So we're starting off here in Hebrews, chapter number eight.
And if you haven't been paying attention, it's going to be a great chapter
because it tells you, hey, we're going to sum up the things
that we've already been talking about.
Look at verse number one.
It says now of the things which we have spoken, this is the sum.
We have such an high priest who is set on the right hand
of the throne of the majesty in the heavens, a minister of the sanctuary
and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched and not man.
So starting in chapter number eight, he's going to give us
a little bit of a summary of the previous seven chapters.
Now, keep your finger here, but just flip the chapter one
and look at the very first few verses here.
It says in the very first verse, God, who at sundry times in a diverse manner,
spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets hath in these last days
spoken unto us by his son, whom he had appointed heir of all things,
by whom also he made the worlds, who being the brightness of his glory
and the express image of his person and upholding all things
by the word of his power when he had by himself purged our sins,
sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high.
So notice at the very beginning of Hebrews, it's making a great
statement here stating that Jesus Christ is set at the right hand
of the majesty on high.
Notice Jesus Christ is being described here as being at the right hand,
which is exactly what we had here in Hebrews, chapter number eight,
talking about him being that high priest, being that mediator.
He's right there at the right hand of the majesty on high,
which is we know as God the father.
OK, look at chapter number two, verse 17.
Says, Wherefore, in all things, it behooved him to be made
like unto his brethren that he might be a merciful and faithful.
Notice this high priest and things pertaining to God
to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.
So right in chapter number two, it introduces the idea
that Jesus Christ is the high priest.
Where is he set at the right hand of God the father?
Now, in chapters number three, four, five, six and seven,
it's going to keep articulating on those thoughts of Jesus Christ
being that high priest.
So chapter number one, we have God spoken to us by his son.
Then in chapter number two, it's telling us that Jesus Christ
was made like us to be able to succor us or to help us.
That's what it says in verse number 18, for in that he himself has suffered
being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted.
So our high priest is not a manager that doesn't have experience, so to speak.
Right. A lot of people get frustrated when their manager has never done
their job, yet they're trying to tell them what to do.
Well, this is how you're supposed to do it.
It's like, well, have you ever done it before?
Yet Jesus Christ is not that kind of a manager.
He's not that kind of a priest.
He actually suffered.
He actually came to this earth.
He felt the same feelings that we have.
He was in all points tempted, like as we are.
Yeah, without sin is what the Bible makes very clear.
OK, so Jesus Christ is able to be a great high priest
and that he knows what it's like to feel pain.
He knows what it's like to feel hunger.
He knows what it's like to be rejected.
He knows what it's like to lose things.
He knows what it's like to be mocked
and to be ridiculed and have people betray you and backstab you
and just say all manner of evil against you falsely.
He knows what it's like to go through those things.
He did it himself.
So whenever he makes intercession to God, the father for us,
makes propitiation, he knows what it is like.
But we realize that Jesus Christ,
even though he went through those same feelings, the same temptations,
he never sinned.
He was faithful.
That's what it says in verse number one of Chapter three says,
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.
So Jesus Christ is mentioned as our high priest.
And even though he went through the same experiences we did,
he was perfect on the job.
He did everything that God the father instructed him.
He is that perfect high priest for us.
And in verse number four or chapter number four, I'm sorry.
It's telling us that we need to fear.
It's telling us, look at the last few verses, look at verse 14.
It says, seeing then that we have a great high priest
that has passed in the heavens, Jesus, the son of God.
Let us hold fast our profession, for we have not in high priests,
which cannot be touched with the filling of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin.
Let us therefore come boldly under the throne of grace
that we maintain mercy and find grace to help in time need.
So all these chapters are continually building off one another, right?
We have the first chapter introducing to us.
Jesus is the son of God.
Yet he's the heir of all things.
Yet he's sitting at the right hand of God, the father.
Chapter two is telling us he's that high priest
and he was made like us so that he could be a better high priest.
Chapter number three is telling us how faithful he was
as an example unto us to be faithful.
Chapter number four saying, because we have such a great high priest,
then therefore, when we go through our difficulties, our temptations,
our struggles, we need to go to God through Jesus Christ and find grace.
Now, I love the fact that we're finding grace, not reward.
Reward is based on you doing it right.
Grace is based on you doing it wrong.
Grace is when you screw up.
Grace is when you don't deserve the things that you get.
And he does good unto you anyways.
I'm glad that we can find grace to help in time of need.
Wouldn't it be nice if your boss said to you at the workplace,
hey, no matter what you do, no matter how you screw up,
just come and ask me and I'll just help you anyways.
I'll just give you grace.
You're like, sweet.
Rather than saying, hey, when you screw up, you're fired.
You're not really going to want to show up to the boss and say,
hey, I screwed up this time, right?
Because then you're going to get dropped like a bad habit.
Some people think this is how God is and Jesus Christ is.
You have to constantly daily repent of your sins or you'll get thrown
in the lake of fire, right?
They think, well, as long as as long as you keep repenting and keep getting right,
then you'll be safe.
That's not the guy that we worship and serve.
The God we worship and serve constantly pours out grace and love unto us
when we don't deserve it, when there's nothing good in us. OK.
Chapter number five emphasizes again how Jesus Christ is our high priest
and he was chosen of God.
He did not choose himself,
identifying the distinction between the father and the son.
And then he kind of goes into a little dissertation here in chapter number six,
where he talks about
the importance of continuing in the faith, growing, learning,
since we can't lose our salvation, since grace is going to cover
all of our sins, no matter what we do yet, you're going to be rewarded
according to your works.
We ought to continue to persevere.
We ought to continually, patiently endure.
Go on into perfection.
Keep trying to serve God.
And in chapter number six, look at verse number 19.
It says, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul.
Now, what's that hope?
The hope is that you're going to be rewarded according to your works.
The hope is, hey, I have everlasting life after this life.
The hope is all the things that you can't see.
It's that faith, OK?
Faith is the evidence of things not seen. Right.
It's a hope. We hope for heaven.
We hope for eternal life.
We hope for all these things in the sense that we can't see them physically, can we?
Yet, obviously,
we receive eternal life the moment we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Yet we're still hoping for that home in heaven.
We're still hoping for great reward.
And basically, the anchor of our hope is what Jesus Christ did for us.
He was that anchor, OK, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul.
Both sure and steadfast and which enter into that within the veil,
whether the forerunner is for us entered in even Jesus
made in high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
You know, we have to understand this picture
when you sin against God, you're at enmity with him.
There is some kind of problem here, OK?
And the only way you can seek rectification
or reconciliation is through Jesus Christ.
But since he's already entered into the veil for us,
that can give us the confidence and the hope to say, you know what?
God is going to be pleased with me when I stand before him,
not because of what I did, because Jesus Christ is that forerunner
entered in for me.
Jesus Christ is that anchor of my soul.
And I'm not going to have to give an account for all of my sins. Right.
Verse or chapter number seven then is telling us that that hope
was established by Jesus Christ at the order of Melchizedek.
Now, that's important because he wasn't a sacrifice based on the law.
He was not a sacrifice based on the order of Aaron.
He was a priest after the order of Melchizedek,
which is a completely different priesthood.
So the priesthood has been changed.
The priesthood has been shifted.
And chapter number seven just kind of indicates a precursor for us.
The laws changed to now we don't get into the distinctions of the law just yet.
That's going to come in the next few chapters.
But chapter number eight is now giving us that summary.
It's telling us, hey, this is this is what we learned in the last seven chapters.
What did we learn?
That Jesus Christ is at the right hand of the throne of majesty in heavens.
That was in chapter one, right?
And as a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle,
which the Lord pitched and not man.
Now, chapter seven is very important
for us to understand that statement,
because if Jesus Christ was after the order of Aaron,
then he would be a minister of the earthly sanctuary, the earthly tabernacle.
But Jesus Christ is not a minister of those things.
He's a minister of the true tabernacle of the tabernacle up in heaven,
which is a priest forever.
OK, he's not a priest that's temporary or in a carnal means.
He's the priest forever for ordained.
He's always been that priest.
He always will be that priest, the priest that abideth forever.
It says in verse number three,
for every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices.
Wherefore, it is of necessity that this man has somewhat also to offer.
Now, that's an interesting verse, because you would say,
what's the point of a priest, though?
Like, what's the job of a priest?
The job of the priest is to offer gifts and sacrifices.
That's the point of a priest.
And notice Jesus Christ is not someone that doesn't have an offering
of a gift or a sacrifice.
He does. He has the ultimate offering his blood.
He offered himself and he offers his blood on the mercy seat
as the ultimate gift and the ultimate sacrifice to pay for our sins.
That's what makes him that high priest.
And all the things that we had in the Old Testament
were simply just a picture
or foreshadowing of what Jesus Christ was going to literally do in heaven.
Look at verse number four.
For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest,
seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law,
who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things,
as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle.
For see, sayeth he that they'll make all things
according to the pattern showed to thee in the mount.
So notice this is a very important verse, verse four.
If Jesus Christ were to be a carnal priest, he would have never made it in
because he's not after the Levitical priesthood.
He's not after the descendants of Aaron or of Levi.
So he's unqualified for that position, theoretically.
OK, he's a different type of priest and he's not going to order.
He's not going to give a sacrifice according to the law.
He's going to give the ultimate sacrifice, which was a picture of heavenly things.
And all the Levitical priesthood, all the Old Testament
was just a picture what he was going to do.
Some people have this weird idea that the the New Testament
or what Jesus did is like an afterthought, like somehow.
Well, the first covenant was supposed to be the plan A and it didn't work out.
So then we shifted into plan B.
You got it backwards.
OK, plan A was Jesus Christ.
Plan A was the New Testament and the New Covenant.
The Old Covenant was just a precursor saying, Hey, that's what the real plan is.
You don't want to get these things backwards.
OK, the Old Covenant is obviously replaced.
Why? Because the real thing comes into play.
Sometimes whenever you're building something or assembling something
or working on something, you kind of put in a temporary
model to represent what you're going to really build.
Let me give you an example.
Me and Brother Ben, we're working on a documentary film
for the Sodomite Deception, and there's certain aspects of the film
where we kind of have an idea of what we want to put in a particular section.
But it's not ready.
So we just put a filler screen in that section of the film.
But the filler screen was never the plan.
The filler screens not going to go in the final production.
The filler screen is just a picture of foreshadowing
of what we're going to really put in there.
OK, so you have to understand that the Old Covenant was never Plan A.
It's just we're not ready for Jesus Christ to come yet.
So we're going to put in this filler.
OK, that's going to be a picture of what the real sacrifice
is going to be like, what the real tabernacle looks like,
even though we haven't filmed that yet, even though it hasn't come to pass
just yet, maybe you can kind of get my example or analogy here a little bit.
It didn't matter in any construction, any kind of project
where you don't have the piece that you need just completely ready yet.
Sometimes you put in a filler, sometimes you kind of put in a replica
or something to just kind of help mock if you're putting in a beam in the house.
OK, for construction purposes, a lot of times people put up fake beams
just to hold the roof until you put the real beam in or the real pillar
or whatever it is that you need to actually hold that structure.
That's what the Old Testament is.
The Old Testament is just a filler.
It's just a foreshadowing of what's going to really happen.
So when you understand this point, when people like Sam Gipp show up
and say, hey, the Old Testament, you know, that was plan A for the Jews
and they failed. So we're plan B, the Gentiles.
Look, the Gentiles are planning.
Jesus was planning Jesus death, burial and resurrection planning
his name, Jesus planning.
And in fact, there is no plan B because everything that God does
is always without fail the first time anyways. OK,
so you have to understand this, this stupid idea of trying
to take the old covenant and say, well, it was an everlasting covenant.
And so therefore, if they had continued in that covenant,
it would have lasted forever.
You're misunderstanding that point. OK, when Jesus Christ says
or when God's telling us that the old covenant is an everlasting covenant,
it's just saying he's never going to go back on his part of the bargain.
He's never going to fail in his aspect of the bargain.
That does not mean the old covenant was supposed to last forever.
OK, it was never supposed to last forever.
That was never the plan.
If I give you some kind of a promise and say, I'll never, you know,
go back on my part of the deal, that does not mean it's going to last forever,
per se, just like when I make a vow to my wife.
I say till death do us part. OK, what if I just said
I'll never leave you for safety.
I'll never divorce you.
Does that mean that we're never going to part?
We are going to part once one of us dies. OK.
And according to the law, if they had never sinned.
OK, if they had kept the law perfectly, would it have continued forever?
Yeah, theoretically.
But that was never going to happen.
They were going to sin.
They were going to fail.
And so it was not going to continually be established.
Let's get a little bit further in this chapter.
We'll understand that better.
But it says in verse six now,
but now have you obtained more excellent ministry by how much?
Also, he is the mediator of a better covenant,
which was established upon better promises.
Notice again, the New Testament is known as better.
Just like that filler screen.
There's going to be a better screen coming in place of that one.
OK, just like the temporary pillar.
There's going to be a better pillar that comes in to solve that problem.
You say, well, how could it be any better?
Well, look at verse number seven.
For if that first covenant had been faultless,
then should no place have been sought for the second.
So if we are making the film and we put in a temporary screen,
but there's no problem with the screen, why would we ever replace it?
We would. We just say, well, let's just keep that there.
That works great.
Or if we put in the new pillar and it's the perfect pillar
and it's exactly what we wanted.
Why would I replace it with another pillar?
Wouldn't make any sense. OK, so he's saying there was something wrong
with the first covenant.
There was a problem with the first covenant.
You say, well, I thought everything God does is perfect. It is.
There was nothing wrong with his laws.
There is nothing wrong with any of his promises.
But here's what the problem was.
It says in verse number eight, we're finding fault with them.
He said, behold, the days come, say the Lord,
when I will make a new covenant with the House of Israel
and with the House of Judah, not according to the covenant
that I made with their fathers in the day
when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt,
because they continued not in my covenant and I regarded them not, say the Lord.
So this is what we understand.
God's Old Testament covenant was perfect.
The law of the Lord is perfect.
OK, there's nothing wrong with any of his commandments.
There's nothing wrong with the Old Testament.
There's nothing wrong with the laws that were given by Moses.
And in essence of themselves, self-contained, there's nothing wrong.
But there was a problem.
And this was the problem.
It depended upon man fulfilling the law.
That's where the inherent problem was, because man is sinful.
The Old Testament covenant could never have continued for forever.
It was depending upon an unreliable party, an unreliable aspect of the contract.
Imagine I say, hey, I'm going to fulfill my part of the bargain.
I'm going to give you a million TV sets or a million,
what, a million masks, right?
You need a bunch of masks.
I'm going to supply you a million masks.
OK, and the mask costs one dollar.
So it's a million bucks, right?
You got you owe me a million bucks.
The problem is you don't have a million dollars and you'll never have a million dollars.
So therefore, it's going to be fatally flawed.
Not because I'm going to go back on my part, not because I wouldn't
supply the masks, but it's because you just can't do it.
So God's contract, God's covenant, God's First Testament
had a fatal flaw, mankind is sinful.
Therefore, he had to come up with a new contract, a new bargain,
which was going to not rely upon sinful man.
It was not going to depend upon him keeping all the law.
Imagine I say, all right, I'm going to make a million masks.
They're one dollar a piece.
And if you run out of money, I'll just give you the rest anyways.
Is that going to ever fail?
That's never going to fail,
because even if you run out of money, you get all the mask anyways. Right.
So what is the new covenant?
The new covenant is if you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you're saved.
What if I sin? You're saved.
What if I don't continue in fable? You're saved.
Is there anything you do to lose salvation?
No, that's why it's called a better testament, a better covenant. Why?
Because it's all on Jesus.
Jesus says, You know what? You can't do your part.
I'll just do your part for you to write.
Imagine you hire an employee and he's not capable to do the job.
Well, guess what? We'll pay you and I'll do your job for you.
All you have to do is let me do it.
All you have to do is just trust me to get the job done.
If you try to do it yourself, you won't ever get.
You won't be successful. We'll fire you.
OK, however, if you just let me handle it, we're good.
Therefore, it's a new covenant.
It's a better covenant.
Another aspect, though, that he brings up
is because they continued out of my covenant, I regarded them not.
Now he's talking about the children of Israel.
He's talking about the Hebrews or the Jews at that point in time.
And he's saying regards the not what is regard me
to consider, to respect.
So he's saying, I don't regard the children of Israel anymore.
I don't regard them as being my children anymore.
I have no respect under them.
I don't consider them my children anymore.
It's called replacement theology,
which is found everywhere in your Bible.
The Jews are no longer regarded as God's chosen people.
He's not going to regard the covenants gone.
The coven some people have this idea of dual covenant theology.
What is dual covenant theology?
Dual covenant theology is the idea that the old covenant
is still in effect today.
That the Old Testament Jews can somehow be in God's good graces
or can go to heaven based on the old covenant.
But here's the problem.
No one goes to heaven based on that first covenant.
So how do you know that, Pastor Schulich?
For all of sin, it comes short of the glory of God.
We're finding fault with them.
Hey, you can try.
Hey, I'm ready to go into heaven based on the old covenant.
Well, you said, oh, he failed.
You had one foolish thought, you didn't make it in.
He told one lie.
Not going to make it.
If you keep the whole law, you had offended one point.
You're guilty of all.
You're a transgressor of the law.
You're not going to make it.
That's why you need the new covenant.
You need the better covenant,
which is not dependent upon how faithful you are.
It's not dependent upon you continuing in his law.
It's based on one thing.
That's faith in Jesus Christ.
That's why it's a better covenant.
And so those that were not continuing in his covenant,
he has no regard for them.
OK, you say, what about those that continue his covenant?
That doesn't exist.
There is no person that continues in this covenant.
OK, that would be a straw man argument.
Look at verse number 10.
For this is the covenant that will make
with the House of Israel after those days, sayeth the Lord.
I'll put my laws into their minds and write them in their hearts
and I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a people.
And they shall not teach every man his neighbor and every man his brother
saying, no, the Lord all shall know me from the least to the greatest.
Now I've been trying to just quickly go through this chapter
to give us some idea in the world, dig in a little bit further.
But in this one, I want to stop for a moment and look at a few verses.
Keep your finger here and go to Romans, chapter number 11.
So go back, turn to the left and go to Romans and look at chapter number 11.
So he says that the new covenant is going to be different.
And he says that you're no longer going to have to teach people things
and in some sense, because people are just going to know the Lord
and he's going to put the laws in their mind and he's going to write them
in their hearts.
Look at verse number 27.
It says, For this is my covenant unto them when I shall take away their sins
as concerning the gospel.
They are enemies for your sakes, but as touching the election,
they are beloved for the father's sakes
for the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
For as ye in times past have not believed God,
yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief.
Even so, have these also now not believe that through your mercy,
they also may obtain mercy.
So he's trying to help us understand this transition in Romans
chapter number 11, where the Old Testament considered
just a physical nation, God's chosen people.
However, no longer is that the case?
No longer is he going to regard them.
He's going to regard those that have put faith in Jesus Christ
and notice that they're enemies for your sake now.
Oh, I thought the Jews were our friends.
The Bible says there are enemies.
How does that match up with their theology today that says, Let's bless Israel?
The Bible does not teach to bless Israel.
The Bible literally tells us that there are enemies
concerning the gospel.
It's very plain.
It does say they are beloved for the father's sakes.
What does that mean?
Well, essentially, they get a little bit of grace extended to them
until their complete decimation, not because of anything they did,
but for their father's sakes.
There's oftentimes the sons get some kind of a grace,
not because of them, but because of their father.
Solomon did not receive all of the recompense of his actions in his life
because of his father, David's sake, what the Bible clearly says.
So Rehoboam ends up suffering a lot because of why?
Because of Solomon's sake.
You know, that should motivate us fathers to not just say,
Well, I can just live however I want.
How's that going to affect your children
when you just live however you want, whenever you just do whatever you want,
whenever you just burn your life through?
You know, I could just forsake church.
I can forsake God.
I can forsake his commandments.
I could go be a bum and I'd still make it to heaven.
Well, what happened to my children?
What would their life look like?
Would they get saved?
Would they believe on the Lord Jesus Christ?
You know, it's not all about yourself.
We need to also consider our children and notice even these reprobate
God hating Jews.
They got grace because of their father's sake.
For the father's sake, that they had some grace in their life.
And it's those for the gifts and calling of God without repentance.
Whereas in times past, you have not believed God yet.
Now obtain mercy through their unbelief.
So because of the rejection of God, the gospel goes out to the whole world
and the Gentiles get in on the deal.
So now they can know God.
Now go to First Corinthians, chapter three, First Corinthians, chapter number three.
If I wanted to know God in the Old Testament,
how would I know God in the Old Testament?
I would have to sojourn or travel to the land of Judah.
I would have to go to the temple.
I would have to be a partaker of those temple sacrifices.
I would have to be taught of the priests.
I'd have to go through a lot of extra effort and energy to know God,
because that's where God is.
That's where his laws are.
That's where his people are.
But the New Testament that has changed no longer.
Do we have to all go and travel there and go to this physical tabernacle
and this physical sanctuary and learn all these type of things?
Now the Bible teaches all those things have become spiritual pictures
and that the temple no longer exists in a physical sense.
You are that temple.
Look what it says in First Corinthians, chapter three, verse 16.
Know you not that ye are the temple of God
and that the spirit of God dwelleth in you?
If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy.
For the temple of God is holy.
Which temple you are.
I don't have to travel to the Middle East to know God.
I am the temple of God, according to the Bible.
Once you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you actually have the ability
to know God to the fullest extent, not dependent on any other person.
There is no person holding you back from knowing God, except for yourself.
You are now that temple of God, whereas in the Old Testament,
I still have to make intercession through a physical priest.
I have to offer these sacrifices through a physical priesthood.
I don't have to do that in the New Testament.
Jesus Christ is my high priest, and all the sacrifices
I do are spiritual sacrifices in the New Testament.
Go to Second Corinthians, chapter number six, Second Corinthians, chapter number six.
And in fact, when you study the Old Testament pictures
and all the aspects of the temple and all these things,
they are represented by us.
OK, and we're built together as a big temple of the Lord.
It says in Second Corinthians chapter number six, verse 16.
And what agreement at the temple of God vials now, what's the temple of God?
That's us for you are the temple of the living God, as God has said,
I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God
and they shall be my people, wherefore come out from among them
and be separate, say the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing.
And I will receive you and I will be a father unto you.
And you should be my sons and daughters, sayeth the Lord Almighty.
This sounds different than that Old Testament.
Why? Because God, the spirit of God, was dwelling in that physical temple.
He was in the holiest of Holies, and only one person could come in once a year.
And he couldn't do it without blood.
He had to come in with blood.
He had to come in with the perfect sacrifice of a spotless lamb
or he was going to be killed.
And so we don't have that anymore.
Now God dwells in us.
Now we are that temple of God and God literally dwells inside of us.
Go to Ephesians chapter number one.
So there's this new picture he's saying no longer are these laws
is going to be some kind of an arbitrary thing or something
hid away in one country and one physical tabernacle.
You don't have that 10 commandments of stone just in the mercy seat
that you have to find.
Now, you actually have all of it inside here.
And one thing you have to understand is that, well, the Old Testament law,
we're going to study it and memorize it and know it.
If I walk in the spirit, I'm going to fulfill all the law.
Being a spiritual being, one who's believed in the Lord Jesus Christ,
I don't have to have all of that law, that law is written on my heart
and I'm going to be able to fulfill the law
by loving God and loving my neighbor and walking according to the spirit.
OK, it says in Ephesians chapter number one, verse 12.
That we should be to the praise of his glory, first trusted in Christ
and whom he also trusted after that you heard the word of truth.
The gospel of your salvation and whom also after that you believe
you are sealed with that holy spirit of promise,
which is the earnest of our inheritance into the redemption of the purchase
possession under the praise of his glory.
So the Bible tells us that the Holy Ghost literally comes
and dwells inside of us. Look at verse number 17.
He says that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory,
may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him.
The eyes of your understanding, being enlightened, that you may know
what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory
of his inheritance in the saints and what is the exceeding greatness
of his power to us who believe according to the working of his mighty power,
which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead
and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
far above all principality and power and might and dominion
and every name that is named not only in this world, but also in that
which is to come and have put all things under his feet
and gave him to be the head of over all things to the church,
which is his body, the fullness of him that filth on all.
Notice what he's telling us.
He's praying for these people.
And he's saying, I want God to give you the spirit inside of you
so that you can do what?
When I get that spirit of what it says of wisdom
and revelation in the knowledge of him.
So how do I know God?
By being filled with the spirit of God.
Is it go to the temple, go to a physical temple and offer sacrifice?
No, it's a new covenant.
And I can know him no longer is it going to be, hey, will you come over here
and teach me how to know how to know God?
Is there another person involved here?
No, it's me and the spirit of God.
That the only limitation is me.
The spirit of God is ready.
I just have to be able to be willing to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
And I can search the scriptures daily on my own and I can know God on my own.
Go to first John chapter number two, first John chapter number two.
Now, obviously, we need a person to get us saved.
The Bible makes that clear.
You know, understand is what thou read us.
How can I accept some man should guide me, right?
But once you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, once you've been given the gospel,
there is nothing stopping you from knowing God.
But yourself, you now are you have the Holy Ghost
and the Apostle Paul is trying to tell them, Hey, I want you to be filled
with that spirit of wisdom and revelation
so that you can have the fullness of the knowledge of him
so you can fully know God, you can draw close to God.
The Apostle Paul has the same desire that I may know him.
We draw close to God.
How do you draw close to God?
Well, you got to do it.
Second Corinthians chapter six says you have to come out from among them
and be separate.
You have to be holy.
You have to purge yourself from iniquity.
And you have to.
But again, that has nothing to do with other people. That's you.
It's all on us.
And you have now become that temple and you can draw close to God.
But it's based on you.
Look at first John chapter two, verse 19.
They went out from us, but they were not of us, or if they'd been of us,
they would no doubt have continued with us.
But they went out, they might be made manifest.
They were not all of us.
But you have an unction from the Holy One.
Notice this. And you know all things.
What did John say?
Did John say you guys have no idea about the Bible?
You have no idea about God.
He says, you know all things.
You have the ability to know all things.
Notice he's not saying, hey, you need some man to teach you here.
You already know it.
You have an unction from the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Ghost can teach you all things.
You have the ability to know all things.
No longer do we have to say, hey, come learn of me.
That was what the biblical system was all about.
You had to sit at the feet of Gamaliel.
You had to sit at the feet of the Pharisees and you had to learn the law
and you had to have some man to teach you.
And you had to get into their schooling, into their college,
and you had to learn from all these different people.
Doesn't sound much different today, does it?
All these churches emphasizing what? Bible college.
They're emphasizing the professor.
They're emphasizing all of these men and learning from men.
Look, we ought to emphasize people need to learn on their own.
You have the ability to know God to the fullest extent.
David had more understanding than all his teachers. Why?
Because he constantly meditated in the word God.
You have the ability to be the smartest person, the wisest person.
And you say, well, who do I need to learn from the Holy Ghost?
You know all things.
I don't I don't know.
I keep reminding you, you know it.
You have that unction from the Holy Ghost.
You have an unction from the Holy Spirit inside of you that dwells inside of you.
You're fully capable of knowing all things.
He says in verse number 21,
I have not written on you because you know not the truth.
But because you know it and that no lie is of the truth.
Do you know the truth? Yeah, that's what the Bible says.
You know the truth.
He says, Who is a liar but Ben Shapiro?
I'm sorry, that was in the commentary.
Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ?
He is antichrist that denied the father and the son.
Whosoever denied the son, the same as not the father,
but he that acknowledges the son hath the father also.
Notice anybody that denies the son of God not saved.
Verse 24. Let that therefore abide in you,
which you have heard from the beginning.
If that which you have heard from the beginning shall remain in you,
you also shall continue in the son and the father.
And this is the promise that he has promised us, even eternal life.
These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you.
But the anointing which you've received of him abideth in you
and you need not that notice this any man teach you.
Well, I I feel like I'm being held back.
I need some guy to come teach me.
You don't need any man to teach you.
You can know every aspect of the Bible with you and the Holy Ghost.
You can go on your own and you can meditate on the word of God
and you have the ability to understand all things.
Notice what it's saying in Hebrews, chapter number eight.
It's no longer going to be like, hey, you need some man to teach you.
You just need to get alone with Jesus.
You need to get alone with the Holy Ghost and read your Bible
and be filled with the Holy Ghost and he will guide you into all truth.
You already know the truth.
My sheep hear my voice and I know them.
They're not going to follow a stranger.
The Holy Ghost, though, is going to help guide you into that truth
and help fill you with that wisdom and fill you with that knowledge
and that revelation.
But as the same anointing teaches you of all things
and is truth and is no lie, and even as it taught you,
you shall abide in him and now little children abide in him
that when he shall appear, we may have confidence
and not be ashamed before him at his coming.
If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone that do
with righteousness is born of him.
Notice what he's saying.
Continue in that unction.
Continue in that guiding of the Holy Ghost
so that you will not be ashamed when Jesus Christ returns.
You say in what sense?
Not in the sense of going to hell,
because if we believe on him, we're not going to be ashamed.
Whoever for whosoever believe in him shall not be ashamed
in the context of going to hell.
But you could be ashamed of the fact you don't want to see him.
OK, he's not going to cast you into hell, but he's going to be ashamed of you
when you're not following his commandments, when you didn't do any work.
And that's not what I want.
I don't want to sit there.
I don't want to be disappointed when Jesus comes back.
I don't want to be disappointed to see my Lord.
I don't want to be upset him.
You know, I got all these rewards back here,
but your name's not on any of them.
See that mansion?
That's not for you or that one or that one.
Look, look at all your works.
It's just a haystack that's going to burn quickly.
And it just goes up like smoke.
Notice we're talking about perfection.
First, John is not about getting saved.
It's all about knowing that you're saved and following his commandments.
Why? So you can have close fellowship with him and loving the brethren
and knowing God.
OK, go back to Hebrews, chapter number eight.
We'll finish this chapter.
But he said the new covenant is different.
He said, I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a people
and they shall not teach every man his neighbor and every man his brother
saying, no, the Lord for all shall know me from the least of the greatest.
Meaning what if you're saved, you know, God,
whether you're the worst Christian or the greatest Christian.
They all know Jesus Christ.
They all know him. OK.
And he knows them.
And Matthew, chapter number seven.
The reason why you go to hell is because he never knew you.
But once you're saved, he knows you, you know him.
Obviously, we want to know him better.
I obviously want to know him more.
I remember there was a boss I had and he had a weird definition for the word.
No. His idea of the word no is you understand
100 percent of everything about it,
which was confusing because nobody else uses that word in that context.
OK, if you say, hey, do you know Ben?
I'm like, yeah, I know Ben.
It's like, what's his favorite color?
It's like, I don't know.
It's like, what's his address?
I don't know. I don't know exactly where he lives.
It's like, how old is he? I don't know.
Well, do you even know Ben?
And it's like, yeah, I know him.
He goes to my church and friends them. Right.
Obviously, we use the word no is a pretty loose word. Right.
So my boss, he would say, do you know such and such a program
or such and such technology? You say yes.
If you didn't know everything about it, he would be like, you don't know it.
It's just like, ah.
So anytime you ask, you know something, you're just like, nope.
Will you teach me what you show me?
Because you didn't want to get that one wrong.
So obviously, when it comes to knowledge or knowing someone,
you can know them better.
You say you know your spouse.
But guess what? Every year of marriage, you know them better.
You know them even more.
There's a closer intimacy.
And that's the same way in the Christian life.
We can know God better.
We can draw closer to him.
That's through the dwelling of the Holy Ghost and us seeking him.
Verse 12 says, for I will be merciful in righteousness
and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.
And then he said the new covenant, he have made the first old.
Now that would decay and waxes old is ready to vanish away.
So in the New Testament, you know, our sins and iniquities
are never going to be remembered.
We're not going to have to give an account for our sins at the day of judgment.
They're there as far as the east is from the west.
And the new covenant completely replaces the first one because it's dead.
Now, some people I've heard weird stuff about this verse.
Let me just give you what I believe this is clearly saying.
First of all, something that decays is dead.
OK, I've heard some people kind of act like this verse is saying
that the Old Testament is still kind of in effect.
It's like it's slowly being phased out.
Let me tell you, when the old covenant was, it was completely destroyed
when Jesus died on the cross.
Let me prove that. Go to Mark Chapter 15.
Go to Mark Chapter 15.
There was not like a phasing in and out, OK?
The old covenant immediately ceased to exist
and it started decaying now a body.
Think of it this way.
When a body dies, does it immediately vanish away?
No, it's going to slowly deteriorate, decompose.
It's going to see what the Bible says, corruption.
So when the Bible says neither did his flesh see corruption.
What the Bible is teaching is that his physical body, when he was in the tomb,
did not decay.
It did not vanish away.
It still stayed intact.
A physical body will stay intact for a short period of time after it dies.
And usually a funeral home will embalm it to preserve that for even longer.
Yet it's not going to be forever, OK?
If you go and bury, unbury someone, you take someone up.
It's just going to be like nothing.
It's going to be decomposed, maybe some bones, maybe.
But if they were put in actual dirt, it would just turn into dirt again.
It would turn into dust again.
It would completely vanish away.
And that's the picture of the old covenant.
While there still might be a physical resemblance, it's a dead resemblance.
OK, so while the Jews are still offering sacrifices,
according to that law, supposedly, and they're still like doing stuff,
it's like a dead corpse that's slowly rotting and going to eventually
become nothing.
And 70 AD, when the Romans come and wipe them out now,
nobody's following the law at all.
It's not even close. It's gone.
It's vanished away at that point.
You can't even say, well, look at these people following.
Nobody's anywhere close to following the law right now.
You say, what about those in modern day Israel?
They're not offering sacrifices going along.
Where's that lamb offering?
Where's that Passover offering?
Their Passover, if you go look it up, doesn't even talk about a lamb.
It's all about bitter herbs and just saying these weird séances
and just all these other rituals that they do.
It has nothing to do with taking a lamb
and slitting its throat and roasting it and eating it.
They don't talk about that. Why? Because they don't follow the Bible.
OK, it's a complete false religion.
It has nothing to do with the Bible.
But the Old Testament Jews, while they certainly had it screwed up,
it still had a pretty strong resemblance of what the law was supposed to be doing.
Yet at the moment Jesus died on the cross, it was immediately destroyed.
It was immediately taken away.
Let me give you a proof text here.
Mark, chapter 15, verse 38.
Says in verse number 38.
Let's back one verse.
And Jesus cried with loud voice and gave up the ghost.
That means he died.
That means the spirit left his body the moment he died.
Look at verse 38.
And the veil of the temple is rent and twain from the top to the bottom.
Meaning what? No longer is there a physical mediator of a physical priest.
That priest that has changed is now Jesus Christ.
It's immediately rent and twain, meaning what?
It's done away with. It's gone.
There's no point in it anymore.
There's no separation between us and God, because God's going to dwell inside us.
Because now we're that temple.
That temple changed immediately when Jesus Christ died.
Look at Luke 22.
Look at Luke Chapter 22.
Flip to the right and look at verse number 20.
Let's get another proof text here.
Out of the mouth of two or three witnesses,
y'all would be established, right? Don't just take my word for it.
What did Jesus say in Luke 22, verse 20?
Likewise, also the cup after supper, saying this cup is the New Testament.
Notice this in my blood, which is shed for you.
So notice when does the New Testament come into effect
with the shedding of blood of Jesus Christ?
When his blood was shed on the cross, we entered into what?
The New Testament.
And in the later chapters, it's going to elaborate on a little bit more
about the changing of a testator and how a testament has no force
until someone is dead.
But as soon as they're dead, now, all of a sudden, it's in effect.
If I die, let's say I have a will.
And then my will, I give every asset to my wife, which is what I would do.
OK, now I'm not Warren Buffett here. All right.
I'm not going to give it to a bunch of loser derelicts that don't deserve it.
I would everything to go my wife, my kids, my wife, 100 percent, right?
She does not get 100 percent of my assets unless I'm dead.
I'm not giving you ideas on you, OK?
There's not a lot anyways.
She's like, don't ever make it rich.
And I was just like, all right.
But if I die, the moment I die,
the will's in effect immediately, there's no like lingering process.
It's not like, well, let's wait until the body gets in the grave.
Let's wait until the body decays a little bit.
No, it's immediately in effect.
All the assets will be delivered undoer immediately upon me being declared dead.
That's the same way with the New Testament.
The New Testament came into effect the moment Jesus died.
That's when it comes into effect.
That's his will and testament.
OK, the same way in a carnal way.
Now we're going to get into way more detail next chapter,
but I want to revisit a few verses, go back to verse four.
And we're going to dig in just a few more verses here for a moment.
And I'll give you a practical application
because we've been kind of just talking in generalities.
But look at verse number four.
The Bible says, For if you were on earth, he should not be a priest,
seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law.
So. He he's not a priest after anything carnal.
It says in verse five, who serve under the example
and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was a monitor of God
when he was about to make the tabernacle for see, say he
that they'll make all things according to pattern shown to the in the mouth.
Now let's go to Exodus and see what he's talking about here.
Go to Exodus, chapter number twenty five.
And this is a good indication that even back then they realized
that the old covenant was just a replica of the true.
It was not something that was plan A.
It was a replica of plan A.
But it wasn't planning.
It wasn't plan B, wasn't it?
It was just a replica.
OK, it was just the picture.
It was a foreshadowing.
Exodus, chapter twenty five, look at verse eight.
And let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them,
according to all that I show thee after the pattern of the tabernacle
and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall you make it.
So everything that they made in the Old Testament,
God just showed him what the real one looks like,
and then he just made a replica of that on the earth to the best of their ability.
Obviously, it's not going to be as great as the one in heaven.
It's not going to be as good as the one in heaven.
It's just a model.
Look at verse 40.
And look, they'll make them after the pattern, which was showed the amount.
So when Moses went up into the mount,
he got to literally see the tabernacle in heaven,
and then he was just remaking that down on earth.
This give you a good idea.
Any time you're going to make something, look at what you want to make
and then make that, OK?
This is a great way for learning and building.
Look at the good way and then make it.
We're all copycats.
You know, China is really good at this.
Japan's really good at this.
Japan, they would say, doesn't invent anything.
They just copy things, right?
But that's the skill that he gave unto Moses.
Hey, here's what you're supposed to make.
Make that. You're just like, perfect.
I'll just make that. OK, look at chapter twenty six, verse 30.
And now, so drew up the tabernacle, according to the fashion thereof,
which was showed the in the mount, so notice again, he's just building
what he saw, God showed him the picture, go to Revelation Chapter 15,
Revelation Chapter 15.
So there's a real sanctuary, a true tabernacle in heaven.
Where Jesus Christ literally is going to perform the sacrifices
and all the things that were done on the earth were just picturing
what Jesus Christ was going to do, which is incredible, which is amazing.
Well, when we think about it, OK,
Revelation Chapter 15, look at verse five.
And after that, I looked and behold, the temple, the tabernacle,
the testimony in heaven was open, and the seven angels came out of the temple,
having the seven plagues clothed in pure and white linen
and having their breasts girded with golden girls.
And one of the four beasts gave one of the seven angels
seven golden vials full of the wrath of God who liveth forever and ever.
And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power.
No man was able to enter into the temple
till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.
So literally in the Book of Revelation, we have a note.
Hey, there's that literal temple that was mentioned.
This is what Moses saw.
Moses saw the real temple up in heaven where God was at. OK.
And that's what he ended up making a representation of on earth.
Go back to Hebrews and we're going to finish with this last point.
Now, when it came to the old covenant,
when it came to the Old Testament, you had the priesthood.
You had the high priest, which had a very specific job. OK.
But there was other priests.
It wasn't one person that was a priest.
And notice what is Jesus Christ called in the New Testament?
Our high priest.
Why would he be called the high priest? Because there's other priests.
OK, and that's an important point, too.
Look at verse number three of Hebrews, chapter number eight.
The Bible says, For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices,
wherefore it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer.
So the high priest has to offer some kind of gift and sacrifice.
He already did that. He offered his blood.
But what's the cool thing in the New Testament
is that while the Old Testament priests were after the order of Aaron,
the New Testament is after a different thing. OK.
Now, the Old Testament was based off of blood,
based off of lineage.
If you were born into the family of Aaron, of Levi, you were a priest.
And it didn't matter if you wanted to be or not.
You're a priest. Guess what? It's the same in the New Testament.
Whenever you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you're born after his bloodline.
And now you're a priest, whether you want to be or not.
Go to Revelation chapter one.
Revelation chapter number one.
Basically, you're drafted, OK?
You were enlisted.
You were in you're in his army.
You're a priest. You're a lot of things you did.
You say, I didn't know if I wanted that. Well, you got it.
I never want to be physically drafted in the war.
I felt like that would be a terrible thing.
But I'm glad that I'm trapped in the Lord's army.
OK, I like that army a lot better.
It's always fighting for a righteous cause.
And you're fighting a definitive enemy that's wicked and evil.
It's not like murdering innocent babies and children here or something like that.
And the cause of a holy war.
Revelation chapter one, verse five.
And from Jesus Christ was the faithful witness in the first begotten of the dead
and the prince of the kings of the earth on him that loved us
and washed us from our sins and his own blood and had made us
kings and priests unto God and his father to him.
Be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
So notice Jesus Christ made us priests.
He's the high priest, but we are priests.
And so I thought the priest was the guy with a long black dress.
And, you know, he went around and talks funny and looks funny and kisses babies.
Look, that's a pedophile, right? Yeah, that's what that is. OK.
I don't I'm not interested in kissing your babies on the forehead.
OK, that's weird. It's gross.
Don't be like creepy Joe.
OK, don't normalize pedophilia.
That's what he keeps trying to do. All right.
Don't put on a dress and don't call him papa and don't try to normalize it.
Look, strangers should not be handling your babies and kissing your babies.
That's gross. No normal man wants to do that.
OK, a pedophile wants to do that.
All right. That's the separation there.
Go to Chapter five and look at verse number nine.
He says, and they sung a new song, saying thou art worthy to take the book
and open the seals thereof, for thou was slain and has redeemed us to God
by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people nation
and has made us and our God kings and priests.
And we shall reign on the earth.
So a real priest is what one who serves God
by offering him gifts and sacrifices, just like the Lord Jesus Christ.
So you are a priest and your job is to offer gifts and sacrifices unto God.
That is your job on this earth, whether you like it or not.
Go to Romans chapter number 12, Romans chapter number 12.
It's not to wear the it's not to wear this dress.
It's not to pretend like you're a mediator between God and men.
There's one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.
I don't I'm not a mediator between you and God.
You don't need me, technically speaking, to know God.
You can know him with the Holy Ghost.
You know, we all need each other.
We're all dependent upon each other for other things,
for love, for fellowship, for being the body of Christ.
We're not every single part of that body.
We make up individual parts of that body.
But we're all the temple of God and we fit together
just because every stone of the temple is part of the temple.
It needs every other part of the stone building to make a great temple.
We want to be a great temple unto God.
We need all the stones put together.
But we're all the temple of God. We're all built together.
Romans chapter number 12 tells us in verse number one,
elaborating on our job, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercy of God,
that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God,
which is your reasonable service.
Your reasonable service is the sacrifice your life for God.
You're a priest. You're the priest of God.
Now, I'm going to go one last place for this evening.
OK, first Peter chapter number two, first Peter chapter two.
So we learn in Chapter eight of Hebrews what the Jesus Christ is this high priest.
He's at the right hand of the majesty on high
that we have a change from the Old Testament
to the New Testament that we can know God.
But what I think about this is because he's our high priest,
we ought to therefore realize the priesthood has changed
and we're part of that priesthood.
OK, because that priesthood has changed and he's that high priest
that makes us priests with him.
And we need to be the best priests that we can be.
Some people talk about the priesthood of the believer as a doctrine.
That is a Baptist doctrine.
And we believe that at this church, what every single person is a priest.
And, you know, in the priesthood of the Levites, they all different jobs.
Some would carry the ark.
Some would carry the curtains.
Some would set up the rods.
OK, they all had different jobs and they were all important.
And so we all as the body of Christ and as priests to God
need to fulfill our role.
And you say, who are we serving?
Well, we're serving God, but we're also serving them.
We're serving the world.
We're supposed to go out and make offerings
for those people in the sense that we go and preach the gospel.
We come and bring God to them and we try to make petition and say,
hey, this is what God's saying.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ so that you can be saved.
What happens if we don't do that?
Well, God's going to be upset with that priesthood,
just like he was at the Old Testament priesthood who stopped serving him.
They were supposed to be a light to lighten the Gentiles,
but they didn't do that.
Look, the only way anybody is going to get saved
is if the priests of God go out and get people saved.
And we're those priests of God, and we need to sacrifice our lives
so that other people can get saved.
We need to sacrifice our lives so that we can be pleasing to God.
We need to sacrifice our lives so that our children can grow up
and have a good heritage for the Lord.
It says in First Peter, chapter number two,
it's going to talk about this priesthood that we're in.
Look at verse number one.
Wherefore, laying aside, I'm sorry.
But there were. Yeah, First Peter, chapter two, verse one,
wherefore laying aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisies and envies
and all evil speakings as newborn babes desire the sincere
murk of the word that you may grow thereby, if so be yet taste
that the Lord is gracious to whom coming as unto a lively stone,
disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious.
He also as lively stones are built up for a spiritual house
and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices
acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
So notice we also are part of that priesthood
and we're supposed to offer sacrifices unto God by Jesus Christ.
It says in verse six, Wherefore also is contained in the scripture
the old I lay in Zion and cheap cornerstone, elect, precious
and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded
and you therefore which believe he is precious.
But unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the bill is disallowed.
The same is made the head of the corner and a stone of stumbling
and a rock of offense, even of them which stumble at the word
being disobedient, wherein to also they were appointed.
Now, this is an important point.
Verse number eight saying they were appointed to be saved by Jesus Christ.
But they were disobedient.
They did not believe in Jesus Christ.
They did not think he was precious.
They crucified him.
They killed the Lord Jesus Christ.
They spit at hearing his name.
They are disobedient.
They were appointed to be saved.
They are appointed to serve him.
They were appointed to picture the priesthood and appoint people to Jesus Christ.
But they do the opposite.
They kill him. They try to cover it up.
They don't want to speak his name.
Says a verse nine, but ye
are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood and holy nation,
a peculiar people that you should show forth the praise of him
who have called you out of darkness into his marvelous light,
which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God
which had not obtained mercy, but now obtained mercy.
Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lust,
which war against the soul.
Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles that whereas they speak
against you as evildoers, they may by your good works,
which they shall behold glorify God on the day of visitation.
Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake,
whether it be the king supreme or the governors present to them
that are sent by him for the punishment of your doers
and for the praise of them that do well.
So according to the Bible,
we are now that chosen generation.
We're that royal priesthood and we're supposed to offer up
spiritual sacrifices, OK?
If I lived in the Old Testament, what do I have to do?
I offer up a physical sacrifice.
I take a physical lamb, a physical goat.
I have to burn.
We have the priests have to burn incense in that temple. OK.
Now I'm just going to give you one instance here to think about.
But the incense of the Old Testament is picturing something.
It's picturing prayer.
So in the Old Testament, if I was a priest of God, I would
put physical incense and it would go sending up unto God.
And that's what he would be pleased.
He pleased with that aroma, with that smell.
In the New Testament, I'm a priest of God and you do incense.
I get on my knees and I pray.
Here's my question. How good a priest are you?
Here's the question.
You are a priest, whether you like it or not.
And you say, well, I don't have the job that I want.
I want to be the coethites, man.
They got the Ark of the Covenant.
Well, you weren't born a coethite.
You're a Marais right. All right.
Just accept the fact that you're a Marais right.
How good a Marais right are you?
How good are you carrying that rod?
How good are you offering up the incense?
Well, I wanted to be that that high priest.
Well, that's Jesus.
So none of us can make it all right.
None of us the high priest.
But whatever position you're in, in the priesthood,
you got to embrace that priesthood
and be the best priest that you possibly can be.
And we have Jesus Christ as our example of that high priesthood.
OK, and so we need to make spiritual sacrifices day.
We need to present our bodies as a living sacrifice.
You look at going to church as you know what?
I need to sacrifice and serve God today.
What if the priest in the Old Testament said,
you know what, I'm not going to the tabernacle today?
Nuts to that. You'd be like, you're crazy.
That's what it's like in the New Testament
when we decide, well, I don't want to go to church.
I don't want to pray.
I don't want to go out and preach the gospel.
I don't want to follow God's commandments.
It's just the same as those Old Testament priests
like Nadab and Abihu offering strange fire and the tabernacle.
You know, a lot of people offer strange fire as priests of God
when you drink alcohol, right?
When you don't abstain from the fleshly lusts,
when you commit fornication, you're just like the priest.
You know, Eli's sons committing fornication.
He say, well, I wouldn't commit fornication to get drunk if I was a priest.
You are a priest.
You are like Nadab and Abihu.
Well, I would abstain from alcohol if I was walking into God's,
you know, holy temple. You are the temple of God. Amen.
Why would you ever let alcohol and poison and fornication enter in your body?
God says when you defile his temple, he'll kill you.
He'll take your life.
Is that how you look at your life today?
You look at as you are the literal temple of God.
Would you just set up a bunch of debauchery next to the temple of God?
Would you let bags into the temple of God?
I'm not going anywhere near the temple of God.
You're going to break down the house of the sodomites
that are next to the temple of God, right? Right.
But you are we literally are the temple of God today.
Treat your body like it's the temple of God.
Treat your lifestyle as a priest, as the service to God.
Do you pray every day like the priest should pray every day?
You offer the sacrifice every day like they would.
Like when I read these chapters, I just feel challenged.
None of us is perfect.
That's why we need that grace.
We need to find grace to help in time of need.
But at the end of day, we need to look at the example of Jesus.
Christ is our high priest
and continually be reminded that, you know what, I'm a priest, too.
And if I want him to be pleased with me,
I need to continually offer up spiritual sacrifices every day.
Let's go to prayer. Thank you, Father, so much for your word.
Thank you for your son, the high priest Jesus Christ,
that we can constantly find propitiation for our sins,
that we can constantly find grace and mercy from.
I pray that we constantly look to his example and his sacrifice and his faith
for us to also follow in his footsteps and be faithful.
And I pray that we as a New Testament church,
which was purchased with his blood, would not take it as a light thing.
We would not take it as just some nonessential thing,
but rather we would see the importance of his sacrifice
and that we ourselves would become a living sacrifice.
And we would constantly offer up incense through our prayers
and make spiritual sacrifices today so that you can be pleased with us.
In Jesus name, we pray. Amen.