Grace Chapel Bible Ministries
241126 Kingdom of Priests - 2024/11/26
(upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) All right, there we go. Sorry about that. We are now, we are now working. Should have been looking at it earlier, but sorry about that. Sorry about the lack of prayer there. So we prayed. Anyway, as I was saying that there was a conversation that I was having the, there are the, I complained that I've had myself, and that I want the pastor not to say what he thinks, but what the Bible says. And when he's breaking it down and when he's teaching it, but I've come to understand that even the pastor is a learner. And there are things that are dogmatic, absolutely. There is that which I can be dogmatic about, that Jesus Christ provides eternal life for anyone that trusts in him for it. I can be dogmatic about that. I can say this is what the Bible says. This is the truth. This is what it is. But there are other things as well that comes down to the point where it could be this, and it could be that. So when the pastor says, I believe this or I think this, it opens the floor or it opens that and it tells you, do your homework. And you know, because there is a interpretation and you should be doing your homework already. It is not just for the pastor to, to download all that he knows, but it's also up to the student to dig into the scripture. And when there comes debate, it is, we do go back to the Bible. We do go back to the interpretation and we start there. We continue there and we finish there. A lot of times, we are working these things out together. It's not just a pastor working it out, passing it down, but we are working this out together. So we come this evening to Revelation chapter 1 verse 6, as we started this on Sunday. And he has made us to be a kingdom of priests to his God and father, to him be the glory, the dominion forever and ever a man. After God redeemed the Israel from Egypt, he called them a kingdom of priests. That's in Exodus 19, and thus indicating that all of them were holy to him. That holiness on Kaddosh in the Hebrew means to be set apart. It means that is set apart for a special purpose consecrated, if you will. And a kingdom of priests as here in Revelation. And in Revelation chapter 5 verse 10, it says, "You have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they will reign upon the earth." Again, going back to Exodus 19, and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel. And here we see the connection of the kingdom and priests and rulership all within God's kingdom. Point of doctrine. There's much more to the Christian life, much, much more to the Christian life than just dying in going to heaven. Sadly, and I do say sadly, it almost seems like it's the majority of the Christian, at least, and our local vicinity. That to many people, all that exists of a spiritual life is that I'm going to die and go to heaven. That's it. But there's so much about the Bible. There's so much, especially for the church age believer. And that here it is that the Lord is speaking to kingdom citizens. We have a dual citizenship. Do you understand a dual citizenship? And that we have a citizenship. Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this earth. My kingdom is not of this earth." So therefore, what is this kingdom that we see here? That he has made us a kingdom of priests. Do we know what the kingdom is? And I'm asking that in a legitimate question. Do we know what this kingdom is? We think about the kingdom. Can we know what this kingdom is? And I think that would be a study in itself. You have the kingdom of God clearly seen, and that is the universal kingdom. The universal kingdom that covers everything that the whole created realm, God created it all. So who does it all belong to? And if it belongs to him, who rules over all of it? He does. So therefore, there is that universal kingdom, and that's the kingdom of God. There is the kingdom of heaven, which we see in Matthew. That's the geopolitical kingdom, which in Acts chapter 1, the disciple says, "Is it time for you to restore the kingdom to Israel?" Specifically to the people of Israel. There is that wonderful kingdom, that new Jerusalem that comes down out of heaven. That even Abraham, his faith was looking for, a kingdom made without hands. And as the church goes on, as church age believers, go on with the concept of that they're building the kingdom. No, they're not, because the kingdom that knew Jerusalem is a kingdom that's made without hands. Do we really know what the kingdom is? And that's something even I need to learn more of and to pray about, to have a concept of it, because I believe that this, depending on what context you're speaking of, we could be speaking of different kingdoms. A kingdom is a dominion, and a dominion is a land, an area, something with borders and boundaries and what have you. A geographical location, ruled by a king, ruled by a ruler. That's a kingdom. And it's exciting to know that Jesus said that my kingdom is not of this world. That's probably the reason why Jesus said, do not love the things of this world. As our hearts, wherever our hearts are, that whatever we love, that's where our heart is. But if we recognize that there's a greater kingdom, a kingdom not of this earth, and those of us who are in Christ, we are not of this world either. Our kingdom is not of this earth. And that's a great amen for a lot of us, because all the insert, this world is full of, and the political realm and those that are looking for, to get a grasp on things, there are lies on top of lies on top of deception. This world is full of darkness. And we frankly hate it because we are children of light. And we are looking for a new heavens and a new earth where righteousness dwells. Is that the kingdom? Or is the kingdom at the end of Revelation where there is the river and the tree of life and all of that? So kingdom, the word kingdom, Basalaya, is an area or district ruled by a king or a kingdom. And a kingdom has a domain and with it a king. So without negating the Abrahamic covenant, I do not want at all to think that, for you to think that I might be advocating a replacement theology. The promises made to Abraham and to his seed are still very much in play. And the covenant was unconditional covenant and there will be a kingdom, a kingdom that's going to be restored to Israel. But is that the end of it? But there are various kingdoms that we must consider the context of. So now the church did not take the place of Israel, which is the racial seed of Abraham. But with that said that there is a spiritual side of this seed that we find, let's, I tell you what, you have your bottles, let's open up to Galatians, Galatians chapter 3. All right, I'll put this one up on the board for us. You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? This is a letter from Paul. Before whose eyes Jesus Christ has publicly portrayed as crucified. This is the only thing I want to find out from you. Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing with faith? Are you so foolish having begun by the Spirit? Are you now being perfected by the flesh? And these are rhetorical questions that Paul is having. Did you suffer so many things in vain if indeed it wasn't vain? So then, does he who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you do it by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Even so, Abraham believed God, it was reckoned to him for righteousness or as righteousness. Therefore, be sure that is those who are of the faith who are the sons of Abraham. So he said inside Israel, there are still those, well, the nation itself, the leadership have rejected under the law, the law saves no one. And therefore, these are not the legitimate children of Abraham. The scripture for seeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith preached to Gospel beforehand to Abraham saying all the nations will be blessed in you. And that's not for Abraham, that's not the seed of Abraham, that's not the physical seed of Abraham, but it was the spiritual seed. It was not the circumcision of the flesh that all nations will be blessed, but it was the circumcision of the heart. Verse 9, so that those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer. For as many of the works of the law are under the curse, for it is written, curses anyone who does not abide by all the things written in the book of the law to perform them. Now that no one is justified by the law before God is evident for the righteous man shall live by faith. Let's go on to Romans chapter 9. Now I'll start with verse 1 here. I'm telling you the truth in Christ, I'm not lying, my conscious testifies with me and the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unseason grief in my heart. For I could wish that my self were cursed, separate from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh, who are Israelites to whom belongs the adoption as sons and the glory and the covenants and the given of the law, the temple service and promises. Those are the fathers and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is overall God blessed forever a man. But it's not as though the word of God has failed, for they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel, nor are they all children because they are Abraham's descendants. But through Isaac your descendants will be named, that is it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants. For this is the word of promise, at this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son, and not only this, but there was Rebecca also when she conceived twins and it goes on from there. And then you go to Romans chapter 11 and Romans chapter 11 verse 19 speaks of the grafting in of the promises of the Gentiles into the promises. So the where as the racial seed, the racial part of it, the physical seed covers the physical line as Christians as church age believers, we have been, it's a we are a new creation, we are a new spiritual species. And we are Abraham's spiritual seed. And this is where, and then with that, and there's so much when we look at Israel. And it's just like the rituals that we understand that are physical manifestations of a spiritual reality. You can't see the spiritual, but it's so important to understand how the Lord dealt with Abraham and how the Lord dealt with the physical seed, the people, we can see that with our eyes through history through the record of God's Word. And we can come to understand the spiritual aspect and how God was dealing with the Israelites, the physical seed, he also deals with us as the spiritual seed on a much higher level. As it was that Israel was, as for an example here, Israel was brought out of Egypt and they were given a dominion of their own land flowing with milk and honey. And they were under a theocracy that is, their dominion was ruled by God and he would provide them with everything that they needed. Under the conditional covenant of Abraham or under the conditional covenant of Moses that if they abide in the covenant because they did not want grace, they rejected grace. From the very beginning Israelites wanted a legalistic system, they wanted to do something. Remember at the mountain Moses, they told Moses and said, "Hey, you go talk to God and we'll do it. Oh, you tell us what to do and we will do it." You see, they rejected a grace provision so the Lord says, "Okay, have it your way." And so he gave them the law and the law was a conditional and this is what they wanted, folks. They wanted this. They wanted that legalistic system because they thought so highly of themselves that they figured that they could abide and they could obey perfectly. Absolutely not. And they failed completely and they were rejected so they lost their kingdom. They lost that dominion. But what God had promised from the beginning and what God had purposed from the beginning, he intends to bring back to its full completion. So we understand that here we are. We're not covered by the law but we are covered by grace. And so here is a kingdom. For here we are a Christian and the Christian, another thing I should tell you is that the church was never a contingent. And that means that, well, Israel failed so therefore we'll go and bring on the church. No, the church was always in God's mind. And it was, you could also call it progressive revelation that as things go on, you start small and God starts small. And as things progressed to building up to a crescendo, to the place where Christ comes back to rule his kingdom. So he's made us a kingdom of priests. And with understanding that, that there is the function of the priesthood. Now what do we know about priests? Now again, there was that physical priest that came from the priest is one, I should say that the priest is one who represents man to God. And so what do we know about priests? First of all, God uses man. God, a priesthood are those who are set apart for service to God. A priest would meet with God in the tabernacle. It's a place of the meeting. And as a early priesthood, the vidical priesthood, it was those who were born into the particular family. You see, a priest ordinarily would not be from any other family. It wouldn't be from the tribe of Dan or from Natali or from Judah, but only a vidical priesthood. And the vidical family would have services to do. But then there would be the family of Aaron, the family of Aaron, the lineage of Aaron, that would be the ones that could go into the tabernacle and perform services. And that was the Levitical priesthood. And when Christ came, and when the Lord came, the Lord wasn't a Levitical priesthood. He wasn't in a Levitical line. He was in the line of Judah. But he was not only, and Hebrews tells us that the Lord was in the pattern of Melchizedek, who was not only a king, but he was also a priest. And it was through his death. Remember that he is the firstborn among the dead. And that he is, let me say, let me get that right. Come back to Revelation chapter, I think I said that wrong. Revelation chapter one verse six. And after you back up, John chapter seven churches that are in Asia, grace to you in peace from him, who is, and who is, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits was before the throne. From Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, firstborn of the dead. And that it was through that, it was through his death that brought us into that family. It was through his blood, it was through his blood that cleanses who watches us. As a priest was washed with water in the Old Testament, we're washed in the figurative blood of Christ through his sacrifice that we were made clean. That we were made acceptable to him that we might be priests unto him. So we've been, we've been sanctified in this kingdom of priests. We have been called, we've been, we've been cleansed for service to him. Okay, what else do we know about being priests that we should be holy, that there is a, and this is pretty cool too. As priests, as royal priests, and we are priests, and that's what Peter says that we are royal priests, where do we find that at? Let's, let's find that. Okay, take that. Let's see, don't have that here. Just a minute, looking for it. Then first Peter, yeah, first Peter to nine. I'll put this up on the board. First Peter to nine, but you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, for that you may proclaim the absency of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous life. For you once were not a people, but now you are a people of God. Remember in Ephesians Paul talks about that. He speaks of that we were, we were not of that common will, but we were aliens, but we were now brought close. For you once were not a people, but now you are a people of God. You had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lust and wage war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles so that in the thing in which they slander you as evil doers, they may because of your good deeds as they observe them and glorify God in the day of visitation. You see, and then coming back to the chapter earlier that it is the Lord, or it is Peter that says that we are to, where is that now? Is it down to 17? So when it comes to our priesthood, now the Levitical Priest, they had a list of do's and don'ts. And for the believer in Christ, our holiness comes out of our spiritual life. Try as we may, we cannot live that perfected life according to the flesh. But as we grow, as we learn from the Word of God, we are growing in the Lord, and then we are being conformed into that sanctified life, that consecrated life. Okay, it gives us a sense of responsibility that at the very moment, see, at the very moment, you're already royal priests. At the very moment of becoming Christ, at the very moment of our being born again, we are already royal priests. We are already that level. So we are to live holy. We are to live up to the position that Christ has made us. And we are children of life, and so they're within this world. And remember that we are kingdom of priests. So we are already citizens of a kingdom, and we represent Christ to a lost and dying world. Our bodies become a living sacrifice that we have consecrated our lives, set it apart for Christ. So our lives, our own lives, we picked up, and this is what the Lord says, to pick up your cross and follow me. And another thing that we know about priests is their communion with God. Again, it was the family in Israel. It was Aaron, the priestly line, that they would go into the tent of the meeting, and that's where they met with God. They were special people, Aaron, that family was set apart from all other families. And there were those within that family, the priesthood, that could go in, and before they entered into the tent, they would cleanse their hands, their feet and their basin, and they would move on into the tent. And that was where they would meet with God, when the cloud was over the tent, that was when God was there meeting with His high priest, with the priesthood. Now we are a kingdom of priests. We're no longer worshipping God in that little tent, but we are priests. First of all, we are in the family, but not in the family of Aaron, we're in the family of Christ. So therefore we are in that relationship with Him. We have a point in the meal with Christ in that kingdom. Let's go to Revelation. Turn with me to Revelation. Let's see, where is it, 23? Not 22? Revelation 22, there's not just that, Revelation 23. Revelation 22. And we look at verse 1, "Then He showed me a river of water of light, clear and crystal, coming from the throne of God, and from the Lamb. In the middle of the street, on either side of the river was the tree of barren, 12 kinds of fruit, yelling the fruit every month. And the leaves on the tree were for healing for the nations. There was no longer any curse in the throne of God, and the Lamb will be in it, and His bond servants will serve Him. They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. It will be no longer any night, and they will not have any need for a light of a land, nor the light of the Son, because the Lord God will illuminate them, and they will reign forever and ever. And this is relationship. This is that those who have that close personal relationship within that kingdom of God. What else do we know about it, priests? Probably could say so much more. So in the dying on the cross, Christ who loves us is the one who has freed us from our sins by his blood. So much He's done for us. We think, and only terms of being saved from the lake of fire. But we have been released from our sins, but what do we do at that point? Do we go about our way? Well, thanks for the salvation. We'll see it in Heaven, Lord. Or do we do like that one leper did when He turns back to the Lord and falls on the space and workups? He's done so much more, and it's it's diagnosed the imagination. He's saved us, and then He's made us priests, and He's made us rulers. Believers now, a king of a priest with a purpose, now and forever, of serving God. So this prompted John to express a benediction and praise and worship. Cominade with the name man. You can imagine this. When Adam fell, let's say no one fell and landed as hard as Adam did. Adam was created good. Notice that Adam was not created righteous. He was created good. He was part of, at the end of Genesis, at the last verse of Genesis, and the Lord looked at all that and saw all that He had made and was very good. It's perfect. Adam was perfect. His wife was perfect. And then when they took from that tree, when they violated God's law, they became law breakers, which warranted death. The Lord said in the day that you eat thereof, you will surely die, and dying they did. And Satan and the demons must have been slapping high fives, and, you know, the fallen angels, those angels that followed Satan and must have been slapping high fives, everything's good to go. And the Lord said, not so quick. Because God is going to redeem man. And he's not just going to save man from his sins. And so here is man here. And when he fell, and here's perfection, so here's man, here's perfection, when man fell, he fell all the way. No longer perfect. But when God redes man, he doesn't bring him back up to where he began. But he surpasses that. He not only surpasses the perfection and makes man righteous. He gives, it is that the Lord gives to man, imputes man his very own righteous. Man could never live up to his own righteous. But God closes them with righteousness. And again, qualifies them to be a priest, enters them into a kingdom of priests. This must have infuriated Satan. Because Satan himself was a priest. How do I know that? Ezekiel 28 speaks up the appearance of Satan. Satan led the angels in worship. He was a priest. And now, here is this low life creature. Man is now elevated to the place where Satan lost. It must have really infuriated him. All right, let's come back to our scripture here. Revelation 1, 6, and he made us to be, he made us a kingdom, priest to his God and father. To him be the glory and dominion. First of all, glory is Doksa. And Doksa is honor, worthy, fame, glory. And to him be the glory. There's a number of things we could talk about Christ and his mission upon this earth. But Christ really had one mission on this earth was to glorify the Father. Everything to the glory. And let's go ahead and add this. So it's the glory. Everything is to his praise. You go back to Ephesians 1, verse 3 and talks about the Lord, Yulogetos, which means worthy of praise and glorification is the God, even the Father. So Jesus, everything that Jesus did was for one purpose, was for the glory of God. We as priests, we as priests and function in the holiness as a life that's set apart. It's not to bring credit upon ourselves, but to bring credit upon Christ and to bring credit upon God. The works that we have with right motives, the good works, a good work can only be good, because God is good, is when it brings glory to God. This is what Jesus talked about, everything that we do, do it in secret. That it would not be and that we may step out of that which brings glory upon ourselves. We must be very careful with that. Everything goes to the exaltation of God. He has made us Kingdom of priests to his God and Father to him be the glory and dominion forever and ever. So the nation, when man fell and redemption in God's plan. I would say that God is equivalent to the Redneck who says, "Watch this, y'all." You might say that he demonstrates his glory through his plan and through his work. No one, we mentioned this Sunday, no one could ever devise a plan that God has orchestrated. No one could. Satan can only counterfeit it, and Satan fails each and every time. Why do you suppose that is? When he's counterfeiting God's plan, it works for God. Why does it work for Satan? Why does it work for God? God, we can talk about God's attributes. One comes to mind really, one attribute. Satan does nothing. Satan, there is no love in Satan whatsoever. He was a murderer from the beginning. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. Christ demonstrated his love that while we were yet sinners, he went to the cross. Satan can never do that, the power of love for that plan, the whole plan. Yes, it brings glory to God and the power of that, and that his plan directs us, and the execution of his plan brings us back to the glory of the one who executed that plan from the beginning. What does 1 Corinthians say? That faith, hope, and love, the greatest of these is love. There you have it. So it's the glory and the dominion that God rules at all. He says in the Great Commission that all authority has been given to me. So he has dominion, it's the Father's dominion, and he can give that authority to another, and it's been given to the Lord Jesus. And the Lord Jesus executes it to the glory of the Father. When we recognize and come to know our God, our purpose each day should be waking up to bring glory to God. Every thought, every decision, every action should be directed, and when it's not, then we should quickly come back to the Lord in repentance. Coming back to naming our sins, even for our thinking, even for our wrong thoughts, we should be seeking forgiveness by naming our sins to him. But everything should be, we should be careful of our thinking, we should be thinking of our motives, our decisions, and our actions. What is devotion? Devotion is a careful consideration of who God is. Would him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever, and then John finishes off with an amen. That's where we'll close it out tonight, and we'll pick up on Sunday with verse 7. And do you want to close it out, prayer on? Even if you're learning and growing in your world for having the opportunity to get a grasp on what is to come and what is your goal for us in our lives to see, and to be Christians that carry the cross, and that we are to bear witness, and that we are to be pastors, and we are to be teachers of your Word. And dear Lord, we just thank you for your love, or your kindness, and your mercy, and your grace. And we just pray that you continue to be with us through this week, and thank you for all these things, and Jesus Christ's name, we pray. Amen. All right, Lord, well-spared guide. We'll be back here in the area. Well, we love y'all. [Music] Knowing you, Jesus, knowing you, there is no prayer thing. You're my Lord, you're my Lord, you're my Lord, you're my Lord, you're my Lord, you're my Lord. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]
the theme of God's everlasting kingdom throughout scripture, revealing God's plan for His people to be a holy nation and a kingdom of priests, culminating in Christ as the victorious King.