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Pastor David Mitchell
Father we thank you so much for the testimonies. We've heard today. We know that you and the hearts of us and we ask that you would take the work you've already done in our hearts and Give us your word at this time.
Speak to us by your precious Holy Spirit spirit of Christ Who is in us? Teach us your word today. Speak to us. Not to just our minds, but to our hearts as well and cause us to Be ready to do the things that we will to do for you.
We ask it in Jesus name. Amen, tell you one thing we've got to move this part of the service to the end after the preaching this is impossible to walk up here and collect yourself and Be the man, you know what I mean Brenda be the man see I can't be like you and just lose it.
I heard you were doing that during practice this morning, and that's that's. But I appreciated everyone's testimony and Amen to every one of them and I know all of us could certainly Talk for a long time this morning.
And I like what brother Otis said during Sunday school. He said well, we got plenty of time. We're living eternal life. So we have plenty of time together to talk about the Lord and what he's done in each of us.
Well in Revelation chapter 5 Verses 9 and 10 I'll give you a moment to get there brother Otis is is teaching through Hebrews in Sunday school and Normally he moves right through a book. I mean if you miss if you miss time to you know, he'll be in a different book when you come but but we've gone through chapter 1 three times now and We're talking about why Jesus is different than the angels and Of course, it's gonna talk about our high priest and so I had talked with brother Otis a few weeks back about the possibility of preaching a sermon or two on The priesthood of the believer and with this backdrop of Hebrews, it's quite a topic and.
So I'm gonna start that this morning and we haven't really left off our systematic theology studies because what we're really studying these days is ecclesiology the study of what a church is supposed to be like and.
And But we are believer priests, so I'm gonna start a study this morning on the duties of the priest the duties of the priest realizing that we are believer priests in Revelation chapter 5 verse 9 it says.
And they sung a new song Saying thou worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof for thou was slain and has redeemed us to God by the blood by thy blood out of every kindred and Tongue and people and nation and has made us unto our God kings and priests.
Who made us and to our God to be kings and priests. Jesus Jesus Christ Is in special language there our God our God. We could not have been kings and priests. We could not have ever entered into the holy place.
We could not have ever prayed To our father had it not been for our high priest the Lord Jesus Christ who has made us all to be Kings and priests and we shall reign on the earth speaks of the times to come.
Well, I Want to. I'm not gonna talk this morning about the number one the first point on my list. I'm gonna skip down to my second point. But it's probably the most well understood duty of the priest turned to Hebrews chapter 2.
Let's talk this morning About the duty of offering sacrifices. That's an obvious one. We've got some others that may be something you hadn't thought about too much before when we get to them. But this one's obvious.
We know that the role of the priest is to offer sacrifices and I Want to read. I want you to be here in Hebrews back. You can we're gonna be in chapter 2 eventually, but Listen to me while I read to you from 2nd Chronicles chapter 29.
But the priest were too few. Let's hold the phone a minute, I don't want to make sure I know which trumpet that is. Okay, I don't see anybody leaving. All right, that one's not loud enough. That's how you can tell.
Yeah. Okay, 2nd Chronicles 29 34, but the priest were too few. We could stop there, couldn't we? Look at our country. Look at our poor nation. The priests are too few those willing to perform the duty of the believer priests are too few.
So that they could not flay all the burnt offerings where for their brethren the leap Levites did help them till the work was ended and until the other priest had sanctified themselves. You see the priests were not all ready.
They were not ready for the work and That's why there were too few. It's not that God had chosen too few. That would be impossible. Because he does exactly the right thing and chooses exactly the right number but it says they were not all ready and So the Levites came and helped them till the work was ended until the other priests Had sanctified themselves.
For the Levites were more upright in heart to sanctify themselves than were the priests. That's a sad day. And then in 2nd Chronicles 3511 and they killed the Passover and the priests sprinkled the blood from their hands and the Levites flayed them.
Now we see it just a glimpse in the Old Testament of the role of the priest. Now I want you to look at Hebrews keep your hand there in chapter 2 but flip forward to chapter 13 in Hebrews. Look at verse 15 as Believer priests today on this side of the cross.
What sacrifices might we offer? Let's look at a few Hebrews 13 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. Isn't it odd that this is called a sacrifice?
The time that we spend on our own. Alone with God. The time that we spend together. When we come together like this morning and we sing songs and we praise the Lord. Isn't it interesting that that's considered to be a sacrifice.
We'll learn a little bit more as we go why it's called a sacrifice. In fact, if we could understand two aspects of this verse the first two words of the verse by him if we could understand that and if we could understand this word offer a sacrifice.
Then we could see what a great part of the problem is in our churches today. It hits from both ends. We have churches that are so afraid to do anything that looks like praise that they won't do anything that looks like praise and then we have churches that appear to be praising.
Because they are very excited doing all manner of things and and yet we don't know if it's genuine or not. In fact, I say Safely can say that there is much counterfeit in this country. I'm not really condemning the counterfeiters any more than I am the ones who are afraid to do anything.
It's all the same problem. And let me get into a little bit of what the problem is. We don't understand the phrase by him. Interesting day, isn't it? I Didn't think we had to go out through the door when when the horn blew I thought oh, well.
Talking about counterfeits, right? Goodness by him the fact that it's by him and the fact that it's a sacrifice. Some of you were here a year or so ago when I preached a message on salvation. The one message on salvation I preached in the last three years.
I think no, I'm kidding. I don't do a lot of sermons on salvation per se. But every sermon has Jesus in it. But this particular sermon was on the topic of salvation and I quoted from a couple of books other than the Bible along with the Bible I should say.
One was a book by John MacArthur. About salvation. I think it was called the gospel according to Jesus or something like that. And the other was a book called salvation written by Charles Ryrie. Wrote the Ryrie study Bible or at least the notes in it.
Didn't write the Bible part you with me this morning. All right. Well, I was interesting about it is MacArthur was one of Ryrie students in Southwestern I'm sorry, which one is in Dallas Dallas Theological Seminary.
Thank you very much and These two books were like a couple of barnyard dogs biting each other attacking each other and MacArthur had written a book on his view of salvation and Ryrie came back and wrote a book refuting everything he had said in the book.
Viciously really I felt sorry for MacArthur being the student. Because the professor had come back and let it well be well known. He was not pleased with his student and Yet if you took either book by itself and read it you would amen everything that you read.
You read that of course, they're very persuasive writers both of them are but you read just one of the books and you say boy That is good. Put that book down to go read the other and boy That is so good.
And then you read them both together. You find out seemingly they contradict each other. Do you remember when I preach the message on that? Probably not. The only reason I remember it's I put it in my notes here.
But the thing the gist of the message was that the problem was not Their view of salvation. The problem was the point of view and Neither of them had really taken God's viewpoint on it. They'd taken man's the human viewpoint.
Now the Bible speaks from the human viewpoint many times, so it's not wrong to take the human viewpoint. But the thing that would clear up the differences between the two books These gentlemen wrote would be just simply look at salvation from God's viewpoint from the sovereignty of God and part of the problems We have throughout our theology.
Today in these last days is Arminianism the you could say that Arminianism is as close to humanism as You can get in theology. It is looking at all theology from the human viewpoint. Now we know a lot of it's written from the view human viewpoint because it's written to us and we're human.
But to view all of it strictly from the human viewpoint gives a very milk sop type of Christianity and yet this is being done again and again now From the point of view of salvation. I could see this when I studied those two books.
I Noticed something else interesting in the church today. We had some time among the modern Fundamental independent Baptists starting around the year 1980. We came out from the Southern Baptist Group everyone that was a founder of our church.
We were all Southern Baptists. We came out and became a fundamental independent Baptist Church, and we thought we'd found the Holy Grail and and the promised land all at once and Little further examination and We did hear a wonderful group of pulpit ears some of the most powerful speaking You could ever hear and I won't say that none of them preached the word because some of them did.
But some of them just preached and they were good. They were good now some of the stuff they said wasn't true, but it sounded great and powerful. But the big movement in the fundamental independent Baptist movement I know brother Roger would give me a hearty Amen, because he was in on that too in the early 80s and through the 80s and were you born yet in the 80s?
You were 80s early 90s and so forth. Was the idea of the doctrine of separation? Come out from among them and be separate saith the Lord. Very important doctrine and the Southern Baptist had left off speaking of it.
You never heard anything about that except from dr Rocky Freeman who was was a Southern Baptist evangelist and he spoke about those things but I never heard any other Southern Baptist talk about it ever and.
Yet as I look at the fundamental independent Baptist idea of separation it is totally an Arminian idea. Totally from the human viewpoint. In fact, even their salvation nowadays is Arminian. Which is not historical Baptist belief in my view in my studies.
I haven't found it to be so that the Baptists Historically were Arminians. Most of them were very strong on the sovereignty of God. But this group is not they're very weak in that area. They're very humanistic very Arminian and so therefore as they speak of separation, they always get the cart before the horse and.
So much of their teaching is all about how we dress how long a man's hair could be. How short ladies skirt could be? Or couldn't be. What kind of music the young people were allowed to listen to in their car.
When they were alone as if you could control when they're alone. But that's what they believe they could control everything in that group and all of it. I would say that I have to believe that they were sincerely wanting to please God.
So they created the idea of being different and this doctrine of separation was done in order to please God. Let me have you turn. I don't know why I told you go to Hebrews we may not even get there today.
Turn to Exodus 33. Now some of you've been with us a while have seen this passage and you you know where I'm going with this. But some of you that are new with us. I want you to see this. I'm headed towards praise, but I'm trying to give some examples in the world of God's children the example of how salvation can be taught from a human viewpoint or a divine viewpoint of how this doctrine of separation can be taught from.
The viewpoint of the human versus the viewpoint of God and then we're going to eventually get to praise. And I think we'll see some amazing things when we look at it from God's viewpoint. Rather than so much from the human viewpoint, but we're still on this idea of separation now.
Look at Exodus 33 9 and it came to pass as Moses entered into the tabernacle. The cloudy pillar descended now. This is going to speak of separation. Now when I say separation, you know what I'm talking about.
I'm talking about being different from the world. I Can vividly remember I'm gonna get on a rabbit trail. So Charles remember where I am now so you can help me get back here. I've had a week like that this week.
So in case I get lost we're we're right here in Exodus 33 9. Now I forgot the rabbit trail. I Really did. So I'm gonna move on into the scripture. That's where the Lord wanted us. No, I'll remember it in a minute.
It's I read an article this week about. They're going to the pharmaceutical companies brother Greg are coming out with a memory pill. Pretty soon, so I'm just hoping it'll be soon enough. Okay, and it came to pass as Moses entered into the tabernacle.
The cloudy pillar descended and stood at the door of the tabernacle and the Lord talked with Moses. Separation is going to be spoken of here this idea of being different from the world. I Remember where my rabbit trail was now when I first looked at a youth group when I was a teenager first Baptist Church Mahalia youth group.
I Made an interesting observation that the youth group Young people were no different than the youth at school who didn't claim to be saved. They did the same stuff on Saturday nights. They did the same stuff all week.
The only thing different was they were in a different place on Sunday because I guess their parents made him go to church. But they were worldly I'm saying today. I was one of them. They were we was worldly and This doctrine of separation is a teaching against that.
And and I admire the Independent Baptist for at least believing that it's not right for a Christian youth group to be the same in Appearance and actions and speech and heart in all areas as the lost young people that they go to school with.
This is this is the I'd try to give you the idea of what separate what I mean. When I say the doctrine of separation come out from among them be separate be not unequally yoked with unbelievers that sort of idea now as We see Moses enter This tabernacle, this is not the wilderness tabernacle.
This was built prior to the wilderness tabernacle but it was a tabernacle that was built out from the camp and they had to go a distance from the camp to go to it and it was the place where Moses says if you want to Meet with the Lord you must go out there and when you go out there you will meet with the Lord.
Now notice that as we go into this meeting with the Lord, we're going to see that this is where Separation came from but the same is true of praise, which is where we're headed. So what do you think make a connection there?
So he goes out and the the cloudy pillar descends and stood at the door of the tabernacle and the Lord talked with Moses and All the people saw the cloudy pillar. I want you to notice all the things that happened before the separation.
Before Moses becomes or the people become a separated people look at all the things that happened first. First of all, the Lord talks with Moses as to a friend. There's a relationship here. Moses is in the right place worshiping God.
God's way is Doing what God said to do come out to this place this Tabernacle and meet with me and Moses does this and all the people now we look at the other people. The people are observing from a distance.
There are a lot of people like that in churches today. They want to observe those who come up and sing and play the instruments and and sing praise songs and even lead in that. They want to observe the pastor as he preaches more than that.
They want to watch his life because they love to catch him, you know. If they can catch him where he doesn't quite match what he preaches. Oh, that's fun. That's really fun. You know and all of this but they're observing.
They're they're not really part of it. But they're there and they're observing now look at these people all the people saw the cloudy pillar. Stand at the tabernacle door and all the people rose up and worshiped every man in his tent door.
But God didn't tell him to worship in their tent door. God told him to go out to that place where God would be but they didn't do it. They had to do it their own way. So they pretended to worship. They bowed down in their tent door and they looked to you and me as if they were truly worshiping God and The Lord spake to Moses face to face.
Now here we see a man that truly is worshiping God because he has a relationship a face-to-face relationship with God as A man speaks unto his friend the Lord spake to Moses that way. Does he speak to you that way?
Yes. If not, you can't go on any further in this passage. This is not something that can happen from the tent door. This is not something an observer can do and He turned again into the camp, but his servant Joshua the son of none a young man departed not out of the tabernacle.
He he didn't want to leave. It's just like I didn't want y 'all to leave what you were doing up here. I wanted to stay there a while and I thought about time and I thought about all the constraints and I thought about.
What happened if we stayed there a while? Well, Joshua did he just said I don't know why Moses is leaving and I know there's work to be done. And the clock is the old sundial is ticking, but I'm staying here.
He just said I'm gonna stay a while. We'll see what happens and boy. I love this in this young man a Young man departed not out of the tabernacle and Moses said unto the Lord see Thou sayest unto me bring up this people and now has not let me know who you will send with me now.
The Lord had already threatened to send an angel. He said I'm not gonna go. I'll send an angel with you because this PI if I go around this people, I'll kill him. He said so I'm not going to go. I'll send an angel now.
See Moses is disturbed by that Moses didn't just say yes Lord. That's wonderful since yeah Angel will be cool send an angel and and we'll go right on in and win all the battles in the promised land. Let alone all the tribulation in the wilderness an angel will be fine.
Sure. No Moses did not. Did not. Why did God even say that God was testing Moses to see if it would be good enough for him. God knew anyway, but God likes to be in time sometimes and he plays like he's in time brother Otis Come a long way since that discussion hadn't we two years ago.
So he goes on and he says bring up this people and you haven't told me who's going to do it yet. Thou has said I know thee by name now. Look at Moses. God Has in a sense come down into time with Moses now, why wouldn't he that's the fun?
God created all this he created this idea of time. And yes, God is eternal. He is the omnipresent now but did you know we can come down in time if he chooses and He does and he speaks with Moses as a man as if he doesn't know all things, but he really does but he speaks to him as a friend and Moses speaks back to God in the same way and he reasons with God and he Tries to point out some things to God, which is ridiculous when you really think about who God is.
But he says now Lord, let me remind you of something as if God has forgotten something and The amazing thing is God goes right along with it as if he could we know he can't but he talked with Moses. Just as him as a friend Moses said Lord now you remember you said you remember back when you were trying to convince me to take the people out of Captivity and I told you I stuttered a little bit and just to pick somebody else to remember that time and God said yes Moses I remember that time.
And he said well Remember that time you told me that you would send someone with me that in fact you would go with me if I led them out and God says Yeah, and Moses is getting at this point. Well, why are you telling me you're gonna send an angel?
You see he's reasoning with God. There's no other way by the way, we can talk to God. You have to reason to speak with God now I understand that the Holy Spirit has to intercede because our words are just as this is ridiculous as we look at this from our Objective viewpoint and we say this is kind of ridiculous how Moses is talking to God as if God is limited as if God can forget as if God would go back on the promise that He had made as if God were going to leave his child alone in the wilderness with an angel an angel would be fine but that's Moses knows that won't work and Sometimes when we speak to God if we really analyze it, our prayers are pathetic.
They're they're not pathetic in the sense that they're pathetic to God, but to us they're childlike. They are they are Totally incapable of Magnifying the glory of God and So the Holy Spirit intercedes and prays and translates and magnifies and expands and I don't know how he does it all but it Gets to the throne and it's right when it gets there.
And we see a little glimpse of this in this passage. He says yet thou has said I know thee by name. He said now if you know me by name Wouldn't you go with me instead of sending an angel and thou has also found grace that I found grace in your sight.
Now therefore I pray thee I have found grace in thy sight. Show me now thy way that I may know thee that I may find grace in thy sight and consider that this nation is Thy people. He said don't forget.
They're your people. You're acting like you don't want to go with them and so but they're yours. And he said God he convinced God didn't he did Moses convince God? Moses thinks he did. Do you do you see the human viewpoint here this whole thing's written in the human viewpoint.
Moses is living in the human viewpoint. But years later as Moses could go back and study what happened here I'm sure he realized and saw it from the divine viewpoint. Just like we do as we look back at things and so he said my presence shall go with thee and I will give thee rest.
Did you know that's what the presence of God does? It's like It's like a continual Sabbath to have Jesus go with you. And if he doesn't go with you guess what you have to do you have to work. You get involved in works of the flesh.
And he said unto him if thy presence go not with me carry us not up from hence. He's still trying to convince him, but God's already told him I'm going with you. Moses isn't so sure yet. He's still trying to reason with God and convince God for wherein shall it be known here that I and I people have found grace In thy sight.
Is it not in that thou are with us. Isn't that how the world? Will know that we've found grace in your sight is by your presence upon us and within us. So shall we is it that late my goodness be separated.
It's already 12 o 'clock. Is getting warmed up so shall ye be separated. Do you see what the word so means it means this is how it happens if? You want to be different from the world if you want to be pure if you want to be Consecrated if you want to have power over sin and not walk like the rest of the world.
Then make sure that God is walking with you. Make sure that you don't let him so to speak send an angel with you. Make sure that you plead with him to go with you himself because he says So shall we be separated I and I people from all the people that are upon the face of the earth.
If you go with us, it's the only way. You see how the independent Baptists get the cart before the horse. They try to dress right act like right. Read the right version of the Bible they try to look right go the right places and all that hoping that it'll make them be close to God and The truth is Moses understood this.
He said God if you go with me, I will act right. I will dress right. I will all the other stuff will fall into place. Because it is your presence in my life that separates me from the world now. We can see this clearly taught here.
Can't we? Now as we come into praise and Worship, we have a similar problem. Few people have seen it. Few people think this way. But it is a fact that we tend to look at it from the Arminian humanistic viewpoint and not from God's view.
Therefore we tend to put the responsibility of praise totally and wholly upon us. Now if we did that with salvation what would happen. Where would we end up in hell if we did this with separation? How do we end up?
We end up like Russ talks about the bun heads that don't even have any fun. Because at least if they were close to the Lord, they'd be they'd be joyful all the time. But they just dress that way because someone has told their pastor told them to in many cases.
Now if that's your reason don't do that. That's where we'd end up if we tried the separation Without the presence of God and we tried to put it all upon us to accomplish it. Did you know that the same is true of praise and worship if we try to put all of it on the human?
Then it becomes counterfeit. It becomes just as fake as the independent fundamental Baptist. Who who has all the rules put on everybody in the church to make them spiritual. Does it work? No. No, I know one of them personally that was writing a book on purity while he was with ten different women in his church.
But you know what he had short hair wasn't touching his ears and He had the sharpest suit you'll ever see and every one of those women wore dresses to their ankles every day. Doesn't work. Doesn't work.
That doesn't work with praise and worship either. Turn to Psalm 22 3. I don't know how I'm gonna get to the Finish point this morning. With a little time we have I didn't plan to finish it anyway, but at least like to make some sense out of it.
Psalm 22 3 Says but thou art holy. Oh thou that inhabit us the praises of Israel. Now we're going to study that entire Psalm next Sunday the Lord willing. But that verse can be misinterpreted. It can be interpreted in the sense that if we begin to pray if we begin to do the outward things that look like praise and sound like Praise then God will come down on the place.
Now it can appear that that's what happens to us. I'm not saying it does not happen. Just just like I'm not saying there are people who are separated and there are people who are saved. So who have salvation and Yes, they did pray probably and said Lord Jesus, please come in my heart be mine or whatever you said.
There is a human side to everything. So don't don't Think I'm saying something. I'm not. But what I am saying is the proper interpretation of Psalm 22 3 can only be seen if you study the whole psalm. And if you study the whole psalm what you're going to see is That the reason that you praise is because the Lord Jesus who is Jehovah in the Old Testament many times if not every time that's something Russ and I've been studying but Jesus Christ must be present for the praise to be there.
It is impossible to praise God in the flesh. It is impossible for the human to be the one that even initiates the praise. Now I'm not discounting a willing heart at all. And with that we will get to that in this study.
But I want to start where we ought to start and that's with God from God's viewpoint and from the heavenlies and if we would start there with salvation and we would start there with Separation and we start there with praise and worship.
We wouldn't have to worry about counterfeit. I mean not that they won't Exist, but those who are not in the counterfeit business will recognize them for what they are and they won't be a threat. Because when it says thou Jesus Inhabits the praise of his people the Hebrew word inhabit is is married to he is one with He is there in the midst of it.
Or it's not real anyway. Any more than Jesus come to heart and save me is real if he's not in the midst of it any more than Is real if he's not in the midst of it now listen son. You know some of us did used to look different before we got saved and God has done a work.
So I'm not mocking that I'm just saying it has to be from him. Now let's go into Hebrews chapter 2 and this is all we'll have time for. This is where the Lord meant for us to end. Anyway. What we will do is we're gonna read this little passage starting with verse 9.
And we're gonna see part of this passage was quoted from Psalm 22, and that's where we're gonna be next Sunday Lord willing. But this passage in Hebrews chapter 2 You got to look forward a little bit to verse 3.
How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? Do you know that part of our salvation we Baptists like to think of salvation is something that happened way back like when and where? Stand up tell me when and where.
You know way back then I got saved in my car driving to work one day. That's my testimony. Now to a lot of us. That's our salvation. But that's not Bible salvation because Bible salvation has a present tense as well and a future tense as well.
And it's a continuing work that God is doing on us, and I'm not talking about the salvation of our soul. That is a once-done deal because Jesus accomplished that on the cross and but Your salvation as you look at the whole scope of it your deliverance from what you were and from the powers of darkness is an ongoing process and As we look at this he says how should we escape if we neglect any part of it?
I mean if we can find a part of our salvation in the scriptures that we've been neglecting. We should pick it up and go with it and look at verse 9. We see Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor.
Now this is the same Jesus. That verse 8 talks about thou has put all things in subjection under his feet. But now back to verse 9 that he by the grace of God should taste death for every Thing. The word man is not in the Greek everything the whole cosmos.
For God so loved the cosmos His whole order of creation that he gave his only begotten Son Jesus death on the cross made everything, right? All the creation will be restored to the way it's a bit was in the Garden of Eden before sin all of this the cross Jesus accomplished.
So much that we don't look at. For it became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things in bringing many sons unto glory. To make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings perfect there does not mean sinless.
He was always sinless. It means mature complete. For both he that sanctified and they who are sanctified are all one. Do you understand the terminology there? This is Hebrews after all it's written to the Jew Jewish Christians, but when they sprinkle that blood on the altar, it's sanctified the altar then when they laid the sacrifice on the altar that was sanctified the sacrifice was sanctified and Now it says here that when Jesus Christ died on that cross and shed his blood and his blood was applied to you and to me.
We became one. It sanctified us for which cause he is not ashamed to call us brothers. I Want you to look at this verse? We don't have time to get into all that it means. Till next Sunday, but look what it says saying I.
Who is the I? Specifically who is this who is who is the one who was made a little lower than the angels? Jesus so who is the I? Jesus saying I Jesus Will declare thy name. Who is thy? Think about it thy name the father the father.
I Jesus will declare the father's name unto my brothers in the midst of the church. Where's that this morning? It's here part of the church is here. This local body is here. I Jesus will declare God the father's name unto my brethren my brethren.
Why does he have to do that? In the midst of the church while we're here together I Will sing praise unto thee. Who is thee? The father. Have you ever seen this before that when we come together Jesus has a ministry.
He may be seated. But doesn't mean that he is not working because he has a work of intercession. That is ongoing a work of advocacy. When the enemy comes and accuses you either to yourself or before the throne if that's possible and I assume it still is.
Then our advocate stands and says he's innocent. My blood is upon this person. He's your advocate before the father, but he is also your intercessor before the very throne of God and Here we see we picture this in prayer all the time, but have you ever seen this in praise before?
Have you ever realized that the mechanics behind what's happening is when we come together and we meet together with a willing heart and with the Word of God and with the Spirit of God in our midst. That Jesus Christ himself begins to declare the father's name to us.
Now. There's way more to that than those little words. To declare his name to us means to begin to teach us. Every name of God by the way gives an attribute of God in the Old Testament and in the new every different name addition to the name gives an attribute of God.
God reveals himself to us by his names many times and Jesus comes in our midst and begins to declare to teach to Exhibit the name of God to us when we're together and then in the midst of the church Jesus Christ begins to sing praise To the Father.
How does he do that? In us, it's not just us singing when we sing. If it's real, but for that to happen. Did you know that you could not Have stayed in your tent door all week and just looked around a little bit at what God's doing.
Did you know that for that to happen this morning in this place. Something had to happen in your place last week. And maybe this morning earlier before you got here. There has to be a Speaking as unto a friend going on there has to be the heart of a young man named Joshua who doesn't want to leave that place going on and Yet we battle with just want to come here.
Sometimes he was on the other side of that. He didn't want to leave where he was to come here. He's afraid if he'd come here to cool him off and it needs to be that way and you won't believe what will happen in This place when that starts happening in our lives.
Because it's not us. It's not we alone who praise the Lord Jesus literally sings. Jesus literally sings with a heart of joy to God in a language that you could never sing in and God it amplifies the yearnings in our hearts and It puts it in the right language for the father to hear.
And it's all a part of Jesus in us praising God as We meet together, but this takes place individually as well or it should it won't happen here if it doesn't and so It's just it's the God's viewpoint way of looking at praise and worship.
It's not so much that we do something to cause him to show up. That seldom happened in the Bible. Where man did something to cause God to show up seldom happened? But many times when God showed up man responded which is what he is.
He's the responder. We're the bride. That's where by the way, the human responsibility comes. How do you respond? It's not do something so he'll show up don't worry about don't if we start trying that we're gonna be like all the others.
It's just gonna be counterfeit rah-rah boy. Here. We are. Yeah. Yeah. Come on Lord come down. No, that's humanistic. That's our minion. It's ungodly but as we speak to God as a friend as We stay in that tabernacle and and refuse to come out of it to come back into the everyday life more and more during the week and even here while we're here the first moments of our time together here as We do those things and we come into the very presence of the Lord and Jesus himself as our brother Ministers in our heart and begins to sing to the father begins to first.
What does he do before he ever started to praise he declared his name to us? We had to see God. We had to know God's characteristics a little bit. We had to know the goodness of God it had to be right in the forefront of our minds.
And he declares his name which his name signifies himself the revelation of God. Jesus reveals God in your heart. Then you and he together sing praises to the Lord. If you ever see that happen where a whole group has that happen or most of the people in the group have it happen you.
You'll find yourself doing this. You won't want to walk out of the building. You won't want it to be over. You won't want to leave and when it does you'll you'll want to go back and hope. It's there the next night you'll Never quite live the same again after it because you'll always be looking for that and be disappointed when you don't see it.
And yet remember this. First comes the sovereignty of God first comes God himself. Then comes the declaring of his name to us by our Lord in our heart bless bless him for doing that because we would be So dead without that.
Then we slowly begin to respond as a bride as a young bride does to the groom. He looked at her and said she's mine and she looked at him said who are you? What what are you hanging around here for but then he brought her some flowers.
Then he brought her some candy. And then he found out other things that she likes and she brought that and all of a sudden he started looking pretty good. By the time he got to the place where he said will you she said I do.
Because she responded. You know where the terrible wickedness is. Is the fact that the Lord does show up every time. And we don't always respond, but it's only with him and us that it's real. We have to walk with him.
We have to be in that tabernacle with him. We have to be with him as a friend. And then you don't have to worry about it because you don't have to work. You rest and you can rest in praise. You can rest in worship.
You can rest in good works. You can rest in your salvation. You can rest in separation. Because you just walk with him. Let's stand and have a prayer together. Some would think this was a message. We would have an invitation with.
But that's too easy. I Want the invitation to be when we leave this place this week. I want you to find the altar this week Monday Tuesday in the busy holiday times and Visualize the tabernacle and as you're busy about your things.
Realize you're in the tenth door and looking out every once in a while. You'll see that tabernacle. And I want you to think should I go out there for a little bit right now? Should I just leave what I'm doing and go out there just for a little bit with Moses and Joshua.
And if you if you sense a voice saying yes, then obey it. Let's pray Father thank you so much for your word because it is our light. We wouldn't understand any of these things. We wouldn't understand we'd be tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine.
By everything we saw other people doing we'd be trying to join in and participate and not even knowing the wise. But Lord, let us come back as Moses and Joshua did to the truth that unless you go with us.
Just don't let us go on. Any further certainly not into the wilderness? But certainly not into the battles that take place as the promised land is taken. But father if you would go with us, then we shall be different from all the peoples of the world.
We ask that you would we plead with you with the same reasoning that Moses would are we not your people Lord? We ask that you would not only for our sakes but for our children's sakes. Go with us into our fellowship time and bless our meal together and we ask it in the lovely name of Jesus.
Amen.