Keep sharing good news without ads.
Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/william-lavery/priestly-ministry/
Hebrews 13. I'll give you the bones, you can find the meat, or if you don't, you can make soup with it, whatever you like. Hebrews 13, verse 1, let brotherly love continue. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
Remember them, and bonds is bound with them. Verse 7, remember them which have the rule over you, or which had the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God, whose faith followed, considering the end of their conversation.
Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and today, and forever. Verse 13, let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. Verse 15, by him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually.
That is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name, and to do good, and to communicate. Forget not, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. Verse 20, now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant.
Make you perfect in every good work. Now we know that God will bless the reading of his precious word. Now we all agree the book of Hebrews, it's a book that is about a wonderful person, and that wonderful person is the Lord Jesus Christ.
The first two chapters really are an introduction, and someone has said that those chapters correspond with the two great pillars in Solomon's temple. The first pillar was called Jason, which means God will establish, he will establish.
And the second pillar was called Boaz, and that of course he was the kinsman redeemer. So in chapter 1 we see the greatness of the Lord, the Son of God, is greater than angels. And while this is an introduction, it's absolutely necessary to what I want to bring in shortly.
The greatness of the Lord Jesus, greater than angels, why? Because he's the Son. As the Son is the heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds. And we always note the order of the statements, because it means before he was the creator, he was the Son.
He was and he is the eternal Son. When we come to chapter 2, he's the kinsman redeemer. And it's greater there, it's not so much the thought that he's greater than angels in that chapter, but he's greater than any man.
And it has been pointed out by others that in that chapter there are four men in particular, or four things that would remind us of four men, and the Lord is greater than them all. The first one would be Moses, a man and a mountain, Mount Sinai.
If the word spoken by angels was steadfast and every transgression and so on, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? But he's talking about the word spoken by angels, every transgression and disobedience.
He's speaking about the law, where the Lord is greater than Moses. The law condemned, but the Lord brought salvation. I'm trying to think too fast, but forgive me. Then he's greater than Adam. And you'll find that all things were put under Adam, under man, but we see not all things put under man, but we see Jesus.
All things are going to be put under him. So he's greater than the man in the mountain, the man in the garden, and he's greater than the man in the valley. Because we're all our lifetime subject to the bondage of death.
But he defeated, defeated death, the devil, the one who had the power of death. And that would remind us of David when he went into the valley. The giant had the power of death, the great sword that he had.
But, you know, David took it from him and after he was slain, of course, he took off his head and brought it to Saul. Greater than the man with the tent. The man with the tent was Aaron. And the Lord, of course, the Lord Jesus made propitiation for our sins.
Now that's very hurriedly. When we come to the next chapters in the book of Hebrews, we find that the priesthood of the Lord is a priesthood from God to man. And we have the Lord Jesus drawing near and helping us.
And the reason why we need to really emphasize those first two chapters is that unless we appreciate the greatness of the Lord, we'll not really appreciate his work as our priest. How could the Lord ever draw near to me to help me?
How could he ever draw near to you to help you? In spite of your waywardness and your coldness of heart, he's able to succor those that are tempted. That's the end of chapter two. And when we come into chapter four, verse 12 to the end, he's able to sympathize with those that are weak.
Imagine the Lord drawing near to you, the greatness of him, the eternal son of God. And yet he draws near to us to help us. And when we come to chapter seven, he's able to save to the uttermost. So he's able to succor, he's able to sympathize, and he's able to save to the uttermost.
That is, he's going to bring us right through this wilderness journey. And then there's a change in the book because the priesthood of Christ then, it changes from man toward God. And we'll find that the one who draws near to us to sympathize with us and help us in our weakness is the one that brings us right into the heavenly sanctuary.
Gives us access to the very throne of God in heaven. What a tremendous privilege that is, to have a priest like this. Remember in the Gospels, the Lord was up in the mountain and the disciples were toiling in the lake?
That's a little picture of the priesthood. They likely thought he doesn't know anything about us, but the Lord knew all about them. The Lord saw them and he's going to draw near and he's going to help them.
Now you say, what has that got to do with Hebrews chapter 13? Well, I'll tell you what I think it has to do with it. Because you see, if he is our great high priest, we are all part of that priesthood.
We believe in the priesthood of all believers, don't we? It's not just something connected with worship, but you see, if the Lord in all his greatness could draw near to us, then that's what we have in Hebrews 13 at the beginning of the chapter.
What's he saying? Can you draw near to one another? Can we be a help to one another? Let brotherly love continue. Do we have a love for the brethren? Do we have a love for strangers that come among us?
And evidently, I should say, this is evident many, many times. For the Lord's people, we can see that they have a real love for one another. Sadly, maybe it has to be when we're in trouble or difficulties or bereavement.
But it should be true of us at all times. But you can see that these people were coming through troubled times. Some were in prison. They were in bonds, he says. You'd be able to sympathize with them and so on.
So that's basically what I'm looking at here. Aloha, maybe I would add this to it. Remember them which had the rule over you. It's in the past. These were men, likely the apostles, and they taught these people the things of God.
Do you know why they taught them? To them? Because they had a love for them. Because they had a care for them. That's what we've been speaking about. The brethren have been speaking about at this meeting.
A love and a care. And I'm glad for those that had a love and a care for me when I was a young believer. I wasn't a young person, but I was a young believer. And I'm glad of the man that brought a stack of Bibles over to the house.
And he said, Bill, you don't have a very good Bible. He said, I can only use one. Take one for yourself and one for your wife. And then he said, you'll need a Vines dictionary. And you'll need to make sure you're looking up the right word.
There was no little numbers on it then. So he said, you'll need a concordance. So here's a concordance. And then the next thing was Macintosh's writings. And John Ritchie's little books, Egypt and Canaan, The Tabernacle and the Wilderness.
And I'm so thankful for those that were a help. I'm not saying I maybe devoured those things like I should, but I'm thankful anyhow. Why? Because it was a love. They were part of a priesthood, you see.
And that's what I'm emphasizing. But then what about the other part? Well, it says, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today and forever. That's evident from this book. Chapter one, it says, Thou art the same.
They shall all wax old as lot of garment. As a vesture, I shall fold them up and they shall be changed. But Thou art the same and the years shall not fail. He's the same. He's the same in the central part of the book as our priest.
It's a priesthood in perpetuity. This doesn't change by reason of death. It's a priest in Israel. If you had a favorite priest that helped you when you needed a sacrifice and that taught you the things of God, maybe one day you look for him and he's gone.
But the Lord Jesus is the same. But I also thought that let us therefore go on to him without the camp. He's still the same. He's still outside the camp. And this is for us would be the religious camp.
And I don't know about you, but I certainly appreciate the fact that I'm part of a local assembly. You say, is it perfect? We have an elder here from our assembly, but he'll agree with me. It's not perfect.
But we're not looking for perfection, are we? Same when you're looking for a wife. You know, you don't get perfection and she doesn't get perfection either. But I'll tell you, when it comes to God's assembly, the most important thing that I emphasize, and it was emphasized to me, keep yourself right with God.
Doesn't matter what others are doing. The Lord Jesus still outside the camp. And we should be willing to go outside the camp bearing his reproach and not try to make the assembly something that God never intended it to be.
That has happened. And you see, there's great departure. We still love the Lord's people no matter where they are, though. And we still should have a care for them. That's part of the priesthood. But the other part is the sacrifice of praise forever.
What a privilege that is. Continually. It's not confined to the breaking of bread meeting, but continually the fruit of our lips. That's part of our priesthood. We're not bringing animal sacrifices. I'm glad of that.
I wouldn't like to have to kill an animal. Tell you the truth. I don't like to see blood, especially my own. But I see it quite often. You know, when you have to check your blood every day. But anyhow, bearing his reproach.
Well, you see, that's not easy. Bearing his reproach. Ask Moses about it. And what would Moses tell you? Esteeming the reproach of Christ. Greater riches and all the treasure in Egypt. What a privilege it is to be able to help one another.
And have a care for one another. And a love for one another. That's very obvious. And it maybe could be more obvious. Whether we like a person or not, we love them. Do you love all the Lord's people? Not because of what we are.
But in spite of what we are, the Lord loved us. And the Lord in all his greatness can draw near to us to help us. In all his greatness, he says, I want to give you access into my presence. And when we look at the practical point.
And that's what it's all about. This is still part of the priestly book. Is to draw near and help one another. Whatever way we can. And to enjoy the privilege that we have to be part of a local assembly.
Outside the camp. Some are associated with small little groups. But I'll tell you. You see, there aren't too many there. But there's a Lord there. Isn't that the important thing? The Lord in all his greatness.
He deigns to be in the midst of his gathered people. So may the Lord help us to appreciate the priesthood of the Lord. And to appreciate the place that he has brought us into. As a holy priesthood and a royal priesthood.
So that we might have a greater love for him. In all his greatness. And if we have, we'll have a greater love for one another. A greater love and a greater care. May the Lord help us to enjoy these things.
And revel in them. Wonderful. Are you a happy Christian? Does it depend on happiness? Things that are happening in your circumstances? Some of the most happy Christians I know are very, very little. I was talking to one of the little black boys that was here.
And one of the girls. Telling her what a thrill it was to be in Africa. And be amongst the black brothers and sisters. Many of them have very little. Two meals a day. And they're edible, but you likely wouldn't order them in a restaurant.
But you should hear them singing the hymns together. I tell you, there's something wrong if it didn't touch your heart. They're pouring out their heart. To the one that suffered and bled and died the same.
And they're helping one another. And maybe they're entering into these things in a greater way than you or I can. So may the Lord bless His word, for His name's sake.