Address—Bruce Conrad
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Sure, great. Well, let's get a few verses before us quickly.
The first in Exodus 19.
Subject I had thought to take up was priesthood, our priesthood.
So it was striking to me that comments that have been made the last half hour or so.
In Exodus 19 and verse 4.
You have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bear you on eagle's wings, and brought you unto myself.
Now therefore, if you will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then you shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people, for all the earth is mine. Ye shall be unto me a Kingdom of priests and an holy nation.
And then let's turn over to First Peter, Chapter 2.
In verse five he also, as lively or living stones are built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to OfferUp spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
And then verse nine, you are a chosen generation.
A royal priesthood and holy nation of peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.
There's of course the number of references to priesthood and priests in the Old Testament.
Oftentimes early on with respect to idolatrous religions.
The priest of on in, in Egypt and all of that thing. But the first time is Melchizedek comes forward, the priest of the Most High God, which is not my subjects this morning.
But it's interesting in the passage we read in Exodus 19, which I think is perhaps the first time the Word of God refers to priesthood, and other than with Melchizedek in a positive sense, you'll see right after the verse that I read.
The people at that time said, All that the Lord hath spoken we will do.
Solemn words that.
Began the unfolding of centuries long test of man.
Ending, of course, as we've had before us this morning in the end of the trial, the 1St man on the principle of blessing through obedience with the death of Christ on Calvary's cross.
But God's purpose, God's counsel, is never dissuaded, turned aside by anything, even our failure, even the entrance of sin into the world.
So lo and behold, we read centuries later, and of course, hundreds of pages later in our Bibles.
God's purpose? To bring up people near to Himself.
And as you've probably been taught, as I have from my earliest days as a Christian, you and I have the privilege of being priests.
We are holy priests.
We are royal priests.
My mom was born in the UK and so whenever there's some.
Wedding or.
Can't remember what else they have but it seems like the whole everything has to stop and they have to participate across the ocean and watching this royal. I have the the royalty has such a hold on some countries not so much we rebellious Americans, but.
What a thing it is for you and me to be.
Royal Greece.
Ala long time ago.
When the Lord took me, had to take me to a.
Outback place in the woods to save my soul.
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And brought me into the knowledge of the truth.
Through men that were kind of like Galileans probably were. They were uneducated, formerly uneducated men.
Save later in life.
Kind of from a rough tribe, but those brothers who were my father's generation impressed upon me and the other only other young brother.
That worship.
Was the highest privilege of a believer now.
And I can still hear them in their thick accent saying the Father seeketh such to worship him.
And the true worshippers worship the Father in spirit and in truth.
And we lived in a place that thought it was remote. We had the benefit of a lot of very gifted men and women who would come through our little town, our little village there and minister the word of God to us. We were richly blessed. But, you know, in their conversation, casual conversation, we live near each other. We were around each other all the time. The highest commendation they would give.
To some brother or sister that came through was not.
For example, when Albert came through.
Rather than from Montreal and other places, not so much. While that brother is really gifted.
They would say of a certain brother, brother really a worshiper.
That's what they thought was the highest.
And it's interesting how flip-flopped you and I can be because we appreciate.
In the New Testament, as the as our church life, our assembly life is brought before us. That there is there is office. Even in this day of weakness, there is office. There are those that take the lead. There are under shepherds, as Peter calls them.
Deacons and these kinds of services, and there's gifts and everyone that's a believer in here has one or more gifts.
By the possession of a gift, you and I are responsible as servants to use what the Lord has given us.
And yet it's good, I think, if a brother has a gift, especially a prominent 1, to look upon himself as somebody that chops wood and hauls water.
You know, because the proof proof of our the effectiveness of our service for the Lord in in our in in gift is not that the brethren on their way to their cars or the way home say, well, that was really wonderful, although we all enjoy that.
But how does it work out in our life? You know, week after week, month after month, year after year.
So if you live in a place and you've labored there and you come back like some of your brothers probably do in other lands, and you see and you sense the growth and the enjoyment of Christ and in the fellowship that we have with the Father and the Son.
Evidence in that priestly worship? Well, that's you. You've hauled the water forum. You've chopped the wood for them.
That they can respond to God in a way that brings him such delight and pleasure.
I have to ask myself sometimes, you know, you can go a number of days, can't you, and say, when's the last time I really realized that I have the Holy Spirit in dwelling my body?
It's amazing how many days we can go and all of a sudden you just say.
Dwelt by the Holy Spirit of God, a divine person.
And we can go on long time can't weigh in and not.
Be conscious of the fact that we've been made a company or a Kingdom, the word of God says of priests.
Young boys and girls in school and those of us working or walking in through the grocery store.
We don't have special callers or special clothes.
But as we have in Peter, there's two aspects of our priesthood in general, I would say there's that which we've already spoken about.
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The appreciation that we share with the father of his beloved son, in whom he has found all his delight.
And we've been brought into the place of sons, and with Christ we can address God as our Father.
But then there's what Peter calls this royal priesthood, that we might show forth the praises or the excellencies of him that has called us out of darkness into his marvelous light.
I suppose in the Old Testament you could be a priest. You had to be born into the family. We've been born into the family of God, and that's why we're priests.
But they were born into it. And maybe they had the tendency to say, well, I'm a priest, my father was a priest. We all been priests. We're just, that's fine. I come from good stock.
You and I don't come from good stock. No matter what your last name is, you've been brought out of darkness even at the age of 3.
Hearing about a little person the other yesterday at the table that was saved, rightly saved at the age of 3. Some of ours were saved at that age too.
But we even run out of darkness. And so it if we're conscious of that, then we have there's a certain humility that just that that's part of us.
Because of where we've come from, the pit from once we've been digged.
It is interesting in the book of Deuteronomy that the the, the child of the, the the Israelite was to come and to put his gift, his gift to the priest. And he was supposed to stand there and say a Syrian ready to perish was my father. And he was to rehearse the steps that God took to bring him to the place of blessing where he finally arrived at Very interesting.
It's not that we need to do that at the Lord's Supper and worship, but in our souls we do do it, don't we? The Lord leads us to.
Remember the 5th from once we've been digged out of darkness?
But is our brothers back East used to tell us, you know, there was one brother, I won't mention his name, but he used to whenever we sing that him only a Sinner saved by grace. It seems like he couldn't help himself. And he said, excuse me, brother. And that's not exactly true.
That's not exactly the whole truth. We're not only a Sinner saved by grace, we're sons now. We're responsible to live in light of the privileges that we've been brought into. Of course he's right.
My brother used to say walk in humility because we know what we were. We walk in dignity because of who we are now by grace Royal priesthood displaying out in the life in your life and mine.
You know, I was mentioning to a brothers trying to get some help from him and I said the other night, doesn't it seem to you brother, that there seems to be more discouragement in people than ever?
Brother, before he left the meeting room yesterday, he told me where he lived in Chicago and I, I carelessly said, you know, isn't you live in the murder capital of the United States or something. I shouldn't have said it.
And he was kind of a factual guy and he said, no, it's not that way really. And it's the crime works this way and.
And then he said an interesting fact. He said either there's two or three or four times more suicides, he says, than there are homicides in the United States of America right now. And I don't know if we just hear about it more or it's just in these last, very last days, whether it's just the pressures of life in these Western countries or just pressing on souls. And I'm talking about believers, too.
Believers too.
And so it is that we can take courage, though the time is short. We have all resources that the brethren in the earliest days of the Book of Acts had. We have nothing less than what they had.
Brother emailed me recently. Texted me recently and said.
What do you do when? How did he put it when your assembly is in such bad shape?
That you don't even wanna bring a young Christian to the to the assembly.
I said you can never. I hope I was helpful in my answer.
I know what he feels like.
We're weak. We are. Weakness is not necessarily sin.
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There's a difference between weakness and wickedness, though both are hard to enunciate.
But we have a special privilege.
We could be the very last ones.
To be remembering the Lord in his death.
We could be the very last ones.
And you know, it is humbling that we are so weak and we it's we take responsibility for it. I was thinking the other day of how.
How Abraham to the Lord, and to those angels that came before Sodom was going to be judged, He said Lord.
What if there's 50?
It was very.
Awkward, he felt.
Sensitive about saying that, Lord, if you don't mind me saying it. What if there's fifty? No, it's 50I won't, I won't judge.
What about 4545 goes to 40?
30.
20.
And then he gets and he says just one more. Bear with me. What about 10? No, I won't judge 10.
And in reverse order, sometimes I think brethren, and I don't mean to send anyone, but it just seems like we can't even handle being 50.
We desire.
To have the spirit of Philadelphians.
To walk in holiness and truth.
Philadelphia means brotherly love.
How easy it is for us.
To miss the AB CS.
The foundational things of Christian life.
And go on to the more complex things.
The Lord would say ye yes you should do this, but don't leave this undone.
And he has to reduce us to 40 and to 30 and to 20.
He says now we love each other.
Now we appreciate the brother who comes in late all the time.
Brother that comes in without socks on or whatever. Whatever it is that gets people wound up.
So funny it's not really funny.
We get to the point and I've had the privilege to live in seven or eight different gatherings, so they all have the personality.
Been blessed every single time.
But we get to the point now we get, we get just shaken down a little bit.
To the point where we just appreciate our brethren no matter what.
So let's turn in, just for a minute, to Leviticus 21. We don't have time to go through this.
And I have re rehearsed these to myself sometimes.
Because though you and I have been brought into God's family, God's priestly family.
Through his work alone.
We have a responsibility.
We have a desire to.
To enjoy what he has gone through such lengths to fit us to enjoy.
He's given us eternal life because he wants us to have a quality of life that can have communion and fellowship with him.
He didn't have to do that, but that's what he wanted to do.
Did you ever think of that? It's not just I'm just being bene, umm, benevolent and giving you this. That's wonderful. But I'm giving it to you because I want you to enjoy what I enjoy and think what I think and have the same attitude I have towards everything.
In prayer in John 17, the Lord expresses that.
Give unto them eternal life, that they may know thee.
And Jesus Christ, who now has sent.
Joseph finally revealed himself to his brethren.
They were terrified. The first thing he says is come nearer to me.
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Leviticus 21.
We read about.
Blemishes, verse 17 of Leviticus 21.
Whosoever he be of thy seed in their generations, and any blemish, let him not approach to offer the bread of his God.
For whatsoever man he be that hath a blemish, he shall not approach a blind man, or a lame, or he that hath a flat nose, or anything superfluous, a man that is broken footed or broken handed.
Or crook backed, or a dwarf, Or he that hath a blemish in his eye, or be scurvy, or scabbed, Or he or hath his stones broken. No man that hath a blemish of the seed of Aaron the priest shall come nigh to offer the offerings of the Lord made by fire.
He hath a blemish shall not come nigh to offer the bread of his gone. He shall eat the bread of his gone, both of the Most Holy and of the holy etcetera.
For you and me, I think we learn in picture here.
That's all we are not gonna be.
Disbarred or something from being priests if some blemish or failure becomes chronic in our lives.
But the privileges that we were made priests to be able to carry out.
Will be compromised.
Our enjoyment of Christ.
To me it's you say, well why? Why can't a priest be flat nosed? Why does he need to smell?
Read in the earliest chapters in Leviticus that the offering was a sweet smelling savour.
To the Lord, He wants me, you and me to smell it too.
That's fellowship.
If we think of priesthood, we think of access which these brothers have beautifully brought out in the previous meeting. We think of access which we now have enter into the holiest or the Holy of Holies through the blood of Christ. That's what we have accessed by faith into this grace wherein we stand in Romans and Hebrews, access with liberty, the presence of the Holy God.
And what do we use that access for? We, we get in there and we, we don't know what to do when we're in there. No, it's he's given us a life and a nature that just worships in that place. He's brought us into the place and he's fitted us to have the only reasonable response to the one whose glory resides in that place.
You can read these if you'd like at your own. Obviously it would. You can just see a priest would struggle being blind.
We're living in a weekday. We're living in a day.
As Gent, as most of us came from the Gentile world, soon the fullness of the Gentiles will have been achieved.
And God will recommence His work with Israel, with Judah and Israel, as has been referred to.
And to whom much has been given, as much required in the judgments that are going to fall upon this favored Western world.
And upon the church.
Of which we're part.
Because it's a principle with God that judgment begins in the House of God.
I found it very interesting that a brother, I heard this exchange and a brother said someone said will the church go through the tribulation? The brother had a very unusual answer. He said yes and no. I thought yes and no. What's he going to say here?
They said yes and no, he says. The true church is going to be raptured to heaven.
But he says the rest, the false church, that empty profession of things that's going to go on without the true believers, is going to just go head long and meet the judgment and wrath of God through instrumentality that he chooses. And so it's sobering to walk through this world in this way. It's sobering to be a Christian.
In light of the testimony that we're part of, there's only one house and it's become a great house.
And the Laodicean condition is part. We are responsible and part of that.
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So behooves us to walk softly.
Doesn't it? And it behooves us to be exercised that we as individuals.
Would be proper priests worshipping and maintaining carefulness in our lives, that we might be in communion with Him and enjoy the precious things of Christ.
And if that's happening, I suspect the other part, the royal priesthood display in this world, will happen to.
And we won't be scurvy. And we won't have.
Scabs and wounds and a bad walk and unable to hold things. You can read it for yourself.
We'll have spiritual energy.
It's interesting that the one thing that I've noticed that is not included is anything with respect to the year.
Because my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
And it's as if no, there's nothing ever gonna happen with the year. They're mine. They've heard my voice. They're mine forever.
Well, it's it's, it's humbling.
It's exercising, isn't it? For what little time we have left here that we might show forth the praises of Him is called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. You know, I've sat in assemblies where there was two or three or four of us. I've broken bread with just my wife and a granddaughter sitting beside us. There's a certain sweetness to it at times.
But it is exercising, isn't it?
But you know, as a priest, it's not just confined to the local assembly gathered to the Lord's name. We live in a neighborhood now. There's kids running around everywhere. There's Christians on this side, there's Christians on that side, there's Christians over there. There's Christians all over the place going to Starbucks and they're reading the Bible. And we try to open up our home and come, let's get have a meal. Let's get into the word of God.
Let's not just confine.
Our priestly activities. The priest's lips should keep knowledge and they should seek the law in his mouth. Priests should have discernment. It was the priest that went and determined whether the leper was cleaned or whether he wasn't. There are a lot of responsibilities connected with priesthood.
And there's all kinds of fields out there, aren't there? Amongst the Saints and amongst those who are not believers yet.
So we don't need to be discouraged as if God has put us into a little closet.
And we can't please him or walk to please him or enjoy him until he comes.
Well.
I think I'm going to sit down. It's the end of the conference and I'm going to allow some other, some other priest to end the conference for us. This part of it in prayer.
To him I gave out was #8 brother. Maybe we could stand and sing that.
Oh Lord, we are the.
Yes.
Yes.