Malachi Week 3: Profaned Priesthood

Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.

Transcript

Good morning my name is Chad I'm one of the pastors here uh excited to to get to study the word of the Lord this morning with y'all if you'll turn to Malachi chapter 2 we're working our way through the Book of Malachi and we are going to go verse by verse to this book and try to understand the message of this prophet and where we are in the the time of the life of the people of Israel is that they have returned from Exile they've returned from captivity uh in Babylon and they have rebuilt the temple and they have rebuilt the wall and they are under Persian Rule and the general feel of the people.

Of Israel at this time when you're studying this time period And when you're studying the prophets that are speaking to them is if you've ever been if you grew up in a town or been around a town lived in an area where they're used to be industry but there isn't anymore there used to be a textile Mill they used to build cars they used to have a coal mine but they don't anymore that's in general how Israel feels at this point they're people here and they're existing.

But that's kind of all they're doing it doesn't seem like there's a lot of life it doesn't seem like there's a lot of hope it doesn't seem like there's a lot of Joy they've returned but they're still under rule of the Persians they've rebuilt the temple but it's not like the temple they had they have a wall they have a city but it's not like the city they had in general the whole thing just feels like they're sleepwalking through existence and that's where we are and that's where Malachi takes up his prophetic message and he's the last prophet in the Old Testament to speak before we're going to.

See John the Baptist and Jesus several hundred years later and so he's correcting and speaking on behalf of God he has six disputes the first one is that God loves them but they don't feel it and they don't act like it and they don't seem to know it but he's correcting them that he loves them but they're not behaving correctly and then he starts correcting the priests and so we're picking up with that in Chapter 2 with the back half of his correction of the priests and what we're going to.

Look at this morning is we're going to take this we're going to understand it in its context we're going to try to understand what he's actually saying to the priest here but then we're going to try to see how we might apply this correction of the priesthood to us and we're going to see that when you translate the the idea of a priesthood into the New Testament it comes out in a few different ways and so we're going to take some time this morning to talk specifically to pastors and Church leadership.

So I'll be preaching to myself some this morning and boy am I going to give myself some amens I tell you and then I'll get real convicted no but preach to to pastors this morning and then to the Church in general because the Christian Church is a priesthood and then we're going to talk about Christ who is the great high priest and so we're going to walk through those three things after we try to understand understand it in its context.

If you will pray with me as we begin this morning God we're thankful for your word we're thankful for the spirit that indwells us that helps us to understand your word and leads us in obedience we ask that your Holy Spirit would move and work and convict and encourag this morning and that you would help us to understand rightly what this teaches so that we might live in fear and awe of you and that Christ might be glorified in Jesus name amen all right Malachi 2.

Verse 1 and now o priests this command is for you so he's about to give a command and we know who it's to it's to the the priest now this priesthood which is also going to be referred to as Levi in this chapter is the levitical priest it's a whole tribe of Israel that was blessed with the priesthood when they uh divvied up the land the Levites did not get a portion of the land they did not get an inheritance all the other tribes got an inheritance.

But Levi was scattered in little places all over and then they were given the care of the temple they were the ones who would stand as priests in service to the Lord and on behalf of the people and they would rotate so you would live wherever you lived kind of in one of the other tribes and then you would rotate to Temple service we see this in Luke with John the bapti his dad he rotates in and does his Temple service.

And then he goes back to where he lived and so that's how this would work and so we're talking to the priest or the Levites as he's going to call them later that's who he's correcting and what they're doing now is they had a temple they were performing their daily sacrifices and their Ministry but they were doing it halfheartedly it says this is the command if you will not listen if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name says the.

Lord of hosts then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings indeed I have already cursed them because you do not lay it to heart so the command it's kind of buried in the middle there is take it to heart to give honor to my name that's what the priests were supposed to be doing it was supposed to be genuine true love worship and honor to the Lord and it was supposed they were to take it to heart and they were to be the.

First ones they were the ones who didn't get an allotment their their inheritance was the Lord that's what it actually says he says I'm their inheritance that the blessing was him that they would have him that they would love him that they would know him that was Chief among it God's blessing was on the whole of Israel but he has this special portion for the Levites to get to minister to him and be in the temple they're the only ones who caner enter certain places they're the ones that get to serve him in this unique way they get to part participate and take part in some of the sacrifices and they were to be the.

First ones to honor the Lord have you ever gone with somebody to their mama's house or Grandmama's house it's like a group of friends and y'all are about to go in or you're dating them you're about to go in and they just stop and say okay hold up when we go in here you going to take your shoes off you going to take your hat off you going to say yes ma'am she's going to offer you food you're going to eat it you going to tell her it tastes good and the best is.

When they start telling you things you're not allowed to bring up like just fun like it's you're always just like I have questions they're like don't talk about LeBron James and he's just like why I want to now like what do why why can't I bring him up like they just pick things or they might tell you like a whole political party you're just not allowed to mention inside this house like just don't bring it up but the reason is that's their grandmother and they're taking the.

First step in honoring and if you don't want to they don't care you're going to or you're not going to be welcome in this house that's how it works they're they primary you ought to but if you're not going to they're going to make sure you do that's the way the Levites were supposed to be with the Lord we read last week where people are bringing lame sacrifices the the their legs don't work they're bringing uh goats that don't that aren't worth anything they're bringing blind sacrifices or ones that have SC abs and problems that they couldn't sell anywhere.

And when they're bringing them up there they should have brought a good one but when they got to the door the Levites should have said what don't get this out of here how dare you profane the name of the Lord with that they should be the ones who are taking it to heart to honor the Lord but they aren't and so he says if you won't I will curse your blessings and indeed I've already cursed them because you do not lay it to heart.

Now that cursing of Their Blessings is a broad we should understand that in a broad way because they're blessed to be the people to be the Levites to be the priests and there were certain blessings that came along with that that they got to participate in the sacrifices that they got to uh take in the tithes that they were provided for by the people of Israel and so he's saying in general the blessings over Israel are going to fall apart the blessings to your tribe are going to fall apart and one of the things that the Levites did was they pronounced blessings.

So that when you came and and there was a sacrifice then they would bless you they would speak on behalf of the Lord to send you out in in a blessing and he's saying I'm doing all of that your blessings are cursed it's going to work backwards now and then he says in verse three behold I will rebuke your Offspring rebuke is a sharp correction I will rebuke your Offspring and spread dung on your faces the dung of your offerings and you shall be taken away with it.

Now just to us that sounds just rough that's you don't want you don't want the Lord to say that to you and whenever you're in an issue and you're not doing well and the rebuke goes beyond you to your children like you want to get an argument amped up just bring people's kids involved like I mean he's going to rebuke the whole line of the Levites but when he says I'm going to put dung on your faces he's talking about a specific thing it says the dung of your offerings and you shall be taken away with it this is actually worse than it hits our ears.

But the Levites would have understood exactly what he was talking about when they had a sacrifice the dung as well as certain parts of the innards and the overall carcass there were parts that they kept and ate there were parts that they applied to the sacrifice and then there was a whole bunch of it that was called awful o f f a l awful and it was carried outside and burned and he says that's where you're going you're not going to be allowed in the temple you're not going to be the chosen people who get to be here you're going to be toted outside and burned you're going to be toted outside and cast out.

You're going to be part of the awful that's what I'm about to do with the tribe of Levi and for those who practice this Temple sacrifice daily to be told you're becoming a part of awful you're carried out that that hit them way harder than it just reads to us this is a significant rebuke he's saying I'm getting rid of the tribe of Levi I'm going to you're not going to get to participate in this way and this but then there.

Then he says something else that we have to try to figure out what he means because it it drastically changes how we're supposed to understand what he's saying to them when he says I'm going to cast you out in this way verse four he says I'm doing this so shall you know that I have sent this command to you that my Covenant with Levi May May stand says the Lord of hosts okay that my Covenant with Levi May stand he says I'm going to do this.

So that I can keep my Covenant well now it's really important for us to know two things what is the Covenant to Levi and is it a conditional Covenant or an unconditional Covenant is there an if there like if your parents said I'm going to take you to the zoo and then you were acting up and they said hold on I got to keep my promise to you it's like yeah but the promise was I'm going to take you to the zoo.

But if your parents said I'm going to take you to the zoo if you get your stuff done that's a conditional you see the difference between conditional and unconditional the question is is God going to keep this promise no matter what is he promising that I'm going to overcome your sin and make this good or is he saying I'm going to hold to my end of the bargain and cast you out because you failed it's important for us to know how is he keeping this Covenant we also need to know what is the Covenant to Levi what is the Covenant to the priesthood.

So look at verse 5 my Covenant with him was one of life and peace I gave them to him so it was a blessing the promise he made to him was of life and peace I gave them to him it was a covenant of fear and he feared me he stood in awe of my name so God's giving life and peace and the people of Levi are to fear God to respect him it's to where the way that like parents and children are supposed to work where there's life and peace and appropriate fear and respect like you should fear your parents you shouldn't.

Look under your bed for them at night like that kind of fear like they're going to get you but you should have respect and honor it should have been like that that's what he's saying that was the way the Covenant worked and we've got to go back to the uh further back in the Old Testament try to understand what is he referencing because there are certain covenants like the Mosaic Covenant it's very clear and it's a conditional Covenant if you do these things you'll be blessed.

If you don't you won't then there's covenants to to Abraham which is a blessing that he's going to carry out there's a covenant to David that he's going to carry out no matter what he's just going to do that so we've got to look and try to say what's he talking about there's a few places where it's hinted at and one place it gives us a little more clarity so Exodus 32:29 we just read this as we studied through Exodus this is.

When the golden calf happens he comes down they're having debaucherous party and Moses says who's with me and the Levites are part of his tribe they say we're with you and then he says get your sword and go kill people who have run away from the Lord and then he looks at him afterwards and he says today you have been ordained for the service of the Lord each one at the cost of his son and of his brother so that he might bestow a blessing upon you this day this seems to be the.

First place where the Levites are being set apart for something specific then again a similar situation happens in numbers 25 and we're going to see a man named Phineas who the people were running from the Lord it says that he's jealous with the jealousy of the Lord which is he turns them back to them and he does this violently both of these situations are coming out of violence as people are running from the Lord but it says this November numbers 25 10-13 and the.

Lord said to Moses Phineas the son of Eleazar son of Aaron the priest has turned back my wrath from the people of Israel in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them so that I did not consume the people of Israel in my jealousy because they're supposed to love and worship and they were running after other things verse 12 therefore say behold I give to him my Covenant of peace and it shall be to him and to his descendants after him the Covenant of a Perpetual priesthood.

Because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the people of Israel and then we see this idea of this Covenant mentioned in Jeremiah 33 he says this thus says the Lord if you can break my Covenant with the day and my Covenant with the night so that day and night will not come at their appointed time then also my Covenant with David my servant may be broken so that he shall not have a son to Reign on his throne and my Covenant with the levitical priests my ministers all right Pop Quiz day and night still working all right that's what he anchors it to day and night get messed up.

Because we change the time yeah that's on us though day and night are still doing their thing just cuz your kids are waking up at 5:00 a I'm mad all right just you know they they don't anyway so what he says is it's an unconditional promise that he's going to work out in the people of Levi so when he says I'm going to cast you out that my Covenant May stand we should all say what how does that work I don't.

Okay and we're going to get to see later how he accomplishes that but that's what he's saying is that this you're going to pay but I'm going to keep my Covenant you're going to you've corrupted this you've messed this up but I'm going to keep it all right as he keeps going he's going to talk about what they should have been like and what they were like as priests and then he's going to talk about how they mess it up verse six true instruction was in his mouth.

So he already said it was a covenant of fear he feared me he stood in awe of my name meaning that they trusted the Lord they were following the Lord and then he says true instruction was in his mouth he's talking about not just Levi the person he's talking about the priests he's made this promise to these people so he's saying it like it's a singular person but he's talking about the whole tribe no wrong was found on his lips he walked with me in peace and uprightness he turned many from iniquity this is what the priesthood was supposed to.

Look like for the lips of a priest should guard knowledge and people should seek instruction from his mouth for he is the messenger of the Lord of host but you have turned aside from the way you have caused many to stumble by your instruction you have corrupted the Covenant of Levi says the Lord of hosts and so I make you despised and abased before all the people in as much as you do not keep my ways but show partiality in your instruction.

So what he says to the Levites say you were supposed to trust me love me fear me stand in all of me you were supposed to guard knowledge give instruction tell the truth function impartially you were supposed to be someone who speaks on behalf of the Lord and you've corrupted all of that and so now instead of being elevated you'll be debased and despised and that's what he's saying to the people who are currently in the time of Malachi serving as priests and running the temple without without fear of the.

Lord and without care now as we try to understand this passage and we try to pull it forward to kind of where we are we're going to take three ways to look at it there are some things from the priesthood that apply to those who are pastors teachers in the Church those who serve as Elders that that apply in that way there are some things that apply to the Church in general and there are some things that apply only to Christ we pastors.

Now do not stand in between we don't mediate between you and God that's not how it works that's how it worked then that they had to go to a priest to get but that's not how it works but there are some things that he mentions In this passage like teaching instruction that do apply as we try to understand what does it mean to be a pastor and what does that look like so our Church has four pastors myself Raz Bradley Matt Freeman Spencer KY we are all Elders as the official elder or overseers official New Testament term we just use Pastor it's one of the things you're supposed to do.

But it's never used as a title in the Bible but we have four pastors or four elders and we're all Pastor Elder we're the same thing so we don't have like a chief in charge pastor and other pastors we're just four pastors or Elders we have one Elder in training his name is Isaac Hill which means that we are working in a process to install him as an elder and we have seven men not including Isaac who's also going through Pastor development we have seven men who are in Pastor development which is we have men in our Church who said I'm interested feel like I may be called to be a pastor and we said.

Well we want to help you figure that out so they're in a thing called Pastor development we're trying to walk them through that and since it's a list of seven I wrote them all down so that I wouldn't just randomly forget one of them I know all of these people and could give you all their names but it would take me longer than it needs to Jeremy Powell Ryan Krebs Brett richer Chris Rocky Brian Petri George Garcia and Mike Goble are all in our pastor development process.

So as I speak on this part right now most of it applies directly to them but some of you will not be at this Church forever some of you will and bless your heart but you're going to serve you're going to belong here you're going to labor with us and you need to know what your pastors ought to look like in a little while we're going to say in front of our Church family uh in a little while Spencer said that was unclear and it would mean like could mean 10 minutes from.

Now uh in the next year or so we're going to say we're planning to install Isaac and if anybody has any reason why he shouldn't be installed you need to come talk to us we're going to give you time to do that but you need to understand what we're installing him to and what what he's called to and you need to know what to hold your pastors accountable to some of you are going to move you're going to get another job you're going to go to another school and you're going to have to go find another Church and bless your heart you need to know what pastors are supposed to.

Look like what that's supposed to to be so that's one of the reasons we're talking through this but we also need to try to understand this in connection to what this passage is saying so verse 5 my Covenant with him was one of life and peace I gave them to him it was a covenant of fear and he feared me he stood in awe of my name stepping into leadership in the Church should begin with fear and awe and that is usually by God's blessing and goodness where it starts you love the.

Lord you fear Him you respect the Lord you trust him you're in awe of the fact that he would redeem a sinner like you that's where it's supposed to start if you are trying to question whether or not you should be a pastor and you're trying to figure it out and it's not starting here and I'm not sure you should be a pastor if you're anchored in something other than how glorious our God is and how wonderful he is and how he redeems Sinners and is.

So good that's where it begins and he's going to this pairs well with what he says later if you look down it's not going to be on the screen but it's in your Bible if you have it I'll read it he says you've turned aside from the way you've caused many to stumble you've corrupted the Covenant he says you're showing partiality you see you're either going to passor from a position of fearing the Lord or you're going to Pastor from a position of fearing people there's a way to Pastor where it's not about him it's about you there's a way to Pastor where it's about fame or being loved or being appreciated being liked there's.

A way to Pastor where it's about y'all if I meet a per I'm a pastor if I meet someone and they say they're a pastor my immediate thought is you're either a really solid person or one of the worst people ever but that's usually I mean you can be a pastor because it's an easy Inside Job you can be a pastor because nobody really keeps up with your time I can walk out of the office and say I'm going to go work on sermon stuff and I could do whatever the heck I wanted to nobody's GPS tracking me.

But you ought to fear God because I'm GNA have to stand before him later that's terrible all of our pastors we're trying to hold each other we're trying to serve this Church but there's a way to Pastor where you love the Lord and you love the Church and you serve the Lord and you serve the Church and there's a way to Pastor where you're serving yourself and it's about you and the Lord have mercy on that day when you stand before him.

So this is where it begins and it ought to stay there but unfortunately too often it gets twisted and turns into something else and we've seen it we usually see it in high-profile cases where it's about money or it's about fame or it's about something else but it can happen at any level and it can happen in small ways even in someone who's doing fairly good things for a local Church it can happen in your heart there's a way to preach where it's really just about the way people respond rather than being faithful to the.

Lord and the Bible he keeps going verse six true instruction was in his mouth so we're going to walk through this section look at this true instruction was in his mouth and no wrong was found on his lips it means that good pastoring good Church leadership means you know your Bible you study your Bible you love your Bible that's the way to have true instruction and no wrong come from your lips is that you're not just talking about what you think or feel.

But you're talking about what the Bible says so you want your pastors to know their Bible you want your pastors to submit to their Bible and Pastors in our Church family we need to know and love our Bibles it's unacceptable for us not to says he walked with me in peace and uprightness Character Matters immensely for leading and shepherding in the Church it matters immensely that in in the New Testament it's going to show up 1 Timothy 3 Titus 1 Peter's going to talk about it in 1 Peter 5.

But some of the things that qualify for you for being a pastor doesn't list things like be smart which is good it doesn't list things like like you have to be the most talented the best that it says that you have to be have character and the truth is a lot of the pastors that we've seen that flame out are ones that their ability outpace their character and that's dangerous this is one of the reasons why we take installing someone into eldership in our Church.

So slowly because character doesn't show up in a resume it doesn't show up in an interview it doesn't show up when someone preaches Isaac preached recently and people told me they said he did a really good job and I think he did but one of the reasons why we didn't just several years ago say hop up there and preach and we'll see if you can be a pastor because that's like way down the list of things that really matter your Character Matters immensely Your Love of the.

Lord matters immensely your knowledge of Scripture matters that you would be someone who turns away from sin personally and takes very seriously that at the end of all this you want Jesus more than you want anything else there have been some pastors and Church leaders that we found out a whole bunch of stuff after they died there was no confession there was no repentance there was no hating of their sin we found it out later which means that they traded Jesus.

For Ministry and that's a terrible tradeit you want people if you're going to be a pastor and you want your pastors to be people who would trade in Ministry who would repent of sin confess things would walk away from it so that they might have Jesus because if I get to the end of this and all ever had was this Church but I don't get Jesus because I hid things and I ran from from being walking in the openness and I and I chose sin rather than repentance like how I might get disqualified someday.

Lord help keep me from that but if that happens may I choose repentance and Jesus over somehow fighting to hang out and get keep doing this in a way that turns my soul away from him and they chose uprightness he says and turned many from iniquity good pastoring involves telling people they're wrong good pastoring involves pointing to the Bible and saying this is sin around the time that we were walking through our Theology of sex series and Spencer was up here and he was walking through and he was going to a passage where he says do not be deceived and he was talking through sin and sexual sin and he was calling it out.

He was confessing and bringing you in on his story and repenting there were churches all around the US that were saying about that same issue it's not really that big of a deal it's not really sin there's a high-profile Church recently that said yeah it's not ideal it's not God's favorite but it's okay and the Church is meant to stand in the Bible and say this is what it says and this is what we hold to and if you want to be a pastor.

Because you want people to like you you will at some point have to choose say what the Bible says or be liked y'all there are times where we know we know y'all we love y'all there are times where we know all right about to take these people off we know some of the things you want to hear and some of the things you don't want to hear sometimes we're pleasantly surprised a lot of times we handle it really well but we also we know what we could get up I mean we could write like a a a sermon that y'all would all just be like yeah.

But it might not line up with the Bible we can avoid things or we can say them it's one of the reasons why we teach straight through books of the Bible so that we don't have to deal with that tension of not wanting to go to places and just secretly not go to them we just work our way through the Bible and then we go you know spener our paper rock scissors who's going to have to say it we don't do that.

But we have walked in before and said did I really pick this passage I picked this one like yeah you were amped up about it I don't know all right I lost my train of thought y'all say he turned many away from iniquity verse 7 for the lips of a priest should guard knowledge and people should seek instruction from his mouth that's one of the hopes of pastoring is that you would know your Bible you'd walk in wisdom and humility and you'd be genuinely helpful you you should you should be in a place where you want to talk to your pastors and ask some questions and try to get some instruction and some wisdom.

Some help it's one of the joys of pastoring where we get to help people think through things and work through things but that should be a thing that you would look for and desire and that it should happen that they'd be people who knew their Bibles knew uh had some wisdom could help you instruct and keep people away from sin and moving forward well in life then it says this for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts that's really interesting.

When you're reading this you read the commentaries on it this is the only place that priests are ever called messengers of the Lord of hosts that's a phrase that's only ever used for prophets people that spoke thus sayith the Lord and it's saying well this is true of those who worked in the priesthood and the reason is is because they knew their Bibles and they stood in place and said this is what God would have you you do this is what.

God would have you respond this is the type of sacrifice that you should have in this moment that they stood and spoke on behalf of the Lord and that is a weighty honor it's a Divine honor that I get to stand here and open the Bible and say this is what it says it's a Divine honor but I I got to take it seriously our Church needs to take it seriously pastors take it seriously if you're ever if those men if we're able to send them out we'd love to we'd love to send them out we'd love to plant churches we'd love to install some of them in our Church family and we'd love to.

Be men that take all of this very seriously and speaking on behalf of the Lord would be a weighty thing that was not flippantly done so he says you've turned aside you've run off chased sin and there's a way to do that in pastoring and James says that not many should be teachers because they'll be held to a higher standard and by God's grace he'll protect our Church family he'll protect our pastors we'll get to send more pastors out we'll get to plant more churches and we'll be Men of Integrity who fear the.

Lord and may He help us do that but priests in the Old Testament is not a onetoone translation to Pastors in the Church because the whole Church is now the priesthood there's no mediator between you and God except for Christ and so 1 Peter 2 says this you the Church are a chosen race a royal priesthood a holy nation a people for his own possession that you may Proclaim that you may so we belong to him We're priesthood so that the Church that's the you there that you the Church May proclaim the Excellence of him excellencies of him who called you out of Darkness Into His Marvelous Light every Sunday we finish by saying you.

Are commissioned you're empowered by the spirit to go and do that proclaim the excellencies of him who's called you out of Darkness into His Marvelous Light that you get to do what Malachi is talking about to a a world that doesn't know him you get to know your Bible you get to hate sin and you get to tell people be reconciled to God so we all should take this call seriously and sometimes we say things like well I just don't know how to do that that doesn't exempt you learn how to do it start reading your Bible start practicing yall know we we practice I I practice this trying to articulate the Gospel in different.

Situations and not just it's something you work at and so if you're struggling with that we'd love to help you but we would love for our whole Church to be proclaiming the excellencies of him who called us out of Darkness Into His Marvelous Light and taking seriously the opportunity to be Messengers on behalf of the Lord so that we might see more people come to know him and he is excellent and he did call you out of Darkness so we should tell people.

And if we don't know how to tell people we should practice and tell people and if you tell somebody and you didn't do it right go back to them later and say I didn't say that right round two but we should take it seriously but y'all we need to consider Christ because he is the great high priest of our faith and he's the one who perfectly accomplishes this and upheld the Covenant so we read earlier and he said because I'm going to keep my Covenant it's basically what he's saying I'm going to uphold my Covenant.

Therefore I'm going to do this how well how does he do that what what happens here how does he uphold the Covenant in the middle of their corruption and rejection which is a very pertinent question for everybody because we have all corrupted and rejected our place before the Lord as humans and there's an offer of redemption but one of the questions is how does he do that how does he offer Redemption what does he do first of all I want you to.

See that Jesus perfectly fulfills this he walks in awe verse five he works in awe of the Lord and fear of the Lord that's what he does when he's here true instruction is in his mouth he is the truth he speaks the truth when you read the words of Jesus you're reading truth and veracity that you can build your life off of he walked in peace and uprightness that Jesus never sinned he turned many from iniquity he guards knowledge and people should seek instruction from his mouth and he is the capital T messenger of the.

Lord of hosts the one who comes to Proclaim good news to us so Jesus is the perfect fulfillment of what the priesthood was meant to be and then Hebrews tells us this for the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp so Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood he's the one who becomes part of the awful and is carried out and cast out and rejected he didn't deserve to be he hadn't corrupted the Covenant.

But he took the punishment of the corrupted Covenant on himself so that he might uphold the Covenant and that's the Gospel news for us I didn't check but I don't think any of y'all are Levites but what you are are sinners who need someone to take what you deserve which is to be cast out none of us have the right to walk into the temple none of us have the right if it still existed to go into the most holy place we would be struck down we're not welcome there not only are we not welcome there.

Because we're not Levites we're not welcome there in our sin and our rejection and our rebellion of God but Jesus is the one who was cast out so that we might be brought in that's what it says that he might sanctify the people through his own blood he's the one who took the punishment we deserve so that we might be ordained Sanctified brought in and welcomed 133 verse 13 therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured.

So author of Hebrews says he did that so that we could belong to him let's go join him let's go join him and if you say well it'll be weird if I if I go if I take Serious this idea that I'm going to go bring this message that I'm going to go participate it people might not like me yeah let's bear the reproach he endured it might make some of my friendships weird let's bear the reproach he endured it it might make things awkward at the office I don't know.

If I can do that I just not sure if that's the place well let's barely reproach that he endured for this is why we would do that here we have no lasting City but we seek the city that is to come we're all called to represent the Lord by God's grace some of us are going to try to say I want to give fulltime energy and effort towards that in Mission work and in the Church but we're all called to proclaim the excellencies of him who called us out of Darkness Into His Marvelous Light and all of us are going to stand before.

For the king and may we be people who live in fear and awe looking forward to that City there's a way to Pastor that's about right here and there's a way to live our lives that's about right here it's about our place in this city but this isn't our city we've got one that's coming so may we live as a group of people who look forward to that and who our lives our decisions our wallets our time and makes sense as we stand before the.

Lord on that day you're standing before people right now which means that some of the things you're doing ought not make sense to them it should only make sense when you're standing before him we don't want to live in a way that makes sense now and makes no sense there so let's go to Jesus to be covered by his blood and to be welcomed that's done by him and then let's walk with him taking what whatever reproach comes looking forward to that City let's pray.

Lord help us have mercy on us move through your spirit so that we might look forward to that City that we might walk in fear and awe and that we might Delight in the fact that you are the one who upholds the Covenant you're the one who was cast out so that we can be brought in and so may we rejoice in your name and Praise Your Name Lord I pray for myself Spencer Matt Raz help us to fear you more than we fear people help us to turn away from sin and by your grace Keep Us Faithful and cover Us in Mercy in that day we stand before you.

God may you bless this Church that we would send out more pastors and more Church planners and more missionaries that would labor for you that would run from sin and in the day when we're choosing between hiding or running to you may we not hide so that at the end of all this we have you as our inheritance and not Ministry and not praise nothing but you and may that be true for our entire Church family that at the end of all of this we get.

Jesus or it's been a waste we ask this in your name and we thank you for your blood amen.