[0:00] points of what it looks like to have sanctified worship coming from a sanctified people. The Bible says in the book of Leviticus chapter 21, Then the Lord said to Moses, Speak to the priests and the sons of Aaron and say to them, No one shall defile himself for a dead person among his people except for his relatives who are nearest to him, his mother and his father and his son and his daughter and his brother, and also for his virgin sister who is near to him because she has no husband, for her he may defile himself. He shall not defile himself as a relative by marriage among his people and so profane himself. They shall not make any baldness on their heads nor shave off the edges of their beards nor make any cuts on their flesh. Let me just stop right there and say this is where we get the sanctified people. That was a practice common among other people they lived among. Those who worshiped false gods would shave their beards, shave off portions of their head, make cuts on their body, okay? So it's not like God was just saying don't have any bald spots and don't trim your beard.
[0:56] He just said be set apart from other worshipers in your area, okay? That was a part of their religious practices. I just want to highlight that and it says in verse 6, they shall be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God for they present the offerings by fire to the Lord, the food of their God, so they shall be holy. They shall not take a woman who is profaned by harlotry nor shall they take a woman divorced from her husband for he is holy to his God. You shall consecrate him therefore for he offers the food of your God. He shall be holy to you for I the Lord who sanctifies you am holy. Also the daughter of any priest if she profanes herself by harlotry as she profanes her father and she shall be burned with fire. The priest who is the highest among his brothers on whose head the anointing oil has been poured and who has been consecrated to where the garment shall not uncover his head nor tear his clothes nor shall he approach any dead person nor defile himself even for his father or his mother nor shall he go out of the sanctuary nor profane the sanctuary of his God for the consecration of the anointing oil of his God is on him. I am the Lord.
[2:04] He shall take a wife in her virginity a widow or a divorced woman or one who is profaned by harlotry these he may not take but rather he is to marry a virgin of his own people so he will not profane his offspring among his people for I am the Lord who sanctifies him.
[2:18] The Lord spoke to Moses saying speak to Aaron saying no man of your offspring throughout your generations who has a defect shall approach to offer the food of his God for no one who has a defect shall approach a blind man or a lame man or he who has a disfigured face or any deformed limb or a man who has a broken foot or broken hand or a hunchback or a dwarf or one who has a defect in his eye or eczema or scabs or crushed testicle. No man among the descendants of Aaron the priest who has a defect is to come near to offer the Lord's offerings by fire since he has a defect he shall not come near to offer the food of his God he may eat the food of his God both of the most holy and the holy only he shall not go into the veil or come near the altar because he has a defect so that he will not profane my sanctuaries for I am the Lord who sanctifies them. So Moses spoke to Aaron and to his sons and to all the sons of Israel chapter 22. Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying tell Aaron and his sons to be careful by the with the holy gifts of the sons of Israel which they dedicate to me so as not to profane my holy name I am the Lord. Say to them if any man among all your descendants throughout all your generations approaches the holy gifts with the sons of Israel dedicated to the Lord while he has an uncleanness that person shall be cut off from me from before me I am the Lord.
[3:34] No man of the descendants of Aaron who is a leper or who has a discharge may eat of the holy gifts until he is clean. If anyone or if one touches anything made unclean by a corpse or if a man has a seminal omission or if a man touches any teeming things by which he is made unclean or any man by whom he is made unclean whether whatever his uncleanness a person who touches any such shall be unclean until evening and shall not eat of the holy gifts unless he has bathed his body in water.
[4:03] But when the sun sets he will be clean and afterward he shall eat of the holy gifts for it is his food. He shall not eat an animal which dies or is torn by beasts becoming unclean by it I am the Lord. They shall therefore keep my charge so that they will not bear sin because of it and die thereby because they profane it I am the Lord who sanctifies them.
[4:22] No layman however is to eat the holy gift a sojourner with the priest or a hired man shall not eat of the holy gift. But if a priest buys a slave as his property with his money that one may eat of it and those who are born in his house may eat of his food. If a priest's daughter is married to a layman she shall not eat of the offering of the gifts. But if a priest's daughter becomes a widow or divorced and has no child and returns to her father's house as in her youth she shall eat of her father's food but no layman shall eat of it. But if a man eats a holy gift unintentionally then he shall add to it a fifth of it and shall give the holy gift to the priest. They shall not profane the holy gifts of the sons of Israel which they offer to the Lord and so cause them to bear punishment for guilt by eating their holy gifts for I am the Lord who sanctifies them. Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying speak to Aaron and to his sons and to all of the sons of Israel say to them any man of the house of Israel or of the aliens in Israel who present his offering whether it is any of their votive or any of their free will offerings which they present to the Lord for a burnt offering for you to be accepted it must be a male without defect from the cattle the sheep or the goats.
[5:31] Whatever has a defect you shall not offer for it will not be accepted for you. When a man offers a sacrifice of peace offerings to the Lord to fulfill a special vow or a free will offering of the herd or of the flock it must be perfect to be accepted there shall be no defect in it. Those that are blind or fractured or maimed or having a running sore or eczema or scabs you shall not offer to the Lord nor make of them an offering by fire on the altar to the Lord. In respect to an ox or a lamb which has an overgrown or stunted member you may present it for a free will offering but for a vow it will not be accepted. Also anything with its testicles bruised or crushed or torn or cut you shall not offer to the Lord or sacrifice in your land nor shall you accept any such from the hand of your foreigner for offering as the food of your God for their corruption is in them they have a defect they shall not be accepted for you. Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying when an ox or a sheep or a goat is born it shall remain seven days with its mother and from the eighth day on it shall be accepted as a sacrifice of an offering by fire to the Lord. But whether it is an ox or a sheep you shall not kill both it and its young in one day. When you sacrifice a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the Lord you shall sacrifice it so that you may be accepted. It shall be eaten on the same day. You shall leave none of it until morning. I am the Lord. So you shall keep my commandments and do them. I am the Lord.
[6:57] You shall not profane my holy name but I will be sanctified among the sons of Israel. I am the Lord who sanctifies you who bought you who brought you out from the land of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord. I know that was cumbersome and rather lengthy but hopefully you gathered there that everything that was being said here everything that is being commanded is being commanded in the light of one truth. I am the Lord. I am the one who sanctified you and I will be sanctified among you. Really the focus of this passage is on the worship of the people because it focuses on those who lead the people to worship. Without the priests and without the offerings of the tabernacle there would be no corporate worship of the body. Man could not go out and offer a sacrifice in the field that he chose. He could not do it himself. Rather he had to bring these sacrifices to the temple of the Lord and he had to bring them to the door of the tabernacle and give it to the priest and dedicate it to the Lord and the priest was the one in charge of offering up this sacrifice. These sacrifices while they are not what we do today are representation of our worship today because this was God's mandated manner of worship.
[8:08] You remember the sacrifices that we went through throughout the early chapters of the book of Leviticus and how each one of these sacrifices find their fulfillment in Jesus Christ. So ultimately when we come and we proclaim the greatness of Christ and we sing in the presence of God and we lift up holy hands and we cry out to him and we long to know more of him we are worshiping in the same manner because our peace sacrifice has been offered. Our atonement sacrifice has been offered. Our fellowship sacrifice has been offered. Our forgiveness sacrifice has been offered and that sacrifice is Jesus Christ. We do not bring the animal to the door because the king is already hung on the cross.
[8:49] So we are worshiping the same God through the same manner through an accepted sacrifice. But what we want to see is what it looks like to offer sanctified worship. That is worship that is set apart and different. When it steals from a set apart and different people. And really the motivation is found in that very last verse. You shall not profane my holy name because false worship and unacceptable worship is a profaning of the name of God. Do you understand that? That if we offer a false worship and an unaccepted worship we are profaning the name of God. It's not that we're just doing it wrong.
[9:26] It's we are mocking his name and we are mocking who he is. And so we want to be those who do that worship that will be accepted. It says but I will be sanctified among the sons of Israel. That is my people. Because I am the Lord who sanctifies you. You're going to set me apart because I set you apart.
[9:45] You're not going to worship me just like everybody else worships their God. There's this thing called pluralism that has been existing in the world today. And pluralism literally says that all roads eventually lead to heaven. That people are just worshiping the same God in a different way. That the Hindus and the Buddhists and all these people they're just worshiping the same God in whatever way is really comfortable to them. Well friend the God of scripture does not give you the right to dictate how you want to worship. The God of scripture says you're going to worship me in my way and you're going to set me apart and your worship is going to look different because you are different. Now those same people who accept pluralism say that our scripture is just one of many scriptures. I believe to trust the word of God more than I trust the opinion of man.
[10:32] Right? He said you will set me apart. Your worship will be different because I have made you different because I am the one who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord. So literally our worship is to be rooted in our redemption. If we are truly redeemed and we have been forgiven then our worship should look different than everybody else. Right? The worship of the redeemed should look radically different could be set apart from everybody else. Which kind of brings a point of conviction to me is that if those who worship a false God can worship their false God with more fervency than I can worship the true God then woe be unto me. If those who can be more sincere and dedicated to a false God than I can be to a true God then I'm really not sanctifying the Lord my God and sanctifying my worship. So I want you to see that sanctified worship set apart worship flows through four great truths. The first one brings a lot of point of conviction to me and it is number one the purity of the leaders. The purity of the leaders. God starts with worship the only place he can and that is with Aaron and his sons and he begins to speak of the purity of the leaders. He says that no one shall defile himself or a dead person among his people so immediately he goes into the practices of funerals and it literally says don't touch a dead body. Why? Why does he have so much emphasis here except for those of his immediate family you know his father and his mother or his sons or his daughter or his virgin sister all these things begins to speak of purity is because much of the false worship of that day and even in our day had to do with the dead. It was trying to usher the dead into the next life. It is trying to usher the dead into the next world. I mean if you were to go now to regions populated by Hinduism if you were to go into those nations and and you were to see them burning on a pyre a funeral pyre this dead body hoping that the spirit in the sky would accept their offering this is essentially the picture you get right. They are trying to usher the dead into the presence of an accepted eternity or trying to move him forward in his progression and so what he is saying here is you're not even going to treat funerals the same. Paul would later on say that we as believers do not mourn like the way other believers do right. We don't mourn the same and we shouldn't mourn the same. We should not we should be broken hearted and we should weep and we should all those things but death to the believer does not have the same impact to death to the unbeliever. It just doesn't.
[13:01] There should be a radical difference there and he begins to speak of the purity of the leaders here speaking that they would not do this that they would not do that and all these rules are given not so that it would be harder for the priest. Again let us never forget that we are a nation of priests or we are a group of priests. We are the priesthood of the believers. Your job is to speak to God about man and to speak to man about God. Your job is to present that acceptable sacrifice of Jesus Christ on behalf of others that is called intercession. So you serve as Peter says as a priesthood of believers. So this purity first of all has its first application to every believer. That we ought to be set apart. We ought to be different. We ought to live in holiness. We ought to live with separation but more practically it has to the the people that God has called up to be leaders. I've just started this up and I'm really hesitant to say this but I'm going to. I'm going to stay on a Wednesday night and you can go talk about it and get me in trouble on Sunday mornings okay. I just started this thing up
[14:02] Midwest Seminary which is out of Kansas City has a thing called Spurgeon College in it and Spurgeon College has this great institute called For the Church and it's free. Seminary classes for pastors so excited about it they just launched it this year so I'm starting for the church conferences which means I'm going through online classes and the first one is the about the church and then we start getting into end times. By the way if you ever want to go through any of those with me you can.
[14:27] It's absolutely free and I can set it up as a group and you know post questions to you. But anyway the first one was the the power of the church and Daniel Aiken who's the president of Midwestern Theological Seminary said pastor if anybody ever looks at you in spite and says what do you think you are a gift to the church then you just look at them say yes I absolutely am because Ephesians 4 says that God gave the church pastors. The pastors are a gift of God to the church but with that gift comes responsibility. Right now he holds them accountable to a higher standards and along with that gift by the way I only have one in here that I can speak of to that deacons are included in that gift.
[15:07] Holds them. Why do we have such standards in Timothy and in Titus and in Peter for elders and deacons elders being synonymous with pastors. Why are there such standards? Because God has always called his leaders to a place of purity. A.W. Tozer used to say that the water never rise above its source and he would call leaders to a higher standard saying that the church would never go further or go longer or go higher than the leaders which lead over it. That's why God holds this higher standard. We are told in the New Testament taught to be quick to be in the place of leadership because we will be held to a stricter level of accountability. God has always held his leaders to a higher standard and we as individuals are leaders but me personally as as one who not necessarily because I sought it but because God called me to it have put me in a position of accountability and that's okay because this is the standard but let us understand right here this standard of purity which God set no one meets this standard but one and that one is Jesus Christ. Each one of these things that we see in the Old Testament point us ultimately to Jesus Christ. This is why the Bible tells us in the book of
[16:18] Hebrews that we now have a great high priest who is Jesus Christ. He is the high priest who is undefiled untouched by sin. He is completely perfect. He is the one who has the right bride. That is the church right?
[16:32] He is the one who has the the bride that is perfect. He is the one that he is cleansing that he is making right. He is the one who is completely pure. He is the one who is unpolluted and undefiled. He is the one as Jesus has fulfilled all these things because God says they shall not defile themselves and profane my name. Jesus has never profaned the name of the Father. He is the pure leader that the church desperately needs so that we could worship in a true manner. Number two we see the picture that is portrayed. Knowing that we see the purity of the leader we see the picture that is betrayed. This gets us to the the wording of the passage where he says in verse 16 then the Lord spoke to Moses saying speak to Aaron saying no man of your offspring throughout your generations who has a defect shall approach to offer the food of his God. Now this wording isn't here to belittle or to cast down those who are not perfect right. He just says that no one who has a birth defect or no one who has a defect can serve in the tabernacle and this was not so that we could look at them as lower class citizens. As a matter of fact they are elevated because it said that they could even eat of the holy of holy foods right. They could eat of the greatest food that is offered. They just could not serve as those who offered sacrifices are entered into the veil and it really has nothing to do with the individual. God is not being stereotypical here. He is not casting judgment. God's not saying you're not as good as your your brothers over here. He's not saying that. What God is saying and we need to pay attention to this because it has even direct application today. What God is saying is that everything that points to me is going to be perfect. Why was God so particular in the construction of the tabernacle?
[18:10] I mean right he gave very specific measurements. He gave very specific how many rings. I mean there had to be how many silver rings, how many how many brass poles, how many all these things. God was very particular. He gave very detailed instructions as how high things could be, how much things could be, how ornate things could be because God says everything that points to me is going to be perfect.
[18:30] And then even the clothing the priest wore had to be perfect and therefore those who stood up to serve the nation. What God was saying is when someone brings their worship to the tabernacle what I want representing me is a picture of perfection right. I want people to see me as perfect. I want them to see me as pure. I want them to see me as full and true and God was just saying this. He said I'm not casting judgment. Don't think that God is doing this. He wasn't lowering anybody. He was as a matter of fact he elevated them when Jesus came and he dwelt among the sinners and he walked among the lame and the hurting and one of the great studies that that I have found throughout the New Testament I think we went through it one time was the untouchables that Jesus touched the untouchables right. The woman with the flow of blood, the lepers that were full and the blind and the lame and the mute.
[19:21] Jesus had a habit of touching the untouchables that everybody else in society that would reject Jesus touched them and he allowed them to touch him. He had this interaction with them so don't think that God in any way is belittling people. What God is saying and hear me out on this is that that which represents me on earth needs to be a true representation which means it needs to be as perfect as can be. Do you want to know what the motivation behind your pastor is? Is why I like things to go seamless? I'm not very OCD. I'm not. I'm not one who has to have everything perfect.
[19:54] I mean if you were to go into my office right now you're like wow what a what a crazy office this is. If it wasn't for my wife it would never be in order. If you were to go get in my vehicle right now number one nobody else could fit in there but me. A lot of things around my house there are very few things that seem to be in order. I'm not very OCD but when it comes to church stuff when it comes to worship and and one of the things that gets me and I'm kind of fidgety and you know I don't get agitated but when things tend to kind of have these quirks and they kind of mess up it's why because everything that points people to God I think needs to be perfect.
[20:30] When they walk onto the grounds of the church which is my it's just my I'm just being personal with you here. My full conviction is is this ought to be the best looking property in all of Ortrace because like it or not when people drive by this represents what we believe of our God.
[20:45] When they walk into the building needs to be the best representation. When they meet the first person they meet needs to be the best representation because research has shown us and you know it personally because many of you have experienced it before I ever stand up and deliver the first point of a message you've already passed judgment on what your thoughts are towards that church.
[21:09] And undoubtedly that judgment is so this is what these people think of God. This is how these people view God.
[21:22] This is why these things matter to me. Not because I want it to look good to me. It doesn't. I know how good and perfect my God is and what I want to portray to the world is that he is a God of awesome splendor. He is a God worth everything.
[21:36] He is the God that needs to be exalted above all and what we present to the world is that. This is what God is saying here which by the way the only perfect representation picture of God is guess what?
[21:48] Jesus Christ. When we look at Jesus walking upon the face of the earth we say there is God in the flesh. That's what God looks like when he takes on flesh.
[22:01] Touching the untouchable. Walking across the things which scare us to death. You know the ways. Calming that which brings us anxiety. Providing for us when we don't have our basic necessities.
[22:12] Raising the dead. Healing the lame. Cleansing the defiled. He does all of these things. Why? Because he is a perfect picture of God. That's what God is. That's what he does.
[22:24] And we see here the picture that is portrayed and the question I always ask myself is how do I as a believer and how does the church as a corporate body portray the God we serve?
[22:37] This is why there's such effort and such and I'm so thankful for those who labor to help those things be portrayed in a right manner. It's not because I'm OCD. It's because I want to be that which lifts up the throne.
[22:48] The greatest thing that we could ever do is be those that when somebody walks in and says man these people really believe in the God they serve and they never know our name. That would be awesome. They say man that God they serve must be an amazing God.
[23:01] By the way what was that guy's name who preached? Or what was that guy's name who met me? That's fine they don't need to know us. But may they be overwhelmed with the mighty presence of God. So we see the purity of the leaders.
[23:13] The picture that is portrayed. All this leads to sanctified worship by sanctified people. Number three their personal commitment to integrity. This gets us into chapter 22. The personal commitment to integrity.
[23:24] Because God now transitions. Each one of these are introduced with then the Lord spoke to Moses. Then the Lord spoke to Moses. Chapter 22 says then the Lord spoke to Moses saying tell Aaron and his sons to be careful with the holy gifts of the sons of Israel which they dedicate to me so as not to profane my holy name.
[23:39] Which means that when people bring their sacrifice that God's name could be profaned based on how Aaron and his sons. Behaved with that. The great picture we have of this is Eli's sons and even Eli himself right.
[23:53] Because they profaned the name of God about how they treated the sacrifices that God's people brought. And the reason we see that this is a personal concern for integrity or personal commitment to integrity.
[24:05] Because we have to picture this. Everything that went on with the sacrifices and everything that went on was on the other side of the door of the tabernacle. As a common believer. As a dedicated worshiper.
[24:16] As one who wanted to worship God. I cannot enter the door of the tabernacle. I could go to the tabernacle. And I could go to the door. And I could bring my sacrifice there. But then I had to commit it to the Lord by giving it to the priest.
[24:29] And what happened back there I had no idea. I mean I knew what should happen back there. I knew what the word of God told me should happen back there. I knew how the sacrifice should be. But what happened back there I don't know. Because I wasn't allowed to go in.
[24:41] So now God goes from what people see to how they act when nobody's looking. Because what he says. Tell Aaron and his sons that when somebody brings you that animal. Be sure that what you do behind those doors is what you're supposed to do.
[24:56] Be sure that the one who's offering it isn't this picture perfect guy who's standing at the door. And says yes I'll take your sacrifice and then hand it over here to someone who is defiled. See what he says there. Do not let someone who is defiled or unclean offer that sacrifice.
[25:08] Because he shall be cut off from my people. He has profaned my name. So don't look over that. So what does that mean? That personally I had to know that if I touched a dead person. Or if I did something which defiled me. Or if there was something in my life that nobody else knew about.
[25:21] But I knew about it. I had to be so committed to my integrity. And I had to be so committed to my personal walk. That I would say you know what I can't offer that sacrifice right now. It may be in my job title. And nobody else may be here to judge me if I do it.
[25:33] But I can't do that so I'm going to have to let someone else do it. I'm going to walk away. Because I don't want to profane the name of God with what I've got going on in my personal life. So we had to be committed to this. And then he starts talking about those who eat of this holy food.
[25:45] Because the sacrifices they brought were food right? I mean the priest ate good. I mean they did. They had lamb chops. And they had you know they had all this stuff. They had ox. And they had goat.
[25:56] And they had all the meat that they could eat. They had this great diet. They had their free will offerings of grain that were brought to the tabernacle. But it was only a particular group of people who could eat these things. This wasn't for the common man.
[26:09] And they could only eat certain portions. The thing they got Eli's sons in the book of Samuel. First Samuel in trouble was what? They began to eat more than what God had told them they could eat. And the reason I think Eli did that as well.
[26:21] Because you remember this thing about Eli? He was sitting on a stool. He fell off backwards. He broke his neck and he died. You remember why? He broke his neck and died. He was fat.
[26:33] You know how you get fat? You eat more than you should. And this is why he looked at his sons and sons. What I hear from these people is not good. We shouldn't be doing this. Or you shouldn't be doing that. But he didn't do anything else.
[26:45] Why? Because I think he was liking what he had going on. What his sons would do is when they would bring it in. They'd boil in a pot of water. Before the meat would boil. They'd stick a fork in there. And whatever came up on the fork. That was theirs.
[26:55] That wasn't how it was supposed to happen. Right? It was supposed to be after it was boiled. And you know anything about cooking meat. Less comes off after it's cooked. Right? But they wanted the whole portion so they would take more than they should.
[27:06] And what God is saying here. This is why they got in trouble. This is why they died by the way. This is why Ichabod was written across. The glory of the Lord has departed. This is why all these things happened. It's because they did not take care of their personal integrity.
[27:18] When no one else was looking. They did whatever they wanted to do. However they wanted to do it. But the only way we have really sanctified worship by sanctified people is when those people are concerned about their personal integrity.
[27:31] And making sure that what goes on when nobody else knows about it. It's really what's supposed to happen. Because verse 10 says in chapter 22. No layman however is to eat the holy gift of sojourner with the priest. Or a hired man shall not eat of the holy gift.
[27:43] Which means that if you came to my house. Say I was serving as a priest in this day. And I had this extra meat that was brought in. More sacrifices were brought in that day. And I thought would come in. So I had a little bit of extra lamb there.
[27:53] And you showed up at my house. I couldn't say well sit down and eat this lamb with me. That's not yours to eat. You didn't know that. You don't know where it came from. But I do. This is personal integrity.
[28:05] So there's that commitment there. To be genuine and to be true and to be set apart. We are those who are set apart when everybody's watching. And we are those who are set apart when no one's watching. Again we don't have to say it.
[28:17] But we know it's true. The only one who has completely been pure in his integrity is Jesus Christ. I hope you're seeing the theme here. That the only way that we can offer a set apart worship as set apart people.
[28:28] Is if we're trusting in the one who fulfills all of these. And that is Jesus Christ. We come to the fourth and final thing. There's the purity of the leaders. The picture that is portrayed. The personal commitment to integrity.
[28:40] And number four. There is the perfect sacrifice. Because now he makes his way out and says. And tell Aaron and the rest of the sons of Israel. That when anyone is bringing a sacrifice.
[28:51] Don't bring me one that's lame or mutilated or imperfect. Or imperfect. It must be perfect. God's requirement for the sacrifices. Were that you would bring him a perfect sacrifice.
[29:02] All we have to do is turn to the book of Malachi. And we see what happens when God's people begin to bring imperfect sacrifices. Actually Malachi says. Take those to your governor and see if he would accept them. Why would you bring me that which was blind or lame or mutant?
[29:15] Why would you bring me that which was impure or imperfect? And God says I won't accept that. Because God says he will not accept anything. Verse 20 says whatever has a defect you shall not offer.
[29:25] For it will not be accepted for you. God says if what you bring me is not perfect. I'm not accepting that. Worship is to be perfect. Which means worship would be that which cost you the most. When you went to worship God.
[29:39] You offered him whatever was the best in the field. Whatever cost you the most. Whatever was the hardest to get rid of. Worship was that which cost you the most.
[29:53] Vance Havner wrote a book. And I haven't read it yet. But I love the title. And Vance Havner wrote a book called The Lord of the Leftovers. Which was essentially saying that Jesus Christ has not been the Lord of the first fruits in many people's lives.
[30:08] But now he is the Lord of whatever people have left over. And what God says is I will not be worshipped with leftovers. I want to be worshipped with main course.
[30:20] If you have a distinguished guest come to your house. Or you have someone you think highly of. And maybe you've cooked a meal. And you know with every meal if you're cooking a number of pieces of meat. There's always one that turns out just right.
[30:32] There's always one. Even when I'm cooking barbecue. There's always one part of that barbecue that's just right. I'm usually very particular who I give that part to.
[30:43] Because I want to make sure that the person I give that to. Is the one that it will mean the most to at that time. Someone very important comes to your house. You're not going to give them.
[30:54] You know that probably at least in my house that goes to the kids. Hate to say it. But sorry Braden. You're going to get what is probably not the best. Because you're going to be the pickiest.
[31:05] Right? I want the one who's going to enjoy it. Who's going to do the most with it. I want the one who is the distinguished guest to have the best. And what Jesus says. I'm that guest. I'm that person. Right? God is saying you bring me the best.
[31:18] The rest of it. I'll take it from there. But you bring me the best. The sacrifice that he demands is a sacrifice of perfection. And he will not accept anything else. Our worship must be set apart.
[31:30] Because our worship must come before him. As a people set apart. Giving him what is best of our lives. The best of our energy. The best of our ability. The best that we have to offer at that moment.
[31:40] Oh God we're going to worship you with the best. By the way. Hopefully you see the common theme. The perfect sacrifice. Is Jesus Christ.
[31:52] Each of these requirements. That God has set. For a sanctified worship. By a sanctified people. Is found in Jesus Christ. We are in that position. Where we have a high priest.
[32:03] Who is pure. Undefiled. Unspotted. We are in that position. Where we have a perfect picture. Of what God looks like. Portrayed in Jesus Christ.
[32:14] We are in the position. Where the one who is leading us. To worship. Integrity is without question. Every world religion. At least confesses. The integrity. Of the person of Jesus Christ.
[32:26] They may not acknowledge his deity. And they may not confess who he is. But they at least profess his integrity. And we are in the one. And we are in the position. To come worship with a perfect sacrifice.
[32:37] Who is Jesus Christ. Which leads us to this thing. That we are those who have been brought out. I brought you out from the land of Egypt. We have been brought out from our captivity of sin.
[32:48] We have been brought out. We have been sanctified. And set apart. So why are we so hesitant. To sanctify him among ourselves.
[32:59] Through our worship. Because our worship must be set apart. Because we are a people who are set apart. And we are a people set apart. For his glory and his alone.
[33:09] Let's pray. Lord we thank you so much for this night. Thank you for the privilege we have of gathering. Lord we thank you for the Old Testament pictures we see. That point so often to you.
[33:21] We thank you for the fulfillment of them all. For your glory and honor. And yours alone. And we ask it in Jesus name. Amen. Thank you.
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