In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of searching and studying the scriptures to verify the truth of the message being preached. He encourages believers to be like the Bereans who diligently searched the Old Testament to confirm the teachings of the apostle Paul. The preacher also emphasizes the need for believers to personally partake in the word of God and find rest and peace in it. He compares the word of God to refreshing waters that require effort to access, highlighting the importance of digging deep and laboring in studying the scriptures. The sermon concludes with a reference to Psalm 23, emphasizing the role of the Lord as a shepherd who provides for and guides his sheep.

I always end up here first because of my gracious brother, who just, he's senior and he insists that I go first. I try to insist on him, but he is so gracious and so kind, so I'm up here again first. Let me turn again to Psalm 23, if you would please. Psalm 23. And we want to consider it tonight a little bit in its correct aspect. Psalm 23. Before we read that, I have been asked, I almost forgot, Brother Alvin will be giving me a word here. Let's turn over to 1 Corinthians chapter 11. I have been asked to read this and mention this to you, please. 1 Corinthians chapter 11 and verse 23. He asked me to read 23, but I think I'll take the liberty and read down to 23. 1 Corinthians chapter 11 and verse 23. For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, Say ye, this is my body which is broken for you, this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup when he had stopped saying, This cup is a new covenant in my blood. This do ye as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of me, for as oft as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye shall the Lord's death till he come. Wherefore, whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself for a person, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh judgment to himself, not deserting the Lord's body. Brother Allen asked me to read the last, because tomorrow morning, Lord willing, if he hasn't come to take us home to be with himself, we will gather again to remember the Lord Jesus Christ in his death, as he just read. So all dear folks that remember the Lord back in your home place are welcome to do so with us tomorrow morning. We'd love to have you. So remember the Lord Jesus Christ and give him the temple place. And perhaps tonight we can maybe mention a few things about that if time permits. We hope it will. And by the way, right now I'd better take this thing off and get it in front of me. Okay. All right, let's read in Psalm 23, please, if you will. Psalm 23. While you're looking for that, we would say, as we read, Let each one examine themselves, because when we come together as a group, a congregation, into the presence of Holy God to remember him in his death until he comes, we are in the presence of Holy God. And because he's righteous and holy, we need to examine ourselves. And the word of God says if we confess our sins, he's faithful just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So it's a very holy place to be in the presence of Holy God, remembering Holy God in his death on our behalf. And that's what he comes for. But you know what it says, until he comes for beloved, we have that promise, he's coming again. And, you know, tomorrow might be the last time. Maybe we'll get that. Wouldn't it be wonderful to go from here to heaven? Heaven on earth to heaven in heaven. That would be wonderful. And I have really enjoyed the fellowship. It's just been tremendous. I have really enjoyed it. And I know Brother Wilson has, because we were talking about it. We both just had a delightful time. And it's just been so nice to meet you dear Christians from all over the country. And it's just to have fellowship and climb the hills and throw horseshoes at one another and all the kind of good things and just have a good time. And we can do that as well as we can. We can have a better time than anybody else. And it's just been great. And we thank those that have been gracious and kind enough to provide the facilities and provide the meals and provide everything that's needed so graciously and watch for every need. And they have done an excellent job and we need to pray for them and thank God for them. All right. Psalm 23. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not have any need. He maketh me to lie down. Notice it says need, not want. He maketh me to lie down in pastures of tender grass. He guideth me beside the waters of stillness. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Moreover, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. For thou art with me. Thy rod of correction and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine adversaries. Thou anointest my head with oil. My cup runneth over. Only goodness and loving kindness shall follow me all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Or for the length of days. All right. Tonight we want to consider a few specifics concerning the psalm before us. And a good way to read this psalm is by asking the question, What shall I want? What shall I want? And as we go through it, and we look at it, and we ask ourselves that question, it'll amaze us. What shall we have need of? Well, we want rest, don't we? For he maketh me to lie down in green pasture. Now, I am not a sheep herder, but I've done some reading and checking. And those who raise sheep, professional sheep men, tell us that sheep, first of all, lie down and they are called breastliers. They put their legs under them and they lay down with their legs under them. You know, a horse sticks them out in front of them. But a sheep holds them underneath themselves, and their breast is what lies on the ground. Now, sheep will not lie down to eat, the rest I mean, until they have eaten. They don't lie down to eat. They eat before they lay down. And so the psalmist, through the Spirit of God, says, for he makes me to lie down in green pasture. Pastures, more appropriately, pastures of tender grass. The shepherd provides tender, fresh, nourishing food. So that the sheep can eat that grass that has been prepared. The Lord Jesus, as our shepherd, does not just take us along and let us helter-skelter get the food we need. Everything we need, every want we have is met in the Word of God and the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's already provided. There is no need that we can have that is not met in Him. It's there. And it's tender. It's succulent. It's full of vitamins, if you will. Just what the sheep need. They cannot eat grass that has poison weeds in it. They cannot eat grass that has weeds that are unproductive because it causes gas in their intestinal system. And they cannot regurgitate their food properly. And if they lay down in grass that is sparse, they're uncomfortable. If they lay down in a place that is shallow and got holes in it, they're uncomfortable. They don't rest. And they will not properly regurgitate their food from their first stomach and eat it properly. Therefore, they will not grow properly. But most of all, they won't rest. They'll be restless. And I think we need to realize, especially with us so many older ones here, that if we are to shepherd God's people, if we are to care for God's people, we must provide them, as our brother was saying this morning. Those of us that, whether we minister from the platform or we minister in the prayer meeting, we must minister food that is food, proper diet. We need to give the sheep peace and rest, away from fear and danger. And so he makes them to lie down in these green, prepared, level pastures. A sheep can lay down in a hole and get tipped over. And they may look perfectly content and perfectly comfortable, but when they get tipped over a little bit, they cannot help themselves up. Especially if they're a productive sheep with a heavy coat of wool. And when a sheep has that happen, they tell us that the sheep will die. How many times, dear brothers and sisters, have we seen a sheep? We had Rocky Forest today from Isaiah. My brother beat me to it. That they were the ones that young, must be taken care of. And how we need to take care of young elite. We all need to have a concern for the young babe in Christ, that they don't get into the feed that is not proper for them. And even when the feed is there, to make sure that they're brought to that feed, and to make sure that they participate. But before we can do that, we ourselves, must have taken that food in. We must be at rest ourselves. We must know the peace of God. Because the lesson that comes across, above everything else, to the young believer, is what they see in us. It's amazing, the simplest thing, that speaks to younger believers. I think of one, and please forgive me for using myself, as an illustration, I can use myself when something goes wrong, and you can laugh at me. The night before I went to have surgery, I had surgery on Wednesday morning. Our Bible study is on Tuesday night, in our prayer meeting. And for me, it was just natural to be there on Tuesday night. I mean, what else do you do on Tuesday night, if it's prayer meeting and Bible study? You go to prayer meeting and Bible study, prepared. So I went. And you know what? I had at least a dozen of young men and young women, adults, married, in their 30s, late 20s, come to the hospital to see me. And I was amazed, you know what they said? I can't believe that you came up to the prayer meeting and Bible study when you were going into surgery the next day. And I said to them, where else do you go when you have something like that hidden in front of you? Well, you go and you ask the Lord's people, pray to the Lord, and He'll glorify Himself. Where else are you going to go? Well, to the throne of grace. And when the saints have gone together, around the throne of grace, well, what other place would you be? But at that place. It's normal, isn't it, for a believer to be there? But you know, it spoke so much to them that one of the elders came down and he says to the house, I've got to go pray the next Lord's day. I'm not preaching, I couldn't preach for a month, a month and a half. But he says, Mom, since you did that, he said the prayer meeting attendance has tripled. And they all say the same thing. When an old brother, and I told you I'm one of the old brothers, you know. When an old brother can come out to a meeting when he's going into surgery the next day, then what's wrong with the rest of us? And you know, it did wonder. You see, the sheep follow after the under-shepherds. And oh, beloved, whether we're a shepherdess or a shepherd, we need, by the grace of God, first of all, our children. Boy, they want it. You know, we're so foolish as all the folks who think that young people don't catch things. They read us like a book in large print. Believe me, they do. And the young believers in the body of Christ, they read us like we're under a magnifying glass. What kind of a pattern are we made on? Are we feeding on the tender grass? Are we resting in the tender grass that the shepherd, the chief shepherd has prepared, the good shepherd? Oh, he gives us rest. And every single one of us by this time of our age that know the Lord Jesus Christ have come to know that peace and that rest that is alone found in the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, it doesn't matter if you are a businessman that has a six-figure salary. Almost a seven-figure salary. And maybe some of you have that. I don't know. But it can't give you the peace. It can't give you the peace of conscience. It can't. It probably gives you a lot of headaches to try and keep it together and maintain it. It doesn't. There is only one place that we can have rest. And that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's not only for our problems. It's for our growth. It's for our grace. Oh, you might go on to praise the Lord in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so the psalmist says, he makes me to lie down in green pastures. He leads me to those green pastures. And he quiets me down. He gives me that rest. I don't have to worry about the enemy around. Fr. Wilson was telling me of some of the dangers over there in Africa with the lions. Old lions. Because they can't go after the game anymore. So what do they do? They go after you. But they don't have to chase them. They just let the lion wait. And who is the old lion that lies and waits for you and I to run it? He goes about as a warring lion, seeking whom he may devour. And who does he want more than an older Christian to have a chance? Oh, if he can make us fall. He's out to do us. He loves us. Unless we're resting in the green. And the sheep lie down on that green grass. And it cushions them. And they can rest at ease. Why? There's a shepherd there. He needs me. He makes me lie down in green grass. You see, the sheep can lie down in perfect rest and peace and knowledge of God. Because the shepherd is there. And then, he needs me beside the still water. The water is a stillness. Now, we're told that in Palestine, the rivers are almost all poison, even to this day. So, it wasn't a matter of the shepherd finding a stream and finding a place that was smooth and quiet in the water. That wasn't sufficient. Why do you suppose that Jacob dug well? The word here in the original, as I understand it, is pools of quietness. The wells were dug. And the fresh, cool water came in. But the shepherd had to dig the well. Hard work. The shepherd had to take care of that well. And the shepherd then had to bring the water up out of the well to feed the sheep. You see, beloved, if we're to enjoy the refreshing waters of the Word of God, wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his ways by the washing of the water of the Word. And we could go on and on and on with verses of Scripture referring to the Word of God as the water. The water. In a new way, the old way. But if we're to enjoy those quiet waters, it's not going to be by letting the Word of God lie on a shelf. It's going to be by digging well. It's going to take labor. And, dear sister, if you're going to be that grandmother that can influence those grandchildren, and the older sisters ought to teach the younger sisters, if you're going to fall into that category and meet that responsibility before God as He gives it to you in the local body of believers, then you're going to have to dig. It's hard work. You need tools to do that. You need good concordance. You need a good dictionary. Bible dictionary. You need a good English dictionary. And you need some good reliable commentaries, at least. And various books for research if you want to go into it. But you see, it's not just for the preacher. Scrooge said, although he helped and never replained, but you can breathe through the Spirit of God, from the Word of God, as you search the sanctuary. And so he brings them to drink. Brings them to rest, and he brings them to drink. In a pool of life. All prepared. All ready. Cool, refreshing, non-poisonous. Oh, be careful what you read and what you feed on. Dearly beloved brothers and sisters, there is so much in the world today that is absolute sin. But the world portrays it as sugar and spice and everything nice. And sin is sweet to the taste, but deadly. And if the sheep may drink that water, that looks so nice, and it's quiet, and it's flowing, and it looks clear, but it's poisonous. We need to drink from the pool of life that the Lord himself has ordained. The Word of God. Don't go back to your room and say, well, that was a nice message, and just buy it and receive it. Do what the believers did in Berea. Here is the great apostle Paul. He ministered the Word of God. And what happened? It says the Bereans, they went back and they searched the Scriptures to see if these things were so. They were searching the Old Testament to see if this Paul spoke the truth. The great apostle. Children of God. Beloved, search the Scriptures to see if these things are so. Never mind what that man on the platform said. The truth itself. Pay attention to it. Search it. Compare it against the Scriptures. And you'll grow in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the only thing. We have men in our pulpits across the land today that don't even know the Lord Jesus Christ. Way back in the service in the chaplain's court in 1946, 45, out of 24 chaplains in our regiment, I would say three of them knew the Lord Jesus Christ. The rest of them were a bunch of social gospel preachers telling the guys, do the best you can, and behave yourself, and be careful. And maybe when you get to heaven, it balances out. I used to have this with my friends in the chaplain's court. Men go into eternity. And it's going right on today, beloved. We have men writing books. The chaplain has the last deceitful in California, propagating humanism like it's nobody's business. And people are believing it and going to hell because they do not check the word of God to see if these things are so. Oh, my dear friend, I don't know where you're going, but whatever your preacher says, get in the book and see if what he's teaching is according to what God is teaching, according to the word of God. Drink deep of the wells and the pools of quietness and refreshment. The word of God. And you'll be satisfied, and you'll grow. Then he says, We have forgiveness, for he restored my soul. Isn't that wonderful? He restored my soul. Have you ever been down? Have you ever been down? You know, Christians can get down. Maybe you don't think you can get down, and you look at people and you say, how can they be so down mentally? Do Christians get down mentally? Well, sure they do. I'll tell you one Christian that got down mentally one time so far that he tried to commit suicide indirectly. And you're looking at it. In the middle of 1945, we came to the Elbe River. The engineers didn't get up there, and I hope there's no engineers here. That's engineers. The engineers didn't get up there. They didn't have a baiting bridge across the river. The river had all been blown out. The only time I saw General George Patton, he came up. And of course, he outranked our one star by a long shot, and he said, get across the river. And he took the road safe. Called for those of us that could swim, and we swam across that river. And it flowed like a 30-mile line. In the right block, floating in the middle. And we crossed the river. And we crossed the river. We pulled heavy lines across, and the rest hung on the lines going across. But, you know, during the night, I got so cold. And some things that happened in my life. I had a Christian girl that I was going to marry, and I got a deer jaundice. And boy, did it hurt. It hurt me just two days before that. And I was going across, and my hands went across the road. And I said, enough. And I just dropped everything I was carrying, because I was hungry. And I went down the river. All the way down to a huge power plant. And I could hear the water going through the turbine. And the water was ice cold. And I cast them the heavy cable stretched across to the barges that used to come down the river, so they wouldn't hit the dam. And I could have reached up and ran for my life. Can you believe that? A believer who has seen God's grace time and time again. In physical salvation. And I passed under those cables. Twice. Because I was so down. Not righteously. Emotionally. And the Lord took me to some big pylons. And I started to push myself off. And I said, no, I can't do that. That's it. And I grabbed and held on. And they pulled me out in one, and then they wanted to cut my feet off. But, you know, they didn't do that anyway. Do you see how down a person can get? Can you imagine that? I say, oh Lord. Miserably. A Christian can get down. And when a Christian gets down, a Christian sins. Mentally. Emotionally. And spiritually. Why? Because he turns from God. He doesn't know that risk. He isn't feeding in the walls of quietness. And so we need forgiveness. And thank God for the first epistle of John. That we confess our sins. He is faithful. And he is just. He's justified in forgiving our sins because of Calvary. They're taking care of us. But we need forgiveness. And we have that. And we can have that fellowship restored. And that blessing restored. And the joy of the Lord restored. Because the Lord forgives. Because he paid for that forgiveness. Oh, what a gracious Lord. Isn't he wonderful? He is wonderful. And then we have guidance. For he leads me in the path of righteousness. How can he lead us in the path of righteousness? Because he's righteous. He goes before us. We're in Christ. And he's the only one that can lead us in the path of righteousness. But again, we must be resting. We must be drinking from the walls of quietness and provision. Then we must be confessing our sins. And when we do that, then we can walk in his righteousness. Because we're resting in him. We're walking with him. And we're enjoying that precious fellowship with himself. So he gives us guidance. He guides us by his eye. And you can spend all night on this. He guides us with his word. He guides us with the spirit of God. And he'll guide us with other believers. He'll use other believers to guide us and help us. And to instruct us. And to give us wise counsel. Oh, we need one another, beloved. Oh, thank God for his righteousness. And we're clothed in the garments of salvation. But he leads us as we follow him. Remember, my sheep hear my voice and they know me and they follow me. When we follow him, we walk in the path of righteousness for his name's sake. And then we have companionship for thou art their mate. Is there a better companion than the Lord Jesus Christ? Oh, our mates will fail us sometimes. We'll fail them. Everyone fails us, but he never fails us. What a companion! He has given us that promise, I will never leave thee. I will never forsake thee. Underneath are the everlasting arms. Oh, the companionship of the Lord Jesus. I suppose people think I'm going off my mind sometimes. They see me going down the highway. And here I am, speaking with the Lord. I've learned by his grace to take all my needs and problems to him. And when I leave one place and I go to another place, I try to commit all the problems that I've been involved with in the last few minutes to the Lord Jesus. And I look forward to what's ahead of me in his strength, his guidance. And he'll guide us, beloved, in everything. Commit thine way unto the Lord. Trust also in him and he shall bring it to pass. But you see, that's walking in paths of righteousness, not in the paths that suit us. And so he gives us companionship. Oh, the blessed companionship of the Lord Jesus Christ. He gives us comfort. For thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. In reading, I found that a shepherd can take his rod, which is about the size of a baseball, and built similarly. And that shepherd could take that rod and throw it all the way across the backs of the sheep and hit a wolf or a lion on the other side. And if it didn't kill him, it would hurt him bad enough that he would turn away and leave. So the Lord uses that rod for our protection, to preserve us from our adversaries. But sometimes he has to use that rod on us not to kill us, but to correct us. The Father shall tithe us, the Son will mirror us. It's an indication of the love of God. That he takes time, with all these worlds he's created, with all the rest of our brothers and sisters, he takes time to look at me. And he takes time, because he loves me, to correct me. It is great. And to correct you. Isn't that a wonderful shepherd? A shepherd knows his sheep. The Lord says, I know my sheep. And I call them by name. And as we read and research, we find that every good shepherd has a name for every single sheep. And he can tell each one from the other. You and I look at those sheep and they all look like a bunch of balls of wool. But not to that shepherd. He knows certain marks and certain personality traits of those sheep. And he names them accordingly. And he can pick them up and name them. And he doesn't leave them. And he comforts them with his love. It's comfort to the sheep to know that when they're lying down in that grass, that that wolf, that bear, or whatever animal it is, is not going to harm them because the shepherd's present. And beloved, nothing is going to harm us when the shepherd is there. Never. The thing we have to realize is that the Lord Jesus is never taken by surprise. It's amazing, isn't it? He's never taken by surprise. We're taken by surprise all the time. But he isn't. He is never caught napping. And he's with us. We have his companionship. We walk in the path of righteousness for his name's sake. The future's gone. And then we know that corrections are the wrong because he loves us. But he also has the staff. And he can reach down into inaccessible places. They may be inaccessible to all the world, to every other human being, but they're not inaccessible to him. And he reaches down and he brings us up. And, if you're reminded, he puts us on his shoulders. Not shoulders, but shoulders. He puts us on his shoulders and he carries us. He holds the land in his bosom. The place of affection. The place of love. The place of comfort. Isn't that wonderful? Oh, what a shepherd we have as we travel through this life. We know the Lord Jesus Christ is our Savior. But, beloved, we're in a battle. And we're going home to our heavenly home. But in between is the valley of the shadow of death. And we're treading through it right now. We're not treading through it when we get to the cemetery. Because, you know why? We won't be there. Our body will be there. Our tent will be there. And we'll already be in heaven. So it isn't speaking of the grave. It isn't speaking of the cemetery. It's speaking of now. Praise the Lord and he's with us. And we have his companionship. And his protection. His comfort. Fool! For thou preparest a table before me. Does he not prepare a table before us? Boy, we've enjoyed the table of the Lord so much. Mephibosheth sat at the king's table and everything that was King David's was his. And we sit at the king's table, Father. And we enjoy every good thing. He gives us all things richly to enjoy. And is there anything that's not good for us that he hasn't given us? Every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of life with whom there is no shadow returning. No variableness. It's not one way one day and one day the next. He's always the same yesterday, today and forever. And he provides everything that's good for us. And he keeps those things back from us that are bad for us. Even when we're stupid like sheep and we want to go through the fence and we want to go after that poison grass, he keeps it from us. He uses the staff in his line. Dr. Ironside tells of going to see a Scottish shepherd and he saw this sheep that was a beautiful animal. But he noticed one thing. He had a crooked leg and he couldn't hardly walk. And Dr. Ironside said to the shepherd, he said, Well, why do you leave an animal like that? Why don't you shoot him? Why don't you kill him? And the shepherd said, Yeah, but look at his coat. That sheep produces the best wool of all the sheep I've got. It's a good sheep. The reason it has a broken leg is because I broke it. You what? I broke it. Well, why did you break it? Because it was a wavered sheep and it wouldn't stay no matter what I did. It would not stay with the sheep. I would continually have to leave my other sheep and go after that sheep to bring it back. So in love I broke the leg and now it can't go anymore. You see, sometimes the Lord has to break our leg. I don't mean physically. He may have to do that physically too. But in his love and grace he uses his rod and kindness and grace to keep us where the best place is for us. Although we don't think so. And how many times, beloved, have you and I even prayed for something and yearned for it and just thought we just couldn't live without it. But when the fullness of the time came and it came around full circle and we saw God's hand we realized that if we had cut what we wanted so badly even though it looked so right it would have been all wrong. And in his love and grace he kept it from us. And he might have had to break a leg to keep it from going after us. Oh, what a gracious God we have. And he encompasses us. He prepares food for us at his table. Good food. Food that is needful for growth in every way. Physically, spiritually, temporally, emotionally, everything. Everything. He provides at his table. There is no good thing that's wanting at the Lord's table. And I don't mean that table there. That's the table that a man builds. That's not the Lord's table. He sets the emblems upon it, but it's not the Lord's table. The Lord's table is a place of fellowship. We're enjoying the Lord's table together now. In all its fullness. The fellowship, the blessings, the provisions of every kind. What a table to be at. He provides our food in every need. And that's what David said. There is a king who sat at a table that would be the envy of the nation. And yet, David says, the Lord prepares a table. He prepares my food. You know what? He not only prepares a table for us and supplies all our food, in every way, but he gives us victory. Because the next one is victory. In the presence of my enemy. Who's our greatest enemy? The old devil. The one who would take our soul. He can't touch that, beloved, so he'll do everything he can to ruin our testimony. To wreck our joy. To take us away from enjoying the thing at the table of the Lord. In the presence of my enemy. That's victory. What did he say on the cross? It is finish. And the last enemy is death. And when we go to the graves of our dear brother or sister in Christ, we go to a victory. It's not a defeat. Because Satan has lost total touch with that dear saint of God forever. He'll never touch them again in any way, shape, or form. Because they're going to be with the Christ of God. Their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It's not a defeat. It is victory in the fullest sense of the word. And he does that in the presence of our enemy. The enemy of our soul. And the enemy of our soul. For me to live as Christ Paul said, to die as Jesus. To be absent from the body, is to be present with the Lord. This is very far and far. Life's patterns as we have them in Philippians. Can't go into that. So he gives us victory. He gives us joy. Thou anointest my head with oil. Now, what does that tell us of? Thou anointest my head with oil. Well, we have to, and time is going like crazy here. My brother told me to take all the time I wanted, but I don't want to do that anyway. Overrunning with joy. I cut my throat. Anointing, where does anointing come in? We go to the priest at Tabernacle. Aaron, the high priest, was anointed with oil. And it ran down over his ear. He was set apart. We're anointed with the Holy Spirit of God. Now, why are we anointed with the Holy Spirit of God? Why was the priest anointed? He was sanctified. He was set apart. And Aaron's sons, they were set apart. And they were anointed. Because Aaron was going to go, and those priests were going to go into the Holy. And then Aaron himself, as a high priest, was going into the Holy of Holies, into that holy sanctuary, past that veil. Stop and think, there were no lights in there. The only light in that room was the light of the glory of God. Was there any wonder that Aaron was absolutely filled with fear? Stop and think, beloved. Here is a room. No windows. The Ark of the Covenant. The Mercy Seat. The Cherubim. All gold. And Aaron goes in there with the blood, and he sprinkles it seven times, all around the Mercy Seat. And he's in the presence of the King of Glory. He's in the presence of Holy God. Lord, we have fear. When we get before the Lord in prayer, we use this prayer. When we come to the Lord's Supper, we need to experience that. Not fear of retribution, but fear of the holiness of our God. And beloved, as priests, we go over to Peter and what do we find? The first thing we find is we're holy priests. And as holy priests, we go in for worship. The anointing of the Holy Spirit is absolutely necessary. If we're to minister before the Lord, if we're to serve before the Lord, the priesthood of the believer. The Word of God teaches, and I have to go over this very rapidly, that every single one, brothers and sisters in the Lord, we are priests. And we've been anointed with the Holy Spirit of God. We've been sealed unto the day of redemption with the Holy Spirit of God. And we are to be filled with the Holy Spirit of God. Why? That we might minister before Him. Does that take hold of our hearts as we consider that to minister before God, we can only do so as the Spirit of God ministers to the Lord? What did Paul say? In me, that is in my flesh, there dwelleth no good thing. So whatever is going to be pleasing to God must be by God Himself, the Holy Spirit of God operating. In your life and mine, as we come before Him, either individually in worship, and there should be individual worship, there should be occupation with the person of Christ, or collectively. We have to come into His presence as our brother Frank Haggerty of Bolivia says, we have to be in and out Christian, into His presence first to know Him in all His glory, in all His worth, in all His holiness, in all His person, to know His righteousness. Then we can go out as royal priests in service to others. Oh, the priesthood of the believer. It's not for someone to be dubbed the reverent, right, wrong, or indifferent so-and-so and do all the priestly work. Beloved, it's for you and for me. God's Word teaches that. We are to come before Him as holy priests with pure hands, pure hearts, and clean hands. And we do that as we come together. And I hope, beloved, as we gather in the Lord's committee on the morrow around the Lord at the Lord's Supper, that we as brethren, our hearts will be moved and stirred by the Holy Spirit of God to audibly offer up the prayer, the praise, and the sacrifice that is our privilege and our responsibility. What a privilege. What a privilege to be priests of God. Not to have another. There is one mediator between God and man, the man, Christ, Jesus. He's already in glory. I've got a mediator up there. Now he says, Come into my presence. Remember me in my death. Worship me and worship the Father. What is the Father pleased with? This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Is there anything else pleasing? No. The Son is not pleasing. We're in the Son. We're to bring the Son and offer Him up as a priest who ate that golden censer and those coals, those hot fires of coal off the altar of incense. And that sweet fragrance was made according to the pattern given to Moses in the mount. It was mixed and extended to God as a sweet-smelling savor. And we come together and we lift the Lord Jesus up in all His fullness and all His worth, in all His personal beauty, for He's altogether lovely and God is well pleased. Imagine this. We can please Him and bless Him and glorify Him by bringing the Son as a priest. And then the sisters come just as responsible, just as responsible, but they do it in honor of Him. And that prayer goes up. And believe me, dear sisters, we all know that the sisters coming into a prayer meeting into the Lord's Supper can change the whole attitude and atmosphere of that meeting. And many times have. Oh, we need to be priests under God. He anointed my head with oil. Remember the Lord said to Simon, Simon, I came in and you didn't anoint my head with oil. You didn't wash my feet. But this woman has not ceased to anoint my feet and wash them with her tears and wash them with a hairbrush. Oh, He anoints us with that oil, the oil of gladness, the oil that soothes, the oil that is pleasant to the nostrils. That's another thing. Everywhere we've heard it again and again, but we need to be reminded, everywhere that Mary went, she had the same odor as the Lord Jesus Christ. And when we're anointed with that oil, we should have the same fragrance in our personal life as the Lord Jesus Christ. Men should look at us and men and women should look at us and they should say, we've taken wrong ones since they've been with Jesus because they have the same odor, same fragrance in their life. The righteousness of Christ is the same. We need to show that to one another, beloved. And everything in time, He gives us everything in time. After all that here, for goodness and mercy shall follow me, love and mercy, goodness and mercy, loving kindness. Oh, His loving kindness, oh, how great. And He pours it out on us because He's a good shepherd and a great shepherd. Everything in eternity can occur in Christ as well, in the house of the Lord forever. For the days of days of days of days, that's the end of the race, beloved. With Him, to see Him as He is and to know Him in all His beauty, in all His glory, in all the wonder and blessedness of His Holy Church. I'm really not too concerned about seeing Peter. He'll have to wait or fall. The Lord's going to occupy our vision. He's going to occupy our minds because He'll be occupying there. He's the one whom they love and whom we serve. All the days of our life, beloved. And He's given us our schooling days now, our preparation days. So tomorrow, the Lord willing, we'll look a little bit further, maybe at the names of Jehovah in this wonderful passage of God's Word.