Numbers Study - 2025-07-02

Welcome to the Lansdale Life Church podcast.

If you're seeking a closer relationship with Jesus Christ, this podcast is for you.

Thank you for joining us today.

So Lord, we thank You for Your goodness, Your graciousness to us, Your understanding

love, Your patience, Your long-suffering, because we walk in this flesh. It's not an

thankful heart that You still love us. And we acknowledge that tonight. And we ask as

we open Your scriptures that You will yet again bring us more clarity of who You are,

the character that You represent, because it is so deep. And we thank You that we can be

blessed in this land to open freely, to walk in righteousness, and not be persecuted as we

see so many people in other nations are once they come to You. So we give You these things

in the name of Jesus. And everybody said, Amen. All right. So we are out of sequence

tonight. And I'm going to blame this on Alaba, because he took the first, the last four

verses of what we always think is a chapter. And he majored on that. And he admitted when

he finished, he wrote me a note. He said, boy, he said, I really messed you up, didn't I?

Because I usually plan a couple weeks ahead. So I worked it out that Jesse will do chapter

seven next week. And we are doing eight this week, because I'm not going to throw away 14

PowerPoint presentations pages. I worked too hard on them. So anyway, that's that's where we're at.

So you'll have to excuse me. But being out of sequence isn't too bad. It's, again, a way

in which if we take chapters on everything, it's not going to conflict. So we're going

to talk about the consecration and activities of all priests. And in doing so, we want to

note that this chapter discusses the completion of the tabernacle and the decision or the

dedication of those who will serve. And if you look at what has transpired in some of these

areas of sequence, this is going to be out of sequence, not the chapter that we're in,

but the verses that we're in. So the narrative occurred on the first day of the first month of

the second year after Israel left Egypt. So that's where we're at tonight. And therefore,

the events probably have occurred these events that we're talking about prior to this set of

sequences. So the earlier chapters, which began in the second month of the second year, is where

we're at. So again, it's a little bit turned around. But again, this really isn't a problem

because we kind of unitize everything in chapters. This book never claims to be in

chronological order. So we'll just take it as it as it is. Because remember, it's an

amalgamation of people that wrote things down. And as God provides that, they just put down what

they thought was important. So the order or in this case, disorder of numbers is often

considered to be a difficulty for many in interpreting the book. I don't see it that way,

but I just make mention to that for you. So let's look at the outline of what we'll be

discussing tonight. The chapter focuses on the consecration of the priests. That's where

we're at. Remember, we built the tabernacle. We were educated on the use of those instruments

within the tabernacle. And now we're going to consecrate the priests to be able to function

and do what they have to do. Again, in eight, one through four, it talks about the lighting

of the lamp stand. I'm not going to go over that because we did that once already. And

the purification and dedication of the Levites is where we're going to major tonight. So

the Levites undergo a purification ritual, including washing, shaving, and offering sacrifices.

The Israelites lay their hands on the Levites, symbolically transferring their sins. And the

Levites, again, are presented as a wave offering before the Lord. And they are then officially

taking over the duties of the tabernacle. And that's what we're doing. And this,

again, verses 23 through 26, I'll mention it here, but we won't go into it. The Levites

began their service at age 25, and they retired at 50. That's not too bad, 25 years of service

and you retire. After retirement, they may assist their fellow Levites but cannot perform

the direct tabernacle duties. Now, why that was? Because it was a lot of heavy lifting.

Remember, the Israelites were designated certain responsibilities and these Levites had to tear

the tabernacle down, maintain the tabernacle, and set it up every time we moved throughout

the desert experience. So this highlights the importance of, again, mentorship and

transition in leadership from one generation to the next. And this chapter really emphasizes

them, the obedience, the dedication, and the spiritual cleansing as these Levites prepare

to serve God. And again, this is where we're going to major in the area of purification

and dedication of the Levites. Now, I want to review something just so we understand where

we're at. All priests are Levites, but not all Levites are high priests. So, only Aaron

from the title given to him and the lineage of the tribe, he's a Levite, and his descendants

had exclusive rights to perform all the sacrifices and enter into the Holy of Holies that once

yearly. So the Levites attended and worked on the tabernacle, but they didn't do the

service of the tabernacle. So the Levites versus the priests, everyone had their specific

duty. They knew what they were supposed to do. Remember, we talked about order and we

talked about government. The order is such that he laid down certain unequivocal requirements

that they had to go through, and they really lived and they worked around these requirements

all their lives. So other Levites, not high priests like the Kohathites and the Jerson

ites and the Marites were responsible for all tabernacle duties, but they could not perform

the priestly functions of sacrifice and going into the Holy of Holies. So there's a delineation

as you can begin to see. So the Cathites, they carried most of the sacred objects, ark,

lampstand, altar, but they couldn't touch them or even see them until the high priest

came and he covered them up because they were holy in blankets, and then they could administrate

transportation or whatever. So it was that sacred. And you know, it's interesting to think

how sacred things are. You know, it's a lampstand, it's a this and that. Now the covenant was

the same thing. They had to, again, go along with what was being done. So the Jersonites,

they transported the curtains and the coverings of the tabernacle. That's what they did. If

you remember, the pillars were 12 feet high. They had beaver skins. They were stretched

out. Was it like a tapestry? That's what they took care of. And then the Marites, they

managed the structural components, the frames, the posts, and the bases. So these things

were heavy. If you remember some of the stuff that we talked about really early on, just

the wood alone. Now give me an example. Some of the wood they had was so dense that it

wouldn't rot. I was down in the wood shop today where we live and there was a piece

of purple hark wood. It's a wood that is made from wood. It's a wood that is made

for, it is grown for boats and different things like that. The block was this big and it was

probably like, I'd say about 70 pounds. That's how dense the material was. So you can imagine

all these woods that we had gone through, here are these people doing this, that's

why you retire out at the age of 50 because after a while, you have back problems like

Ken and myself. So you know, we don't want to do that stuff. So consequently, that's

what they did. Now, the ways of God we talked about were order and structure, if you remember

some of the things we were talking about. Now God has been organizing the Israelites

into a structured community. If you remember what we said, they were unstructured, they

were war like people, they were different tribes, they had skirmishes and he's bringing

and consolidating them to live together. If there are disagreements, they didn't pull

out machetes or knives and kill each other. They went to the priest, they ironed it out.

Remember we talked about the Uman in the film and the priest would give answers for

them, yes or no on those questions. And they were building a society. And you think

how difficult that was to start from scratch and build a society of people that get along,

that understand what life is, center their passions and their desires around a single

God, not many Gods, and not live for themselves but live for the glory of God. I was reading

there was a book that Jamie had recommended a longer time ago. It's the period between

the Old Testament and the New Testament, the 500 years that are lost. Did anybody ever

read that book or have a chance to, that book is amazing, how the wars started and how the

differences started. But in there it talked about the differences

as the Old Testament as we know it and the tabernacle and the temple started to wane

in its importance how people began to be different and begin to oppose one another, the high priest

the priest and even the people. And I think that most of us everybody see the chosen so

far. Now that's evident because they hated each other. I was thinking of that one decision

when they were in the temple and they were talking among themselves and there were so

many disagreements and so much hatred and that's not what God wanted but that's what

they came to understand as a normal way of life. And we'll be talking a little bit about

that, about how did they get down to that level when they were supposed to be glorifying

and edifying God. And here they were talking about your sin and me being better and the

positioning that I had and I'm better than you and you're not so great yourself and

they were accusing one another. But he did want to build a structured community with specific

roles and responsibilities what we call today nation building. The sacrificial system was

then a way to maintain covenant with that relationship and those people. How did he

meet them? He descended into the Holy of Holies and he dwelt there and they knew that.

He communed with them and consequently that was an expression of devotion, gratitude and

repentance from the people. So the sacrifices pointed to the seriousness of sin and the

need for reconciliation with God. I mean sometimes I don't know I'm sinning unless I read the

Bible or my wife tells me. You know and that's an honest evaluation in the sense that okay

you need an arbitrator in your life to live righteously. And they were now being organized

again to travel in orderly manner following God's guidance. Can you imagine picking up

disassembling the tabernacle, one million people packing all their stuff and getting

up and going and moving and then when the clouds stops down. I think if I was one

of the Levi priests I would probably after 40 years get very tired of doing all that.

I haven't gotten into how many trips or what mileage they did but for 40 years they went

round and round and round and you know I often wonder whether in doing that somebody

that was older said oh we passed that mountain 20 years ago. And had difficulty in even

living the life as we see it today. So now the question that I ask is what are the

outcomes for you when living an orderly and structured life that we're supposed to be

doing as Christians. What are these outcomes what's that look like no matter where you

were at whatever you had as far as theology perhaps a way of life and now you fast

forward into the kingdom you have some degree of maturity. What are the outcomes of living

this orderly and structured life. What are what are these attributes that you may have.

Certainly a lot of less less stress you're getting you know you're putting the load off

on the Lord. Yes great now now let's just do this.

What's that say right now and that's what it is burden bearer. Yes he wants that. Exactly.

Well you know in my community of ecumenical people they say well God's too busy.

He's not too busy. He wants to know and you know I'm still amazed at the traditional church

and the beliefs that people have. I'm not disparaging them but I get very disappointed

sometimes when you compare what you have as such value what we have here in this assembly

as opposed to a formal church and the liturgy in some instances to some people is as meaningful as

the worship and the sermon. So again that's kind of difficult for me to kind of get around sometimes

but anyway what else. Yes scale. It would also give a different perspective and purpose

to your life. Yeah here we are we're purposed to do what build ourselves up feel good about us

what's in it for me and then all of a sudden God comes along and says okay

that's not you anymore. That does that's what. That's a change of direction along with salvation.

It's a change in the way that we approach ourselves approach God. Let's see we'll get rid of this

and order provides greater fruitfulness in work relationships with people and the Lord. I mean

spending time following the kingdom. Anything else. What's different in your life

not BC but as you came to the Lord as you have given up as you relinquished your life

as he becomes more apparent to you as you become more involved.

Yes. I was gonna say you avoid destruction. I think living like an orderly and structured life

it helps you like obey authority better to avoid like mindset such like communism everybody's on

the same level we're all the same there's not a difference between a man or a woman or

you know a master or servant so now you get to fall in your place and so everything goes a lot

better. There's no contention between leadership and you know followers things I sort of yeah.

And is there not contention in the world when you take Christianity out of it don't we know

that. Yeah. Oh my gosh. Terrible. Anything else. Yes. I'm here. I was going to say maybe

relationship. Yeah. I'm not accountable to anybody. It's me right. But when God comes in

what. Immediate thing that somebody's watching over you and yet. And you want to be accountable.

Correct. Yeah. We want that because that's our safeguard.

If somebody is watching you and helping you and walking with you and the Lord

that's a safeguard that we have because that's less error for us to go right or to left. Very

good. Anything else. All right. So we have this understanding what God wants to do. He's building

and the key aspects of the purification process as we look at them is first of all the ritual

cleansing that they had to go through the Levites were again purified through the sprinkling of

water shaving their bodies. There's always interesting if they are hairy men how would

they shave their body. But that's all right. That's a story for another day. I mean you know

maybe the beard washing their clothes symbolizes spiritual and physical purity. So that's the first

thing they had to do is the external again the sacrificial offerings. They presented sin and

burnt offerings to atone for their sins and dedicate themselves to God. So now we're looking

at the inside and I'm going to get another lifesaver here before my voice gets too raspy

and you and you will hope that John stops talking if I get that way.

All right. Five second rule. All right. So now the inside. Now the presentation before the Lord

the Israelites laid their hands on the Israelites laid their hands on the Levites

symbolically transferring their responsibility for spiritual service to these people. There is a

designation okay you take care of the tabernacle and I think that's good in the economies of God

because I don't know whether you're ever into a situation where it's is something is everybody's

responsibility then it becomes nobody's responsibility. When I had a business I had some 37 people

working for me at one time and about 50% of those people were technicians and builders of

materials and there was always something that had to be purchased or delivered or whatever so we

had two pickup trucks. So one was mine I'd let people use it if the other one was busy

and one day I went out and I used the company's pickup truck and I just happened to pull the

dipstick. Well guess what there was no oil in the thing because it was everybody's

responsibility. I'm not going to check it. Well Ken he's a good mechanic he probably checked it

and you know I was I was kind of livid at that point in time.

Again so specifically if you're designated to do something that's your responsibility

and again the division of labor so we have this so again the age of service

now we know why it was 25 to 50 because of the of the labor involved and they could still assist

with with the Levites here you know at my age they're probably okay John you lift the curtain

over here not not the pillars okay Roger you and me right okay all right so this purification

process then emphasized that serving God required preparation purity and commitment

to do these things that God asked them to do so now let me ask another question of you

how can we we're now on this side of the covenant be purified for the service to God

what's that look like okay we got first Roger he had his hand up first I was going to say obedience

obedience might be a number one thing okay all right obedience I like what you mentioned before

I think the key is preparation because if you study the Bible a lot of the kings that's where they

went wrong because they didn't prepare their heart to seek the Lord so then after that they

went into idolatry or doing things their own way and then it got punished I think preparation is

very key yeah yeah anything else yes Debbie yeah we need to be consecrated by the blood of Christ

okay all right that's first and foremost right yeah we don't get any entrance until we pass that

okay so you read the notes all right let's take a look the answer to the first one again

cleansing by Jesus all these other things are true but first of all through his blood

again you equate that to what we talked about with the high priest that was the ritual cleansing

for them it is now the cleansing of of of the blood of Jesus in our hearts that cleanses

us from all sin so that was one the foundation again that we we lay is a purification that is

acceptable to Christ the toning sacrificed his blood removes guilt and makes believers spiritually

clean this is not earned but received by faith it is the starting point for all Christian service

and we know that anything else that we might think about how about repentance and confession

that kind of goes along the line of what you know your preparation that we talked about again

that was that sacrificial offering that we talked about in the old and in the the eighth chapter

first John 1 9 says if we confess our sins he is faithful to cleanse us from all unrighteousness

not some but all ongoing purification involves what honest confession and turning away from sin

it is our responsibility God cleanses us but we have to make that decision to turn from that sin

we must again regularly examine our hearts confess sin and seek God to be pure before him

another one that you might think of sanctification by the Holy Spirit

that's the what the empowerment coming to us because if you think of it

how did the people in the old testament overcome their sins

God atoned he took the sacrifice they gave

but what beyond that there wasn't anything there wasn't the Holy Spirit to be able to enable them

to do what they should do yes i went to the altar yes i brought the goat yes i brought the sheath

offering and yes i was cleansed but the power to overcome like we having the Holy Spirit depend

upon him to begin to influence us and work in our lives they didn't have that so sanctification

by the Holy Spirit first thessalonians 5 23 now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely

sanctification is that spirit-led process of being made holy and we talked about that

a review for some of you that weren't here when i was teaching about the conscience the Holy Spirit

indwells us he speaks to our conscience because our conscience is all over the place look up the word

it's about 18 times in the new testament and he brings influence and and strength

so the conscience can decide what we should be doing now where does the Holy Spirit get that

from the word of God being read and assimilated through the Holy Spirit Holy Spirit speaking to

our conscience our conscience then rightly discerning what's good and what is evil learn to

make good decisions and live righteous lives so the idea that well if if God wants me to to

change he'll change me it doesn't happen sovereignly he comes and clarifies the fact that you're set

free and he takes the sin away then what do we do with it what do we do with it do we walk in that

or do we do we slide backwards through prayer reading the bible obedience we grow in purity

okay continuing on how can we be purified for service cleansing ourselves it says in second

timothy 221 if anyone cleanses himself he will be a vessel of honor sanctified and use

for the useful for the master so Christians are called to actively stand against sinful

habits and influences that's what we have to do taking the armor of God standing declaring

and being set free he forgives and he cleanses from all unrighteousness that's found in first

John 1 9 and then of course the Holy Spirit empowers us to resist working within us on our

conscience so that we can be whole before him and then we lay aside every weight and sin as it says

in hebrews 12 1 so it's a combination a relationship that is formed between that which is God speaking

through the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit taking the word applying it to us in our conscience

and our conscience dictating to our flesh what should be done or what shouldn't be done

so again another one is accepting the refining trials that help us mature how many love trials

there are no hands on that one are they are they necessary yes how do we grow

how do we find dependence if we don't have trials if we don't have challenges whatever

you want to call that statement again malachite 3 3 he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver

he just turns the heat up in your life doesn't it feel good

yeah all right it's like the lobster in the kettle of hot water yeah it keeps getting hotter

and hotter and he doesn't you know it's enjoyable he's there and all of a sudden he just passes from

from from being to not being right yeah

God often uses hardship to refine character and deepen our faith and we can all say amen to that

you know going through my experiences of of life

they were extremely difficult in some seasons of my life and some of you know some of my backstory

but i would not change that or take or want to take that off of my plate because i've

learned so much from that now i was a minister and i i probably in in the height of my career

i probably knew every answer that there was because i was a sir i knew it and then when

God taken sliced me down and took everything away my business my church it came down to zero

i learned so much appreciation for who God is because in those destitute moments with nothing

and for those of you who don't know the sheriff went through our house writing down

our furniture and there was going to be a share of sale the house was going to be sold and

sovereignly things turned around and i won't get into the story but those experiences where i've

met God in the barest sense of need where there was nothing left in my life i would value

above most everything else that God has put us through as a family so

trials are not punishments but purification understand that

again it's just for deeper service obedience to God's word

John 17 17 sanctify them by the truth and your word is truth and scripture is a cleansing agent

sharpening the mind and heart to be able to do what God wants to do regular study and meditation

we've been through these things we know that if we don't do it we don't start that how many do

their you don't have to answer this i find that i need to do my stuff with God in the morning

how many do that in the morning before you get started i yeah i just find that better and i mean

that's not judging any one of you i just wonder what the idea it's what it's you know it's quiet

around the house with my wife she's still in bed get a cup of coffee and go out into the den

and kind of be alone with God and just you know commune with him and just enjoy with him

and then when she gets up and we have breakfast we have our devotions together and we pray and

there's a lot of intercession that we do but you know it's just nice to know in the morning to

start it off with the Lord quietly without any distractions right ken yeah

yeah right except sleep yeah remember the markets open at 9 30

all right

yeah

did i not did i put this i did that right yeah i did that all right um let's compare now now that we

kind of know the the the groundwork let's compare the levi priests with the high priests

so there is a pecking order being established first of all the levi priests or the high priests

were ordained or set apart laying on of hands impartation of God and his mercy and calling

unto these people and when you were a priest you were cleansed for service we already went through

that and the high priests then were ordained and anointed and washed accordingly for their service

whereas the priests were sprinkled with water so there was a difference again

they were given new garments remember we talked about the ephod we talked about the robes we

talked about the shoes we talked about all the stuff that God created for the high priest

and again we reviewed that we they washed their clothes so they were cleansed

and blood was applied to the priests but blood was waved over them if you were only a priest

and it was a lifetime appointment as a high priest you left your office when you died

so there was an eternal provision there and again the provision that we've talked about is

they retire at 50 because of the rigorous work that was done from 25 they could enter into 50 and

they retire so the high priests again acted as intermediaries who facilitated the removal of sin

and impurity through divinely ordained rituals so this is what the priest did for the people that

was their job does that not sound something like a religion that some of us came from

where the priest did intercession for us where we confessed our sins to the priest

you know it i can see where the roman catholic church got a lot of the origins of life because

this just came forward as centuries past there was a there was a position there and so the priest

okay heard your sins you know he supposedly prayed for you and doing whatever they do not

not being a catholic i don't know the particulars of that but again the priest did the work for

the people hebrews 4 14 through 16 therefore since we have a great high priest who has ascended into

heaven Jesus the son of God let us behold firmly let us hold firmly to the faith that we profess

so therefore it is Jesus that is the high priest and not anybody in between there is no mediator

today between Christ Jesus and man aren't you happy about that you have direct access all the time

anytime anywhere it's not that we have to go home or we have to you know when i was traveling i was

working for the lehigh university for some years and i most of my education that i was doing was

a workforce that was already in the field so i did a lot of traveling but when i used to go back

to the university i lived in in uh wet and war sester it was about an hour drive up and back

and i tell you what i learned that my car was a sanctuary i mean i just enjoyed it was getting

on a lansdale exit entrance going up the the northeast extension over to 20 there wasn't any

you know at that point in time i even knew when the shift changed with the with the policeman

were about 620 so i could go up there 80 miles an hour and just praise the Lord and thank the

i'll admit and then and but but it was enjoyable because that was my that was my time together

with the Lord so um as a group now think about this as a group they would sit

on the top of the governing structure of israel they were because they interceded they knew they

asked questions on behalf of you you had leprosy they came and defined what leprosy was so they were

in sense maybe a doctor and they were counseled so do you think then that this power would go

to their head as time progressed why or why not yes i would say it did especially when we see in

new testaments like the high priest they were so prideful they ended up teaching false doctrine

instead of being obedient to God they were like hey forget God we're going to teach our own things

and the sadducees who are descendants of the priest of zadok uh they ended up they don't

believe in anything spiritual so they're like almost like atheists so we see that that power did get

to their head and even just forsook God and did their own thing thinking they're greater than God

so yeah power absolutely corrupt you know especially without the Holy Spirit because

there wasn't anything there good observation anything else any other points yes this was a

pretty good deal i don't think they wanted to give this up no not at all you know i'm surprised i mean

i have learned graphically through again i can't say enough about what um the the production of

the uh the chosen is done graphically for me to see the arguments and the disagreements and

all that and the and the and the pushback that they gave Jesus oh my gosh but so yeah i mean

they were they were they were fighting among themselves they were fighting the externals

they were fighting Jesus you know ministry on earth i mean it was just chaos as that film shows

anything else yes amir i would say did start thinking more like self-righteous like they are

better than yeah that's my approach to um

reborn again so yeah so if if you come in next Sunday with a phylactery on i know you've gone too

far that's the hats they used to wear you know look at me the robes you know it was very

interesting to just to see that okay now let's support that in in the concept that you believe

that they were susceptible to and like every man i mean power absolutely corrupts well in looking at

what they did in spiritual leadership they ensured that properly prepared people worship God that

good they even began to educate and taught biblical law the law of moses to the people

so they were not only the intermediary they were the teacher okay by teaching the law they made

sure people remain faithful to God's commands and of course if you know the jewish religion they

have so many do's and don'ts above and beyond what was written in the law that they said okay above

that look you you should have two sets of of dishes one for passover one for here you know or

or you should be able to do this they can't even cook in the same kitchen so consequently they

started to add to that again they pronounced blessings the arionic blessing was the Lord

bless you and keep you the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you so they

did that they ensured that worship practices were conducted properly no don't do that do this okay

that's that authority that's not so bad and judicial and administrative roles priests eventually

served as judges in legal matters not only were they to answer the questions through the woman

and the thumb and if they were asked a question that had to be a yes or no they began to adjudicate

in the in the lives of people they interpreted the law well you know when you get five people in

a room there are a lot of different disagreements to what should be and what should not be so there

was probably that going on and they applied the law in disputes so if there was a disagreement

we know that there was scripture for some of that health and welfare they consulted in health related

issues healing issues so again there was another thing that they they did they examined diagnosed

and handled cases of leprosy along with other impurities so now they become a doctor so they're

a lawyer they're a priest they're a doctor they have all this resource they have their authority is

there community leadership they became influential leaders again guiding the moral and ethical

behavior of the israelites that's not so bad they taught jewish traditions from an economic standpoint

they taught money management so you know they were involved in almost everything they kept the

tabernacle finances remember the the the gift and giving once a year that you had to give they

financially took care of that and they again were supported by the tax which helped them to manage

their money and then also guide others so out of all that over the hundreds of years

and the inclination that you so aptly said that they that they were feeling more of themselves

than they should so again question with all this power i believe they became self-serving and i

think that was the word you used was it not self-serving how did all this happen over time

yes rager

i think it became more legalistic and it became more political yeah it's interesting

when the Holy Spirit leaves congregations and i experienced this

then legalism to control because you don't have the Holy Spirit is the next thing that comes about

and then all of a sudden there's legalists well you know deb i don't think you should do this

and now i'm being God to her you know that always happens yeah so i think it also became

judgmental which um i was just reading in luke 18 today and he was Jesus was talking about this and

the fact that he said it's better that if one of these teachers misleads one of the sheep in the

wrong path it's better than a millstone be turned hung around their neck and they're thrown into

the sea because they are doing the exact opposite of what God gave them that judicial

not judicial but that that position for they were there for helping them to restore them in

the relationship to God not to prevent them from it and i think even in the the the the graphic was

that Jesus even said that you've come to destroy all these people here and he pointed to the crowd

you know you misled them yes brand team so it's just it's interesting about the self-serving

because um if no one's above you if you don't have anyone checking your line of work and the

buck stops at you then there's always the fact that who's gonna know who's gonna it's like who

can judge the last person it's like and so they are the tops and and it always results in them

becoming politically um not just religiously but then gaining political power and it's very

interesting because that word pontimus maximus was used prior to the catholic church the romans

even prior to julia siezer there was the priest and he was the pontiff maximus and that is such

an interesting word because it means pon like in french's bridge and he is the ultimate bridge

builder and that's literally what that word means and so even the roman we're talking about the

needed an ultimate bridge builder to bridge the gap between them and the Gods as they understood

the Gods but that's who the pontiffus maximus was and then along that person became so powerful

that eventually i think it was probably under augustus who then took the title for himself

and after that the the siezers after that they they became not only the head ruler but the

okay now i'm God oh my gosh yeah you know and we've seen that in our lifetime with regard to

some of the political leaders that have that thought they were God yeah yeah i was just

gonna say i think kind of historically a lot of the how well this is done dependent upon the king

that was in charge and how faithful he cared about the nation being because i think um over

time like you can when you read through the old testament you can see that a lot of times

people were pretty ignorant and the thing that comes to mind is when they return the

arc you know and they didn't carry a property the right the right people didn't carry it it

wasn't covered you know all the things that wasn't even done right and david didn't even

think about it you know so um but like also when the babylonian captivity happened and the and

the temple was destroyed and the people were gone this whole thing was demolished yeah yeah

it just collapsed and then after that like i was reading that what started to happen is this

became a role that was purchased you know and by the time you get to the maccabees it was so

corrupt that it was beyond repair they had a war against it right right yeah so it's just

Jesus came at the exact right time all right we're gonna have open um elders come next week

and whoever bids the highest can be an elder here how about that okay all right what am i

bid right yeah put your money on the table well i i did along with this i did a uh technical

transfer to ukraine in the late 90s and i was there for four years for four months for four weeks

spring four weeks in the late fall and we used to pass the government building and all the blackened

Mercedes wagons were outside and you knew that they were in session and our translator which

was a Christian he said John he said you know he said if you have a million dollars you can be

one of those people i said what do you mean he said no he said all these guys after the after

the sylvia union fell and the oligarchs took control you could be part of the oligarchs and

they would disperse things to you because one oligarch when it fell took the phone companies one

took the water companies and they were all filthy rich and they and they said that you

know it's open season you know you could be part of not me he parenthetically said but anybody

that's ukraine with enough money can be part of the parliament you know and you buy that office

and literally it's just it's it's a travesty to see but that's what happened all right so

let's look at the failure of the laws of moses the priest ability to minister inward peace

was very very limited by the structure of the old testament we already know that their duties were

primarily external offering sacrifices maintaining the temple purity performing blessing and you

know that doesn't as we on the other side of the cross that doesn't go very far our external

compliance it's what's what God said is in the heart right how Jesus the priest brought inner peace

the personal relationship with God unlike the old testament which required again intermediary

priests Jesus made it possible for all people to have direct access to God hallelujah for that

amen all right forgiveness of sins instead of continual sacrifices Jesus offered himself as the

final atonement for us providing lasting peace to the conscience hebrews 10 14 again in dwelling

of the Holy Spirit the dunamos the power was spoken on this past Sunday the dynamite if you

will the motivation through the new covenant believers receive the Holy Spirit again which

begins to comfort guide and bring inner renewal John 14 26 and 27 and rest for the soul as we

talked about right one of your things you know you turmoil goes away Jesus invited people to find

true rest in him it says come to me all you who are weary and burdened and i will give you rest

matthew 11 28 so okay while the jewish priests maintain external purity Jesus focused focused

on transforming the heart and we we have all seen that we've experienced that their fear of losing

influence and power contributed to the rejection of Jesus and we've seen that graphically we

talked about that and we've all seen that in the the chosen their authority was threatened by

Jesus teaching and his growing popularity among the people was amazing how some of the the priests

well we can't do anything because Jesus is so popular with everybody you know they their their

hands were tied but yet they hated him the priest's unbelief was not merely intellectual but also

spiritual as they were blinded by their own expectations of what the messiah should be

you know what a carpenter what's he doing teaching in the temple

they anticipated a political deliverer who would free them from the roman rule that they were

looking for not a suffering servant who would address the deeper issue of sin all right now

why priests failed to transition from the old to the new

the israelite high priest struggled with this transition from old to new primarily because they

were deeply rooted in the trans traditions of the levitical priesthood and the mosaic law they

were stuck because we've all said it it was repetitious it was part of that this is what

you did this is your position in life in order in order to get a better position you had to be

again the lineage or the bloodline either high priest priest to in order to do these things and

you had again service unto the Lord in all of that resistance to Jesus the messiah many high

priests rejected Jesus because he did not fit what they expected a king to be they expected a warrior

king freeing freeing them again from the roman rule Jesus challenged their authority calling out

hypocrisy and the rule over the people matthew 23 and i think that's what you even alluded to gail

and again clinging to ritual over relationship and that's what i kind of see in the traditional

church again i'm not casting dispersions please but i see that in the things that we talk about just

you know uh this morning we had a we had a prayer meeting and it again which tends to be kind of

ecumenical at different points of time but again the the rituals that people seek and

you know there was conversation afterward well you know we wish we could do that and it was all

about ritual you know it wasn't about the presence of God it wasn't about the Holy Spirit you know you

mentioned the Holy Spirit to some people you know you know and that's a that's a new concept for them

Jesus introduced a personal relationship with God where salvation came through faith and not works

okay now again why priests failed in this transition from old to new failure to recognize

the priesthood of Christ the high priest did not accept that Jesus was the great high priest of the

new testament or the new covenant unlike levitical priest Jesus was a priest in the order of

malchizedek meaning his priesthood was eternal and not based on lineage or bloodline next week

since there is a schedule change that i told you because next week

uh jessie will do chapter seven so we'll get on track then um i think when i come back in

i'm going to speak to you about the lineage and the bloodline versus what God did for us because

it's fresh in our mind so i want to kind of i i i did some down the rabbit hole research and it

was very interesting to to see how God changes things in the economies of scale so we're going to

talk about that lineage and since it's fresh in our mind between what the priest the high

priests and now the new covenant is and then opposition to the apostles early teaching you

know they wanted to kill them and you know they they they eventually did but then after Jesus

resurrection the high priest persecuted followers trying to again suppress any of this new spread

Christianity and instead of embracing the fulfillment of prophecy they saw the early

church as a threat to their power power grab and we see that even in the natural and again

ignoring prophecies of the new testament the old testament foretold a new covenant where God's

law would be written on people's hearts but they did not espouse to that and ultimately

their rigid adherence to tradition and fear of losing control prevented them from embracing the

new covenant now that's a challenge to us you know again let's let's look at that further downstream

now so why do pastors today fail in their calling so you can you can apply some of those

same things while they don't confront with speaking the truth they follow trends

in second timothy four three it says for a time will be when they will not endure sound doctrine

but they will sheep up teachers to themselves according to their own lusts tinkling the ears

that's what a lot of what we see um you know i i never was really into tele-evangelism but

you know as i looked at that from a study standpoint there was so many false activities

not that some of them were not good but came as a result of that i mean it just almost makes you

sick uh they were more interested in keeping you happy by refusing to preach the truth

this is a snare because it doesn't prepare people for Christ it prepares them for judgment

i can remember one church that we went to as an interim thing we were there for about

nine months to a year i think and um the the pastor started to to hand out

like like when ron gives us the the bulletin they hand out sheets that you were to fill in

and i i started filling them in and i thought you know where's the cross in all this you know it

just made me feel good i mean in this natural oh yeah this and this and this and this and this

you know but but it didn't do anything for my spirit it just made me feel good so again you

have that again they're focused on preaching self-centered affirmation where people walk away

feeling better about themselves but not being better they're just they're they're inspired

but not transformed you know and that that's a travesty i think that's going to be a lot of

judgment that comes forth in in ministries as we see them these days and when the gospel is diluted

by personality again we have that the church no longer is being built up only monuments are

built to man you know some of the churches that um

well i won't go to names but some of the larger thousands of churches you know people in a in a

single uh meeting it's just it's amazing what what said on behalf of God and when a man is lifted

high Christ is pushed low every time so again a true church does not stand on charisma

but in the cornerstone which is Jesus Christ so galatians 110 for now i do persuade men or God

or do i speak to please men this was paul speaking for if i yet pleased man i would not be a servant

of Christ all right now where do we fail in our calling let's bring it home last page

when we lose sight of the heart of worship and the holiness of our calling remember things were so

holy that the priest couldn't even see some of these instruments they had to wrap them up they

were so holy because God dwelt his presence was there and if we don't worship was there ever a

time in your in your life that you didn't worship i i had a time for a while when i went through

the transition and i tell you what i you know you get dry after a while you know you you know and

i'll confess i just even wasn't reading the word nothing nothing very much worked in my life

malachi two one through nine God rebukes the priests of israel for failing to honor his name

there again their failure was about corrupted hearts careless teaching and self-serving

leadership all right so we got the heart neglecting reverence malachi two two if you do not listen and

if you do not set your heart to honor my name says the Lord almighty i will send a curse upon you

that's indirectly or directly life situations and when we we treat God casually offering him

our leftovers okay how many pray every hand goes up how many worship some hands went up

you just give him a little bit just to satisfy your own ego that you did something toward the Lord

instead of giving him your best we failed to reflect his glory worship becomes routine and

not relevant compromising truth malachi two six through eight true instruction was in his mouth

but you have turned from the way and by your teaching have caused many to stumble and that's

what we talked about in some of these things imagine the judgment that will be in some

minister's lives when they come to the throne room and they are judged on what they did or did not do

failing to uphold and share God's truth faithfully again whether through silence

distortion or fear of offense well i don't want to witness because i'm afraid i'll offend go ahead

and offend i mean you know you're there you may have this person that God put you in touch with

it may be their only chance to hear what you have to say undermines our priestly role as messengers

of the Lord and living hypocritically when our lives really don't match our message saying one

thing and doing another we dishonor God and he knows that and he'll let that go on for some period of

time and he will then expose you how many in the last year and a half how many ministers have you

things have now percolated to the top sexual sin group participation and unGodly practices and so

forth and i think there's more men that have left the ministry and have been exposed in the last

year and a half than the last 10 15 20 years the priestess was meant to model holiness and integrity

and when we live with hidden sins and spiritual apathy we obscure God's glory and i don't want to

do that so father we thank you tonight we know that the law says do this and live and do that

and live but your grace says live because it's already been done and Lord we thank you for your

grace tonight we thank you for listening ears for participation we thank you Lord that we can

articulate your love in your word thank you so much for breaking bread with us tonight Lord

and we bless you in the name of Jesus and everybody said amen yes daddy yes

i got a question um i'm just curious how do you think the relationship between

Jesus is a high priest now and we are the royal priesthood so how is we as royal priesthood

minister unto the Lord through how does that how do we minister to the Lord yeah how is that

don i mean other than the just the prayer or something i was just interceding for others

and things but do you have any insight on that okay if i get it how do we as high priests minister

to the Lord he is a high priest so we uh we're the royal priesthood so as we as believers as a royal

we're priests unto the Lord what does that look like well that should look like what you

probably do he wants your heart first of all so how does he get your heart he starts to work on

you through the Holy Spirit how does that happen you expose yourself to sermons on Sunday teachings

the word so the word comes through the Holy Spirit he empowers us to change by virtue of our

conscience those things that were apathy are now real those things that were behavioral issues

are now done away with and as we begin to be more holy like him we are intimate relationship

begins to grow deeper and deeper and deeper so it's a matter of process it's not instantaneous

you mean you know some people well how do you spend time how do you know and i'm i'm going to do

when i do the uh liturgy thing i'm going to talk about how you discern God and how you begin to

shear God they're very simple steps that you can go through so i'll be doing some of that

and and that's the only way that you can become close when you become close you are intimate when

you are intimate he speaks to you and you have that relationship as one

and i also think it's um we are ministers of reconciliation so that's part of priesthood

we reconcile people through our testimony through our life through our behavior

i mean we we said this before how many people have ever come up to you and said to you

you know i don't know there's something about you debbie that's different

you ever have that with people yeah i mean that's that's the aura of the Holy Spirit

working with us and walking with us as the priest

of whom we serve it's the Lord you don't get it there's not much latitude

in in serving God if you don't do certain basic things but when you do those it's a life that's

full of glory okay i don't want to belabor the issue it's 8 15 we try to stop in one hour chris

says one hour one hour okay so we did the hour any questions anymore God bless you good to see you

thank you for your time

Thanks for joining us at Lansdale Life Church as we praise God and discuss his word

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