Does he pray for the unsaved people in our world today?
Yes. Does he pray for believers? Absolutely. Hebrew 7, 25.
John chapter 17 is great, high priestly prayer, praying for believers. How thankful we can be for our great high priest who intercedes for us. We have one who is the accuser of the brethren. I think he accuses Baptist too, but he accuses the brethren.
The fact is, sometimes our enemy may accuse us and tell the truth. Sometimes his accusations may be false, but we have one who intercedes for us. Can you imagine the Father saying to his son, sorry, stop. I can't answer that request.
The Father will always answer the request of the son, and we have one who intercedes for us at this very moment, who understands our need, who understands what is around the next corner on the bend of the road of life, and who is already interceding on our behalf, as our great high priest. Aaron had sons, he had four sons, some of them didn't turn out too well. But our great priest, high priest, has sons. Whether you are a man or a woman, it doesn't matter if one is a believer, we are a priest.
Why? Because we are part of our great high priest family. How did Aaron's sons become priest because of relationship to Aaron? We are a New Testament believer priest because of our relationship to our great high priest through faith, personal, simple faith in the person and work of the Lord Jesus.
How thankful we can be that God has made salvation so practical, so available. What is the Christian? Christian is one who loves the Lord Jesus. I think some of the choice of songs that we've been singing this morning are so appropriate for our consideration of God's word here.
We're kept by the power of God, not by our efforts, or by default, but by the power of God in 1 Peter 1 5. How thankful we can be for that truth. Now to come back to our question that we posed earlier, so what? Yes, we have a great high priest.
We may consider his qualifications, we may consider his functions, but to respectfully ask, what difference does that make? Well, it makes a lot of difference because we are directly related by faith to him. We know from 1 John 3 and 1 and 2 that we are sons of God, the difference of course in the nature of our sonship as compared to the nature of the sonship of Christ. He's the eternal son, we are begotten sons, begotten through faith, but nevertheless part of the family of God.
As New Testament believer priests, we have a job to do. Many different jobs, but considering the fact that we are priests, we do well to look at the Old Testament priest. What did they consist of? What was this all about?
Just consider for a moment our cleansing. Those Old Testament priests had to be washed, they had to be cleansed. We are, of course, saved by the blood of Christ. I'm reminded sometimes quite often of Acts chapter 16 verse 31, where the Philippian jailer asked the question, sir, is what must I do to be saved?
And the answer was very simple, believe that's active voice, you do this, active voice, you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. And we could keep going, but that's the simplicity of the gospel. That's the way it worked out for Cornelius in Acts chapter 10, wanting to be saved. And God, of course, as we know the story, God Peter to come and share the gospel with him, and this man, Cornelius, God saved.
We know that from chapter 11 and verse 24 of Acts. Now thankful we can be that the gospel is simple, the cleansing from sin, by faith in what Jesus has done for us. We are cleansed, positionally, in God's sight, by faith in the shed blood of Jesus. We are being cleansed day by day through the washing of the water of the Word of God, in Ephesians 5 verse 26.
We're sanctified by faith, we're sanctified by prayer, we're sanctified by many things, but primarily through the Word of God. Didn't Jesus pray in John 17 in his high priestly prayer, Father, sanctify them through thy truth, thy Word is truth? So positionally, we are sanctified by faith in the blood of Christ, practically, ongoing, progressively, we are being sanctified through the Scriptures as the Spirit of God applies them to our life, our cleansing. It's ongoing, theoretically, we should be cleaner, holier, more Christ-like than we were last Sunday.
We should be more Christ-like today than we were a year ago. It's ongoing. Positionally, we are as holy as we ever will be, because all of the righteousness of Christ has been imputed to us. In fact, it tells us that 11 times in Romans 4, 19 times in the Book of Romans.
What about our calling? Well, what is our calling? Well, calling has summarized in Galatians 4 and verse 19 that Christ is being formed in us, little by little as we walk with the Lord. We are to be progressively becoming more like the Lord.
That's our calling. That's personal, individual to each one of us. We know from Romans 8 and verse 29 that we are being conformed to His image, being shaped into that likeness, that mold, so to speak, that is true of Him. Sometimes I wonder, what would it have been like to walk those dusty roads with Jesus and the disciples, to see the expression in their faces, their eyes, to listen to their voice, may not understand their language, but to listen to the tone and the way they communicated.
One of the things that we can say about the Lord Jesus is that He was perfumed with humility. He was willing to touch the leper. He was willing to touch the stretcher on which the dead were being carried. It's interesting that Jesus interrupted and stopped every funeral that he ever went to, symbolizing the fact that one day he will empty all of the graves all across this world.
Two different times, but he will empty all of the graves one day. He's marked with humility. We know that, of course, from the classic passage in Philippians 2. He was willing to sympathize with the needy.
Don't we find Jesus in John chapter 11, the graveside of Lazarus and verse 35 tells us that he wept. He was able to sympathize. He was, as we know from Hebrews 4, touched with the feelings of our infirmities. He identifies with us in the struggles, the challenges that we have.
As we consider our great high priest and subsequently our New Testament priesthood as believers, we do well to consider our cleansing and then our calling to be conformed to his likeness, his image. We read in John 14 in verse 31 that Jesus was motivated by love. Love really should motivate every Christian. Just keep your finger here for a moment and just go back with me to the Gospel of John chapter 14.
And look at verse 31, John 14 and verse 31, John 14, 31, but that the world may know that I love the Father and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do, arise, let us go hence, that I love the Father. Why did Jesus do what he did? Because he loved the Father and because he loved us, us to the point of dying for us. So when we consider our priesthood, we might think about our cleansing, we might consider about our calling, but also our conduct, our conduct, the way we interact with one another as we go through the paces of daily life.
The Old Testament priest, interesting characters, the blood of the sacrifice was applied to the tip of their ear, symbolizing their faculties. It was applied to the thumb on their right hand, symbolizing their actions. It was put on the big toe of the right foot, symbolizing their path. They were marked by the blood of the sacrifice.
So should we be. Those Old Testament priests had that holy anointing oil poured over them. It ran down over their head, over their whiskers down to the hem on their garment. That oil was holy anointing oil.
It was not because it was Friday night and they were going out for supper with some of their friends so they put a little bit behind their ear or rubbed it on their chin or whatever. This was for a holy exclusive purpose. To use it otherwise would bring about the death penalty. It was holy anointing oil.
They were not permitted to make it any old way they wanted or to put in any special ingredients of their own choosing but to follow God's order and God's proportions. Everywhere those priests went throughout the day, there was the odor of that holy anointing oil. In folks that's something that should really perfume our lives. That enabling, that drenching so to speak, that being filled with the Spirit of God.
So those Old Testament priests were marked with the blood and with that holy anointing oil. What does oil do? Well it lubricates, it preserves, it enhances, it makes shiny, special. It reduces friction.
It does a whole lot of things. Just think with me for a moment. You could take your car and you could drive it for thousands and thousands of kilometers with clean fresh oil in the engine. But take that oil out and you won't go very far.
The same thing is true for us. We have that holy anointing, that enabling, that empowerment, that indwelling of God the Holy Spirit to be like a fragrance in our lives, in our hearts and in our minds. The wonderful thing about this is that we're told in Colossians chapter 4 in verse 12 that we are not to engage in will worship, worshiping any old way you want, doing whatever comes natural, imitating the world, but to follow God's order, to worship in spirit and in truth, to be gathered around the Lord Jesus in his person and his work. That's the instruction that God gave.
God gave us instruction because he knows and knew and still knows our needs. He knows what is best for us. Those Old Testament priests were to offer sacrifices, but Leviticus 2 and verse 11 reminds us that they were never to offer honey, the sweetness of nature in their offerings. It was to be exclusively done by God's methodology.
Now as New Testament believer priests, we have sacrifices to offer. It's a wonderful thing to realize that God employs such people with all of our imperfections to be priests, to offer sacrifices and to do it his way. If we had lots and lots of time, we could go back to Romans chapter 12. And there in chapter 12 he says I beseech you, therefore brethren, by the mercies of God that he present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
We could spend a lot of time farmed in Romans 12 and verse 1. But there are six things that I'd like to just highlight for you very quickly. He says I beseech you. You may look at the text if you like.
I beseech you. That was not a casual word. He wasn't saying, well, if you're in the mood, if it's convenient, if you like to, if it somehow appeals to you, this is urgent. That word that is used here would have been used by Roman officers to their men under their command.
It would be used in the context of you guard that pass at all cost. This is extremely important. So God through Paul is saying to us, I beseech you to present your bodies, not only your physical body, but your intellect, your emotions and will, and so on, as a living sacrifice. What I see in this is concern.
I beseeching you. This is not a casual off the cuff remark. And then he uses the word brethren. And in that I see compassion.
There's his concern and his compassion. Brethren, my brothers, this Roman commander is speaking to troops under him, but they're not just names and faces. They are his sons, his brothers. He doesn't want any casualties.
He doesn't want any fatalities, no injuries. So there's compassion here. And there's also a cause. And the cause is for the mercies of God.
That's the basis. And then the command, present your bodies. The truth is, folks, we have either done that. Us in this room have either done that or we have not.
To present our bodies, our physical being, our emotions, our mind, our will to him as a living sacrifice. And then there's a condition. The condition is that it be holy and it be acceptable unto God. And then there's a conclusion.
The conclusion is, this is your reasonable service. This is the most sensible thing you could possibly do. So as New Testament believer priests, we have the obligation of offering ourselves to God as living sacrifices. In addition, there is the sacrifice of praise.
And we know that from Hebrews 13 and verse 15. And that's what we were doing earlier, offering God the sacrifice of praise. Not just mindless praise, like, you know, I'm so happy, but praise God, you are so wonderful, so great in your person, the one who spans eternity, the one who loved us to the point of going to the cross on our behalf, thanking him for how great he is. We have the sacrifice of the, what Hebrews 13 calls the fruit of our lips.
Just for a moment, go back with me for a moment, just a moment, to the song of Solomon, chapter four, the song of Solomon, chapter four, I've been spending some time this summer studying the song of Solomon. And there the groom, picture of the Lord Jesus, speaking to the bride, Shulomite, which is actually the feminine form of the name Solomon. The groom is speaking to the bride and says, Thy lips, oh my spouse, drop as the honeycomb, your lips, your speech, the sweet. To offer the sacrifice of praise, how careful we should be in what we say, in what we sing, that it be marked with a holy sweetness, a preciousness that is born out of intimate relationship, the sacrifice of praise.
It's not a casual remark. And then there's the sacrifice of good deeds. We know that from Hebrews 13 and verse 16. Good deeds, acts of kindness, a kind word, a gentle thought.
A little note, a written note, acts of kindness, good deeds. Then there's the sacrifice of communication, openly, freely, communicating. As we teach Sunday's goal, the youth group, Sunday sermons, communicating, God's truth. That's a sacrifice.
Every sacrifice needs to be fresh. They couldn't take the sacrifice that was offered previously and say, well, it didn't all get used. So let's do it again. Not at all.
It had to be fresh, fresh before the Lord, communication, well pleasing unto God. Then there's the sacrifice of righteousness. And we know that from Psalm 4 and verse 5. Righteous acts.
There's the sacrifice of a broken spirit and contrite heart. And we know that from Psalm 51 verse 17. There's the sacrifice of material things of giving to God materially, tangibly. And then there is the fact that we have to give spiritual sacrifices to God by Jesus.
And we know that from 1st Peter chapter 2 and verse 5. Just go with me just very quickly to 1st Peter chapter 2. We had lots and lots of time. We could look at Revelation 1.
We could look at Revelation 5, 10 and chapter 20 where it deals with our priesthood. In chapter 2 of 1st Peter and verse 5, he says, he also has living stones or lively stones, are built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. And then again in verse 9, he says, but ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people that ye should show forth the praises of him who have called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. So we have a holy priesthood and a royal priesthood to offer to God's spiritual sacrifices.
But we also have some concerns. There's our cleansing, our calling and our conduct, but also we have some cautions, some things that we need to be aware of. If we regard iniquity in our hearts, God will not hear us. We know that from Psalm 66 verse 18.
So we need to be careful that we don't harbor iniquity in our hearts. We are to avoid an evil eye. An evil eye is something that sees the worst in everybody. It's got bad negative motivation behind whatever anybody says or does.
We are to be careful to keep ourselves from being spotted by the world. And we know that from James 1, 27, not to become like the world, to be different in that sense. We know we are not too forsake the assembling of ourselves together in Hebrews 10, 25. That's so important.
Sometimes I've heard people say, you know, it doesn't matter if I go or not, because I don't do anything. I don't say anything. I just go there and sit there. And I thought, you know, that's really not true.
Just the very presence would speak to a brother or sister to a child. Yes, he or she thinks that's important. So should I. We are to be very careful to take the little foxes that we read about in the Song of Solomon in chapter 2 and verse 15, to take the little foxes that spoil the vines, those little things that pry, that grudge, that negative attitude, that anger, that laziness, that selfish ambition, then you could fill in dozens of blanks, the little foxes that spoil the vines.
We know from Deuteronomy 4 and verse 9 that we are to take heed to our soul what we are on the inside in our thinking, our behaving. We know that we are to give attention to reading, reading, reading God's word, reading Old Testament and New Testament, reading it thoroughly, not just finding nice little fuzzy verses to find us a devotional thought for the day, but to read it systematically, to read it as it was written. Can you imagine the difficulty of picking up, we'll say a chemistry textbook and reading page 18 and then page 318 and going back to page 210, it would be mass confusion. If we wouldn't do that to a chemistry textbook, why would we do it to God's book?
We need to read it and give attention to reading as it was written and folks will conclude on this. As New Testament believer priest, in all of the things the cautions that we need to be aware of, we need to love one another. And I say that because of what we read in John 13 and we'll go back to that passage again, John 13 this time, chapter 13 verses 34 and 35. There we read this, John 13, 34, a new commandment I give unto you that ye love one another as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples if ye have loved one to another. And surely the assembly of God's people ought to be the most loving, caring, holy place on the face of the earth. How thankful we can be and should be that we have a great high priest to whom we are related by faith in his shed blood and that he has made us New Testament believer priest who have been cleansed and called and who are to offer in our conduct spiritual sacrifices. Let's bow together in prayer.
Our Father, we thank you for the greatness of our salvation and that through the ages of eternity we will be forever thankful for the Lord Jesus. Help us today to be conformed a little more perfectly into his likeness. Help us to meditate upon these things, to hide them in our hearts and to become more like the Lord Jesus in the privacy of our homes and the privacy of our places of employment in our social circles. May that holy anointing oil and the evidence of the blood be recognizable in our lives.
In one day when we stand at the judgment seat of Christ, may we be then very thankful for what we did with our priesthood, but we pray this together in Jesus' name. Amen.