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
Don't forget to join us for worship lives Sunday mornings at 10 a.m eastern on YouTube
Be blessed and have a great day