Open—R. Thonney, D. Buchanan
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We're pilgrims and.
Transplant.
The Holy Ghost is bleeding.
What are you doing?
Around here is crying.
With fellow pilgrim's knitting hearts. Real friends really wrong.
It's great you can escape together.
We all must watch ourselves.
Hey, Cortana will come back every day. You will not come. We may be alone, certainly from ourselves.
And so on.
Changing the world.
Where?
I can dream.
And scream all the sky.
We sing.
All year must feel the rhythm's weight.
Breathing.
For all day, first of all, I praise.
Turn to Hebrews chapter 10.
For a few minutes. I don't want to take all the time we have this afternoon, but.
What's before my heart, brethren, is the importance of understanding.
Our position before God.
In the work of Christ, the liberty that is ours.
And I don't want to sound like I'm being critical here, but sometimes.
In a prayer meeting at a conference, it's noticeable that there are many brethren.
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That are not taking any part.
When they are really capacitated to take part as much as any other, it comes to the ministry of the Word. Scripture recognizes gift, which is to be used according to the grace that is given to each one. But when it's the prayer meeting and when it's praised, it's not a question of gift. It's a question of.
Our priesthood and sometimes wonder if the reason why.
There doesn't seem to be more liberty.
To express our prayers and praises to God comes from a lack of living in the enjoyment.
Of the place that God has won for us in the work of Christ. And I'd just like to go over at a Brett year.
In chapter 10, because it is really thrilling.
When you consider the place that God has brought us into, we're not going to read the first verses of the chapter, just like to mention.
That he's contrasting the sacrifices of the Old Testament with what we have in Christianity, many sacrifices in Judaism.
There were never done in Christianity. There's one sacrifice.
The Lord Jesus that settled the whole question of our relationship with God once and for all.
And the four general categories.
Of sacrifices that you have in the book of Leviticus in the first four or five chapters are mentioned.
Twice in these first 10 verses, notice in verse five he says sacrifice and offering. Thou wouldst not but a body. Hast thou prepared me in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin? Thou hast had no pleasure. You notice carefully you have the four general categories of sacrifices that the book of Leviticus enumerates.
It says in verse 5 sacrifice. That's the sacrifice of peace offerings that you have in Leviticus chapter 3.
And offering, that's the meal offering that you have in Chapter 2 of Leviticus.
Burnt offering. That's what you have presented in chapter one of Leviticus.
And sacrifices for sin, that's chapter 4. And you have of course the trespass offering in chapter 5, which is somewhat related to the sin offering. So you have the four general categories of the offerings of the Old Testament summarized there. And he says that that really wasn't what settled anything at all. It was only.
Foreshadowing.
Of that sacrifice, that mighty sacrifice of the Lord Jesus.
He says he repeats those in verse 8, but then he says in verse 9 then said he, lo, I come to do thy will, O God, this is the Lord Jesus in those eternal councils.
Saying that he was coming to do God's will, He taketh away the 1St that he may establish the second. Then notice verse 10. That's where I really wanted to start.
By the which will the will of God?
We are sanctified by the offering of the Body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Beautiful truth of Christianity. We are sanctified. In other words, sanctified means set apart for God.
Every true believer in the Lord Jesus is set apart from this world system for God.
By the offering of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all that wonderful brethren to realize that that's the price He paid so that you and I could be set aside for His service.
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I know in this world there are lots of demands on our time.
And on our energies. But remember this, because of the offering of the body of Jesus Christ, you have been set aside for God's purpose and pleasure.
Verse 11 And every priest hears the Levitical priesthood again.
Standeth daily ministering and offering off times the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. But this man, the Lord Jesus Christ, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever sat down.
You could be read sat down in perpetuity at the right hand of God.
In the Old Testament you look in the instructions given for the Tabernacle and afterwards the temple. Never was there any provision on God's part for a seat in that sanctuary.
God did not provide for it. You'll find that Eli was sitting. He was a priest, but God never really made any provision for a seat in that sanctuary because the work was never done.
Here comes a man bringing his animal sacrifice to be sacrificed for whatever he's done.
Just gets done sacrificing that. Oh, here comes another one. It was never done. It was a constant flow of blood through the Old Testament. But, and this is the beautiful thing that we need to enjoy in our souls, brethren, this man after he had offered one sacrifice.
For sins.
Forever sat down on the right hand of God.
The work is done. He sat down forever. He will never give up to take up the question of sin any longer. It's settled once and for all.
Beautiful to let that sink into our souls, brethren, the enjoyment of the truth that we stand in God's presence in virtue of that sacrifice.
That was made by the Lord Jesus on the cross.
There is one large section of Christendom.
That says that they offer.
A continuing sacrifice.
For sin.
And that denies the.
Virtue, The value of.
The work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He said it is finished. Are you saying it's not finished? Something else needs to be done.
Brethren, let's let that be a practical reality I don't think we enjoy sufficiently. I have to say from my own soul the liberty that belongs to us to come into God's own present. He's opened the way. One of the things that happened when Jesus died was that the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. God's own hand ripped.
That veil in two God can come out into the light, and we can go right into the presence of God, not because we've attained some.
Some some priestly.
Level of attainment? No, only because of that, the work of Christ.
Is a finished work. We stand in virtue of that.
Now one more thing. Here it says verse 14 for by.
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One offering he hath perfected forever.
Them that are sanctified.
Who's this pub applied to out here in this group that's here today? Is there some brothers that kind of meet this standard and others just don't quite meet it? No, this is what is true of every true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, perfected forever.
You look at me and I may look at you and we say it doesn't look like you're quite perfect yet, brother.
That's true as to our condition, but we're not talking about our condition here. We're talking about our position in Christ perfect forever.
How could we ever dare to lay a question mark on it when God.
Has set that man that died for our sins.
At his own right hand in the glory, impossible can't happen.
And we need to live in the enjoyment of it, brother and sister and the Lord Jesus. This is the place that we occupy. It is not what I am. It's what Christ is and what he has done. That is everything.
And we need to enjoy this in our souls. So when we come as priests to the Lord's Table and the sisters are priests as well as the brothers, because when it comes to offering the spiritual sacrifice of praise to God continually, the sisters are singing just as much as the brothers.
Your priests too, and we need to enjoy this.
And I want to speak specifically to some of our younger brothers.
Be exercised in the prayer meeting and in the breaking of bread meeting to be an instrument.
That the Lord can use in giving out his praise. You know, I don't like, I say, I don't want to appear like I'm criticizing because I enjoy so much the breaking of bread meeting. But sometimes there are kind of long gaps.
And I know we can have profitable times of silence in the Lord's presence.
But sometimes the silence gets to the point where our minds start wandering in other directions.
Dear brethren in Latin America have maybe a different problem.
Kind of on the other side of the.
Way things are done.
They kind of stumble over each other to give out hymns of praise.
And so many places.
1234 brothers get up to praise the Lord before.
Breaking of bread before the loaf has given. Thanks for I must say, brother. And they do need instruction and help to understand that there is such a thing as the Spirit guiding. And since we all have the fleshiness, sometimes the flesh gets into the picture too.
But I must say, we have such a glorious God and Savior, and if we are not exercised in giving Him the praise He deserves, He's going to raise up others to do it. Let's be exercised in praising Him.
Praise Him.
Verse that exercises me is that one that the Lord said when he was coming into the.
City of Jerusalem, remember.
Children were crying, hosanna, hosanna and Pharisees say, tell him to be quiet. Jesus said if these should hold their peace, the stones immediately cry out. You know, brethren, God is glorious and he's going to have praise, and if we are not exercised in His praise, He's going to raise up others.
That will praise him. Lord help us to be exercised, not just a certain few.
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You know what really has been somewhat searching to me, brother? And in the Book of Revelation, it speaks of a class of people known as the Nicolaitans and I think.
You have probably heard. I suppose there's other ways of explaining it, but the word Nicolaitan means those that dominate the laity. It's really has been explained that perhaps it is the beginning of what was known as the clergy.
In one of the early churches it speaks of, I think it's Ephesus of the Deeds of the Nicolaitans.
I think it just happened that they just kind of left the activity in assembly meetings to just one or two or three or four brothers and the rest kind of just sat there and they weren't exercised.
And then what happens a little later it talks about.
The doctrine of the negotiations. So later on they kind of fitted a doctrine that would say now these folks up front here, they're the ones that can take part, but those back in the back, they should be quiet. That's.
Not fall into that. Let's enjoy the truth of God that we are all priests capacitated before God to OfferUp praise and prayer. Let's be exercised when we come into the presence of the living God. I realize that we all have the flesh in US. I've got it just as much as anybody, and I'm sure it must be evident at times to my brethren.
But, brethren, The thing is to be exercised.
The Holy Spirit of God is present, and He's here to guide us.
Into all truth, He's here to guide us in the praises of God's beloved Son. He is here to guide us in prayer. Going down just a little bit further in the chapter, we find in verse 14 then that He has perfected us forever.
In verse 17 it says their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.
In this beautiful perhaps if you'd think, if you'd come into God's presence, that he would be thinking about your sins.
You might have reason to be quite fearful.
But we have a definite promise that he's not going to be thinking about that.
He doesn't say he forgets our sins because forgetfulness is a human weakness.
God isn't afflicted with human weakness.
He gives us a definite promise.
I will remember no more.
So he's not going to be thinking about that. Brethren, we all have things in our past that we remember, but God has promised not to remember again. And then he says verse 19 and this is so beautiful having therefore, brethren.
Boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus.
I love that word boldness. Not sure how to explain it even.
Still remember?
In the time that John F Kennedy was President of the United States.
He had a little son when he was in the White House. I don't know remember how old he was, but I remember he was.
Maybe eight or nine or ten, I don't remember exactly, but there was times when in the Oval Office, President Kennedy was had.
Visits from other important.
Presidents from other parts of the world.
And remember, one report is that sometimes when he was dealing with important matters of state.
The door of the Oval Office would open and in would run a little boy.
That was his father. He had liberty, he had boldness to enter and he used that.
Brethren, we are told that we have boldness to come.
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Let's use that boldness. Let's not be thinking that I don't quite make the grade when the brethren are together in a conference to stand up and pray that is not so.
Your brother and there sitting Barrett farther back have just as much liberty as those who are sitting farther forward, you young brothers.
Be exercised.
It's a real encouragement to those who are older when you understand that doesn't mean that you're going to replace the older brothers.
But we want to see you coming on in your exercise of your priesthood. It's a wonderful way for a young brother to start participating in public meetings. Is in prayer, is in praise.
So it says here in verse.
20 Buy a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, His flesh. In other words, as we go into the holiest of all brethren, into the very presence of God, we should never forget the cost on one side, and on the other is that rent veil. And we think of what Jesus suffered, what He paid.
To make it all possible. So there's boldness, but it should be.
Holy boldness.
And then it says in verse 21 and having in high priest over the House of God.
Because you know a high priest, it says. I think it is in chapter 5.
Is for the weaknesses and infirmities of our flesh.
We got weaknesses and infirmities, everyone of us do sometimes.
We say things in prayer to God that are not quite correct.
I was somewhere not too long ago.
And.
I heard someone pray, he said. Thank you, God our Father, for.
Having died on the cross for us. Well, that's not exactly correct, is it? Wasn't God the Father that died? I think the Lord looks down and he sees the gratitude of the heart and that is acceptable to him. But for that purpose, he is a great high priest. We have a great high priest. So maybe your young brother is saying, well, I don't take part because I'm afraid I'm going to mess up. I'm going to make a mistake in my expressions.
We all make mistakes, don't let that impede you expressing your gratitude to God.
Oh, God wants that to be understood and little by little will understand those things and will correct them. But don't let that hinder you expressing your gratitude to God.
Say hymn that says to all our prayers and praises Christ, adds his sweet perfume and love. The sensor raises those orders to consume. In other words, He takes the expressions that we give to him that we offer Him. He corrects them, and He presents to God what is proper and pleasing to Him for that purpose.
We have a great high priest over the House of God and.
Comes the exhortation in verse 22. Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience.
And our bodies washed with Pure water. There's the blood and there's the water.
So we have boldness, we are told to draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith. Sometimes put the illustration.
To the brethren in the South, supposing.
That the president.
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The United States invites us to a dinner and we say, well, I don't have very good clothes to come to such an occasion, he said. Well, I'm going to provide you with a whole outfit so you can be there at my table.
And so here comes the outfit and it's delivered to my house, and I put it all on and I go to be at the president's table at the time he indicates. What would the president think if I'd pick up my chair and drag it over into a corner and say, I'm just going to sit back here?
Say, what is wrong with you? Why are you doing such a thing? I've provided everything so you could sit down at my table. Why are you doing that?
Dear young people, some of you have not taken your place at the Lord's table. It's not a matter of meeting a certain standard, it's simply accepting what God has done for us.
In Christ to enjoy it in your soul. Oh, to realize that my acceptance before God.
In nothing does it depend on who I am or what I have done?
In everything, it depends on who he is, on what he has done.
May the Lord encourage us, brethren, that when we come together we would offer our bodies as living sacrifices, that we would be ready to be used. He puts on your heart a hymn of praise.
The Spirit of God is here and He will use those.
Who are ready to be used. It's not a matter I say again, a gift when it's prayers and praises. It's a matter of priesthood. Let this sink into your souls. These two verses verse 19 having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus.
Verse 22 Let us draw near with.
A true heart in full assurance of faith. Like to read a few verses in the second chapter of Romans. Share a few thoughts that Lord laid on my heart two days ago.
In connection with.
Being gathered to the Lord's name and going through many times of decision.
The difficulties of the path that come along and test us in our faith as a people who would seek to honor the Lord by gathering to his name alone, I have a full conviction in my own soul of.
Answering to that desire of the Lord that He is there.
But that path of testing, of being gathered to the Lords name?
Forces us to make decisions and judgment calls. We have to decide things that the Lord in His wisdom puts before us to test us. He loves us too much to let us go on unchecked when He sees needs in our pathway.
In the second chapter of Romans, and we're going to just read just a few verses there at the beginning.
I would like to take some of these verses and make an Application for us in our time.
It's well understood that these verses apply.
To Israel in a past time.
The first chapter being a God, setting aside as it were.
The people before the call of Abraham, because of their wickedness, they honored not God. Then God called the people to be in relationship with Him, and they had a name of and of being near the Lord and His representatives.
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And as we read these first few verses, what I want to call attention to is what was the criteria?
Or the judgment, the reason for the judgment of God.
Upon the Jews as his people.
It wasn't just that they made.
Bad choices. It wasn't that they decided wrong.
But.
They pretended to a place.
And did not make a fair assessment of others. They had a double standard. They judged other people for their ungodliness. And they didn't use the same rule, the same measure, the same judgment when it applied to themselves.
And this is what the Lord has laid on my heart, to seek to help ourselves to be honorable to the Lord.
As his people to not fall into this danger, let's just read a few verses here. Romans 2.
Therefore thou art inexcusable. Oh man, whosoever thou art that judges for wherein thou judgest another, they'll condemn us thyself. For that thou judge judges. Thou that judges do us the same things. But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things.
And thinkest thou this, O man, that judges them, which do such things?
And do us the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God, or despise this thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance, and long-suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance. But after thy hardness and impenitent heart, treasure a step unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to every man according to his deeds.
Deeds to them who by patient continuance in well doing.
Seek for glory, honor and immortality. Eternal life.
But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of men that doeth evil, unto the Jew 1St and also unto the Gentile.
But glory, honor and peace to every man that worketh good.
To the Jew 1St, and also to the Gentile, for there is no respect of persons with God.
I trust that reading these verses, we don't make an association with the people of God today in a way of comparing ourselves with them whom God set aside. My simple desire is to notice the criteria which God used to measure these people. The criteria being that.
They made a judgment call upon another people after they made that judgment call.
Then the issue was at stake. What about their own life?
You know, having passed through difficulties, sometimes the thought can come to our minds that, well, we've been through a time of difficulty and we made the right choices. By the grace of God, now we're good. Now we're fine.
I don't think that thought is right. And in connection with what we've had, yes, it is important to make the right judgment call, the right decisions.
It's difficult sometimes to know that we're told in Matthew, Judge not that you be not judged, but we're told in Corinthians that the Saints are going to judge the world. And how is it that they can't make a judgment in the littlest matter?
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This prophets to speak, and the others are to judge.
Well, from Matthew I would glean that.
If it's necessary to make a judgment call, we cannot do it in a sense of superiority as better. We cannot do it without first reflecting on ourselves and letting the Word of God cast out the beam in our own eye. We have one. Then we are conceived plainly to make a judgment.
And so sometimes it's difficult to know what to do in these decisions.
How to make the right decision? The Lord is able to give that.
But the burden of my heart is to.
Is.
Our attitude and our conduct. Our works.
After we've made the decision.
In this case, in Romans, we see very plainly that what God helped charge them with was they had, as it were, the wisdom to make a judgment call about other people, and they could denounce the evil that was in the world before them.
And testify against it. But then when it came to the practical walk afterwards and walking with God, there was a downfall. The works did not follow.
The obedience did not carry through, and they didn't see it.
They missed it.
May God keep us from that. Now I'd like to go back and quickly look at a story in the Old Testament. Before I do so, I want to tell a little domestic story that happened in a family.
That, I think might illustrate this point. There was a Christian family that was eating a meal together. And you know how sometimes the younger members of the family can.
Not show the right etiquette and respect and eating their food with their mouth open and talking while they're eating. And this family was eating their supper and the father turned to one of the daughters and said.
You're making too much noise chewing.
Well.
You can understand what happened immediately after that. There was a dead silence for a little while. Everybody stopped. You could hear a pin drop.
As that silence grew on a little longer, the father who had made the comment picks up his fork, took a bite of the salad, and started to chew on it. Brunch crunch.
Crunch.
And everybody burst out laughing.
When you make a judgment call.
You are at a vital point of importance. There's no time more important than that.
To be right.
Not just what you say, but what you practice.
This is the time. It isn't just to be able to make right decisions.
Brethren, when we have made the right decisions, it's so important.
That the works follow the obedience accompany.
If it does not accompany it.
It becomes more than ever noticeable.
Now let's go back to First Kings chapter 20.
We're just going to have time to briefly go over this story, not read it all.
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In First Kings chapter 20 we have a case.
Where Ahab, the king in wickedness, had gained a victory over the enemy Ben Haddad, the Lord had given him a great victory, and when he should have dedicated that wicked king to destruction.
When the king called him his brother.
He saved him alive when God would have had him destroyed. And so a prophet comes along to speak God's mind. And this is the part I want to read. God sent a man to testify against the king.
But before the prophet would speak against the king.
He manifested in his ways that he would be a one who was willing to take the judgment himself before pronouncing judgment on anybody else.
And so he asked his neighbor, his friend, to smite him. The first one refused and was was was judged by God because of refusing to obey the word of the Lord. The 2nd man did smite him as he was commanded to do, and then the prophet can go and fulfill his ministry.
Let's read just that part.
Verse 37 First Kings Chapter 20. Verse 37. Then he found another man, and said, Smite me, I pray thee. And the man smote him, so that he in smiting he wounded him. So the prophet departed and waited for the king by the way, and disguised himself with ashes upon his face. And as the king passed by, he cried into the king, and said, And he said, Thy servant went out into the midst of the battle. And behold, a man turned aside, and brought a man unto me, and said, Keep this man.
If by any means he'd be missing, then shall thy life be for his life, or else thou shalt pay the talent of silver. And as thy servant was busy here and there, he was gone. And the king. Now notice this, the King's judgment. And the king of Israel said unto him, So shall thy judgment be. Thou hast decided it.
And he the prophet, hastened and took the ashes away from his face. And the king of Israel discerned him, that he was the prophet of the prophets. And he said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Because thou hast let go out of thy hand a man whom I appointed to utter destruction, therefore thy life shall go for his life, and thy people for his people. And the King of Israel went to his house, heavy and displeased, and came to Samaria.
I believe we have here in this, in this picture of the of the prophet, the picture of the Lord Jesus, the one who was willing to be smitten, to take the judgment, to take the blame before he would go out and pronounce a judgment on anybody else or on this case, on the king.
But then when he put the same proposition before the king, he puts the scenario as he was, as if he were a man who had been in the battle. Maybe he had been.
And he was somebody was entrusted into his hands. And when he was careless, the man got away. Now he's asking the king for mercy. He's asking the king, will the king let this go? It was a test. The king had let one man go. He had made one judgment call because it was in his favor. But then when it came to somebody else, he made a judgment call and he let, he said the judgment would have to stand.
Double standard.
Displease God. And because he had failed at that point, he was set aside from being king. The point being brother.
When we are tested afterwards.
It is important that the works follow.
May the Lord help us to see this. This has been impressed on my soul just this week that.
We, those who seek to go on for the Lord, make the right decisions. It's important to make the right decisions, but there must be the works that go along with it, the confirmation of what we profess to be as the Lord's people here.
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The Lord looks down, and here we have some examples of how He decides on this, on these matters 256.
Especially thinking of verse four will sing the whole hymn. Keep us, Lord, oh, keep us cleaving to thyself, and still believing through the honor of our receiving promised joys with Thee.
Praise the Savior.
Jesus is our name that shines out.
You are all their kids and lives of snow dangerous and nothing harms us.
Why they trust me in you?
Oh Lord, is he, Ronald is your way to win.
We shall be praying for you.
Let me.
Submit your life, we should.