I'd just like to say it's been a pleasure being with you this weekend and enjoying the fellowship of God's people, and we felt encouraged in the gatherings, and we do trust that God might bless us again today around his precious word. I'd like to read again, first of all, please, in the book of Malachi and in chapter two. the book of Malachi and in chapter two. I'm just going to use this as a, an initial passage. First of all, reading from verse number four, Malachi chapter two and verse number four. And ye shall know that I have sent this commandment unto you, that my covenant might be with Levi, saith the Lord of hosts. My covenant was with him of life and peace, and I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he feared me and was afraid before my name. The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips. He walked with me in peace and equity, and did turn many away from iniquity. For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth. He is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. And I want to go back, please, to the book of Leviticus and to read in chapter eight. The book of Leviticus, chapter eight. Let's read a few selected verses. Leviticus chapter eight, and reading from verse number one. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Take Aaron and his sons with him, and the garments and the anointing oil and the bullock for the sin offering, and two rams, and a basket of unleavened bread. 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 unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And Moses said unto the congregation, This is the thing which the Lord commanded to be done. And Moses brought Aaron and his sons and washed them with water. And he put upon him the coat and girded him with the girdle and clothed him with a robe and put the ephod upon him. And he girded him with the curious girdle of the ephod and bound it unto him thereof. And then further down, please. Down to verse number ten. And Moses took the anointing oil and anointed the tabernacle and all that was therein in sanctified them, and he sprinkled thereof upon the altar seven times and anointed the altar and all his vessels, both the laver and his foot, to sanctify them. And he poured of the anointing oil upon Aaron's head and anointed him to sanctify him. And Moses brought Aaron's sons and put coats upon them and girded them with girdles and put bonnets upon them, as the Lord commanded Moses. Down to verse eighteen. and he brought the ram for the burnt offering, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the ram, and he killed it, and Moses sprinkled the blood upon the altar round about, and he cut the ram into pieces, and Moses burnt the head and the pieces and the fat, and he washed the inwards and the legs in water, and Moses burnt the whole ram upon the altar. It was a burnt sacrifice for a sweet savor and an offering made by fire unto the Lord, as the Lord commanded Moses. And he brought the other ram, the ram of consecration, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the ram, and he slew it, and Moses took of the blood of it and put it upon the tip of Aaron's right ear and upon the thumb of his right hand and upon the great toe of his right foot. And he, he brought Aaron's sons, and Moses put of the blood upon the tip of the right ear and upon the thumbs of the right hands and upon the great toes of the right feet, and Moses sprinkled the blood upon the altar round about. Then a final reading, please, in First Peter chapter two. First Peter chapter two. First Peter chapter two, verse number four. to whom coming as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious. Ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable unto God by Jesus Christ. In verse 9, but ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praises of him who had called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, 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. We do trust that God will bless to us again the reading of his own good. My time's very limited this afternoon, and we won't be able to deal extensively with these passages that we've read together, but I do want to try to say something to you, particularly, and I know we often say this, but particularly for the sake of the younger folks that are with us on the subject of priesthood. It occurred to me just while I was looking at Malachi again that in Malachi chapter two we have brought before us something of the functions of priesthood, just in a very brief way, outlined in these verses that are before us. But when we go back to Leviticus chapter eight, I think the subject before us there is that of the, the consecration of the priest, and that we could say that there the writer is bringing before us the thought of fitness for priesthood. And then when we go over to First Peter chapter two and we bring it into the language of the New Testament, the writer Peter is bringing before us there the different forms of priesthood. And I think these are interesting for us to consider together this afternoon. First of all, if we think a little about the idea of the fitness for priesthood as we see it in the book of Leviticus chapter eight, to take it in its proper order, we want to say something today about the idea of consecration. You notice that this begins with the idea of separation right there at the beginning in Leviticus eight and verse number one, God says to Moses, take Aaron and his sons with him. And there is a strong suggestion in that word take that he was to separate them. That, eh, brings before us the great need for separation unto God if we are going to be fit for service as far as he is concerned. It goes back to Exodus chapter twenty eight. You remember how Moses was instructed there, as it indicated for us the sovereign choice of God upon Aaron, and that beyond the thought of separation, there is the idea of election that we spoke a little about yesterday. And I think this is what the Hebrew writer had in mind as well when he wrote in Hebrews chapter five verse number one. He said there that every high priest that is taken from amongst men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God. And the older brethren used to teach us that the prepositions were very important, and there are two prepositions in Hebrews chapter five that we want to underline this afternoon. There is, first of all, the idea of from men, and there is secondly the idea of for men. And that would show us the, the indication that God would give with regard to the priest as he selects him, and as he separates him, and as he calls him into this wonderful service of functioning before his holy name. First of all, he is taken from men, and as we've been saying this afternoon, that is the thought of separation, taken from amongst men. That, of course, is why Aaron had to be the priest and not Moses. We know that it was Aaron who suffered with the people, uh, at the brick kilns, who knew the lash of the taskmaster, who knew what it was to be under the oppression and bondage of slavery in Egypt. So, like the Lord Jesus, he knew what it was to suffer being tempted. But when we think of Moses, of course, he was brought up in the palace, and he knew nothing of that side of life. And it's lovely just to see how God takes from the people those that can be a representative for the people. So separation leads us into this idea of representation, that a priest is a man who is a representative man. He is a man who is going to represent the people before God. We often think of the difference between the prophet and the priest. The prophet is the man who represents God before the people. The priest is the man who represents the people before God. And it's lovely to think in Hebrews chapter five of how he is taken from men as one that has known the, eh, different vicissitudes of life, known what it is to suffer, known what it is to be touched in the circumstances of life. He's taken from there, but he's taken that he might be ordained for men in things pertaining to God. And so we have the indication there of the representative character of priesthood. But I say that we have beyond this the thought of election and the great purpose of God with regard to priesthood. It was ever the intention of God, you know, that he would take out for himself a people who would be before him as priests. It was the intention when God took up the nation of Israel that he would have, as he says in the book of Exodus, a kingdom of priests before him, that there would be a whole nation of priests. But we know that by their own transgression, they fell from that ideal that God had intended for them. And as we read in the book of Malachi, God made his covenant with the tribe of Levi and then with the family of Aaron, and Aaron and his sons were consecrated here in Leviticus chapter eight before God to be his priests. But God's purpose and election is to stand, and we find that what failed with regard to Israel because of the weakness of the flesh, God seeks to establish today in his church as he has called out of the nations a people for his name, and as we read in First Peter chapter two, God will have his kingdom of priests before him today, and we'll try to say a little more about that before the meeting is over. But this idea of election, you know, it's interesting that Peter in his epistle in chapter one, the man who writes about priesthood in the New Testament, that he brings before us in the opening chapters the thought of election, that we are elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification of the Spirit and the belief of the truth. And as he thinks about this idea of election, I'm sure that we can see that those who are ordained to serve for God in chapter 2 as priests are those that have been chosen by God in chapter one. And it's lovely just to think this afternoon how that God has put his hand upon us and separated us by his Spirit from men and called us unto himself that he might establish us as priests before his face. And so there is this thought of separation, and, uh, sometimes, you know, we think about the idea of separation in a negative way, but it's lovely to see this positive aspect of being separated from men to God, that we might represent men in the presence of God above. But I want you to notice too, and we're dealing with this very quickly for the sake of time, in verse number six of Leviticus chapter eight, there's not just the thought of separation, but the thought of purification. It says there that Moses brought Aaron and his sons, and he washed them with water. He washed them with water. And it's often pointed out that they were cleansed, and they were clothed, and they were crowned. Now, I think that when we have Aaron mentioned on his own in the Old Testament, then as a priest, he is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, generally speaking. But when we have Aaron mentioned with his sons, then it is typical of the priestly family and representative, I think, of the saints today. And so you can take that as a general principle when you find these things in the Old Testament scriptures. But it's lovely to see here how that God, in bringing fitness in for priesthood, that he cleanses those that he calls. Moses brought Aaron and his sons, and he washed them with water. I'm sure that you would know that there are two ideas of washing. There is the idea that's presented to us in the Epistle to the Hebrews, chapter ten and verse number twenty two. He speaks there about our bodies being washed with pure water, and eh, this idea of washing, as we are often, as we often have pointed out, is a once and for all washing. It's something that is done judicially through the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ for us at the place called Calvary. And so there's the once and for all washing, and I believe that's what we have in view here in Leviticus chapter eight. And as Moses took Aaron and his sons and washed them with water, it's bringing before us the need to emphasize the holy character that is required of those that would serve in the sanctuary of God, the fitness that is needed for those that are going to function before himself. I trust, beloved saints of God, that we all appreciate today that God would have us consecrated in fitness before him, those that are washed because of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus on Calvary's cross. But there is too, of course, the need not only for that once and for all washing, there is the need for that consistent washing. The, the priest, as he came into the presence of God, the first thing he had to do was to wash himself, his hands and his feet at the laver. And of course, the laver speaks of that constant, consistent washing that took place in order that fitness might be found in the priest as he moved in and out of God's holy and august presence. I suppose that that answers to the washing of John chapter thirteen. Lovely to see in that way of how the Lord Jesus Christ, eh, said there, he that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean everywhere. And there is the need, if you and I are going to function before God, there is the need today because of the contamination that we contract along the way, because of the defilement that there is in this world around us, there is the need for you and I to constantly wash at the laver of the word of God, to cleanse ourselves daily, and eh, to make sure that we are, as a priestly people, fit for God's holy and divine presence. So there's the idea of purification. And then I want you to notice too, that in verses ten to thirteen of chapter eight, there is the idea of sanctification. It says there that eh, Moses was to take the anointing oil, and eh, he was to anoint, you'll notice, both the place and the priests. And so this speaks of consistency, doesn't it, between the persons and the sphere in which they are going to function. And that is exactly what God is doing with us today as a priestly people. He's making us fit for the sphere into which we are going to, uh, function as, as a priest, as priests before God. And, uh, it's in- interesting just to see this, eh, idea of sanctification in Leviticus chapter eight. It has the idea with the anointing oil of being set apart in holiness unto himself. Sanctification is something, again, that is both positional and practical. There are other aspects of sanctification in the New Testament, but generally speaking, these two main ideas, positional and san- and and practical sanctification. Again, in Hebrews chapter ten, we have the positional side. You remember how he says there that we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all, once and for all. So there is the positional side of sanctification. Because of the finished work of the Lord Jesus at Calvary, you and I are set apart in holiness unto himself, and God constitutes us as being holy before him. So we are fit in that sense for the sphere into which he would bring us. But of course, there is also the practical side of sanctification, that you and I, who have been made a holy people and called with a holy calling, are expected to be holy in our lives. And it's interesting that Peter, again, is the one that brings this out in his epistle. As God would say to those that are priests in chapter two, he says in chapter one, be ye holy, for I am holy, says the Lord. And there is the need for you and I to make sure in our daily lives that we are holy, that we are set apart in this way of holiness unto the God of heaven, that we don't get involved with those corrupting and contaminating and evil things that are around us in the world today, those things that will corrupt our minds, those things that will defile our walk, those things that will hinder us as we would seek to function in the presence of God above. I think there is the process indicated here in the idea of the anointing oil being put upon the priest. It is indic- indicative, I think, of the work of the Spirit of God. You know, the idea of sanctification is something that is accomplished in our lives, I believe, by the Spirit. As the Holy Spirit himself enters into our lives and indwells us, then we become sacred, holy vessels for God. And it is through the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives day by day that we are able to live holy, separated lives unto God. I trust that we can see that what we have in he- in view here is that there would be a, a perfume that was put over them in that holy anointing oil. And as the, the perfume would arise from the priest in Leviticus chapter eight here, we have a lovely picture, I believe, of what it would mean to God to look down from heaven and to see a life that is separated, sanctified by the Spirit, to see the savor and the fragrance of that life that is set apart for him. And I would like to encourage the younger folks amongst us today just to seek daily to live that kind of life, a life that is, eh, eh, controlled by the power of the Spirit of God, where there is a constant fragrance of Christ through the Spirit that is arising out of your life to the God of heaven who looks down upon you. So there is this lovely fragrance that comes from the anointing oil that covers the person of Aaron and his sons. Then I want you to notice too that we have in view here in Leviticus chapter eight the thought of communion. I think that's brought in, you know, with the idea of the sin offering, and we find that in verses fourteen to seventeen. I think it has in view, doesn't it, the sin offering, the maintenance of communion as far as the people of Israel were concerned. Unless they brought their sin offering, unless they were prepared to function before God in this way, then their communion was, uh, disturbed between themselves and God. The sin offering was given for the maintenance of their communion with God, and that would be, uh, true as far as you and I are concerned as well today. And as we look at the passage here, we see that God provided a bullock for a sin offering, and that they had to lay their hands upon the head of the, the bullock, and that speaks to us of the idea of the transference of sin from them to the animal. As they looked upon that animal and leaned their hands upon the head of it, they were saying that they were unworthy for the presence of God, and they were acknowledging that the only claim that they had to God's presence was in the fitness of another. And you and I do that, don't we? As we, uh, lean ourselves upon the sacrifice of Christ in all his fullness, and we acknowledge that our only fitness to be before God in his holy presence is because of the fitness of another, the Lord Jesus Christ, who suffered on behalf of us at Calvary's cross. There's the application of the blood as far as this is concerned. Again, we notice it touches the sphere of the ministry. It goes right into the, to the sanctuary, and as we look at Hebrews chapter ten, I think again we can see that the Hebrew writer has this in view as he speaks about having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. And it is the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ that gives us access into the presence of God, and because of the shedding of his rich, precious blood, you and I are able as priests just to enter right in to the sanctuary of God's divine presence. And so it's the efficacy of the blood that allows us to enter into the holiest. You notice too that he mentions the idea of the burning of the animal here. Now you would know, I'm sure, most today that there are two ideas of burning associated with sacrifices in the Old Testament. There's the word that means to burn as a sweet savor, and we see that with regard to, for example, the burnt offering and the meal offering. What was burned was burned as a sweet savor unto God, something that arose as an aroma that, uh, God could find rest in and be satisfied with and find pleasure in what was offered. But we have this word here in Leviticus eight and in Leviticus four and five with regard to the sin offering and the trespass offering, and it's the word that means to burn down. It's the word that means to reduce to ashes. And here we have in view what it cost the person of God's son just to, eh, bring us into the good of communion with God, to bring us into God's presence so that we can enjoy that closeness of access and fellowship with him. And the writer is showing to us here that the animal had to be burned. It had to be reduced to ashes. The fire of divine holiness had to feed upon it. And there's a little picture to us of what it cost the Lord Jesus Christ in suffering and in agony at Calvary, as he knew what it was for the wrath and judgment of God to fall upon him. It's a little picture of what it cost the Lord Jesus to bring you and I back into communion with the holy God of heaven. I wonder today just what our appreciation is of sin in this world and in our lives. I wonder today, do we appreciate that God wants us constantly to be in the enjoyment of communion? And isn't that why John in his epistle says that if we sin, that we have to confess our sin, knowing that he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. But he tells us that it is the blood of Jesus Christ, God's son, that cleanses us from every sin. And young believer and older believer, in the meeting this afternoon, the older brethren used to encourage us to keep short accounts with God, to make sure that when we sin, we confess our sin, so that communion might not be disturbed between our souls and the God that we serve. And as priests established before him, we need to constantly be concerned, I judge, about this matter of communion with. But then there's the thought of the burnt offering, and this brings in the idea of devotion. And we find that in verses eighteen to twenty one, and it shows to us something of the devotion in faith, first of all, of the Lord Jesus Christ. But I think too, it shows us the devotion that is required of those who would function as priests before God. He speaks there about the different parts, doesn't he, of the burnt offering, of the head, the inwards, and the legs, reminding us, as far as the Lord Jesus Christ was concerned, about that holy mind that was consecrated to God, reminding us of the one, eh, that knew no sin, reminding us of the inwards, that one who was constantly motivated for divine pleasure and the accomplishment of God's will, reminding us that in him was no sin, reminding us about those legs, the the perfect movements of the love Jesus, the mind, the motives and the movements of Christ, all devoted to the accomplishment of the will of his Father as he served to his pleasure down here below. And as we are told by Peter, he's the one that did no sin. And so you can see something of the perfect devotion of the Lord Jesus Christ in his life, and I'm sure there is required of those who would be priests before God, this thought of devotion and service, holy for him, that we see in the idea of the burnt offering. But then we come to the idea of consecration, for there's not only the ram that was taken as a burnt offering, there's the ram that was taken in order that the priest might be consecrated before God. And we're told here that that ram was slain, and the blood of it was taken and put upon the tip of Aaron's right ear and the thumb of his right hand and upon the great toe of his right foot, and it bringing before us the idea of consecration to God and priesthood. Now, it's interesting that it was put upon the extremities of the man. It was put upon the tip of his right ear and right down to the great toe of his right foot. It seems to me that God is saying he wants the whole man. He wants the whole man. He wants his ear, and he wants his hand, and he wants his foot. And if we are going to serve in a consecrated way to God today, then God wants us to know that the blood has been put upon us, that we have been purchased, says the Apostle Paul. We are not our own, that we belong to to God and to the Lord Jesus Christ, and that the blood is upon us today, and that we are a consecrated people unto himself. I trust this afternoon that we appreciate in simplicity and in practical terms today that God wants our ear. God wants our ear for himself. We thought a little of what we might be listening to, uh, yesterday, as far as the things of this world is concerned. I wonder, is your ear consecrated to the things of God? We think of the ear of the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, he openeth mine ear morning by morning to hear as the instructed one. I wonder, is your ear open? Is your ear open to the voice of God? What about your hand in the service of God? Young people today, are you consecrated in your lives unto him, knowing that God has set you apart to be priests unto himself? God wants you to give your hand to his servants. What about your feet? What about the movements, your walk in this world in which we live? I wonder, are you walking worthily? Are you walking holily? Are you walking pleasingly as far as God is concerned in this world in which we live? Where do your footsteps take you week by week? I wonder when it comes to the end of a week and, uh, your week at school has passed or your week at work has passed, I wonder where do your feet take you to? I wonder, are you consecrated in your walk unto God? As we see the priest here in Leviticus chapter eight and these things that we've touched very hurriedly today, we understand that God wanted his people to be fit before him as a fit priesthood. We don't have time this afternoon. I mustn't transgress on our brothers' time, but just briefly to say a little word on the things that we've got in Malachi chapter two. We have the idea of the, the covenant, and here we have the, the functions of priesthood brought, brought out with regard to that. You know, there was consistency of life and lip. That's what he's emphasizing, isn't it? God's saying to them here that the law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips. He walked with me in peace and equity. So there is the thought of consistency of life, consistency of life and lip. You know, the New Testament speaks of the things that Jesus began to do and to teach. There was perfect balance between the life and the lip as far as the Lord Jesus Christ was concerned, his walk and his words. And as far as priesthood is concerned, there must be that consistency between our walk and our words. And we can see that God expected that of the priest here in Malachi chapter two. There is that walk of communion, walking with God. What do we know of this? Day by day, in practical terms, functioning as a priest, walking with God. You know, it says that of Enoch, doesn't it? That Enoch walked with God, and Noah walked with God as well, and many men in the Old Testament walked with God. I wonder, young person in the meeting this afternoon, have you a desire to walk with God, to cultivate day by day a walk with him, to know that closeness and intimacy of personal communion with the God of heaven. And then, as we look at Malachi, you know, there is this idea of the fact that he had this commission from God, that he was the messenger of the Lord. Of course, I wonder, do we realize today that we have a commission from him? We can't speak, stay to, to speak of that today, but just briefly, as we go to First Peter chapter, eh, 2, we have brought before us there the different forms of priesthood. Not two different priesthoods, but two different forms of priesthood. There is the holy priesthood, and there is the royal priesthood. And as far as the holy priesthood is concerned, he says this, that we are a spiritual house, a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices. I wonder today if we appreciate this, that God has set us apart. Every stone in the building is in the priesthood. Every person in the nation is in the priesthood. There's no sex barrier as far as priesthood is concerned. We're not talking about the public side of service here. Whether male or female, we are in the priesthood, and God wants us to have this fitness. God wants us to function in this way. He wants to know that there is coming from our lives that offering up to himself, and he's speaking here about the holy priesthood and the direction of their services that they might offer up to God spiritual sacrifices. I wonder, beloved saints of God, what is coming from our lives to God today? Are there spiritual sacrifices? Are we offering up to him? You know, sometimes life can be lived all for self, and sometimes li- life can be lived all just in the plane of earth, but God has made us a heavenly people, and God wants us to offer up to him out of these lives of ours, and we haven't got time this afternoon to amplify that, but you can go through the New Testament for yourself and see the different ways in which you can offer up to God a sacrifice. But then there's the holy priesthood on the one hand, and the royal priesthood on the other hand, that we might show forth, he says, the praises of him, the excellences of him who have called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. You know, sometimes I'm asked the question by sisters, what can we do? What can we do to serve God? Well, here he tells us in First Peter chapter two: you can offer up, not publicly, not audibly, but you can offer up from your heart and from your life and the devotion of your living and your service. You can offer up to God, and you can show forth. You can show forth out of that life of yours the excellences of the Lord Jesus Christ, that the virtues of him who walked holy for God down here might be seen in your life, that he might be magnified through you, to use the language of the Apostle Paul, that you might show forth as a royal priest the virtues of him that's called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. Just that God with us.