We continue worshiping our God this morning now by listening to the reading of His Holy Word. Our reading from the Old Testament is found in Leviticus chapter eight. We'll read the chapter in its entirety, and then we'll read through verse 30, and then our New Testament reading, First Peter chapter two, verses one through 12. If you are able, I invite you to please stand as we worship God by listening to the reading of His Holy Word. beginning with Leviticus chapter eight. The Lord spoke to Moses saying, take Aaron and his sons with him and the garments and the anointing oil and the bowl of the sin offering and the two rams and the basket of unleavened bread and assemble all the congregation at the entrance of the tent of meeting. And Moses did as the Lord commanded him. And the congregation was assembled at the entrance of the tent of meeting. And Moses said to the congregation, this is the thing that the Lord has commanded to be done. And Moses brought Aaron and his sons and washed them with water. And he put the coat on him and tied the sash around his waist and clothed him with the robe. and put the ephod on him and tied the skillfully woven band of the ephod around him, binding it to him with the band. And he placed the breastpiece on him, and in the breastpiece he put the urim and the thumim. And he set the turban on his head, and on the turban in front he set the golden plate, the holy crown, as the Lord commanded Moses. Then Moses took the anointing oil and anointed the tabernacle and all that was in it, and consecrated them. And he sprinkled some of it on the altar seven times and anointed the altar and all its utensils and the basin and its stands to consecrate them. And he poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron's head and anointed him to consecrate him. And Moses brought Aaron's sons and clothed them with coats and tied sashes around their waists and bound caps on them as the Lord commanded Moses. Then he brought the bull of the sin offering and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the bull of the sin offering and he killed it and Moses took the blood and with his finger put it on the horns of the altar around it and purified the altar and poured out the blood at the base of the altar and consecrated it to make atonement for it. And he took all the fat that was on the entrails and the long lobe of the liver and the two kidneys with their fat, and Moses burned them on the altar. But the bull and its skin and its flesh and its dung he burned up with fire outside the camp as the Lord commanded Moses. Then he presented the ram of the burnt offering, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the ram, and he killed it. And Moses threw the blood against the sides of the altar. He cut the ram into pieces, and Moses burned the head and the pieces and the fat. He washed the entrails and the legs with water, and Moses burned the whole ram on the altar. It was a burnt offering with a pleasing aroma, a food offering for the Lord, as the Lord commanded Moses. Then he presented the other ram, the ram of ordination. And Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the ram, and he killed it. And Moses took some of its blood and put it on the lobe of Aaron's right ear, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot. Then he presented Aaron's sons, and Moses put some of the blood on the lobes of their right ears, and on the thumbs of their right hands, and on the big toes of their right feet. And Moses threw the blood against the sides of the altar. Then he took the fat and the fat tail and all the fat that was on the entrails and the long lobe of the liver and the two kidneys with their fat and the right thigh. And out of the basket of unleavened bread that was before the Lord, he took one unleavened loaf and one loaf of bread with oil and one wafer and placed them on the pieces of fat and on the right thigh. And he put all these in the hands of Aaron and the hands of his sons and waved them as a wave offering before the Lord. Then Moses took them from their hands and burned them on the altar with the burnt offering. This was an ordination offering with a pleasing aroma, a food offering to the Lord. And Moses took the breast and waved it for a wave offering before the Lord. It was Moses' portion of the ram of ordination as the Lord commanded Moses. Then Moses took some of the anointing oil and of the blood that was on the altar and sprinkled it on Aaron and his garments, and also on his sons and his son's garments. So he consecrated Aaron and his garments and his sons and his son's garments with him." Turning over to 1 Peter 2, verses 1 through 12. So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn infants long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. As you come to Him, a living stone rejected by men, but in the sight of God chosen and precious. You yourselves, like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. for it stands in scripture. Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame. So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstones. the cornerstone, and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. They stumble because they disobey the word as they were destined to do. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people. But now you are God's people. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. Amen. Please be seated. Let's pray. Fathers, we approach your word this morning We come as those who recognize how much we need to hear You, and especially, O Lord, how much we need to hear the voice of our Savior. The voice that leads and guides us by His Spirit. The voice that speaks words of comfort and assurance to us. And so, O Lord, as we come to Your Word now, by the very same Spirit through whom and by whom You first gave us this Word, O Lord, open our minds and our hearts to hear, to understand, and to embrace deeply and with passion all that You would teach us from Your Word this morning for our good and for the glory of Your name and the furtherance of the Gospel of Jesus. And father, I do ask that you'd grant to me as your servant, delivering this, your word this morning, grant to me clarity of thought and the speech helped me that the words I speak will be exactly what you desire. All who are listening this morning to hear and hearing these words, may they have life in Jesus name. Amen. We're continuing our series in Leviticus this morning. If you have been paying attention, I've suddenly jumped from chapter four to chapter eight. But if you've been following along, you'll understand why. There's a lot of what's covered in the in-between chapters or further explanations of the sacrifices that we were looking at in the first five chapters of this book. But here now we move into a section, chapters eight through 10, that's dealing with the priesthood. So God has revealed, you know, has set up the tabernacle, he's revealed these sacrifices, and now he is installing the priesthood that will lead his people in worship in the offering of all these various offerings and sacrifices. So we'll be looking especially at Chapter 8 and make some allusions to Chapter 9 this morning, but our primary focus will be in Chapter 8. It was 1953 when Queen Elizabeth was crowned as the new Queen of England and of the United Kingdom and so on. I suspect, though some of you are old enough to have been alive then, I suspect that probably none of you actually were there. I don't know if any of you who are among our wise of age, if you actually were old enough to even watch it on television at the time. But even if you weren't there, there's no doubt most of us, if not all of us, have seen video clips of that service at one time or another, and this program, that program, on the news or what have you. Our society is fascinated with the British monarchy and their whole system of royals and peers all their ceremonies and so on. The number of movies and television series and programs, it's endless addressing the monarchy from this angle, that angle, in the past, in the present, in the future, and so on. Well, I think all the pomp and circumstance of coronation and all the other similar ceremonies and events that go with royalty and with a monarchy, they can easily be so mesmerizing for us. to see horse-drawn carriages, to see guards and soldiers, all the outfits, all the pomp and circumstance, the music, the ceremonial walking at just the right pace to get to the right place and to stand just right and so on, can easily be mesmerizing. The crowds, what do they do when there's going to be a coronation? They line the streets or some other royal celebration. They wave banners. They shout for joy as the monarch rides by in that spectacularly ornate royal carriage. How many of you have wanted to ride in that carriage? Don't raise your hand, but I suspect some out there. You can maybe experience the one at Disney and their princess carriage that has certain similarities. Well, in Queen Elizabeth's case, if you have ever watched the recordings of that ceremony, when she arrives at Westminster Abbey and she goes up, goes into the entrance and she's processing down the center aisle with all the the priests and all the ministers and other servants and so on. She's wearing her royal robe, and the train of that robe was, I understand, something like 6.3 meters. In American talk, that's around 21 feet long. It took six assistants to see to it that it was doing the right thing and she wasn't getting tripped up on it. Well, when the moment for her formal investiture arrives, however, in other words, when she's actually going to be crowned as queen, that long robe is removed. And in its place, They take a gold embroidered robe and put it on her as the beginning of the signs and the symbols that this one is the monarch. And then sitting on the chair of King Edward, she's presented with the royal orb, the scepter of her office, and also the rod of mercy. The king or the queen is to be just, but also to remember mercy. But finally then, the crowning moment, when that crown is taken and placed on her head, formally marking her as queen. Now, royal power and authority and responsibility are recognizably hers to fulfill that office. There are all sorts of events that go along with that kind of ceremony, just like when we inaugurate a new president here every four years, there's events before and after celebrating that auspicious occasion. Well, all of what goes into coronations and inaugurations and all these celebrations, as well as the outfits that are worn, especially thinking of monarchs, identify for us who that person is. And they identify the person's role and responsibility. When you see a man or woman in royal robes, sitting on a chair that's clearly a throne in Buckingham Palace, without a second thought, you'd know who that is and what their life is supposed to be all about. And so it was, also, at the establishment of the priesthood in Leviticus. Similar kinds of ceremonies, and we're going to say more about that in a moment, as Aaron is ordained as the high priest, and his sons as priests serving along with him at the tabernacle of God. Already back in Exodus, God had introduced His plans for the priesthood. He had told them about the garments, the regalia that was to be made and prepared for the high priest, and the robes that were to be made for the other priests. But it's here now in Leviticus that he ordains and commissions Aaron and his sons and invests them with priestly authority and responsibility. Just like that moment when the crown was placed on Queen Elizabeth's head. She knew she was queen. But it was at that moment that it's recognized in the most poignant way. So also, it is here in Leviticus that God installs Aaron and his sons into their priestly roles. And as he does so, he reveals to us something of his expectations of that priesthood, which is a way of saying what their life was all about. when you would see a priest or see the high priest wearing those garments, the robes, the regalia, immediately not only did you know who they were, but you knew what their life was supposed to be all about. As they were being given a critical role in leading and aiding the people of Israel to worship God. They themselves had to be properly prepared and readied in order to do that work. Well, God's first expectation then of His servants, the priests, was that they were to exude a thoroughgoing holiness. And this expectation is immediately evident in the symbolism of Moses' first steps in Aaron's ordination procedures. And just imagine this for a moment, what's taking place. At God's command, Moses has summoned the entire congregation of Israel. And I don't know what their exact numbers would have been on that day, but that's a lot of people. He has commanded to invite them to come to the entrance of the tent of meeting, which I think in this case means the. entrance to the tabernacle. The Tent of Meeting was where the holy place and the Holy of Holies was within the broader tabernacle. But they're invited to come. And so they've gathered together, they've assembled there. And we learn from Chapter 9 that in all likelihood, elders, as representatives of the people, as the leaders of the people, would have been in the front, and perhaps they themselves would have come right in, inside the curtains, the wall. of the tabernacle to see all of what was taking place as Moses, at God's command, ordained Aaron and his sons. Now, as you imagine those crowds and the elders and Moses and the people all gathered together, I want you to think about what might have been running through Aaron's mind and how he and his sons might have felt at that moment. perhaps much more than his sons, Aaron, I suspect, would have felt the weightiness of what was taking place. This was no simple, frivolous event. It wasn't just a fun ceremony that we're doing. You know, it's pleasant to put on these outfits and to, you know, throw a celebration. No. He understood that he was about to enter into the most solemn calling in all of ancient Israel. And there was a great weight and responsibility that went along with it. He was to be the high priest. Yet here He was, the one who had made the golden calf at the foot of Sinai. The one who had also made an altar and said to the people, come tomorrow, we're going to throw a party and celebrate. Behold, Yahweh your God in this golden calf. Yet God Yet God is still choosing to appoint Him as High Priest and bring Him into His service. Lord, who am I that You would dare still choose me to serve You in this way, though I sinned and betrayed You so grievously and horrifically? This is one of those moments of the profound revelation of the grace and the mercy of God. Aaron was sinful. He had led the people in idolatry. But God will cleanse that sin and cover it. He will wipe it clean and remember it no more. So Moses' first step is to take Aaron and his sons, verse 6, and to wash them. Within the courtyard, there was the altar of burnt offering, and there was the big laver where it was filled with water. And I suspect that would be the water that Moses would have taken and applied to the bodies of Aaron and his sons. They must be purified, even if only symbolically and ceremonially. If they are to be so near to God in the tabernacle and at the tent of meeting, if they are to be so near to God and to serve Him as priests, charged also with leading and aiding the people in the worship of God, they themselves needed to be cleansed thoroughly. Now, we're not given all the details on exactly how Moses did this washing. I mean, was it kind of like the baptism we just did? Did he just pour this water on them? Did he use a cloth to wipe their arms or something? We're not told those details. But whatever the specifics, Moses applied that water to Aaron and his sons to symbolize their moral cleansing by God himself. Here is the grace of God. Aaron didn't deserve it. But God showed mercy. God showed grace. And he washed him clean. And Moses began the process of dressing Aaron with the priestly garments. Kind of like the queen, the golden robe is placed upon her and she's handed all the different items that go with her royal status and the crown is placed on her head. Moses begins the process of dressing Aaron with the high priest's regalia. And there's a much more detailed description of what he was to wear in Exodus 39. Let me just briefly highlight some elements of it. First, it was the first layer, the main robe itself, that was woven of the finest all-blue material. And then around his waist was a sash made of gold and purple and blue and scarlet yarns to hold that robe on him. And throughout the different parts of the regalia, they were using these colors of royalty, of gold and blue and purple and scarlet, and the gold thread was actually made from real gold. To serve in the presence of God, in His glory, those who come there must themselves, by His grace, be wrapped with glorious presentation. On top of the robe was what's called the ephod. Think of it as kind of like a sleeveless sweater that could be put on over the robe. And on that ephod, there were shoulder pieces made with onyx, a black stone, and they were set in gold, surrounded by gold. And on those two stones, one on each shoulder, the names of the 12 tribes of Israel were engraved. We sang the song before the throne of God above and it talks about our names are engraved on his hands and so on. That language comes from this imagery of the high priest in Exodus and in Leviticus. Because the high priest's job, not only did he have the names of the 12 tribes on his shoulders, there was an additional breast piece on top of the ephod, and it was set with 12 different gems, precious stones like diamond and sapphire and emerald and jasper and amethyst. There were four rows of three stones each. And each one of those stones represented a tribe of Israel. Because the high priest would be representing the whole congregation, the whole nation, every time he entered the holy place, and the holiest place, to make atonement for them. as part of the breastpiece, there was also a kind of pocket or pouch in which Moses placed the Urim and the Thummim. And we don't really know much at all about what these objects were. They were used at times to discern God's will, so they were some, however they worked, they would be able to tell from it what God's answer was to their questions. They appear only three, four times at most in scripture. And so we don't know a whole lot about them, but Moses places them in that pouch on the high priest's breastplate, breastpiece. And then comes the crowning moment. Moses places the turban on Aaron's head, and he straps on it with blue yarn, with blue string, what's called a crown. It was a golden plate that was secured to the turban. And on that crown were written, were engraved the words, Holy to the Lord. This one had to exude that holiness of God. After completing the enrobing ceremony, Moses sprinkles the tabernacle and everything in it with the specially prepared anointing oil. And then he takes that same oil and he pours some of it on Aaron's head. And then when that's completed, he turns to Aaron's sons and he puts onto them the regular priestly garments, a robe, a sash, and a turban, a cap for them as well. Now why is it that God required the priests to be clothed in these special garments when they were to come into the tabernacle to lead in his worship, to present the various offerings and sacrifices? While there's much more to the story, especially when we think about the high priest who most fully points forward to Christ, and it's going to come up again and we'll say more about it later on in Leviticus. While there's more to the story, symbolically the robes covered any unrighteousness and unholiness of the priests. God is continuing that theme of thoroughgoing holiness. First was the application of the water to say they've been cleansed. Now they were clothed with a splendor and righteousness that comes only as the gift of God. And in that is foreshadowed the righteousness and ultimately the gift of glorification that God will give to all who are His by faith in Christ. You see, Aaron should have been condemned for his leadership in idolatry at Sinai. Yet God shows compassion and mercy and amazing grace as he appoints him high priest and places that robe upon him, symbolizing that he himself, God, is giving the gift of righteousness to his servant. Psalm 132, 8 and 9, Arise, O Lord, and go to your resting place, you and the ark of your might. Let your priests be clothed with righteousness, and let your saints shout for joy. The Apostle Peter explains in 1 Peter 2 that we, the church, are a royal priesthood. and a holy nation. Just as the priests serving in the tabernacle in ancient Israel were clothed with robes that allowed them to enter into the presence of God to serve Him there, so you and I who put our faith in the Lord Jesus, we are clothed with Christ Himself. And we need His righteousness to cover over all of our unholiness and impurity and unrighteousness so that we can be in the presence of God. Praise be to God by His grace, just as He granted the priests their priestly garments of holiness that they did not deserve. So He clothes you and me with Christ, a gift that we could never deserve, that we could never earn, that we could never gain, for we deserve and are worthy of precisely the opposite. Galatians 3.27, for as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. That's the picture of being enrobed like the priests. And notice, too, the connection to baptism. Like the priests, God washes us and places then the garment of righteousness of Christ himself upon you and me. In Revelation 7-9, John says this, After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes. with palm branches in their hands and crying out with a loud voice, salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. You see, you and I in Christ will be the eternal priesthood under Him, dressed in spotless, brilliantly white robes forever and ever and ever and ever. Worshipping, praising, delighting in Him, for He is our great God and Savior. Well, even as the priests were clothed in garments of righteousness and holiness, God still required a sacrificial offering for their sin. And to emphasize how complete and thoroughgoing that cleansing needed to be, Aaron and his sons were required to remain within the tabernacle for seven days and nights without leaving. On each of those days, the sin or purification offering along with the burnt or ascension offering and the ordination offering was to be presented for Aaron and his sons to the Lord. That's verse 35. We didn't read that earlier, but that's there at the end of chapter 8. We might almost liken this procedure then to what we do with some of our laundry. When there are deep stains, when there are spots that don't want to go away, but we want to salvage that shirt, that t-shirt, that pair of pants, whatever it is, what do we do? We use. Stain removers. We use bleach. We want it to be spotless and pure and perfect. And so the priests were to exude and reflect God's holiness before the people, and so they had to be cleansed thoroughly and completely. For them, a three-hour coronation service wasn't enough. This required the perfection of seven days. That's what God is saying here. the cleansing and the purification that he ultimately brings to all of his people who are his through Christ isn't just a simple washing where that stain is still showing through and is there. When God cleanses, when he purifies, it's perfect and thorough and will leave no spot whatsoever. Isaiah understood this concern for purity. Those called, he helps us to understand, and equipped and commissioned to serve directly in the things of the Lord, must reflect and model the holiness of God in a heightened way. To handle and represent the sacred, the priests themselves needed to be purified as well as set apart as sacred. Isaiah understood that, which is why in Isaiah 6, when he saw that vision of God on His throne and the angels crying out, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty, he cringed because he understood the impurity that remained yet in him. And he knew what Moses had said. God's message, no one can see My face and live. And so what happened? The angel took that coal with tongs and touched the lips of Isaiah. He said, you're cleansed, you're purified, now you can serve. And so the priests likewise, because of the perfection of God's righteousness and holiness, the priests who served Him had to be purified thoroughly to be able to serve as sacred and in the things that are sacred to God. And so by God's grace, he offers those seven days to purify and sanctify the priests so they could serve him. in obedience to God, after washing and clothing Aaron and his sons, and after sprinkling the tabernacle with the holy oil, making all of it sacred space. Moses begins that next phase as he takes the bull of the sin offering, and he has Aaron and his sons place their hands upon it And that hand placing wasn't just a gentle, put your hand here, but they would have pressed in on that animal as a way of saying, we are giving this in our place as a sacrifice for our sins. And so they placed their hands on it, and Moses presents it to the Lord following the procedures that God had ordered earlier in Leviticus for a sin offering. God was dealing with the sins of Aaron and his sons. He was giving them the gift of holiness and righteousness to be in his presence and to lead his people in worship, just like he would equip Isaiah cleanse Him, and send Him in to serve us. Well, in the same way, through our Lord Jesus Christ, God has purified and perfected His saints once for all. Hebrews 10, 11, Through 14, every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. waiting from that time until His enemies should be made a footstool for His feet. For by a single offering He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified." By that single offering of Christ. Not offerings offered daily for seven days. Not offerings that had to be offered year after year after year. No, through the one perfect and most profound offering, God has brought to you and me utmost cleansing and purification. And now, not only can we be near to God, like the priests in the tabernacle, You and I, in Jesus, will one day be able to stand and see God face to face. Revelation 22.4, they will see His face and His name will be on their foreheads. There's a reference to the high priest, holy to the Lord. His name will be on your forehead and mine, and we will worship Him and we will see Him. Well, together with holiness and righteousness, God also desired and expected the total devotion and commitment of the priests. And so in each of those seven days, not only was a sin or purification offering presented, but there also was the burnt and ascension offering. It was an offering that required the entirety of the animal to be burnt on the altar as a pleasing aroma to the Lord. Some of the other offerings, as we've been looking at Leviticus, you only presented a portion of it. While it had some connection to atonement, the accent for that offering falls on the utter commitment and consecration of the worshiper to the Lord. To lead others to the throne of God and to aid them in worshiping Him, the priests had to be absolutely and unconditionally devoted to the Lord God and to no other. Such complete dedication and consecration was further accentuated in the final offering made in the ordination process. Verse 22, then he presented the other ram, the ram of ordination. and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the ram." He goes on to detail the rest, and the way that offering was made was very much like the peace or fellowship offering of Leviticus 3. This is that one offering that the offerers get to eat part of it, to have fellowship with each other and with the Lord. But in this case, God commanded Moses to apply some of the blood of this offering, not only to the altar, as was ordinarily done, but to apply some of the blood of this offering to Aaron and his sons. Moses took some of the blood of that ordination offering, and he put it on the lobe of Aaron's right ear, and then on his right thumb, and on the big toe of his right foot. He did the same for Aaron's sons. And as he's about to do that to Aaron's sons in verse 24, he actually uses the language of presenting the sons in the kind of terminology that was used to talk about presenting an offering. And so he's laying Aaron and Aaron's sons, so to speak, on the altar before God. All of these actions and all of this language is making this point the total devotion and consecration to God expected of his priests. together with the ceremonial devotion and consecration to God. Throughout Leviticus 8, there's an emphasis on obedience to God, which you see is an expression, it's a way of showing that devotion to Him. And we find this phrase, as the Lord commanded Moses, gets used six times in this chapter. Every time Moses does a step, it says, as God commanded Moses. Moses is being obedient. But then Aaron and his sons follow Moses' example at the end of the chapter, verses 35 and 36. At the entrance of the tent of meeting, you shall remain day and night for seven days, performing what the Lord has charged, so that you do not die. for so I have been commanded. And Aaron and his sons did all the things that the Lord commanded Moses. And we see that also in chapter nine, they demonstrated their devotion to God by doing what he asked of them. Well, just as God expected the priesthood of the Old Testament to be utterly and completely devoted to Him, so He calls today's priesthood, the followers of Christ, to devote the entirety of their lives to Him. What did Jesus teach? He said, you and I, we cannot serve two masters. Either we're going to love the one and hate the other, or we're going to hate the one and love the other. And He goes on to say, Matthew 6.24, you cannot serve. God and mammon, God and money. You cannot serve God and anything else. God and God alone must be the one to whom you and I, as the royal priesthood and the holy nation of which Peter speaks, he must be the one to whom you and I are utterly, completely, and totally devoted. because He has said to you and me, you are royal priests, a holy nation. You are also my temple, the temple of the Spirit, the living stones being built into a place where offerings of praise are sacrificed to God. We are to be devoted to Him and to Him alone. In that same passage, Jesus goes on to assure his disciples, look, the Gentiles seek after all these earthly things. God knows you need them. He knows you need food and shelter and clothing and so on. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you. The priesthood was called to lead the people to God and in the worship of God. They were to seek His righteousness and to seek His kingdom. And that's what God's priestly people today are called to do. You and I are called to seek the kingdom of Christ by living lives of righteousness. We're to seek that kingdom by growing in godliness and holiness as His Spirit works in us. We're to pray and ask Him to bring forth more and more the fruit of the Spirit of love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and gentleness and so on, that He would bring that more and more forth in your life and mine. Because it's when people see the priestly garments of people who have characters like the Lord Jesus Christ. That's when they will know who you are and that's when they will know what your life is all about. God prepares His people today in Christ like He prepared the priesthood so that you and I together can fulfill Christ's call and commission to us as a church. And Jesus came and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. The priests of today are called to be priests of the gospel of Jesus Christ. To take that good news, to live lives that reflect it. and then to bring and deliver that good news to all who are around us, that they too might be clothed with the righteousness of Christ and become part of that temple and of the royal priesthood and the holy nation, declaring the excellencies of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit forevermore. Let's pray. Father, we thank you and we praise you for your word to us and for your grace and mercy that were evident in how you called Aaron to serve you, even though he had led rebellion. Lord, we thank you that you have called us to yourself, even though each of us has had and at times still struggles with rebellious hearts. Thank You for the forgiveness we have in Christ. Thank You for enrobing us with Him and with His righteousness. And we pray, O God, that You would be at work in our hearts by Your Spirit so that our whole lives, all that we are and all that we do, will be devoted in service to You. that the world might hear the gospel of Christ, and that many more would join with us in loving, serving, praising, and worshiping you. In Jesus' name, amen.