Alright, well let me just first start by thanking Pastor Shelley for the chance to come back.
A lot has changed in a year, I see some familiar faces, some not.
Brother Nick Gomez, last time I was here I believe was single, now he's married, kid
on the way.
So I don't know what's going to happen next year, perhaps he'll have, you know, three
kids running around, you're probably wondering how that's possible, but could have triplets
or something.
Anyway, let's look at 1 Peter chapter 2.
Look, if there's any movement in which a woman can have triplets, it's this movement, okay?
Because women get blessed with children frequently here in the new IFP.
1 Peter chapter 2, notice what it says in verse number 4?
It says, to whom coming, I forgot to put this on, hold on.
My mistake.
1 Peter chapter 2, it says in verse 4, to whom coming, as unto a lively stone, disallowed
indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious.
Is it okay if I put this in the pocket here, Brother Nick?
Verse number 5, ye also with lively stones are built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood
to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, behold, I lay in Zion a chief corner stone,
elect, precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.
This is quoted from Isaiah chapter 28 verse 16.
I won't go there for sake of time, but it's about Jesus Christ, okay?
He is that chief corner stone, but he was a stone that many people who rejected the
gospel stumbled at, but he's not a stone we stumbled at because we believed on him.
Those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ have been enlightened.
They're not confounded.
Look at verse number 7, unto you therefore which believe, he is precious, but unto them
which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the
head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling, like I just referred to, and a rock of offense,
even to them which stumble at the word being disobedient, were unto also they were appointed.
So for us, Jesus Christ is precious, but for those who reject him, he's anything but precious.
In fact, he is going to be the source of the wrath they will feel forever, but not for
us, right?
Because we believed on him, because we've accepted the gospel, we have not rejected
him.
He's not a stone of stumbling.
Look at 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 9.
For us, he's our high priest, but ye are a chosen generation, it says in 1 Peter 2
9, a royal priesthood and holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praises
of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
And what I wanted you to focus on is the phrase there, a royal priesthood.
The title of my sermon this morning is The Spiritual Priesthood.
What I'll be talking about is the priesthood of the believer.
Now you might be wondering, how does this doctrine impact your life?
And that's what I want to focus on over the course of this sermon is how the doctrine
of the priesthood of the believer impacts you.
How is that relevant to you?
Now what is the priesthood of the believer?
This is the doctrine that says those who are saved are part of a spiritual priesthood.
Now of course the devil has his counterfeit, and you guys are probably familiar with what
I'm talking about.
That would be the Catholic Church, whose adherents believe in their own priesthood, the Catholic
priesthood, which is full of a bunch of pedophiles, and I have more, I'll have more about that
a little later on, but there's the satanic counterfeit.
What exactly is that emulating?
What exactly is that a counterfeit of?
Well it's a counterfeit of the true priesthood, the spiritual priesthood, of which we're members.
Go to Hebrews chapter 7 if you would, Hebrews chapter number 7.
What I want to do is I want to make some connections between the priesthood of the believer and
the Levitical, the Aaronic priesthood in the Old Testament, to show you how one figures
the other, pictures the other, and we'll also take a look at our high priest, Jesus Christ,
and the types of that high priest in the Old Testament as well through that Old Testament
high priest, which was of course supposed to be hereditary.
As you turn to Hebrews chapter 7, the Bible reads in Revelation chapter 1, and from Christ
Jesus who was the faithful witness unto the first begotten of the dead and the prince
of the kings of the earth unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own
blood and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his father to him be glory and dominion
forever and ever.
So here we see biblical proof that in fact those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
are priests, not these Catholic devils, not the counterfeits out there who call themselves
priests when they've rejected the gospel.
We're priests.
We're the ones who are part of that spiritual priesthood.
We're made priests unto God and his father, the Bible says.
Now what's the purpose of the priesthood?
Well in the Old Testament, the reason why God instituted this priesthood is because
they were supposed to serve God.
It was for service.
It was also to offer up sacrifices.
It was to offer up gifts, to do the service in the tabernacle as well, to be messengers
of God.
In the New Testament, we have that same exact responsibility.
We ought to be serving God with our lives.
And we offer in the New Testament spiritual sacrifices, spiritual sacrifices.
My first point is the spiritual priesthood is anchored by a great high priest.
And who is that high priest?
It'd be Jesus Christ himself.
As you read the scripture, let's say you're doing a Bible reading from Genesis all the
way through to Revelation and you're going through the Old Testament, here's my challenge
for you.
Try and find Jesus on every page.
Try and find Jesus on every chapter and every page and it'll enhance your understanding
of the Old Testament.
Because what you'll quickly realize is unlike what the Jews say, this entire Bible points
to Jesus Christ.
This entire Bible points to Calvary.
You'll see picture after picture, figure after figure.
Hebrews chapter 4, it says in verse 14, you don't have to turn there.
You're in Hebrews 7.
I just wanted to quote something from Hebrews 4.
It says, seeing then that we have a great high priest that has passed into the heavens,
Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.
And like I said, this entire perfectly preserved King James Bible points to that high priest.
It points to that great high priest who sacrificed himself.
Look at Hebrews 7 verse 14.
Notice what it says there, for it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah, of which
tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood.
And it is yet far more evident that after the similitude of Melchizedek, there ariseth
another priest who was made not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the
power of an endless life, for he testifieth, thou art a priest forever, after the order
of Melchizedek.
So in the Old Testament, the priesthood was after the order of Aaron.
It was designed to be Aaron and his sons who held that office.
But we see that under the New Covenant, the priesthood of the Lord Jesus Christ is a priesthood
after the order of Melchizedek.
Now you might be wondering, who is Melchizedek?
Melchizedek, the Bible says, was made like unto the Son of God.
Melchizedek was an Old Testament theophany, is the fancy theological term for it.
It's basically an Old Testament appearance of Jesus Christ.
That is who Melchizedek is.
And again, instead of Aaron and his sons, the spiritual priesthood consists of Jesus
Christ and all believers.
Skip down to verse 22 in Hebrews chapter 7.
It says, By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament.
And they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason
of death.
But this man, because he continued with ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood.
So what's the Bible saying here?
Well the priesthood after the order of Aaron had many high priests.
It wasn't just Aaron forever.
Why?
Because those men died.
They weren't immortal.
Aaron died eventually.
And so did the other high priests.
But Jesus Christ's priesthood is unchangeable because he is a high priest who never ever
allowed death to beat him because he rose again on the third day, the Bible says.
He continues forever and so his priesthood is unchangeable.
Go to Hebrews chapter 9.
Hebrews chapter 9, real close to where you're at already.
Additionally, here's something special about our high priest.
Instead of going into a physical tabernacle and sacrificing an animal, Jesus sacrificed
himself.
And then he went up into heaven and sprinkled the blood on the mercy seat in heaven.
That physical tabernacle, it pictured heavenly things.
And that's why God was so specific, starting with Moses, about how he wanted it to be built.
Because every single aspect of that tabernacle typified heavenly things.
Hebrews chapter 9, it says, but Christ, being common high priest of good things to come,
by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of
this building, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he entered
in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.
Jesus did not enter into the tabernacle made with hands.
Now again, that Old Testament priesthood consisted of high priests who entered into
what was called the holiest of all, it was a special component of the tabernacle that
only the high priest was allowed to enter into.
And the Bible says that that high priest entered into the holiest of all to atone not just
for his own sins, but also for the sins of others, also for the sins of the children
of Israel.
And of course, those animal sacrifices, they prefigured the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus
Christ.
The Bible says it was impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
It was simply a figure.
You say, why mention that?
Well, unfortunately, there are dispensational heretics out there who teach that these sacrifices
actually enabled people under the old covenant to go to heaven.
That's garbage.
It was simply a figure.
Jesus didn't enter into a figurative heaven, like I already said, he entered into heaven
itself.
Look at verse 25, Hebrews chapter nine, verse 25.
It says, nor yet that he should offer himself often as the high priest enter into the holy
place every year with blood of others, for then must he often have suffered since the
foundation of the world.
But now once in the end of the world, hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself.
Now here's the connection I want to make.
In the Old Testament, the high priests went into the holiest of all, that special component,
if you want to call it that, the special section of the tabernacle, and they did it once every
year.
When did they do it?
On the day of atonement, which took place on the 10th day of the seventh month of the
Hebrew calendar year, the day of atonement.
It was a day in which those high priests made sacrifices to atone for their own sins and
for the sins of others.
But what Jesus Christ did is a sacrifice that lasts forever at Calvary, and instead of an
animal sacrifice, he sacrificed his own body.
He sacrificed himself, and this is why he's a great high priest.
He sacrificed himself, and so never take for granted what Jesus Christ did for you.
Never take for granted the fact that he spilled his blood so that you can go to heaven for
free.
Never take for granted that he is our great high priest.
If you remember, Moses was rebuked because he smote the rock twice.
Well the Bible says that that rock was Christ.
Why is it that Moses was rebuked for smiting the rock twice?
Because Jesus, who is that rock, that rock pictured Jesus, Jesus only had to be smitten
once.
That's it.
He had to be smitten once.
He had to die once.
He had to be buried once, and he had to rise again once.
Now the reason why I would emphasize this is, again, there's so much false doctrine
out there.
I don't know about you guys.
I think we're in the falling away right now.
That's my belief.
The Bible says that the day of Christ isn't going to come before a falling away first,
and I'm paraphrasing, but there has to be a falling away first.
I think we're in that falling away.
That time in which apostasy intensifies, and there are a lot of people who are re-crucifying
Jesus Christ over and over and over again, and I'm going to pick on the Catholics again.
I have to if I'm talking about the spiritual priesthood, but they put Jesus on their idol,
this cross where Jesus is crucified on the cross, and it's in every single Catholic church
this image, this graven image of Jesus on the cross.
Well, I don't know about you guys, but my Savior isn't still on that cross.
He only had to die once.
My Savior rose again from the grave.
My Savior isn't on that cross anymore, but the Catholic Savior is because he didn't save
them.
They're relying on their own works.
Jesus only had to die once, my friend.
And you know what?
Unlike Muhammad, unlike Joseph Smith, unlike all these other false prophets who created
their own cult, because that's what it is, a cult, that's what they started.
Unlike all those devils, unlike all those liars, my Savior, Jesus Christ, he rose again
from the grave, and unlike all of them, he defeated death so that we can defeat death
one day.
Go to Leviticus chapter 16.
Let's take a look at some more Old Testament pictures of this.
Leviticus chapter number 16.
When I get angry when people put Jesus Christ on that cross again, I get angry when people
create a false Jesus, and there's a false Jesus in our world today.
There's a false Jesus that, in their eyes, was incapable of preaching hard against sin.
There's a false Jesus that, in the world's eyes, was incapable of ripping face, that
had really, really long hair, like a woman.
That was effeminate.
That's not my Savior.
That's not the Jesus of the Bible.
And you know what, there's also a false Jesus out there that didn't, that his payment for
sin was not sufficient, because a vast majority of people out there are not relying on the
sacrifice of Christ for salvation, they're relying on themselves.
Let's look at Leviticus chapter 16, verse 15.
Verse 15 of Leviticus chapter 16, it says then, this is verse 15,
As he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat, and before
the mercy seat.
Now what is the mercy seat?
The mercy seat was placed on top of the Ark of the Covenant.
Inside the Ark of the Covenant, you had the Old Covenant, you had the Ten Commandments.
The mercy seat is placed on top of that to signify mankind's inability to keep the law.
So God's mercy covers our inability to keep the law.
That's why the mercy seat was placed on top of the Ark of the Covenant.
Now, skip down to verse number 17 for sake of time.
So once again, I just wanted to show you right here in Leviticus chapter 16, the high priest
had to make atonement for himself.
Why?
Because he was a man.
He had sin.
Jesus Christ though didn't make atonement for himself because Jesus Christ was sinless.
So with that particular sacrifice of Christ at Calvary, it was the just for the unjust.
Whereas the high priest, he had to make atonement for himself and for the people.
And this is exactly what's articulated in Hebrews chapter number nine.
But this all pictured that high priest Jesus Christ, our high priest, the spiritual priesthood
that we're all part of is anchored by Christ.
We need to be looking to Christ.
We need to be emphasizing Christ.
The whole Bible emphasizes Jesus Christ.
So like I said, when you read through that Old Testament and you're going through the
book of Leviticus and you're seeing all these carnal ordinances and the feast days and all
these different intricate aspects of what God had given to Moses, think of Jesus.
Think about how it pictures Jesus.
This priesthood, when you read about it in the Old Testament, look for how it prefigures
Jesus Christ and that'll help you understand the Old Testament better than you ever have.
Jesus, his sacrifice, it was perfect.
Unlike this physical priesthood in which the high priest had to continually go into the
holiest of all every year on the Day of Atonement, that tenth day of the seventh month, and go
in every year and do it all over again and do the animal sacrifices again and sprinkle
the blood on the mercy seat again, Jesus had to only do it once.
Because like I said, it was perfect.
And here's the thing about something that's perfect.
It necessitates no additions and it necessitates no subtractions.
It's perfect.
You can't add to it and you can't take away from it.
Because there's nothing to add.
But those who would say that faith is not enough to save you, here's what they're doing.
They're adding to the death, burial, and resurrection.
Because in their eyes, it's not perfect.
In their eyes, they believe that they have to take their own dirty, filthy rags and add
it to what Jesus accomplished for us.
You say, give me an example.
How about the Pentecostals?
Somebody help me out.
Is that a Pentecostal church right next door?
Okay.
Well, I hope they can hear this.
These Pentecostals, these tongue-talking, demon-possessed Pentecostals flapping their
tongue around and acting completely crazed and psychotic, they don't believe that Jesus'
sacrifice was enough.
And I've had it with these people, by the way.
And if you've gone soul-winning for any amount of time, you probably know exactly what I'm
talking about.
One of the hardest people to win to Christ are these Pentecostals, because they don't
believe the death, burial, and resurrection was enough.
They don't view it as a perfect sacrifice.
They think they need to add their ability to speak in tongues to the death, burial,
and resurrection.
They think they need to add baptism to the death, burial, and resurrection.
They think they need to add enduring to the end, which they'll go to Matthew 24 to try
to prove that doctrine, which is clearly about the end times and the flesh being saved if
you make it to the end.
But they like to add that, hey, if you don't endure to the end, then you were never saved.
They want to add that to the death, burial, and resurrection.
But I'm here to tell you that our high priest was perfect, and there's nothing you could
possibly add to what he did for us, nothing at all.
And that's why salvation is by grace through faith alone.
And once you're saved, you're always saved.
One thing also that we need to understand about the Old Testament high priest is that
they had certain privileges.
They had certain privileges.
My second point is that the spiritual priesthood has access to God.
Look at verse 2.
You should still be in Leviticus 16.
Somebody shout out if you're not.
Leviticus 16, look what it says in verse 2.
Hey, man, you know, you took us to the wrong place.
Leviticus 16, look what it says in verse 2.
When the Lord said unto Moses, Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all
times into the holy place within the veil before the mercy seat which is upon the ark,
that he die not, for I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat.
Thus shall Aaron come into the holy place with a young bullock for a sin offering, and
a ram for a burn offering.
So I want to repeat one more time.
You have to understand, under the old covenant, that priesthood was hereditary.
It was supposed to be an office given to Aaron and his sons.
But that's not the case in the New Testament.
Your genealogy doesn't matter.
I don't care whether you're black.
I don't care whether you're white.
I don't care where you come from.
I don't care where you're born.
If you believe on Christ, you're part of his spiritual priesthood.
But another thing you have to understand as well is that under that old covenant, Aaron
could not, and his sons, they could not come at all times into that holy place I talked
about a few moments ago.
Couldn't come at all times.
It was once a year.
And here's another aspect that you have to understand.
Only the high priest could enter the holiest of all.
They're the ones that had access to God.
They're the ones that had access to that part of that temple or the tabernacle.
They're the ones that came in with the blood of others to make atonement for themselves
and for the children of Israel.
The high priest had access to the figurative heavenly things within the holiest of all.
Now go to Mark chapter 15.
Let's take a look at how that changed under the new covenant.
Let's take a look at how that has been shifted over to the believer.
Again, what's the sermon about?
The spiritual priesthood, the priesthood of the believer, how does that impact your life
though?
How does that doctrine impact your life?
Well, let's take a look at Mark chapter 15.
And when you get there, look at verse 37.
Mark chapter 15 verse 37, it says,
And Jesus cried with a loud voice and gave up the ghost.
So this is when he was crucified and he died, verse 38, and the veil of the temple was rent
in twain from top to bottom.
Jesus' death brought in the New Testament.
And this makes sense because the Bible tells us that, it says for where a testament is,
there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.
And that testator was Jesus Christ.
He died for us to bring in that New Testament and Jesus' death on the cross also, what you'll
notice in this scripture, is it was the catalyst for that veil being rent, being torn.
Now what does that signify?
The fact that now there is no more separation between the holiest of all and us.
Whereas in the old covenant, under the old covenant, it was only the high priest who
could enter the holiest of all.
It was only the high priest who had that special access.
Now because that veil has been rent, we as believers have that special access to God
and we have it through Jesus Christ his son.
That veil being rent means now you have access to the holiest of all.
You have access to the throne of grace.
You're probably wondering, okay, what does that mean for me?
It means as a priest, Jesus is your mediator.
Jesus is your mediator.
You don't have to go to a physical priest like the Catholics teach where you got to
go to a priest so that he can forgive your sins which is blasphemy and lies, taking God-like
attributes and putting them on man.
You don't have to go to him.
Jesus is your mediator.
Whenever you mess up, whenever you fall on your face in your Christian life, you know
who you can go straight to?
God himself.
You can get on your knees and you can ask him to forgive you because you can go boldly
under the throne of grace.
That veil has been rent.
There is no more separation.
Go to Ephesians chapter 3.
Ephesians chapter 3.
Bible says in Hebrews 4 as you're turning to Ephesians chapter 3, it says, let us therefore
come boldly under the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help
in time of need.
You can come boldly to the throne of grace.
You can go boldly to God the Father.
You can boldly get on your knees and you can boldly ask for forgiveness every time you
mess up.
As the spiritual priesthood, you have that special access through the blood of Christ.
It's because of what Jesus did for you that you now are the beneficiaries of that spiritual
priesthood.
The Bible says in 1 John chapter 1 verse 9, if we confess our sins, he's faithful and
just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
If you were to try and take an animal and sacrifice it to get right with God, it wouldn't
work because we're under the new covenant now.
Here's what you ought to do.
Get on your knees and pray.
You communicate directly with God the Father.
You confess your sins and the Bible promises that he's faithful and just to forgive you
of your sins.
You come boldly under the throne of grace like I said.
Now here's the thing.
Don't procrastinate on that.
Christians oftentimes when they fall on their face, when they get backslidden, when they
commit a sin they shouldn't have committed, they'll procrastinate on asking for forgiveness.
They'll procrastinate on dealing with that sin with God himself.
But you know what?
Now is the time to get right.
Don't waste your time.
Don't procrastinate.
Don't kick the can down the road like the politicians do with our economy constantly.
Different sermon for a different time.
The Bible says now is the accepted time.
Get right now.
If you mess up, you have the ability to get right now.
You can get on your knees and pray to God the Father now.
Don't waste another second.
Do it now.
I want to read you an article real quickly here.
An excerpt from an article and it's about, guess who?
Catholic priests.
You'll notice a theme here this morning is we'll be hitting the Catholic priests a little
bit.
So here's what this article is.
It's from a Catholic website.
It says, the priest mediator between God and man.
The priestly mediation operates primarily through sacraments, prayer, and preaching.
Catholic priests serve primarily as mediators between God and man, linking the human and
divine realms through the person of Christ.
So they threw Jesus a bone here, okay?
At least he has something to do with this.
They are, in the words of Saint Paul, ministers of Christ and the dispensers of the mysteries
of God taken from among men, yet appointed for men in the things that pertain to God.
Priests thus form an indispensable bond, uniting heaven and earth.
So here we have, from a Catholic website themselves, referring to their priesthood as mediators
between God and man.
Let's see if that matches up with what the Bible says.
It says in 1 Peter, you don't have to turn there, but in 1 Peter 2 it says, for there
is one God and one mediator between God and man.
The man Christ Jesus.
Jesus is your mediator.
Hey Catholics, it's not some pedophile priest in a box who sits there and listens to people
confess their sins to him.
That guy is a fake, lying devil scumbag.
That's who he is.
He's a liar.
And you say, why do you get so angry about it?
Why does that upset you?
Why do you rant and rave about these Catholic priests because they're a satanic counterfeit?
And you know what else?
Hey, have you ever Googled what's going on with the Catholic Church and has been going
on for a long time now?
They're a bunch of pedophiles.
They hurt children.
And I'm going to take a page out of Pastor Anderson's textbook here.
If I had a button, a big red button right here, that I could press that would eliminate
every single child offender, every single pedophile, every single scumbag, reprobate
piece of filth that would harm God's precious children, I would press it until my finger
fell off.
That's what I would do.
And that includes these Catholic priests.
That includes these satanic counterfeits claiming to be fathers, claiming to be mediators between
God and man, sitting in their little box listening to people confess their sins to them.
It makes me sick.
Catholic priests are not mediators.
Jesus Christ is a mediator, and you don't have to go to some pervert for him to act
as a messenger to God.
You know what you have?
You have a King James Bible.
You are a priest.
You have God's revelation right here, and that's all you need.
You don't need to rely on man to teach you doctrine.
You have the Holy Ghost.
Whereas they believe that the individual church member can't just read the Bible for themselves
to understand what it says.
They have to go to these pedophiles.
They have to go to these perverts.
They have to go to these predators.
You say, well, this isn't very, you know, loving.
I guess you missed, you know, John the Baptist when he referred to the Pharisees as vipers.
I guess you missed the whole chapter of Matthew chapter 23 when Jesus was ripping face on
the scribes and on the Pharisees, and what did he say to them?
How can ye escape the damnation of hell?
And that same truth applies to the Catholic priests of our day, the satanic counterfeits,
the people, the men, the reprobates is what I should say, who are harming children.
How can they escape the damnation of hell?
Look at Ephesians chapter 3 verse 9.
You say, man, you seem angry.
Well, it gets me upset, all right?
Ephesians chapter 3 verse 9, and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery
which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by
Jesus Christ to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly
places might be known by the church and manifold wisdom of God according to the eternal purpose
which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord, watch this, in whom we have boldness and access
with confidence by faith of him.
What did I tell you just a few minutes ago?
We have access.
We have boldness.
Through what?
Jesus Christ.
Jesus offered us that access whereas in the old covenant you had to be a priest in order
to attain that access.
We are part of a spiritual priest and so as a result because of our high priest Jesus
Christ and what he did for us, we now have that access to God the Father.
We now can ask for forgiveness whenever we mess up.
We can go boldly unto the throne of grace.
Go to Exodus chapter 28 if you would, Exodus chapter 28.
My third point is that the spiritual priesthood is clothed with Christ's righteousness.
What you'll notice and we'll read about it here is that the Aaronic priesthood, they
had to clothe themselves with special garments.
They had to wear special clothing and the reason why is because they had to be righteous.
Exodus chapter 28, it says in verse 1, and take thou unto thee Aaron thy brother and
his sons with him from among the children of Israel that he may minister unto me in
the priest's office, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron's sons, and thou shalt
make holy garments for Aaron thy brother for glory and for beauty.
Skip down to verse 40 for sake of time.
Again notice Aaron and his sons, this was hereditary.
Verse 40, and for Aaron's sons thou shalt make coats and thou shalt make for them girdles
and bonnets, shalt thou make for them for glory and for beauty, and thou shalt put them
upon Aaron thy brother and his sons with him, and shalt anoint them and consecrate them
and sanctify them that they may minister unto me in the priest's office, and thou shalt
make them linen breeches to cover their nakedness from the loins even unto the thighs they shall
reach.
Now linen breeches, that signified works righteousness.
They had to have their own righteousness.
Now why?
Why did the priests have to be righteous?
Well the reason why is because that was a picture of the righteousness that we put on
as believers of Jesus Christ.
The thing is though, it's not our own righteousness, it's the righteousness of the Lamb of God.
Whereas they put on physical, holy garments, first of all to sanctify themselves, right?
It made them look different.
You looked at the priesthood and you saw, okay, that's a special office of people who
are serving God.
They had to put on that garment that sanctified them, that separated them from everyone else.
But also, those garments signified the fact, pictured the fact that if you believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, you're putting on his garments, you're putting on his righteousness.
You're clothed with his imputed righteousness.
The garments were a picture of that imputed righteousness that you've put on as a result
of believing on Jesus.
Now go to Matthew chapter 22.
Let's take a look at this in Matthew chapter 22.
We are clothed, not with our own righteousness, and that's exactly what it says in Philippians
chapter 3 as you're turning to Matthew 22, and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which
is of God by faith.
The righteousness which is of God by faith.
Our own righteousness, filthy rags, can never measure up.
Let's look at the parable of the wedding feast, and what we'll notice here is that
there was an individual who came in and he didn't have the right garments on.
What does that mean?
Well, you'll find out.
Matthew 22, it says in verse 10.
So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all as many as they
found, both bad and good, and the wedding was furnished with guests.
And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding
garment, and he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding
garment?
And he was speechless.
Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and
cast him into outer darkness.
There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, for many be called, but few are chosen.
So this guest didn't have a wedding garment on.
No wedding garment, and he was cast out.
Well, you know what?
In the Old Testament, if they weren't wearing those holy garments, if they didn't have the
specific covering, the garments that they were commanded to wear, the linen breeches
and the coat, then they couldn't be part of the priesthood.
Just assures, if you're not wearing the figurative righteousness of Jesus Christ, you can't be
part of the spiritual priesthood.
You can't be part of this wedding feast that it's describing in the parable in Matthew
chapter 22.
This guest had not on a wedding garment, and he was cast out.
You know what he had on instead?
His own garment.
He had on his own righteousness.
He thought he was good enough to be part of the feast, well, he wasn't, and he was cast
out.
So what you have to understand is that unless you're relying on the righteousness of Christ,
unless you're putting on his righteousness, which is what those garments in Exodus chapter
28 prefigured, that's what they typified.
Unless you have on that righteousness, you're not going to make it.
It's impossible for those who reject the gospel to measure up to the perfect standard, and
this is the perfect standard by the way, it's impossible for them to measure up to
the perfect standard by which they will be judged at the great white throne judgment
if they try putting on their own garment.
It's that simple.
Bible says in Revelation 3, you don't have to turn there, Revelation 3 verse 5,
He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment, and I will not blot out
his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father and before
his angels.
The saved are clothed with white raiment in heaven.
And again, it's not our own righteousness, it's the imputed righteousness of Jesus.
The saved, the royal priesthood, the spiritual priesthood, we have our own special garments
just like the Aaronic priesthood did, and like I said, typifying the righteousness Jesus
Christ imputed unto us when he spilt his own blood at Calvary.
Go to Hebrews chapter 13.
My fourth point, and this is my final point, is that the spiritual priesthood offers spiritual
sacrifices, spiritual sacrifices.
There is no literal animal that we can go and slaughter, but what we do offer are spiritual
sacrifices.
As you're turning to Hebrews 13, I'll read for you from 1 Peter 2, it says, ye also as
lively stones are built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual
sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
You are a spiritual house.
In 1 Peter chapter 2, it says that our role is to offer up spiritual sacrifices that are
acceptable to Jesus Christ.
Now, you might be wondering, what are those spiritual sacrifices?
Well, we're going to learn about them in Hebrews chapter 13.
This is what every Christian ought to be offering to God.
Remember, the old covenant priesthood, what was their main role to serve God with their
lives?
That's the easiest way to put it.
And under the New Testament, we're part of that spiritual priesthood, and we ought to
be offering up spiritual sacrifices.
We ought to be offering up our lives.
We ought to be serving God with our lives.
Hebrews 13, notice what it says in verse 12, wherefore Jesus also that he might sanctify
the people with his own blood suffered without the gate.
Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp bearing his reproach, for here have
we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.
Verse 15, pay attention to this, by him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God
continually that is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name.
One of the spiritual sacrifices that you can offer as a member of the spiritual priesthood
would be praises to God.
That comes out of your mouth, folks.
The spiritual sacrifices you can offer come out of your mouth.
Now in the Old Testament, you don't have to turn there, they did offer a sacrifice of
thanksgiving.
That one was carnal.
It says in Leviticus chapter 7 verse 12, if you offer it, it's talking about the thanksgiving
offering, it says if you offer it for thanksgiving, then he shall offer with the sacrifice of
thanksgiving unleavened cakes mingled with oil and unleavened wafers anointed with oil
and cakes mingled with oil a fine flour fried.
So Leviticus chapter 7, it's describing a component of the peace offerings and there
was a thanksgiving offering associated with that which was carnal.
But in the New Testament, your thanksgiving offering, if you will, is spiritual and like
I said, it comes out of your mouth.
You say, well how do I offer that?
How many times do you thank God lately for what he's given you?
How many times are you praising the Lord for his glorious creation?
You know what bothers me?
You go out sowing and you hear people say, oh well we're in hell right now, actually.
You talk about how we all deserve, oh well we're in hell.
I'm not saying to do this.
And this part of my flesh, I just want to be like, you're an idiot.
If you think this is, and folks, please be polite.
But here's what I'm trying to say.
If you think this is hell, man, you haven't seen anything yet.
And by the way, that's kind of a blasphemous thing to say.
How about we thank God for his creation?
How about we praise God for the fingerprint of his creation, the wonder of his creation?
Instead these people, oh we're in hell.
So God's creation is hell to you?
And I understand that there are people going through some tough times and we ought to be
gracious unto them and we ought to be long suffering with them.
Be polite to them.
And they don't know what, forgive them, they know not what they do.
I'm not trying to be mean here.
But my point is though, let's express gratitude to God the Father through Jesus Christ, the
authority of Jesus Christ.
In the New Testament, we can offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving.
Let's thank God for everything that we have.
Let's thank God for his creation.
Let's not refer to it as hell.
Let's thank God for the sky.
Let's thank God for the stars.
You know, I love that live stream that Brother Paul Wittenberger put on a few days ago with
Pastor Anderson.
Talking about creation and science and everything like that and linking it to the word of God.
It's beautiful.
You know, I like going to the park.
Right now with COVID-19 you can't do anything.
The one thing that is open in a lot of places is the park.
I like going to the park with my wife, looking at the trees, looking at the birds, just wondering
at this amazing, beautiful creation that God has made for us and thanking him for it, offering
that spiritual sacrifice of thanksgiving for the wonderful creation that we all inhabit.
That could be one thing.
You don't have to turn there, but in Ephesians chapter 5 it says speaking to yourselves in
psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord,
giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ.
Another way that you can offer up this spiritual sacrifice of thanksgiving would be praising
and thanking God in hymns and psalms and spiritual songs, which you do every time you
step into church.
The Levitical priesthood, they offered a physical thanksgiving offering in the house of God,
but when you come into the house of God, that being the local New Testament church, you
offer the spiritual sacrifice of thanksgiving every time you sing to the Lord, which by
the way is a commandment of God to sing unto the Lord.
Every time you sing that psalm, every time you sing that hymn, every time you sing that
spiritual song, you're offering up that spiritual sacrifice of thanksgiving to God.
And so that's why don't ever slack on the singing.
Let's make sure we're singing hard, or I should say, singing loudly.
You preach hard, you sing loudly, right?
Make sure that you're singing loudly.
Make sure you're taking it seriously.
There's so many beautiful, for example, I love the psalms, and I like Psalm 150.
I'm going to try and, I'll do this, okay, your ears might end up bleeding, but you'll
have to bear with me here.
You know, it goes, Praise ye the Lord, praise God in his sanctuary, praise him in the firmament
of his power.
Now, that song, I don't know about you, but that gives me chills.
And you know what it's about?
It's about praising the Lord.
As you sing those words, make sure that you really just meditate on what you're saying.
Don't just sing them mindlessly.
You're praising God, you're thanking God, you're offering up that spiritual sacrifice
of thanksgiving.
Unfortunately though, some people, they're kind of lazy about it, and don't get offended,
but you know who I'm talking about.
That guy in church, when it's time to sing, come thou fount of every blessing.
When's this over?
They're not even looking down at the book anymore, they're just making up words.
Look, if you can get excited over a sports game, if you can get excited over your favorite
song playing on the radio, you ought to get excited about singing the hymns at church.
You ought to get excited about the things of God.
You ought to get excited and zealous about praising God, offering up that spiritual sacrifice
of thanksgiving.
Get excited about singing and loving God and praising God.
Don't come in here, no, you know that's going to make everyone else not care.
Bible says that we should provoke others unto love and good works, and you know when people
see you singing out with zeal, they're going to sing out.
They're going to say, hey I want to be like that guy, he cares.
This church cares.
This church sings out.
This church is zealous for the things of God.
This church is zealous for offering that thanksgiving praise through the hymns and through the songs,
and I'm glad that Pastor Shelley adheres to that hymn book.
You're not going to get your CCM here at Pure Words Baptist Church, you're going to get
actual spiritual songs that teach doctrine.
None of this garbage, you know, your love never fails, never gives up.
Sound like they, man, it sounds, they sound like they inject themselves with estrogen
before they record the song.
It's so effeminate.
We're marching to Zion, beautiful, beautiful Zion.
That's, that's power right there.
You're learning doctrine, but the churches today, your love never fails, makes me sick.
And then the pastors wearing skinny jeans, look I don't want to even, I'll go on forever
on that.
Go to Romans 12, Romans chapter 12, we're almost done, if you're looking at the watch
and you're like, man, when's this guy going to be finished?
We got, just, see, you can see the finish line approaching, okay?
Romans chapter 12, now while you turn there, I want to read from Daniel 2, it says, I thank
thee and praise thee, O thou God of my fathers, who has given me wisdom and might, and has
made known unto me now that we desired of thee, for thou hast now made known unto us
the king's matter.
Daniel thanks and praises God because he had revealed Nebuchadnezzar's dream to him.
And my question for you is, is when you have a wonderful truth from the Bible revealed
to you in your own study, are you thanking God for that or are you just kind of moving
on with your day?
I thank God if you had a wonderful truth revealed to you, just like Daniel did, thank him.
If you've had a prayer answered, let's say you've been praying for something to happen,
whether it's a job that you really wanted and you went and you interviewed for it and
you prayed that God would give it to you and then he did and you get the job and that prayer
is answered.
Are you thanking him for that or you just move on with your life like nothing happened?
Are you offering that sacrifice of thanksgiving?
If you've been blessed with children, hey families, there are some people that would
love to have children and they can't.
They can't have children for whatever reason right now or perhaps God's delaying it for
whatever reason.
Are you thanking God for your children?
Hey, listen, not every day is perfect, I understand that.
There might even be days and I don't have kids so I'm not sure, my wife's pregnant though,
but I've heard that sometimes the kids maybe aren't behaving well or you know, they're
kind of going crazy on one particular day.
But even on those days, are you thanking God for your children?
Are you taking it for granted?
Because that's a blessing.
God's blessed you with them.
Look at Romans 12 verse 1, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that you present
your bodies a living sacrifice.
Let me read that again.
Think of the magnitude of what I just said.
That you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable
service and be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your
mind that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
So what's another spiritual, we're talking about the spiritual priesthood, okay?
And what I want to focus on, not just the doctrine, not just how that Aaronic priesthood
it pictures the spiritual priesthood and Jesus Christ.
But how does it apply to you?
Because you can know all the doctrine of the world, but how does it actually impact your
life?
Well, here what we've moved on to now are the spiritual sacrifices and one of those
spiritual sacrifices is your body, your entire body.
What you have to understand is that if left unchecked, your flesh could take you on a
downward spiral that you never ever want to go down.
And so that's why the Bible says that we need to mortify our bodies, that we need to
present our bodies as a living sacrifice.
Romans chapter 12 even says that it's a reasonable service.
Remember, the priesthood is about serving God with your life and we as members of the
spiritual priesthood need to make sure that we're offering our bodies as a spiritual sacrifice.
It's a reasonable service.
Jesus Christ shed his blood for us so we can go to heaven for free.
The least we can do is offer up our bodies as a sacrifice in response.
So here's what that looks like.
When you're sitting at home and you've got nothing to do and you can feel your phone
in your pocket and you feel that urge to scroll through social media and waste your time looking
at Facebook and I've done this, I'm speaking from experience.
I have my Bible open on the desk and I'm like, let me just check Facebook for a few seconds
here.
A few seconds turns into a few minutes and then a few minutes turns into like a half
hour and then next thing you know, an hour later, I'm like, I didn't even start reading.
Why?
Because I felt that urge.
I was tempted to scroll through social media, look through Facebook, look through Twitter,
laugh at that stupid post somebody put in the new IFB group.
This is a dumb question.
Keep going.
You know what I mean?
Oh, look, that guy got married.
Person got married.
Okay, that's interesting.
Wow, that guy's a heretic.
He's been exposed, et cetera.
When you're tempted to scroll through social media in that way, instead of serving God
as a member of his spiritual priesthood, what you need to be thinking in your mind is, no,
I'm going to read my Bible.
I'm going to offer up my body as a sacrifice and serve God.
When you're tempted men with laziness at work, hey, we've all been there.
Boss tells you to do something.
You drag your feet a little bit in order to get it done and you're a little bit lazy.
What you need to be thinking in your mind is, I am a spiritual priest.
Jesus Christ is my high priest.
The Bible says in Romans chapter 12 to offer up my body as a spiritual sacrifice, therefore
I'm going to serve him, not my flesh.
I'm going to obey my boss at work as if I'm working for Jesus himself.
That's a biblical doctrine.
That's what the Bible teaches.
When you're tempted with, I'll talk to the women here.
When you're tempted to kind of feel like, you know what, what am I doing in this house?
I'm stuck here all day raising kids all day.
You had a particularly tough day and you're thinking, man, you know, I just, I'm tired
of this.
I can't deal with it.
Kids are breaking things in the house, classes falling, things are going crazy.
You need to be thinking, you know what, this is the biblical role for my life.
This is God's will for my life.
You say no to those feelings.
You say no to the temptation of the flesh and instead you serve God.
Man, you know, if you're tempted with lust, yeah, uncomfortable topic, but you know what,
we're all men here.
Those of you that are in attendance, not everyone's a man here obviously, but the men that are
in attendance, you know what I'm talking about.
If you're tempted with, look, this world is filthy.
If you're tempted with lust, if you're tempted with covetousness, if you're tempted with
trying to attain that which does not belong to you, somebody else's wife, another woman
out there, you need to be thinking in your mind, no, I serve God.
And you know what Job said, I made a covenant with mine eyes.
Make a covenant with your eyes, offer up your entire body which includes your eyes as that
spiritual sacrifice and say no, I'm not going to yield to the flesh, I'm not going to go
down that road, I'm not going to backslide, I'm going to serve God.
I'm a member of his spiritual priesthood.
You do what's right even when you're tempted to do the opposite and let me tell you something,
the Christian life isn't easy.
You're going to be tempted to depart from the commandments of God every single day and
you have to have the discipline and the willpower to say, I'm offering my body as a spiritual
sacrifice.
I'm saying no to all the lusts of the flesh and to all the propaganda out there designed
to brainwash me into going down a dark path of worldliness.
The Christian life can be equated to the wilderness that the children of Israel, that the children
of Israel dwelt in for a time and some of them didn't make it into the promised land.
Don't get me wrong, the promised land doesn't just only picture salvation, it could also
picture blessings and those children of Israel who perished in the wilderness, they didn't
get to inherit the blessings that God had for them in the promised land.
I don't want you, excuse me, I don't want you in this figurative wilderness that we're
living in right now, the Christian life, to miss out on the blessings God has for you
in the promised land.
To perish in the wilderness, you're going to go to that promised land no matter what
but I want you to get there and have wonderful, heavenly rewards waiting for you when you
do rather than to get there and to arrive by the skin of your teeth.
That's not what I want.
Today, Christians unfortunately just as sure as the children of Israel like I talked about
in that wilderness, you know what they wanted?
If you read the book of Numbers, what you'll notice?
They wanted the Egyptian delicacies, didn't they?
They wanted the leeks, they wanted the cucumbers, they wanted that food that they had in Egypt.
They wanted to go back into bondage and unfortunately there are Christians today who would rather
have the things of the world, Egypt pictures the world.
They would rather have the Hollywood filth than the Christian life.
They would rather go back into bondage in the same sins that God brought them out from,
that God gave them victory over, they'd rather go back to that and so they sit at home and
they do nothing instead of serving God.
They would rather have the Hollywood filth than God's manna.
You say, what's God's manna?
It's this Bible right here.
This is God's manna that he gave us.
Exodus chapter 29, you don't have to turn there.
It says in verse 20.
Then shalt thou kill the ram and take of his blood and put it upon the tip of the right
ear of Aaron and upon the tip of the right ear of his sons and upon the thumb of their
right hand and upon the great toe of their right foot and sprinkle the blood upon the
altar round about.
This right here in Exodus 29 is talking about the consecration of that physical priesthood.
And what did they do?
They took blood and they consecrated the Aaronic priesthood, they consecrated their right ear,
they consecrated their thumb and they consecrated their foot.
Because they were well balanced, ear, thumb and foot.
What does this symbolize?
What does this typify for us in the New Testament?
Well what they did is they dedicated their hands, they dedicated their ear, they dedicated
their foot to serve the Lord Jesus Christ, to serve God.
And my question is what have you dedicated for the work of the Lord?
Are you dedicating your hands like Bezalel did?
He dedicated his hands to build the Ark of the Covenant.
Are you dedicating your hands to serve God?
You say how do I do that?
Well learn to play an instrument perhaps.
You can use your hands to serve the Lord as a member of his spiritual priesthood and learn
to play the piano, learn to play the trumpet, learn to play the guitar.
Use your hands to serve God.
Are you using your ears to serve God?
By listening to sermons, by listening to hymns, by listening to things that will edify you.
How about listening to the Bible?
The narration by Alexander Skirby is pretty good I think.
Are you listening to the Bible with your ears?
How about your feet?
What are you doing with your feet?
Are you using your feet to run to mischief?
Which by the way is something God hates according to Proverbs chapter 6.
Are you using your feet to run to mischief?
Are you using your feet to run to the nearest door out soul winning and find a lost person
that you can preach the gospel to?
Is that what you're using your feet to do?
Have you dedicated your body to the service of the Lord?
Ultimately, if you want to offer up your body as a spiritual sacrifice, it starts with a
dedication to serve the Lord with your life by getting plugged into church.
Get plugged in man.
Don't just show up here and just kind of go through the motions.
Really get plugged in.
See what you can do to be a blessing to Pure Words Baptist Church.
See what you can do to serve here at Pure Words Baptist Church.
See what you can do to minister to somebody, to help lift somebody up, to help be a blessing
to somebody in this church.
Even if people don't see you do it and you don't get the glory because you know what?
God sees it.
God sees your good works.
Just to recap, we're going to wind down.
The aircraft is beginning to land here.
Point number one, the spiritual priesthood is anchored by a great high priest.
We talked about that.
Jesus Christ is our high priest and we talked about what he did for us.
Point number two, the spiritual priesthood has access to God to the holiest of all.
We now can access God the Father ourselves through prayer and we can pray and ask for
forgiveness and go boldly under that throne of grace.
Point number three, I said the spiritual priesthood is clothed with Christ's righteousness, not
our own righteousness.
Just as sure as Aaron put on those garments.
That was a picture of us putting on the righteousness of Christ as a spiritual priesthood.
Point number four, the spiritual priesthood offers spiritual sacrifices and I talked a
little about that, praising God, thanking God, the fruit of your lips and here's my
final application.
In the Old Testament, we know that Aaron's lineage, his physical lineage, they were designated
for the priesthood, right?
We all learned that this morning, that they were designated for the priesthood.
Well, in the New Testament, the spiritual priesthood, it is your birthright.
It's the birthright of every single Bible-believing Christian.
It's the birthright of every single person who is saved.
And so my question for you is this, and again, I wanted to make sure that this doctrine is
something you can apply to your life.
My question is, what are you going to do with that birthright?
As a member of that spiritual priesthood, what are you going to do with that privilege?
What are you going to do with that birthright?
Are you going to be a vessel into honor?
Are you going to fail though or are you going to fail in advancing the cause of Christ?
My hope for this church is that you guys make the right decision because at the end of the
day, once we enter into heaven, the Bible says in Hebrews chapter four that we've ceased
from our own works.
We do the work here in this life, not in heaven.
When we get to heaven, our works are ceased, our works are done.
Now is the time for us to do the work to please God and earn those spiritual rewards.
Now is the time to offer up those spiritual sacrifices that I talked about.
Now is the time to work.
Now is the time to grow, folks.
Now is the time to serve.
Remember, you're a priest, not the Catholic devils.
Now is the time to be a profitable member of the spiritual priesthood that we talked
about this morning.
And my hope for you is that you listen to the sermon, you see what is expected of you,
and you make the dedication now to say, hey, I want to be worthy of being called a priest.
I want to be worthy of being an ambassador for Christ and serve the Lord with my life
in any way that I possibly can and be a blessing here at Pure Words Baptist Church.
That's my hope for you today.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Lord, Heavenly Father, I just thank you for this church.
I thank you for the congregation here.
I pray that you would bless them and, Lord, that you would also bless the soul winning
we have coming up later.
Help us to be profitable members of your spiritual priesthood.
Help us to offer up spiritual sacrifices, Lord.
And Lord, I pray also that you would give us a renewed sense of urgency, Father God,
to serve you, to be worthy of the title that you've given us, to be worthy of this priesthood
that you've offered us through the blood of your son, Jesus Christ.
And it's in his name that I pray, amen.