the goat which was the sin offering for the people and killed it and offered it for sin like the first one. And he brought the burnt offering and offered it according to the prescribed manner. Then he brought the grain offering, took a handful of it and burned it on the altar, besides the burnt sacrifice of the morning. He also killed the bull and the ram as sacrifices of peace offerings which were for the people. And Aaron's sons presented to him the blood which he sprinkled all around on the altar, and the fat from the bull and the ram, the fatty tail that covers the entrails and the kidneys, and the fatty lobe attached to the liver. They put the fat on the breasts. Then he burned the fat on the altar, but the breasts and the right thigh. Aaron waved his wave offering before the Lord as Moses had commanded. Then Aaron lifted his hand toward the people, blessed them, and came down from offering the sin offering, the burnt offering, and peace offerings. And Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of meeting and came out and blessed the people. Then the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. and fire came out from before the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the fat on the altar. When all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces." This is the Word of the Lord. Thank you. You may be seated. In the mid-1980s, Coca-Cola seemed to be losing the Cola Wars. Pepsi seemed to be gaining momentum. And Coke was getting a little bit desperate. So what did they do? Well, the decision that Coca-Cola made was that they would introduce new Coke. Sweeter than the old formula. But they didn't just introduce the new Coke alongside the old formula. They introduced it and stopped production of the old Coke, a formula that they had used for 99 years. The CEO of Coca-Cola, when he took that position, had said that there would be no sacred cows. And he also said that it would be the new Coke or no Coke. Well, on April 23rd, 1985, the new Coke was launched. To put it mildly, the public did not receive it well, particularly in the southern United States. The company received tens of thousands of calls and letters complaining about the cancellation of the Coke that they knew and loved. One famous letter to the CEO of the company was addressed, Dear Dodo. And another one requested the autograph of the CEO because they said surely an autograph of the most stupid person in the world would have to be worth something someday. This was the amount of backlash that Coke had against their new product and the dropping of the old Coca-Cola. It grew even worse when Coca-Cola tried to market their new Coke internationally, as entire nations worth of Coca-Cola bottlers showed no interest at all in selling the product, even declining to even carry it. And two months after the launch, Coke, Coca-Cola company sales had slipped by 20%. And in the two months, and then after those two months, those sales continued to slide. They continued to slide until July of 1985, and July 11th, 1985, the CEO of Coca-Cola called an emergency board meeting, and on the same day announced publicly that Coca-Cola would resume production of the old Coke under the name Coca-Cola Classic. Though Coke would rebound, and that has actually prompted all kinds of interesting theories, was it all a ploy? But Coke did rebound. Their new Coke debacle cost them $4 million in development in 1985 prices and $30 million in unsold new Coke revenue. Today that would be worth over $100,000,300,000 worth of a hit that they took on the new Coke. They had labored long only to have their product rejected by those whom they hoped would receive it. That when this product was rolled out, what they had prepared was unacceptable. Well, it is one thing for the public to think that your beverage is unacceptable. It is quite another thing to have a holy God think that your worship is unacceptable. I've titled this message, Divinely Acceptable High Priestly Ministry. And it is a cumbersome title, no doubt. Divinely Acceptable High Priestly Ministry. But it expresses the essence of this passage before us. In the preceding chapters, the instructions have been given about sacrifices and clothing and ministry. Eight chapters of specific commands have been laid down for the worship of Israel and through the ministry of the High Priest. The day has come now for the implementation of that worship system. And no doubt there is anticipation and nervousness in this moment. The thought of we must do this and we must do it right. Tonight I desire to show, through this text, some important and applicable truths for all of us. But I think the last point is really the key point of the passage, but I'm going to leave you waiting for that one. I want to think about this passage from three angles. First of all, I want to think about the obedience of the high priest, the obedience of the high priest Now, one of the key ways that you can emphasize something is repetition. You, as a parent or a teacher, might tell your child or student, I've told you a hundred times. Well, it may not be strictly true, or it might be more than that, but it emphasizes the fact that you have told them something over and over and over again, and the fact that you've told them over and over again should have clued them in to the fact that you were emphasizing something. I actually had a student get a little bit cheeky with me over March break. I had a review before March break in which I told them what they had to know for the test after March break. I told them in great detail. And while I told them in great detail, he and his fellow young man devoid of understanding at the table beside him acted the fool throughout the entire review. And I went over what to know for the test. Then I went over it again. And a third time in that review, I told them, this is what you need to know and know more. So he sent me a message in the midst of March break. What, he asked me specifically about something that I had told them they did not have to know. What do we have to know about this? And when I did not reply to him immediately, this is how he got cheeky. Now, I'm starting to clue in to the way that these symbols and everything are used. He put a double caret under his message, followed by a string of exclamation points. In other words, so he will receive the due recompense of his efforts when I see him tomorrow. Nonetheless, here's an example. I said three times what they needed to know and what they did not need to know for this test. I emphasized it, and he still missed it. I hope, brothers and sisters, that when we see things in Scripture, we take notice, simply by virtue of the fact that they are God's Word in Scripture. But when we see those things repeated, that's a clue we should really take notice. Of course, in the Scriptures, we see this Jesus Himself emphasizing things when He tells us something, and then He emphasizes it by saying, Verily, verily. Now, anytime Jesus says something, it's true. But when Jesus says something is true, true, we know it's really true. Here in the scripture we don't read the words verily verily, but we do see something emphasized in this passage by way of repetition. If you look with me at chapter 9 verse 5 you see, So they brought what Moses commanded. In chapter 9 verse 6, this is the thing which the Lord commanded you to do. In verse number 7, as the Lord commanded. In verse 10, as the Lord had commanded Moses. In verse 16, according to the prescribed manner, and then as if that were not enough, in chapter 9 verse 21, as Moses had commanded. Of course, we see the obedience to the words of Moses, and when they obey the words of Moses, they are obeying the words of God, because God ordained Moses as the authority, and also because Moses is relating the commands that God had given him for the priests. But notice how that obedience is emphasized. Within this passage, there are 6 times where this is driven home that this must be as God had commanded. They had to do this in obedience. And thus, there's a very simple and yet profound application for this, for those of us who minister, like Ryan and myself, that we need to be obedient to the Word of God. that obedience is vital for acceptable worship. We need to be people who simply do what God has commanded. And we need to guard ourselves that this obedience is not simply a public performance, but also our personal and steadfast commitment We as leaders need to be able to lead in our life and our worship and say, imitate me as I imitate Christ. We need to remember Paul's very sober words that he disciplined his body to keep it under subjection, lest when he had preached to others that he would become disqualified. And God's people must seek and submit to ministers that are obedient to the Word of God. I've mentioned this passage a couple times recently, but Hebrews 13, 7. Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the Word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct. Another way we could say this is, do not seek and submit to an ear-scratcher. an ear tickler. We see this happening a lot today. This is what Paul told Timothy. He charged Timothy before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing in His Kingdom, which is a very powerful charge. Think about eternity and the day of judgment. Preach the Word. be ready in season and out of season, convince, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and teaching." And some of you remember what he said, "...for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers, and they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables." And this is Fulfilled daily on YouTube and Spotify. As people look for what they want to hear instead of sound doctrine, and they'll listen to something that will scratch their ears. You all know, you've played with maybe a pet before, and the dog comes up and he wants you to scratch behind his ears and it feels so good. That's what people in the last days are gonna be like. Don't be like that. Obedience is vital for worship. So you need to seek a minister that's obedient to God's Word, that proclaims God's Word, and that's the kind of obedient minister that you should seek. But let's move second, not only to the obedience of the priestly ministry, but the significance of the priestly ministry. Each of the sacrifices was vital for obedience and fellowship. And as we have noted already in this book, each sacrifice, each offering had a truth to convey. In this initial High Priestly ministry, the following sacrifices were offered. We read them a moment ago. The Sin Offering, the Burnt Offering, the Grain Offering, and the Peace Offering. Those four of the five main sacrifices were offered. And let me quickly note, the one that was not offered was actually the Guilt Offering. Now the reason why the guilt offering was not offered is because the guilt offering was for specific acts where man or God were defrauded. And it was an offering made by individuals rather than a corporate offering. And this is a corporate ceremony of worship we read about in Leviticus chapter 9. But let's note, once again, the truths which each sacrifice is signifying. Now, for some of you, this is going to be review. For others of you, you might remember these, but as Pastor Daniel would often say, repetition is the mother of learning, or propaganda, or something like that. So here we go again. These are the four sacrifices that are offered in Leviticus 9. There is the sin offering. The sin offering reminds us that sin's defilement can only be cleansed by blood. There was the burnt offering. The burnt offering reminds us that sinful man can enter into fellowship with God only on the basis of a perfect bloody substitute sacrifice. The grain offering. The grain offering reminds us that those who have been graciously accepted by God must be gratefully dedicated to God. And the peace offering simply reminds us that peace with God is a blessing worth celebrating. Now all of these sacrifices and the truths that they communicated were foundational to Old Testament worship, and foundational to what God is teaching His people. Sins, defilement can only be cleansed by blood. Sinful man can only enter into fellowship with God on the basis of a perfect, bloody, substitute sacrifice. Those who have been graciously accepted by God must be gratefully dedicated to God, and peace with God is a blessing worth celebrating. Now, we do not have to offer these sacrifices today, thankfully. But the truths that they communicate are foundational and vital for our worship too. And on this side of the cross we see with even greater clarity the substance of our Savior in these shadows. And so the significance of this priestly ministry, each of these sacrifices is making a point. We look at this from the New Testament perspective and these same points must be emphasized in our worship too. The minister must publicly, communicate and privately and personally embrace these truths. Think about these truths. Sins defilement can only be cleansed by blood. What does this point us to? It points us to Jesus and His sacrifice on our behalf. The peace with God that was made through the blood of the cross. Sinful man can only enter into fellowship with God on the basis of a perfect, bloody, substitute sacrifice. Who is this pointing us to? It's pointing us to Jesus once again. Apart from His work of redemption, we would have no possibility of fellowship with God. And the grain offering then begins to talk about how we respond to this. We've been graciously accepted by God. We should be gratefully dedicated to God. and the peace offering. Peace with God is a blessing worth celebrating. And all of these truths, brothers and sisters, have such significance, not just in Old Covenant and Old Testament worship, but in New Testament worship. We should never get away from these foundational truths, and when we do, we are in trouble. This is vital for acceptable worship. How many churches get sidetracked into matters of lesser importance? All Scripture is vital and important. But let's never get far from the cross. Let's never lose sight of Jesus. Let's never lose sight of that which is at the heart of our faith. I pray that we would not become like some churches that you might go to today where you could sit through an entire message and not hear Jesus mentioned. I had a friend, and I've mentioned this before, who went to a conference, an actual conference for pastors. And he told me that in the course of the entire conference he only heard Christ mentioned like three times. How is this possible in a Christian meeting? Michael Horton warned us years ago about Christless Christianity. A Christianity that emphasizes moral values but eviscerates our faith by taking Christ and the cross away. The minister must personally embrace and publicly express these truths. And I hope we do here. It might seem weird to someone coming in, but we sing a lot about blood. And we're not singing death metal, right? We're singing about the sacrifice of our Savior on our behalf. That's at the heart of our faith. We never get far from the cross. The minister must personally embrace this and publicly express this. And I pray by God's grace that we do here in this ministry. That even as we look in the Old Testament and see passages that may seem so unrelated, we can place them within God's timeline that leads us to Christ and the consummation of all things in His great victory and kingdom. We can look at the types and shadows that point us to Christ's own sacrifice. The congregation also must personally embrace and publicly express these truths. This is not just for ministers. This was something being communicated to the entire watching congregation in that Old Testament context. It was making a point not just for the ministers, but for every worshipper that was there watching. You, brothers and sisters, must embrace these truths and hold them fast. Hold fast to those foundational truths of our faith. Do not be moved away from them. But it is at this point, I believe, that we get to the heart of the message. And that is, point number three, the necessity of the priestly ministry. In our sophisticated age, we don't often think about the need for a priest. But I think some backward, primitive, demon-fearing tribal member might have more spiritual sense than modern man when it comes to this. And what I mean by that is you see in these primitive faiths this realization that they need a priest. They need someone to stand between them and those spiritual forces greater than them. And so they divide the chicken and look at the liver and do all kinds of weird things which God has not commanded, but at least they have the spiritual sense to know that they need a mediator. In our modern day, we don't. We think that we don't need one at all, because we're good enough. They at least have the sense, misguided as it is, to fear those spiritual powers greater than themselves. In the context in which this was given, the high priest, as God had commanded and ordained, was something that other religions in the area might have some connection with, in the sense that they recognize that there needed to be someone to stand between them, in their weak state, and those spiritual powers greater than themselves. Of course, what God implements here is so much greater, and of course, is actually truth, as opposed to these false demon-worshipping beliefs. But that idea that there has to be a priest to stand between weak and wayward man and God. When these sacrifices have been offered in obedience, full obedience we can say, to the command of God, the glory of God appears. This is the glory that Moses had said in chapter 9 verse 4 that would be revealed. He said this as well in verse 6. We could, I think it's a valid point to say, to make the point that the glory of God will be revealed to an obedient people. But what happens next? The sacrifices have been offered by the high priest in perfect obedience to the commands of God. What happens next? We see it in verse 25 and 26. The glory of the Lord appears to all the people and fire comes out from before the Lord and consume the burnt offering and the fat on the altar. This falling fire is significant because it shows that God has accepted the sacrifice. This fire is His stamp of approval upon the obedient priestly ministry. And how vital that ministry was. If there was no high priest, these sacrifices would not have been offered. If that high priest was not obedient, those sacrifices would not have been accepted. So without the ministry, there would be no sacrifice. Without the obedience, there would be no approval. And here is where we're driving now, I think, to what the main point of this passage is. The priest had to obey perfectly in order to offer acceptably. Or let me point it out this way. Worship is only acceptable through the perfect obedience of a faithful high priest. Worship is only acceptable through the perfect obedience of a faithful High Priest. But in this, brothers and sisters, do you not see how this is a type and a shadow of Jesus? We are pointed beyond Aaron in this moment. We are pointed to the true and greatest High Priest. Brothers and sisters, our worship is acceptable only through His perfect obedience and His perfect sacrifice. What obedience is that? Well, as we have noted with our brother preaching through Philippians recently, our Lord was obedient even unto death, the death of a cross. And in that obedience, which was also an obedience unto death, there was a sacrifice, the perfect sacrifice for sin. Without His perfect sacrifice, and without His priestly intercession, we would have no access to God. Our worship would only be cold and useless ritual. But because of the perfect obedience of the faithful High Priest, we have access, reconciliation, peace. The order of the sacrifices in this event is fascinating to me because it begins with that sin offering and culminates with the peace offering. Sin, burnt, grain, peace. Of course, peace with God is possible only if sin has been atoned. Peace with God is possible only if that relationship has been made through the blood of a bloody substitute sacrifice. And so, brothers and sisters, we need a priest to stand in the presence of a Holy God. We need a priest who is perfectly obedient. And we have one in Jesus. I wonder if you have this priest as your priest. We've been looking through the book of Hebrews, and we got through the end of Hebrews 6 today, and the author of Hebrews has this amazing sermon, and he has used this sermon illustration and this warning passage to digress from his main point, and then bring us right back to his main point again. Which is that Jesus is a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. He's a priest whose ministry is effective, whose ministry is certain for those who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope that is found in Him. In other words, it's quite one thing for there to be a priest whose ministry can save you to the uttermost. Who can save you forever. It's quite one thing for that to be theoretically true. It's quite another thing for you to have Him as your priest. Him interceding on your behalf. And there are many people who might, on some level, at least theoretically understand that Jesus is a high priest and Jesus has made a sacrifice of Himself. But they themselves have not fled for refuge to Jesus. To lay hold of the hope that is in Jesus. And that's my question to you tonight. Have you trusted in Jesus? You might come and you might know when to stand up and sit down. You might know the words to the hymns. You might really catch on to the new ones that we are introducing. You might look the part. You might have it all together outwardly. But your worship is only acceptable. Only acceptable through the perfect obedience of a faithful high priest. And if you have not trusted in Christ, He is not that priest on your behalf. And all of your efforts are simply that. They're efforts. They're performances. You see, we are accepted in the Beloved when we trust in Him. Have you trusted in Him? Have you placed your faith in Jesus? For those of us who have, we can approach God clothed in perfect obedience of this High Priest, imputed to our account when we trust in Him, imputed to those who will lay hold of Him by faith. And brothers and sisters, what these people saw that prompted them to shout and fall on their faces is nothing compared to the glory that will be revealed in us. This would have been an amazing sight. An amazing sight. Fire falling from heaven, consuming the sacrifice. God's stamp of approval on that worship. That there is a day coming when there is glory that will be revealed eternally. Not just one spectacular moment in time. but a glory that will be revealed for eternity. And we will be forever amazed by this glory. All of that is possible because of the perfect obedience of the faithful High Priest, Jesus. And so let's trust Him. Let's hold fast to Him. Let's rejoice in His work on our behalf. And brothers and sisters, let's anticipate the day when one day we will stand together with Him in glory forever. Amen. While our brother Donde is going to come