Well, we're continuing on in the book of Exodus and we have moved all the way up to chapter 29. Since I usually am in Exodus once a month, I think some chapters ago I said it's going to seem like it took us 40 years to get to the book of Exodus as it did the children of Israel to get through the desert into the Holy Land. But we're on chapter 29 and just 10 plus chapters left in the whole book of Exodus after this. Chapter 29 we'll be reading verses 1 through 21. And this is what you shall do to them, to hollow them, for ministering to me as priest. Take one young bull and two rams without blemish, and unleavened bread, unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil. You shall make them of wheat flour. You shall put them in one basket and bring them in the basket with the bull and the two rams. And Aaron and his sons you shall bring to the door of the tabernacle of meeting, and you shall wash them with water. Then you shall take the garments, put the tunic on Aaron and the robe of the ephod, the ephod and the breastplate, and gird them with the intricately woven band of the ephod. You shall put the turban on his head and put the holy crown on the turban. And you shall take the anointing oil and pour it on his head and anoint him. Then you shall bring his sons and put tunics on them. And you shall gird them with sashes, Aaron and his sons, and put the hats on them. The priesthood shall be theirs for a perpetual statute. So you shall consecrate Aaron and his sons. You shall also have the bull brought before the tabernacle of meeting, and Aaron and his son shall put their hands on the head of the bull. Then you shall kill the bull before the Lord by the door of the tabernacle of meeting. You shall take some of the blood of the bull and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger, and pour all the blood beside the base of the altar. And you shall take all the fat that covers the entrails, the fatty lobe attached to the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, and burn them on the altar. But the flesh of the bull with its skin and its offal you shall burn with fire outside the camp. It is a sin offering. You shall take one ram, and Aaron and his son shall put their hands on the head of the ram. And you shall kill the ram, and you shall take its blood and sprinkle it all around the altar. Then you shall cut the ram in pieces, wash its entrails and its legs, and put them with its pieces with its head. And you shall burn the whole ram on the altar. It's a burnt offering to the Lord. It is a sweet aroma, an offering made by fire to the Lord. And you shall also take the other ram, and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands on the head of the ram. Then you shall kill the ram and take some of its blood and put it on the tip of the right ear of Aaron and on the tip of the right ear of his sons, on the thumb of the right hand and on the big toe of the right foot, and sprinkle the blood all around on the altar. And you shall take some of the blood that is on the altar and some of the anointing oil and sprinkle it on Aaron and on his garments, on his sons and on the garments of his sons with him. And he and his garments shall be hollowed and his sons and his sons' garments with them. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of God endures forever. May God bless the reading and proclamation of his holy word this day to our hearts You know a question many parents have concerning their children is what kind of career is my son and daughter going to do? Will my son or daughter practice law or go into medicine? Will they be a teacher, a policeman, or a fireman? These are questions parents have. Some who like to work with their hands might get into the trades. You have some gentlemen that do that. Others, like one young man I know who's in the trades now, he would like to be a farmer. Perhaps entering into business and climbing in the corporate world is what you're wondering about. I remember asking one of my sons, Jed, when he was about 11, well I didn't ask him, actually someone else asked him, and he said, Jed, what do you want to be when you grow up? He said, I want to be the world's greatest soccer player. And then the same person turned to Liam and said, what do you want to be when you grow up? And he said, I want to be the second world's greatest soccer player. Now I don't know if either of them are pursuing that dream right now but that was an ambition at one time. Others simply to have a job they enjoy that they can make ends meet and take care of the family and if they have one they can support a family. And there's a number of people who change careers out of necessity. Perhaps a business closes down or perhaps an opportunity, a greater opportunity arises. And there's a number of people who aren't even in the field in which they got their college degree in. They're working in a totally different field. But in here, in our day, there's many, many choices. Now it wasn't always like that. For the most part, in centuries past, men would do what their fathers did and mothers would do what their mothers did, which is mostly homemaking. A farmer was the son of a farmer, and his son would be a farmer. A wheelwright was the son of a wheelwright, and his son would be a wheelwright. Now, what is a wheelwright? Well, it was a craftsman who made wheels. And judging by his title, he made them right. And centuries passed, fathers didn't tell their sons, son, you could be anything you want. If you want to be king one day, well, you could. No, they didn't say those type of things. If a son of a woodsman were to say to his dad, Dad, one day I'm going to be king, his father would think a limb fell off a tree and hit him in the head. Well, in the same way, in the Old Testament, if a young Israelite boy outside of the tribe of the Levites, if he said to his father, one day I'm going to be a priest and share and serve in the tabernacle of God, that father would have thought his son was running a fever and not thinking clearly. Unless, unless he was called of God to do so. We know that on the tribe of Levi they were. It didn't depend on one's desire to serve in that way. It didn't depend on another's opinion of it being a good career choice. Nor did it depend on who you knew. It depended upon the calling of God. Now a lot could be said that had much to do with who you were related to, but even that was dependent upon the calling of God. And back in Exodus 28, verse one, we read, now Aaron, your brother and his sons with him, now take Aaron and your brother and his sons with him from among the children of Israel, that they may minister to me as priests, Aaron and Aaron's sons, Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. Of all the families of Israel, All the families of the children of Israel, only the family of Aaron were to serve as priests. Now in our text today we see besides God's calling we read of the consecration of the priest to minister to the Lord. The calling, the preparing, the consecrating. of the priest. That was essential, so essential. The priest, especially the high priest, was the key to all we have been looking for concerning the tabernacle, which takes up a goodly amount, I like to use that word when I count, a goodly amount of the book of Exodus, some 15 of the 40 chapters of the book of Exodus is dedicated to the tabernacle worship. The high priest was essential to offering sacrifice, to forgiveness, to worshiping God. He was the mediator between God who is holy and man who is not. When we read about all the blood and sacrifices being offered in the tabernacle, we have to remember that God, in his great mercy, in order that his great justice be satisfied, allowed for a substitute to bear the judgment of another's sin. Leviticus 17.11, for the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls, and for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul. We also read in Leviticus chapter 22 that these offerings were to be without blemish or defect, which emphasizes that God is indeed holy and perfect, and that which comes before him must also be holy. Holy sacrifice made to a God who is holy must be offered by a holy person, thus the necessity and the importance of a holy high priest. Now the first verse sets the purpose for the rest, at least these first 21 verses of this chapter sets the tone for that. God said to Moses concerning Aaron and his sons, and this is what you shall do to them, to hollow them for ministering to me as priests. hollowing them for the work of the ministry to the Lord. To hollow means to consecrate, to set them completely apart, to stand and to minister to the Holy God. Everything and everyone had to be set apart, consecrated, and made, or was hollowed before the Lord. Do you recall in chapter 28, the words that were gave in the signet upon the turban? Those words, those three words, holiness, four words, excuse me, holiness to the Lord. Now the effect of sin on man's heart, give him two distorted views, one of God and one of himself. We underestimate the glory and holiness of God and we also underestimate our own sinfulness. We too often are like old Israel, we read of in Psalm 15, that grew cold in their hearts towards the Lord. And it was evidenced by the wicked way they treated one another. Our love for the Lord, as we know throughout scripture, is evidenced by how we treat one another. And their hearts grew cold and they became wicked toward one another. But perhaps one of the most telling things of their condition, it wasn't so much their outside behavior, as what God had said about what they thought. He says, the Lord says to him, these things you have done, talking about their wicked deeds, and I've kept silent. I think God's not watching. And then God says this, you thought I was altogether like you. You thought I was altogether like you. The words of A.W. Tozer come to mind here. He writes, what comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. We might think our careers are, or bank accounts, or house, or whatever, but really the most important thing about us is what comes into our mind when we think about God. Dear ones, two things can happen when we think about God. We could make an idol of God in our own thoughts, more like man, more like ourselves, and in doing so, obviously, we underestimate who God is. and we overestimate who we are, that we can do such a shaping, idol making in our minds. Or we can have our thoughts of God shaped, and I should add renewed, by the revelation of who God is through his word. Do the things of God, His words speaking to our hearts, communion with Him in prayer, the fellowship of the saints, the means of grace, do these things warm your heart and bring you much comfort? Is there an awareness that when your hearts are growing cold and anxious and worried, that we realize we need to cry out to the Lord for His mercy and grace to the warmth, of those precious promises he gives us. If not, perhaps it's because we don't do those things. Perhaps it's because we thought he was all together like us. When we hear of other saints' needs and their prayer requests, do those needs press upon our hearts as they ought? Do we then transfer this into thinking, does God really hear us like that? Do we make God in our own image? Do we think he was all together like us? Dear ones, we need the word of God to shape our thoughts of who God is. He's holy, we are not. And these details in the chapter of Exodus speak of his holiness, but we also read of his great love and mercy in giving us a mediator, a high priest to bring us to God. And in this chapter, we see that laid out for us in type and figure. In this chapter, not only the necessity of the priestly role, but also the seriousness, the soberness in which this service to God is being put forth. We see specific ritualistic steps in approaching God for the priest and his role in serving in the tabernacle. Each step in making the priest hallowed speaks of God's merciful dealings with his people. to make provision to give them a qualified priest, a mediator, to which he can then intercede on their behalf. These steps in making a priest's hallowed can include washing, clothing, anointing, and sacrifice to make atonement. And this is encompassed in consecrating to the priest so that they would be able then, they would be able to enter into that holy place. And not only that, but go through the veil into the holy of holies. Indeed, the work of the priest, the high priest does not only point us to Christ, excuse me, it does point us to Christ in two ways. One is in type, and we see those types, type, prefigurement, but on the other, it's a sense because of the inadequacies. of the high priest and the sacrifice that he offers. Those two things point us that there must still come a more perfect, a perfect sacrifice. In Hebrews 7.18, we read a weakness and unprofitableness of the Levitical priesthood and the continued offering of bulls and goats, which could not take away sin. Hebrews 10.4, Aaron and all the high priests were a shadow, a likeness of good things to come. Who is Christ? The Aaronic priesthood simply pointed to a need, a great need, for a greater mediator. But we also see in the type and symbol of making the priest hollow the work of grace in the life of every Christ-trusting believer. The work of washing away of sin, clothing in righteousness and anointing, set aside for God's service as priest. It's the work we see in type here in Exodus 29. Now, as we look at these four elements of consecration in these verses, I'd like us to consider the consecration of one, Aaron and his sons and their work as priests, especially high priests. Two, to look at some of the type and prefigurement of their service as priests is how it speaks to us of Christ. And third, how the consecration of the Aaronic priesthood points to the consecration of believers, the priesthood of believers who are made hollow in Christ and have the privilege and joy of ministering to the Lord in his holiness. Now as we move through these chapters we've covered the materials used in making of the tabernacle. where the priests were to serve. Then we looked at the priestly garments that were worn by them as they served in the tabernacle. And now in this chapter, we start to focus on the priests themselves who wore these garments and served in the tabernacle. And one of the first things we notice in verse one is that Aaron and his sons did not perform these steps to themselves. It was done to them by Moses, God's prophet, God's representative. Verse 1, and this is what you shall do to them. Now this ritualistic work to have them, to hollow them, to hollow them, to consecrate them was not a self-appointed task. It was not a homemade project. It was done through God, by God, through Moses. And another thing we notice by inference is that Aaron and his sons needed consecration. They needed cleansing. We read that the first ritual that Moses performed to the priest was the washing with water. And this was done at the door of the tabernacle, before they were to enter in. Leviticus 8, we get a bit more detail, the reading of this, and one thing we notice is that these rituals were to take place in view of the people. Away from the people, but yet in view of them. They were witnesses of something that happened only to the priest. They knew by these rituals that they were set apart from the rest of the congregation. Now some today, in our modern minds, we might think it doesn't seem too fair, too egalitarian. don't seem to have an equal opportunity or chance to take part in this. Now what's lost in such thinking is a sense of deep gratefulness that God has provided a way. He has given a priest to enter his presence and represent the people in God's presence. If we look with the eyes of too much egalitarianism, we lose that sense of gratefulness. Dear ones, we're never to shy away as well from John 14, 6, where Jesus declares, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. The focus of our Lord's statement is not that it's exclusive, which it is. It's extremely exclusive. It couldn't be more exclusive than that. but that there is a way. He is the way. We are to be grateful that the Father has provided a way through his Son. And we want to rejoice in that and proclaim that. The priests were washed from the Bronze Basin. Now, we'll read about that in chapter 30, Lord willing, before the congregation of Israel. And this is the background why the great high priest, the Lord Jesus, was baptized. Did Jesus need to be baptized like Aaron and his sons? No, because Jesus had no sin. But he was washed to fulfill the law that was commanded for the priest to partake of. Jesus received baptism not to wash away his sin like the other high priests who were indeed sinners. but he was baptized to consecrate him for his priestly service. Aaron and his sons were washed because they were sinners. Jesus was baptized to be set aside for sinners. Jesus was apart from sinners, but he was baptized for the sake of sinners. When John the Baptist was hesitant to baptize Jesus, Jesus said, let it be so now. It is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness in this way. and seeing the washing of the priests in Exodus 29 is a foreshadowing of the baptism us believers take of today. We also know that washing terminology is used throughout the New Testament in what the Lord does to the church. We read in Ephesians 5.26, that he might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of the water by the word. And in that wonderful verse in Revelation 1.5, which speaks of him who loved us and washed us. He loved us and washed us from our sin in his own blood. A washing of the priest was necessary to hallow them for service in the Lord. It's interesting to note that the first ritual to make the priest hallowed to serve before the Lord was like the first petition in the Lord's prayer. The first step of consecration to the Lord was recognizing God's holiness and his need for cleansing. And we read further the consecration of the priest in verses five and six as they go through an elaborate process of putting on the priestly garments. We read of that in verses four through seven. Now these garments we had looked at previously pointed to their work as a mediating priest. The white linen tunic spoke of righteousness. The breastplate that symbolically carried the names of the 12 tribes of Israel, each engraved on the gemstones that run the breastplate. On top of his head wore that turban which carried the emblem with the words, holiness to the Lord. Now think what a special ritual this would have been as each piece was placed on the priest. If he didn't have a unique sense of special calling from the washing, then surely the priestly guard would have given him such a sobering sense of that task. Leviticus 10 we read of the judgment that fell upon Nadab and Abihu when they offered strange fires before the Lord. the strange fires that unauthorized, the uncommanded way of offering fire. They didn't follow God's directions in this. And the result, the strange fire they offered received the fire of judgment from the Lord. Now a point worth noting about the clothing, these garments, these priestly garments here with Nadab and Bihu, is that we read that their bodies were carried out after they were destroyed by fire by their priestly tunics. Their bodies were picked up by their priestly tunics and carried out. Fire destroyed them, but not the priestly tunics. Philip Riken writes, although the priests themselves were destroyed by fire, their garments went unscathed. The clothes were still holy to God, even though the men who wore them were profane. of the washing and being dressed in priestly garments. And something else that was to set apart these men, these high priests, and that was the anointing oil we read of in verse 7 and verse 21. Verse 7 reads, you shall take the anointing oil and pour it on his head and anoint him. Now the anointing of oil, again, is described a little bit more in the next chapter. It was used for the consecration of priests. And as we read, sacred objects, even articles of furniture in a temple were anointed, the garments were anointed. And we also read in other parts of scripture that kings are anointed. In our text today, the anointing of oil is a visible sign of God's choice of Aaron and his sons for their special role in serving in a tabernacle. In scripture, the anointing of oil was symbolic of two things. One, it was a separating for special work, and two, a divine empowering to carry out that work by the Holy Spirit. When the term anointed by the Lord was used, it was understood that it was someone God has chosen or something God had chose. Again, emphasizing this was not Aaron and his sons choosing, nor all of Aaron's sons or future sons' generation. None of them chose this. It was God's choosing. when we read of King David that he was anointed of the Lord. The promised Messiah was described as anointed of the Lord, or the anointed one, or the chosen one. Now, something that even the secular world recognizes this terminology of the anointed one or chosen one. I don't believe it was that many years ago when the Cleveland Cavaliers gave their rookie draft pick that title, the chosen one. Now though it was out of ignorance, I think it does get into the realm of blasphemy to give such a title to a man who plays basketball, well, for a title that rightfully belongs to the only one, who's the only mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. Now Christ, which is the Greek word for anointed, becomes synonymous with the chosen one, or leaving out the words of chosen and anointed, simply used the one to come, communicating to us the expectancy that the people in the New Testament had of Christ, or even Old Testament believers. When John the Baptist wanted his own disciples' hearts settled and their allegiance transferred to Christ, He sent Jesus to his disciples and told them to ask Jesus, are you the coming one or do we look for another? In Matthew 16, when Jesus asked the disciples, who do men say that I am? Who that I, the son of man, am? They responded, some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah, one of the prophets. The Lord asked them then, but who do you say that I am? Simon Peter answered and said, you are the Christ. You are the Christ, the son of the living God. Now Christ is not just like many in our today's society might think, just part of Christ's full name. No, it's much more than that. It declares who he is, the one chosen of the Father and set apart for the redemption of man. Peter's answer was not just the answer of the obvious, because it wasn't obvious. It wasn't an obvious answer at all. It recognized that Jesus was the coming one, the promised deliverer of God's people. That which has been trailing me for seven days seems to be coming to A focal point here. Such revelation of Christ only comes by the Spirit of God. In verse 16 of Matthew 11, Jesus said, Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. Now those types of Christ in the Old Testament, Aaron and his sons as high priests, were chosen and anointed to intercede on behalf of the people of Israel. You have to wonder how much joy filled the heart of Moses as he anointed Aaron. Now we know that Moses and Aaron's relationship was good and at times not so good. But I do believe Moses had a lot of respect and appreciation of his brother. When you think when they went to, were told by the Lord to go before Pharaoh, Moses was reluctant and God chose and appointed Aaron to be Moses' mouthpiece for a while, for a while. How much gladness filled Moses' heart as he went through that public anointing of Aaron and his sons, symbolic of God setting apart to serve God as high priest in a tabernacle. And in the same manner, think of the heart of God the Father when his son was anointed by the Holy Spirit at the time of Jesus' baptism. We read, and immediately coming up from the water, he saw the heavens parting and the spirit descending upon him like a dove. And the anointing of the Holy Spirit come upon him, setting him apart for his priestly work. And what do we hear proclaimed from heaven? Then a voice came from heaven, you are my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. well pleased to fulfill the promise to give us what Aaron and his sons pointed to, that perfect and final high priest. Now Aaron and his sons were washed of their impurities, were clothed with priestly garments, and they were anointed for service. Now one thing remained. Everything on the outside looked good and proper for them to represent the people of God before God in a tabernacle. The remaining issue is still the issue within, inward sin. They who are going to carry with them a sinful people before a holy God to make atonement for the people's sins, they first had to deal with their own sin. Now we see this first in the three offerings made in verses 10-22. We see these sacrifices correspond with the three public rituals of washing, clothing, and anointing. The three sacrifices are cleansing of sin, consecration of God, and ordination or dedication of the priest. Now the first sacrifice we read of in verses 10 through 14, we read on the laying on the hands on the sacrificial bull. We read of this in verse 10. The laying on the hands speaks of a transference of the priest's sin to the bull. The sins of the high priest were symbolically placed on that bull through the laying on the hands. And the bull became the representative of bearing the sins of another. When there's a laying on of hands in an ordination service, it is symbolic of church authorities conveying authority to the one who they're laying their hands on. A transference of one to another. We see a picture of Christ here in that verse 14 we read, but the flesh of the bull with its skin and its offal you shall burn with fire outside the camp. It is a sin offering. This taking, this offering here, in particular, taking outside the camp, represents sin being removed from the holy area of the tabernacle. And then we see this as a type of the Lord Jesus dying on the cross, where? Outside the city gates of Jerusalem. We read of the type and the fulfillment of that type in Hebrews 13, 11, and 12. For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin are burned outside the camp. Therefore, Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people of God with his own blood, suffered outside the camp. So the first offering is obviously, as it states at the end of verse 14, it is a sin offering. The second offering was a burnt offering, the sacrificing of a ram. We read of that in verses 15 through 18. This offering symbolizes consecration to God. Matthew Henry writes, the sin offering must first be offered and then the burnt offering. For, till guilt be removed, no acceptable sacrifice can be offered. No acceptable service can be offered. First guilt's removed, then an offering for service. Now we read in the second sacrifice that nothing was removed from the tabernacle for burning outside the city, for it was not an offering for the priest's sins. But the whole of the animal was offered up in the tabernacle. And we read in verse 18, and you shall burn the whole of the ram on the altar. It is a burnt offering to the Lord, a sweet aroma, an offering made by fire to the Lord. a sweet aroma to the Lord. You know every time I read of a sweet aroma or an aroma going up to the Lord, it takes me back some almost 50 years ago, driving through Florida before they had all the freezes and plant diseases that killed their orange groves. And the sweet smell of those oranges, it didn't matter how hot it was outside, you'd roll down your window just to smell that sweet fragrance of those oranges come in. And every time I read of sweet aroma to the Lord, my mind takes me back there. Sweet aroma. It means pleasing to God and accepted by God. Now the third offering was another ram that was an offering of ordination. This blood was placed on Aaron and his sons and their garments and all around the altar. This symbolized by the sacrifice that they were set apart for service. The benefit of the atoning sacrifice is applied to them. And just as the whole of the ram was offered up, their whole, their being was being offered up in service. Which puts us in mind of Romans 12.1 that says, in view of God's mercies, our reasonable service is offering ourself up to him. It's our reasonable sacrifice. Now we see also in the symbolism that the blood is put specifically on the right ear, right thumb, and the right toe for two reasons. One, those areas encapsulate the whole of the person from head to toe. And it was the right ear, thumb, and big toe, not the left. Well, the right was always considered to be good and honorable and authoritative, stronger, representing might and also righteousness. We see this in the separation of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25. Those that inherit the kingdom of God are on the king's right hand, on the right side. Those on the left, he said, depart from me. You are cursed into the eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. Now another reason of this placement is what one commentator said, that besides encapsulating the whole of the person, it speaks of with the ear, we should hear differently. With the thumb, what our hands do, we should work differently. With our toe, our feet, we should walk differently. And we know synonymous in scripture with walk is the way we live our lives. We should live differently. Verse 1 started with, and this is what you shall do to them, to hallow them for ministering as priests. And we read at the end of verse 21, he, speaking of Aaron, and his son's garments shall be hallowed, and his son's and his son's garments with him. The washing away of sin, the donning of the righteous priestly garments and the anointing for service as priests in the tabernacle. These things with the three sacrifices mentioned and the high priest are called hallowed. Hallowed man for a hallowed service. As I mentioned here, there are types and pictures of Christ in these passages. Many more types that I haven't even mentioned and much more could be said on the ones I did mention. But Christ is seen in all aspects of the tabernacle. Starting when we start at the building of the construction of the tabernacle, even we see Christ in the Ark of the Covenant. We see him throughout. However, we see in our text today how great High Priest is, much greater and more wonderful than the ironic priesthood commenced by Aaron and his sons and all their sons after. I'm sorry, dear ones. It's not doing anything here. It's just sounds like I had a substitute come in with a different voice or something. But the glories of our great high priest compared to that which was in type. The children of Israel looked on as these priests went through those rituals and those sacrifices were made. And all that happened so they could enter into the holy of holies. From a distance they could see this going on. But the high priest, though represent them, couldn't say to them, since I represent you, why don't you follow me and come in as well? They couldn't say that. No, not at all. How infinitely greater then is the work of Christ as that perfect and final high priest. He's a high priest who didn't need cleansing and it is his, it is finished, sacrificial, atoning death that does cover guilt and shame of sin. There's no need for another. But the work of Christ as High Priest does not just represent us before God, he brings us to God in him. He made us priests by washing us with his blood. We think of Peter's declaration to those battered saints, you are a royal priesthood. He's taken our filthy, sin-stained clothing and given us righteous, priestly garments, and he's anointed every trusting believer with the Holy Spirit of God, sealing them and empowering them for service to God. First John 2.20, but you have an anointing from the Holy One. You have an anointing from the Holy One and you all know the truth. Though Christ is the final high priest, he makes all believers priests. Not priests to make offerings of atonement, but priests who offer the sacrifices of thanksgiving. Thanksgiving and priests who intercede and plead petitions before the Lord. At the time of Aaron, the high priest, the people again stood from a distance and watched the high priest enter the tabernacle, the presence of God. The Lord Jesus, as our great high priest, enters by his blood into God's presence as well. But in doing so, he tells all of us to gather in his train and secure in his garments, his true righteous garments. In Hebrews 4, we have some verses that ought to be very, very familiar with every Christ follower. Wonderful, encouraging verses that ought to strengthen our faith and confidence as we go to the Lord often and with assurance, starting at Verse 14, seeing then that you have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens though the veil between us, that veil between the holy of holies. Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. Their faith was being tested, these early believers. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace in the time of need for help. So when do we go to him to find mercy, obtain mercy, find grace? When we have it all together, we have our act all together, we have a sense of confidence because of what we've done, maybe some good works. When we feel like our lives have been cleaned up enough that we could go and offer up a word of prayer? No, scripture tells us we are to go to him in our time of need. What we need, dear ones, is to see how needy we really are. If the Spirit of God shows us how needy we are, that indeed is a mercy in and of itself. When he shows us the times our hearts have grown cold, when he makes known to us the level of self-pride and confidence we have in our own works, when he shows us those things, pricks our hearts concerning them, these are indeed great works of mercy to show us how needy we are. Dear ones, let those deeds be that little bell in your own mind or your own heart, perhaps, that goes off and lets you know that it's time. With boldness, with boldness, not self-confidence, but with boldness in what your high priest has done. And cry out to God to obtain mercy and grace to help. And as we go before God, let us also think what made us, the high priest hollow in Aaron's day, consider what Christ has done for you. He's washed you with his blood. He's placed his holy garments upon you. He's anointed you with the Holy Spirit of God. And he's placed you and everyone who is churned to Christ by faith as their savior. We now serve him, not to earn one thing. Our service would not earn one thing, but it's in response of his great love and his great work in our very lives. Psalm 118.23 declares, and this was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. It is indeed marvelous. Would you pray with me, dear ones? Our Father and our God, as we come to you in Christ's name, how dependent we are to have you reveal to us the depth of our needs. And Lord, as the depths of our needs are exposed to us, our weaknesses, the sin within our heart, we know that those things cause us to look outside of ourselves to the even greater mercies of God. Thank you, Lord, that we go to you in our times of need to call out and obtain that mercy and grace at that time. Oh, Lord, let us be a people who are mindful of the great work that you set in types and symbols and shadows and figures in the Old Testament, now fulfilled in our wonderful Savior. Lord, we ask that these things would continue to be a meditation of honoring our own hearts, that Christ be glorified. We pray these things in Christ's name. Amen.