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All right. Amen. Hebrews chapter seven. So has anybody ever wondered what the deal is when the Bible with priests, priesthoods, Melchizedek, Levitical priests, all that sort of stuff. If you have any questions about that, hopefully I'll be able to answer them for you this evening. But what we're going to do tonight is we're going to do an overview of the priesthoods in the Bible. So we're going to start out by talking about the order of Melchizedek. Then we're going to talk briefly about the Levitical priesthood, what that all means. And then we're going to finish off with a priesthood of the believer and hopefully provide you some answers to maybe some questions or to reaffirm what you already believe. So we're just going to start this thing off. We're going to start off talking about Melchizedek. And I've got about seven different things highlighted here that I want to go through. Look down at verse number one. It says, for this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him. Now, number one, the first thing I want to highlight for you is what Melchizedek's name means, what it represents. You're going to find that in verse number two. It says, to whom also Abraham gave a 10th part of all first being by interpretation, king of righteousness. And after that, also king of Salem, which is king of peace. And so the name Melchizedek means king of righteousness. And if you're not sure, we've talked about this before, but righteousness is the same in the Old Testament as it is in the New Testament. You were saved, people were saved even in Abraham's day, the same way they are now, only they didn't know to call the name of Jesus. They called upon the name of the Lord. Okay, so don't ever let anybody get you confused on this. I had a Mormon tell me that their office and their priests that they have are actually after the order of Melchizedek, believe it or not. You know, you learn a lot about religions by soul winning. Amen. So number one, Melchizedek's name means king of righteousness. And you also see that he was king of Salem during this time, which is Jerusalem. So number two, Melchizedek is only mentioned in three books of the Bible. It's Genesis, Psalms, there's one verse in Psalms, and then Hebrews. And which leads me to my third point is that the New Testament says a lot more about Melchizedek than the Old Testament does. He's kind of a mysterious character. The Bible doesn't say a whole lot about him, which means we should probably know everything it does say about him so that we can avoid people bringing foolish doctrines or weird interpretations to our faces, right? It's good to understand these things. So why don't you guys turn to Genesis chapter number 14. We'll go ahead and take a look at where Melchizedek appears first in the Old Testament. And while you're turning there, I'll just mention that, you know, Melchizedek was not a flesh and blood person like you and I. Okay, he's an Old Testament appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we will be talking about that here in a minute. So point number one is Melchizedek's name means king of righteousness. I said number two, Melchizedek is mentioned in three books of the Bible. Number three, the New Testament talks about Melchizedek more than the Old Testament does. And number four, if you're there in Genesis 14, is Melchizedek operated during Abraham's day. And he just, you know, in Genesis 14 here, you know the story. Abraham has returned from the slaughter of the kings, the king of Sodom, right? He's going to come up to him after this and be like, yeah, I see this high priest here. I don't care. I just want the people, which is what the queers always want, right? They want the people. They're not interested in truth. They're not interested in anything really other than controlling and robbing people of their innocence. But I don't want to get off on a rabbit trail there. You know, the story, Genesis chapter 14, look at verse 17, it says, and the king of Sodom went out to meet him after his return from the slaughter of Kedahu lay Omer and of the kings that were with him at the Valley of Sheva, which is the king's Dale. So we see there in verse 17 that the king of Sodom went out to meet Abraham, right? Went out to meet Abraham after he gets the victory. Where was he at during all the fighting? Oh, that's right. He was, he was captured. All right, which is going to lead me into verse 18, which is the fifth, the, I'm sorry, the fifth thing that I want to go over about Melchizedek. And you're going to see here that Melchizedek was a priest of the most high God. Look at verse 18. It says, the Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine, and he was the high priest. I'm sorry, he was the priest of the most high God. So we see here right off the bat in the book of Genesis, that Melchizedek is the priest of the most high God. And it's interesting because when you start off Genesis, you're in chapter one, you're going through the creation story, you know, and the fall of man, and eventually you're getting to, you know, know in the arc. And then all of a sudden you start learning about Abraham and then bam, here's this high priest. And it just leaves a lot of questions in your mind. Like what, what was he doing there? You know, I want to know more, but obviously God has given us all that we need to know about Melchizedek. But if you ever wondered, like, how did they know to tithe in the Old Testament before the law? What was the order of Melchizedek? He was obviously there. He's a high priest of God in doing what priests do, right? Administering truth to people. And so you, you, as you read through, you know, the, the first 14 chapters of the Bible, if you have the question, like, well, how did they know to do that? Well, it was because of Melchizedek more than likely. So number five, Melchizedek was a priest of God, uh, Almighty. Now you don't have to turn there, but just, uh, I'm just going to read to you the, uh, the next verse, uh, in Psalms, which talks about Melchizedek. It's Psalms 110 verse four, which says the Lord has sworn and will not repent. Thou are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. So that's the only other book of the Bible that you're going to find Melchizedek in Psalms, just that one verse, right? And you got to, I read this and I think about it. I'm like, I wonder, you know, if David's guys, when they were reading the Psalms of Hezekiah's men, when they copied out the Proverbs and you know, and Josiah and they brought everybody back under the word of God. If, when they read this, like they really understood, like they had a, maybe a better understanding of the order of Melchizedek. It could be, uh, I'm not really sure, but it's written as if you're expected to just know these things. Um, so a couple of other things I just want to mention here is that the Bible says here that Melchizedek was also the King of Salem. And I think I already mentioned this, that Salem is what would eventually become Jerusalem, right? And this is another, uh, proof that Melchizedek is a type or not a type, but he's basically an Old Testament picture of Jesus Christ, because we know that Jesus is obviously the King of New Jerusalem. And so on. So let's move on here. Look at verse number 19. It says, and he blessed him, right? So Melchizedek is blessing Abraham. So it says, and he blessed him and said, blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth. Verse 20 and blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thine hand. And he gave him tithes of all. And so I, when I used to read that, I was like, how did he know to talk? You know, and it makes sense as you read, uh, further along in your Bible and you study these things out, but you don't have to turn there. But Genesis 26 verse five says, because that Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes and my laws. So God is saying Abraham, uh, basically was called the friend of God, right? Because why? Because he kept this statutes, he kept the commandments and he kept the laws of God. So when God would appear to him, like he did in Genesis 18 and spoke with him, or God appeared to him in a vision or in a dream, or he talked to him through Melchizedek, Abraham obeyed the voice of God. And what did we learn on Sunday in John 15? What did Jesus say? How do you become the friend of Jesus? By following the commandments, right? He says, if you love me, keep my commandments. Not if you want to go to heaven, keep my commandments, right? But if you want to have fellowship, you want to be my friend, you want to be successful, you want to offer, offer up a spiritual sacrifices to God, then keep my commandments. And it's the same thing here with Abraham. And so God's highlighting that. And so, uh, if you would keep your place there in Genesis, but real quickly, go to Joshua chapter 10, Joshua chapter 10. I just wanted to give you a thought here. I think it's interesting how we see Melchizedek as the king of Salem, right? And then, you know, the story, uh, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Jacob, uh, you know, they have the 12 sons. They become a mighty nation. They go into the wilderness for 40 years. God part, you know, God sets them up with a plan to capture the promised land. And then what happens there? They, the part of that part of that plan is to capture Jerusalem, right? Well, as they're going to conquer, you know, the enemies of Canaanites and Jebusites and, uh, the parasites and all these other izzites right after, uh, after the death of Moses and Joshua takes charge, um, you no longer read any more about Melchizedek. Actually, after this chapter, you really don't read any more about Melchizedek. And so at some point between here and the time that they go to take Jerusalem, it's not called Salem anymore. It's called Jerusalem, where the Jebusites are inhabiting and the Jebusites are a wicked people. So what does that tell you? You take God out of a place or God leaves a place, it becomes a wicked, a wicked city, right? Because now, I mean, think about it, Melchizedek, the priest of the Most High God, the Lord God Almighty, right? Melchizedek is the high priest there, but he's also king of Salem. And so right now, I would imagine there's probably not a whole lot of trouble in understanding what righteousness is or what, um, right and wrong are during this time frame. But nonetheless, you know, he leaves and all these bad people come in there and they start doing abominations and God's sick of them, and he's going to give the land to the Children of Israel. So real quickly, if you would, Joshua Chapter 10, look at verse number one. It says, Now it came to pass when Adon, Adonai Zedek, king of Jerusalem, had heard how Joshua had taken Ai and had utterly destroyed it as he had done to Jericho and her king. So he had done to Ai and her king and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were among them. And so just right off the bat, I just want to again just reaffirm this here, right? There's no issues in Salem when Melchizedek's around. And now all of a sudden, the king of Jerusalem now, right or the leader there, Adonai Zedek, is worried about God's people coming to Jerusalem. Look at verse two. It says that they feared greatly because Gibeon was a great city as one of the royal cities and because it was greater than Ai and all the men thereof were mighty. So these are obviously people that don't fear the Lord. They don't care anything about God's people, his statues or anything like that, right? They're not turning to God. They're just worried about their own flesh. They're worried about their own hides. They're like, look, obviously these people are on a roll. They're steamrolling nations. We're in trouble. Look at verse three. Wherefore, Adonai Zedek, king of Jerusalem, sent unto Hoham, king of Hebron, and unto Pyram, king of Jarmoth, and unto Jephiah, king of Lakish, and unto Dibber, king of Eglon, sing. Verse four. Come up unto me and help me that we may smite Gibeon, for it hath made peace with Joshua and with the children of Israel. And it kind of reminds me of the situation we have today, right? The people in Jerusalem today, they don't worship God by and large. I'm not saying there's nobody saved there, but by and large, that area of the world today does not look to God for their righteous laws, right? They don't, they don't believe on the Lord Jesus Christ over there. And what does that tell you? That tells you that there are a bunch of liars and Jesus is not the king over there. And you have the same, basically you have this, a bunch of Jebusites running Jerusalem today is what I'm trying to say. Why? Because they don't want the king of Jerusalem there. It's that simple. So if you would go over to chapter 15 real quick, Joshua chapter number 15, let's look at this Joshua chapter 15, look at verse 63. It says, as for the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the children of Judah could not drive them out, but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Judah at Jerusalem unto this day. And you know, the story we've already done the overview of Joshua, you know, that they failed to drive out all the inhabitants. God told them to do it. They didn't do it. And so what did that do? That plagued them for the rest of their time as a nation. So let's go back to Hebrews chapter seven, if you would. So you saw there in Genesis 14, not a whole lot said about Melchizedek, right? And so when somebody comes up to you with some strange doctrine or some strange, you know, teaching about this king and claim to know, you know, all this stuff, you should know right off the bat. I'm dealing with somebody here that doesn't know the Bible or somebody who's trying to lie to me as well. So let's move on here. Let's go to point number six, which is this Melchizedek has no recorded family. So a lot of the kings in the Bible, the Bible gives her genealogy, right? Like Jehu, the son of Nimshai, right? Uh, David, you know, and it just goes on and on and on genealogy after genealogy, you know, read first Chronicles. There's tons of genealogies in there, right? But you never see that with Melchizedek. And here's why, look at verse number three, Hebrew seven, look at verse three. It says without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like unto the son of God abideth a priest continually. So it doesn't say he bideth a priest temporarily, but continually. All right. So number seven, the last one I've got for you is Melchizedek was greater than Abraham and Aaron. Look at verse number four, it says, now consider how great this man was unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the 10th of the spoils. And so the writer of Hebrews is trying to tell people, Hey, you know how great Abraham was, right? All the Hebrews, all the Jews are always raising their hand. Oh, we're of Abraham, right? We're of Abraham. You know, they have great respect for Abraham, or at least they pay lip service to. And you know, the writer of Hebrews is like, Hey, look, don't forget that Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek and he's trying to tell them, Hey, there's a rose, another priesthood after the Levitical priesthood. But let's move on. Look at verse five. It says, and verily they that are the sons of Levi who received the office of the priesthood have a commandment to take tithes of the people, according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though they come out of the loins of Abraham. Verse six, but he whose descent is not counted from them receive tithes of Abraham and blessed him that had the promises. Verse seven. And without all contradiction, the less is blessed of the better. So that proves right there that Melchizedek was greater than Abraham, greater than Aaron. So he's, he's, like I said, he's an Old Testament appearance of Jesus Christ. I mean, otherwise these verses wouldn't make sense because I've heard people say, well, I think he was just an angel. You know, this doesn't count. This doesn't point you in that direction at all. You know, you study the Bible out about angels. You read the stories about them. You know, nothing would ever allude to you that, you know, an angel became a priest, right? Obviously this is talking about Jesus Christ, an Old Testament appearance of him. And obviously, like I said, Melchizedek didn't have flesh and blood. Okay. Jesus had not yet become fully God. I'm well, he's already fully God, but not fully man rather. He hadn't hopped into the lineage of David is what I'm trying to say. So look at verse eight. Verse number eight says, and here men that die receive tithes, but there he receiveth them of whom it is witnessed that he liveth. Verse nine. And as I may so say, Levi also who receiveth tithes paid tithes in Abraham for he was yet in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him. Now you can keep your place there in Hebrews, but go to Hebrews chapter number four, real quick Hebrews chapter number four. You might say, well, okay, so what, what is there any difference between Melchizedek and Jesus Christ? And there is one. I just want to show you this here. Uh, real quick Hebrews chapter four, look at verse 15. Actually, you know what? Let's read verse 14. It says, seeing then that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens. Jesus, the son of God. Let us hold fast our profession. Verse 15 for we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin. Okay. So Melchizedek wasn't, uh, wouldn't have fit this bill. You see what I'm saying? Melchizedek, he just appeared on the scene. He was God just, he's the word of God, just in the form of man, basically not, not, uh, not fully man. He hadn't, uh, he hadn't, uh, been touched with a feeling of our infirmities like it's saying here in verse 15. And he hadn't been tempted on all points like as we are. Right. And that's important. And that's important for a very good reason. Look at verse 16. He says, let us therefore come boldly into the throne of grace that we, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. So Bible's telling us that when you go to the Lord, Jesus Christ, which you as a new Testament priest have the authority to do, and you should, right? The Bible says, Hey, you're high priest, right? You're a priest, but your high priest has been through infirmities has been tempted, but yet without sin. So he understands completely what you're going through and how to help you. Right. And so that should be an encouragement to us all. Now I've turned to Exodus chapter 19, Exodus chapter 19. So like I said, there's not a whole lot in the Bible about Melchizedek. And so I just wanted to kind of cover briefly everything that I, that I could, that's basically everything in the Bible about him so that you can go back, read those things, know where to find him. You know, you forget down the road, just know three books. You've got Genesis one verse in Psalms, and then you've got the Hebrews chapter seven and that's it. You know, the Bible doesn't say a whole lot, but we know that he's a, he's the word of God. You know, he is the old Testament appearance of Christ. So in a sense, if you think about that, you really do know a lot about him, right? You really do know a lot about him. So we're going to move on here and we're going to take a look at the Levitical priesthood. So first in the Bible, the first priesthood or the first order that we see is Melchizedek, not a whole lot said about it. Now it's different with the Levitical priesthood. There's tons and tons and tons of verses. I mean, most of the old Testament is dealing with this. And so we don't have time to cover all of that obviously, but we do have time to cover some now before we even start, I might mention this several times, but one thing that you've got to know about the Levitical priesthood is that not every Levite could be a priest. Okay. They had to be the sons of Aaron. So that tells you that not even Moses could be a priest, right? A lot of people don't know that, but the Bible, I'm going to show you this. The Bible says that only the sons of Aaron could be priests. And what does that tell you about today? Think about that. So Jessica showed me this video of these supposed priests over in Israel, doing a sacrifice. They're like sacrifice. What was it? A goat or a sheep or something? I can't remember. It's not that important, but they have like this, this, this mild fire burning, right? And they, they do a sacrifice. So they, they slit the goat's throat and it's like, I'm watching this and I'm like, what are you doing? You know, you can't even trace your genealogy back to Aaron. Do you think there's anybody alive today that could trace their genealogy back to Aaron? No, that's just, it's not happening. Okay. And so that's a very big takeaway for you from the Levitical priesthood, uh, because that also destroys Zionism. You think about it, you know, the, the Zios, they get all excited. Oh, they're going to start doing the sacrifices again. There's Levites over there and God knows who they are. Well, that's pretty sad because the Bible says there's supposed to be the descendants of Aaron, but we'll get into that here in a little bit. Uh, Exodus chapter 19, look at verse number four. God says you have seen what I did unto the Egyptians and how I bear you on Eagle's wings and brought you onto myself verse five. Now, therefore, if you obey my voice and deed and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people for all the earth is mine. So notice the language here. He says, if you obey my voice, if you do these things, then what? Then you shall be a peculiar treasure unto me, right above all people. He didn't say that it's an automatic guarantee. No matter what, no matter what you do. He said, if meaning they have to do the, if they have to do what he's saying, they have to obey his voice. They have to keep the covenant. They have to keep the Bible. They had to keep the commandments. And because they did not, because they did not, you saw Israel fracture, right? You saw a fracture in the two kingdoms. You saw Israel get carried away. And then you saw Judah get carried away. So verse number five says, uh, actually let's jump down to verse number six and you shall be into me a kingdom of priests and in holy nation, these are the words which thou shall speak unto the children of Israel. Uh, you could lose your place there, but go to Exodus chapter number 28. So God's just given them an overview here. He's just explaining like the change in the priesthood, what's coming up. And he's going to give him all the laws, all those, basically all the standards and expectations of what he wants the priests to do, what he wants them to wear, how he wants them to act, who can be a priest, who can be in the office. Um, as you read throughout the Bible, um, you'll, you'll notice that the Levites, they didn't inherit a land, right? Remember when we went through that and Joshua, the Levites did not inherit a parcel of land. They were supposed to live off of the tithes of the people so that they could do the office of God so that they could do the administrations. So I said that only the sons of Aaron could be priests, right? And then out of those priests, one of them would be a high priest. Okay. Now the other Levites could do other offices and other administrations for God. So Exodus chapter 28, real quickly, look at verse number one, it says, and this is God talking here. He says, and take that one to the Aaron, thy brother and his sons with him from among the children of Israel, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office, even Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eliezer and Ithmar, Aaron's son, right? So Exodus chapter 28, very clear who are to be the priests of God. It's the sons of Aaron. Is everybody, everybody's got that, right? Because a lot of people will say, well, you know, you just had to be a Levi and that's not true. They had to be the sons of Aaron. Remember when we read through Ezra and Nehemiah and they were trying to go through all the genealogies and, you know, certain people's genealogy could not be reckoned. So they were as polluted, put from the priesthood. You remember that that's because they couldn't trace their lineage back to Aaron. It's important. This is what God said. It's his way or the highway, right? What did Jeroboam the son of Nebat do? He made priests of the lowest people of the land, right? It shows you the disdain that he had for God's word, the bitterness that he had towards God. Now, real quickly here, just look at verse number two. It says, and thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron, thy brother for glory and for beauty and thou shalt speak unto all that are wise hearted whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom that they may make Aaron's garments to consecrate him that he may minister unto me in the priest's office. So I think it's really interesting here that when God says, okay, you're going to make priests, they're going to be of the sons of Aaron, number one, right? The very next thing he does is talk about their clothing and what they're going to wear and how they're going to be different. So like, how do we apply that today? Well, that's a picture that after somebody gets saved, right? In this priesthood, in order to be a priest, you had to be the son of Aaron. In our priesthood, you have to be the son of the Lord Jesus Christ, right? You have to be saved. And so the next thing logically for you to do is the should, right? Once you do the must, now you should do the should, and you should put on the garments of righteousness. You should begin to walk in newness of life. I said, should, I didn't say you have to, or you lose your salvation and go to hell, right? That's not what I said. I said, you should begin to learn what God has for you, what his standards are for you, how to walk in the new man and how to be pleasing to him. Why? So that you can offer up spiritual sacrifices unto him because that's what's pleasing. Look, the Old Testament is full of the sacrifices and the things that the priests were supposed to do, right? It's important to know these things. It's important to God, and it's important to us to apply them to our lives so that we can be better so that we can fulfill our mission, which is what? Winning souls to Christ, making disciples, filling this area right with our doctrine, which comes from the Bible. It's important because there's a lot of bozos out there. You know, we went souling yesterday and it was Kimli and I, we knocked on this lady's door, you know, and she's like, hi, how you guys doing? You know, I guess she thought maybe we're going to sell her some cookies or something. As soon as I said that we're from Shield of Faith Baptist Church, she's like, oh no, oh no, no. You're lucky. You're lucky that I don't go back into my closet and come out here naked. I said, you're lucky you don't do that. And she's like, what? Like she couldn't believe I said that to her, you know? And then she's like, well, why is it illegal to go walk around naked? And I was like, it's illegal to expose yourself to a minor. You should have seen the pale look on her face. She was just like, oh, you're a minor. She's like, okay. So I turned around and knock on the next door and Kimli was like, looking at her, you know, like, like, what's up? I'm like, come on, Kelly, come on. You know? And she was just like, closing the door just real slowly. You know, I don't know why I'm bringing this up. It's just something I had to get off my chest. So that's, that was free. All right. That's a bonus. Go to Exodus chapter 29, but nonetheless, you get what I'm saying, right? We need to offer up spiritual sacrifices. We're going to get into that here in a minute, but I just wanted to slip that one in there for you guys, because we are filling this area with our doctrine, right? She knew about us. Now, how does she know about us? I don't know for sure. Probably the Boise bench fight is my guess. Probably the Boise bench fight is what I'm thinking. So we're doing a good job, right? We're doing a good job. We're offering up sacrifices. People are hearing about it. Nadab and Abihu and their crew and all these, these, these guys that are getting upset, right? And so amen. Praise God for that. So let's move on here with the Levitical priesthood here. So, so far, what we've learned is that God has said, okay, look, I'm going to establish this priesthood. The priests will be the sons of Aaron. No, if, ands or buts. Okay. And then he goes on in Exodus chapter 28 to, uh, provide details regarding their clothing. He's even gone so far as to say, I have filled people's hearts with wisdom to make this stuff. So it is obviously important. It's important how God's priests look today. Amen. It is important to him. That's why we have the new Testament is why we have God's word so that we can learn these things, right? So that we can apply them to our lives. All right. So you're there in Exodus chapter 29. And so now what you're going to see is you're going to see the instructions that God's going to give them for the ordination of Aaron. And really what you need to understand is that Exodus chapter 29 are all the things that God wants them to do. And then Leviticus chapter eight is really where it all happens. Okay. So if you're ever wondering like, man, I just read this, right? You're reading maybe Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, and you're like, didn't I just read this? Well, just know you did just read it, but Leviticus chapter eight is the fulfillment of everything you're going to read in Exodus chapter 29. So look at verse number one, he says, and this is the thing that thou shalt do unto them to hollow them, to minister unto me in the priest's office. Take one young bullock and two rams without blemish. Verse two and unleavened bread and cakes unleavened, tampered with oil and wafers unleavened anointed with oil of wheat and flour. Shout thou make them look at verse three and now shall put them into one basket and bring them in the basket with one or with the Bullock and the two Rams. Verse four and Aaron and the sons thou shalt bring unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation and shall wash them with water. Um, okay, so stop right there. Go to Leviticus chapter eight. I just want to show you one of these. We don't have time to go through. I had quite a few different things written down from Exodus chapter 29, and I was going to go through and kind of show you how they're fulfilled, how they're executed in Leviticus chapter eight, because it's kind of cool. I like reading personally, uh, in the Bible when God says, do all these things. And then they're all done. I really like that, but we're just going to have time for one this evening here. So real quickly, Leviticus chapter eight, look at verse number one. It says in the Lord spake unto Moses saying, take Aaron and his sons with him and the garments and the anointing oil and a Bullock for the sin offering and two Rams and a basket of unleavened bread. Sound familiar? It's what we just read in Exodus chapter 29, right? Verse three and gather thou all the congregation together unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And Moses did as the Lord commanded him. And the assembly was gathered together until the door of the tabernacle, the congregation verse five. And Moses said unto the congregation, this is the thing which the Lord commanded to be done. So hopefully you just remember that Exodus 29 Leviticus chapter eight is when the ordination service basically happens, right? So God says, okay, Moses, I want you to have Aaron do this, this, this, and this. You can read about all that through Exodus chapter 29, but it would be good for you to just read Leviticus eight and actually see those things playing out, see those things being put forth as God commanded. Exactly. Uh, go to Hebrews chapter number eight. So I'm just going to kind of summarize the rest of the Levitical priesthood. So, you know, the stories, um, in order to be a priest, you had to be the son of Aaron. And then out of those sons of Aaron, out of those priests, one would be a high priest in the high priest, uh, in the old Testament, the Bible says he would go through the veil into the arc of the covenant to make the sacrifice after purifying himself first, right? Because remember, he's still a man, he has sin as well. So he would purify himself. He would, uh, do the sacrifice for himself. And then he would do the sacrifice for sins on behalf of the people. And, uh, the Bible, one interesting thing is that the Bible says that they would tie a bells to the high priest. So that when he would go into the holiest of Holy's, if he had some un, you know, some secret sins or something that he didn't confess, he didn't get right. Uh, he would drop dead. And so they would know like, Hey, you all right in there, you know, should we pull you out? Hey, here, should we pull you out? And so, you know, there, there was that. And obviously that's a picture of, uh, Jesus Christ. And I'm glad that we live in the times that we do, you know, because we don't have to rely on a high priest, you know, wearing a pomegranate bell to go into the holiest of Holy's. We can go right to our high priest anytime that we need help. And so what we're going to do now is we're just going to transition to the priesthood of the believer. So the first priesthood you read about in the Bible is Melchizedek, the order of Melchizedek, right? The Bible doesn't say a whole lot about him, but it's, it's, it's still good for you to know. The Bible says that he was without beginning, without end, and that, uh, he blessed Abraham. The Bible says he was King of Salem. And then obviously after he left, Salem became Jerusalem, right? Who came, became wicked, uh, wicked and, uh, abomination of God in which he allowed the children of Israel to overtake it. So let's move on here. Look at Hebrew chapter eight, look at verse number one. It says, now the things which we have spoken, this is the sum. We have such an high priest who is set on the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens. So he's trying to tell these guys, Hey, look, this new priesthood is way better than the old priesthood, than the old covenant. It's a better deal. And it, look, those aren't my words. That's what the Bible says over and over again, that we have a better covenant, that the new Testament is the better Testament. And that's what he's saying here. Looking for some or two, he says a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched and not man. So who builds your new man? Well, it's, it's, it's God. It's not you, right? Unless you want to be a Nazarene and you want to be a Mormon or a Southern Baptist or some Jehovah witness or a Catholic, right? They're all trying to build their tabernacle by their good words. But he's saying, no, we're after a better opportunity than we're after a better thing. He says, he minister the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, right? We're saved by grace through faith. We're born again by the blood of Jesus Christ. And the Bible says that God is the one that makes that tabernacle, not you and God, not man, but God does it. Verse three for every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices. Wherefore it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer. And so he's saying, Hey, just like the high priests in the old Testament, how they offered sacrifices, how they offer gifts. That's what Jesus Christ did. Only it was a whole lot better because the blood of goats and bulls were never able to take away sins for a permanent basis. Verse four, for if he were on earth, he should not be a priest seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to law. Verse five, who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle foresee sayeth he that thou make all things according to the pattern to thee. I'm sorry. According to the pattern show to thee and the Mount. Now you read Exodus 18, 19, 20, all those chapters of Exodus. There's a lot of details in there, right? A lot of details. You know, God is in the details. God, God is a God that would desire that we should follow him diligently, not just flippantly. You know, a lot of people think they're doing God a great service just because maybe they, you know, they just have a general knowledge of him or just because they have a Bible sitting on their shelf. They think they're such great Christians. Well, I'm not ashamed of that Bible sitting over there. I'm not ashamed of my Jesus fish sticker, but God says, what have you done for me? What sacrifices have you offered me? What have you really done? Look at verse five again, verse five, he says, who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things as Moses. I already read that look at verse six, but now half he obtained a more excellent ministry by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises. You see, when you read that to these dispensationalists, what happens? They get angry, right? Or they try to explain that away. Well, it doesn't mean what you think it means. It doesn't really mean that God still knows who the Levites are. God's not done with Israel. He's not done with a Jew. Well, I'm sorry, but the Bible says something drastically different. Verse seven for if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for a second. So why are the Jews today seeking for that old covenant again? Why? It's a worse deal. It's not a good deal. Verse eight for finding fault with them. He saith, behold, the days come saith Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, you can read about this in Hosea as well. Verse nine, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers and the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, because they continued not in my covenant. And I regarded them not saith Lord. What, what did we read in Exodus chapter 19? What did God say? If, if you obey my voice, then you'll be a peculiar treasure unto me. You'll be a nation of priests and holy and sanctified amongst me. That's what he said. That's what he told them. Did they do that? No, they didn't. Verse 10 for this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days saith Lord, I will put my laws into their mind and write them in their hearts. And I will be to them a God. And they shall be to me a people verse 11, and they shall not teach every man, his neighbor and every man, his brother saying, know the Lord for all shall know me from the least to the greatest. What's the requirement to know the Lord to be saved, right? You study that phrase out in the Bible and to know the Lord often times, you know, it's talking about somebody who saved. What did it, what does the Bible say about the judge Eli's sons? What does it say about them? It says that they knew not the Lord, right? Now that doesn't mean that they didn't know who God was. They worked in the tabernacle. They worked in the temple. They knew who the God of the Bible was, but it says they knew not the Lord. They were not saved. But this also has another meaning aside from that. It also means that we don't necessarily have to go to the high priest. We don't have to go to some pastor for our knowledge necessarily, right? And it's okay if you have questions that come to somebody, you know, a pastor or I don't know, evangelist comes through and ask him questions. That's okay. But the Bible says the Holy Ghost, that his ministry, his office is to teach you and to guide you in all truth, right? We have that. They didn't have that in the Old Testament. So remember that, you know, the Levites, they were set up to teach the people the law. They were to teach doctrine, statutes, commandments, but the people didn't have the Holy Ghost then. So they had to really, really rely on that teaching. We're different. We are all priests in God's kingdom, and we have the ability to know truth. Look, I'm not preaching anything to you guys that you can't learn on your own, right? And if somebody is claiming they are, you need to run. Okay. Uh, verse number 12, it says, for I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. Now the disposable, they're going to try to take you to some off the wall area in the Bible and say, well, do you still go soul winning? Well, then this dispensation hasn't happened yet. That's not what it's talking about, right? But this is clearly talking about Bible believing Christians. What's this verse 11 again says, and they shall not teach every man, his neighbor and every man, his brother saying, know the Lord for they shall know me from the least of the greatest, right? I've said this before. I don't have to go up to you guys. I don't have to go to Moses or James or David and say, Hey, do you know the Lord? Because you're saved. You already know what I know that I know you guys, right? So I don't have to go to other Bible believing Christians and try to teach them to know Lord. But what about in the old Testament? What about during the Levitical priesthood? It was different, right? Because not, okay, just being born of one of the 12 tribes in Israel had didn't automatically make you saved. Right? So people still had to go around saying, Hey, do you know the Lord? I mean, I just told you about Eli's sons, right? They were Israelites. They didn't know the Lord. Right? There's Psalm after Psalm after Psalm about David talking about, you know, preaching God's righteousness and how to be saved. And then he taught people to follow the Lord, believe on the Lord, you know, and be saved. It's the same thing, but it's different now because the nation of Israel now is the Israel of God made up of all believers in the world. Not that joke. It's in the middle East. Don't let anybody lead you down that road. So let's move on here. Verse 13 in that he sayeth a new covenant. He hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away. So just as Aaron, like I already said, just as Aaron was Israel's first high priest and was the top ranking priest in the Israel of God, Jesus Christ is our high priest. Okay. So Aaron was a high priest and then his sons were priests in the new covenant. Jesus Christ is the high priest and we are his priests. Um, let's see, turn to first Peter, chapter two, first Peter chapter number two. First Peter chapter number two, great chapter to explain the priesthood of the believer. Um, if anybody ever asked you what the acronym Baptist stands for, what does the P stand for? Well, it stands for priesthood of the believer, you know, and this is a doctrine that even the liberals will say they believe in. They don't execute it, right? But they'll say that they believe in it. So it is an important doctrine. The priesthood of the believer is the doctrine that even the liberals will say they believe in. They don't execute it, right? But they believe in it. And you say, why? Because that's what we are. The Bible says that we're actually a Royal priesthood. We're not just priests. We're a Royal priesthood because what did Jesus say in revelation that we're all Kings and priests, right? So that makes us Royal priesthood. I'm getting my head of myself here, but look at verse number five, first Peter chapter two, verse five says ye also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house, unholy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Verse six, wherefore also it is contained in the scripture. Behold, I lay in Zion, a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. So if anybody ever asks you, well, what, what's the priesthood of the believer? You could always just take them right here to first Peter chapter two. And it's very clear. Now go to first Peter chapter one real quick. I just thought about this here. First Peter chapter number one, because again, you know, in today's day and age, people want to really fight and they want to hammer down this Zionist doctrine. And people will say Peter was talking to the Hebrews. He was talking to the Israelites. He was talking to the Jews and that is not true. Okay. Look at verse number one, first Peter chapter one, verse one, he says, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. And then look at verse two, it says, elect according to the foreknowledge of God, the father through sanctification of the spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, grace unto you and peace be multiplied. So who's Peter talking to here? The yeah, to the Gentiles, right? And he calls them the elect, but what they'll say, what the Zionist will say, well, no, it says strangers. It says strangers here. And he's talking to the strangers like, uh, like James was, he's talking to the, to the scattered 12 tribes. So, so those, so, so if you know hermeneutics, you'll know that second Peter chapter two is not really talking about us. I mean, we're kind of a priesthood, right? Yeah. I get that we're the Israel of God, but we're not over the Israel that's in the middle East. I'm serious. This is what these people say. This is what they're teaching. This is what you run into out in the community. And you have to know how to defute it. You have to know how to destroy this doctrine. It's very clear here. First chapter of first Peter is very clear. He's talking to Gentiles. So if you look at verse one says Peter and apostle Jesus Christ to the stranger scattered throughout Pontius, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia. And then it says in verse two elect. So they'll say, well, he's talking to the Israelites that were scattered amongst the heathen. Right? But the problem is verse two elect. How are they elect according to the foreknowledge of God, the father through sanctification of the spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Now, does your common Jew today subscribe to that? Has he been sprinkled by the blood of Jesus Christ? No, he hasn't. He rejects Jesus Christ. And it's the same in Peter's day. They rejected Christ. So just keep that in mind and we could go on here and read this. You read chapter one. It's clear. You read chapter two. It's clear as talking about believers. All right, so let's move on here. Verse number six, one more time. Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture. Behold, I lay in Sion, a chief cornerstone elect precious. And he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. Again, talking about believers, not some stranger Jew verse seven. Look at this verse seven unto you therefore, which believe he is precious, but unto them, which be disobedient, the stone, which the builders disallowed, the same has made the head of the corner. So there's two groups being talked about here. Who are they? Believers. And then the Christ rejecting Jews, right? Very clear that Peter is talking about believers, that believers are the priesthood. This is important. You know, we would do so much more for God. If we all just realize that we are priests, that we are priests of God. And he has expectations and he has standards that he would like us to follow. Verse number nine. I'm sorry. Verse eight. It says, and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, even to them, which stumble at the word being disobedient we're into also they were appointed. You want to know why some people teach that abortion is not murder and they call themselves Christians is because they stumble at the word. You know why people can read through the Bible and still tell you that some Christ rejecting Jew is God's chosen child. You want to know why? Because they stumble at the word. They look at Jesus and they view him as a rock of offense. And I'm not saying that everybody that has that doctrine is not saved. Okay. At least the Zionist doctrine. Now, somebody who teaches that abortion is not murder. I don't know. That's, that's a whole nother ball of wax there, but you get what I'm saying, right? You know, the Bible says for the natural man receiveth, not the things of the spirit of God for their foolishness unto him, neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. You have to have the spirit in order to understand the Bible and to rightly divide the word of truth. He then cannot do it. I mean, that's why TV is full of people saying, well, the Bible doesn't make any sense. This is why when we go out so many people like the King James Bible, it just doesn't make any sense. It's like, you know why the NIV and ESV makes sense to you? Because it was written by a man for men and because of those translators weren't saved. Verse number nine, look at this, but ye are a chosen generation, right? And that ye is the, is the group that he mentions there in verse seven, the people that are saved ye therefore, which believe he is precious. It says, but ye are a chosen generation, a Royal priesthood, unholy nation, a peculiar people. Sounds a lot like Exodus chapter 19, right? And you notice the difference between here and Exodus 19 in Exodus 19, God said, if you obey my voice, then you're going to be a peculiar people in a nation of priests, right? But here he says, but ye are a chosen generation, a Royal priesthood. He doesn't say if, why is that? Because there's, he's talking about people that are saved. So if you're saved, you've already done the obeying God's voice, which is what that you'd call upon the name of the Lord and be saved. So he's saying, if you've done that done deal, you are a priest, you are a Royal priesthood, unholy nation, a peculiar people that ye should pay attention to that. Not that you must, but that ye should show forth the praises of him who have called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. So the Bible is saying, like I talked about on Sunday, there's one thing that we must do. We know what that is. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And there's a lot of things that we should do. Right. And that's what Peter's trying to get across. Hey, don't forget, you are a priest. You know, you read about these priests in the Old Testament and what they did and how serious God was towards their garments, towards everything that they do, all the order, all the details, all of that stuff, right? You could tell that's important to God. Well, guess what? It's the same for us. There's a lot of stuff that we should do and that we should work on. And remember, Hey, you're a priest. It matters, right? It re your, your testimony and the way you live through your life. It does matter. So real quick, look at verse number 10 says, which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God, which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy again. Does that sound like he's talking to the Jews? No verse 11, dearly beloved. I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul, or you'll go to hell. Oh, wait, sorry. That was the Nazarene doctrine I read to you the other day. I'm getting my sermons confused here. Look at verse 12 says, having your conversation honest among the Gentiles that whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may be, or they may be your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. So he's saying, Hey, look, you need to have your conversation honest. You need to walk in the new man amongst the heathen. Why? So that your lifestyle will change them. No, that's not what he's saying. Read the verse again, having your conversation honest among the Gentiles that, so here's the reason why that whereas they speak against you as evildoers, right? Because what do, what do people do in the workforce, guys? They talk trash about how you live. You're a fundamentalist. They're talking behind your back. You know, even liberal Christians get bad mouthed at work. And you know, that's true. He says that whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may buy your good works which they shall behold, glorify God in a day of visitation. So those people that are running their mouths about you, saying all manner of evil against you, you know what? If they don't get saved someday, they're gonna have to acknowledge, Hey, Jesus Christ is Lord. I was wrong. I should have heard anyways. You know what? And you're without excuse, right? And I think it's very interesting to know here. He doesn't say that you should walk in the conversation so that people will just fall down and be like, I want what you have. Look, I tell people, I don't watch TV. I don't do this. I don't do that. And they're like, that sucks. I've never had anybody sign me up. I want to be an independent fundamental King James only sowing Baptist. It hasn't happened to me yet at all. Right? We have to tell people the good news. We have to be, Hey, I've got, Hey, I've got great news for you. You could stop working for your salvation. And then sometimes they're like, all right, now that sounds good, but why are you here with a tie? Why the ladies wearing skirts? What's going on here with that? Right? You know, it's true. You know, it's true. Just real quickly. We're going to stop right here because we're out of time, but I just wanted to go over just some basic facts about the three priesthoods in the Bible. You have the order of Melchizedek, right? Then you have the Levitical priesthood, and then you have the priesthood of the believer. We are priests. We're a Royal priesthood, and we need to make sure that we act like it. Um, so with that being said, let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Lord, thank you so much for the word that you've given us, Lord. I thank you for the truths that are just endless and abound always Lord, as we study and, um, cross-reference and rightly divide the word of truth. I just pray that you'd, uh, let these things settle well with us, Lord, help us to apply them to our lives and bless the fellowship afterwards. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.