Tape 4 - The Priest & Our High Priest

Park Meadows Church

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I appreciate Larry letting me impose upon him. God gave me the opportunity and the privilege, and I consider it a privilege to meet

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Larry in Shreveport, Louisiana some time ago. And the Lord has opened doors for us to work meetings together.

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And looking forward to the Lord opening more doors for us to live together and work together in meetings as God would see fit.

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I might just say this, that I think you know me well enough that I would never ask someone to sing to you that didn't really believe what they sang.

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And the one thing that I appreciate about Larry so much, and he hasn't asked me to say it, but I just want to say it, is that he loves the

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Lord. He really does. And I work with musicians across this country, and many of them

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I refuse to work with. Not that I'm better than they are, it's just I don't see that correlation. But with him

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I have. And we've spent many, many hours together, and talking and searching and praying and just letting

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God try to find some way to use us to touch other people. And I'm grateful that he would let me impose upon him just last night and say, would you come and sing tonight?

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And then Mike letting me do that, and I appreciate it so much. And Larry, thank you for the blessing that you are to my life just by knowing you.

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Hebrews, we're going into Hebrews again, aren't we? Yes, we're in Hebrews, all right?

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Hebrews chapter eight. Hebrews chapter eight. The high priest is who we want to look at tonight.

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I want to talk just briefly about him. One of the things that's delighted me about this week is that we're able to just casually and informally talk about things in Scripture.

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And there doesn't have to be a great display of emotion. There doesn't have to be a great furor around us in the stability of God's word and the simplicity of the truths of God's word as we just sit around and let the

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Holy Spirit teach us whatever he wants. What I try to do in conferences is simply this, is to relay to you the information that I believe

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God has given us out of his word and depend upon the Holy Spirit to apply that in your individual personalities and depend upon you to go through it and get it all worked out and get it all laid out in your own mind.

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I know that I speak very quickly and I understand the speed and you have difficulty following me.

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I was talking to my wife the other night about notes and she said, I get one note down and you're on three more down the line.

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And I just, she said, I just get frustrated with it. I understand that. There's just nothing

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I can do about it. I understand it, but to me I am going extremely slow.

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To me, I feel like I have been up here for three hours. I feel like I've been here 20 minutes now. And I try to slow down and I have slowed down tremendously, but I don't know what to do about it.

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But I believe that if you can just get the main gist and do your own studying as I was telling your pastor that I have three different studies on the tabernacle, three completely different studies and there's very little overlapping.

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One is a Hebrew word and picture study and the other one is very detailed that we'll relay a little bit of that information to you.

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And the other one is one we're doing now which is more of a devotional concept and getting the highlights and the great spiritual truths out of it.

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And so all this information is running through my mind and I'm trying to find out what to share and when to share it and how long to share it.

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And you're sitting there wondering what I'm talking about. And I can't explain that either. So we'll just read

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God's word and trust the Lord to do that work in us that he wants to do. And I believe if we just give the word out and if you study and I study and we be where God wants us, then

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God's gonna teach us what he wants us to know. And he'll relay to us. And I know that you're students of God's word and that's why you're here and you're the faithful ones for this church.

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Hebrews 8 verse one. Now the things which we have spoken, this is the sum.

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He said of everything we've told you about, now this is the sum of it. We have such a high priest.

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Everything he talks about in Hebrews. He said this is it. You can sum it all up in this. We have such a high priest who is seated on the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens.

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A minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man.

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For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices. Wherefore, it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer.

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Now turn with me to chapter nine verse 28. We read through several verses last night.

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I think we read about 23 to 26 and we stopped. We want to read verse 28.

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So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

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Now of course we know obviously what that means but you see he is talking to Jews and it would have a very significant meaning to them.

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Not only talking about the Lord coming back again on the earth the first time but returning but you see all

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Hebrews is using patterns and figures and types and symbols and so we can see that in the life of this great high priest himself.

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Now we've already said it was the high priest who carried the blood into the Holy of Holies and the great service was performed only once a year.

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Once in the entire year he did this. Now the directions that God gave in Exodus and Leviticus regarding the garments of the high priest indicate that when he went into the

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Holy of Holies on the day of atonement he was to wear plain white garments.

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Just plain white garments when he went in and only the faithful people could believe that the high priest had gone in to the

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Holy of Holies and that he was performing the right service for them. They just had to have faith that he'd do the right thing while he was in there because they sure couldn't see in there and they couldn't go in there under the threat of death.

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They didn't know what he was doing in there. They had to exercise faith that that high priest although hidden from them was doing what he's supposed to be doing and what he said he was going to do when he went in there.

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The cynic and the skeptics did not accept his work by faith because they belong to the group who say we believe only that which we can see.

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And you hear it prevalent everywhere you go. Now the high priest had gone from sight. He was not visible to them but God had a way for the faithful to understand.

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On the bottom of that white robe of the high priest was a series of golden bells and pomegranates and these beautiful bells made a very melodious tinkling sound for those who had ears to hear.

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Now let me ask you a question. Do you doubt that your great high priest has entered into the presence of God now in the eternal holies of holies and you doubt that he is doing for you what he said he was going to do?

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Do you doubt in any way, fashion, or form that he is accomplishing for you what you say you want him to accomplish and what he has said he would?

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Are you one of those who would say I only believe what I see or have you ever really heard the melody of the tinkling of the bells on the garment of the wonderful Lord?

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Have you by faith not heard them as he ministers for you and me at the right hand of God the Father and he ever lives to make intercession for us?

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Do we really believe that truth or do we have some skepticism? Well, most of us and of course probably all of us believe that he is accomplishing for us what he said that he would.

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But that was a phrase, wasn't it? And unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time.

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The tabernacle of course spoke about the first coming of the Lord, the cross, but it also spoke about the second coming of the

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Lord. The high priest we said came out of the holies of holies, he went in and he had plain white garments but he came out again and appeared the second time and friends, when he came out the second time, he had on the most gorgeous and beautiful garment in all the camp of Israel and it is described for you in the book of Exodus and you read it at your leisure.

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I'll go over it with you in just a moment. But can you not see the wonderful symbolism there? The Lord Jesus came and had a little

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Hebrew robe on him, had some sandals and that's all that he owned and it's very plain just like everybody else had and he has disappeared from our sight as our great high priest.

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But he is going to appear a second time and when he comes, he will come with the radiance of the glory and he'll come with that great robe of pure white and righteousness and my friends, he will come with all the majesty and the splendor of the heavenly portals.

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Just like the high priest did, he came out with all the beauty of that wonderful, wonderful garment.

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We said to you earlier in the week that the life of the flesh is in the blood. As you stand in the holy place and you gaze at the glittering wonders of a high priest, do you not think how much

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God must love us that he would way back in history draw such a beautiful picture of the Lord Jesus Christ and of course the most precious picture of all is the blood, the blood.

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Our central thought tonight is of course the high priest but it's always involved with the wonderful blood.

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Now listen to me carefully please. A lot of contention about the Bible and I know you believe this as well and probably more than I but my friends, the

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Bible is always specific and the Bible is very scientific in whatever subject it discusses.

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You don't have to worry about it. The Bible will be very specific and it'll be very scientific about any matter that it discusses.

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And people say, well, the Bible is not a scientific book. Oh yes it is in many ways. Do you know that scripture superseded or transcended?

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Scripture was 3 ,500 years ahead of science when it made this statement that you've already read it and I'll just quote it to you,

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Leviticus 17 11. 3 ,500 years before a scientist ever could prove it, the

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Bible says, for the life of the flesh is in the blood and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls for it is the blood that makes an atonement for the soul.

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The life of the flesh is in the blood. Science now declares it to be a fact, my friend, that the life of an organism is in the blood but science didn't know that 100 years ago.

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100 years ago, science did not know that the blood even circulated in the human body but the

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Bible knew it 3 ,500 years ago but scientists just found out 100 years ago. Friends, we have just had an explosion of knowledge but 100 years ago, people were riding around in covered wagons.

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You've only had a fountain pen for 75 years and you've only had a vacuum cleaner for about 80. We haven't had all of this before us but the

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Bible was very specific and very scientific until Dr. Harvey's time, no one even dreamed of the circulation of the blood in the human body but God knew,

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God knew because God created it. Now, not even in eternity do I believe that you and I, I don't believe in eternity.

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We will know how the blood of Jesus Christ does what it does. I believe that you could not exhaust that truth that it cleanses us from all sin but I believe that we can know for time and eternity that it does.

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I don't believe we'll ever know how but I believe that we can know that it does cleanse from all sin.

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Let me give you a startling illustration that has meant a lot to me as I've tried to understand the blood of Christ.

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Louis Pasteur, that's famous to all of us, he had a co -worker in the demonstration of what is called the germ theory, the germ theory and it was

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Dr. Felix Roux, a Jewish doctor in Paris, France. Naturally, he would be a

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Jew. Well, who gave you the salt vaccine? Cured polio,

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Jew. You go find out all your diseases. Find out who's won more Nobel Prizes than any other ethnic group, Jewish people.

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Well, the founder of the cure for black diphtheria was a Jew also and it was Dr. Felix Roux and he demonstrated the use of antitoxin for diphtheria in the amazing way that I'm about to describe to you.

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His granddaughter died of black diphtheria and he dedicated his life to finding a cure for black diphtheria because he loved that sweet young girl.

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He joined forces and became an associate with Louis Pasteur. Mr. Pasteur, Dr.

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Pasteur had been exiled by the Emperor Louis of France. He had exiled him. The Medical Association of the area had disapproved of Pasteur and denounced him and so Pasteur erected a laboratory in a forest.

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You and I drink in milk, my friends, because he had one out in the forest. He didn't give up. But here he went out into a forest.

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Now, Dr. Roux, R -U -H, if you want to spell his name, directed the experiment in obtaining antitoxin for black diphtheria and what he did was he got 20 beautiful horses, 20 magnificent animals, the best he could get, the most beautiful he could obtain and the strongest that he could acquire.

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Now, he got them and he took them out into that laboratory area and he fenced them in. He opened up a steel vault and took out a pail filled with black diphtheria germs which he had cultured for four months.

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Dr. Roux, the scientist, swabbed the nostril, the mouth, the tongue and the eyes of each horse with those deadly germs.

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They waited several days. They called the other scientists and the other doctors that had denounced them and called them out to observe and, of course, nothing happening, just the expected.

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Every horse developed fever, rolled over and died, one by one by one and the only looking doctor with all the other scientists who were disgruntled and very discouraged that they'd even wasted their time in coming out.

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They wearied in waiting and they left and they denounced them again and publicly denounced them that they were out there and they were quackeries and all of this kind of stuff.

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For several more days, everything went on and the final horse laid pathetically on the ground, dying.

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Beautiful animal that it was, black diphtheria had its hold and they were watching it and so they were tired.

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They'd been up for several days without sleep. About two o 'clock in the morning, the men were awakened. Dr. Pasteur and Dr.

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Roux were awakened by a keeper, one of the men who had been assisting them and they had gone to see the horse and the horse's temperature had decreased by half of a degree, just one half of a degree.

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By morning, two more degrees and by the next night, the fever was gone and the beautiful horse was able to stand, eat and drink and amazingly,

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Dr. Roux took a sledgehammer and struck that beautiful horse right between the eyes and killed it immediately and he drew all the blood from the veins of that animal which had developed that disease but had overcome it and he and Dr.

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Pasteur ran and moved into Paris, France, moved into the Paris Municipal Hospital and they forced their way, physically knocking people aside and even physically attacking a couple of doctors who tried to stop them into a ward where 300 babies had been segregated to die of black diphtheria and with the blood of that horse, they forcibly inoculated every baby out of the 300 babies, all but three lived and completely recovered.

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How did they do it? They were saved by the blood of an overcomer. Saved by the blood of an overcomer and you are saved by the blood of an overcomer.

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Jesus Christ who knew no sin was made sin for us and he overcame and my friends, you by faith have been inoculated, you have been injected, you have been completely washed, swathed and bathed in the precious blood of Jesus Christ and it is more than sufficient, more than sufficient.

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He said I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls.

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That's what Leviticus 17, 11 says. Well, what altar are we talking about? The brazen altar of sacrifice which stood at the very foot of the way of the cross that was formed by the arrangement of the furniture in the wilderness tabernacle.

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Now, it was a brazen altar. Brass is the symbol of judgment in the

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Bible as in the case of the brazen serpent in the wilderness and the brazen laver that stood at the door of the tabernacle.

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At the brazen altar of sacrifice, the judgment of God fell upon the spotless lamb but where there was judgment, always in devil, there was mercy because the lamb suffered on behalf of the sinner.

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At the brazen laver, at the door of the tabernacle, it spoke of judgment. It was made of women's mirrors and I wish we had time this week to go into each one of the furnitures and I don't think we're going to have time unless something happens that I don't know about that we would have the time to go over each one of those items and tell you how it was made and the dimensions of it and just what it really does entail all of the ramifications of it but of course, we don't have that kind of time but suffice it to say, they were made of women's mirrors and it reflected the sinner and showed him just what he looked like when he looked down into it and that it was impossible for him to enter as he was into the holy place of God but wherever there is judgment, my friends,

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God always offers mercy. He always offers mercy and it was symbolized because in the brazen laver was cleansing water.

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Although you could see yourself in there and see the sinner that you were, there was the cleansing water and immediately with the judgment, there was the provision to wash the sinner from his sins.

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Now, the brazen laver was a type of Jesus Christ and his cleansing power. In the serpent of brass, which was lifted up on a pole in the wilderness, you see

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God's terrible judgment on sin but we see the judgment along with it, you find the infinite mercy of God.

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Christ became sin. He took upon him our sins but he became sin.

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My friends, he not only took upon himself as we said at the end of it, the Bible plainly says he became sin for us who knew no sin.

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He became something like that serpent hanging upon the pole and God said, look at it and you'll be healed.

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Now, I believe as you study the way they did things, you'll find that that pole had a cross piece on it.

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The way they made that brazen serpent would have been impossible to hang that serpent upon that thing without some kind of a cross piece to help hold it up there and so I believe that did.

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You study the banner poles of Israel, all of them had cross pieces on them also making the sign of the cross.

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Whosoever was looked was healed. You might read John 3, 14, 15. Jesus said, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the son of man be lifted up and then we heard the choir sing that song, if I be lifted up,

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I will draw all men unto myself. Now, when you compare Exodus 25 verse 10, well, let's just compare it.

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Exodus 25, lest you go to sleep. Exodus 25 verse 10, and they shall make an ark of acacia wood, two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof and a cubit and a half the height thereof.

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Well, you come over to chapter 27 verse one, thou shalt make an altar of acacia wood, five cubits long, five cubits broad.

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The altar shall be four square and the height thereof shall be three cubits. Now, what are we saying? Well, when we compare those two, we find that the brazen altar of sacrifice was twice the height of the mercy seat and the holy of holies.

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And we see that atonement does more than save sinners, it glorifies God. It was on that brazen altar of sacrifice that the animals were killed and offered up whole as an offering to God.

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Now, on that brazen altar of sacrifice, in its immensity, there was a horn at each corner of that altar, a horn on each side, each corner.

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Horns are the symbols of power in the Bible and the horns on the altar pointed to every corner of the universe.

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They were pointing out and they were pointing towards each one of the zeniths, north, south, east, and west, suggesting that the power of the atonement of Christ is infinite and that we have but to trust him and fling ourselves upon the mercy of God.

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Now, duplicates of that altar were made. The people of Israel made duplicates of that altar and they placed one in each city of refuge.

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You recall the cities of refuge that were established so that criminals, someone who killed someone else but did it accidentally, or perhaps took the life of another person, that the family could not take revenge on them if they could get into that city of refuge.

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And so they would travel quickly in the night, run by, anyhow they could get there, and they would go in and he could get in there and take hold of the horn of the altar.

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My friends, by law, he could not be touched. And he could stay there until the high priest died and he could not be touched.

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If the high priest died, then he was free to come out and live again and no family could touch him. Even though the life of another person was taken because he had hold of the horn of the altar.

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So long as he had hold of that altar, my friends, he was safe. And the atonement of Christ and his cross makes us secure.

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And the blood on the altar makes us safe from the demons of hell itself. And you and I can say with the apostle

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Paul, as he said in Romans eight, what can separate us from the love of God? Neither height nor depth nor width nor breadth, angels, powers, principalities, nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus.

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You are made secure. You don't have to hold on. He had to hold on.

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You don't have to. Christ holds on to you. There's all the difference in the world. Now, from the holy of holies to the brazen altar.

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From the holy of holies to the brazen altar. This altar was a bloody thing. Blood was shed upon it.

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It was a scene of continuous agony and slaughter and blood. It was at the extreme distance, we've said, from the holy of holies.

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It was the opposite end. A fact which symbolized the distance that the Lord traveled from the holy place of God, from heaven to Calvary to save a soul.

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And in the holy of holies, everything was peaceful and calm and serene and beautiful.

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And it was in a great, wonderful contrast to the scene at the bloody altar where there was the screaming of the animals and the bleeding of those little animals as their lives were taken.

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The footsteps of God from the highest heights in heaven to the lowest place on earth are marked by infinite love.

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And the footprints all the way back from the brazen altar of sacrifice into the holy of holies is marked by blood.

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You need only follow the blood -stained path to find yourself in the very presence of God.

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They left that brazen altar with blood and they were heading towards the holy of holies where the presence of God was manifested behind the veil.

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And friends, it's a blood -marked trite. A blood -marked trite. And any man that wants to find

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God, it's not hard to find God. All he's gotta do is follow the blood -stained footprints and he can find God.

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He can find God. No wonder that throughout that Old Testament, the great creator foreshadowed the precious blood, symbolized it and pictured it.

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No wonder that the fallen human race had to be given types and shadows and pictures and symbols and object's essence.

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I believe it'll take us an eternity to understand one two -lettered adverb in the Bible. So, for God so loved the world.

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We can't, we're so brilliant, we can't understand a little two -lettered adverb. So, explain it.

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You cannot. Exhaust it, you can't. Tamper with it, we do. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.

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Who could know the mind of God in offering his only begotten son for rebellious, stiff -necked, proud people?

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Who could do something like that? Animals don't sin, flowers don't sin, plants don't sin, no.

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The dearest creation to God, people are the ones that rebel against God. The one he loves the most are the ones that rebel against him.

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Animals don't commit murder. People pull triggers, people rob banks.

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People take lives, people, we're the ones. Isn't it amazing what God has done?

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You know why I believe that God put it in symbols? I don't know all the reasons, but one reason I like to believe is because I believe that words would never be enough to tell the story.

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I believe that words are inadequate to try to tell the story. We could sit and talk all day.

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You and I could converse about this, but my friends, the things that are going on in your heart and mind as we just touch upon the word for God so loved the world, you can't put those things into words.

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It's not audible, it's not utterable. It's impossible. Only deep down in the heart of a believer is that truth really realized, and then not to its fullest.

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I think words are adequate for all the isms and the osms and the sposums and all the other things that go on, but not for the gospel of Christ.

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The gospel of Christ is not words. It is the word.

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The word, not words. In the beginning was the word.

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He is the gospel. It isn't a bunch of stories. He is the gospel. He is life.

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He is the one. It is not this. This points us to him, to him, although it is

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God's word. And you and I can thank God that after centuries of types, symbols, pictures, we now know that the word was made flesh and tabernacled amongst men.

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Now, I want us to go and look, and I'm gonna introduce a little different concept to you, but if you'll permit me to do it,

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I wanna talk about this high priest, and I want us to see just what he meant, who he was, a little bit about him, and something about the garments because I think it's important that you know.

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Aaron wore seven pieces of garments, seven pieces of clothing, and each of them has a very deep biblical significance.

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And I say to you again, as I've said each evening, if you cannot understand the high priesthood of Aaron, you cannot in any way, fashion, or form understand the high priesthood of Christ.

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It is impossible. You can use words, but as far as the depth of the meaning, it is impossible to know because my friends, he is our great high priest, and the

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Bible really only describes in depth the high priesthood that we have back here. All right, what were they?

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The breastplate, the ephod, E -P -H -O -D, ephod, robe, an embroidered coat and breeches.

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There was the mitre, M -I -T -R -E, and there was the girdle, and there was the plate or the crown.

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Now, the normal priest wore linen coats and some bonnets and some girdles. Now, quickly, the breastplate.

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I will give you the scriptures where you find it. Exodus 28, verses four and verses 15 to 30, where it describes the breastplate.

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It was made of fine twined linen of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet.

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It was nine inches by 18 inches. And when folded, it formed a little pouch, nine by nine, nine by nine when it was folded.

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It was of the same material as the ephod. The front of the breastplate was set with 12 stones, four rows, three stones each, one for each of Jacob's 12 sons.

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And they were sardis, topaz, carbuncle, emerald, sapphire, diamond, jacent, agate, amethyst, beryl, onyx, and jasper.

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Those were the stones. Now, the breastplate was held in place on the chest over the heart by golden cords attached to the shoulders of the ephod and to the curious girdle or belt.

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The pouch contained the urim and the thymine. Now, I know what the Mormons teach about it.

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We're not going to, but you can forget it. Joseph Smith just was ignorant of the word of God when he talked about the urim and the thymine.

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They were the lights and perfections, and God reflected his glory from them.

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By consulting these, the priest obtained his answers from the Lord. God indicated him somehow through the lights and the perfections of those stones what he was to do and was not to do.

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It was sort of a divine way of casting lots, except man could not touch it, and man had nothing to do with it whatsoever.

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You go read it, and you'll see for yourself. Now, engraved was the names of the 12 tribes of Israel.

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He carried the names of the children of Israel over his heart. The breastplate speaks of the love of Christ for his children.

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The onyx stones were on his shoulders, and these were on his heart.

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The breastplate was named first and was the most costly of all the vestments and the other garments, as it were, a foundation, and was a background for the article pointing to the very heart of Christ himself.

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The precious stones engraved with the names were chained to the high priest, as you are chained to your savior by love.

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He wore them because of his love for God, and they were interwoven. They were bound to him by cords, the cords of love, if you want to say so, and the stones represented his people, each one a jewel and each one completely different.

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As each of you are a jewel in the heart and mind of God, and yet you are completely different.

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It spoke of Christ as the loving one. The breastplate, the loving one.

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All right, quickly, the ephod. The ephod in Exodus 28, verses six to 14.

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It was a long sleeveless tunic consisting of two parts, front and back, for the upper part of the body.

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It was held together by straps at the shoulders, clasped by two precious onyx stones.

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Engraved on each stone were the names of six tribes of Israel. It was tied about the waist with a skillfully wrought belt called a curious girdle.

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This was the most beautiful of the priest's vestments and was made of fine twine linen, gold, blue, purple, and scarlet.

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All of this together. Now, unless scarlet and blue are present, there can be no purple. Unless blue and scarlet are there, there can be no purple.

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God's son from heaven, we said, the blue last night, and he come and shed his scarlet, the blood, that he might be our king, which purple represents.

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And so there must be that mixture. The onyx stones on the shoulders spoke of Christ, our strength.

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Aaron carried God's people on his shoulders and on his heart. Christ carries us in his heart and bears our burdens.

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The ephod was made of the same material as we said is the breastplate, and it was never to be separated from it.

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It was never separated. His love and strength go together. They are never separated. It was composed of gold and white linen.

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It was embroidered in blue, purple, scarlet, and done by cunning work. And all of these attributes and graces are made manifest by the workings of the

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Holy Spirit in our life. The ephod was a garment of glory and beautiful. And looking at it one way, it was all gold.

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If you looked at it another way, it was all white. And it portrayed the fact that he was genuinely human, and yet he was truly divine.

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Born of a woman, a babe, a laborer, he worked, sweated, hungered, thirsted, shed tears, and he died, he was human.

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But yet he was sinless, holy, virgin born, a miracle worker, superior to the forces of nature, forgiver of sins, he rose from the dead, he was divine.

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He was perfectly God, yet perfectly arisen and glorified man. So the ephod speaks of Christ, the human and divine one.

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It had a front and a back. And then we come to the robe of the ephod, Exodus 28, 31 to 35.

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The blue robe of the ephod was worn immediately under the ephod and was longer than the ephod.

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It had a hole in the top and came down over the broadered linen coat. It had a fringe about the bottom composed of golden bells and pomegranates of blue, purple, and scarlet again.

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It was blue and told of his heavenly character and work. It signified his present ministry for us, his position, office, and character.

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He is our perfect high priest in heaven where he intercedes for his people. And so the color symbolism is the same as all other parts of the service, blue for heaven, scarlet for sacrifice, gold for deity, and purple for royalty.

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Now, the fringe is beautiful in its teachings. Golden bells tell of his gracious words and perfect speech and his testimony in heaven for us.

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The pomegranates speak of the fruitfulness of his ministry for us, the fruitfulness of his love for his people.

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And the two are perfectly balanced, alternating on the fringe of that robe. His works are consistent with his words, so to speak.

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Pomegranates for fruitfulness and bells for testimony. And when the high priest was out of sight, of course they could hear the bells and they knew he was representing them.

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So the robe of blue ephod stands for the heavenly gracious one. And then we also have the broadered coat,

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Exodus 28, 39 to 43. Now, both Aaron the high priest and the priest wore the fine linen embroidered coat, all of them did.

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Apparently it was woven in checker work. It was worn next to the body and may have been like an undershirt with a deep skirt.

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And with this coat, there were breeches or pants to completely cover the legs and the thighs of the priest.

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Both Aaron and his sons wore these garments, which went together. And the fine linen coat had to be put on before they could serve

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God in the tabernacle. So the righteousness of Christ must be received by faith before we can serve acceptably.

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They all had to wear breeches, which is the symbol of the perfect modesty and righteousness of our Savior. God has very strict standards for serving him.

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This signified that two things were essential in serving God, righteousness and modesty.

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The fine linen coat spoke of imputed righteousness of Christ and his perfect propriety at all times.

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He was the master of protocol. He'd always said the right thing at the right time.

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He was always in appearance the right way at all times, at all times.

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They could not appear before God unless they were properly dressed. We could talk about that for a long time in the church, in the church.

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People today, you know, they only, we don't have any real guidelines for dress as far as,

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I mean, you know, we do for certain things and immodesty and things like that. But you'll notice something about the people of Israel when they went to worship

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God, and something we can ponder upon. They did not wear the things they wore every day when they came into the temple or the tabernacle.

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They did put on that which they thought would be their best to honor God. And friends, that is

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Jewish historical fact. Now I know a lot of people tell you you don't have to wear a shirt and tie.

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I don't believe you gotta wear a shirt and tie. A lot of people don't own a shirt and tie. But I don't believe that we ought to come into the house of the

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Lord on the Lord's day wearing everything that we have always worn all our life without some kind of a semblance of honoring

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God on the Lord's day. They did it all through their life. You say, but Jesus didn't.

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You're not Jesus. When they said to be Christ -like, you can't be Christ -like.

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There was just one Christ. You can have his characteristics and you can have his attitude, but you're never gonna be like Christ.

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Friends, he alone is the perfect one. He alone stands supreme.

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And you're not ever gonna be on equality with him. No, no, no, no. But I think we miss the whole teaching of the matter.

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Do you not? I think we miss it because I think that we become so complacent when we come into church on a Sunday morning.

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That's why nothing happens in our lives. It's just another little thing we do. And our attitude ought to be, when we get ready to go to the house of the

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Lord, we ought to remember, I am dressing to appear before a holy God to worship.

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And preaching a sermon and singing songs have nothing to do with worship. Nothing. Worship is between you and God as you sit in the place of worship.

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The songs are preparatory or enhancing. The sermon is to teach God's word to us.

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But friends, worship is when you and God make a commitment to one another. And your life will be changed every

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Sunday if that happens. If that happens. But I think we're just so flippant with God, we just don't really understand the holiness of God.

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But we can learn a lot from these people back in those days. God provided clothes of skins for Adam and Eve.

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He didn't want them in their natural habitat, so to speak. Ham was cursed because he made fun of his father's nakedness.

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The Gadarene demoniac took a bath and put clothes on when he was saved. And God healed him.

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A new generation cannot serve God. The linen coat and the wonder of its weaving and embroidery and the perfection of its needlework testify to the beauty of holiness.

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And it's wrought with every fiber of his human texture as the son of man. The linen coat which was hidden beneath all other garments spoke of the perfection of his inner and hidden life.

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Although it was hidden, it was beautiful and perfect. So the linen coat and breeches speak of Christ, the sinless one.

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Sinless in his inner life. All right, what about the mitre? The mitre was a burton of fine linen wound about the head to form a crown.

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It was Aaron's crown and it typified the fact that the righteousness of Christ is our crowning glory.

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Mitre, M -I -T -R -E, simply means roll around. Roll around is what it basically means.

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Aaron wore a mitre and the other priests wore bonnets. The covered head in scripture typifies subordination or obedience.

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The covered woman's head spoke of her subjection to man. Aaron's covered head spoke of our subjection to Christ.

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In covering his head, he announced his subordination and obedience to God and typified the subordination and obedience of Christ.

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He was a picture of it. Aaron's covered head represented Christ obedient unto death. It was made of fine linen.

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Though he was without sin, he was obedient to die the sinner's death in the sinner's stead.

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On the forehead as a part of Aaron's crown was the golden plate, a golden plate.

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As the ephod and the breastplate went together, so does the mitre and the golden plate.

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In Ezekiel 21, 25 to 27, there is a prophecy and it tells of the coming antichrist that will seize the crown of royalty and also assume the high priest's mitre.

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He will become the civil head and the ecclesiastical pontiff as well. He will seize civil and religious rulership at the end of the age and he will control it all.

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The primary meaning of the mitre is Christ as the obedient one because it covers the mind.

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And bring every thought into subjection of the obedience of Christ. Bring every thought into the obedience of Christ.

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All right, we talked about a curious girdle. Exodus 28, verse eight, chapter 39, verse five.

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The curious and the word curious in the Hebrew really means skillfully made, skillfully made.

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Girdle, it was of the ephod, it was of the same material as the beautiful garment of fine twine linen, gold, blue, purple, and scarlet and it was wound around the body.

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It served as a belt and the ends hung down to the ankles. It served as an anchor to each side for the gold chains that held the breastplate.

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Roman Catholicism still uses the robe and they have the girdle hanging down on it. Where do you think, do you think somebody, some pope just figured all that out?

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Friends, what it is is basically a perversion of the Old Testament teachings. Why do you wear robes in a choir?

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Where do you think that came from? That came from Roman Catholicism. Where do you think they got it from? Well, they didn't get it from the early church. They didn't wear robes.

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Now, don't misunderstand me. I don't care whether you wear robes or not. If you asked me would, I'd say no. If you asked me do

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I care, no. I don't worry about it, but that's where it comes from. That's why a lot of preachers, clergymen, they wear the robes.

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It comes out of Roman Catholicism. We've never shaken it, all of it, and it's still there, but when you go to the early church, they didn't have those things.

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They just didn't have them and you go back in the Old Testament and the priest did and the priest did and you'll find that the people who wear those are very legalistic about things.

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Not talking about choir robes, I'm talking about clergymen. Talking about clergymen, hang loose with me. Get all quiet and tense.

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I can tell whenever you get tense. All right, it served as an anchor, this curious girdle.

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It hung down to the ankles and it served as an anchor on each side for the gold chains that held the breastplate and its teachings are gracious.

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The girdle is the constant symbol of service. As Aaron wore this beautiful belt, he taught that Jesus Christ came not to be ministered to, but to minister and give his life a ransom for many.

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If there's a lesson, the church needs to learn it. It's that right there. You know, I don't get anything out of church. You're not supposed to get anything out of church.

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You're supposed to give. We're not supposed to be takers. We're supposed to be givers. We're supposed to be servants. We come to worship

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God and go serve. We come to fellowship to go serve. We come to share together to go serve.

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We come to encourage one another and to learn and to worship and all that, what? To be better servants of the Lord. Bond slaves of the

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Lord. I don't get anything out of trade union. You're not supposed to get anything out of it. You're supposed to be contributing and whatever you learn, you go what?

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To serve. Serve one another and that's the secret of church life. Serving one another and in honor, preferring one another.

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Well, in John 13, verse three through 15, Jesus put on a girdle. He took a towel and girded himself, the scripture says.

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He didn't have one that they had in the Old Testament, but Jesus being the perfect Jew, he took a towel and wrapped it around him and he washed their feet.

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He served them. He served them and he served his disciples. Revelation chapter one, verses 12 and 13, he wore a golden girdle in the midst of the golden candlesticks, the seven churches.

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Christ is now, of course, the high priest serving in the heavenly tabernacle. He is a minister, a servant of the sanctuary.

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We read in Hebrews 8 too and of the true tabernacle and it was the belt of the ephod, the colors and the materials that were the same.

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This taught that though glorified, Christ is still the servant and carries out his glorious teachings that a person is highest when serving.

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Who does he serve? He serves God the Father. What's he gonna be doing in eternity? First Corinthians 15. After he has made everything subject to him,

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Christ will turn around and give everything back to the Father, First Corinthians 15 says, so that God will be all in all.

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He will lead our worship in spirit and truth, but God shall always remain, my friends, beyond you and me.

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God is spirit. Jesus is the perfect servant and you and I, if we're to be

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Christ -like in attitude and characteristics. So what does the curious girdle portray? Of course, Christ as the serving one, as the serving one.

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And then quickly, permit me just to cover this last one, the golden plate or the crown. Exodus 28, 36 to 38.

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This is the climax of the vestments that Aaron wore. It is called the golden plate and is a crown or more like a tiara attached to blue lace and put on the forehead in front of the miter.

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The inscription on this crown was this, holiness unto the Lord. That was what was written on it.

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Holiness unto the Lord. Why was it put here? Well, he's gonna walk in there and face God. Friends, you and I go and face

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God, we better be thinking holiness unto the Lord, holiness unto the Lord. We walk in there, chewing our gums, snapping our fangs, going to church today, gonna worship

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God today. And we sit in church, we bounce around and we do all that. And we're sitting there and we get with it. And then we turn around at the same breath and try to say, holy, holy, holy,

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Lord God almighty. How foolish. Rationalize it as you try, my friend.

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You can't. One of it is wrong. Wrong. You mean you're not supposed to enjoy your

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Christianity? Well, if you really wanna press the issue, you can't find it in the word of God. I've said this to you,

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I've said it again. He didn't die to make you happy, he died to make you holy. You're not happy because you're not holy.

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You get holy, you get happy. It's just that way. It's just that way. We're not in church to play games. That's what we want.

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Well, it's the same old thing. I don't wanna go. I like what Dr. Warren Wearsby of the great Moody Church in Chicago said.

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Our churches are filled with spiritual babies that try to act like adult Christians. And that's why they gotta have new toys all the time.

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You gotta keep getting a new program. Can't get a new program? Get a new pastor. Can't get a new song? Get a new song leader. Can't get this?

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Get a new education. Get a new youth. Just always trying to change the staff whenever that's not the problem at all. The people need to get deep in God.

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They need to get deep in the word. We got spiritual babies all in our churches. And that's why, well, it's the same old thing all the time.

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That's right, it's 2 ,000 years old. I can imagine you get to heaven. Well, the seraphim, they always sing, holy, holy, holy,

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Lord God Almighty, night and day. They always say it, the Bible. Well, I'm getting tired of hearing it. You mean eternity, I gotta hear that?

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You mean I'm about to serve the Lord for eternity up here? I gotta hear those angels in there screaming, holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, night and day?

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Well, those angels don't do anything but stand there in front of God singing, holy, holy, holy. I can imagine them up there now, can't you?

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Paul. Well, what do you people enjoy? What are you angels? You're always making noise. I know people getting saved.

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Now, how come you were singing all that stuff up here? You've been doing it for thousands of years. Same old song.

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The Bible says we'll sing the song of Moses and the Lamb. Can't you hear it? I'm tired of singing the song of Moses.

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I wanna sing the one about the Lamb. No, I want you to sing one about Moses. I guarantee you what, it'll all be changed and I won't have to challenge you, but it'd be interesting to see somebody try to get out of line up there, wouldn't it?

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With those holy seraphim and the cherubim with the flaming swords, those terrible, horrible creatures that defy any sin to approach the heavenly portals.

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Well, you and I approach Him spiritually. Do we dare approach Him in a way that we would not approach

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Him physically? Well, friends, there is no difference. We come into the very present, you know, and they can't get it right.

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All right? My last statement was, it was a pure gold put in blue lace upon the mitre upon Aaron's forehead.

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You know, it's great to just, you know, when you're around the

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Lord and around God's people, you know, there isn't any real reason to be uptight about anything, is it?

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And we never get uptight. You know, your church, like many churches I go to, are sort of like your, you don't ever get uptight about anything until I talk about money.

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And then they all tense up. They all do that. And I may be a pastor, he could be a deacon, all you gotta do is say, we're gonna talk about a budget.

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You know, everybody goes bananas in that. I don't know why, but it's interesting. The primary teaching basically is that Christ is the believer's holiness.

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The crown bore witness that Aaron was the representative of God as the ephod and the breastplate and the onyx shoulder pieces bore witness that he was

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Israel's representative. It was on Aaron's forehead declaring that to be accepted of the

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Lord, there must be holiness. Hebrews 12, 14 says, and remember, without holiness, no man shall see the

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Lord. Hebrews 12, 14, without holiness, no man shall see the

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Lord. Well, that'd leave most of us out. We get his.

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He gives us his. Christ gives us his, because you and I don't have any. He just gives us his.

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Grace of God. And as the girdle looked to the gospel, according to Mark, our servant,

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Jesus, the crown looked to Matthew, the gospel of our king, and the crown was a reminder of his holiness and priestly ministry.

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Our Lord came to earth as the son of man, son of God, suffering servant, and one day he shall be king.

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Luke, John, Mark, and someday Matthew. As Aaron wore this crown, one day our

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Lord shall be crowned with many crowns, and he is set forth as the righteous king as well as the faithful priest, and inscribed with the only writing in the whole

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Levitical system. It's amazing. In all the Levitical system, it is inscribed with the only writing, and they are the words that set forth the essential holiness of the

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Lord Jesus Christ, which makes us accepted to God. The only writing they had said, holiness unto the

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Lord. This was the crowning piece of all of Aaron's vestments, and it presents Jesus, our holiness.

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So the golden plate speaks of Jesus as the holy one. Aaron, the high priest, typified

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Christ, our high priest. Aaron's sons, the priests, were pictures of us who are believers, priests, and they were to lead in the service of God.

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They were already redeemed by the blood. They were washed with water, and I'm gonna give you just a quick rundown in closing of Leviticus chapter eight.

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In verse six, water being the symbol of the word of God, washing is the application of the truth of God's word.

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They were clothed in holy garments, Leviticus eight, verses seven through nine. Aaron was clothed with holy garments of glory and beauty, and they were symbolic of the righteousness of Christ.

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Aaron was anointed with oil, verses 10 through 12, symbolic of the anointing of the Holy Spirit and the life of the

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Christian. Then the sanctifying blood was applied in consecrating these redeemed leaders to God's service, verses 14 to 24.

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The blood of the ram, when you come to the high priest, listen carefully to the priest, was applied to the tip of his right ear, the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot.

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The meaning is simple to us. His hearing, his service, and the walk were purchased by the blood and had to be solemnly consecrated unto

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God. Blood upon our ear, we ought to take heed how we hear, Mark 4, 24.

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Our hearing belongs to God, and we ought to listen to his word, and we ought to avoid the counsel of the ungodly.

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The blood upon the thumb bids us use our hands in his service, our service belongs to God. The blood upon the toe meant the consecration of the believer's walk.

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We ought to walk worthy, Ephesians 4, 1 through 3, not as other

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Gentiles, Ephesians 4, 17 through 18. We ought to walk in love, Ephesians 5, 2.

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We ought to walk as children of light, Ephesians 5, 8 through 12. We ought to walk wisely, circumspectly,

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Ephesians 5, 15. So the believer, after being saved through the blood of Christ, should recognize

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God's complete ownership of him, and we ought to fully surrender ourselves to him.

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Every part of the being ought to be on that altar. We should be devoted to him, hear his voice, do his work, and walk in his way.

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Well, we could go on and on and on, but friends, when you talk about a high priest, you cannot escape the fact that you have one, and the people of Israel would stand around and gather out, and that once a year, that high priest would go in.

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Can you imagine the wonder, the apprehension, the doubts, perhaps, as he was ministering?

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What if he doesn't do things right in there? Well, we can thank the Lord. The Bible indicates that he did during the wilderness tabernacle days.

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They became corrupted in the days of Jesus, but friends, you have a high priest that you can have all the confidence in the world in.

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You can put your total life in his hands. You might as well, because it's there anyway. It's there anyway.

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You might as well. You might as well, because he's in control. He's in control. Be concerned about the

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Middle East, but don't worry about it. Be concerned about China, but don't worry about it.

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Be concerned about peace in the land. Be concerned about economic problems, but don't worry about it. Your faith is not in a peanut farmer.

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Your faith is in a great high priest, and that's where you ought to keep it. If your faith is in the ingenuity of man, and the technological advancements that man presents, and the scientific achievements that man accomplishes, you are going to be the most frustrated, discouraged, and disappointed

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Christian. Friend, the frailty of the flesh is obvious, but you have a high priest who ever lives, and he stands at the right hand of the majesty on heavens we saw in the scripture, and he ever lives to make intercession for you and me, for God so loved you that he gave his only begotten son, that if you would just trust him and believe in him, you'd never perish but have eternal life.

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And so quickly the answer comes, but Rock, I'm saved. Man, I'm saved and I know it. Wonderful.

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How about the blood on the ear? How about the blood on the thumb? How about the blood on the toe?

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Yes, you're saved, but did it just die to save your soul, or did it die to redeem all of us?

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The hearing, the service. Who are we serving? Self. Self, basically.

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How do we walk? Do we hear him when he speaks? Do we hear his word?

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Do we know his word? I know that many of you do. Let's pray. Father, again we approach thy throne of grace boldly yet trembling.

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Holiness unto God. God, we do not understand, and it is such a forgotten teaching.

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Lord, it hasn't been taught in the church for so long. Preachers and evangelists and teachers have forgotten that doctrine, that God is absolutely, perfectly holy.

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His son is absolutely, perfectly holy. And without holiness, no man shall see

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God. God, grant unto us a new glimpse of the awesomeness, yea, even the terribleness of humanity trying to approach the holiness of God in the flesh.

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But we thank you that there has been a provision made and is made and continues to be made and ever shall be through the blood of the

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Lord Jesus Christ that we've been washed in the blood of the Lamb every sin is gone, every stain removed.

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We thank you that we can approach the wonderful throne ourselves on the basis of the great high priest who rent that veil in two.

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And now we have open access to God himself just coming in the wonderful and glorious name and authority and confidence of the

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Lord Jesus. Father, thank you for every home and life that's represented here. Thank you for these sweet families.

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Thank you for every young person, every adult, married and single. Thank you for the way they love you, for the way they serve you, for their faithfulness.

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Lord, I just pray that we might become more faithful, that we might become more giving, that we might become more serving.

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God, help us to give of all that we are and all that we have and all that we ever shall be.

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May we throw ourselves unreservedly as George Whitfield told us, into the hands of Christ to be used of him, to be consumed by the gospel.

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God, may we not be caught up in the things of this world but may we be consumed with making our lives what they ought to be and always conscious and aware of people that we need to speak to, share with, pray for, hurt with, rejoice with as we walk through this life.

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We are here for the purpose of glorifying thy name and magnifying thy son.

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Teach us to do it, encourage us to do it, strengthen us so we may do it and give us the grace to accomplish it and we thank you for the privilege.